Children unable to perform screening tests in vision in preschoolers study: proportion with ocular conditions and impact on measures of test accuracy.

Purpose: To examine the relative prevalence of ocular conditions among children who are unable to perform preschool vision screening tests and the impact on measures of screening test performance.

Methods: Trained nurse and lay screeners each administered a Lea Symbols visual acuity (VA) test (Good-Lite, Inc., Steamwood, IL), Stereo Smile II test (Stereo Optical, Inc.

Random Dot E stereotest: testability and reliability in 3- to 5-year-old children.

Purpose: To determine the proportion of preschoolers testable with the Random Dot E (RDE) stereotest and the between-tester reliability.

Methods: Subjects were 1257 3- to 5-year-olds who were participants in Head Start programs in five communities. The sample was over-weighted with children who failed the routine Head Start vision screening (58% failures; 42% nonfailures).

Validation and test characteristics of a 10-item neuro-ophthalmic supplement to the NEI-VFQ-25.

Purpose: To determine whether a 10-Item Neuro-Ophthalmic Supplement increases the capacity of the 25-Item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25) to capture self-reported visual dysfunction in patients with neuro-ophthalmologic disorders.

Design: A cross-sectional survey to examine the characteristics of a 10-Item Neuro-Ophthalmic Supplement to the 25-Item NEI-VFQ-25 in a cohort of patients with neuro-ophthalmologic disorders.

Methods: The 10-Item Neuro-Ophthalmic Supplement was designed previously by our research group by survey and focus-group methods.

Automated combined kinetic and static perimetry: an alternative to standard perimetry in patients with neuro-ophthalmic disease and glaucoma.

Objectives: To create a fully automated, combined perimetry program consisting of a static examination and a kinetic examination, and to compare the results of this test with standard static and kinetic visual fields (VFs).

Methods: Fifty-six patients (74 eyes) undergoing neuro-ophthalmic or glaucoma evaluation who had standard static or kinetic perimetry examinations underwent the combined perimetry test. This automated, combined test, performed on the Octopus 101 perimeter, consisted of a static tendency-oriented perimetry examination and a preprogrammed kinetic examination.

Relation of visual function to retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in multiple sclerosis.

Purpose: To examine the relation of visual function to retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness as a structural biomarker for axonal loss in multiple sclerosis (MS), and to compare RNFL thickness among MS eyes with a history of acute optic neuritis (MS ON eyes), MS eyes without an optic neuritis history (MS non-ON eyes), and disease-free control eyes.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Participants: Patients with MS (n = 90; 180 eyes) and disease-free controls (n = 36; 72 eyes).

Regulation of two rat mas-related genes in a model of neuropathic pain.

The mas-related gene (Mrg) family is a large family of G-protein-coupled receptors which are variable in number depending on species. The so-called sensory-neuron-specific receptors (SNSRs) make up a subset of the Mrg family, and several of these have been implicated in nociceptive processes. To verify their specific localization in sensory ganglia, we have determined the expression patterns of two of them, rMrgA and rMrgC, in a panel of rat tissues.

Laser prophylaxis for age-related macular degeneration.

Background: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of severe and irreversible vision loss among people 50 years of age or older in many Western countries. Most of the available treatments for AMD are intended for the late stage, specifically for choroidal neovascularization (CNV). Effective preventive treatments could have an even greater impact on the vision of the millions of people at risk for vision loss from AMD.

Sensitivity of screening tests for detecting vision in preschoolers-targeted vision disorders when specificity is 94%.

Purpose: To compare the sensitivity of 11 preschool vision screening tests administered by licensed eye care professionals for the detection of the 4 Vision in Preschoolers (VIP)-targeted vision disorders when specificity is 94%.

Methods: This study consisted of a sample (n = 2588) of 3- to 5-year-old children enrolled in Head Start programs, 57% of whom had failed an initial Head Start vision screening. Screening results from 11 tests were compared with results from a standardized comprehensive eye examination that was used to classify children with respect to the four VIP-targeted vision disorders: amblyopia, strabismus, significant refractive error, and unexplained reduced visual acuity (VA).

The association of astigmatism and spherical refractive error in a high myopia cohort.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to determine whether the degree of myopia influences the presence and degree of total astigmatism, and to assess risk factors of astigmatism in patients with familial nonsyndromic severe myopia.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study of 217 subjects from families with two or more subjects from successive generations with a myopic spherical refractive error of at least -5 D or greater in one eye. Mean myopic spherical equivalent was -10 D and the mean age of myopia onset was 7 years.

Reduced foveolar choroidal blood flow in eyes with increasing AMD severity.

Purpose: In an earlier study, the authors reported that foveolar choroidal blood flow (ChBFlow) decreases in patients with AMD and drusen. To explore further the choroidal circulatory changes in patients with AMD, the relationship between ChBFlow and fundus features associated with increased risk of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) were investigated.

Methods: The study included 26 control eyes of 17 normal subjects and 163 eyes with early AMD characteristics of 123 patients with AMD.

Quantifying rod photoreceptor-mediated vision in retinal degenerations: dark-adapted thresholds as outcome measures.

