Significant Difference In Amplitude Research Articles

Characteristics of Lexical Stress in Hebrew-Speaking Children With Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

The purpose of the present study was to explore the ability of Hebrew-speaking children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) to produce lexical stress. A total of 36 children aged between 4 and 7 years, 18 children with CAS, and 18 typically developing (TD) children participated in the study. All children completed language and speech assessments. The children imitated 20 weak-strong and strong-weak target words within short sentences and in isolation. Acoustic analysis of the vowels in the stressed and unstressed syllables of the target words and perceptual judgment of the words by six speech-language pathologists were conducted. The acoustic analysis showed significant differences in duration, fundamental frequency, and amplitude between stressed and unstressed vowels in weak-strong and strong-weak words and in both groups of children. The total duration for both the stressed and weak syllables was longer in children with CAS compared to TD children. Rated on a Likert scale of 1-5, where 5 indicates correct production, the productions of lexical stress in the CAS group were judged as above 4 on average but were significantly worse compared to the TD group. The target productions of children with CAS were judged as including excessive, equal, or misplaced stress in 10.8% of the productions, whereas 5.8% of the target productions of the TD children were judged as having inappropriate stress. The present findings suggest that Hebrew-speaking children with CAS produce the acoustic characteristics of lexical stress similarly to their peers, and their productions are perceived as having relatively good lexical stress (above 4), although not as good as TD children.

Pattern electroretinography response in amblyopic adults

IntroductionAmblyopia is generally a unilateral disorder, defined by at least a difference of two lines of visual acuity between both eyes with the best-corrected visual acuity, a decrease in contrast sensitivity, and a decrease in stereopsis. Pattern electroretinogram (PERG) is a noninvasive technique that provides a retinal biopotential and is a highly sensitive indicator of changes in the macular area. Our aim was to evaluate if there are differences in the retinal response of an amblyopic eye compared with a normal eye (NE).MethodsWe evaluated twenty-four adult volunteers, twelve amblyopes (mean 43.42 ± 12.72 years old), and twelve subjects with NE (mean 35.58 ± 12.85 years old). None of the subjects in the two groups had comorbidities. A complete optometric examination was performed including parameters such as visual acuity (VA) by far and near with ETDRS chart, eye alignment with cover test, and evaluation of retinal cells response with PERG.ResultsThe refractive error found in the NE group of subjects had a mean of − 0.95 ± 1.65D, while the amblyopic group showed a mean of − 2.03 ± 4.29D. The VA in amblyopic eyes had a mean of 0.38 ± 0.20 logMAR. Analyzing PERG data, we observed significant differences in the P50-N95 amplitudes of the amblyopic group compared with the NE group (p < 0.0001–amblyopic eye vs. NE; p = 0.039–fellow eye vs. NE).DiscussionThese findings suggest that amblyopic patients may also present other impairments beyond the visual cortex. PERGs seem to be an important complementary examination in the diagnosis of other impairments in amblyopia.

A negative emotional state impairs individuals' ability to filter distractors from working memory: an ERP study.

Capacity-limited visual working memory (VWM) requires that individuals have sufficient memory space and the ability to filter distractors. Negative emotional states are known to impact VWM storage, yet their influence on distractor filtering within VWM remains underexplored. We conducted direct neural measurement of participants (n = 56) who conducted a lateralized change detection task with distractors, while manipulating the emotional state by presenting neutral or negative images before each trial. We found a detrimental effect of distractors on memory accuracy under both neutral and negative emotional states. Usingtheevent-related potential (ERP) component, contralateral delay activity (CDA; sensitive to VWM load), to observe the VWM load in each condition, we found that in the neutral state, the participants showed significantly higher late CDA amplitudes when remembering 4 targets compared with 2 targets and 2 targets with 2 distractors but no significant difference when remembering 2 targets compared with 2 targets with 2 distractors. In the negative state, no significant CDA amplitude differences were evident when remembering 4 targets and 2 targets, but CDA was significantly higher when remembering 2 targets with 2 distractors compared with 2 targets. These results suggest that the maximum number of items participants could store in VWM was lower under negative emotional states than under neutral emotional states. Importantly, the participants could filter out distractors when in a neutral emotional state but not in a negative emotional state, indicating that negative emotional states impair their ability to filter out distractors in VWM.

