Smart Block on Sunglasses

A new technology described in the latest issue of Popular Science Magazine describes a kind of 'dynamic' sunglasses.

The lenses in these frames are actually LCDs that rely on an embedded camera to locate sources of glare like the sun. Even if there are multiple sources – say, the sun and the reflection of the sun off water or snow – the LCD lenses place a dark spot over the glare. You move, the glare moves, the dark spots move with it. The rest of the lenses stay relatively lightly tinted so you can see what you’re doing.

The company called Dynamic Eye is led by The company is led by Chris Mullin, who received his PhD in physics from the University of California at Berkeley. They do have a prototype, but production is yet to begin. However, different levels of pledges will reward you appropriately.

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Needles trump patches in Amblyopia.

Ann Curley of CNN reported that acupuncture is helping to improve vision in children with lazy eye - also called amblyopia, this affects an estimated .3 to 5 percent of people worldwide. It occurs when one eye is weaker than the other and the vision signals from the weaker eye are improperly processed by the brain. Amblyopia happens when the nerve pathway from one eye to the brain does not develop during childhood. This leads to the abnormal eye sending a blurred image or the wrong image to the brain confusing or ignoring the image from the weaker eye.

This reporting was based on a study published online in the Archives of Ophthalmology. For the study, researchers compared the effectiveness of two hours of daily patching therapy with acupuncture for treating lazy eye in 88 children aged seven to 12, all of whom had already worn glasses for at least 16 weeks. After 15 weeks of both therapies, vision clarity improved in more than 66 percent of the patch group and more than 75 percent of the acupuncture group. Lazy eye was declared resolved in 41.5 percent of the acupuncture group and in 16.7 percent of the patched eye group

HealthDay reported, About half the children were treated five times a week with acupuncture, targeting five specific acupuncture needle insertion points (located at the top of the head and the eyebrow region, as well as the legs and hands). Meanwhile, the other half were given two hours a day of patch therapy, combined with a minimum of one hour per day of near-vision exercises, such as reading. Then, after about four months of treatment, the research team found that overall visual acuity improved markedly more among the acupuncture group relative to the patch group.

MedPage noted that the mechanism why acupuncture works remains unclear, but researchers led by Dr Dennis Lam at the The Joint Shantou International Eye Center say that acupuncture at vision-related acupoints may modulate the activity of the visual cortex. What's more, acupuncture has also been shown to be effective in increasing blood flow to the cerebral and ocular vasculatures, stimulating the expression or retinal nerve growth factors and leading to metabolic changes in the central nervous system.

As an aside I find this commercial involving acupuncture hilarious!

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People with type 2 diabetes who drink alcohol are at increased risk for blurry vision unrelated to retinopathy, according to Joline W.J. Beulens, PhD, of University Medical Centre Utrecht in the Netherlands, and colleagues published in the journal Diabetic Medicine.

There was two-line loss of acuity in participants reporting one to 14 drinks or more a week compared with those who don't drink. They calculated that each additional drink per week increased the risk of two-line acuity loss by 2%.

While moderate drinking did not increase the risk for or progression of retinopathy in a study of more than 1,200 diabetics it nearly doubled the risk of losing two eye-chart lines of visual acuity over an average of five years.

Retinal vascular lesions by mydriatic stereoscopic photography, were no more common in diabetics who drank than in those who didn't. The study authors theorized, Alcohol is known for its neurotoxic properties, which could induce oxidative damage to the retina and the optic nerve, leading to visual loss."

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Eye-Protective Effects of Omega-3-Rich Fish, Shellfish

Researchers at Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, wanted to know whether a reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) would be found in a population of older people for whom fish and shellfish were a normal part of the diet, since some fish are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids.

A diet rich in omega-3s probably protects against advanced AMD, the leading cause of blindness in whites in the United States, according to the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) and other recent studies. High concentrations of omega-3s have been found in the eye's retina, and evidence is mounting that the nutrient may be essential to eye health. The new research, led by Sheila K. West, PhD, was part of the Salisbury Eye Evaluation (SEE) study.

