Objective·To investigate the pathological and physiological changes underlying noise-induced cochlear nucleus damage and the regulating function of astrocytes on the damage,using a combination of morphological analysis,and molecular biology techniques.Methods·Forty-eight male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into two groups and exposed to 110 dB SPL(sound pressure level)broadband noise for 2 hours.Auditory brainstem response(ABR)tests were performed on the mice on days 1,7,14,30,and 90 after the noise exposure.Immunofluorescence staining of cochlear nuclear tissue was conducted to observe cochlear nuclear neurons and auditory synapses,as well as astrocyte activation levels.In addition,the damage to the cochlear nuclear neurons and synapses caused by noise was verified through Western blotting.Results·A significant decrease in cochlear nuclear Bushy cells after noise exposure was observed.The Western blotting results showed that there was severe loss of nerve fibers in cochlear nuclear neurons,indicating that noise caused significant damage to cochlear nucleus neurons.Moreover,a significant loss of auditory synapses labeled with vesicular glutamate transporter 1(Vglutl)was observed,which was the severest on day 14 after noise exposure and slowly recovered on day 90.Interestingly,astrocytes in the cochlear nucleus displayed obvious clustering and activation after noise exposure.By staining with glial fibrillary acidic protein(GFAP),most astrocytes were distributed around the cochlear nucleus,granule cell area,and auditory nerve root before noise exposure,and they had a small size.However,on day 14 after noise exposure,a large number of activated astrocytes aggregated in the ventral cochlear nucleus,and they all showed a pattern of growth around the synapses.Conclusion·Noise exposure leads to significant damage in the cochlear nucleus,and it is possible that astrocytes are involved in its damage and repair processes.These findings will provide a crucial foundation for further understanding the mechanisms of sound signal analysis,integration,and neural plasticity in the cochlear nucleus.

Objective·To study the alterations in vestibular hair cell morphology and function of ATPase plasma membrane Ca2+transporting 2 oblivion(Atp2b2 Oblivion)heterozygous mice at different ages.Methods·Atp2b2 Oblivion heterozygous male mice aged 2 months and 8 months were selected with ten in each kind and C57BL/6J wild-type mice with the same gender,age and number were selected as the control group.Expression patterns of ATP2B2 in vestibular hair cells and numbers of hair cells in the striola zone and the extra striola zone in the two groups of mice at different ages were observed and calculated respectively through immunofluorescence assay.Hair bundle structures were detected by scanning electron microscopy(SEM),and mitochondria and ribbon synapse structures were observed by transmission electron microscopy(TEM).Vestibular evoked potential(VsEP),vestibular evoked myogenic potential(VEMP),rotarod rod test,and balance beam test were adopted for the evaluation of vestibular functions.Results·ATP2B2 was mainly expressed in the hair bundle of vestibular hair cells in the two groups of mice.Hair cell numbers in the striola zone and the extra-striola zone did not exhibit any differences between Atp2b2 Oblivion heterozygous mutant mice and wild-type mice of 2-month-old and 8-month-old.No visible structural abnormality in the hair bundle could be seen through SEM.TEM results implied no morphological abnormality in mitochondria or ribbon synapses in the 2-month-old heterozygous mutant mice,while vacuolar degeneration was discovered in the mitochondria under the cuticular plate in the 8-month-old heterozygous mutant mice with the normal ribbon synapses and the normal mitochondria near the innervation site.VsEP and VEMP thresholds of 2-month-old and 8-month-old Atp2b2 Oblivion heterozygous mutant mice were significantly elevated compared with the wild-type mice.Analysis of VsEP waveform manifested prolonged P1 latency and declined P1N1 amplitude in heterozygous mutant mice(P＜0.05).Results of rotarod rod test and balance beam test acquired from 2-month-old Atp2b2 Oblivion heterozygous mutant mice were not significantly different from the wild-type mice,while the ability of the mutant mice to accomplish the tests descended significantly at 8 months of age compared with the wild-type mice(P＜0.05).Conclusion·Atp2b2 Oblivion heterozygous mutant mice showed defective vestibular electrophysiological function at 2 months old,and abnormalities in vestibule-related behaviors can be detected at 8 months old.The vestibular function ofAtp2b2 Oblivion heterozygous mutant mice deteriorate progressively.

