The increasing prevalence of disequilibrium has become a concern in Japan aging society. Recent studies have shown that somatic sensation input contributes to human postural control. However, few reports on the relationship between stabilometer analysis and fingertip contact pressure have been made in Japan. We developed a system that enables us to record and analyze stabilometer and fingertip contact pressure data simultaneously. We then investigated the extent to which fingertip contact contributes to the stabilization of human upright posture.
Nine healthy subjects who gave their informed consent were asked to stand on a stabilometer with their eyes open or closed and with or without fingertip contact with a side touch plate that estimates the contact pressure. One of the parameters of the stabilometer, i.e., the enveloped area value, was reduced in the case of fingertip contact, compared with when there was no contact. When their eyes were closed, the subjects increased their fingertip contact pressure, relative to when their eyes were open. These results suggest that information from fingertip contact contributes to upright postural and plays an important role, especially in the absence of visual information. Further research on how fingertip contact stabilization can be applied to vestibular rehabilitation, is warranted.

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Posterior paranasal cysts tend to be associated anatomically with ophthalmic symptoms and may require emergency surgery-a problem found and treated more often in the ophthalmology, neurosurgery, or internal medicine clinic than in the otorhinolaryngological setting. Treatment way thus be delayed as patients undergo examination at other departments.
Idiopathic retrobulbar optic nerve inflammation may be due to paranasal disease, requiring paranasal sinus imaging. It must be recognized that interdepartmental liaison may greatly influence sequelae. We report 5 cases of paranasal cysts concurrent with ophthalmic symptoms in the 1 year from April 2003 to March 2004, the disease course leading to medical examination, treatment, and changes in symptoms.

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Dermoid cysts, which develop from embryonic ectoderm invagination, occur anywhere, but mostly in the ovary on anus. These cysts may be congenital or acquired, and are most frequently noticed during puberty. We report the rare case of a cyst in the oral cavity of a 6-month-old boy who suffered dysphagia due to swelling in the oral cavity. Previous puncture and fenestration had been unsuccessful elsewhere. We resected the 3cm cyst under general anesthesia. The boy was then able to swallow and discharged. Dermoid cysts in children tend to form deep tracts such as submental fistula and may become lobulated or multiply, making it neccesary to ensure that the entire cyst is removed.

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A 38-year-old woman suffering severe throat pain immediately after eating baked fish was found to have a metallic foreign object at the left piriform sinus that disappeared a few minutes later and could not be located using flexible endoscopy or direct esophageal endoscopy under general anesthesia. The next morning computed tomography (CT) showed that the foreign object had penetrated deeply into the hypopharyngeal mucosa. We removed it using a microscopic endo-laryngeal surgery technique.

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Catoptric head mirrors widely used in the otolaryngological dispensary have the advantages of being cordless and providing excellent due to the use of white LED, which have low battery consumption. They are plagued, however, by short battery life and the need for an AC cord to recharge batteries. We customized a cordless light combining a commercially available light and a small Li-ion battery for cellphones. The portable 1 W light (^® Welch Allyn, USA) includes a My Battery Mini (^® Japan Trust Technology, Japan), a frame (^® Nagashima Ika, Japan), and a piece of Velcro. Once fully charged, the battery enables the light to be used more than 2 hours continuously. The white LED features both low battery consumption and low heat generation. Two potential problems are, first, that objects viewed may appear more whitish than when viewed using conventional incandescent lamps and, second, the retina away be exposed to direct intensive light.

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