ABSTRACT
In most societies nowadays, accidents are considered as the second most probable cause of death. A big ratio of this is related to the traffic accidents. This report aims at recognizing the accidents which cause casualties around Mashhad's roads. In a case-control study, the cases were drivers who had accidents in these roads with casualties and the controls were the drivers having accidents in same locations but with no casualties. Variables were age, sex, seat belt, spontaneous combustion at the accident, trapping at the accident, falling out of the vehicle at the accident, music playing in the vehicle at the time of the accident, using cell phone, the direction of the accident, the time, smoking at the time of the accident, and the model of the vehicle in both groups. Ninety percent of the cases and 93% of the controls were able or willing to be interviewed while 16.2% and 23.4% of the cases and controls were female. The distribution of males in the case and control group was 83.8% and 76.6% respectively. The age of the case and control groups was 35.5 +/- 10.5 and 39.4 +/- 9.8 years. The use of seat belt as a safety factor was significantly more in the control group [OR=0.44]. Combustion was 21% seen in the case group at the time of the accident, but the same occurred in the control group only in 1.3% of the accidents. The trapping and falling out of the vehicle were significantly more in the case group. Fastening seat belt had a significant positive effect on reducing the injuries caused by the accidents. Age as another significant indicator showed a great influence in the danger factor caused by the road accidents which can be reduced by means of media information
ABSTRACT
To determine the effect of occluding a normal eye on visual acuity, contrast sensitivity and stereopsis in amblyopic school children. Amblyopic children from primary schools of region 2 in Mashhad were identified and referred to Optometry Clinics of Mashhad Medical University through a screening program. Informed consent was obtained from the parents. All subjects underwent an ophthalmologic examination including visual acuity, subjective refractive error, biomicroscopy and funduscopy. Best-corrected visual acuity [BCVA], contrast sensitivity and stereopsis were measured by Snellen E chart, Cambridge low contrast chart and Titmus stereotest, respectively. All tests were repeated 2 weeks, 1 month and 3 months after initial examination. Of 1,947 children, 289 [14.8%] were amblyopic of whom 62 subjects were eventually enrolled for the study. BCVA in the amblyopic eye was less than 3/10 in 25.8% of subjects before treatment however all children had BCVA of 3/10 or better afterwards. Mean BCVA in amblyopic eyes significantly increased from 0.53 +/- 0.26 logMAR to 0.24 +/- 0.23 logMAR after 2 months of treatment [P<0.001]. Mean contrast sensitivity in amblyopic eyes was 68.3 before treatment which improved to 152.5, 138.2 and 198 after 2 weeks, 1 month and 2 months of treatment, respectively [P<0.001]. Contrast sensitivity may provide better assessment of visual function as compared to visual acuity. Changes in contrast sensitivity are more sensitive to occlusion therapy as compared to visual acuity. Therefore, contrast sensitivity may yield better evaluation of subclinical changes not detectable by testing visual acuity