The authors compared the efficacy of the Epley procedure with and without self-treatment in 80 patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo of the posterior semicircular canal. The self-treatment group (88%) had better results than the Epley-alone group (69%) based on both symptoms and nystagmus (p = 0.048). Complications occurred in 2.6% of the Epley-alone group and in 7.5% of the self-treatment group (p = 0.62).

The OE test proved to be a useful tool for screening olfactory disturbance in the Japanese population. Scores of 8 or higher on the OE test should be judged as normal for screening.

Objective: To evaluate vestibular function after unilateral acoustic neuroma surgery via a retrosigmoid approach. Methods: Thirty-eight patients were tested using caloric irrigation, static posturography, and the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) before, and one week to nine months after surgery. Results: Twenty-six patients were categorized as a response group and 12 as a no-response group on the basis of preoperative caloric irrigation findings. The posturographic parameters and DHI scores at one week after surgery showed significant deterioration in the response group, but not in the no-response group. However, they recovered to the preoperative baseline at 3 months after surgery. The posturographic parameters and DHI scores for older patients tended to be worse than those for younger patients at 6 and 9 months after surgery. Conclusion: Patients in whom caloric responses are retained preoperatively show a temporary disturbance of balance after removal of acoustic neuroma. Disequilibrium after surgery ameliorates to the preoperative baseline within three months due to vestibular compensation, regardless of preoperative vestibular function. It is possible that poorer vestibular compensation may facilitate incomplete recovery in older patients after surgery.

Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that functional MRI (fMRI) combined with a questionnaire is a useful method for studying the neuroanatomy of olfaction. Further studies with various odorants and questionnaires would provide an even better understanding of the mechanism of olfactory perception. Objectives: To better understand the mechanism of odorant perception in the central nervous system. Subjects and methods: fMRI was used to identify the activated regions during stimulation by two odorants, beta-phenyl ethyl alcohol and gamma-undecalactone. Participants were asked to describe the quality of the odor and to rate odor intensity and odor hedonic valence. Activation at each region was statistically analyzed according to the answers. Results: The bilateral middle orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), left lateral OFC, right insula, and bilateral anterior/middle cingulate gyri were most frequently activated by odor stimulation. Left middle OFC was significantly more often activated in the participants who could not identify the odor correctly ( p 00.016). The left middle OFC and right lateral OFC were significantly more often activated in the participants who perceived the odor stimulation as unpleasant ( p 00.03), while the right anterior cingulate gyrus was more often activated in those who perceived the odor as pleasant ( p 00.03).

No abstract

Notch genes encode receptors for signaling pathways that regulate neurogenesis in various tissues. To better understand the roles of Notch genes in olfactory neurogenesis, we studied the expression of Notch family in developing mouse olfactory epithelium. In the earliest stage of olfactory development, Notch1 was observed in the mesenchyme lateral to the olfactory placode. During the developmental stage, Notch1 was mainly observed around the basal membrane, while Notch3 was observed in the lower compartment of the olfactory neuroepithelium. Notch2 was not detected during the entire observation period. As the olfactory neuroepithelium grew mature, both Notch1 and Notch3 gradually disappeared. These results suggest distinct roles of Notch1 and Notch3 in the neurogenesis of the peripheral olfactory system.

By Spearman's correlation analysis, significant correlation was observed between TS and TP (gamma=0.51, p=0.018). While no correlation was observed between the tumor regression and expression of any of the genes investigated, significant association was observed between prognosis and mRNA expression levels of TS and TP. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that TP mRNA expression level is a significant factor predicting prognosis (hazard ratio (HR) = - 0.204, p=0.043).

Our findings showed that NIRS combined with a questionnaire is a useful method for studying the functional neuroanatomy of OFC in terms of olfaction.