Influence of silence and attention on tinnitus perception

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to study the effect of attention and sustained silence on the emergence of auditory phantom perception in normal-hearing adults. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: While sitting in a sound booth, 66 volunteers (age range. 18-65; mean age, 37.3) performed 3 experiments of 5 minutes each, consecutively and randomly presented. Two deviated attention from auditory system (Hanoi and visual attention experiments). and 1 drove attention to the auditory system (auditory attention). After each experiment, participants were asked about their auditory and visual perception. No sound or light change was given at any moment. RESULTS: Of the participants, 19.7% experienced tinnitus during Hanoi, 45.5% during visual attention, and 68.2% during auditory attention experiment. with no significant differences for studied variables. CONCLUSION: Tinnitus-like perceptions may occur in a non-clinical population in a silent environment. Concomitant auditory attention plays an important role on the emergence of tinnitus. (C) 2008 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation. All rights reserved.

Speech perception in adolescents with pre-lingual hearing impairment with cochlear implants

Profound hearing loss is a disability that affects personality and when it involves teenagers before language acquisition, these bio-psychosocial conflicts can be exacerbated, requiring careful evaluation and choice of them for cochlear implant. Aim: To evaluate speech perception by adolescents with profound hearing loss, users of cochlear Implants. Study Design: Prospective. Materials and Methods: Twenty-five individuals with severe or profound pre-lingual hearing loss who underwent cochlear implantation during adolescence, between 10 to 17 years and 11 months, who went through speech perception tests before the implant and 2 years after device activation. For comparison and analysis we used the results from tests of four choice, recognition of vowels and recognition of sentences in a closed setting and the open environment. Results: The average percentage of correct answers in the four choice test before the implant was 46.9% and after 24 months of device use, this value went up to 86.1% in the vowels recognition test, the average difference was 45.13% to 83.13% and the sentences recognition test together in closed and open settings was 19.3% to 60.6% and 1.08% to 20.47% respectively. Conclusion: All patients, although with mixed results, achieved statistical improvement in all speech tests that were employed.

HANDEDNESS INFLUENCES PASSIVE SHOULDER RANGE OF MOTION IN NONATHLETE ADULT WOMEN

Objective: The Purpose of this study was to determine whether handedness influences bilateral shoulder range of motion in nonathlete adult women. Methods: This was an observational Study. Shoulder range of motion (flexion, abduction, horizontal adduction, extension, external and internal rotation) was passively and bilaterally measured in 50 female, right-handed, and healthy university students, ranging from 20 to 29 years of age, who were not practicing repetitive activities with the upper limbs at the time Of this study. The assessment was performed with a universal goniometer, twice for each subject by the same examiner. irst and second measurements were correlated using the intraclass correlation coefficient, which was high for all movements and ranged from 0.80 to 0.97. The Student t test and Wilcoxon test were used to compare the range of motion between the dominant and nondominant shoulders and the mean differences between the 2 sides. The effect of size vias alpha = .05. Results: There is statistically significance difference between the 2 sides when the rotational range of motion is compared the dominant shoulder presented increased external rotation (mean, 4.74 degrees; 95% confidence interval, 1.61-7.87) and decreased internal rotation (mean, 3.52 degrees; 95% confidence interval, 1.64-5.4) compared to the opposite Shoulder. Conclusion: Dominance should be considered when shoulder rotation is evaluated even in nonathlete adult women. (J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2009;32:149-153)

Perception of dysphagia: lack of correlation with objective measurements of esophageal function

