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Archive for the ‘Blindness’ Category

Aids for Vision Loss, From Those Who’ve Been There – New York Times

Monday, February 27th, 2017

New York Times
Aids for Vision Loss, From Those Who've Been There
New York Times
But he insisted, Blindness does not cut me off from the world. He cited skillful use of a cane, travel devices that tell him where he is and what is around him and periodicals available in real time by telephone among myriad other gadgets that see ...

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Aids for Vision Loss, From Those Who've Been There - New York Times

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Empathize with deaf-blindness in world’s 1st interactive space … – Times of India

Sunday, February 26th, 2017

Ahmedabad: Picture this: You walk into a room and after two steps inside, you are past a curtain and you can't see anything-there isn't a single ray of light. There is 'white noise' in the background that is suppressing all other sounds around. Your only guide is the walls and things you can touch and the smells you can identify. The thought may either be intimidating, disturbing or even adventurous and beautiful. Such is the space designed by city-based space designer duoFreyaan Anklesaria and Mirant Tiwarito let people experience the life of a deaf-blind person for a few minutes. In fact, it is the world's first interactive space to emulate deaf-blindness. Known as 'SenseX', indicating Sensory Experience, the interactive space is created with a view to making people empathize with deaf-blindness, a disability even though long-prevailing in India, that was recognized as a disability in the last winter session of the Parliament with the new disabilities bill. At present, the installation of the experiential space is kept at the campus of Blind People's Association. "Deaf-blind people lose 95% of their input information as their receptive sensory organs are impaired. Our idea is not to let people get disturbed but rather let them experience the life of a deaf-blind person and see beauty through their eyes," explained Freyaan, who is a city-based interior designer. "The space is still being improvised with minor changes to make the experience more wholesome," she added. The entire project is funded by Sense International India, an NGO which is working to address multi-sensory impairment, mainly deaf-blindness. Sharing more details about the project, Mirant, who is the co-founder of Hats & Beards, a design agency, said, "Initially during the research phase, we looked for existing spaces that were designed to simulate deaf-blindness so that we get an idea to implement them better. While we came across experiential spaces for deafness and blindness separately, we did not come across a single one that lets one experience both."

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Empathize with deaf-blindness in world's 1st interactive space ... - Times of India

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Wayne State study finds Zika virus may cause blindness – Crain’s Detroit Business

Friday, February 24th, 2017

Crain's Detroit Business
Wayne State study finds Zika virus may cause blindness
Crain's Detroit Business
A study released Friday by a team of Wayne State University researchers in Detroit shows that Zika virus may cause blindness. The report, led by microbiologist Ashok Kumar, found that the virus can spread and damage tissue in the eye's retinal cells ...
Wayne State Vision Researchers Show Zika Virus Can Damage Retina and Cause BlindnessInfection Control Today

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Wayne State study finds Zika virus may cause blindness - Crain's Detroit Business

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Blindness charity returns as partner for Recency Run – Leamington Observer

Thursday, February 23rd, 2017

BRITISH Blind Sport is returning as a charity partner for the Wright Hassall Regency Run.

Organised by the Leamington and District Round Table the 10k run takes place on Sunday April 2.

The Leamington-based charity which helps blind and partially sighted people to get active and play sport are hoping to encourage more people of all running abilities to become guide runners.

Following the success of the Rio Paralympics the profile of disabled sport is higher than ever and the charity wants runners of any ability to run the 10k and raise funds for them to support their Find a Guide service which pairs visually impaired runners and guide runners.

Fundraising manager for British Blind Sport, Ian Carr, said: The Regency Run is a fantastic event and were really grateful to the Round Table for once again supporting us this way.

The event has really helped us to raise the profile of British Blind Sport in Warwickshire and funds raised will support our guide running programme so we can continue our work in providing sporting opportunities for visually impaired people.

And Mark Chambers from the Round Table added: This is our 13th year hosting the Regency Run, and we hope to see more entries than ever before.

There is always such a good atmosphere and a great sense of community so it should be a fantastic day.

The run has helped to raise thousands of pounds for British Blind Sport over the last few years and were looking forward to supporting the work of the charity again.

Visit http://www.regency10k.co.uk to enter and http://www.britishblindsport.org.uk for further details.

* A WARWICK community centre can continue delivering youth sport activities thanks to cash raised by the Regency Run.

The Gap Community Centre has received 2,000 and will receive 4,000 more over the next two years from the Leamington Round Table as a result of funds raised by the Regency Run.

Based in Oakwood Grove, the donation allows the community centre to fund a youth worker for a whole year to deliver sport activities for young people at the centre.

More than 2,000 people visit the centre each month, with activities available for babies through to the elderly.

Gap director Marcos Campos said they were grateful for the funding.

He added: We are the only universal provision for young people in Warwick, other than after-school clubs, and funding like this is essential to allow us to continue providing this unique provision in the area.

We only charge members 60p a session, 1.20 for non-members you wouldnt get that anywhere else. Those who cant afford to pay, dont pay at all, we want everyone to be able to access the activities we offer here.

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Blindness charity returns as partner for Recency Run - Leamington Observer

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A look into four eye diseases that could lead to blindness – The Hindu

Thursday, February 23rd, 2017

The Hindu
A look into four eye diseases that could lead to blindness
The Hindu
A recent study from researchers at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that most Americans regard loss of eyesight as the worst ailment that could happen to them, surpassing such conditions as loss of limb ...

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A look into four eye diseases that could lead to blindness - The Hindu

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Premature deliveries causing blindness in babies – ETHealthworld.com

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017

Mysuru: India witnesses 3.5 million premature deliveries annually, and 9% of those cases result in blindness among newborn babies, said child specialist Dr Vamanrao Bapat.

Dr Bapat was speaking at a district-level convention of Samadrushti Kshamata Vikasa and Anusandhana Mandala (Samakshama) at Nadabrahma Sangeet Sabha on Sunday. "Cases of premature deliveries are on the rise in country. Now, we have better medical facilities to take care of premature babies," he said.

"Earlier, blindness was caused due to bacterial infections, firecrackers and accidents. But now, premature deliveries are the cause, and they are happening due to ignorance during pregnancy and lack of periodical medicare," he said, adding: "Government-sponsored health programmes have reduced or eradicated some diseases. Measles and rubella vaccination drive is also being carried out across the country. It will improve the health among children."

District disabilities officer H R Srinivas said that department is restlessly working to help the disabled.

"Providing them education and medical assistance is our priority. In the district, 15 private schools are functioning for differently abled children. Besides distributing artificial limbs, the department has been providing them financial assistance so they are self-reliant," the officer claimed.