"Our study corroborates earlier findings that eating omega-3-rich fish and shellfish may protect against advanced AMD." Dr. West said. "While participants in all groups, including controls, averaged at least one serving of fish or shellfish per week, those who had advanced AMD were significantly less likely to consume high omega-3 fish and seafood," she said.

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Electrical Activity of Retina May Detect Early Stage Glaucoma.

A test that measures the function of nerve cells in the retina may detect glaucoma at an early stage and help doctors evaluate the effectiveness of treatments, according to a study conducted by Dr Sehi and colleagues at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

The study was based on the knowledge that retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) become dysfunctional as glaucoma progresses and that such changes can be measured using the pattern electroretinogram optimized for glaucoma screening (PERGLA). PERGLA measures the electrical activity of a patient's retina as he or she views an alternating pattern of black and white lines.

In a study of 47 people with glaucoma who had surgery because their intraocular pressure could not be controlled by medications the test was able to show reversal of RGC dysfunction and reduced intraocular pressure after the operations. Dr. Sehi says these results should be interpreted cautiously until confirmed by larger studies. She calls for longitudinal studies to clarify the relationship between reduced IOP and increased RGC response and to further investigate PERGLA assessment of RGC dysfunction as a biomarker for glaucoma.

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Glucose Control May Influence Outcome Of Ranibizumab Treatment For Diabetic Macular Edema.

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According to a study published in the Journal of Diabetes and its Complications, glucose control influences the outcome of ranibizumab treatment for diabetic macular edema.

This retrospective study enrolled 65 eyes of 65 patients with persistent DME treated with intravitreal ranibizumab injection. The main outcome measures were the change in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), the central subfield macular thickness (CSMT) recorded with optical coherence tomography (OCT), and its correlation with the serum hemoglobin A1c values (HbA1c).

Researchers found that serum levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) showed a negative correlation with the change in central subfield macular thickness (CSMT) after intravitreal injection of ranibizumab.

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For only the second time, the FDA has approved a test in people of a treatment using embryonic stem cells -- this time for a rare disease that causes serious vision loss. This was covered on the front page of the Business Day section in NY times.

Researchers at the California-based Advanced Cell Technology explained that their experiment will focus on Stargardt disease, which affects only about 30,000 Americans. But the company hopes the same approach will work for similar and more common eye disorders like age-related macular degeneration, which affects millions.

The current study will involve injecting 50,000 to 200,000 cells known as retinal pigmented epithelial cells in the hopes that they will replace those ravaged by the disease.

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Image by Chealion via Flickr

According to a study published Nov. 14 in the journal Nature Neuroscience, a brain area that plays an important role i vision is divided into compartments that respond separately to different colors" and come with preference for different orientations, such as horizontal or vertical.

Working with monkeys, Vanderbilt University researcher discovered not only that the V4 area of the brain plays a role in visual object recognition, but also that there is significant segregation of color/brightness and the shape processing regions.

Anna Roe, professor of psychology and co-author of the new research, said "Our study showed that in V4, which is a brain area that plays a role in visual object recognition, there is significant segregation of colour/brightness and shape processing regions".

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Incredible Associations!

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When i saw the headline Corneal arcus `associated with eye pressure' I did a double take!

There was a recent publication in the November issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, showing that corneal arcus was present in the right eyes of 57.9 per cent of people with elevated eye pressure. Renyi Wu, M.D., Ph.D., of the Singapore Eye Research Institute, and colleagues examined the prevalence and consequences of corneal arcus among 3,015 individuals age 40 to 80. Participants underwent an interview and eye examinations, including corneal measurements, assessment of intraocular pressure and identification of corneal arcus using a slitlamp.

Here is the best part: "There is no known explanation for the association of corneal arcus with higher intraocular pressure," the authors write.

If there was some link between lipid deposition localized to the cornea and IOP, I can see the point, but do you?

