StemCell Therapy

The Indian Express

Radiation therapy restores vision of three-year-old with eye cancer The Indian Express The boy was not responding to chemotherapy, putting him at risk of losing his vision. However, doctors at AIIMS took a small disc, made from a radioactive element, and stitched it on to his eye, thereby saving his eyesight. The boy is the first patient ... and more »

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Radiation therapy restores vision of three-year-old with eye cancer - The Indian Express

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EW YORK How could we remove the eyeballs of a newborn baby? Feifei Lin said of her daughter, Lulu.

When she was just 47 days old, Lulu was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare pediatric cancer that begins in the back of the eye. A doctor in Wenzhou, China, where the family was living at the time, detected tumors in both of Lulus eyes, and scheduled eye removal surgery for that afternoon.

The news left Lin devastated but also defiant.

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My husband and I both lost our vision when we were very young, she said. Having gone through this, we have to grasp her ever-so-little remaining vision.

Lulus cancer is hereditary. Her father, Yi Tang, also suffered from retinoblastoma when he was young, and his eyes were removed.

Lin and her husband were determined to do what they could to avoid a similar procedure.

In need of complex care, a Syrian child gets a second chance at a US hospital

On average, every year there are about 325 cases of retinoblastoma in the US, while about 2,000 children in China are diagnosed with it. In China, however, it is difficult to access cutting-edge treatment, and many children die of the cancer.

Worldwide, 70 percent of children with retinoblastoma die of the disease, but in the US, only 2 percent do, said Dr. Paul T. Finger, director of the Ocular Tumor Service at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai.

Whats the difference? Finger said. The difference is early diagnosis and treatments.

Lulus parents saw their last, best hope in America.

Children with retinoblastoma often undergo a procedure known as intra-arterial chemotherapy. A thin catheter is inserted into a large artery on top of the leg and slowly threaded all the way up into the ophthalmic artery. Then the chemo is perfused just into the eye.

It was this method of treatment that brought Lulus family to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and also brought them hope.

Chinese families are increasingly coming to the US for the procedure, but costs are high. Lulus family managed to raise $160,000 for the initial treatment.

I know some families, they sold their home, they sold their car; all their relatives donated for them. Their friends donated for them, said Ying Song, who launched RB Childrens Foundation, a nonprofit established by the Chinese American Association of Metropolitan New York to help support these families financially.

Meanwhile, Fingers Eye Cancer Foundation is training doctors and setting up retinoblastoma centers in underserved countries around the world, including China, so that all patients can get access to treatments.

Although Luluhas lost much of her eyesight, her parents are hopeful that she can live a productive life. And they aredoing whatever it takes to ensure she can continue hertreatment in America.

Lulus eyes are so fragile and her vision has deteriorated so much, her mother said. We cant afford taking any more risks.

Fan Bu can be reached at fan.bu53@gmail.com Follow Fan on Twitter @fanbu_nyc

Melody Cao can be reached at iamcxl@gmail.com

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WATCH: A race to the US to save a newborn's eyesight - STAT

KDRV

Woman Permanently Loses Her Eyesight By Putting in Contacts KDRV Irenie Ekkeshi was 12 when she switched from glasses to contacts. It was a decision that, combined with bad luck and lack of information, eventually made her lose sight in her right eye years later. When Ekkeshi woke up with tears streaming from her ...

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Woman Permanently Loses Her Eyesight By Putting in Contacts - KDRV

It was pitch black in the eatery when our motley media crew, in groups of eight, staggered in with hands on each others shoulders.

Our instructions were to follow our visually-impaired guide-cum-waiter, whod lead us to our table. The only sounds audible were the clinking of glasses and cutlery.

After taking a few cautious steps, one claustrophobic member asked to be escorted out as she was overcome with anxiety. I felt the hand on my shoulder grip harder.

Not a light, not a sight only nervous chatter as we sightlessly weaved our way to our seats at Dining In The Dark, a restaurant in total darkness.

We were about to have a sensory experience and enjoy a gastronomic journey, where food taste and flavours are not influenced by sight.