On the occasion, Samakshama honoured Dr Madhura, an eye specialist practising in Mysuru for the past three decades, Manjunath, visually challenged who has done PhD in political science, and Ullas Nayak, a hearing impaired international table tennis champion.

Legal expert Vaidyanathan explained about Disabilities Act and its benefits for the disabled. Earlier in the day, hundreds of visually impaired, hearing impaired and physically challenged persons took out Integration Rally around the venue.

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Carl Bildt’s blindness to Sweden’s immigration failure is dangerous and pathetic – The Rebel

Tuesday, February 21st, 2017

In typical leftist arrogance and denial, Sweden's former Prime Minister Carl Bildt, denied there was anything wrong with Sweden on Twitter after President Trump made reference to the sad state of the European country.

During a rally in Florida, Trump said You look at whats happening in Germany, you look at whats happening last night in Sweden. Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. Theyre having problems like they never thought possible.

MORE: 10 stories that prove Sweden is the world's most PATHETIC country

Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound, Bildt tweeted out, somehow equating what Trump said with a terrorist attack. But I guess this is what happens when the only search engine you use happens to be The Pirate Bay.

While it is unknown what event Trump was originally talking about, he explained himself on Twitter by saying, My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on Fox News concerning immigrants & Sweden.

Not exactly the most optimal choice of words by The President, but the problems with Sweden far outweigh Trump's lightning jump in chain of thought. It's nothing new for him. And neither are the issues with Sweden and the denial on full display.

What complete utter cucks like Carl Bildt do is pretend there's nothing wrong. They deny, deny, deny and it gets to a point where even they believe themselves.

Sweden is by far the biggest joke of the western world. It's the shining example of how NOT to do immigration. You see, how things should be is when someone comes to your country, they assimilate into your culture, not the other way around. Alas, in Sweden, the latter occurs.

In fact, crime rates for migrants in Sweden are easily manipulated, as shown by reports that the Swedish government is covering up huge migrant crime sprees.

In a super viral Facebook post earlier this month, a 47-year-old veteran police officer revealed just how bad things are in the ultra-liberal country.

I've handled Monday-Friday this week: rape, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, rape-assault and rape, extortion, blackmail, off of, assault, violence against police, threats to police, drug crime, drugs, crime, felony, attempted murder, Rape again, extortion again and ill-treatment, Peter Springare wrote.

MORE: Sweden is actually trying to kill its language by replacing 'Standard Swedish' with 'migrant-inclusive accent'

Suspected perpetrators; Ali Mohammed, mahmod, Mohammed, Mohammed Ali, again, again, again Christopher... what is it true. Yes a Swedish name snuck on the outskirts of a drug crime, Mohammed, Mahmod Ali, again and again, he added.

Countries representing the weekly all crimes: Iraq, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Somalia, Syria again, Somalia, unknown, unknown country, Sweden. Half of the suspects, we can't be sure because they don't have any valid papers. Which in itself usually means that they're lying about your nationality and identity.

So, while Journalist Ami Horowitz says the Swedish government is deliberately covering up migrant crime, Carl Bildt linked to an article claiming to 'debunk' Sweden migrant myths along with the caption To whom it might concern: here is what is happening in Sweden. All in all a rather pleasant place.

Why anyone would believe someone who puts his head in the sand over a groundbreaking journalist is beyond me. But this is very typical for the rape capital of Europe as a whole.

So, with everything in mind about how migrant crime gets covered up, the amount of migrant crimes that fall through the cracks and gets reported on is still staggering. But of course, Sweden pretends it doesn't have an issue.

Sweden has become so obsessed with pleasing its Islamic captors, bringing up Stockholm Syndrome would just be a low blow. But a deserving one nonetheless.

This is the country that takes crosses off of churches to appease Muslims.

This is the country that decides to teach children in Arabic because of a decline in migrant school performances.

This is the country that blames non-traditional gender roles for rapes.

This is the country that actually considered giving ISIS terrorists DRIVERS LICENCES if they return 'home'.

This is a country so far off the left-wing deep end, they actually had a bloody feminist snow removal program. You can't make this shit up. It's absolutely laughable to the point where you'd think it's parody. This is utterly embarrassing and any proud Swedes probably cry themselves to sleep humming Where has my country gone.

Carl Bildt's see/hear/speak no evil mindset is beyond parody. It's dangerous to the point where Sweden doesn't recognize the grave it's dug for itself. Sweden has effectively signed its own death warrant with out of control immigration and left-wing governments that could make Montreal blush, all while remaining perfectly ignorant to the world around them.

Problems will NEVER be fixed if they're never discussed.

The left's love affair with radical Islam is a match made in hell. Not to give you any ideas that you will surely implement, but how long until the cross on Sweden's flag gets replaced with a crescent moon?

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Carl Bildt's blindness to Sweden's immigration failure is dangerous and pathetic - The Rebel

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Outlook Nebraska – Omaha World-Herald

Tuesday, February 21st, 2017

We achieve this mission through many means, but our primary service is employment, which is provided to the blind and visually impaired in an Omaha-based converting operation that supplies a full line of 100 percent recycled fiber content tissue and towel products to the U.S. Government and other customers.

The largest employer of the blind and visually impaired in Nebraska and the only agency of its kind in a seven-state region, ONI offers additional services for our associates and blind neighbors in our community, including social activities, education, technology and adaptive aids training, and health and wellness programs.

The vision of ONI is to be the premier provider of choice for exceptional employment, training, and experiences that allow the blind and visually impaired to realize their personal and career goals.

Outlook Nebraska, Inc. is a private, nonprofit agency qualified as a 501(c)3 organization under the Internal Revenue code and registered as a charitable corporation in the State of Nebraska. The organization operates under the Javits-Wagner-ODay (JWOD) Act and the AbilityOne Program, which mandates the Federal government to provide preferred vendor status to agencies such as ONI who employ persons who are blind or have other significant disabilities. As a result, in addition to empowering the blind and visually impaired to achieve independence and an increased quality of life. ONI is an economic engine that brings valuable government business to the Omaha metro area.

In addition to product sales, Outlook Nebraska, Inc. is supported by donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by state and federal law. To make a donation, contact John Wick.

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Spotting the illness that can cause sudden blindness – BBC News

Monday, February 20th, 2017
Spotting the illness that can cause sudden blindness
BBC News
Every year in the UK, 3,000 people's sight is damaged by a condition called giant cell arteritis. The symptoms can appear very suddenly and end in irreversible blindness. Dr Saleyha Ahsan met a group of people who've been affected and explains what to ...

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Spotting the illness that can cause sudden blindness - BBC News

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Nonprofit seeking to cure blindness up for $100M grant – Deseret News

Monday, February 20th, 2017

WATERBURY, Vt. A nonprofit group co-founded by a University of Utah professor working to cure blindness in Nepal and other developing countries is one of eight semifinalists for a $100 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The Himalayan Cataract Project, based out of a rented office in a church parsonage in Vermont, has been working for years to train local health care providers to perform cataract and laser surgery in Nepal and other countries.

