Eye movements of children during reading

The present study was designed to produce a table of norms of' fixations, regressions and rates of reading, expressed as lengths of film in inches. While other eye-movements measures, such as span of recognition, are included in various studies, these are not given in the present investigation. The reason for this is that such measures are calculated from" the measures used here and secondly the use of these other measures make assumptions regarding their authenticity which are not always verified by investigations. Fixations, regressions and reading time are fully objective and require no hypothesis of central thought processes to explain their supposed function. The instrument used was the Ophthalmograph manufactured by the American Optical Co. The eye-movements are recorded by the corneal reflex method on a moving strip of film which moves through the camera at a constant speed of .327 inches per second. The reading cards were 5 in. x 3 in., the largest size of card usable with this apparatus. The text of the Test Card is an adaptation from "Claudius the Bee" by J. F. Leeming. Three hundred children attending schools in Durham County were tested, there being fifty children in each of the age groups from eight to thirteen years inclusive. Every child tested was required to read the Burt Graded Vocabulary Scale to their chronological age level before being accepted for testing. The means of the eye-movement measures for each age group are shown in the tables together with the highest and lowest score in each year group, and also the range. All measures are for twelve lines of reading. The graphs show the averages for each eye-measure for all the age groups. The measures obtained are also calculated to produce norms of eye movements, according to reading age, and also according to reading age within each chronological age group. An-evaluation is made of the eye-movement camera, as a clinical tool and future lines of research suggested

Sustained inflation at birth did not alter lung injury from mechanical ventilation in surfactant-treated fetal lambs.

BackgroundSustained inflations (SI) are used with the initiation of ventilation at birth to rapidly recruit functional residual capacity and may decrease lung injury and the need for mechanical ventilation in preterm infants. However, a 20 second SI in surfactant-deficient preterm lambs caused an acute phase injury response without decreasing lung injury from subsequent mechanical ventilation.HypothesisA 20 second SI at birth will decrease lung injury from mechanical ventilation in surfactant-treated preterm fetal lambs.MethodsThe head and chest of fetal sheep at 126±1 day GA were exteriorized, with tracheostomy and removal of fetal lung fluid prior to treatment with surfactant (300 mg in 15 ml saline). Fetal lambs were randomized to one of four 15 minute interventions: 1) PEEP 8 cmH2O; 2) 20 sec SI at 40 cmH2O, then PEEP 8 cmH2O; 3) mechanical ventilation with 7 ml/kg tidal volume; or 4) 20 sec SI then mechanical ventilation at 7 ml/kg. Fetal lambs remained on placental support for the intervention and for 30 min after the intervention.ResultsSI recruited a mean volume of 6.8±0.8 mL/kg. SI did not alter respiratory physiology during mechanical ventilation. Heat shock protein (HSP) 70, HSP60, and total protein in lung fluid similarly increased in both ventilation groups. Modest pro-inflammatory cytokine and acute phase responses, with or without SI, were similar with ventilation. SI alone did not increase markers of injury.ConclusionIn surfactant treated fetal lambs, a 20 sec SI did not alter ventilation physiology or markers of lung injury from mechanical ventilation

Anaerobic Nitrogen Fixation in Some Iowa Soils

Data secured by various investigators have proven quite conclusively that the aerobic nitrogen-fixing bacteria of the genus Azotobacter are not active or even present in soils more acid than pH 6.0. Many of the soils in Iowa are more strongly acid than this, and while no Azotobacter have been found in them, some nitrogen fixation certainly occurs. It appears, therefore, that some other organisms or groups of organisms must be responsible