***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: PURPOSE To investigate the effect of the augmentation of levodopa with part-time and full-time occlusion on visual acuity and to determine its late results in amblyopia . METHODS Seventy-two patients with amblyopia were prospect ively studied and r and omly distributed into groups A , B , and C consisting of 24 patients each . Group A patients received levodopa alone , group B received levodopa and part-time ( 3 hours/day ) occlusion , and group C received levodopa and full-time ( during all waking hours ) occlusion of the dominant eye . Levodopa 0.50 mg/kg body weight , with a 25 % fixed dose combination of carbidopa , was administered orally three times a day for 7 weeks . Snellen visual acuity and its logMAR equivalent were recorded before treatment , at weeks 1 , 3 , 5 , and 7 after starting treatment , and every 6 weeks for 1 year after the completion of treatment . RESULTS Fifty-three ( 74 % ) of the 72 patients had an improvement in visual acuity after treatment . Forty-four of the 53 patients with improved visual acuities completed 1-year post-treatment follow-up . Twenty-three ( 52 % ) of the 44 patients had a regression in visual acuity . CONCLUSION The augmentation of levodopa with part-time or full-time occlusion does not enhance the recovery of vision in amblyopia . Improved visual acuity after levodopa administration persists at least 1 year in almost half of patients after cessation of treatment . Addition of full-time occlusion to levodopa helps maintain improved visual acuity for a longer duration compared to levodopa alone or combined with part-time occlusion PURPOSE To determine the effectiveness of weekend atropine for severe amblyopia from strabismus , anisometropia , or both combined among children 3 to 12 years of age . METHODS We enrolled children into 2 prospect i ve , r and omized multicenter clinical trials of amblyopia therapy . Herein we report the results for severe amblyopia , 20/125 to 20/400 . In Trial 1 , 60 children 3 to 6 years of age ( mean , 4.4 years ) were r and omized to weekend atropine plus a plano lens or weekend atropine plus full spectacle correction for the sound eye . In Trial 2 , 40 children 7 to 12 years of age ( mean , 9.3 years ) were r and omized to weekend atropine or 2 hours of daily patching . The visual acuity outcome was assessed at 18 weeks in Trial 1 and 17 weeks in Trial 2 . RESULTS In Trial 1 , visual acuity improved by an average of 4.5 lines in the atropine plus correction group ( 95 % CI , 3.2 - 5.8 lines ) and 5.1 lines in the atropine plus plano lens group ( 95 % CI , 3.7 - 6.4 lines ) . In Trial 2 , visual acuity improved by an average of 1.5 lines in the atropine group ( 95 % CI , 0.5 - 2.5 lines ) and 1.8 lines in the patching group ( 95 % CI , 1.1 - 2.6 lines ) . CONCLUSIONS Weekend atropine can improve visual acuity  in children 3 to 12 years of age with severe amblyopia . Improvement may be greater in younger children The authors previously showed that a single dose of levodopa improves the contrast sensitivity and decreases the size of fixation point scotomas in amblyopic patients . In the present study , they investigated the effect of levodopa after 1 wk of daily administration using a cross-over , double masked design . The decrease of fixation point scotomas was confirmed with automatic static perimetry . An improvement of visual acuity occurred in 70 % of the patients after 1 wk of levodopa administration compared to only 22 % in the authors ' previous study using one single dose . The improvements in visual acuities and visual fields persisted even after the levodopa administration was completed BACKGROUND amblyopia is a major cause of visual impairment in children . Our aim is to compare patching and atropine penalization for treatment of moderate amblyopia in 4 - 10 years old children . METHODS During 2004 - 2007 , in a r and omized clinical trial , 120 patients aged 4 - 10 years old with moderate amblyopia in the range of 20/40 -20/100 were enrolled . Subjects r and omized either to patch therapy or twice weekly atropine penalization in equal groups and were followed for 2 years . The success rate was defined as increment of 2 or more lines of visual acuity or final visual acuity of 20/25 or better . RESULTS The visual acuity in amblyopic eye improved from base line to a mean of 3.8 lines in patching group and mean of 3.7 lines in atropine group at the end of follow up . The average visual acuity