Constant velocity off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR) provides dynamic linear acceleration stimuli that can be used to assess otolith function. Eight astronauts were rotated in darkness about their longitudinal axis 20° off vertical at low (0.125 Hz) and high (0.5 Hz) frequencies and their responses were compared before and after spaceflight. Eye movements were recorded using infrared videography...

In Carapus homei, reef colonisation is associated with a penetration inside a sea cucumber followed by heavy transformations during which the length of the fish is reduced by 60%. By comparing vertebral axis to otolith ontogenetic changes, this study aimed (i) to specify the events linked to metamorphosis, and (ii) to establish to what extent these fish have the ability to delay it. Different l...

Otolith microstructure has been shown to record valuable information about fishes including age, growth, and the timing of life history transitions, while microchemical analysis can reveal information about environmental history, dispersal, and migration. For the bluehead wrasse Thalassoma bifasciatum, a common coral reef fish on an oceanic island, we examined whether otolith chemistry could be...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between mumps and the extent of hearing impairment and otolith organ damage. METHODS A total of 27 patients with unilateral hearing impairment following mumps were enrolled. The degrees of hearing loss and otolith organ damage were confirmed by audiometric and vestibular evoked myogenic potential [VEMP] tests. All the results were compared and analyze...

This article addresses the relationships between motion sickness (MS) and three-dimensional (3D) ocular responses during otolith stimulation. A group of 19 healthy subjects was tested for motion sickness during a 16 min otolith stimulation induced by off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR) (constant velocity 60 degrees /s, frequency 0.16 Hz). For each subject, the MS induced during the session was qu...

European perch undergoes several ontogenetic dietary shifts during its lifetime. The present study focused on the variability in otolith shape caused by changes this species. A total of 172 specimens (7.5 to 27.5 cm TL) were caught local fishermen Lake Ladik from April November 2019. Shape indices (SIs) and elliptic Fourier coefficients (EFCs) calculated for each otolith. To detect shape, SIs E...

INTRODUCTION The human balance system comprises of the semi-circular canals, which sense rotation of the head, and the otoliths, which act as linear accelerometers. On Earth, the otoliths sense the constant linear acceleration of gravity, and this information is used by the brain to determine the spatial vertical, and the orientation of the head with respect to the vertical. This information is...

1 Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to content are disclosed at the end of this article. R ecently, clinical vestibular tests have been developed for assessing otolith function. Little is known about treatment for otolith dysfunction, and this case report offers a perspective on using otolith stimulation to treat vestibular loss. A 62-year-old man underwent a left vestibu...

ShapeR is an open source software package that runs on the R platform and is specifically designed to study otolith shape variation among fish populations. The package extends previously described software used for otolith shape analysis by allowing the user to automatically extract closed contour outlines from a large number of images, perform smoothing to eliminate pixel noise, choose from co...

Striped bass, MOTOIl£ suxatili.s, larvae were reared in the laboratory for 97 days to validate the otolith increment aging technique for this species. Otolith-increment deposition rates were determined under optimal laboratory conditions for growth and under three conditions of restricted feeding and using both light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Under optimal laboratory conditions. i...