Abstract: OBJECTIVE: A strong relationship exists between vestibular dysfunction and anxiety disorders. The aim of this study was to assess the anxiety and depression levels in patients with chronic dizziness and to assess the effects of vestibular rehabilitation (VR) therapy, on the anxiety and depression levels, without a behavioural or pharmacological therapy. METHOD: Two groups of 40 patients, each affected by chronic vestibular deficit, were studied. The first one underwent VR, and the latter did not. The psychometric tests used were the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). RESULTS: Psychological factors influence the level of handicap experienced by chronic dizziness patients, and disequilibrium influences the anxiety and depression levels. STAI and CES-D scales significantly decrease after VR therapy (P<.001) and remain stable at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The VR therapy positively influences the emotional condition of chronic vestibular deficit patients without pharmacological or psychotherapy treatments.

Abstract: CONCLUSIONS: Vestibular rehabilitation improves quality of life by reducing the degree of handicap, improving the ability to perform everyday tasks and providing long-term rehabilitation stability (at 6 months). Recovery of the vestibulo-ocular reflex and the vestibulo-spinal reflex efficiency was proven by the objective results obtained in this study. Vestibular rehabilitation improves both subjective and objective parameters, although no significant correlation between these two indices was found. OBJECTIVE: To determine the outcome of subjective and objective parameters and long-term rehabilitation stability after vestibular rehabilitation in 43 patients with vestibular disorders. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The subjective tests used were the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form, the Dizziness Handicap Inventory and the Activity-specific Balance Confidence scale. The objective tests used were video-oculoscopy, dynamic visual acuity, the Equitest and the Dynamic Gait Index. All indices were evaluated before and after rehabilitation and at follow-up. RESULTS: All patients showed an improvement in quality of life and a reduction in handicap due to dizziness. Improvement in objective test results was also seen. These results were stable at follow-up. A correlation was found between different subjective measures, but there was no correlation between subjective and objective measures.

Abstract: A study of click-evoked otoacoustic emissions (CEOAEs) elicited at stimulation intensities from 35 to >80 dB was carried out by recurrence quantification analysis on signals from both normal and hearing-impaired subjects. In normal subjects, a clear scaling of determinism with increasing stimulation intensity was observed in the click intensity range from 41 to 59 dB. Outside that range and, in particular, above its upper end, subject-dependent features appeared in the form of different maximal levels of determinism. A comparative analysis of responses from hearing-impaired subjects with conductive hearing losses and sensorineural hearing losses suggested that the principal contributor to this behavior is the middle ear and allowed us to discriminate the two pathologies solely on the basis of CEOAEs. These observations are consistent with a simple phenomenological model of the auditory periphery in which different functional modules are sequentially recruited at increasing stimulus intensities, with a consequent rise in CEOAE coherence.

Abstract: Transient otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) responses from neonatal (age: 48 h) and adult subjects (age: 26.6 +/- 10.0 yr) were analyzed by the combined use of recurrence quantification analysis and singular value decomposition. The data from the two age groups showed significant differences and similarities. The neonatal responses presented less deterministic structures than those of the adults in terms of recurrent dynamic features. In both data sets, the same high level of individual specific dynamic features was observed. The results from the singular value decomposition analysis suggest that a large percentage of variability in all of the analyzed responses can be explained by four to five essential modes. This number is lower than that observed in simulated TEOAE responses generated by a five-component gammatone model. A possible explanation is presented, based on simple instrumental and morphoanatomic considerations.

Abstract: Click-evoked otoacoustic emissions (CEOAEs) were studied by means of recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) and were found to be endowed with a relevant amount of deterministic structuring. Such a structure showed highly significant correlation with the clinical evaluation of the signal over a data set including 56 signals. Moreover, 1) one of the RQA variables, Trend, was very sensitive to phase transitions in the dynamical regime of CEOAEs, and 2) appropriate use of principal component analysis proved able to isolate the individual character of the studied signals. These results are of general interest for the study of auditory signal transduction and generation mechanisms.

