A growing body of evidence has shown that a relationship between age-related hearing loss and structural brain changes exists. However, a method to measure brain atrophy associated with hearing loss ...from a single MRI study (i.e. without an interval study) that produces an independently interpretable output does not. Such a method would be beneficial for studying patterns of structural brain changes on a large scale. Here, we introduce our method for this. Audiometric evaluations and mini-mental state exams were obtained in 34 subjects over the age of 80 who have had brain MRIs in the past 6 years. CSF and parenchymal brain volumes (whole brain and by lobe) were obtained through a novel, fully automated algorithm. Atrophy was calculated by taking the ratio of CSF to parenchyma. High frequency hearing loss was associated with disproportional temporal lobe atrophy relative to whole brain atrophy independent of age (
= 0.471, p = 0.005). Mental state was associated with frontoparietal atrophy but not to temporal lobe atrophy, which is consistent with known results. Our method demonstrates that hearing loss is associated with temporal lobe atrophy and generalized whole brain atrophy. Our algorithm is efficient, fully automated, and able to detect significant associations in a small cohort.
Abstract
Consumers routinely encounter situations in which they perceive that resources are scarce. However, little is known about how this perception influences consumers’ use of price in their ...purchase decisions. The present research seeks to fill this gap by examining the link between scarcity and the tendency to use price to judge product quality, and the mechanisms underlying that link. Six studies (and five more reported in the web appendix) using multiple product categories and a variety of operationalizations of both scarcity and price-quality judgments show that scarcity decreases consumers’ tendency to use price to judge product quality. This occurs because scarcity induces a desire to compensate for the shortage and seek abundance, and thereby reduces an individual’s general categorization tendency (because categorizing brings about a feeling of reduction); this, in turn, hinders consumers from viewing products as belonging to different price-tier groups, and thus lowers their tendency to use price as a basis for judging product quality. Boundary conditions for the proposed effect are also identified. The current research makes fundamental contributions to the literatures on scarcity, price-quality judgments, and categorization.
Recent evidence shows that it is possible to identify the elements responsible for sensorineural hearing loss, such as pro-inflammatory cytokines and macrophages, by performing perilymph sampling. ...However, current studies have only focused on the diagnosis of such as otologic conditions. Hearing loss is a feature of certain neuroinflammatory disorders such as multiple sclerosis, and sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is widely detected in Alzheimer’s disease. Although the environment of the inner ear is highly regulated, there are several communication pathways between the perilymph of the inner ear and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Thus, examination of the perilymph may help understand the mechanism behind the hearing loss observed in certain neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. Herein, we review the constituents of CSF and perilymph, the anatomy of the inner ear and its connection with the brain. Then, we discuss the relevance of perilymph sampling in neurology. Currently, perilymph sampling is only performed during surgical procedures, but we hypothesize a simplified and low-invasive technique that could allow sampling in a clinical setting with the same ease as performing an intratympanic injection under direct visual check. The use of this modified technique could allow for perilymph sampling in people with hearing loss and neuroinflammatory/neurodegenerative disorders and clarify the relationship between these conditions; in fact, by measuring the concentration of neuroinflammatory and/or neurodegenerative biomarkers and those typically expressed in the inner ear in aging SNHL, it could be possible to understand if SNHL is caused by aging or neuroinflammation.
Exclusive measurements of the quasifree pp→ppπ^{+}π^{-} reaction have been carried out at WASA@COSY by means of pd collisions at T_{p}=1.2 GeV. Total and differential cross sections have been ...extracted covering the energy region T_{p}=1.08-1.36 GeV, which is the region of N^{*}(1440) and Δ(1232)Δ(1232) resonance excitations. Calculations describing these excitations by t-channel meson exchange are at variance with the measured differential cross sections and underpredict substantially the experimental total cross section. An isotensor ΔN dibaryon resonance with I(J^{P})=2(1^{+}) produced associatedly with a pion is able to overcome these deficiencies.
Abstract
Although coupons are very effective in increasing sales, a major challenge marketers face with coupons is the low redemption rates. Consequently, marketers are continuously trying to ...identify consumers who are more or less likely to respond to couponing efforts, in order to better direct coupons to segments high in coupon proneness and hence increase redemption rates. The current research identifies consumers’ cultural backgrounds and values as important determinants of their likelihood of redeeming coupons. Across five studies, we find that Asians (vs. Caucasians), Indians (vs. Americans), and, more generally, consumers with an interdependent (vs. independent) self-construal are more likely to use coupons because they are more motivated to engage in self-regulation, which is proposed to enhance coupon proneness. We conclude with the implications of these findings for marketers, such as for their segmentation and targeting endeavors. We also provide specific tools that marketers could use, both inside and outside the store, to influence consumers’ use of coupons.
Objectives/Hypothesis
The objective of our study was to investigate age‐specific auditory function in the patient population aged 95 years and older.
Study Design
Retrospective chart review at a ...tertiary medical center.
Methods
Medical records of 51 patients older than 95 years (82% female, 18% male) who underwent audiologic testing were reviewed. The following information was collected: age at time of most recent audiogram and prior audiograms; results of pure tone, immittance, and speech audiometry; and findings on radiologic imaging.
Results
None of the subjects had hearing in the normal range. For the poorer hearing ear, average low‐frequency, high‐frequency, and overall pure tone averages (PTA) for the population were 67.9, 82.1, and 74.9 dB hearing level, respectively. Mean word recognition score (WRS) was 57.6% and deteriorated with increasing PTA (P = .0002). Asymmetry, defined by a 10‐dB difference at two frequencies, was present in 39.2% of the sample, and WRS asymmetry, defined as a difference of 12% in WRS between ears, was present in 33.0% of the sample. Retrocochlear evaluation did not identify pathology in any of the cases tested. In the poorer hearing ear, average decline in PTA per year was 2.9 dB.
Conclusions
In individuals >95 years of age, hearing loss was universal, moderately severe to profound in magnitude, and associated with substantial loss of speech recognition. Hearing loss progresses at a rate greater than for younger cohorts. In this “oldest old” population, asymmetry of loss and WRS was common and is not indicative of retrocochlear pathology.
Level of Evidence
4 Laryngoscope, 126:1630–1632, 2016
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