[A computerized method for the combined evaluation of otoneurological and non-pharmacological correction of vestibulo-sensory and oculomotor disturbances].

Methodology and a new <> hard/software complex (HSC) have been developed jointly by the Institute of Biomedical Problems, <> and <> Companies to be used in vestibulometric, otoneurological, and psychophysiological tes-ting with synchronous registration and in the analysis of head movements, various types of nystagmus, and all forms of visual pursuit. The complex is intended for the expert/diagnostic evaluation, prognosis, and monitoring of the vestibular function, intersensory interactions, and eye pursuit movements as well as for teaching correction and elimination of unfavourable perceptive and vestibular-sensorimotor responses by developing a fixation reflex during exposure to visual and dynamic stimuli. The <> HSC was tested during pre- and post-flight observation of astronauts, under simulated and clinical conditions, as well as in monitoring the functional status of athletes engaged in various sports. The study has demonstrated that the use of special computerized stimulation programs allowing (by irritating visual and vestibular sensory inputs) to produce perceptive and sensorimotor responses provides a promising tool for the evaluation of the state of the vestibular and related sensory systems, stability of static and dynamic spatial orientation in the presence of separate and combined visual and vestibular stimuli or without them.

[Effect of otoliths upon function of the semicircular canals after long-term stay under conditions of microgravitation].

Results of studies performed in 12 astronauts after flights revealed that in some of them re-adaptation to the Earth gravitation involved increase of spontaneous oculomotor activity in immobile position of the head, suppression of the otolith function in static 40 degrees bending of the head towards right or left shoulders, enhancement of vestibular responsiveness in rotation of the head around the body longitudinal axis at the rate of 0.125 Hz.

[Computer tests for research of the oculomotor reactions in patients with complains of dizziness]. / Komp'iuternye testy dlia issledovaniia glazodvigatel'nykh reaktsii u bol'nykh s zhalobami na golovokruzhenie.

New methodological principles for a study of vestibular function, intersensory interactions, and eye tracking function are proposed by parameters of spontaneous oculomotor responses and those induced by visual and vestibular stimuli using the series of computer stimulating programs, which provided polymodal, separate and combined stimulation of the visual and vestibular inputs for the OCULOSTIM unit. The method suggested allows to objectivity the subjective complaints of dizziness and equilibrium disturbances, to differentiate diagnosis of cerebral organic process and psychogenic disease of central nervous system (CNS), and to specify physiological systems involved in their pathogenesis as well as to diagnose subclinical cerebral vestibulopathy. Qualitative and quantitative characteristics of eye tracking movements with and without a visual background (retinal optokinetic stimulation) are the most informative in the differential diagnosis of organic and functional psychogenic CNS disturbances.

[Individual characteristics of correction of the cosmonauts' vegetative status with a method of adaptive biofeedback]. / Individual'nye osobennosti korrektsii vegetativnogo statusa kosmonavtov s pomoshch'iu metoda adaptivnogo bioupravleniia.

The ability of 4 cosmonauts to voluntarily control their physiological parameters during the standing test was evaluated following a series of the adaptive feedback (AF) training sessions. Vegetative status of the cosmonauts during voluntary "relaxation" and "straining" was different when compared with its indices determined before these sessions. In addition, there was a considerable individual variability in the intensity and direction of the AF effects, and the range of parameters responding to AF. It was GCR which was the easiest one for the AF control.