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Responsiveness of the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire to changes in visual acuity: findings in patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularization--SST Report No. 1.

BACKGROUND: The National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ) measures vision-targeted quality of life, but it is unclear whether it is sensitive to changes within individuals over time. OBJECTIVE: To determine the responsiveness of the NEI-VFQ to "within-individual" changes in visual acuity in patients who had subfoveal choroidal neovascularization in at least one eye secondary to age-related macular degeneration, ocular histoplasmosis syndrome, or idiopathic causes, and who participated in randomized trials of submacular surgery. METHODS: Trained telephone interviewers administered the NEI-VFQ as part of annual follow-up data collection for pilot trials and larger clinical trials of submacular surgery. Best-corrected visual acuity was measured by local vision examiners at 12 months after enrollment and, typically, by central "traveling" vision examiners at 24 months after enrollment. Changes in visual acuity and NEI-VFQ scores from 12 to 24 months were analyzed using linear regression methods. RESULTS: Two-hundred eighteen patients had both interviews and visual acuity measurements at 12 and 24 months after enrollment. Changes in the overall NEI-VFQ score and in 9 of the subscales (near activities, dependency, driving, role difficulties, distance activities, mental health, general vision, peripheral vision, and social functioning) were related to changes in visual acuity of the better-seeing eye based on linear regression analysis (P<.05). In our analysis, a 3-line decrease in the visual acuity of the better-seeing eye was associated with 3.6- to 16.2-point decreases in the overall NEI-VFQ score and 9 subscale scores. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the NEI-VFQ subscales were responsive to changes in the visual acuity of the better-seeing eye over a 12-month interval in this patient population. Thus, the NEI-VFQ can be used to measure change in vision-targeted quality of life over time to augment clinical measurements of visual acuity.

Adult↗

Thalamic projections to the lateral suprasylvian visual area in cats with neonatal or adult visual cortex damage.

Previous transneuronal anterograde tracing studies have shown that the retino-thalamic pathway to the posteromedial lateral suprasylvian (PMLS) visual area of cortex is heavier than normal in adult cats that received neonatal damage to visual cortical areas 17, 18, and 19. In contrast, the strength of this projection does not appear to differ from that in normal animals in cats that experienced visual cortex damage as adults. In the present study, we used retrograde tracing methods to identify the thalamic cells that project to the PMLS cortex in adult cats that had received a lesion of visual cortex during infancy or adulthood. In five kittens, a unilateral visual cortex lesion was made on the day of birth, and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was injected into the PMLS cortex of both hemispheres when the animals were 10.5 to 13 months old. For comparison, HRP was injected bilaterally into the PMLS cortex of three cats 6.5 to 13.5 months after they received a similar unilateral visual cortex lesion as adults. In cats with a neonatal lesion, retrograde labeling was found in the large neurons that survive in the otherwise degenerated layers A and A1 of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) ipsilateral to the lesion. Retrograde labeling of A-layer neurons was not seen in the undamaged hemisphere of these animals or in either hemisphere of animals that had received a lesion as adults. As in normal adult cats, retrograde labeling also was present in the C layers of the LGN, the medial interlaminar nucleus, the posterior nucleus of Rioch, the lateral posterior nucleus, and the pulvinar nucleus ipsilateral to a neonatal or adult lesion. Quantitative estimates indicate that the number of labeled cells is much larger than normal in the C layers of the LGN ipsilateral to a neonatal visual cortex lesion. Thus the results indicate that the heavier than normal projection from the thalamus to PMLS cortex that exists in adult cats after neonatal visual cortex damage arises, at least in part, from surviving LGN neurons in the A and C layers of the LGN. Although several thalamic nuclei, as well as the C layers of the LGN, continue to project to PMLS cortex after an adult visual cortex lesion, these projections appear not to be affected significantly by the lesion.

Aging↗

Visual cortical activity during tactile perception in the sighted and the visually deprived.

