Biomedical subjects

Catherine M Suttle

Publications and source records attributed to Catherine M Suttle.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Interocular interactions during acuity measurement in children and adults, and in adults with amblyopia.

The binocular interactions that occur during dichoptic and binocular viewing were investigated using a letter acuity task in normally sighted children (age range 6-14 years) and adults, and in adults with anisometropic amblyopia. Our aims were to investigate the nature of binocular interactions that occur in each group, and the extent to which the characteristics of binocular interactions differ across the groups. The non-tested eye was occluded during monocular (baseline) viewing, and was allowed to view a uniform stimulus with fusion lock in dichoptic viewing. In adults and children with normal vision, acuity under dichoptic viewing was unchanged relative to monocular baseline in the dominant eyes, while acuity of the non-dominant eye improved under dichoptic viewing relative to baseline. The magnitude of dichoptic change in the non-dominant eyes was similar in the two normally sighted groups, but the dichoptic advantage was found to decrease with increasing age within the children tested. Binocular acuity was better than monocular acuity in normal subjects, and a decrease in binocular summation with age was noted within the age range of the children tested. In contrast, the amblyopic observers showed no change in acuity with viewing conditions. The results demonstrate development of interocular interactions during childhood, and wide inter-individual variation in pattern of interocular interactions among anisometropic amblyopic adults.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Estimating chromatic contrast thresholds from the transient visual evoked potential.

Chromatic contrast thresholds may be estimated from transient VEPs by measuring the peak-to-peak amplitude at a range of stimulus levels followed by extrapolation to zero amplitude. However, there have been reports of failure of this technique when applied to the transient chromatic VEP due to variability of amplitude, difficulties with component identification and poor correlation of amplitude with stimulus level. The aim of our study was to compare methods of transient VEP chromatic contrast threshold estimation in terms of success rate and comparison with psychophysical threshold. We found each of the methods we investigated to have a high success rate, and in most cases VEP and psychophysical thresholds did not differ significantly.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Transient pattern visual evoked potentials in children with Down's syndrome.

Visual acuity and contrast sensitivity are lower in children with Down's syndrome than in those developing normally. In many cases, this difference might be accounted for by the relatively high incidence of ocular abnormalities (including refractive error and strabismus) in Down's syndrome. However, abnormal spatial vision persists in children with Down's syndrome in the absence of ocular abnormality, suggesting that abnormal retino-cortical visual processing explains reduced visual function in this group. The aim of the present study was to assess retino-cortical function in children with Down's syndrome by recording transient visual evoked potentials (VEPs) in response to pattern stimuli. Responses from children with Down's syndrome were compared with those recorded from children developing normally. Response latency is similar in the two groups, but morphology differs, with the N75 component being clearly present in the normal responses, but diminished or undetectable in responses from children with Down's syndrome. Our findings may suggest a cortical abnormality specific to the source of the N75 component of pattern-reversal achromatic VEPs.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

A survey of pediatric visual assessment by optometrists in New South Wales.

BACKGROUND: The importance of early vision care in the prevention and treatment of amblyopia is clear from an abundance of literature on visual development. Optometrists possess the necessary skills to detect and manage amblyogenic factors and thus have an important role to play in paediatric visual assessment and management. The present study investigates the role that optometrists in New South Wales are taking in paediatric vision care and the methods and strategies used in this role. METHODS: Questionnaires were sent to 400 optometrists practising in New South Wales; 179 completed questionnaires were returned. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Our findings reveal a number of associations between practice characteristics (such as location) and the management of paediatric patients. In general, practitioners in rural locations, in full-time practice or self-employed were more likely to treat patients and less likely to refer them elsewhere than those in city locations, in part-time practice or employed by others. In addition, our findings suggest the possibility of a changing pattern of collaboration between optometrists and ophthalmologists in the management of paediatric patients.

Anisometropia↗

PubMed2002

FPL and sweep VEP to tritan stimuli in young human infants.

Young infants can distinguish red from green without brightness cues which shows that neural pathways processing color information (the 'red-green' color-opponent pathway) are functional early in life. There is some doubt over whether the 'blue-yellow' pathway is functional in young infants. Here, we show that infants behave like tritanopic adults until 2-3 months post-term age. By 3-4 months, infants distinguish tritan stimuli, and therefore, the 'blue-yellow' pathway must be functional by that age. Our sweep visual evoked potentials to identical stimuli, however, are not significantly above noise levels, in disagreement with the behavioral responses. We discuss several possible explanations for the discrepancy.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

Visual acuity assessment in infants and young children.

The accurate and reliable assessment of visual function in infants and young children is important for ensuring optimal management of those at risk of abnormal visual development. Visual acuity is the aspect of visual function most commonly assessed by optometrists and can be measured in infants and children using appropriate techniques. Acuity measurements obtained using different techniques may show considerable disagreement and may mislead the optometrist when monitoring acuity development. It is important for the practitioner to appreciate these differences so that reasonable comparisons may be made between acuity estimates made using different techniques. With this in mind, we discuss methodological differences between some of the techniques used in visual assessment of very young patients and the effects those differences may have on acuity estimates.

Journal Article↗