Objective·To develope an auditory brainstem implant(ABI)vocoder based on cochlear implant(CI)vocoder characteristics and ABI electrode array topology,and to verify its reliability.Methods·An"n-of-m"coding strategy CI/ABI vocoder was constructed based on MATLAB.Within each frame,only the envelopes of the n channels with the highest energy were selected.The interaction coefficient(IC)(range:1?3),channel numbers(range:5?22),and electrode array topology(CI/ABI)were adjustable parameters,allowing for the synthesis of simulated speech.Psychoacoustic evaluation was employed,recruiting normal hearing subjects to perform closed-set simulated phoneme perception.The phoneme recognition accuracy(20 vowel questions/condition,11 consonant questions/condition)was compared with the corresponding conditions of CI and ABI from reference literature to determine the IC value of the vocoder and verify its reliability.Results·The vocoder successfully synthesized all test stimuli.In the closed-set CI-simulated speech recognition,the simulated vowel and consonant recognition accuracy for IC2 and IC3 conditions showed no significant difference compared to the accuracy reported in the CI reference literature(P＞0.05).The difference in vowel and consonant accuracy between IC2 and the literature was smaller than that between IC3 and the literature(vowel|d|=1.6%vs.20%,consonant|d|=8.4%vs.9.9%),thus determining the optimal interaction coefficient of this model as 2.Subsequently,when modifying the electrode array topology to ABI,it was found that the simulated phoneme recognition accuracy for a 16-channel ABI was significantly lower than that for the 16-channel CI group,consistent with the reported literature.The simulated vowel and consonant accuracy within the 5?8 channel range for ABI showed no significant difference(P＞0.05),also aligning with the trend reported in the literature.Conclusion·A CI/ABI vocoder based on"n-of-m"coding strategy is established and the optimal IC is determined.The established ABI encoder has been evaluated for high reliability through psychoacoustic experiments.It provides suitable technical means for validating ABI-specific coding strategies.

Objective To investigate the vowel acoustic characteristics of patients with voice disorders and the reasonable way of administering vocal space area(VSA)and language in the Mandarin system.Methods A total of 40 subjects(20 males and 20 females)with voice disorder and normal healthy controls were recruited.The differ-ences in VSA between the disorder and healthy control groups were analyzed under different corpora and different vowel vertex numbers.Results The differences in VSA between the voice disorder and the control groups were highly significant in both the vowel and long sentence corpus.The differences in VSA between 4 vowels and 3 vow-els and 5 vowels were not significant,and 5 vowels were more suitable for VSA measurement in Mandarin.Conclu-sion The vowel articulation of patients with voice disorder is less clear than that of normal speakers.It is more ac-curate to use 5 vowels to measure VSA under the Mandarin system and it is better for measuring oral motility.Both single vowels and continuous speech are suitable for the measurement of VSA.

