Displacement of Apparent Straight Ahead as an Aftereffect of Deviation of the Eyes from Normal Position

1969 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 591-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
John N. Park

Helmholtz's proprioceptive theory of apparent visual direction predicts a displacement of egocentric straight ahead as an aftereffect of deviation of the eyes from normal frontal position. In a test of this prediction, 91 Ss (a) selected from a line of lighted discs that disc which appeared to be straight ahead, (b) fixated the eyes for 30 sec. on a point in the line of discs which was either 30° from frontal position or at the most extreme position attainable (approximately 45° from frontal position), (c) returned the eyes to what seemed to be frontal position and selected the disc which appeared to be straight ahead. Ocular deviation produced as an aftereffect a displacement of apparent straight ahead which had a mean value of 3.12° and occurred in the same meridian and in the same direction as the eyes had been deviated. The amount of displacement was not significantly affected by the degree of prior ocular deviation or by the orientation of the line of discs (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal).

Perception ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 25 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 41-41
Author(s):  
J T Enright

Perception of visual direction was investigated by requiring subjects repeatedly to adjust a single small light, in an otherwise darkened room, to perceived ‘straight ahead’. This task presumably requires comparing concurrent extra-retinal information (either proprioception or an efference copy) with an internally stored ‘standard’ of comparison. Moment-to-moment precision in that performance is remarkably good, with median threshold (standard deviation) of 47 arc min. Nevertheless, the responses often involved a monotonic shift of direction over a few minutes during a test session in this reduced visual environment. These trends led to final settings that were immediately recognised as grossly erroneous when the room was relit, implying that the presumptive internal standard of comparison, while unstable, can be rapidly updated in a full visual environment. There are clear similarities between this phenomenon and the sudden ‘visual capture’ that occurs in a re-illuminated room, following distortions of visual direction that arose in a similarly reduced setting for subjects whose extraocular muscles were partially paralysed (Matin et al, 1982 Science216 198 – 201). In both cases, the visual stimuli that underlie rapid recalibration are unknown. Among the several possibilities that can be imagined, the strongest candidate hypothesis for this calibration of the straight-ahead direction is that, during fixation in a lit room, one utilises the directional distribution of image motion that arises because of microscale drift of the eye, as it moves toward its equilibrium orientation, much as a moving observer can use optic flow to evaluate ‘heading’ (the dynamic analogue of ‘straight ahead’).


Author(s):  
Noriyuki Kuwano ◽  
Masaru Itakura ◽  
Kensuke Oki

Pd-Ce alloys exhibit various anomalies in physical properties due to mixed valences of Ce, and the anomalies are thought to be strongly related with the crystal structures. Since Pd and Ce are both heavy elements, relative magnitudes of (fcc-fpd) are so small compared with <f> that superlattice reflections, even if any, sometimes cannot be detected in conventional x-ray powder patterns, where fee and fpd are atomic scattering factors of Ce and Pd, and <f> the mean value in the crystal. However, superlattices in Pd-Ce alloys can be analyzed by electron microscopy, thanks to the high detectability of electron diffraction. In this work, we investigated modulated superstructures in alloys with 12.5 and 15.0 at.%Ce.Ingots of Pd-Ce alloys were prepared in an arc furnace under atmosphere of ultra high purity argon. The disc specimens cut out from the ingots were heat-treated in vacuum and electrothinned to electron transparency by a jet method.


VASA ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoerth ◽  
Kundi ◽  
Katzenschlager ◽  
Hirschl

Background: Nailfold capillaroscopy (NVC) is a diagnostic tool particularly useful in the differential diagnosis of rheumatic and connective tissue diseases. Although successfully applied since many years, little is known about prevalence and distribution of NVC changes in healthy individuals. Probands and methods: NVC was performed in 120 individuals (57 men and 63 women; age 18 to 70 years) randomly selected according to predefined age and sex strata. Diseases associated with NVC changes were excluded. The nailfolds of eight fingers were assessed according to standardized procedures. A scoring system was developed based on the distribution of the number of morphologically deviating capillaries, microhaemorrhages, and capillary density. Results: Only 18 individuals (15 %) had no deviation in morphology, haemorrhages, or capillary density on any finger. Overall 67 % had morphological changes, 48 % had microhaemorrhages, and 40 % of volunteers below 40 years of age and 18 % above age 40 had less than 8 capillaries/mm. Among morphological changes tortous (43 %), ramified (47 %), and bushy capillaries (27 %) were the most frequently altered capillary types. A semiquantitative scoring system was developed in such a way that a score above 1 indicates an extreme position (above the 90th percentile) in the distribution of scores among healthy individuals. Conclusions: Altered capillaries occur frequently among healthy individuals and should be interpreted as normal unless a suspicious increase in their frequency is determined by reference to the scoring system. Megacapillaries and diffuse loss of capillaries were not found and seem to be of specific diagnostic value.


