Monitoring and modelling landscape structure, land use intensity and landscape change as drivers of water quality using remote sensing.

The interactions between landscape structure, land use intensity (LUI), climate change, and ecological processes significantly impact hydrological processes, affecting water quality. Monitoring these factors is crucial for understanding their influence on water quality. Remote sensing (RS) provides a continuous, standardized approach to capture landscape structures, LUI, and landscape changes over long-term time series.

Biomass Assessment of Agricultural Crops Using Multi-temporal Dual-Polarimetric TerraSAR-X Data.

The biomass of three agricultural crops, winter wheat L.), barley L.), and canola L.

Medical tourism in emerging markets: The role of trust, networks, and word-of-mouth.

ABTRACT Despite the growing popularity of medical tourism (MT) in emerging markets (EMs), little is known about how healthcare providers operationalize. This article analyzes how healthcare providers meet different challenges to market MT in an EM setting. A qualitative method was used for data collection and conducting case studies on healthcare services in the Philippines.

New perspectives on counselling in audiological habilitation/rehabilitation.

Objective: To develop and apply a pedagogical method focusing on Empowerment, Empathy, Competence, and Counselling: the EC programme, and to present an initial evaluation.

Design: The EC programme was gradually developed within a study circle framework and in dialogue with study circle leaders and participants (clients) with hearing impairment (HI). An evaluation was carried out with the study circle leaders.

Hearing impairment and self-masking: listening during vocalization.

Objectives: To describe the masking effect of a vocalized [a:] on noise bands and speech in persons with mild-to-moderate hearing impairment (HI).

Design: The masked threshold of noise bands (250-8000 Hz), continuous discourse, and the amount of masking produced were determined. The maximal vocalization level was determined, that still allowed the subject to just follow the continuous discourse.

Hearing speech in music.

The masking effect of a piano composition, played at different speeds and in different octaves, on speech-perception thresholds was investigated in 15 normal-hearing and 14 moderately-hearing-impaired subjects. Running speech (just follow conversation, JFC) testing and use of hearing aids increased the everyday validity of the findings. A comparison was made with standard audiometric noises [International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology (ICRA) noise and speech spectrum-filtered noise (SPN)].

Assessment of auditory brainstem function in lead-exposed children using stapedius muscle reflexes.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the neurological integrity and physiological status of the auditory brainstem tracts and nuclei in children with chronic lead (Pb) exposure using non-invasive acoustic stapedius reflex (ASR) measurements of afferent and efferent-neuromuscular auditory function. Following audiological examinations, uncrossed (ipsilateral) and crossed (contralateral) brainstem ASR responses were evoked by pure tone (500, 1000, and 2000 Hz), and broadband noise (bandwidth: 125-4000 Hz) stimulus activators. The ASR threshold (ASRT), amplitude growth, and decay/fatigue were measured by conventional clinical middle ear immittance methods in a group of Andean children (age range: 2-18 years) with a history of chronic environmental Pb exposure from occupational Pb glazing.

Vibrotactile identification of signal-processed sounds from environmental events.

This study compared three different signal-processing principles (eight basic algorithms)-transposing, modulating, and filtering-to find the principle(s)/algorithm(s) that resulted in the best tactile identification of environmental sounds. The subjects were 19 volunteers (9 female/10 male) who were between 18 and 50 years old and profoundly hearing impaired. We processed sounds produced by 45 representative environmental events with the different algorithms and presented them to subjects as tactile stimuli using a wide-band stationary vibrator.

On the problem of listening while talking.

The Gauffin and Sundberg technique of assessing masking during vocalization was modified and tested on 22 normal-hearing and 20 hearing-impaired subjects. The masking effect of the vocalized [a:] on narrow-band noise pulses (250-8,000 Hz) and on test reading was studied. The results showed that the female voice was about 4 dB more efficient in masking external speech compared to the male voice and that the female voice had a high-frequency bias of masking the narrow-band noise, whereas the male voice had a low-frequency bias.

Analysis of gene polymorphisms associated with K ion circulation in the inner ear of patients susceptible and resistant to noise-induced hearing loss.

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is one of the leading occupational health risks in industrialized countries. It results from an interaction between environmental and genetic factors, however the nature of the genetic factors contributing to NIHL has not yet been clarified. Here, we investigated whether genetic variations in 10 genes putatively involved in the potassium recycling pathway in the inner ear may influence susceptibility to noise.

Self-masking: Listening during vocalization. Normal hearing.

What underlying mechanisms are involved in the ability to talk and listen simultaneously and what role does self-masking play under conditions of hearing impairment? The purpose of the present series of studies is to describe a technique for assessment of masked thresholds during vocalization, to describe normative data for males and females, and to focus on hearing impairment. The masking effect of vocalized [a:] on narrow-band noise pulses (250-8000 Hz) was studied using the maximum vocalization method. An amplitude-modulated series of sound pulses, which sounded like a steam engine, was masked until the criterion of halving the perceived pulse rate was reached.

Auditive identification of signal-processed environmental sounds: monitoring the environment.

The goal of the present study was to compare six transposing signal-processing algorithms based on different principles (Fourier-based and modulation based), and to choose the algorithm that best enables identification of environmental sounds, i.e. improves the ability to monitor events in the surroundings.

Communication as an ecological system.

A conceptual framework for human communication, based on traditional biological ecology, is further developed. The difference between communication at the message and behavioural levels is emphasized. Empirical data are presented from various studies, showing that degree of satisfaction with communication is correlated with how close the outcome is to the memory of function prior to hearing impairment.

