Xiping's Science & Health Life

The ealier the better to have cochlear implant

2005-12-26T12:22:00.000-08:00

A new paper just has published on Science (2005 Dec 2;310(5753):1490-2. ) titled as Restoration of auditory nerve synapses in cats by cochlear implants. Dr. Ryugo's team at Johns Hopkins finished the work. The journal deemed the study as "valuable information to the field of not only cochlear implants, but the whole area of neuroscience research".

The works suggest that the ealier to have cochlear implant, the better the patient would benefit from the device.

NeuroJob

2005-10-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

An official job search source at SFN

Don't hesitate to have a cochlear implant when you need it!

2005-08-20T16:53:00.000-07:00

A new research has published in Journal of Neurophysiology (93:33339-3355), claiming that degradation of temporal resolution in the auditory midbrain after prolonged deafness is reversed by electrical stimulation of the cochlear.

Most clinician are conservertive to suggest to use CI for adult when he has been deaf for a long time. It is time now to try boldly for those patients.

Heeding the hormonal call

2005-05-31T09:55:00.000-07:00

An enduring question in evolutionary biology is: How optimized are organisms for their environment? This question is perhaps best addressed in the field of sensory biology. It is straightforward to specify both sensory stimuli--such as species-specific communication signals, signals from predator or prey, or noise--and the transmission properties of the environment. Furthermore, it is easy to measure the ability of an animal's sensory system to pick up these signals. Some sensory receptors are sharply tuned to particularly potent signals, whereas others are broadly sensitive to the total array of signals encountered. Of particular interest are examples of apparent mismatches between communication signals and the sensitivity of the receptors receiving them. Could it be that an appropriate well-matched signal has not yet been found? Are the sensory receptors optimally tuned to a different signal that belongs to the evolutionary past? Is the mismatch exploited during, for example, the selection of a mate? Or, is the mismatch a reflection of the dynamic nature of matching between communication signals and sensory systems--that is, does the matching between sender and receiver change depending on the stage of the life cycle or environmental conditions? The answer is provided by Sisneros and colleagues on Science. 2004 Jul 16;305(5682):349-50., who chose as their subject the plainfin midshipman (Porichthys notatus), a nocturnal fish that inhabits Pacific coastal waters. These investigators resolve the apparent mismatch between a vocal mating signal emitted by the male fish and the sensitivity of the female's auditory system by demonstrating that steroid reproductive hormones increase the sensitivity of the female's auditory system to the male's courtship calls. (from Zakon H.)

Fw: Help Increase NIH Funding

2005-05-31T09:33:00.000-07:00

ARO Members:

This year Congress is moving with uncharacteristic speed to write and pass its appropriations bills. Consideration of the bill that contains funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is expected to begin on June 8 in the U.S. House of Representatives. As you may know, the President has recommended just a 0.7% increase in NIH funding for this year, well below the 3.5% rate of biomedical research inflation.

Visit CapWiz, an on-line legislative action center, provided to you by SfN to send a letter to your Representative urging for increased funding: http://capwiz.com/sfn/home/

Thank you in advance for your participation.

**********************************
Sample Letter:

Dear Representative:

As consideration on the FY 2006 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (L-HHS) Appropriations bill moves forward, I urge you to include a 6 percent increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As a constituent and member of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, I am concerned with the state of biomedical research funding for this year.

As you may know, the President has recommended just a 0.7 percent increase in NIH funding for this year, well below the 3.5 percent rate of biomedical research inflation. If enacted, the President's recommendation will actually move research backwards. The recommendation would result in less funding and fewer grants awarded than in past years.

Reducing our investment in biomedical research has serious negative implications - not just for the health of the American people - but also for our economic strength as a nation, as Europe and Asia press forward with strong commitments to research.

The Association for Research in Otolaryngology represents more than 2,000 basic and clinical researchers from around the globe who are dedicated to improving the understanding of hearing and other communication disorders. The U.S. commitment to advancing scientific progress and health benefits is dependent upon federal health dollars.

