Ear-y Noise The cochlea, pictured super-magnified, is a spiralling tunnel that leads deep inside our ear. It acts as a funnel, feeding sound from the outside world through a ‘lawn’ of sensory hair cells which line the organ of corti, highlighted here in red. As noise floods in, the sensory hairs wave around, opening up electrical channels that take speedy messages to the brain. Our auditory hair cells are intricate and fragile, making them prone to damage by diseases and infections. The World Health Organization (WHO), promoting today as International Day for Ear and Hearing, supports immunization schemes worldwide in efforts to prevent hearing loss. They also advise on safety for people with noisy jobs – after all, constant exposure to loud noises can rip out our sensitive ear hair cells. Such damage is irreparable; we are born with just 30,000 of these precious hairs and once they’re gone, they’re gone for good. Written by John Ankers — Bechara Kachar NIDCD, National Institutes of Health, USA
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Ear-y Noise

The cochlea, pictured super-magnified, is a spiralling tunnel that leads deep inside our ear. It acts as a funnel, feeding sound from the outside world through a ‘lawn’ of sensory hair cells which line the organ of corti, highlighted here in red. As noise floods in, the sensory hairs wave around, opening up electrical channels that take speedy messages to the brain. Our auditory hair cells are intricate and fragile, making them prone to damage by diseases and infections. The World Health Organization (WHO), promoting today as International Day for Ear and Hearing, supports immunization schemes worldwide in efforts to prevent hearing loss. They also advise on safety for people with noisy jobs – after all, constant exposure to loud noises can rip out our sensitive ear hair cells. Such damage is irreparable; we are born with just 30,000 of these precious hairs and once they’re gone, they’re gone for good.

Written by John Ankers

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

Sound Versus Surgery One in nine men will get prostate cancer (here visualised using scanning electron microscopy). According to Prostate Cancer UK, leading patient-support charity for the condition, 10,000 men in the UK die from the disease every year. Treatment options for patients include radiotherapy and/or surgery, but depend both on the stage of disease and grade of cancer. Surgery, when possible, presents some risks, notably the possibility of impotence and urinary problems. New research is pioneering the use of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy for prostate cancer. Sound waves were used to selectively target individual cancer sites in patients with localised cancers. After a year, 95% of the 41 men treated were cancer-free, none suffered incontinence and only one in ten had poor erections. Written by Brona McVittie — Research Published in The Lancet Oncology Copyright Science Photo Library Any re-use of this image must be authorised by Science Photo Library
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Sound Versus Surgery

One in nine men will get prostate cancer (here visualised using scanning electron microscopy). According to Prostate Cancer UK, leading patient-support charity for the condition, 10,000 men in the UK die from the disease every year. Treatment options for patients include radiotherapy and/or surgery, but depend both on the stage of disease and grade of cancer. Surgery, when possible, presents some risks, notably the possibility of impotence and urinary problems. New research is pioneering the use of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy for prostate cancer. Sound waves were used to selectively target individual cancer sites in patients with localised cancers. After a year, 95% of the 41 men treated were cancer-free, none suffered incontinence and only one in ten had poor erections.

Written by Brona McVittie

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk