Binocular vision parameters and visual performance in bilateral keratoconus corrected with spectacles versus rigid gas-permeable contact lenses / Parámetros de visión binocular y rendimiento visual en queratocono bilateral corregido con gafas versus lentes de contacto rígidos permeables al gas

Purpose: To analyze binocular vision of individuals aged 18 to 35 years diagnosed with keratoconus, utilizing spectacles and rigid gas-permeable (RGP) contact lenses. Research was led by the Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes, México and Fundación Universitaria del Área Andina Pereira, Colombia. Methods: A single center, prospective non-randomized, comparative, interventional, open-label study, in which the differences in binocular vision performance with both spectacles and RGP contact lenses was carried out from December 2018 to December 2019. Sampling was performed according to consecutive cases with keratoconus that met the inclusion criteria until the proposed sample size was reached. Results: Rigid gas-permeable (RGP) contact lenses notably enhanced distance and near visual acuity in keratoconus patients compared to spectacles. Visual alignment analysis shows exophoria at both distances and is slightly higher with RGP contact lenses. The difference was statistically significant (p<0.05), with 82.5 % presenting compensated phoria with spectacles and pnly 42.50% with RGP contact lenses. Stereoscopic vision improved while wearing RGP contact lenses (42.59 %), although accommodation and accommodative flexibility remained within normal ranges. Conclusions: Patients with keratoconus fitted with RGP contact lenses have improved binocular vision skills such as visual acuity, stereopsis, and accommodative flexibility. However, even when the vergence and motor system is decompensated with respect to normal ranges, the range between break and recovery points for both fusional reserves and the near point of convergence (NPC) improves with the use of RGP contact lenses, giving indications of an adaptive condition of the motor system from the medium to the long term.(AU)

Comparative Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Innovative Periorbital Eye Massager and Virtual Reality Eyeglasses for Reducing Dental Anxiety during Dental Restorative Procedures in Children.

Background: Many behavior management techniques are employed to reduce the anxiety associated with dental procedures in children. One of the most commonly used methods comprises audiovisual distraction using virtual reality (VR) eyeglasses. In this study, an innovative device, a periorbital eye massager (PEM), is compared with VR to evaluate dental anxiety in children. Materials and methods: in this study, 22 children were divided into two groups, that is, group I consisting of PEM and group II consisting of VR. The participants were instructed to wear the device and then subjected to dental restorative procedures. After completion of the procedure, anxiety was measured using a validated questionnaire by the children and by using the modified behavior pain scale by the second investigator. Also, physiological parameters like heart rate and oxygen saturation were evaluated before and after a dental procedure. Results: The results were statistically insignificant for group I and group II when a validated questionnaire and modified behavior pain scale were used to measure the dental anxiety of children. Also, the data also shows no significant difference in heart rate and oxygen saturation between the two groups. Conclusion: The innovative PEM can also be used as an effective behavior management tool in managing dental anxiety in children, as there was no statistically significant difference between PEM and VR. Clinical significance: As a pediatric dentist, the methods for administering a patient present a novel challenge because behavior management varies from patient to patient. As a result, the prospects for augmenting various techniques of behavior therapy for pediatric patients are limitless. How to cite this article: Gala UP, Kalaskar R. Comparative Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Innovative Periorbital Eye Massager and Virtual Reality Eyeglasses for Reducing Dental Anxiety during Dental Restorative Procedures in Children. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2024;17(1):48-53.