The organization was co-founded in 1995 by Nepalese Dr. Sanduk Ruit and Dr. Geoff Tabin, formerly of the University of Vermont Medical Center and now at the University of Utah.

"They had a shared motivation that the right to sight is a human right and that no one anywhere in the world should receive care of a different or lower quality," said Job Heintz, chief executive officer of the nonprofit formed in 2003 to carry out the doctors' vision. It now has 10 employees and an annual budget of about $9 million.

The organization has provided eye care for thousands of patients over the years by training health care providers and providing equipment and other infrastructure.

"The quality of eye health care has dramatically risen, nowhere better than in Nepal," Heintz said.

The Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation recently announced that the Cataract Project was chosen as semifinalist from among 1,904 proposals for the $100 million grant program. The foundation says the competition is for "proposals promising real progress toward solving a critical problem of our time in any field or any location."

The winner would receive the entire $100 million.

Other semifinalists include Catholic Relief Services in Baltimore, which is working to change the way children are cared for in orphanages; and the Carter Center in Atlanta, which is working to eliminate river blindness in Nigeria.

The winner will be chosen in December.

The Cataract Project got its start at the Tilganga Eye Centre in Kathmandu, Nepal, which performed its first outpatient cataract surgery in 1994. Ruit and Tabin started the Cataract Project a year later.

The Tilganga Centre now sees about 1,000 patients a day for a variety of eye care needs.

Tabin worked at what is now the University of Vermont Medical Center from 1995 to 2005. The project opened Vermont offices in Waterbury and Norwich in 2003.

The Cataract Project already has expanded its operations to a number of other countries, but the grant would be to expand operations in Nepal, Ethiopia and Ghana.

If it wins the grant, the organization would increase the work it currently does, such as training doctors and support staff in their home countries and at other locations, including the United States.

"We know what we would do with every dollar," Heintz said.

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Nonprofit seeking to cure blindness up for $100M grant - Deseret News

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Historical Blindness

Sunday, February 19th, 2017

Closer to Levins home, this militant brand of Protestantism had been stirring in Philadelphia quite a while as well. In 1831, there had been a clash in the streets when Irish Protestants paraded past an Irish Catholic church in celebration of King Williams establishment of Protestant control of Ireland in 1690. More recently, in 1842, an assemblage of Philadelphia preachers named themselves the American Protestant Association, deemed the system of Popery to be, in its principles and tendency, subversive of civil and religious liberty, and destructive to the spiritual welfare of men and resolved to unite for the purpose of defending [their] Protestant interests against the great exertionsto propagate that system in the United States.

Watching this divisive movement gain support and momentum, Levin launched another newspaper, the Daily Sun, to use as a mouthpiece for his own nativist sentiment. Levin approached nativism through the lens of temperance and his steadily increasing resentment of the established political parties, the Democrats and the Whigs. As Levin saw it, candidates for office were decided on not by the people but by party insiders, in groggeries over segars, precisely the equivalent of the perennial smoke-filled room where cabals of secretive power brokers are said to do the dark work of true governance. Levin believed party politics to be tied up in vice and corruption and asserted that only a third party would allow for true democracy; thus he attached himself to the new American Republican Party, lately victorious in the New York mayoral election. In its Philadelphian iteration, under the auspices of Levin and other proponents, this party called itself the Native American Party. While today the term "Native American" refers to indigenous peoples, then it was a term taken up with pride to distinguish those born stateside from the wretched, tempest-tossed refuse that huddled in masses on teeming foreign shores.

While only a secretary of this nascent party, Levin was perhaps the most vocal advocate of its cause and, as a publisher, the most capable of disseminating its message. In addition to regular editorials in the Daily Sun, Levin published a book expressing his feelings on the Irish Repeal Associations campaign to dissolve Irelands union with Great Britain around this time. Predictably, he did not view it as a bid for freedom, for its leader, Daniel OConnell, was a papist who would only make Ireland beholden to the Pope. And it was just this that he warned the predominately Catholic immigrants of Europe, and particularly the Irish Catholic, intended to do in America: stage a coup by voting as a block, raising up their own men to power and subverting American democracy in favor of monarchism and deference to the Catholic Church. Our only hope, as he represented it, was to stem the surging influx of indigents and criminals and papists and to defy the cronyism and corruption of the ruling parties: in short, to support Native Americanism.

*

Before we examine the most outrageous chapter of Levins life, I would like to pause for a moment to offer a caveat regarding my scholarship. I make no claims to being a rigorous historian. I am a storyteller first and foremost, an entertainer; therefore, I may sometimes give short shrift to elements of my subject matter that dont serve well the narrative I am trying to dramatize. However, my promise is that, while attempting to shape and share an engaging story, I will also make my best efforts to present the story accurately and provide reliable sources.

To that end, I should mention some other contemporary circumstances that likely contributed to the anti-immigrant sentiments of the times as well as to the general desire for a change in the status quo of party politics. All of these factors are clearly outlined in John A. Formans Lewis Charles Levin: Portrait of an American Demagogue, a comprehensive source that I have relied on heavily.

Two important dynamics beyond anti-Catholicism that exacerbated this political climate in Philadelphia were a loss of status on the national political stage and a descent into economic depression. In 1836, the most important Philadelphian in the country, Nicholas Biddle, President of the Second Bank of the United States, was stymied in his attempt to recharter the institution by President Andrew Jackson. The Bank War, as it was called, had been a prominent issue in the Presidential campaigns of 1832, and after Jackson successfully blocked the banks recertification in 36, Philadelphia and her people took it as a personal defeat. No longer the central hub of the American economy, Philadelphia lost some of its eminence, and Philadelphians became disillusioned with their political leaders and open to outsider politicians that suggested the established parties were corrupt and/or ineffectual.

Then, in 1837, an economic crisis occurred that led to years of recession. In the absence of the national bank in Philadelphia, federal capital was placed in a variety of pet banks, relocating money from the large banks that relied on it to smaller banks that certainly benefitted from it. The practical effect, however, was panic, as major banks, now carrying far less capital, could not extend credit or offer loans as they had before. In Philadelphia, as well as elsewhere, the Panic of 1837 meant hard times, and as is almost always the case when Americans suffer economic hardship, the poor immigrant, who will often work for lower pay, is blamed for the privations of by natural-born citizens.