The Role of EGG in Identifying Prevocalic Glottal Stop

ObjectiveThe aim of the study is to investigate the use of incidences and characteristics of Prevocalic Electroglottographic Signal (PVES) derived from electroglottography (EGG) in characterizing glottal stops in cleft palate speech. MethodsMandarin non-aspirated monosyllabic first tone words were used for the speech sampling procedure. A total of 1680 utterances (from 83 patients with repaired cleft palates) were divided into three categories based on the results of auditory-perceptual evaluation of recorded speech sounds by three independent reviewers: [Category A (absence of glottal stop agreed by all 3 reviewers) (n = 1192 tokens), Category B (two out of three reviewers agreed on the presence of a glottal stop) (n = 181 tokens) and Category C (all 3 reviewers agreed on the presence of a glottal stop) (n = 307 tokens)]. The EGG signals of the 1680 utterances were analyzed using a MATLAB program to automatically mark the instances of PVES (amplitude & time-interval) in the GS utterances. ResultsThe result showed that the incidence of EGG PVES presented good positive correlation with auditory-perceptual evaluation (r=0.703, p＜0.000). Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference in mean PVES amplitude among different groups (p＜0.05). There was a significant distinction in the time-interval between groups A and B, as well as in groups A and C (p＜0.05). ConclusionsThe study suggests PVES can be an objective means of identifying glottal stops in cleft palate speech. It also indicates that proportion of amplitude and time interval of PVES tend to be positively correlate with subjective assessment.

Time–frequency analysis of gustatory event related potentials (gERP) in taste disorders

In taste disorders, the key to a correct diagnosis and an adequate treatment is an objective assessment. Compared to psychophysical tests, EEG-derived gustatory event-related potentials (gERP) could be used as a less biased measure. However, the responses identified using conventional time-domain averaging show a low signal-to-noise ratio. This study included 44 patients with dysgeusia and 59 healthy participants, who underwent a comprehensive clinical examination of gustatory function. gERPs were recorded in response to stimulation with two concentrations of salty solutions, which were applied with a high precision gustometer. Group differences were examined using gERP analyzed in the canonical time domain and with Time–Frequency Analyses (TFA). Dysgeusic patients showed significantly lower scores for gustatory chemical and electrical stimuli. gERPs failed to show significant differences in amplitudes or latencies between groups. However, TFA showed that gustatory activations were characterized by a stronger power in controls than in patients in the low frequencies (0.1–4 Hz), and a higher desynchronization in the alpha-band (8–12 Hz). Hence, gERPs reflect the altered taste sensation in patients with dysgeusia. TFA appears to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio commonly present when using conventional time-domain averaging, and might be of assistance for the diagnosis of dysgeusia.

Heartbeat-evoked neural response abnormalities in generalized anxiety disorder during peripheral adrenergic stimulation.

