Purpose To understand the relationship of static ocular counter rolling (s-OCR) and clinical manifestations in acquired unilateral superior oblique palsy subjects during the Bielschowsky head tilt test. Methods Nineteen subjects that were diagnosed with acquired unilateral superior oblique palsy were included. Fundus photographs were obtained at different head tilt angles to evaluate static o...

To examine whether changes in autonomic activity have an effect on the latency of the vagally mediated cardiac baroreflex response in humans, we investigated the effects of neck suction fluctuating sinusoidally at 0.2 Hz on R-R intervals (known to be mediated mainly by vagal activity) in the supine position, during 15 degrees head-down tilt and 60 degrees head-up tilt, and during vagotonic (2 m...

AIM To assess the cerebral blood flow velocity during the first minute of head-up tilt in patients with postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) or neurally-mediated reflex syncope compared with patients with dizziness. METHODS We evaluated 120 patients selected from 470 patients who underwent head-up tilt testing: 40 with POTS, 40 with typical neurally-mediated reflex syncope and 40 who complain...

The steep head down tilt surgical posture, popularized in the 1870s by Trendelenburg as a means of improving access to pelvic pathology and espoused by the American physiologist, Walter Cannon, during World War I as a resuscitative position with which to treat shock, has a history of widespread, ritualistic acceptance. An awake patient placed in steep head down tilt usually objects to the postu...

Positioning combined with coughing and huffing is frequently used to promote secretion clearance. Maximum expiratory pressure (MEP) and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) have been used as surrogate measures of cough and huff strength. This study investigated the effect of body position on MEP and PEFR. Repeated measures of MEP and PEFR were performed across seven randomised positions (standing, ...

The ventricular response to passive heat stress has predominantly been studied in the supine position. It is presently unclear how acute changes in venous return influence ventricular function during heat stress. To address this question, left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function were studied in 17 healthy men (24.3 ± 4.0 yr; mean ± SD), using two-dimensional transthoracic echocardi...

The article by Kouakam et al. in issue 22/17 is a prospective observational study of syncope recurrence in 101 children (mean age 12·6 3; range 7–18 years) undergoing head-up tilt testing for investigation of recurrent unexplained syncope or presyncope. Data are presented for patients recruited between 1990 and 1998, and followed-up for an average of 4 years. Head-up tilt was initially positive...

UNLABELLED Short term vibration of the dorsal neck muscles (10-35 s) is known to induce involuntary movements of the head in patients with spasmodic torticollis. To investigate whether neck muscle vibration might serve as a therapeutic tool when applied for a longer time interval, we compared a vibration interval of 5 seconds with a 15 minute interval in a patient with spasmodic torticollis wit...

BACKGROUND Studies of elderly patients with Garden-I and Garden-II femoral neck fractures (FNFs) suggest that a preoperative posterior tilt of the femoral head of at least 20° increases the risk of fixation failure. A recently published treatment algorithm recommended hemiarthroplasty over internal fixation for elderly patients with Garden-I and Garden-II FNFs and a preoperative posterior tilt ...