The food arrived in a few small plates placed on a bigger platter, with directions to pick up the plate and start eating, beginning clockwise, from the bottom left. It took some getting used to as the food kept slipping off the cutlery before reaching our mouths.

We tried to guess what we were eating, which was to be revealed upon the meals conclusion.

When dessert arrived in five little plates, I used my spoon to pick something that resembled a ball, but oops, it rolled off!

I imagined the terrible stains on my white blouse.

I tried using a folk to stab another dessert and it rolled off, too! Gosh, I was really leaving a mess on the floor. Two down, three to go.

This is what the blind have to deal with everyday.

Thin nerve fibre rim especially above and below. Note the plunging blood vessel as it enters the optic nerve. Photo: VISTA

Most of us take our sight for granted, and may not be aware that we may be losing our vision slowly, but surely.

The most common cause of blindness worldwide is cataracts, but a leading cause of irreversible blindness is glaucoma, with less than 50% of sufferers aware of their condition before blindness occurs.

Glaucoma is an eye disease where the optic nerve, which connects your eye to your brain, becomes progressively damaged.

It usually occurs when the fluid in the eye cannot drain properly, which increases the pressure inside the eye (intraocular pressure or IOL) and puts pressure on the optic nerve.

Glaucoma develops slowly and most patients do not feel their vision is affected for several years, says Assoc Prof Dr Jemaima. Photo: Novartis

If not treated, the disease would gradually worsen the peripheral visual field, leading to visual impairment and blindness. The optic nerve damage is permanent and irreversible, says consultant ophthalmologist Assoc Prof Dr Jemaima Che Hamzah, who was speaking at the launch of a combination eye-drop therapy here recently.

In Malaysia, glaucoma is the third leading cause of blindness after cataracts and diabetic retinopathy.

Its symptoms are subtle or even non-existent, thus many people are unaware they have the disease until they go for an eye check.

Left untreated, bit by bit, glaucoma robs their vision, and pretty soon, their world is plunged into darkness.

Assoc Prof Dr Jemaima says, Patients always present to us at the later stages.

Glaucoma develops slowly and most patients do not feel their vision is affected for several years.

This is because the loss of vision is at the periphery, while central vision remains stable until the disease is severe or the better eye is affected. By the time the patient is aware, it is already too late.

Sometimes, glaucoma can simulate the symptoms of a brain tumour, such as halos around light, sudden loss of vision, headache, severe eye pain, nausea and vomiting, so we send patients to the neurologist to rule this condition out.

The exact cause of glaucoma is unknown, but increased IOP is a recognised risk factor.

Other causes include age over 45 years, genetic history of glaucoma, diabetes, history of elevated IOP, decrease in corneal thickness and rigidity, high myopia, steroid use and previous eye trauma.

There are several types of glaucoma, but simply put, there is no cure, whether patients are seeking allopathic or homeopathic options. You cannot get your sight back; you can only slow down the disease progression.

As glaucoma becomes increasingly common with age, individuals over the age of 40, especially those at risk from risk factors are urged to schedule regular eye exams with their ophthalmologists. Or else, it can impact your quality of life with increased incidence of falls and motor accidents, says Assoc Prof Dr Jemaima.

The only treatment is to lower the IOL and prevent functional visual loss during the remainder of the patients life. This can be done via eye drops, laser treatment or surgery.

Treatment challenges

However, doctors face plenty of challenges in treating these patients, because once diagnosed, Assoc Prof Dr Jemaima says almost 80% of patients deviate from treatment, especially the elderly.

She adds, There is a high dropout rate due to many reasons inability to instil eye drops, forgetting to use the drops, poor knowledge of glaucoma, worsening visual field loss and lack of access to medication.

Adherence to therapy remains a key challenge among glaucoma patients, says Dr Teoh.

Consultant ophthalmologist and glaucoma specialist Datuk Dr Linda Teoh agrees that adherence to therapy remains a key challenge as patients have many drops to put in.

Back then, patients would cart around a big bag with multiple drugs wherever they went. But latest fixed combination drugs cut down on the number of times the drops are administered and lessen the side effects.

