Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0086543 (cataract)
 29,165 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Senile cataract is a non-preventable disease of aging, having its biggest impact in the over-60 age group. Published clinic and hospital data, population-based surveys and World Health Organization estimates indicate that 1.2% of the entire population of Africa is blind, and that cataract causes 36% of this blindness. Ocular disease and ophthalmic manpower status questionnaires mailed to every African country in 1982 by the International Eye Foundation support these contentions, and further demonstrate that cataract is the biggest single cause of blindness on the continent. Taking the population of Africa as a whole, this means that 6,000,000 people are blind, and that 2,000,000 of them are blind due to cataract. As this form of blindness is so closely related to aging, an estimate of the annual incidence of the condition can be made. One method is to use the formula I = P/D, where I = annual incidence, P = overall prevalence and D = duration of the condition. A 5-year survival has come to be a commonly used estimate in developing world epidemiology for the longevity of a person who becomes blind due to senile onset cataracts. In Africa then, I = P/D = 2,000,000/5 = 400,000 people blinded annually by cataract. An alternate method for this computation is to multiply the number of people entering the 60 and above age group annually by 0.08. This factor is derived from knowing the prevalence of cataract blindness in this age group, the life expectancy on becoming 60, and the number of people turning 60 annually. This gives an annual incidence of 160,000 and would signify that the development of cataract blindness does not reduce longevity. Follow-up prevalence surveys in the same population group will tell us which method (if either) is correct. The average number of cataract operations done annually by each ophthalmologist in Africa is surprisingly low, 120. The two most cost-effective ways of raising the number of cases done are: (1) shorten the average hospital stay, and (2) train more ophthalmic clinical officers to perform cataract surgery.
 ...
PMID:Cataract: the leading cause of blindness and vision loss in Africa. 664 86

The UCLA Cataract Surgery Study Group evaluated extracapsular cataract extraction with posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation (ECCE-posterior chamber IOL) performed by eight senior ophthalmology residents with faculty supervision and five faculty ophthalmologists experienced in intraocular lens surgery. The first 18 consecutive ECCE-posterior chamber IOL operations performed by each resident and faculty surgeon after July 1, 1981, were analyzed. All 234 operations and follow-up conformed to a predetermined protocol. Resident surgery achieved 20/40 or better final visual acuity in 88% of eyes; faculty surgery achieved 20/40 or better in 89%. Excluding cases with macular degeneration or other pre-existing eye disease, resident surgery achieved 20/40 or better final visual acuity in 95% of eyes; faculty surgery achieved 20/40 or better in 96%. There was no statistically significant difference between the results of resident surgery and faculty surgery. With supervision, ophthalmology residents achieved results generally equivalent to results obtained by experienced ophthalmic surgeons.
 ...
PMID:Posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation by ophthalmology residents. A prospective study of cataract surgery. 687 67

Three eyes of three patients are reported with ocular hypotension and mature, white cataracts secondary to other ocular disease. Ocular pressures rapidly rose to and remained at normal levels with recovery of excellent vision in all three eyes following cataract extraction, with follow-up periods of 16 to 28 months. Thus a hypotensive eye with a mature, white cataract secondary to other eye disease is not necessarily hopeless, and hypotony is not a contraindication to cataract extraction in such patients.
 ...
PMID:Mature secondary cataracts and reversible ocular hypotension. 699 9

The eyes of 62 patients who had received allogenic renal transplants were examined for eye disease. Thirty-six patients were found to have steroid induced cataract. Six patients had ocular hypertension. Twelve patients showed arteriosclerotic changes in their fundi relating to their previous hypertensin. There was no significant difference in HLA type in patients who developed cataract and those who did not. 83.3% of the 6 patients with ocular hypertension had HLA B12 in common. None of the patients had cytomegalic retinitis.
 ...
PMID:Ocular complications of systemic steroid after renal transplantation and their association with HLA. 704 56

Newborn rabbits inoculated intracerebrally with early-passaged broth cultures of Spiroplasma strain SMCA (suckling mouse cataract agent) either died or developed eye disease. Death occurred 4 to 12 days after infection. Rabbits which died showed hemorrhages throughout the brain, especially in areas leading to the optic nerve, and hemorrhages in the liver. SMCA could be reisolated from brain, liver, and eyes. Rabbits with eye disease did not open their eyes during an observation time of 3 to 4 months. Pathological examination revealed marked microophthalmia and severe cataract formation characterized by complete degeneration of lens fibers and liquefaction and mineralization of the lens. Other ocular changes were chronic panophthalmitis with complete destruction of the retina. Neither eye disease nor death could be induced by inoculating SMCA subcutaneously into newborn rabbits. In adult rabbits, no disease occurred after intravenous or subcutaneous injection or after inoculation into the conjunctival sac.
 ...
PMID:Pathogenicity of Spiroplasma sp. strain SMCA in rabbits: clinical, microbiological, and histological aspects. 726 65

