Purpose The prevalence of myopia in Taiwan has been reported to be increasing in the sequential nationwide survey. The results of our studies demonstrated that the prevalence of myopia, especially high myopia increased among the freshmen in National Taiwan University. These findings may be explained by two possible reasons. First, we found the age of onset of myopia decreased from 12 years in 1983 to 8 years in 2000 in our previous nationwide survey. 1 Second, myopia is influenced

562 residents of Jin Shan aged 40 years and above underwent examinations to compare the sensitivity and specificity of oblique flashlight, peripheral slit beam and ultrasonographic evaluation of the anterior chamber depth to gonioscopy in detecting cases of PACG. Among 5441 eligible individuals aged 40 and above, 562 (10.3%) underwent screening for PACG, of whom 17 (3.02%) were defined as cases, and 10 (1.78%) as suspects. Home visits indicated that respondents for screening were similar to the population as a whole. Only 35% of PACG cases reported symptoms consistent with acute angle closure, and only 18% were previously diagnosed. When compared to gonioscopy, only ultrasonographic measurement of AC depth provided an adequate mix of sensitivity and specificity. Ultrasonography in combination with tonometry provided a sensitivity of 88% with a specificity of 92%. Sensitivity and specificity for ultrasonography in combination with refractive status were 84% and 83% respectively. Shallower AC depth (p = 0.0001), shorter axial globe length (p = 0.001), greater than 2D of hyperopia (p < 0.001), high grades of nuclear sclerotic cataract (p < 0.0001) and an increased cup-to-disc ratio (p = 0.002) were significantly correlated with a diagnosis of PACG.

To investigate the association of Helicobacter pylori and gastric ulcer and adenocarcinoma, IgG antibodies against H. pylori were examined in 823 randomly selected subjects, 92 healthy volunteers, 117 patients with gastric ulcer, and 148 with gastric adenocarcinomas in Taiwan, where the prevalence of gastric adenocarcinoma is high. The seropositivity of this population in Taiwan was 54.4%. Gastric ulcer patients had a higher seropositivity (83.8%) than healthy volunteers (62.0%) and gastric adenocarcinoma patients (62.2%) (P < 0.001). Gender difference, blood type, and habit of smoking were not associated with the seroprevalence in any study groups. Gastric ulcer coexistent with duodenal ulcer had a higher seropositivity (94.7%) (P < 0.05). The seropositivity of H. pylori in gastric adenocarcinoma patients was higher than in healthy volunteers only in younger age and was not associated with histologic type, invasion, and location of major tumors. The results reemphasize the association of H. pylori infection with gastric ulcer but not with gastric adenocarcinoma in Taiwan.

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