Female Anal Sphincter: Age-related Differences in Asymptomatic Volunteers with High-Frequency Endoanal US

Radiology ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 224 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Frudinger ◽  
Steve Halligan ◽  
Clive I. Bartram ◽  
Ashley B. Price ◽  
Michael A. Kamm ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Ward R. Drennan

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Normal-hearing people often have complaints about the ability to recognize speech in noise. Such disabilities are not typically assessed with conventional audiometry. Suprathreshold temporal deficits might contribute to reduced word recognition in noise as well as reduced temporally based binaural release of masking for speech. Extended high-frequency audibility (&#x3e;8 kHz) has also been shown to contribute to speech perception in noise. The primary aim of this study was to compare conventional audiometric measures with measures that could reveal subclinical deficits. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Conventional and extended high-frequency audiometry was done with 119 normal-hearing people ranging in age from 18 to 72. The ability to recognize words in noise was evaluated with and without differences in temporally based spatial cues. A low-uncertainty, closed-set word recognition task was used to limit cognitive influences. <b><i>Results:</i></b> In normal-hearing listeners, word recognition in noise ability decreases significantly with increasing pure-tone average (PTA). On average, signal-to-noise ratios worsened by 5.7 and 6.0 dB over the normal range, for the diotic and dichotic conditions, respectively. When controlling for age, a significant relationship remained in the diotic condition. Measurement error was estimated at 1.4 and 1.6 dB for the diotic and dichotic conditions, respectively. Controlling for both PTA and age, EHF-PTAs showed significant partial correlations with SNR50 in both conditions (<i>ρ</i> = 0.30 and 0.23). Temporally based binaural release of masking worsened with age by 1.94 dB from 18 to 72 years old but showed no significant relationship with either PTA. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> All three assessments in this study demonstrated hearing problems independently of those observed in conventional audiometry. Considerable degradations in word recognition in noise abilities were observed as PTAs increased within the normal range. The use of an efficient words-in-noise measure might help identify functional hearing problems for individuals that are traditionally normal hearing. Extended audiometry provided additional predictive power for word recognition in noise independent of both the PTA and age. Temporally based binaural release of masking for word recognition decreased with age independent of PTAs within the normal range, indicating multiple mechanisms of age-related decline with potential clinical impact.


Open Medicine ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 358-364
Author(s):  
Nikolai Lazarov ◽  
Dimitar Itzev ◽  
Kamen Usunoff ◽  
Negrin Negrev ◽  
Radomir Radomirov

AbstractThe recto-anal region is innervated by extrinsic and intrinsic nerves and a number of neuropeptides including substance P (SP) have been suggested to participate in the regulation of intestinal movements. We examined the age-related changes in the distribution of SP-immunoreactive nerve structures in the distal part of the rat large intestine. Using immunohistochemistry, the presence of SP was studied in fresh tissues from Wistar rats at different ages taken at three sampling sites, the distal rectum, anal canal and internal anal sphincter. In the 15-day old rats the myenteric plexus of the distal rectum and anal canal was well outlined by numerous SP-immunoreactive varicose nerve fibres encircling immunonegative perikarya. In the circular muscle layer, nerve fibres and small nerve bundles ran parallel to the muscle cells, while in the longitudinal muscle layer, only occasional nerve fibres were seen. At the level of the internal anal sphincter, no myenteric ganglia were present. Here, thin varicose fibers ran parallel to the smooth muscle cells. In the 3-month old rats, a larger number of intensely staining SP-immunoreactive nerve fibres were found and in the circular muscle layer, thicker nerve strands were observed. In the 26-month old rats, the density and staining intensity of SP-immunopositive nerve fibres in the myenteric plexus was lower than in the 3-month-old rats. Similar changes in the SP-immunostained fibres in the internal anal sphincter were observed. Degenerative alterations in SP-containing fibres during aging appear to play a role in ano-rectal motility and sphincter control.


2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (Suppl. 1) ◽  
pp. 10-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie C. Rigters ◽  
Mick Metselaar ◽  
Marjan H. Wieringa ◽  
Robert J. Baatenburg de Jong ◽  
Albert Hofman ◽  
...  

To contribute to a better understanding of the etiology in age-related hearing loss, we carried out a cross-sectional study of 3,315 participants (aged 52-99 years) in the Rotterdam Study, to analyze both low- and high-frequency hearing loss in men and women. Hearing thresholds with pure-tone audiometry were obtained, and other detailed information on a large number of possible determinants was collected. Hearing loss was associated with age, education, systolic blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, body mass index, smoking and alcohol consumption (inverse correlation). Remarkably, different associations were found for low- and high-frequency loss, as well as between men and women, suggesting that different mechanisms are involved in the etiology of age-related hearing loss.


