Testing the visual field of children and adults with Rarebit: The role of task repetition on sensitivity.

Rarebit is a simple and user-friendly perimetry that tests the visual field by using tiny supra-threshold dot stimuli. It appears to be especially useful for examining the visual field of children who are under 12 years of age. However, previous data showed that the number of errors was higher in children than adults.

Hyper-vision of mirror symmetry in patients with macular degenerationreflects parafoveal cortical reorganization.

Purpose: This study aims at comparing participants with juvenile macular degeneration (MD) and normally sighted observers in their sensitivity to mirror and translational symmetry.

Methods: We measured in 25 normal sighted and 9 MD participants sensitivity (d') to detect the symmetry of two dot patterns presented at the opposite sides of their central scotoma.

Results: At a large dot patterns separation (13.

Visual, motor, and psychomotor development in small-for-gestational-age preterm infants.

Purpose: To study causal links between the visual, cognitive, and psychomotor outcomes of premature babies who are small for gestational age (SGA).

Methods: A cohort study of 17 SGA cases and 34 controls who were appropriate for gestational age (AGA) was carried out. The cases were all premature babies without any other pathology.

The role of visual electrophysiology in mucopolysaccharidoses.

Visual electrophysiological techniques represent excellent means for assessing retinal, optic pathways and visual cortex function. Electroretinograms, visual evoked potentials, and clinical records of 17 patients with mucopolysaccharidosis registered in the neurophysiological database of our institution were reviewed retrospectively. Ten patients were on enzyme replacement therapy, 2 underwent bone marrow transplantation, one also keratoplasty.

Illusory contours over pathological retinal scotomas.

Our visual percepts are not fully determined by physical stimulus inputs. Thus, in visual illusions such as the Kanizsa figure, inducers presented at the corners allow one to perceive the bounding contours of the figure in the absence of luminance-defined borders. We examined the discrimination of the curvature of these illusory contours that pass across retinal scotomas caused by macular degeneration.

D-dimer evaluation of hemorrhagic orbital lymphangioma.

An 8-year-old boy with recurrent acute bleeding of lymphangioma of the left orbit is described. D-dimer levels increased as the size of the mass became stable, showing the effect of fibrinolysis within the hemorrhagic mass after clotting. D-dimer levels confirmed the possible use of conservative management of this lymphangioma.

Nonorganic (psychogenic) visual loss in children: a retrospective series.

Background: Few studies provide follow-up information or systematic investigation of prognostic parameters of nonorganic (psychogenic) visual loss in children.

Methods: A retrospective case series analysis was performed on 58 patients younger than 16 years old who had nonorganic visual loss and underwent at least a 3-month follow-up clinic visit and/or telephone interview between 1992 and 2007 at a single institution in Italy. All patients underwent a full neurologic, ophthalmologic, and orthoptic evaluation.

Early predictors of severe course of uveitis in oligoarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Objective: To determine whether demographic, clinical, and laboratory variables at onset of arthritis can predict the development and the severity of anterior uveitis (AU) in oligoarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

Methods: In a retrospective study, a cohort of 366 patients with oligoarticular onset JIA from 3 pediatric rheumatology centers were evaluated. Patients were classified in 3 groups: severe uveitis (SU) with a mean >/= 2 uveitis relapses/year with complications or need for immunosuppressive therapy; mild uveitis (MU) with a mean View Article and Find Full Text PDF