Newport nature center will host family dinner...

Newport nature center will host family dinner

The Environmental Nature Center will show off its contribution to

the local environment by hosting a family picnic dinner at 5:30 p.m.

Wednesday.

The event will showcase the center and its surrounding natural

wonders: native plants, wildlife habitats, walking trails and Nature

Center amenities such as the outdoor classroom and discovery center.

The cost is $10 for nonmembers. There is no cost for members. The

picnic will take place at the center, 1601 16th St., Newport Beach.

For reservations and information, call (949) 645-8489.

Passport applications available at post office

The Newport Beach Post Office at 1133 Camelback St. is one of 12

Orange County post offices that will accept passport applications.

To get a passport, travelers must present a birth certificate and

proof of identity, pay the fees and have their picture taken at the

post office. Standard passport service takes about four to six weeks,

but people who have an emergency can request expedited service and

get their passport back in about two weeks.

For more information, visit www.usps.com.

Neurologist finds cause of hearing disorder

UC Irvine neurologist Arnold Starr has pinpointed one of the

causes of auditory neuropathy, a hearing disorder that prevents sound

from reaching the brain in the normal way.

Starr, who identified the disorder 15 years ago with colleagues,

determined that it is caused by a low cell count in the auditory

nerve fibers that connect with, and are within, the ear’s cochlea.

The study appear in the July issue of Brain.

“This lets us look into new ways of treating the problem,” Starr

said in a press release. “Because it indicates that this disorder is

clearly rooted in the auditory nervous system.”

The current practice of treating auditory neuropathy is by

removing the cochlea and replacing it with an implant that

electrically activates the remaining nerve cells.

The study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health,

also links auditory neuropathy to similar neural disorders in the

body, where lesions in nerve fibers inhibit sensory and motor

functions. “The connection is so strong, many colleagues now question

the legitimacy of even calling this condition auditory neuropathy,

and I agree,” Starr said, in the release. “My interest now is in

advancing this research and seeing how it can be applied.”

Approximately 250,000 people suffer from auditory neuropathy,

according to the Eaton-Peadbody Laboratory of Auditory Physiology.