in both groups was 0.5 Log MAR acuity that increased to 0.18 in patching group and 0.2 in atropine group . CONCLUSION Twice weekly atropine penalization could improve visual acuity of a magnitude like to improvement provided by patching in treatment of moderate amblyopia in patients aged 4 - 10 years The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of laser acupuncture on cerebral activation . Using functional magnetic imaging ( fMRI ) cortical activations during laser acupuncture at the left foot ( Bladder 67 ) and dummy acupuncture , were compared employing a block design in ten healthy male volunteers . All experiments were done on a 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance scanner equipped with a circular polarized head coil . During laser acupuncture , we found activation in the cuneus corresponding to Brodmann Area ( BA ) 18 and the medial occipital gyrus ( BA 19 ) of the ipsilateral visual cortex . Placebo stimulation did not show any activation . We could demonstrate that laser acupuncture of a specific acupoint , empirically related to ophthalmic disorders , leads to activation of visual brain areas , whereas placebo acupuncture does not . These results indicate that fMRI has the potential to eluci date effects of  acupuncture  on brain activity OBJECTIVE To determine the visual acuity outcome at age 10 years for children younger than 7 years when enrolled in a treatment trial for moderate amblyopia . METHODS In a multicenter clinical trial , 419 children with amblyopia ( visual acuity , 20/40 - 20/100 ) were r and omized to patching or atropine eyedrops for 6 months . Two years after enrollment , a subgroup of 188 children entered long-term follow-up . Treatment after 6 months was at the discretion of the investigator ; 89 % of children were treated . MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Visual acuity at age 10 years with the electronic Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study test . APPLICATION TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Patching and atropine eyedrops produce comparable improvement in visual acuity that is maintained through age 10 years . RESULTS The mean amblyopic eye acuity , measured in 169 patients , at age 10 years was 0.17 logMAR ( logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution ) ( approximately 20/32 ) , and 46 % of amblyopic eyes had an acuity of 20/25 or better . Age younger than 5 years at entry into the r and omized trial was associated with a better visual acuity outcome ( P < .001 ) . Mean amblyopic and sound eye visual acuities at age 10 years were similar in the original treatment groups ( P = .56 and P = .80 , respectively ) . CONCLUSIONS At age 10 years , the improvement of the amblyopic eye is maintained , although residual amblyopia is common after treatment initiated at age 3 years to younger than 7 years . The outcome is similar regardless of initial treatment with atropine or patching BACKGROUND Although amblyopia can be successfully treated with patching or atropine , there have been few prospect i ve studies of amblyopia recurrence once treatment is discontinued . METHODS We enrolled 156 children with successfully treated anisometropic or strabismic amblyopia ( 145 completed follow-up ) , who were younger than 8 years of age and who received continuous amblyopia treatment for the previous 3 months ( prescribed at least 2 hours of daily patching or prescribed at least one drop of atropine per week ) and who had improved at least 3 logMAR levels during the period of continuous treatment . Patients were followed off treatment for 52 weeks to assess recurrence of amblyopia , defined as a 2 or more logMAR level reduction of visual acuity from enrollment , confirmed by a second examination . Recurrence was also considered to have occurred if treatment was restarted because of a nonreplicated 2 or more logMAR level reduction of visual acuity . RESULTS Recurrence occurred in 35 ( 24 % ) of 145 cases ( 95 % confidence interval 17 % to 32 % ) and was similar in patients who stopped patching ( 25 % ) and in patients who stopped atropine ( 21 % ) . In patients treated with moderately intense patching ( 6 to 8 hours per day ) , recurrence was more common ( 11 of 26 ; 42 % ) when treatment was not reduced prior to cessation than when treatment was reduced to 2 hours per day prior to cessation ( 3 of 22 ; 14 % , odds ratio 4.4 , 95 % confidence interval 1.0 to 18.7 ) . CONCLUSIONS Approximately one fourth of