Pattern-Related Visual Stress, Chromaticity, and Accommodation

PURPOSE. To investigate the impact of colored overlays on the accommodative response of individuals, with and without pattern- related visual stress (PRVS), a condition in which individuals manifest symptoms of perceptual distortion and discomfort when viewing a 3-cyc/deg square-wave grating. METHODS. Under double-masked conditions, 11 individuals who reported PRVS selected an overlay with a color individually chosen to reduce perceptual distortion of text and maximize comfort (PRVS group). Two groups of control subjects individually matched for age, sex, and refractive error were recruited. Control group 1 similarly chose an overlay to maximize comfort. Control group 2 used the same overlays as the paired PRVS participant. The overlay improved reading speed by 10% (P < 0.001), but only in the PRVS group. A remote eccentric photorefractor was used to record accommodative lag while participants viewed a cross on a background. The background was uniform or contained a grating and was either gray or had a chromaticity identical with that of the chosen overlay. There were therefore four backgrounds in all. RESULTS. Overall, the accommodative lag was 0.44 D greater in the participants with PRVS. When the background had the chosen chromaticity, the accommodative lag was reduced by an average of 0.16 D (P = 0.03) in the PRVS group, but not in the symptom-free groups: in control group 2 the colored background slightly increased the accommodative lag. CONCLUSIONS. Accommodative lag was greater in individuals susceptible to pattern-related visual stress and was reduced by a colored background. © Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology

Random Changes of Accommodation Stimuli: An Automated Extension of the Flippers Accommodative Facility Test

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Repeatability of push-up and push-down methods in the measure of accommodation amplitude

La mesura de l’amplitud d’acomodació és una pràctica molt habitual en optometria. La majoria de professionals coincideixen en que els mètodes push-up i push-down són els més utilitzats als exàmens visuals degut al fet que són mètodes ràpids, fàcils i eficaços. Tot i això, és important saber la concordança entre cada mètode per tal de realitzar diagnòstics correctes. En aquest estudi, s’han comparat els resultats en diòptries dels mètodes push-up i push-down. Per tal de dur a terme l’estudi, s’ha mesurat l’amplitud d’acomodació a 12 pacients, dues vegades, prenent 3 mesures en cada repetició. Per avaluar la concordança entre mètodes s’han utilitzat el paired-T test, el Shapiro-wilk test i el gràfics de Bland and Altman. L’anàlisi estadístic de les dades mesurades s’ha fet per tal d’estudiar ambdós mètodes. Els resultats no han mostrat diferències significatives entre el mètode del push-up i el del push-down

Is there Still a PR Problem Online? Exploring the Effects of Different Sources and Crisis Response Strategies in Online Crisis Communication Via Social Media

This study examined the effects of source and crisis response strategy on crisis communication outcomes in the context of social media. A 3 (source: organization, CEO, or customer) × 2 (strategy: accommodative or defensive) × 2 (crisis type: airline crash or bank hacking) mixed experimental study was conducted with 391 participants. The organizational sources were more likely to be perceived as more credible than the non-organizational sources. In particular, the CEO appeared to be the most trustworthy and credible source in delivering crisis messages. The path analysis indicated that perceived source credibility mediated the effect of source on reputation and behavioral intentions. This mediation appeared to be contingent on the type of crisis response strategy

Patterns of Nonlinearity in the Ratio of Stimulus Accommodative Convergence to Accommodation

Background: This study disputes the assumption that the stimulus accommodative convergence to accommodation (AC/A) ratio is linear. Subjects and Methods: Accommodative convergence induced by minus lenses of varying power (-1.50 to -6.00DS, at intervals of 1.50DS) is measured on the Synoptophore in a group of 96 non-strabismic children aged 6 years 3 months to 11 years 2 months (mean 8.81 ± 1.43 years). Results: The mean AC/A ratios obtained with a stimulus to accommodation of 1.5D; 3.00D; 4.5D; 6.00D are 2.25 ± 1.47; 2.88 ± 1.15; 3.28 ± 1.02; 3.49 ± 0.85 respectively. Five patterns of change in AC/A ratio with stiumulus are described. Conclusion: Further studies in all age groups are necessary to investigate the non-linearity of the AC/A ratio over repeated measurements and the repeatability of the testing method

Counseling and Psychotherapy Within and Across Faith Traditions (Chapter 17 in The Oxford Handbook of the Psychology of Spirituality)

This chapter begins with general considerations for religiously and spiritually oriented psychotherapy, including the importance of seeing religion and spirituality as d.imensions of cultural diversity, considering clients\u27 welfare and autonomy, and maintaining competence. Three types of religious and spiritual intervention approaches are then discussed: assimilative, accommodative, and collaborative. Assimilative approaches introduce spiritual interventions or considerations into a standard psychotherapy approach. Accommodative approaches involve adapting a standard psychotherapy regimen to include religious or spiritual matters. Collaborative approaches entail a mental health professional and religious leader working in tandem for the sake of clients\u27 welfare. Next, specific issues related to counseling within (when the client and counselor share the same beliefs) and across (when the client and counselor hold differing beliefs) faith traditions are offered. The chapter concludes with some thoughts regarding future directions of religious and spiritual interventions in counseling and psychotherapy

Vision and Reading Difficulties Part 1: Specific learning difficulties and vision

This article is the first in a series of five about vision and reading difficulties, and provides an introduction and an overview of learning disabilities and specific learning difficulties. It outlines the role of the optometrist in helping people with such problems; it describes the symptoms that optometrists should look for and it provides an introduction of the evidence-based approach. The second article in this series will cover the optometric and orthoptic correlates of reading difficulties. Articles three and four will describe the use of coloured filters, including background, techniques, evidence, and mechanism. The final article will draw together the themes in the series of articles and discuss the clinical protocol and the role of the eye care practitioner in managing visual factors associated with reading difficulties

Does the Badal optometer stimulate accommodation accurately?

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Genome-wide search for strabismus susceptibility loci.

The purpose of this study was to search for chromosomal susceptibility loci for comitant strabismus. Genomic DNA was isolated from 10mL blood taken from each member of 30 nuclear families in which 2 or more siblings are affected by either esotropia or exotropia. A genome-wide search was performed with amplification by polymerase chain reaction of 400 markers in microsatellite regions with approximately 10 cM resolution. For each locus, non-parametric affected sib-pair analysis and non-parametric linkage analysis for multiple pedigrees (Genehunter software, http://linkage.rockefeller.edu/soft/) were used to calculate multipoint lod scores and non-parametric linkage (NPL) scores, respectively. In sib-pair analysis, lod scores showed basically flat lines with several peaks of 0.25 on all chromosomes. In non-parametric linkage analysis for multiple pedigrees, NPL scores showed one peak as high as 1.34 on chromosomes 1, 2, 4, 7, 10, 15, and 16, while 2 such peaks were found on chromosomes 3, 9, 11, 12, 18, and 20. Non-parametric linkage analysis for multiple pedigrees of 30 families with comitant strabismus suggested a number of chromosomal susceptibility loci. Our ongoing study involving a larger number of families will refine the accuracy of statistical analysis to pinpoint susceptibility loci for comitant strabismus.&#60;/P&#62;</p