Examining the hearing abilities of fishes

When we hear a sound, our nervous system is detecting sound waves—pressure waves of mechanical energy traveling through a medium. The frequency of the wave is perceived as pitch, while the amplitude is perceived as loudness.

Electric acoustic stimulation (EAS) with longer electrodes can offer broader cochlear coverage and various types of maps in cases of high-frequency hearing loss. Combining less invasive surgery, flexible lateral-wall electrodes, and steroid administration permits deeper insertion with little or no surgical trauma, resulting in good preservation of...

The health of wild fishes can be used as an indicator of aquatic ecosystem health. Necropsy-based fish health assessments provide documentation of visible lesions or abnormalities, data used to calculate condition indices as well as the opportunity to collect tissues for microscopic evaluation, gene expression and other more in-depth...

When cells are placed in a hypotonic (low-salt) fluid, they can swell and burst. Meanwhile, cells in a hypertonic solution—with a higher salt concentration—can shrivel and die. How do fish cells avoid these gruesome fates in hypotonic freshwater or hypertonic seawater environments?

This paper describes a procedure for measuring hearing sensitivity in 2 to 4 year-old children. Children are trained to perform play-based responses when they hear a target signal. Thresholds are then estimated in a two-interval, two-alternative forced-choice paradigm, based on observations of the child's...

Source: Carmen Black, Matthew Goldenberg, and Jaideep Talwalkar; Yale School of Medicine
The mental status exam is a clinical evaluation of emotional, perceptual, and cognitive functioning that spans both the fields of psychiatry and neurology. Developing skill in the psychiatric portions of the examination are important to describe salient aspects of the patient's mental state that may be observed during routine history and/or physical exam. Proficiency in the cognitive portions...