Discrimination of Schroeder-Phase Harmonic Complexes by Normal-Hearing and Cochlear-Implant Listeners

The temporal fine structure (TFS) of sound contributes significantly to the perception of music and speech in noise. The evaluation of new strategies to improve TFS delivery in cochlear implants (CIs) relies upon the assessment of fine structure encoding. Most modern CI sound processing schemes do not encode within-channel TFS per se, but some TFS information is delivered through temporal envelope cues across multiple channels. Positive and negative Schroeder-phase harmonic complexes differ primarily in acoustic TFS and provide a potential test of TFS discrimination ability in CI users for current and future processing strategies. The ability to discriminate Schroeder-phase stimuli was evaluated in 24 CI users and 7 normal-hearing listeners at four fundamental frequencies: 50, 100, 200, and 400 Hz. The dependent variables were percent correct at each fundamental frequency, average score across all fundamental frequencies, and a maximum-likelihood-predicted threshold fundamental frequency for 75% correct. CI listeners scored better than chance for all fundamental frequencies tested. The 50-Hz, average, and predicted threshold scores correlated significantly with consonant–nucleus–consonant word scores. The 200-Hz score correlated with a measure of speech perception in speech-shaped noise. Pitch-direction sensitivity is predicted jointly by the 400-Hz Schroeder score and a spectral ripple discrimination task. The results demonstrate that the Schroeder test is a potentially useful measure of clinically relevant temporal processing abilities in CI users

AMPK in cardiovascular diseases

This chapter summarizes the implication of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in the regulation of various physiological and pathological cellular events of great importance for the maintenance of cardiac function. These include the control of both metabolic and non-metabolic elements targeting the different cellular components of the cardiac tissue, i.e., cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, and vascular cells. The description of the multifaceted action of the two AMPK catalytic isoforms, α1 and α2, emphasizes the general protective action of this protein kinase against the development of critical pathologies like myocardial ischemia, cardiac hypertrophy, diabetic cardiomyopathy, and heart failure