Resting-State Functional Connectivity Predicts Cochlear-Implant Speech Outcomes.

Objectives: Cochlear implants (CIs) have revolutionized hearing restoration for individuals with severe or profound hearing loss. However, a substantial and unexplained variability persists in CI outcomes, even when considering subject-specific factors such as age and the duration of deafness. In a pioneering study, we use resting-state functional near-infrared spectroscopy to predict speech-understanding outcomes before and after CI implantation.

Ensemble responses of auditory midbrain neurons in the cat to speech stimuli at different signal-to-noise ratios.

Originally reserved for those who are profoundly deaf, cochlear implantation is now common for people with partial hearing loss, particularly when combined with a hearing aid. This combined intervention enhances speech comprehension and sound quality when compared to electrical stimulation alone, particularly in noisy environments, but the physiological basis for the benefits is not well understood. Our long-term aim is to elucidate the underlying physiological mechanisms of this improvement, and as a first step in this process, we have investigated in normal hearing cats, the degree to which the patterns of neural activity evoked in the inferior colliculus (IC) by speech sounds in various levels of noise allows discrimination between those sounds.

Stimulation artefact removal: review and evaluation of applications in evoked responses.

This study investigated software methods for removing stimulation artefacts in recordings undertaken during deep brain stimulation (DBS). We aimed to evaluate artefact attenuation using sample recordings of evoked resonant neural activity (ERNA), as well as a synthetic ground-truth waveform that emulated observed ERNA characteristics.The synthetic waveform and eight raw DBS recordings were processed by fourteen algorithms spanning the following categories: signal modification, signal decomposition, and template subtraction.

Corrigendum: Organotypic culture of neonatal murine inner ear explants.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2019.

Goal-Directed Rehabilitation Versus Standard Care for Individuals with Hereditary Cerebellar Ataxia: A Multicenter, Single-Blind, Randomized Controlled Superiority Trial.

Objective: Rehabilitation is thought to reduce ataxia severity in individuals with hereditary cerebellar ataxia (HCA). This multicenter, randomized controlled superiority trial aimed to examine the efficacy of a 30-week goal-directed rehabilitation program compared with 30 weeks of standard care on function, ataxia, health-related quality of life, and balance in individuals with an HCA.

Methods: Individuals with an autosomal dominant or recessive ataxia (aged ≥15 years) were enrolled at 5 sites in Australia.

Longitudinal objective assessment of speech in Multiple Sclerosis.

Background: Remote objective tests may supplement in-clinic examination to better inform treatment decisions. Previous cross-sectional studies presented objective speech metrics as potential markers of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) disease progression.

Objective: To examine the short-term stability and long-term sensitivity of speech metrics to MS progression.

A Second-Generation (44-Channel) Suprachoroidal Retinal Prosthesis: A Single-Arm Clinical Trial of Feasibility.

Purpose: To assess the feasibility of a second-generation (44-channel) suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis for provision of functional vision in recipients with end-stage retinitis pigmentosa (RP) over 2.7 years.

Design: Prospective, single-arm, unmasked interventional clinical trial.

Distinct cognitive and functional connectivity features from healthy cohorts can identify clinical obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Improving diagnostic accuracy of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) using models of brain imaging data is a key goal of the field, but this objective is challenging due to the limited size and phenotypic depth of clinical datasets. Leveraging the phenotypic diversity in large non-clinical datasets such as the UK Biobank (UKBB), offers a potential solution to this problem. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether classification models trained on non-clinical populations will generalise to individuals with clinical OCD.

Language networks of normal-hearing infants exhibit topological differences between resting and steady states: An fNIRS functional connectivity study.

Task-related studies have consistently reported that listening to speech sounds activate the temporal and prefrontal regions of the brain. However, it is not well understood how functional organization of auditory and language networks differ when processing speech sounds from its resting state form. The knowledge of language network organization in typically developing infants could serve as an important biomarker to understand network-level disruptions expected in infants with hearing impairment.

Combined-electrical optogenetic stimulation but not channelrhodopsin kinetics improves the fidelity of high rate stimulation in the auditory pathway in mice.

Novel stimulation methods are needed to overcome the limitations of contemporary cochlear implants. Optogenetics is a technique that confers light sensitivity to neurons via the genetic introduction of light-sensitive ion channels. By controlling neural activity with light, auditory neurons can be activated with higher spatial precision.

Extended reality used in the treatment of phantom limb pain: a multicenter, double-blind, randomized controlled trial.

Phantom limb pain (PLP) represents a significant challenge after amputation. This study investigated the use of phantom motor execution (PME) and phantom motor imagery (PMI) facilitated by extended reality (XR) for the treatment of PLP. Both treatments used XR, but PME involved overt execution of phantom movements, relying on the decoding of motor intent using machine learning to enable real-time control in XR.

Cochlear implant induced changes in cortical networks associated with tinnitus severity.