This article reviews studies demonstrating activity in visual cortex during tactile perception in sighted participants as well as in those who have experienced visual deprivation of varying duration. This field has been very active over the last few years, with the result that a number of exciting findings have emerged, but a unifying framework is still lacking. The first section of this article deals with investigations revealing that visual cortical activity is regularly associated with the neural processing of tactile inputs in normally sighted individuals. Next, the possible reasons underlying such visual cortical recruitment are considered. The focus then shifts to the effects of visual deprivation, examining the involvement of visual cortex in sensory and language processing in the early and late blind. The final section gives an account of studies suggesting that a remarkable degree of plasticity can be observed even after quite short-lasting visual deprivation. Overall, it appears that the nature of visual cortical activity during nonvisual tasks in the sighted can be influenced by late-onset blindness and even by brief interruptions of visual input; however, the relevant neural plasticity seems to considerably more exuberant if vision is lost very early in life or was never present, which suggests that there is a critical period for the maximal expression of such plasticity.

Animals↗

Postnatal development of biotinylated dextran amine-labeled corpus callosum axons projecting from the visual and auditory cortices to the visual cortex of the rat.

The distribution and morphology of developing corpus callosum (CC) axons in rat visual cortex was studied by unilateral application of the in vivo anterograde tracer biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) to the visual or auditory cortex of newborns through adults. Changes in the distribution and morphology of CC axons during development were observed. Following BDA placement only in visual cortex, nearly all CC projections were to visual cortex (homotopic CC projections). At postnatal day (PND) 5-8, labeled CC axons were found throughout the contralateral visual cortex, including area 17; these CC axons could be followed from the white matter to layer I. By PND 13, few CC axons were found in medial area 17, indicating the existence of transitory CC axons in area 17 at younger ages. Morphological changes were investigated at the area 17/18a border and showed that CC axon collaterals were not formed until PND 8, and terminal arbors were not visible until PND 13; by PND 17, the adult CC-axon terminal pattern was present. At all ages, only a few heterotopic CC projections from visual to auditory cortex were found in the gray matter, although many labeled CC axons extended laterally into the white matter underlying the auditory cortex. Following BDA placement only in auditory cortex, CC projections to both auditory (homotopic CC projections) and visual (heterotopic CC projections) cortex were observed. At all ages, the homotopic CC projections were present throughout the auditory cortex, but were not distributed homogeneously; densely labeled CC axons showed a distinct columnar organization. The heterotopic CC projections were present in all visual cortical areas, including medial area 17, in significant numbers until PND 24, but were mostly eliminated by PND 28, at which time a labeling pattern similar to the adult was found. Thus, most of the heterotopic CC projections were transitory. The present study confirms the existence of transitory CC axons projecting through all layers of the visual cortex, as revealed by DiI, and extends the DiI results by showing that these transitory CC axons arise from both homotopic and heterotopic origins. Furthermore, different sources of transitory CC axons have different timetables for elimination.

Age Factors↗

Visual deprivation decreases long-term potentiation in rat visual cortical slices.

A major finding in the visual plasticity literature is that visual deprivation is effective only during an early 'sensitive' period, which is lengthened by dark rearing. Unresolved is whether the visual cortex is in a normally plastic state prior to light stimulation. This cannot be addressed using paradigms employing light exposure to assess plasticity. Several developmental studies have investigated a plastic phenomenon termed long-term potentiation (LTP) in slices from cat (J. Neurophysiol., 59 (1988) 124-141) and rat (Brain Res., 439 (1988) 222-229) visual cortex. Susceptibility to the induction of LTP parallels the period of sensitivity to visual deprivation. This suggests that slices can be used to assay visual cortical plasticity, avoiding light exposure. In the present study, field potentials were recorded from slices of the primary visual cortices of dark-reared (DR) and control (CONT) Long Evans hooded rats (17 to 21 days). Field potential profiles recorded before and 90 min following tetanic electrical stimulation were subjected to current source density analysis, yielding extracellular current sink amplitudes. Tetanus resulted in LTP in both CONT and DR slices, but DR slices were significantly less potentiated. These results indicate that the primary visual cortex of DR animals is not fully plastic, indicating a role for light stimulation in inducing visual cortical plasticity.

Animals↗

A dissociation of conscious visual imagery and visual short-term memory.

