Loss Of Spatial Orientation Research Articles

Contribution of the serotonergic system to developmental brain abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder.

This review highlights a key role of the serotonergic system in brain development and in distortions of normal brain development in early stages of fetal life resulting in cascades of abnormalities, including defects of neurogenesis, neuronal migration, neuronal growth, differentiation, and arborization, as well as defective neuronal circuit formation in the cortex, subcortical structures, brainstem, and cerebellum of autistic subjects. In autism, defects in regulation of neuronal growth are the most frequent and ubiquitous developmental changes associated with impaired neuron differentiation, smaller size, distorted shape, loss of spatial orientation, and distortion of cortex organization. Common developmental defects of the brain in autism include multiregional focal dysplastic changes contributing to local neuronal circuit distortion, epileptogenic activity, and epilepsy. There is a discrepancy between more than 500 reports demonstrating the contribution of the serotonergic system to autism's behavioral anomalies, highlighted by lack of studies of autistic subjects' brainstem raphe nuclei, the center of brain serotonergic innervation, and of the contribution of the serotonergic system to the diagnostic features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Discovery of severe fetal brainstem auditory system neuronal deficits and other anomalies leading to a spectrum of hearing deficits contributing to a cascade of behavioral alterations, including deficits of social and verbal communication in individuals with autism, is another argument to intensify postmortem studies of the type and topography of, and the severity of developmental defects in raphe nuclei and their contribution to abnormal brain development and to the broad spectrum of functional deficits and comorbid conditions in ASD.

ВОЗРАСТ ПИЛОТА И ТРАВМАТИЗМ В АВИАЦИИ

The results of an analysis of the influence of pilot age on injury statistics in civil aviation are described. The proportion of aviation accidents caused by human actions remains the same and even tends to increase. Workers continue to get injured during ground handling operations for aircraft. The authors' assessment of the various risk factors contribution to ongoing negative events confirms the human factor prevalence. Statistics on the activities of civil aviation was analyzed. Examples of aviation accidents involving general aviation aircraft and medical aircraft transporting patients who required emergency medical care were considered. It has been shown that there is a peak in the aviation accidents for pilots aged 50-59 years, and this peak is observed among experienced pilots with more than 5,000 hours of flight time. For pilots aged 40-49 years, half of the accidents occurred among aircraft commanders with 1,000 ... 5,000 hours of flight time, and about one third among pilots with less than 500 hours of flight time. It was revealed that for domestic general aviation in 2020, the main causes of aviation accidents were such elements of human factor as piloting errors associated with deficiencies in training and little flight experience; loss of spatial orientation in weather conditions that do not comply with visual flight rules, when the underlying surface is white, when caught in a snow whirlwind, as well as a collision with power line wires.

60 years on the front lines of aviation and space medical support

The main historical aspects of the research work of the Department of Aviation and Space Medicine of the S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy are presented for a 60-year period of its activity with a characteristic of the contribution of the department’s staff at different periods. One of the priority tasks of the department was not only training medical specialists for the Air Force but also carrying out scientific research aimed at solving both applied and fundamental problems of aviation and space medicine. The directions of these studies were laid by the founder of aeronautical physiology academician Leon A. Orbeli and are related both to the development and improvement of science and technology, and to the development of aviation and cosmonautics. Today, the main scientific areas of the Department of Aviation and Space Medicine are: improving the medical support system for flights on modern and promising aviation and space technology; development of methods and techniques for increasing the stability of the body of pilots and cosmonauts to flight factors; assessment and forecasting of the functional state and professional reliability of the flight crew, astronauts and operators for the management of space vehicles, as well as the development of tools and methods for correcting adverse changes in the functional state and improving the professional performance of pilots and astronauts. The Department continues research on one of the most important problems of flight safety - the loss of spatial orientation, new types of illusions are being studied. To ensure the work of the department at the present stage, the educational and material base is represented by the most modern medical and special equipment grouped into adjacent and complementary areas.

Three-dimensional (3D) versus two-dimensional (2D) laparoscopic adrenalectomy: A case-control study

IntroductionLaparoscopic adrenalectomy is today considered the gold standard of treatment for adrenal tumors. The development of high definition cameras does not eliminate the major limitation of two-dimensional (2D) laparoscopy: lack of depth perception and loss of spatial orientation. Tree-dimensional (3D) HD laparoscopy was developed as an alternative to conventional 2D laparoscopy. MethodsWe report our experience with use of 3D vision system for laparoscopic adrenalectomy. Between January 2009 and March 2015 we performed a total of 52 laparoscopic adrenalectomies. In this case-control study we considered 13 laparoscopic adrenalectomies performed with three-dimensional (3D) vision system as case group. The last 26 procedures made with two-dimensional (2D) HD laparoscopic system represented the control group. We considered primary end-points: operative time, intraoperative complications and conversion rate. We evaluated also quality of depth perception and surgical strain. ResultsAlthough the operative time for the entire surgical procedure was shorter in 3D group, there were no significant differences. The surgeon experienced better depth perception with 3D system and subjectively reported less strain using 3D vision system. Residents and medical students confirmed these data on surgical outcome. Conclusion3D system vision does not seem to influence the operative time of laparoscopic adrenalectomy performed by experienced surgeon because the surgical technique request simple tasks. We obtain the better visualization in depth perception with effect on surgical precision. Comparative studies are necessary to verify if 3D can reduce perioperative complication with similar operative time.

