Double blind comparison of three hearing aid circuits with new hearing aid users.

This study was a double blind comparison of three types of hearing aid circuits: Class A linear peak clipping, Class D compression limiting and K-Amp wide dynamic range compression. Subjective ratings, speech perception tests, real ear measurements and questionnaire data were obtained from a group of 17 new hearing aid users with mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss. The results indicate a similar performance for all three circuits. We saw no evidence of performance degradation due to saturation distortion, even in the presence of high levels of speech and noise. Our primary conclusions include recommending K-Amps to new hearing aid users with mild to moderate hearing loss, mostly on the basis of battery life, while cautioning about the use of compression knee-point controls and recognizing that Class A and Class D amplifiers are virtually equivalent in every performance measurement.

Bone-conduction amplification with completely-in-the-canal hearing aids.

Recent advances in miniaturization have provided clinicians with hearing aids that can be comfortably inserted as far as the bony portion of the ear canal. It is possible to take advantage of these deeply inserted hearing aids in new ways. For example, the physical vibrations of microphone and receiver components may be used to improve hearing aid gain through bone conduction. Three cases are presented that will introduce this phenomenon for two transcranial CROS fittings and for one unilateral otosclerosis fitting. In each case, functional gain measurements under headphones were obtained with the hearing aid receivers acoustically plugged. Considerable gain was still present. Potential benefits, ramifications, and side effects are discussed.

Proposed field evaluation of a rabies recombinant vaccine for raccoons (Procyon lotor): site selection, target species characteristics, and placebo baiting trials.

Prior to a limited field application of an orally-administered vaccinia-rabies glycoprotein (V-RG) recombinant virus vaccine for wildlife, background data were obtained for the proposed site on Parramore Island, Virginia (USA). Mammalian target and nontarget species, potentially at risk for exposure to vaccine were inventoried. Placebo baiting trials with a fishmeal polymer bait resulted in high bait disturbance (88 to 100%), primarily by raccoons (Procyon lotor), with infrequent visitation and no evidence of bait consumption by deer (Odocoileus virginianus), small mammals or avian species. Definitive bait acceptance rates by raccoons (indicative of bait ingestion) were difficult to accurately determine based exclusively on premolar and vibrissae samples collected antemortem from live-trapped raccoons for tetracycline and rhodamine B biomarker analyses, respectively. Bait acceptance rate was more accurately determined during a pilot baiting trial conducted on North Island, South Carolina, when mandibles (postmortem samples) were examined for tetracycline incorporation. Parasitologic findings in raccoons on Parramore Island included Hepatozoan procyonis, Phagicola angrense and Physaloptera rara and a variety of incidental microscopic lesions, and provided baseline pathological data for comparison subsequent to V-RG vaccine application. A population density estimate of one raccoon/2.7 ha was calculated using mark-recapture data for comparison after vaccine deployment. Limited reproductive data, including estimates of pregnancy rates by palpation, the number of live kits/litter live-trapped with previously pregnant raccoons or observed in the dens of radio-collared raccoons, was gathered to assess the effect of proposed oral vaccination with V-RG vaccine. Home ranges were assessed by radio-telemetry of 15 raccoons; all radio-collared raccoons currently reside on Parramore Island.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Dengue-2 vaccine: infection of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes by feeding on viremic recipients.

Colonized Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were fed on voluntary recipients of an experimental, live, attenuated, dengue type 2 (PR 159/S-1) vaccine to estimate the frequency of vector infection and the stability of the virus in mosquitoes. Two volunteers were viremic at the time of mosquito feeding, but only two of 114 mosquitoes that took a viremic blood meal became infected with the vaccine virus. Strains of virus recovered from the bodies of the mosquitoes and the volunteer's blood retained the temperature sensitivity and small plaque growth characteristics of the vaccine virus. Dengue viral antigen was not detectable in any of the mosquito heads by direct immunofluorescence and in vitro virus transmission by droplet feeding was not observed. This experiment showed that vector mosquitoes can be infected with vaccine virus by feeding on viremic vaccinees. Furthermore, the virus is sufficiently stable to retain the in vitro growth characteristics associated with the vaccine virus.

Winter survival of blood-fed and nonblood-fed Culex pipiens L.

Comparisons were made between groups of Culex pipiens L. with different physiologic histories to test their ability to sucessfully overwinter under field conditions. On 14 December 1978, each group of mosquitoes was marked with a distinctive fluorescent dust and released inside an abandoned ammunition bunker at Fort Washington, Maryland. To insure that dead mosquitoes could be dissected and information obtained on their ovarian development, a sample of females from each group was also released into a plexiglass cage that was attached to the inside wall of the room. The physiologic histories of each group of mosquitoes were as follows: (a) "wild caught", those which had entered the bunker prior to the release date, (b) "lab-reared diapausing nonblood-fed," (c) "lab-reared diapausing blood-fed nongravid, " (d)"lab-reared diapausing blood-fed gravid," (e) "lab-reared nondiapausing nonblood-fed," and (f) "lab-reared nondiapausing blood-fed." By 8 March 1979, all of the lab-reared nondiapausing groups, of mosquitoes released in the room had died, whereas 15.7, 22.4 and 24.7% were recovered from the "lab-reared diapausing nonblood-fed," "lab-reared diapausing blood-fed" (gravid and nongravid) and "wild caught" mosquitoes, respectively. For the mosquitoes in the cage, only 0, 2.1 and 7.0% of the "lab-reared nondiapausing blood-fed," "lab-reared nondiapausing nonblood-fed" and "lab-reared diapausing blood-fed gravid," respectively, survived. This compared to 45.4, 56.8 and 58.0%, respectively, for the "lab-reared diapausing nonblood-fed," "lab-reared diapausing blood-fed nongravid" and the "wild caught" groups. These data provide evidence to support the theory that a significant number of diapausing Cx. pipiens which have taken a prehibernation (possibly viremic) blood meal do not develop eggs and can survive the winter at rates comparable to diapausing nonblood-fed mosquitoes.

Isolation of St. Louis encephalitis virus from overwintering Culex pipiens mosquitoes.

Two strains of St. Louis encephalitis virus were isolated from overwintering mosquitoes collected in Maryland and Pennsylvania during January and February 1977. There isolations from Culex pipiens constitute evidence that a mosquito-borne flavivirus can persist in a vector mosquito in temperate climates during the winter season.

Sporozoite transmission of falciparum malaria (Burma-Thau. strain) from man to Aotus monkey.

A sporozoite-induced infection of Plasmodium falciparum (Burma-Thau. strain) was established in splenectomized Aotus trivirgatus which received prior treatment with dlmethionine as a dietary supplement. This is the first recorded instance of infection of an Aotus monkey with falciparum sporozoites of human origin.

Magnetic boundaries in the north atlantic ocean.

Magnetic boundaries parallel the continental slope and separate undisturbed from disturbed magnetic regions on both sides of the North Atlantic. The boundaries lie 2000 to 2500 kilometers from the axis of the mid-Atlantic ridge and roughly equidistant from it. The undisturbed zone, lying on the continental side of the boundaries, may reflect the long period of no reversals in magnetic polarity that occurred during the late Paleozoic.