Orbital hemangiopericytoma in an Asian population

Background/PurposeHemangiopericytoma is a very rare orbital tumor. The purpose of this study was to report the clinical and histopathological features of six cases of orbital hemangiopericytoma in an Asian population.MethodsClinical and histopathological features were reviewed in six patients who were histopathologically confirmed as having primary orbital hemangiopericytoma in National Taiwan University Hospital between May 2001 and December 2010.ResultsAmong the six cases who were diagnosed as having primary orbital hemangiopericytoma, all lesions were reported as vascular tumors and featured branching “staghorn appearance” vessels. All patients, including one male and five females, presented with progressive proptosis and some associated symptoms such as extraocular motility limitation with diplopia, displacement of the globe, afferent pupillary defect, congested vessels of conjunctiva, or decreased visual acuity. On computed tomography, the orbital tumors tended to manifest as circumscribed masses with homogeneous medium-to-high enhancement with contrast studies. All six patients received surgical treatments, and four of them had additional radiotherapy. Three patients had recurrence after surgeries, and one of them had multiple metastases to lung and liver. All patients were still alive after a follow-up period of 5–10 years.ConclusionOrbital hemangiopericytoma has malignant potential, which may lead to local recurrence and/or metastasis. Histopathological findings alone are insufficient to predict the behavior of this tumor. Therefore, both clinical and histopathological findings are important to evaluate the treatment outcomes. Total excision accompanied with radiotherapy is suggested and long-term follow-up is required

How to Create Suitable Augmented Reality Application to Teach Social Skills for Children with ASD

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by a reduced ability to appropriately express social greetings. Studies have indicated that individuals with ASD might not recognize the crucial nonverbal cues that usually aid social interaction. This study applied augmented reality (AR) with tabletop role-playing game (AR-RPG) to focus on the standard nonverbal social cues to teach children with ASD, how to appropriately reciprocate when they socially interact with others. The results showed that intervention system provides an AR combined with physical manipulatives and presents corresponding specific elements in an AR 3D animation with dialogue; thus, it can be used to help them increase their social interaction skills and drive their attention toward the meaning and social value of greeting behavior in specific social situations. We conclude that AR-RPG of social situations helped children with ASD recognize and better understand these situations and moderately effective in teaching the target greeting responses

Social globalization and design innovation

While designs play a critical role in corporate innovation and business operations, the determinants of design innovation (i.e., new aesthetic or stylistic forms) are largely underexplored in the literature. Accumulating evidence suggests that openness to the exchange of ideas, the adoption of progressive policies, and the circulation of human capital play significant roles in driving regional innovative activities. In this study, we ask a variation of this question: Is there evidence that social globalization, i.e., “the spread of ideas, information, images and people” (Dreher et al., 2008, p. 43) – can drive the extent of national design innovation? We leverage a survey instrument reporting on globalization levels, the KOF Globalization Index, to measure national levels of social globalization. We find that national levels of social globalization predict design innovation, as measured by the number of annual design awards granted by the Industrie Forum (iF) over the period 1973-2015. To address the potential endogeneity in our analysis, we instrument for social globalization using a differences-in-differences approach and an instrumental variable approach. Our findings remain robust when we use U.S. design patents as an alternative measure for design innovation. We further show that personal contact could be the main underlying mechanism for social globalization to encourage design innovation.Othe