Associations of meeting 24-hour movement behavior guidelines with prescribed eyeglasses/contact lenses among children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Vision health is crucial for many aspects of life especially in developing populations such as children and adolescents. However, there is a high proportion of children and adolescents who suffer from visual impairments. Notably, accumulating evidence indicates that meeting the 24-hour movement behaviors (24-HMB) guidelines is associated with positive physical and mental health outcomes in children and adolescents. However, the relationship between being prescribed eyeglasses/contact lenses and meeting the 24-HMB guidelines has yet to be investigated. Thus, this study aimed to address this gap in the existing literature by using the 2021 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) dataset. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, data was retrieved from the 2021 NSCH. A total of 14,193 U.S. children and adolescents aged between 6 and 17 years were included for data analyses. We used items of the NSCH concerning the 24-HMB guidelines (i.e., physical activity, screen time, and sleep duration) and prescription of eyeglasses/contact lenses that were answered by the legal guardian of the children. Binary logistic regression was performed to investigate whether meeting the 24-HMB guidelines is associated with prescription eyeglasses/contact lenses and whether wearing eyeglasses/contact lenses predicts adherence to the 24-HMB guidelines among children and adolescents. RESULTS: More than half of the participants (59.53%) wore eyeglasses/contact lenses and only 8.40% of them met all three of the 24-HMB guidelines. Compared to meeting none of the 24-HMB guidelines, meeting one (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.62-0.93, p = 0.008), two (OR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.43-0.67, p < 0.001), and all three 24-HMB guidelines (OR = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.34-0.64, p < 0.001) were associated with a lower risk of being prescribed eyeglasses/contact lenses among children and adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the current study provided evidence that the prevalence of U.S. children and adolescents aged between 6 and 17 years who wore eyeglasses/contact lenses was relatively high. Furthermore, meeting the 24-HMB guidelines was associated with a lower risk of being prescribed eyeglasses/contact lenses. Future studies focusing on the effects of 24-HMB interventions on vision health among children and adolescents are needed to better inform public health actions.

Binocular vision parameters and visual performance in bilateral keratoconus corrected with spectacles versus rigid gas-permeable contact lenses.

PURPOSE: To analyze binocular vision of individuals aged 18 to 35 years diagnosed with keratoconus, utilizing spectacles and rigid gas-permeable (RGP) contact lenses. Research was led by the Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes, México and Fundación Universitaria del Área Andina Pereira, Colombia. METHODS: A single center, prospective non-randomized, comparative, interventional, open-label study, in which the differences in binocular vision performance with both spectacles and RGP contact lenses was carried out from December 2018 to December 2019. Sampling was performed according to consecutive cases with keratoconus that met the inclusion criteria until the proposed sample size was reached. RESULTS: Rigid gas-permeable (RGP) contact lenses notably enhanced distance and near visual acuity in keratoconus patients compared to spectacles. Visual alignment analysis shows exophoria at both distances and is slightly higher with RGP contact lenses. The difference was statistically significant (p<0.05), with 82.5 % presenting compensated phoria with spectacles and pnly 42.50% with RGP contact lenses. Stereoscopic vision improved while wearing RGP contact lenses (42.59 %), although accommodation and accommodative flexibility remained within normal ranges. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with keratoconus fitted with RGP contact lenses have improved binocular vision skills such as visual acuity, stereopsis, and accommodative flexibility. However, even when the vergence and motor system is decompensated with respect to normal ranges, the range between break and recovery points for both fusional reserves and the near point of convergence (NPC) improves with the use of RGP contact lenses, giving indications of an adaptive condition of the motor system from the medium to the long term.

The Perception of Spectacles Use Among the General Population in Ha'il Region, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Purpose: The study aims to assess the perception of optical spectacles use among the Ha'il region population in Saudi Arabia. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was distributed via various social media applications to the residents of the Ha'il region. An online questionnaire was designed and included informed consent and questions assessing the participants' perceptions about wearing eyeglasses, contact lenses, and general eye health. Results: 32.4% of the participants think that long-term eyeglasses wearing worsens vision, and 43% think eyeglasses wearing improves vision. 75.2% believe that long-term use of glasses could cause lifetime dependency on eyeglasses. Regarding contact lenses, 45.9% believe that long-term wearing worsens vision, and 24.1% think long-term wearing of contact lenses improves vision. 60% think long-term use of lenses causes lifetime dependency on those contact lenses. Conclusion: Our results highlighted the misconceptions among the study population regarding wearing prescribed eyeglasses and contact lenses. Thus, education programs and media are warranted to correct the misconceptions about spectacles and raise the awareness about refractive errors and treatment options.

Green Light-Based Analgesia - Novel Nonpharmacological Approach to Fibromyalgia Pain: A Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: There continues to be significant reliance on pharmacological modalities for the management of chronic pain, with a particular focus on opioid analgesics as a singular option for pain management. Fibromyalgia is a prototypical central pain disorder, which is often used as a model to study chronic pain disorders. It has an estimated prevalence of approximately 1.1% to 5.4% in the general population. The widespread use of opioids in patients with fibromyalgia has been well demonstrated in several health claims database studies, with rates of use ranging from 11.3% to 69%. Minimizing opioid exposures reduces misuse risk, but requires adequate opioid-sparing multimodal analgesic strategies, particularly nonopioid analgesic adjuncts, to ensure effective treatment of pain, particularly high-impact pain. We chose fibromyalgia as our study population. Given that it is a disordered sensory processing condition, it may be particularly amenable to the beneficial effects of green-light therapy. OBJECTIVES: Most studies have evaluated exposure to light-emitting diode lights as a mode of green-light delivery; our study used green-light filtering eyeglasses, which would allow the wearer to move about with minimal interference. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to test the feasibility of green-light filtering eyeglasses in the treatment of chronic pain. SETTING: This study was conducted at Duke University Health System. METHODS: We recruited and randomized adult patients with a known diagnosis of fibromyalgia patients and excluded patients who were unable to wear eyeglasses for at least 4 hours per day or were colorblind according to the Ishihara Colorblindness Test. Patients were assigned to 1 of 3 arms: clear eyeglasses (control), green eyeglasses, or blue eyeglasses. We initially recruited 45 patients and randomly assigned 15 patients per group. RESULTS: To evaluate clinical significance, we determined the rate of >= 10% decline in oral morphine equivalents and found that 33%, 11%, and 8% of the green, blue, and clear eyeglass groups, respectively, achieved this clinically meaningful outcome. LIMITATIONS: This study was powered to detect feasibility of the intervention, rather than conclusive analgesic effects. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated the feasibility of this treatment approach and study design and supports a future study to determine the efficacy of green light-based analgesia on opioid use, pain, and anxiety. While the reduction of opioid use was not of statistical significance, we believe it to be of clinical significance as there was no increase of patient-reported pain. This warrants further investigation in a large-scale trial of the use of green-light filtration of ambient light to mitigate opioid use and possible mediation of psychological impacts of pain with the use of green-lensed eyeglasses.

The challenge of measuring physiological parameters during motor imagery engagement in patients after a stroke.

Introduction: It is suggested that eye movement recordings could be used as an objective evaluation method of motor imagery (MI) engagement. Our investigation aimed to evaluate MI engagement in patients after stroke (PaS) compared with physical execution (PE) of a clinically relevant unilateral upper limb movement task of the patients' affected body side. Methods: In total, 21 PaS fulfilled the MI ability evaluation [Kinaesthetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire (KVIQ-10), body rotation task (BRT), and mental chronometry task (MC)]. During the experiment, PaS moved a cup to distinct fields while wearing smart eyeglasses (SE) with electrooculography electrodes integrated into the nose pads and electrodes for conventional electrooculography (EOG). To verify MI engagement, heart rate (HR) and oxygen saturation (SpO2) were recorded, simultaneously with electroencephalography (EEG). Eye movements were recorded during MI, PE, and rest in two measurement sessions to compare the SE performance between conditions and SE's psychometric properties. Results: MI and PE correlation of SE signals varied between r = 0.12 and r = 0.76. Validity (cross-correlation with EOG signals) was calculated for MI (r = 0.53) and PE (r = 0.57). The SE showed moderate test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient) with r = 0.51 (95% CI 0.26-0.80) for MI and with r = 0.53 (95% CI 0.29 - 0.76) for PE. Event-related desynchronization and event-related synchronization changes of EEG showed a large variability. HR and SpO2 recordings showed similar values during MI and PE. The linear mixed model to examine HR and SpO2 between conditions (MI, PE, rest) revealed a significant difference in HR between rest and MI, and between rest and PE but not for SpO2. A Pearson correlation between MI ability assessments (KVIQ, BRT, MC) and physiological parameters showed no association between MI ability and HR and SpO2. Conclusion: The objective assessment of MI engagement in PaS remains challenging in clinical settings. However, HR was confirmed as a reliable parameter to assess MI engagement in PaS. Eye movements measured with the SE during MI did not resemble those during PE, which is presumably due to the demanding task. A re-evaluation with task adaptation is suggested.

