The otolith organs in the vestibular system are excellent detectors of linear accelerations. However, any measurement of linear acceleration is ambiguous between a tilt in a gravitational field and an inertial acceleration. Angelaki et al. have put forward a general hypothesis about how inertial accelerations can be computed based on vestibular signals (J. Neurosci. 19 (1999) 316). We have cons...

BACKGROUND Balance dysfunction can be debilitating and can lead to catastrophic outcomes such as falls. The inner ear vestibular system is an important contributor to balance control. However, to our knowledge, the prevalence of vestibular dysfunction in the United States and the magnitude of the increased risk of falling associated with vestibular dysfunction have never been estimated. The obj...

The vestibular system, both central and peripheral, is likely to be affected by micro angiopathy due to diabetes mellitus. Subclinical vestibular dysfunction is defined as those patients who do not have symptoms but evidence of the same in relevant investigations. The aim of the study is to find the proportion of subclinical vestibular dysfunction in type II diabetes and to correlate with glyca...

This review considers the integration of vestibular and other signals by the central nervous system pathways that participate in balance control and blood pressure regulation, with an emphasis on how this integration may modify posture-related responses in accordance with behavioral context. Two pathways convey vestibular signals to limb motoneurons: the lateral vestibulospinal tract and reticu...

Spontaneous vestibular syndrome in mice, characterized clinically by head tilt, circling or rolling, can be caused by otitis media, arteritis or central nervous system lesions. Postmortem examination of eleven non-inbred Swiss mice submitted for necropsy due to acute onset of vestibular signs revealed lesions consistent with brainstem infarction. The lesions were characterized by unilateral, we...

OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to assess the usefulness of bedside examination for screening of vestibular and balance system for occupational medicine purposes. Study group comprised 165 patients referred to Audiology and Phoniatric Clinic due to vestibular and/or balance problems. Caloric canal paresis of 19% was the cut off value to divide patients into 43 caloric-positive vestibular su...

This review describes the effect of unilateral peripheral vestibular deficit (UPVD) on balance control for stance and gait tests. Because a UPVD is normally defined based on vestibular ocular reflex (VOR) tests, we compared recovery observed in balance control with patterns of recovery in VOR function. Two general types of UPVD are considered; acute vestibular neuritis (AVN) and vestibular neur...