Perception of the acoustic environment and neuroimaging findings: a report of six cases with a history of closed head injury.

Conclusion: The main finding was the relation between difficulty in determining the direction of movement of a sound source and frontal lesions and poor working memory. Poor correspondence in some cases between functional findings and imaging findings can be due to the possibility of axonal degeneration as well as plastic reorganization.

Objective: The purpose of the present investigation of six cases was to identify auditory, cognitive and neuroimaging long-term sequelae of closed head injury (CHI) with particular focus on environmental sound recognition and moving sound sources.

Variations in HSP70 genes associated with noise-induced hearing loss in two independent populations.

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is one of the most important occupational health hazards. Millions of people worldwide are exposed daily to harmful levels of noise. NIHL is a complex disease resulting from an interaction between genetic and environmental factors.

Effect on directional hearing in hunters using amplifying (level dependent) hearing protectors.

Background: Ear protectors have gained limited use in real hunting situations because they interfere with rifle handling, eye glasses, listening to conversation and environmental sounds, and impair sound localization ability. Level-dependent protectors have relieved some drawbacks, but sound localization is still affected by most protectors. A new, all-in-the-ear protector is promising, and the primary purpose of this study was to investigate influence of all-in-the-ear protectors on sound localization.

Susceptibility to impulse noise trauma in different species: guinea pig, rat and mouse.

Conclusion: The results indicate that susceptibility to impulse noise differs in the three species.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that there is different susceptibility to impulse noise trauma in three species: the guinea pig, rat and mouse.

Materials And Methods: Three groups of animals were exposed to the same impulse noise and the effect on cochlear pathology was examined using auditory brainstem response thresholds.

Association between variations in CAT and noise-induced hearing loss in two independent noise-exposed populations.

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is an important occupational hazard that results from an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Although the environmental risk factors have been studied quite extensively, little is known about the genetic factors. On the basis of multiple studies, it was proposed that oxidative stress plays an important role in the development of NIHL.

Speech and language development in a population of Swedish hearing-impaired pre-school children, a cross-sectional study.

Objective: There is little information on speech and language development in pre-school children with mild, moderate or severe hearing impairment. The primary aim of the study is to establish a reference material for clinical use covering various aspects of speech and language functions and to relate test values to pure tone audiograms and parents' judgement of their children's hearing and language abilities.

Methods: Nine speech and language tests were applied or modified, both classical tests and newly developed tests.

Ventral approach to rat inner ear preserves cochlear function.

Conclusion: This technique enabled us to visualize the cochlea without causing damage.

Objective: The mammalian inner ear is difficult to approach surgically. This is particularly true in the cases of the rat and mouse, which both have small cochleae.

Low-dose, long-term caroverine administration attenuates impulse noise-induced hearing loss in the rat.

Conclusion: Physiological and morphological assessments indicated that low-dose and long-term caroverine delivery might be a new approach to protect against impulse noise-induced hearing loss.

Background: Although the exact mechanisms by which impulse noise causes hearing loss are still unclear, there is accumulating evidence that increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and excessive glutamate released from the inner hair cells lead to hair cell loss and consequently hearing loss. Caroverine is an antagonist of two glutamate receptors, alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the inner ear, as well as an antioxidant.

The contribution of genes involved in potassium-recycling in the inner ear to noise-induced hearing loss.

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is one of the most important occupational diseases and, after presbyacusis, the most frequent cause of hearing loss. NIHL is a complex disease caused by an interaction between environmental and genetic factors. The various environmental factors involved in NIHL have been relatively extensively studied.

CFTR: Ligand exchange between a permeant anion ([Au(CN)2]-) and an engineered cysteine (T338C) blocks the pore.

Previous attempts to identify residues that line the pore of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) chloride channel have utilized cysteine-substituted channels in conjunction with impermeant, thiol-reactive reagents like MTSET+ and MTSES-. We report here that the permeant, pseudohalide anion [Au(CN)2]- can also react with a cysteine engineered into the pore of the CFTR channel. Exposure of Xenopus oocytes expressing the T338C CFTR channel to as little as 100 nM [Au(CN)2]- produced a profound reduction in conductance that was not reversed by washing but was reversed by exposing the oocytes to a competing thiol like DTT (dithiothreitol) and 2-ME (2-mercaptoethanol).

Variable reactivity of an engineered cysteine at position 338 in cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator reflects different chemical states of the thiol.

In a previous study of T338C CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) we found that protons and thiol-directed reagents modified channel properties in a manner consistent with the hypothesis that this residue lies within the conduction path, but the observed reactivity was not consistent with the presence of a single thiolate species in the pore. Here we report results consistent with the notion that the thiol moiety can exist in at least three chemical states, the simple thiol, and two altered states. One of the altered states displays reactivity toward thiols like dithiothreitol and 2-mercaptoethanol as well as reagents: mixed disulfides (methanethiosulfonate reagents: MTSET+, MTSES-) and an alkylating agent (iodoacetamide).

The influence of genetic variation in oxidative stress genes on human noise susceptibility.

Noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a complex disease caused by an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Damage in the cochlea as a result of noise exposure appears to be mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS). To investigate whether genetic variation in the human protective antioxidant system is associated with high or low susceptibility to NIHL, genetic polymorphisms derived from genes involved in the oxidative stress response were analysed in the 10% most susceptible and 10% most resistant extremes of 1200 Swedish noise-exposed workers.