PURPOSE:A computer-based interactive binocular treatment system (I-BiT) for amblyopia has been developed, which utilises commercially available 3D 'shutter glasses'. The purpose of this pilot study was to report the effect of treatment on visual acuity (VA) in children with amblyopia.METHODS:Thirty minutes of I-BiT treatment was given once weekly for 6 weeks. Treatment sessions consisted of playing a computer game and watching a DVD through the I-BiT system. VA was assessed at baseline, mid-treatment, at the end of treatment, and at 4 weeks post treatment. Standard summary statistics and an exploratory one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed.RESULTS:Ten patients were enrolled with strabismic, anisometropic, or mixed amblyopia. The mean age was 5.4 years. Nine patients (90%) completed the full course of I-BiT treatment with a mean improvement of 0.18 (SD=0.143). Six out of nine patients (67%) who completed the treatment showed a clinically significant improvement of 0.125 LogMAR units or more at follow-up. The exploratory one-way ANOVA showed an overall effect over time (F=7.95, P=0.01). No adverse effects were reported.CONCLUSION:This small, uncontrolled study has shown VA gains with 3 hours of I-BiT treatment. Although it is recognised that this pilot study had significant limitations-it was unblinded, uncontrolled, and too small to permit formal statistical analysis-these results suggest that further investigation of I-BiT treatment is worthwhile.

OBJECTIVE:first eye cataract surgery reduces the risk of falling. Most cataracts in elderly people are bilateral. Some binocular functions (e.g. stereopsis) are associated with falls. We aimed to determine if second eye cataract surgery reduces the risk of falling and to measure associated health gain.STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING:we randomised 239 women over 70, who had been referred to a hospital ophthalmology department, with one unoperated cataract, to expedited (approximately 4 weeks) or routine (12 months wait) surgery. Falls were ascertained by diary, with follow-up every 3 months for 12 months. We measured health status after 6 months.RESULTS:visual function (especially stereopsis) improved in the operated group. Over 12 months follow-up, 48 (40%) operated participants fell at least once, 22 (18%) fell more than once. Forty-one (34%) unoperated participants fell at least once, 22 (18%) fell more than once. Rate of falling was reduced by 32% in the operated group, but this was not statistically significant (rate ratio 0.68, 95% CI 0.39, 1.19, P = 0.18). Confidence, visual disability and handicap all improved in the operated compared with the control group.CONCLUSION:second eye cataract surgery improves visual disability and general health status. The effect on rate of falling remains uncertain.

In this issue, Hwang and Ahn1 describe their success in treating amblyopia in patients we would normally regard as too old. This paper covers many recent publications that are changing our long-held notions about amblyopia.

An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

The trigonally trisubstituted acid 3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid forms hydrated salt-type adducts with organic diamines. In 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane-3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid-water (1/1/1) (1), where Z' = 2 in P2(1)/c, the constitution is [HN(CH(2)CH(2))(3)N](+).[(HO)(2)C(6)H(3)COO](-).H(2)O: the anions and the water molecules are linked by six O-H.O hydrogen bonds to form two-dimensional sheets and each cation is linked to a single sheet by one O-H.N and one N-H.O hydrogen bond. Piperazine-3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid-water (1/2/4) (2) and 1,2-diaminoethane-3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid-water (1/2/2) (3) are also both salts with constitutions [H(2)N(CH(2)CH(2))(2)NH(2)](2+).2[(HO)(2)C(6)H(3)COO](-).4H(2)O and [H(3)NCH(2)CH(2)NH(3)](2+).2[(HO)(2)C(6)H(3)COO](-).2H(2)O, respectively. Both (2) and (3) have supramolecular structures which are three-dimensional: in (2) the anions and the water molecules are linked by six O-H.O hydrogen bonds to form a three-dimensional framework enclosing large centrosymmetric voids, which contain the cations that are linked to the framework by two N-H.O hydrogen bonds; in (3) the construction of the three-dimensional framework requires the participation of cations, anions and water molecules, which are linked together by four O-H.O and three N-H.O hydrogen bonds.

An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

The title compound is a salt, [C12H32N6](2+). 2[HOC6H4C6H4O](-). The centrosymmetric cation contains two intramolecular ND H ... N hydrogen bonds with an N ... N distance of 2.8290 (13) Angstrom, and the pendent amino groups are in axial sites; the anion contains an intramolecular O-H ... O hydrogen bond with an O ... O distance of 2.4656 (11) Angstrom. The ions are linked into continuous chains by means of four types of N-H ... O hydrogen bonds with N ... O distances ranging from 2.7238 (12) Angstrom to 3.3091 (13) Angstrom, associated with N-H ... O angles in the range 148-160 degrees.

An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

The title compound, 3C 10 H 8 N 2 .2C 12 H 10 O 2 S, contains five-component molecular strings lying across centres of inversion and containing alternating 4,4'-bipyridyl and 4,4'-thiodiphenol units; the molecular components are linked by just two types of O.H...N hydrogen bonds [O…N 2.736 (2) and 2.683 (2) A; O-H...N 162 and 169°]. Each string is connected to two neighbouring strings by means of aromatic π...π stacking interactions across centres of inversion to give continuous chains running parallel to [101].

In the 2:1 adduct of 2,2'-biphenol and 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane, 2C(12)H(10)O(2). C6H12N2, there are eight molecules of the biphenol and four molecules of the amine in the asymmetric unit, and several of these components exhibit orientational disorder even at 100 K. Each biphenol unit contains an intramolecular O-H ... O hydrogen bond [O ... O range for the ordered components 2.594(6) to 2.668(5) Angstrom]. Each of the amines is hydrogen bonded to two biphenol units [O ... N range for the ordered components 2.521(7) to 2.594(6) Angstrom], so forming four independent three-molecule aggregates. These aggregates are further linked by an extensive series of C-H ...pi(arene) interactions into a continuous three-dimensional framework.

In hexamethylenetetramine-2,2'-biphenol (1/2), C6H12-N-4. 2C(12)H(10)O(2), the biphenol acts as a double donor of O-H ... N hydrogen bonds and the hexamethylenetetramine acts as a fourfold acceptor. The molecules are assembled into deeply puckered pseudo-tetragonal nets built from R-8(8)(44) rings.

In the 1:1 adduct of 4,4'-biphenol and 4,4'-bipyridyl, C 12 H 10 O 2 .C 10 H 8 N 2 , the molecules are linked by O-H...N hydrogen bonds [O...N range 2.700(2)-2.736 (2) A and O-H...N range 163-170°] into two types of C 2 2 (20) chain running parallel to the [101] and [212] directions.

In the title compound, C 12 H 10 O 2 .C 12 H 8 N 2 , there is an intramolecular O-H…O hydrogen bond within the 2,2'-biphenol component which is linked to the 1,10-phenanthroline component via a three-centre hydrogen bond involving both N atoms as acceptors. The bimolecular aggregates are linked by C-H…O hydrogen bonds into spiral chains along [010], and these, in turn, are linked into a sheet parallel to (101) by π-π stacking interactions between pairs of 1,10-phenanthroline units related by centres of inversion.