Gaze following requires early visual experience.

Gaze understanding—a suggested precursor for understanding others’ intentions—requires recovery of gaze direction from the observed person's head and eye position. This challenging computation is naturally acquired at infancy without explicit external guidance, but can it be learned later if vision is extremely poor throughout early childhood? We addressed this question by studying gaze following in Ethiopian patients with early bilateral congenital cataracts diagnosed and treated by us only at late childhood. This sight restoration provided a unique opportunity to directly address basic issues on the roles of “nature” and “nurture” in development, as it caused a selective perturbation to the natural process, eliminating some gaze-direction cues while leaving others still available.

Development of multisensory integration following prolonged early-onset visual deprivation.

Adult humans make effortless use of multisensory signals and typically integrate them in an optimal fashion. This remarkable ability takes many years for normally sighted children to develop. Would individuals born blind or with extremely low vision still be able to develop multisensory integration later in life when surgically treated for sight restoration? Late acquisition of such capability would be a vivid example of the brain's ability to retain high levels of plasticity.

Learning to perceive shape from temporal integration following late emergence from blindness.

Visual perception requires massive use of inference because the 3D structure of the world is not directly provided by the sensory input. Particularly challenging is anorthoscopic vision-when an object moves behind a narrow slit such that only a tiny fraction of it is visible at any instant. Impressively, human observers correctly recognize objects in slit-viewing conditions by early childhood, via temporal integration of the contours available in each sliver.

The impact of late-treated pediatric cataract on intraocular pressure.

Purpose: To assess the intraocular pressure and visual acuity before and after pediatric congenital cataract surgery performed at a relatively older age.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of all consecutive pediatric patients diagnosed and operated for bilateral congenital cataracts during a seven-year period (2012-2018) in rural southern Ethiopia. Non-ambulatory vision was defined as hand motion or worse.

Lack of Automatic Imitation in Newly Sighted Individuals.

Viewing a hand action performed by another person facilitates a response-compatible action and slows a response-incompatible one, even when the viewed action is irrelevant to the task. This automatic imitation effect is taken as the clearest evidence for a direct mapping between action viewing and motor performance. But there is an ongoing debate whether this effect is innate or experience dependent.

Size constancy following long-term visual deprivation.

We can estimate the veridical size of nearby objects reasonably well irrespective of their viewing distance. This perceptual capability, termed size constancy, is accomplished by combining information about retinal image size together with the viewing distance, or using the relational information available in the scene, via direct perception [1]. A previous study [2] showed that children typically underestimate the size of a distant object.

Association of orbital decompression and the characteristics of subsequent strabismus surgery in thyroid eye disease.

Objective: To examine the association of orbital decompression and the characteristics and outcome of subsequent strabismus surgery in patients with thyroid eye disease (TED).

Methods: Data on patients with TED who underwent orbital decompression at the Goldschleger Eye Institute, Sheba Medical Center, Israel, between January 1990 to December 2011 were extracted. The characteristics of decompression and strabismus surgeries were recorded.

A comparison of plusoptiX A12 measurements with cycloplegic refraction.

Purpose: To test the accuracy and reliability of the plusoptiX A12 in detecting amblyogenic risk factors.

Methods: We prospectively collected data on children undergoing screening with the plusoptiX A12, cycloplegic refraction, and complete ophthalmic examination. American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS) 2013 guidelines for the detection of amblyogenic risk factors were used for plusoptiX A12 screening and comparison of the results of both examination modes.

Long-Term Results of Bilateral Medial Rectus Muscle Recession in Children with Developmental Delay.

Purpose: To assess the long-term results of a reduced amount of medial rectus recession in children with esotropia and developmental delay.

Methods: A retrospective chart analysis of 42 children with developmental delay who had undergone surgery for esotropia during a 20-year period in a large referral center was performed. The pre- and postoperative angle of deviation was calculated for each subject as the mean of distant and near angles measured by a cover test or the Krimsky measurement.

The Limits of Shape Recognition following Late Emergence from Blindness.

Visual object recognition develops during the first years of life. But what if one is deprived of vision during early post-natal development? Shape information is extracted using both low-level cues (e.g.

Measurement of Axial Length in an Office Setting Versus Under General Anesthesia in Infants and Toddlers: A Comparative Study.