Enhancement of a Master-Slave Robotic System for Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery

A novel robotic platform for Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) is presented in this paper. It aims to tackle two crucial technical barriers which hinder its smooth transition from animal studies to clinical trials: providing effective instrumentations to perform complex NOTES procedures and maintaining the spatial orientation for endoscopic navigation. The technical barriers are overcome by the design of the robotic system considering size, triangulation, dexterity, maneuverability and complexity. It is also shown that haptic feedback and interventional navigation system could solve the problem of off-axis manipulation of the camera angle and loss of spatial orientation upon entering the peritoneal cavity in transgastric NOTES procedure, respectively. Successful ESD (endoscopic submucosal dissection) and wedge hepatic resection have been performed on live pigs with our Master And Slave Transluminal Endoscopic Robot (MASTER) system, showing its capability to perform advanced endoscopic surgical and NOTES procedures. It is found that the MASTER exhibited good grasping and cutting efficiency. And the lesion resection time could be significantly reduced with more practice between the endoscopist and the robot operator. This study evaluates the feasibility of MASTER system as a platform overcoming the barriers to NOTES. It is also demonstrated that the MASTER could effectively mitigate the technical constraints normally encountered in NOTES procedures.

Video-Tracking-Box linked to Smart software as a tool for evaluation of locomotor activity and orientation in brain-injured rats

Injuries of the Central Nervous System (CNS) cause devastating and irreversible losses of function. In order to analyze the deficits subsequent to brain injury it is necessary to use behavioral tests which evaluate cerebral dysfunction. In this study, we describe a new tool, the Video-Tracking-Box (VTB) linked to Smart software. This new method adequately quantifies parameters related to locomotor activity and orientation in brain-injured rats. This method has been used in our laboratory in order to measure behavioral outcome after brain injury caused by intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in adult Wistar rats. In our experimental model, ICH was induced by stereotactic injection of 0.5U of collagenase type IV in striatum. ICH injured rats decreased its motor coordination and presented deficits in cognitive memory. VTB-Smart test was sensitive to chronic locomotor and orientation dysfunction, and it was performed between 1 and 5 months after ICH. Our results revealed a significant increase in motor latency and loss of spatial orientation in the damaged-animals compared with intact animals. The data demonstrate that our VTB, joined to Smart software, offers a reliable measure to assess motor dysfunction and orientation after brain injury.

The Future of NOTES Instrumentation: Flexible Robotics and In Vivo Minirobots

Natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) bridges the gap between standard endoluminal and extraluminal surgery and, as such, presents unique instrumentation challenges, including lack of stable platforms, loss of spatial orientation, and limited instrument tip maneuverability. The proper instrumentation remains to be established, and the incorporation of robotic technology will be essential moving forward. Flexible robotics has been applied to ureteroscopy and holds promise for NOTES. Miniature in vivo robots will potentially play a role. The current status and future implications of these technologies are reviewed.

Infarction of the central cerebellar arbor vitae and transient loss of spatial orientation

A 45-year-old man traveling by train had acute severe pain in the right shoulder after lifting a heavy suitcase, followed by 15 seconds of non-motion-directed vertigo. He sat down and felt well, except for minor persisting pain in the shoulder. After a symptom-free interval of 4 hours, he reported a sudden transient loss of spatial orientation and a feeling of being shaken in an airplane during severe turbulence. Apparently he had involuntarily moved on his seat, prompting startled looks from fellow passengers. During this episode, he had no diplopia, nausea, or visual disturbances. After a few minutes, he recovered completely apart from persisting pain in the right shoulder and neck. Orthopedic consultation and …

視野逆転プリズムによる動揺病の研究 （第１報）

We observed locomotion and motion sickness in 10 normal adults wearing reversing goggles while moving outdoors. Horizontal reversal of the visual field produced moderate to severe ataxia and motion sickness in all subjects except one. There was marked variability in the sensitivity among different subjects. In contrast, vertical reversal produced no symptoms. Confusion of information relation to spatial orientation possibly caused both the motion sickness and abnormal locomotion. Horizontal reversal of visual information produces disorientation because visual information is equal in importance to that from the semicircular canals. In the case of vertical reversal of visual information, orientation may be assured by gravity. The present study suggests that motion sickness is a biological signal alerting the organism to loss of spatial orientation rather than a mere autonomic symptom produced by mismatched sensory information. It appears that motion sickness is accompanied by dysequilibrium and abnormality of locomotion.

Loss of Spatial Orientation, Constructional Apraxia and Gerstmann'S Syndrome

In recent years important additions to the knowledge of the symptomatology in cases with involvement of the parietal lobe have been made. Both constructional apraxia (Kleist, 1922) and Gerstmann's syndrome, consisting of finger-agnosia, disturbance of right-left orientation, agraphia and acalculia (1924) have been related to lesions of the angular gyrus of the dominant hemisphere. Before the description of those symptoms, a loss of spatial orientation had been described in cases with lesions of the same localization. Balint (1910), Riddoch (1917), and others had observed that symptom in single cases, but the most comprehensive description was given by Gordon Holmes (1918), who studied it in a case-material of war injuries. When Holmes and his co-workers published their observations, constructional apraxia and Gerstmann's syndrome were still unknown. Loss of spatial orientation as a fully developed symptom is rare, while the other two disorders are not uncommon. For this reason the psychopathological relationship of those symptoms is still insufficiently understood. The following case offers an opportunity for studying the problem: