| Cataract removal improves SITA-standard mean deviation, study finds
Cataract surgery significantly improved SITA-standard mean deviations in patients with coexisting cataract and open-angle glaucoma, a retrospective study found. However, cataract extraction did not affect patients' pattern standard deviations, the study authors said. M. A. Rehman Siddiqui, MRCOphth, MRCS(Ed), MSc, of the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and colleagues evaluated the effect of cataract extraction on SITA perimetry in 37 patients with coexisting open-angle glaucoma. All patients had SITA-standard 24-2 visual fields both pre- and postoperatively. At 4.1 months mean follow-up, mean visual acuity had significantly improved from 0.41 to 0.88. The SITA-standard mean deviation also significantly improved, from -12.3 to -11.1, although patients had no significant change in mean pattern standard deviation (PSD), according to the study.
A fresh eye on family dynamics
Growing up, Herman (Toshy) Wolfman was different, and not in a good way. Born in Toronto in 1916 to a Russian Jewish immigrant and the daughter of Galician immigrants, he grew up with a cleft lip, a speech impediment and the belief that someone with his "defective tools" had nothing to offer the world except trouble. When he was 20, that notion was confirmed when he was sent to prison for 11 years, convicted of stealing a diamond that belonged to the employer of his oldest sister, Bessie. Bessie was a young widow with a child to support. Both she and Toshy's other big sister, Lil, a medical student, knew he was innocent. Lil had been with Toshy at the scene of the crime: she could have saved his hide. But when you're the deformed younger brother of a widow and of a medical student with the potential for a long, successful career, you take the fall, no matter the consequences.
Seeing the game through new eyes
Well, I didn't want to make a big deal about it on the blog, but I went and had laser-eye surgery yesterday. So far, so good. I've been wearing glasses and contacts since junior high, so I felt like the time was right to do it. I just returned from a follow-up with the doctor (about 21 hours after the surgery) and I'm clear to do some work on the computer today. For me, the procedure wasn't quite as painless as others have said. The first couple hours were pretty rough, but I sat on the couch, squinting at the TV, watching The Package as Oakland's Danny Haren blanked the Angels. I watched the Yankees batter Cleveland lefty Jeremy Sowers and watched pieces of Mark Buehrle's no-no. My vision was pretty good by the time King Felix walked off the mound with a stiff elbow. I watched a taped replay this morning of the late innings of the Twins game, and it really seems like they dodged a bullet.
Province reviewing gallery options
The provincial government is keeping a close eye on the future of the Prairie Art Gallery and one official says the city might not be forced to salvage the structure.
The building that's home to the gallery was declared a historic resource in 1984, meaning the province will have a say in whatever happens next to it.
"The building is protected," Larry Pearson, manager with the Heritage Resource Branch of the provincial government, said Wednesday.
Historical resource designation means the outside of any protected building cannot be altered without provincial approval and changes must generally match the existing structure.
Pearson said a provincial official has already seen the building, but the department is also awaiting an engineering report.
Over 600 hospitalized as opposition appeals for medical assistance
In a sign of the deteriorating situation the opposition has sent out an appeal for urgent medical supplies and funds to help meet escalating medical costs, food and legal assistance. The appeal from the MDC comes in the wake of what the party terms a vicious crackdown on its members since the planned prayer rally in March that was crushed by the police. According to hospital figures over 500 people in Harare alone are said to have been beaten up or tortured and the country's hospitals are said to struggling to cope with the numbers. Over 600 activists countrywide are thought to have been hospitalized.
Some of the injuries include eye damage, deep lacerations, severe blunt-force trauma to the abdomen, ruptured bowels, fractured limbs and skulls, broken ribs, shattered joints, gunshot wounds and extensive damage from blows to the back, shoulders, buttocks and thighs.
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