Usability and Acceptability of a Corneal-Plane α-Opic Light Logger in a 24-h Field Trial.

Introduction: Exposure to light fundamentally influences human physiology and behaviour by synchronising our biological clock to the external light-dark cycle and controlling melatonin production. In addition to well-controlled laboratory studies, more naturalistic approaches to examining these "non-visual" effects of light have been developed in recent years. As naturalistic light exposure is quite unlike well-controlled stimulus conditions in the laboratory, it is critical to measure light exposure in a person-referenced way, the "spectral diet." To this end, light loggers have been developed to capture personalised light exposure. As an alternative to light sensors integrated into wrist-worn actimeters, pendants, or brooch-based light loggers, a recently developed wearable light logger laterally attached to spectacle frames enables the measurement of biologically relevant quantities in the corneal plane. Methods: Here, we examine the usability and acceptability of using the light logger in an undergraduate student sample (n = 18, mean±1SD: 20.1 ± 1.7 years; 9 female; Oxford, UK) in real-world conditions during a 24-h measurement period. We probed the acceptability of the light logger using rating questionnaires and open-ended questions. Results: Our quantitative results show a modest acceptability of the light logger. A thematic analysis of the open-ended questions reveals that the form factor of the device, in particular, size, weight, and stability, and reactions from other people to the wearer of the light logger, were commonly mentioned aspects. Conclusion: In sum, the results indicate the miniaturisation of light loggers and "invisible" integration into extant everyday objects as key areas for future technological development, facilitating the availability of light exposure data for developing personalised intervention strategies in both research, clinical and consumer contexts.

Cancer Drug Toxicity: Moving from Patient to Survivor.

Millions of individuals worldwide are living with cancer and have remained disease-free for more than 5 years. These individuals are considered to be cancer survivors. The advent of new targeted therapies and personalized treatment modalities have contributed to this increased survivorship. Additionally, earlier diagnosis and detection of cancer, greater access to preventive screenings, and greater focus on cancer pharmaceutical safety have all been contributed to increasing longevity. Of note, all cancer types have benefited in the survivorship arena. The advent of expansive survivorship care planning mandated by national governmental agencies and the emergence of newer classes of drug therapies for cancer are expected to buttress and support cancer survivorship in the coming decades.

Reactivity to visual signals in neurofibromatosis type 1: is everything ok?

OBJECTIVE: Deficits in multiple aspects of attention are a hallmark of the cognitive impairments found with neurofibromatosis type I (NF1). Given, however, that some attention components are hierarchically organized, it is possible that sustained attention, flexibility, and resistance to interference deficits observed in NF1 may be because of weakened lower order attention components. This study investigated the state of these low-level components in NF1. METHOD: Twenty participants with NF1 (ages 7-13) and 20 matched controls participated in a visual task. They were required to locate a target as quickly and as accurately as possible and to ignore a potential distractor that could appear either before, at the same time, or after the target. Response times (RTs) were collected, and indices of alerting (i.e., reactivity to warning signals), distraction, and interruption (i.e., reactivity to signals appearing during attentive processing) were computed. RESULTS: The amplitude of the indices differed between the groups, F(2, 76) = 3.1, p < .05. No difference was found with alerting (p > .85) or distraction (p > .84), but the interruption index was higher in the NF1 group than the controls (p < .043). CONCLUSIONS: Elementary components on which more complex attention processes are based are not all ok in NF1. It is suggested that overreactivity to and longer inspection of visual signals occurring outside the current focus of attention characterizes NF1 and that this might be partially responsible for focus of attention instability and lower interference resistance in NF1.

Reactivity to visual signals and the cerebellar vermis: Evidence from a rare case with rhombencephalosynapsis.

The modulatory role of the cerebellum was investigated in a case with rhombencephalosynapsis (RS), a rare dysplasia characterized by the absence of the cerebellar vermis. The visual psychophysical task involved localizing a target and ignoring a distractor appearing either before, at the same time as, or after the target. It allowed us to assess reactivity to warning signals, distraction, and reactivity to signals appearing during attentive processing. Compared with a control sample, the patient exhibited greater reactivity to warning signals and difficulties interrupting attentive processing, whereas distraction was not increased. Complementary analyses showed that these deficits did not reflect just delayed development of attentional processes. These results suggest that the cerebellum modulates responsiveness and commands attentional/exploratory flexibility in response to sensory signals.

The ventral premotor cortex (vPM) and resistance to interference.

The authors tested a patient suffering from a circumscribed lesion of the right frontal operculum (FO) in 3 experiments of visual attention involving spatial orienting, maintenance of task-relevant priorities, and control of interference from new and old task-irrelevant items. The authors found that spatial orienting and active maintenance of priorities were intact, but there were difficulties in controlling interference from new and old irrelevant items. These results suggest that the FO is necessary for the direct control of interference, but its lesion alone is not enough to disturb spatial orienting processes or active maintenance of task priorities. The authors discuss the results in light of a hybrid cognitive model of attention.