National screening programmes probably cannot be justified at present given difficulties with test validity, manpower, and some doubts about the natural history of the disease. The opportunity cost could be prohibitive, especially when resources are badly needed in other areas of ophthalmology, such as cataract programmes, diabetic retinopathy, and low vision services. The situation could change with an improved test with greater validity for primary screening and such tests are currently under investigation. The results of these investigations will not be available for at least three years. Screening for eye disease at the primary care level begs questions about manpower which need to be answered not just for glaucoma screening but also for detection of diabetic retinopathy and visual impairment in the elderly. A new cadre of ophthalmic paramedics as is already in wide use in some developing countries, who amalgamate the skills of optometrist, orthoptist, and eye trained nurse, is an interesting possibility. Meanwhile, much has to be done to improve current case finding with agreed standards of examination and referral criteria and special facilities available for those at increased risk.
 ...
PMID:Glaucoma screening. 749 55

Diabetes is known to be a major contributor to blindness in industrialized countries but few data are available on the situation in Italy. As an introductory step to the implementation of permanent screening for diabetic retinopathy, a search was carried out on the causes of visual loss in the provincial territory surrounding Turin, the main city of North-West Italy. The case notes of all 4549 residents in the province who were certified blind between 1967 and 1991 were examined with regard to cause, age at onset, and year of onset of visual acuity < or = 1/20. Diabetic retinopathy was the second commonest cause of bilateral blindness (13.1% of cases), preceded by cataract (26.7%) and followed by myopia (11.1%), optic atrophy (8.9%), glaucoma (8.9%), retinitis pigmentosa (7.2%), and senile macular degeneration (4.1%). Diabetic retinopathy was the commonest eye disease among those who became blind between the ages of 50 and 70 and remained the leading cause of visual loss when the age groups 20 to 70 were pooled together. The incidence of diabetic retinopathy-related blindness did not show any trend to decrease over the 25 years investigated. It is concluded that, in spite of widespread availability of facilities for its assessment and treatment, diabetic retinopathy remains a leading cause of blindness in North-West Italy. This fully justifies the implementation of screening programmes and efficient referral chains for the early detection and prompt treatment of this complication of diabetes.
 ...
PMID:Diabetic retinopathy as a cause of blindness in the province of Turin, north-west Italy, in 1967-1991. 760 Jul 54

Diabetic patients with established diabetic eye disease are at risk of visual loss from vitreous haemorrhage, traction retinal detachment, macular oedema, cataract and eventually posterior capsule opacification. If there is an effective screening service, timely adequate photocoagulation should minimise visual loss from vitreous haemorrhage, traction retinal detachment and macular oedema. Vitreoretinal surgery should only be required in exceptional cases. Extracapsular cataract surgery and intraocular lens insertion can be followed by a dramatic worsening of pre-existing diabetic macular oedema. This can be prevented provided the severity of the retinopathy is recognised pre-operatively and treated appropriately by photocoagulation either before surgery or shortly afterwards. Neovascular glaucoma can follow YAG laser capsulotomy if the retina is very ischaemic. This likewise can be prevented provided the severity of the retinopathy is recognised and treated adequately by scatter photocoagulation.
 ...
PMID:Current management of established diabetic eye disease. 760 51

Congenital cataract, type Volkmann (McKusick no 115665, gene symbol CCV) is an autosomal dominant eye disease. The disease is characterized by a progressive, central and zonular cataract, with opacities both in the embryonic, fetal and juvenile nucleus and around the anterior and posterior Y-suture. We examined blood samples from 91 members of a Danish pedigree comprising 426 members, by using highly informative short tandem repeat polymorphisms and found the closest linkage of the disease gene (CCV) to a (CA)n dinucleotide repeat polymorphism at locus D1S243 (Zmax = 14.04 at theta M = 0.025 theta F = 0.000), at a penetrance of 0.90. Using two additional chromosome 1 markers, we were able to map the CCV gene in the sequence 1pter-(CCV, D1S243)-D1S468-D1S214. The (enolase 1) gene has been mapped to this area; however, a mutation described in this gene did not give eye disease.
 ...
PMID:Assignment of congenital cataract Volkmann type (CCV) to chromosome 1p36. 760 51

There is evidence from developed countries that genetic disease is the major cause of childhood blindness. Little data are available from most developing and newly industrialised countries concerning the relative importance of hereditary diseases as a cause of childhood blindness. Children in schools for the blind in 13 countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia were examined between 1990 and 1994 using a standardised method The anatomical site of abnormality and underlying aetiology were analysed for children with a corrected acuity in the better eye of less than 6/60 (severe visual impairment and blindness, svi/BL). In these countries II-39% of svi/BL was attributed to genetic disease. Genetic diseases were responsible for a higher proportion of childhood visual loss in countries with higher levels of socio-economic development. An autosomal recessive mode of inheritance was reported in 22-52% of children with genetic disease. Retinal dystrophies were the commonest form of genetic eye disease (49-80%) in all countries apart from Thailand and the Philippines where cataract was the commonest (43.9%). The role of consanguinity, and opportunities for further research are discussed.
 ...
PMID:Hereditary disease as a cause of childhood blindness: regional variation. Results of blind school studies undertaken in countries of Latin America, Asia and Africa. 764 36


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>