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New wearable technology is changing the view for color blind patients.

Amity Addrisi and NBC News , KING 6:24 PM. PDT August 25, 2017

Tyler Gore has red/green color blindness, but with new glasses, hes able to see those colors properly for the first time in his life.

Wearable technology is changing everything for color-blind patients.

"I have red/green color blindness, and reds and greens look more brown and tan to me. It makes it hard to see," says Tyler Gore,.

He found out he was color blind from a test at the optometrist office in first grade. Now 16 years old, it affects the way he drives.

"Mostly when they're mixed together, like stop lights. I can't see stop light colors," said Gore.

Roughly 13 million people in the United States have this genetic condition.

"Because it doesn't prevent vision it just alters the way we perceive color in vision it's very difficult for anyone to understand the effect, said Dr. Raquel Strange, Gores optometrist.

But technology is changing that. Gore heard about Enchroma glasses that allows him to see color, such as red and green, for the first time.

"Everything was so beautiful. All of the colors popped out. All of the colors were exaggerated, and I could see color. It was awesome," said Gore.

"We've had people break down and cry. We've seen lots of parents cry and girlfriends and wives cry because they had no idea the difference that it makes. It allows them to perceive those differences. That's what they're missing. It's this kind of one-ness to so many of those colors, said Strange.

So, for his birthday, Gore is getting his own pair. It's the only thing he asked for, so he can experience a brighter version of the world he knows.

There are several different versions of glasses to help correct color blindness. The Enchroma brand costs from $250 to $300 and can be made with corrective prescription lenses for indoors or out.

2017 NBCNEWS.COM

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Corrective lenses minimize color blindness - KING5.com

For the first time in U.S. history, a solar eclipse will travel exclusively across America, enabling millions of people to view the moon block out the sun on Aug. 21. (Watch TIME's livestream of the total eclipse beginning at 12 p.m. ET on Monday.) But those who watch this rare celestial event in person need to take precautions, because staring right at the sun can quickly harm your eyes.

"Looking directly at the sun is unsafe except during the brief total phase of a solar eclipse (totality), when the moon entirely blocks the suns bright face, which will happen only within the narrow path of totality," NASA explains on its website. "The only safe way to look directly at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun is through special-purpose solar filters, such as eclipse glasses.'

The path of totality, which is about 70 miles wide, is viewable from parts of 14 states, as shown on this solar eclipse map, and only lasts a maximum of two minutes and 40 seconds, according to NASA. Before and after the total solar eclipse, those in its path will see a partial eclipse, in which the moon only partly blocks the sun. The rest of the country will also see a partial eclipse so essentially, everyone needs to prepare themselves to view the eclipse safely.

NEXT: Watch the Whole Total Solar Eclipse in 4 Minutes

Here's what you need to know about why a solar eclipse hurts your eyes and how to protect your eyes effectively:

According to experts, viewing the sun with your naked eye during the eclipse can burn your retina, damaging the images your brain can view. This phenomenon, known as "eclipse blindness," can cause temporary or permanent vision impairment, and in worst-case scenarios can lead to legal blindness, which entails significant loss of vision.

"If people look without the proper protection [at the sun], they run the risk of injuring their eyes. And if they get an injury, depending on how often and how long they look at the sun without the protection, they do have a substantial risk of developing a permanent loss of vision," said Dr. B. Ralph Chou, p resident of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and a former optometry professor. It is not possible to go completely blind from looking at the eclipse, Chou said, because the injury is limited to the central part of your visual field.

There are no immediate symptoms or pain associated with the damage the retina doesn't have any pain receptors so its hard to know at the time if you've actually been afflicted with eclipse blindness. If you look at the sun unfiltered, you may immediately notice a dazzle effect, or a glare the way you would from any bright object, but that doesn't necessarily mean your retina is damaged. According to Chou, symptoms generally begin occurring 12 hours after viewing the eclipse, when people wake up in the morning and notice their vision has been altered.

"They cant see faces in the mirror, they cant read the newspaper or the smartphone display, theyre having trouble looking at road signs, and basically theyve got this center spot in their vision that is intensely blurred," Chou said.

There are no remedies to effectively mitigate the injury, said Chou, aside from waiting and seeing if the patient regains vision. This does happen, but not until at least three months after the injury.

Yes. People have hurt their eyes by watching the sun during a solar eclipse unfiltered. However, it is a relatively rare occurrence. Although Chou said there is no definitive data on the number of people afflicted with eclipse blindness, he noted that after a solar eclipse crossed Britain in 1999, ophthalmologists reported 70 instances of eye injuries, and the majority of those people had viewed the eclipse unfiltered. In Canada, 20 cases were reported following the total solar eclipse of 1979. O f the cases reported over the years, Chou said half the people afflicted completely recovered their vision over the course of the following year.

"It's a fact that for individual practitioners, they are not seeing that many [cases] overall," Chou said. "It's only if you start looking at large populations in the hundreds of millions that you start adding up into significant numbers."

To ensure your experience is injury-free, listen to NASA's advisory and buy eclipse glasses, which block approximately 99.99% of light rays. But also make sure follow NASA's instructions in using these glasses. When the glasses are on, NASA says, it is imperative that you don't look at the sun through an unfiltered camera lens, telescope, or binoculars.

Additionally, make sure that the brand of glasses you buy has been verified to meet the international safety standard, something Chou emphasized as critical to injury prevention. The American Astronomical Society has released a list of manufacturers selling these glasses that meet this standard. NASA also suggests you inspect your filter before putting it on, and discard it if it has any scratches or damages.

"If you don't try to sneak a peek without the filter," says Chou, "Then you should not run any risk of being hurt."

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What Happens to Your Eyes If You Look Directly at the Sun During a Solar Eclipse? - TIME

A textiles company have been fined 300,000 after their wilful blindness led to a 21-year-old having to have his left hand partially amputated.

Heathcoat Fabrics, based in Tiverton, admitted contravening health and safety regulations by failing to prevent access to the dangerous parts of the L-Stenter mangle at their plant in Westexe.

Exeter Magistrates Court on Tuesday heard that an investigation was launched by the Health and Safety Executive after an incident that occurred in the factory on August 23 which led to Anthony Seward, an employee with the company, suffering a serious crush injury to his left hand.

Prosecuting, Mr Mannell said that a light curtain, which automatically stops the rollers on the L-Stenter mangle machine when the beam of light is broken, had been installed in 2009 for the machine, but it has broken down in January 2014. Replacement parts had been ordered, but rather than being installed, a risk assessment had been undertaken that decided that the use of an emergency stop-cord would be sufficient as a safety measure.

