StemCell Therapy

Last week, as per a notification issued by the Union Health Ministry, India embraced the World Health Organisations (WHO) definition of blindness, and changed its four-decade old criteria of what blindness should be. In the process, India would drastically bring down the number of people who will be considered blind in the country.

Image used for representational purpose only.

The new definition suggests that a person who is unable to count fingers from a stipulated distance of three metres would be regarded as blind. The earlier definition of blindness, adopted in 1976, had a prerequisite of six metres. With the implementation of the new definition, the number of blind people would reduce from 1.20 crore to 80 lakh, according to the National Blindness survey 2007.

The rationale for the erstwhile definition of blindness was to include economic blindness cases that impede a persons ability to earn wages, while the WHO criteria includes people who have social blindness, which hampers the day to day interactions in a persons life.

The definition was revised so that comparable data could be generated so as to analyse it against global estimates and achieve the attain the WHO objective of reducing the prevalence of India to 0.3% of the total population by 2020.

Keeping this move in mind, the name of the government scheme that targets the blind population has been changed from the National Programme for Control of Blindness to the The National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment, and its focus would be on both blind as well as visually impaired people.

Deputy Director General of National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB), Dr Promila Gupta, stated, Because of the earlier definition, we were projecting a higher figure of blind people from India at any international forum, presenting ourselves in poor light.

It is important to assess this decision of the Union Health Ministry in order to understand how this will impact the blind population legally. India ratified the United Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2007. However, the domestic legislation that protects the rights of disabled persons, The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, was only passed in December.

This new legislation would replace The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, which would be repealed. The Persons with Disabilities Act was inadequate in recognising the rights enunciated within the CRPD, and did not codify or mention basic CRPD principles of legal capacity and reasonable accommodation.

While the new Act includes a number of new conditions in the disabilities list, it retains blindness as a disability, along with 21 other conditions, and a power to the central government for adding more types of conditions, if required. Low vision is also another condition in this list. The Act casts a responsibility upon appropriate governments to take effective measures to ensure that the persons with disabilities enjoy their fundamental rights equally with others.

The new Act most importantly codifies the principle of reasonable accommodation within the clause that defines discrimination. Section 2 (h) defines discrimination thus discrimination in relation to disability, means any distinction, exclusion, restriction on the basis of disability which is the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field and includes all forms of discrimination and denial of reasonable accommodation. It also defines reasonable accommodation as does the CRPD means necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments, without imposing a disproportionate or undue burden in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise of rights equally with others.

Keeping the new understanding of blindness in India, it is vital to question whether this decision would affect the legal capacity and fundamental freedoms of the 40 lakh population that was regarded as legally blind before this Health Ministry directive, but now have ceased to be so because of a new definition of the disability. How would this affect their employment and capacity to earn a livelihood? And most significantly, how would this affect the way reasonable accommodation is invoked for the blind?

In Pranay Kumar Poddar v. State of Tripura and Others (2017), the Supreme Court asked some very pertinent questions regarding blindness and employment in the medical practice. The bench comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice AM Khanwilkar directed the Medical Council of India to constitute a committee of experts to look into the areas of practice that MBBS aspirants with colour blindness could engage in.

The bench also stated that it was an obligation of the Medical Council of India to look into and take progressive measure so that an individual suffering from CVD may not feel like an alien to the concept of equality, which is the fon juris of our Constitution. The amicus curiae, Mr Vishwanathan, argued that since colour blindness was not regarded as a disability under the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 or the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, there needs to be an examination of the nature and severity of colour blindness and the corresponding subjects they can practice.

The Supreme Court stated: Total exclusion for admission to medical courses without any stipulation in which they really can practice and render assistance would tantamount to regressive thinking. The march of science, apart from our constitutional warrant and values, commands inclusion and not exclusion. That is the way a believer in human rights should think.

In the case of Ashutosh Kumar v. Film and Television Institute of India (2017), the Bombay High Court upheld the rules laid down the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) that stated that candidates suffering from colour blindness would not be suitable for the course. The Division Bench of Justice Shantanu Kemkar and Justice Prakash Naik rejected the petition of Ashutosh Kumar who was denied admission for a post-graduate course on editing at the Institute.

The court stated that the rules of FTII must be upheld and that the Ashutosh was suffering from colour blindness, and that there was no malafide or arbitrariness in the rules or the recommendations of the expert committee of the Institute. A Delhi High Court case of 2013 adjudicated that colour blindness was not a ground for denying promotion, and directed government authorities to treat CRPF personnel with colour blindness on par with others for promotion.

In Bhagwan Dass and Anr v. Punjab State Electricity Board (2008), the appellant had become completely blind during his service, and the respondent had categorically refused to accommodate him in an alternate position, and instead terminated his service according to the Persons with Disabilities Act.

The Supreme Court, in the case, took a protective view of persons with disabilities and reiterated the judgment in Kunal Singh v. Union of India: In construing a provision of a social beneficial enactment that too dealing with disabled persons intended to give them equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation, the view that advances the object of the Act and serves its purpose must be preferred to the one which obstructs the object and paralyses the purpose of the Act.

The judgments discussed indicate that there is not a contextual understanding or nuancing of how blindness is perceived in a legal sphere: This means that there is no pattern of adjudicating upon blindness and its relationship with legal rights and the principle reasonable accommodation at the workplace.

With the change in definition of blindness, this nuance is likely to get more difficult and as a result of this, several lakh people may be affected adversely. Changing the definition of blindness, without putting in place proper systems, has created a dangerous situation where blanket discrimination against the visually impaired may take place by both government as well as private actors.

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India swaps 40-yr-old definition of blindness for WHO criteria: Move may allow blanket discrimination against ... - Firstpost

In a significant public health victory, Mexico has succeeded in eliminating a disease which is the leading cause of blindness worldwide.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Monday that Mexico is the first country in the Americas to eliminate trachoma as a public health issue. The disease, caused by a bacteria, affects the eye and repeated infections can lead to scarring and even loss of vision.

It primarily affects young children, and can be spread by personal contact or by flies that that have been in contact with the discharge from the eyes or nose of an infected person.

