Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to U Steinhorst.
We report the clinical picture of an European female patient, who suffered from Onchocercosis after a 4 year stay in endemic areas in Africa. The diagnosis was based on repeated skin-snips. Despite two courses of systemic chemotherapy, initial corneal changes could be observed as peripheral superficial stroma infiltrations.
Spatial uncertainty was examined according to a procedure suggested by Bedell and Flom (1981) ("triangle procedure") and additionally with a line-division test designed by Kundt. A horizontal line of a length of about 20 degrees and a shorter one of 4.3 degrees was divided into two equal parts. Strabismic amblyopes mark the middle of such a line with less precision and greater uncertainty than visually normal subjects do. Visual acuity was measured by single optotypes (Landolt rings), as well as by line optotypes with spaces of 2.6 min of arc between each other (C-test). Surprisingly, there was little correlation between visual acuity--even line acuity--and localization tasks.
We report a patient with the characteristic features of the brittle cornea syndrome, a rare, autosomal recessively inherited disorder, namely brittle corneae, blue sclerae, and red hair. The patient also showed joint hyperextensibility, a soft skin, and dysplastic auricles with unusually soft cartilage. Phenotypically, the disorder bears a certain resemblance to fragilitas oculi and the type VI (ocular) form of the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, two conditions which are, themselves, not readily distinguishable. However, the hydroxylysine content of dermal collagen was normal, as was the activity of lysyl hydroxylase in cultured dermal fibroblasts, thus supporting the distinction of the brittle cornea syndrome as an independent entity. No abnormality was discernible in types I or III collagens synthesised by cultured fibroblasts, but electron microscopy revealed dramatic ultrastructural alterations in dermis in that distributed over its whole thickness were 20-60 microns wide "holes" or fibre-free spaces, filled with an amorphous material.
Besides loss of convergence and accommodation, head injuries can cause fusion deficiency. Part function of sensory fusion is tolerance to sphaerical and meridional aniseikonia. We will present a patient, whose aniseikonia tolerance decreased after a brain concussion.
Carcinoma in situ of the cornea is part of a pathological entity, which covers all conjunctival and corneal epithelial neoplasiae (CIN). The clinicopathological characteristics of this rare ocular tumor will be demonstrated.
The frequency and polarity of secondary strabismus was related retrospectively to the onset of deprivation in 131 children with mono- and bilateral aphakia after congenital cataract or perforating injury. The frequency was highest in patients up to 2 years of age at the onset of deprivation. From the 3rd year on, it declined to 50% or less. Esotropia was predominant in the first 2 years of life. At the end of the first decade of life exotropia was up to 80%.
In Reis-Bücklers' dystrophy an unknown pathomechanism in Bowman's layer and the basal cells of the corneal epithelium results in recurrent epithelial erosions. The final stage is characterized by visual impairment due to irregular astigmatism and opacities in the superficial stroma. The treatment is superficial keratectomy, lamellar or perforating keratoplasty. This study presents the electron-microscopic findings in the epithelium and Bowman's layer from samples obtained from 3 generations of the same family. All were diagnosed and treated in the University Eye Clinic of Hamburg.
Organ culture of human donor material extends post mortem storage times up to 4 weeks. If dextrane is omitted from the medium, as in the authors' current technique, a stromal swelling occurs which can be reserved preoperatively. The authors also report on their experience with organ culture of donor material in a culture medium containing dextrane. Short-term incubation of donor tissue in culture medium at 32 degrees C containing dextrane may be possible as an alternative to the MK technique, in which the donor tissue is kept at 4 degrees C. All methods have specific advantages and disadvantages, not only in laboratory handling but also in the postoperative development of the graft.