Purpose: This study aimed to determine the relationship between macular thickness and spherical equivalent refraction (SER), axial length (AL) and vitreous chamber depth (VCD) in Malay subjects. Methods: Sixty-three subjects (aged 19-24 years) with a mean SER of -1.79 Ϯ 2.24 D, mean axial length of 24.26 Ϯ 1.35 mm and mean vitreous chamber depth of 17.02 Ϯ 1.33 mm were included in this clinical cross-sectional study. Stratus optical coherence tomography (Time Domain optical coherence tomography) was used to determine the thickness of the outer macular (perifovea) and inner macular (parafovea) at four different locations, that is, temporal, superior, nasal and inferior quadrants and also the fovea itself. Results: Positive correlations were found between the outer macular (perifovea) thickness and SER at the temporal (R = 0.47, p < 0.05), superior (R = 0.36, p < 0.05) and inferior (R = 0.31, p < 0.05) quadrants. Foveal thickness was also positively correlated with AL (R = 0.34, p < 0.05) and VCD (R = 0.32, p < 0.05). Negative correlations were found between outer macular thickness and axial length at the temporal (R = -0.46, p < 0.05), superior (R = -0.27, p < 0.05), nasal (R = -0.25, p < 0.05) and inferior (R = -0.36, p < 0.05) quadrants. Negative correlations were also found between outer macular thickness and VCD at the temporal (R = -0.51, p < 0.05), superior (R = -0.32, p < 0.05), nasal (R = -0.31, p < 0.05) and inferior (R = -0.40, p < 0.05) quadrants. Conclusions: This study shows that the degree of myopia and elongation of the globe are associated with thinning of most areas of the perifovea. A trend for foveal thickening in the high myopia group is also inferred, although this does not apply to the low and moderate myopia groups.

Although the findings are still inconclusive as to whether athletes had superior visual skills as compared to non-athletes, it remains important to identify and elucidate the key visual skills needed by athletes in order for them to achieve higher performance in their sports.

The ability to anticipation accurately and consistently plays a vital role to excel in sports performance. The present study was designed to determine the differences of visual anticipation time between dynamic and static sports. A total of 95 junior athletes, aged 13 to 16 years old (=14.84±1.04 years) from Bukit Jalil Sports School participated in the study. Participants were distributed to dynamic (n=47) and static (n=48) sports according to their sports participation. Visual anticipation time was tested using Bassin Anticipation Timer in response to stimuli at the speed of 5, 10, and 15 mph, measuring absolute and variable error. Absolute error measured the accuracy of responses while variable error focused on the consistency of responses. The results of this investigation showed that in general dynamic sport are not superior over anticipation ability in relations to accuracy and consistency as compared to static sports across all speeds (p < 0.05). The evidence from this study suggested more emphasis on training related to eye and hand coordination would be imperative for dynamic sports athletes to enhance in on-field sports performance. This study could serve as a base for future studies focusing on visual and hand coordination related to speed as anticipation has been proven to be the key leading to superior performance and for talent identification purposes. Future research concentrating on elite athletes as well as focused sports group would provide further insights on anticipation ability of athletes.

No abstract