Comparison of color discrimination in chronic heavy smokers and healthy subjects.

Background: Cigarette smoke is probably the most significant source of exposure to toxic chemicals for humans, involving health-damaging components, such as nicotine, hydrogen cyanide and formaldehyde. The aim of the present study was to assess the influence of chronic heavy smoking on color discrimination (CD). Methods: All subjects were free of any neuropsychiatric disorder, identifiable ocular disease and had normal acuity. No abnormalities were detected in the fundoscopic examination and in the optical coherence tomography exam. We assessed color vision for healthy heavy smokers ( n = 15; age range, 20-45 years), deprived smokers ( n = 15, age range 20-45 years) and healthy non-smokers ( n = 15; age range, 20-45 years), using the psychophysical forced-choice method. All groups were matched for gender and education level. In this paradigm, the volunteers had to choose the pseudoisochromatic stimulus containing a test frequency at four directions (e.g., up, down, right and left) in the subtest of Cambridge Colour Test (CCT): Trivector. Results: Performance on CCT differed between groups, and the observed pattern was that smokers had lower discrimination compared to non-smokers. In addition, deprived smokers presented lower discrimination to smokers and non-smokers. Contrary to expectation, the largest differences were observed for medium and long wavelengths. Conclusions: These results suggests that cigarette smoke and chronic exposure to nicotine, or withdrawal from nicotine, affects CD. This highlights the importance of understanding the diffuse effects of nicotine either attentional bias on color vision.

Effects of smoking and smoking abstinence on spatial vision in chronic heavy smokers.

Cigarette smoke is a complex chemical mixture, involving health-damaging components such as carbon monoxide, ammonia, pyridine, toluene and nicotine. While cognitive functions have been well documented in heavy smokers, spatial vision has been less characterized. In the article, we investigated smoking effects through contrast sensitivity function (CSF), a rigorous procedure that measures the spatial vision. Data were recorded from 48 participants, a group of non-smokers (n = 16), a group of chronic and heavy cigarette smokers (n = 16) and deprived smokers (n = 16); age range 20-45 years. Sinewave gratings with spatial frequencies ranging from 0.25 to 20 cycles per degree were used. All subjects were free from any neurological disorder, identifiable ocular disease and had normal acuity. No abnormalities were detected in the fundoscopic examination and in the optical coherence tomography exam. Contrary to expectations, performance on CSF differed between groups. Both smokers and deprived smokers presented a loss of contrast sensitivity compared to non-smokers. Post-hoc analyses suggest that deprived smokers were less sensitive at all spatial frequencies. These results suggest that not only chronic exposure to cigarette compounds but also withdrawal from nicotine affected spatial vision. This highlights the importance of understanding diffuse effects of smoking compounds on visual spatial processing.

Hemorrhagic stroke secondary to Bothrops spp. venom: A case report.

The Bothrops spp. venom contain metalloproteinases that contributes to vascular and hemorrhagic effects. This case report describes a 58 years-old patient from the city of Dona Inês, Paraiba, Brazil victim of an ophidian accident by Bothrops spp. The vascular and hemorrhagic effects of venom components have triggered a hemorrhagic stroke. Brazil has about 600 deaths annually due to ophidian accidents. However, as reports have been precarious, the obtaining of epidemiological-clinical data has been affected. This case highlights the importance of prior knowledge of possible neurological and vascular complications in Bothrops spp. venom to increase the effectiveness of an adequate treatment.

Dados normativos de um conjunto de faces do Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces em uma amostra brasileira / Normative data of a faces set from Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces in a Brazilian sample / Datos normativos de un conjunto de caras de Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces en una muestra brasileña

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi obter dados normativos de um conjunto de faces do Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF) em uma amostra brasileira. Para isso foi utilizada uma amostra não probabilística (por conveniência) de 100 participantes da cidade de João Pessoa-PB. Esses tinham idades entre 18 e 62 anos (M=21,6; DP=6,2), a maioria do sexo feminino (76%). Os resultados mostraram que os participantes obtiveram um percentual de acerto médio de 76,2%, de modo que expressões de Alegria (94.7%) e Surpresa (90.3%) foram as emoções mais facilmente identificáveis e Medo (40.65%) a mais difícil. Em relação às medidas de intensidade e valência, Nojo seguida de Surpresa obtiveram classificações mais intensas, e Alegria foi a única emoção com valência positiva alta. Esses achados foram bastante similares com àqueles relatados em pesquisas anteriores, fornecendo normas subjetivas de classificação mais adequadas às características da população brasileira.

The goal of this research was to obtain normative data of set of faces from Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF) in a Brazilian sample. It was used a non-probabilistic sample (convenience sample) of 100 participants from the city of João Pessoa-PB. Age ranged from 18 to 62 years (M=21.6, SD=6.2), in which the majority was female (76%). Results showed that participants achieved a mean hit rate of 76.2%, and expressions of joy (94.7%) and surprise (90.3%) were the easiest emotions to identify and fear (40.65%) the most difficult. Regarding the measures of intensity and valence, disgust and surprise obtained more intense classifications, and joy was the only emotion with high positive valence. These findings were quite similar to those reported in previous research, providing subjective norms of classification suitable to the characteristics of the Brazilian population.

El objetivo de esta investigación fue obtener datos normativos de un conjunto de expresiones faciales del Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF) en una muestra brasileña. Para ello, se utilizó una muestra no probabilística (por conveniencia) de 100 participantes de la ciudad de João Pessoa-PB. Ellos tenían edades entre 18 y 62 años (M=21,6, DP=6,2), la mayoría del sexo femenino (76%). Los resultados mostraron que los participantes obtuvieron un porcentaje de acierto promedio del 76,2%, de modo que las expresiones de Alegría (94.7%) y Sorpresa (90.3%) fueron las emociones más fáciles de identificar y Miedo (40.65%) la más difícil. Con relación a las medidas de intensidad y valencia, Asco seguida de Sorpresa obtuvieron clasificaciones más intensas, y Alegría fue la única emoción con valencia positiva alta. Estos hallazgos fueron muy similares con aquellos reportados en investigaciones anteriores, proporcionando normas subjetivas de clasificación más adecuadas a las características de la población brasileña.