Two people who reported an impaired ability to form conscious visual images were tested. Compared to a control group of college students, these impaired visualizers were not impaired on two tests of visual short-term memory. Furthermore, they retained more digits in visual short-term memory than they could visualize. These results suggests that deficits in the ability to form conscious visual images can arise without visual short-term memory being impaired, and conscious visual imagery should not be equated with visual short-term memory.

Adult↗

Psychophysical assessment of visual acuity in infants with visual disorders.

The measurement of visual acuity is an essential part of the eye examination of adults, but is rarely attempted in infants being examined for presumed or known eye disease. We have used a preferential looking technique to test visual acuity of infants attending a hospital eye clinic. Serial measurements of acuity of infants attending a hospital eye clinic. Serial measurements of acuity in infants with certain eye diseases can provide examples of the effects of visual deprivation on the developing human visual system. Amongst 14 cases of monocular visual form deprivation in early life, there were 9 infants who had monocular occlusion as therapy for esotropia; 3 infants who had unilateral opacities of the ocular media; and 2 infants who had unilateral eyelid closure from infection or burns. Despite differences in exact mode of deprivation, the effects on visual acuity were similar. There was a reduction of visual acuity in the deprived eye and a simultaneous increase in acuity of the non-deprived eye. These effects of monocular deprivation were not permanent. Recovery occurred with reverse deprivation or by simple cessation of the deprivation. Of 10 children with binocular visual form deprivation, there were 5 who had bilateral congenital cataracts and 5 who had bilateral uncorrected high refractive errors. Infants with cataract surgery before 2 months of age showed normal early development of visual acuity. A 4-6 month delay before treatment resulted in reduced acuity, but recovery subsequently occurred.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Humans↗

Visual cognition: a new look at the two-visual systems model.

In this paper, we argue that no valid comparison between visual representations can arise unless provision is made for three critical properties: their direction of fit, their direction of causation and the level of their conceptual content. The conceptual content in turn is a function of the level of processing. Representations arising from earlier stages of processing of visual input have very little or no conceptual content. Higher order representations get their conceptual content from the connections between visual cognition and other parts of the human cognitive system. The two other critical properties of visual representations are their mind/world direction of fit and their mind/world direction of causation. The output of the semantic processing of visual input has a full mind-to-world direction of fit and a full world-to-mind direction of causation: it visually registers the way the world is and is caused by what it represents. The output of the pragmatic processing yields information for the benefit of intentions, which clearly have a world-to-mind direction of fit and a mind-to-world direction of causation. An intention is both the representation of a goal and a cause of the transformation of a goal into a fact. These properties segregate representations specialized for perception from those specialized for action. Perception implies comparison between simultaneously represented and analyzed objects: hence, object perception presupposes the representation of spatial relationships among objects in a coordinate system independent from the perceiver. Spatial relationships carry cues for attributing meaning to an object, so that their processing is actually part of semantic processing of visual information. These considerations lead to a re-evaluation of the role of the two classical pathways of the human visual system: the ventral and the dorsal cortical pathways. The parietal lobe, which has been identified with the dorsal pathway, cannot be considered as a unitary entity with a single function. The superior parietal lobule carries visuomotor processing, a non-lateralized process. The right inferior parietal lobule contributes to the perception of spatial relationships, a process with a mind-to-world direction of fit and a world-to-mind direction of causation. Finally, the left inferior parietal lobule contributes to still another type of representation, related to visually goal-directed action, i.e., with both a world-to-mind direction of fit and a mind-to-world direction of causation.

Brain↗

Postnatal expression and distribution of Refsum disease gene associated protein in the rat retina and visual cortex: effect of binocular visual deprivation.

