The morning had withheld its sunlight and left only a gray hue to open its doors when the man turned aside to his wife facing him, her Cantu-scented curls waving in his face. The sunlight compliments her already perfect face even though the gray brings gloom to others, but not him. The sounds of breakfast cooking brew an ambience that acts as lenses onto her beauty while her eyes secure her innocence. The appreciation of sunlight comes natural for those who don’t have it, but alternatives are the only option with no availability. As a result, he finds the sunlight captured in her beauty while her eyes take the picture.

“Want some eggs,” she asks, her words softly layered.

“With syrup please,” he replies as his words stick to his mouth.

Her response echoes through the whole house, her laughter bounces off the walls. Her eyes close when she laughs and he wonders what she sees. The sight she sees contains an expression of her love with him at the center of her photograph. In the meanwhile, a whole dictionary was consumed in the process of describing what she feels towards what she sees.

The day passes them by in a swirl of heartfelt emotions. A haze of old music lingers in the house as she takes two steps back while he takes two steps forward.

She asks, “Where did the day go?”                                                                                      

“With you in my arms,” he responds.

“Ha-Ha-Ha,” she says sarcastically.

Her laugh gets softer and softer as he feels the heat escape her body. Her eyes flash red not with pain but with a warning. “Low Battery! Charge Now!” but a recharge isn’t possible, at least not in an electrical sense. With this he holds her memory tightly, tighter than the grip of death itself. He carries her soul in his heart as he steps to the cellar. Her brown hair now twisted with curls, rooted in the insecurities of others. The door creaks open to deliver a gust of contempt for death and a sense of resurrection. Human sized tubes litter the wall. The same face stares back at him at least a dozen times, providing twelve instances of relief. A transaction is made with his heart and mind, and one of the tubes opens. He feels elated but the air still chills around him, and an aura steps out followed by a hand reaching for him.

The morning withholds its sunlight and leaves only the gray to open its doors when the man turns aside to his wife facing him, her strawberry scented hair waving in his face.

Distribution and density of the hairs in our body is coded in our genes. This program is activated after birth and hair roots are formed at around 8th-10th week of pregnancy. The hairs that cover the fetus are thin, short, and weak. The growth of hairs is completed in the 22nd week. Number of hairs in a fetus does not change much according to gender. Later on in a person’s life, hairs can become dense or rare, owing to factors such as race, age, gender and hormonal state. There are hair roots covering almost all over our body except for the soles, palms, forehead, the areas under the eyes, on and behind the ears.

A hair is made up of the hair root and the hair shaft on it. A hair root is surrounded with two layers. The duty of these layers is to prevent harm to the hair shaft and let the hair grow in the right direction. A hair root is a multilayered structure where every layer has a different function. The papilla is in the base of the hair root and it basically serves to send nourishment to hair cells. The upper layer of the hair shaft is the hard substance called keratin. The innermost layer, which can be seen as the spinal cord of a hair, does not exist in every hair shaft. The second layer, known as the cortex, constitutes most of the hair shaft. The color of hair is mostly determined by the pigment in this layer. The outermost layer is the upper skin of the hair.

Hairs in different parts of the body have their peculiar forms of and limits to growing. Under the control of hormones, hair roots cause hairs of different properties—such as thickness and color—to form. The hairs in moustache, armpits, between the legs, beard, and on the head grow fast and continually. On the other hand, the hairs on our arms, chest, back, legs and including those in the eyebrows grow very slowly and they know their limits. If the person does not own functional testicles, there may be no hair in certain areas of the body except for the hair on his head.

Most of us are apt to think that certain stories make our hair curl; actually, hair erector muscles are the unsung heroes of those stories. Under every hair in the body, there is an erector muscle that makes it move. These muscles have important functions for the body.

Firstly, it helps the oil glands carry out their function. The oil sacks are located on the surface of a hair. The sizes of these sacks are around 0.2-2 millimeters. Sacks are in the form of clusters. Oil glands are also placed all over the body, accept for the soles and palms. They are the natural “lubricants” for the skin and hairs; they protect the skin from the damage of drying up. Every gland under the skin has a channel. There are alveoli that open to every channel. When the hair muscle is stimulated, the hairs become erect and the connected gland start secreting a substance called sebum. The glands empty their contents to the body of the hair.

Regulating the acidity (pH) level of the skin is among the duties of the hair erector muscle and it produces a protective gel. The oily secretion forms a thin layer of gel; as it serves protecting the skin from heat and cold, it is given an antibacterial effect as well. The natural coating of the skin prevents reproduction of harmful germs. The pH level of the skin is 5-6 and it does not allow bacteria to grow. If this substance is not secreted from the skin, the pH acidity shifts toward alkali, moisture level of the skin increases; the fat layer and then the natural coating is damaged. Thus, germs find a suitable environment to reproduce.

Hair erector muscles are also given a role in adjusting body heat. The hairs in the human body are not related to heat isolation. When the body is exposed to cold environments, the mechanisms that increase body heat are activated. When sympathetic nervous system stimulates hair erector muscles, they contract, hairs bristle, and the body heat is tampered through the reduced heat release. Sometimes, even the invisibly small hairs erect and goose bumps appear on the skin. The purpose is to form a screen for heat. They also allow for perspiration in hot weather and help the body to cool down. In addition, hair erector muscles serve as touching receptors as well. The receptors in hairs easily detect objects on the body surface. Hairs that are activated by touch stimulate the nerve tissue in their base. In a way, they keep a round the clock watch for the body; as tiny and unsung heroes.

They say that perfection is hidden in details, which is also very true for hairs. And perhaps, the secret to appreciation lies in recognizing details, and appreciating their perfection.

Original Article: Akashi M. et al., PNAS 107, 15643 (2010).

Feeling sleepy during the day after a long flight? Internal body clock genes are to blame. Circadian (Latin: “around” “the day”) rhythm genes take part in a time dependent cycling of an organism to carry out daily physiological processes. These signals include very basic needs such as feeling sleepy at nighttime and waking up during the day and repeats about every 24 hours. Malfunctioning circadian rhythm genes are implicated in several sleep disorders. According to a recent study done by Makoto Akashi and his colleagues at Yamaguchi University in Japan, hair follicle cells were found to closely follow the gene expression pattern of the internal circadian rhythm of the human body. Gene expression patterns can be extracted from hair follicles from pulled hair. Studying the circadian rhythm genes and expression profiles has been quite an inconvenience for researchers up until now. This study provides a new alternative method for tapping into this machinery. Don’t be surprised if you are asked for a couple of hairs pulled from your scalp if you go to a doctor complaining about your sleep disorder in the future. This method could have implications in the field of diagnostic medicine as a less invasive method for diagnosing problems since it allows us to conveniently gain access to the gene expression profiles of a person. We are not at a stage where we can control our sleep cycle at our convenience, but this is a step towards facilitating our understanding of this mechanism.

2- Western diet disturbs our bacterial guests

Original Article: De Filippo C. et al., PNAS 107, 14691 (2010).

Did you know that there are 100 trillions of microbes living happily ever after in your gut? This is about 10 times as many cells as make up the whole human body. But, no need to panic, because the sole purpose of their presence is to serve us by aiding in our daily digestion, metabolism and improving our immune system overall. A recent study shows that our friendly inhabitants are drastically affected by the human diet. A research group at Meyer Children Hospital in Italy analyzed and compared the fecal microbiota of children from Europe to that of children from rural African village of Burkino Faso (BF). When they examined the diets of each group closely, they saw that the BF diet is rich in cereals, vegetables and legumes, whereas the European diet is usually rich in animal protein, sugar, starch, and fat. Thus, children from Africa typically have a high-fiber diet and the children from Europe have a low-fiber diet. Next, researchers characterized the gut microbiotas of each group from fecal samples. The results revealed that gut microbiota was drastically different between these groups. Interestingly, BF children had several types of bacteria that seem to produce substantial amounts of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) as a result of fiber-rich diet. The high levels of SCFAs are known to result in high energy levels and an increased anti-inflammatory capacity. The fact that African populations have almost no non-infectious colonic diseases may be attributed to the enriched diversity of gut microbiota due to the high-fiber diet of African children. This study once again emphasizes the importance of a fiber rich diet and it becomes clear that the adoption of such a diet and refraining from fast food culture would be beneficial to all of us.