Objective To investigate the related factor underlying the differential vulnerability of inner hair cell(IHC)ribbon synapses to noise exposure.Methods Twenty-eight C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into the noise exposure group(NED1)and the control group(CTR)with 14 mice in each group.The noise exposure group was exposed to bandpass noise of 2～20 kHz at 103 dB SPL for two hours while the control group was bred in a quiet environment.Before and after noise exposure,auditory brainstem response was conducted to detect the audi-tory function,whole-mount immunofluorescence staining was used to observe the number of inner hair cell ribbon synapses in different turns.The calcium influx of inner hair cells in the apical and middle turn using whole-cell patch clamp recording was analyzed.Furthermore,the immunofluorescence intensity of calpain in inner hair cells from dif-ferent mouse cochlear turns using whole-mount immunofluorescence staining was compared.Western blotting was used to verify that CtBP2 was degraded by calpain.Results After noise exposure,the ABR threshold of 11.3,16.0,22.6,32.0 kHz increased significantly and the number of ribbon synapses of inner hair cells at the middle turn and basal turn of the cochlea decreased significantly.However,whole-cell patch clamp recordings showed that calcium ion channels were fewer but single-channel current was higher at the apical turn of the cochlea.The open probability of calcium ion channels in IHCs showed no significant difference between the apical turn and the middle turn of the cochlea.But the expression level of calpain of the inner hair cells at the middle and basal turn of the basi-lar membrane was significantly higher than that at the apical turn after noise exposure.The western blotting results also showed that CtBP2 was cleaved in a Ca2+-dependent manner by calpain.Conclusion Calpain may be the main related factor that accounts for the vulnerability of ribbon synapses in inner hair cells in the high frequency region of basal membrane.

Objective To investigate the acoustic characteristics of speech prosody in patients after stroke and to select sensitive acoustic parameters of speech prosody.Methods A total of 30 patients after stroke(stroke group)and 30 healthy adults of similar age(control group)were collected.Both groups read short texts aloud,and each syllable and pause of all short sentences in the whole text were recorded under the spectrogram.Acoustic analysis was performed on the inter-rogative sentence"What do you want to buy for your grandson's birthday?"and the stressed sentence"I want to buy toys!"The rhythm(unnatural pause number,speech rate,articulation rate),intonation(whole sentence fundamental frequency,fundamental frequency standard deviation and fundamental frequency slope of interrogative sentences,boundary tone funda-mental frequency and fundamental frequency slope of interrogative sentences,fundamental frequency and fundamental fre-quency slope of four tones),and stress(average intensity of stressed syllables,peak intensity,and stressed syllables dura-tion)of speech prosody were analyzed and compared between the two groups.Results The unnatural pause number and the stressed syllables duration in the stroke group were significantly higher than those in the normal control group(P＜0.01).The speech rate,articulation rate,whole sentence fundamental frequency standard deviation,whole sentence funda-mental frequency slope,and fourth tone fundamental frequency slope in the stroke group were significantly lower than those in the normal control group(P＜0.01).The boundary tone fundamental frequency slope of interrogative sentences and the third tone fundamental frequency slope were significantly lower than those in the normal control group(P＜0.05).Conclu-sion Patients after stroke have poor rhythm control,manifested as excessive pauses and slow speech rate;insufficient into-nation expression,manifested as insufficient interrogative sentence tone,and poor control ability of the third and fourth tones;compensatory expression of stress,characterized by prolonging the expression time of stressed syllables.

Objective To establish the methods of galvanic vestibular stimulation-vestibular evoked myogenic potentials(GVS-VEMPs)in healthy children and to obtain the normal value of GVS-cVEMP and GVS-oVEMP in these children in China.Methods Twenty(3～14 years)healthy children and 24 healthy adults(18～30 years)were enrolled for conventional examinations of GVS-cVEMP and GVS-oVEMP.Using the galvanic stimulation in-tensity under 3 mA/1 ms for children and 5 mA/1 ms for adults.The characteristics of elicitation and parameter re-sults of GVS-cVEMP and GVS-oVEMP in children and adults,as well as the pain scores and the elicitation of differ-ent stimulus intensities in the two age groups were recorded.Results The elicitation of GVS-cVEMP and GVS-oVEMP were both 100.0％in children and adult groups.The p1 latency,n1 latency and p1-n1 interval latency of GVS-cVEMP were 10.46±1.84 ms,16.98±2.12 ms and 6.52±1.42 ms respectively in children group,the n1 la-tency and p1-n1 interval latency were significantly shorter than the adult group(P＜0.05).The n1 latency,p1 la-tency and p1-n1 interval latency of GVS-oVEMP were 8.87±1.40 ms,12.25±1.80 ms and 3.39±1.07 ms re-spectively in children group with no significant difference between the two groups.The thresholds of GVS-cVEMP and GVS-oVEMP in children group were significantly lower than adult group(P＜0.01),but no differences were found in adult group regarding on the amplitude and interaural amplitude asymmetry ratio.In addition,with the in-crease of the intensity of galvanic stimulation,the correlation between pain scores and the elicitation rates of GVS-cVEMP and GVS-oVEMP also increased.Conclusion Using appropriate stimulus intensity and recording methods,GVS-cVEMP and GVS-oVEMP could be successfully assessed and detected in healthy children over 3 years old and adolescents.The latency of GVS-cVEMP in children is slightly shorter than that in adults,therefore we recommend selecting the matched age group for assessment in the children group.