Previously, phytanoyl-CoA alpha-hydroxylase-associated protein 1 (PAHX-AP1) was isolated as a novel neuron-specific protein to interact with Refsum disease (RfD) gene PAHX. Its expression in the brain increased after eyelid opening, and the elevated level was maintained through adulthood. In this report, to verify the hypothesis that light could trigger this increase, we have examined the developmental distribution pattern of PAHX-AP1 in rat retina and visual cortex, and changes of its expression by binocular deprivation. Northern blot analyses demonstrated PAHX-AP1 expression reached its highest level in the visual cortex and eyeball at 4 weeks after birth, and these levels were maintained through adult life. Two weeks after visual deprivation, its expression in the eyeball and visual cortex decreased compared with the control. In situ hybridization analyses of the retina showed that PAHX-AP1 expression was limited to the ganglionic cell layer at 10 days after birth, but expressed in the inner nuclear cell layer and extended to the outer nuclear cell layer at 2 and 3 weeks after birth, respectively. Two weeks after visual deprivation, however, it decreased in the ganglionic and inner nuclear cell layer, and disappeared in the rod and cone cell layers. In the visual cortex, strong signals of PAHX-AP1 were detected in layers IV and VI, and II-VI at 10 days and 2 weeks after birth, respectively. Its expression decreased after 2 weeks of visual deprivation. These results indicate that visual stimulation is essential for the maintenance of PAHX-AP1 expressions in the retina, especially in the rod and cone cell layers, and visual cortex, and suggest that PAHX-AP1 may be involved in the developmental regulation of the photoreceptor's function.

Animals↗

Organization of visual cortex in the northern quoll, Dasyurus hallucatus: evidence for a homologue of the second visual area in marsupials.

Two visual areas, V1 and V2 (first and second visual areas), appear to be present in the posterior neocortex of all eutherian mammals investigated so far. However, previous studies have not established whether an area homologous to V2 also exists in metatherian mammals (marsupials). Using electrophysiological techniques, we mapped the visual receptive fields of neurons in the striate and peristriate cortices of the northern quoll, an Australian marsupial. We found that neurons in a 2-mm-wide strip of cortex rostrolateral to V1 form a single, relatively simple representation of the complete contralateral hemifield. This area resembles V2 of eutherians in several respects: (i) neurons in the medial half of the peristriate area represent the lower visual quadrant, whereas those in the lateral half represent the upper visual quadrant; (ii) the vertical meridian of the visual field is represented adjacent to V1, while the visual field periphery is represented along the lateral and rostrolateral borders of the peristriate area; (iii) there is a marked anisotropy in the representation, with a larger magnification factor parallel to the V1 border than perpendicular to this border; and (iv) receptive fields of multiunit clusters in the peristriate cortex are much larger than those of cells in V1 at comparable eccentricities. The cortex immediately rostral and lateral to V2 did not respond to visual stimulation under our recording conditions. These results suggest that V1 and V2 together form a 'core' of homologous visual areas, likely to exist in all therian mammals.

Animals↗

[Visual acuity measured via the Freiburg visual acuity test (FVT), Bailey Lovie chart and Landolt Ring chart].

INTRODUCTION: If different ways for correcting refractive errors of the human eye have to be compared, accurate and reproducible measurement procedures are necessary. METHODS: Binocular visual acuity of 130 students without pathologies was measured with the Freiburg Visual Acuity Test, the Bailey-Lovie chart and a Landolt ring chart (4 orientations). The reproducibility of the FVT was determined by repeated measurements. RESULTS: The average visual acuity was 1.93 +/- 0.03 (= 20/10.4) with the FVT, 1.82 +/- 0.03 (= 20/11) with the Landolt ring chart, and 1.48 +/- 0.02 (= 20/13.5) with the Bailey-Lovie chart. 50 % of all repeated measurements with the FVT were within an interval of +/- 0.035 logMAR from the mean value. 95 % were within +/- 0.1 logMAR. Results of earlier studies are discussed. CONCLUSION: On average, visual acuity values found with the Freiburg Visual Acuity Test were slightly larger as compared to the Landolt ring chart (difference = 0.025 logMAR). Taking the maximal difference of 0.05 logMAR tolerated by the international standard DIN EN ISO 8597 into account, both tests are equivalent. The results found with the Bailey-Lovie chart were substantially lower as compared to the Landolt ring chart (difference = 0.09 logMAR). The Freiburg Visual Acuity Test has a high reproducibility and measures visual acuity on a continuous scale that is not limited to the traditional visual acuity steps. Thus, it can be recommended as a reference procedure for comparative visual acuity studies.