We investigated tinnitus-related cortical networks in cochlear implant users who experience tinnitus and whose perception of tinnitus changes with use of their implant. Tinnitus, the perception of unwanted sounds which are not present externally, can be a debilitating condition. In individuals with cochlear implants, use of the implant is known to modulate tinnitus, often improving symptoms but worsening them in some cases.

Oculomotor and Vestibular Deficits in Friedreich Ataxia - Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Quantitative Measurements.

Disease-specific oculomotor assessments play a crucial role in the early diagnosis of hereditary cerebellar ataxias. Whereas several studies have reported on quantitative oculomotor and vestibular measurements in Friedreich's Ataxia (FRDA), the value of specific oculomotor paradigms remains unclear. We aimed to address this knowledge gap through a systematic literature review and providing disease-specific recommendations for a tailored set of eye-movement recordings in FRDA.

Two Independent Response Mechanisms to Auditory Stimuli Measured with Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Sleeping Infants.

This study investigated the morphology of the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) response to speech sounds measured from 16 sleeping infants and how it changes with repeated stimulus presentation. We observed a positive peak followed by a wide negative trough, with the latter being most evident in early epochs. We argue that the overall response morphology captures the effects of two simultaneous, but independent, response mechanisms that are both activated at the stimulus onset: one being the obligatory response to a sound stimulus by the auditory system, and the other being a neural suppression effect induced by the arousal system.

Gene Electrotransfer via Conductivity-Clamped Electric Field Focusing Pivots Sensori-Motor DNA Therapeutics: "A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down".

Viral vectors and lipofection-based gene therapies have dispersion-dependent transduction/transfection profiles that thwart precise targeting. The study describes the development of focused close-field gene electrotransfer (GET) technology, refining spatial control of gene expression. Integration of fluidics for precise delivery of "naked" plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in sucrose carrier within the focused electric field enables negative biasing of near-field conductivity ("conductivity-clamping"-CC), increasing the efficiency of plasma membrane molecular translocation.

Volumetric and diffusion MRI abnormalities associated with dysarthria in multiple sclerosis.

Up to half of all people with multiple sclerosis experience communication difficulties due to dysarthria, a disorder that impacts the motor aspects of speech production. Dysarthria in multiple sclerosis is linked to cerebellar dysfunction, disease severity and lesion load, but the neuroanatomical substrates of these symptoms remain unclear. In this study, 52 participants with multiple sclerosis and 14 age- and sex-matched healthy controls underwent structural and diffusion MRI, clinical assessment of disease severity and cerebellar dysfunction and a battery of motor speech tasks.

Care Priorities for Individuals with Lower Extremity Amputations: A Patient Delphi Study.

Objective: To gather preliminary evidence on short- and long-term care priorities for people with lower extremity amputations.

Design: A three-round modified Delphi study using semi-structured interviews.

Participants: A convenience sample of 20 adult participants who had undergone lower extremity amputations at a tertiary public hospital.

No Consistent Antidepressant Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation of the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis.

Background: Applying deep brain stimulation (DBS) to several brain regions has been investigated in attempts to treat highly treatment-resistant depression, with variable results. Our initial pilot data suggested that the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) could be a promising therapeutic target.

Objective: The aim of this study was to gather blinded data exploring the efficacy of applying DBS to the BNST in patients with highly refractory depression.

Performance in myoelectric pattern recognition improves with transcranial direct current stimulation.

Sensorimotor impairments, resulting from conditions like stroke and amputations, can profoundly impact an individual's functional abilities and overall quality of life. Assistive and rehabilitation devices such as prostheses, exo-skeletons, and serious gaming in virtual environments can help to restore some degree of function and alleviate pain after sensorimotor impairments. Myoelectric pattern recognition (MPR) has gained popularity in the past decades as it provides superior control over said devices, and therefore efforts to facilitate and improve performance in MPR can result in better rehabilitation outcomes.

Can thoraco-abdominal organ boundaries be accurately determined from X-ray and anthropometric surface scans? Implications for body armour system coverage and design.

To optimise soldier protection within body armour systems, knowledge of the boundaries of essential thoraco-abdominal organs is necessary to inform coverage requirements. However, existing methods of organ boundary identification are costly and time consuming, limiting widespread adoption for use on soldier populations. The aim of this study was to evaluate a novel method of using 3D organ models to identify essential organ boundaries from low dose planar X-rays and 3D external surface scans of the human torso.

Probucol-bile acid nanoparticles: a novel approach and promising solution to prevent cellular oxidative stress in sensorineural hearing loss.

The use of antioxidants could thus prove an effective medication to prevent or facilitate recovery from oxidative stress-induced sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). One promising strategy to prevent SNHL is developing probucol (PB)-based nanoparticles using encapsulation technology and administering them to the inner ear via the established intratympanic route. The preclinical, clinical and epidemiological studies support that PB is a proven antioxidant that could effectively prevent oxidative stress in different study models.