ARO NEWS
Spring 1996

President's Report

Once again, the success of the Mid-winter Meeting continues to grow, at least as judged by the number of papers presented (up by 6% to 844) and by meeting attendance (up to 1268 registrants). The Meet-ing and the ARO con-tinue to attract new blood, as evidenced by the fact that 295 of the registrants at 1996 Meeting had never before attended an ARO Midwinter Meeting.

Of course, the weather has been less successful in recent years, and the "freezeway" has presented a real problem for poster presenters and poster viewers alike. The situation was a little more bearable this year, thanks to the propane heaters. Next year there will be more heaters and a more substantial wind-breaking enclosure for the whole area. Of course, the weather will also be beautiful. Looking ahead two years and beyond, the dates for the Midwinter Meeting will be shifted two weeks later in February. For example, the dates for the 1998 Meeting will be February 15 - February 19. This will increase the odds for temperate weather, given that the mean minimum temperature occurs in the last week in January.

Plans for the 1997 Midwinter Meeting are becoming finalized. A number of symposia and workshops are being organized. The Presidential Symposium will be entitled, "Imaging of Neural Activity in Cortex and Brainstem" and will discuss the insights into sensory processing mechanisms that are being gained through imaging of voltage-sensitive dyes or intrinsic signals in both humans and animals. Another symposium, entitled "Hear and Now", organized by Dr. Peter Steyger, will deal with broad societal issues surrounding communication disorders including the political debate over cochlear implantation and hair cell regeneration studies. Another invited session, organized by Drs. Nina Kraus, Therese McGee and Dawn Koch is entitled "Central Auditory Mechanisms Underlying Speech Perception" and will summarize current data and theories concerning the structure and function of the thalamus and auditory cortex and their relevance to normal and abnormal speech perception. A workshop is being organized by Dr. Georg Klump and is titled "Adaptations for Acoustic Signal Analysis". This session will consider the diversity of structure-function relations in both central and peripheral auditory systems of vertebrates.

My plan for the Presidential Lecture at the 1997 Midwinter Meeting is to invite the Award of Merit recipient (whoever that may be) to speak. This seems like an excellent opportunity for the honoree to summarize his/her scientific contributions to the field and/or to address any other issues of importance to the ARO and its members. On a related note, a few years ago the ARO began presenting the Award of Merit recipient with a $1000 prize in addition to the Award Citation. This past year's honorees, the Thalmanns, generously donated that prize money back to the ARO Minority Travel Fund. The fund which supports this Award of Merit prize relies on donations from the ARO membership, and those have fallen off significantly in the past year. Please make a contribution if you can.

The 1998 Midwinter Meeting is still two years off, but, in addition to the regular scientific program, this Meeting will include a number of special events celebrating the 25th anniversary of the ARO. If you have any suggestions as to what form these festivities should take, or if you have any memorabilia from the early years of the ARO that might be interesting (or amusing) to others, please contact President-Elect Len Rybak or Historian-in-Perpetuity David Lim.

One final note concerns the role of the ARO and its members in national politics, particularly in lobbying efforts on behalf of federal funding for scientific research. The Government Relations Committee, under the able leadership of Dr. Robert Ruben, spearheads the formal efforts of ARO in this critical arena. However, the importance of individual efforts on the part of all ARO members cannot be underestimated. It is clear, for example, that the large volume of mail received by members of Congress re: the importance of NIH funding levels compared with the much smaller volume received re: NSF funding had a significant impact on the outcome of the budget process, in which NIH fared considerably better than NSF. The clear message is that all ARO members should get more involved in this process.

M. Charles Liberman, Ph.D.
President

Editor's Column

The Executive Council decided to reduce the number of issues of the ARO NEWS from the customary three per year to only two per year, one in April and one in December. New abstract submission procedures allow publication of the Midwinter Meeting information much earlier than before reducing the need for one of the two Fall newsletters. Another factor was that much of newsletter information is now available on the internet prior to publication of the printed version. Positions Available, Calendar of Events, and announcements now are placed on the internet home page as soon as we receive them.

The Executive Council also approved of a new method for submitting abstracts. As always, you will be able to submit an abstract for the MidWinter Meeting with the usual paper forms that have been included with this newsletter. As an alternative, you also will be able to submit an abstract electronically, directly over the world wide web. The deadline for submission will be October 1, 1996 for either method. If you have access to the world wide web, I strongly urge you to use this new electronic method rather than the paper form. An electronic submission results in more accurate transfer of the information and greatly reduces the work load for preparing and organizing the meeting because scanning and editing are eliminated. A practice electronic form is now available on the world wide web home page (http://www.aro.org/showcase/aro/) so that you can become familiar with the new procedure prior to submitting your abstracts for the 1997 meeting. Please take the time to try out this new method now so that you will feel comfortable with it in the fall.

