Similar susceptibility to temporary hearing threshold shifts despite different audiograms in harbor porpoises and harbor seals.

When they are exposed to loud fatiguing sounds in the oceans, marine mammals are susceptible to hearing damage in the form of temporary hearing threshold shifts (TTSs) or permanent hearing threshold shifts. We compared the level-dependent and frequency-dependent susceptibility to TTSs in harbor seals and harbor porpoises, species with different hearing sensitivities in the low- and high-frequency regions. Both species were exposed to 100% duty cycle one-sixth-octave noise bands at frequencies that covered their entire hearing range.

Masking release at 4 and 32 kHz in harbor seals associated with sinusoidal amplitude-modulated masking noise.

Masking can reduce the efficiency of communication and prey and predator detection. Most underwater sounds fluctuate in amplitude, which may influence the amount of masking experienced by marine mammals. The hearing thresholds of two harbor seals for tonal sweeps (centered at 4 and 32 kHz) masked by sinusoidal amplitude modulated (SAM) Gaussian one-third octave noise bands centered around the narrow-band test sweep frequencies, were studied with a psychoacoustic technique.

Evaluation of kurtosis-corrected sound exposure level as a metric for predicting onset of hearing threshold shifts in harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena).

Application of a kurtosis correction to frequency-weighted sound exposure level (SEL) improved predictions of risk of hearing damage in humans and terrestrial mammals for sound exposures with different degrees of impulsiveness. To assess whether kurtosis corrections may lead to improved predictions for marine mammals, corrections were applied to temporary threshold shift (TTS) growth measurements for harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) exposed to different sounds. Kurtosis-corrected frequency-weighted SEL predicted accurately the growth of low levels of TTS (TTS < 10 dB) for intermittent sounds with short (1-13 s) silence intervals but was not consistent with frequency-weighted SEL data for continuous sound exposures.

An orthogonal IL-2 and IL-2Rβ system drives persistence and activation of CAR T cells and clearance of bulky lymphoma.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells induce durable responses in patients with refractory hematological tumors. However, low CAR T cell activity, poor engraftment, or short in-patient persistence can lead to tumor progression or relapse. Furthermore, excessive CAR T cell expansion and activation can result in life-threatening cytokine release syndrome (CRS).