The purpose of the present study was to compare the oculomotor behavior of readers scanning meaningful and meaningless materials. Four conditions were used-a normal-text-reading control condition, and three experimental conditions in which the amount of linguistic processing was reduced, either by presenting the subjects with repeated letter strings or by asking the subjects to search for a target letter in texts or letter strings. The results show that global eye-movement characteristics (such as saccade size and fixation duration), as well as local characteristics (such as word-skipping rate, landing site, refixation probability, and refixation position), are very similar in the four conditions. The finding that the eyes are capable of generating an autonomous oculomotor scanning strategy in the absence of any linguistic information to process argues in favor of the idea that such predetermined oculomotor strategies might be an important determinant of eye movements in reading.During one century of research on eye movements in reading, several divergent theories have been proposed to account for the variability ofsaccade sizes and fixation durations classically observed when people read a text. From these theories, there have emerged two main hypotheses: an oculomotor hypothesis and a processing hypothesis.The oculomotor hypothesis was originally proposed at the beginning ofthe century by researchers who claimed that the main component of eye-movement guidance in reading is a preprogrammed oculomotor scanning strategy. According to this hypothesis, the eyes move forward in a rhythmic fashion by making saccades of constant length and fixations of constant duration; the known variability in saccade sizes and fixation durations results primarily from noise in the oculomotor system, and secondarily from gradual adjustments of the parameters of the rhythmic strategy to ongoing processing demands (Bouma

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to define the prevalence of vitamin B 12 deficiency in a type 2 diabetic population within a primary care practice. Metformin use and advanced age are associated with vitamin B 12 deficiency and often present in type 2 diabetic patients, yet the prevalence of vitamin B 12 deficiency in the diabetic population is unknown.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 203 outpatient type 2 diabetic patients at a large military primary care clinic. Patients completed a survey and had B 12 levels measured. Patients with borderline B 12 levels also had methylmalonic acid and homocysteine levels drawn. Serum B 12 levels <100 pg/mL or serum B 12 levels of 100 to 350 pg/mL with elevation of serum methylmalonic acid >243 nmol/L or homocysteine >11.9 nmol/L defined B 12 deficiency. Descriptive statistics described frequency and means.2 and student's t tests were used to analyze associations between categorical and continuous variables, respectively. Multivariate logistical regression identified covariates independently associated with B 12 deficiency.Results: Twenty-two percent (n ‫؍‬ 44) of diabetic patients had metabolically confirmed B 12 deficiency. Patients on metformin had lower serum B 12 levels (425.99 pg/mL vs 527.49 pg/mL; P ‫؍‬ .012) and were at increased risk for B 12 deficiency (P ‫؍‬ .04), as defined by a serum B 12 level <350 pg/mL. Prevalence of B 12 deficiency was significantly lower for patients using a multivitamin (odds ratio, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.15-0.63).Conclusions :

The use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to facilitate healing of orthopedic-related injuries has gained popularity; however, the clinical benefits are not consistent. Differences may result from variations in growth factor (GF) levels in normal populations. The purpose of this study was to determine if GF levels present in activated PRP preparations differed by gender and age (≤ 25 versus >25 years) in a healthy population (N = 102). All GFs analyzed (epidermal growth factor [EGF], hepatocyte growth factor [HGF], insulin growth factor-1 [IGF-1], platelet-derived growth factor-AB [PDGF-AB], platelet-derived growth factor-BB [PDGF-BB], transforming growth factor beta-1 [TGFβ-1], and vascular endothelial growth factor) had higher levels for females and for those ≤ 25 years old. Of the GFs tested, four of seven were significantly higher (p < 0.05) for females (EGF, HGF, IGF-1, PDGF-BB), the most significant being IGF-1 (female, 85.0; male, 69.3 ng/mL; p < 0.01). Five of seven GFs achieved significance (p < 0.05) for people ≤ 25 years old (EGF, IGF-1, PDGP-AB, PDGF-BB, and TGFβ-1), with IGF and PDGF-AB achieving p < 0.001 (≤ 25 years, 85.1; >25 years, 56.8, and ≤ 25 years, 7.66; >25 years, 5.77 ng/mL, respectively). Finally, for both genders, most of the GFs were positively correlated with all GFs. This study demonstrated that both age and gender account for variations in specific GFs present in PRP, and this may partially explain some of the inconsistent results of PRP clinical trials.

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Relapse rate estimates after 2 year WHO multiple drug therapy (MDT) in multi-bacillary (MB) leprosy vary. Between 1987 and 1994, 500 MB leprosy patients completing 2 year MDT were enrolled in a prospective relapse study. The majority of patients (N = 316) were treated and followed at the physician-staffed Cebu Skin Clinic (CSC), whereas others (N = 184) received therapy from government clinics and were followed by CSC technicians in the field. Relapse definition was an increased bacteriologic index (BI) and new skin lesions, supplemented with mouse footpad inoculations. Through 2002, follow-up was 5368 person-years, with a mean of 10.8 years per patient. The absolute relapse rate was 3% (15/498; 0.28/100 person-years), with a cumulative risk estimate of 3.9% at 15 yrs. For a subset of 217 patients followed for >or=12 yrs or until relapse, relapses occurred in 9% (13/142) attending the CSC, versus 3% (2/75) assessed in the field (p = 0.09). The rate for patients followed at CSC for >or=12 yrs and a pre-treatment BI >or=2.7+ was 13% (13/98). All relapses were BL or LL, with pre-treatment BI's of >or=2.7+. Relapses occurred long after completion of therapy, between 3 and 11 yrs from the midpoint of the examination without relapse to detection, or between 6 to 13 yrs to the actual year of detection, 7 occurring at >or=10 yrs. Lesion material from all relapses contained M. leprae that was rifampin and clofazimine sensitive, whereas 3 showed partial or full dapsone resistance. [Follow-up rigor and time], medical expertise, and pre-treatment bacterial load influence relapse rates after 2 yr MDT.