Identification of Textured Tactile Pictures in Visually Impaired and Blindfolded Sighted Children.

A high level of variability in the capacity of visually impaired children to accurately identify tactile images is reported in the literature, with on average rather low percentages of correct naming responses. However, most of these studies used raised-line drawings as stimuli to be explored and named. The present experiment investigated whether blind children of 3 to 8 years of age would demonstrate a satisfactory ability to name the elements making up tactile images when tested in an experimental setting similar to their natural reading conditions.

Verbal definitions of familiar objects in blind children reflect their peculiar perceptual experience.

Background: The aim of the present study was to examine to what extent the verbal definitions of familiar objects produced by blind children reflect their peculiar perceptual experience and, in consequence, differ from those produced by sighted children.

Methods: Ninety-six visually impaired children, aged between 6 and 14 years, and 32 age-matched sighted children had to define 10 words denoting concrete animate or inanimate familiar objects.

Results: The blind children evoked the tactile and auditory characteristics of objects and expressed personal perceptual experiences in their definitions.

Exploratory procedures of tactile images in visually impaired and blindfolded sighted children: how they relate to their consequent performance in drawing.

The aim of the present study was to compare the types of exploratory procedures employed by children when exploring bidimensional tactile patterns and correlate the use of these procedures with the children's shape drawing performance. 18 early blind children, 20 children with low vision and 24 age-matched blindfolded sighted children aged approximately 7 or 11 years were included in the study. The children with a visual handicap outperformed the sighted children in terms of haptic exploration and did not produce less recognizable drawings than their sighted counterparts.

Pidotimod in the treatment of patients affected by bacterial exacerbations of chronic bronchitis.

A multicentre double-blind placebo-controlled study was conducted in order to assess the effects of pidotimod ((R)-3-[(S)-(5-oxo-2-pyrrolidinyl) carbonyl]-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid, PGT/1A, CAS 121808-62-6), a new synthetic biological response modifier, on the clinical picture of bacterial exacerbations of chronic bronchitis. Seven centres of respiratory diseases participated in the trial. A total of 137 patients, 103 males and 34 females (mean age: 65.