Olivocochlear innervation of inner and outer hair cells during postnatal maturation: an immunocytochemical study.

Changes in the expression of several neurochemical markers associated with either axonal growth (GAP-43), synaptic vesicles (synaptophysin), or the cholinergic population of lateral olivocochlear (OC) efferents were investigated in the postnatal cochlea of hamsters. Growth-associated protein was expressed in the neonatal cochlea but not in the adult; immunoreactivity was found below inner hair cells (IHCs) from postnatal day (P) 2 through P14 and below outer hair cells (OHCs) from P5 to P14. In contrast, synaptophysin was expressed in both the neonate and adult cochlea; immunoreactivity was found below IHCs around P4 and below OHCs at P5.

The contribution of the vertical semicircular canals to high-velocity horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) in normal subjects and patients with unilateral vestibular nerve section.

We have examined to what extent the vertical semicircular canals contribute to the nonlinearity of the horizontal VOR imposed by the driving of primary vestibular afferents into inhibitory cutoff at high velocities of head rotation (Ewald's second law). The gain (eye velocity/head velocity) of the horizontal component of the VOR with the head pitched down 30 degrees and pitched up 30 degrees was examined during constant-velocity rotations in normal subjects and patients following unilateral vestibular nerve section. In normal subjects, VOR gain decreases as chair velocity increases from 60-300 degrees/s when the head is pitched up, but VOR gain remains constant when the head is pitched down.

Duhamel-Martin procedure for Hirschsprung's disease in neonates and infants: one-stage operation.

Background: A retrospective study was performed to demonstrate that a one-stage Duhamel-Martin procedure is feasible for Hirschsprung's disease, even in neonates and infants.

Methods: In a 2 1/2-year period, 32 children with Hirschsprung's disease were treated according to the method of Duhamel-Martin. In 22 of them the diagnosis had been established within the first 2 months of life.

Clinical research criteria for the diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy (Steele-Richardson-Olszewski syndrome): report of the NINDS-SPSP international workshop.

To improve the specificity and sensitivity of the clinical diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP, Steele-Richardson-Olszewski syndrome), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the Society for PSP, Inc. (SPSP) sponsored an international workshop to develop an accurate and universally accepted set of criteria for this disorder. The NINDS-SPSP criteria, which were formulated from an extensive review of the literature, comparison with other previously published sets of criteria, and the consensus of experts, were validated on a clinical data set from autopsy-confirmed cases of PSP.

Torsional nystagmus during vertical pursuit.

We examined three patients with cavernous angioma within the middle cerebellar peduncle. Each patient had an unusual ocular motor finding: the appearance of a strong torsional nystagmus during vertical pursuit. The uncalled-for torsion changed direction when vertical pursuit changed direction.

Laparoscopic Thal fundoplication in mentally retarded children.

Background: An increasing number of reports indicate that Thal fundoplication is the procedure of choice in mentally retarded children. With the advent of laparoscopy, Nissen's fundoplication seems to have been repopularized. However, the choice of the operative technique should be based on the merits of the procedure itself rather than the laparoscopic feasibility.

Visual attention in Huntington's disease: the effect of cueing on saccade latencies and manual reaction times.

Studies of eye movements in patients with Huntington's disease (HD) have suggested that frontal lobe-basal ganglia structures are more involved in HD than the parietal lobes. To test this hypothesis further we compared the ability of HD patients and normal subjects to direct "covert" visual attention, using saccade latency and thumb press reaction time tasks that have been shown to be sensitive to parietal lobe dysfunction. Subjects were instructed to move their eyes or to press a button when a peripheral target was illuminated.

Gap-overlap effects on latencies of saccades, vergence and combined vergence-saccades in humans.

We examined the effect of gap-overlap stimuli on the distribution of latencies for pure saccades, pure vergence and combined saccades and vergence in three normal subjects. With the gap stimulus, a distinct peak of "express saccades" occurred, both with and without associated vergence, but a distinct "express vergence" response was not identified. Nevertheless, with the gap stimulus there was a decrease in vergence latencies (17 msec), but less so than for saccades (41 msec).

Transient torsion during and after saccades.

