Listening-related fatigue can be a significant problem for adults who struggle to hear and understand, particularly adults with hearing loss. However, valid, sensitive, and clinically useful measures ...for listening-related fatigue do not currently exist. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a brief clinical tool for measuring listening-related fatigue in adults.
The clinical scale was derived from the 40-item version of the Vanderbilt Fatigue Scale for Adults (VFS-A-40), an existing, reliable, and valid research tool for measuring listening-related fatigue. The study consisted of two phases. Phase 1 ( N = 580) and Phase 2 ( N = 607) participants consisted of convenience samples of adults recruited via online advertisements, clinical records review, and a pool of prior research participants. In Phase 1, results from item response theory (IRT) analyses of VFS-A-40 items were used to identify high-quality items for the brief (10-item) clinical scale: the VFS-A-10. In Phase 2, the characteristics and quality of the VFS-A-10 were evaluated in a separate sample of respondents. Dimensionality was evaluated using exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) and item quality and characteristics were evaluated using IRT. VFS-A-10 reliability and validity were assessed in multiple ways. IRT reliability analysis was used to examine VFS-A-10 measurement fidelity. In addition, test-retest reliability was assessed in a subset of Phase 2 participants ( n = 145) who completed the VFS-A-10 a second time approximately one month after their initial measure (range 5 to 90 days). IRT differential item functioning (DIF) was used to assess item bias across different age, gender, and hearing loss subgroups. Convergent construct validity was evaluated by comparing VFS-A-10 responses to two other generic fatigue scales and a measure of hearing disability. Known-groups validity was assessed by comparing VFS-A-10 scores between adults with and without self-reported hearing loss.
EFA suggested a unidimensional structure for the VFS-A-10. IRT analyses confirmed all test items were high quality. IRT reliability analysis revealed good measurement fidelity over a wide range of fatigue severities. Test-retest reliability was excellent ( rs = 0.88, collapsed across participants). IRT DIF analyses confirmed the VFS-A-10 provided a valid measure of listening-related fatigue regardless of respondent age, gender, or hearing status. An examination of associations between VFS-A-10 scores and generic fatigue/vigor measures revealed only weak-to-moderate correlations (Spearman's correlation coefficient, rs = -0.36 to 0.57). Stronger associations were seen between VFS-A-10 scores and a measure of perceived hearing difficulties ( rs = 0.79 to 0.81) providing evidence of convergent construct validity. In addition, the VFS-A-10 was more sensitive to fatigue associated with self-reported hearing difficulties than generic measures. It was also more sensitive than generic measures to variations in fatigue as a function of degree of hearing impairment.
These findings suggest that the VFS-A-10 is a reliable, valid, and sensitive tool for measuring listening-related fatigue in adults. Its brevity, high sensitivity, and good reliability make it appropriate for clinical use. The scale will be useful for identifying those most affected by listening-related fatigue and for assessing benefits of interventions designed to reduce its negative effects.
Summary Objectives Symptomatic degenerative disc disease (DDD) is associated with neovascularization and nerve ingrowth into intervertebral discs (IVDs). Notochordal cells (NCs) are key cells that ...may lead to regeneration of IVDs. However, their activities under conditions of hypoxia, the real environment of IVD, are not well known. We hypothesized that NCs may inhibit neovascularization by interacting with endothelial cells (ECs) under hypoxia. Design Human IVDs were isolated and cultured to produce nucleus pulposus (NP) cell conditioned medium (NPCM). Immortalized human microvascular ECs were cultured in NPCM with notochordal cell-rich rabbit nucleus pulposus cells (rNC) under hypoxia. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) were analyzed by ELISA. Focal adhesion kinase (FAK), filamentous actin (F-actin), and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) were evaluated to investigate EC activity. Wound-healing migration assays were performed to examine EC migration. Results The VEGF level of EC cells cultured in NPCM was significantly higher under hypoxia compared to normoxia. VEGF expression was significantly decreased, and FAK, F-actin, PDGF expression were inhibited when ECs were cocultured with rNCs under hypoxia. ECs cocultured with rNC in NPCM showed significantly decreased migratory activity compared to those without rNC under hypoxia. Conclusions The angiogenic capacity of ECs was significantly inhibited by NCs under hypoxia via a VEGF-related pathway. Our results suggest that NCs may play a key role in the development of IVDs by inhibiting vascular growth within the disc, and this may be a promising novel therapeutic strategy for targeting vascular ingrowth in symptomatic DDD.
