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Self-induced cicatricial conjunctivitis with symblephara.

PURPOSE: Cicatricial conjunctivitis is an uncommon ocular finding with several possible origins. We report a patient whose obsessive-compulsive disorder involved constant self-induced mechanical trauma to the eyes, leading to bilateral cicatricial conjunctivitis. METHOD: Case report. RESULTS: Based on the history, physical examination, ocular surface scraping, and conjuctival biopsy, other causes of cicatrical conjunctivitis were ruled out, and a self-induced cause was confirmed. CONCLUSIONS: Inquiries pertaining to psychiatric history may be important in patients with cicatricial conjunctivitis.

Adult↗

Role of substance P in experimental allergic conjunctivitis in guinea pigs.

The role of substance P in experimental allergic conjunctivitis induced by egg albumin was investigated with guinea pigs. Increase in vascular permeability of the conjunctiva induced by antigen was significantly inhibited after repeated application of capsaicin. Substance P contents in the conjunctiva of guinea pig were decreased by topical instillation of antigen to the eyes, suggesting that substance P was released from the conjunctiva due to antigen-antibody reaction. Moreover, subconjunctival injection of substance P resulted in a dose-related conjunctivitis, and vascular permeability in the conjunctiva was also increased by substance P. In substance P-induced conjunctivitis, a significant edema was observed in the bulbar and palpebral conjunctiva, but no hyperemia was noted in all instances. Histamine contents of the conjunctiva and tears were not influenced by subconjunctival injection of substance P. However, topical application of antigen and subconjunctival injection of compound 48/80 caused a significant decrease in histamine content, and content of tear was increased by both treatments. An increase in vascular permeability induced by antigen application was significantly inhibited by intravenous injection of FK-888, which is a specific and potent NK1 receptor antagonist. From these results, it is suggested that substance P is responsible for allergic conjunctivitis to some extent, and the conjunctival hyperpermeability induced by substance P occurs through NK1 receptor on the blood vessels, rather than by the direct action on the conjunctival mast cells during allergic conjunctival reactions.

Animals↗

Differential diagnosis of pediatric conjunctivitis (red eye).

Because eye injuries and diseases may potentially result in serious vision impairments, accurate diagnosis and treatment of ophthalmic conditions are imperative. A symptom common to eye impairments is conjunctivitis, or red eye, a commonly seen manifestation in an ambulatory pediatric population. Because conjunctivitis is caused by various etiologies, clinicians must derive a differential diagnosis. This article examines possible causes of conjunctivitis after the neonatal period in this population. Differential diagnosis is dependent on a complete history, distinct physical findings, and use of adjunct diagnostic tests. Treatment, which depends on a sound differential diagnosis, should be targeted according to the cause of the problem.

Child↗

[Morphologic studies of the pathogenesis of ligneous conjunctivitis].

The cases of ligneous conjunctivitis published since 1964 are presented in a review of the literature. A total of 84 cases have been described. The predominance of this disease in women is lower than was previously thought. Ligneous conjunctivitis tends to occur more frequently in children. However, it is not a "disease of little girls". Two cases are described in the present paper, including pathomorphological studies. In both cases, neutrophilic granulocytes were studied by electron microscopy. The results are compared with a control case and with corresponding reports in the literature. The number of granules in the neutrophilic granulocytes was significantly reduced in both cases. In one of the cases studied the granules were increased in size. These findings support the hypothesis that ligneous conjunctivitis could be the result of a lowered resistance associated with a disturbance of wound healing.

