Magnetophosphenes: a quantitative analysis of thresholds.
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One proposed mechanism for underpinning colour constancy is computation of the relative activity of cones within one class--cone ratios, or cone contrasts--between surfaces in a fixed scene undergoing a change in illuminant. Although there is evidence that cone ratios do determine colour appearance under many conditions, the site or sites of their computation is unknown. Here, we report that a cerebrally achromatopsic observer, MS, displayed evidence of colour constancy in asymmetric colour matching tasks and was able to discriminate changes in cone ratios for simple, but not complex scenes. We hypothesise that the site of local cone-ratio computation is therefore early in the visual system, probably retinal.
Patients with cerebral achromatopsia, resulting from damage to ventromedial occipital cortex, cannot chromatically order, or discriminate, hue. Nevertheless, their chromatic contrast sensitivity can be indistinguishable from that of normal observers. A possible contributor to the detectability of chromatic gratings is the subadditive nature of certain colour combination such that mixtures of, for example, red and green (yielding yellow) appear dimmer than expected from the simple addition of luminances. This subadditivity is believed to reflect colour-opponent interactions between the outputs of long- and medium-wavelength cones. We performed a first-order compensation for such subadditivity in chromatic gratings and demonstrated that their detection was still not abolished in an achromatopsic patient. In addition, we used a two-alternative forced-choice procedure with an achromatopsic patient, who was required to judge the apparent relative velocity of two drifting gratings with different degrees of compensation for subadditivity. It is well known that isoluminant gratings, constructed by adding a red and green sinusoidal grating of identical peak luminances in antiphase, appear to drift substantially slower than an achromatic grating with the same velocity. Adding 2f luminance compensation to an isoluminant grating of spatial frequency f, resulted in an identical minimum of perceived velocity at a compensation contrast of 5% in both achromatopsics and normal observers. Furthermore, while compensation for subadditivity did not substantially compromise grating detection at low contrasts, such correction severely affected motion detection. Saccadic eye movement accuracy and latency were also measured to uncompensated chromatic, compensated chromatic and achromatic targets. We conclude first that subadditivity, resulting from colour-opponent P-channel processes, influences motion judgements. The ability to extract motion from chromatic differences alone is little, if at all, different in achromatopsic and normal vision. Second, the paradoxical detection of sinusoidally modulated chromatic gratings in achromatopsic patients is not merely a result of subadditivity. Third, saccadic latency, but not accuracy, to chromatic targets is affected by luminance compensation. Finally, and more generally, wavelength processing continues to contribute to several aspects of visual processing even when colour is not perceived.
We studied the relationship between abnormalities shown by MRI and functional disturbances in the visual pathway as assessed by the visual evoked potential (VEP) in 25 patients with established multiple sclerosis (MS); only 4 of whom had a history of acute optic neuritis. Optic nerve MRI was abnormal in 19 (76%) and is thus useful in detecting subclinical disease. Optic nerve total lesion length and area on the STIR sequence was found to correlate significantly with prolongation of the VEP latency. This may reflect a predominantly demyelinating rather than inflammatory origin for the signal change in the optic nerve.
BACKGROUND: Screening tests of visual functions using the Internet are theoretically possible. To use these tests as a screening test, they must deliver comparable results with conventional test procedures. A web-based color vision test was developed based on pseudoisochromatic color plates. METHOD: The web-based color vision test was developed according to the pseudoisochromatic color plates by Velhagen and Broschmann using the programming-languages HTML, Java, and Perl. Sixty-five voluntary subjects, including nine color-deficient subjects, were examined by luminescence color plates (via web-based color vision test) and pigment color plates (via book). The statistical analysis was performed by determining the correspondence and the 95%-confidence interval. RESULTS: The correspondence of the test results for all subjects was 0.98 and the 95%-confidence interval was within 0.91 and 0.99. The correspondence of the test results in the group of color-deficient subjects was 1.0 and because of the limited number the 95%-confidence interval was within 0.71 and 1.0. CONCLUSIONS: The web-based color vision test with luminescence color plates for color-efficient and color-deficient subjects delivers test results comparable to pigment color plates under standardized examination conditions. Further studies are needed to examine if the web-based color vision test can also be used as an Internet screening test.