2005 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 1814-1824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Wang ◽  
Paul B. Manis

Age-related hearing loss (AHL) typically starts from high-frequency regions of the cochlea and over time invades lower-frequency regions. During this progressive hearing loss, sound-evoked activity in spiral ganglion cells is reduced. DBA mice have an early onset of AHL. In this study, we examined synaptic transmission at the endbulb of Held synapse between auditory nerve fibers and bushy cells in the anterior ventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN). Synaptic transmission in hearing-impaired high-frequency areas of the AVCN was altered in old DBA mice. The spontaneous miniature excitatory postsynaptic current (mEPSC) frequency was substantially reduced (about 60%), and mEPSCs were significantly slower (about 115%) and smaller (about 70%) in high-frequency regions of old (average age 45 days) DBA mice compared with tonotopically matched regions of young (average age 22 days) DBA mice. Moreover, synaptic release probability was about 30% higher in high-frequency regions of young DBA than that in old DBA mice. Auditory nerve–evoked EPSCs showed less rectification in old DBA mice, suggesting recruitment of GluR2 subunits into the AMPA receptor complex. No similar age-related changes in synaptic release or EPSCs were found in age-matched, normal hearing young and old CBA mice. Taken together, our results suggest that auditory nerve activity plays a critical role in maintaining normal synaptic function at the endbulb of Held synapse after the onset of hearing. Auditory nerve activity regulates both presynaptic (release probability) and postsynaptic (receptor composition and kinetics) function at the endbulb synapse after the onset of hearing.


2000 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 131-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon M. Abel ◽  
Andrea Sass-Kortsak ◽  
Jennifer J. Naugler

1995 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 805-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Taylor ◽  
J. Hayano ◽  
D. R. Seals

The tachycardia that accompanies isometric exercise decreases with age in humans; however, the mechanism of this decline is unknown. To determine whether less cardiac vagal withdrawal is associated with the age-related decrease in this response, we assessed high-frequency R-R interval variability (0.15–0.40 Hz), an index of cardiac vagal tone, before (control) and during isometric exercise to exhaustion in healthy young (21–29 yr; n = 12) and older (61–72 yr; n = 11) men. During control, the two groups did not differ in respiratory rate, mean arterial pressure, or heart rate, although the older subjects had a lower high-frequency amplitude (12.2 +/- 1.1 vs. 29.4 +/- 4.6 ms/Hz; P < 0.05). During isometric exercise, the respiratory rate and arterial pressure responses did not differ; however, the older men had a lower absolute heart rate and a smaller increase in heart rate, and only the young men demonstrated a significant decline in high-frequency amplitude. The heart rate responses to exercise were correlated with the declines in high-frequency amplitude (initial, r = -0.808; midpoint, r = -0.714; peak, r = -0.632; all P < 0.005), which were, in turn, correlated with the control high-frequency amplitude (initial, r = -0.727; midpoint, r = -0.643; peak, r = -0.610; all P < 0.01). Thus smaller declines in high-frequency amplitude, related to lower baseline amplitude, corresponded to smaller increases in heart rate throughout isometric exercise. Therefore, we conclude that the smaller tachycardiac response to isometric exercise in older humans is associated with an inability to decrease cardiac vagal tone below an already reduced baseline level.


2008 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 1106-1110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reiji Nakano ◽  
Thambipillai Sri Paran ◽  
Udo Rolle ◽  
Prem Puri

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (S1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hammed Olanrewaju ◽  
Purswell Joseph ◽  
Jeffery Evans ◽  
Stephanie Collier ◽  
Scott Branton

1988 ◽  
Vol 34 (9) ◽  
pp. 1839-1842 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Radl ◽  
J Wels ◽  
C M Hoogeveen

Abstract Immunoblotting, in combination with high-resolution electrophoresis and the use of mouse monoclonal antibodies to human (sub)class immunoglobulin (Ig) isotypes, substantially increased the sensitivity with which homogeneous Ig components (H-Ig) could be detected. Using this technique, we reinvestigated 40 selected sera, previously found to be negative for H-Ig by agar electrophoresis and immunofixation, from two groups of individuals thought to have an age-related immunodeficiency, i.e., persons older than 95 years and recipients of kidney grafts who were undergoing immunosuppressive treatment. In both groups, small single or multiple H-Ig components were found, in frequencies of 76% and 79%, respectively. For comparison, the Ig spectrum of 10 sera from patients on dialysis treatment and of 33 sera from young adult blood donors was ordinarily heterogeneous, except for one elderly patient and one blood donor with a previously unknown IgG2 deficiency. These results are complementary to the observations in some immunodeficiencies in children and indicate that the appearance of single or multiple H-Ig components in low concentration can be considered a very sensitive indicator of certain immune system disorders forming a separate category of monoclonal gammopathies.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document