3- Eat more, enjoy less

Original Article: Stice E. et al., The Journal of Neuroscience 30, 13105 (2010).

Why do obese people tend to overeat? A new study suggests a vicious cycle stemming from an obese individual’s desire to compensate for reduced pleasure from food. Degree of pleasure derived from eating correlates with the amount of released dopamine, which is associated with food intake. The researchers studied 26 overweight and obese volunteers, who were subjected to fMRI brain scans to identify brain regions that became active as they sipped both sugary milkshakes and a flavorless liquid. Every participant was tested twice over a six month period. Participants who gained weight showed significantly less activation in response to the milkshake intake upon a six-month follow-up relative to their baseline scan and relative to participants who did not gain weight. According to these results intake of palatable food results in down regulation of D2 receptors, reduced D2 sensitivity, and decreased reward sensitivity, implying that overeating may contribute to reduced striatal responsivity. These results will likely be important in developing programs to prevent and treat obesity, and also help us understand why obesity typically shows a chronic course and is resistant to treatment. Here is another reason to eat less: to get more pleasure from the food we eat.

4- Tough Malagasy spiders

Original Article: Agnarsson I. et al., PLoS one 5, e11234 (2010).

There are 40,000 kinds of spiders. They have little bodies, but the webs that they knit with their long thin legs using the silk from their tiny bodies are examples of great talent. Among the 200,000 types of silk which spiders produce, each have different combinations of properties, such as stickiness, durability or thickness, etc. A recently discovered spider found in Madagascar has an even more amazing talent. This kind of spider with its 3–5 cm long body size can make a web that can cross a river 2.5 meters wide with the ends of the nets attached to trees on either bank of a riverside. These nets have been found to be the strongest biological material ever known. After careful measurement, it was discovered that these webs are 10 times stronger (350 MJ/m3) than Kevlar, which is the material used in bulletproof vest, and some threads become even more durable (520 MJ/m3), which means that this spider beats even the most talented scientists and engineers with its skinny small legs and tiny little brain by developing material which is more than ten times tougher. It is believed that these spiders need to have strong nets in order to bare the extreme weather conditions above the river and catch the bugs flying over the river. There are still investigations that have yet to be done in order to find out further properties of such webs. “Verily in these things there are signs for those who consider.”

instead of a picture, multiplication table adorns my kitchen wall.

I have 8 arms like an octopus reaching in every direction.

Nobody can worry as much as I do.

There is always some stain on my clothes that detergent won’t remove.

I am a mother,

my notebook has dinosaurs drawn on it

the wall of my bedroom a little artist’s exhibition.

Me and my cell phone fall apart too often.

I lose my keys every other day.

I am a mother

and a pediatrician though I never went to medical school.

I play the cook, the nurse, the teacher, the driver, the singer

selfless like the rain, the earth, the sun.

I am a mother,

small things make me cry for joy.

like little notes that say “luv mom”

or sketched portrait with ugly teeth and fuzzy hair,

every line reflecting admiration and care.

I am a mother,

my heart deep and vast like an ocean.

I am a mother,

paradise lies under my feet.

Mirkena Ozer pursues MA in creative writing at the University of Georgia, Atlanta.

I am the barrier between your body and the outer world and I am responsible for this area. I can sense every change in the outer world, including heat, cold, humidity, pressure, various radiations, and the effects of many harmful chemicals and physical phenomena. When I become aware of the presence of something that is harmful, I warn your organs to act according to these changing conditions. That is why everybody knows me primarily as a sense organ.

However, in addition to being a sense organ, I have many other important duties; however, if I were to list them here, this article would take up the entire magazine. In order to ensure your good health I have to carry out my duties, be they aesthetic, protective or metabolic, perfectly. Even if you only examine my appearance, you will see how beautiful I am. You should visit an anatomy laboratory one day and watch the medical students performing an autopsy. Examine the cadaver whose skin has been pulled back to allow the students to study the internal organs. Look, if you can! Although the body is miracle, if the skin is not present, it would lose its splendor and become ugly and horrible. The beauty and meaningful existence of all the other organs are only complete with me. Our Lord God Almighty has created me and dressed you with me as a garment that fits each part of your body. He has lined your palms and soles with a thick outer lining made of keratin; this enables you to walk and use some hand tools easily. If on the foot or hand I were as thin as I am in the lip area, then I would easily get punctured and injured while walking or using a tool. God has created special joints where your fingers and toes join the feet and hands. These joints allow your fingers, hands and feet to move in many different ways. In order to protect your head from the sun and cold God has changed some of my cells into hair and has given it the ability to grow constantly. God also protects your eyes with special hairs that we call eyelashes and eyebrows. With these He also completes the beauty of your face. However, these do not grow constantly like the hair on our heads. Just think, otherwise you would have to trim both your eyebrows and eyelashes everyday in order to see. The special hairs in your nose and ears help prevent the entry of harmful particles, like dust or harmful microorganisms. You may think “How important is that? Just a few strands of hair?” Of course, hair is not the most important thing of all, but is life nothing more than staying alive? Of course not! There is also an aesthetic aspect to life. We can understand this if we look at a person who has no eyebrows or eyelashes! Certainly, God has made human beings beautiful creations and the hair is an important part of this beauty. As with everything He does, the significance of the hair is much more meaningful than when first seen.

In addition to my aesthetic beauty, I should also tell you about my protective functions. My first and most vital job is to balance the level of liquid in your body and to prevent its loss. The liquid level and the amount of minerals inside your body are very important. If it were not for me your kidneys would not be able to regulate the level of these liquids. It is for this reason that people who have burns that take up two-thirds of their skin or more cannot live; the water loss in their bodies is too great. In burn care centers, they try to control the loss of liquids using very sensitive devices; however, with serious burns this is usually unsuccessful. My protective functions are not limited to liquids; I also protect your body from all kinds of bacteria, funguses and viruses. As you know, your skin can get inflamed and infected from even a thorn. If the skin becomes damaged or broken over a large area you could face serious infections. This is because if I am not present many microorganisms will invade your body and make you ill.

Your body is very sensitive to heat and cold. The temperature of your inner body normally should be between 370C and 38 0C (96.8 0F and 98.6 0F); if it increases above this temperature, then you are unwell. If you remain for a long time in cold conditions and your inner body temperature falls off, many of your organs, especially the lungs, stomach, and kidneys are damaged and cannot work properly. You could die if the temperature is too low for too long. And in contrast, if you stay too long in the heat and your inner body temperature increases, your nervous system can be damaged, as the brain is very sensitive. Then your heart and other organs will start to fail, which eventually results in death. Indeed, human beings live everywhere, from the deserts to the poles and everywhere people are able to maintain an inner core temperature that is constant between 96.8 0F and 98.6 0F. I play a very important part in this system. Although the main control center is the brain, it acts according to stimuli that I send and I carry out important functions when the brain responds to these stimuli. Later, I will tell you how I can both warm and cool you.