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Genentech Offering Secret Rebates

An article in today's NY Times reports that Genentech has begun offering secret rebates to eye doctors as an apparent inducement to get them to use more of the company's expensive drug Lucentis [ranibizumab] rather than a less costly alternative.

Doctors can earn up to tens of thousands of dollars in rebates each quarter if they use a lot of Lucentis and if their usage increases from the previous quarter, according to a confidential document outlining the program that was obtained by the New York Times. The rebates are considered a form of volume discount, and have been offered for some other drugs, but "some doctors said they had ethical concerns about the arrangement.

Genentech, which is owned by the Swiss company Roche, said in a statement, “Rebate and discount programs are a common business practice across the industry, including in the field of ophthalmology.” The company said it had such programs for other drugs and that they “help reduce the cost of our medicines for hospitals, pharmacies and doctors.”

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Retinal Implant Restores Some Sight To Three Blind People.

A bionic eye has restored sight to the blind in groundbreaking tests, according to research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, which describes how the implant allowed two blind men and a woman to see shapes and objects for the first time since losing their sight to retinitis pigmentosa.

Professor Eberhart Zrenner, of Germany's University of Tuebingen, and colleagues at private company Retina Implant AG initially tested their sub-retinal chip on 11 people.

The Daily Mail points out that "the device...consists of a very thin microchip, just 3mm by 3mm in size and packed with 1,500 light sensors designed to replace those in the retina lost to disease.

David Head, chief executive of the British Retinitis Pigmentosa Society, said that it was exciting news but that it was early days.

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Optum health Vision = Failure

As a new entrant to the business world 2 yrs ago, I was told that the best way to generate patient flow is to be signed on as many insurance panels as possible. That surely turned out to be great advice as more than 80% of the folks that walk through my door are driven by listing on the insurance company's website.
Most folks do not understand the unique nature of optometry and insurance plans.

Vision Insurance is separate from your Health Insurance and is sometimes called a "carve-out". It's usually from a different insurance provider and covers an annual eye exam for eyeglasses prescription. Most Vision Insurance has either a moderate allowance for a set of glasses or a fixed dollar amount for contact lens care. Only very rarely are both eyeglasses and contact lenses paid for by your insurance in the same enrollment year. The contact lens coverage typically includes professional evaluation and a supply of contacts.

Medical Insurance covers you for anything that has a medical diagnosis. This would include visits for an eye infection, corneal foreign body removal, sudden onset of flashes and floaters, dry eye problems, and chronic or acute allergy issues. Your Medical Insurance would also cover progress evaluations to monitor cataracts, glaucoma and other recurring issues.

Anyways, one such insurance company is Optumhealth - used to be called Spectera. Their name change might indicate their need to morph! I have consistently had poor service from them. They claim that

"Our members pay no more than $40 for an annual eye exam and save 20% on glasses"

We, as provides get shafted and are paid nothing! The contract insists that I mail all the lab work to their contracted labs and they are riddled with errors! When I write in to express my desire to cancel the contract, I get no response for months! When I call to speak to the manager they take a message and these calls are not returned.... Why are they in business?

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Lifestyle Factors Play Key Role In Controlling Diabetes And Preventing Complications.

For patients with type 2 diabetes, "basic lifestyle factors," like diet and exercise, can play a key role in controlling the disorder and preventing serious complications, such as blindness, nerve disorders, and kidney failure.

In fact, with consistent blood sugar control and careful attention to cholesterol and blood pressure levels, most type 2 diabetics can keep the disease in check. And, adopting a low-fat, low-calorie diet and regular exercise to trim 5% to 10% of one's body weight is enough to prevent type 2 diabetes from developing or to bring diabetics' blood sugar, cholesterol, and other key markers within healthy limits.