"This is a historic moment for public health in Mexico and the Americas," said Carissa F. Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), WHO regional office for the Americas. "Eliminating a disease is not achieved every day."

Trachoma primarily affects poor and isolated populations in 41 countries; in the Americas, the disease is still prevalent in Brazil, Guatemala, and Colombia.

Mexico has become the third country, after Oman and Morocco, to receive WHO validation for eliminating the disease.

Related: Measles Has Been Eliminated in the Americas, WHO Says

In Mexico, trachoma affected over 146,000 people. The country ramped up its actions in 2004 with the creation of the Trachoma Prevention and Control Program of the Ministry of Health of Chiapas and the strengthening of the WHO SAFE strategy. The "Trachoma Brigades" focused on cleanliness, antibiotics, environmental improvement and surgery for the advanced stage of the disease.

Related: 'Adis Zika!' Elmo Teaches Kids in Caribbean, Latin America about Zika

The program's slogan was "With water, soap and cleanliness you can prevent trachoma." Teachers at schools would also meet with parents regularly to promote better hygiene.

The international criteria for the elimination of trachoma as a public health problem includes prevalence of less than 5 percent in children aged 1 to 9, and less than one case of trachomatous trichiasis (inverted eyelashes) per 1,000 inhabitants.

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Confocal micrograph of mouse retina depicting optic fiber layer. Image courtesy of National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, UC San Diego.

Using the gene-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego Health, with colleagues in China, have reprogrammed mutated rod photoreceptors to become functioning cone photoreceptors, reversing cellular degeneration and restoring visual function in two mouse models of retinitis pigmentosa.

The findings are published in the April 21 advance online issue of Cell Research.

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of inherited vision disorders caused by numerous mutations in more than 60 genes. The mutations affect the eyes photoreceptors, specialized cells in the retina that sense and convert light images into electrical signals sent to the brain. There are two types: rod cells that function for night vision and peripheral vision, and cone cells that provide central vision (visual acuity) and discern color. The human retina typically contains 120 million rod cells and 6 million cone cells.

In RP, which affects approximately 100,000 Americans and 1 in 4,000 persons worldwide, rod-specific genetic mutations cause rod photoreceptor cells to dysfunction and degenerate over time. Initial symptoms are loss of peripheral and night vision, followed by diminished visual acuity and color perception as cone cells also begin to fail and die. There is no treatment for RP. The eventual result may be legal blindness.

In their published research, a team led by senior author Kang Zhang, MD, PhD, chief of ophthalmic genetics, founding director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine and co-director of biomaterials and tissue engineering at the Institute of Engineering in Medicine, both at UC San Diego School of Medicine, used CRISPR/Cas9 to deactivate a master switch gene called Nrl and a downstream transcription factor called Nr2e3.

CRISPR, which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, allows researchers to target specific stretches of genetic code and edit DNA at precise locations, modifying select gene functions. Deactivating either Nrl or Nr2e3 reprogrammed rod cells to become cone cells.

Cone cells are less vulnerable to the genetic mutations that cause RP, said Zhang. Our strategy was to use gene therapy to make the underlying mutations irrelevant, resulting in the preservation of tissue and vision.

The scientists tested their approach in two different mouse models of RP. In both cases, they found an abundance of reprogrammed cone cells and preserved cellular architecture in the retinas. Electroretinography testing of rod and cone receptors in live mice show improved function.

Zhang said a recent independent study led by Zhijian Wu, PhD, at National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, also reached similar conclusions.

The researchers used adeno-associated virus (AAV) to perform the gene therapy, which they said should help advance their work to human clinical trials quicker. AAV is a common cold virus and has been used in many successful gene therapy treatments with a relatively good safely profile, said Zhang. Human clinical trials could be planned soon after completion of preclinical study. There is no treatment for RP so the need is great and pressing. In addition, our approach of reprogramming mutation-sensitive cells to mutation-resistant cells may have broader application to other human diseases, including cancer.

This article has been republished frommaterialsprovided by University of California - San Diego. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

Reference

Zhu, J., Ming, C., Fu, X., Duan, Y., Hoang, D. A., Rutgard, J., . . . Zhang, K. (2017). Gene and mutation independent therapy via CRISPR-Cas9 mediated cellular reprogramming in rod photoreceptors. Cell Research. doi:10.1038/cr.2017.57

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Reversing Gene Damage to Treat Blindness | Technology Networks - Technology Networks

You are here: Home Opinion Britains wilful blindness

In January 1983, the government of President Robert Mugabe launched a massive security clampdown in Matabeleland and parts of Midlands, led by Fifth Brigade a division of the Zimbabwean National Army.

guest opinion BY Hazel Cameron

This coincided with the imposition of a strict curfew in the region. Thousands of atrocities, including murders, mass physical torture and the burnings of property occurred in the ensuing six weeks.

Members of the unit told locals that they had been ordered to wipe out the people in the area and to kill anything that was human.

Mugabe named this North Korean trained unit Gukurahundi Fifth Brigade, a Shona term that loosely translates to the early rain that washes away the chaff before the spring rains.

The term Gukurahundi not only refers to Fifth Brigade, but also to the period of political and ethnic violence perpetrated by this unit in Zimbabwe between 1983 and 1985.

Gukurahundi resulted in huge losses for the Ndebele people of Matabeleland and parts of the Midlands.

The late Joshua Nkomo (leader of Zapu), in a letter to Mugabe dated June 7 1983, estimated that in the first six-week period of Gukurahundi, which commenced on January 20 1983, Fifth Brigade killed between 3 000 and 5 000 unarmed civilians in Matabeleland North.

The West German ambassador to Zimbabwe, Richard Ellerkmann, reported on March 11 1983 that the churches estimate of total deaths, based on data collected from African sources, is about 3 000.

Shari Eppel, Zimbabwean human rights advocate and forensic anthropologist, estimates the total number of unarmed civilians who died at the hands of Fifth Brigade throughout the entire Gukurahundi period to be no fewer than 10 000 and no more than 20 000.

Thousands more were beaten, tortured and raped.

