Expression and immunological cross-reactivity of LALP3, a novel astacin-like metalloprotease from brown spider (Loxosceles intermedia) venom.

Loxosceles spiders' venom comprises a complex mixture of biologically active toxins, mostly consisting of low molecular mass components (2-40 kDa). Amongst, isoforms of astacin-like metalloproteases were identified through transcriptome and proteome analyses. Only LALP1 (Loxosceles Astacin-Like protease 1) has been characterized.

Brown spider (Loxosceles genus) venom toxins: Evaluation of biological conservation by immune cross-reactivity.

Loxosceles spiders are responsible for serious human envenomations worldwide. The collection of symptoms found in victims after accidents is called loxoscelism and is characterized by two clinical conditions: cutaneous loxoscelism and systemic loxocelism. The only specific treatment is serum therapy, in which an antiserum produced with Loxosceles venom is administered to the victims after spider accidents.

[The profoundly deaf child].

The profoundly deaf child needs special education in order to develop oral language. Digital hearing-aids only provide minimal auditory perception. Before the advent of cochlear implantation, most of these children had severe language retardation and expressed themselves through sign language.

[Measurement of evoked acoustic otoemissions: an early screening test of neonatal deafness].

Every child born with deafness displays a pathological language development. An early and specific approach is mandatory, hence requiring an universal hearing screening. Available evidence indicate that performing acoustic otoemissions prior to six months of age is the most reliable method.

Otoacoustic emissions and medial olivocochlear suppression during auditory recovery from acoustic trauma in humans.

It is well known that the large inter-individual susceptibility to noise exposure makes it impossible to predict the degree of hearing loss which will develop after any given intense noise exposure. The acoustic trauma which sometimes occurs affects cochlear mechanisms, the damage being most probably due to deactivation of the active processes of the outer hair cells (OHCs), which receive direct efferent innervation. The present report is of a follow-up study involving young military personnel recovering auditively from impulse noise exposure, and seeks to assess changes in cochlear status by means of otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) and their modulation by the medial olivocochlear (MOC) system.