To evaluate VisuALL, a game-based automated perimetry device, utilizing virtual reality (VR) goggles, in a cohort of patients with childhood glaucoma.
In this prospective series, the results of ...consecutive patients with childhood glaucoma performing both VisuALL VR field (VRF) and Humphrey visual field (HVF) 24-2 testing were compared. A masked ophthalmologist graded both VRF and HVF tests for field defects (three clustered abnormal points in total or pattern deviation plot). VRF testing was performed binocularly and with the child's own spectacles. The two devices were assessed with respect to agreement of (1) global indices, such as mean deviation (MD) and pattern standard deviation (PSD), (2) point-by-point sensitivity, and (3) the ability to detect visual field defects determined by a grader.
A total of 39 children (77 eyes) were enrolled, with mean age 14.1 ± 3.6 years; 3 patients (5 eyes) could not complete the HVF. Average HVF MD was -6.3 ± 6.4 dB. There was strong correlation between VRF and HVF for MD (R = 0.68, P < 0.001), PSD (R = 0.78, P < 0.001), and point-by-point sensitivity (R = 0.63, P < 0.001). Bland Altman analysis showed no systematic difference between VRF and HVF in assessing MD and PSD. Of 72 eyes having results for both modalities, 63 (87.5%) had agreement between VRF and HVF with respect to the presence/absence of any field defect, and 52 (72.2%) had agreement regarding the presence/absence of fixation-threatening field loss.
VRF is comparable to the gold standard HVF in both identification and quantification of visual field deficits in pediatric glaucoma patients and may offer a valuable supplement or alternative to standard automated perimetry.
Objective: Covitality is a meta-construct of positive intra/interpersonal self-schemas that organize and process life experiences. Its synergy favors psychosocial adjustment and prevents mental ...health problems during adolescence. At these ages, suicide is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The purpose of this study was to determine which psychosocial strengths of the covitality model could combat adolescent suicide spectrum. Method: Participants were 5,528 Spanish adolescents aged 12-18 years, 50.74% females. The assessment protocol was completed in schools, under the supervision of the research staff. Statistical analyses were conducted using hurdle models, i.e., modeling zero-inflated count data. This process provided two sets of outcomes: the association – in probabilistic terms – between psychosocial strengths and the absence of suicide indicators (i.e., non-occurrence) and the association of these assets – via regression coefficients – with increased experimentation (i.e., duration/quantity). Results: All psychosocial strengths of the covitality model were related to the non-ocurrence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, but not all to a shorter duration/quantity of their phenotypic manifestations. Covitality obtained greater association values on suicidal tendencies than its components analyzed independently. Belief in self and engaged living were the second-order factors with the higher estimating capacity. Specifically, emotional self-awareness, enthusiasm, gratitude, family support, and behavioral self-control were key first-order assets. Conclusions: These findings suggest that training adolescents in covitality assets could be an effective strategy for universal prevention against premature suicide. Moreover, this study provide evidence on which psychosocial strengths could counteract each phenotypic manifestation of suicide in order to customize selective and indicated preventive actions.
Virtual reality field testing may provide an alternative to standard automated perimetry. This study evaluates a virtual reality game-based automated perimetry in a healthy pediatric population.
A ...prospective series of pediatric patients at one institution who performed VisuALL perimetry (Olleyes Inc, Summit, NJ) using a game-based algorithm. Participants were examined by an experienced pediatric optometrist or ophthalmologist, who confirmed that there was no evidence of ocular disease expected to affect visual fields. Testing was performed binocularly, with the child wearing their spectacle correction in place. Age, refractive error, test duration, false positives, and stereoacuity were evaluated for associations with performance on VisuALL, as defined by mean deviation (MD) and pattern standard deviation (PSD).
A total of 191 eyes of 97 patients (54% female) were included, with a mean age of 11.9 ± 3.1 years. The average MD was −1.82 ± 3.5 dB, with a mean foveal sensitivity of 32.0 ± 4.7 dB. Fifty-nine eyes (30.9%) had MD < −2 dB. Better performance, as assessed by MD and PSD, was associated with shorter test duration (P < 0.001) and older age (P < 0.001). False positives (P = 0.442), wearing spectacles (P = 0.092), Titmus stereoacuity (P = 0.197), and refractive error (P = 0.120) did not appear to be associated with improved performance, adjusting for age as a covariate.