The arbitrary arrests, detentions without charge, torture, summary executions and rape, suffered by the Ndebele, created an atmosphere of fear and mistrust, which persists to this day between the people of Matabeleland and the government of Zimbabwe.

This article illuminates the wilful blindness of Margaret Thatchers Conservative British government between January and April 1983, when the Zimbabwean state-sponsored violence of Gukurahundi peaked.

The analysis of this study was undertaken through the prism of hitherto unavailable official British and US government communications pertaining to the Matabeleland massacres, obtained by Freedom of Information requests to various British government ministries and offices, and to the US Department of State.

This unique dataset provides minutes of meetings and other relevant communications between the British High Commission, Harare, the Prime Ministers Office, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Defence, London, as well as the US Department of State and the US embassy in Harare.

The mining of such rich data permits a unique insight into the role of the British government in Gukurahundi and establishes: what information was available to the British government about the persistent and relentless atrocities taking place against the Ndebele people of Matabeleland North during the early part of 1983; what the British diplomatic approach was in response to this knowledge; and what the British governments rationale was for such policies.

Importantly, this data is triangulated by analysis of the US declassified documents. It must be acknowledged that the documentary material considered in this study is not complete.

However, the 2 600 pages of documentation analysed, indicates that Robin Byatt, the British High Commissioner in Harare during the peak period of Gukurahundi violence, in addition to his diplomatic team and Major General Colin Shortis, the commander of the British Military Advisory Training Team, were consistent in their efforts to minimise the magnitude of Fifth Brigade atrocities.

It is indisputable that this is the general theme of the available cables that were forwarded from the British High Commission, Harare, to London during the period under study for this article.

Furthermore, this article will reveal that while both the UK and US were influenced by realpolitik, the US government demonstrated concern for the victims of Gukurahundi and placed a focus on the development of strategies and policies designed to challenge the state sponsored violence being perpetrated by Fifth Brigade so as to end the suffering of the black Ndebele people.

This was contrary to the approach of the UK government who wilfully turned a blind eye to the victims of these gross abuses.

Instead, the Zimbabweans who were of concern to the British government, and influenced their diplomatic approach, were the many white Zimbabweans living in the affected regions, and who were unaffected by the extreme violence of the Fifth Brigade.

The rationale for such naked realpolitik is multi-layered and expressed clearly in numerous communications between Harare and London.

This can be neatly summarised here by quoting a cable from the British High Commissioner, Harare, to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Geoffrey Howe, on June 24 1983.

He notes that: Zimbabwe is important to us primarily because of major British and western economic and strategic interests in southern Africa, and Zimbabwes pivotal position there.

Other important interests are investment (800 million) and trade (120 million exports in 1982), Lancaster House prestige, and the need to avoid a mass white exodus.

Zimbabwe offers scope to influence the outcome of the agonising South Africa problem; and is a bulwark against Soviet inroads.

Zimbabwes scale facilitates effective external influence on the outcome of the Zimbabwe experiment, despite occasional Zimbabwean perversity.

One can but assume that occasional Zimbabwean perversity refers to Gukurahundi and the summary killings and commonplace torture and rape of tens of thousands of Ndebele people.

This is an extract of a report that was recently published in the International History Review journal providing new information on the Gukurahundi atrocities.

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Britain's wilful blindness - The Zimbabwe Standard

India has come up with a new definition of blindness, in line with WHO criteria, a step that would drastically bring down the number of people considered "blind" in the country.

bccl/representational image

Redefining the criteria after over four decades, the new definition says a person who is unable to count fingers from a distance of three metres would be considered "blind" as against the earlier stipulation of six metres.

The definition has been revised the first time after 1976 with the objective of generating data which can be compared with global estimates and achieve the WHO goal of reducing the blindness prevalence of India to 0.3% of the total population by 2020.

bccl/representational image

The notification in this regard has been issued by the health ministry.

Going by the new definition, the population of blind people in India will reduce from 1.20 crore (as per National Blindness survey 2007 data) to 80 lakh.

bccl/representational image

Further, India has to achieve the goal set by WHO which recommends reducing the prevalence of blindness to 0.3% by 2020 to achieve the elimination of avoidable blindness.

The previous definition of blindness was adopted at the time of the inception of the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) in 1976.

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New Definition Of 'Blindness' Will Bring Down Number Of Blind In The Country By 40 Lakh - Indiatimes.com

Over the course of his long, multi-hyphenate career, Common has taken up charitable efforts as wide-ranging as his talents;raising awareness on issues like animal rights, HIV/AIDS, under privileged children and gun control.

Now, the rapper-actor-author is turning his sights towards blindness, and teaming up with See America, Allergans initiative to fight against preventable blindness in the United States. Together, Common and Allergan produced a new PSA that aims to spread awareness about the61 million Americans currently at-risk of severe vision loss.

I was inspired to get involved because its about raising awareness, and blindness is an issue that Americans are dealing with that we dont really think about, Common tells PEOPLE.

Its one of those things that until its happening to you, you dont think about it, he adds. But learning how toprevent these things by being aware and taking care of ourselves iswhat inspired me to get involved.

From Coinage: See Where 6 Stars Were Before They Were Famous

As for what drew him to the project, Common explains, I look for things to do in life whereI can help people, and looking at See America, the awareness that theyre bringing to the American people when it comes to blindness, I knew it was something I wanted to be involved with.

He also has a personal connection to the project. As a kid, I had issues with sight, and one of the scariest things I can thinkabout is going blind, he says. When my vision started to fade, it made me want to figure out what I could do to make suremy sight was at the level it should be.

While his childhood vision loss plateaued as he got older, Common says the experience left a mark on him. You really begin to appreciate your sight when you start having issues yourself, he explains.

The video, titled Stand in the Way of Darkness, utilizes Commons poetic prowess and story telling to highlight the issues important to See Americas mission. As long as we do it in a creative and cool way, then Im all for it, he says of making the video. And thats what we did, we made a beautiful piece that Im very happy about.