While the loss of their national bank and the ensuing recession certainly added to the atmosphere, one issue in particular allowed Lewis Charles Levin to really rile up his audience, and this one, again, Americans will recognize: religion in schools. The debate here, however, was not about its presence but rather about what form it would take. Catholics in the Kensington district protested that the Bible used as a reader in schools was a Protestant King James Bible and contended that Catholic students should be allowed to use a Catholic text. Levin and his Native Americans misconstrued their position, perhaps willfully misrepresenting their complaint, and warned the public that the Irish Catholics of Kensington wanted to have the Bible removed from schools, which, if it were allowed, Levin argued would lead to a new generation of idle, profligate, dissolute youth. In short, the evil immigrant papists were hell bent on undermining the very moral fabric of society.

This was the background and the political narrative when, in May of 1844, Levins incitements finally erupted into violence.

*

The Native Americans rallied first in Independence Square, holding forth to crowds of supporters about the Bible issue. But perhaps that wasnt provocative enough, for next they moved their rally right into the heart if Kensington district so that the Irish Catholics themselves could hear their disparaging speeches. The first of these rallies disbanded when Irish Catholics, predictably, gathered to face their deriders. However, in the spirit of authentic agitation, Levin and the Native Americans were not discouraged from holding their rallies in the very dooryards of Irish Catholic Kensington residents but rather determined to do so again, likely hoping that violence would break out and somehow prove their dispersions against the Irish to be true.

On a stormy Monday in May, Lewis Charles Levin ascended a stage to address his audience. As if on cue, the heavens opened up with a rumble, and a downpour beganthis perhaps a gesture toward divine intervention. But Levin was undeterred. Taking shelter in a nearby marketplace, he resumed his remarks, which have ever been described as passionate and incendiary.

It must have begun as a murmur at the crowds peripherya confrontation between a nativist and an Irishman. Very quickly, then, it came to blows and graduated to full-scale rioting, as men brandished bricks and cudgels. When gunfire boomed in the marketplace, the first struck was a constable, shot in the face. Others received gunshot wounds in their sides, their hips, their legs. Stones and bricks filled the air, crashing down upon those gathered and battering the walls and windows of businesses and houses in the area. With the report of pistols, many dispersed, and others gave chase. Residents homes received barrages of rocks for no other reason than that men had fled into an adjacent alley or fallen against their doors. The damage to property was enormous, and the violence unrestrained.

The next day, the Native American convened again, no longer in Kensington, to counsel restraint. Many among their audience called for Levin, to hear what the chief instigator had to say about curbing their retaliation against the Irish rioters. Levin kept his silence, and the rioting continued for another two days. The militia had to be deployed to bring an end to it, but by then, numerous rioters on both sides as well as bystanders had been wounded, and seven were dead. When the smoke literally cleared, a seminary and two Catholic churches had been destroyed by arson, as well as some thirty private residences.

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Historical Blindness

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Russian blindness: Trump team ties troubling – The Union Leader

Sunday, February 19th, 2017

There is no evidence that members of the Trump presidential campaign broke the law when they were in contact with various Russian officials during the campaign and transition period.

Yet that has not stopped some liberals from fantasizing about impeachment proceedings, based on unsubstantiated claims that Trump coordinated with Russian hackers to embarrass Hillary Clinton.

Voters knew months before the election that Trump advisers, including Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, had close ties to Russia. This was one of many reasons to oppose Trump's candidacy. But he won anyway. Nothing that was reported last week, all attributed to anonymous sources within the intelligence community, invalidates that result.

President Donald Trump is furious over the constant leaks from the national security apparatus that undermined former National Security Adviser Flynn.

The leaks are definitely a problem. The D.C. bureaucracy is picking out classified information to feed to the press in order to wage a guerrilla campaign against Trump. That is unacceptable.

But such bureaucratic abuse does not excuse the Trump administration's continued blindness to the threat of Vladimir Putin's regime.

Barack Obama promised to show more flexibility to Russia after he was re-elected. But the Trump administration has tied itself in knots excusing Putin's misdeeds.

Like all bullies, Putin responded to this weakness with more aggression. Russia is cruising a spy ship up and down the Eastern seaboard, and Russian planes are buzzing U.S. Navy ships in the Black Sea.

Trump's admiration and excuses for an authoritarian thug like Putin are deeply troubling. Critics should concentrate on Trump's weak foreign policy, rather than on conspiracy theories about the 2016 election.

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Russian blindness: Trump team ties troubling - The Union Leader

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Don’t Worry You Can Save Your Eyes From Blindness If You Sit In … – Wccftech

Sunday, February 19th, 2017

We grew up listening to our parents saying that if we use computers for a long time, it will eventually make us go blind. This my friends was something I always believed to be true, but how is it possible to not use a computer when our survival in the modern world depends on it? Computer vision syndrome is the term used for eye strain caused due to staring at a computer for too long. The symptoms, well we all know what they are; blurry vision, headaches, dry eyes, watery eyes, and tired eyes.

The symptoms are generally temporary if you stop computer usage for a while but if you are anything like me and are literally addicted to sitting in front of a computer, then these symptoms can be a problem, but then the question is, we read books too so why arent they bad for the eyes? The answer is pretty interesting actually. According to the University of Iowa, its because while we are using computers, our rate of blinking drops by a third which results in our eyes becoming dry.

According to the American Optometric Association, the contrast that exists on the screen isnt as strong as it is in books and the letters are less precisely rendered. The eyes thus have to work harder and this leaves them tired. If you are looking at a screen from a non-ideal angle then that only worsens the strain. You must be wondering what that ideal angle is. Well, ideally you must be looking slightly down at the screen at an approximate 15-20 degree angle. The computer must also be placed about 20-28 inches away from you. So get a protractor and a ruler and start measuring (no not literally).

It also helps to take breaks while you are at the computer. Every 20 minutes take a 20 second break to stare at something 20 feet away. This is referred to as the 20-20-20 rule by optometrists. If you are planning to use a computer for a longer time, then after every 2 hours take a 15 minute break from computer usage. Some people who dont usually use spectacles can benefit from computer specific glasses. These spectacles are designed to reduce glare and increase the contrast. With age our eyes also become less flexible. Interestingly people who wear contacts may suffer from increased blurriness and dryness because they already blink less because of the contacts. So do your eyes a favor and use spectacles while you are at a computer.

And one more thing, if these things arent helping then its probably the right time to pay your eye doctor a visit because something needs checking.

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Prosopagnosia: What it’s like to live with ‘face blindness’ – ABC Online

Sunday, February 19th, 2017

Posted February 19, 2017 07:14:44

Tim Hughes once caught a plane from New York to LA. Sitting next to him was a woman, a striking brunette with big hair.

Mr Hughes helped her with her bags and then sat back to enjoy the attention of the unusually solicitous airline staff. Upon landing he wished her an enjoyable stay.

"I live here," was her steely-eyed reply.

