An integrative approach to cisplatin chronic toxicities in mice reveals importance of organic cation-transporter-dependent protein networks for renoprotection.

Cisplatin (CDDP) is one of the most important chemotherapeutic drugs in modern oncology. However, its use is limited by severe toxicities, which impair life quality after cancer. Here, we investigated the role of organic cation transporters (OCT) in mediating toxicities associated with chronic (twice the week for 4 weeks) low-dose (4 mg/kg body weight) CDDP treatment (resembling therapeutic protocols in patients) of wild-type (WT) mice and mice with OCT genetic deletion (OCT1/2).

When Hearing Is Tricky: Speech Processing Strategies in Prelingually Deafened Children and Adolescents with Cochlear Implants Having Good and Poor Speech Performance.

Cochlear implants provide individuals who are deaf with access to speech. Although substantial advancements have been made by novel technologies, there still is high variability in language development during childhood, depending on adaptation and neural plasticity. These factors have often been investigated in the auditory domain, with the mismatch negativity as an index for sensory and phonological processing.

Song Perception by Professional Singers and Actors: An MEG Study.

The cortical correlates of speech and music perception are essentially overlapping, and the specific effects of different types of training on these networks remain unknown. We compared two groups of vocally trained professionals for music and speech, singers and actors, using recited and sung rhyme sequences from German art songs with semantic and/ or prosodic/melodic violations (i.e.

Voice deepening under testosterone treatment in female-to-male gender dysphoric individuals.

Female-to-male gender dysphoric individuals rarely access medical services for voice problems arising out of hormonal treatment leading to "voice reassignment". The aim of this study was a close monitoring of voice deepening in the first year following the commencement of testosterone treatment. Voice recordings from nine female-to-male (FTM) were analyzed with Praat software and values for speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) were calculated.

Differences between self-assessment and external rating of voice with regard to sex characteristics, age, and attractiveness.

Objectives: This study investigates differences between the self-assessment and external rating of a person's voice with regard to sex characteristics, age, and attractiveness of the voice and mean fundamental frequency (F0).

Study Design: Cross-sectional study.

Methods: A group of 47 participants with a balanced sex distribution was recruited and the following data were collected: videostroboscopy, voice range profile, F0, self-assessment questionnaire (attractiveness, masculinity or femininity of voice, and appearance), Voice Handicap Index, and questionnaires to determine levels of depression and quality of life.

Neural correlates of speech processing in prelingually deafened children and adolescents with cochlear implants.

Prelingually deafened children with cochlear implants stand a good chance of developing satisfactory speech performance. Nevertheless, their eventual language performance is highly variable and not fully explainable by the duration of deafness and hearing experience. In this study, two groups of cochlear implant users (CI groups) with very good basic hearing abilities but non-overlapping speech performance (very good or very bad speech performance) were matched according to hearing age and age at implantation.

Nonorganic hearing loss in children: audiometry, clinical characteristics, biographical history and recovery of hearing thresholds.

Objectives: The term "nonorganic hearing loss" (NOHL) (pseudohypacusis, functional or psychogenic hearing loss) describes a hearing loss without a detectable corresponding pathology in the auditory system. It is characterized by a discrepancy between elevated pure tone audiometry thresholds and normal speech discrimination. The recommended audiological management of NOHL in children comprises history taking, diagnosis, and counseling.

Feasibility of 1000 Hz tympanometry in infants: tympanometric trace classification and choice of probe tone in relation to age.

Objectives: Universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) has significantly reduced the age of children undergoing audiological examinations. Middle ear function is usually evaluated with tympanometry using a probe tone of 226 Hz, although higher frequencies are recommended in infants. The aim of this study was to compare the feasibility of 226 and 1000 Hz tympanometry for different trace classification systems in relation to age, risk factors for hearing loss and ear canal volume.

A positive wave at 8 ms (P8) and modified auditory brainstem responses measurement in auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder.

