Increased Prevalence of Optic Disc Drusen after Papilloedema from Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension: On the Possible Formation of Optic Disc Drusen.

This is a 25-year observational retrospective review of 372 consecutive participants with optic disc drusen or resolved papilloedema from idiopathic intracranial hypertension. The prevalence of optic disc drusen at 19% among eyes with resolved papilloedema was approximately 10 times higher and significantly increased (p < 0.001) as compared with the occurrence in the general population. Eyes with both resolved papilloedema and optic disc drusen had similar visual acuity and visual field outcome as compared with resolved papilloedema alone. Eyes with exposed drusen had significantly worse visual acuity and visual field outcome (p < 0.001) than buried drusen. The high prevalence of optic disc drusen after papilloedema has resolved suggests a non-coincidental relationship. Optic disc drusen formation can be a sequela of papilloedema.

The nursing hypothesis: an evolutionary account of emotional modulation of the postauricular reflex.

The postauricular reflex (PAR) is anomalous because it seems to be potentiated during positive emotions and inhibited during negative states, unlike eyeblink and other components of the startle reflex. Two evolutionary explanations based on simian facial emotion expressions were tested. Reflexes were elicited while 47 young adult volunteers made lip pursing or grimacing poses and viewed neutral, intimidating, or appetitive photos. The PAR was enhanced during appetitive slides, but only as subjects carried out the lip-pursing maneuver. These results support the nursing hypothesis, which assumes that infant mammals instinctively retract their pinnae while nursing in order to comfortably position the head. Appetitive emotions prime the ear-retraction musculature, even in higher primates whose postauricular muscles are vestigial.

Closely spaced stressful life events precede the onset of benign essential blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to assess the possible role of major stressful life events, complicated grief, and depression in the pathogenesis of benign essential blepharospasm (BEB) and hemifacial spasm (HFS). METHODS: This was a case-control study involving 23 participants with BEB/HFS and 23 control subjects, comparing the frequency of major stressful life events, depression on the Beck Depression Inventory-II, and complicated grief on the Inventory of Complicated Grief. RESULTS: There was no difference in the rate of depression or complicated grief between participants with BEB/HFS (57%) and control subjects (48%). Participants with BEB/HFS experienced a significantly (P = 0.0048) shorter time interval between two major stressful life events (median, 0.3 year) than did the control group (median, 3.0 years). The proportion of participants who had suffered two major stressful lifetime events separated by 1 year or less was significantly greater for participants with BEB/HFS than for control subjects (P = 0.0007). CONCLUSIONS: The onset of BEB and HFS was often preceded by a major lifetime stressor. The development of these conditions was significantly related to the number of stressful life events occurring within the preceding year rather than to the total number of stressful life events. Subjects who sustain closely spaced stressful life events may be at increased risk of developing BEB and HFS.