Immunocytochemistry techniques enable visualization of the localization of certain proteins or peptides based on antigen-antibody reaction. The techniques involve various methods of fixation, embedding, preparation of sections, and staining from the light-microscopic level to the electron-microscopic level. We use the ABC method and the immunofluorescence method for analysis at the light-microscopic level, and the post embedding immunogold method for analysis at the electron-microscopic level. Here, we describe the distribution of substance-P and calcitonin gene-related peptide in the vestibular endorgans as detected by the ABC method and immunofluorescence double-labeling, as well as the subcellular localization of glutamate, glutamate transporter GLAST, and AMPA-type glutamate transporter GluR detected by the post embedding immunogold method. Through these findings, we demonstrate the usefulness of these techniques with which we have obtained satisfying results.

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Objective: We report a case of delayed endolymphatic hydrops due to complicating mumps virus infection that was treated with the Meniett device.
Method: Case reports and a review of the world literature on delayed development of endolymphatic hydrops after mumps virus infection are presented.
Results: The case of a woman who presented with unilateral, reversible sensorineural hearing loss following mumps infection and was successfully treated with the Meniett device is presented. This woman developed profound sensorineural hearing loss and intractable vertigo spells a few months after contracting mumps. In this case, the incubation period interval between the development of mumps infection and the diagnosis of DEH was only one year. DEH (Delayed endolymphatic hydrops) is a clinical entity characterized by profound sensorineural hearing loss in one ear during its early phase; after a prolonged period of time, DEH enters the late phase, which is characterized by different otologic symptoms. Although the most common causes of DEH are inflammation, trauma and other unidentified events during childhood, viral infections, including mumps, represent one of the known causes of DEH. Mumps infection sometimes represents a confirmed etiology of DEH Sometimes DEH can definitively be diagnosed as being caused by mumps infection.
Conclusion: This is the first case report to demonstrate the efficacy of the Meniett device in the treatment of DEH due to complicating mumps infection.

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Introduction: Meniere's disease is generally observed in persons aged between 30 and 50 years old. However, with the aging of the population, one may expect an increase in the number of elderly patients with the disease. The current study was aimed at clarifying the prevalence and clinical characteristics of Meniere's disease in the elderly, especially in patients aged >65 years old at the onset of the disease.
Methods: Statistical analysis was performed on the recorded data of patients with Meniere's disease who visited Hino Municipal Hospital from 2004 to 2007.
Results: Our sample comprised 47 patients with Meniere's disease, with an average age of 54.9 ± 14.2 years. Patients who developed Meniere's disease at the age of ≥65 years were classified as de novo patients ; the remaining patients were classified as non-de novo patients. There were 13 (27.7%) de novo patients (3 males and 9 females; average age: 73.4 ± 4.9 years). The observations showed that the worst hearing level exhibited by the de novo patients was significantly different from that exhibited by the non-de novo patients. As treatment for Meniere's disease, 6 (46.2%) of the de novo patients underwent tympanic tube insertion, while 4 of the 6 patients underwent middle ear pressure treatment with a Meniett device.
Conclusion: De-novo patients were more frequently admitted, but there was no difference in the duration of hospitalization between the de novo and non-de novo patients. It can be quite stressful for elderly patients with Meniere's disease to call an ambulance to transport them to the hospital during a vertigo attack. Tympanic tube insertion was undertaken as treatment in many of the patients, but none of the patients received intratympanic gentamicin. It is important that physicians who care for elderly patients with Meniere's disease take special care of those experiencing vertigo. Early diagnosis of Meniere's disease should be made in the elderly.

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Central vestibular compensation after vestibular neuronitis consists of the following stages: inhibition of the contralesional medial vestibular nucleus (contra-MVe) activity in the acute stage after unilateral vestibular dysfunction (UVD) and recovery and maintenance of the spontaneous activity of the ipsilesional MVe (ipsi-MVe) in the chronic stage after UVD. Once vestibular compensation has been accomplished, patients no longer have persistent positional nystagmus or dizziness. In clinical practice, however, some elderly patients are seen to suffer from UVD-induced persistent canal paresis and subsequent motion-evoked dizziness, i.e., delayed vestibular compensation. To elucidate the relationships between aging and the activities of daily living in patients with UVD caused by vestibular neuronitis, we conducted caloric tests and administered dizziness questionnaires to patients with vestibular neuronitis treated at our hospital between 1997 and 2006. We found that elderly patients (age y.o.≥50) with UVD (canal paresis (CP) %≥25) (age y.o.≥50) had significantly more severe handicaps in daily life due to dizziness induced by head and body movements than younger patients (age y.o.<50). It is suggested that attempts must be made to improve the peripheral vestibular function in the acute stage and/or investigate the breakthrough [?] in the central vestibular rehabilitation in the chronic stage.

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Stabilograms of healthy subjects and clinical cases with vertigo and equilibrium disturbances were analyzed for the purpose of discriminating normal from abnormal stabilograms of patients with labyrinthine and non-labyrinthine disturbances using the Machalanobis-Taguchi (MT) Method.
Method: Stabilograms were recorded with the eyes of the subjects open and closed for 60 seconds. The area, length/time, length/area, X- and Y- deviation, power spectrum, position and velocity vectors, and standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis of the amplitude histogram were measured. The total number of items measured was 69. The Machlanobis distance (MD) was calculated using these items.
Result: (1) On analysis using healthy subjects as the unit space and clinical cases as the signal data, 64% of the signal cases showed MD values exceeding the discrimination value and could be diagnosed as abnormal. The MD and abnormal ratio in the cases with brain diseases were larger than those in the cases with labyrinthine diseases. (2) On analysis using cases with labyrinthine diseases as the unit space and cases with non-labyrinthine diseases as the signal data, 68% of the signal cases could be discriminated as non-labyrinthine disorders. (3) On examination of the percent contribution of the items, the factorial effect graph showed that almost all of the 69 items contributed to differentiation of the abnormal from normal stabilograms.
Conclusion: The results suggest that the MT method is useful for the discrimination of stabilograms of healthy subjects from those of cases with labyrinthine and central nervous disorders.

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The output from the recently developed infrared video-oculography is in terms of Euler's angle coordinates, which do not express the eye movements precisely. More precise representation of the eye movements requires transcription on a rotational axis reference frame. Description of the rotation of the eyeballs expressed in terms of the Euler's angle can be transformed to a rotational axis reference frame through quaternion conversion. Transcription on a rotational axis reference frame was accomplished by consecutively combining the rotational quaternions describing the 3 components of Euler's angle. The directions of the primary position and Listing's plane were also calculated using the quaternion technique. The algorithm developed by us was provided here, and practical data were obtained to evaluate the adequacy of these transcriptions. Further, the accuracy of the commercialized video-oculography product was discussed. Using our algorithm to manage the video-oculography data, we could accurately determine the positional (Listing's) plane and primary position. False torsion of the raw data from the video-oculography could be successfully managed. However, further reduction of the measuring noise would be desirable, especially on a roll plane. Conversion through a rotational quaternion represents an excellent method for transcribing eye movements in an adequately realistic form. Video-oculography could serve as a basis for convenient and precise description of the eye movements. With further improvement, this instrument could substantially facilitate research into the dynamics of the eye movements.

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