An increase of 6 percent is needed to meet inflation and restore funds that have been transferred for other purposes in the current year. Please support at least a six percent increase in NIH funding in the FY06 L-HHS Appropriations bill.

Thank you for your consideration.

This letter was modified from a Society for Neuroscience request.

2005-05-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

Animal's life saves human life!

Fw: Auditory hair cell replacement by gene therapy in deaf mammals

2005-05-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

This is a follow-up of similar gene therapy for hearing loss involved with hair cell, published in Nature medicine 13 February 2005.

An exciting discovery which will benefit certain senior people with hearing loss. However, we need to wait to see if it works for humans.

SRF mediates activity-induced gene expression and synaptic plasticity

2005-05-23T11:16:00.000-07:00

Just published in Nature Neuroscience, 8 May 2005, the paper addressed the issue of synaptic activity-dependent gene expression, which is critical for certain forms of neuronal plasticity and survival in the mammalian nervous system.It is a very interesting advance in use-dependent modification of synaptic strength in the adult brain.

Noise can prevent progressive sensorineural hearing loss

2005-05-06T07:15:00.000-07:00

Research paper has been published in J Comp Neurol. 2004 May 3;472(3):358-70. The research indicated that prolonged exposure to augmented acoustic environment on auditory system of middle-aged mice can prevent outer hair loss in the cochlear and save the neurons in the cochlear nucleus. It also implicates a sex difference.

According to the research, women should use hearing aid earlier to fight hearing loss after menopause or afflicted with hearing loss associated with menopause.

诺贝尔奖金得主的“尴尬” (A shameful story of a Nobel Prize Laureate)

2005-04-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

1975年，当年仅37岁的戴维 . 巴尔的摩登上诺贝尔领奖台时，他大概不会想到，拥有这样的殊荣，他的后半生的事业还会有波折。1986年他和他的一名助手Thereza Imanishi-Kari在Cell上发表了一篇免疫学方面的文章。Margot O'Toole当时是他们的一个博士后，受Thereza Imanishi-Kari的指导。Thereza Imanishi-Kari 把她的实验记录给Margot O'Toole，但是Margot O'Toole发现她并不能重复其中一些实验结果。她把这件事通了出来，这件事越闹越大，NIH和国会专门成立机构进行调查，巴尔的摩最后不得不撤回那篇论文。Margot O'Toole在事件发生后多年早不到工作，不得不到他弟弟的公司打工。Thereza Imanishi-Karibe被罚以不得从事联邦政府资助的研究多年，巴尔的摩的名誉在1992年后才开始挽回… …。

Re: comment on acupuncture

2005-04-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

Original comments on acupuncture:
http://humorhangout.blogspot.com/2005/04/

understanding-acupuncture.html#comments

Do you know acupuncture originated from China?

Mainstream American don't believe
Traditional Chinese medicine. So do I, even though I am a Chinese. However, we can not ignore Traditional Chinese medicine, such as acupuncture.

I just returned from ARO annual meeting from New Orleans. I was impressed a lot of works addressing tinnitus, which was addressed about two thousand years ago in ancient Chinese medical books, such as Huangdi Neijin literally or Chinese traditional medical "bible".

The illustration in the ancient books is much helpful to my research tinnitus----to find the tinnitus pathway. I just discovered a neuronal pathway associated with somatosensory tinnitus.

Fw: single cell retrieval for PCR

2005-04-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, Carl Zeiss will demonstrate its Palm laser microdissection system for single cell retrieval for PCR. A laser beam isolates single cells from cell monolayers or tissue sections depositing them in individual Eppendorf tubes for molecular analysis. The operator examines the tissue section by light or fluorescence microscopy and circles the cells of interest on the computer monitor; a laser beam then cuts around each cell and pops it off and into a tube.

Demonstrations are Tuesday 4/26 through Thursday 4/28 in room 326 PCTB. A seminar on the technique will be presented in the Mountcastle Auditorium across from the cafeteria in PCTB at 1pm on Wednesday. Refreshments will be provided. Registration and scheduling with Zeiss are required. Contact : Jack Garner at jgarner@zeiss.com or call 800-543-1033 x7611.

