http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. The neural machinery underlying our olfactory sense continues to be an enigma for neuroscience. A recent review in Neuron seeks to expand traditional ideas about how neurons in the olfactory bulb might encode information about odorants. One of the main authors, Terry Sejnowski, had the floor for a brief while at last week's national BRAIN Initiative meeting, where discussion of neural codes was a key issue. The Neuron review was published the day after the meeting, and it supports the previously established idea that the olfactory bulb is in many ways structurally comparable to the retina. The authors note however, that due to the apparent sparsity and lack of topographical organization in the olfactory front end, the particular blend of temporal coding used there should differ significantly from that used in the retina. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-temporal-olfactory.html Neuroscience Fri, 17 May 2013 15:00:02 EST news288014780 Some 16 per cent of European adults suffer from hearing loss that is severe enough to adversely affect their daily life. Hearing loss impacts on one's ability to communicate - to hear, process sound, and respond - which can make life frustrating. Untreated hearing loss can discourage social interaction, leading to depression, anxiety and isolation from the rest of the world. Sufferers also tend to express greater dissatisfaction with friendships, family life, health and finances. Depression is common in older adults who have trouble hearing. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-tackling-loss.html Other Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:51:37 EST news281177484 Cochlear implants—electronic devices surgically implanted in the ear to help provide a sense of sound—have been successfully used since the late 1980's. But questions remain as to whether bilateral cochlear implants, placed in each ear rather than the traditional single-ear implant, are truly able to facilitate binaural hearing. Now, Tel Aviv University researchers have proof that under certain conditions, this practice has the ability to salvage binaural sound processing for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-bionic-ears-sum.html Medical research Thu, 20 Sep 2012 11:30:14 EST news267359408 An innovative multi-modal treatment programme for tinnitus will be trialled by researchers from the Centre for Brain Research at The University of Auckland, in a study made possible by a donation from Link Research and Grants. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-aims-auditory-tinnitus.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:08:36 EST news267178009 The genetics responsible for frequency-specific hearing loss have remained elusive until recently, when genetic loci were found that affected high-frequency hearing. Now, a study published today in the open access journal BMC Genetics reports, for the first time, genetic loci with effects that are limited to specific portions of the hearing frequency map, particularly those that are most affected in ageing-related hearing loss. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-genetic-loci-high-frequency-loss.html Genetics Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:00:02 EST news254671864 (Medical Xpress) -- A growing body of research finds musical training gives students learning advantages in the classroom. Now a Northwestern University study finds musical training can benefit Grandma, too, by offsetting some of the deleterious effects of aging. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-musical-offsets-aging-effects.html Medical research Wed, 11 May 2011 20:30:01 EST news224353390