Biopsy↗

Thermal response of human skin epidermis to 595-nm laser irradiation at high incident dosages and long pulse durations in conjunction with cryogen spray cooling: an ex-vivo study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Improved laser treatment of cutaneous hypervascular lesions is expected by utilizing higher incident dosages, longer pulse durations and longer wavelengths than those currently used in clinical settings. However, simply increasing the incident dosage will also increase the risk of nonspecific thermal injury to the epidermis due to light absorption by melanin. In this study, we investigated the thermal response of human skin epidermis to 595-nm wavelength laser irradiation at high incident dosages (up to 20 J/cm(2)) and long pulse durations (up to 40 milliseconds) in conjunction with cryogen spray cooling (CSC) using ex-vivo human skin samples. STUDY DESIGN/MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Candela V-beam trade mark laser (595-nm wavelength) was used in the experiments. Ex-vivo human skin samples (Fitzpatrick types I-VI) were irradiated at the incident dosages D(0) = 4, 6, 10, 15, and 20 J/cm(2), laser pulse durations tau(laser) = 1.5, 10, and 40 milliseconds, without and with CSC (refrigerant-134A, spurt duration tau(CSC) = 100 milliseconds). Thermal injury to the epidermis was evaluated by histological observations. RESULTS: Under the same incident dosage, longer pulse durations led to reduced thermal injury to the epidermis. Without CSC, no demonstrable thermal injury to the epidermis was observed in skin types I-II irradiated at the incident dosage as high as 15 J/cm(2), and in skin types III-IV at 10 J/cm(2). When CSC was applied, no evidence of thermal injury to the epidermis was present in skin types I-II even when irradiated at the maximum available incident dosage of the laser system (20 J/cm(2)). In skin types III-IV, no demonstrable thermal injury to the epidermis was observed when using incident dosage as high as 15 J/cm(2) in conjunction with CSC. In skin type VI, thermal injury to the epidermis could not be avoided even at the setting D(0) = 4 J/cm(2), tau(laser) = 40 milliseconds in conjunction with CSC. CONCLUSIONS: For a given incident dosage, longer pulse durations help reduce thermal injury to the epidermis. When a 100-millisecond cryogen spurt is applied, thermal injury to the epidermis can be prevented in ex-vivo skin types I-IV when irradiated at higher incident dosages (15-20 J/cm(2)) than those currently used in clinical settings. Further studies on optimizing the CSC parameters in conjunction with the laser irradiation parameters are needed to protect skin types V-VI from thermal injury to the epidermis.

Adult↗

Multisubject fMRI studies and conjunction analyses.

In this paper we present an approach to making inferences about generic activations in groups of subjects using fMRI. In particular we suggest that activations common to all subjects reflect aspects of functional anatomy that may be "typical" of the population from which that group was sampled. These commonalities can be identified by a conjunction analysis of the activation effects in which the contrasts, testing for an activation, are specified separately for each subject. A conjunction is the joint refutation of multiple null hypotheses, in this instance, of no activation in any subject. The motivation behind this use of conjunctions is that fixed-effect analyses are generally more "sensitive" than equivalent random-effect analyses. This is because fixed-effect analyses can harness the large degrees of freedom and small scan-to-scan variability (relative to the variability in responses from subject to subject) when assessing the significance of an estimated response. The price one pays for the apparent sensitivity of fixed-effect analyses is that the ensuing inferences pertain to, and only to, the subjects studied. However, a conjunction analysis, using a fixed-effect model, allows one to infer: (i) that every subject studied activated and (ii) that at least a certain proportion of the population would have shown this effect. The second inference depends upon a meta-analytic formulation in terms of a confidence region for this proportion. This approach retains the sensitivity of fixed-effect analyses when the inference that only a substantial proportion of the population activates is sufficient.

Attention↗

Response effects in the perception of conjunctions of colour and form.

Two experiments addressed the question whether visual search for a target defined by a conjunction of colour and form requires a central, serial, attentional process, but detection of a single feature, such as colour, is preattentive, as proposed by the feature-integration theory of attention. Experiment 1 investigated conjunction and feature search using small array sizes of up to five elements, under conditions which precluded eye-movements, in contrast to previous studies. The results were consistent with the theory. Conjunction search showed the effect of adding distractors to the display, the slopes of the curves relating RT to array size were in the approximate ratio of 2:1, consistent with a central, serial search process, exhaustive for absence responses and self-terminating for presence responses. Feature search showed no significant effect of distractors for presence responses. Experiment 2 manipulated the response requirements in conjunction search, using vocal response in a GO-NO GO procedure, in contrast to Experiment 1, which used key-press responses in a YES-NO procedure. Strikingly, presence-response RT was not affected significantly by the number of distractors in the array. The slope relating RT to array size was 3.92. The absence RT slope was 30.56, producing a slope ratio of approximately 8:1. There was no interaction of errors with array size and the presence and absence conditions, implying that RT-error trade-offs did not produce this slope ratio. This result suggests that feature-integration theory is at least incomplete.

Adolescent↗

The role of Branhamella ovis, Mycoplasma conjunctivae and Chlamydia psittaci in conjunctivitis of sheep.

