To assess short- and long-term control of intraocular pressure (IOP) with different surgical treatment strategies for coexisting cataract and glaucoma.
Systematic literature review and analysis.
We ...performed a search of the published literature to identify all eligible articles pertaining to the surgical management of coexisting cataract and glaucoma in adults. One investigator abstracted the content of each article onto a custom-designed form. A second investigator corroborated the findings. The evidence supporting different approaches was graded by consensus as good, fair, weak, or insufficient.
Short-term (24 hours or fewer) and long-term (more than 24 hours) IOP control.
The evidence was good that long-term IOP is lowered more by combined glaucoma and cataract operations than by cataract operations alone. On average, the IOP was 3 to 4 mmHg lower in the combined groups with fewer medications required. The evidence was weak that extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) alone results in short-term increase in IOP and was insufficient to determine the short-term impact of phacoemulsification cataract extraction (PECE) on IOP in glaucoma patients. The evidence was weak that short-term IOP control was better with ECCE or PECE combined with an incisional glaucoma procedure compared with ECCE or PECE alone. The evidence was also weak (but consistent) that long-term IOP is lowered by 2 to 4 mmHg after ECCE or PECE. Finally, there was weak evidence that combined PECE and trabeculectomy produces slightly worse long-term IOP control than trabeculectomy alone, and there was fair evidence that the same is true for ECCE combined with trabeculectomy.
There is strong evidence for better long-term control of IOP with combined glaucoma and cataract operations compared with cataract surgery alone. For other issues regarding surgical treatment strategies for cataract and glaucoma, the available evidence is limited or conflicting.
FRIGHT is a rule-based intelligent agent for playing the ghost team in the Ms. Pac-Man vs Ghosts Competition held at the 2012 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games. FRIGHT uses rule ...sets with high-level abstractions of the game state and actions, and employs evolutionary computation to learn rule sets; a distributed homogenous-agent approach is used. We compare the performance of a hand-coded rule set to one learned by the system and find that the rule set learned by the system outperforms the hand-coded rules.
To estimate the prevalence and distribution of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the United States by age, race/ethnicity, and gender.
Summary prevalence estimates of drusen 125 microm or ...larger, neovascular AMD, and geographic atrophy were prepared separately for black and white persons in 5-year age intervals starting at 40 years. The estimated rates were based on a meta-analysis of recent population-based studies in the United States, Australia, and Europe. These rates were applied to 2000 US Census data and to projected US population figures for 2020 to estimate the number of the US population with drusen and AMD.
The overall prevalence of neovascular AMD and/or geographic atrophy in the US population 40 years and older is estimated to be 1.47% (95% confidence interval, 1.38%-1.55%), with 1.75 million citizens having AMD. The prevalence of AMD increased dramatically with age, with more than 15% of the white women older than 80 years having neovascular AMD and/or geographic atrophy. More than 7 million individuals had drusen measuring 125 microm or larger and were, therefore, at substantial risk of developing AMD. Owing to the rapidly aging population, the number of persons having AMD will increase by 50% to 2.95 million in 2020. Age-related macular degeneration was far more prevalent among white than among black persons.
Age-related macular degeneration affects more than 1.75 million individuals in the United States. Owing to the rapid aging of the US population, this number will increase to almost 3 million by 2020.
To assess the impact of laser peripheral iridotomy (LPI) on forward-scatter of light and subjective visual symptoms and to identify LPI parameters influencing these phenomena.
Cohort study derived ...from a randomized trial, using an external control group.
Chinese subjects initially aged 50 or older and 70 years or younger with bilateral narrow angles undergoing LPI in 1 eye selected at random, and age- and gender-matched controls.
Eighteen months after laser, LPI-treated subjects underwent digital iris photography and photogrammetry to characterize the size and location of the LPI, Lens Opacity Classification System III cataract grading, and measurement of retinal straylight (C-Quant; OCULUS, Wetzlar, Germany) in the treated and untreated eyes and completed a visual symptoms questionnaire. Controls answered the questionnaire and underwent straylight measurement and (in a random one-sixth sample) cataract grading.
Retinal straylight levels and subjective visual symptoms.
