NEWS BRIEFS

An unexpected doorway into the ear opens new possibilities for hearing restoration

A team of researchers has developed a new method to deliver drugs into the inner ear. The discovery was possible by harnessing the natural flow of fluids in the brain and employing a little-understood backdoor into the cochlea. The passage, called the cochlear aqueduct, is a thin bony channel no larger than a single strand of hair. In the study, led by Maiken Nedergaard, MD, DMSc, and published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers described that the cochlear aqueduct also acts as a conduit between the cerebrospinal fluid found in the inner ear and the rest of the brain. Using this passageway, researchers delivered a gene therapy that repairs inner ear hair cells and restored hearing in deaf mice. This study represents an opportunity to test the drug delivery potential of the glymphatic system and target a previously unreachable part of the auditory system. The glymphatic system is the brain’s unique process of removing waste first described by the Nedergaard lab in 2012.

URMC researcher receives $8.3M to study chronic pain and the brain

Understanding the role of chronic pain in the brain could transform treatment and care for a condition that inflicts more than 20 percent of U.S. adults. Paul Geha, MD, associate professor of Psychiatry, has been studying the correlation between brain structure and chronic pain and was recently awarded $8.3 million from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) to continue this work in understanding the link between pain and the brain. The funds will focus on three projects that investigate whether language or facial expressions can be used to diagnose different groups of chronic pain patients and predict whether spinal cord stimulation works in chronic lower-back pain patients, find a structural gray and white matter biomarker in the brain that can help identify who is at risk of low-back pain becoming chronic, and test whether the brain signature of chronic low-back pain can also indicate other chronic musculoskeletal conditions, like knee arthritis pain or nervous system related chronic pain. The research will also consider other chronic conditions—such as major depressive disorder, and whether an individual’s age or sex have an effect on this neural signature.

Online AI-based test for Parkinson’s disease severity shows promising results

An artificial intelligence tool developed by researchers at the University of Rochester can help people with Parkinson’s disease remotely assess the severity of their symptoms, within minutes. The research led by Eshan Hoque, PhD, associate professor of Computer Science and Ray Dorsey, MD, the David M. Levy Professor of Neurology, in npj Digital Medicine describes the new tool, which has users tap their fingers 10 times in front of a webcam to assess motor performance on a scale of 0–4. While expert neurologists performed slightly better than the AI model, the AI model outperformed the primary care physicians with UPDRS certification. “These findings could have huge implications for patients who have difficulty gaining access to neurologists, getting appointments, and traveling to the hospital,” Hoque said. “It’s an example of how AI is being gradually introduced into health care to serve people outside of the clinic and improve health equity and access.”