A rare case of an idiopathic extraocular muscle abscess

Diplopia has a diverse range of ophthalmological, neurological, autoimmune, neoplastic and infectious causes. However it is very rare for an extraocular muscle abscess to occur. A skeletal muscle abscess usually occurs in the thigh and trunk muscles and is most commonly caused by Staphylococcus aureus.1 The purpose of this case report is to describe this condition we came across in our eye casualty department in a healthy teenager who presented with painful diplopia and this was due to a lateral rectus muscle abscess. Complete resolution of the diplopia occurred by 6 weeks from starting treatment. The possible aetiologies and possible complications of such a condition are then discussed. An idiopathic extraocular muscle abscess is a rare condition which should be included in the differential diagnosis of a patient presenting with painful double vision.peer-reviewe

Oculoplastics

Oculoplastics surgery is a relatively “new” subspecialty within Ophthalmology which deals with disorders of the lids, lacrimal system and orbits. Like any other surgical subspecialty, oculoplastics was born out of a need to provide specialized surgical care and in this particular case, to people suffering from severe eyelid disease, trauma and watery eye problems. One can say that this particular line of surgery originated from a ‘cross breed’ between plastic surgery and ophthalmology. The influential British plastic surgeon Jack Mustardé*, way back in the 1960s, was beginning to hope that “in the future we might see a generation of surgeons arising who would be, fundamentally, either plastic surgeons or ophthalmic surgeons, but who would take specific training of some sort in the contralateral field.” He went on to say that “I had the honour to be invited to speak at conferences by both plastic surgeons and ophthalmic surgeons. The plastic surgeons didn’t know enough ophthalmology to contradict me, and the ophthalmic surgeons didn’t know enough plastic surgery to contradict me either!”peer-reviewe

Tercerización de servicios en la Argentina: empleo y gestión de RRHH en los call centers

En la actualidad un número cada vez mayor de países se ve alcanzado por el cambio en la dimensión geográfica de las actividades económicas que representa la tercerización de la producción. En este contexto, las grandes firmas optan por deslocalizar funciones administrativas recurriendo a proveedores especializados en gestionar -a distancia- operaciones empresariales. En nuestro país contamos con un ejemplo elocuente a partir del crecimiento explosivo de la actividad de los call centers tercerizados y en la conformación de un dinámico sector de Empresas Tercerizadoras de Call Centers (ETCC).En nuestro estudio, dirigimos la atención al sector de ETCC y a su interior, nos interesamos por las empresas tercerizadoras con participación en el mercado de exportación de servicios que -desde plataformas ubicadas en Argentina- proveen servicios a empresas subcontratantes que operan en el extranjero (CC offshore). Nos preguntamos por la vinculación que existe entre las ETCC y las firmas que las subcontratan, por el posicionamiento de estas empresas proveedoras de servicios en el mercado doméstico y en el de exportación, y por los factores que orientan sus estrategias de crecimiento y de localización. El objetivo nuestras exploraciones es analizar las implicancias de estas cuestiones sobre la gestión de la fuerza de trabajo y sobre las características que adoptan los recursos humanos del sector.Fil: del Bono, Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones Laborales; ArgentinaFil: Henry, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones Laborales; Argentin

Decoding social intentions in human prehensile actions: Insights from a combined kinematics-fMRI study

Consistent evidence suggests that the way we reach and grasp an object is modulated not only by object properties (e.g., size, shape, texture, fragility and weight), but also by the types of intention driving the action, among which the intention to interact with another agent (i.e., social intention). Action observation studies ascribe the neural substrate of this `intentional' component to the putative mirror neuron (pMNS) and the mentalizing (MS) systems. How social intentions are translated into executed actions, however, has yet to be addressed. We conducted a kinematic and a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study considering a reach-to-grasp movement performed towards the same object positioned at the same location but with different intentions: passing it to another person (social condition) or putting it on a concave base (individual condition). Kinematics showed that individual and social intentions are characterized by different profiles, with a slower movement at the level of both the reaching (i.e., arm movement) and the grasping (i.e., hand aperture) components. fMRI results showed that: (i) distinct voxel pattern activity for the social and the individual condition are present within the pMNS and the MS during action execution; (ii) decoding accuracies of regions belonging to the pMNS and the MS are correlated, suggesting that these two systems could interact for the generation of appropriate motor commands. Results are discussed in terms of motor simulation and inferential processes as part of a hierarchical generative model for action intention understanding and generation of appropriate motor commands

A Spontaneous Mouse Model of Lupus: Physiology and Therapy

Spontaneous models of lupus were recognized four decades ago beginning in the early 1960s with the NZB/NZW F1 (NZB/W F1) mouse, an F1 hybrid between the New Zealand Black (NZB) and New Zealand White (NZW) mice. Although the parental strains display limited autoimmunity, the NZB/W F1 develops severe lupus-like features similar to that of human lupus patients. Here, we will address the genetic characteristics of the model and discuss its main characteristics such as the presence of serum antinuclear autoantibodies (ANA) including anti-dsDNA, mild vasculitis, and the development of immune complex-mediated glomerulonephritis. Similar to human lupus, the disease develops primarily in female mice after six months of age, with a lesser percentage and severity in male mice. The relation of this phenomenon will be examined in the context of estrogen levels. The participation of both innate and adaptive immunity will be addressed as well as the contribution of both T and B cells in the development of the clinical aspects of the disease. We will focus on the use of the model as a valuable tool for elucidating the pathogenic mechanisms of the disease, as well as its use as preclinical testing of therapeutic for human use