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Common Shines a Light on Blindness in PSA for See America: 'We Made a Beautiful Piece' - PEOPLE.com

It takes remarkable drive and ambition for a young boy from the small east Nepalese village of Olangchungola with no running water or electricity to become one of the leading eye surgeons in Asia. Especially considering this village is a long four-day walk away from the nearest school. But after losing his 17-year-old sister to the tuberculosis, Ruit decided to focus on medicine to so other peoples lives arent destroyed by easily preventable and curable diseases.

In the Himalayas, like many other parts of the world, cataracts blindness is considered a natural part aging even though its completely preventable.

Dr. Geoffry Tabin is an ophthalmologist and close friend to Ruit. He told FoxNews.com, cataracts is a clouding of the crystalline lens, which is a small lens that focuses light that sits just behind the pretty colored part of the eye called the iris. In the western world, surgery can easily cure cataracts but those in the third world have to live with it and fall into blindness.

Typically, cataracts surgery involves removing the cloudy lens and replacing it with an artificial one called an intraocular lens. Ruit wanted to bring this procedure to the Himalayas. But, in order to do so the process had to be simplified and made more cost effective. His idea was to remove the expensive technology, make the process manual and somehow lower the cost of the intraocular lenses. To achieve this goal he created the Tilganga Eye Centre - now the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology - in 1994, in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The cost of these intraocular lenses at that time was over 200 dollars and that was almost impossible to provide that to people at the community level, Ruit told FoxNews.com. Ruit teamed up with ophthalmologist Dr. Fred Hollows to start making the lenses locally in Nepal. The approach worked. Within three years the costs per lens dropped dramatically to just three dollars.

With costs down and the simplification of the procedure, Ruit was able to provide over 100,000 cataract surgeries for just 25 dollars per procedure.

Using his efforts as groundwork, Ruit teamed up with Tabin to create the Himalayan Cataract Project whose aim is to focus on training and developing the infrastructure and techniques to end preventable blindness.

Weve been able to bring the amount of blindness in Nepal from 1 per hundred down to .28 percent, Tabin said. Their efforts and spreading to other parts of Asia and even Africa.

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Doctors team up to stop preventable blindness - Fox News

New Delhi: India has changed its over four-decade-old definition of blindness, bringing it in line with the WHO criteria, a step that would drastically bring down the number of people considered "blind" in the country.

According to the new definition, a person who is unable to count fingers from a distance of three metres would be considered "blind" as against the earlier stipulation of six metres, which was adopted in 1976.

The aim of revising the definition is also to be able to generate data which can be compared with global estimates and achieve the WHO goal of reducing the blindness prevalence of India to 0.3 per cent of the total population by 2020.The notification in this regard has been issued by the Union Health Ministry.

Going by the new definition, the population of blind people in India will reduce from 1.20 crore (as per National Blindness survey 2007 data) to 80 lakh."Because of the earlier definition, we were projecting a higher figure of blind people from India at any international forum, presenting ourselves in poor light.

Image used for representational purpose only.

"Also, the data that we generated under the programme could not be compared with the global estimates as other countries were following the WHO definition," said Dr Promila Gupta, Deputy Director General of National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB).

Further, India has to achieve the goal set by the WHO which recommends reducing the prevalence of blindness to 0.3 percent by 2020 to achieve the elimination of avoidable blindness.

"It would have been extremely difficult to achieve the WHO goal using the earlier NPCB definition since we had been addressing an extra 4 million (40 lakh) individuals blind due to refractive errors. Whereas, by adopting the blindness criteria of WHO, India now can achieve the goal," said Professor Praveen Vashist, in-charge Community Ophthalmology at Dr R P Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS.

Also, the name of the scheme, 'National Programme for Control of Blindness' has been changed to 'The National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment'.

"The programme, henceforth, will not only focus on the blind persons but also those with some kind of visual impairment. With the change in nomenclature, the number of beneficiaries will now increase to 40 million," Dr Vashist added.

The previous definition of blindness was adopted at the time of the inception of the NPCB in 1976.

"The probable reason for keeping 6 metres as the cut off distance for defining blindness in India was to include economic blindness cases which referred to a level of blindness which prevents an individual to earn his or her wages.

"In contrast, the WHO definition adopts a criteria for blindness that is which hampers the routine social interaction of a person (social blindness)," Gupta said.

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India swaps 40-yr-old definition of blindness for WHO criteria: 40 lakh people will no longer be classified 'legally ... - Firstpost

An eye scan with Diabetic Retinopathy hemorrhages highlighted.

IBM on Thursday announced its latest breakthrough in combating eye disease, with new research methods that could help doctors diagnose and classify diabetic retinopathy (DR).

DR is a complication of diabetes and one of the leading causes of blindness in the US. Using deep learning and visual analytics technology, IBM researchers were able to classify the severity of patients' diabetic retinopathy (DR) with 86 percent accuracy.

The method takes just 20 seconds to identify and classify legions, which could help more doctors screen more patients. Currently, diabetes patients are screened for DR by an expert clinician, in an often manual and time-intensive process.

DR is classified into five severity levels (no DR; mild; moderate; severe; proliferative DR) based on the presence of lesions on the retina and damage to the retina's blood vessels.

IBM's new method for classifying the disease combines two analytics approaches -- convolutional neural networks (CNN) with a dictionary-based learning to incorporate DR specific pathologies.

The research results were presented at the IEEE's International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging this week in Melbourne.

The work builds on IBM Research's use deep learning techniques and image analytics technology to help diagnose a range eye diseases. IBM has invested heavily in using cognitive technology in the health care sector, with 12 research labs around the world focused on using medical imaging analysis for a range of diseases from eye disease to lung cancer and melanoma.

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IBM uses deep learning to better detect a leading cause of blindness - ZDNet

Discovery of a gene in zebrafish that triggers congenital blindness could lead to new treatments for a similar disease in humans.

Asian Scientist Newsroom | April 20, 2017 | In the Lab

AsianScientist (Apr. 20, 2017) - In a study published in Scientific Reports, researchers report a zebrafish model of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), one of the most common causes of childhood blindness that accounts for five percent of all vision impairments.

LCA can be genetically transmitted to a child when both parents possess at least one dysfunctional copy of a gene involved in eye development. Although LCA is relatively common, the molecular mechanism behind the disease remains unclear.