Fw: JARO Editor Nominations

2005-04-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

Dear ARO Member,

Dr. Eric Young, founding editor of the Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (JARO) has indicated a desire to step down as soon after the February 2006 ARO meeting as reasonable. With regret, and with the greatest thanks to Eric for doing a superlative job as editor for over 6 years, ARO accepts the fact that we must find a new editor.

According to ARO policy, all active members of ARO are invited to submit names for consideration for editor. The “job description” for editor in the JARO Policy guide states:

“The JARO Editor must be a member of ARO and be a highly regarded scholar who has an appreciation of the breadth of scholarship in our field. The JARO Editor also should have editorial, fiscal, and leadership experience, and have the highest professional and personal integrity. The JARO Editor serves a five-year renewable term.”

In addition, and based on the experiences of Dr. Young, it is clear that the JARO editor must have strong management skills, show a high level of organization, and have a strong commitment to the enhancement of JARO. Moreover, the new editor must be able to assemble a large group of Associate Editors and work with them, and with our publisher, to assure the highest quality papers and the highest quality journal.

We invite all ARO members to submit names of potential editors, and/or to nominate themselves. For each nomination please give the full name of the candidate and provide us with a 2-4 sentence reason for suggesting this person. Nominations without such a statement will not be accepted. Nominations should be sent via email to the co-chairs of the JARO Publications Committee, Gerald Popelka and Arthur Popper (popelka@ohns.stanford.edu, apopper@umd.edu). All nominations should be received no later than July 1, 2005.

Gerald R. Popelka, PhD, Co-Chair
Arthur N. Popper, PhD, Co-Chair
Publication Committee

Fw: Welch News: NIH Public Access Plan To Take Effect May 2, 2005

2005-04-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

Beginning May 2, 2005, NIH funded researchers will be asked to submit voluntarily to the NIH National Library of Medicine's (NLM) PubMed Central (PMC) an electronic version of the author's final manuscript upon acceptance for publication, resulting from research supported, in whole or in part, with direct costs from NIH. After several months of heated debate, the policy was made public on February 3, making federally-financed research open and freely available to taxpayers and scholars alike. Scientific publishers opposed the plan, but other groups have hailed it as an historic moment in giving the public free access to information.

The authors final manuscript is defined as the peer-reviewed, final version accepted for publication. Depositing ones work is not mandatory, but scientists are widely expected to comply. NIH director, Elias A. Zerhouni, asks that scientists release their findings as quickly as possible, not delaying for the full 12 months. Aside from making research rapidly available to the public, the policy will create a stable, searchable archive of peer-reviewed research resulting from NIH funding.

Authors final manuscripts may be submitted in the usual electronic formats accepted by journals, e.g., most word processing formats or PDF. Once the manuscript has been submitted, the system will assign a PMC identification number and generate an e-mail to the author(s) confirming their submission. In cases in which the Principal Investigator (PI) is not an author, a courtesy e-mail will be sent to alert the PI of the submission. Corrections of content errors and other necessary revisions of authors final manuscripts will be accommodated.

At the time of voluntary submission to PMC, the author will specify when their final manuscript will be publicly accessible through PMC. Posting for public accessibility through PMC is strongly encouraged as soon as possible (and within twelve months of the publishers official date of final publication).

As additional details and instructions on the use of the PMC manuscript submission system become available, these will be posted on the NLM PMC website at http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/. More information about the NIH Public Access Policy can be found at http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm.

The journal, Neurobiology of Lipids (NoL), has already gone on record welcoming the NIH plan and announcing that they have met quality requirements for PubMed Central archiving. They urge authors to think of them when selecting a place to publish. They are developing a software tool that will simplify direct publishing to an archive. When scientists publish in NoL, their work will also automatically be archived in PubMed Central. NoL invites other funding agencies to follow NIHs lead and other journals to consider depositing full text in PubMed Central.

