Healthy News for Healthy Nation

A healthy ear emits soft sounds in response to the sounds that travel in. Detectable with sensitive microphones, these otoacoustic emissions help doctors test newborns’ hearing. A deaf ear doesn’t produce these echoes. (Credit: iStockphoto/Stacey Newman)

A healthy ear emits soft sounds in response to the sounds that travel in. Detectable with sensitive microphones, these otoacoustic emissions help doctors test newborns’ hearing. A deaf ear doesn’t produce these echoes.
New research involving the University of Michigan and Oregon Health and Science University shows that, contrary to the current scientific thought, the emissions don’t leave the ear the same way they entered. The findings give new insight into a phenomenon that researchers study to better understand hearing loss, and they reinforce a previous controversial study that came to a similar conclusion.

“The former wisdom on how otoacoustic emissions left the ear was that there was a backward-traveling wave going along the structure of the cochlea in the same way as the forward-traveling sound wave,” said Karl Grosh, a professor in the U-M departments of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering and an author of the paper. “These measurements show that is not the case.”

Grosh said the next step is to develop tools to find out where hearing damage is occurring. “If we want to try to infer from the emission what’s wrong with the ear, we have to understand how the emission is produced,” Grosh said.

The experiment, performed at the Oregon Health and Science University in associate professor Tianying Ren’s lab, showed that the sound waves coming out travel through the fluid of the inner ear, rather than rippling along the basilar membrane of the cochlea.

The cochlea, located deep in the ear, is shaped like a snail. The basilar membrane essentially cuts the inner channel of the cochlea diametrically in half into two chambers. Both chambers are filled with liquid.

Sound waves going into the ear undulate along the basilar membrane through the cochlea and eventually excite the organ of Corti, which senses and sends the sound signals to the brain through the auditory nerve.

Sounds coming out of the ear, according to results from this experiment, likely travel through the fluid on either side of the basilar membrane.

For this experiment, the researchers used laser interferometers, which detect waves, to measure vibrations of the basilar membrane in response to sound at two locations in the cochlea of gerbils. They detected evidence of sound waves traveling forward on the membrane, but they found no evidence of backward-traveling waves.

“Our new method can detect vibrations of less than a picometer, 1,000 times smaller than the diameter of an atom. The new data demonstrate that there is no detectable backward-traveling wave at physiological sound levels across a wide frequency range,” said Ren, principal investigator of this project. “This knowledge will change scientists’ fundamental thinking on how waves propagate inside the cochlea, or how the cochlea processes sounds.”

A paper  on the research entitled “Reverse wave propagation in the cochlea” was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Original here 

Human hair cells. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Virginia Health System)

Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have discovered a way to transfer genes, which they hope will restore hearing, into diseased tissue of the human inner ear. This important step brings scientists closer to curing genetic or acquired hearing loss.

Dr. Jeffrey Holt, associate professor of neuroscience and otolaryngology at UVa, and his research team, including Dr. Bradley Kesser, an assistant professor of otolaryngology, targeted a gene known as KCNQ4, which causes genetic hearing loss in humans when mutated. They engineered a correct form of the gene and created a gene therapy delivery system that successfully transferred the KCNQ4 gene into human hair cells harvested from the inner ears of patients with hearing loss.

“Our results show that gene therapy reagents are effective in human inner ear tissue. Taken together with the results from another group of scientists who showed that similar gene therapy compounds can produce new hair cells and restore hearing function in guinea pigs suggest that the future of gene therapy in the human inner ear is sound,” Holt said.

Hair cells have hair-like projections that line the cochlea. In people with normal hearing, hair cells convert sound into electrical signals, which are ultimately transmitted to the brain. People with hearing loss suffer from too few, damaged or missing hair cells. Holt’s past research uncovered the speed at which hair cells develop in mouse embryos, a finding necessary to help researchers learn how to regenerate hair cells. With this current development, Holt and his team could one day restore the hearing process in damaged hair cells.