Objective: Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) is characterized by absent or atypical auditory brainstem responses (ABR), recordable otoacoustic emissions and/or cochlear microphonics. Modification of ABR stimuli is discussed to improve wave V synchronization in ANSD patients.

Design: Ten ANSD children (seven unilateral) underwent ABR measurement with an alternating stimulus (40.

Progressive hearing loss after completion of cisplatin chemotherapy is common and more pronounced in children without spontaneous otoacoustic emissions before chemotherapy.

Objective: High frequency hearing loss following cisplatin chemotherapy is frequent in children and often necessitates the fitting of hearing aids. During therapy, hearing is usually monitored. Post-therapeutic follow-up does not routinely include monitoring of hearing, although there are indications that hearing thresholds can decline after therapy.

Organic cation transporter 2 mediates cisplatin-induced oto- and nephrotoxicity and is a target for protective interventions.

The use of the effective antineoplastic agent cisplatin is limited by its serious side effects, such as oto- and nephrotoxicity. Ototoxicity is a problem of special importance in children, because deafness hampers their language and psychosocial development. Recently, organic cation transporters (OCTs) were identified in vitro as cellular uptake mechanisms for cisplatin.

Imagery mismatch negativity in musicians.

The present study investigated musical imagery in musicians and nonmusicians by means of magnetoencephalography (MEG). We used a new paradigm in which subjects had to continue familiar melodies in their mind and then judged if a further presented tone was a correct continuation of the melody. Incorrect tones elicited an imagery mismatch negativity (iMMN) in musicians but not in nonmusicians.

Neural basis of music imagery and the effect of musical expertise.

Although the influence of long-term musical training on the processing of heard music has been the subject of many studies, the neural basis of music imagery and the effect of musical expertise remain insufficiently understood. By means of magnetoencephalography (MEG) we compared musicians and nonmusicians in a musical imagery task with familiar melodies. Subjects listened to the beginnings of the melodies, continued them in their imagination and then heard a tone which was either a correct or an incorrect further continuation of the melody.

Development and evaluation of the new module 'communication disorders' in medical education.

Background: Communication disorders are not taught as a self-contained topic in medical education, despite their high incidence and the similarities in the way in which they present clinically.

Aims: This article describes the development of an elective subject 'Phoniatrics and Pediatric Audiology' covering five topics: hearing, language, and voice as well as psychometric tests and swallowing, with the objective of teaching a basic knowledge of the anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology of the hearing and language system as well as symptoms, diagnostics, examination, and therapy of communication disorders. It contains theoretical background, practical exercises, and demonstrations of patient examinations.

Left-right asymmetry in hearing loss following cisplatin therapy in children--the left ear is slightly but significantly more affected.

Objectives: Bilateral symmetric high frequency hearing loss is regarded as one of the main characteristics of cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. Hair-cell damage because of cisplatin is discussed as the leading cause of hearing loss. Our observations in long-term audiological follow-up of children treated with cisplatin did not always show the anticipated symmetry of hearing loss.

Spontaneous otoacoustic emission enhancement in children with reduced speech-in-noise intelligibility.

Reduced speech-in-noise intelligibility is one of the main difficulties experienced by children with auditory processing disorder (APD). Previous studies have established a relationship between the function of the medial olivocochlear system (MOCS) and reduced inhibition of otoacoustic emissions (OAE) in children with APD. This study measured spontaneous OAE (SOAE) in 27 children with reduced speech-in-noise intelligibility, and those of a control group matched by gender and age.

Different modes of pitch perception and learning-induced neuronal plasticity of the human auditory cortex.

We designed a melody perception experiment involving eight harmonic complex tones of missing fundamental frequencies (hidden auditory object) to study the short-term neuronal plasticity of the auditory cortex. In this experiment, the fundamental frequencies of the complex tones followed the beginning of the virtual melody of the tune "Frère Jacques". The harmonics of the complex tones were chosen so that the spectral melody had an inverse contour when compared with the virtual one.