"It was only two weeks later, after I'd seen a magazine article about her, that I realised that the person I'd been sitting next to was Elizabeth Taylor," recalls Mr Hughes.

The former IT professional has a condition called prosopagnosia, sometimes known as "face blindness".

But people with prosopagnosia aren't actually blind; they know when they see a face, but their brain can't process who it belongs to.

An inability to tell the difference between two similar faces does not necessarily mean that a person has prosopagnosia, and difficulty perceiving differences is not the same as difficulty with remembering faces, though the result can be the same.

"One of the things that we think people [without prosopagnosia] do when they look at faces is to see the face more as a whole, rather than the individual parts that make up the face," says Romina Palermo, associate professor of psychology at the University of Western Sydney.

"We know that people who see faces more as wholes tend to be better at recognising faces. We also know that people who have prosopagnosia don't tend to look at a face as a whole as much, they tend to see the parts more often."

Brain injury, most often a stroke can cause prosopagnosia, but there is also a congenital, or developmental, version in which certain brain mechanisms fail to develop properly, possibly due to genetics.

The neurological explanation for prosopagnosia is complex: to recognise a face, the brain relies on a neural network of at least three core regions in the occipital and temporal lobes of the right and left brain hemispheres which supply different aspects of face processing.

"There are a number of processes, and our understanding is sketchy," says Brad Duchaine, professor in psychological and brain sciences at New Hampshire's Dartmouth College.

"In our posterior lobes we have a fairly simple, image-based representation of the face that you're seeing which is exactly what you're seeing you're encoding the values of the features of that face.

"As you move to more anterior areas in the brain, those areas are giving what's called a 'view independent' manner, where you're extracting a representation of just who a person is. It's not tied to the particular image of the face that you're seeing at that moment."

As for Mr Hughes, he first suspected something wasn't right back in Year Six.

"There were two similar looking blonde-haired boys. I never could tell them apart, even though the other kids could," he says.

Since then, Mr Hughes' inability to recognise faces has put him in some awkward situations, especially once he started dating.

"I knew my girlfriend would be getting on the same bus, and would be wearing school uniform but I was petrified I wouldn't be able to tell who she was. Luckily, she recognised me," he says.

Things didn't work out so well another time: "One time I went to my girlfriend's house to pick her up but after a short while, the woman I was talking to said, 'I think you want my sister.'"

Many people with prosopagnosia don't have as much trouble recognising family members, but unfamiliar situations can make things difficult.

"One time at the beach I thought I'd misplaced my son Stuart," says Mr Hughes. "There was a boy standing next to me who I thought was one of Stuart's friends, so I asked him if he knew where Stuart was. He replied, 'Yes, I'm Stuart.'"

People with prosopagnosia usually develop coping strategies to give them clues to the identity of the person they're interacting with.

They use extra layers of information such as gait, voice, eye colour, clothing, or hairstyle. For people with prosopagnosia, a new hairdo can be quite confusing.

Mr Hughes' coping mechanisms include examining people "top to toe" and having a friend point out who's who, or who he might expect to see at an event.

He also lets people know he has the condition and that he might not recognise them next time he sees them.

He's not a fan of the term "face blindness" because it's not accurate. He prefers to say that he has "facial recognition issues" once he puts facial features together, he can identify who a person is.

The Australian Prosopagnosia Register was begun about 10 years ago, and people can sign up for information, receive updates on research and do tests to help figure out what level of prosopagnosia they have.

There have also been studies on whether people can be trained to improve their facial recognition abilities.

They can, but it's intensive, involving tasks like looking at photos and trying to identify subtle differences in people's eyes or the distance between the eyes.

Research into prosopagnosia also opens a window on to how the human brain processes faces. Facial recognition is a specialised task utilising different areas in the brain, and information about how this happens could assist with other research.

"It's useful to know how everybody processes faces," says Professor Romina Palermo.

"When some people are unable to do it, there can be insights into how the brain works.

"Facial recognition is a specialised task utilising a distributed network of areas in the brain, and information about how this happens can assist with other areas of cognition."

Topics: health, genetic-disorders, brain-and-nervous-system, psychology, australia

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Genome surgery with CRISPR-Cas9 to prevent blindness – Science Daily

Saturday, February 18th, 2017

It is estimated that almost one in every ten people over 65 has some signs of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and its prevalence is likely to increase as a consequence of the aging population. AMD is a form of blindness, common in Caucasians, which causes distorted vision and blind spots. Scientists at the Center for Genome Engineering, within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) report the use of CRISPR-Cas9 in performing "gene surgery" in the layer of tissue that supports the retina of living mice. Published in Genome Research, this study combines basic research and mouse model applications.

The most common retinopathies causing blindness are 'retinopathy of prematurity' in children, 'diabetic retinopathy' and 'AMD' in older adults. In these diseases, abnormally high levels of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) are secreted. In AMD, VEGF causes the formation of new blood vessels in the eyes but also leads to leakages of blood and fluid into the eye, damaging an area at the center of the retina called macula.

Injections of anti-VEGF drugs are the most common treatment against AMD, but at least seven injections per year are required, because VEGF is continuously overexpressed by the cells of the diseased retinal pigment epithelium. Instead of such invasive treatments, IBS scientists believe that gene therapy with the third generation gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 could improve the situation. "The injections tackle the effects, but not the main cause of the problem. By editing the VEGF gene, we can achieve a longer-term cure," explains KIM Jin-Soo, Director of the Center for Genome Engineering.

CRISPR-Cas9 can precisely cut and correct DNA at the desired site in the genome. The CRISPR-Cas9 system works by cutting DNA at a target site, in this case, inside the VEGF gene. Two year ago, IBS scientists proved that a pre-assembled version of CRISPR-Cas9, a.k.a, Cas9 ribonucleoprotein (RNP), can be delivered to cells and stem cells to modify target genes. The pre-assembled complex works rapidly and degrades before the body has time to build up an immune response against it. Despite these advantages and previous successes, the difficulty in delivering pre-assembled CRISPR-Cas9 has limited its use in therapeutic applications.

In this study, the research team successfully injected CRISPR-Cas9 into the eyes of a mice model with wet AMD and locally modified the VEGF gene. Initially they found that the delivery of the pre-assembled CRISPR-Cas9 complex is more efficient that the delivery of the same components in a plasmid form. Secondly, the complex disappeared after just 72 hours. Scientists assessed the whole genome of the animals and found the CRISPR-Cas9 complex modified only the VEGF gene and did not affect other genes. The progression of the eye disease was monitored by looking at choroidal neovascularization (CNV), the creation of new blood vessels between the retina and the sclera -- a common problem of 'wet' macular degeneration -- and researchers found the CNV area reduced by 58%. Moreover, a likely side effect, namely cone dysfunction, that takes only 3 days to show in these mice, did not occur a week after the treatment.

