[Dynamics of vowel acoustic space indicators in patients with long-term hearing loss]. / Dinamika pokazatelei akusticheskikh treugol'nikov glasnykh zvukov u patsientov, stradayushchikh dlitel'nym narusheniem slukha.

New procedure of vowel acoustic space (VAS) (of vowel acoustic triangles) transformation for the purpose of characterization of vowel production in individuals with long-term hearing loss (HL) was developed. OBJECTIVE: To characterize VAS of adult Russian speakers with long-term HL using newly developed acoustic indicators. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Recordings of sustained Russian cardinal vowels /a/, /i/, /u/ of 10 women and 10 men with long-term HL were acoustically analyzed. For each participant, two first formants of each vowel were measured and log-transformed (logF1, logF2). VAS was transformed into right triangles, their /u/ corners were moved to the origin, and their legs were aligned with axes. VAS was almost symmetrical, equal and have a maximum size in the control group consisted of subjects without hearing impairment while these of long-term HL group VAS size tended to have reduced and VAS stretched along one axis. RESULTS: Our study showed that a new VAS normalization approach can distinguish at least three groups of people with long-term HL. CONCLUSION: There are those with vowel triangles stretched along logF1-axis, with vowel triangles stretched along logF2-axis, and with symmetrical vowel triangles. Causes of the VAS differences require further investigation.

Influence of Surgical Trauma in the Nasal Cavity on the Expression of p53 Protein in the Hippocampus of Rats.

The aim of the study was to determine the role of the stress effect of septoplasty modeling on p53 protein expression in the hippocampus of rats under conditions of sensory olfactory deprivation. Simulation of septoplasty was carried out on 30 sexually mature male rats. A quantitative assessment of the apoptosis of neurons in the pyramidal layer of the hippocampus in the subfields CA1, CA2, CA3, and dentate gyrus (DG) on days 2, 4, and 6 after surgery was carried out. Histological sections were stained by the immunohistochemical method with antibodies to the p53 protein. An increase in the number of p53-positive neurons was noted in all subfields; the maximum increase in the number of apoptotic neurons was noted on day 4 after surgery. The stress effect of modeling septoplasty in rats, accompanied by sensory deprivation of the peripheral part of the olfactory analyzer, provoked the expression of p53 and the initiation of apoptosis mechanisms in various subfields of the hippocampus.