Hyperarousal symptoms in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are often incongruent with the observed physiological state, suggesting that abnormal processing of interoceptive signals is a characteristic feature of the disorder. To examine the neural mechanisms underlying interoceptive dysfunction in GAD, we evaluated whether adrenergic modulation of cardiovascular signaling differentially affects the heartbeat-evoked potential (HEP), an electrophysiological marker of cardiac interoception, during concurrent electroencephalogram and functional magnetic resonance imaging (EEG-fMRI) scanning. Intravenous infusions of the peripheral adrenergic agonist isoproterenol (0.5 and 2.0 micrograms, μg) were administered in a randomized, double-blinded and placebo-controlled fashion to dynamically perturb the cardiovascular system while recording the associated EEG-fMRI responses. During the 0.5 μg isoproterenol infusion, the GAD group (n = 24) exhibited significantly larger changes in HEP amplitude in an opposite direction than the healthy comparison (HC) group (n = 24). In addition, the GAD group showed significantly larger absolute HEP amplitudes than theHC groupduring saline infusions, when cardiovascular tone did not increase. No significant group differences in HEP amplitude were identified during the 2.0 μg isoproterenol infusion. Using analyzable blood oxygenation level-dependent fMRI data from participants with concurrent EEG-fMRI data (21 GAD and 21 HC), we found that the aforementioned HEP effects were uncorrelated with fMRI signals in the insula, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, and somatosensory cortex, brain regions implicated in cardiac signal processing in prior fMRI studies. These findings provide additional evidence of dysfunctional cardiac interoception in GAD and identify neural processes at the electrophysiological level that may be independent from blood oxygen level-dependent responses during peripheral adrenergic stimulation.

Widespread slow oscillations support interictal epileptiform discharge networks in focal epilepsy

Interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) often co-occur across spatially-separated cortical regions, forming IED networks. However, the factors prompting IED propagation remain unelucidated. We hypothesized that slow oscillations (SOs) might facilitate IED propagation. Here, the amplitude and phase synchronization of SOs preceding propagating and non-propagating IEDs were compared in 22 patients with focal epilepsy undergoing intracranial electroencephalography (EEG) evaluation. Intracranial channels were categorized into the irritative zone (IZ) and normal zone (NOZ) regarding the presence of IEDs. During wakefulness, we found that pre-IED SOs within the IZ exhibited higher amplitudes for propagating IEDs than non-propagating IEDs (delta band: p = 0.001, theta band: p < 0.001). This increase in SOs was also concurrently observed in the NOZ (delta band: p = 0.04). Similarly, the inter-channel phase synchronization of SOs prior to propagating IEDs was higher than those preceding non-propagating IEDs in the IZ (delta band: p = 0.04). Through sliding window analysis, we observed that SOs preceding propagating IEDs progressively increased in amplitude and phase synchronization, while those preceding non-propagating IEDs remained relatively stable. Significant differences in amplitude occurred approximately 1150 ms before IEDs. During non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, SOs on scalp recordings also showed higher amplitudes before intracranial propagating IEDs than before non-propagating IEDs (delta band: p = 0.006). Furthermore, the analysis of IED density around sleep SOs revealed that only high-amplitude sleep SOs demonstrated correlation with IED propagation. Overall, our study highlights that transient but widely distributed SOs are associated with IED propagation as well as generation in focal epilepsy during sleep and wakefulness, providing new insight into the EEG substrate supporting IED networks.

Ab. No. 170 Impact of Dynamic Postural Exercises on Electromyographic Activity, Co-Contraction and Joint Position Sense in Upper Cross Syndrome: A Pilot Study

Introduction: A greater prevalence with no strong rehabilitation program for Upper Crossed Syndrome (UCS) accompanied the purpose to find out the efficacy of dynamic postural exercise developed on the basis of identification of muscle activation pattern in UCS.This will help in effective management of patients suffering from UCS. Methods: 14 subjects with diagnosed UCS were randomly allocated to experimental and control groups (N=14; n=7). Participants were asked to perform 4 exercises (YTWL) using elastic resistance band during which amplitude of muscle activation and cocontraction ratio with Surface electrodes using 4 channel electromyographic system were measured.12 muscles of both side (Upper, middle and lower trapezius, serratus anterior, pectoralis major, anterior scalene) were assessed. The intervention of experimental group consisted of seven exercises. Both groups were given hot pack, TENS and cervical AROM exercises. The intervention was prescribed for three days a week for 8 weeks. Cervical kinesthesia was measured using joint position sense error (JPSE) test. All the outcome variables were recorded at the baseline and after 8 weeks. Result: Statistically significant difference (p≤0.05) of mean amplitude in pre-post values of experimental group as well as between group were found. Between group analysis of UT:LT, SC:AS contraction ratio and joint position sense also found to be significant(p≤0.05). Conclusion: There was a significant improvement in mean amplitude and cocontraction of cervicothoracic muscles in Dynamic Postural Exercise group. Kinesthesia also improved in experimental group. Implications: A focused rehabilitation program for UCS will help in improving the quality of life and functional efficacy.