Adult↗

The relationship between performance-based visual acuity screening, self-reported visual acuity, and neuropsychological performance.

Despite frequent cautions in the literature concerning the importance of visual acuity in neuropsychological testing, there are few published empirical investigations of what constitutes "sufficient" visual acuity, nor are there published guidelines for performance-based visual screening techniques. The current study attempted to validate the utility of a visual acuity screening technique by examining individuals with varying visual ability on neuropsychological measures. Results revealed declines on neuropsychological measures associated with reduced visual acuity, as well as discrepancies between self-reported and measured visual acuity, with neuropsychological performance being more closely related to a performance-based measure of visual acuity than to self-reported visual acuity. Clinical implications are discussed.

Adult↗

Visual influence on postural control, with and without visual motion feedback.

Body sway was investigated in 20 healthy subjects to determine whether visual input must contain motion feedback information from the surroundings in order to influence postural control. Posturography was used to record body sway under the following visual conditions: eyes open with or without a restricted visual field; eyes open in ganzfield white light; eyes open in darkness with a head-fixed visual target; eyes open in darkness; and eyes closed in darkness. Stance was perturbed by means of a pseudorandomly applied vibratory stimulation to the calf muscles. Least sway was found with eyes open in an unrestricted visual field but increased in a restricted visual field. Greatest sway was found without visual motion feedback, i.e. under the following conditions: eyes closed; eyes open in darkness; eyes open in ganzfield white light; and with a head-mounted fixation point. Sway was significantly (p < 0.05) greater with eyes open in darkness compared with eyes closed during the initial 50 s with perturbations. After 150 s, sway was almost identical under the four test conditions without visual motion feedback. Standing with eyes open in darkness was initially a disadvantage compared with having the eyes closed. The postural control system may be programmed to expect visual feedback information when the eyes are open, which may delay changes in postural strategy.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Modeling visual attention's modulatory aftereffects on visual sensitivity and quality evaluation.

With the fast development of visual noise-shaping related applications (visual compression, error resilience, watermarking, encryption, and display), there is an increasingly significant demand on incorporating perceptual characteristics into these applications for improved performance. In this paper, a very important mechanism of the human brain, visual attention, is introduced for visual sensitivity and visual quality evaluation. Based upon the analysis, a new numerical measure for visual attention's modulatory aftereffects, perceptual quality significance map (PQSM), is proposed. To a certain extent, the PQSM reflects the processing ability of the human brain on local visual contents statistically. The PQSM is generated with the integration of local perceptual stimuli from color contrast, texture contrast, motion, as well as cognitive features (skin color and face in this study). Experimental results with subjective viewing demonstrate the performance improvement on two PQSM-modulated visual sensitivity models and two PQSM-based visual quality metrics.

Algorithms↗

Visual impairment in preterm children with periventricular leukomalacia--visual, cognitive and neuropaediatric characteristics related to cerebral imaging.

Thirteen preterm children, aged 4 to 14 years, with visual impairment due to periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) were evaluated for visual function, intellectual level, cognitive profile and motor function. Their visual impairment was characterized by low acuity, crowding, visual field defects and ocular motility disturbances. Their cognitive profile was uneven, often with considerably higher scores on verbal than on visual-spatial tasks. Nine children had normal intelligence, three had mild mental retardation and one had severe mental retardation. In all the children, visual impairment was complicated by visual perceptual difficulties, accounting for their greater visual handicap than would be expected from their visual acuities and strabismus alone. Though CT or MRI revealed bilateral PVL in all the children, six had no motor impairment consistent with cerebral palsy, which is an unexpected finding.

Adolescent↗

Visual-motor, visual-perceptual, and fine motor outcomes in very-low-birthweight children at 5 years.