Pre-clinical trials of treatment in retinal degenerations have shown progress toward preventing loss or restoring function of rod photoreceptors. In anticipation of human clinical trials, we assessed two psychophysical methods of quantifying rod photoreceptor-mediated function as potential outcome measures. Modified automated perimeters were used to deliver focal or full-field light stimuli and dark-adapted thresholds were measured.

The age-related macular degeneration radiotherapy trial (AMDRT): one year results from a pilot study.

Purpose: To assess the short-term safety and efficacy of treating subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) with external beam radiation delivered in 5 x 4 Gy fractions among patients having age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Design: A multicenter prospective randomized controlled pilot study.

Methods: Eighty-eight patients were enrolled through 10 sites and were randomized to radiotherapy (20 Gy delivered in 5 daily fractions of 4 Gy each; 6 MV [N = 41]) or no radiotherapy (sham radiotherapy [N = 22] or observation [N = 25]).

Baseline characteristics, the 25-Item National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire, and their associations in the Complications of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Prevention Trial (CAPT).

Objective: To describe characteristics of participants in the Complications of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Prevention Trial (CAPT) at baseline and to investigate associations among visual function, fundus features, and vision-related quality of life.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Participants: The 1052 participants in CAPT, a multicenter, randomized clinical trial.

Niemann-Pick C1 Like 1 (NPC1L1) is the intestinal phytosterol and cholesterol transporter and a key modulator of whole-body cholesterol homeostasis.

Niemann-Pick C1 Like 1 (NPC1L1) is a protein localized in jejunal enterocytes that is critical for intestinal cholesterol absorption. The uptake of intestinal phytosterols and cholesterol into absorptive enterocytes in the intestine is not fully defined on a molecular level, and the role of NPC1L1 in maintaining whole body cholesterol homeostasis is not known. NPC1L1 null mice had substantially reduced intestinal uptake of cholesterol and sitosterol, with dramatically reduced plasma phytosterol levels.

Comparison of preschool vision screening tests as administered by licensed eye care professionals in the Vision In Preschoolers Study.

Purpose: To compare 11 preschool vision screening tests administered by licensed eye care professionals (LEPs; optometrists and pediatric ophthalmologists).

Design: Multicenter, cross-sectional study.

Participants: A sample (N = 2588) of 3- to 5-year-old children enrolled in Head Start was selected to over-represent children with vision problems.

Niemann-Pick C1 Like 1 protein is critical for intestinal cholesterol absorption.

Dietary cholesterol consumption and intestinal cholesterol absorption contribute to plasma cholesterol levels, a risk factor for coronary heart disease. The molecular mechanism of sterol uptake from the lumen of the small intestine is poorly defined. We show that Niemann-Pick C1 Like 1(NPC1L1) protein plays a critical role in the absorption of intestinal cholesterol.

Threshold visual acuity testing of preschool children using the crowded HOTV and Lea Symbols acuity tests.

Purpose: To compare the testability and threshold acuity levels for very young children on the crowded HOTV logMAR distance visual acuity test presented on the BVAT apparatus and the Lea Symbols logMAR distance visual acuity chart.

Methods: Subjects were 87 Head Start children from age 3 to 3.5 years.

Myopia and natural lighting extremes: risk factors in Finnish army conscripts.

Purpose: To establish whether features of environmental lighting in far northern latitudes might be associated with prevalence of myopia.

Methods: Using both questionnaires and military medical examinations, this cross-sectional survey of Finnish conscripts assessed both light exposure and conventional risk factors for myopia.

Results: While myopia was not associated with the month of birth, there was a trend towards a higher prevalence of myopia among conscripts living above the Arctic Circle, consistent with the hypothesis that ambient lighting might influence refractive development.

Testability of preschoolers on stereotests used to screen vision disorders.

Objective: The purpose was to determine whether preschool children aged 3 years 0 months through 3 years 6 months could be tested with the Random Dot E, Stereo Smile, and Randot Preschool stereoacuity tests, which are random dot stereotests marketed for use with preschoolers.

Methods: A total of 118 children from five Vision In Preschoolers Study Clinical Centers participated. Strabismic children, as determined by the cover test at distance and near, were excluded from this study.

Visual acuity results in school-aged children and adults: Lea Symbols chart versus Bailey-Lovie chart.

Purpose: To compare visual acuity results obtained using the Lea Symbols chart with visual acuity results obtained with the Bailey-Lovie chart in school-aged children and adults using a within-subjects comparison of monocular acuity results.

Methods: Subjects were 62 individuals between 4.5 and 60 years of age, recruited from patients seen in five optometry clinics.

Incidence of exudative age-related macular degeneration among elderly Americans.

Purpose: To estimate the 3-year incidence of exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and its treatment by laser photocoagulation in elderly Americans.

Design: Population-based cohort study using insurance claims data.

Participants: A random 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries, age 65 and older.

Highly precise eye length measurements in children aged 3 through 12 years.

Objective: To determine the feasibility, reliability, and validity of using partial coherence interferometry, a noncontact method that detects interference patterns from various layers of the eye, to measure axial length in young children.

Methods: The right eye of 64 subjects (mean age, 8.4 y; age range, 3.