Conclusion:Otolith dysfunction occurred in acute attacks in a considerable number of patients with Meniere's disease. SVV can be utilized as a good tool for the evaluation of otolith dysfunction at acute attacks in patients with Meniere's disease.

The immunohistochemical expression pattern and the physiological role of transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV) 4 in the endolymphatic sac were investigated. TRPV4 was expressed predominantly in the apical membrane of mitochondria-rich cells, and cell volume regulation by TRPV4 was observed in a tissue culture of the rat endolymphatic sac. TRPV4 was also present in the endolymphatic sacs of patients with vestibular schwannoma and with Ménière’s disease. TRPV4 is assumed to play a role as an osmoreceptor in cell and fluid volume regulation in the human endolymphatic sac.

A 61-year-old Japanese woman had an 11-year history of an enlarging anterior neck mass that was diagnosed otolaryngologically as a thyroglossal duct cyst. Preoperatively, fine-needle aspiration cytology suggested a neoplastic lesion, but no obvious malignancy was clinically evident. Sistrunk's operation was performed. An adenosquamous carcinoma arising in a thyroglossal duct cyst was found on pathological examination. Carcinoma arising in a thyroglossal duct cyst is rare, and only approximately 200 cases have been reported, most of which were papillary carcinoma. Only 21 cases of squamous cell carcinoma arising in a thyroglossal duct cyst have been reported. The present case is the first report of adenosquamous carcinoma arising in a thyroglossal duct cyst.

Objectives: To investigate the possibility to omit the time-consuming monocular vision measurement in the subjective visual vertical (SVV) test by demonstrating there is no difference in the results between binocular and monocular measurements.Patients: Thirty-one patients with unilateral vestibular schwannoma and twenty normal subjects as controls.Intervention: Both binocular and monocular measurements of SVV were performed. Main outcome measure: Difference in the results of SVV between binocular and monocular measurements.Results: There were no significant differences in the tilts of the SVV between binocular and monocular measurements in vestibular schwannoma patients as well as in the controls. Conclusion:Abnormal tilts of SVV may be evaluated precisely only by binocular vision instead of monocular vision.

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