Before telling you about my other functions, I would also like to tell you about my structure, which appears quite basic from the outside. Of course, I am not simply a cover that wraps your flesh. First of all, I am a living organ that is being nourished, that grows, that is repaired and which is very flexible. As I get rid of dead cells, I replace them with new ones; I am aware of everything that happens in my surroundings and I allow you to feel the world around you. I consist of two major layers: the epidermis (outmost layer) and the dermis (the inner level). The visible layer, the epidermis, consists of cells that gradually die off and stiffen. Those cells are toughened with a protein called keratin which is absorbed inside their structure; everyday I shed dead skin cells. This is part of the “dirt” that is removed from your body with every shower. This outer layer contains bacteria, funguses or other parasites that have been transmitted from the outside world and which may cause diseases. These parasites are removed as the dead skin cells are shed. The innermost layer (stratum germinativum) of the epidermis has a great capacity for cell division and it constantly produces new cells from the bottom to the outermost level. These cells start out life as cylinders, but as they move towards the outer surface they become cubical and then flatten out. At the same time keratin is being produced in those cells, and as a result they stiffen and start to die off. When the cells arrive at the outermost level, they are already dead. Some of those dead cells do not fall off. They accumulate and combine to make up the structures that we call nails and calluses. In this way the cells protect those areas that are most sensitive or most often used.

You will be surprised to see what great biological activities take place in the epidermis. Even when a person dies, this layer does not die right away. After death the nails and beard continue to grow. This occurs because of the activities in the germinative epithelium, which makes up the basal layer of the epidermis.

Beneath the epidermis is the dermis, a relatively thick layer. This is the layer which keeps the skin lively and firm and which produces the color. Many works of arts are present in this layer to complete my splendid structure. This layer consists of connective tissue with fiber bundles that is made of collagen protein. As people get older, their skin dries up and starts to lose its collagen proteins. Once the fibers start to decrease, I lose my firmness, and then I start to wrinkle. Although people are not happy with wrinkles, which are inevitable, I don’t think this is something to worry about; wrinkles are also a sign of maturity and experience. In the structure of my dermis there are other parts that have very important functions: The sweat glands, which are in the shape of coiled tubes, spread throughout the body act as ventilators; in addition, the hair follicles, the sebaceous gland, which helps to nourish and moisturize the hair, the chromatophores (pigment-containing cells) that determine the skin color, the hair muscles that give your hair flexibility and the blood vessels that nourish me are all important. I also have special receptor cells that can sense temperature, pressure and pain and there are nerve endings scattered among these cells.

In different parts of the body I am more sensitive to particular sensations. My sense receptors (corpuscles) vary in shape and you human beings have named them after the scientists who discovered them. There is Pacini’s corpuscle, Meissner’s corpuscle, Ruffini’s corpuscle and Krause’s corpuscle. Each of those receptors is thought to be receiving independent stimuli, but this has not been proven by experiment yet.

Do you ever wonder why you and your friends have so many different skin tones? This is the result of the work of the chromatophores (cells that contain pigment) which are located in the dermis, at the point closest to the epidermis. These cells, which have a number of branches, move in relation to the intensity of the light, and their branches can stretch and shrink back. These movements cause the pigment granules (melanin granules) to disperse within the cell or aggregate towards the center. This is how they can lighten or darken the skin color, causing you to get a “tan.” The seasons, the length of the day and the intensity and duration of the sunlight all affect the movement of these cells. These cells darken your skin color during the summer and lighten it during the winter. But, why is this necessary? This is a wonderful physiologic mechanism that has so many amazing purposes and meanings. I am sure you have noticed that people who live in Northern Europe and North America have a lighter complexion than those who live in the more southerly regions of the earth. This is because the countries in these northern regions are exposed to a less intense sunlight for a shorter time. The further north you go the more rainy and cloudy it is. However, sunlight also plays a very important role in the synthesizing of vitamin D in your body. The molecule known as 7-dehydrocholesterol can be converted into vitamin D only with sunlight. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is highly important for calcium absorption and bone metabolism. If you do not have enough exposure to the sun, then vitamin D cannot be produced; this could result in disorders like rickets (most common), as well as several other bone diseases and skeletal complications. However, it is interesting that sunlight is a two-edged sword. Neither too much nor too little sunlight is good for you. Too much exposure to the sunlight damages my health, causing such diseases as skin cancer and eye disorders. Our Lord God Almighty has made all parts of the earth suitable for human life. He knows well, of course, what people need in order to be able to live in places that have less sunlight and in other places that have a great deal of sunlight. In order to allow people to benefit from the sunlight everywhere, He has given the necessary qualities to my chromotaphores and the melanin granules that they contain. In places that have less sunlight, my chromotaphores synthesize less melanin. The melanin disperses throughout the cells or the cells move downwards, and my color lightens. This allows more sun absorption and this sunlight is used for vitamin D production. In sunny places, however, people are more exposed to the ultraviolet rays of the sun as well as other forms of radiation. This is why the risk of my cells becoming mutant and cancerous is greatly increased. In order to avoid such a situation, more melanin is synthesized in people who live in sunny places. The melanin in the chrotaphores gathers towards the center of the cell and my color darkens. Thus, excess sunlight is absorbed by my melanin pigments thanks to their special structure and function. This prevents other sensitive cells from becoming damaged and cancerous.

During hot weather, in order to balance your inner body temperature, the blood vessels that pass through the skin expand and more blood is carried through the skin. I give off the water in my blood through my sweat glands. While this warm water called “sweat” spreads over my surface and evaporates, an important amount of heat is released into the air. Thus, your inner body temperature does not increase and you remain cool inside. Thanks to the work of my sweat glands, I can also get rid of some nitrogenous waste and thus support your kidneys. During cold weather, however, the activities of my sweat glands decrease, and this helps you to stay warm. The blood vessels narrow so that the blood in me is reduced. More warm blood is channeled into your body so that your important inner organs do not become cold. The muscles of my hairs contract and the hairs straighten, thickening the layer of hair that covers me. It feels like you are covered with a blanket. If your body temperature falls off significantly, my receptors stimulate the muscles that lie under me and these muscles produce heat by vibrating. That is why you shiver from cold! Women have fewer hairs on their body. Do you think this is unfair? Of course not! Unlike men, women’s bodies are created in such a way that they can store a greater percentage of fat among the tissues under the skin. This hypodermic fatty tissue not only protects women from cold, but it is also used as extra storage for nutrients that they use when breastfeeding. It also helps protect women’s muscles and bones against bumps and shocks from the outside. So, this tissue works both as a temperature isolator and as a “shock absorber.” There is nothing unfair about this. And, it proves that God gives each of His creation exactly what they need and deserve.

Some people say that the skin is a mirror of the body’s health; this is true. The fact that I am visible and can be examined easily makes me the first organ to display symptoms of many diseases that lie below. Abnormalities that appear on me are usually a sign of metabolism disorders, ulcers and other glandular disorders in the body. For example, if your liver is being affected by a poisonous substance, this shows up as red spots on the hands. But not only physical ailments affect, me; I am also affected by your spiritual condition. Of course, the opposite can happen, too. That is, diseases on the skin can affect your inner organs.

I have mentioned before that my ability to renew and repair myself is very great. God willing, I can repair mild burns, bruises and cuts easily under normal circumstances. However, if the bruise goes as deep as my basal layer, there might be a scare there to remind you in the future and to give thanks to God for your health. In addition, in diseases like diabetes, my ability to renew and repair myself is weakened and I cannot easily heal. In such cases, you have to take the utmost care to keep me clean so that I do not get infected.

Well Peter, I think that I have said enough about myself. I will not continue to go on about the many symptoms of diseases that can be seen on me, including, allergies, itchiness, and infections. However, it is important for you to know that I can demonstrate hundreds of different conditions that are caused by a great range of factors, such as genetically transmitted diseases, immune system disorders, and bacterial, viral, and fungal infections. But don’t worry! As you can see, the majority of people live a healthy life despite these risks. The Creator has provided your body with a protective mechanism and has taught you how to take care of yourself. My job here is to indicate the Creator and how He has made me a flawless work of art that demonstrates deep meanings behind its complexity. Rather than continuing to give you a lecture on dermatology, it would be better if you were to live according to God’s consent. If you do so, you will be protected from diseases; even if you do become ill, you will have greater patience and moral strength. You will also be more thankful to God for your health.

He has granted you from all that you ask Him. Were you to attempt to count God’s blessings, you could not compute them. But for sure, humankind is much prone to wrongdoing (sins and errors of judgment) and to ingratitude. (Ibrahim 14:34)

Today a large part of modern science focuses on understanding the human body. Researchers working on life sciences hope that one day the secrets of every single detail that make us human will be revealed. Every year billions of dollars are spent by scientific institutions on learning more about us. Actually this fact by itself is enough to suggest how little control we have over things happening in our bodies, and we know even less about the mechanisms of moving, touching, speaking, seeing, or hearing, and so on.

As a scientist, I really cannot guess whether life scientists will ever be able to learn enough to solve the puzzles of the human body, but I feel a lack of satisfaction when the knowledge we have gained from scientific discoveries is compared with what is unknown. In my opinion this is why one of the most intelligent physicists in history, the Nobel laureate Richard Feynman, once said, “I was born not knowing, and have only had a little time to change that here and there” [1]. My understanding is that such a conclusion must be inevitable if the primitive knowledge given to us by modern sciences is not interpreted in the light of a far superior logic that is meant to explain the whole creation. In that sense, I believe that we have to consider every single detail in creation as a vital part of the whole in order not to feel lost before the grand picture of this masterpiece.

Last year, in a seminar at Osaka University Graduate School for Frontier BioSciences, I was thrilled to hear Professor Keichi Namba say, “Japan’s fastest supercomputer dissipates more than billion times the power dissipated by a fly’s brain, yet it is not able to simulate the brain of such a tiny animal.” This worked as a wakening call or a reminder for me to think again about the magnificent arts of the Creator. In particular, I wanted to revise my research on a hearing-related protein from a new perspective, rather than using the mechanical attitude that is followed most of the time.

This article is an attempt to explain an amazing mechanism in our ears that enables us to hear the faintest whispers. A mechanism that is switched off at loud cries to protect us from disturbing noises, yet amplified to make the softest sounds audible. Before starting to explain the basic anatomy of the human ear, I should mention that today the ear’s active amplification mechanism is still being investigated in research centers by biologists and physicists together.

How do we hear? What is happening in the inner ear?

Findings from the last century have shown that our ears are not just simple receivers as we had imagined. In 1979, David Kemp of University College, London discovered that mammalian ears can also emit sound vibrations. By placing a very sensitive microphone close to the eardrum he could detect whistles, implying that there is a source of vibration within the ear [2]. However, before trying to explain the cause of vibrations in the ears, we have to go over the mechanism of hearing briefly: The delicate design of the outer ear, the tympanic membrane (eardrum), and the tiny bones (malleus, incus and stapes) enables to collect sound waves traveling in the medium and transfer them to the inner ear (Figure 1a). In the inner ear the sound waves are sorted according to their frequency and amplitudes and then converted into electrical signals which can be transported to the brain via nerves. At the onset of this process the sound waves are transformed into standing waves on the basilar membrane which is laid along the organ resembling a snail, the cochlea (Figure 1b). The frequency of the incoming sound wave determines the positions of the distortions along the cochlea: High pitches create vibrations at the basal end of the cochlea (i.e. adjacent to the middle ear) whereas low frequencies vibrate closer to the apical end (Figure 1c) where the cochlea gets narrower. This geometry helps our ears to act as a frequency analyzer.

The efferent and afferent nerves that connect the ear to the central nervous system are attached to the organ of Corti, which is situated right next to the basilar membrane, extending over the cochlea. In other words, Corti is the sense organ of hearing, converting the motion of the basilar membrane into electrical signals that are conducted to the brain via neuronal cells [3]. The organ of Corti is also lined with multiple rows of sensory hair cells.

The hair cells of the organ of Corti

Corti is decorated with two different sets of sensory cells: single row of inner hair cells (IHCs) accompanied with 3–4 rows of outer hair cells (OHCs), both spanning the whole cochlear tube (Figure 2a). They are called “hair cells” because both IHCs and OHCs have typical bundles of stereocilia that contain mechanosensitive ion channels (Figure 2b).

The major function of IHCs is to detect the sound waves and then convert them into equivalent electrical signals that are to be interpreted by the brain. When the basilar membrane is perturbed by the incoming sound waves, the IHCs found in that region sense this activity by the movement of their hair bundles (bundles of stereocilia). The hair bundles of IHCs deflect and re-align as the basilar membrane moves up and down (Figure 3). We should note that this is an amazingly sensitive process such that deflections of the stereocilia on the order of a few nanometers (one millionth of a millimeter) can be detected and converted into nerve signals by the IHCs [4].

However, this by itself is not sufficient for hearing; no matter how effective IHCs work, the fluid that fills the cochlear tube is a threat to the sound waves traveling in the inner ear. In 1948, a young astrophysicist named Thomas Gold was the first person who has pointed out that the fluidic nature of the cochlea would dampen the sound vibrations and make them too weak to be detected by IHCs. He has concluded that an inherent vibration amplification mechanism is necessary in order to overcome such a problem [5]. Unfortunately, Gold’s statements were overlooked by the physiologists of his time who had performed their hearing related experiments on dead cochleas.

Gold’s predictions were justified around ten years later by William Rhode, a physiologist from University of Wisconsin, who has shown that the vibrations of the basilar membrane in live tissue samples are stronger than anticipated [6]. In the present day the existence of an amplification mechanism within a live cochlea is a well accepted fact. The only disagreement among scientists is about how the mechanism of the amplification works. Several scientific laboratories have reported different experiments performed on the organ of Corti and they have proposed different models. At the center of one of these models is prestin, a membrane protein which is not found in any cell but OHCs in the human body.

Electro-motile outer hair cells and prestin

In 1985, the distinctive properties of OHCs were first discovered by William Brownell, a University of Geneva neuroscientist, who has shown that these cells can convert electrical signals into motion: A phenomenon called electromotility. Electromotile OHCs can elongate or shrink in response to electrical charge density changes in their membranes. About a decade ago Peter Dallos and co-workers from Northwestern University in Chicago discovered a membrane protein, unique to OHCs, that can respond to electrical signals [3]. The Dallos group coined the name “prestin” for this protein in an analogy with the musical term “presto” (quickly) due to its rapid response to electrical signals. Various kinds of mammalian cells genetically engineered to produce prestin at their membranes displayed the electromotile responses that are very similar to OHCs.

According to Peter Dallos prestin protein works as a tiny machine which is a crucial element for cochlear amplification [7]. His theory is verified by recent studies which show that cochlear sensitivity in mice decreases hundredfold when prestin activity is disrupted by genetic means [8]. As the sound waves reach the inner ear, prestin-driven electromotility enables the OHCs to move like pistons. The piston movement in phase with the basilar membrane motion amplifies the vibrations and makes them stronger for IHC detection (Figure 4a,b). The prestin-driven vibrations were what Thomas Gold proposed and David Kemp had detected so many years ago. However, scientists are still searching and learning new things about this nanometer scale machine. One of the discoveries showed that prestin can adjust itself according to the amplitude of the incoming sound waves: Basically, the amplification is stronger when the sound waves are hard to hear but gets weaker as the volume increases.

Up to this point, we have briefly explained how the amplification mechanism of hearing in mammals works. Unfortunately, even though it took decades of research for scientists to discover and define the active nature of the mammalian ear, this explanation highlights only a minuscule part of the whole picture. That is why we are still incapable of curing most hearing problems. For example, hearing loss due to slightly disturbed hair cells with damaged stereocilia turns out to be chronic (Figure 5). The medical treatments we have to hand are too primitive to mend such delicate structures. Moreover, hearing aids made by today’s technology are not nearly as effective and functional as needed.