Unfortunately, you cannot put all the medications in at one go; you have to wait about five minutes between drops to give time for a drug not to be washed out. If youre a working adult, this takes time and is inconvenient, so this might affect adherence, says Dr Teoh.

The question everyone wants to know is how long before a glaucoma patient goes blind?

It depends on many factors and how motivated the patient is to comply with treatment, she says.

According to the United States-based Glaucoma Research Foundation, approximately 10% of people with glaucoma who receive proper treatment still experience loss of vision.

A 2014 study published by the American Academy Of Ophthalmology estimated that globally, 60 million individuals aged 40-80 had glaucoma in 2013; by 2020, this figure is anticipated to increase to 76 million, and by 2040, the numbers are expected to spike to a further 111 million.

This is going to pose a big burden as medications are very expensive. Vision lost to glaucoma cannot be restored, so its best detected early. Please get your eyes tested routinely, advises Dr Teoh.

Regular eye tests saved Sharon Ooi from losing her sight to glaucoma. Photo: Novartis

If she hadnt gone for an annual eye check-up a four years ago, Sharon Ooi Beng Poh could have easily lost her vision.

She was told her IOP was high and was referred to another specialist, who prescribed a battery of tests. Ooi had no other symptoms.

I had a sneaky feeling that something was not right, but the doctor didnt instil fear in me. Instead, she said our eye muscles will degenerate with age and asked if I would be afraid if she told me something. I said no, especially if there is a preventive measure. Then she diagnosed me as having glaucoma.

A former colleague had glaucoma and I recall her telling me she only had to put eye drops and all was well. The seriousness of the condition didnt really hit me until I listened to a talk, shares Ooi, who had a Lasik procedure done to correct her high myopia some years back.

Ooi was put on treatment immediately and with the availability of newer drugs, she now uses her eye drops twice a day at 7am and 7pm.

Life goes on as normal otherwise.

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Glaucoma may be causing you to lose your sight - Star2.com

Regina Leader-Post

The CNIB has a new vision for providing services Regina Leader-Post Certified specialists help people with all levels of vision loss develop or restore their daily living skills and work with them to create a personalized rehabilitation plan. Staff explain eye diseases and how they affect vision, teach techniques to ...

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The CNIB has a new vision for providing services - Regina Leader-Post

THE terrifying moment police opened fire on football fans in Argentina has been caught on camera.

It occurred before the same derby between Atletico Belgrano and Talleres in which a fan was thrown over a railing and died of his injuries in hospital.

Argentinian news outlet, Ole, report a man named Diego Frydman was hit with a bullet in his eye.

Keep up to date with ALL the football news, gossip and transfers

And he was rushed to hospital for an operation to save his vision and movement.

It is as yet unclear why the local police in Cordoba opened fire, but it happened as the Talleres bus was pulling into Mario Alberto Kempes stadium.

Mundo D

Mundo D

Mundo D

The shocking incident tops off a dark day in Argentinian football.

A 22-year-old Belgrano fan named Emanuel Ezequiel Balbo was pushed to his death at half-time of the encounter by fellow fans.

His father, Raul, late claimed the killer was a man named Oscar Gomez, who five years over had fatally run over his other son.

Emanuel Ezequiel Balbo was attacked by man who allegedly killed his brother

Emanuel was thrown over a railing and fell down the stand after it he had reportedly been falsely accused of supporting Talleres.

Four have been arrested over the incident.

Fans of both clubs have moved to end the violence which has plagued this fixture.

The Argentinian ambassador for Ecuador is an avid Bergano follower, and he tweeted a picture of himself covering one eye, which simulates a Pirate and their nickname isPiratas.

Several fans of Talleres, their arch-rivals, replicated the gesture, and Belgrano supporters responded with images of themselves making a T sign along with the hashtag #WeAreNotEnemies.

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Police open fire before football derby in Argentina, with one fan fighting to save eyesight later another ... - The Sun

Vision screening program discovers eye problems early

HOT SPRINGS The Hot Springs Lions Club was helping Hot Springs Elementary students see clearly into their futures Tuesday morning, April 11.