OBJECTIVE Aimed to analyze the demographic,anthropometric,severity,and common comorbidities of individuals with suspected obstructive sleep apnea(OSA)referred to the OSA diagnosis and treatment center of the Sixth People's Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from 2012 to 2021.METHODS Data of subjects with suspected OSA who underwent polysomnography(PSG)from January 2012 to December 2021 were collected.Subjects were categorized into five groups based on the PSG study date with a two-year interval.Clinical characteristics trends were compared across groups,focusing on the comparison between 2020-2021 and 2018-2019 to explore changes after COVID-19 epidemic.RESULTS 1.A total of 5870 subjects were included from 2012 to 2019[age(43.2±12.7)years,21.7％females].OSA prevalence was 84.8％.Over the two-year intervals,age,female proportion,OSA severity,and other indicators showed no significant changes.Body mass index(median 26.8kg/m2 to 26.0kg/m2)and overweight rates(78.1％to 73.4％)decreased yearly,as did the proportions of subjects who smoked(38.1％to 27.8％)and consumed alcohol(13.5％to 6.4％).The prevalence of hypertension increased yearly(40.3％to 51.8％),while awareness rates gradually decreased(70.3％to 59.4％).Diabetes prevalence remained relatively stable(9.4％to 9.7％),with increased awareness(49.5％to 66.2％).Dyslipidemia prevalence remained high(76.7％to 78.3％),with low awareness rates(20.8％to 28.7％).2.A total of 805 subjects were included from 2020 to 2021.Compared with 2018-2019,the proportion of females decreased(14.9％vs.22.0％),and OSA severity increased(apnea-hypopnea index 40.4 times/h vs.29.2 times/h).Prevalence rates of hypertension,diabetes,dyslipidemia(47.1％,6.9％,62.1％)and awareness rates(52.4％,57.7％,17.8％)were lower than those from 2018-2019.3.Compared with subjects with known their comorbidities,unknown subjects had significantly higher levels of systolic blood pressure(141 mmHg vs.134 mmHg),diastolic blood pressure(93 mmHg vs.85 mmHg),fasting blood glucose(7.87 mmol/L vs.6.07 mmol/L),and low-density lipoprotein(3.08 mmol/L vs.2.91 mmol/L)(P＜0.05).CONCLUSION From 2012 to 2021,individuals with suspected OSA referred for PSG test showed a tendency toward younger age,lower proportion of females,fewer comorbidities,but increased OSA severity.The awareness rate of comorbidities needs improvement,emphasizing the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to the diagnosis and treatment of OSA.