In a recent letter to the Public Library of Science Community (PLoS), the three founders of PLoS, Drs. Harold Varmus, Patrick Brown and Michael Eisen, urged authors to (a) publish papers in open-access journals that already deposit their papers to PubMed Central or (b) if authors publish in non open access journals, deposit those manuscripts into PubMed Central and exercise the right to stipulate that they be posted online immediately after publication.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brian Brown, MLIS
Communications Librarian
Welch Medical Library
The Johns Hopkins University

bbrown20@jhmi.edu
410.502.7568 (Welch)
410.502.0995 (BRB)
B"H

Fw: Hopkins Biotech Network -- Baltimore Social Hour at Ruby Tuesday\'s

2005-04-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

Please join us for our first HBN Baltimore Social Hour!

The purpose of the event is to meet and network with other HBN members in the Baltimore area.

Please come and share your ideas for upcoming HBN events and activities.

Ruby Tuesday\'s is located on Charles Street, next to the Homewood Campus, and within a five minute walk from the Homewood/JHMI shuttle stop.

HBN SOCIAL HOUR

Date/Time: Wednesday, April 27th, 5:30pm
Location: Ruby Tuesday\'s
3003 N Charles St
Baltimore, MD. 21218
Phone: (410) 467-8155

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Hopkins Biotech Network (HBN)

HBN Partners
Baxter (http://www.baxter.com/)
Greater Baltimore Committee (http://www.gbc.org/)
Guilford Pharmaceuticals (http://www.guilfordpharm.com/)
Hopkins Capital Group (http://www.hopkinscap.com/)
Nutrition 21 (http://www.nutrition21.com/)

2005-03-25T19:23:00.000-08:00

Flying to ARO 2005, New Orleans

2005-03-25T19:20:00.000-08:00

ARO 2005, New Orleans

HHMI Talks on Biomedical Sciences

2005-03-25T18:29:00.000-08:00

Big boys. 网上免费录像，免费索取VCD和录像带。

Free 3D software

2005-03-23T18:22:00.000-08:00

Good for 3D visualization of neurons,synapses and cytoarchitecture.

Hi-tech Blog

2005-03-23T17:53:00.000-08:00

Hopkins Biotech Network Bulletin of Regional Events

2005-03-23T09:39:00.000-08:00

Hopkins Biotech Network would like to highlight 2 upcoming events at JHU and
the region:

3/22/2005 Volunteers needed to conduct mock interviews for Hopkins Students

Date and Time: March 22nd at 6:30 PM

Location: Great Hall, Levering, Homewood Campus
Society of Engineering Alumni Presents The Second Annual Mock Interview
Night

On Tuesday, March 22nd at 6:30 PM you have an opportunity to help a Hopkins
undergraduate student prepare for their internship and career interviews.
The Society of Engineering Alumni (SEA) is hosting the Second Annual Mock
Interview Night. We would like to provide the students with an opportunity
to have a one-on-one interview with professionals who have experience in the
job interview process. We need as many volunteers as possible to make this
happen.

If you are interested in volunteering to be an interviewer, or have any
questions, please respond to kbittne1@jhu.edu or call 410-516-8723.

--------------------------4/26/2005 Sequencing the Genome: Creating an Industry and a WorkforceDate and Time: April 26, 2005Location: All events will be held on the GMU Campus in Fairfax, Virginia.The day will begin with a BIO IT Job Fair and will include awards to localorganizations, including an award to the D.C. region BioEntrepreneur of theyear. All events will be held on the GMU Campus in Fairfax, Virginia. Plan to join the BIO IT Coalition and George Mason University on theevening of April 26, 2005 for a rehearsed reading and first performance ofThe Sequence, a play about the story of the race to crack the code of life,by Paul Mullin, an award winning playwright, at TheaterSpace, PerformingArts Building, GMU. For more information, please contact Eileen Mandell at (202) 220-1402, orgo to the BIO IT Coalition\'s Web site http://www.bioitcoalition.org

One new article was rejected

2004-09-08T23:35:00.000-07:00

I am very concerned about it since some of the data in the paper are related to mine. The first author has already been back to Europe, and I have to do some experiments by myself, otherwise my paper would be killed either...I don't expect that happen...