A team of specially trained Lions Club volunteers, sporting yellow vests, implemented a free vision screening program, Lions KIDSIGHT South Dakota, at the elementary school. The effort is part of a statewide program provided free for children ages 12 months and up.

Using a specialized screening machine that peers inside the eyes, Pinky Horner, Program Coordinator for KIDSIGHT South Dakota, and six Lions Club members Gary Merkel, Perry Holmes, Chuck Kraus, Gene Nachtigall, Ed Renstrom and Leon Melstad were helping elementary students discover the status of their vision.

A student entered the room, gave a Lion his orange sticker and had his or her named checked on a list of students who were to be screened. (Parental consent was required with all screenings.) The student sat in a chair in front of a Lions Club member who held the screening machine, which looked something like an old Polariod camera.

The room door was closed, the lights turned off and the students eyes were scanned from several feet away.

From the students point of view, sitting in the chair, they saw colored lights that flashed patterns.

From the perspective of the scanner operator, an image of the students eyes appeared on the scanners screen.

Within seconds, the accurate information the scanner collected was sent to a printer, and each student scanned received a precise evaluation of their eyesight, with a prescription for correction if this was necessary. No physical contact was made with the student, and no eye drops were needed.

The scanning could be done with glasses on or off, and the glasses-wearing Lions Club members who tried the machine out on themselves, said their scans were spot-on in terms of diagnosing vision abnormalities.

The Lions Club has traditionally made efforts to improve vision across the nation, but why is vision screening important for young kids?

According to Lions KIDSIGHT South Dakota, the first few years of a childs life are critical in the development of good vision.

Preschoolers should have their vision checked for issues such as misaligned eyes, and problems that need correction with eyeglasses. These problems are not always evident by simply looking at a child, and children often compensate for vision problems so well that parents, teachers, even pediatricians may be unaware of a problem.

By the time a child is old enough to be in primary grades, many of these common vision-robbing conditions can no longer be effectively treated.

Because the eye is almost completely developed by the time a child is six years old, early detection of vision issues is mandatory in enabling critical physical and mental development and preventing sight-robbing diseases.

Less than 20 percent of children receive a comprehensive eye exam prior to age six, according to Lions KIDSIGHT South Dakota. Studies show that during a childs first 12 years, 80 percent of all learning is obtained visually. And down the road, studies indicate 70 percent of juvenile delinquents are found to have a vision problem.

A lazy eye, amblyopia, for example can develop when an undetected vision problem goes untreated during a childs formative years. The incidence of amblyopia in the U.S. is estimated to be 3 to 5 percent of the population. Vision problems can also result in learning difficulties as a child enters the primary grades.

Other problems scanning can detect include: Myopia (near-sightedness), hyperopia (far-sightedness) astigmatism (blurred vision), aniscoria (pupil size deviations) strabismus (lazy eye), anisometropia (unequal refractive power).

The Lions Clubs KIDSIGHT program, has referred hundreds of children to an eye doctor for further examination and treatment. Most parents of those children had no idea their child had any problems with their eyes. However, with this program, the parents were able to get their child the medical care they needed.

Lion Gary Merkel said the KIDSIGHT program would be scanning pre-schoolers at The Discovery Zone on Thursday, April 13, and then returning in the fall to screen pre-schoolers, kindergarteners, and third and fifth graders in the fall.

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Lion's Club offers clear vision for students - Rapid City Journal

Eye surgeons Sanduk Ruit and Geoff Tabin, along with the doctors they've trained, have helped restore sight to over 4 million people and aren't finished yet

The doctors were gods to an old, blind Burmese woman whose sight was restored by a quick operation. Cataracts had stolen her sight for years, while others had been blind for decades before the simple operation allowed them to see again. Bill Whitaker reports from Burma, also known as Myanmar, where two eye surgeons were bringing their program that has already reversed blindness in over 4 million people and could help to eliminate cataract and other reversible blindness in the developing world. Out of Darkness will be broadcast on 60 Minutes at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Dr. Sanduk Ruit, center, and Dr. Geoff Tabin, right, examine patients

CBS News

Hallelujah! shouts the old woman as the bandages are removed. Her surgeons, Drs. Sanduk Ruit and Geoff Tabin look on and assure her they are not gods. But they are miracle workers to the sightless in Burma and their plan has already changed the lives of millions more blind people throughout the world.

