Isolated inner ear decompression sickness (DCS) is recognized in deep diving involving breathing of helium-oxygen mixtures, particularly when breathing gas is switched to a nitrogen-rich mixture during decompression. The biophysical basis for this selective vulnerability of the inner ear to DCS has not been established. A compartmental model of inert gas kinetics in the human inner ear was cons...

The inner ear, one of the most complex organs, contains within its bony shell three sensory systems, the evolutionary oldest gravity receptor system, the three semicircular canals for the detection of angular acceleration, and the auditory system--unrivaled in sensitivity and frequency discrimination. All three systems are susceptible to a host of afflictions affecting the quality of life for a...

Rock 'n' roll sounds best turned up loud, but as hundreds of aging rockers (and millions of their aging fans) are discovering, the cost of all that glorious noise is hearing loss and tinnitus. And it's not just loud music—our ears are daily assaulted by the roar of the jet engine, the shriek of the power tool, the blare of the car horn, and the pounding of the jackhammer. In most cases, it seem...

410 patients with malformations of the external ear or nasal cavity were examined. Basing on this evidence, clinical and diagnostic aspects of agenesias, hypogenesias, hypergenesia, dysgenesia, persistence and dystopias of the nose and intranasal structures are analyzed. Both severe and "minor" anomalies are considered. Endoscopic diagnosis of the malformations is described.

Nager syndrome is a rare condition associated with craniofacial malformations such as, micrognathia, zygomatic hypoplasia, external ear malformations, and preaxial limb deformities. This report features a case of Nager syndrome occurring in a one-year-old boy showing microretrognathia, thumb hypoplasia, brachydactyly, hexadactyly, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, characteristics not usually enc...

The Notch signaling pathway is thought to regulate multiple stages of inner ear development. Mutations in the Notch signaling pathway cause disruptions in the number and arrangement of hair cells and supporting cells in sensory regions of the ear. In this study we identify an insertional mutation in the mouse Sfswap gene, a putative splicing factor, that results in mice with vestibular and coch...

BACKGROUND The zona pellucida (ZP) domain is part of many extracellular proteins with diverse functions from structural components to receptors. The mammalian β-tectorin is a protein of 336 amino acid residues containing a single ZP domain and a putative signal peptide at the N-terminus of the protein. It is 1 component of a gel-like structure called the tectorial membrane which is involved in ...

The Kresge Hearing Research Institute-3 (KHRI-3) antibody binds to a guinea pig inner ear supporting cell antigen (IESCA) and causes hearing loss. To gain insight into the mechanism of antibody-induced hearing loss, we used antibody immunoaffinity purification to isolate the IESCA, which was then sequenced by mass spectroscopy, revealing 10 guinea pig peptides identical to sequences in human ch...

Classical studies have postulated the action of an endomesodermal signal initiating inner ear induction, subsequently followed by a neural tube-derived signal to complete the process of otic placode formation in the surface ectoderm. Members of the Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) gene family have been implicated in these processes. In this review, expression analysis and recent experimental evid...

Isolated inner ear decompression sickness (DCS) is recognised in deep diving involving breathing of helium-oxygen mixtures, particularly where breathing gas is switched to a nitrogen-rich mixture during decompression. The biophysical basis for this selective vulnerability of the inner ear to DCS has not been established. A compartmental model of inert gas kinetics in the human inner ear was con...