"We have developed a treatment to suppress CNV by inactivating the VEGF gene, one of the causes of AMD. We envision that, in the future, surgeons will be able to cut and paste disease-causing genetic elements in patients," explains Kim Jin-Soo.

While CRISPR-Cas9 is conventionally used to correct mutations causing hereditary diseases or cancer, this study suggests a new therapy for non-hereditary degenerative disease."We believe that this is a new therapeutic modality for the treatment of non-hereditary degenerative diseases," points out Professor KIM Jeong Hun (Seoul National University), "We confirmed the effect on the animal models of the disease and now we wish to continue with preclinical trials."

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Stubborn blindness | Frontline – Frontline

Saturday, February 18th, 2017

Jaitleys attempt to underplay the damage caused by demonetisation contrasts with the somewhat more sober assessment of the Economic Survey prepared by his Ministry.

THE Union Budget is only one of several instruments of economic policy available to the government. It must necessarily take into account not just the national context and the prevailing distribution of economic and political power among the various social classes in the country, but also the international context, more than ever before, given that the sum of Indias exports and imports amounts to a substantial share of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP). This years Budget, which was presented a few months after the shock and awe of demonetisation, had to contend with that move as well. Notwithstanding these constraints and taking into account the fact that the media hype over the Budget is possibly a bit over the top, the Union Budget is nonetheless very important as the total expenditure of the Union government accounts for between one-eighths and one-sevenths of the countrys GDP.

The Union Budget for 2017-18 was presented in Parliament on the first day of February instead of the last day of that month, as had been the practice for many years. The other distinctive feature this year was that the Railway Budget was subsumed within the Union Budget and not presented separately. Both these features have some negative implications. The database for the Budget is weakened somewhat by its advancement. The subsuming of the Railway Budget within the Union Budget weakens the special attention that the Railways, with its truly all-India character, deserves. Some read this subsuming as a prelude to the privatisation of the Railways.

Be these as they may, Arun Jaitleys fourth Budget as Union Finance Minister is wilfully blind to the serious negative economic impact of the demonetisation exercise imposed on the country by the Central government.

In a Budget speech that was true to form in terms of being long on rhetoric and short on substance, Jaitley hailed demonetisation as a momentous initiative and claimed that it would produce great benefits in the long run. The Minister presented little evidence to back his claim. His attempt to underplay the damage caused by demonetisation contrasts with the somewhat more sober, even if still wishful, assessment of the Economic Survey prepared by his Ministry.

The fact of the matter is that the demonetisation measure inflicted on an economy that was already showing some evidence of decline in momentum has caused considerable economic harm already, not to mention the tragic and entirely avoidable loss of more than a hundred lives. Estimates by various sources, including the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE) and the All India Manufacturers Organisation (AIMO) and several independent economists, suggest substantial monetary loss and a decline of between 1 and 2 percentage points in the rate of economic growth.

Economists of widely different persuasions have shown a rare unanimity in highlighting the serious negative impact of the measure on aggregate demand in the economy. Given the damage caused by demonetisation and the consequent decline in aggregate demand, there was a general expectation that the Union Budget would provide a substantial stimulus to the economy to counteract the deflationary impact of demonetisation. However, an examination of the tax and expenditure proposals, which constitute the core of any budget, shows a failure to recognise the need for a substantial stimulus to the economy.

The Budget Estimate (B.E.) of total expenditure for 2017-18 is Rs.21.47 lakh crore as against a Revised Estimate (R.E.) for 2016-17 of Rs.20.14 lakh crore. This works out to a less-than-7 per cent increase in nominal terms. Taking inflation into account and viewed against a GDP growth estimated at 6.5-6.75 per cent, this is no stimulus at all. The total budgeted expenditure of the Union government for 2017-18 is 12.7 per cent of the GDP as against 13.4 per cent in 2016-17, a reduction in relative terms.

There is a great deal of rhetoric in the Budget speech on large increases in allocations for agriculture and farmers welfare, rural development, education and health. There is also the claim of significantly enlarged spending on infrastructure. The Budget speech suggests a thrust towards agriculture and allied activities and rural development. But the allocation for these two sectors taken together rises from Rs.167,768 crore in R.E. 2016-17 to Rs.187,223 crore in B.E. 2017-18, an increase of 11.5 per cent in nominal terms, implying only a modest increase in real terms. The allocation for education and health was Rs.114,806 crore in R.E. 2016-17. It has risen to Rs.130,215 crore in B.E. 2017-18, again a rather modest increase given the countrys overall low spending on these key sectors. The total expenditure on infrastructure as a share of Budget outlay is also marginally lower in B.E. 2017-18 compared with R.E. 2016-17.

An especially important negative impact of demonetisation has been on employment in the informal sector. There was widespread expectation that the Budget would address this issue by substantially increasing allocation for the rural employment guarantee scheme and possibly initiating a similar urban employment guarantee scheme. However, the allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in B.E. 2017-18, at Rs.48,000 crore, is barely more than the R.E. 2016-17 figure of Rs.47,499 crore. Given the increase in wages for MGNREGS work, there will be a decline in the number of days of employment per household registered in the scheme. A larger point also needs to be made. As data from the Labour Bureau surveys remind us, job creation has nosedived over the past year, and this was a key issue for the Budget to take into account. However, it has made no serious effort in that direction.

Turning to receipts, the tax proposals in the Budget are estimated to result in a loss of Rs.20,000 crore in direct tax revenues. This continues the trend under the present government of persistent tax giveaways in respect of direct taxes even while the rhetoric is about widening the tax base and increasing the share of direct taxes. What is happening is that the indirect tax burden, a large share of which is borne by ordinary working people, is rising steadily. For instance, the revised excise duty collection in 2015-16 was Rs.2.88 lakh crore as against a B.E. of Rs.2.29 lakh crore. In 2016-17, the excise duty collection was Rs.3.87 lakh crore as against a B.E. of Rs.3.19 lakh crore.

Over the last three years, we have seen the abolition of wealth tax in a country characterised by obscene wealth inequality. We have also seen repeated overtures to tax evaders even while the rhetoric around demonetisation was on wiping out black money. These steps do not enhance the credibility of the governments morality plays. In respect of corporate income taxes, there is reasonable ground for eliminating numerous exemptions. The clamour for lower tax rates on corporate profits is to be assessed against the reality of effective tax rates of hardly 25 per cent on profits accruing to large corporate entities. The several lakh crores in revenue foregone on account of concessions to robust corporate and individual entities does not speak of equity in budget-making.

