Spontaneous traumatic macular hole closure in a 50-year-old woman: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Traumatic macular holes (TMH) are well-known complications of ocular contusion injury. Spontaneous closure occurs in approximately 50% of cases, but rarely after the age of thirty. We report a case of spontaneous closure of a full thickness macular hole due to a blunt trauma and we suggest possible mechanisms for this closure.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 50-year-old Greek woman was referred with a history of reduced best-corrected visual acuity after blunt trauma to her right eye. Diagnosis was based on fundoscopic, optical coherence tomography as well as fluorescein angiography findings with follow-up visits at two days, 20 days and five months. Fundoscopy revealed a full-thickness TMH with a minor sub-retinal hemorrhage and posterior vitreous detachment. The presence of a coagulum in the TMH base was observed. Subsequently, TMH closure was observed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The clot in the TMH base, potentially a hemorrhage by-product containing a significant quantity of platelets, may have simulated the clot observed after autologous serum use, thus facilitating a similar effect. This may have stimulated glial cell migration and proliferation, thus contributing to spontaneous hole closure.</p

Improving Control of a Dual-Duct Single-Fan Variable Air Volume Systems

This paper discusses improved control strategies for dual-duct single-fan variable air volume (VAV) systems. Common control strategy for supply air volume modulation is evaluated, and an improved air volume control strategy that maintains separate cold and hot air duct static pressure set points is presented. The paper also explores the interactions between the cold and hot deck temperatures and duct static pressures, and discusses the impact of non-ideal deck temperature settings on duct static pressures and overall system energy consumption. To compensate the negative impact of non-ideal cold and hot deck temperature set points, the authors propose using real-time duct static pressure readings as feedback signals to fine-tune the deck temperature set points. These new control schemes can reduce simultaneous cooling and heating while reducing fan power consumption

The General Practice Care of People With Intellectual Disability: Barriers and Solutions

A questionnaire exploring general practitioners' (GPs) perceptions of the barriers and solutions to providing health care to people with intellectual disability was sent to 912 randomly selected GPs throughout Australia. a response rate of 58% was obtained. Results indicated that numerous barriers compromised the quality of health care able to be provided to people with intellectual disability. communications difficulties with patients and other health professionals, and problems in obtaining patient histories stood out as the two most significant barriers. A range of other barriers were identified, including GPs' lack of training and experience, patients' poor compliance with management plans, consultation time constraints, difficulties in problem determination, examination difficulties, poor continuity of care, and GPs' inadequate knowledge of the services and resources available. General practitioners also suggested numerous solutions to these barriers, and emphasized the need for increased opportunities for education and training in intellectual disability. The GPs showed an overwhelming interest to be involved in further education. Other major solutions included increasing consultation duration or frequency, proactively involving families and carers in patients' ongoing health care, and increasing remuneration

Development of a gamified cognitive training app “Social Brain Train” to enhance adolescent mental health: a participatory design study protocol

Background: Adolescence is a sensitive period for the onset of mental health disorders. Effective, easy-to-disseminate, scalable prevention and early interventions are urgently needed. Affective control has been proposed as a potential target mechanism. Training affective control has been shown to reduce mental health symptoms and improve emotion regulation. However, uptake and adherence to such training by adolescents has been low. Thus, the current study aims to receive end user (i.e., adolescents) feedback on a prototype of a novel app-based gamified affective control training program, the Social Brain Train. Methods: The proposed study aims to recruit participants aged 13-16 years old (N = 20) to provide user feedback on the Social Brain Train app. The first group of participants (n = 5) will complete an online questionnaire assessing demographics, symptoms of depression and anxiety, social rejection sensitivity and attitudes toward the malleability of cognition and mental health. They will complete two tasks assessing cognitive capacity and interpretation bias. Participants will be then be invited to an online group workshop, where they will be introduced to the app. They will train on the app for three days, and following app usage, participants will complete the aforementioned measures again, as well as provide ratings on app content, and complete a semi-structured interview to obtain in-depth user feedback, which will be used to inform modifications to the app. Following these modifications, a second group of participants (n = 15) will follow the same procedure, except they will train on the app for 14 days. Feedback from both groups of participants will be used to inform the final design. Conclusions: By including young people in the design of the Social Brain Train app, the proposed study will help us to develop a novel mental health intervention that young people find engaging, acceptable, and easy-to-useSavannah Minihan, Annabel Songco, Jack L. Andrews, Karina Grunewald, Aliza Werner-Seidler, Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Helen Christensen, Elaine Fox, Ian M. Goodyer, William Raffe, Susanne Schweize

Enterprise Culture and the Arts: Neo-Liberal Values and British Art Institutions

Neoliberal discourse has spread from the economic realm into all parts of society. This chapter discusses the current situation of neoliberal discourses and their effects on the arts, focusing on the United Kingdom. It also examines the historical development of British cultural policy, highlighting trends toward the marketization of the arts, increasing government intervention, and a growing emphasis on managerialism. The analysis shows that British arts organizations have been deeply affected by state and corporate interests. The chapter draws on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, who describes the field of cultural production as containing two poles that are autonomous or heteronomous. By tracing British cultural policy as it came to favor enterprise culture, the chapter demonstrates an increasing loss of autonomy in the arts

Metal Ion Adsorption by Peat and Solvent-Extracted Peat

The effect of the solvent extraction of peat on the sorption behaviour of three divalent metal ions [iron(II), lead and barium] was examined. Solvent extraction of peat resulted in particles of a smaller size with a significantly increased surface area. The extracted peat also demonstrated an increase in cation-exchange capacity from 127.2 to 149.5 mequiv/100 g, apparently due to an increase in available phenolic groups. Adsorption experiments carried out at pH 4.5 on peat and on the solvent-extracted peat using the three metal ions showed that the sorption behaviour of Fe(II) and Pb(II) ions correlated strongly with the Langmuir isotherm whereas the behaviour of Ba(II) ions was better described by the Freundlich expression. When the two peat substrates were compared, the monolayer saturation capacity observed for the Fe(II) ion on peat was 0.357 mmol/g while a value of 0.420 mmol/g was recorded for the solvent-extracted peat, with solvent extraction of the peat leading to a more modest increase in Pb(II) ion adsorption. The increase in molar monolayer saturation capacity for the Fe(II) ion suggests that these smaller ions were bound preferentially to the strong phenolic sites, with Pb(II) ion adsorption occurring on the carboxylic sites. In the case of Ba(II) ions, interactions other than ion exchange contributed to the sorption behaviour