Dr. Ruit, a Nepalese eye surgeon, had been restoring the sight of cataract suffers using a technique that requires no stitches. He met Dr. Tabin, an American eye surgeon and world-renowned mountain climber, and they created the Himalayan Cataract Project. Their revolutionary system goes beyond the surgery. They started a lens factory that produces implants for a fraction of the cost in the U.S. and they have a hospital in Nepal that has trained hundreds of doctors and nurses in their technique. During their visit to Burma, they were able to perform more surgeries in three days than are usually done in a year. They left behind a Burmese team trained in their techniques to carry on the work.

Their focus was originally in the Himalayas, but they have been so successful they renamed their group CureBlindness.org. Theyve operated in two dozen countries, including North Korea and Ethiopia, restoring sight to 150,000 people. The doctors theyve trained have given vision to 4 million others. Its the developing world, but people are getting first-rate treatment says Dr. Tabin For these advanced cataracts, Im performing the same quality of surgery that I would be doing in America. Tabin is currently a professor at the University of Utah Medical School in Salt Lake City.

Their surgical outcomes have been peer-reviewed by the leading American journal for eye doctors.

And as Dr. Tabin points out, they are doing more than restoring sight. You know, once someone goes blind in a developing world, their life expectancy is about one-third that of age and health matched peers, he says. And also in the developing world, it takes, often, a person out of the work force, or a child out of school, to care for the blind person. So when we restore sight to a blind person, were freeing up their family and restoring their life, Tabin tells Whitaker.

2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Restoring sight to over 4M people - CBS News

VIJAYAWADA: Nowadays, majority of the people often ignore eye care. It is essential for every individual to take little attention and proper diet to keep many vision-related problems at bay. Theres no substitute for the quality of life good vision offers. Its best to be proactive and rectify certain vision problems at the young age itself.

According to eye specialists, a clear and stable vision is a much-needed requirement for every individual. However, patients generally dont give this issue the attention it deserves. At all ages, it is advised to keep a regular check on your eyesight. The constant change in power of glasses can be a serious outcome of an underlying ocular or systemic disease. Frequent change in eye power after 40 years may indicate development of cataract and needs to be addressed.

Farsightedness and nearsightedness are the two most commonly seen eyesight problems among the youth. Many children who suffer from these diseases will face difficulty in seeing the blackboard in the classroom, have to squint in order to see small text clearly, have to strain the eyes too hard to get a clear vision of something etc, said Tummala Sandhya Rani, an ophthalmologist at Gayatri Eye Care. We also observe that parents give their mobile phones to children to play games and keep themselves occupied. The constant exposure to screens has led to several eye problems. Instead they should encourage physical activity among their children to keep eye problems at bay, he added.

There is a misconception that using anti-glare monitors will help. Prolonged computer usage has reduced the rate of blinking among people. The ideal blinking rate should be 15 to 16 times a minute and if it is less than this, it can cause dry eyes. This new lab will enable us to explain to our patients all these problems in detail after a thorough analysis, said Dr P Ram Kumar of Chaitanya Eye Hospitals. We have hundreds of patients walking in every day with unexplained eye problems. Some of these problems are because of changing work culture, office environment and stress. Today, the scene is quite different. Children are riveted to their computers and cell phones. Games, playgrounds and physical activity are the forgotten preserve, he said.

He also pointed out that another cause for concern is the rise in eye problems among the young because of Vitamin B12 deficiency. If such problems are not detected in the early stage, it can lead to partial blindness in them. In-depth analysis of such problems needs high-end research, he added. The ophthalmologists also point out that Hypertension is another big reason for constant decline in vision. Some people suffering from hypertension dont realise it but it shows up in the form of regular decline in the vision. This causes Hypertensive Retinopathy and several other retinal diseases. Keeping a tab on your blood pressure can save you from the risk of developing such retinal diseases.