The diagnostic effect of integrated visual and auditory continuous performance and event-related potentials in ADHD.

The development of objective assessment tools for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has become a hot research topic. The aim was to explore the value of the P300 wave and integrated visual and auditory continuous performance test (IVA-CPT) in diagnosing ADHD. We enrolled 30 patients with ADHD and 30 age-matched healthy volunteers in a prospective study to evaluate differences in IVA-CPT and P300 indexes using student t test. These tools' accuracy in identifying ADHD patients was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Additionally, the correlation between P300 and IVA-CPT in ADHD patients was evaluated using Pearson correlation analysis. Compared with healthy volunteers, ADHD patients showed longer latency and lower amplitude, and had lower scores of IVA-CPT (P<0.01). There was no significant difference of latency, amplitude, and area below the amplitude of the P300 wave and in the score of IVA-CPT for age and gender within-ADHD groups (P>0.05). Moreover, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed high accuracy of P300 and IVA-CPT in identifying ADHD patients. Furthermore, both P300 index and IVA-CPT had high accuracy and performance in identification of ADHDin, ADHDhi, and ADHDcom. However, for different subtypes of ADHD, no significant differences were observed of ROC curves between subgroups (P>0.05). In addition, the performance in IVA-CPT was positively correlated with the amplitude, and negatively correlated with the latency of P300. These results support the discriminant validity of P300 and IVA-CPT in distinguishing ADHD patients, providing a theoretical basis for P300 and IVA-CPT testing in the clinical diagnosis of ADHD.

Alternating Current Electroosmotic Flow of Maxwell Fluid in a Parallel Plate Microchannel with Sinusoidal Roughness.

The EOF of a viscoelastic Maxwell fluid driven by an alternating pressure gradient and electric field in a parallel plate microchannel with sinusoidal roughness has been investigated within the Debye-Hückel approximation based on boundary perturbation expansion and separation of variables. Perturbation solutions were obtained for the potential distribution, the velocity and the mean velocity, and the relation between the mean velocity and the roughness. There are significant differences in the velocity amplitudes of the Newtonian and Maxwell fluids. It is shown here that the velocity distribution of the viscoelastic fluid is significantly affected by the roughness of the walls, which leads to the appearance of fluctuations in the fluid. Also, the velocity is strongly dependent on the phase difference θ of the roughness of the upper and lower plates. As the oscillation Reynolds number ReΩ increases, the velocity profile and the average velocity um(t) of AC EOF oscillate rapidly but the velocity amplitude decreases. The Deborah number De plays a similar role to ReΩ, which makes the AC EOF velocity profile more likely to oscillate. Meanwhile, phase lag χ (representing the phase difference between the electric field and the mean velocity) decreases when G and θ are increased. However, for larger λ (e.g., λ > 3), it almost has no phase lag χ.

Impaired insight and error-monitoring deficits among outpatients with attenuated psychosis syndrome and first-episode psychosis

