Vascular risk factors in glaucoma: the results of a national survey

Background The role of vascular risk factors in glaucoma is still being debated. To assess the importance of vascular risk factors in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), data from the medical history of 2,879 POAG patients and 973 age-matched controls were collected and analyzed. Methods Design: observational survey. Setting: 35 Italian academic centers. Study population: POAG patients and age-matched controls. In order to reduce bias consecutive patients were included. Observation procedures: data concerning vascular risk factors were collected for all patients with a detailed questionnaire. A complete ophthalmological examination with assessment of intraocular pressure (IOP), visual field, optic disc, and systemic blood pressure was performed. Main outcome measures: the ESH-ESC (European Society of Hypertension-European Society of Cardiology) guidelines were used to calculate the level of cardiovascular risk. Crude and adjusted estimates of the odds ratios (OR) were calculated for all cardiovascular risk factors in POAG and controls. Results The study included 2,879 POAG patients and 973 controls. POAG cases had a significantly higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure (p=0.001) and systolic perfusion pressure (p=0.02) as compared with controls. Also mean IOP was significantly higher in the POAG group (p=0.01), while diastolic perfusion pressure was not significantly different in the two groups. Myopia was more prevalent in the POAG group (23 vs 18%, p=0.005) as well as a positive family history for glaucoma (26 vs 12%, p= 0.004). POAG patients tended to have a higher cardiovascular risk than controls: 63% of glaucoma cases vs 55% of controls (OR: 1.38, p=0.005) had a “high” or “very high” cardiovascular risk. Conclusions The level of cardiovascular risk was significantly higher in glaucoma patients than in controls

Augmenting the Eye of the Beholder: Exploring the Strategic Potential of Augmented Reality to Enhance Online Service Experiences

Driven by the proliferation of augmented reality (AR) technologies, many firms are pursuing a strategy of service augmentation to enhance customers’ online service experiences. Drawing on situated cognition theory, the authors show that AR - based service augmentation enhances customer value perceptions by simultaneously providing simulated physical control and environmental embedding. The resulting authentic situated experience, manifested in a feeling of spatial presence, funct ions as a mediator and also predicts customer decision comfort. Furthermore, the effect of spatial presence on utilitarian value perceptions is greater for customers who are disposed toward verbal rather than visual information processing, and the positive effect on decision comfort is attenuated by customers’ privacy concerns

Steps to a naturalistic account of human deontology

In this paper we outline a theory of human deontology from a naturalistic perspective. In doing so we aim to explain how human beings deal with deontic relations (like obligations and rights) thanks to a specialised psychological infrastructure, which evolved to support human cooperation. This infrastructure includes a repertoire of emotions that play a crucial role in evaluating the conformity of actions relative to a deontic relation, in displaying an agent’s attitude toward their own actions or those of their deontic partners, and in motivating suitable behavioural responses. Finally we discuss the special case of interpersonal deontology, analysing its properties and relating it to Gilbert’s concept of joint commitment

Participation as a form of socialization: how a research team can support PhD students in their academic path

The education of doctoral students is rarely studied as it unfolds in real settings of everyday academic life. This contribution is based on an ethnography that aims to understand how PhD students’ socialization is accomplished in the daily life of a specific academic research team and which practices can be particularly relevant for supporting this process. Situated learning theory (Lave and Wenger 1989) and the concept of PhD students’ socialization by Golde (1998) serve as theoretical background. Findings underline the importance of the type of team leadership, of the role of peers, and of full and active participation to the life of the team

Communicating within a research team: how multiple objects are negotiated in an academic environment

Event synopsis: The theme of the 28th EGOS Colloquium 2012 in Helsinki is Design!? The concept of design has been defined and used in a multitude of ways in a variety of academic fields, ranging from the classics of organizational design to studies on open sourcing and aesthetics. At the Colloquium, we seek not only to problematize and rethink the various meanings of design, but also to promote discussion on new ways to view and to understand organizations and organizing on this basis. The exclamation mark in Design!? denotes the need for organizational and other theorists to take actively into account different perspectives, to take a stand, and to suggest new and innovative ideas vis-à-vis existing work. The question mark, in turn, encourages problematization of established notions, conceptualizations and categorizations. Organizational and other theorists need to render visible and question the taken-for-granted understandings that sustain and reproduce established boundaries in organizations and organizing – as well as in the ways in which researchers make sense of them. In the harsh Northern climate, Helsinki, the Finnish capital, is emblematic of the social, practical and cultural aspects of Design!? In the Finnish context, design is first and foremost about usefulness, rather than exclusiveness and glamour. Design is not something reserved for elites and connoisseurs. It is everywhere. Sometimes it fails to please the eye, but it usually works, plain and simple