Smooth (S) and rough (R) types of Branhamella ovis were used alone and in conjunction with Mycoplasma conjunctivae and Chlamydia psittaci in attempts to produce conjunctivitis in lambs. This was only successful with one S-type previously isolated from a clinical case of conjunctivitis. In experimental mixed infection, B. ovis contributed to the severity of ovine keratoconjunctivitis attributable to infection with Mycoplasma conjunctivae. When B. ovis and C. psittaci were inoculated into the conjunctival sac mild conjunctivitis was produced but C. psittaci could not be re-isolated.

Animals↗

Auditory feature conjunction in patients with schizophrenia.

The neural mechanisms supporting performance during single feature and feature conjunction tasks were investigated in patients with schizophrenia and age-matched controls using event-related brain potentials. In different blocks of trials, participants responded to auditory targets defined by one of two pitches, one of two locations, or both pitch and location. All participants were faster and more accurate in detecting targets defined by a single feature than for targets defined by a conjunction of features. Compared with the single feature conditions, conjunction targets were associated with enhanced negativity between 200 and 250ms (N2) post-stimulus and showed a delayed P3b latency. Compared with controls, patients with schizophrenia showed reduced N1 and N2 amplitude elicited by single and conjunctive targets. The results are consistent with defective perceptual mechanisms in schizophrenia. The fact that both performance and P3b amplitude were similar in patients and controls suggests that controlled processes compensate for processes normally carried out by early perceptual mechanisms.

Adult↗

Visual feature conjunction in patients with schizophrenia: an event-related brain potential study.

The neural mechanisms supporting performance during single feature and feature conjunction detection were investigated in patients with schizophrenia and age-matched controls using event-related brain potentials. In different blocks of trials, participants responded to visual targets defined by one of two colors, one of two orientations, or both color and orientation. All participants were faster and more accurate in detecting targets defined by a single feature than for targets defined by a conjunction of features. Relative to controls, patients made more errors and were slower in detecting targets defined by a combination of features. Patients also generated a smaller N2 wave to single and conjunctive targets, and showed greater P3b reduction over the right hemisphere for conjunctive targets than for targets defined by color only. In addition, target stimuli generated an increased negativity at the occipital sites that varied in scalp distribution with the attended features in controls but not in patients. Both behavioral and electrophysiological data provide converging evidence for deficits in integrating visual features in schizophrenia and suggest that processing features of visual objects in schizophrenia are partly supported by distinct functional networks.

Adult↗

Illusory conjunctions inside and outside the focus of attention.

This article addresses 2 questions that arise from the finding that visual scenes are first parsed into visual features: (a) the accumulation of location information about objects during their recognition and (b) the mechanism for the binding of the visual features. The first 2 experiments demonstrated that when 2 colored letters were presented outside the initial focus of attention, illusory conjunctions between the color of one letter and the shape of the other were formed only if the letters were less than 1 degree apart. Separation greater than 2 degrees resulted in fewer conjunction errors than expected by chance. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that inside the spread of attention, illusory conjunctions between the 2 letters can occur regardless of the distance between them. In addition, these experiments demonstrated that the span of attention can expand or shrink like a spotlight. The results suggest that features inside the focus of attention are integrated by an expandable focal attention mechanism that conjoins all features that appear inside its focus. Visual features outside the focus of attention may be registered with coarse location information prior to their integration. Alternatively, a quick and imprecise shift of attention to the periphery may lead to illusory conjunctions among adjacent stimuli.

Adult↗

Conjunction search revisited.

Search for conjunctions of highly discriminable features can be rapid or even parallel. This article explores three possible accounts based on (a) perceptual segregation, (b) conjunction detectors, and (c) inhibition controlled separately by two or more distractor features. Search rates for conjunctions of color, size, orientation, and direction of motion correlated closely with an independent measure of perceptual segregation. However, they appeared unrelated to the physiology of single-unit responses. Each dimension contributed additively to conjunction search rates, suggesting that each was checked independently of the others. Unknown targets appear to be found only by serial search for each in turn. Searching through 4 sets of distractors was slower than searching through 2. The results suggest a modification of feature integration theory, in which attention is controlled not only by a unitary "window" but also by a form of feature-based inhibition.

Adult↗

If it's not there, where is it? Locating illusory conjunctions.

There is evidence that complex objects are decomposed by the visual system into features, such as shape and color. Consistent with this theory is the phenomenon of illusory conjunctions, which occur when features are incorrectly combined to form an illusory object. We analyzed the perceived location of illusory conjunctions to study the roles of color and shape in the location of visual objects. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants located illusory conjunctions about halfway between the veridical locations of the component features. Experiment 3 showed that the distribution of perceived locations was not the mixture of two distributions centered at the 2 feature locations. Experiment 4 replicated these results with an identification task rather than a detection task. We concluded that the locations of illusory conjunctions were not arbitrary but were determined by both constituent shape and color.

