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Biomedical subjects

S Gur

Publications and source records attributed to S Gur.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

[Spinal cord injuries caused by aviation accidents].

During the past 15 years fewer than 1% of those treated in the National Spinal Cord Injury Center were injured as a result of aviation accidents. In addition to 9 such patients treated at the center since 1973, another 6 were found among the many hundreds receiving ambulatory care in our clinics. 3 patients had survived a helicopter crash, 2 were injured while ejecting from combat aircraft, 3 were injured in crashes of light aircraft, 1 fell from a hand glider and 6 were injured in parachute drops. Of the 15 reviewed, 6 use wheelchairs, 3 walk assisted by orthopedic devices, while 6 ambulate freely. Although initial hospitalization was not substantially longer than in other patients with spinal cord injuries, extended ambulatory psychological intervention was necessary.

Accidents, Aviation

Does work with visual display units impair visual activities after work?

It is well established that visual display unit (VDU) operators complain of visual fatigue and visual stress during after-work hours. The present study was divided into two parts. In the first part, standard eye examinations were performed on a group of VDU workers (n = 32) and a control group (n = 15); those subjects who were found to have correct vision (n = 16 and 13, respectively) participated in the second part. The eye examinations revealed that on the average, the VDU workers suffered more than twice as many visual impairments as the controls. In those with correct vision, the near point of accommodation was measured at the beginning of the workday at the start of the week, and at the end of the workday, four days later. In the VDU group, the decrease in accommodation was uniformally distributed between zero and 1.0 diopter, whereas among the non-VDU workers, 77% of the decrease was between zero and 0.25 diopter. The dynamic range of accommodation in the VDU workers on the second examination was smaller than on the first. We conclude that some of the visual stress and visual fatigue that developed at work hindered visual activities after work.

Accommodation, Ocular

Gaze and eye movement disorders.

Cortical areas were explored with regard to saccade control: the lateral intraparietal (LIP) area is involved in the spatial aspects of sensorimotor processing; the supplementary motor area in goal-directed gaze control; and from lesion studies; the posterior parietal cortex in triggering visually guided saccades. Different studies have suggested that the spatial-to-temporal transformation takes place in the superior colliculus (SC) and the cerebellum. When the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) produces inadequate eye movements, other supplementary mechanisms (e.g. non-visual, saccade) may play a role in correcting gaze. A classification of central vestibular disorders of the brainstem and VOR has been proposed, as manifested in any one of the three major planes of action (yaw, pitch and role).

Cerebral Cortex

Survival in marriage in the paraplegic couple: psychological study.

In the study of sexual functions and marital relations in 16 couples involving a normal female and a paraplegic male, married following the injury, it was found that a major source of dissatisfaction on the part of the wives was their inability to become pregnant and bear children. Sexual relations were surprisingly of secondary importance. Common in all 16 couples was the almost total lack of knowledge on the part of the woman about the man's sexual capabilities and the effect of his injury on fertility. Premarital counselling seems to be of primary importance in assuring the survival of such marriages. It may be useful to suggest they have premarital experience. Later, counselling should include the importance and advantages of artificial insemination donor treatment as a solution to infertility.

Adult

Contrast sensitivity and the near point of accommodation after work with a visual display unit.

After several hours of work with a visual display unit (VDU), operators become myopic for a short time. Such transient myopia may be evaluated by measuring contrast sensitivity to a modulated grating pattern. The aim of the present study was to determine whether there are any accumulative myopic effects after 1 day of VDU work. We examined grating contrast sensitivity in a group of 13 full-time workers and in 13 office employees who used VDUs only sporadically. The results, which were compared with the near point of accommodation, clearly illustrated that there is no decrease in contrast sensitivity. In the VDU group the decrease in the near point of accommodation was uniformly distributed between zero and 1.0 diopter, whereas among the non-VDU workers 77% of the decrease was between zero and 0.25 diopter. We conclude that the myopic changes in the refractive status of operators after VDU work are not evident in a decrease in contrast sensitivity. However, in VDU workers the dynamic range of accommodation was smaller, suggesting that the visual fatigue and visual stress that developed at work hindered visual activities after work.

Accommodation, Ocular

Training in oculomotor tracking: occupational health aspects.

Smooth pursuit and optokinetic nystagmus were repeatedly examined in nine patients who sustained hemilateral brain injury. The follow-up period extended over several months of the in-hospital rehabilitation phase. Five of the patients were trained for 3-10 weeks to improve tracking responses using a biofeedback technique; the remaining four patients were not trained and served as a control group. In all patients in the first group gain responses improved and the recovery time constant increased at a rate higher than that in the untrained group. We suggest that our training procedure can be extended to other types of patients with impaired smooth pursuit tracking and may also benefit workers in need of good tracking performance.

Biofeedback, Psychology