On the other hand, the delicacy of the hair cells and the limited control scientists have over them are not the only lessons we have learned from research on the inner ear. We cannot overlook the other messages attached to the research on the grounds that the time given to us is just too short to comprehend. It is an undeniable fact that the sense of hearing is designed in the best way to serve human beings. The different characteristics of hearing amplification at different sound levels make life much easier for us: Prestin-driven hearing is most effective when the sound waves are weak and harder to hear. This way the incoming sound waves are amplified enabling us to hear the faintest whispers. However, as the sound strength increases, the prestin-driven amplification gradually gets weaker and finally diminishes after a point to make sure that loud noises are less disturbing and hazardous for us. In my opinion, this amazing quality of a tiny protein found in our ears is one of the pieces of evidence that remind us of the necessity of pondering the favors of our Creator. Qur’anic verses such as Ibrahim 34 at the beginning of this article give us clues about how to interpret scientific findings that reveal the amazing qualities of our bodily organs. May the Creator of our ears allow us to reflect more on His favors and live accordingly.

Hamdi Sener is a biophysicist living in Boston. He can be contacted at hamdisener@gmail.com.

References

1. Gleick, J., Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman. Reprint ed. 1993: Vintage. 560.
2. Kemp, D.T., The evoked cochlear mechanical response and the auditory microstructure- evidence for a new element in cochlear mechanics. Scand Audiol Suppl., 1979. 9: p. 35–47.
3. Zheng, J., et al., Prestin is the motor protein of cochlear outer hair cells. Nature, 2000. 405(6783): p. 149–55.
4. Robles, L. and M.A. Ruggero, Mechanics of the mammalian cochlea. Physiol Rev., 2001. 81(3): p. 1305–52.
5. Gold, T., Hearing II. The physical basis of the action of the cochlea. Proc. Roy. Soc. B., 1948. 135: p. 492–498.
6. Rhode, W.S., Observations of the vibration of the basilar membrane in squirrel monkeys using the Mossbauer technique. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. , 1971. 49: p. 1218–1231.
7. Cho, A., What’s Shakin’ in the ear? Science, 2000. 288: p. 1954-1955.
8. Liberman, M.C., et al., Prestin is required for electromotility of the outer hair cell and for the cochlear amplifier. Nature, 2003. 419: p. 300-304.
9. Fettiplace, R. and C.M. Hackney, The sensory and motor roles of auditory hair cells. Nat Rev Neurosci., 2006. 7(1): p. 19-29.
10. Dallos, P. and B. Fakler, Prestin, a new type of motor protein. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol, 2002. 3(2): p. 104-11.

There are a great many similarities between the three monotheistic traditions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The central goal of the religious journey in these Abrahamic traditions is to acknowledge the Creator and to love Him by obeying His wise and compassionate guidance. A common area where almost all the doctrines of the three traditions are overlapping is unquestionably “morals.” Decency, chastity, modesty, righteousness, and purity are virtues that believers are encouraged and required to struggle to achieve.

When people look at Muslim women who wear a headscarf, usually they only notice the headscarf as being different than Western-style clothing. Many believers who wear a headscarf prefer to use the term “modest dress” since it captures the essence of the practice better. Modest dress is prescribed to both men and women in the Qur’an. The general guidelines include covering certain parts of the body, wearing loose and non-transparent clothing to conceal the silhouette, and to dress in such a way as not to draw attention to one’s self. Modest clothing and covering the body is enjoined for men as well as for women; men are advised to cover at least between the knees and the navel, whereas for women the only parts that can be revealed are the face, hands, and feet. This difference is solely due to the physical nature and attractiveness of the female body, and should not be misinterpreted as gender inequality. Still, most men prefer to cover themselves from head to toe especially during prayer as a sign of respect in the presence of God Almighty.

Nevertheless, some people have a hard time grasping why the hair is so important. First, the hair is only one of the many parts that need to be covered. Second, if hair was not so attractive, women would not spend hours in front of the mirror or spend hundreds of dollars to make their hair pretty! However, the concept of covering in Islam is not restricted to only the headscarf, which would be undermining the meaning and effect of this practice. The underlying principle is to keep your beauty to yourself, your spouse, and those of the same sex, so that you will not be viewed as an “object.” The ultimate goal is to be modest before God and other human beings. Western feminists contend that one of the greatest problems of our age is the reduction of women to mere objects that are valued only for their physical beauty. I must add, though, that in Islam, physical beauty and marital relations are not viewed as a sin or something to be ashamed of. They are a gift of God and we are to enjoy them within the limits prescribed by God.

In the Qur’an, God has commanded believing men and believing women to act in certain ways to avoid indecent interaction with the opposite sex, which has great repercussions for individuals and society in this world and the Hereafter. Islam is a religion of prevention and protection, rather than a religion of punishment. All aspects of Islamic law aim to prevent sin in order to avoid punishment that would otherwise be necessary to ensure perfect justice. (It is also important to point out that in Islam, sin is regarded as a transgression against one’s self or a state of being away from God and acting contrary to our own nature) In other words, God knows His creatures and their weaknesses best and lays down guidelines to keep them from sinning because of His love and mercy for His creatures. Modest dress also has the same logic and nature. God has commanded it in the Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad implemented it in his life and taught it to his followers for sound and compelling reasons.

The practice of wearing modest dress existed in various cultures and religions prior to the advent of Islam. Hence Islam did not invent the covering of one’s hair or modest dress in general. Veiling (I use the term here to refer to wearing a headscarf and not to covering the face as the term “veil” may also connote) was a common practice in the Byzantine Empire during the Hellenistic era and also among the Sassanids of Persia. The veil was a sign of respectability and high status and was used to distinguish noblewomen from slaves and unchaste women who were not allowed to cover their heads. Subsequently, the practice was established in the Judaic and Christian systems ¹ and the Arabic peninsula at large (even prior to the advent of Islam).

Judaic doctrines and traditions have emphasized the covering of hair and modest dress throughout history. Rabbinic law forbids the recitation of prayers in the presence of a bareheaded married woman, since it is considered nudity. ² Jewish women in Europe wore the headscarf until the end of the nineteenth century when the pressures of a secular society triumphed over religion. Today, many Jewish women cover their hair in synagogues, yet only certain sects such as Hasidic Jews continue the practice in everyday life by wearing a wig.

The place of veiling in Christianity is as prevalent as in Judaism. The most obvious sign is the modest dress nuns have been wearing for centuries. Veiling was part of the Christian tradition, not exclusively for nuns: “And Rebekah lifted up her eyes and when she saw Isaac… she took her veil and covered herself” (Genesis 24:65). The Catholic Church had a canon up until the 1950s requiring women to cover their hair inside a church. Certain Christian denominations such as the Amish and the Mennonites still retain a head covering for women.

Likewise, there is a strong connection between clothing, modesty, and morality in Islam. Thus, the concept of modesty extends beyond mere clothing and encompasses austere manners. This ideal code of conduct and modest dress are required from both men and women. There is strong emphasis on the protection of people’s dignity in the Qur’an. (For instance, assaulting someone with words or slander is a grave transgression.) One of the most compelling reasons for modest dress in the Qur’an is modesty and to protect women from molestation. It is not a sign of male superiority or of high status, as was the case in ancient societies.

And tell the believing women that they (also) should restrain their gaze (from looking at the men whom it is lawful for them to marry, and from others’ private parts), and guard their private parts, and that they should not display their charms except that which is revealed of itself; and let them draw their veils over their bosoms, and (tell them) not to display their charms to any save their husbands, or their fathers (and grandfathers and both paternal and maternal uncles), or the fathers of their husbands, or their sons, or the sons of their husbands (both their own and stepsons and grandsons), or their brothers (and foster- and step-brothers), or the sons of their brothers, or the sons of their sisters, or the Muslim women and the women of good conduct with whom they associate, or those their right hands possess, or the male attendants in their service free of sexual desire, or children that are as yet unaware of femininity. Nor should they stamp their feet (i.e. act in such a manner as) to draw attention to their charms (and arouse passion of men). And O believers, turn to God all together in repentance that you may attain true prosperity. (Nur 24:31)

Reasons for wearing modest dress

First and foremost, it is essential to know that “There is no compulsion in religion” (Baqara 2: 256). Faith is a personal matter between a believer and her Creator. Likewise, choosing to put one’s faith into practice is a natural outcome of the believer’s spiritual journey. I decided to start wearing the headscarf after about two years of soul searching.

