Comment on Tabet et al. Vestibular Migraine versus Méniere's Disease: Diagnostic Utility of Electrocochleography. 2023, , 12-22.

I wish to comment on an aspect of the recently published article by Saliba I. et al., titled Vestibular Migraine versus Meniere's Disease: Diagnostic Utility of Electrocochleograpy [.

Acute unilateral vestibulopathy/vestibular neuritis: Diagnostic criteria.

This paper describes the diagnostic criteria for Acute Unilateral Vestibulopathy (AUVP), a synonym for vestibular neuritis, as defined by the Committee for the Classification of Vestibular Disorders of the Bárány Society. AUVP manifests as an acute vestibular syndrome due to an acute unilateral loss of peripheral vestibular function without evidence for acute central or acute audiological symptoms or signs. This implies that the diagnosis of AUVP is based on the patient history, bedside examination, and, if necessary, laboratory evaluation.

Ductus Reuniens and Its Possible Role in Menière's Disease.

Objective: After 160 years the true underlying cause of Meniere's disease remains enigmatic. The aim of our study is to discuss the possible implication of an obstruction of the ductus reuniens as a cause in Menière's disease.

Methodology: We first conducted an historical study of the description of the ductus reuniens.

Tone burst electrocochleography disproves a diagnosis of Meniere's disease treated aggressively.

Reliable confirmation of the presence or absence of endolymphatic hydrops is essential to avoid confusing vestibular migraine with Meniere's disease. MRI inner ear imaging is a promising new method to confirm hydrops, avoiding both unnecessary invasive or destructive inner ear treatments, but it is not universally available. Tone burst electrocochleography is an older simple, quick, safe, and sensitive test that is potentially available, with existing (or minorly upgraded) equipment at most tertiary medical centers.

Bilateral clicking tinnitus due to myoclonus of middle ear muscles.

Isolated middle ear myoclonus can be a cause of objective tinnitus. We present an acoustically documented case of irregular bilateral middle ear myoclonus with loud clicking, and roaring tinnitus associated with essential palatal tremor. A palatal botulinum toxin injection did not eliminate the tinnitus.

Creaky voice or extreme vocal fry in young women.

An extreme use of a voice feature with a lowered rough sound called vocal fry or creaky voice has become increasingly recognised in American, British and New Zealand English speaking young women. It is not regarded as an involuntary voice disorder, but rather as a volitional strategy. Intermittent vocal fry is recognised as a common voice feature, particularly at the end of a sentence.

Saccular otoconia as a cause of Ménière's disease: hypothesis based on two theories.

Background: The cause of Ménière's disease remains enigmatic after 156 years. Schuknecht's rupture and potassium intoxication theory of attacks was based on histological studies.

Objectives: This paper aimed to: present the most contemporary evidence indicating that ruptures do not usually occur, and discuss the possibility that detached saccular otoconia are the main cause of Ménière's disease; and to establish an unequivocal definition of the age of Ménière's disease onset.

On the classification of hydropic ear disease (Menière's disease).

More than 150 years after its initial description by Prosper Menière, the disease named after him is still at the center of scientific debates. Two recent developments have specifically created a breeding ground for controversy: (1) Since its first description 10 years ago, magnetic resonance imaging diagnosis of endolymphatic hydrops in living patients has seen an increasing and worldwide application. (2) The Bárány Society Classification Committee published diagnostic criteria for Menière's disease in 2015 and proposed a concept of the disease that has elicited widespread criticism.

Tone Burst Electrocochleography for the Diagnosis of Clinically Certain Meniere's Disease.

The technique of transtympanic electrocochleography was initially developed as an objective hearing threshold test by Eggermont. Gibson et al. (1977) claimed that an enlarged direct current component of the action potential (AP) called the summating potential (SP) is an indication of endolymphatic hydrops, later confirmed by Coates who proposed an SP/AP ratio measure.

A New Theory for Ménière's Disease: Detached Saccular Otoconia.

Ménière's disease is an inner ear disorder characterized by vertigo attacks, fluctuating and progressive hearing loss, tinnitus, and aural fullness in the affected ear. The pathophysiology of Ménière's disease remains elusive. Theories so far are anatomical variation in the size or position of the endolymphatic sac and duct, viral inflammation or autoimmune involvement of the sac, or a genetically determined abnormality of endolymph control.

oVEMPs and cVEMPs in patients with 'clinically certain' Menière's disease.

Objective: To measure ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMPs) and cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPS) in Menière's disease patients with confirmed cochlear hydrops and in the normal ears of volunteers.

Methods: oVEMPs and cVEMPs were measured in 18 patients with a symptomatic diagnosis of Menière's disease and tone burst electrocochleographic confirmation of hydrops, and in the ears of 22 volunteers.

Results: Threshold measures: For cVEMP: no significant differences between Menière's ears and controls; for oVEMP: significantly elevated thresholds in affected ears of Menière's ears compared with their unaffected ears, but not with controls.

Barriers around access to abortion experienced by rural women in New South Wales, Australia.

Introduction: Little is known about Australian rural women's overall experiences of accessing an abortion service and the barriers they encounter. Approximately one in three Australian women access an abortion at some time in their lives. Most abortions are undertaken during the first trimester of pregnancy in private clinics.

An FPGA-based instrumentation platform for use at deep cryogenic temperatures.

We describe the operation of a cryogenic instrumentation platform incorporating commercially available field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The functionality of the FPGAs at temperatures approaching 4 K enables signal routing, multiplexing, and complex digital signal processing in close proximity to cooled devices or detectors within the cryostat. The performance of the FPGAs in a cryogenic environment is evaluated, including clock speed, error rates, and power consumption.

MRI Inner Ear Imaging and Tone Burst Electrocochleography in the Diagnosis of Ménière's Disease.

Objective: To compare the sensitivity of gadolinium MRI inner imaging with tone burst electrocochleography (EcochG) for diagnosing endolymphatic hydrops.

Study Design: A prospective study on patients who were to have an MRI scan to exclude retrocochlear pathology.

Setting: Tertiary care center.

Rural New South Wales women's access to abortion services: highlights from an exploratory qualitative study.

Objective: The aim of the study was to identify factors that New South Wales (NSW) rural women experience in relation to their ability to access an abortion service and follow-up care.

Design: The qualitative responses from interviews are reported.

Setting: Rural and regional NSW.

A rare cause of nasal septal abscess.

We describe a patient with mid-facial pain and nasal obstruction due to a nasal septal abscess (NSA) complicating an occult fungal ball of the sphenoid sinus. We highlight the importance of suspecting unusual pathology in patients with NSA and no trauma history.

Dispersive readout of a few-electron double quantum dot with fast RF gate sensors.

We report the dispersive charge-state readout of a double quantum dot in the few-electron regime using the in situ gate electrodes as sensitive detectors. We benchmark this gate sensing technique against the well established quantum point contact charge detector and find comparable performance with a bandwidth of ∼ 10 MHz and an equivalent charge sensitivity of ∼ 6.3 × 10(-3) e/sqrt[Hz].