People with type 2 diabetes should eat at about the same times each day and try to be consistent with the types of food they choose. This helps to prevent blood sugar from becoming extremely high or low. Meal planning includes choosing healthy foods, eating the right amount of food, and eating meals at the right time. You should work closely with your doctor, nurse, and registered dietitian to learn how much fat, protein, and carbohydrates you need in your diet. Your meal plans should fit your daily lifestyle and habits, and should try to include foods that you like.

Here is a fantastic resource to read through....

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Essilor announces new lens

Essilor of America, Inc. announced that it has launched the first personalized lenses available in the United States designed to accommodate the specific physiology of certain ethnic populations.

Essilor’s research and development analysis of more than 200,000 patients in the areas of optics, physiology and how people use their eyes and wear their frames revealed that five out of six wearers in Asian populations have different measurements from the average values for pantoscopic tilt, wrap angle and vertex distance. The company then used these data to develop patented technology that personalizes lenses for Chinese and Indian eyes and is now offering Varilux Physio Enhanced Azio, Essilor Azio Single Vision and Varilux Physio Enhanced India lenses as the first of its new ethnic lens products.

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Researchers Using Lasers To Correct Presbyopia

Lasik has been the most discussed process for vision correction - and it certainly does wonders for the near sighted individual. Many middle-aged folks have not had many good options so far. Researchers are constantly improving on techniques to help this demographic.
In one technique, researchers used lasers to re-engineer the eyeball, either by cutting slits, into which tiny lenses can be inserted, or by altering the shape of its outer layer. Leading this field is Technolas Perfect Vision of Germany born out of a joint venture between Bausch & Lomb's Refractive Surgery unit and 20/10 Perfect Vision.
They have patented a process called INTRACOR a technique that provides flapless intrastromal correction using the TECHNOLAS® Femtosecond Workstation, to achieve reshaping of the cornea.


INTRACOR presbyopia procedure is based on a gentle, localized change in corneal curvature. The epithelium and Bowman’s membrane both remain fully intact.

Presbyopia correction with INTRACOR® lasts approximately 20 seconds. During the procedure, gas bubbles form in the cornea, and the patient's vision is blurred for 2 to 3 hours. When the bubbles dissolve, the cornea clears and the distance visual acuity returns. After that, the patient can immediately notice the change in near visual acuity. On the first day after sugery, most patients experience a gain in near visual acuity.

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Macbuntu

My primary computer is a Macbook Pro and I have been a Mac fan for a lot longer. My office has many iMac's and my staff have come to love its stability and ease of use too.
At home, I have been dabbling in the operating system Ubuntu for a few years now.
I came upon a recent article in Lifehacker about turning your Ubuntu system into a Mac look alike.
The instructions were very simple: Just type four lines in a Terminal window, hitting Enter after each one:


Bam!
Here is my desktop



Awesome, No?

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FDA approval for Ista Pharma’s Bromday eye drop

Wikipedia
Food and Drug Administration has approved Ista Pharmaceutical's drug Bromday (bromfenac ophthalmic solution) as a once-daily eye drop to treat inflammation and reduce pain in patients following cataract extraction. Shares of Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc. rallied on Monday after this announcement.
Ista already sells Xibrom [bromfenac ophthalmic], a twice-daily eye drop for postoperative inflammation and the reduction of ocular pain in patients who have undergone cataract surgery.
The company reported Xibrom net sales of $81.1 million in 2009. Once Bromday is established with ophthalmologists in the U.S., the company will discontinue Xibrom (bromfenac ophthalmic solution). Xibrom was the first twice-daily NSAID approved for the treatment of this specific problem. It is the revenue leader and one of the fastest growing products in the $335 million U.S. ocular inflammation market. Xibrom revenues in the first half of 2010 were $41 million. The company expects 2010 revenues for Xibrom and Bromday combined of $95–105 million.

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Inhalants For Sexual Pleasure May Cause Eye Damage

In the Vital Signs column in the New York Times, Roni Caryn Robin reports, "Users call them poppers: a class of chemicals called alkyl nitrites that can be inhaled for a quick high, or to enhance sexual pleasure." Now doctors in France are warning that they can also cause eye damage and impaired vision.

