[Do Early Cochlear-Implanted Toddlers Show a Better Speech Development than Later Implanted Children?] / Haben früh cochleaimplantierte Kinder eine bessere Sprachentwicklung als später versorgte Kinder?

Objective: Long term goal in early cochlea implantation in children without any additional disabilities is an age-appropriate speech development. Material and Methods: Speech development in deaf children with cochlear-implant(s) (n=60) was examined with the german language test battery SETK-2 ("Sprachentwicklungstest für 2-jährige Kinder") 2 years after first mapping of the speech processor. Results: More than 68% of the subjects show in all 4 subtests hearing-age equivalent results in receptive and expressive language. 12 children were additionally evaluated by chronological age. 4 of these children show age-appropriate results. There is no significant difference between the children implanted earlier in life (≤12 months) and later implanted children (≥13 months). But it must be kept in mind, that children who were implanted earlier show the same results at a younger age. The discrepancy between their chronological age and their speech development-age is smaller. Speech development in children who grow up bilingually was delayed in German. Conclusions: The results lead to the conclusion that the time of the cochlea implantation is crucial for further development of the children who were born deaf. Rehabilitation concepts have to put a special focus on children who grow up with more than one language.

A real-time PCR assay for the differentiation of Candida species.

AIMS: We established a real-time PCR assay for the detection and strain identification of Candida species and demonstrated the ability to differentiate between Candida albicans the most common species, and also Candida parapsilosis, Candida glabrata, Candida tropicalis and Candida dubliniensis by LightCycler PCR and melting curve analysis. METHODS AND RESULTS: The DNA isolation from cultures and serum was established using the QIAmp Tissue Kit. The sensitivity of the assay was ≥ 2 genome equivalents/assay. It was possible to differentiate all investigated Candida species by melting curve analysis, and no cross-reaction to human DNA or Aspergillus species could be observed. CONCLUSIONS: The established real-time PCR assay is a useful tool for the rapid identification of Candida species and a base technology for more complex PCR assays. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: We carried out initial steps in validation of a PCR assay for the detection and differentiation of medically relevant Candida species. The PCR was improved by generating PCR standards, additional generation of melting curves for species identification and the possibility to investigate different specimens simultaneously.

Identification of amplified genes from SV40 large T antigen-induced rat PNET cell lines by subtractive cDNA analysis and radiation hybrid mapping.

Primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) such as human medulloblastomas are genetically heterogeneous and therefore poorly understood. In a rat model the SV40 large T antigen was used to induce neoplasms with characteristic features of PNETs. Tumor development requires a latency period of 8-11 months implicating secondary genetic alterations. To identify such secondary alterations we performed comparative analyses of two phenotypically identical PNET-derived cell lines. Indeed, these cell lines displayed distinct high-level amplification sites. Using a combination of subtractive cDNA analysis and radiation hybrid mapping we have now identified genes in the amplicon regions of the two cell lines. Interestingly, one of these genes encodes the rat homolog of a cytosolic branched chain aminotransferase (BCAT(C)) previously shown to be amplified in a mouse teratocarcinoma cell line. We propose that this simple cloning strategy may serve as a powerful tool for the isolation of genes implicated in known chromosomal aberrations in primary tumors and tumor cell lines.