Among 230 LPI-treated subjects (121 58.8% with LPI totally covered by the lid, 43 19.8% with LPI partly covered by the lid, 53 24.4% with LPI uncovered by the lid), 217 (94.3%) completed all testing, as did 250 (93.3%) of 268 controls. Age, gender, and prevalence of visual symptoms did not differ between treated subjects and controls, although nuclear (P<0.01) and cortical (P = 0.03) cataract were less common among controls. Neither presenting visual acuity nor straylight score differed between the treated and untreated eyes among all treated persons, nor among those (n = 96) with LPI partially or totally uncovered. Prevalence of subjective glare did not differ significantly between participants with totally covered LPI (6.61%; 95% confidence interval CI, 3.39%-12.5%), partially covered LPI (11.6%; 95% CI, 5.07%-24.5%), or totally uncovered LPI (9.43%; 95% CI, 4.10%-10.3%). In regression models, only worse cortical cataract grade (P = 0.01) was associated significantly with straylight score, and no predictors were associated with subjective glare. None of the LPI size or location parameters were associated with straylight or subjective symptoms.
These results suggests that LPI is safe regarding measures of straylight and visual symptoms. This randomized design provides strong evidence that treatment programs for narrow angles would be unlikely to result in important medium-term visual disability.
To estimate the prevalence and distribution of open-angle glaucoma (OAG) in the United States by age, race/ethnicity, and gender.
Summary prevalence estimates of OAG were prepared separately for ...black, Hispanic, and white subjects in 5-year age intervals starting at 40 years. The estimated rates were based on a meta-analysis of recent population-based studies in the United States, Australia, and Europe. These rates were applied to 2000 US census data and to projected US population figures for 2020 to estimate the number of the US population with OAG.
The overall prevalence of OAG in the US population 40 years and older is estimated to be 1.86% (95% confidence interval, 1.75%-1.96%), with 1.57 million white and 398 000 black persons affected. After applying race-, age-, and gender-specific rates to the US population as determined in the 2000 US census, we estimated that OAG affects 2.22 million US citizens. Owing to the rapidly aging population, the number with OAG will increase by 50% to 3.36 million in 2020. Black subjects had almost 3 times the age-adjusted prevalence of glaucoma than white subjects.
Open-angle glaucoma affects more than 2 million individuals in the United States. Owing to the rapid aging of the US population, this number will increase to more than 3 million by 2020.
To estimate the cause-specific prevalence and distribution of blindness and low vision in the United States by age, race/ethnicity, and gender, and to estimate the change in these prevalence figures ...over the next 20 years.
Summary prevalence estimates of blindness (both according to the US definition of < or =6/60 < or =20/200 best-corrected visual acuity in the better-seeing eye and the World Health Organization standard of < 6/120 < 20/400) and low vision (< 6/12 < 20/40 best-corrected vision in the better-seeing eye) were prepared separately for black, Hispanic, and white persons in 5-year age intervals starting at 40 years. The estimated prevalences were based on recent population-based studies in the United States, Australia, and Europe. These estimates were applied to 2000 US Census data, and to projected US population figures for 2020, to estimate the number of Americans with visual impairment. Cause-specific prevalences of blindness and low vision were also estimated for the different racial/ethnic groups.
Based on demographics from the 2000 US Census, an estimated 937 000 (0.78%) Americans older than 40 years were blind (US definition). An additional 2.4 million Americans (1.98%) had low vision. The leading cause of blindness among white persons was age-related macular degeneration (54.4% of the cases), while among black persons, cataract and glaucoma accounted for more than 60% of blindness. Cataract was the leading cause of low vision, responsible for approximately 50% of bilateral vision worse than 6/12 (20/40) among white, black, and Hispanic persons. The number of blind persons in the US is projected to increase by 70% to 1.6 million by 2020, with a similar rise projected for low vision.
Blindness or low vision affects approximately 1 in 28 Americans older than 40 years. The specific causes of visual impairment, and especially blindness, vary greatly by race/ethnicity. The prevalence of visual disabilities will increase markedly during the next 20 years, owing largely to the aging of the US population.
To analyze the literature pertaining to the techniques used in combined cataract and glaucoma surgery, including the technique of cataract extraction, the timing of the surgery (staged procedure ...versus combined procedure), the anatomic location of the operation, and the use of antifibrosis agents.
Cataract and glaucoma are both common conditions and are often present in the same patient. There is no agreement concerning the optimal surgical management of these disorders when they coexist.
Electronic searches of English language articles published since 1964 were conducted in Pub MED and CENTRAL, the Cochrane Collaboration’s database. These were augmented by a hand search of six ophthalmology journals and the reference lists of a sample of studies included in the literature review. Evidence grades (A, strong; B, moderate; C, weak; I, insufficient) were assigned to the evidence that involved a direct comparison of alternative techniques.