The prevalence and severity of visual-motor deficits and the relation of visual-motor function to visual perception and fine motor skills was examined in a group of 83 neurologically and intellectually normal (IQ >84) very-low-birthweight (VLBW) children at age 5. Fifteen children (17%) had below average visual motor scores (<1SD below mean). While relatively few children (N=9) had below average scores in visual perception (11%), 58 (71%) had below average scores for fine motor skills. Nineteen (23%) were considered impaired (<1.5SD); of these, eight were severely impaired (<2SD). Fine motor scores were significantly lower in children who had been born <28 weeks' gestation, with hyaline membrane disease, or had required a longer period of ventilation. There was significant correlation between visual-motor and fine motor scores (r = 0.50, P < 0.001) and between visual-motor and visual perception scores (r = 0.42, P < 0.001). The implications of these findings and management of these 'normal' children need further research. Previous reports of visual-motor dysfunction in school-age VLBW children could be related to fine motor difficulties.

Apgar Score↗

Attentional weighting: a possible account of visual field asymmetries in visual search?

Several previous visual search studies measuring reaction times have demonstrated scanning biases across the visual field (i.e. a tendency to begin a serial search in a particular region of space). In the present study, we measured visual discrimination thresholds for a target presented amongst distractors using displays that were short enough to greatly reduce the potential for serial (i.e. scanning) search. For both a motion and orientation task, subjects' performance was significantly better when the target appeared in the inferior, as compared to the superior, visual field (no differences were observed between left and right visual fields). These findings suggest that subjects may divide attention unevenly across the visual field when searching for a target amongst distractors, a phenomenon we refer to as 'attentional weighting'. To rule out the possibility that these visual field asymmetries were sensory in nature, thresholds were also measured for conditions in which subjects' attention was directed to the location of the target stimulus, either because it was presented alone in the display or because a spatial cue directed subjects' attention to the location of that target presented amongst distractors. Under these conditions, visual field asymmetries were smaller (or non-existent), suggesting that sensory factors (such as crowding) are unlikely to account for our results. In addition, analyses of set-size effects (obtained by comparing thresholds for a single target vs. the target presented amongst distractors) could be accounted for by an unlimited capacity model, suggesting that multiple stimuli can be processed simultaneously without any limitations at an early stage of sensory processing. Taken together, these findings suggest the possible existence of biases in attentional weighting at a late stage of processing. The bias appears to favor the inferior visual field, which may arise from the fact that there is more ecologically-relevant information in this region of space.

Attention↗

Visualizing the future: impact of holographic visualization on teaching minimally invasive veneer preparation: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Minimally invasive veneer preparation in prosthodontic education requires advanced spatial understanding and psychomotor precision. Although immersive technologies are increasingly used in dental education, evidence regarding the educational effectiveness of holographic visualization in prosthodontics remains limited. This randomized controlled trial evaluated the impact of holographic visualization on preparation quality and student-reported educational outcomes during preclinical training in minimally invasive veneer preparation. METHODS: Sixty undergraduate dental students were randomly assigned to receive either conventional two-dimensional photographic visualization (n&#x2009;=&#x2009;30) or holographic three-dimensional visualization (n&#x2009;=&#x2009;30). Following a standardized calibration session and baseline preparation, participants performed a second veneer preparation after exposure to the assigned visualization modality. Preparations were independently assessed by two blinded evaluators using a predefined scoring rubric. Within-group changes were analysed using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, and between-group differences were assessed using analysis of covariance adjusted for baseline performance. Student-reported outcomes were compared using Mann-Whitney U tests with false discovery rate correction. RESULTS: Both groups showed significant improvements in preparation quality from baseline to post-intervention (both p&#x2009;<&#x2009;0.001). However, no significant between-group differences were observed (adjusted mean difference: 0.60 points; 95% confidence interval: -0.48 to 1.67; p&#x2009;=&#x2009;0.269). Overall student-reported outcomes were comparable between groups. Spatial understanding showed the largest between-group effect in favour of holographic visualization, although this difference was not significant after correction for multiple comparisons. Holographic visualization was highly accepted by students, and 70% supported its future integration into dental education. CONCLUSIONS: Although holographic visualization did not significantly improve immediate preparation quality compared with conventional two-dimensional photographs, it was highly accepted by students and showed the largest observed effect for perceived spatial understanding. These findings suggest that holographic visualization may primarily support spatial understanding and represent a valuable adjunct for teaching complex three-dimensional concepts in preclinical prosthodontic education. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS), DRKS00040713, prospectively registered on 22 June 2026.

Humans↗