NO NORMALIDAD Y HETEROGENEIDAD DE VARIANZA EN EL MODELO LINEALMIXTO (MLM) EN DISEÑOS SPLIT-PLOTCON MUESTRAS PEQUEÑAS

Los datos provenientes de investigaciones de tipo longitudinal en psicología suelen reflejar condiciones características de este ámbito de estudio, como son los tamaños muestrales reducidos, distribuciones no normales, violaciones de los supuestos de esfericidad y homogeneidad de varianza. Actualmente, el modelo lineal mixto (MLM) es uno de los procedimientos más recomendados cuando los supuestos en los que se basan los procedimientos tradicionales no se cumplen. Cuando los tamaños muestrales son reducidos se suele utilizar algún procedimiento de ajuste de los grados de libertad que mejore las propiedades del MLM, como el propuesto por Kenward y Roger (KR; 1997). El objetivo de este estudio fue ampliar el estudio realizado por Arnau et al. (2011) evaluando la robustez de KR con diseños split-plot de muestras pequeñas ante violaciones de la normalidad en diferente grado en los distintos grupos, violaciones de la esfericidad y de la homogeneidad de varianza. Se realiza un estudio de simulación Monte Carlo considerando un diseño split-plot con 3 grupos y 4 ocasiones de medidas repetidas, con tamaños muestrales totales de 36 y 42 individuos, asumiendo una matriz de covarianza no estructurada en la generación de datos. Se han manipulado las siguientes condiciones: a) con grupos balanceados y no balanceados; b) homogeneidad y heterogeneidad de la matriz de covarianza; c) emparejamiento nulo, positivo o negativo entre el tamaño de grupo y la matriz de covarianza y d) esfericidad de 0,57 ó 0,75. Los resultados muestran que KR es robusto cuando los diseños son equilibrados, independientemente de la violación de los supuestos de esfericidad y/o de homogeneidad de varianza. Sin embargo, cuando los diseños no son equilibrados, se halla una tendencia a la liberalidad, especialmente cuando el emparejamiento de las matrices de covarianza y el tamaño de los grupos es negativo. Los resultados de este estudio van en la línea con los obtenidos en estudios previos.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Proyecto de Investigación PSI2012-32662 Ministerio Economía y Competitividad

Can implicit or explicit time processing impact numerical representation? Evidence from a dual task paradigm

Whether the human brain processes various types of magnitude, such as numbers and time, through a shared representation or whether there are different representations for each type of magnitude is still debated. Here, we investigated two aspects of number-time interaction: the effects of implicit and explicit processing of time on numbers and the bi-directional interaction between time and number processing. Thirty-two participants were randomly assigned into two experimental groups that performed, respectively, a Single task (number comparison, with implicit time processing) and a Dual task (number comparison as a primary task, with explicit time processing as a secondary task). Results showed that participants, only in the Dual task, were faster and more accurate when processing large numbers paired with long rather than short durations, whereas the opposite pattern was not evident for small numbers. Moreover, participants were more accurate when judging long durations after having processed large rather than small numbers, whereas the opposite pattern emerged for short durations. We propose that number processing influences time processing more than vice versa, suggesting that numbers and time might be at least partially independently represented. This finding can pave the way for investigating the hierarchical representation of space, numbers, and time

Can pterygium excision with mitomycin C leaving bare sclera be salvaged?

Purpose The aim of this study was to analyze the recurrence rate of pterygium following excision with intra-operative mitomycin C (MMC) and post-operative scraping of the perilimbal conjunctival defect, and the patients’ satisfaction with this technique. Methods This is a retrospective analysis of a cohort of 33 eyes of 28 patients with primary or recurrent pterygium who underwent simple excision with MMC. They were followed up after a mean of 27.8 months. The main outcomes considered were the recurrence rate and patient satisfaction. A recurrence was defined as any regrowth of conjunctiva over the limbus and any complications were considered significant. The patients were interviewed with a standard questionnaire and examined. Results An objective recurrence was noted in 55% (18 out of 33 eyes). The recurrence rate after excision of primary pterygia was 46% (13 out of 28 eyes), and for recurrent pterygia it was 80% (four out of five eyes). In this study the complications included: six eyes that developed a granuloma, one case of bleeding which persisted for three days post-op, and one eye in which there was a suspected scleral melt at five weeks. 79% of the procedures resulted in a good patient satisfaction (26 out of 33 eyes), and only in 15% (five eyes) was there a subjective recurrence. Conclusions This technique in our study resulted in an unacceptably high recurrence rate, especially in the case of recurrent pterygia. However patients still tended to be satisfied with the outcome.peer-reviewe