Background The mechanism underlying increased perception of food bolus passage in the absence of esophageal mechanical obstruction has not been completely elucidated. A correlation between the intensity of the symptom and the severity of esophageal dysfunction, either motility (manometry) or bolus transit (impedance) has not been clearly demonstrated. The aim of this study was to analyze the correlation between objective esophageal function assessment (with manometry and impedance) and perception of bolus passage in healthy volunteers (HV) with normal and pharmacologically-induced esophageal hypocontractility, and in patients with gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) with and without ineffective esophageal motility (IEM). Methods Combined manometry-impedance was performed in 10 HV, 19 GERD patients without IEM and nine patients with IEM. Additionally, nine HV were studied after 50 mg sildenafil, which induced esophageal peristaltic failure. Perception of each 5 mL viscous swallow was evaluated using a 5-point scale. Manometry identified hypocontractility (contractions lower than 30 mmHg) and impedance identified incomplete bolus clearance. Key Results In HV and in GERD patients with and without IEM, there was no association between either manometry or impedance and perception on per swallow analysis (OR: 0.842 and OR: 2.017, respectively), as well as on per subject analysis (P = 0.44 and P = 0.16, respectively). Lack of correlation was also found in HV with esophageal hypocontractility induced by sildenafil. Conclusions & Inferences There is no agreement between objective measurements of esophageal function and subjective perception of bolus passage. These results suggest that increased bolus passage perception in patients without mechanical obstruction might be due to esophageal hypersensitivity.

Prenatal LPS exposure reduces olfactory perception in neonatal and adult rats

Prenatal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure causes reproductive, behavioral and neurochemical defects in both dams and pups. The present study evaluated male rats prenatally treated with LPS for behavioral and neurological effects related to the olfactory system, which is the main sensorial path in rodents. Pregnant Wistar rats received 100 mu g/kg of LPS intraperitoneally (i.p.) on gestational day (GD) 9.5, and maternal behavior was evaluated. Pups were evaluated for (1) maternal odor preference, (2) aversion to cat odor, (3) monoamine levels and turnover in the olfactory bulb (OB) and (4) protein expression (via immunoblotting) within the OB dopaminergic system and glial cells. Results showed that prenatal LPS exposure impaired maternal preference and cat odor aversion and decreased dopamine (DA) levels in the OB. This dopaminergic impairment may have been due to defects in another brain area given that protein expression of the first enzyme in the DA biosynthetic pathway was unchanged in the OB. Moreover, there was no change in the protein expression of the DA receptors. The fact that the number of astrocytes and microglia was not increased suggests that prenatal LPS did not induce neuroinflammation in the OB. Furthermore, given that maternal care was not impaired, abnormalities in the offspring were not the result of reduced maternal care. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of sperm concentration and straw volume on motion characteristics and plasma, acrosomal, and mitochondrial membranes of equine cryopreserved spermatozoa

The advantages of using cryopreserved semen in equine reproduction are well known. During cryopreservationl spermatozoa undergo many changes that lead to a decrease in fertility. There is no agreement on the ideal sperm dose and concentration to maximize fertility rates. Thus, the objectives of this experiment were to evaluate sperm motion by computer-assisted analysis (CASA), sperm membrane integrity and function with fluorescence probes of cryopreserved sperm at three concentrations: 100 (C100), 200 (C200) and 400 x 10(6) sperm/mL (C400), and two straw volumes (0.50 and 0.25 mL). There was no interaction between sperm concentration and storage volume (P > .05). Sperm motion characteristics were influenced by concentration (C100 > C200 > C400; P < .05). Curvilinear velocity (VCL) in 0.25-mL straws had higher average values (P < .05). Membrane integrity and function were not changed by straw volume (P > .05). However, sperm concentration changed the percentage of cells with intact plasma membrane (C100 > C200 > C400; P < .05) and the percentage of cells with high mitochondrial membrane potential (C100 = C200; P > .05 and C400 < C100 and C200; P < .05). According to this experiment, the best freeing method was that involving 100 x 10(6) sperm/mL, regardless of straw volume.