The economic philosophy underlying the Budget is one which sees the state as, at best, a necessary evil, and believes that the sole path to rapid growth and social well-being is through incentivising corporate investment. It also places exclusive emphasis on so-called fiscal prudence, which is interpreted to mean minimising fiscal deficits essentially through expenditure reduction. The self-serving argument that a lowering of tax rates will lead to an improvement in compliance is not sustained by evidence from across the world. The reason is simple enough: if the marginal costs of tax evasion are perceived to be lower than the benefits from such evasion, compliance need not improve at all.

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Stubborn blindness | Frontline - Frontline

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Non-profit seeking to cure blindness up for $100M grant – SFGate

Saturday, February 18th, 2017

Wilson Ring, Associated Press

Non-profit seeking to cure blindness up for $100M grant

WATERBURY, Vt. (AP) A Vermont-based nonprofit group that works to cure blindness in Nepal and other developing countries is one of eight semifinalists for a $100 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The Waterbury-based Himalayan Cataract Project, based out of a rented office in a church parsonage, has been working for years to train local health care providers to perform cataract and laser surgery in Nepal and other countries.

The organization was co-founded in 1995 by Nepalese Dr. Sanduk Ruit and Dr. Geoff Tabin, formerly of the University of Vermont Medical Center and now at the University of Utah.

"They had a shared motivation that the right to sight is a human right and that no one anywhere in the world should receive care of a different or lower quality," said Job Heintz, the chief executive officer of the nonprofit, formed in 2003 to carry out the vision of the doctors. It now has 10 employees and an annual budget of about $9 million.

Over the years the organization has provided eye care for thousands of patients by training health care providers and providing equipment and other infrastructure.

"The quality of eye health care has dramatically risen, nowhere better than in Nepal," Heintz said on Thursday.

The Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation announced Wednesday that the Cataract Project was one of eight organizations chosen as semifinalists from among 1,904 proposals, for the $100 million grant program. The foundation says the competition is for "proposals promising real progress toward solving a critical problem of our time in any field or any location."

The winner would receive the entire $100 million.

Other semifinalists include Catholic Relief Services in Baltimore, which is working to change the way children are cared for in orphanages, and The Carter Center in Atlanta, which is working to eliminate river blindness in Nigeria.

The winner will be chosen in December.

The Cataract Project got its start at the Tilganga Eye Centre in Kathmandu, Nepal, which performed its first outpatient cataract surgery in 1994. Ruit and Tabin started the Cataract Project a year later.

At the Tilganga Centre providers now see about 1,000 patients a day for a variety of eye care needs.

Tabin worked at what is now the University of Vermont Medical Center from 1995 to 2005. The project opened Vermont offices in Waterbury and Norwich in 2003

The Cataract Project already has expanded its operations to a number of other countries, but the grant would be to expand operations in Nepal, Ethiopia and Ghana.

If they win the grant, the organization would increase the work it currently does, such as training doctors and support staff in their home countries and at other locations, including the United States.

"We know what we would do with every dollar," Heintz said.

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Non-profit seeking to cure blindness up for $100M grant - SFGate

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Gene editing surgery may prevent blindness: study – India.com

Friday, February 17th, 2017

Seoul, Feb 17 (PTI) The gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 may be delivered directly into the eye to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD) efficiently and safely, a new study has claimed.

AMD is a form of blindness, common in Caucasians, which causes distorted vision and blind spots.

Scientists at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in Korea used CRISPR-Cas9 in performing gene surgery in the layer of tissue that supports the retina of living mice.

The most common retinopathies causing blindness are retinopathy of prematurity in children, diabetic retinopathy and AMD in older adults.

In these diseases, abnormally high levels of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) are secreted. In AMD, VEGF causes the formation of new blood vessels in the eyes but also leads to leakages of blood and fluid into the eye, damaging an area at the center of the retina called macula.

Injections of anti-VEGF drugs are the most common treatment against AMD, but at least seven injections per year are required, because VEGF is continuously overexpressed by the cells of the diseased retinal pigment epithelium.

Instead of such invasive treatments, scientists believe that gene therapy with the third generation gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 could improve the situation.

The injections tackle the effects, but not the main cause of the problem. By editing the VEGF gene, we can achieve a longer-term cure, said KIM Jin-Soo, Director of the Center for Genome Engineering at IBS.

CRISPR-Cas9 can precisely cut and correct DNA at the desired site in the genome. The system works by cutting DNA at a target site, in this case, inside the VEGF gene.

Two year ago, IBS scientists proved that a pre-assembled version of CRISPR-Cas9, or Cas9 ribonucleoprotein (RNP), can be delivered to cells and stem cells to modify target genes.

The pre-assembled complex works rapidly and degrades before the body has time to build up an immune response against it.

In this study, the team successfully injected CRISPR-Cas9 into the eyes of a mice model with wet AMD and locally modified the VEGF gene.

Initially they found that the delivery of the pre-assembled CRISPR-Cas9 complex is more efficient than the delivery of the same components in a plasmid form.

Secondly, the complex disappeared after just 72 hours.

Scientists assessed the whole genome of the animals and found the CRISPR-Cas9 complex modified only the VEGF gene and did not affect other genes.

The progression of the eye disease was monitored by looking at choroidal neovascularisation (CNV), the creation of new blood vessels between the retina and the sclera a common problem of wet macular degeneration and researchers found the CNV area reduced by 58 per cent.

Moreover, a likely side effect, namely cone dysfunction, that takes only 3 days to show in these mice, did not occur a week after the treatment.

The study was published in the journal Genome Research.

This is published unedited from the PTI feed.

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Gene editing surgery may prevent blindness: study - India.com

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‘Bionic’ eye on the future: From ‘Star Trek’ visors to ‘Mission Impossible’ contact lenses – Fox News

Friday, February 17th, 2017

Could bionic eyes restore sight to the blind and give the U.S. military super sight?

Bionic implanted eyeballs, Star Trek-style visors, telescopic contact lenses ... these are just a few of the many exciting projects underway to both restore and provide enhanced sight.

Significant strides have been made in tech that will restore and transform lives - replacing white canes, service animals, braille machines and more for the visually impaired.

There has been a lot in the media about prosthetic breakthroughs for U.S. veterans, but what about vision? Last year the Blinded Veterans Association told the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs that there are an estimated 131,580 legally blinded veterans in the U.S., citing data from the Depatment of Veterans Affairs.

THE 5 COOLEST MILITARY INNOVATIONS OF 2016

Technology is being increasingly harnessed to overcome blindness. So far, much of the key progress has been restricted to restoring sight for those with a specific type of visual impairment in particular retinitis pigmentosa an inherited condition that involves the loss of cells in the retina and causes a decline in vision.

BIONIC EYE IMPLANTS

One of the first and most promising bionic eyes is the Argus II made by Second Sight, which is geared toward patients with retinitis pigmentosa.