We also implemented a change in the abstract submission process for both the paper and the electronic methods to ensure that abstract submissions do not get lost. For every abstract submission, electronic or paper, you will receive a fax indicating that your submission was received. The fax also will show a unique identification number. I trust that the receipt of a fax with this information will provide some assurance if you are a little leery of relying on computer technology for such an important process. If you do not list a fax number in the submission, you will still receive acknowledgement of your submission along with your unique identification number but it will be either by e-mail, regular mail, or telephone, in that order.

Gerald R. Popelka, Ph.D.
Editor

CURRENT ISSUES

National Organization for Hearing Research Grants

In 1997, the National Organization for Hearing Research will award grants of approximately $5,000 each, primarily in the form of seed money, for exploration into innovative research areas in the prevention, causes and cures of hearing loss and deafness.

Researchers and clinicians qualified in the field of auditory science may apply. Applications from researchers in other disciplines who will conduct research directly relevant to auditory science are also encouraged. Grant support is generally provided for one year. Applications are reviewed by NOHR's Scientific Review Committee.

The deadline for applications is October 4, 1996. For application materials, please contact The National Organization for Hearing Research, 225 Haverford Ave., Narberth, PA 19072. Phone: (610) 664-3260; Fax (610) 668-1428.

University of Puerto Rico Otology Research Project

The University of Puerto Rico is looking for grant funding for a project involving ototoxicity and chemotherapeutic regimens. Send information to: jalmodovar@mem.pol.com or José I. Almodóvar, MD, OTO-HNS Resident, CMMS 69 P.O. Box 70344, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936.

CALL FOR PAPERS

1997
Call for Papers
MIDWINTER MEETING
February 2-6, 1997
Tradewinds Hotel
St. Petersburg Beach, Florida

The Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) invites the submission of contributed papers for the 1997 MidWinter Meeting. Papers in all areas of otolaryngology are welcome.

€Application forms have been sent with this newsletter. If you did not receive them or if you need additional forms, please contact the ARO Office.

€Abstracts can be submitted directly over the world wide web. If you have access to this technology, no paper forms are needed.

€Deadline for submission is October 1, 1996

AWARD OF MERIT

"Eine Biochemie des Innenohres besteht noch nicht" (As yet there is no such thing as a biochemistry of the inner ear) .... thus Sigurd Rauch in his Biochemie des Hörorgans (1964). Only one generation later, biochemistry has become a vital part of hearing science. Even now many of us may not yet be fully aware of the tremendous influence it is having in shaping ideas and investigations in our field.

This year's ARO Award of Merit recognizes Ruediger and Isolde Thalmann of Washington University, St. Louis - the exceptional husband-and-wife research team. One cannot but be reminded of another scientist pair from that University, the Czech pharmacologists, Carl and Gerty Cori. Like them, the Thalmanns are also imports: Ruedi from Austria, Ici from Bavaria. Appropriately enough, they met at an Oktoberfest almost thirty years ago although not in Munich - in St. Louis. Ruedi, Vienna-trained in otolaryngology at Politzer's erstwhile clinic, and disguised as director of audiology at Washington University, had already begun in his spare hours to study the metabolic processes in the inner ear. Isolde was at the outset of her career, a neophyte in a protein biochemistry laboratory who later completed her Ph.D. there. Although initially brought together by deep and abiding interest in the masterpieces of music and their performance, they have been pioneers of cochlear biochemistry ever since.

While one could list numerous joint and individual accomplishments of the Thalmann-Gespann, it is the conceptual framework of their research that intrigues the reviewer, and assures their place in the annals of hearing science. Their early series of papers on enzymes and metabolites of cochlear energetics clearly defined their approach. It was to establish functional correlations that would aid in understanding the workings of the tiny, complex system of the cochlea. Then they began to ask questions about the generation of endocochlear and microphonic potentials and the dynamics of cochlear fluids. Exemplifying the value of this approach was their finding that the rapid drop in the endocochlear potential with the onset of anoxia vascularis, but not of the organ of Corti. Thus they called attention to the role of the stria in the generation of the DC potential of the scala media.

Much of the Thalmann's work is the result of technical accomplishments of a high order, matching their conceptual contributions to the field. For example, they were the first to apply to the inner ear the exacting microanalytical methods developed by Oliver Lowry at Washington University for examining brain and other tissues. In fact, their preparation of living as well as freeze-dried hair cells antedated by well over a decade the recent resurgence of interest in the study of isolated outer hair cells.

Their later accomplishments and their most recent work have continued to show the same zeal for tackling especially difficult and controversial problems, and for distilling challenging conclusions from painstaking analytical results ingeniously arrived at. Contrary to previously held opinion, their analysis of the tectorial membrane has revealed Type II collagen and chondroitin sulfate as two of its major constituents. Hence they have forced us to change our views of this structure, and physiological theoreticians to incorporate the properties of these substances into models of cochlear function. Their minute analysis of Corti's organ has revealed two unique proteins, OCP1 and OCP2, which they have isolated and sequenced and the genes for which they have cloned. We can be sure that their quest will continue until the function of these proteins is established.