Now, researchers in the Developmental Neurobiology Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have found a similar syndrome in zebrafish. From this research, they aim to use zebrafish as a model to unravel the causes of LCA and therefore provide new leads for a treatment.

LCA affects the retina, the thin layer of tissue at the back of the eye that detects light as well as differentiates colors and communicates the information to the brain via the optic nerve. A healthy retina usually features light-sensitive cellsphotoreceptorscalled cones and rods. Cones are specialized in bright environment and detect colors while rods are used in dim light but are monochrome, which is why we see in black and white at night.

A person with LCA will display deformed or absent cones and rods. A total of 24 genesincluding a gene called Aipl1have been linked to LCA in humans and mice.

Using a genetically mutated zebrafish embryo that did not react to visual stimuli, the researchers discovered that zebrafish DNA contains two Aipl1 genes, namely Aipl1a and Aipl1b, which are active in rods and cones respectively.

The mutantcalled gold rush (gosh)presents a genetic mutation in the Aipl1b DNA sequence, and therefore losing Aipl1 activity in cone photoreceptors. Consequently, the cone photoreceptors showed a deformed morphology and sustained degeneration. Rods however were not affected, suggesting that the degeneration is cone-specific.

Probing further, the authors of the study also revealed that Aipl1 is critical for the stability of two enzymescGMP-phosphodiesterase 6 and guanylate cyclasewhich mediate phototransduction, the process of converting light into an electrical signal. Without these enzymes, the zebrafish is unable to react to light stimulus as the information is stopped in photoreceptors and fails to initiate the transmission of visual information into the brain through the optic nerve.

The research indicates that Aipl1b gene is important for visual function and maintenance of cone photoreceptors in the zebrafish. Without it, cones do not detect light stimuli and degenerate during development.

The gosh mutant is a good model for understanding the molecular and cellular mechanism of cone cell death and the pathological process of human LCA. Hopefully, this new knowledge will help to find a future cure for patients who suffer such a devastating disease as LCA, said Dr. Maria Iribarne, first author of the study.

The article can be found at: Iribarne et al. (2017) Aipl1 is Rrequired for Cone Photoreceptor Function and Survival through the Stability of Pde6c and Gc3 in Zebrafish.

Source: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University; Photo: Shutterstock. Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

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Understanding Inherited Blindness Through Zebrafish Eyes - Asian Scientist Magazine

Senior doctors from LVPEI said the focus of Indian eye researchers was on ocular regeneration, which involved developing methods to regenerate eye tissues.

Indian and UK executives speaking at the inaugural function of the four day UK-India Researcher Links Workshop, organised by The University of Sheffield, UK & L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, on Thursday at Hotel Taj Vivanta.

Hyderabad: Leading eye researchers from India and United Kingdom have agreed to join hands in an endeavour to eliminate corneal blindness.

Researchers from both the countries participated in a workshop aimed at discussing and developing innovative and scientific solutions to treat damaged corneas, at LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) on Thursday.

The workshop, titled Application of innovative chemistry and bio-materials to treat corneas damaged by trauma, disease and infection featured close to 200 young researchers who were hand picked by senior eye researchers from UK and India after a thorough scrutiny of applications.

We need young scientists from both the countries who can generate unique ideas to handle corneal ailments. The workshop will establish collaborations between the two countries and nurture a generation of young scientists who can respond to ailments related to corneas, said Deputy Chief Executive, Royal Society of Chemistry, UK, Stephen Hawthorne.

Senior doctors from LVPEI said the focus of Indian eye researchers was on ocular regeneration, which involved developing methods to regenerate eye tissues. A major goal of this collaboration is to eliminate corneal blindness that will involve stem cell therapy for cornea, replacement of cells by using artificial cornea and explore 3D printing of tissues and organs for such eye defects, said Vivek Singh, Scientist, LVPEI.

The Royal Society of Chemistry and British Council through Newton Fund, are investing Rs 2.50 crore to organise Newton Researcher Links workshops for creating a platform for Indian and UK researchers.

Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India; Professor Sheila MacNeil from University of Sheffield and top researchers from LVPEI were present.

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India, UK to collaborate for treating corneal blindness - Telangana Today

A new treatment for blindness caused by diabetes is on the way, with Bicycle Therapeutics at Babraham announcing a milestone achievement.

The new treatment, for diabetic macular edema, is being devised in partnership with Belgian company ThromboGenics, which is focused on developing treatments for back of the eye disease.

Bicycles are a new class of small molecule medicines designed to overcome many of the limitations of

existing drugs.

Under the terms of the alliance, ThromboGenics has an exclusive license to undertake pre-clinical and clinical development and subsequent commercialization of a specified drug candidate; in return Bicycle receives development milestone payments and royalties on sales of products resulting from the collaboration.

Were delighted to be realizing our first candidate milestone from a Bicycle alliance and to be

advancing another Bicycle towards the clinic for the treatment of a significant disease, in this case DME, said Dr Kevin Lee, Bicycle chief executive. This achievement confirms the potential for Bicycles to be developed to address a broad range of poorly treated diseases.

We are continuing to expand our pipeline through research collaborations which will extend our reach into new therapeutic areas and allow us to explore new applications for the Bicycle platform.

This is an exciting moment in our partnership with Bicycle Therapeutics, said Dr Patrik De Haes, chief Executive of ThromboGenics NV. We believe that THR-149, a novel plasma kallikrein inhibitor, holds great promise for ophthalmology applications, expanding the range of treatment options available for people with diseases of the eye, particularly DME. We are rapidly moving towards the

clinic, and expect to begin clinical development early in 2018.

Bicycle Therapeutics is developing a new class of medicines to treat cancer and other important

diseases based on its bicyclic peptide product platform.

Bicycles are like antibodies. Their small size enables rapid and deep tissue penetration, allowing tissues and tumours to be targeted from within. Their peptidic nature provides a tuneable pharmacokinetic half-life and a renal route of clearance, thus avoiding the liver and gastrointestinal tract toxicity often seen with other drugs.

The company says it is rapidly advancing towards the clinic with its lead programmes which selectively deliver toxins to tumours. Its unique intellectual property is based on the work initiated at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge by the scientific founders of the company, Sir Gregory Winter and Professor Christian Heinis.