Despite being raised in a Muslim family and a predominantly Muslim society, I was taken by the numerous positivist philosophies sweeping away the young generations. I did have a vague belief in God that I never really thought about or confirmed in my heart and my mind. Hence, I did not really know what I believed in and why, which made it all the easier to drift away on the currents of disbelief. I cannot thank God enough though for bringing certain seemingly difficult incidents into my life that forced me to question who I was and where I was going.

As a matter of fact, every person is endowed with the inner urge to find meaning in his or her existence. If and when we choose not to shut off these existential questions and try to find satisfying answers, our personal quest for our Creator begins. We are all given numerous faculties, such as our mind, heart, senses, and so forth, that are meant to be used in this quest. By observing the universe and our own continuous creation, we can witness that there is no deity but God, and that He is the Creator of causes and effects simultaneously. This confirmation compels us to heed the message of God (the scriptures) and to read it with an open mind and heart to verify its truth. Once we confirm that the Qur’an is indeed our Creator’s message sent to us personally to inform us of the purpose of our creation, then our worldview is transformed. In a way, the Qur’an is like a manual. It is “our” manual, teaching us how best to use our faculties and our lives. God is telling us why and how He creates us (what our reality is) and what sort of attitude and conduct is in harmony with our creation (our nature, fitrah). If we follow His recommendations, which are glad tidings (bushra), we will be at peace with ourselves and the universe. He also warns us that when we do not follow the instructions in the manual, we may harm ourselves. In other words, we will be unhappy and live in a “hellish” state of mind and heart in this life and the Hereafter. It is ultimately our choice (since we are given free will) to heed and follow this manual or not. Every believer can experience and attest to the truth of the message in their life (or not).

Analyzing the messages in the Qur’an from this paradigm, we may find endless wisdom and mercy in its recommendations. The following is a summary of the many wisdoms and the mercy I see in the prescription of modest dress for all believers who may choose to adopt it in their lives, and this is why I decided to start practicing it:

A. Individual level: Inner peace and harmony

Adhering to the guidelines of Islamic modest dress brings inner peace to the individual for several reasons. Modesty and striving to mold one’s self in Islamic manners helps to discipline our ego which is the main source of personal ills. When I use the term “Islamic.” I am particularly referring to the literal meaning of the word Islam, “submission.” So, a Muslim is someone who tries to submit her free will to the Truth, that is, the truth that we (and everything else around us) are being sustained and created continuously by God, and do not exist independently. Our ego, which is only one of the many faculties we have, is given to us as a tool. By striving to discipline its excessive desires, and channeling them in a positive direction, we transform ourselves for the better. ³ Submitting to the wisdom and compassion of God and obeying His recommendations about how we should dress is only one of many aspects of trust in God. Adhering to modest dress always reminds us that God is Ever-Seeing and that we are constantly in the presence of God. This is the utmost source of inner peace.

As a side note I would like to also add that many women mention that wearing modest dress frees them from the pressures of society to conform to a particular physical type or to fashion. Knowing that they are not being judged as feminine “objects” helps to enhance their self-esteem. When we dress and act modestly, others value us as human beings based on character and intelligence.

B. Family life: Solidarity and peace

The family is considered a vital unit in Islam. A peaceful marriage is essential for many reasons, one of which is the adequate upbringing of children. The break up of families leads to crisis for family members as well as society as a whole. That is why divorce is described as the most disliked of the permissible practices. The practice of modest dress and piety by both husbands and wives may help to maintain the solidarity of the family. Being extremely careful about the way one acts, talks, and dresses around the other sex may serve as a barrier preventing many indecencies from occurring. As I mentioned above, Islam is a religion of prevention (vs. punishment). Therefore, all the ways to temptation are blocked in case we destroy our lives in this world and the Hereafter. Statistics leave no doubt that these incidents are very common in both Western and Eastern societies in this century due to the decay of the role and importance of religion in the face of the rise of materialism.

Thus, the Qur’an and the Prophetic traditions on the matter of modest dress and manners aim to reduce these indecencies and preserve peaceful marriages. Even though many examples of men and women who claim to be pious, yet engage in unlawful acts with the opposite sex, may be cited, the ideal of Islam still proves to be true. God knows that human beings are imperfect creatures and the guidelines are there to set the perfect standards one should struggle to achieve.

C. Social level: Perseverance of society

Islam does not only seek to guide the individual out of the context of her surroundings. The realities of everyday life require human beings to interact with others unceasingly, hence social matters are also addressed in the Qur’an. The modesty of an individual’s dress and manners automatically affect society at large. Indeed, the problems of sexual harassment of women and sexual assault are widespread in our societies. Trying to catch and punish the perpetrators of these offences after the harm is done does not solve the problem. Individuals should reform themselves, learn good morals and values. Only in such a way can the entire society be reformed. When and if women practice ranges of nudity, the society at large is affected negatively. For instance, harmony among married couples and the piety of individuals may deteriorate. This does not mean that only women must watch the way they act and dress, but as the Qur’anic verse 24:30 states, men are obligated to lower their gaze and adopt modest dress and manners as well.

Tell the believing men that they should restrain their gaze (from looking at the women whom it is lawful for them to marry, and from others’ private parts), and guard their private parts and chastity. This is what is purer for them. God is fully aware of all that they do. (Nur 24:30)

Men are first warned to control themselves, and then the required dress for men and women complements the decency of society. Also, to reduce the debate only to the matter of clothing is indeed wrong and misrepresentative of Islam. God is concerned with our inner selves primarily. Thus, modest dress serves its purpose only when it is appropriately complemented by the right morals and manners, and a whole Islamic way of life.

Eren Tatari is a PhD student in the Political Science Department, Indiana University, Bloomington. Her research interests include Muslims in Western politics, gender studies, and the political representation of minorities.

Notes

1. Esposito, John. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Modern Islamic World, OUP, 1995, pp. 108–111.
2. Muhammad, Sherif. “Women and their Legal Rights in Monotheistic Religions.” The Fountain, Issue 41, Jan-Mar 2003, pp. 30–44.
3. For instance, the ego falsely claims or wants to be independent. It does not like to recognize authority or feel gratitude. Hence, the challenge is to use the other faculties God has given us (such as our intellect and heart) to discipline our ego and submit our free will to God’s will. In Islam, human beings are not deemed intrinsically evil. We have the potential to be higher than angels or lower than animals. We have been given many faculties as tools to find and stay on the Straight Path.

References

• Unal, Ali. The Qur’an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English, NJ: The Light, Inc., 2006.

The human ear and hearing

The human ear can be divided into several functional sections: the outer ear, the middle ear, the inner ear, and the auditory nerve. Sound goes through a series of changes as it travels through these sections until reaching the brain. The outer ear picks up sound pressure waves, amplifies them and then converts them into mechanical vibrations on the ear drum, which is connected to a series of small bones in the middle ear. These small bones further amplify or diminish the mechanical vibrations in the ear drum and transfer them to the cochlea, a snail-shaped cavity filled with fluid which is located in the inner ear. Change in fluid pressure caused by vibrations within the cochlea lead to changes in the flexible membrane, called the basilar membrane. These changes contain information about the frequency and strength of the sound that has entered the ear. Attached to the basilar membrane are mechanical receptor cells, called hair cells, which are bent according to the deflections of the basilar membrane.The hair cells have hair-like structures. The bending of these hairs assists the release of an electrochemical substance that causes neurons to send electrical signals to the brainstem through the auditory nerve. These signals are in the form of a message (or a code) that the brain understands.

