This issue of Acta (2004)

This issue of the journal is printed in two parts. Acta Ophthalmologica has published the abstracts for the Nordic Congress of Ophthalmology for previous congresses, but this time we decided to print the issue in 2 parts in order to make it easier to bring the abstracts to the Congress and the scientific sessions. The co-operation between the ophthalmic communities in the five Nordic countries has been excellent in the organization of the upcoming XXXVI Nordic Ophthalmic Congress, which will be held in Malmö on 16−20 June. Thus, the response from the Nordic ophthalmic community to invitations from the Malmö Organizing Committee has been extremely positive. As a result, the programme includes contributions from most of the leading scientists and clinicians in Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden, and also from many invited guest speakers from other European countries. When you study the programme in the second part of this issue, you will find a large number of scientific symposia of current interest. The organizing committee has concentrated on topics of relevance to ophthalmologists in their daily clinical practice. A common feature of many of the main symposia is that they include individual patient examples. The lectures and the panel discussions that follow will help us understand the practical clinical meaning of new knowledge and new technologies. The Editorial in this issue deals with Acta Ophthalmologica and the Nordic Congresses of Ophthalmology. The first part of the journal looks more like any other issue of Acta. Two papers deal with the prevalence of exfoliation syndrome in cataract patients. Teshome and Regassa report a notably high prevalence of 39% in Ethiopian patients with a mean age of 62 years. Their paper represents the first data ever to emerge from that part of the world. Kaljurand and Puska report a high − 35%– prevalence of exfoliation syndrome in Estonian patients with a mean age of 71.5 years undergoing cataract surgery. We all know that exfoliation syndrome is common in the Nordic countries and also in some other countries, as was pointed out in an Acta editorial two years ago (Ritch R (2002): Exfoliation syndrome: more than meets the eye. Acta Ophthalmol Scand 80 : 465–7). These current Acta articles both provide new knowledge. Langenbucher and colleagues contribute two papers covering aspects of refractive surgery. In one, they show that the assessment of corneal power after LASIK is overestimated by both direct keratometric and videokeratoscopic measurements, and discuss how to enhance accuracy. Langenbucher and Seitz also provide a scheme for computing toric intraocular lenses, or predicting refraction with a toric implant in place. Amiodarone is a common antiarrythmic. Optic neuropathy is a known side-effect of the drug. Domingues et al. describe prospective test results in patients on longterm treatment with amiodarone. The dry eye is the subject of two articles. Grönlund and coworkers performed an unusual study of acupuncture treatment in patients with keratoconjunctivis sicca. The treatment had subjective beneficial effects, but no differences were observed in the objective signs of the disease. The results of Eckstein et al. on the lacrimal expression of TSH receptor suggest that TSHR-specific antibodies are involved in thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy. One paper from the Blue Mountains Eye Study is included in this issue. It describes how no significant cross-sectional associations between the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and age-related maculopathy were found. The Diagnosis and Therapy section documents a patient with subacute visual loss from a metastasis in the choroid. In an interesting case series from Rigshospitalet, four patients with bilateral endogenous bacterial endophthalmitis are reported. The outcomes were better than those we have seen in the past; three eyes were saved from blindness. The authors discuss the importance of an active therapeutic approach. The letters cover a broad spectrum of subjects, some of which are very unusual, including the use of network cameras in ophthalmic telecommunication, treatment of bullous keratopathy with honey, hypermetropic change after hyperbaric oxygen, displacement of a LASIK flap during detachment surgery, limbal anaesthesia, Nd:YAG membranotomy for a premacular haemorrage, repeated retinal haemorrhages after glaucoma surgery − ocular decompression syndrome − and asymmetrical diabetic retinopathy. And finally, in The Artist's Eye, Dr Polland discusses whether myopia might, in fact, be advantageous to a painter.