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New treatment for blindness - Cambridge News

EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) - An East Syracuse woman went blind before she turned 30, and she turned what was once one of the worst time of her life into material for motivational speaking.

Diabetes not only took Monica Johnsons sight in 2002 it made her bedridden with nerve damage.

My first words that I had uttered were my life is over and Ill never be able to do anything ever again and that's it my life is over, she said.

She was a manager at a store at Destiny and a horse trainer before she went blind, and she was worried she would not have the same opportunities again.

I had gone from being totally sighted and working all sorts of jobs and opportunities to just to losing my sight. It started getting dark it was almost like a dimmer switch and things just starting a darker little by little by little. Over a six month period of time, on Feb. 9th I woke up and that was that was the last time I had saw daylight, Johnson said.

She said she had to move in with her parents and went into a deep depression.

Johnson said one day, she had a feeling that there is so much more to life than laying in bed and doing nothing.

Today, she lives on her own and travels the country as a motivational speaker.

She says there is no way she should be doing all she does today without the help of Aurora Central New York, an organization that helps both the vision and hearing impaired.

If youd like to get in contact with Monica Johnson, you can reach her at visionwithnosight@gmail.com.

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East Syracuse woman finds strength in her blindness: The - WSYR

Glaucoma is the worlds leading cause of irreversible blindness. And heartbreakingly, so many cases are preventable.

Glaucoma develops slowly over the years, often without any noticeable symptoms. It describes the build-up of pressure inside the eye that pushes against the optic nerve, causing permanent damage over time.

There is no cure, and any vision lost to glaucoma cannot be reversed. But a simple, regular eye examination can make an incredible difference. Early diagnosis can help prevent any additional damage, with eye drops, medication or surgery able to control the pressure.

The risk grows greater with age. At 60, your chances of developing glaucoma will be 4 to 10 times higher than at age 40. If you have a family history of glaucoma, this risk is increased tenfold.

A new campaign called Glaucoma Aware is on a mission to unearth 150,000 Australians who face preventable blindness and dont know it. As per the campaigns recent survey results, around 60% of Australians either havent been tested or dont know if theyve been tested for glaucoma.

Consult your optometrist today, or click here to learn more.

One in two family members of Australians with advanced glaucoma are likely to show early signs of the disease.

Sue, 58, a Melbourne optometrist, knows this sadly all too well, with three out of four generations of her family affected.

Sues grandmother, Nellie, was diagnosed late in life. She was put on topical eye-drop medications, but unfortunately her glaucoma was already well established, she says.

Her glaucoma proved very difficult to control she was virtually blind by the time that she died, aged 95 in a nursing home.

Sues mother, Ellen, also got her eyes examined. Fortunately, she was diagnosed at a very early stage. shes been on topical eyedrops these last 30 odd years, and fortunately shes had good vision.

At 84 she takes no other medications and leads a very active lifestyle, including driving confidently.

Sue, keenly aware of her higher risk, gets an examination every year.

But Sue was taken by surprise when her son Daniel, also studying optometry, called with some startling news.

In the final week of his course, Daniel rang us and said the students had been checking each others intra-ocular pressures in preparation for their final practical examination, and his had been found to be unusually high.

At just 28 (an age where everybody thinks theyre bulletproof), Daniel was diagnosed with pigment dispersion syndrome an aggressive condition that can lead to glaucoma if its not treated at an early age.

Are you at risk from glaucoma? Learn more at Glaucoma Aware

Thankfully, at the time of diagnosis, Daniel showed no visual loss. He now receives regular care, and his pressures are now controlled with eye drops.

The family is optimistic he can continue life with his vision unaffected, and that in time, the pressure will subside.

Nonetheless, it was a startling wake-up call: glaucoma can affect anyone at any age. Even infants can develop the disease.

We routinely tell our patients that it should be checked every two years from the age of 40, or earlier if you have a family history, says Sue. But it certainly brought the message home to us: even at a younger age, this is something that can increase without having any awareness.

Sue believes this is particularly important for Australias over-60s. The incidence of glaucoma increase dramatically through the decades.

A lot of people self-diagnose as they get older. If they have trouble with their eyesight, they assume that its just because theyre getting older.

I think the lesson is that regular check-ups are important for everybody.

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The simple test that could prevent permanent blindness - Starts at 60

NEW DELHI: India has changed its over four- decade-old definition of blindness, bringing it in line with the WHO criteria, a step that would drastically bring down the number of people considered "blind" in the country.

According to the new definition, a person who is unable to count fingers from a distance of three metres would be considered "blind" as against the earlier stipulation of six metres, which was adopted in 1976.

The aim of revising the definition is also to be able to generate data which can be compared with global estimates and achieve the WHO goal of reducing the blindness prevalence of India to 0.3 per cent of the total population by 2020.

The notification in this regard has been issued by the Union Health Ministry.

Going by the new definition, the population of blind people in India will reduce from 1.20 crore (as per National Blindness survey 2007 data) to 80 lakh.

"Because of the earlier definition, we were projecting a higher figure of blind people from India at any international forum, presenting ourselves in poor light.

"Also, the data that we generated under the programme could not be compared with the global estimates as other countries were following the WHO definition," said Dr Promila Gupta, Deputy Director General of National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB).

Further, India has to achieve the goal set by the WHO which recommends reducing the prevalence of blindness to 0.3 per cent by 2020 to achieve the elimination of avoidable blindness.

"It would have been extremely difficult to achieve the WHO goal using the earlier NPCB definition since we had been addressing an extra 4 million (40 lakh) individuals blind due to refractive errors. Whereas, by adopting the blindness criteria of WHO, India now can achieve the goal," said Professor Praveen Vashist, in-charge Community Ophthalmology at Dr R P Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS.

Also, the name of the scheme, 'National Programme for Control of Blindness' has been changed to 'The National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment'.

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India changes definition of blindness, opts for WHO criteria - Times of India

Deanna Coach Callender

Deanna Coach Callender is an inspiration. She is a lifelong resident of Minneapolis who lived a great life despite some recent health concerns, just like she did before going blind.