On August 23, 2016, Mr Seward was preparing and cleaning the L-Stenter mangle for the night shift when his left hand became entangled in the machine when he didnt realise that the rollers were on.

Mr Mannell said: The stenter had been used for two years and seven months without a light curtain as they felt that the stop-cord would be sufficient to prevent the risk of injury, but they failed to appreciate what could happen due to a lack of concentration or other factors when someone entered the danger zone. They were wrong that a stop-wire would be enough to reduce the risk of injury.

Mr Seward suffered severe crush injuries to four fingers on his left hand and he was flown by Air Ambulance to Bristol.

Explaining his injuries to the court, he said that he currently has no use of his left hand, he has to go back and forth to Bristol twice-a-week, he is not expected to gain the full use of his hand, and he may require an amputation.

He said that he was a retained firefighter but as a result of the injuries, this was no longer a career option.

Mr Mannell said: This case is about the fact that they failed to reinstate the light curtain to stop access to the danger zone. They knew this was a risk as they had installed it as a control measure prior to the incident happening.

The fact that they had assessed the risk and had put in the control of the light curtain previously shows how avoidable and preventable this accident was. What they did instead was inadequate and resulted in this very serious injuries.

Their wilful blindness to the risk that was in place meant that the controls did not reach industrial standard.

Mitigating on behalf of Heathcoat Fabrics, Mr Christopher Ducann said: This was a complete tragedy as to what had happened and it is truly regrettable. This was an avoidable accident and to that extent, we fully apologise for it.

He said that although it was not entirely clear as to the circumstances that led to the injury occurring, it was irrelevant as the law was about the risk of injury occurring.

He added: This is a company with no previous convictions and it is a matter of considerable shame and embarrassment that they are in this court today. Within a matter of days, they stop steps to prevent this happening again and they have fully co-operated with the investigation.

Sentencing the company, District Judge Stephen Nicholls said that it was clear that Mr Seward had suffered a considerable injury.

He fined Heathcoat Fabrics Ltd 300,000, and also ordered them to pay costs of 2,862.30 and a victim surcharge of 170.

Heathcoat Fabrics Ltd pleaded guilty to the charge of contravening a health and safety regulation in that between 18 January 2014 adn 24 August 2016 being an employer within the meaning of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 ("theAct"), contravened regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 in that you failed to take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of the L-stenter mangle and in particular, its mangle rollers, whereby you are guilty of an offence contrary to Section 33(1)(c) of the Act.

Speaking after the sentence, Cameron Harvie, managing director of Heathcoat Fabrics said in a statement: Heathcoat Fabrics deeply regrets the incident which resulted in todays hearing. As the Court has today acknowledged, the Company takes health and safety serious and has an established track record in safety performance.

In the aftermath of the incident, we have taken the opportunity to further review and improve our existing safety systems. We have co-operated fully with the HSE in its investigation into the incident.

The court also heard that Mr Seward was pursuing a civil action about the company.

Founded in 1808, Heathcoat Fabrics is the leading supplier of engineered textile solutions. From off the shelf fabrics to bespoke solutions our innovative, customer-focused approach ensures that we can design, develop, test and deliver a wide variety of fabrics across the continents to many of the world's leading companies

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Company fined after 'wilful blindness' led to employee's hand being ... - Devon Live

Blindness affects 36 million people globally, with the greatest burden in developing countries, a global investigation has found.

Forecasts predict that there will be almost 115 million cases of blindness and 588 million people with moderate to severe vision impairment in 2050 (up from figures of 36 million and 217 million today, respectively).

Worldwide, there are an estimated 36 million people who are blind, and this is set to grow to almost 115 million people by 2050.

The greatest burden will be found in developing countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, according to a study published in The Lancet Global Health journal.

With the number of people with vision impairment accelerating, we must take action to increase our current treatment efforts at global, regional and country levels, says lead author Professor Rupert Bourne, Anglia Ruskin University, UK.

Investing in these treatments has previously reaped considerable benefits, including improved quality of life, and economic benefits as people remain in work.

Although rates of blindness and vision impairment have gone down in recent years, as the world population ages, the number of cases has increased. The new estimates highlight the need to scale up efforts to alleviate vision impairment to help improve quality of life, and educational and economic opportunities globally.

Even mild visual impairment can significantly impact a persons life, for example reducing their independence in many countries as it often means people are barred from driving, as well as reducing educational and economic opportunities, Professor Bourne says.

The greatest number of people who are blind reside in south, east and southeast Asia, while rates of blindness among older adults are highest in eastern and western sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia.

The study analysed the prevalence of blindness and vision impairment in 188 countries between 1990 and 2015, as well as providing projections for 2020 and 2050.

The study, funded by the Brien Holden Vision Institute, involved researchers from Anglia Ruskin University, the University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, University of Auckland and Flinders University.

It is the first to include figures on presbyopia a condition that affects ones ability to read and is associated with ageing, and can be treated with eye glasses and finds that almost 1095 million people aged over 35 are affected by the condition, including almost 667 million people over 50.

The researchers estimate that global blindness crude prevalence declined from 0.75% in 1990 to 0.48% in 2015, while the rate of moderate to severe vision impairment reduced from 3.83% to 2.90%. This is likely to be a result of socio-economic development, targeted public health programs, and greater access to eye health services.

However, with most vision impairment being a result of ageing, as the population continues to grow and age, the number of people affected has increased globally. Rising from 30.6 million blind people in 1990 to 36 million in 2015, and from 160 million to 217 million people with moderate to severe vision impairment.

In addition, the study projections suggest that prevalence rates could see an upturn by 2020 (to 0.50% for blindness and 3.06% for vision impairment). They also predict further increases in the number of cases by 2050 if treatment is not improved with almost 115 million cases of blindness, and 588 million people with moderate to severe vision impairment.

The areas most affected include developing regions for example, 11.7 million people who are blind lived in south Asia in 2015, 6.2 million lived in east Asia, and 3.5 million lived in Southeast Asia. The same three regions were also home to the most people with moderate or severe vision impairment (61.2 million in south Asia, 52.9 million east Asia, and 20.8 million Southeast Asia).

Rates of blindness and vision impairment varied by region. In 2015, in western and eastern sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia the prevalence of blindness was more than 4%, while it was 0.5% or less in all high income regions (high income Asia Pacific, western Europe, Australasia, northern America, central Europe and eastern Europe).