A 3D anthropometry-based quantified comfort model for children's eyeglasses design.

Modeling the quantified relationships between anthropometric/product parameters and human perceptions provides research-driven guidelines for mass customization and personalization of ergonomic products. In particular, such models are critical for designing children's eyeglasses; however, they are still underexplored. This study examined children's comfort perceptions for eyeglasses with two variables (i.e., nose pads width and temple clamping force), and established quantified linkage models between subjective human perceptions and objective 3D anthropometric/product parameters. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to quantify these relationships for ergonomic eyeglasses design. A psychological experiment with thirty child participants was performed, and our analyses showed that two eyeglasses variables significantly influenced the children's comfort perceptions; static vs. dynamic conditions caused slight differences. The mathematical trendlines and trend surfaces established by our findings can estimate perceived component-specific and overall comfort scores based on 3D anthropometric/product parameters. This also allows for calculation of parameter's allowances for sizing and grading eyeglasses while maintaining satisfactory comfort.

Applying the UTAUT2 Model to Smart Eyeglasses to Detect and Prevent Falls Among Older Adults and Examination of Associations With Fall-Related Functional Physical Capacities: Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: As people age, their physical capacities (eg, walking and balance) decline and the risk of falling rises. Yet, classic fall detection devices are poorly accepted by older adults. Because they often wear eyeglasses as they go about their daily activities, daily monitoring to detect and prevent falls with smart eyeglasses might be more easily accepted. OBJECTIVE: On the basis of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2), this study evaluated (1) the acceptability of smart eyeglasses for the detection and prevention of falls by older adults and (2) the associations with selected fall-related functional physical capacities. METHODS: A total of 142 volunteer older adults (mean age 74.9 years, SD 6.5 years) completed the UTAUT2 questionnaire adapted for smart eyeglasses and then performed several physical tests: a unipodal balance test with eyes open and closed, a 10-m walk test, and a 6-minute walk test. An unsupervised analysis classified the participants into physical performance groups. Multivariate ANOVAs were performed to identify differences in acceptability constructs according to the performance group. RESULTS: The UTAUT2 questionnaire adapted for eyeglasses presented good psychometric properties. Performance expectancy (ß=.21, P=.005), social influence (ß=.18, P=.007), facilitating conditions (ß=.17, P=.04), and habit (ß=.40, P<.001) were significant contributors to the behavioral intention to use smart eyeglasses (R²=0.73). The unsupervised analysis based on fall-related functional physical capacities created 3 groups of physical performance: low, intermediate, and high. Effort expectancy in the low performance group (mean 3.99, SD 1.46) was lower than that in the other 2 groups (ie, intermediate: mean 4.68, SD 1.23; high: mean 5.09, SD 1.41). Facilitating conditions in the high performance group (mean 5.39, SD 1.39) were higher than those in the other 2 groups (ie, low: mean 4.31, SD 1.68; intermediate: mean 4.66, SD 1.51). CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this study is the first to examine the acceptability of smart eyeglasses in the context of fall detection and prevention in older adults and to associate acceptability with fall-related functional physical capacities. The older adults with higher physical performances, and possibly lower risks of falling, reported greater acceptability of smart eyeglasses for fall prevention and detection than their counterparts exhibiting low physical performances.

Impact of media entertainment on patient perceived burdens during dental treatment for fixed dental prostheses.

