BACKGROUND A capacity for modulating the amplitude of the long-latency stretch reflex (LLSR) allows us to successfully interact with a physical world with a wide range of different mechanical properties. It has recently been demonstrated that stretch reflex modulation is impaired in both arms following monohemispheric stroke, suggesting that reflex regulation may involve structures on both side...

Suppression of tinnitus by electrical stimulation via a cochlear implant has been studied in recent years. Some individuals who undergo cochlear implant surgery report total or partial relief of the symptoms even in the contralateral ear. The mechanisms involved in this suppression are not clear. The results obtained in our study demonstrated an improvement of 71% in 29 implant cases, confirmin...

The development and application of otoacoustic emissions in clinical practice marked the beginning of a new era in the field of screening for congenital hearing loss. In particular, transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) have been widely adopted by many universal hearing screening (UNHS) programs. The test is quick, non-invasive, objective, sensitive, frequency specific, relatively che...

The purpose of this study was to determine if the menstrual cycle influences the amplitude of transient (TEOAEs) and distortion-product (DPOAEs) otoacoustic emissions. Thirteen normal-hearing, normal-cycling females were monitored weekly for 12 weeks. TEOAE and DPOAE amplitudes were analyzed to determine if amplitude changes could be detected and correlated to phases of the menstrual cycle. No ...

We have recently discovered a paradoxical aftereffect associated with inhibition in the gerbil auditory midbrain. Single neurons in the inferior colliculus (IC) were assessed for sensitivity to a virtual motion stimulus produced by modulating the interaural level difference (ILD), a major cue for sound localization. The class of neuron studied was predominantly excited by contralateral stimulat...

UNLABELLED A pon stimulation by contralateral, ipsilateral or bilateral noise, the medial olivocochlear efferent tract changes the amplitude of otoacoustic emissions relative to the tested ear, reducing or removing it; this resulted in a reduction/suppression effect of otoacoustic emissions. Differences in patterns of elimination/reduction of otoacoustic emissions between ears have been documen...

This study was done to investigate the mechanisms that underly the changes of renal renin gene expression upon hypoperfusion of one kidney. To this end the left renal arteries of male Sprague-Dawley rats were clipped with 0.2 mm silver clips and renal renin mRNA levels were assayed by RNase protection during the first ten days after clipping. Unilateral reduction of renal blood flow led to tran...

UNLABELLED Subjects presenting difficulties in understanding speech with competing sounds may have absence of otoacoustic emission suppression and the acoustic reflex. AIM To study the performance of the efferent auditory system in normal hearing subjects complaining of difficulties to understand speech in noise. MATERIAL AND METHODS A prospective study comprising 50 normal-hearing subjects...

To understand the neural mechanism of fixation, we investigated effects of electrical stimulation of the frontal eye field (FEF) and its vicinity on visually guided (Vsacs) and memory-guided saccades (Msacs) in trained monkeys and found that there were two types of suppression induced by the electrical stimulation: suppression of ipsilateral saccades and suppression of bilateral saccades. In th...

Background: To reduce the dose to normal tissues surrounding the treated breast, a uniform magnetic field was used within a humanoid phantom in breast radiotherapy. Materials and Methods: Monte Carlo simulations were performed with GEANT4, irradiating humanoid phantoms in a magnetic field. To reconstruct phantoms, computed tomography (CT) data slices of four patients were used for the Monte Car...