Digits-in-noise test in Brazilian Portuguese: how demographic and socioeconomic variables influence normal-hearing subjects.

Purpose: Verify how demographic and socioeconomic variables on the in-noise speech recognition threshold (SRT) from the digits-in-noise test (DIN) in Brazilian Portuguese influence normal-hearing subjects.

Methods: Cross-sectional, prospective study. The convenience sample had 151 normal-hearing subjects between 12 and 79 years (mean=34.

Accuracy of smartphone-based hearing screening tests: a systematic review.

Purpose: To verify the accuracy of smartphone apps to identify hearing loss.

Research Strategies: A systematic review followed the PRISMA-DATA checklist. The search strategies were applied across four databases (Lilacs, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science) and grey literature (Google Scholar, OpenGrey, and ProQuest Dissertations and Thesis).

Accuracy of affordable instruments for hearing screening in adults and the elderly.

Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy of affordable instruments for hearing screening of adults and the elderly.

Methods: This study was carried out with users of a Hearing Health Service of the Unified Health System. All were screened with the MoBASA smartphone application, the Telehealth audiometer (TH) and the electronic version of the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly - screening version - eHHIE-S.

Toward Better Outcomes in Audiology Distance Education: An Educational Data Mining Approach.

Purpose: This article introduces concepts and a general taxonomy used by the educational data mining (EDM) community, as well as examples of their applications, with the aims of providing audiology educators with a referential basis for developing this area.

Method: A narrative review was carried out to present an overview of EDM and its main methods. Some of these methods were exemplified with analysis of real data from an Internet-based specialization course on pediatric auditory rehabilitation.

Development and Technical Validation of the Mobile Based Assistive Listening System: A Smartphone-Based Remote Microphone.

Purpose: The purpose of this research note is to describe the development and technical validation of the Mobile Based Assistive Listening System (MoBALS), a free-of-charge smartphone-based remote microphone application.

Method: MoBALS Version 1.0 was developed for Android (Version 2.

Teleaudiology: efficacy assessment of an online social network as a support tool for parents of children candidates for cochlear implant.

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of an online social network as a support for parents of children with hearing impairment.

Methods: Twenty-two mothers, randomly divided into experimental (n=11) and control (n=11) groups, filled in an online form containing the Parental Stress Index - Short Form (PSI-SF). Only the experimental group had access to the "Babies' Portal" social network.

Babies' portal website hearing aid section: assessment by audiologists.

Introduction The family has ultimate responsibility for decisions about the use and care during the daily routine and problem solving in the manipulation of hearing aids (HA) in infants and children. Objective The purpose of the study was to assess technical and content quality of Babies' Portal website Hearing Aid section by audiologists. Methods Letters and e-mails were sent inviting professionals to surf the website and anonymously fill out an online form with 58 questions covering demographic data as well as the website's technical (Emory questionnaire with the subscales of accuracy, authorship, updates, public, navigation, links, and structure) and content quality.

Hearing aid handling skills: relationship with satisfaction and benefit.

Purpose: To evaluate hearing aid handling skills for new and experienced users and to assess if such skills influence user's benefit and satisfaction.

Methods: Seventy four participants (mean age of 70.43), experienced (n=37) or new hearing aid users (n=37) performed the tasks of "Practical Hearing Aid Skills Test" (PHAST), which were scored on a five-point Likert scale - higher scores indicate better hearing aid handling skills.

Website Babies Portal: development and evaluation of the contents regarding orofacial functions.

Unlabelled: Education mediated by technology facilitates the access to information and can reach more people, including a broader range of socio-economic groups and ages, and at a low-cost. The website "Babies Portal - Speech-Language Pathology/Audiology and Dentistry" (http://portaldosbebes.fob.

Quality, range, and legibility in web sites related to orofacial functions.

Introduction Plenty of information about health is available on the Internet; however, quality and legibility are not always evaluated. Knowledge regarding orofacial functions can be considered important for the population because it allows proper stimulus, early diagnosis, and prevention of the oral myofunctional alterations during early infancy. Objective The aim was evaluate the quality, legibility, and range of Web sites available in Brazilian Portuguese regarding the orofacial functions.

Results obtained with a low cost software-based audiometer for hearing screening.

Introduction:  The implementation of hearing screening programs can be facilitated by reducing operating costs, including the cost of equipment. The Telessaúde (TS) audiometer is a low-cost, software-based, and easy-to-use piece of equipment for conducting audiometric screening.

Aim:  To evaluate the TS audiometer for conducting audiometric screening.

Teleaudiology: evaluation of teleconsultation efficacy for hearing aid fitting.

Purpose: To evaluate teleconsultation's efficacy for hearing aid fitting.

Methods: Fifty hearing impaired individuals with ages ranging from 39 to 88 years and mean audiometric thresholds between 30 and 68.75 dBHL participated in this study.

Real ear unaided gain and its relation with the equivalent volume of the external and middle ear.

Introduction:  Old age is associated with changes in the characteristics of the middle ear transmission system and in external ear resonance, and these carry implications for the hearing aid (HA) verification process for which targets and measures of the real ear insertion gain (REIG) are used.

Aim:  To compare the real ear unaided gain (REUG) and the equivalent volumes of the external ear (VeqEE) and the middle ear (VeqME) between elderly and adult patients.

Methods:  This is a retrospective study in which the medical records of 28 elderly patients (aged between 61 and 102 years, average hearing thresholds between 38.

Validity and reliability of the hearing handicap inventory for adults.

Unlabelled: The Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHIA) translated into Brazilian Portuguese has been used for clinical practice and research purposes; however, information regarding its ease of reading and psychometric properties are still lacking.