We aimed to determine the relationship between electrophysiological signatures of error monitoring and clinical insight among outpatients with attenuated psychosis syndrome (APS) and first-episode psychosis (FEP). Error-related negativity (ERN), error positivity (Pe), and correct response negativity (CRN) were recorded during a modified flanker task for patients with FEP (n = 32), APS individuals (n = 58), and healthy controls (HC, n = 49). Clinical insight was measured using the Schedule of Assessment of Insight (SAI) and included awareness of illness (SAI-illness), relabeling of specific symptoms (SAI-symptoms), and treatment compliance (SAI-treatment). Compared with HC, patients with FEP showed smaller ERN (p < 0.001) and Pe (p = 0.011) amplitudes and individuals with APS showed smaller ERN amplitude (p = 0.009). No significant difference in CRN amplitude was observed among the groups. A smaller negative amplitude of ERN correlated with a lower score on SAI-symptoms (b = −0.032, 95% CI: 0.062 to −0.002, p = 0.035) and a decreased total score of SAI (b = −0.096, 95% CI: 0.182 to −0.010, p = 0.029). This links were adjusted for age, education, and diagnosis (a dummy variable with FEP = 1 and APS = 0), and was independent of positive symptoms. SAI-illness was predominantly influenced by diagnosis, whereas SAI-treatment was additionally affected by disorganized communications. Neither Pe nor CRN amplitude exhibited an association with clinical insight. Unconscious error detection, as indicated by ERN, may aid individuals at the preliminary stage of psychosis in recognizing the unusual symptoms.

Olfactory event-related potentials (OERPs) and trigeminal event-related potentials (TERPs) - a pilot study in Czech participants with normal sense of smell.

In recent years, the evaluation of potential events related to olfactory events (OERPs) and trigeminal events (TERPs) has become increasingly important in the diagnosis of olfactory disorders. This technique is increasingly used in basic research and clinical practice to evaluate people suffering from olfactory disorders. In a pilot project of the first investigations of OERPs and TERPs in the Czech Republic, we analyse the event-related potentials of the data of normosmic participants. In the prospective study, 21 normosmic participants were enrolled for a 2-year period (5/2021-5/2023). OERPs/TERPs were recorded at the scalp vertex (electrode Pz/Cz). Odourants 2-phenylethanol/CO2 were used to selectively activate Nervus olfactorius/ Nervus trigeminus. Brain responses to olfactory/trigeminal stimuli (EEG) were recorded in 21/18 normosmic subjects. In the statistical analysis of the olfactory interval N1-P2 (age, gender), we found no statistically significant differences. In the statistical analysis of the trigeminal interval N1-P2 (age, gender) we found statistically significant differences in amplitude by gender (male amplitudes were higher than female amplitudes, p = 0.006). Our pilot data can function very well as an internal guide for ongoing and future olfactory research studies. Evaluation of the presence of OERPs appears to be an important parameter for the evaluation of olfactory disorders. The absence of OERPs is a strong indicator of the presence of olfactory dysfunction.

Influence of conflicting prior information on action anticipation in soccer players: an ERP study.

Prior probability information and visual kinematic information are essential for action anticipation in athletes. The aims of this study were to examine how conflicting prior information influences anticipatory judgment in athletes vs. non-athletes and to explore the underlying cognitive mechanisms. The aim of Experiment 1 was to determine the moment when prior information influenced action anticipation in athletes vs. non-athletes. To that end, 17 semi-elite soccer goalkeepers and 18 non-athletes received prior information about the probability of the direction that a player on a video would kick a ball into the goal. Participants then anticipated the trajectory of the ball when the action of the player's kick on the video was truncated at the moment the foot contacted the ball (time T) or one frame (T-1; 50 ms) or two frames (T-2; 100 ms) before the foot-ball contact. The aim of Experiment 2 was to elucidate the adaptive cognitive-motor behavior exhibited by highly trained soccer players at the moment when their anticipatory performance was most influenced by prior information. Experiment 2 included 27 different semi-elite soccer players with many years of experience as a goalkeeper and 27 different non-athletes. Participants anticipated the direction of the kick when the kinematic action of the kicker at the moment the anticipatory performance of the participants was most influenced by prior information (as determined in Experiment 1) was congruent, incongruent, or neutral. Action anticipation accuracy and response time were evaluated for both experiments, whereas event-related potential components N1, N2, and P3 were assessed only in Experiment 2. The results of Experiment 1 showed that anticipatory accuracy was significantly higher among athletes than non-athletes and that anticipatory accuracy with directional information given was significantly higher than that when no prior information was given or when prior information without directional information was given (p < 0.001) for both T-1 (p's ≤ 0.034) and T-2 (p's < 0.001) occlusion points. In Experiment 2 using those two video occlusion times, the amplitude of the N1 component, which reflects selective attention to stimulus properties, was significantly higher in athletes than in non-athletes (p < 0.001). The amplitude of the N2 component, which has been associated with conflict monitoring, for the incongruent condition was significantly higher than that for both neutral (p < 0.001) and congruent (p < 0.001) conditions in athletes. Non-athletes exhibited no significant N2 amplitude differences for any prior information condition. Integrating prior information enhanced action anticipation in semi-elite soccer players, particularly 50 and 100 ms before the foot-ball contact. Semi-elite soccer players prioritized early selective attention and conflict monitoring of kinematic information, facilitating action anticipation using the prior information.

