Purpose: A study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of three different strategies aiming at increasing spontaneous eyeblink rate (SEBR) during computer use.
Methods: A total of 12 subjects (5 female) with a mean age of 28.7 years were instructed to read a text presented on a computer display terminal during 15min. Four reading sessions (reference and three "blinking events" [BE]) were programmed in which SEBR was digitally recorded. "Blinking events" were based on either a slight distortion of the text characters or on the presentation of a white screen instead of the text, with or without accompanying blinking instructions. All BE had a duration of 20ms and occurred every 15s. Participants graded the intrusiveness of each BE configuration, and the number of lines participants read in each session was recorded.
Results: Data from 11 subjects was analysed. A statistically significant difference in SEBR was encountered between the experimental configuration consisting on a white screen plus blinking instructions (7.8 blinks/min) and both reference (5.2 blinks/min; p=0.049) and white screen without blinking instructions (4.8 blinks/min; p=0.038). All three BE had superior levels of intrusiveness than reference conditions, although the performance of participants (line count) was not compromised.
Conclusions: The joint contribution of white screen and blinking instructions has been shown to result in a short term improvement in blinking rate in the present sample of non-dry eye computer users. Further work is necessary to improve the acceptance of any BE aiming at influencing SEBR.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clae.2014.05.005 | DOI Listing |
Br J Hosp Med (Lond)
January 2025
Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.
Epidemiological studies indicate that the involvement of the immune system in the pathogenesis of infections associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and interstitial lung disease (ILD) remains unclear. This study aims to assess the potential causal link between infections associated with COPD, asthma, or ILD and immune system function. We conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis using publicly available genome-wide association study (GWAS) datasets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Integr Neurosci
January 2025
Department of Brain Disease Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, 230031 Hefei, Anhui, China.
Background: White matter (WM) is a principal component of the human brain, forming the structural basis for neural transmission between cortico-cortical and subcortical structures. The impairment of WM integrity is closely associated with the aging process, manifesting as the reorganization of brain networks based on graph theoretical analysis of complex networks and increased volume of white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) in imaging studies.
Methods: This study investigated changes in the robustness of WM brain networks during aging and assessed their correlation with WMHs.
Viruses
January 2025
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Doenças Infecciosas e Parasitárias, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-913, Brazil.
Background And Objectives: HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM) is a chronic progressive inflammatory disease of the spinal cord. This study assesses the diagnostic accuracy of the neuroinflammatory biomarkers neopterin and cysteine-X-cysteine motif chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL-10) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for HAM.
Methods: CSF samples from 75 patients with neurological disorders-33 with HAM (Group A), 19 HTLV-1-seronegative with other neuroinflammatory diseases (Group B), and 23 HTLV-1-seronegative with non-neuroinflammatory diseases (Group C)-were retrospectively evaluated.
Nutrients
January 2025
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
Background/objectives: While studies in rat pups suggest that early zinc exposure is critical for optimal brain structure and function, associations of prenatal zinc intake with measures of brain development in infants are unknown. This study aimed to assess the associations of maternal zinc intake during pregnancy with MRI measures of brain tissue microstructure and neurodevelopmental outcomes, as well as to determine whether MRI measures of the brain mediated the relationship between maternal zinc intake and neurodevelopmental indices.
Methods: Forty-one adolescent mothers were recruited for a longitudinal study during pregnancy.
Pharmaceuticals (Basel)
January 2025
Laboratory of Toxinology and Cardiovascular Research, University of Western São Paulo (UNOESTE), Presidente Prudente 19050-680, SP, Brazil.
We compared the enzymatic, coagulant, and neuromuscular activities of two variants (yellow-CDRy and white-CDRw) of venom with a sample of (CDT) venom and examined their neutralization by antivenom against CDT venom. The venoms were screened for enzymatic and coagulant activities using standard assays, and electrophoretic profiles were compared by SDS-PAGE. Neutralization was assessed by preincubating venoms with crotalic antivenom and assaying the residual activity.
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