χ-Conotoxins are an Evolutionary Innovation of Mollusk-Hunting Cone Snails as a Counter-Adaptation to Prey Defense.

Mollusk-hunting (molluscivorous) cone snails belong to a monophyletic group in Conus, a genus of venomous marine snails. The molluscivorous lineage evolved from ancestral worm-hunting (vermivorous) snails ∼18 Ma. To enable the shift to a molluscivorous lifestyle, molluscivorous cone snails must solve biological problems encountered when hunting other gastropods, namely: (i) preventing prey escape and (ii) overcoming the formidable defense of the prey in the form of the molluscan shell, a problem unique to molluscivorous Conus.

Evolutionary déjà vu? A case of convergent evolution in an ant-plant association.

Obligatory ant-plant symbioses often appear to be single evolutionary shifts within particular ant lineages; however, convergence can be revealed once natural history observations are complemented with molecular phylogenetics. Here, we describe a remarkable example of convergent evolution in an ant-plant symbiotic system. Exclusively arboreal, species can be generalized opportunists nesting in several plant species or obligately symbiotic, live-stem nesters of a narrow set of plant species.

Carbon content and other soil properties of near-surface peats before and after peatland restoration.

Peatland restoration usually aims at restarting the peatlands' function to store carbon within peat. The soil properties of the near-surface peat can give a first understanding of this process. Therefore, we sampled pH value, total organic carbon content (TOC), total nitrogen content (TN), C/N ratio as well as dry bulk density (BD), and describe the structure of near-surface peats in six restored fens in North-East Germany before (2002-2004) and after (2019-2021) restoration.

Seasonal Changes in Nycthemeral Availability of Sympatric Temperate Mixed Forest Rodents: The Predators' Perspective.

(1) Background: Bank voles () and mice are of exceptional importance as prey for predators in temperate mixed forests. We hypothesized that overall prey availability would increase linearly with prey frequency, and that the daylight hours, which are considered particularly dangerous, would be used only during seasonal rodent population peaks and only in the twilight hours. (2) Methods: We conducted a two-year camera-trapping study in an inner alpine mixed forest and collected 19,138 1 min videos in 215 camera-trap nights.

Auditory Cortical Plasticity in Patients with Single-Sided Deafness Before and After Cochlear Implantation.

Purpose: This study investigated neuroplastic changes induced by postlingual single-sided deafness (SSD) and the effects of a cochlear implantation for the deaf ear. Neural processing of acoustic signals from the normal hearing ear to the brain was studied before and after implantation using a positron emission tomography (PET)/CT scanner.

Methods: Eight patients with postlingual SSD received a cochlear implant (CI) in a prospective clinical trial.

Generation of distortion product otoacoustic emissions in infants with a combined air and bone conduction stimulus.

Objectives: Evaluation of Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAEs) by combining Air Conduction (AC) and Bone Conduction (BC) stimuli in infants.

Methods: Measurements were performed in 19 normal hearing infants, and in 23 adults serving as a control group. The stimulus consisted either of two AC tones, or of combined AC/BC tones.

High Frequency of Mice Boosts Inverse Activity Pattern of Bank Voles, , through Non-Aggressive Intraguild Competition.

Sympatric animals with similar requirements can separate their ecological niches along the microhabitat, food and time axes. There may be alternative reasons for an interspecific different activity pattern, such as intraspecific social constraints, predator avoidance or physical conditions such as temperature, precipitation and illumination. We investigated the importance of intraguild competition in a 2-year study in an inner-alpine mixed forest, using small forest rodents as our model species.

ADHEAR device in bone conduction audiometry.

ADHEAR is a bone conduction hearing aid that uses an adhesive skin adapter. In the current study, the use of ADHEAR as an audiometric bone stimulator was investigated in normal-hearing subjects by comparing it to the standard Radio-Ear B71. Bone conduction thresholds of 15 normal-hearing subjects (aged 21-36 years) were measured four times in a randomized order, twice with the B71 and twice with the ADHEAR.

A taxonomic revision of the dirt ants, Basiceros Schulz, 1906 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae).

The ant genus Basiceros is an exclusively Neotropical group known for its cryptic habits. Based on a recent molecular phylogenetic framework, a comprehensive revisionary study of the genus is presented. Nine species are recognized, two of which are described as new (Basiceros browni sp.

Opening the Blood Brain Barrier with an Electropermanent Magnet System.

Opening the blood brain barrier (BBB) under imaging guidance may be useful for the treatment of many brain disorders. Rapidly applied magnetic fields have the potential to generate electric fields in brain tissue that, if properly timed, may enable safe and effective BBB opening. By tuning magnetic pulses generated by a novel electropermanent magnet (EPM) array, we demonstrate the opening of tight junctions in a BBB model culture in vitro, and show that induced monophasic electrical pulses are more effective than biphasic ones.

ATLANTIC ANTS: a data set of ants in Atlantic Forests of South America.

Ants, an ecologically successful and numerically dominant group of animals, play key ecological roles as soil engineers, predators, nutrient recyclers, and regulators of plant growth and reproduction in most terrestrial ecosystems. Further, ants are widely used as bioindicators of the ecological impact of land use. We gathered information of ant species in the Atlantic Forest of South America.

