Identification of the preferential gaze position through elevation of visual fatigue in a selected group of VDU operators. A preliminary study.

A selected group of VDU workers were tested in an attempt to achieve objective evidence of visual fatigue and to identify a preferential monitor/gaze position during a particular work setting. Each subject was scored in a two-phase test. The highest mean scores were achieved when the monitor was lowered with respect to the primary/gaze position; the scores obtained with the monitor in primary or upward gaze position were significantly lower (p < 0.001). The downward gaze position should be considered more comfortable for both innervational and anatomical factors, as stated in previous studies of ocular mobility. A reduction of vertical saccades could also play a role in lessening visual fatigue in this gaze position.

[Surgical treatment of ptosis in cases of mitochondrial myopathies and severe myasthenia]. / Traitement chirurgical des ptosis dans les cas de myopathies mitochondriales et de myasthénie grave.

The authors describe various surgical treatments for ptosis due to mitochondrial myopathies and myasthenia gravis. Six patients out of ten underwent an anterior approach levator resection. Four out of ten were submitted to a brow suspension according to Fox's technique. Results and postoperative complications are examined and discussed.

Reduced severity of oxygen-induced retinopathy in the newborn rat after topical administration of timolol maleate. A preliminary study.

The effects of timolol maleate on intraocular pressure (IOP) and the severity of retinopathy induced by exposure to 80% oxygen were studied in newborn Wistar rats. One drop of timolol maleate (0.25%) instilled in each eye twice a day for the first ten days of life substantially reduced intraocular pressure without significantly modifying arterial pressure. Forty percent of the ratlings treated in this way failed to develop oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) after exposure to 80% oxygen for the first five days of life; in the other 60% OIR was less severe than that seen in an identically oxygenated group that did not receive timolol. The authors hypothesize that the pharmacologically induced reduction in IOP may have attenuated the effects of the high concentrations of oxygen on the immature retinal vessels by improving the ocular perfusion pressure. The possibility that timolol maleate also exerts a direct action on the caliber of these vessels cannot be excluded.