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How to take good care of your eyes? - The New Indian Express

A Seattle girl hopes a clinical trial will save her vision. She has a rare eye condition, that could someday make her legally blind.

Ted Land, KING 5:49 PM. PDT April 16, 2017

Calnan has a rare eye condition called Aniridia, a genetic mutation that prevents her eyes from developing. (Photo: KING)

A Seattle girl hopes a clinical trial in Canada will help save her vision. She has a rare eye condition that could someday make her legally blind.

Calnan Sorenson, 7, cannot see as well as other kids her age. She's able to bounce around on a trampoline with her brother in the yard of their Wedgwood home, but as she gets older, her family worries she won't be able to lead such an active, animated life.

It's terrifying, and it's really hard to adjust expectations for the future, said Matthew Sorenson, Calnans dad.

Calnan has a rare eye condition called Aniridia. A genetic mutation is preventing her eyes from developing. The most noticeable symptom is the absence of the iris, the colored part of the eye. The disease could eventually make her blind.

The situation of, there isn't really any option, is the situation we were in for the first couple of years after she was diagnosed, and it was tough, Matthew said.

Now there is an option. Calnan is among a few dozen patients, mostly kids, taking part in a clinical trial of a drug which researchers hope will halt the deterioration of her eyesight.

Every three months her family travels to Vancouver and the University of British Columbia, where a pair of researchers are testing a treatment for Aniridia.

Once it's the day of the appointment I feel a little scared and nervous, Calnan said.

The exams are uncomfortable, but Matthew says his family is hopeful the quarterly trips across the border could help save Calnans vision.

We've seen smaller indications of progress, things like how far away she can sit from the television. We've just sort of noticed that she doesn't need to stand in front of the TV anymore, he said.

This is still very much an experiment, and so Calnan is learning braille and working with a teacher who can help her prepare for the possibility of life with less eyesight.

For now, her family just wants her to enjoy being a kid, not worrying too much about a future that's still unclear.

2017 KING-TV

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Seattle girl hopes Canadian clinical trial will save her vision - KING5.com

Irenie lost her vision in one eye after it became infected (Picture: Getty)

A woman lost the sight in her right eye after it became infected with a bacteria typically found in tap water whenshe changed her contact lens.

Irenie Ekkeshie, now 36, was hospitalised in 2011 after she woke up with her right eye streaming with tears.

Doctors gave her a cornea scrape a procedure that takes cells from the surface of the eyeball and antiseptic eye drops to take hourly.

She wasdiagnosed with Acanthamoeba Keratitis (AK), a rare but serious eye infection caused by a micro-organism thats common in tap water, sea water and swimming pools.

Although no one could be certain it was thought she may have changed her contact lens with wet hands.

But given they caught it early, doctors at Moorfield Eye Hospital were hopeful that Irenie would recover in three weeks.

But the opposite occurred, it took months for doctors to get the infection under control by which time her eye had scarred leaving her with blurred vision.

So in May 2013 she had a corneal transplant, which appeared to be successful.

AKis an infection of the cornea that affects around 125 people in the UK every year. Most cases involve contact lenses

But devastatingly the infection returned and, after a second transplant, she completely lost the vision in her right eye. Doctors think the inflammation caused by the AK was the source of the problem and it is unlikely to return.

After discovering that none of her friends or family knew of the risks of exposing a contact lens to water she decided to raise awareness of the issue.

She has since designed No Water stickers with the British Contact Lens Association that opticians can puton the outside of boxes.

She has spread the campaign in America as well after attracting the attention of the American Academy of Optometry.

Her hope is the graphic will be printed automatically on all boxes and has co-founded The New Citizenship Project to help others create change.

My advice to people is simple. Never let your lenses come into contact with water in the shower, swimming or when washing, she told the BBC.

Although infections like AK are rare, Im proof they can happen and the results can be devastating.

You should always:

Source: NHS Choices

MORE: Newborn baby died after mum fell asleep while feeding her

MORE: Woman crying as she removed toys from daughters grave is told she can keep them there for now

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Woman goes blind in one eye after contact lens became infected - Metro

Research conducted at the University of Adelaide has discovered that bees have much better vision than was previously known, offering new insights into the lives of honey bees, and new opportunities for translating this knowledge into fields such as robot vision.