Callender went to grade school in Coon Rapids where, she says, No one looked like me. She then came to Minneapolis and went to Ramsey Junior High and Washburn High School. She graduated from Minneapolis Community College and St. Cloud State. She also formerly wrote for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (MSR).

Teaching was her passion. I retired from school teaching. I was a teacher and a girls and boys basketball coach and a girls volleyball coach at Lake Country Montessori School. Callender told MSR that she misses teaching.

That was the joy of my life, teaching and being around children. She began her career teaching high school physical education, English and health at Holy Angels [High School]. When my son went to school, I taught physical education, health and kindergarten at Kings Christian Academy and Risen Christ [School]. Callender has one son, ShirDon, who is an estimator at M.A. Mortenson Company. He is my pride and joy, of course.

Speaking about some of her firsts, she told MSR, I am the first African American female to graduate from Minnesota Military Academy, class of 1987. I also served in the military, in the national guard from 1982-1984. [I] served in the Army active duty from 1984-1991, reserves from 1994-1998.

I was [the first] African American female Greek, Delta Sigma Theta, on the campus of St. Cloud [State University]. I deactivated when I went down south because they were still segregated. My heart was broken.

Callender began losing her sight nine years ago. She has been blind in one eye for three years and almost completely blind in the other eye for about three months, So it is still kind of new to me. Initially, she was diagnosed with glaucoma. However, by the time they found out, her peripheral vision was already gone. It just progressively got worse. I could not take [eye]drops and there was nothing they could do. A couple months ago, I woke up [to experiencing] a little light coming through. I still get a little light, but I cannot see anything.

After losing her sight, Callendar said, I was probably a little distraught for about a month. Then I thought, Well, this is it. This is what it is, and I [have] to get back up and start moving. She currently is waiting on a call to get a seeing-eye dog.

Callender is a member of St. Peter A.M.E Church, a chaplain for the Minnesota Blind Veterans Association, the ambassador for the Challenged Athlete Foundation for Minnesota, and a member of the Youth Association of Blind Athletes.

I do a lot of traveling, she said. I am very much a sports enthusiast, even though I have lost my sight. I still do everything. My favorite things to do are whitewater kayaking I love doing that and skiing, tandem biking, scuba diving and goal ball [blind soccer] at the Winter Sports Clinic for disabled veterans. I have been going there for five years. Callender also likes fishing, baseball, rock climbing and bowling. I just do everything, she said. I have been on two whitewater kayaking [trips] that lasted a week at a time, one in Yellowstone River in Montana and one in the Sandwater River in Utah.

She is employed part-time at the Hennepin County Medical Center. I work as a moulage patient for the fire fighters, EMTs and first responders, as they do their training and certifying. [A moulage applies mock injuries for Emergency Response Teams and other medical personnel.] It is not every day but an on-call kind of thing. Sometimes I will work every day from nine to noon, and sometimes I will only work once a month.

The greatest thing in her life right now, she said, are the sports. The Challenged Athlete Foundation allows me to do a lot of things. They pay for a lot of my trips. They send me on a lot of trips as the ambassador. Its really is a wonderful life. Despite all the life changes she is going through, Callender plans to keep living on her own and doing various activities forever, she said adamantly. Being blind is not a big deal. [It] only makes you want to do more things.

Brandi D. Phillips welcomes readers responses to bphillips@spokesman-recorder.com.

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Sports enthusiast doesn't let blindness slow her down - MSR News Online

CTV Calgary Published Wednesday, April 19, 2017 11:38AM MDT Last Updated Wednesday, April 19, 2017 11:55AM MDT

Hundreds of thousands of people in the developing world are suffering from blindness or visual impairment due to a lack of one of the worlds most basic resources and a Calgary-based organization, including the efforts of one man, is trying to change that.

Rob Ohlson, the chairman for Operation Eyesight Universal, an organization dedicated to the prevention of avoidable blindness and the restoration of sight, has been going the extra mile to raise funds for his group.

He is credited with bringing in huge donations for the Washing Away Blindness campaign that aims to provide clean water to villages throughout Zambia and protect them from the devastating trachoma, a bacterial eye infection that leads to blindness.

He says he joined to celebrate the life of his father.

It was a way to celebrate his life and his career in India with the Bob Ohlson Centre for Sight Enhancement. I was just immediately struck by the impact that Operation Eyesight had.

In addition to raising money from donors, Ohlson has been matching donations and has come up with $485,000 so far.

Those funds are used to drill water wells for 24 of Zambias most vulnerable communities.

The clean water helps stop the spread of trachoma by allowing people to wash their hands and faces properly.

Brian Foster, the executive director for Operation Eyesight, says he is very happy with Ohlsons involvement.

He brings a lot of energy to the table and hes very involved with us as individuals and he pretty well knows everyone in our office hes pretty familiar with us all.

Ohlson says the work is very rewarding too, especially when it comes to seeing the change that clean, fresh water brings to an African village.

A lot of these areas are fairly dry, specifically in Zambia where were doing a lot of wells. You go back a year or two later and its just lush and green and the population is growing and its phenomenal.

For all he does to combat blindness in developing countries, Rob Ohlson is our Inspired Albertan this week.

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Albertan helping combat blindness in the developing world - CTV News

In the book "Blind Spot: Illuminating the Hidden Value in Business," authors Nathan Shedroff and Stephen Diller tell a story that perfectly dramatizes the problem with todays over-reliance on quantitative data.

Years ago, a team at Levis was researching customer segments and became puzzled over something: While the brand is upscale, many of its customers are not. To find out what was going on, the team took a road trip in Texas and visited people in their homes. One of them was a single mother with two kids, Francine, who was clearly struggling. Yet every year, she bought Levis for her family.

The obvious assumption would be that she was vain and irresponsible. But when they met her, they learned she worked two jobs and was obsessed with her childrens future. Asked why she chose to spend precious dollars on Levis, she replied that she didnt want her children to think they were poor and couldnt achieve more in life.

This story serves as a wake-up call to anyone who thinks that data alone is a sufficient tool to understand human behavior. Not every person fits into a neat category.