In a letter to The New England Journal of Medicine, the author Catherine Vignal-Clermont, M.D.

Fondation Ophtalmologique Adolphe de Rothschild, Paris, France describe four cases over three months in which patients' vision was affected after they used poppers at parties. Exactly how poppers can affect vision is unknown, but it is likely due to a flood of an alkyl nitrite named isopropyl nitrite, which releases nitric oxide.

Consumers and eye care providers should be aware of the possible retinal toxicity of poppers, especially if there is vision loss in both eyes, the researchers conclude.

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Is Health Care Recesion Proof?

Americans are abandoning their prescriptions at pharmacies rather than pay higher prices for them, according to a recent analysis of 80 million pharmacy claims conducted by Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solutions. This was reported in the Wall Street Journal.

Wen I started my practice as a 'cold start' 2 years ago (smack bang at the start of this downhill trend!) many friends and relatives assured me that health care is pretty much recession proof. The new data shows that many folks are making some very tough decisions.

The data showed that this phenomenon increased by 55% during the second quarter of 2010, compared to 2006 statistics. Conventional wisdom has indicated that prescription medicines were not susceptible to economic downturns since sick people must take medication in order recover. This new evidence, however, suggests that people are deciding whether to pick up prescriptions based on price.

The average co-pays for brand-name drugs such as cholesterol fighter Lipitor rose to $28 a prescription this year, an 87% jump from 2000, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Some co-pays can be as high as $100!

The article quotes Anne Peters, director of the University of Southern California's Clinical Diabetes Program. She notes that patients lost control of their blood-sugar levels after either abandoning Lantus insulin prescriptions or spacing out its use because of the expense, she said.

In response, Dr. Peters is prescribing a less-expensive insulin sold at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. A 10ml vial of Lantus costs $111.88 on drugstore.com, while Wal-Mart charges $24.88 for the same size vial of Humulin ReliOn insulin.

Now, this also brings into question the role Walmart plays in the healthcare field. A very common gripe of private practices like mine is the dispensing of contact lenses at Walmart. The big box retail is able to sell Acuvue2 at a price that is practically unmatched by anyone else. Frequently I prescribe an alternative based on examination findings. Yet, the patient calls back to request I write for Acuvue2 as it is far less expensive! I suppose this is another story for another day!

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Americans Undergoing Treatment For Retinal Conditions Doubled Over 10 Years.

The number of older Americans getting help for fading eyesight almost tripled by 2007 from a decade earlier as the nation aged," according to a study published in the October issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.

Medicare recipients in 2007 received 812,413 injections into the eye with drugs like Roche’s Lucentis for macular degeneration or Avastin, up from fewer than 5,000 a year from 1997 to 2001, a study in the Archives of Ophthalmology found. Use of rival drugs, laser treatments and photodynamic therapy, such as QLT Inc.’s Visudyne, plunged, according to Dr Ramulu and colleagues from Johns Hopkins University’s Wilmer Eye Institute.

Approximately 1.5 percent of those older than 40, have age-related macular degeneration, according to the National Eye Institute. The number is expected to reach 3 million by 2020 as the population ages, the agency says.

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Blind People Use Visual Cortex To Heighten Senses Of Touch, Hearing.

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Blind people use the visual part of their brain to heighten their senses of touch and hearing, according to a study published in the Oct. 6 issue of the journal Neuron.

In the study, researchers used functional MRI to observe brain activity in 12 people who were blind from birth and 12 sighted people as they performed a set of tasks involving hearing and feeling. The investigators found that the visual cortex in the blind takes on these functions and processes sound and tactile information, which it doesn't do in the sighted.

"The neural cells and fibers are still there and still functioning, processing spatial attributes of stimuli, driven not by sight but by hearing and touch", the study's lead author Josef P. Rauschecker, a professor in the department of physiology and biophysics at Georgetown University Medical Center, explained.