Objective:To evaluate the effect of surgical revision of nasofacial deformity secondary to maxillary frontal process fracture.Methods:The clinical data of patients with nasofacial deformities secondary to maxillary frontal process fractures who underwent surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery of Ninth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from January 2009 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The nasofacial deformity was surgically treated by open reduction with internal fixation, nasal septum correction, and reconstruction of orbital wall fracture. Three months after surgery, the surgical results were evaluated from the following three aspects. (1) Nasofacial morphology, which was evaluated by two doctors and the patient, and was classified into 3 levels: very satisfied, satisfied, and unsatisfied. (2) Objective assessment of nasal ventilation function, which was measured by nasal acoustic rhinometry and nasal resistance detection, including measurements of nasal minimum cross-sectional area (MCA), nasal volume 7 cm from the anterior nostril (NV), total nasal inspiratory resistance (TRi) and total nasal expiratory resistance (TRe). To eliminate the differences caused by swelling of the nasal mucosa, the patients were divided into 3 groups of <7 d, 7-14 d, and >14 d according to the time from trauma to preoperative examination for pre- and post-operative comparisons, respectively. (3) Subjective assessment of nasal ventilation function was performed using the nasal obstructive symptom evaluation (NOSE) scale, with a total score of 0 to 20, with a higher score indicating more severe nasal obstruction symptoms. The SPSS 17.0 software was used for statistical analysis, and the measurement data were expressed as Mean±SD. A paired t-test was used to compare the preoperative and 3-month postoperative data, with P<0.05 indicating a statistically significant difference. Results:A total of 83 patients were included, 53 males and 30 females, aged 7 to 78 years, with a median of 35 years. All patients underwent successful surgery, and all soft tissue incisions healed well after surgery with improved nasofacial morphology. Three months after surgery, the physicians were very satisfied and satisfied with the nasofacial morphology in 49 (59%) and 34 (41%) patients, respectively, and patients were very satisfied, satisfied, and unsatisfied in 51 (61%), 29 (35%), and 3(4%) cases, respectively. Before surgery, the <7 d group (14 cases), 7-14 d group (28 cases), and >14 d group (41 cases) had MCA values of (0.43±0.10) cm 2, (0.51±0.15) cm 2, and (0.50±0.14) cm 2; NV values of (9.76±2.20) cm 3, (12.40±4.15) cm 3, and (12.40±3.87) cm 3; TRi values of (1.93±0.28) kPa·L -1·s -1, (1.96±0.24) kPa·L -1·s -1, and (1.96±0.23) kPa·L -1·s -1; TRe values of (2.02±0.35) kPa·L -1·s -1, (2.08±0.38) kPa·L -1·s -1, and (2.08±0.34) kPa·L -1·s -1, respectively. Three months after surgery, in the three groups, the MCA values were (0.48±0.08) cm 2, (0.56±0.15) cm 2, and (0.56±0.14) cm 2; the NV values were (11.56±2.49) cm 3, (14.40±4.50) cm 3, and (14.41±4.24) cm 3; the TRi values were (1.74±0.19) kPa·L -1·s -1, (1.78±0.15) kPa·L -1·s -1, (1.78±0.14) kPa·L -1·s -1; the TRe values were (1.73±0.24) kPa·L -1·s -1, (1.79±0.24) kPa·L -1·s -1, and (1.79±0.22) kPa·L -1·s -1, respectively. In all three groups, the MCA and NV values at 3 months postoperatively were greater than the preoperative values of MCA and NV (all P < 0.01), and the TRe and TRi values at 3 months postoperatively were less than those preoperative values (all P < 0.01). At 3 months postoperatively, the NOSE scale score was (4.1±1.2)points, which was significantly lower than the preoperative score of NOSE scale score[(10.5±1.8)points] ( P<0.01). Conclusion:The combination of objective and subjective assessment method can help the surgeon to accurately determine the nasofacial morphological and functional defects caused by the fracture of the maxillary frontal process area before surgery and to formulate a perfect surgical plan. The patients’ nasofacial appearance and nasal ventilation functions were significantly improved after the fracture revision surgery.