“This is a critically important step forward. We hope this breakthrough will propel the field of hearing and deafness research toward our collective goal of curing genetic and acquired deafness,” Holt said.

This discovery will appear Thursday, June 14, in the online issue of Gene Therapy.

Original here 

Take the punishment, reap the reward

The moment came midway through filming. A classic action-hero moment, to be sure–the good guy staring down two henchmen, dropping his briefcase, flipping back his leather coat, unholstering twin semiauto handguns, and capping two rounds into each bad guy. Name a cinematic hero and he’s filmed similar scenes: Gary Cooper in High Noon, Bruce Willis in Die Hard, and, hell, Clint in everything. But this was Tom Jane’s moment. The moment when months of metamorphic training boiled over to create a true on-screen superhero: the Punisher. Payoff’s a pleasure, baby.

Previous experience: Superhero

But Tom Jane–the handsome 5′10” actor best known for channeling Mickey Mantle in the neoclassic baseball film 61*–had his doubts. The 35-year-old knew too well the risks guys like Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man), and Ben Affleck (Daredevil) took when they slipped on the leather and spandex.

The Punisher, like those other characters, is a beloved icon in the stable of Marvel Comics. In other words, you screw with them at your peril, for hell hath no fury like a fan base scorned. “I’m a huge comic-book fan,” he says, “but I remember thinking, I’m not this guy. This guy’s built like a house, and I’m gonna piss off a lot of people if I get this job and don’t look like him.”

The solution was simple. He grabbed a copy of the comic, put it in front of John MacLaren, his trainer, and said, “Here’s the guy I want to look like. Let’s go to work.”

The right man for the job

The guy in question, Frank Castle–a.k.a. the Punisher–looks like a Caucasian Hulk in the comic book, a cannon blazing from each fist. Obviously, no man (outside of Major League Baseball) could actually look like that, so Jane played it to scale: He’d create a 5′10” sculpture of the comic-book character, but in a realistic way. After all, Frank Castle has no superpowers–no webbing, no radioactive rage, no adamantium claws. “(The Punisher’s) just an ex-Special Forces guy who’s had a particular form of training,” he says, adding with a smirk, “one that allows him to take advantage of a wide variety of, uh, talents.”

Superhero Fitness Center

Trainer MacLaren developed a diet and a regimen of 4-day-a-week heavy weight training. But that was for starters. Jane also consulted Global Studies Group, Inc., whose moniker sounds like a CIA cover for good reason. GSGI is a cadre of military and law-enforcement specialists who have Hollywood consulting ties to a long list of films: Mission: Impossible II, Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, and more. They added 2 hours of daily firearm, martial-arts, and knife training to his schedule.

And Jane was overwhelmed. “I thought, How the hell am I gonna do this?” But the military training gave him two immediate insights: how to achieve the body he needed and how to play Frank Castle.

“There’s a discipline that goes with being a soldier that’s impossible to describe,” says Jane. “It all comes down to training yourself to focus on one singular purpose.” For the Punisher, the purpose is avenging his murdered loved ones, one punk at a time. For Jane? “I just took it rep by rep, hour by hour, and broke it up into little pieces.”

The Payoff

That inchworm strategy brought him some workout revelations as well. First, there’s always something left in the tank–and it must be tapped. “It seems unimportant to gain half a percent here and there, but all those fractions start adding up,” he says. Second, form counts. “My greatest gains came when I stopped caring about benching 300 and focused on handling whatever I was lifting as perfectly as possible.”

The results: 5 inches off his waist, 11 percent body fat, and a physique fit for an action hero. “Walking off the street, I never could have stepped into the role of the Punisher,” he says. “But by the time I finally put the outfit on, I owned the thing.”

Time to take ownership of your own superhero aspirations. See the sidebars for a super diet and Hulky weight-training program.