OBJECTIVES: Visiting a dentist can be an unpleasant experience for many people. Especially clinical procedures for provision of fixed dental prostheses (FDP) can be burdensome. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of media entertainment via flat screens on the ceiling on patient experiences during dental treatment for FDP. METHODS: In this randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT), a sample of 145 patients (mean age: 42.7 years, 55.2% female) undergoing treatment for FDP was recruited and randomly assigned to intervention group (n = 69) with media entertainment or control group without media (n = 76). Perceived burdens were assessed with the 25-item Burdens in Prosthetic Dentistry Questionnaire (BiPD-Q). Total and dimension scores can range from 0 to 100 with higher scores representing higher burdens. Impact of media entertainment on perceived burdens was assessed using t-test and multivariate linear regression analysis. Effect sizes (ES) were calculated. RESULTS: Perceived burdens were in general quite low indicated by a mean BiPD-Q total score of 24.4 points, with highest scores for the domain preparation (28.9) and lowest for global treatment aspects (19.8). Media entertainment had a significant effect on overall perceived burdens with lower scores in the intervention group (20.0) than in the control group (29.2; ES: 0.54; p = 0.002). Highest impact was observed for the domains global treatment aspects (ES: 0.61; p < 0.001) and impression (ES: 0.55; p = 0.001), and lowest for anesthesia (ES: 0.27; p = 0.103). CONCLUSION: Media entertainment on flat screens during dental treatments decreases perceived burdens and may provide patients a less unpleasant treatment experience. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Long and invasive treatments as performed for providing fixed dental prostheses may induce substantial burdens to the patients. Media entertainment on a flat screen TV on the ceiling has a significant attenuating effect on patients and significantly reduces perceived burdens, and subsequently improves process-related quality of care in dentistry.

Development and evaluation of an intervention to promote the use of eyeglasses among Romani families in Bulgaria.

Objective: Uncorrected refractive error (i.e., lack of eyeglasses for the treatment of refractive error) is one of the leading causes of visual impairment in Eastern Europe. Limited information is available on how to promote the use of eyeglasses among Romani families in Bulgaria. In step 1, the objective was to obtain suggestions by Romani mothers on how to promote the use of eyeglasses among children. In step 2, the objective was to evaluate an intervention to promote the use of eyeglasses based on suggestions received during step 1. Methods: During step 1, 5 focus groups with Romani mothers took place in one neighborhood in Bulgaria. During step 2, the intervention used a one-group pre-test, post-test design. Families received eye examinations. Those who needed eyeglasses chose attractive eyeglasses. Parents received education on how to encourage their children to wear eyeglasses. Results: During step 1, 54 mothers participated. Mothers suggested that the whole family should receive eye examinations and eyeglasses. During step 2, of 33 family members, 14 did not have refractive errors and 19 did. Of the 19 family members with refractive error, none had eyeglasses at pre-test. Approximately 6 months following the end of the intervention, 11 of the 19 family members (57.9%) wore eyeglasses and the remaining 8 (42.1%) did not. Conclusion: Romani family members needed eyeglasses but did not have any at pre-test of the intervention. Future interventions that offer education on the importance of eye examinations may increase receipt of eye examinations and adherence to wearing eyeglasses.

The impact of parental migration on left-behind children's vision health in rural China.

BACKGROUND: Parental migration is an important factor affecting left-behind children's health. However, few studies have addressed the effect of parental migration on children's vision health in China. To fill the gap, this study aimed to assess the impact of parental migration on left-behind children's vision health and to explore the possible mechanisms of the effect. METHODS: Data were obtained from the baseline survey of the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), which included over 10,000 junior high school students. This study used myopia, the most common vision problem among junior high school students, and tried to analyze whether myopia was corrected with eyeglasses as indicator variables of vision health. The impact of parental migration on vision health was assessed using an instrumental variables approach. RESULTS: The results show that parental migration reduced the likelihood of myopia in left-behind children and decreased the possibility of myopic left-behind children being corrected. This result passed a series of robustness tests. The mechanism analysis indicated that compared to non-left-behind children, left-behind children spent more time on outdoor activities and less time on after-school classes, reducing their risk of being myopic. Further, because left-behind children live apart from their parents, their myopia problem is more difficult for parents to notice, and left-behind children are less likely to inform their parents of their myopia than non-left-behind children actively. This helps to explain why left-behind children have a lower correction rate with eyeglasses. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that parental migration, while not increasing the prevalence of myopia in left-behind children, has led to inequity in myopic left-behind children's correction. Given the severe consequences of uncorrected myopia, action is required to enhance the correction rate of myopic left-behind children.

School-Based Delivery of Vision Care in Chicago Public Schools.