While moderate to severe vision impairment rates were highest in south Asia, north Africa, the Middle East, and western and central sub-Saharan Africa, rates were lowest in the high-income regions.

To counter the growing numbers of cases of blindness and vision impairment, the researchers note the importance of investing in treatments. They also note that, between 1990 and 2010, when investments were made in treatments for vision impairment, prevalence of blindness reduced.

Interventions for vision impairment provide some of the largest returns on investment, and are some of the most easily implemented interventions in developing regions because they are cheap, require little infrastructure and countries recover their costs as people enter back into the workforce, Professor Bourne says.

Read more:
Blindness set to triple globally by 2050 - InDaily - InDaily

A FORMER Northern Rivers resident has been charged with defrauding the Commonwealth by pretending she was blind to obtain a disability pension.

And it was an inside job - as Rebecca Teece, now 35, was working for Centrelink at the time.

Teece, also known as Rebecca O'Grady, is facing four counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception over her alleged use of fake medical reports and fake names to claim eligibility for pension payments between 2012 and 2015.

Teece worked at Centrelink offices in Coffs Harbour and then Pottsville when the alleged fraud took place.

In August 2012, Teece allegedly lodged a fake report from an opthamologist called Dr D. Gregor to justify a claim for a blindness disability pension. She was working in North Boambee Valley at the time.

As a result of the alleged deception, Teece received payments between December 17, 2012, and May 1, 2015.

Two years later, while working in Pottsville, Teece is alleged to have used a fake name, Rachel Lewis, to lodge another fraudulent claim for a disability pension.

Court papers allege Teece made the claim between October 30, 2014, and May 1, 2015, and as a result received payments between November 28, 2014, and May 1, 2015.

During this period Teece allegedly struck a third time, this time between March 5 and 9, 2015.

On this occasion she made and then approved her own claim for a carer's payment under the fictitious name of Margereet Lewis.

She is alleged to have done this twice.

Teece was served with a court attendance notice on January 30 this year and the matter was mentioned in Lismore Local Court on Tuesday this week.

It was adjourned to September 19 to return to Lismore Local Court.

Magistrate David Heilpern said no further adjournments would be allowed.

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Centrelink worker faked blindness for disability pension - Northern Star

Perhaps some of the region's climate-change deniers even readand believedan article appearing in The Forum ('Fargo-Moorhead will be in path of total solar eclipse in 2099'). To be specific, this eclipse will begin at 10:37 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 14, 2099.

That calculation is the result of engineering and astronomy, or in a word: science.

So, why might some climate-change deniers, such as Inhofe, blindly confess that God controls our climate, but then have no problem believing that mani.e., the scientific methodis capable of predicting celestial events decades away down to the very minute?

Follow the money. Citing Oil Change International, the website DeSmogBlog asserts that Inhofe has received more than $2 million in political contributions from the coal and oil industry. One of his top benefactors is Koch Industries ($77,550 since 1999). ExxonMobil has contributed more than $35,000 since 1999.

But Oklahoma is a long way from North Dakota. Surely, that type of financial support doesn't cloud our politicians' vision, right?

Well ... according to OpenSecrets.org, Sen. John Hoeven received $492,228 from the energy/natural resources sector (oil and gas, electric utilities and mining industries) during the 2015-2016 cyclean amount placing him among the top-20 recipients in Congress. At the same time, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp received $155,155 and Rep. Kevin Cramer received $337,200.

Oh, by the way, OpenSecrets.org says Inhofe received only $64,000 from the energy/natural resources sector during the same period.

Hulse lives in Fargo.

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Letter: Political blindness and the total eclipse - INFORUM

The website PreventBlindness.org, an organization committed to education around blindness and "bringing Americans to eye care," has published a handy guide to safely viewing a solar eclipse and what it can potentially do to your eyes if they aren't shielded by the proper protection. As PreventBlindness.org explains, looking at a solar eclipse too long can cause "solar retinopathy," or retinal burns that destroy the cells that help you see. Unfortunately, the damage occurs with no pain, due to the fact that there are no nerve endings in that part of your eyes, and it can take "a few hours to a few days after viewing the solar eclipse to realize the damage that has occurred."

All of which sounds absolutely terrifying, an information cocktail that seems like a surefire rocket fuel to the planet Hypochondria. Still, you can never be too careful, especially if you're already experiencing discomfort in the eyes. These are the specific symptoms PreventBlindness.org stipulates that you should look out for:

See the article here:
Here Are the Eye Damage Symptoms to Worry About After Watching the Eclipse - Thrillist

Watch CBN News' Lorie Johnson and Mark Martin's interview on viewing the eclipse safely to see the type of glasses to get or creating your own "projector."

Looking at the solar eclipse without properly protecting your eyes can cause permanent eye damage and other issues. The only exception is during the brief one to three minutes of totality, when the moon completely covers the sun.

The sun can damage the retina, which is in the back of the eye, and contains light sensors that allow us to see.The amount of damage our retina sustain depends on how long we look at the sun and where the sun is in the sky. It's less intense close to the horizon, most insense directly overhead.

Our retina can handle indirect light from the sun just fine. However, since the sun's light is so intense, looking directly at it can literally burn our retina. This is true regardless of whether there is an eclipse. The difference is, on most days we instinctively avert our eyes when looking directly at the sun. It's a reflex because it's uncomfortable. However, during an eclipse, many people forego the discomfort of staring directly at the sun for the thrill of the witnessing an eclipse.

People tend to rationalize that since the moon is covering some, or most, of the sun, it's safe to view directly with the naked eye. Not so, say eye doctors who treated burned retinas in the shape of crescents after the 1979 solar eclipse.

Usually retina damage isn't noticed until the next morning. A person might look in the mirror and have difficulty making out their facial features, or attempt to read the newspaper without being able to read the words. Doctors say about half of the people with burned retinas regain all or part of their vision within six months. Other times it's permanent.

Sadly, counterfeit eclipse glasses are being circulated. The safe ones must be marked as certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The glasses should say they meet "ISO 12312-2" safety standards. The glasses will look completely black when you look through them unless you are looking at the sun.Dark sunglasses and even welders glasses do not offer enough protection.

If you do not have proper eclipse glasses, you can safety view the eclipse through a do-it-yourself pinhole projector. Punch a hole in a piece of cardboard. Then tape a piece of foil over the cardboard. Using a pin or tack, poke a small hole in the foil over the hole in the cardboard. Hold the device perpendicular to the sun. View the image on the ground or a screen. Do not look directly at the sun through the pin-hole projector.