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Science News I like!

Image via WikipediaScientists at the University of Leicester, funded by Hope Against Cancer, a Leciestershire based charity are pioneering the use of a common curry cooking ingredient to target cancer cells.

Dr Karen Brown, a Reader at the University, is the principal investigator of this new research, which is also being led by Dr Lynne Howells, of the Chemoprevention and Biomarkers Group at the University.

The aim is use tissue from the colorectal tumours to effectively target chemo-resistant cells using curcumin, an extract of the commonly used root turmeric.

They will test their hypothesis using tissue from tumours extracted from patients undergoing surgery. Previous laboratory research has shown that curcumin, has not only improved the effectiveness of chemotherapy but has also reduced the number of chemo-resistant cells which has implications in preventing the disease returning.

ABOUT COLORECTAL CANCER

• Accounts for over 600,000 deaths a year
  
• The third leading cause of cancer deaths in the western world
  
• The risk of developing colorectal cancer increases with age
  
• Studies show that a diet high in red meat and low in fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry and fish increases the risk of colorectal cancer

ABOUT TURMERIC:

• Part of the ginger family
  
• Native to south Asia
  
• Orange/yellow powder is a spice for curries
  
• Curcumin has an earthy, peppery flavour
  
• It has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries
  
• Its potential use in Alzheimer's, arthritis and other disorders is also being investigated around the world

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Thousands Of Baltimore Students May Lack Vision Care

The Baltimore Sun reports that in Maryland, thousands of Baltimore students may have eyesight problems that go undetected and uncorrected because of inadequate funding in the city's school-based health system -- a problem that leaves many of them at a disadvantage in the classroom, according to a report released Monday by the Abell Foundation.

The report found that many students are falling through the cracks of the city's school-based vision-screening program, a problem exacerbated by the school system's truancy challenges and its urban population. In particular, the report focused its criticism on the number of vision screeners at the Health Department. Nine screeners are responsible for students at 140 city schools, in addition to 1,600 private-school students, the study found.

We are fortunate that Charlotte Mecklenburg School Health has a very good vision screening program. I was fortunate to participate in the training of health service staff and nurses in screening for visual disorders.

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Video Games May Help Treat Lazy Eye

Scientific studies on video games have mainly focused on the harmful effects of playing the fast-moving action games on computer or TV screens. But new research indicates that video game therapy can improve the vision of adults with lazy eye also known as Amblyopia.

Amblyopia is a brain disorder in which the vision in one eye does not develop properly and is the most frequent cause of permanent visual impairment in childhood, affecting two to three of every 100 children, according to the National Eye Institute. Amblyopia is also the most common cause of one-eye visual impairment among young adults or people in middle age.

Although lazy eye in children can be treated by putting a patch over the “good eye” to force the brain to use the “lazy” one, few options have been available for adults with the disorder. Conventional wisdom has held that unless the disorder is corrected in childhood, “damage was thought to be irreversible".

Sept. 22, 2010 -- Most scientific studies on video games have focused on the harmful effects of playing the fast-moving action games on computer or TV screens. But new research indicates that video game therapy can improve the vision of adults with lazy eye.

A study published in the Sept. 21 issue of PLoS Biology shows that people with lazy eye, or amblyopia, had marked improvement in visual acuity and 3-D depth perception after spending 40 hours playing video games.

Study researcher Roger Li, PhD, of the School of Optometry and the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, says the study is the first to show that playing video games can improve blurred vision in adults with lazy eye.

Researchers used an action video game that required subjects to shoot at targets, or a non-action game where users construct things on screen. Twenty subjects participated, between the ages of 20 and 60.

In one experiment, 10 patients played the action video game for 40 hours, two hours at a time, over the course of a month. In another, three people played the non-action video game for the same amount of time, while wearing a patch over their good eyes.

The researchers say both experiments produced a 30% increase in visual acuity, or an average of 1.5 lines on the standard letter charges used by optometrists.