Laboratory Acousto‐Mechanical Study Into Moisture‐Induced Reduction of Fracture Stiffness in Granite

AbstractWater infiltration into fractures is ubiquitous in crustal rocks. However, little is known about how such a progressive wetting process affects fracture stiffness and seismic wave propagation, which are highly relevant for characterizing fracture systems in situ. We study the acousto‐mechanical behavior of a free‐standing fractured granite subjected to gradual water infiltration with a downward‐moving wetting front over 12 days. We observe significant differences (i.e., by an order of magnitude) in wave amplitudes across the fractured granite compared to an intact granite, with both cases showing a strong correlation between wave amplitudes and wetting front movement. Effects of water infiltration into the fracture and surrounding matrix on seismic attenuation are captured by a numerical model with parameters constrained by experimental data. Back‐calculated fracture stiffness decreases exponentially with the wetting front migration along the fracture. We propose that moisture‐induced matrix expansion around the fracture increases asperity mismatch, leading to reduced fracture stiffness.

Transcranial direct current stimulation combined with speech therapy in Fragile X syndrome patients: a pilot study.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the leading cause of genetic intellectual disability. Among the neurobehavioral dysfunctions in FXS individuals, language development and literacy are compromised. Recent evidence hypothesized that the disruption of excitatory glutamatergic and GABAergic inhibitory neurotransmission balance might be responsible for impairment in cognitive function. In this study, we evaluated for the first time, the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of anodal prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with standard speech therapy to enhance language function in FXS patients. In total, 16 adult FXS patients were enrolled. Participants underwent 45 min of anodic tDCS combined with speech therapy for 5 weeks (3 times per week). Language function was evaluated using the Test for Reception of Grammar-Version 2 (TROG-2) and subtests of the Italian Language Examination (Esame del Linguaggio - II, EDL-II). Right and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex transcranial magnetic stimulation and concurrent electroencephalography (TMS-EEG) recordings were collected at baseline and after the treatment to evaluate cortical reactivity and connectivity changes. After 5 weeks of combined therapy, we observed a significant improvement in the writing (7.5%), reading (20.3%), repetition (13.3%), and TROG-2 (10.2%) tests. Parallelly with clinical change, TMS-EEG results showed a significant difference in TMS-evoked potential amplitude over the left frontal cortex after treatment (-0.73 ± 0.87 μV) compared to baseline (0.18 ± 0.84 μV). Our study provides novel evidence that left anodal prefrontal tDCS combined with standard speech therapy could be effective in enhancing language function in FXS patients, mainly by inducing a rebalance of the dysfunctional prefrontal cortical excitability.

The impact of electrode selection for ocular correction on the reward positivity and late positive potential components in adolescents.