And I have to apply a new surgical approach or other new method available...It is really pretty difficult.

Cochlear implant is good for some deaf peoples?

2004-09-06T17:53:00.000-07:00

coming soon!

Did you ever experience tinnitus or ringing ear?

2004-09-06T17:51:00.001-07:00

The ARO 2005 has a lot of Posters in tinnitus studies. There were many multidisplinary works which are going very well. Hopefully we will get this disease controlled in the very near future.

If you experience ringing ear, let us know. That is really helpful to our research.

Auditory brainstem implant is looming in 20 years?

2004-09-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

coming soon!

ARO is coming near... ...

2004-09-06T17:42:00.000-07:00

The deadline for submission of abstracts to attend next ARO is september 30.

I am very busy these days. I still have no idea how to write it although I have a lot of interesting data...but the abstract will shape my way in coming months. I need to do more experiments, take pictures and draw a lot. Also, I need to figure out how to write a paper after ARO.

Anyway, I am excited we are going to New Orleans this time. I favor the change although I enjoyed my stay at Daytona Beach, Florida.

On Being A Scientist: Responsible Conduct In Research

2004-08-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

the abdus salam International Center for Theoretical Physics

2004-08-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

这是中国学生、学者取得资助赴意大利开会的有用网站。注意该中心的动态。

Neuroscience on the Internet

2004-08-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

The Johns Hopkins Postdoctoral Association

2004-08-15T14:54:00.000-07:00

Webs associated with postdocs

脑片细胞内标记问答

2004-06-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

你好，你说的protocol在哪啊？没有见到，药品柜的面板上也没有。我看到DAB试剂盒上的介绍是用什么一抗，二抗，标记，再显色。我们的实验中没有一抗二抗什么的。我的想发是这样，就是，首先把生物素（biocytin)加在我配制的细胞内液里面，然后，实验中用电极吸住细胞形成封接，再加上一些电脉冲，使加了生物素的胞内液进入细胞体中，这样，细胞就被生物素标记上，这样应该算胞内标记吧。最后，试验后把脑片取出，甲醛固定，再用SABC（StreptAvidin－Biotin Complex）处理，最后用DAB试剂盒显色。(我们的DAB试剂盒是从武汉博士德公司买的,不是自己配的.
我现在不清楚我们做的步骤是不是行的通??这样做是否合理? 正确的原理的步骤是什么?
我的目的就是在脑片中标记出神经元,包括胞体,树轴突,这样我就可以知道我所记录的细胞是什么类型的细胞,以及细胞位于什么层次位置.你认为还有什么染色方法可以采用比较好呢? 盼望指点!谢谢!

————————————————————

用biolytic标记神经细胞，很容易，不必着急。按照protocol做，就可以。注意不要为了节约，每个well里不要放多了切片；如是大白鼠，只放1－2张，若是小白鼠2－3张。

其它一切按方法来。

你是细胞外标记还是细胞内标记？

————————————————————————

1 你可能用30天以下的动物做脑片。这是细胞内标记。

2 当你把电极吸住细胞后，应做patchclamp，然后biocytin (8%)会衣扩散，从高浓度的电极到细胞里，通常 hold细胞30min.

3 当你hold 细胞后，通过 monitor 膜电位确定是否完成pathclamp.

4 你也可以先做细胞外，试验你的显色方法。就是用压力的方法，把大量电极溶液注入slice. 30 min 后放回incubtor让slice多存活一段时间（ more than 4hrs）,再用4%多聚甲醛固定2 hrs.

5 包埋和切 slice千万小心，因为你记录和标记的细胞在 slice 表面。

6 你用ABC 对biocytin显色，跳过一抗、二抗，你需要去看有关的原理的书籍。注意A和 B液配好30 min后方可用。你可以方便地到Vector 公司的网站上找到最新的protocol.或用google搜索。

Anatomical evidence of subcortical contributions to the orientation selectivity and columns of the cat's primary visual cortex[PDF version]

2002-09-09T22:48:00.000-07:00