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Three million to nine million people in the United States have vision problems that keep them from enjoying such 3-D movies as Avatar and Toy Story 3, estimates the American Optometric Association (AOA).
What's more, "as many as 56 percent of people between 18 and 38 years of age suffer from symptoms related to depth-perception problems." A poll conducted by the AOA found that headaches, blurred vision, and dizziness are the most common side effects from 3-D movies for people who have binocular vision difficulties.

Today's films, like those of yore, are made by recording and projecting a separate pair of image-tracks for each eye. These are slightly offset from each other, giving what's called a binocular disparity cue, which in turn produces an illusion of depth.

Vision researchers have spent many years studying the discomfort associated with watching stereoscopic movies. Similar problems plague flight simulators, head-mounted virtual-reality displays, and many other applications of 3-D technology. There's even a standard means of assessing 3-D fatigue in the lab: The "simulator sickness questionnaire" rates subjects on their experience of 16 common symptoms—including fatigue, headache, eyestrain, nausea, blurred vision, sweating, and increased salivation.

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Image via WikipediaMedWire reported that, according to a study published in the journal Diabetes, high serum levels of prolactin are associated with a decreased risk for diabetic retinopathy.
After working with rats and also measuring serum prolactin in 40 nondiabetic and 181 diabetic men with various degrees of retinopathy, researchers led by Carmen Clapp of the Cellular and Molecular Biology institute at the Institute of Neurobiology found that mean prolactin levels were higher in diabetic versus nondiabetic individuals (34.1 vs. 16.3 ng/ml), but lower in diabetic patients with proliferative retinopathy than in those without this complication (26.7 vs. 32.8 ng/ml). Notably, the results were the same, regardless of whether patients had type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

The researchers conclude that prolactin is an important systemic inhibitor of diabetes induced retinal hypervasopermeability after its intra ocular conversion into vasoinhibins.

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Australian Researchers Identify Several New Genes Causing Eye Disease

Australia's Herald Sun reports, Australian scientists have identified several new genes that cause eye disease, in further steps towards a test that could determine a person's lifetime 'risk of blindness.'

Investigators led by Stuart MacGregor at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research assessed data from more than a thousand sets of twins, looking for genes that drive a range of vision-related problems from mild to severe.

They found not only a gene influencing cornea thickness, but also discovered a new gene for myopia...new genes affecting glaucoma risk, and a gene that causes optic nerve hypoplasia -- one of the leading causes of blindness in children.

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Blindness May Be As Much A Function Of The Brain As Of The Eye

NPR Morning Edition program reports that people who have been blind since childhood may not be able to see so well after sight-restoring surgery as adults. That is because their brains have rewired themselves, so to speak, to accommodate the vision loss.

In the case described by NPR, as a child, one man's "visual cells...devoted to fine detail eventually deteriorated." His blindness in early childhood set off a chain reaction as other parts of [his] brain that also depended on visual information suddenly weren't getting it. As a result, he lost both the ability to recognize faces and to tell different kinds of objects apart.

This case was first studied by Ione Fine, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Washington. The gentleman who was studied Mike May, had been able to see, once upon a time. She wondered, now that he had a good eye, why couldn't his brain pick up where it left off? That's the subject of a paper published earlier this year in the journal Neuron.

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Image via WikipediaABC World News reported, Despite all of our efforts to get healthy in America...most of us are not eating as many fruits and vegetables as recommended. Over the past decade, the same number of us eat vegetables and even fewer of us are eating enough fruit.

The AP reports that most Americans still don't eat vegetables often enough, and fruit consumption is actually dropping a little, according to a new government report released Thursday. The CDC found that last year, about one-third of US adults consumed fruit or fruit juice at least twice a day. That's down slightly from more than 34 percent in 2000. Only about 26 percent ate vegetables three or more times a day, the same as in 2000.

