Announcement

Winners in the 2008 Naylor Prize Competition

The 2008 Competition saw a record number of entriesfrom most of the UK Optometry teaching departments.Entries included experimental studies and literaturereviews of a wide variety of topics of basic, clinical andapplied interest, their diversity reflecting the broad role ofOptometry in today�s world. As in previous years, thequality of the reports was high, and their contents wouldundoubtedly have been read with pleasure by Jon Naylor,the charismatic Manchester lecturer after whom theCompetition is named. The winning entries are describedbelow.It is well known that, in these days of texting, E-mails

and other electronic means of communication, punctua-tion is often sparse or absent. Does this affect the speedwith which the material is read? This was the problemtackled by Samera Younis of the University of Bradfordin her challenging experimental study �The effect ofpunctuation on reading speed�. Basically, a group ofsubjects silently read passages of fully punctuated,sentence-final and unpunctuated texts of differentlengths, with each subject being required to answer aseries of questions to ensure comprehension of thematerial. Happily for traditionalists, it was found thatpunctuation significantly improved reading speeds. Theseresults were set in the context of an interesting discussionof previous literature on task-related aspects such as eyemovements, foveal/extra-foveal processing and otherfactors.As in all previous Naylor Competitions, a group of

excellent reports came from the University of Cardiff.The judges decided that a prize should be awarded toCatherine Entwistle for her study entitled �What level ofvision do children with special needs require to under-stand communication symbols?� Such symbols are de-signed to help people with speech and writing disabilitiesto communicate, and to assist with their learning andunderstanding of new concepts and ideas. Possible usersinclude both those with congenital disabilities and thosewith disabilities acquired later in life, for examplethrough brain injury. Use of the symbols may be astepping-stone to acquiring other means of communica-tion. The �Widget� literacy symbols are designed to allowchildren to build up sentences which can be related, forexample, to pictures in a book. Each symbol represents asingle concept and most are simplified drawings of theobjects concerned. The symbols have recently beenmodified, through simplification and increased line

widths, to make them more easily usable by the visuallyimpaired (Widget VI symbols) and the project attemptedto determine what levels of visual acuity were requiredto identify each of a substantial set of these symbols.A computer-blurring technique was used and it wasfound that the �VI� symbols were indeed somewhat easierto identify than the standard symbols, with most of thesymbols being identifiable when the visual acuity was6/36 or better. There were substantial variations in theacuity required for recognition of different symbols,however, and the study provided useful insights into howthe design of the symbols might be improved.

Among some fine reports from City University, KoullaBata�s dissertation on �Anti-VEGF therapy in the treat-ment of proliferative diabetic retinopathy and diabeticmacular oedema� was outstanding. Vascular endothelialgrowth factor (VEGF) is a major angiogenic and vascularpermeability factor which plays an important role inmediating retinal neovascularisation and macular oede-ma, both of which are present in advanced stages ofdiabetic retinopathy. However, treatment involvingagents such as Lucentis and Avastin, although promising,remains controversial on both clinical and cost grounds.The dissertation gave an excellent review of the basics ofdiabetic retinopathy and of the rival merits of thedifferent treatments currently available, together withthe relevant clinical studies, and provided a thoughtfuldiscussion of the research needs in this area.

Dyslexia is another area which has received increasingattention in recent years, so that the report �Letterreversals in non-dyslexic and dyslexic subjects� by LindaGilmour of Glasgow Caledonian Univesrity was timely.After reviewing the general area, the report described astudy in which a laterally-reversing prism was usedtogether with symmetrical letters. Subjects were requiredto draw the lower-case letter �b� with and without theprisms and also without vision. Both times taken anderrors were scored. Interesting differences were foundbetween males and females in a normal adult population.Hand dominancy also appeared to play some role. Thehope is that these tests can be developed into a screeningtool to help to identify individuals with different types ofspecific learning difficulty.

Each year sees new advances in the instrumentationavailable to assess different aspects of vision. One of theseis the development of microperimetry and OlubukolaAdegbuyi, of the University of Manchester, carried out

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an interesting study on the topic �Sensitivity of amicroperimeter in the detection of increased blindspotsize in papilloedema secondary to benign intercranialhypertension (BIH)�.The instrument used (MP1; NidekCo Ltd, Gamagori, Japan) allows automated full-threshold microperimetry at different locations over awide field. It has an automatic eye-tracking function andalso allows real-colour fundus image acquisition, withoverlay of the perimetric findings onto the recordedimage. Bilateral papilloedema is associated with BIHand in the study 10 patients already diagnosed with BIHwere compared with 10 normal controls. Microperime-try in each subject involved starting from the centre ofthe blindspot and tracking radially outwards in differentdirections from non-seeing to seeing at a chosenstimulus attenuation level, thus mapping the area ofthe blindspot. Interestingly, there was an approximately

linear correlation between the area of the blind spot at agiven attenuation level and the intercranial pressure.Blindspots were dramatically larger in the BIH patientsand it proved possible to set up standard ranges forblindspot sizes in normal and BIH patients.

It was clear that many of these studies either deservedpublication in their own right or could usefully serve aspilot studies for larger-scale investigations. Undoubt-edly the knowledge, confidence and skills acquired whencarrying out the work will serve the authors well in theirfuture careers.

W. N. Charman,on behalf of the Naylor Prize Committee

Faculty of Life Sciences,University of Manchester,

Manchester, UK

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ª 2009 The Author. Journal compilation ª 2009 The College of Optometrists