BACKGROUND: In 2012, Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Department of Public Health partnered together to create the Chicago School-Based Vision Program (CSBVP). This ongoing, city-wide program provides school-based vision services (eye examinations, eyeglasses provision, and eye care referrals) to students with limited access. METHODS: Descriptive analysis of the program operations from 2012 to 2020, including number of students served and exam findings during 2017-2020, as well as lessons learned and recommendations for reproducing the successes of the CSBVP in other contexts. RESULTS: During its first 8 years, the CSBVP provided eye examinations to over 350,000 students. During the years 2017-2020, this included 126,238 eye exams and provision of eyeglasses to 73,751 students. CONCLUSIONS: The CSBVP is built upon strong community and school relationships. The program offers vision services, equitably, to all students across the district. The lessons learned through the implementation of the CSBVP may provide guidance for future district-wide vision programs.

Parents' Awareness of and Perspectives on Childhood Refractive Error and Spectacle Wear in Saudi Arabia.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess parents' awareness of and perspectives on childhood refractive errors in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between October and November 2020 in public schools across different regions of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using an online questionnaire that assessed parents' knowledge and perceptions of childhood refractive errors and spectacle wear. Results: A total of 358 parents from different regions of Saudi Arabia completed the questionnaire and were obtained in this study (response rate: 85%). Approximately one third (38.3%) of the parents reported that they had never heard of refractive errors and one-third (33.8%) mentioned that uncorrected refractive errors did not lead to visual impairment. The majority (74.0%) cited using eyeglasses as an effective way to manage childhood refractive errors. Two-thirds (63.7%) stated that they did not receive any information about paediatric eye care. Better knowledge was associated with a higher educational level, female gender and older age (P <0.001, P = 0.008 and P = 0.024, respectively). Regarding parents' perspective on spectacle wear, 13.7% felt that using eyeglasses affected their children's chances of learning. However, 82.7% supposed that eyeglasses did not affect their children's employment opportunities. Almost a quarter of the sample (22.1%) thought that using eyeglasses would decrease the eye's power, resulting in childhood visual impairment. Conclusion: The level of awareness and perceptions regarding childhood refractive errors and spectacle wear was low among parents. Therefore, a policy is needed to improve the awareness and perception of the key stakeholders in this issue, including parents and teachers.

Myopia and Depression among Middle School Students in China-Is There a Mediating Role for Wearing Eyeglasses?

Compared with non-myopic students, myopic students face more barriers to learning (e.g., inability to see the blackboard clearly) and socializing (e.g., being victims of teasing, social exclusion and violence), which may lead to increased stress, anxiety and frustration. The high prevalence of myopia and depression among school-age children naturally raises a question of great policy relevance: are myopic students more vulnerable to mental health problems such as depression? This paper sheds some light on this question by analyzing data from the China Education Panel Survey, a large-scale survey of China's middle school students. Our analysis first quantifies the association between myopia and sample students' depression status (measured by the widely adopted CES-D scale) adjusted for potential confounding factors. We then explore whether the myopia-depression relationship is mediated by wearing eyeglasses, a cost-effective means of vision correction. Based on data on 19,299 middle school students, our analysis reveals that myopic students scored 0.12 standard deviations higher on the CES-D scale than their non-myopic counterparts. The adverse effect of myopia is more severe for relatively disadvantaged students: older students (who are more likely to suffer from both myopia and depression), lower-performing students and students from poorer families. Further medication analysis shows that wearing eyeglasses suppresses the myopia-depression relationship but cannot completely offset the adverse effect of myopia.

Effect of Eyeglasses on Student Academic Performance: What Matters? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in China.

Although eyeglasses have been considered a cost-effective way to combat myopia, the empirical evidence of its impacts on improving learning outcomes is inconsistent. This paper provides empirical evidence examining the effect of providing eyeglasses on academic performance between provinces with a different economic level in western China. Overall, we find a significant impact in Intention-to-Treat analysis and a large and significant local average treatment effect of providing free eyeglasses to students in the poor province but not in the other. The difference in impact between the two provinces is not a matter of experimental design, implementation, or partial compliance. Instead, we find that the lack of impact in the wealthier provinces is mainly due to less blackboard usage in class and wealthier households. Our study found that providing free eyeglasses to disadvantaged groups boosted their academic performance more than to their counterparts.