successfully treated amblyopic children experience a recurrence within the first year off treatment . For patients treated with 6 or more hours of daily patching , our data suggest that the risk of recurrence is greater when patching is stopped abruptly rather than when it is reduced to 2 hours per day prior to cessation . A r and omized clinical trial of no weaning versus weaning in successfully-treated amblyopia is warranted to confirm these observational findings Background and purpose : To date , much of the research regarding amblyopia has been focused on which therapeutic modality is the most efficacious in amblyopia management . Unfortunately , there is a lack of research into which method of treatment cessation is the most appropriate once therapy has been completed . The purpose of this study is to investigate if the cessation method affects the recurrence rate of amblyopia . Methods : This study was a prospect i ve r and omized clinical trial of 20 subjects who were wearing full-time occlusion and were at the end point of their therapy . The subjects were r and omized into one of two groups : abrupt cessation or therapy tapering . All subjects were followed for 3 consecutive 4-week intervals , for a total of 12 weeks , to assess the short-term recurrence rate of amblyopia . Subjects who were in the tapered group had their occlusion reduced from full-time occlusion ( all waking hours minus one ) to 50 % of waking hours at study enrollment ( i.e. , from 12 hours/day to 6 hours per day ) ; occlusion was reduced by an additional 50 % at the first 4-week study visit ( i.e. , from 6 hours/day to 3 hours ) , with occlusion being discontinued completely at the week 8 visit . All subjects who were in the abrupt cessation group had their full-time occlusion discontinued completely at the start of the study ( i.e. , from 12 hours/day to none ) . Additional assessment s were also conducted at week 26 and week 52 post – therapy cessation to determine the longer term amblyopia regression rate . For the purpose s of this study , recurrence was defined as a 0.2 ( 10 letters ) or more logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution ( logMAR ) loss of visual acuity . Results : A recurrence of amblyopia occurred in 4 of 17 ( 24 % ; CI 9%–47 % ) participants completing the study by the week 52 study end point . There were 2 subjects from each treatment group who demonstrated a study protocol –defined recurrence . Conclusion : There was a 24 % risk of amblyopia recurrence if therapy was discontinued abruptly or tapered in 8 weeks . In this small sample , the assigned cessation method did not affect the rate of amblyopia recurrence . It is recognized that the smaller sample size in our study prevents us from making definitive conclusions on the potential role that abrupt cessation has on the regression rate of amblyopia . The sample size was too small to reach an acceptable level of statistical power ; therefore the generalizability of the findings to the broad population of all patients with amblyopia requires continuing research . This study therefore could be considered as a pilot study Amblyopia is a developmental abnormality that results in physiological alterations in the visual cortex and impairs form vision . It is often successfully treated by patching the sound eye in infants and young children , but is generally considered to be untreatable in adults . However , a number of recent studies suggest that repetitive practice of a visual task using the amblyopic eye results in improved performance in both children and adults with amblyopia . These perceptual learning studies have used relatively brief periods of practice ; however , clinical studies have shown that the time-constant for successful patching is long . The time-constant for perceptual learning in amblyopia is still unknown . Here we show that the time-constant for perceptual learning depends on the degree of amblyopia . Severe amblyopia requires > 50 h ( ≈35,000 trials ) to reach plateau , yielding as much as a five 
    Output:
    
This includes the finding that less intensive occlusion treatments can be successful in treating amblyopia .
A relationship between adherence to treatment and visual acuity has also been established and has been shown to be influenced by the use of intervention material .
In addition , there is growing evidence of that a period of glasses wearing only can significantly improve visual acuity alone without any other modes of treatment .