The Nobel Prize winner Robert Bárány described benign positional vertigo and related it to the otoliths in 1921. Dix and Hallpike further elucidated this clinically distinctive, common disorder in 1952. The displacement of otoliths from the utricle or saccule into one of the semicircular canals later proved to be the underlying mechanism, described by Schuknecht and utilised therapeutically by ...

Mutations giving rise to anatomical defects in the inner ear have been isolated in a large scale screen for mutations causing visible abnormalities in the zebrafish embryo (Haffter, P., Granato, M., Brand, M. et al. (1996) Development 123, 1-36). 58 mutants have been classified as having a primary ear phenotype; these fall into several phenotypic classes, affecting presence or size of the otoli...

OBJECTIVE To characterize the physiologic nature of the vestibular dysfunction that occurs with the normative aging process. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Tertiary care academic medical center. PATIENTS Fifty individuals age 70 years and above. INTERVENTIONS Head thrust dynamic visual acuity testing and cervical and ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) testin...

According to Einstein's equivalence principle, inertial accelerations during translational motion are physically indistinguishable from gravitational accelerations experienced during tilting movements. Nevertheless, despite ambiguous sensory representation of motion in primary otolith afferents, primate oculomotor responses are appropriately compensatory for the correct translational component ...

OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence of radiographic and histologic superior semicircular canal dehiscence (SSCD) and posterior semicircular canal dehiscence (PSCD) and associated changes in temporal bone thickness in children aged 0 to 7 years. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective chart review and histopathologic review of cadaveric bone specimens. SETTING Two tertiary referral centers. PATIENTS...

1. A dogfish from which all six ampullae have been removed maintains its equilibrium; the righting reactions occur promptly; compensatory movements of the eyes occur in response to rotations in all planes except the horizontal; the compensatory position of the eyes is retained if the animal is held in an abnormal position. Both the static and dynamic functions of equilibrium continue, therefore...

BACKGROUND Presently, the unambiguous diagnosis of benign paroxysmal positioning vertigo (BPPV) requires the detection of positioning or positional nystagmus provoked by Dix-Hallpike (for vertical semicircular canals) or supine roll (for horizontal semicircular canals) manoeuvres, which indicates canalo- or cupolithiasis of affected semicircular canals. There are patients, however, in whom--des...

A patient with Goldenhar's syndrome (oculoauriculovertebral dysplasia) and unilateral aplasia of all semicircular canals is presented. This is the first report of such a finding and may support the hypothesis that Goldenhar's syndrome and the CHARGE association have a common pathogenetic mechanism.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is the most common and most treatable cause of vertigo. In most cases, a simple maneuver that takes less than a few minutes to do resolves the problem. BPPV is caused by misplaced calcium carbonate crystals (otoconia) in the semicircular canal of the inner ear that have broken free from the utricle. When these crystals break free, they either remain l...

BACKGROUND The vestibular apparatus of the vertebrate inner ear uses three fluid-filled semicircular canals to sense angular acceleration of the head. Malformation of these canals disrupts the sense of balance and frequently causes circling behavior in mice. The Epistatic circler (Ecl) is a complex mutant derived from wildtype SWR/J and C57L/J mice. Ecl circling has been shown to result from th...