Apical constriction changes cell shapes, driving critical morphogenetic events including gastrulation in diverse organisms and neural tube closure in vertebrates. Apical constriction is thought to be triggered by contraction of apical actomyosin networks. We found that apical actomyosin contractions began before cell shape changes in both C. elegans and Drosophila. In C. elegans, actomyosin networks were initially dynamic, contracting and generating cortical tension without significant shrinking of apical surfaces. Apical cell-cell contact zones and actomyosin only later moved increasingly in concert, with no detectable change in actomyosin dynamics or cortical tension. Thus, apical constriction appears to be triggered not by a change in cortical tension but by dynamic linking of apical cell-cell contact zones to an already contractile apical cortex.

The measurement of cochlear physiology before CI, reduced to a single variable, is a better predictor of postoperative speech perception than common clinical factors. Additional analysis of the outliers showed that waveform morphology can provide distinct information in individual cases.

Intraoperative round window ECoG recordings are reliably and easily obtained in pediatric cochlear implant recipients. The ECoG total response is significantly correlated with speech perception outcomes in pediatric implant recipients and can account for a comparable or greater proportion of variance in speech perception than other bio-audiologic factors. Intraoperative recordings can potentially provide useful prognostic information about acquisition of open set speech perception in implanted children.