Women Much More Likely Than Men To Eat Recommended Servings. The Orlando Sentinel Vital Signs blog reported that the numbers haven't even increased in ten years, despite efforts from the federal government like 'five-a-day,' which suggests eating a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables. Also, women are much more likely than men to eat the recommended servings.

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PHASE 3 STUDY OF CAN-FITE'S DRY EYE DRUG.

Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. has opened an Investigational New Drug application (IND) with the FDA for a Phase 3 study of its lead drug, CF101, in patients with moderate to severe dry eye syndrome.
Dry eye syndrome is a chronic lack of sufficient lubrication and moisture on the surface of the eye. Its consequences range from subtle but constant irritation to ocular inflammation of the anterior (front) tissues of the eye. Dry eyes also are described by the medical term, keratitis sicca, which generally means decreased quality or quantity of tears
CF101 was found to be safe and well tolerated in an earlier Phase 2 study, in which the drug was taken orally as a monotherapy for 12 weeks.
According to Can-Fite, the randomized, double-masked, Phase 3 trial, which will enroll approximately 240 patients at multiple centers, will compare 2 doses of CF101 to placebo. The patients will be treated for 24 weeks and the main outcome assessments are improvement of corneal fluorescein staining, tear production and dry eye symptom score.
The National Women's Health Resource Center has named the top 100 dry eye hot spots in the United States based on information compiled from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climatic Data Center and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Factors used in the selection process included temperatures, humidity, wind, altitude, pollutants and ocular allergens.
The top 20 U.S. cities named as dry eye hot spots are:
1. Las Vegas, Nev.
2. Lubbock, Texas*
2. El Paso, Texas*
4. Midland/Odessa, Texas
5. Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
6. Atlanta, Ga.
7. Salt Lake City, Utah
8. Phoenix, Ariz.
9. Amarillo, Texas
10. Honolulu, Hawaii
11. Oklahoma City, Okla.
12. Albuquerque, N.M.
13. Tucson, Ariz.
14. Norfolk, Va.
15. Newark, N.J.
16. Boston, Mass.
17. Denver, Colo.
18. Pittsburgh, Pa.
19. Bakersfield, Calif.*
19. Wichita, Kan.*
*Cities were tied for these spots.

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Retinal Injuries from a Handheld Laser Pointer

According to a case study published in the Sept. 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, a 15-year-old Swiss boy damaged his eyes while playing with a laser pointer he'd bought over the Internet, say doctors who warn that dangerously high-powered versions are easily available online.

The pointer used by the teen was "30 times more powerful than the FDA limit." After playing with it in front of a mirror to create a light show...he accidentally zapped his eyes with its green light several times.

The majority of the laser pointers used in the U.S. have either Class 2 lasers with a maximum power output of less than 1 mW or Class 3R diode lasers in the 630-680 nm wavelength (red), with a maximum power output of between 1 and 5 mW. All laser pointers should have a small sticker on them with either a yellow "Caution" or black and red "Danger" insignia, the laser classification (2 or 3R), the maximum output power (in milliwatts mW) and the wavelength. It is prudent not to purchase or use unlabeled laser pointers.

Retinal injuries from lasers can result from ablative, thermal, or photochemical mechanisms depending on power, wavelength, exposure time, and size of pupil.

Laser pointers are effective tools when used properly. The following considerations should be observed when using laser pointers:

• Never look directly into the laser beam.
• Never point a laser beam at a person.
• Do not aim the laser at reflective surfaces.
• Never view a laser pointer using an optical instrument, such as binocular or a microscope.
• Do not allow children to use laser pointers unless under the supervision of an adult.
• Use only laser pointers meeting the following criteria
  • Labeled with FDA certification stating "DANGER: Laser Radiation" for Class 3R lasers or "CAUTION: Laser Radiation" for Class 2 pointers.
  • Classified as Class 2 or 3R according to the label. Do not use Class 3b or 4 products.
  • Operates at a wavelength between 630 nm and 680 nm.
  • Has a maximum output less than 5 mW, the lower the better.

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