The findings come from "eye tests" given to western honey bees (also known as European honey bees, Apis mellifera) by postdoctoral researcher Dr Elisa Rigosi (Department of Biology, Lund University, Sweden) in the Adelaide Medical School, under the supervision of Dr Steven Wiederman (Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide) and Professor David O'Carroll (Department of Biology, Lund University, Sweden).

The results of their work are published today in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.

Bee vision has been studied ever since the pioneering research of Dr Karl von Frisch in 1914, which reported bees' ability to see colors through a clever set of training experiments.

"Today, honey bees are still a fascinating model among scientists, in particular neuroscientists," Dr Rigosi says.

"Among other things, honey bees help to answer questions such as: how can a tiny brain of less than a million neurons achieve complex processes, and what are its utmost limits? In the last few decades it has been shown that bees can see and categorize objects and learn concepts through vision, such as the concept of 'symmetric' and 'above and below'.

"But one basic question that has only been partially addressed is: what actually is the visual acuity of the honey bee eye? Just how good is a bee's eyesight?"

Dr Wiederman says: "Previous researchers have measured the visual acuity of bees, but most of these experiments have been conducted in the dark. Bright daylight and dark laboratories are two completely different environments, resulting in anatomical and physiological changes in the resolution of the eye.

"Photoreceptors in the visual system detect variations in light intensity. There are eight photoreceptors beyond each hexagonal facet of a bee's compound eye, and their eyes are made out of thousands of facets! Naturally, we expected some differences in the quality of bees' eyesight from being tested in brightly lit conditions compared with dim light," he says.

Dr Rigosi, Dr Wiederman and Professor O'Carroll set out to answer two specific questions: first, what is the smallest well-defined object that a bee can see? (ie, its object resolution); and second, how far away can a bee see an object, even if it can't see that object clearly? (ie, maximum detectability limit).

To do so, the researchers took electrophysiological recordings of the neural responses occurring in single photoreceptors in a bee's eyes. The photoreceptors are detectors of light in the retina, and each time an object passes into the field of vision, it registers a neural response.

Dr Rigosi says: "We found that in the frontal part of the eye, where the resolution is maximized, honey bees can clearly see objects that are as small as 1.9 -- that's approximately the width of your thumb when you stretch your arm out in front of you.

"This is 30% better eyesight than has been previously recorded," she says.

"In terms of the smallest object a bee can detect, but not clearly, this works out to be about 0.6 -- that's one third of your thumb width at arm's length. This is about one third of what bees can clearly see and five times smaller than what has so far been detected in behavioral experiments.

"These new results suggest that bees have the chance to see a potential predator, and thus escape, far earlier than what we thought previously, or perceive landmarks in the environment better than we expected, which is useful for navigation and thus for survival," Dr Rigosi says.

Dr Wiederman says this research offers new and useful information about insect vision more broadly as well as for honey bees.

"We've shown that the honey bee has higher visual acuity than previously reported. They can resolve finer details than we originally thought, which has important implications in interpreting their responses to a range of cognitive experiments scientists have been conducting with bees for years.

"Importantly, these findings could also be useful in our work on designing bio-inspired robotics and robot vision, and for basic research on bee biology," he says.

Read more:
Honey bees have sharper eyesight than we thought - Science Daily

Maryanne Kass is a fun-loving mother, a proud grandmother, a retired teacher and a Type-2 Diabetic. "It wasn't in my family; no one had had it." Nearly a decade later, Maryanne's vision started to worsen - as a result of diabetic macular edema. "It was at a point where I didn't want to drive at night." As you can imagine, the thought of losing her sight was terrifying. "How devastating it would be to lose it, which is why the gift she recently received was absolutely perfect.

Artist Bryce Chisholm brightens any room he is in with his paintings. "My style is colorful; a little graffiti inspired street art people would say." He paints beautiful women in nearly every medium - from oil and acrylic to water color and spray paint.

