http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- Becoming "hard of hearing" is a standard but unfortunate part of aging: A syndrome called age-related hearing loss affects about 40 percent of people over 65 in the United States, and will afflict an estimated 28 million Americans by 2030. http://www.physorg.com/news177007147.html Medicine & Health Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:30:11 EST news177007147 Deep in the ear, 95 percent of the cells that shuttle sound to the brain are big, boisterous neurons that, to date, have explained most of what scientists know about how hearing works. Whether a rare, whisper-small second set of cells also carry signals from the inner ear to the brain and have a real role in processing sound has been a matter of debate. http://www.physorg.com/news175429348.html Medicine & Health Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:23:25 EST news175429348 Although humans experience their world through vision, touch and the other senses, many creatures gather information about their surroundings through unique sensory mechanisms that humans don`t have. http://www.physorg.com/news174846367.html Biology Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:30:03 EST news174846367 A team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has discovered a genetic cause of progressive hearing loss. The findings will help scientists better understand the nature of age-related decline in hearing and may lead to new therapies to prevent or treat the condition. http://www.physorg.com/news171203447.html Medicine & Health Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:40:02 EST news171203447 Light touch - the sense that lets musicians find the right notes on a keyboard, a seamstress revel in the feel of cool silk, the artisan feel a curve in material and the blind read Braille - truly depends on the activity of Merkel cells usually found in crescent-shaped clusters in the skin, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and colleagues in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Science. http://www.physorg.com/news164553632.html Medicine & Health Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:10:03 EST news164553632 Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have elucidated the action of a protein, harmonin, which is involved in the mechanics of hearing. This finding sheds new light on the workings of mechanotransduction, the process by which cells convert mechanical stimuli into electrical activity. Defects in mechanotransduction genes can cause devastating diseases, such as Usher's syndrome, which is characterized by deafness, gradual vision loss, and kidney disease, which can lead to kidney failure. http://www.physorg.com/news161440415.html Medicine & Health Wed, 13 May 2009 13:34:23 EST news161440415 The respective microRNA seed region influences the production of sensory hair cells in the inner ear, both in the mouse and in humans. The findings have been published ahead of print in the current online issue of Nature Genetics. This study represents a major step forward in elucidating the common phenomenon of progressive hearing loss, opening up new avenues for treatment. http://www.physorg.com/news160059001.html Medicine & Health Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:50:25 EST news160059001 Scientists thought they had a good model to explain how the inner ear translates vibrations in the air into sounds heard by the brain. Now, based on new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine, it looks like parts of the model are wrong. http://www.physorg.com/news159713314.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:49:09 EST news159713314 Utah and Texas researchers have learned how quiet sounds are magnified by bundles of tiny, hair-like tubes atop "hair cells" in the ear: when the tubes dance back and forth, they act as "flexoelectric motors" that amplify sound mechanically. http://www.physorg.com/news159599814.html Biology Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:17:23 EST news159599814 Despite modern medicine, one in 1,000 American babies are born deaf. The numbers increase markedly with age, with more than 50% of seniors in the United States experiencing some form of hearing loss. http://www.physorg.com/news158930271.html Medicine & Health Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:18:37 EST news158930271 Most fish rely primarily on their vision to find prey to feed upon, but a University of Rhode Island biologist and her colleagues have demonstrated that a group of African cichlids feeds by using its lateral line sensory system to detect minute vibrations made by prey hidden in the sediments. http://www.physorg.com/news158862769.html Biology Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:33:15 EST news158862769 In parallel studies in human and mouse, two groups of researchers have come to the same conclusion: that a new kind of gene is associated with progressive hearing loss. The new gene - called a microRNA - is a tiny fragment of RNA that affects the production of hundreds of other molecules within sensory hair cells of the inner ear. http://www.physorg.com/news158772214.html Medicine & Health Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:24:49 EST news158772214 Deafness affects more than 250 million people worldwide. It typically involves the loss of sensory receptors, called hair cells, for their "tufts" of hair-like protrusions, and their associated neurons. The transplantation of stem cells that are capable of producing functional cell types might be a promising treatment for hearing impairment, but no human candidate cell type has been available to develop this technology. http://www.physorg.com/news157035388.html Biology Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:56:51 EST news157035388 Wash away your gray? Maybe. A team of European scientists have finally solved a mystery that has perplexed humans throughout the ages: why we turn gray. Despite the notion that gray hair is a sign of wisdom, these researchers show in a research report published online in The FASEB Journal that wisdom has nothing to do with it. Going gray is caused by a massive build up of hydrogen peroxide due to wear and tear of our hair follicles. The peroxide winds up blocking the normal synthesis of melanin, our hair's natural pigment. http://www.physorg.com/news154616292.html Biology Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:58:44 EST news154616292 By tweaking a system in the ear that limits how much sound is heard, a global team of researchers has discovered one alteration that shows that the ability of the ear to turn itself down contributes to protecting against permanent hearing loss. The report appears this week in PLoS Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news151737561.html Biology Wed, 21 Jan 2009 05:20:01 EST news151737561 Researchers have defined a mutation in the mouse genome that mimics progressive hearing loss in humans. A team from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK, working with colleagues in Munich and Padua, found that mice carrying a mutation called Oblivion displayed problems with the function of hair cells in the inner ear, occurring before clear physical effects are seen. The study is published October 31 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics. http://www.physorg.com/news144651158.html Biology Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:52:38 EST news144651158 (PhysOrg.com) -- Developing neurons tend to play the field, making more connections than they will ever need. Then, the weakest are cut. But Rockefeller University scientists now show that neurons in young zebrafish - vertebrates, like humans - behave differently: They immediately find a cluster of specialized cells and make the right match. The findings may help reveal the mechanism by which analogous cells are wired in the human ear, and eventually help those who are deaf or hard of hearing. http://www.physorg.com/news141399501.html Medicine & Health Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:38:21 EST news141399501