A Wearable Device Providing a Visual Fixation Point for the Alleviation of Motion Sickness Symptoms.

Objectives: Motion sickness (MS) can be problematic for many military operations. Some pharmaceutical countermeasures are effective but can lead to side effects. Non-pharmaceutical countermeasures vary in effectiveness and can require time to be beneficial (e.

The relationship between vestibular function and topographical memory in older adults.

Research during the past two decades has demonstrated an important role of the vestibular system in topographical orientation and memory and the network of neural structures associated with them. Almost all of the supporting data have come from animal or human clinical studies, however. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the link between vestibular function and topographical memory in normal elderly humans.

Heterogeneous intracellular trafficking dynamics of brain-derived neurotrophic factor complexes in the neuronal soma revealed by single quantum dot tracking.

Accumulating evidence underscores the importance of ligand-receptor dynamics in shaping cellular signaling. In the nervous system, growth factor-activated Trk receptor trafficking serves to convey biochemical signaling that underlies fundamental neural functions. Focus has been placed on axonal trafficking but little is known about growth factor-activated Trk dynamics in the neuronal soma, particularly at the molecular scale, due in large part to technical hurdles in observing individual growth factor-Trk complexes for long periods of time inside live cells.

Three dimensional single molecule localization using a phase retrieved pupil function.

Localization-based superresolution imaging is dependent on finding the positions of individual fluorophores in a sample by fitting the observed single-molecule intensity pattern to the microscope point spread function (PSF). For three-dimensional imaging, system-specific aberrations of the optical system can lead to inaccurate localizations when the PSF model does not account for these aberrations. Here we describe the use of phase-retrieved pupil functions to generate a more accurate PSF and therefore more accurate 3D localizations.

Controlling motion sickness and spatial disorientation and enhancing vestibular rehabilitation with a user-worn see-through display.

Objectives/hypotheses: An eyewear mounted visual display ("User-worn see-through display") projecting an artificial horizon aligned with the user's head and body position in space can prevent or lessen motion sickness in susceptible individuals when in a motion provocative environment as well as aid patients undergoing vestibular rehabilitation. In this project, a wearable display device, including software technology and hardware, was developed and a phase I feasibility study and phase II clinical trial for safety and efficacy were performed.

Study Design: Both phase I and phase II were prospective studies funded by the NIH.

Anterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: an underappreciated entity.

Objective: Evaluate the frequency and characteristics of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) arising from involvement of the anterior semicircular canal (AC) as compared with the posterior canal (PC) and horizontal canal (HC).

Study Design: Prospective review of patients with BPPV.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

A comparison of screening methods in school-aged children.

Objective: We sought to compare the findings of 3 different hearing screening methods in school-aged children.

Study Design And Setting: Prospective testing of second- and third-grade students in their schools was carried out.

Methods: Three hundred children (599 ears) were screened by using 3 test modalities, pure-tone audiometry, distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE), and tympanometry.

Preliminary ossiculoplasty results using the Kurz titanium prostheses.

Objective: Limitations in biocompatibility and hearing improvement with ossicular chain reconstruction prostheses are addressed with new, lightweight titanium prostheses designed to maximize visualization of the capitulum and footplate regions. The effectiveness of these new prostheses is being tested in a prospective multicenter study.

Study Design: Prospective case series.

Electrocochleography in Retrosigmoid Vestibular Nerve Section for Intractable Vertigo Caused by Meniere's Disease.

Interest in electrocochleography has increased in recent years because of the discovery of an elevated summating potential to action potential amplitude ratio (SP/AP ratio) in patients with endolymphatic hydrops caused by Meniere's disease or perilymph fistula. It was the purpose of this investigation to determine whether the intraoperative SP/AP ratio will decrease after vestibular nerve section in patients with intractable Meniere's disease. Fourteen patients with medically intractable classic Meniere's disease underwent retrosigmoid vestibular nerve section.