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NEWS FROM THE 25TH MIDWINTER MEETING OF
THE
ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH IN
OTOLARYNGOLOGY
St. Petersburg, Florida
January 27-31, 2002
At this year's Midwinter meeting of the
Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO), a
professional organization of physicians, clinicians
and scientists dedicated to the advancement of
basic and clinical research into the causes,
treatment and prevention of communication disorders
and other diseases of the head and neck, the
Director of the National Institute for Deafness and
other Communication Disorders, Dr. James Battey,
sketched a vision of hope for millions of hearing
impaired people around the world, pointing out that
"there has never been a greater opportunity for
research to make an impact on our understanding of
human disease in the area of otolaryngology than at
this time". This message was amplified many times
over throughout the five-day meeting in the form of
nearly 1000 contributed papers focusing on the
biology of hearing, balance and speech, as well as
the mechanisms underlying and treatment of
communication disorders and other diseases of the
head and neck. Although research areas represented
at the meeting were wide ranging, the genetic basis
of deafness, the molecular biology and neurobiology
of hearing and balance, and cochlear implants
dominated the itinerary.
More…
At this year's Midwinter meeting of the
Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO), a
professional organization of physicians, clinicians
and scientists dedicated to the advancement of
basic and clinical research into the causes,
treatment and prevention of communication disorders
and other diseases of the head and neck, the
Director of the National Institute for Deafness and
other Communication Disorders, Dr. James Battey,
sketched a vision of hope for millions of hearing
impaired people around the world, pointing out that
"there has never been a greater opportunity for
research to make an impact on our understanding of
human disease in the area of otolaryngology than at
this time". This message was amplified many times
over throughout the five-day meeting in the form of
nearly 1000 contributed papers focusing on the
biology of hearing, balance and speech, as well as
the mechanisms underlying and treatment of
communication disorders and other diseases of the
head and neck. Although research areas represented
at the meeting were wide ranging, the genetic basis
of deafness, the molecular biology and neurobiology
of hearing and balance, and cochlear implants
dominated the itinerary.
Dr. Battey told the audience that "approximately
one child in a thousand is born with hearing
impairment that compromises the development of
normal language skills and that genetic mutation
lies as the cause in approximately half of these
cases". Battey also noted that, "so far, over
seventy genes can be linked to deafness and over
twenty of the so-called deafness genes have been
cloned." At least 30 papers presented at the
meeting were focused on the genetic basis of
deafness (see abstracts 366-375, 562-582).
This year's Award of Merit recipient, A. James
Hudspeth, M.D., Ph.D of Rockefeller University,
presented evidence that a molecular amplifier
exists in a microstructure (the stereocilia) of the
sensory cells of hearing that allows these cells to
respond to exquisitely small acoustic vibrations.
Throughout his career, Dr. Hudspeth has
distinguished himself through a variety of
innovative experiments showing how sound is
converted into electrical energy by the sensory
cells in the inner ear. The importance of this work
was underlined by the fact that no fewer than 65
papers were presented on this and related topics.
Relevant abstracts include 229-246, 235, 322, 474,
601, 602, 622-634, 716-721, 967-975.
The overall theme of this year's Presidential
Symposium was Early Development and Dr. Allen Ryan
of the University of California at San Diego,
demonstrated that immature hair cells can be
successfully transplanted into the tissues of a
previously damaged inner ear, pointing out that "it
might be possible to replace sensory cells or
sensory neurons through the genetic engineering of
stem cells in the future". Several presentations
made at the meeting supported that idea. (see
abstracts 815-817).
Drs. Karen I. Kirk and Mario Svirsky from
Indiana University, reported on progress being made
in the surgical treatment of profoundly deaf
individuals through use of cochlear implants. Dr.
Kirk stated that "children implanted before 2 years
of age develop language faster than children
implanted later" and Dr. Mario Svirsky reinforced
this notion by reporting that "post-implant
language development proceeds at a pace that is not
significantly different from normal when surgeries
are performed early in life." The cochlear implant
is prosthetic device used to bypass the
malfunctioning inner ear of profoundly deaf
individuals by directly stimulating the auditory
pathway. Its utility as a tool in the medical
management of prelingually deaf children was a
primary focus of the meeting (see abstracts
171-189, 458-473, 645-659).
Drs. Patricia Leake and Edwin Rubel of the
University of California at San Francisco and the
University of Washington, respectively, focused on
the role of experience in the formation and
refinement of connections among nerve cells in the
developing brain. Dr. Leake demonstrated that the
organization of the auditory portion of the brain
is refined during a dynamic period of development
in which the inner ear is transformed into an
adultlike organ. Dr. Rubel discussed the cellular
mechanisms that underlie the timing of crucial
developmental events by creating conditions
mimicking hearing loss and deprivation of normal
inputs to auditory centers in the brain. Dr.
Gregory Ball of the Johns Hopkins University
extended the discussion of neural plasticity to
include changes that occur in the brains of
songbirds as they learn to recognize vocalization
patterns of prospective mates. Collectively, the
message from the symposium underlined the
importance of work being done by scientists around
the world to develop a better understanding of the
basic molecular, biochemical and physiological
mechanisms underlying early developmental events
(see abstracts 434-447, 549-561).
ARO Media Relations Committee
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