In five normal subjects, we analyzed uncalled for torsion (blips) during and after horizontal and vertical saccades. Torsion was defined as movement out of Listing's plane. During horizontal saccades in downward gaze the abducting eye extorted and the adducting eye intorted.

Regulation of static and dynamic ocular alignment in patients with trochlear nerve pareses.

Ocular alignment and saccades were studied in seven patients with trochlear nerve pareses, before and after strabismus surgery. Prior to surgery, a position-dependent vertical ocular misalignment was present, and downward saccades were hypometric in the paretic eye. Strabismus surgery reduced the magnitude and position-dependence of the static misalignment.

Laparoscopic Thal fundoplication in severely scoliotic children.

Surgical treatment of gastroesophageal reflux in severely scoliotic children can be quite bothersome because sometimes the working space between the subcostal margins, iliac crest, and spinal column is very limited; the hiatus lies extremely deep away and is frequently rotated, making exposure more difficult. The laparoscopic approach could lend the necessary extension to the surgeons' hands to reach the deep hiatus. Moreover the entrance of the ports can be adjusted to the special requirements dictated by the scoliosis.

Control of vertical eye alignment in three-dimensional space.

A target that is nearer to one eye than the other subtends a larger visual angle in the closer eye. Consequently, when making saccades between vertically separated targets that are closer to one eye, there is a vertical retinal disparity that must be overcome by a change in the relative alignment of the eyes. We recorded eye movements in three normal subjects and showed that in such viewing circumstances subjects made unequal vertical saccades that led to a rapid change (peak velocity up to 30 deg/sec) in vertical eye alignment.

Laparoscopic repair of congenital diaphragmatic hernia in a 6-month-old child.

This report describes the laparoscopic approach of closure of a congenital left posterolateral diaphragmatic hernia in a 6-month-old boy. The pros and cons of such an approach are discussed.

Ultrastructural alterations caused by immunological reactions after intracardiac injection of allogeneic antibodies against blood group antigens: an experimental study using the in vitro whole-rat embryo culture.

The effects of intracardiac injection of 0.5 microliter allospecific hemolyzing rat-antirat antibodies, directed against the blood group antigens, on the endothelium of the dorsal aortae were studied in 9-14 somite-staged Wistar and RIV:Tax rat embryos, using both transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and immunoelectron microscopy (IEM). In a TEM study it was further investigated if either apoptosis or cell necrosis occurred as a result of the forementioned intracardiac injection.

Ocular neuromyotonia: clinical features, physiological mechanisms, and response to therapy.

Ocular neuromyotonia (ONM) is a rare disorder characterized by episodic diplopia, occurring either spontaneously or following sustained eccentric gaze. Most patients have had prior radiation therapy to the sellar and parasellar region. ONM is thought to reflect impaired muscle relaxation due to inappropriate discharges from oculomotor, trochlear, or abducens neurons or axons with unstable cell membranes.

Cerebral ocular Whipple's disease: a 62-year odyssey from death to diagnosis.

A 47-year-old white man with dementia, supranuclear ophthalmoplegia, and myoclonic ocular and facial jerks died in 1931. The case report in 1936 by Ford and Walsh diagnosed encephalitis. In 1993, we made a clinical diagnosis of Whipple's disease on the basis of the 1936 publication.

Short-term adaptation of the phase of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) in normal human subjects.

We investigated the effects of short-term vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) adaptation on the gain and phase of the VOR, and on eccentric gaze-holding in darkness, in five normal human subjects. For 1 h, subjects sat in a chair that rotated sinusoidally at 0.2 Hz while surrounded by a visual stimulus (optokinetic drum).

Laparoscopic approach to surgical management of ovarian cysts in the newborn.

With the improvement of imaging techniques as well as the trend toward routine antenatal ultrasound scanning, the intrauterine diagnosis of fetal ovarian cysts is encountered more frequently. The authors describe the laparoscopic approach to the management of ovarian cysts. This approach is tolerated well by infants, and it may overcome the controversy between conservative and early surgical management by facilitating the subtle transition from diagnostic to therapeutic means, with salvation of the ovary whenever possible.