Analysis On Short-Term Change of Macular Function and The Correlates After Intravitreal Conbercept for CRVO-ME

•AIM: To study the short-term change of macular function and the correlates after intravitreal conbercept for CRVO-ME•STUDY DESIGN: Prospective,clinical study.•METHODS: 23 patients(23 eyes) were recruited, who were non-ischemia central retinal vein occlusion dianosed by FFA (fundus fluorescein angiography) and treated with intravitreal conbercept for macular edema. best - corrected visual acuity ( BCVA ),central macular thickness(CMT), amplitude density of P1 wave and implicit time of P1,N1 wave from ring 1 and ring 2 of mf-ERG were measured before and 1week、2month after treatment.•RESULTS: Compared to the baseline, BCVA、CMT、amplitude density of P1 wave and implicit time of P1,N1 wave from ring 1 and ring 2 were greatly improved at 1W、2M after treatment; better results were gained at 2M compared to 1W; Pearson correlation analysis shows no significantly correlation between the improvement of mf-ERG with the change of BCVA、CMT.•CONCLUSION: The BCVA、the strcture and the function of macular were greatly improved after intravitreal conbercept for central retinal vein occlusion induced macular edema; therefore no significantly correlation between the improvement of the function of macular with the strcture of macular and BCVA.

Transient and sustained processing of musical consonance in auditory cortex and the effect of musicality

In recent years, electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography (MEG) have both been used to investigate the response in human auditory cortex to musical sounds that are perceived as consonant or dissonant. These studies have typically focused on the transient components of the physiological activity at sound onset, specifically, the N1 wave of the auditory evoked potential and the auditory evoked field, respectively. Unfortunately, the morphology of the N1 wave is confounded by the prominent neural response to energy onset at stimulus onset. It is also the case that the perception of pitch is not limited to sound onset; the perception lasts as long as the note producing it. This suggests that consonance studies should also consider the sustained activity that appears after the transient components die away. The current MEG study shows how energy-balanced sounds can focus the response waves on the consonance-dissonance distinction rather than energy changes and how source modeling techniques can be used to measure the sustained field associated with extended consonant and dissonant sounds. The study shows that musical dyads evoke distinct transient and sustained neuromagnetic responses in auditory cortex. The form of the response depends on both whether the dyads are consonant or dissonant and whether the listeners are musical or nonmusical. The results also show that auditory cortex requires more time for the early transient processing of dissonant dyads than it does for consonant dyads and that the continuous representation of temporal regularity in auditory cortex might be modulated by processes beyond auditory cortex. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We report a magnetoencephalography (MEG) study on transient and sustained cortical consonance processing. Stimuli were long-duration, energy-balanced, musical dyads that were either consonant or dissonant. Spatiotemporal source analysis revealed specific transient and sustained neuromagnetic activity in response to the dyads; in particular, the morphology of the responses was shaped by the dyad’s consonance and the listener’s musicality. Our results also suggest that the sustained representation of stimulus regularity might be modulated by processes beyond auditory cortex.

Short Communication: The Belly–Tendon Derivation Yields Superior Ocular Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential Amplitudes in a Normal Pediatric Sample

Purpose The purpose of the investigation was to determine whether the “belly–tendon” electrode derivation produced ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMPs) in children that were superior to those recorded with the infraorbital–chin electrode derivation. Method This was a prospective observational study using a sample of convenience at a tertiary care medical center. Subjects were 13 children between the ages of 5 and 12 years. We compared the latency of the N1 wave and the N1–P1 peak-to-peak amplitude for the belly–tendon electrode derivation to the infraorbital–chin electrode derivation. Results The belly–tendon electrode derivation was associated with superior N1–P1 amplitudes compared to the infraorbital–chin electrode derivation. However, the large amplitude was also associated with greater variability compared to the infraorbital–chin derivation. There were no significant electrode derivation–based differences in N1 latency. Additionally, there was no predictable relationship between age and oVEMP amplitude. Conclusion As shown previously in adults, the belly–tendon electrode derivation produces significantly larger oVEMP amplitudes compared to the infraorbital–chin electrode derivation.

Deficits in monitoring self-produced speech in Parkinson’s disease

ObjectiveSpeech deficits are common in Parkinson’s disease, and behavioural findings suggest that the deficits may be due to impaired monitoring of self-produced speech. The neural mechanisms of speech deficits are not well understood. We examined a well-documented electrophysiological correlate of speech self-monitoring in patients with Parkinson’s disease and control participants.MethodsWe measured evoked electroencephalographic responses to self-produced and passively heard sounds (/a/ phonemes) in age-matched controls (N=18), and Parkinson’s disease patients who had minor speech impairment, but reported subjectively experiencing no speech deficits (N=17).ResultsDuring speaking, auditory evoked activity 100 ms after phonation (N1 wave) was less suppressed in Parkinson’s disease than controls when compared to the activity evoked by passively heard phonemes. This difference between the groups was driven by increased amplitudes to self-produced phonemes, and reduced amplitudes passively heard phonemes in Parkinson’s disease.ConclusionsThe finding indicates that auditory evoked activity is abnormally modulated during speech in Parkinson’s patients who do not subjectively notice speech impairment. This mechanism could play a role in producing speech deficits in as the disease progresses.