Purpose: To examine whether axial length measurement in awake infants and toddlers is feasible, and whether there is a difference in axial length measurement between an office setting and under general anesthesia.

Methods: This prospective comparative case study was conducted at the Goldschleger Eye Institute, Sheba Medical Center, Israel. Using the same instruments, axial length measurements were obtained using a standard applanation technique twice: once in an office setting when the infant/toddler was awake and once under general anesthesia in the operating room.

Trends in the incidence and causes of severe visual impairment and blindness in children from Israel.

Purpose: To describe trends in the incidence and causes of legal childhood blindness in Israel, one of the few countries worldwide that maintain a national registry of the blind.

Methods: We performed a historical cohort study of annual reports of the National Registry of the Blind (NRB) between 1999 and 2013. All data regarding demographic information, year of registration and cause of blindness of children 0-18 years of age registered for blind certification were obtained from the annual reports of the NRB.

The effect of oral propranolol on intraocular pressure in infants with Sturge-Weber syndrome glaucoma.

Purpose: To report the effect of oral propranolol on intraocular pressure (IOP) in infants newly diagnosed with unilateral Sturge-Weber syndrome (SWS) glaucoma receiving no other treatment.

Methods: This was a prospective, nonrandomized interventional case series. Four infants presenting with unilateral SWS glaucoma with no prior treatment were treated with oral propranolol at a dose of 2 mg/kg and followed thereafter.

Traumatic pediatric cataract in southern Ethiopia--results of 49 cases.

Purpose: To report the experience of two tertiary care facilities in southern Ethiopia in the treatment of traumatic pediatric cataract for a period of more than 1 year.

Methods: The medical records of consecutive traumatic pediatric cataract patients who underwent surgery at the Hawassa University and the Yirgalem University schools of medicine from July 2007 to August 2008 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients with a follow-up of at least 12 months were included.

A review of primary congenital glaucoma in the developing world.

Primary congenital glaucoma is the most common type of infantile glaucoma, yet it remains a relatively rare disease. Treatment is principally surgical, and management lasts a lifetime. In the developing world, delayed diagnosis, limited treatment, and inadequate follow-up lead to a heavier burden on the patient and community.

Prevalence of xerophthalmia among malnourished children in rural Ethiopia.

To assess the prevalence of eye disease among malnourished children in a rural Ethiopian health center and evaluate correlations between xerophthalmia and grades of malnutrition. A retrospective, cross-sectional survey. An institution-based cross-sectional prospective study was performed at Bushulo Health Center in rural south Ethiopia and included all children age 6 months to 14 years receiving care for malnourishment from June 1st to July 30th, 2008.

Abnormal vertical angle kappa caused by ectopic fovea.

Abnormal angle kappa simulating strabismus has been described in cases of structural retinal disorders, such as retinopathy of prematurity, familial exudative vitroretinopathy, and retinochoroidal scars. We report a patient with abnormal vertical angle kappa caused by ectopic fovea and in the absence of any other identifiable eye disorder.

Outcomes of pediatric cataract surgery at a tertiary care center in rural southern Ethiopia.

Objective: To evaluate the etiologies, management, and outcomes of pediatric cataracts in a rural sub-Saharan African setting.

Methods: A retrospective, consecutive case series of patients presenting to a tertiary referral center in southern Ethiopia during a 13-month period. All patients underwent clinical examination, were diagnosed as having cataract on the basis of standard clinical assessment, and immediately underwent surgical management.

[The rate of development of myopia during hyperbaric oxygen therapy].

Background: Hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) is a common treatment both for emergency medicine as well as for chronic treatments. One of the most common indications for treatment is a non-healing wound due to diabetes. It is known that prolonged HBO treatments cause a myopic change in refraction.

Reduction in astigmatism using propranolol as first-line therapy for periocular capillary hemangioma.

Purpose: To examine the shift in astigmatic error following the use of oral propranolol as first-line treatment for periocular capillary hemangioma.

Design: Retrospective observational study.

Methods: study population: Three healthy infants (1 male) clinically diagnosed with periocular capillary hemangioma.

Surgical results in the management of advanced primary congenital glaucoma in a rural pediatric population.

Objective: To present the anatomic and functional results of surgical treatment for advanced primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) in a rural setting.

Design: Retrospective, observational case series.

Participants: Forty eyes of 22 consecutive patients diagnosed with PCG and who underwent surgical treatment.