Objective:To evaluate the effect of surgical revision of nasofacial deformity secondary to maxillary frontal process fracture.Methods:The clinical data of patients with nasofacial deformities secondary to maxillary frontal process fractures who underwent surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery of Ninth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from January 2009 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The nasofacial deformity was surgically treated by open reduction with internal fixation, nasal septum correction, and reconstruction of orbital wall fracture. Three months after surgery, the surgical results were evaluated from the following three aspects. (1) Nasofacial morphology, which was evaluated by two doctors and the patient, and was classified into 3 levels: very satisfied, satisfied, and unsatisfied. (2) Objective assessment of nasal ventilation function, which was measured by nasal acoustic rhinometry and nasal resistance detection, including measurements of nasal minimum cross-sectional area (MCA), nasal volume 7 cm from the anterior nostril (NV), total nasal inspiratory resistance (TRi) and total nasal expiratory resistance (TRe). To eliminate the differences caused by swelling of the nasal mucosa, the patients were divided into 3 groups of <7 d, 7-14 d, and >14 d according to the time from trauma to preoperative examination for pre- and post-operative comparisons, respectively. (3) Subjective assessment of nasal ventilation function was performed using the nasal obstructive symptom evaluation (NOSE) scale, with a total score of 0 to 20, with a higher score indicating more severe nasal obstruction symptoms. The SPSS 17.0 software was used for statistical analysis, and the measurement data were expressed as Mean±SD. A paired t-test was used to compare the preoperative and 3-month postoperative data, with P<0.05 indicating a statistically significant difference. Results:A total of 83 patients were included, 53 males and 30 females, aged 7 to 78 years, with a median of 35 years. All patients underwent successful surgery, and all soft tissue incisions healed well after surgery with improved nasofacial morphology. Three months after surgery, the physicians were very satisfied and satisfied with the nasofacial morphology in 49 (59%) and 34 (41%) patients, respectively, and patients were very satisfied, satisfied, and unsatisfied in 51 (61%), 29 (35%), and 3(4%) cases, respectively. Before surgery, the <7 d group (14 cases), 7-14 d group (28 cases), and >14 d group (41 cases) had MCA values of (0.43±0.10) cm 2, (0.51±0.15) cm 2, and (0.50±0.14) cm 2; NV values of (9.76±2.20) cm 3, (12.40±4.15) cm 3, and (12.40±3.87) cm 3; TRi values of (1.93±0.28) kPa·L -1·s -1, (1.96±0.24) kPa·L -1·s -1, and (1.96±0.23) kPa·L -1·s -1; TRe values of (2.02±0.35) kPa·L -1·s -1, (2.08±0.38) kPa·L -1·s -1, and (2.08±0.34) kPa·L -1·s -1, respectively. Three months after surgery, in the three groups, the MCA values were (0.48±0.08) cm 2, (0.56±0.15) cm 2, and (0.56±0.14) cm 2; the NV values were (11.56±2.49) cm 3, (14.40±4.50) cm 3, and (14.41±4.24) cm 3; the TRi values were (1.74±0.19) kPa·L -1·s -1, (1.78±0.15) kPa·L -1·s -1, (1.78±0.14) kPa·L -1·s -1; the TRe values were (1.73±0.24) kPa·L -1·s -1, (1.79±0.24) kPa·L -1·s -1, and (1.79±0.22) kPa·L -1·s -1, respectively. In all three groups, the MCA and NV values at 3 months postoperatively were greater than the preoperative values of MCA and NV (all P < 0.01), and the TRe and TRi values at 3 months postoperatively were less than those preoperative values (all P < 0.01). At 3 months postoperatively, the NOSE scale score was (4.1±1.2)points, which was significantly lower than the preoperative score of NOSE scale score[(10.5±1.8)points] ( P<0.01). Conclusion:The combination of objective and subjective assessment method can help the surgeon to accurately determine the nasofacial morphological and functional defects caused by the fracture of the maxillary frontal process area before surgery and to formulate a perfect surgical plan. The patients’ nasofacial appearance and nasal ventilation functions were significantly improved after the fracture revision surgery.