Electroencephalography (EEG) data processing to derive event-related potentials (ERPs) follows a standard set of procedures to maximize signal-to-noise ratio. This often includes ocular correction, which corrects for artifacts introduced by eye movements, typically measured by electrooculogram (EOG) using facial electrodes near the eyes. Yet, attaching electrodes to the face may be uncomfortable for some populations, best to avoid in some situations, and contribute to data loss. Eye movements can also be measured using electrodes in a standard 10-20 EEG cap. An examination of the impact of electrode selection on ERPs is needed to inform best practices. The present study examined data quality when using different electrodes to measure eye movements for ocular correction (i.e., facial electrodes, cap electrodes, and no ocular correction) for two well-established and widely studied ERP components (i.e., reward positivity, RewP; and late positive potential, LPP) elicited in adolescents (N = 34). Results revealed comparable split-half reliability and standardized measurement error (SME) between facial and cap electrode approaches, with lower SME for the RewP with facial or cap electrodes compared to no ocular correction. Few significant differences in mean amplitude of ERPs were observed, but the LPP to positive images differed when using facial compared to cap electrodes. Findings provide preliminary evidence of the ability to collect high-quality ERP data without facial electrodes. However, when using cap electrodes for EOG measurement and ocular correction, it is recommended to use consistent procedures across the sample or statistically examine the impact of ocular correction procedures on results.

Masseter vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials at different tone burst frequencies in healthy individuals

BackgroundMasseter vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (mVEMP) are vestibular-dependent inhibitory reflex recorded using acoustic stimulus. mVEMP can assess important brainstem regions. mVEMP abnormalities have been reported in patients with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and idiopathic random eye movement disorder. The objective of the study was to record mVEMP using tone-burst stimulus at different frequencies in young healthy individuals.MethodThe study used normative study design. Thirty-two participants, aged 18–28 years with normal hearing and balance function, were recruited for the study. Simple random sampling was used for selection of participants.Data collection and analysismVEMP was recorded for all the individuals at 500 Hz,750 Hz,1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, and 4000 Hz tone burst stimuli. The p11 and n21 peaks were identified. The latency of the p11 and n21 peaks and the rectified amplitude of the p11-n21 peak complex were measured for all the participants. Wilcoxson signed-rank test was used for statistical anlysis.ResultsThe study found a 100% response rate and higher amplitude for 500 Hz and 750 Hz tone burst stimuli. However, Wilcoxson signed-rank test with Bonferroni correction showed no significant difference in amplitude (p = 0.92) between 500 and 750 Hz.ConclusionThe study recommends 500 Hz/750 Hz tone burst stimuli as an optimal frequency for recording mVEMP in young, healthy individuals. However, seeing the frequency-tuning characteristics of mVEMP in other peripheral vestibular pathologies would be interesting.

The dyeing effect of acridine orange for multiple plasmid systems is sensitive to temperature.

The Goldview dyeing of the natural multiplasmid system of Lactobacillus plantarum PC518 was affected by temperature. The article want to identify the specific molecules that cause temperature sensitivity, then experiment on the universality of temperature sensitivity, and finally preliminarily analyze the influencing factors. At 5°C and 25°C, single pDNA, multiplasmid system, and linear DNA samples were electrophoretic on agarose gel prestained by Goldview 1, 2, 3, and acridine orange (AO), respectively. Eighteen vectors of Escherichia coli and two vectors shortened by cloning were mixed into multiplasmid systems with different member numbers, and then electrophoresis with AO staining was performed within the range of 5°C-45°C, with a linearized multiplasmid system as the control. The lane profiles (peaks) were captured with Image Lab 5.1 software. After electrophoresis, the nine-plasmid-2 system was dyed with AO solutions of different ionic strengths to detect the effect of ionic strength on temperature sensitivity. It was measured that the UV-visible absorption spectra of thenine-plasmid-2 system dissolved in AO solutions with different ionic strengths and pH. Further, a response surface model was constructed using Design-Expert.V8.0.6 software. The electrophoresis result showed that the multiplasmid system from L. plantarum PC518 stained by AO staining showed a weak band at 5°C and five bands at 25°C, which was similar to the result of staining with Goldview 1, 2, and 3. The synthetic nine-plasmid-1 system and nine-plasmid-2 system displayed different band numbers on the electrophoresis gel in the electrophoresis temperature range of 5°C-45°C, namely 3, 4, 6, 4, and 2 bands, as well as 2, 6, 7, 8, and 5 bands. Using the 1× Tris-acetate-EDTA (TAE)-AO solution, the poststaining results of the nine-plasmid-2 system in the temperature range of 5°C-45°C were 4, 6, 9, 9, and 7 bands, respectively. Further, using 5×, 10×, or 25× TAE buffer, the AO poststaining results at 5°C were 4, 2, and 1 bands, respectively. The ultraviolet spectral results from 5°C to 25°C showed that there was a significant difference (3.5 times) in the fluctuation amplitude at the absorption peak of 261.2 nm between 0× and 1-10× TAE-AO solution containing the nine-plasmid-2 system. Specifically, the fluctuation amplitudes of 0×, 1×, 5×, and 10× samples were 0.032, 0.109, 0.112, and 0.110, respectively. At the same time, using 1× and 10× TAE buffer, the AO-stained linear nine-plasmid-2 system remained stable and did not display temperature sensitivity. The response surface models of the AO-stained nine-plasmid-2 system intuitively displayed that the absorbance of the 1× TAE samples increased significantly with increasing temperature compared to the 0× TAE samples, regardless of the pH value. The findings confirmed a temperature-dependent effect in AO staining of natural or synthetic multiplasmid systems, with the optimum staining result occurring at 25°C. Ion strength was a necessary condition for the temperature sensitivity mechanism. This study layed the groundwork for further investigation into the reasons or underlying mechanisms of temperature sensitivity in AO staining of multiplasmid systems.