Safety experts are urging drivers to use extreme caution on the roads during the eclipse and refrain from looking at the spectacle in the sky rather than the road.

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Eclipse Can Cause Blindness, Other Damage | CBN News - CBN News

If you can still read this, congratulations youre not blind from staring directly into the eclipse (yet).

Then again, eye damage from viewing a solar eclipse can take days to manifest. Using whatever eyesight they had left, freaked out Americans turned to Google for advice.

Google Trends showed a sharp uptick in searches for SEO-friendly phrases like solar eclipse headache, solar eclipse blind, eyes hurt, seeing spots, solar retinopathy, headache after eclipse, accidentally looked at eclipse, headache after solar eclipse, burned retinas, eclipse headache, and eclipse blind.

Experts warn that staring into a solar eclipse for any amount of time even just a few seconds could result in permanent blurry vision or blindness because the dark moon passing over the sun essentially cancels out the normal burning sensation that makes people look away from bright light.

Its often hard to tell whether damage has occurred, since the exposure is painless and symptoms can crop up for weeks afterward. Symptoms that suggest short-term damage include eye pain and light sensitivity, often occurring within 24 hours of exposure, Linda Chous, an ophthalmologist and chief eye care officer for UnitedHealthcare, told NBC. Long-term symptoms include a loss of central vision including a dark spot or hole in vision typically presenting anytime up to two weeks after exposure.

But sadly for President Donald Trump, who was photographed looking directly into the eclipse twice in a span of less than five minutes, Americans seem less concerned with his ocular health.

Searches for Trump blind actually peaked in November 2016 around the same time he promised to put his businesses into a blind trust in an effort to prevent a conflict of interest between the White House and the Trump Organization.

In that sense, Trump does not appear to be blind at all according to Propublica, the trusts terms have since been changed to allow Trump to withdraw money from the businesses whenever he wants.

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America is genuinely worried it went blind today - VICE News

The Department of Health (DOH) has encouraged all Filipinos to have their eyes checked in observance of Sight Saving Month, which was aimed at supporting efforts to reduce the prevalence of avoidable blindness.

The DOH spearheads the annual observance this month by virtue of Proclamation No. 40.

This years theme, Universal Eye Health: No More Avoidable Blindness, was designed to strengthen public awareness on the importance of proper eye care and promote the prevention of avoidable blindness, which is a serious public health issue of global magnitude.

Avoidable blindness left unaddressed, particularly for those who are blind or have severe visual impairment, results in reduced functional ability and loss of self-esteem and contributes towards the reduction of quality of life, the DOH said.

The disability from visual impairment has considerable economic implications with loss of productivity and income and can lead to poverty and social dependency, it said.

Early detection and preventive care can help keep our eyes healthy and avoid common causes of blindness, the DOH said.

According to a 2012 report from the World Health Organization, approximately 285 million people worldwide are visually impaired, with 39 million blind and 246 million with low vision.

Globally, cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness followed by glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration as the secondary causes.

In the Philippines, the estimated number of persons who are bilaterally blind is 332,150 of which 33 percent or around 109,609 is due to cataract, 25 percent (83,037) due to errors of refraction (EOR) and 14 percent (46,501) due to glaucoma. The rest are due to other eye conditions like glaucoma, retinopathy and maculopathy.

In addition to this statistics, the current number of persons with bilateral low vision is 2,179,733 of which 43 percent (937,285) is due to EOR, 34 percent (741,109) cataract, and the rest is caused by glaucoma and other eye diseases.

Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.

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DOH tells Pinoys: Avoid blindness, have your eyes checked ... - Inquirer.net

Courtesy of "Flesh of my Blood"

A slate of short films depicting lead characters with disabilities has been making the rounds at film festivals worldwide, giving voice to a demographic mostly ignored in mainstream cinema and TV. Blindness, Annette Cyrs impassioned study of a painter discovering she will lose her eyesight made waves at the Palm Springs Intl. Shortfest this June, along with Mari Sanders documentary short 80% Disabled, which exposes what life is like for a handicapped filmmaker yearning to live independently.

SEE MORE: From the August 01, 2017, issue of Variety

Flesh of My Flesh, written and directed by award-winning South African filmmaker Matthys Boshoff, has screened at numerous fests, including the 2017 Nashville Film Festival. The film is a haunting, heartbreaking and sometimes humorous semi-autobiographical look at a married couple whose lives are devastated when their daughter dies in a car accident and the mother is left paralyzed from the neck down. In real life, Boshoff, raised in Pretoria, South Africa, was in a car accident at age 4 that took the life of his older sister.. His mother became a quadriplegic and his father her caretaker.

What was interesting to me, in the context of a romantic relationship, was what happens when you get committed to somebody with an able body and then suddenly life happens and youve got to deal with it, says Boshoff, whos currently at work on the feature-length version of the film. Where you often have the attention and the empathy and sympathy going towards the person who had the accident or has the disability, often its the caretaker who suffers the greatest psychological stress and is the most strained.

In her film Still Sophie, which also screened at Nashville and won best documentary at the Red Dirt Film Festival, filmmaker Caroline Knight wanted to explore the effects of aphasia, the impairment of language and communication due to a brain injury, usually a stroke, on the life of 19-year-old singer Sophie Salveson. With a run-time of seven minutes, the film, produced by Chad McClarnon, is a precise and inspiring look at the power of will and determination over medical diagnosis.

Shes so expressive and I still feel like I understand everything shes trying to say despite the aphasia holding back her words, says Knight, whose mother is Salvesons speech therapist. Shes still Sophie its all in the title. Shes still there and shes everything she was before the stroke. This thing has changed the course of her life, but shes still very much creative and bright and one of the funniest people I know.

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Filmmakers Strive to Raise Awareness of the Disabled in Entertainment With Fully-Formed Characters - Variety

Evils origins hit close to home.

Every monster has a mother. Every act of violence that has ever been perpetrated by one human being upon another or others every single one, minor or major has been done so by the son or daughter of someone, to the son or daughter of someone else. And in the eyes of a mother, our faults are opportunities, our flaws are our uniquity, and our damage is never our responsibility, it is the result of a world that doesnt understand us.

