Binocular vision and prehension in middle childhood.

Binocular cues have been shown previously to make an important contribution to the control of natural prehensile movements in adults [Visual Cognition 4 (1997) 113, Vision Research 32 (1992) 1513, Neuropsychologia 38 (2000) 1473]. The present study examined the role of binocular vision in the control of prehension in middle childhood. Fourteen children aged 5-6 years, and 16 children aged 10-11 years reached out and grasped different sized objects at different distances, in either binocular or monocular viewing conditions. In contrast to adult data, many of the principal kinematic indices of the children's reaches were unaffected by the removal of binocular information. The older children, like adults, spent an increased amount of time in the final approach to the object when only monocular information was available. However, both peak wrist velocities and peak grip apertures were unaffected by the removal of binocular information and continued to scale with object properties in the normal way. These results suggest that the use of binocular cues to control prehensile movements is not yet mature at the age of 10-11 years.

The prognostic importance of polypharmacy in older adults treated for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).

We retrospectively evaluated the prognostic significance of polypharmacy and inappropriate medication use among 150 patients >60 years of age receiving induction chemotherapy for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). After adjustment for age and comorbidity, increased number of medications at diagnosis (≥ 4 versus ≤ 1) was associated with increased 30-day mortality (OR=9.98, 95% CI=1.18-84.13), lower odds of complete remission status (OR=0.20, 95% CI=0.06-0.65), and higher overall mortality (HR=2.13, 95% CI=1.15-3.92). Inappropriate medication use (classified according to Beers criteria) was not significantly associated with clinical outcomes. Polypharmacy warrants further study as a modifiable marker of vulnerability among older adults with AML.