The preponderance of evidence from the literature suggests a small (2–4 mmHg) benefit from the use of mitomycin-C (MMC), but not 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), in combined cataract and glaucoma surgery (evidence grade B). Two-site surgery provides slightly lower (1–3 mmHg) intraocular pressure (IOP) than one-site surgery (evidence grade C), and IOP is lowered more (1–3 mmHg) by phacoemulsification than by nuclear expression in combined procedures (evidence grade C). There is insufficient evidence to conclude either that staged or combined procedures give better results or that alternative glaucoma procedures are superior to trabeculectomy in combined procedures.
In the literature on surgical techniques and adjuvants used in the management of coexisting cataract and glaucoma, the strongest evidence of efficacy exists for using MMC, separating the incisions for cataract and glaucoma surgery, and removing the nucleus by phacoemulsification.
To determine the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy among adults 40 years and older in the United States.
Pooled analysis of data from 8 population-based eye surveys was used to estimate the ...prevalence, among persons with diabetes mellitus (DM), of retinopathy and of vision-threatening retinopathy-defined as proliferative or severe nonproliferative retinopathy and/or macular edema. Within strata of age, race/ethnicity, and gender, US prevalence rates were estimated by multiplying these values by the prevalence of DM reported in the 1999 National Health Interview Survey and the 2000 US Census population.
Among an estimated 10.2 million US adults 40 years and older known to have DM, the estimated crude prevalence rates for retinopathy and vision-threatening retinopathy were 40.3% and 8.2%, respectively. The estimated US general population prevalence rates for retinopathy and vision-threatening retinopathy were 3.4% (4.1 million persons) and 0.75% (899 000 persons). Future projections suggest that diabetic retinopathy will increase as a public health problem, both with aging of the US population and increasing age-specific prevalence of DM over time.
Approximately 4.1 million US adults 40 years and older have diabetic retinopathy; 1 of every 12 persons with DM in this age group has advanced, vision-threatening retinopathy.
To design a system of gonioscopy that will allow greater interobserver reliability and more clearly defined screening cutoffs for angle closure than current systems while being simple to teach and ...technologically appropriate for use in rural Asia, where the prevalence of angle-closure glaucoma is highest.
Clinic-based validation and interobserver reliability trial.
Study 1: 21 patients 18 years of age and older recruited from a university-based specialty glaucoma clinic; study 2: 32 patients 18 years of age and older recruited from the same clinic.
In study 1, all participants underwent conventional gonioscopy by an experienced observer (GLS) using the Spaeth system and in the same eye also underwent Scheimpflug photography, ultrasonographic measurement of anterior chamber depth and axial length, automatic refraction, and biometric gonioscopy with measurement of the distance from iris insertion to Schwalbe’s line using a reticule based in the slit-lamp ocular. In study 2, all participants underwent both conventional gonioscopy and biometric gonioscopy by an experienced gonioscopist (NGC) and a medical student with no previous training in gonioscopy (JK).
Study 1: The association between biometric gonioscopy and conventional gonioscopy, Scheimpflug photography, and other factors known to correlate with the configuration of the angle. Study 2: Interobserver agreement using biometric gonioscopy compared to that obtained with conventional gonioscopy.
In study 1, there was an independent, monotonic, statistically significant relationship between biometric gonioscopy and both Spaeth angle (
P = 0.001,
t test) and Spaeth insertion (
P = 0.008,
t test) grades. Biometric gonioscopy correctly identified six of six patients with occludable angles according to Spaeth criteria. Biometric gonioscopic grade was also significantly associated with the anterior chamber angle as measured by Scheimpflug photography (
P = 0.005,
t test). In study 2, the intraclass correlation coefficient between graders for biometric gonioscopy (0.97) was higher than for Spaeth angle grade (0.72) or Spaeth insertion grade (0.84).
Biometric gonioscopy correlates well with other measures of the anterior chamber angle, shows a higher degree of interobserver reliability than conventional gonioscopy, and can readily be learned by an inexperienced observer.
We have developed GAMS, a system for the inference of cis-regulatory modules that uses a genetic algorithms approach to discover putatively conserved modules in large noncoding DNA sequences from ...divergent species. This paper describes the approach and presents preliminary results.
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