Background :Preterm birth is a significant global health problem with serious short- and long-term consequences. This study examined the long term effects of preterm birth on vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) among preschool-aged children.   Methods : Thirty-one children with preterm and 20 children with term birth histories aged 5.5 to 6.5 years were studied. Each child underwent...

In heterophoria there is a relative deviation of the visual axes held in check by the fusion mechanism, whereas in heterotropia there is a manifest deviation of the visual axes. The relative position of the visual axes is determined by the equilibrium or disequilibrium of forces that keep the eyes properly aligned and of forces that disrupt this alignment. Clearly, the fusion mechanism and its ...

The vestibular system is the major sensory (special proprioceptive) system that, along with the general proprioceptive and visual systems, maintains balance. Clinical signs of vestibular disease include asymmetric ataxia, head tilt, and pathologic nystagmus. Neuroanatomic localization of observed vestibular signs to either the peripheral or central components of the vestibular system is paramou...

Balance requires the integration of proprioceptive, visual, and vestibular sensory inputs. Contributions from the vestibular system are increasingly important when other sensory signals are lacking or erroneous [1]. Galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS), the application of a small electrical current across the mastoid processes, has been used to apply a stimulus to the vestibular system indepen...

Vestibulospinal reflexes play an important role for body stabilization during locomotion and for postural control. For an appropriate distribution of vestibular signals to spinal motoneurons, the orientation of the body relative to the head needs to be taken into account. For different trunk positions, identical vestibular stimuli must activate different sets of muscles to ensure body stabiliza...

1. We studied the effect of gaze orientation on postural responses evoked by vibration of neck dorsal muscles or by galvanic stimulation of the vestibular system during quiet standing in healthy humans. Various gaze orientations were obtained by different combinations of horizontal head-on-feet (-90, -45, 0, 45, 90 deg) and eye-in-orbit (-30, 0, 30 deg) positions. The instantaneous centre of fo...

Vibration is an excitatory stimulus for both vestibular and proprioceptive afferents. Vibration applied either to the skull or to the neck muscles of subjects after unilateral vestibular deafferentation induces nystagmus and a shift of the subjective visual horizontal. Previous studies have ascribed these effects to vibratory stimulation of neck muscle proprioceptors. Using scleral search coils...

The vestibular system is important for the development of normal movement reactions, motion tolerance, and motor control for postural alignment, balance, and vision. A vestibular system that is damaged by disease or injury in childhood can have a major impact on a child's development. In addition, the emergence of vestibular lesions may also lead to cognitive deficits, including attention defic...

With progressive phylogenetic development, the dominant level of control of eye movement ascends from lower to higher brain centers and finally to the cerebral cortex. One of the more primitive mechanisms governing ocular movement is that of the vestibular system. The interaction between the vestibular nuclei and the nuclear masses serving the extraocular muscles by way of the median longitudin...