Qualitative methodologies can tell you the what (that lower income people buy Levis), but they often fail to tell you why (because theyre aspirational). They cant tell you what motivates the large part of Pradas customer base, which is not affluent. Or why many high-income people shop at big-box discount stores. Is it convenience, or because they dont like overpaying? Only qualitative research will tell.

For decades, however, qualitative research has had a bad rap. It has largely meant focus groups, which can be a costly hassle. You have to recruit respondents, conduct interviews, and travel to different citiesall of which seem time-consuming and antiquated compared to statistical analysis of a rich data set. Product strategists and executives crave insight, but they dont extend that desire to home visits, shop-alongs, and other person-on-the-street work. As a result, in the last 10 years qualitative research facilities have been closing, and quick-turn panels and mobile phone surveys have taken the place of traditional, on-the-ground methods.

But if we want to reach customers in an authentic way, we have to understand the true psychological motivation behind their behaviors. And luckily, we have some new and sophisticated ways to do just that:

Watch what people do, not just what they say. Behavioral economics has opened a new field for understanding human motivation. For example, many behavioral economists stress that quick and effortless, "System 1" thinking dominates the choices we make. The majority of people,most of the time, operate on autopilot. As a result, observing how they actually shop for things can provide deep inspiration for new services that improve store performance. For example, Newsworks award-winning "How People Buy" study literally looked through the eyeglasses of people shopping. It revealed, oddly enough, that many customers do research, not to find the best product, but to ensure that they wont regret buying their preferred brand!

Co-create, dont just evaluate. Research projects typically seek to evaluate concepts and pick a winner. A better idea is to bring people in early, and use their responses to influence design thinking. For example, innovative research firm System 1 Group seeks to improve ideas by putting emotional responses at the heart of their testing methods. This allows their customers (or potential customers) to help build on product concepts, not just evaluate them.

Get outside to understand your category. Person-on-the-street interviews have come a long way in sophistication. Today, production companies such as Snippies offer networks of professional videographers who can generate fast global feedback. Such surveys can give you insight into how people feel about products and brands, helping you move beyond the limitations of traditional tracking surveys and social listening data.

Of course, we know that data big and small isnt going anywhere. With more sources of it and better analytic methodologies, business leaders are finding it easier and easier to extract value from data. But that is only part of the storyand not always the most important part.

Compelling insights and competitive advantage still come from getting out into the world to observe, converse and create with people. While positive results may not be as assured, the insights we can learn are essentialif we want to find out what really matters to our customers.

Brandon Geary is global chief strategy officer of Possible.

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Look again: How to fight data blindness - Campaign US

Under Barack Obama, not only did the world become a more dangerous place, but his lack of will to defeat ISIS, the baloney fed to us by his failed secretaries of state, and his willingness to accept an apparently yet unreached number of American deaths due to the activity of those barbarians actually caused the demise of his partys effectiveness nationwide. Obama was on the wrong side of history.

Many Americans, like my husband and I, finally decided to vote for Donald Trump when the shooting in Orlando happened. Our preferred candidate, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had pulled out of the race. Seeing a very nasty side of Trump, we were unconvinced he would have a level head and be able to lead the nation. So for about a month, I was sure I could not vote for Trump, nor could I vote for Clinton.

But Orlando did happen, and we agreed with Ted Cruz who believed our nation was already at war with the sickness of ISIS. My husband and I could only see more terror happening in our own country with Clinton. For all of his flaws in the understanding of basic constitutionalism, separation of powers, the proper role of government in the economy, and his tendency to relish in big government, we could see the difference between Trump and Clinton in that respect. He was gonna bomb the shit out of ISIS.

And so he has started. Thank you, President Trump.

Did Obama know that cave formation in Afghanistan Trump recently bombed was being used by ISIS as a hideout? I dont know the answer, but I think rational people could see that it is more than likely that he did. How long was ISIS using that area? What kind of attacks were carried out while that area was used by ISIS? Did the people in the tunnels cheer when Americans were killed in the numerous attacks by their soldiers of ISIS here in America? Why didnt Obama take them out?

When President Trump bombed the Syrian airfield, so many were skeptical. From where I sit, the Russian propaganda machine here in America has been gaining steam for years, as Putin used imbecilic mouthpieces here to fill the void of American leadership. Many pro-Putin Americans continuously praised him as a Western reformer, a real Christian, and just the type of strongman our nation needed. Many of them saw the strength of Trump and figured Putin and Trump would be able to team up to kill ISIS together. But the bombing in Syria and the ridiculous propaganda from Assad and Putin since should crystallize whose side Putin is really on. For those who refuse to admit they have been duped by a superior propaganda campaign from the former KGB agent, well, I guess youre on your own.

Now that the bombings have started, and we are answering a war that was declared on us, regular folks are concerned that President Trump has started WWIII. But it is not possible for President Trump to start a war we are already in. The jihadis received appeasement and Americas other cheek, arm, leg, and throat year after year under Obama. Those attacks on America mentioned in the beginning of this article could have been prevented, had we had a leader who took ISIS seriously, who followed through on ridding Syria of chemical weapons, who didnt blame the Syrian war on the silliness of global warming, and who didnt take every chance he could get to downplay the dangers of radical Islam. Who, instead of acknowledging the violence brought on by fundamentalist radical Islamists, took time rather, to repeat that America cant be at war with a religion, insinuating that it was Americans who didnt understand the threats, when it was him all along.

At the same time, it seems pretty clear Americans dont want to be seriously involved in nation-building. We dont have a reason nor ability to try to make countries that dont understand how civil societies operate into countries that do.

Let the history books show that it was the continued blindness of and appeasement toward radical Islam that caused so many innocent deaths around the world of late. Let history record that America didnt fall asleep after 9/11, but that she was hobbled for eight long years while her enemies grew stronger.

We needed a wartime president, and we got one. Now we need resolve.

Jen Kuznicki is a contributor to Conservative Review, blue collar, wife, mom, political writer, humorist, conservative activist, a seamstress by trade, and compelled to write. Follow her on Twitter @JenKuznicki.

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No more PC blindness and appeasement: Trump is the wartime president we needed - Conservative Review