A proposed rapid methodology to assess the prevalence and causes of blindness and visual impairment.

PURPOSE: To determine whether a sample of the 50-year-old and above population would provide comparable information to a total population-based survey. METHODS: In 1996, a national eye survey of the total population in The Gambia was undertaken and the results concerning the prevalence and distribution of blindness and low vision have been reported. The same data set was used to analyse the prevalence and causes of blindness and low vision in people aged 50 years and above, and to compare the findings with the total population. RESULTS: Of 55 bilaterally blind people in the total population, 83.6% were 50 years of age or older. The distribution by cause of blindness was similar for the total population and for those aged 50 years and above. Cataract and uncorrected aphakia accounted for 46% and 13%, respectively, in the total population and 48% and 15% in the 50 year and above age group. Trachoma accounted for 5% and 4%, and other corneal opacities for 16% and 13%, respectively. Phthisis bulbi, which may follow perforated corneal ulcers, ocular trauma/surgery or occasionally severe uveitis, accounted for 4% in both age groups, and glaucoma accounted for 9% in the total population and 11% in the 50 year plus group. CONCLUSION: Assessment of the 50 year and above age group proved to be a good indicator for the causes of blindness and visual impairment in the total population and for determining those causes of blindness that are avoidable. Such an assessment requires a much smaller sample size, less than 20% of the sample size for the total population, and is likely to be less expensive

The Economics of Sight and Vision Loss

No Abstract - Faculty Lectur

Seasonal distribution of phytoplankton within tidal period in Bahmanshir River

Bahmanshir River with 80km length is located in the southwestern Khuzestan Province, Iran. The seasonal distribution of phytoplankton community in spring and summer of 2007 was investigated. The river presented different characteristics between the periods of high & low water (tidal). Within tidal period, diatoms were dominated followed by Cyanophyceae and Chlorophyceae. As a result, abundance and diversity of phytoplankton in high tide were more than low tide. Phytoplankton was significantly associated with flow velocity, suspended sediment concentration and transparency

Preventing corneal blindness: working with communities

Preventing corneal blindness in the community involves action by the community itself, as well as actions by government and non-governmental organisations in the form of health and development services. In order to be effective, eye health workers need to understand how all of the above can work together

Clique polynomials of 22-connected K5K_{5}-free chordal graphs

In this paper, we give a generalization of the author's previous result about real rootedness of clique polynomials of connected $K_{4}$-free chordal graphs to the class of $2$-connected $K_{5}$-free chordal graphs. The main idea is based on the graph-theoretical interpretation of the second derivative of clique polynomials. Finally, we conclude the paper with several interesting open questions and conjectures

Irigaray’s Feminine Language in Joyce Johnson’s Minor Characters: A Beat Memoir

This is a critical reading of Joyce Johnson’s memoir Minor Characters to investigate the ways women’s language is generated using philosopher Luce Irigaray’s feminist framework of language. This study is library-based research done by a close reading of the memoir. Joyce Johnson was part of the second generation of women Beat writers, and she had a love affair with the main male Beat figure, Jack Kerouac. In Minor Characters, she illustrates the history of the Beat Generation. Irigaray, a Belgian feminist theorist, discusses the concept of feminine language, gender roles, and women’s position in society. Findings illustrate that Joyce Johnson generates feminine language through choice of subject matter deemed unacceptable for the time period, word play, feminine vocabulary, unusual syntax, and by using the female body as a source of meaningmaking. Moreover, in some parts of the memoir, women’s silence also implies a subversive feminist response to language

Studio di fattibilità sulla catalogazione di siti web presso la Biblioteca e gli Archivi Nazioneali dell'I.R. dell'Iran (NLAI)

The focus of this research is the feasibility of websites cataloging with the use of the NLAI standard rules. For this purpose 50 websites in 20 subjects were selected at random from Parsindex Websites.The study was carried out following two different methodologies: a preliminary checklist was compiled in order to gather the necessary data and information and then descriptive statistics were used for data analysis.The findings show that the use of NLAI standards to organize and to catalog websites is both practicable and convenient.Questa ricerca si concentra sullo studio di fattibilità dei siti web di catalogazione con l'uso dello standard NLAI. A questo scopo sono stati selezionati casualmente dal sito web Parsindex 50 siti web suddivisi in 20 soggetti. Lo studio è stato condotto seguendo due differenti metodologie: un primo elenco è stato redatto al fine di raccogliere le informazioni e i dati necessari e successivamente sono state utilizzate statistiche descrittive per l'analisi dei dati. I risultati mostrano che l'uso dello standard NLAI per organizzare e catalogare i siti web è fattibile ed anche conveniente

Managing information in eye care programmes: the health systems perspective

As eye care workers, we don’t treat eyes, we treat people. Similarly, eye care does not take place in a vacuum; it is part of the wider health care system