Long-Term Effects of a Multimodal Physiotherapy Program on the Severity of Somatosensory Tinnitus and Identification of Clinical Indicators Predicting Favorable Outcomes of the Program.

Background: Tinnitus, the perception of sound in the absence of external auditory stimuli, is commonly associated with problems of the auditory system. Head and neck disorders can also be involved in tinnitus emergence. In such cases, the term somatosensory tinnitus is used.

Progesterone increases hypoxic ventilatory response and reduces apneas in newborn rats.

We hypothesized that progesterone may enhance the hypoxic ventilatory response and reduce the occurrence of apneas in newborn male rats. We studied 10-day-old rats chronically exposed to progesterone (Prog) or vehicle through the milk of lactating mothers. Respiratory and metabolic recordings were performed using whole body plethysmography under normoxia and during hypoxic exposure (10% O(2)--30 min).

Expression of sex-steroid receptors and steroidogenic enzymes in the carotid body of adult and newborn male rats.

This study describes the localization and pattern of expression of estradiol and progesterone receptors as well as key enzymes for steroid synthesis (i.e. P450 side-chain-cleavage--P450scc, and P450 aromatase--P450Aro) in the carotid body (CB) and superior cervical ganglion (SCG) of adult, newborn and late fetal male rats, using immunohistochemistry, Western blot and real-time RT-PCR.