This is the narrative perspective that launches The Sunshine Boy, a three-minute, rotoscope-animated short film from writer/director Naaman Azhari. Inspired by real and all too-common events, the film consists of a mothers voiceover about her artistic, sensitive, and perhaps misunderstood son, a high school student. As she dotes on his distinctions, we see his side of these emotions and the horror they unleash.

The Sunshine Boy isnt the most novel narrative out there, but its not supposed to be, part of its point is how frighteningly regular such depicted events are. What is unique and captivating about the film is its perspective, one that shows us how a mothers love is unwavering, but also blinding.

Source: Short of the Week

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Short of the Day: 'The Sunshine Boy' Reveals the Blindness Caused by a Mother's Love - Film School Rejects

When Maureen and Jay Neitz adopted an adorable, fluffy black puppy in the late 1980s, they had no idea how important she would be in making new discoveries about vision.

They were just looking for a dog who was size-appropriate for the small apartment they lived in as UC Santa Barbara PhD candidates. Eventually, the teacup Poodle they named Retina helped the couple prove that dogs see much more than just black and white, and that dogs color vision is similar to that of the 8 percent of the human population who are red-green colorblind.

Ten million Americans, most of them male, are affected with red-green colorblindness, a genetic trait carried on the X chromosome. People with this condition cant clearly see the difference between red and green. They often mistake green for white and red for brown or dark gray.

Colorblindness might not seem like a serious disability, but it causes unexpected, and sometimes tragic, problems for humans. For example, airline pilots must be able to differentiate between colors, which someone with red-green colorblindness cant reliably do. Color vision is, of course, crucial in being able to discern if a traffic light is red or green. According to Don Peters, a consultant to the biotech industry who has red/green colorblindness, Sodium vapor lights look a lot like red stoplights to me. Its confusing to drive in an area with these lights, especially at night. As a child, he had difficulties with color-related tasks: I can still hear my teacher asking me why I colored the tree red. I couldnt tell the difference.

Colorblind people miss a lot of detail that people with normal color vision take for granted: they might not see the lines on a map, or lettering printed in colors that seem bright to those with normal vision but blend in for them. This can be dangerous when reading traffic signs or medication labels. Jay Neitz pointed out that children who are colorblind often have trouble in school, and can be mistakenly diagnosed with learning disabilities or ADHD; in spite of these potential problems, schools do not test students color vision.

The Neitzes established that dogs see shades of yellow, blue and gray. Other colors, such as red and green, appear faded or indistinct. Jay Neitz had an aha moment when Retina could not find her orange ball in a green lawn. Sometimes the ball was right in front of her, but she would sniff around in the grass, trying to find it by smell. We realized that she simply couldnt see it, even though it was obvious to us, he said.

As UC Santa Barbara post-docs with degrees in biochemistry, molecular biology and biopsychology, the couple had access to a lab in which they could set up a testing area. I realized that I had the opportunity to find out, once and for all, what kind of color vision dogs really have. Jay built an apparatus that placed dogs in front of a screen with three lit panels. He trained the dogs to touch the screen with their noses when they saw a different shade. If the dog got it right, she would receive a cheese-flavored dog treat. In order to get the dog to touch the screen, Jay used peanut butter as an incentive. Once the dog mastered that part of the test, Jay no longer used the peanut butter.

Right away, Maureen and Jay discovered that, like people, dogs were good at figuring out shortcuts to getting a treat. In addition, About 30 percent of the time, the dog made a lucky guess, according to Maureen. The dogs attention spans were short, and on more than a few days, they just didnt feel like doing the tests. It took six months per dog to train them, Maureen said. In addition to Retina, the Neitzes used two Italian Greyhounds; like Poodles, they are small, intelligent, easily trained dogs. The dogs were treated very well, Maureen said. We had the utmost concern for their welfare.

In 1989, Jay Neitz co-authored Color vision in the dog, which was published in the journal Visual Neuroscience; the research paper confirmed that dogs do, indeed see more than black and white. That led to a years-long search for a cure for colorblindness in humans.

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How Dogs Are Helping Researchers Cure Color Blindness | The Bark - The Bark (blog)

From the dawn of electronics, people have been tryingto merge electronics with our bodies in order to improve conditions thatcurrently have no cure andto go beyond our limits. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is now ready to back that up with big bucks.

DARPA has announced it plans to spend $65 million to create a brain-computer interface, the core goal of the Neural Engineering System Design program. The program will last for four years and willfund six different research teams. These scientists will work on LEDs that can be used to restore vision, a system to understand speech, and a holographic microscope to detect neural activity.

While these are all part of an exciting plan, it is important to remember just how ambitious it is. Even if the technology developed is as successful as one might hope, it would take years to perform clinical tests to guarantee that the tech is safe and reliable. DARPA wants the team to create commercially viable applications, but there are many obstacles to overcome.

The general idea is to create different versions of the same basic technology, an interface that can translate the electrochemical signals into electronic impulses and vice versa. Only in such a manner would it be possible to control potential sensory devices.

The researchers will tryto create a brain implant thatis at most a cubic centimeter (about two nickels stuck back to back) in volume. The volume requirements are sensible but not groundbreaking. Previous studies have shown implants that are minimally invasive.

The chip will have to be able to connect and communicate withup to a million neurons, and while that sounds impressive, we need to remember that the average human has about 86 billion of them.

Still, a technology that can interface with our neural electrochemistry can have a huge impact, even if it only interacts with a (relatively) tiny fraction of neurons. The implant can help bridge nerve connections, which means it might help people that have lost limb function or have a spinal injury.

Obviously, this is early work, but it is promising that research groups are committed to a tech that might make life easier for millions of people.

See the article here:
DARPA Aims At Curing Blindness And Other Conditions With Bioelectronic Interface - IFLScience

With only a 48-hour window of opportunity, how do you keep a child from going blind when there is a lack of eye surgeons with proper training? Thats where telemedicine technology and eye specialists come together.

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is the largest pediatric multispecialty medical group in the United States. Children from around the world can receive specialized care from 564 physicians in any of 32 specialties and 31 other areas of complex conditions.

Recently, one group within Childrens Hospital Los Angeles looked at the rate of infant blindness in Armenia which was three times the rate of the U.S. and other Western countries and asked, How can we help? How could the medical group eliminate preventable blindness in Armenia and neighboring rural areas? And how could the medical group educate doctors in third-world countries about complex blinding diseases in a cost-effective manner without compromising care?

[Also:VA, Air Force forge telehealth partnership for critically ill patients]

Thomas Lee, MD, joined the Armenia EyeCare Project at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. He and a team of doctors traveled to Armenia to provide assessment, care and programming, and the need to train remote care teams became clear: There were not enough surgeons available with the specialized knowledge required to provide life-changing eye surgeries.