The system has two parts: a very high tech retinal implant and a camera mounted on eyeglasses or shades. The bionic eye is surgically implanted in, and on, the eye. It has an antenna, an electronics case, and an electrode array.

The camera processes what it sees and sends it to a small computer that the person wears. The data is processed and translated into instructions that are sent wirelessly to the antenna in the implant.

MARINES GET GROUNDBREAKING, UNSTOPPABLE NEW RIFLE MAGAZINE

The retinal implant has 60 electrodes in it. These electrodes provide information to the optic nerve and the optic nerve relays the data to the brain. The optic nerve understands this data as shapes, light and movement.

This vision is not yet like normal sight and it will not restore vision to 20/20. But with Argus II, folks who were once sightless can see in black and white they can read a book and see their homes and loved ones for the first time. More advances are in the pipeline for Argus II to restore color as well as resolution and brightness.

Argus II bionic eyes require functioning retina so many, including many visually impaired veterans, cant take advantage of that tech Second Sights Orion technology could be the solution.

PLUGGING INTO THE BRAIN

By skipping the optic nerve and directly plugging into the visual cortex, Orion could hold enormous potential for veterans who have visual impairment due to trauma.

'STAR TREK'-STYLE SURVEILLANCE DRONE FOR THE US MILITARY

In fact, this approach could potentially help those blinded by cancer or glaucoma.

This new device bypasses the retinal layer and implants electrodes directly onto the visual region of the brain.

Second Sight announced a major breakthrough for its Orion I project late last year. In a trial at UCLA, the very first of these devices to directly plug into the brain, a wireless visual cortical stimulator, was implanted in a human subject. The test was a success and restored vision to a 30-year old patient with no major side effects.

STAR TREK-STYLE VISOR

Ever seen Star Trek? One American company has created a sort of real-life version of character Geordi La Forges visor.

'STAR WARS'-STYLE SPEEDERS COULD CARRY US TROOPS

With the eSight 3 device, the wearer can see full-color video images without a time lag. Wherever the user looks and whatever he or she looks at, the high-speed, high-def camera captures it for them.

Advanced algorithms are used for the video feed. The video is then displayed on two screens in front of the wearers eyes. The video image is provided in a way that overcomes their vision loss.

eSight isnt a cure-all at this point. If the retina damage is too severe, then it may not work. It tends to be more helpful with macular degeneration, for example, than glaucoma. The company says the technology has about a 50 percent chance of working with all conditions.

GIVING SOLDIERS SUPER SIGHT

Advances in this field are also creating the potential to give US warfighters super vision.

HOW F-35A FIGHTER PILOTS ARE HARNESSING HIGH-TECH 'SEE-THROUGH' HELMETS

One exciting example is a new contact lens funded by DARPA, and made by cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne, that gives the wearer the ability to zoom like a telescope.

The scleral lens has thin aluminum mirrors built into it that work with special liquid crystal glasses. These glasses are connected to an electronic system.

Think Mission Impossible. If you blink your right eye, then it allows magnifying but if you wink your left then the vision is normal. If you blink normally, it doesnt trigger the magnifying mode.

In addition to the contact lens, other projects have made great headway. Even Second Sight bionic eyes can see in IR with a specific input device.

NEW TECH MAKES TANK ARMOR 'SEE-THROUGH'

Augmenting soldiers with vision-enhancing tech could provide advantages for ground troops and special operations in particular. Warfighters could switch between seeing in night vision, infrared, thermal, zoom, telescopic and more. Whether worn or implanted, it would provide enhanced capabilities that remove the weight of carrying optics and the time lost shifting optics by switching instead at the speed of thought.

Just one specific illustration of how helpful this could be is explosives. If the amazing advances in explosive detection could be miniaturized and adapted for military bionic eyes, then warfighters with enhanced vision could scan and spot these hidden IEDs before they could strike putting an end to injury and death due to IEDs.

Meet a Green Beret who was blinded in combat, but still serves, shoots with remarkable accuracy and explored Antarctica with Prince Harry at Tactical Talk this week.

Allison Barrie consults at the highest levels of defense, has travelled to more than 70 countries, is a lawyer with four postgraduate degrees and now the author of the new book "Future Weapons: Access Granted" covering invisible tanks through to thought-controlled fighter jets. You can click here for more information on FOX Firepower columnist and host Allison Barrie and you can follow her on Twitter @allison_barrie.

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'Bionic' eye on the future: From 'Star Trek' visors to 'Mission Impossible' contact lenses - Fox News

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Blindness: UITH examines 2500 children in kwara – BusinessDay … – BusinessDay

Friday, February 17th, 2017

Dupe Ademola Popoo la, anOphthalmologist with the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) said as parts of efforts to prevent and curtail blindness among children in Kwara State, 2500 children have been examined.

Popoola made this known on Wednesday in Ilorin, during a visit of Kwara first lady and medical personnel to the Children Hospital at Centre Igboro in Ilorin.

According to her, the state government has enacted law that makes visionscreening compulsory for children from zero to five years. Adding that because of the effort of the state government, a foundation; the USAID has shown interest in the project where they donated some equipment worth thousands of dollars.

Popoola said: 2500 children had so far been examined and some referral has been made to General Hospital in the state. However, four children were diagnosed with blindness due to premature birth.

The Ophtalmologist pointed out that a survey of 100 blind people carried out in the state suggested that, seven out of 10 were blind from childhood,while being hidden in that condition, till they are old enough to come out to begfor a living.

Some years back, Nigeria rose to the challenge of fighting deficiency in Vit. A and measles among children and they were successful.

Four health facilities have been designated as centres for the vision screening of children, these centres would also act as training of staffs and centres for prevention of blindness and enhancement of sight. she explained. Popoola also said that the programme will capture older children to be examined.

In her address, Omolewa Ahmed, the wife of Kwara State Governor has advocated enactmentof Law that will enforce all mothers to take their children to hospital for vision screening before enrollment in government schools.

The Governors wife who is Founder of Life Empowers Anchors Hope (LEAH) encouraged mothers to take their children to immunization centres and as well undergo vision screening as it is free of charge. Ahmed, who said the visit was embarked upon to influence immunization on children and vision screening, stated that all ministries in the state would be made to key into the programme for Kwara children to ensure preventable blindness.

Vision is important and we must ensure that out of negligence or ignorance our children are not exposed to blindness when we can take them for screening and get help, she said. She noted that some of these cases of blindness are avoidable, saying a child that is blind in young age will not havea qualitative life.

Ahmed also revealedthat recently over 200 blind citizens were empowere and N150,000 cheque was given to them each to help them in their trade. The Governors wife was shown the newly acquired vision screening equipment and how it operates.

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