Introduction: Stories From Those Who Interpret For Others in Healthcare.

This symposium includes twelve personal narratives from healthcare interpreters who have navigated challenges while interpreting for patients and healthcare providers who do not share a common language. These stories are from trained professionals who speak a variety of spoken and sign languages. They describe what it is like to be a communication tool for a Patient-Physician relationship and the many ways this service takes a toll on their own physical and emotional health.

Engaging children and adolescents in the design and conduct of paediatric research.

The importance of patient engagement in product development and clinical research is widely acknowledged. In pediatrics, parents and guardians are often vocal advocates for their children in the process, but investigators and sponsors rarely directly solicit children's or adolescents' perspectives in clinical research planning or as patient partners during the conduct of research. Here, we provide compelling reasons and recommendations for investigators and sponsors to systematically engage young people in the design, conduct, and review of research, and the premise that input will be incorporated as a routine expectation.

Perceptual Consequences of Cochlear Deafferentation in Humans.

Cochlear synaptopathy, a form of cochlear deafferentation, has been demonstrated in a number of animal species, including non-human primates. Both age and noise exposure contribute to synaptopathy in animal models, indicating that it may be a common type of auditory dysfunction in humans. Temporal bone and auditory physiological data suggest that age and occupational/military noise exposure also lead to synaptopathy in humans.

Associations Between Physiological Correlates of Cochlear Synaptopathy and Tinnitus in a Veteran Population.

Purpose: Animal models and human temporal bones indicate that noise exposure is a risk factor for cochlear synaptopathy, a possible etiology of tinnitus. Veterans are exposed to high levels of noise during military service. Therefore, synaptopathy may explain the high rates of noise-induced tinnitus among Veterans.

Decentralized clinical trials and rare diseases: a Drug Information Association Innovative Design Scientific Working Group (DIA-IDSWG) perspective.

Background: Traditional clinical trials require tests and procedures that are administered in centralized clinical research sites, which are beyond the standard of care that patients receive for their rare and chronic diseases. The limited number of rare disease patients scattered around the world makes it particularly challenging to recruit participants and conduct these traditional clinical trials.

Main Body: Participating in clinical research can be burdensome, especially for children, the elderly, physically and cognitively impaired individuals who require transportation and caregiver assistance, or patients who live in remote locations or cannot afford transportation.