Original here 

The Problem: Home exercise equipment collects dust

According to a survey by the Fitness Products Council, 50 million American households own some type of fitness equipment. Trouble is, nearly one-third of it is never used. The Reeveses’ home is no exception. After a few months, they were bored silly with the treadmill they bought for their den. Plus, they couldn’t hear the TV over its roar.Fix #1: Invest in a garage weight station

A basic weight bench is one of the smartest fitness workout investments you can make. It’s right there when you need it, and you don’t have to make a special trip to visit it. “You can always find cheap weights and benches in the newspaper classifieds,” says Staley.

Fix #2: Buy the right aerobic equipment

Instead of a treadmill, Staley recommends the Concept 2 Rower ($850, Concept2.com). “It’s quiet, it’s lightweight, and it doesn’t take up a lot of space,” he says. Plus, it’s uniquely kid friendly. Concept 2 maintains an impressive web site, where users can engage in virtual competition by comparing activity logs. It’s sort of like a video game, except instead of doubling a kid’s obesity risk by the hour, the way normal video games do, the rowing machine can eliminate it.

The Problem: Workouts take up too much time

This is the single biggest obstacle busy families face. Between full-time work and hectic family schedules, parents often feel that they don’t have time for a family fitness workout. As Mary Ellen put it quite succinctly, “I don’t want to have to get up at 4:30 in the morning to exercise.”

The Fix: Learn one highly effective, timesaving exercise habit

Instead of exercising each body part with the traditional three-sets-of-10 approach, Staley advocates a condensed form of weight training he calls escalating-density training (EDT). Here’s how it works.

Step 1: Make time seem more manageable by breaking each fitness workout into 15-minute increments. “This way, when you start, you already know when you’ll be finished,” Staley says. If you have time, add another 15-minute session.

Step 2: Choose two opposing muscle groups to work during each 15 minutes. For example, work biceps and triceps or chest and back. This will improve recovery between sets and automatically help you avoid overtraining one area of the body.

Step 3: For each exercise, identify the maximum weight you can lift 10 times, and begin with these amounts.

Step 4: Start the clock. Do five repetitions of the first exercise, followed immediately by five reps of the second exercise, resting for as long as you want to in between and occasionally lowering the weight if needed. “Focus on the time and the reps-it takes your mind off the exercise,” Staley says.

Step 5: At the end of the 15-minute session, add the total number of repetitions to establish a personal-record benchmark. “EDT automatically gives you a personal best-a measure of your progress and a goal to work toward,” Staley says. When your personal record improves by 20 percent, increase the amount of weight you’re lifting by 5 percent. (See edtsecrets.com for more information on this training method.)

The Problem: The kids aren’t all right with exercise

In this case, the Reeveses are a step ahead of some families. Both of their boys enjoy a variety of athletics. But many kids are held hostage by electronic media, substituting virtual activity for the movement of real activities. In fact, according to a study published in the journal Applied Developmental Psychology, the average American child spends more than 5 hours a day watching television, playing video games, or surfing the Internet.Fix #1: Entice activity with creativity

“Younger kids respond really well to games,” says Mejia. Try a 10-minute game of tag with the kids and see if you aren’t panting a little bit, too. For teenagers, do the same thing your parents did: Harness the power of indentured servitude. “Chores can fall into the exercise category. Have your kids mow the lawn or shovel snow,” he says. “Use enticements for a job well done-an extra allowance dollar or 15 extra minutes before bedtime.”

Fix #2: Find the right sport

Competitive sports may not appeal to children with weight problems. “They may not want to play because they’re embarrassed,” Rimm says. She advocates swimming. “Unlike with running, overweight kids aren’t at a particular disadvantage in swimming,” she says. And since swimming engages the entire body, it’s an unbeatable weight-loss exercise. Other noncompetitive activities include biking, walking, and inline skating.

Fix #3: Kill your television

Every expert we spoke with agreed on this one. Rimm recommends limiting total screen time to 2 hours a day. Staley suggests moving TV sets out of rooms where everyone tends to gather. “Get the TV out of the living room,” he says. If it’s not there, the family won’t be drawn to it.

Original here