Color Perception↗

The temporal dynamics of visual search: evidence for parallel processing in feature and conjunction searches.

Feature and conjunction searches have been argued to delineate parallel and serial operations in visual processing. The authors evaluated this claim by examining the temporal dynamics of the detection of features and conjunctions. The 1st experiment used a reaction time (RT) task to replicate standard mean RT patterns and to examine the shapes of the RT distributions. The 2nd experiment used the response-signal speed-accuracy trade-off (SAT) procedure to measure discrimination (asymptotic detection accuracy) and detection speed (processing dynamics). Set size affected discrimination in both feature and conjunction searches but affected detection speed only in the latter. Fits of models to the SAT data that included a serial component overpredicted the magnitude of the observed dynamics differences. The authors concluded that both features and conjunctions are detected in parallel. Implications for the role of attention in visual processing are discussed.

Adolescent↗

Functional theory of illusory conjunctions and neon colors.

Illusory conjunctions are the incorrect perceptual combination of briefly presented colors and shapes. In the neon colors illusion, achromatic figures take on the color of an overlaid grid of colored lines. Both illusions are explained by a theory that assumes (a) poor location information or poor spatial resolution for some aspects of visual information and (b) that the spatial location of features is constrained by perceptual organization. Computer simulations demonstrate that the mechanisms suggested by the theory are useful in veridical perception and they are sufficient to produce illusory conjunctions. The theory suggests mechanisms that economically encode visual information in a way that filters noise and fills in missing data. Issues related to neural implementation are discussed. Four experiments illustrate the theory. Illusory conjunctions are shown to be affected by objective stimulus organization, by subjective organization, and by the linguistic structure of ambiguous Hebrew words. Neon colors are constrained by linguistic structure in the same way as illusory conjunctions.

Adolescent↗

Demands on attention and the role of response priming in visual discrimination of feature conjunctions.

This study examined how response mapping of features within single- and multiple-feature targets affects decision-based processing and attentional capacity demands. Observers judged the presence or absence of 1 or 2 target features within an object either presented alone or with distractors. Judging the presence of 2 features relative to the less discriminable of these features alone was faster (conjunction benefits) when the task-relevant features differed in discriminability and were consistently mapped to responses. Conjunction benefits were attributed to asynchronous decision priming across attended, task-relevant dimensions. A failure to find conjunction benefits for disjunctive conjunctions was attributed to increased memory demands and variable feature-response mapping for 2- versus single-feature targets. Further, attentional demands were similar between single- and 2-feature targets when response mapping, memory demands, and discriminability of the task-relevant features were equated between targets. Implications of the findings for recent attention models are discussed.

Adolescent↗

Robust recollection rejection in the memory conjunction paradigm.

The present research provides compelling evidence for recollection rejection in the memory conjunction paradigm. In Experiment 1, warnings provided at time of test were shown to reduce memory conjunction errors. Moreover, the authors found substantial evidence of recollection rejection and phantom recollection. In Experiment 2, the authors manipulated how often study items were presented. Participants were told that they could earn a cash payoff for being accurate. Recognition of conjunction lures was lower in the multiple presentation condition. However, the payoff manipulation did not significantly interact with item type. The authors obtained evidence of robust recollection rejection from 3 different dependent measures. Consistent with Experiment 1, they also found evidence of phantom recollection. These findings provide evidence that recollection rejection can be quite robust in the memory conjunction paradigm.

Attention↗

Visual search for features and conjunctions in development.

Visual search performance was examined in three groups of children 7 to 12 years of age and in young adults. Colour and orientation feature searches and a conjunction search were conducted. Reaction time (RT) showed expected improvements in processing speed with age. Comparisons of RT's on target-present and target-absent trials were consistent with parallel search on the two feature conditions and with serial search in the conjunction condition. The RT results indicated searches for feature and conjunctions were treated similarly for children and adults. However, the youngest children missed more targets at the largest array sizes, most strikingly in conjunction search. Based on an analysis of speed/accuracy trade-offs, we suggest that low target-distractor discriminability leads to an undersampling of array elements, and is responsible for the high number of misses in the youngest children.

Adult↗