Visual inspection alone produces a decrement in the horizontal-vertical illusion.

Subjects inspected either inverted-T or L figures for 5 min. and then shortened the extended vertical lines of inverted-T figures in an attempt to make the vertical line equal in length to the horizontal line. Those who inspected inverted-T figures were more accurate on initial trials than controls (who did not inspect figures), those who inspected L figures, or those who inspected inverted-T figures and made adjustments on the inspected figures. The results indicate that visual inspection alone can produce a decrease in the Horizontal-Vertical illusion and may account, in part, for changes in strategic factors which have been hypothesized to underlie illusion decrement.

Long-term selenium exposure.

Metabolic pathways and toxic effects of long-term selenium exposure in animal models and humans have both similarities and significant differences. In animal models the target organ is the liver, in which chronic cirrhosis develops. In man the target organ appears to be the lung, which manifests acute "rose cold," or, as in our patient, a chronic granulomatous hypersensitivity. Our data indicate not only a different target organ than would have been predicted from animal models, but also a difference in the distribution of selenium in human tissues. Long-term use of selenium favors production of dimethylselenide, which is excreted by the lungs and should be considered a pulmonary toxin. The ramifications of these findings may require a change in the monitoring techniques of long-term industrial exposure and mandate a close follow-up of selenium as a health fad.