Aim: To evaluate the ease of reading and psychometric properties of the Brazilian translation of this tool, including its validity and reliability.

Materials And Methods: Prospective study.

Directivity and noise reduction in hearing aids: speech perception and benefit.

Unlabelled: Hearing aid.

Aim: To compare the performance, benefit and satisfaction of users of ITE, CIC and BTE digital hearing aid with noise reduction and omnidirectional and directional microphones.

Method: 34 users of hearing aid were evaluated by means of speech perception in noise tests and APHAB and IOI self assessment questionnaires.

Direct and progressive differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into the chondrogenic lineage.

Treatment of common and debilitating degenerative cartilage diseases particularly osteoarthritis is a clinical challenge because of the limited capacity of the tissue for self-repair. Because of their unlimited capacity for self-renewal and ability to differentiate into multiple lineages, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are a potentially powerful tool for repair of cartilage defects. The primary objective of the present study was to develop culture systems and conditions that enable hESCs to directly and uniformly differentiate into the chondrogenic lineage without prior embryoid body (EB) formation, since the inherent cellular heterogeneity of EBs hinders obtaining homogeneous populations of chondrogenic cells that can be used for cartilage repair.

Telehealth in audiology: the need and potential to reach underserved communities.

Permanent hearing loss is a leading global health care burden, with 1 in 10 people affected to a mild or greater degree. A shortage of trained healthcare professionals and associated infrastructure and resource limitations mean that hearing health services are unavailable to the majority of the world population. Utilizing information and communication technology in hearing health care, or tele-audiology, combined with automation offer unique opportunities for improved clinical care, widespread access to services, and more cost-effective and sustainable hearing health care.

Frequency modulation (FM) system in auditory processing disorder: an evidence-based practice?

Background: use of frequency modulation (FM) system in auditory processing disorder.

Aim: to verify the existence of scientific evidence confirming the effectiveness of personal FM systems in the treatment of central auditory processing disorders (APD). For this purpose a systematic review of the literature was made, using data found in electronic databases (Medline, Lilacs and Cochrane library) as well as on the internet.

Remote probe microphone measurement to verify hearing aid performance.

We assessed the feasibility of obtaining probe microphone measurements of hearing aids at a distance. Face-to-face and remote probe microphone measurements were carried out in 60 hearing aid users (mean age 67 yrs) with uni- or bilateral hearing losses (105 ears tested). The participant and a facilitator were located in a room equipped with a probe microphone system interfaced to a PC.

Studies on the role of Dlx5 in regulation of chondrocyte differentiation during endochondral ossification in the developing mouse limb.

The homeodomain transcription factor Dlx5 has been implicated in the regulation of chondrocyte and osteoblast differentiation during endochondral ossification in the developing limb. In a gain-of-function approach to directly investigate the role of Dlx5 in chondrocyte maturation, we have used cartilage-specific Col2a1-Dlx5 promoter/enhancer constructs to target overexpression of Dlx5 to the differentiating cartilage models of the limbs of transgenic mice. Targeted overexpression of Dlx5 in cartilage rudiments results in the formation of shortened skeletal elements containing excessive numbers of hypertrophic chondrocytes and expanded domains of expression of Ihh and type X collagen, molecular markers of hypertrophic maturation.

Expression of Dlx5 and Dlx6 during specification of the elbow joint.

The onset of elbow joint formation in the developing limb is characterized morphologically by the conversion of differentiated chondrocytes at the site of incipient joint formation into the densely packed flattened cells of the joint interzone. However, experimental studies have indicated that the elbow joint is specified well before joint interzone formation by a distinctive population of precursor cells located at the site in the developing limb bud at which the elbow joint will subsequently form. Here we show that during specification of the elbow joint in the chick limb bud, the homeodomain transcription factors Dlx5 and Dlx6 are highly expressed by a discrete group of cells that encompass the prospective elbow joint.

Function of BMPs in the apical ectoderm of the developing mouse limb.

Several bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are expressed in the apical ectodermal ridge (AER), a critical signaling center that directs the outgrowth and patterning of limb mesoderm, but little is known about their function. To study the functions of apical ectodermal BMPs, an AER-specific promoter element from the Msx2 gene was used to target expression of the potent BMP antagonist noggin to the apical ectoderm of the limbs of transgenic mice. Msx2-noggin mutant mice have severely malformed limbs characterized by syndactyly, postaxial polydactyly, and dorsal transformations of ventral structures indicated by absence of ventral footpads and presence of supernumerary ventral nails.

Dlx5 is a positive regulator of chondrocyte differentiation during endochondral ossification.

The process of endochondral ossification in which the bones of the limb are formed after generation of cartilage models is dependent on a precisely regulated program of chondrocyte maturation. Here, we show that the homeobox-containing gene Dlx5 is expressed at the onset of chondrocyte maturation during the conversion of immature proliferating chondrocytes into postmitotic hypertrophying chondrocytes, a critical step in the maturation process. Moreover, retroviral misexpression of Dlx5 during differentiation of the skeletal elements of the chick limb in vivo results in the formation of severely shortened skeletal elements that contain excessive numbers of hypertrophying chondrocytes which extend into ectopic regions, including sites normally occupied by immature chondrocytes.

Overexpression of Dlx5 in chicken calvarial cells accelerates osteoblastic differentiation.

Our laboratory and others have shown that a homeodomain protein binding site plays an important role in transcription of the Collal gene in osteoblasts. This suggests that homeodomain proteins have an important role in osteoblast differentiation. We have investigated the role of Dlx5 in osteoblastic differentiation.