Another critical issue was that some of these sight-saving surgeries for premature infants with certain retinal conditions must take place within 48 hours of birth. The lack of trained surgeons meant many infants might miss their opportunity.

[Also:eClinicalWorks adds telehealth feature to mobile app]

So SADA Systems, a Microsoft partner, built a telemedicine system using Microsoft technology especially for Lee to reach out from L.A. to Armenia to stop infants from going blind.

Skype for Business along with a Polycom codec allowed us to be present virtually during the operation, Lee said. One of the primary obstacles to training surgeons in developing countries is the difficulty in getting the expertise to the trainee to properly supervise them during their actual operations. Historically this has required the expert to travel to the remote country and then assist the doctor directly.

These medical missions are very time-consuming, and unfortunately often need to be arranged months in advance, a period of time many patients do not have, Lee said.

By having a remote platform available, we were able to provide the supervision needed in a timely fashion for the patient without requiring the expert to disrupt their own practice, he explained.

Various elements of the telemedicine technology enabled Lee and team members to succeed at this medical procedure.

Historically, we have been limited in how the video signal is transmitted and brokered, Lee said. Encoding and compressing the signal has often relied on software compression performed in the OR before being placed on the wire. This results in compression and motion artifacts that cause signal degradation making it unusable from a medical standpoint.

Some of the more affordable hardware systems resulted in latency of up to 60 seconds as the streaming system would buffer the video before broadcasting to the remote expert, Lee explained. A dedicated hardware codec at both ends would solve this issue but required the remote expert to be at the hospital where the codec is present, and since Armenia was 12 time zones away, this posed a specific challenge, he added.

What was unique and novel about this solution was that SADA Systems reconfigured a Polycom codec to log directly on to Microsoft Skype for Business, he explained. The hardware compression resulted in a high-definition and high-frame-rate signal with none of the artifacts we had seen previously. Because this was being brokered by Skype for Business, the remote expert could simply log onto the video conference from home using a standard web browser.

What was even more important was that the signal could be multicast to multiple experts around the world. This was a fundamental change.

Where historically we could only have one expert training a surgeon, either in person or remotely, Skype for Business allowed us to crowdsource the surgical training to experts all over the world, Lee said. This changes the rules of the game. Experience that would normally take a trainee months to acquire through different experts can now be addressed in one operation. This really alters how we can approach a global problem through a disruptive platform to benefit children all over the world.

So how important is telemedicine technology to the future of healthcare? Very, Lee said.

In healthcare today, we are facing a crisis not just in cost but more importantly in access, he said. Telemedicine will allow us to address both of these issues by allowing subspecialists to partner with other providers in an efficient manner that can both increase access and reduce costs. The challenge is how to complete the proof of concept and then roll out the larger platform.

Twitter:@SiwickiHealthITEmail the writer: bill.siwicki@himssmedia.com

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LA medical group uses telemedicine to fight child blindness in Armenia - Healthcare IT News

Fillers those line plumping and wrinkle-reducing injections (usually of hyaluronic acid) have gotten increasingly popular over the past several years. The quick, in-office procedure can deliver addictively good results without all the scariness that comes with full-blown cosmetic surgeries. But thats not to say fillers dont have serious risks... like blindness, apparently.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, looked at nine patients in South Korea who experienced blindness from fillers after receiving facial injections of hyaluronic acid.

One of the rare risks of having filler injections performed is that the filler material itself can get into and block a blood vessel, Joshua Zeichner, M.D., director of cosmetic and clinical research in dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, tells Allure. If that happens, the results can be devastating.Here's what goes down: The blockage can prevent the delivery of oxygen and other nutrients, which could have major consequences. If the skin is affected, scarring can develop. If the eyes are affected, it can result in blindness, Zeichner adds.

Naturally, the case study is scary enough to make you rethink booking that filler appointment. But before you totally freak out, heres what you need to know about the real risks concerning blindness from fillers.

First of all, this is super rare. For all the procedures involving fillers (about 2.6 million people got the needle last year alone, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons), theres only been a handful of reported cases of blindness. In the event that after a filler injection, you experience any significant, sharp pain, if the skin develops a purple, lacy, or dusky appearance make sure to call your doctor immediately, Zeichner says. Hyaluronic acid fillers can be dissolved, so if theres an issue, the faster you can do that, the better your chances of avoiding a serious outcome.

Secondly, where you get the filler matters. Certain areas are more at risk than others, Sejal Shah, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist in New York, tells Allure. The highest risk areas are the area between the eyebrows, the nose, and the nasal region. In those areas, neurotoxin injections (aka Botox or Dysport) might be the safer choice, adds Zeichner.

Finally, technique is key, so make sure you see someone who knows their stuff. Many of us do not inject fillers in high-risk areas and actually pull back on the plunger of the syringe before injecting to make sure that the needle is not placed within a blood vessel, Zeichner says. To ensure youre getting the best care, "make sure you are seeing a well-trained, board-certified dermatologist or plastic surgeon, who is thoroughly educated in facial anatomy and techniques for injecting different types of fillers, adds Shah. These experts will also be able to deal with any adverse effects ASAP.

The bottom line? Every medical procedure including the seemingly innocuous facial perk up you can get with a quick injection has risks. So make sure you know what they are going in. Before resorting to the needle, talk to your dermatologist about any weird side effects you might be at risk for and inject accordingly.

For more on fillers:

Original post:
Great, Well Apparently Facial Fillers Can Make You Go Blind - Allure Magazine

Diabetes patients who are also suffering from obstructive sleep apnoea may be at greater risk of developing a common form of eye disease leading to blindness, researchers found.

The findings showed that the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy was higher in patients with sleep apnoea (42.9 per cent) compared to those without sleep apnoea (24.1 per cent) - that causes snoring and interrupting breathing.

Further, it was also more common in patients with both Type 2 diabetes and sleep apnoea compared to those with only high blood sugar levels alone. Despite improvements in glucose, blood pressure and lipid levels, diabetic retinopathy remains very common, said Abd Tahrani from the University of Birmingham.

Importantly, patients with sleep apnoea and Type 2 diabetes may also be at an increased risk of developing advanced diabetic retinopathy over a period of three years and seven months. These patients may also not be aware of the onset of diabetic retinopathy and the disease could go undiagnosed for years, the researchers said.