Thanks very largely to the example set by the Thalmanns, cochlear biochemistry at this time does not merely exist but flourishes, and has attracted related disciplines such as molecular biology into hearing science. While Ruedi now has leisure to return to his musicianship, Ici's continuing contributions help to assure its bright future - not to forget the students and fellows from this country, from Asia, America, and Europe who have been privileged to work with them, and to acquire by observation and osmosis their habits of insightful thought and investigation.

Joseph E. Hawkins, Jr.
Daniel C. Marcus
Jochen Schacht

RESEARCH STANDARDS AND ETHICS

The Association for Research in Otolaryngology adopted a policy on research standards and ethics on April 1, 1996. This policy is listed below in its entirety. Members of the ARO are expected to abide by this policy and are asked to sign a statement that research findings presented at the meetings of the association were conducted accordingly.

Association for Research in Otolaryngology
Policy Statement on Research Standards and Ethics
April 1, 1996

The Association for Research in Otolaryngology is committed to the belief that high ethical standards are fundamental to research that will advance knowledge and improve medical care. Thus the goals of our organization include not only promotion and dissemination of scientific research but also promotion of the highest standards of integrity in the acquisition, analysis, and presentation of scientific data. All members of this organization should adhere to ethical guidelines as described by national funding agencies, the scientific journals in our field, and local research institutions. The Association for Research in Otolaryngology expects that all members will adhere to the following basic guidelines.

1. Protection of research subjects. For experiments involving human subjects, appropriate informed consent must be obtained. In studies using human or animal subjects, distress or pain must be minimized, and subjects must be carefully monitored for adverse effects. Euthanasia for animal subjects should be carried out in a rapid and painless manner consistent with standard veterinary guidelines. It is expected that proposed experiments involving human or animal subjects will be reviewed by the investigator's institutional review boards.

2. Integrity of data. Investigators are expected to continually monitor the integrity of their data, and consider potential errors that would contaminate experimental results. When appropriate, the investigator should point out these potential errors or other factors which may be important in interpreting the data. Open discussion of such problems permits others to assist in their resolution. Primary data should be maintained such that they are accessible for later review if needed. Once data have been collected and are felt to be worthy of dissemination, the investigator should seek to make the results public in a timely fashion. It is ethically and scientifically imperative that data not be excluded or selected without a valid scientific rationale. To do so can create the illusion of a desired or anticipated result. Data that are excluded should be mentioned and an explanation should be given for the exclusion. Intentional misrepresentation of data is unethical.

3. Acknowledgment of funding. Sources of research funding and potential conflicts of interest should always be acknowledged in a data presentation.

4. Publication and presentation. When an abstract is submitted to the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, it is understood that the same results have not been published or presented elsewhere unless so acknowledged. It is assumed that a submitted abstract will later be published as a full-length article. Submission of an abstract after publication of the manuscript is inappropriate. All authors of an abstract or manuscript should have made significant contributions to the work. They should have read and agreed to the final submission and be prepared to defend the conclusions drawn from the research.

5. Peer review. Investigators who review grants, manuscripts, etc. should recognize that, in the peer-review process, material such as planned studies, work in progress, or completed work is distributed with an understanding of confidentiality and the expectation that reviewers will not use or publicize ideas so presented. Reporting the work of others without appropriate citation (plagiarism) is, of course, unethical.

6. Mentoring. To assure that the ethical standards outlined above are upheld most effectively, each investigator is responsible for teaching principles of truth, honesty and responsible conduct of research to the individuals they mentor and for responding in a responsible manner to allegations of scientific misconduct. Only if each member assumes responsibility for high ethical standards in research can such standards be maintained.

ADVERTISING SPACE

Advertising space is available for the ARO newsletter and the ARO Directory. Please contact the ARO Office for information concerning prices, space and deadlines.

ARO Business Office
431 East Locust Street, Suite 202
Des Moines, IA 50309
Phone (515) 243&endash;1558
FAX (515) 243&endash;2049
Michele S. Johnson, Executive Secretary
E-mail: msjohnson@aro.org

VIDEOTAPES

Videotapes from the 1996 MidWinter Meeting are available:

The Awards Ceremony - $10.00

The Internet Workshop - $10.00

SHORTCOURSE IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

The Association for Research in Otlaryngology will offer a short course at the 1997 Midwinter Meeting. The topic will be "Molecular Biology Techniques and Their Applications to Otolaryngology". The course is being planned for Saturday, Feburary 1, 1997 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm, and will be taught by a team of researchers with expertise in molecular biology. Details on the content of the course, names of presenters, and course registration information will be announced in the fall newsletter. For information please contact James Kaltenbach, Ph.D., Department of Otolaryngology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201 Phone: (313) 577 1257 E-mail: (jkalten@med.wayne.edu)