The novel myokine irisin has been reported as a therapeutic target for metabolic disease. The objective of this study is to reveal the effects of aerobic training (AT) and resistance training (RT) on ...circulating irisin levels and their associations with change of body composition in overweight/obese adults. Twenty eight overweight/obese adults (BMI>23 kg/m(2)) were included in this study and compared before and after 8 weeks of exercise program (60 min/day, 5 times in a week). The subjects, in both aerobic and resistance training, showed significant improvement in anthropometric parameters and exercise capacities including maximal oxygen uptake and muscle strength. Interestingly, the circulating irisin was significantly increased in resistance training group (p=0.002) but not in aerobic training (p=0.426) compared to control group. In addition, we found the positive correlation between change of the circulating irisin and muscle mass (r=0.432, p=0.022) and the negative correlation between change of the circulating irisin and fat mass (r=-0.407, p=0.031). In the present pilot study, we found that circulating irisin level was increased by 8 weeks of resistance training in overweight/obese adults, suggesting that resistance training could be the efficient exercise type in overweight/obese considering positive change of body composition concomitant with increase of irisin levels.
To clarify the roles of Bmi-1 in colorectal carcinoma, we examined the expression of Bmi-1 in 41 samples out of 46 colorectal carcinomas by reverse transcription-PCR, whereas all 46 were analyzed by ...immunostaining. In addition, we analyzed the expression patterns of Bmi-1 in association with p16INK4a and p14ARF (in mouse p19ARF) in a series of colorectal carcinomas. The level of
Bmi-1 mRNA in the carcinoma tissues was significantly higher than those of the adjacent non-neoplastic colonic mucosal tissues. Immunohistochemistry for Bmi-1 showed moderate or strong expression levels in 65% (30/46) of colorectal carcinomas. Colorectal carcinomas with moderate or strong Bmi-1 expression were more likely to have low levels of the INK4 locus proteins (p16INK4a/p14ARF) (
P<0.07). These results suggested that modulation of Bmi-1 protein might be involved in human colorectal carcinogenesis by repressing the INK4a/ARF proteins.
Using an in vitro translation assay to screen a human brain cDNA library, we isolated the microtubule-associated protein Tau and determined it to be a caspase-3 substrate whose C-terminal cleavage ...occurred during neuronal apoptosis. ΔTau, the 50-kDa cleavage product, was detected by Western blot in apoptotic cortical cells probed with anti-PHF-1 and anti-Tau-5 antibodies, but not anti-T-46 antibody which recognizes the C-terminus. Overexpression of ΔTau in SK-N-BE2(C) cells significantly increased the incidence of cell death. Staurosporine-induced Tau cleavage was blocked by 20 μM z-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-chloromethylketone, a caspase-3 inhibitor, and in vitro, Tau was selectively cleaved by caspase-3 or calpain, a calcium-activated protease, but not by caspases-1, -8, or -9. (D421E)-Tau, a mutant in which Asp421 was replaced with a Glu, was resistant to cleavage by caspase-3 and tended to suppress staurosporine-induced cell death more efficiently than did wild-type Tau in both transient and stable expression systems. Finally, the incidence of ΔTau-induced cell death was augmented by expression of Aβ precursor protein (APP) or Swedish APP mutant. Taken together, these results suggest that the caspase-3 cleavage product of Tau may contribute to the progression of neuronal cell death in Alzheimer's disease.
