Electrically Evoked Auditory Event-Related Responses in Patients with Auditory Brainstem Implants: Morphological Characteristics, Test–Retest Reliability, Effects of Stimulation Level, and Association with Auditory Detection

This study aimed to 1) characterize morphological characteristics of the electrically-evoked cortical auditory event-related potentials (eERP) and explore the potential association between onset eERP morphology and auditory vs non-auditory stimulation; 2) assess test-retest reliability of onset eERPs; 3) investigate effects of stimulation level on onset eERPs; and 4) explore the feasibility of using the onset eERP to estimate the lowest stimulation level that can be detected for individual stimulating electrodes in patients with auditory brainstem implants (ABIs)

Objective Measures of Electrode Discrimination With Electrically Evoked Auditory Change Complex and Speech-Perception Abilities in Children With Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder

This study aimed to 1) determine the sensitivity of the electrically evoked auditory change complex (eACC) to changes in stimulating electrode position; and 2) investigate the association between results of eACC measures and behavioral electrode discrimination and their association with speech-perception performance in pediatric cochlear implant (CI) users who have auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD)

The Electrically Evoked Cortical Auditory Event-Related Potential in Children With Auditory Brainstem Implants

This study explored the feasibility of measuring electrically-evoked cortical auditory event-related potentials (eERPs) in children with auditory brainstem implants (ABIs)

Gap Detection Measured With Electrically Evoked Auditory Event–Related Potentials and Speech-Perception Abilities in Children With Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder

This study aimed 1) to investigate the feasibility of recording the electrically evoked auditory event-related potential (eERP), including the onset P1-N1-P2 complex and the electrically evoked auditory change complex (EACC) in response to temporal gaps, in children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD); and 2) to evaluate the relationship between these measures and speech perception abilities in these subjects

Acoustically Evoked Auditory Change Complex in Children With Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder: A Potential Objective Tool for Identifying Cochlear Implant Candidates

The overall aim of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of using electrophysiological measures of the auditory change complex (ACC) to identify candidates for cochlear implantation in children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD). In order to achieve this overall aim, this study 1) assessed the feasibility of measuring the ACC evoked by temporal gaps in a group of children with ANSD across a wide age range; and 2) investigated the association between gap detection thresholds (GDTs) measured by the ACC recordings and open-set speech-perception performance in these subjects

Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: In an era of shifting global agendas and expanded emphasis on non-communicable diseases and injuries along with communicable diseases, sound evidence on trends by cause at the national level is essential. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides a systematic scientific assessment of published, publicly available, and contributed data on incidence, prevalence, and mortality for a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of diseases and injuries. Methods: GBD estimates incidence, prevalence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to 369 diseases and injuries, for two sexes, and for 204 countries and territories. Input data were extracted from censuses, household surveys, civil registration and vital statistics, disease registries, health service use, air pollution monitors, satellite imaging, disease notifications, and other sources. Cause-specific death rates and cause fractions were calculated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model and spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression. Cause-specific deaths were adjusted to match the total all-cause deaths calculated as part of the GBD population, fertility, and mortality estimates. Deaths were multiplied by standard life expectancy at each age to calculate YLLs. A Bayesian meta-regression modelling tool, DisMod-MR 2.1, was used to ensure consistency between incidence, prevalence, remission, excess mortality, and cause-specific mortality for most causes. Prevalence estimates were multiplied by disability weights for mutually exclusive sequelae of diseases and injuries to calculate YLDs. We considered results in the context of the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and fertility rate in females younger than 25 years. Uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for every metric using the 25th and 975th ordered 1000 draw values of the posterior distribution. Findings: Global health has steadily improved over the past 30 years as measured by age-standardised DALY rates. After taking into account population growth and ageing, the absolute number of DALYs has remained stable. Since 2010, the pace of decline in global age-standardised DALY rates has accelerated in age groups younger than 50 years compared with the 1990–2010 time period, with the greatest annualised rate of decline occurring in the 0–9-year age group. Six infectious diseases were among the top ten causes of DALYs in children younger than 10 years in 2019: lower respiratory infections (ranked second), diarrhoeal diseases (third), malaria (fifth), meningitis (sixth), whooping cough (ninth), and sexually transmitted infections (which, in this age group, is fully accounted for by congenital syphilis; ranked tenth). In adolescents aged 10–24 years, three injury causes were among the top causes of DALYs: road injuries (ranked first), self-harm (third), and interpersonal violence (fifth). Five of the causes that were in the top ten for ages 10–24 years were also in the top ten in the 25–49-year age group: road injuries (ranked first), HIV/AIDS (second), low back pain (fourth), headache disorders (fifth), and depressive disorders (sixth). In 2019, ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the top-ranked causes of DALYs in both the 50–74-year and 75-years-and-older age groups. Since 1990, there has been a marked shift towards a greater proportion of burden due to YLDs from non-communicable diseases and injuries. In 2019, there were 11 countries where non-communicable disease and injury YLDs constituted more than half of all disease burden. Decreases in age-standardised DALY rates have accelerated over the past decade in countries at the lower end of the SDI range, while improvements have started to stagnate or even reverse in countries with higher SDI. Interpretation: As disability becomes an increasingly large component of disease burden and a larger component of health expenditure, greater research and developm nt investment is needed to identify new, more effective intervention strategies. With a rapidly ageing global population, the demands on health services to deal with disabling outcomes, which increase with age, will require policy makers to anticipate these changes. The mix of universal and more geographically specific influences on health reinforces the need for regular reporting on population health in detail and by underlying cause to help decision makers to identify success stories of disease control to emulate, as well as opportunities to improve. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licens

