Refractive ocular conditions and reasons for spectacles renewal in a resource-limited economy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although a leading cause of visual impairment and a treatable cause of blindness globally, the pattern of refractive errors in many populations is unknown. This study determined the pattern of refractive ocular conditions, reasons for spectacles renewal and the effect of correction on refractive errors in a resource-limited community.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A retrospective review of case records of 1,413 consecutive patients seen in a private optometry practice, Nigeria between January 2006 and July 2007.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total number of 1,216 (86.1%) patients comprising of (486, 40%) males and (730, 60%) females with a mean age of 41.02 years SD 14.19 were analyzed. The age distribution peaked at peri-adolescent and the middle age years. The main ocular complaints were spectacles loss and discomfort (412, 33.9%), blurred near vision (399, 32.8%) and asthenopia (255, 20.9%). The mean duration of ocular symptoms before consultation was 2.05 years SD 1.92. The most common refractive errors include presbyopia (431, 35.3%), hyperopic astigmatism (240, 19.7%) and presbyopia with hyperopia (276, 22.7%). Only (59, 4.9%) had myopia. Following correction, there were reductions in magnitudes of the blind (VA<3/60) and visually impaired (VA<6/18-3/60) patients by (18, 58.1%) and (89, 81.7%) respectively. The main reasons for renewal of spectacles were broken lenses/frame/scratched lenses/lenses' falling off (47, 63.4%).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Adequate correction of refractive errors reduces visual impairment and avoidable blindness and to achieve optimal control of refractive errors in the community, services should be targeted at individuals in the peri-adolescent and the middle age years.</p

Advances in the automated synthesis of 6-[18F]Fluoro-L-DOPA

The neurotracer 6-[18F] FDOPA has been, for many years, a powerful tool in PET imaging of neuropsychiatric diseases, movement disorders and brain malignancies. More recently, it also demonstrated good results in the diagnosis of other malignancies such as neuroendocrine tumours, pheochromocytoma or pancreatic adenocarcinoma.The multiple clinical applications of this tracer fostered a very strong interest in the development of new and improved methods for its radiosynthesis. The no-carrier-added nucleophilic 18F-fluorination process has gained increasing attention, in recent years, due to the high molar activities obtained, when compared with the other methods although the radiochemical yield remains low (17-30%). This led to the development of several nucleophilic synthetic processes in order to obtain the product with molar activity, radiochemical yield and enantiomeric purity suitable for human PET studies.Automation of the synthetic processes is crucial for routine clinical use and compliance with GMP requirements. Nevertheless, the complexity of the synthesis makes the production challenging, increasing the chance of failure in routine production. Thus, for large-scale clinical application and wider use of this radiopharmaceutical, progress in the automation of this complex radiosynthesis is of critical importance.This review summarizes the most recent developments of 6-[18F]FDOPA radiosynthesis and discusses the key issues regarding its automation for routine clinical use

Clinical and electrophysiological recovery in Leber hereditary optic neuropathy with G3460A mutation.

To report a case of clinical and electrophysiological recovery in Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) with G3460A Mutation. A 10-year-old boy with a three-month history of painless bilateral sequential visual loss upon presentation underwent visual acuity (diminished), anterior and posterior segment examination (normal), fluorescein angiography (normal), Goldman kinetic perimetry (bilateral central scotomata), genetic (a point G3460A mutation) and electrophysiological investigation (undetectable pattern visual evoked potentials (VEP); low amplitude, broadened and reduced flash VEPs and loss of the N95 component in the pattern electroretinograms). Diagnosis of LHON was made. Eighteen months later vision and electrophysiological tests results began spontaneously improving. Kinetic perimetry revealed reduced density and size of scotomata. Two years later, there had been further electrophysiological improvement. This report describes both clinical and electrophysiological improvement in LHON with G3460A mutation