Cochlear Implant (CI) devices

If there is a broken link in any part of the auditory pathway, the brain does not receive any coded signals, and hearing impairment occurs. If a large number of hair cells or auditory neurons in the cochlea have been damaged, then the person is diagnosed as profoundly deaf. The hair cells can be damaged by certain diseases (e.g., meningitis, Meniere’s disease), by congenital disorders, by certain drug treatments, or by other causes. One negative outcome of damaged hair cells is that they can subsequently lead to the degeneration of adjacent auditory neurons. Research has indicated that the most common cause of deafness is the loss of hair cells (>95%) rather than the loss of auditory neurons. This has encouraged scientists to try implanting a device inside the iner ear or cochlea, bypassing the normal hearing mechanism of the ear, to stimulate the remaining auditory neurons directly through electrical signals. These are called Cochlear Implant (CI) devices, which can restore partial hearing in profoundly deaf people . A standard CI system, shown in Figure 1, composes of and performs the following functions: a microphone picks up sound pressure waves and converts these into electrical signals. The signals are sent to the speech processor that is worn by the patient. The speech processor analyzes and encodes these sound signals, sending them back to the external pick-up coil . After passing through a wireless radio link that lies between the external and implanted coils and an implanted electronic devise, coded signals are sent to the implanted array of electrodes in the cochlea to electrically stimulate the remaining auditory neurons , and the brain receives what it interprets to be sound.

Electrical stimulation of the ear, or CI research, can be traced back to the 1800s. The Italian scientist Alessandro Volta used a battery as a research instrument to demonstrate that electric stimulation could result in a number of human sensations . After connecting a 50- volt battery to his ears, he noted that “…at the moment when the circuit was completed, I received a shock in the head, and some moments after I began to hear a sound, or rather noise in the ears, which I cannot well define: it was a kind of crackling with shocks, as if some paste or tenacious matter had been boiling…”. That electric stimulation of the auditory nerve provides hearing sensation in deaf people was reported more than 100 years after Volta . Electric stimulation in two deaf patients resulting in hearing was reported in 1957. These successes resulted in intensive research into helping deaf people hear in the 1960s and 1970s. One of the early successful single-channel CI devices was developed in the early 1970’s (3MCorp/House) and became the first commercially available CI device approved in the United States in 1984. The University of Utah developed a six electrode implant called the Ineraid or the Symbion device in the early 1990s. It was followed by other devices in Europe, the United States, and Australia.

The present status of Cochlear Implants

Today, around 10% of the population in developed countries suffers from hearing impairment. At present, the number of CI users has reached more than 100,000 worldwide, and is still growing rapidly. Functionally, CI has evolved from the single-electrode device that was used as an aid for lip-reading and

sound awareness to a modern, multielectrode device that can allow an average user to talk on the telephone. Even though significant technological progress has been achieved in the last 50 years, there are still many mysteries about the human hearing process and the parts of the ear. Here, we will compare some aspects of the healthy human ear and CI devices, looking to the future. The human ear operates over a range of sound pressures (its dynamic range) which is greater than one million to one (120dB), with as many as 200 discrete steps in the range. In contrast, today’s CI devices typically provide a dynamic range of three to one (10dB) to ten to one (20dB) with 20 discrete steps. This major difference is mainly due to the fact that the human ear is very adaptive in noisy environments, and is able to suppress noisy background, while picking up and processing appropriate sound signals for better perception. CIs do not differentiate between sounds, but amplify all sounds, which results in poor sound perception. Today, a typical multi-channel CI system uses 16 to 24 electrodes implanted in the cochlea with 8 to 22 signal processing channels. A potential shortcoming of having so many electrodes and channels in current CI technology is the electrical interference of electrodes during simultaneous electrode stimulation. These electrical interactions can disrupt the stimulus waveform prior to neural activity and degrade sound perception. The normal ear contains roughly 3,500 inner hair cells in the cochlea that are tuned to different frequencies from 20 to 20,000 Hz. They are connected to about 35,000 auditory nerves. Hair cells work as signal processing channels, yet each of the inner hair cells has also been wired in a sophisticated and little-understood fashion to 10-20 auditory nerve fibers that carry information to the central nervous system. Since they work in the chemical domain, they do not have the gross interference issues of CI electrodes. While good speech understanding has been achieved by users of modern multi-electrode CIs operating in quiet environments with 70–80% sentence recognition, allowing users to talk on the telephone, the CI devices do not discriminate between noise and the meaningful signals, only achieving speech understanding at between 70% and 80%, which falls to 10% or lower in noisy environments. It is a great challenge for CI users to appreciate music. Some CI listeners reported that they can enjoy music and are able to recognize melodies, but most described musicas sounding unpleasant and noisy, and performance could not be increased with current CI technology. CI users have difficulty in identifying differences in frequencies. Typically, they cannot discriminate any frequency difference for frequencies higher than 500 Hz, while the normal ear can hear up to 20,000 Hz with frequency discrimination between 2 to 3Hz at best. This gross difference is related to the issues surrounding signal processing strategies and electrodes of current CI systems. Predicting post-surgical performance based on presurgical conditions and tests of a CI candidate is still a problem for the physician. The cost of surgery is still high; in the United States, for example, a typical cost is between $40,000 and $75,000. Beyond these issues, the moral, cultural and ethical issues related to CIs are very complex. They are still debated, and are an important part of CI development in the world today. The hair cells in the human ear naturally deteriorate and die as we grow older. This process is typically sped up with exposure to loud noise. In common with all mammals, new hair cell generation in human ears stops right after the birth. However, in fish and amphibians, very similar cells are present and reproduce throughout life. Recently, it was found that hair cells of birds are repaired after being damaged by exposure to noise or ototoxic agents. It was also discovered that hair cells in the mammalian vestibular (balance) organ, very similar to those in the hearing system, can regenerate. These findings, along with other advancements in medical fields, lead to long-term research into different aids for hearing- impaired people. Despite the fact that hearing loss is usually permanent, scientists are optimistic that it may eventually be possible to reverse the damage in the ear by repairing or regenerating the sensory hair cells through gene therapy, stem cell transplantation, or ultimately by replacing the human cochlea with an artificial one. Today, Auditory Brainstem Implants are also being tried on humans for direct brainstem stimulation, bypassing the ears and the auditory nerves. Human beings and most animals on earth are born and equipped with a pair of ears for a good reason: having two ears enhances hearing and sound localization. Scientists are examining whether this is also true for deaf children who receive not one, but two CIs.

Conclusion

The sense of hearing is a gift for human beings which they hold dear and are grateful for, as much as for any of the other senses with which they have been equipped. It is important to strive to find cures for all kind of diseases, yet, more important than the cure is prevention of harm to our body and its amazing senses. Here, we have tried to open a small window onto human hearing, to examine how related impairments are being dealt with through cochlear implant (CI) devices, as well as looking at the issues related to these devices and the future directions of research for restoring hearing to deaf people. It is obvious that we have learned much about human hearing and ear in the past century; yet, this may well be just the tip of the iceberg.

References

1. S.U. Ay, F.-G. Zeng, B.J. Sheu, “ Hearing with bionic ear,” IEEE Circuits & Devices Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp.18-23, May 1997.

2. F.-G. Zeng, “Trends in cochlear implants,” Trends in Amplification, Vol. 8(1), pp.1-34, 2004.

3. A. Volta, “On the electricity excited by mere contact of conducting substances of different kinds,” Royal Soc. Philos.Trans., vol. 90, pp.403 431, 1800.

4. A.M. Andreev, G.V. Gersuni, A.A.Volokhov, “On the electrical excitability of the human ear: On the effect of alternating currents on the affected auditory apparatus,” Journal of Physiology USSR, Vol. 18, pp.250-265, 1935.

Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, followed the Arab traditions concerning clothing that were prevalent at his time, and he was careful about cleanliness. In fact, he was so clean that all were envious of his clothing.