Abstract: A 300-ps molecular dynamics simulation of the whole Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase dimer has been carried out in water, and the trajectory has been analyzed by the essential dynamics method. The results indicate that the motion is defined by few preferred directions identified by the first four to six eigenvectors and that the motion of the two monomers at each instant is not symmetrical. The vectors symmetrical to the eigenvectors are significantly sampled, suggesting that, on average, the motions of the two subunits will exchange. Large intra- and intersubunit motions involving different subdomains of the protein are observed. A mechanical coupling between the two subunits is also suggested, because displacements of the loops surrounding the active site in one monomer are correlated with the motion of parts of the second toward the intersubunit interface.

Abstract: The electrical properties of the cytoplasmatic membrane of human erythrocyte cells have been evaluated by means of dielectric spectroscopy measurements in the radiowave frequency range, using the so-called "suspension method". Measurements have been carried out at different volume fractions of the corpuscular phase (the cell haematocrit) in order to investigate the influence of the cell-cell interactions on the electrical parameters (the membrane permittivity epsilon and the membrane conductivity sigma) of the cell membrane and a set of new values are proposed. Moreover, the influence of different alkali metal ions (Na+, K+, Cs+, Li+) on the ion permeation properties of the membrane are investigated and the structural alterations in the membrane organized briefly discussed.

Abstract: The aim of our study was to evaluate both the incidence and the pathologic and clinical features of extrapyramidal disorders in a population of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients with cerebral toxoplasmosis. Of 240 AIDS patients evaluated in the 1985-1994 period, 50 of them were diagnosed to have cerebral toxoplasmosis on the basis of the following criteria: occurrence of specific antibodies, computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and regression of the symptoms after specific therapy. Three of 50 (6%) had hemichoreoathetosis. In the first case, the disorder began as a dyskinesia of the left hand that subsequently spread to the whole ipsilateral arm and assumed the features of choreic athetotic movements. The other two cases were characterized by left hemisomatic distal choreic movements. Therapy with pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine led to a complete recovery of the extrapyramidal signs in two cases and to improvement in the third. According to our observations, the onset of these movement disorders could not be related to the dimension of the lesion or to the edema, but to a specific localization in subthalamic nucleus, in subthalamic/pallidal, and pallidal/thalamic pathways. MRI seems the elective tool to perform a more accurate study of the anatomic areas involved in this pathway and to verify their integrity. Cerebral toxoplasmosis in AIDS can be considered as a new etiopathogenic cause of choreoathetosis.

Abstract: In this report we propose a new method for an in vitro test of the foetal lung maturity based on the measurement of the electrical conductivity of the overall amniotic fluid obtained from transabdominal amniocentesis, since this quantity can be linked to a first approximation in a very simple way to the phospholipid content. We have carried out measurements of 85 different samples of amniotic fluid as a function of gestation weeks and we have observed a pronounced change of the electrical conductivity that reflects the increase in the phospholipid concentration occurring at the end of normal pregnancies. The method could be further developed to obtain similar information on in vivo experiments by means of bioelectric impedance tomography, taking advantage of the frequency dependence of the tissue electrical impedance.

Abstract: The effects of the anti-tumor drugs lonidamine and rhein on the plasma membrane electrical properties of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells were investigated and compared. Dielectric relaxation measurements in the radiowave frequency range (10(4) to 10(8) Hz) as well as at higher frequencies (10(4) to 10(9) Hz) were performed and the data elaborated using a "single-shell" fitting procedure. The results obtained in both frequency ranges indicate that membrane conductivity and membrane permittivity are altered by 200 microM Lonidamine while 150 microM rhein induces only very slight variations in these two plasma membrane parameters. The usefulness of the dielectric relaxation technique described here in evaluating antitumor drugs and improving clinical protocols is discussed.