The molecular changes following sensory trauma and the subsequent response of the CNS are poorly understood. We focused on finding a molecular tool for monitoring the features of excitability which occur following acoustic trauma to the auditory system. Of particular interest are genes that alter their expression pattern during activity-induced changes in synaptic efficacy and plasticity. The e...

The level of hearing rehabilitation enjoyed by cochlear implant (CI) recipients has increased dramatically since the introduction of these devices. This improvement is the result of continual development of these systems and the inclusion of subjects with less severe auditory pathology. Developments include advanced signal processing, higher stimulation rates, greater numbers of channels, and m...

The cochlear microphonic (CM) is created primarily by the receptor currents of outer hair cells (OHCs) and may therefore be useful for identifying cochlear regions with impaired OHCs. However, the CM measured across the frequency range with round-window or ear-canal electrodes lacks place-specificity as it is dominated by cellular sources located most proximal to the recording site (e.g., at th...

Mitosis of supporting cells has been shown to contribute to the cellular repopulation of the basilar papilla after acoustic trauma. In the present work we report data obtained with light and transmission electron microscopy after acoustic trauma in chicks. We report changes that occur in cell shape, surface morphology, intercellular junctions, nuclear shape and location, and cytoplasmic organiz...

OBJECTIVE To monitor changes in cochlear function during cochlear implantation using electrocochleography (ECoG) and to correlate changes to postoperative hearing preservation. METHODS ECoG responses to acoustic stimuli of 250, 500, and 1000 Hz were recorded during cochlear implantation. The recording electrode was placed on the promontory and stabilized to fix the position during cochlear im...

BACKGROUND Emotionally traumatic experiences can lead to debilitating anxiety disorders, such as phobias and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Exposure to such experiences, however, is not sufficient to induce pathology, as only up to one quarter of people exposed to such events develop PTSD. These statistics, combined with findings that smaller hippocampal size prior to the trauma is asso...

Traumatic stress can lead to long-term emotional alterations, which may result in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Fear reactions triggered by conditioned cues and exacerbated emotional arousal in face of non-conditioned stimuli are among the most prominent features of PTSD. We hypothesized that long-term emotional alterations seen in PTSD may depend on the strength of context-trauma assoc...

Research on threat responses, particularly among trauma-exposed individuals, has traditionally focused on increased autonomic arousal and reactivity. However, clinical features associated with trauma exposure, such as dissociation (e.g., shutting down or "spacing out") manifest as the opposite pattern: non-reactivity and blunted arousal. These clinical features suggest that the possibility of t...