VisuALL virtual reality field testing was well tolerated in this pediatric study cohort. Older age and shorter test duration were associated with better performance on field testing.
The mesenterial tissues play important roles in the interactions between the viscera and the rest of the organism. Among these roles, they serve as the physical substrate for nerves connecting the ...visceral nervous components to the central nervous system. Although the mesenterial nervous system component has been described in vertebrates, particularly in mammals, a description in other deuterostomes is lacking. Using immunohistochemistry in tissue sections and whole mounts, we describe here the nervous component of the intestinal mesentery in the sea cucumber
Holothuria glaberrima.
This echinoderm has the ability to regenerate its internal organs in a process that depends on the mesentery. Therefore, we have also explored changes in the mesenterial nervous component during intestinal regeneration. Extensive fiber bundles with associated neurons are found in the mesothelial layer, extending from the body wall to the intestine. Neuron-like cells are also found within a plexus in the connective tissue layer. We also show that most of the cells and nerve fibers within the mesentery remain during the regenerative process, with only minor changes: a general disorganization of the fiber bundles and a retraction of nerve fibers near the tip of the mesentery during the first days of regeneration. Our results provide a basic description of mesenterial nervous component that can be of importance for comparative studies as well as for the analyses of visceral regeneration.
To report and characterize unexpected retinal findings identified by imaging with overhead-mounted optical coherence tomography (OCT) in 2 young children with infantile-onset glaucoma.
Children with ...glaucoma were imaged during clinically indicated examinations under anesthesia using overhead-mounted HRA+OCT Spectralis with Flex module (Flex-OCT, Heidelberg, Germany) from February 2017 through February 2022. Imagers prioritized scans of the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL), optic nerve head, and macula. Children imaged before age 2 years with images adequate for evaluation were included. Age at glaucoma diagnosis, glaucoma type, highest intraocular pressure (IOP), corneal diameter (CD), and axial length (AL) were recorded.
A total of 41 children (71 eyes with glaucoma) were imaged before age 2 years. Macular imaging identified both inner and outer retinal thinning in 3 eyes of 2 young children (both eyes of a child with newborn primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) and 1 eye of a child with glaucoma following cataract surgery), which remained stable over time. These findings were present in 2 of 41 children (4.9%) and 3 of 71 eyes (4.2%) imaged with Flex-OCT. Neither highest IOP, CD, nor AL at imaging differentiated the 3 eyes with retinal changes from the larger group.
Three eyes of 2 young children with refractory glaucoma of different etiologies and highly elevated IOP demonstrated areas of inner and outer retinal thinning, consistent with retinal injury from probable prior macular ischemia. Unexpected retinal pathology identified on Flex-OCT imaging in infantile-onset glaucomas highlights the need for continued study of the pathophysiology of this disease.▪
Gathering information from students’ answers to open-ended questions helps to assess the quality of teachers’ practices and its relations with students’ motivation. The present study aimed to use ...sentiment analysis, an artificial intelligence-based tool, to examine students’ responses to open-ended questions about their teacher’s communication. Using the obtained sentiment scores, we studied the effect of teachers engaging messages on students’ sentiment. Subsequently, we analysed the mediating role of this sentiment on the relation between teachers’ messages and students’ motivation to learn. Results showed that the higher the students’ perceived use of engaging messages, the more positive their sentiments towards their teacher’s communication. This is an important issue for future research as it shows the usefulness of sentiment analysis for studying teachers’ verbal behaviours. Findings also showed that sentiment partially mediates the effect of teachers engaging messages on students’ motivation to learn. This research paves the way for using sentiment analysis to better study the relations of teachers’ behaviours, students’ sentiments and opinions, and their outcomes.
The current study examined the relation of students’ performance and teachers’ enthusiasm with teachers’ use of engaging messages in class. These messages can focus on the benefits or disadvantages ...of engaging in a school task, and appeal to controlled (i.e., extrinsic, or introjected) or autonomous (i.e., identified, or intrinsic) incentives to engage students. Engaging messages were gathered through audio-recorded lessons of 39 teachers in 59 student groups during the second term of the academic year. Results showed that both students’ performance and teachers’ enthusiasm are related to teacher’s use of engaging messages. The better the students’ performance, and the higher the teachers’ enthusiasm, the larger the number of messages used. Moreover, the better the students’ performance, the greater the likelihood of using messages that appeal to extrinsic incentives. By assessing engaging messages through objective observations, we discovered relationships that can help us better understand teachers’ use of engaging message.
