[Methods for the investigations into the functional state of the organ of hearing and equilibration in locomotive drivers for the early diagnostics of occupational sensorinerual deafness].

AIM OF THE STUDY: to estimate the diagnostic value of various tests for the expert assessment of the functional state of the organ of hearing and equilibration in locomotive drivers employed by the Minsk branch of the Belorussian railway. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 224 members of the locomotive teams were examined. Healthy men (n=56) served as controls. Tonal threshold audimetry (TTA), molecular-genetic study. The study has demonstrated the advantages of performing wide-range TTA in conjunction with dynamic stabilometry. The molecular-genetic studies for the detection of potential 35delG mutations proved to be of little diagnostic value.

[The value of certain static stabilometric characteristics].

The objective of the present work was to measure the value of certain static stabilometric characteristics including the so-called coefficient of sharp change in the vector motion direction. A group of healthy subjects (n=93) and patients presenting with disseminated sclerosis (n=47) were examined for the purpose. The study demonstrated that the coefficient of a sharp change in the vector motion direction may be used as an indirect indicator of the frequency of the body's vibrational movements. Clinical observations indicate that it has a diagnostic value.

[On the assessment of the vertical posture support function based on the results of dynamic posturography].

A group of healthy subjects (n=93) was enrolled in the study designed to obtain the main characteristics of the postural function under effect of polymodal sensory afferentation. The study was carried out with the use of a dynamic stabilometric platform that served to estimate the vertical posture support function by means of an original diagnostic algorithm based on the main principles biological feedback priniciples. The study revealed two types of responses to polymodal afferentation, cortical and subcortical (reflective). The "cortical" type is characterized by slow responses due to the fact that the mechanism of sensory afferentation implies that an impulse has to pass along the entire conducting pathway from the primary receptor cell to the cortical centres that arbitrarily control the posture. The "subcortical" (reflective) mechanism ensures rapid but poorly selective responses to polymodal afferentation. The method for diagnostics of postural problems described in this paper with the use of a dynamic (mobile) stabilometric platform is expected to extend the possibilities for the quantitative evaluation of the vertical posture support function.

[Dynamics of postural dysfunction in patients with Parkinson's disease under the action of vibrational therapy].

This experimental study was designed to reveal changes of the postural function in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) under the action of vibrational therapy. It was shown that application of classical passive vibrostimulation employed under clinical conditions can be recommended to patients presenting with the rigid-trembling form of Parkinson's disease owing to the fact that their system of regulation of the vertical posture readily responds to vibration loading. This effect is attributable to low muscular activity.