Comparing the Visual Skills of a Trinidadian Cricket Team

This study attempted to determine if there is a correlation between visual skills and physical sporting performance by comparing the members within a Trinidadian cricket team based on their ranked visual skills, as well, as their ranked playing ability for batting, fielding and bowling. Visual skills measured were; hand-eye dominiance, static visual acuity, dynamic visual acuity, steropsis, contrast sensitivity, accommodative facility, central and peripheral awareness and eye movement. SPSS Analysis of data showed that there was a weak correlation between the visual ranking and physical ranking. This can be attributed to the many different factors that contribute to remarkable athleticism. One of which is the percetual-cognitive skill that allows athletes to use visual information in the process of decision making and to execute accurate and rapid anticipatory movements. Performance in sports may possess an interdependency of both the hardware (quality of system) and software (knowledge based system) elements, and thus, futher study must be done into the integration of both systems as a unit.

Myoclonic encephalopathy in Jamaican children

Four children between the ages two and five years presented at the University Hospital of the West Indies between December 1979 and June 1983 and were diagnosed as having acute myoclonic encephalopathy. All had the typical clinical picture of acute onset myoclonus simulating cerebellar ataxia, and opsoclomus. Neuroblastoma was not demonstrated in any of these patients. One had a protracted illness with a relapsing course. Remission was not induced by dexamethasone in two patients. Complete recovery was seen in only one patient. This is the first known report of acute myoclonic encephalopathy in the Caribbean. The condition, although rare, is important to recognize as remisssion may be induced by adrenocoticotrophic hormone or corticosteroids (AU)