Papers by Alejandro Castro
Journal of virology, 2010
Human bocavirus (HBoV) was recently discovered and classified in the Bocavirus genus (family Parv... more Human bocavirus (HBoV) was recently discovered and classified in the Bocavirus genus (family Parvoviridae, subfamily Parvovirinae) on the basis of genomic similarity to bovine parvovirus and canine minute virus. HBoV has been implicated in respiratory tract infections and gastroenteric disease in children worldwide, yet despite numerous epidemiological reports, there has been limited biochemical and molecular characterization of the virus. Reported here is the three-dimensional structure of recombinant HBoV capsids, assembled from viral protein 2 (VP2), at 7.9-Å resolution as determined by cryo-electron microscopy and image reconstruction. A pseudo-atomic model of HBoV VP2 was derived from sequence alignment analysis and knowledge of the crystal structure of human parvovirus B19 (genus Erythrovirus). Comparison of the HBoV capsid structure to that of parvoviruses from five separate genera demonstrates strong conservation of a -barrel core domain and an ␣-helix, from which emanate several loops of various lengths and conformations, yielding a unique surface topology that differs from the three already described for this family. The highly conserved core is consistent with observations for other single-stranded DNA viruses, and variable surface loops have been shown to confer the host-specific tropism and the diverse antigenic properties of this family.
Acta Otorrinolaringologica (English Edition), 2007
Objective: The aim of this study is to quantify changes in quality of life due to the use of BAHA... more Objective: The aim of this study is to quantify changes in quality of life due to the use of BAHA. Patients and method: Twenty-eight patients were included. The instrument used to quantify the change in quality of life was the Glasgow Benefit Inventory and a questionnaire including 2 open questions, BAHA use, change in tinnitus, and postoperative pain. Results: The average total benefit score with the Glasgow Benefit Inventory was 38, and the general, social, and physical score were 54, 10, and 1, respectively. There was no significant association between preoperative hearing, aetiology or type of hearing loss, and quality of life. Tinnitus rate went from 37.5% to 20.8% following BAHA; this difference is significant. Conclusions: Our results show that the use of BAHA is associated with a great improvement in quality of life. Also, they show that its use has a positive effect upon tinnitus.
Acta oto-laryngologica, 2007
Despite the decrease in listening habits, about half of the patients still enjoy music post impla... more Despite the decrease in listening habits, about half of the patients still enjoy music post implantation. Better quality of sound through the implant improves music enjoyment and contributes to achievement of better postoperative quality of life (QOL). To evaluate music perception and enjoyment in cochlear implant (CI) users, and to assess their influence on QOL. Sixty-five post-lingually deaf CI recipients were enrolled in this study. A musical questionnaire evaluated musical background, listening habits, and quality of musical sound through the CI. The validated Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI) was used to quantify changes in QOL. Fifty-two patients answered the questionnaires. Listening habits (music enjoyment and hours spent listening to music per week) significantly decreased following implantation when compared with the same parameters before deafness. Nevertheless, 52% of the patients enjoyed music post implantation. The quality of musical sound was rated >50 (0-100 scale) for the adjective pairs 'like-dislike', 'sounds like music-doesn't sound like music' and 'natural-mechanical' by most users. Med-el device users obtained better scores in the adjective pair 'sounds like…
Acta Oto-laryngologica, 2008
Telephone adapters can help cochlear implanted patients to enhance their telephonic conversations... more Telephone adapters can help cochlear implanted patients to enhance their telephonic conversations. However, these devices should be further developed to be useful for daily life. To test a mobile telephone adapter to improve speech discrimination by mobile telephone in Combi40+ users. To evaluate the influence of the mobile telephone in communication. Seventeen Combi40+ implantees were tested with bisyllabic words presented through mobile telephones with and without a telephone adapter in quiet and noisy environments. Speech audiometries in open field were obtained for every patient. Mean speech discrimination without the adapter in a quiet environment was 51.2%. In a noisy environment, mean discrimination increased significantly with the adapter from 30.3% to 42.9%. No statistically significant difference was found between speech discrimination in the quiet environment without the adapter and speech discrimination in the noisy environment with the adapter. When comparing speech discrimination in open field without lip-reading with equivalent telephonic conditions a statistically significant difference was found in favour of the open field.
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Papers by Alejandro Castro