1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (11) ◽  
pp. 1412-1416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech Zareba ◽  
John Horan ◽  
Arthur Moss ◽  
Joel Kanouse ◽  
◽  
...  

SummaryOur previous prospective study of post-infarction patients described a strong and significant association of increased plasma D-dimer concentrations in those who experienced a subsequent coronary death or non-fatal myocardial infarction. In the present study, we compare results on stored plasma obtained two months after the index myocardial infarction from 1,038 patients of this trial, using a simple automated latex agglutination (LA) assay in parallel with the standard ELISA test. Results show a somewhat higher mean value for the LA assay (702 ± 1092 vs. 638 ± 986 ng/ml, p = 0.0002), a strong linear correlation of the two assays (r = 0.86) and 88% agreement for values below 500 ng/ml by the ELISA test. D-dimer concentrations determined by each assay were highly correlated in patients with subsequent coronary artery events (p = 0.93) and quartile values for both the LA and ELISA were equally predictive of such events (p = 0.003 and p = 0.001, respectively). This is the first demonstration that a latex agglutination assay for D-dimer can be used to assess the prognostic risk of recurrent coronary thrombotic disease after myocardial infarction


Phlebologie ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (05) ◽  
pp. 211-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Wax ◽  
A. Körber ◽  
J. Dissemond ◽  
J. Klode

SummaryChronic leg ulcer may have various causes, which are currently not centrally recorded in Germany. It is also unclear who treats patients with chronic leg ulcers in Germany and how the basic implementation of diagnosis and treatment of these patients looks like. Patients, methods: Therefore, we started a survey of 1000 general practitioners and practising specialists in dermatology, surgery and phlebology in five different regions of Germany. We carried out the genesis of a total of 6275 patients from 62 different practising therapists, 33 specialists in dermatology, surgery or phlebology and 29 general practitioners. Results: In 66.1% of all patients we found a venous leg ulcer, in 9.1% a leg ulcer from peripheral arterial occlusive disease, and in 8.5% a mixture of both. Thus there suffered a total of 83.8% of patients on chronic venous insufficiency or peripheral arterial occlusive disease as a major factor in the genesis of the chronic leg ulcer. However, even the rarely diagnosed entities such as exogenous factors, vasculitis, pyoderma gangrenosum or infectious diseases are occur in summation in 16.2% of all patients and should therefore be known and excluded. In addition, the treatment periods and referral routes of patients with chronic leg ulcer should be identified. The analysis showed that the vast majority (86.8%) of patients with chronic ulcers who were investigated by us is treated by specialists. The treatment duration of general practitioners is 6.3 weeks (mean value) before the patient will be referred to a specialist. This treatment period is significantly shorter compared to the treatment period of the specialists, who treat their patients 14.1 weeks (mean value) before the patient will be referred to another specialist or to a clinic. Conclusion: Our results show the current aspects of aetiology and the way of treatment of patients with chronic leg ulcers in Germany.


1987 ◽  
Vol 26 (06) ◽  
pp. 253-257
Author(s):  
M. Mäntylä ◽  
J. Perkkiö ◽  
J. Heikkonen

The relative partition coefficients of krypton and xenon, and the regional blood flow in 27 superficial malignant tumour nodules in 22 patients with diagnosed tumours were measured using the 85mKr- and 133Xe-clearance method. In order to minimize the effect of biological variables on the measurements the radionuclides were injected simultaneously into the tumour. The distribution of the radiotracers was assumed to be in equilibrium at the beginning of the experiment. The blood perfusion was calculated by fitting a two-exponential function to the measuring points. The mean value of the perfusion rate calculated from the xenon results was 13 ± 10 ml/(100 g-min) [range 3 to 38 ml/(100 g-min)] and from the krypton results 19 ± 11 ml/(100 g-min) [range 5 to 45 ml/(100 g-min)]. These values were obtained, if the partition coefficients are equal to one. The equations obtained by using compartmental analysis were used for the calculation of the relative partition coefficient of krypton and xenon. The partition coefficient of krypton was found to be slightly smaller than that of xenon, which may be due to its smaller molecular weight.