•Students' performance (SP) was related to teachers' use of engaging messages.•The better the SP, the greater the likelihood of using extrinsic messages.•Teachers' enthusiasm for teaching (ET) was related to their use of engaging messages.•The better the SP and the TE, the larger the number of messages used.•Results highlighted the high potential of two-part models in educational research.
This study examined how emotional intensity of speech affects the relationship between teachers’ engaging messages, and students’ motivation to learn and academic performance. To achieve our goal, we ...recorded and transcribed teachers’ lessons. Results revealed that messages appealing to external stimuli had lower emotional intensity than those appealing to internal stimuli. Our results also suggest that emotional intensity moderates the relationship between engaging messages and academic performance, with the effect decreasing as emotional intensity increases. This study offers insights into the role of acoustic features in teachers’ influence on students’ motivation and academic performance and suggests avenues for further research.
University teaching practices impact student interest, engagement, and academic performance. This paper presents a study that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to examine students’ preferences for ...university teaching practices. We asked students in various fields open-ended questions about the best teaching practices they had experienced. Due to the large amount of data obtained, we used the AI-based language model Generative Pretrained Transformer-3 (GPT-3) to analyse the responses. With this model, we sorted students’ testimonies into nine theory-based categories regarding teaching practices. After analysing the reliability of the classifications conducted by GPT-3, we found that the agreement between humans was similar to that observed between humans and the AI model, which supported its reliability. Regarding students’ preferences for teaching practices, the results showed that students prefer practices that focus on (1) clarity and (2) interaction and relationships. These results enable the use of AI-based tools that facilitate the analysis of large amounts of information collected through open methods. At the didactic level, students’ preferences and demand for clear teaching practices (in which ideas and activities are stated and shown without ambiguity) that are based on interaction and relationships (between teachers and students and among students themselves) are demonstrable.
Handheld optical coherence tomography (HH-OCT) can image awake, young children but lacks integrated segmentation/analysis software. OCT imaging of eyes with optic neuropathies demonstrates ganglion ...cell layer (GCL) and ganglion cell complex (GCC) thinning, with a normal or thickened inner nuclear layer (INL). We compared pediatric normative data with GCL/INL and GCC/INL ratios from HH-OCT macular scans of awake young children with clinically diagnosed optic neuropathies.
Macular HH-OCT from awake children with optic neuropathies was prospectively obtained using Bioptigen (Leica Microsystems, Wetzlar, Germany). The GCL, GCC, and INL were manually measured by two readers using ImageJ from single-line macular scans at the thickest points nasal and temporal to the fovea, respectively, and the GCL/INL and GCC/INL ratios were calculated and compared with normative data.
HH-OCT images from 17 right eyes of 17 children (mean age, 4.3 ± 2.9 years) with optic neuropathies were analyzed. Mean nasal (17 eyes) and temporal (16 eyes) GCL/INL ratios with optic neuropathies were 0.44 ± 0.38 (95% CI, 0.26-0.62) and 0.26 ± 0.22 (95% CI, 0.15-0.36), respectively. Corresponding normative GCL/INL ratios are 1.26 ± 0.20 (95% CI, 1.19-1.34) and 1.23 ± 0.27 (95% CI, 1.13-1.33), respectively (P < 0.0001). Severe thinning precluded GCL measurements in 2 eyes nasally and 5 eyes temporally, resulting in GCL measurements of zero. Mean nasal (17 eyes) and temporal (16 eyes) GCC/INL ratios were 1.93 ± 0.70 (95% CI,1.60-2.27) and 1.67 ± 0.44 (95% CI,1.46-1.87). Corresponding normative ratios are 2.85 ± 0.38 (95% CI, 2.71-2.99) and 2.87 ± 0.42 (95% CI, 2.70-3.03), respectively (P < 0.0001).
GCL/INL and GCC/INL ratios calculated from single-line macular HH-OCT scans in awake young children with optic neuropathies differ significantly from normative values and may thus have utility in helping to establish a diagnosis of optic neuropathy.
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