AIMS Examination of the expression of the mutated allele of myotonic dystrophy protein kinase gene and lens epithelial cell changes in patients with myotonic dystrophy. METHODS Six eyes from three patients with myotonic dystrophy underwent cataract surgery. The lens epithelium was photographed to examine the morphological changes. mRNAs were extracted to determine myotonic dystrophy protein k...

PURPOSE To investigate the long-term characteristics of cataracts among adults aged 30 to 49 years in Korean over a span of 10 years. METHODS Subjects between the ages of 30 to 49 years who underwent cataract surgery at St. Mary's Hospital from 1995 to 2004 (n = 976) were included. Patients with a history of ocular trauma, uveitis, other ocular or systemic diseases, and congenital cataracts w...

Purpose To evaluate the impact of lens opacity on retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) and Bruch's membrane opening (BMO) measurements. Methods Fifty-nine randomly selected patients without any other relevant ocular pathology undergoing elective routine cataract surgery in two specialized eye clinics were enrolled. RNFLT, BMO area, and BMO minimum rim width (BMO-MRW) were assessed with...

A rapid method of grading clinically important central lens opacities has been developed for use in eye surveys and in epidemiological studies of cataract and has been field-tested in a specifically designed observer agreement study in a survey of a rural community in Central India. The grading method is based on simple measurement of the area of lens opacity that obscures the red reflex relati...

Comparative electron microscope investigations on sections of the lens cortex of the normal, mature rat, rabbit, monkey, and the normal calf reveal similar patterns of intracellular organization. The superficial lens fiber contains a nucleus, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, dense granules, Golgi complex, and a quantity of small structures of low opacity which appear as filamentous and sphe...

PURPOSE Oxidative damage to lens proteins is a major factor leading to cataract formation. It is of pathogenic importance to determine a threshold of protein oxidation over which opacification of the lens takes place. METHODS Sixty-two lenses extracted from patients affected by idiopathic senile, diabetic, or myopic cataract were studied. Clear lenses were obtained from subjects undergoing en...

PURPOSE To examine the distribution of cortical opacities across the lens in the Italian-American Natural History Study of Age-Related Cataract and to study the association between an index of sunlight exposure and the location of cortical cataract within the lens. METHODS Lens photographs of one eye of 731 persons with cortical opacities (503 with pure and 228 with mixed types of opacity) we...

PURPOSE To determine the differences between species in the retention of lens fiber cell nuclei and nuclear fragments in the aging lens cortex and the relationship of nuclear retention to lens opacity. For this purpose old human, monkey, dog, and rat lenses were compared to those of three strains of mouse. We also investigated possible mechanisms leading to nuclear retention. METHODS Fixed sp...

I HAVE been asked many times what I)oyne's Discoid Cataract (Coppock) looks like under the slit-lamp. One of the original family attended at the Oxford Eye Hospital the other day, so I arranged with Mlessrs. Hamblin to have an ophthalmoscopic and slit-lamp painting done. In this particular case the opacity is a fairly dense one, and the patient can only carry on if her pupils are kept slightly ...