PURPOSE: This study compares clinical and molecular genetic findings in patients with congenital cone dysfunction. METHODS: In this study 28 patients underwent a basic ophthalmologic examination. Except for a 1-year-old boy, color vision, perimetry, and full-field ERG (ISCEV standard) were evaluated in all patients. Blood samples were taken for molecular genetic analysis of the CNGA3, CNGB3, or GNAT2 genes. RESULTS: Two patient groups could be distinguished: patients without and with residual cone function in the ERG. In 14 of 17 patients without cone function, mutations in one of the three genes were detected, and except for one patient mutations in both alleles could be determined. In these patients, visual acuity was reduced to 20/400 and color discrimination was absent. In 2 of 11 patients with residual cone function, mutations in one allele of the CNGB3 gene were detected. It is of interest that 6 of 16 patients with mutations perceived their disease as progressive; in three of them we could determine a progression. Only in 4 of 16 patients was the ocular fundus normal. The other patients with mutations presented with central pigment irregularities, attenuated vessels, or pale optic disk. CONCLUSION: In patients with congenital cone dysfunction without cone function in the ERG, an analysis of the CNGA3, CNGB3, or GNAT2 gene is advisable. In contrast, patients with residual cone function did not show clear association with mutations in one of the three genes. In patients with mutations, retinal alterations and nystagmus are frequent. In contrast to the designation of these disorders as stationary, in some patients with mutations in the CNGA3 and CNGB3 gene slow progression was observed.
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Colour vision is the most sensitive sensory ability of the human eye, making it possible to distinguish several million nuances of colour. The physiology of colour vision has meanwhile been researched in depth, including the genetic and biochemical principles. This knowledge has facilitated a better understanding of the results of clinical tests on colour vision. These clinical tests provide useful information on the aetiology of very different clinical pictures in ophthalmology and as such are important for the diagnosis of these diseases. Acquired colour vision deficiencies in patients with systemic vascular disease are early signs of dysfunctional microcirculation and play a role in the early diagnostic work-up. Part I of this review summarizes the basic principles of colour vision and its disturbances. Congenital and acquired colour vision disturbances are distinguished. The second part then describes the most commonly employed examination procedures to assess colour vision.
Assessment of an individual's ability to drive in road traffic is an important part of the ophthalmologist's work. It fulfils the ophthalmologist's duty to care for the patient and increases general road traffic safety. This assessment requires testing of visual acuity, visual field, mesopic vision and glare, motility, binocular vision and colour vision. Also the optical media and the fundus have to be examined. If an optical aid is necessary, it should be suitable for use in road traffic. In some cases restrictions are necessary, which should be noted in the driver's licence. Testing of visual function has to be performed with standardised procedures according to the recommendations of DOG and BVA. This article will provide readers with an overview of current practices in assessing the ability to drive in road traffic and enable them to render an accurate professional opinion regarding driver's licences.
BACKGROUND: With standardized examination conditions, a web-based color vision test using pseudoisochromatic color plates can deliver test results comparable to those yielded by conventional color vision tests. The aim of the study is to analyze to what extent a web-based color vision test can be used as a screening test on the internet after visual monitor calibration. METHODS: A German-language web-based color vision test with 25 pseudoisochromatic color plates based on the color plates of Velhagen and Broschmann and of Ishihara was developed, which can be seen at http://www.farbsehtest.de. Volunteers were recruited by means of specific information distributed on the internet, in various print media, and on the radio. RESULTS: Over a period of 12 months, 2,126 of the initial volunteers [541 women and 1,588 men; mean age 34.27 (+/-14.1) years] with a valid test result for 25 color plates performed the web-based color vision test, 1,700 (506 women and 1,194 men) of whom passed it. Of the 426 volunteers who did not pass the test, 32 were women and 394, men. Counter-testing was performed on 101 volunteers (34 women and 67 men) with a mean age of 36.74 (+/-11.6) years. CONCLUSIONS: The results recorded in the patients who underwent counter-testing suggest that, if handled correctly, the web-based color vision test can be used as a color vision screening test on the internet.
