The effect of interaural timing on the posterior auricular muscle reflex in normal adult volunteers.

The posterior auricular muscle (PAM) reflex to sounds has been used clinically to determine hearing threshold as an alternative to other audiological diagnostic measures such as the auditory brainstem response. We have shown that the PAM response is also sensitive to interaural timing differences in normally hearing adults. PAM responses were evoked by both ipsilateral/ contralateral monaural stimulation and by binaural stimulation. Introducing sound delays ipsilaterally or contralaterally decreased the PAM response amplitude and increased its latency. The PAM response in this study shows a qualitatively similar pattern to that seen by the binaural interaction component (BIC) of the auditory brainstem potential to binaural clicks described in previous studies, in that both: have their shortest latency and maximal amplitudes centred around zero interaural timing differences, have response latencies increase with increasing interaural delays up to 1.2 ms and have response amplitudes decrease with increasing interaural delays of up to 1.2 ms. Our data show that the PAM response may be useful in measuring binaural integration in humans non-invasively for diagnostic or research studies.

A Jordanian view about cancer knowledge and attitudes.

Cancer is a major cause of death in Jordan. It is noticed that the majority of the Jordanian people still have many misconceptions about this disease. Public education campaigns were launched regularly when the first cancer center in the country was initially opened and began to function partially in 1996. However, the baseline data needed for the initial planning of these campaigns were not available. This study aimed at exploring the knowledge and attitudes of a sample of the Jordanian people toward cancer. The questionnaire, Public Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Cancer (PKAC), developed by the researchers, was the main tool used in the study. The questionnaire consisted of two sections: The first section obtained demographic data about the participants, and the second solicited data concerning the participants' knowledge and feeling about the disease. The second section contained items to which the participants answered yes, no, or don't know. The findings of this study will contribute to our general understanding and knowledge of the educational needs in Jordanian society regarding cancer as a disease.