For the study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the team involved 230 patients with Type 2 diabetes who were assessed for diabetic retinopathy using specialist retinal imaging, while sleep apnoea was assessed using a home-based multi-channel cardio-respiratory portable device.

At a follow-up appointment, on average 43 months later the patients with sleep apnoea (18.4 per cent) were more likely to develop moderate to severe diabetic retinopathy compared to those without sleep apnoea (6.1 per cent). We can conclude from this study that OSA is an independent predictor for the progression to moderate or severe diabetic retinopathy in patients with Type 2 diabetes, Tahrani said.

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Eye to eye: Diabetes, sleep apnoea combination may lead to blindness - Hindustan Times

In rural Uganda, people who are blind or visually impaired often go to the city to look for work. But jobs are hard to find, and many end up as street beggars.

Instead, Ojok Simon wants them to know about a way they can earn money without leaving home: beekeeping. Simon, 36, became visually impaired after he was severely beaten by rebels who came to his village when he was a child. He has been a beekeeper for 15 years, and in 2013 he co-founded Hive Uganda, an organization that teaches advocates for visually impaired people and teaches them to make a living raising honeybees.

This year, his organization will receive a boost: Simon is one of three winners of the first-ever Holman Prize, which The Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in San Francisco.

Its like a blind Fulbright, said Will Butler, the organizations communication director, of the award, which gives up to $25,000 apiece to blind and visually impaired people seeking funding for ambitious personal projects.

The prize is named for James Holman, a 19th-century English navy lieutenant who lost his sight at 25. In those days, if a military man became blind, the usual thing was theyd go sit in a convent or church and pray for the souls of dead English soldiers and sailors, said Bryan Bashin, The Lighthouses CEO.

Holman didnt think that sounded like fun. So, at a time with people didnt even think that blind people could get out of the house, he began to travel, and he became the most traveled blind person of the 19th century, eventually crossing through Scotland and France, and across Siberia, Bashin said.

Another winner of this years prize, Penny Melville-Brown of Farnham, U.K., lost her sight while she was a commander in the British Royal Navy. Her project, Baking Blind, will take her around the world to cook with blind and sighted chefs - including stops in China, Australia, Malawi, and Virginia Beach, Virginia, where she hope to link up with some Navy veterans, especially blind ones, to share stories.

Along the way she will videotape her encounters and blog about her journey. Her goal, she said, is to show that blind people and other disabled people have got lots of get up and go and ability, and they are a great resource for the rest of the community, the rest of society, and particularly employers, to use better.

Melville-Brown was thrilled to learn she had won (My thinking is its a cross between the Paralympics and The Apprentice, with a whiff of the Nobel! she wrote to the organizers in an excited email). But she also said the honor comes with a great responsibility. Because I am sort of representing lots of blind people, and especially those who were candidates for the prize. Im sort of doing it on their behalf.

A third winner, Ahmet Ustunel, a San Francisco teacher and avid kayaker, will develop a guidance system to solo kayak 500 miles in different locations around the world, including crossing the Bosphorus Strait from Europe to Asia in his native Turkey.

Two-hundred and two applicants from 27 countries and 35 U.S. states submitted 90-second video pitches for their projects.

We were staggered by the amount of interest and the quality and diversity of the proposals, Bashin said. One of the biggest obstacles is our own perceptions of our capabilities, and part of the Lighthouses mission is to change perceptions of the abilities of the blind in all fields.

Winners will be flown to San Francisco and work with the project manager to refine their ideas. A year later, they will return to report on how they turned out.

In the Gulu district of northern Uganda, Simons organization has already taught 38 people to be beekeepers, using local materials to make beehives and learning how to understand bees behavior.

Ugandans prize the insects for their honey, their wax (used in soap and cosmetics), their propolis, and even their venom, which can be used to boost immunity. But much of the harvesting is done in the wild, which presents a challenge for the visually impaired. Hive Uganda teaches people to use frames and assess the honey harvest by feeling how heavy they are.

Winning the Holman will allow Simon to widen the scope of how many people he can help.

I feel that now Im going to be addressing the larger society to empower East Africa in general, he told the Washington Post. My dream is becoming reality, and that change that I wanted, I started feeling at my fingertips.

Read the original here:
Beekeeper, baker, kayaker don't let blindness stop the vision - Atlanta Journal Constitution

A undle of microwires developed by startup Paradromic to interface directly with the brain. Image: Paradromic

These days, it seems youre nobody if youre not working on a way to merge machines with the human brain. Earlier this year, both Facebook and perpetual moonshot-enthusiast Elon Musk announced plans for brain-computer interfaces that could allow us to read the thoughts of others and improve our capacity for learning. Today, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced plans to spend $65 million developing advanced neural implants that connect our brains to computers in order to treat sensory deficits like blindness.

The Neural Engineering System Design program gives us a peek into what sort of achievements might actually be plausible using neural interfaces. The program will fund six different research teams, including two that seek to restore vision using light-emitting diodes, one that plans to decode speech using neurograin sensors, and another that uses holographic microscopes to detect neural activity that could eventually replace lost vision, or act as an interface to control an artificial limb.

At the end of the four-year program, the goal is to have working prototypes capable of transmitting data between the brain and computers, but it will likely be a good deal longer before such devices are ready or commercial or clinical application.

It will be a long time before medical science allows us to grow new eyes or repair a broken spinal cord, but by linking brains to computers it will be possible to leverage digital devices to restore the functionality of damaged body parts, said Matthew Angle, whose company, Paradromics, Inc., received a DARPA grant. Angles company is researching how to use large arrays of brain-penetrating microwire electrodes to record and stimulate neurons, with the goal of building an implantable device to support speech restoration. His company aims to be in clinical trials by 2021.

Initially we are focused on what we call connectivity disorders, meaning illnesses and injuries that destroy or severely impair a persons sensory or motor connections to the outside world, he told Gizmodo. Looking forward, I imagine that neural prosthetics could also be used to treat certain neurological diseases.

Its not DARPAs first foray into brain-computer interfaces. The agency has already invested heavily in brain-computer interface technologies to do things like treat mental illness and restore memories to soldiers injured in war. (Those projects are still ongoing, but so far on track to meet research goals.) But the goalsand the technologyhere are a little different. Rather than seeking to impact one small region of the brain in order to affect a particular outcome, like treating PTSD, the agency hopes to develop a technology to communicate with more than a million of the brains 86 billion neurons at once, translating the brains electrochemical signals into ones and zeros that can be interpreted by a machine.

