Advancements in Treatment for Sensorineural Hearing Loss: Implications for Rehabilitation Professionals

Rehabilitation professionals often work with individuals with sensorineural hearing loss. Sometimes the hearing loss is due to ototoxic medications that are prescribed as treatments for other conditions. An understanding of the types of ototoxic medications at the root of the sensorineural hearing loss combined with an understanding of the advancements in treatments will help the rehabilitation professional better serve consumers who fit this description

Rapid climate change results in long-lasting spatial homogenization of phylogenetic diversity

Scientific understanding of biodiversity dynamics, resulting from past climate oscillations and projections of future changes in biodiversity, has advanced over the past decade. Little is known about how these responses, past or future, are spatially connected. Analyzing the spatial variability in biodiversity provides insight into how climate change affects the accumulation of diversity across space. Here, we evaluate the spatial variation of phylogenetic diversity of European seed plants among neighboring sites and assess the effects of past rapid climate changes during the Quaternary on these patterns. Our work shows a marked homogenization in phylogenetic diversity across Central and Northern Europe linked to high climate change velocity and large distances to refugia. Our results suggest that the future projected loss in evolutionary heritage may be even more dramatic, as homogenization in response to rapid climate change has occurred among sites across large landscapes, leaving a legacy that has lasted for millennia

A topical approach to retrievability bias estimation

Retrievability is an independent evaluation measure that offers insights to an aspect of retrieval systems that performance and efficiency measures do not. Retrievability is often used to calculate the retrievability bias, an indication of how accessible a system makes all the documents in a collection. Generally, computing the retrievability bias of a system requires a colossal number of queries to be issued for the system to gain an accurate estimate of the bias. However, it is often the case that the accuracy of the estimate is not of importance, but the relationship between the estimate of bias and performance when tuning a systems parameters. As such, reaching a stable estimation of bias for the system is more important than getting very accurate retrievability scores for individual documents. This work explores the idea of using topical subsets of the collection for query generation and bias estimation to form a local estimate of bias which correlates with the global estimate of retrievability bias. By using topical subsets, it would be possible to reduce the volume of queries required to reach an accurate estimate of retrievability bias, reducing the time and resources required to perform a retrievability analysis. Findings suggest that this is a viable approach to estimating retrievability bias and that the number of queries required can be reduced to less than a quarter of what was previously thought necessary

Antagonistic interactions between filamentous heterotrophs and the cyanobacterium Nostoc muscorum

Background: Little is known about interactions between filamentous heterotrophs and filamentous cyanobacteria. Here, interactions between the filamentous heterotrophic bacteria Fibrella aestuarina (strain BUZ 2) and Fibrisoma limi (BUZ 3) with an axenic strain of the autotrophic filamentous cyanobacterium Nostoc muscorum (SAG 25.82) were studied in mixed cultures under nutrient rich (carbon source present in medium) and poor (carbon source absent in medium) conditions. Findings: F. aestuarina BUZ 2 significantly reduced the cyanobacterial population whereas F. limi BUZ 3 did not. Physical contact between heterotrophs and autotroph was observed and the cyanobacterial cells showed some level of damage and lysis. Therefore, either contact lysis or entrapment with production of extracellular compounds in close vicinity of host cells could be considered as potential modes of action. The supernatants from pure heterotrophic cultures did not have an effect on Nostoc cultures. However, supernatant from mixed cultures of BUZ 2 and Nostoc had a negative effect on cyanobacterial growth, indicating that the lytic compounds were only produced in the presence of Nostoc. The growth and survival of tested heterotrophs was enhanced by the presence of Nostoc or its metabolites, suggesting that the heterotrophs could utilize the autotrophs and its products as a nutrient source. However, the autotroph could withstand and out-compete the heterotrophs under nutrient poor conditions. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the nutrients in cultivation media, which boost or reduce the number of heterotrophs, were the important factor influencing the outcome of the interplay between filamentous heterotrophs and autotrophs. For better understanding of these interactions, additional research is needed. In particular, it is necessary to elucidate the mode of action for lysis by heterotrophs, and the possible defense mechanisms of the autotrophs

BSaladin_Poster_Evolution.pdf

Fossils matter: improved estimates of divergence times in Pinus reveal older diversification

Advancements in Treatment for Sensorineural Hearing Loss: Implications for Rehabilitation Professionals

Rehabilitation professionals often work with individuals with sensorineural hearing loss. Sometimes the hearing loss is due to ototoxic medications that are prescribed as treatments for other conditions. An understanding of the types of ototoxic medications at the root of the sensorineural hearing loss combined with an understanding of the advancements in treatments will help the rehabilitation professional better serve consumers who fit this description

A Review of Ototoxic Medications: Implications for Professionals Working with Consumers with Hearing Loss

Rehabilitation Professionals work with a variety of people with various disabilities and disease states. Oftentimes, those disease states are treated with medications. An understanding of the most common types of medications that can cause ototoxicity, such as aminoglycides, cisplatin and loop diuretics can assist in the vocational rehabilitation process. Rehabilitation professionals are encouraged to establish positive communication with the consumers in order to foster a relationship of trust. Furthermore they are encouraged to establish relationships with Pharmacist for an understanding of the implications of commonly used medications on hearing