Effects of vestibular neurectomy and neural compensation on head movements in patients undergoing vestibular schwannoma resection

Abstract The vestibular system is vital for maintaining balance and stabilizing gaze and vestibular damage causes impaired postural and gaze control. Here we examined the effects of vestibular loss and subsequent compensation on head motion kinematics during voluntary behavior. Head movements were measured in vestibular schwannoma patients before, and then 6 weeks and 6 months after surgical tumor removal, requiring sectioning of the involved vestibular nerve (vestibular neurectomy). Head movements were recorded in six dimensions using a small head-mounted sensor while patients performed the Functional Gait Assessment (FGA). Kinematic measures differed between patients (at all three time points) and normal subjects on several challenging FGA tasks, indicating that vestibular damage (caused by the tumor or neurectomy) alters head movements in a manner that is not normalized by central compensation. Kinematics measured at different time points relative to vestibular neurectomy differed substantially between pre-operative and 6-week post-operative states but changed little between 6-week and > 6-month post-operative states, demonstrating that compensation affecting head kinematics is relatively rapid. Our results indicate that quantifying head kinematics during self-generated gait tasks provides valuable information about vestibular damage and compensation, suggesting that early changes in patient head motion strategy may be maladaptive for long-term vestibular compensation

Holocene linkages between char, soot, biomass burning and climate from Lake Daihai, China

Black or elemental carbon (EC), including soot and char, are byproducts of anthropogenic fossil-fuel and biomass burning, and also of wildfires. EC, and particularly soot, strongly affects atmospheric chemistry and physics and thus radiative forcing; it can also alter regional climate and precipitation. Pre-industrial variations in EC as well as its source areas and controls however, are poorly known. Here we use a lake-sediment EC record from China to reconstruct Holocene variations in soot (combustion emissions formed via gas-to-particle conversion processes) and char (combustion residues from pyrolysis) measured with a thermal/optical method. Comparisons with sedimentary charcoal records (i.e., particles measured microscopically), climate and population data are used to infer variations in biomass burning and its controls. During the Holocene, positive correlations are observed between EC and an independent index of regional biomass burning. Negative correlations are observed between EC and monsoon intensity, and tree cover inferred from arboreal pollen percentages. Abrupt declines in temperature are also linked with widespread declines in fire. Our results 1) confirm the robustness of a relatively new method for reconstructing variations in EC; 2) document variations in regional biomass burning; 3) support a strong climatic control of biomass burning throughout the Holocene; and 4) indicate that char levels are higher today than at any time during the Holocene.</p