By means of a visual tristimulus colorimeter according to Guild-Bechstein, the following items were determined for a male deuteranopic observer on a foveal, i.e. 2 degrees diameter visual field: (1) the deuteranopic missing color, by means of the perceptual criterion "indistinguishably equal", (2) the neutral zone, by means of the perceptual criterion "neither blue nor yellow," (3) the alychne trace, by means of the perceptual criterion "heterochromatically equally bright." The evaluation in the chromaticity chart resulted in two straight lines forming a dichromatic pencil, the deuteranopic missing color providing the carrier point (vertex). These two straight lines represent the referential chromaticities of a deuteranopic opponent color system.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: An 11-year-old girl presented because of reduced visual acuity while color vision was almost normal. Besides a general ophthalmological examination, special psychophysical tests, such as perimetry, color vision tests using pseudoisochromatic plates, arrangement tests, the Nagel anomaloscope and spectral sensitivity measurement, and electrophysiological tests (electroretinogram and electrooculogram) were conducted. RESULTS: The tests yielded the following: congenital nystagm, normal results at ophthalmoscopy, best visual acuity of 0.1 monocular and 0.2 binocular. Perimetry revealed a relatively central scotoma. All color vision tests showed only mild dysfunction of the blue-sensitive cones. Findings at photopic electroretinogram were almost completely lacking. There was no sign of progression in the last 6 years. CONCLUSION: Differential diagnosis includes all diseases associated with congenital nystagm, such as aniridia, diseases of the optic nerve, albinism and all forms of hereditary cone dysfunction, cone dystrophies and complete and incomplete congenital stationary monochromatism. In the present case the findings are most congruent with oligocone trichromasy.
BACKGROUND: Computerized colortests offer the possibility of determining quantitative color contrast thresholds under standardized conditions. Arrangement tests allow semi-quantitative evaluation of the red, green and blue color sense. To validate the results of a new computerized test, its results are compared to those of arrangement tests. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-five patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP, mean age 38.51, +/- 15.14) as well as 30 normal observers (mean age 36.52, +/- 14.33) were evaluated. The computerized color test COLDEF was used, which is a calibrated screen that presents color optotypes on a colored background. All colors are chosen from three-color confusion axes of the CIE-Lu'v' color chart (protan, deutan and tritan axis). By a staircase procedure, the colors of the optotype and background were varied until the observers minimal color contrast threshold is detected. To compare the results of COLDEF with a routine diagnostic tool, the Farnsworth panel D-15 and Lanthony désaturé test were chosen. The results of the arrangement tests were scored by a categorization scheme. RESULTS: Normal observers showed no elevated thresholds either in COLDEF nor in the panel tests. In the RP group increased thresholds along the blue confusion axis could be detected in most cases. Furthermore, COLDEF showed increased thresholds along the red and green axes in some patients. With the computerized test it is always possible to identify the color axis concerned. The new test allows a fast and quantitative assessment of acquired color vision deficiencies.
INTRODUCTION: Disturbance of the blue light perceptance in rhegmatogenous retinal detachment was demonstrated by Köllner 1907 with the help of colour-perimetries. We examined the blue- and white-function after retinal reattachment by blue-on-yellow-perimetry compared with white-on-white-perimetry. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 10 Patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment and a visual acuity > or = 0.1 were examined preoperatively, 4 days and 6 weeks after successful buckling procedure. We performed a white-on-white-perimetry as also perimetries with blue stimuli on a yellow luminance background (program 30-2 of the Humphrey Field Analyzer 750). RESULTS: Four days after surgery the increase in sensitivity was significantly less for the blue-function compared with the white-function. Preoperatively and 6 weeks postoperatively the sensitivities were not significantly different. Between these time-points function recovered in average for both methods from MD -15 dB to MD -5 dB. CONCLUSION: After successful retinal detachment surgery the blue- and white-function increased. Blue-on-yellow-perimetry showed more retinal sensitivity loss than white-on-white-perimetry immediately after surgery. Blue-on-yellow-perimetry measured the same retinal sensitivity loss as white-on-white-perimetry preoperatively and 6 weeks postoperatively.
So far medical requirements for aviators have been defined by national licensing authorities. For a long while ophthalmological problems, insufficiencies in vision, refraction or color vision, have been responsible for approximately 50% of rejection of applicants for medical reasons. New international regulations proposed as well by ICAO as JAA try to lead to a new balance in these requirements. In general, ophthalmological requirements now allow for lower standards, specifically in refraction, but also in color vision. Also new examination methods are admitted. German and French authorities have announced their opposition being concerned about flight safety for the future.
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