Hearing profile of recovered severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-COV2) patients

BackgroundCoronaviruses are large, encapsulated RNA viruses that can infect both humans and animals and cause minor respiratory illnesses. In December 2019, numerous cases of pneumonia of unknown origin were reported in Wuhan, China. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the cause of these cases, was discovered on January 6, 2020. The new coronavirus was declared an epidemic by the WHO on March, 2020. Several studies on COVID-19 have found that auditory complaints and hearing impairment can be detected using various tests.ObjectivesPure tone audiometry (PTA) and transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) were used to assess hearing in recovered SARS-CoV-2 patients. Also, to compare the presence of patient's auditory complaints with the test findings.MethodsA case- control study was conducted, with each case and control group consisting of 58 people who were age and sex matched and ranged in age from 18 to 50 years. PTA, Extended PTA and, TEOAEs were used to evaluate hearing in both groups.ResultsPTA revealed a statistically significant difference in right ear thresholds at 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 4 kHz, and 8 kHz and left ear thresholds at 250 Hz, 4 kHz, 8 kHz, and 12.5 kHz between patients and controls. Additionally, a statistically significant difference in TEOAEs' overall reproducibility and amplitude between patients and controls was discovered. Affection for PTA and TEOAEs were related to the patient's complaints of hearing loss and tinnitus, respectively.ConclusionsWhether a patient is symptomatic or not, COVID-19 may have a negative impact on their hearing.

Desensitized gamers? Violent video game exposure and empathy for pain in adolescents – an ERP study

ABSTRACTThis Event-Related Potential (ERP) study aimed to test how habitual and short-term violent video game exposure (VVGE) may affect empathy for pain responses in adolescents. In a within-subjects design, boys (N = 56; aged 12–16 years) performed a pain judgment task before and immediately after playing a violent video game. In this task, participants judged whether photos of hands depicted on their screen were in a painful situation or not. While both the P3 and the LPP components were not related to habitual violent video game exposure, general exposure to antisocial media content predicted lower P3 amplitudes to painful pictures. Further, 40 min of violent gameplay did not affect the P3 responses; however, it temporarily decreased LPP responses to painful pictures, suggesting a modest short-term desensitization effect. However, this latter interpretation is limited by a strong LPP pain effect – a significant amplitude difference between painful and non-painful pictures – that remained present in the post-game condition. Such persistent LPP effect may relate to the notion that adolescents are still learning how to properly regulate their emotional reactions. This study contributes to the limited literature on violent video games’ desensitization in adolescents’ brains, opening new avenues for media violence research.