There are many narrations (reports) concerning beards, and for this reason Hanafi scholars (experts on Islamic jurisdiction) have accepted that growing a beard is a sunna act and advise men to do so. According to Abu Zahra, one of the great scholars of Islam, the beard is a tradition of the Prophet and says that if someone grows a beard with the intention of following his tradition, he will be rewarded by God.There are many more important issues, issues that every Muslim is aware of, such as striving to have a perfect faith, performing the daily prayers, fasting, almsgiving, and the holy pilgrimage; these are what constitute the essentials of Islam. To say that, “it is a sin not to wear a robe or shalvar (traditional loose pants worn in many Islamic countries) or it is a sin not to grow a beard” is incorrect; these things are not essential to being Muslim.

No Muslim would ever oppose someone growing a beard or wearing a loose robe. However, even if we were to evaluate these things as being symbolic of being close to the Prophet, they are not conditional for being a Muslim. We should not forget that every subject in Islam has a level of importance and that it should be interpreted at that level of importance.

There is another matter concerning external appearance. The Prophet styled his hair in different ways, in order not to resemble the pagans in outward appearance. So he combed his hair differently from the way they did. After he made his emigration to Madina, he saw that non-Muslim local people wore their hair so that covered their foreheads. Then he parted his hair in the middle. He stated that if someone tries to resemble a people, he is one of them. This is why he tried to look different.

Among his Companions were those with long hair, and others with short hair, while some even had braided hair. Such people tied up their hair while praying. Once the Prophet saw someone like that during the hajj and advised him to spread his hair on the prayer mat while praying, so that his hair would benefit from the prostration as well.

There is a weak narration concerning Abu Qatada, one of his Companions, whom the Prophet told to shorten his hair. Actually, such a request is not in accord with Islamic discipline, and this narration is not included in accredited hadith books. Even if he had asked such a thing from Abu Qatada, there must have been some reason for it. Otherwise, it would be difficult to understand why such well-known Companions as Abu Bakr and Umar had long hair which they were never requested to cut. After Makka was conquered there were many people who newly converted to Islam. These people were accepted as Muslim, and their dress and hair style was accepted as being Islamic. There was no demand on them to change their apparel or even their names.

In conclusion, Muslims can follow the traditions of the Prophet, they can imitate his clothing and hair styles; they can imitate his eating and drinking habits. By doing this they can turn their daily life into worship. For example, it shows their fidelity when a Muslim combs their hair to resemble the Prophet in remembrance; such behavior causes divine remuneration. Also, wearing a robe while performing daily prayers would increase concentration and it is undeniable that it would be beneficial.

Definitely, it is very clear that following God’s Messenger in his every act from the heart and such a pleasant intention and thought is very well accepted but he always regarded the spirituality of Islam and kept away from such formalism.

What is malformation? If a little girl, with six fingers on one hand, says she loves her sixth finger very much, how do we tell her she is malformed?

Blepharoptosis is a condition in which the upper eyelid droops in consequence of paralysis of muscles or nerves. But would we say that having drooping eyelids, eyes with short palpebral fissures, is a malformation? Would we not then have to say that most Chinese and Japanese have somewhat ‘malformed’ eyes?.

If the little girl’s sixth finger causes her no impediment, except for its appearance, would it be right to think of it as a ‘disability’ or a ‘problem’? On that criterion, obesity or anorexia nervosa could also be considered as disability. They are not only disagreeable in appearance but also impair physical and social function. Such impairment must surely be part of any definition of disability.

But this too raises a question. If an abnormality does not cause impairment of function, but only makes a person ugly, do we consider it a disability? Who will judge the level of ugliness, the individual or society? A schoolgirl with polydactylism – more than five fingers or five toes; a young man with alopecia universalis – absence at all hair, on the head and body; a teenage girl with ichthyosis vulgaris (xeroderma) – a severe skin disorder which causes an ugly appearance – if such conditions do not cause any impairment, if people have got used to seeing them, the individuals may not perceive themselves as ugly and therefore not feel distress. But if their appearance does disturb others and they feel distressed as a result, should we describe them as normal or disabled’? A little girl in a nursery school may be afraid of holding up a polydactyl hand; his co-workers may be upset by sharing a workplace with a man suffering from alopecia universalis; a hair dresser may not want to cut the hair or manicure the nails of a girl who suffers from ichthyosis vulgaris.

Plainly, clinical definitions do not define or cover disability. Sociological reflections are also important. Sometimes it is more important to ask how people around a particular individual perceive that individual, than to ask how medical science defines his or her condition.

There are situations where individuals do not feel handicapped and find their lives valuable and worth living, but people around them are upset by them and label them as disabled. In contrast to this, there are some cases, in which, the individual is considered medically ‘normal’, is perceived as ‘normal’ by society, and his or her condition does not cause any impairment, but that individual thinks that a particular part of his or her body is a problem and tries to find a ‘solution’ to it. These ‘solutions’ are an important part of the plastic surgeon’s workload. It is not easy to explain the circumstances which disturb people so much that they take the risk of surgery. But we may infer another factor to define disability namely the psychological state of the individual. The individual may not have any physical abnormality but psychologically he or she feels abnormal. Hospital records abound with such cases.

Among the most difficult ‘abnormalities’ are anomalies affecting the newborn and congenital malformations. There are 200 such ‘disabilities’ (see Goodman and Gorlin 1983). Among them are Downs Syndrome, Spina Bifida and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The distress caused by such illnesses has led to attempts to identify cases as early as possible. In order to do this, scientists have established new prenatal diagnostic methods such as USG (ultrasound), amniocentesis, CSV (cholonic villi sampling) and photocopy. 60-65% of malformations can be diagnosed with these methods (Goodman and Gorlin, 1983, p.83). However, we must define our aims clearly to protect humankind from being victims of these improvements. Goodman (1986, pp2l4-17) suggests that prenatal diagnosis is used for monitoring the pregnancy, to localize the placenta, to detect multiple pregnancies, to know fetal age correctly, to monitor probable congenital malformation and to make studies about the genetic, biochemical and chromosomal structure of the fetus. These are all aims which are innocent and for the benefit of humankind. But, like all other new technologies, they do raise moral questions.

Before 1977, prenatal diagnosis was rare in Sweden. The number of late terminations because of fetal abnormality was 34 in that year. By the end of the 1980s, this number had reached 100 per year. 40% of these terminations were because of Downs Syndrome and 15% because of NTD (Neural Tube Defect) (Reid, 1991, p.77). Introduction of the technologies to Portugal, Greece and Germany led to new legislation on the termination of pregnancies (Reid, 1991, p.9).

Despite all measures and methods of elimination, disabled babies continue to be born. Maybe attention should be turned to treatment and rehabilitation. Although it is not always possible to correct impairment completely, quality of life can be improved through a variety of rehabilitation methods.

Almost half of handicapped newborns die in the first year of life and 80% of the rest need corrective surgery or lifetime therapy. For this reason, treatment and rehabilitation are costly options. But after the improvement of surgical sciences, especially plastic surgery in recent years, the remediability of many conditions has increased.

Remediability or irremediability of disabilities is of crucial importance in determining the treatment offered to handicapped newborns. Decisions about remediability or irremediability are made by doctors. The reasoning and judgments of philosophers, theologians, sociologists, other experts (and, of course, parents) are informed by data supplied by doctors. The objectivity of that data is not unquestionable. Dr John Freeman (quoted in Kuhse and Singer 1985, p.63) observed: ‘It concerns me greatly that a given child born in Sheffield has a 75% chance of being dead; that the same child born in Baltimore…has a 95% chance of being alive. And yet this is a decision made by the parents on the advice of either Dr Lorber or myself. That is scary.’

In this discussion of the definition of ‘disability’, we have tried to show that it and related terms cannot be solely the domain of doctors. It is true that scientists are vital in this area but they need to be aware of societal and religious issues. We cannot leave decisions about ‘disability’ to scientists who worship only science.