Observation of electroweak production of two jets in association with an isolated photon and missing transverse momentum, and search for a Higgs boson decaying into invisible particles at 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents the measurement of the electroweak production of two jets in association with a $Z\gamma$ pair with the $Z$ boson decaying into two neutrinos. It also presents the search for invisible or partially invisible decays of a Higgs boson with a mass of 125 GeV produced through vector-boson fusion with a photon in the final state. These results use data from LHC proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. The event signature, shared by all benchmark processes considered for measurements and searches, is characterized by a significant amount of unbalanced transverse momentum and a photon in the final state, in addition to a pair of forward jets. For electroweak production of $Z\gamma$ in association with two jets, the background-only hypothesis is rejected with an observed (expected) significance of 5.2 (5.1) standard deviations. The measured fiducial cross-section for this process is 1.31$\pm$0.29 fb. Observed (expected) upper limit of 0.37 (0.34) at 95% confidence level is set on the branching ratio of a 125 GeV Higgs boson to invisible particles, assuming the Standard Model production cross-section. The signature is also interpreted in the context of decays of a Higgs boson to a photon and a dark photon. An observed (expected) 95% CL upper limit on the branching ratio for this decay is set at 0.018 (0.017), assuming the 125 GeV Standard Model Higgs boson production cross-section

The ATLAS inner detector trigger performance in pp collisions at 13 TeV during LHC Run 2

The design and performance of the inner detector trigger for the high level trigger of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider during the 2016-18 data taking period is discussed. In 2016, 2017, and 2018 the ATLAS detector recorded 35.6 fb$^{-1}$, 46.9 fb$^{-1}$, and 60.6 fb$^{-1}$ respectively of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. In order to deal with the very high interaction multiplicities per bunch crossing expected with the 13 TeV collisions the inner detector trigger was redesigned during the long shutdown of the Large Hadron Collider from 2013 until 2015. An overview of these developments is provided and the performance of the tracking in the trigger for the muon, electron, tau and $b$-jet signatures is discussed. The high performance of the inner detector trigger with these extreme interaction multiplicities demonstrates how the inner detector tracking continues to lie at the heart of the trigger performance and is essential in enabling the ATLAS physics programme

The ATLAS inner detector trigger performance in pp collisions at 13 TeV during LHC Run 2

The design and performance of the inner detector trigger for the high level trigger of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider during the 2016-18 data taking period is discussed. In 2016, 2017, and 2018 the ATLAS detector recorded 35.6 fb$^{-1}$, 46.9 fb$^{-1}$, and 60.6 fb$^{-1}$ respectively of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. In order to deal with the very high interaction multiplicities per bunch crossing expected with the 13 TeV collisions the inner detector trigger was redesigned during the long shutdown of the Large Hadron Collider from 2013 until 2015. An overview of these developments is provided and the performance of the tracking in the trigger for the muon, electron, tau and $b$-jet signatures is discussed. The high performance of the inner detector trigger with these extreme interaction multiplicities demonstrates how the inner detector tracking continues to lie at the heart of the trigger performance and is essential in enabling the ATLAS physics programme