Cervical range of motion discriminates between asymptomatic persons and those with whiplash

Study Design. A comparative study of cervical range of motion in asymptomatic persons and those with whiplash. Objectives. To compare the primary and conjunct ranges of motion of the cervical spine in asymptomatic persons and those with persistent whiplash-associated disorders, and to investigate the ability of these measures of range of motion to discriminate between the groups. Summary of Background. Evidence that range of motion is an effective indicator of physical impairment in the cervical spine is not conclusive. Few studies have evaluated the ability to discriminate between asymptomatic persons and those with whiplash on the basis of range of motion or compared three-dimensional in vivo measures of range of motion in asymptomatic persons and those with whiplash-associated disorders. Methods. The study participants were 89 asymptomatic volunteers (41 men, 48 women; mean age 39.2 years) and 114 patients with persistent whiplash-associated disorders (22 men, 93 women; mean age 37.2 years) referred to a whiplash research unit for assessment of their cervical region. Range of cervical motion was measured in three dimensions with a computerized, electromagnetic, motion-tracking device. The movements assessed were flexion, extension, left and right lateral flexion, and left and right rotation. Results. Range of motion was reduced in all primary movements in patients with persistent whiplash-associated disorder. Sagittal plane movements were proportionally the most affected. On the basis of primary and conjunct range of motion, age, and gender, 90.3% of study participants could be correctly categorized as asymptomatic or as having whiplash (sensitivity 86.2%, specificity 95.3%). Conclusions. Range of motion was capable of discriminating between asymptomatic persons and those with persistent whiplash-associated disorders.

An exploratory study of gendered differences in young tourists perception of danger within London

This paper studies young tourists' perception of danger within the urban holiday environment of London, England. The study of perceived danger is important not only in its own right, but also because of the influence it may have on use of leisure spaces and times. This research assesses gender and group composition differences in perception of danger, addressing the relatively neglected issues of men's perception and the relationship between the genders. For the purpose of this paper 'danger' was assessed by studying how safe, relaxed, vulnerable, threatened, and at risk people felt while in London. The study found a number of similarities and differences between the men and women studied, in terms of how they perceived danger and their group composition during the day and nigh-time. These results indicate that gender may not be the only influence on perception and behaviour, and that men and women should not be regarded as-homogenous cohorts. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantum slow motion

We investigate the center-of-mass motion of cold atoms in a standing amplitude modulated laser field. We use a simple model to explain the momentum distribution of the atoms after any distinct number of modulation cycles. The atoms starting near a classical phase-space resonance move slower than we would expect classically. We explain this by showing that for a wave packet on the classical resonances we can replace the complicated dynamics in the quantum Liouville equation in phase space by its classical dynamics with a modified potential.

The effect of videoconferencing on the depth perception of observers

The ability of the human eye to perceive depth was measured using a specially designed instrument. Visual acuity and both monocular and binocular stereoacuity were measured when viewing the instrument directly and via a videoconferencing link. Ten subjects with an average age of 32.5 years (range 24-50) took part in the study. The group mean visual acuity using both eyes under normal test conditions was -0.04 logMAR (Snellen 6/5) compared with 0.18 logMAR (Snellen 6/10) for the video-link. The mean stereoacuity using both eyes was 37 (SD 18) under normal test conditions. When a videoconferencing link was used, the mean stereoacuity fell to 1218 (SD 1203) using one eye and to 1651 (SD 1419) using both eyes. The ability to perceive depth remotely via a video-link was significantly decreased compared with normal test conditions.

Molecular motion in nanocomposites of poly(ethylene oxide) and montmorillonite

Motion of chains of poly(ethylene oxide) within the interlayer spacing of 2:1 phyllosilicate/montmorillonite was studied with H-1 and C-13 NMR spectroscopy. Measurements of the H-1 NMR line widths and relaxation times across a large temperature range were used to determine the effect of bulk thermal transitions on polymer chain motion within the nanocomposites. The results were consistent with previous reports of low apparent activation energies of motion. Details of the frequency and geometry of motion were obtained from a comparison of the C-13 cross-polarity/magic-angle spinning spectra and relaxation times of the nanocomposite with those of the pure polymer. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.