Effect of motor tasks with left monocular eyeglasses on visual search and line-bisection performance in people with left unilateral spatial neglect.

Training with an eyepatch or eyeglasses is one of the effective approaches for unilateral spatial neglect (USN), and it usually uses a device that covers the right side. However, few approaches are available for the left side. In this study, we examine the effect of motor tasks with left/right monocular eyeglasses on visual search and line-bisection performance in people with left USN. Seven participants with left USN admitted to convalescent hospitals were included. We conducted the Bells test, line-crossing test, and line-bisection test of the behavioral inattention test before/after the motor task. Our analyses focused on the improvement or decline in these assessment scores and the achievement/errors/non-smoothness scores of the motor task. When using the left monocular eyeglasses, the percentages of participants categorized as "improvement," "unchanged," and "decline" were 71.4%, 28.6%, and 0%, respectively (when using the right one they were 14.3%, 85.7%, and 0%). In the motor task, when using the left monocular eyeglasses, total achievement scores in five of seven participants were greater than those when using the right one, and they performed efficiently with fewer movement errors. These results suggest that training with left monocular eyeglasses might improve visual search performance in people with left USN.

The Effect of Wearing Eyeglasses on the Perception of Attractiveness, Confidence, and Intelligence.

Introduction Several studies investigated the effect of wearing eyeglasses on self-esteem measures; however, most of these studies were conducted on western populations. We aim to assess the perception of attractiveness, confidence, and intelligence of young people of college-going age with and without glasses among university students. Methods This was a cross-sectional study conducted in five main Jordanian universities. We designed a survey with photos of four people with and without glasses (a total of eight photos). Participants rated the photos on a scale of 10 regarding attractiveness, confidence, and intelligence. Results A total of 517 participants were included in this study. We found significantly higher ratings for all domains of pictures without glasses compared to the same pictures with glasses. Moreover, participants not wearing glasses provided significantly higher attractiveness scores for most pictures not wearing glasses. Conclusion In our study on Jordanian college students of Arabian ethnicity, we found that eyeglasses may have a negative impact on a person's image in regard to attractiveness, confidence, and intelligence.

Ultrasonic Sound Guide System with Eyeglass Device for the Visually Impaired.

The ultrasonic sound guide system presents the audio broadcasting system based on the inaudible ultrasonic sound to assist the indoor and outdoor navigation of the visually impaired. The transmitters are placed at the point of interest to propagate the frequency modulated voice signal in ultrasonic sound range. The dual channel receiver device is carried by the visually impaired person in the form of eyeglasses to receive the ultrasonic sound for the voice signal via demodulation. Since the ultrasonic sound demonstrates the acoustic properties, the velocity, directivity, attenuation, and superposition of ultrasonic sound provide the acoustic clue to the user for localizing the multiple transmitter positions by binaural localization capability. The visually impaired hear the designated voice signal and follow the signal attributions to arrive at the specific location. Due to the low microphone gain from side addressing, the time delay between the receiver channels demonstrates the high variance and high bias in end directions. However, the perception experiment shows the further prediction accuracy in end directions as compared to the center direction outcomes. The overall evaluations show the precise directional prediction for narrow- and wide-angle situations. The ultrasonic sound guide system is a useful device to localize places in the near field without touching braille.

Ordeal mechanisms, information, and the cost-effectiveness of strategies to provide subsidized eyeglasses.

The cost-effectiveness of policies providing subsidized health goods is often compromised by limited use of the goods provided. Through a randomized trial involving 251 primary schools in western China, we tested two approaches to improve the cost-effectiveness of a program distributing free eyeglasses to myopic children. Relative to delivery of free eyeglasses to schools, we find that providing vouchers redeemable in local optical shops modestly improved the targeting of eyeglasses to those who would use them without reducing effective coverage. Information provided through a health education campaign increased eyeglass use when eyeglasses were delivered to schools, but had no effect when requiring voucher redemption or when families were only given a prescription for eyeglasses to be purchased on the market. Though most expensive, free delivery to schools with a health education campaign was the most socially cost-effective approach tested and increased effective coverage of eyeglasses by 18.5 percentage points after seven months.