1987 ◽  
Vol 57 (02) ◽  
pp. 201-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Y Scarabin ◽  
L Strain ◽  
C A Ludlam ◽  
J Jones ◽  
E M Kohner

SummaryDuring the collection of samples for plasma β-thromboglobulin (β-TG) determination, it is well established that artificially high values can be observed due to in-vitro release. To estimate the reliability of a single β-TG measurement, blood samples were collected simultaneously from both arms on two separate occasions in 56 diabetic patients selected for a clinical trial. From each arm, blood was taken into two tubes containing an anticoagulant mixture with (tube A) and without (tube B) PGE!. The overall mean value of B-TG in tube B was 1.14 times higher than in tube A (p <0.01). The markedly large between-arms variation accounted for the most part of within-subject variation in both tubes and was significantly greater in tube B than in tube A. Based on the difference between B-TG values from both arms, the number of subjects with artifically high B-TG values was significantly higher in tube B than in tube A on each occasion (overall rate: 28% and 14% respectively). Estimate of between-occasions variation showed that B-TG levels were relatively stable for each subject between two occasions in each tube. It is concluded that the use of PGEi decreases falsely high B-TG levels, but a single measurement of B-TG does not provide a reliable estimate of the true B-TG value in vivo.


1987 ◽  
Vol 57 (02) ◽  
pp. 196-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
R M Bertina ◽  
I K van der Linden ◽  
L Engesser ◽  
H P Muller ◽  
E J P Brommer

SummaryHeparin cofactor II (HC II) levels were measured by electroimmunoassay in healthy volunteers, and patients with liver disease, DIC, proteinuria or a history of venous thrombosis. Analysis of the data in 107 healthy volunteers revealed that plasma HC II increases with age (at least between 20 and 50 years). HC II was found to be decreased in most patients with liver disease (mean value: 43%) and only in some patients with DIC. Elevated levels were found in patients with proteinuria (mean value 145%). In 277 patients with a history of unexplained venous thrombosis three patients were identified with a HC II below the lower limit of the normal range (60%). Family studies demonstrated hereditary HC II deficiency in two cases. Among the 9 heterozygotes for HC II deficiency only one patient had a well documented history of unexplained thrombosis. Therefore the question was raised whether heterozygotes for HC II deficiency can also be found among healthy volunteers. When defining a group of individuals suspected of HC II deficiency as those who have a 90% probability that their plasma HC II is below the 95% tolerance limits of the normal distribution in the relevant age group, 2 suspected HC II deficiencies were identified among the healthy volunteers. In one case the hereditary nature of the defect could be established.It is concluded that hereditary HC II deficiency is as prevalent among healthy volunteers as in patients with thrombotic disease. Further it is unlikely that heterozygosity for HC II deficiency in itself is a risk factor for the development of venous thrombosis.


1968 ◽  
Vol 20 (01/02) ◽  
pp. 044-049 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Lipiński ◽  
K Worowski

SummaryIn the present paper described is a simple test for detecting soluble fibrin monomer complexes (SFMC) in blood. The test consists in mixing 1% protamine sulphate with diluted oxalated plasma or serum and reading the optical density at 6190 Å. In experiments with dog plasma, enriched with soluble fibrin complexes, it was shown that OD read in PS test is proportional to the amount of fibrin recovered from the precipitate. It was found that SFMC level in plasma increases in rabbits infused intravenously with thrombin and decreases after injection of plasmin with streptokinase. In both cases PS precipitable protein in serum is elevated indicating enhanced fibrinolysis. In healthy human subjects the mean value of OD readings in plasma and sera were found to be 0.30 and 0.11, while in patients with coronary thrombosis they are 0.64 and 0.05 respectively. The origin of SFMC in circulation under physiological and pathological conditions is discussed.


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