·AIM: To analyze the management of patients with macula- on retinal detachment who received surgical treatment in our department. Placing special emphasis on the time elapsed between diagnosis and surgery, we sought to establish whether a relationship exists between time to surgery and loss of visual acuity.·METHODS: A retrospective study in which the medical records of 77 patients with macula-on retinal detachment who underwent surgery in Hospital Universitario Fundación Jiménez Díaz were reviewed.·RESULTS:A total of 77 patients, 72 were included in the study. The primary anatomic success rate was 94. 44%(68/72), and the success rate in all patients after either 1 or 2 interventions was 98. 61% ( 71/72 ) . The mean time before surgery was 5. 3 ± 2. 26d. Seven patients ( 9. 72%) lost two or more lines of vision. A statistically significant relationship was found between loss of visual acuity and patient age ( P = 0. 001 ) . Our findings also suggest a possible link between the need for further surgical intervention to reattach the retina and decline in visual acuity test ( P= 0. 045 ) . We failed to find a statistically significant relationship between loss of visual acuity and days until surgery ( P= 0. 100 ) or type of surgery ( P=0. 578) or status of the crystalline lens (P=0. 413).·CONCLUSION: It is important that each hospital study how this type of retinal detachment is being managed in order to optimize the use of available resources and guarantee the most favorable anatomic and functional outcomes possible.

OBJECTIVEThe aim of this survey was to compare the seroprevalences ofHelicobacter Pylori (H. pylori) and chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) in Tanzania and the Dominican Republic, both of which are tropical countries, and thereafter compare the prevalences in Tanzania and the Dominican Republic with prevalences from our previous studies done in Japan (1991) and China (1996/97).

METHODSCommunity-based study in which 573 inhabitants of Tanzania and 1,215 inhabitants of the Dominican Republic answered detailed questionnaires on upper digestive tract diseases, and then underwent screening for gastric cancer by serum pepsinogen and testing for antibody toH. pylori.

RESULTSAfter adjusting to the 'Age-Standardized Rate' (ASR) using the world population in 1995, the seroprevalences ofH. pylori infection in male and female subjects for Tanzania (m=85.3% & f=88.2%) were very high compared to those for the Dominican Republic (m=63.5% & f=62.4%) and Japan (m=62.0% & f=46.8%), and similar to those of China (m=78.0% & f=77.3%). Also, the agestandardized prevalences of CAG in males and females for Tanzania (m-0.237& f=0.458). were higher than those of the Dominican Republic (m=0.168 & f=0.211) and China (m=0.111 & f=0.107) and compared well with those of Japan (m=0.266 & f=0.352).

CONCLUSIONSAlthough Tanzania and the Dominican Republic are both developing countries, Tanzania had a very high age-standardized prevalence ofH. pylori and CAG compared to that of the Dominican Republic, which showed a trend similar to that of Japan.