Such a feat would have countless therapeutic applications, but also significantly expand our understand of vision, hearing, and speech and eventually, yes, maybe even allow us to communicate telepathically.

At UC Berkeley, for example, a research team led by Ehud Isacoff plans to develop a holographic microscope that uses fields of light to detect and modulate the activity of up to a million neurons in the cerebral cortex. The team hopes it can create models that predict how the brain will respond to visual and tactile stimuli, then translate those models into patterns that might convey vision or movement to someone who had lost one of those senses with a brain implant.

The technical goal is to create a brain modem that can read the activity of a million identified neurons and write back to large numbers of them patterns of activity that simulate natural ones, Isacoff told Gizmodo via email.

Using optical imaging, he said, may be more effective than techniques like deep brain stimulation that rely on implanted electrodes to stimulate areas of the brain around them, allowing to scientists to target extremely precise regions. Within four years, he said, they hope to have a device that works in animals.

We hope that our device makes it possible to unlock the neural code of sensory perception, he said. Success would enable us to generate the proper patterns to reflect what is happening in the world to enable a blind person to see or someone with a prosthetic arm to control it better because of restored sensory feedback.

At Columbia University, a team led by Ken Shepard plans to create a prosthetic restoring sight to those that are blind, by layering a single, flexible circuit over the brain that could communicate wirelessly with a transceiver worn on the head.

The goal of this research is to push the limits on what is possible with brain-machine interfacesproviding a means to interact with brain circuits on a scale that has not previously been achievable, Shepard told Gizmodo.

The challenges, though, are many. How to make such a device survive inside the body? How to process the data? How to map signals from the brain and understand how they impact the brains complex wiring?

DARPAs goal is that all of the teams will eventually create technology with practical, commercial applications.

Angle, of Paradromics, cautioned that this does not mean we will all be reading each others minds anytime soon. Even twenty years out, he suspects we will still be puzzling over how to use this kind of technology to help people with physical and psychological illnesses. In the nearer term, though, the focus will likely be on disorders rooted in the brains inability to communicate with the body, like blindness and paralysis.

There are already enough medical applications to keep many companies busy for many decades, he said. We see a concrete and credible technical pathway for the blind to see and for people who cannot move to walk again. This has been a human aspiration for as long as written history, and I think the tipping point will come in the next decade.

Original post:
DARPA Is Funding Brain-Computer Interfaces to Treat Blindness, Paralysis and Speech Disorders - Gizmodo

Sightings of a toxic plant which has left several children in the UK with third-degree burns this summer have been confirmed in the Somerset area.

Giant Hogweed can cause ulcers and blindness and has been called Britains most dangerous plant by some.

LATEST - Warning from mum about another dangerous plant after son picks up injuries at beauty spot.

The recent hot weather raised fears about the spread of the hazardous plant , as it thrives in warmer temperatures.

Distressing images show what can happen to children if they accidentally come into contact with the dangerous invasive species. Several youngsters were hospitalised in late June around the UK.

WARNING: Some images below graphically show Giant Hogweed injuries.

Areas with lots of countryside, such as our beautiful county, should be particularly aware of the risks.

Giant Hogweed verified in Somerset

Now a new app called Plant Tracker is recording confirmed reports of Giant Hogweed on a map of the UK, allowing those concerned to steer clear of some potentially risky areas.

Worryingly there are several dots on the map showing Giant Hogweed is in Somerset and the surrounding area.

The Giant Hogweed spots in or near Somerset confirmed so far are in:

Mudford (just north of Yeovil ) An area to the south of Wincanton , near the River Cale Farleigh Hungerford (north of Frome , south of Bath) London Road West in Bath Riverside Park in Bristol Down Road, north of Bristol Bristol and Bath Science Park, Bristol Just off the A35, near Wilmington, between Axminster and Honiton

Children taken to hospital

In late June media reports highlighted how children in the UK were especially vulnerable to the dangers of the plant.

Several children were hospitalised with third-degree burns after their skin was exposed to a stem.

Lauren Fuller, 10, from Thornbury, was building a den by a riverbank in Scotland in 2015 when she touched the invasive plant.

The image belows show how her injuries quickly became extremely severe.

WARNING: The below image graphically shows Giant Hogweed injuries and some may find it distressing.

An 11-year-old boy in Renfrewshire, Scotland, was hospitalised after touching the toxic plant in the park. Victims suffer horrific burn-like injuries when they make contact with it.

The boy was left with agonising blisters after he rubbed the plants leaves on a nettle sting, thinking they were dock leaves.

In 2015, four Bolton teenagers were treated in hospital for severe burns after touching giant hogweed.

Within 24-48 hours, rashes, burns and blisters may begin to appear. The toxins affect almost everyone but children are particularly sensitive.

Blisters caused by Giant Hogweed tend to heal very slowly as they can damage DNA, and severe blistering may re-occur for many years.

The blisters can also develop into phytophotodermatitis, a type of skin rash caused as a result of sensitivity to chemicals in certain plants and fruit which flares up in sunlight.

The best advice is simply - do not touch it.

River Trust expert Mike Duddy said: "If you dont know what the plant is, its exceedingly dangerous.

It is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most dangerous plant in Britain."

Government advice on Giant Hogweed says:

Contact with any part of this plant must be avoided as even minute amounts of sap can cause blistering of the skin following exposure to sunlight.

Its best left to the experts but if youre trying to spot the dangerous plant so you can avoid it, this info could help.

The Non-Native Species Secretariat says: When in full height it is difficult to confuse giant hogweed with any other plant. While still growing or stunted, possibly as a result of disturbance, it can be confused with some other native plants. The most likely species with which it might confused is hogweed.

Key differences between hogweed and giant hogweed include the height, width of stem, size of leaf, size of flower head and size of seed.

The map of the Somerset area we used above came from PlantTracker.

Thanks to PlantTracker we can see recorded sightings of the Giant Hogweed but walkers should beware that it's in lots of other places, too. It's probably impossible to report them all.

The PlantTracker project is a collaboration between the Environment Agency, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency & Natural Resources Wales.

The main aim is to locate incidences of a number of high priority invasive plant species.

There is currently a lack of information on exactly how serious the problem presented by invasive plant species really is.

With the public's help PlantTracker hope to build the most complete picture yet and provide the raw data to those that need it most in (almost) real time.

Continued here:
Sightings of 'most dangerous plant' which can cause ulcers and ... - Somerset Live