Conductive Hearing Loss with Age-A Histologic and Audiometric Evaluation.

A retrospective analysis to quantify age-related changes of the incudo-malleolar joint (IMJ) and incudo-stapedial joint (ISJ), and to analyse changes in the air-bone gap (ABG) with age, was performed. Defined histologic parameters of 153 IMJ and 106 ISJ from subjects aged from birth to 70 years were correlated to age. Additionally, audiograms of 1760 ears of 974 other subjects aged 20 to 80 years were retrospectively analysed and the ABG was correlated to age.

A polymer index-matched to water enables diverse applications in fluorescence microscopy.

We demonstrate diffraction-limited and super-resolution imaging through thick layers (tens-hundreds of microns) of BIO-133, a biocompatible, UV-curable, commercially available polymer with a refractive index (RI) matched to water. We show that cells can be directly grown on BIO-133 substrates without the need for surface passivation and use this capability to perform extended time-lapse volumetric imaging of cellular dynamics 1) at isotropic resolution using dual-view light-sheet microscopy, and 2) at super-resolution using instant structured illumination microscopy. BIO-133 also enables immobilization of 1) Drosophila tissue, allowing us to track membrane puncta in pioneer neurons, and 2) Caenorhabditis elegans, which allows us to image and inspect fine neural structure and to track pan-neuronal calcium activity over hundreds of volumes.

Magnetic Microdevices for MRI-Based Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Viruses.

Goal: To develop a micron-scale device that can operate as an MRI-based reporter for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Methods: Iron rod microdevices were constructed via template-guided synthesis and suspended in phosphate buffered saline (PBS). Heat-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 viruses were added to the samples and imaged with low-field MRI.

Cochlear implants in single-sided deafness - clinical results of a Swiss multicentre study.

Aim Of The Study: The aim of this multicentre, prospective, open, nonrandomised clinical trial was to demonstrate the clinical efficiency and outcomes of cochlear implants (CIs) in adult patients with post-lingual single-sided deafness (SSD).

Methods: A group of five left and five right SSD participants were investigated with various clinical tests and questionnaires before and 12 months after CI activation. Changes in hearing thresholds, speech understanding in noise, sound localisation, tinnitus (Tinnitus Handicap Inventory; THI), subjective hearing ability (Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale; SSQ), and quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) were assessed.

Species interactions and climate change: How the disruption of species co-occurrence will impact on an avian forest guild.

Interspecific interactions are crucial in determining species occurrence and community assembly. Understanding these interactions is thus essential for correctly predicting species' responses to climate change. We focussed on an avian forest guild of four hole-nesting species with differing sensitivities to climate that show a range of well-understood reciprocal interactions, including facilitation, competition and predation.

In-vivo assessment of osseous versus non-osseous transmission pathways of vibratory stimuli applied to the bone and the dura in humans.

Background: Bone conduction (BC) is an alternative to air conduction (AC) for stimulation of the inner ear. Stimulation for BC can occur directly on the skull bone, on the skin covering the skull bone, or on soft tissue (i.e.

Evaluation of an Infant Temporal-Bone Model as Training Tool.

Objective: Evaluation of the face validity of a new artificial model of an infant temporal bone (TB) suitable for surgical training, including cochlear implantation.

Subject: Micro-computer-tomography images were obtained from a TB specimen of a 1-year-old normal infant available in an anatomical collection. The TB model was designed and constructed using these images and techniques known from similar models of adult TB.

Right Ear Advantage of Speech Audiometry in Single-sided Deafness.

Background: Postlingual single-sided deafness (SSD) is defined as normal hearing in one ear and severely impaired hearing in the other ear. A right ear advantage and dominance of the left hemisphere are well established findings in individuals with normal hearing and speech processing. Therefore, it seems plausible that a right ear advantage would exist in patients with SSD.

Sheep as a large animal ear model: Middle-ear ossicular velocities and intracochlear sound pressure.

Animals are frequently used for the development and testing of new hearing devices. Dimensions of the middle ear and cochlea differ significantly between humans and commonly used animals, such as rodents or cats. The sheep cochlea is anatomically more like the human cochlea in size and number of turns.

[Multicenter trial for sudden hearing loss therapy - planning and concept].

Systemic steroids are widely used worldwide as a standard of care for primary therapy of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL). The German ISSHL guideline recommends high-dose steroids for primary therapy of ISSHL, without evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The rationale for the treatment of ISSHL using high dose steroids is only based on retrospective cohort studies.

Sound localization measured by eye-tracking.

Objective: To introduce a new method of measuring sound localization ability based on eye-tracking and to test this method by analysing the influence of mild induced conductive hearing loss on sound localization.

Design: Sound signals were presented from different angles, and the participant's responses were measured using an eye-tracking device. For validation, a comparison of responses to visual stimuli was performed.

Management of laryngomalacia in children with congenital syndrome: the role of supraglottoplasty.

Background/importance: Supraglottoplasty is the surgical procedure of choice for severe laryngomalacia and has shown to be successful in most cases; however, patients with medical comorbidities present a higher rate of failure. To date, the best management of laryngomalacia in children with congenital syndrome remains unclear.

Purpose: To study the outcome of supraglottoplasty in children with severe laryngomalacia, and to analyze the management and outcome in infants with a congenital syndrome.