[Preserving vision in the elderly: a survey to start a quality development program in general practice]. / Erhaltung des Sehvermögens im Alter: Eine Patienten- und Hausarztbefragung zur Einleitung eines Qualitätsentwicklungsprojektes in der Hausarztpraxis.

The study examined the rate of patients, who do not follow recommendations for routine screening, do not visit physicians for eye-symptoms and when suffering from diabetes or glaucoma do not adhere to follow-up. To what extent can primary care physicians impact on these deficits of ophthalmologic care? 4918 consecutive, > or = 40 old patients of 107 primary care physicians of 9 networks participated. Of these patients 15% had never, 43% not within the last 3 years, consulted an ophthalmologist. 16% were diabetics, 7% had glaucoma and 46% had observed subjective eye symptoms. A quarter of these patients turn to their primary care physician, when having eye problems. Primary care physicians do not frequently suggest routine ophthalmologic controls nor do they use diagnostic tools like the Amsler-grid or the Swinging-Flash-Light Test.

[Keratitis in measles]. / Keratitis bei Masern.

We are reporting a case of a 23-year-old patient suffering from measles despite vaccination during childhood. He presented with bilateral punctate keratitis without conjunctival reaction 10 days after the onset of rash. We assume a late immunological reaction, possibly related to earlier vaccination.

[Discrete media clouding and its effect of contrast transfer coefficients, the pattern ERG and contrast sensitivity]. / Die diskrete Medientrübung und ihr Einfluss auf den Kontrastübertragungs-Koeffizienten, das Pattern-ERG sowie die Kontrastempfindlichkeit.

As a model for our study we selected 11 pseudophacic patients with secondary cataracts who experienced good postoperative visual acuity after extracapsular cataract extraction. Besides best visual acuity and contrast sensitivity Pattern-ERG (PERG) and Contrast-Transfer-Ratio (CTR) were measured before and after YAG-Kapsulotomy was performed. Visual acuity and contrast sensitivity increased in all patients after treatment, whereas CTR increased in eight patients. PERG was measured in five patients, in two cases its amplitudes were higher, the other measurements revealed unchanged or lower amplitudes. Our model shows that in addition to the usual psychophysic tests, with CTR and PERG there are objective methods available to measure discrete opacities of the visual system.

Clinical and ERG data in a family with autosomal dominant RP and Pro-347-Arg mutation in the rhodopsin gene.

In a family with autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa, documented over six generations, a previously undescribed point mutation in the rhodopsin gene could be identified. The mutation found in the six affected members examined but in none of the controls, including healthy members of the family, was a point mutation in codon 347 predicting a substitution of the amino acid arginine for proline, designated Pro-347-Arg. Six affected members from two generations were examined clinically and with ganzfeld rod and cone electroretinography. The cone and, more dramatically, the rod electroretinograms were reduced to residual b-wave amplitudes or were non-detectable as early as ages 18 to 22 years. The Pro-347-Arg mutation resulted in a subjectively and clinically homogeneous phenotype: early onset of night blindness before age 11, relatively preserved usable visual fields until about age 30, blindness at ages 40 to 60, and change from an initial apparently sine pigmento to a hyperpigmented and atrophic fundus picture between 30 and 50 years of age.