Chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia is one of mitochondrial disorders, characterized by ptosis, limitation of eye movement, variably severe bulbar muscle weakness and proximal limb weakness. Chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia complicated with acquired disease is extremely rare. We report a 44 years old male patient with more than 20 years of chronic progressive bilateral ptos...

Introduction Mitochondrial diseases are a diverse group with multisystem involvement caused by structural, biochemical or genetic derangement of mitochondria. Cerebral neurones and myocytes which require a high yield of energy are particularly vulnerable to mitochondrial dysfunction and neuromuscular manifestations are common in mitochodrial disorders. We report two cases of mitochondrial myopa...

This report describes heart disease in a 32-year-old man with the syndrome of chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO). The surface electrocardiogram showed first degree AV block and left bundle-branch block and there was HV prolongation on the His bundle electrogram. Endomyocardial biopsy showed the changes of hypertrophy on light microscopy, and on electron microscopy there were in...

We present a case of a 10-year-old boy who presented with bilateral diffuse subconjunctival hemorrhages after spinning rapidly on a carousel attached to an electrical scooter. We present his clinical course and discuss the physics and pathophysiology of this unique mechanism of ocular trauma.

How providers of external quality assessment (EQA) programmes relate to and interact with the monitors and watchdog of clinical laboratory performance in the UK is described. With regard to the quality of antibiotic assays, the changes in methodologies and in performance quality between 1971 (when the UK NEQAS for Antibiotic Assays began) and 1999 is reviewed. How improvements in performance an...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether static ocular counterroll (OCR) gain is reduced during viewing of an earth-fixed vs a head-fixed target. METHODS Twelve healthy individuals were recruited. The target consisted of a red fixation cross against a grid pattern at a viewing distance of 33 cm. The target was mounted on a wall (earth fixed) or was coupled to the head (head fixed). Changes in mean to...

During natural viewing large saccades shift the visual gaze from one target to another every few hundreds of milliseconds. The role of microsaccades (MSs), small saccades that show up during long fixations, is still debated. A major debate is whether MSs are used to redirect the visual gaze to a new location or to encode visual information through their movement. We argue that these two functio...