REVIEW paper: mare reproductive loss syndrome.

An epidemic of early fetal loss (EFL), late fetal loss (LFL), fibrinous pericarditis, and unilateral uveitis which occurred during the spring of 2001, are together now known as the mare reproductive loss syndrome (MRLS). A similar epidemic with less intensity was reported during the same period of time from southern Ohio, West Virginia, and Tennessee. The same syndrome with lesser intensity recurred in 2002. The estimated economic loss from the syndrome in 2001 and 2002 together was approximately $500 million. Both EFL and LFL were characterized by the absence of specific clinical signs in aborting mares. Nonhemolytic Streptococcus spp. and Actinobacillus spp. accounted for 65% of the organisms isolated from fetuses submitted for a postmortem during the MRLS period in 2001 and 2002. The pathologic findings in fetoplacental units of LFL included bronchopneumonia and funisitis, and there were no findings in EFL. Epidemiologic studies conducted in 2001 suggested an association between the presences of eastern tent caterpillars (ETC) in pastures with MRLS. Experimental studies in pregnant mares by exposure to ETC, or administration by stomach tube or with feed material, reproduced EFL and LFL. Similar experimental studies in mouse, rats, and goats with ETC were unsuccessful. Currently, 2 hypotheses are proposed for MRLS. One hypothesis proposes that an ETC-related toxin with secondary opportunistic bacterial invasion of the fetus leads to MRLS. The second hypothesis suggests that a breach of gastrointestinal mucosal integrity by hairs of ETC leads to a bacteremia and results in MRLS. In 2004, a similar equine abortion storm was reported from Australia and caterpillar exposure was identified as a risk factor for the abortion. In 2006, the syndrome was observed in Florida and New Jersey.

Tilt aftereffects generated by bilaterally symmetrical patterns.

Tilt aftereffects were generated by bilaterally symmetrical dot patterns. Both expansion and contraction effects, similar in size and magnitude to effects usually reported with luminance contours, were observed after adaptation to symmetrical patterns tilted 15 deg or 75 deg respectively from a vertically oriented test. Large effects were found when both adapting and test stimuli were symmetrical patterns while smaller effects were found when the adapting stimulus was symmetrical and test stimulus was a grating. A third experiment, which manipulated the number of dots near the axis line, confirmed the above findings; expansion and contraction effects were observed again. The results of these experiments suggest that the neural mechanism underlying the perception of luminance contours may be linked to the mechanism for the detection of symmetry.

Eye movements reflect impaired face processing in patients with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Impaired processing of faces in patients with schizophrenia may underlie aspects of disturbance in their social interaction. This study examined patterns of eye fixation in subjects with schizophrenia and non-psychiatric controls, while processing a high resolution picture of a neutral face and a nonbiological complex geometric stimulus. METHODS: Ten-second sequences of eye movement were recorded video-oculographically (50 samples/sec) while subjects were "free-viewing" the stimuli. An essential element of the study was customized software that ensured stimulus presentation on a video display only after subjects were fixated upon a centre-screen cue, so that all subjects began stimulus processing from the same point. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, subjects with schizophrenia exhibited reduced scanpath lengths and a tendency toward fewer fixations for the face stimulus. They also showed an initial relative right spatial hemineglect (for the first voluntary fixation) when viewing the Rey figure, but not when viewing the face stimulus. Overall, there were no significant differences between the schizophrenia and control groups in the lateral distribution of subsequent fixations for either stimulus. CONCLUSIONS: Disturbed spatial and temporal patterns of eye movement in some people with schizophrenia may reflect sub-optimal processing of face stimuli, that may predispose these individuals to dysfunctional interpretation of facial communication cues.