Anti-F2 monoclonal antibody, clone BIQ-5014

The Posada-Asinara Line is a crustal-scale transpressive shear zone affecting the Variscan basement in northern Sardinia during Late Carboniferous time. We investigated a structural transect of the Posada-Asinara Line (Baronie) with the aid of geological mapping and structural analysis. N-verging F2 isoclinal folds with associated mylonitic foliation (S2) are the main deformation features developed during the Posada-Asinara Line activity (D2). The mineral assemblages and microstructures suggest that the Posada-Asinara Line was affected by a retrograde metamorphic path. This is also confirmed by quartz microstructures, where subgrain rotation recrystallization superimposes on grain boundary migration recrystallization. Crystallographic preferred orientation data, obtained using electron backscatter diffraction, allowed analysis of quartz slip systems and estimation of the deformation temperature, vorticity of flow and rheological parameters (flow stress and strain rate) during the Posada-Asinara Line activity. Quartz deformation temperatures of 400 +/- 50 degrees C have been estimated along a transect perpendicular to the Posada-Asinara Line, in agreement with the syn-kinematic post-metamorphic peak mineral assemblages and the late microstructures of quartz. The D2 phase can be subdivided in two events: an early D2(early) phase, related to the metamorphic peak and low kinematic vorticity (pure shear dominated), and a late D2(late) phase characterized by a lower metamorphic grade and an increased kinematic vorticity (simple shear dominated). Palaeopiezometry and strain rate estimates associated with the D2(late) deformation event showed an intensity gradient increasing towards the core of the shear zone. The D2(early) deformation developed under peak temperature conditions, while the D2(late) event was active at shallower structural levels.

Background The general consensus on the role of hearing loss in generating tinnitus is not relevant in tinnitus patients with normal hearing thresholds. One source of tinnitus may be related to damage to outer hair cells (OHC) of the cochlea. If the OHC of the human cochlea are to be involved in the generation of tinnitus, testing of Otoacoustic emissions (OAE) could provide a reliable means of recording OHC dysfunction. We investigated the role of OHC and cochlear efferent system in tinnitus development in normal hearing ears through studying of Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAE) and Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions (TEOAE) amplitudes, contralateral suppression amplitudes and suppression value in 15 normal hearing tinnitus patients and 15 control subjects. Results Mean f2 DPOAE amplitudes and contralateral suppression were significantly lower in tinnitus group compared to controls for all frequencies from 1001 to 6348 Hz. Suppression values of DPOAEs revealed lower but not significant difference between tinnitus and control groups for all frequencies except 1587 and 6348 Hz. TEOAE amplitudes and contralateral suppression were significantly lower in tinnitus groups for all frequencies from 1000 to 4000 Hz compared to the control group. Suppression value of TEOAEs revealed no significant difference between the two groups for all frequencies except 3000 and 4000 Hz were significantly lower in the tinnitus group compared to the control group. Conclusions Normal hearing manifested by pure tone audiometry in non-vascular tinnitus sufferers does not exclude OHC and/or cochlear efferent pathology.