This retrospective study of the patterns and efforts of the extensive vaccination programs for canine rabies control (EVPCRC) compared the prevalence rate (PR) of rabies under two different ...vaccination programs for dogs in Korea between 1962 and 2007. A total of 753 cases of rabid dogs were reported between 1962 and 2007, and there were 350 human cases reported in the same period. There were 518 cases (PR, 4.11) of rabid dogs reported from 1962 to 1979, when the low-egg-passage Flury strain vaccine was used, and a total of 342 human cases were observed over the same period. However, there were 235 rabid dogs (PR, 0.83) identified from 1980 to 2007 when the Evelyn-Rokitnicki-Abelseth strain vaccine was used, and only 8 human cases of rabies were observed during the same period. The prevalence of rabies in dogs during the two periods was significantly different (P < 0.01). Moreover, the year with the largest outbreak, 1975, contained 91 cases, and the PR value was 6.3. In 1963, for humans, there were 103 cases, and the PR value was 0.4. However, in recent years, raccoon dogs have increased as a reservoir of rabies in the mountain areas linking North Korea with South Korea near the demilitarized zone, reflecting areas with poor EVPCRC.
Neutrinos exist in one of three types or 'flavours'-electron, muon and tau neutrinos-and oscillate from one flavour to another when propagating through space. This phenomena is one of the few that ...cannot be described using the standard model of particle physics (reviewed in ref.
), and so its experimental study can provide new insight into the nature of our Universe (reviewed in ref.
). Neutrinos oscillate as a function of their propagation distance (L) divided by their energy (E). Therefore, experiments extract oscillation parameters by measuring their energy distribution at different locations. As accelerator-based oscillation experiments cannot directly measure E, the interpretation of these experiments relies heavily on phenomenological models of neutrino-nucleus interactions to infer E. Here we exploit the similarity of electron-nucleus and neutrino-nucleus interactions, and use electron scattering data with known beam energies to test energy reconstruction methods and interaction models. We find that even in simple interactions where no pions are detected, only a small fraction of events reconstruct to the correct incident energy. More importantly, widely used interaction models reproduce the reconstructed energy distribution only qualitatively and the quality of the reproduction varies strongly with beam energy. This shows both the need and the pathway to improve current models to meet the requirements of next-generation, high-precision experiments such as Hyper-Kamiokande (Japan)
and DUNE (USA)
.
We report the first observation of the double strange baryon Ξ(1620)^{0} in its decay to Ξ^{-}π^{+} via Ξ_{c}^{+}→Ξ^{-}π^{+}π^{+} decays based on a 980 fb^{-1} data sample collected with the Belle ...detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e^{+}e^{-} collider. The mass and width are measured to be 1610.4±6.0(stat)_{-4.2}^{+6.1} (syst) MeV/c^{2} and 59.9±4.8(stat)_{-7.1}^{+2.8}(syst) MeV, respectively. We obtain 4.0σ evidence of the Ξ(1690)^{0} with the same data sample. These results shed light on the structure of hyperon resonances with strangeness S=-2.
Objective: As otitis media with effusion is common in children, the effects of a ventilation tube should be taken into account in the prescription of hearing aids for children. In ears with a ...ventilation tube, the external auditory canal communicates directly with the middle ear space, and so the impedance of the middle ear may change. Consequently, this will affect external-ear resonance. The aim of this study is to observe the effects of the tympanic membrane perforations caused by the ventilation tube on external-ear resonance. We selected 30 ears with otitis media with effusion to measure external-ear resonance before and after ventilation tube insertion. We compared the external-ear resonance of a control group with that of the otitis media with the effusion group and two types of ventilation-tube groups, respectively. In the subjects who have otitis media with effusion, the average gain of the peak resonance was larger than that in the control group. After ventilation-tube insertion, the amplitude of the gain decreased to the same level as the control group, but a characteristic negative gain appeared around 1000 Hz in about half of all cases. This negative gain was observed more frequently in the ventilation tube with a larger diameter. The raised peak resonance gain in the otitis media with effusion group decreased to a level roughly the same as that of the control group after ventilation-tube insertion. Provision of an additional gain in the low frequencies around 1000 Hz should be considered for patients with a ventilation tube when prescribing hearing aids.
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