骨髓间充质干细胞移植治疗感音神经性聋的进展及评价

目前感音神经性聋缺乏直接有效的药物治疗措施,基因治疗及干细胞移植治疗为临床治疗提供新的思路。骨髓间充质干细胞具有异于其他干细胞的优点,耳蜗内移植后能起到基因治疗的目的,并有潜在的分化为内耳功能细胞的功能,但仍面临诸多尚待解决的问题。     

Congruent auditory display and confusion in sound localization: Case of elderly drivers

Elderly people may suffer from age-related hearing loss. They often report difficulties to perceive and localize sound sources in noisy environment. How this can be a driving safety issue? This study investigates the effect of hearing impairment, on the driver behavior to localize external sound sources such as emergency vehicles sirens. Subjective tests show that localization confusion appears to be a common problem. Thus, we focus on how to assist the driver, taking into consideration the age-related hearing impairment, to better localize emergency vehicle siren. The hypothesis was based on the stimulus-response compatibility using an effective congruent auditory display, for attentional guidance toward the direction of arrival (DOA) of the external alarm. The proposed approach aims to reduce front-back confusion and enhance the sound localization accuracy of the driver, which is very important for elderly driver, subject to older age cognitive decline. A localization test was performed in lab and in vivo on a test track, where a group of drivers was asked to identify the DOA of an emergency vehicle siren, with and without a dedicated embedded system set up to assist them on sound localization task.     

Sensitive performance-based assessment of everyday action in older and younger adults

Everyday function is compromised by mild cognitive changes in aging. These changes predict risk for future decline and dementia but remain poorly characterized, largely due to a scarcity of sensitive, objective measures.Twenty-seven younger adults and 25 non-demented older adults completed the Naturalistic Action Test (NAT), a performance-based measure of everyday action involving simple and complex tasks. Performance was coded for overt errors and subtle inefficiencies. Participants also completed self-report functional measures and cognitive tests. Mixed ANOVAs revealed that older adults made more subtle NAT errors with high task demands; groups did not differ in overt errors. Correlations did not reveal significant relations between self-report and NAT errors, but NAT performance was correlated with learning and recall.The NAT provides a promising tool for detecting subtle age-related changes and examining decline across levels of impairment. Self-report may lack sensitivity to subtle changes, and episodic memory changes underlie early functional disruption.     

重复经颅磁刺激对轻度认知障碍的干预效果

轻度认知障碍(mild cognitive impairment, MCI)是介于正常认知老化和老年痴呆的中间状态, 目前尚无有效的药物治疗方案。重复经颅磁刺激(repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, rTMS)可通过诱导突触可塑性的改变来改善大脑的认知功能。对rTMS干预MCI认知功能的有效性及神经机制进行分析。未来研究应优化定位手段, 延长对干预效果的随访评估, 考察不同刺激参数和刺激靶区对干预有效性的影响, 以及结合脑成像技术来探索rTMS的干预机制。     

Classwide Peer Tutoring: Effects on the Spelling Performance and Social Interactions of Students with Mild Disabilities and Their Typical Peers in an Integrated Instructional Setting

The effectiveness of Classwide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) to enhance the spelling performance and social interactions of three typical students and three students with mild disabilities was investigated. The classroom ecology was measured using the New Code for Instructional Structure and Student Academic Response (NCISSAR). Social interactions were assessed using the Multiple Option Observation System for Experimental Studies (M.O.O.S.E.S.). Spelling performance was measured by weekly pre-posttests. Using an ABAB single-subject design, results indicated that CWPT resulted in: (a) gains in the spelling accuracy of all students (up to 49%), (b) increases of students' duration of positive social interactions (up to 86%), and (c) high satisfaction ratings for both the students and the teacher. Comparisons between typical students and students with mild disabilities during CWPT suggested no differences in their duration of social interactions. Furthermore, the mean spelling accuracy of the students with mild disabilities was comparable to the spelling accuracy of the typical students (91% vs. 96%, respectively). Implications of the findings for the inclusion of students with mild disabilities in general education settings are discussed.     

Programming generalization of social skills in preschool children with hearing impairments.

The efficacy of a social skills training package in producing stimulus generalization, both with and without the systematic application of generalization programming techniques, was evaluated with 5 preschool children with hearing impairments. The evaluation was conducted within a multiple baseline design. Generalization probes were conducted daily. The social skills training package was implemented in a training setting and produced high, stable rates of social interaction in that setting. However, generalization of the social skills to new teachers, peers, and play activities did not occur until generalization programming strategies were applied in the original training setting. Using sufficient stimulus exemplars and contacting natural consequences appeared to be the key strategies for promoting generalization of social interaction. In addition, the use of supplementary procedures (e.g., a fluency criterion and treatment integrity checks) may have contributed to stimulus generalization.     

听障和听力正常人群空间主导性和空间参照框架的交互作用

通过要求被试分别在近处空间和远处空间完成空间参照框架的判断任务, 考察了听障和听力正常人群空间主导性和空间参照框架的交互作用。结果表明：(1)相对于听力正常人群, 听障人群完成自我参照框架判断任务的反应时更长, 而在完成环境参照框架判断任务无显著差异; (2)听障人群和听力正常人群空间主导性和空间参照框架交互作用呈现出相反模式。研究表明, 听障人群在听力功能受损后, 其空间主导性和空间参照框架的交互作用也产生了变化。     

不同感觉通道词汇影响聋生汉字加工的实验研究

本研究为考察聋生在接受不同感觉通道词汇时的汉字加工特点和听觉编码所起的作用,采用听觉词汇、视觉词汇和其他感觉词汇等三类词汇为实验材料,对手语聋生组、口语聋生组以及大学生进行了新旧词汇判断、包含与排除两个实验。实验表明,聋生在汉字加工中不仅使用视觉编码,而且无意识地、自动地使用了听觉编码,这在内隐测验中可表现出来。由此可推断,聋生汉字加工困难的原因在于有意识地使用听觉编码的能力较低。     

Grey Matter: Ambiguities and Complexities of Ethics in Research

Ethical dilemmas are often not discussed in the dissemination of educational research. While the ethical guidelines for research seem clear at first glance, a closer look at the intimate nature of qualitative research reveals that there are many ambiguities or ‘grey’ areas where researchers must rely on their personal value systems. This article discusses the challenges faced by an experienced educator, although novice researcher, in considering the ethical parameters of her own research with adolescents with hearing loss. In particular, the grey ethical areas identified by the researcher include: (a) vulnerable population; (b) researcher role confusion; (c) consent; (d) privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity; as well as (e) the nature of risk. Based on the author’s own reflections on beginning the research process, the article presents possible pitfalls and ways of overcoming the possibility of becoming immobilized by the ethical enigmas of research.     

Teaching identity matching of braille characters to beginning braille readers

We taught three children with visual impairments to make tactile discriminations of the braille alphabet within a matching‐to‐sample format. That is, we presented participants with a braille character as a sample stimulus, and they selected the matching stimulus from a three‐comparison array. In order to minimize participant errors, we initially arranged braille characters into training sets in which there was a maximum difference in the number of dots comprising the target and nontarget comparison stimuli. As participants mastered these discriminations, we increased the similarity between target and nontarget comparisons (i.e., an approximation of stimulus fading). All three participants’ accuracy systematically increased following the introduction of this identity‐matching procedure.