[Case of cortical deafness sparing the music area]. / Un cas de surdité corticale épargnant en partie la musique.

A 33-year-old woman had developed cortical deafness with profound initial deafness lasting for eleven months after pneumococcal meningitis ten years previously. CT scan demonstrated bilateral temporal lobe lesions, predominantly on the left side where it extended into the adjacent parietal and frontal lobes. Audiometry suggested integrity of the internal ear and brain stem. Early auditory evoked potentials were present, while potentials of moderate latency and delayed potentials were abolished. Neuropsychological investigations demonstrated total absence of spoken language, contrasting with conservation of written language, though with agrammatism and an impossibility of identifying non-verbal noises, spoken language, and music. The patient could not identify rhythms, pitch, melodies or the different types of music. The musical quality of sound stimuli and musical pleasure were, however spared as shown by recognition of tape recorded sound stimuli with written denomination and designation of images in multiple choice tests. The relations between auditory agnosia, "pure" verbal deafness and cortical deafness are discussed. Reported cases are reviewed and an attempt is made to demonstrate the existence of several levels in the integration of musical stimuli, the most elementary of which could be the perception of the musical quality of sounds, as was the case in the present patient.

CC chemokine receptor expression in childhood asthma is influenced by natural allergen exposure.

Chemokines and their receptors may play an important role for leukocyte trafficking in allergic inflammation. Aim was to evaluate whether expression of chemokine receptors CCR4 and CCR8 on cells obtained by sputum induction from asthmatic allergic children may be influenced by house dust mite (HDM) allergen natural exposure. Twenty-one children (7-13 yr) with moderate asthma and sensitized to HDM were evaluated during a prolonged period of allergen avoidance (T0) and after a period of natural allergen exposure (T1). At each time point of sputum induction, lung function evaluation, exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) measurements were performed. At T1, CCR4 and CCR8 expression on sputum-induced cells increased from 28.4% +/- 2.9% and 25.8% +/- 1.9%, to 41.1% +/- 4.2% and 37.5% +/- 2.0%, respectively (p < 0.05 and p = 0.01). After allergen exposure, both sputum eosinophils (from 5.2% +/- 2.0% to 12.1% +/- 4.1%, p < 0.01) and eNO (from 15.1 +/- 2.2 ppb to 24.2 +/- 5.8 ppb, p < 0.05) showed significant increase. Lung function tests presented significant deterioration of Forced Expiratory Flow at 25-75% of Vital Capacity (FEF(25--75)) (p < 0.05) and increase of residual volume (p = 0.002). Significant changes in CC chemokine receptor expression in sputum-induced cells in asthmatic children in response to HDM exposure have been observed leading to consider the relevance of CCR4 and CCR8 in allergic asthmatic inflammation.