Through a campaign called Look to Your Future - Bryce was asked to paint the eyes of one more. "He and I sat down for coffee and he just asked, tell me your story." Bryce quickly realized the focus of her life and was excited to capture it on canvas.

In Maryannes painting, you see crystal blue eyes representing her own along with a bright scenecapturing her favorite childhood beach in southern California. In the forefront of the painting, you see two people she treasures. "If you haven't been a grandparent before, oh my gosh! They're the loves of my life!"

The painting and her eyes in particular - represent the importance of the steps she took to help protect against vision loss. As soon as Maryanne noticed a change in her eye sight, she saw a specialist who was able to restore much of her vision. It is not perfect, but better. Her message to people is to remain vigilant and proactive when it comes to your eye health and that is whatthe Regeneron Look to Your Future campaign is all about. "The campaign is just to raise awareness mainly and do not ignore it!" As a result of Bryce's eye, Maryanne can look at her Look to Your Future painting and be reminded of the importance of looking after her eyes. "There's so much to see and so much to love. It's so beautiful out there."

To learn more about the Regeneron campaign, log on to http://www.looktoyourfuture.com. You can check out more of Bryces work as well on his website, http://www.abcartattack.com.

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Look to Your Future Campaign - KTVN

BBC News

I was blinded by my contact lens BBC News However, something then went wrong with her retina and she completely lost her vision in that eye. Doctors have told her they suspect that inflammation caused by AK was the source of the problem - and that her sight is unlikely to return. During her ... and more »

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I was blinded by my contact lens - BBC News

Eight months later, Mahoney, 63, had the problem fixed at the University of Utah's John A. Moran Eye Center as part of a twice-yearly event known as Operation Sight Day, which provides free corrective surgery that typically costs $4,000 per eye to low-income patients. On Saturday, more than 30 U. medical staffers donated their time to treat 23 patients who would otherwise remain visually impaired.

The charity surgery program, which started in 2012, now includes the Eye Institute of Utah and the St. George Eye Center. Pharmaceutical companies donated the replacement lenses, and Bank of American Fork helped cover other costs.

Most people have cataracts forming on the lenses of their eyes, but for some, the process has sped up, clouding their vision and interfering with their life. Diet, sunlight, smoking, diabetes and even trauma can spur cataract formation.

"We all get them. You could be born with cataracts," said Alan Crandall, a professor of ophthalmology and Moran's director of glaucoma and cataract. He also spearheads global outreach for the center, leading and organizing humanitarian trips to Ghana for the past two decades and now other developing nations.

Cataracts can be more prevalent in equatorial regions because ultraviolet rays speed their formation. Without treatment available, many people are saddled with curable blindness, taking them and a caregiver, usually a younger family member, out of the workforce. In some communities, 30 percent of the people are either blind with cataracts or caring for someone with the condition, according to Crandall.

"When you cure the one person, you are returning two people back into the economy of that country; it's humongous," said Crandall, whose division also provides services on the Navajo Reservation. "We aren't a [medical] subspecialty, we are a necessity."

Crandall also has treated animals, such the dogs of homeless people, a kangaroo, a show-business tiger and Gorgeous, the Hogle Zoo's beloved gorilla who died of old age in 1999.

The surgery takes about 20 minutes and requires a local anesthetic. In the procedure, the eye is opened and an ultrasound is used to break up the clouded lens, which is sucked out. It is replaced with a clear acrylic foldable lens that will remain cataract free.

Unlike Mahoney, Maria Escojido doesn't recall when cataracts began ruining her eyesight. It started a long time ago and took years to blind her. Her right eye was treated at least year's Operation Sight Day, and she returned Saturday to repair the left one.

"I cannot drive at nighttime. It is hard to focus. We have a check from Social Security, but it's not enough," said Escojido. "I work like crazy my whole life with two jobs."

The 69-year-old house cleaner from Logan has 21 grandchildren and looks after her husband, Samuel, who has his own vision troubles, including glaucoma. After her surgery Saturday, she recovered with a protective cover over her left eye and relaxed with her husband at her side.

Mahoney, who is 63, said he was elated when he learned he was selected for the program. In a Moran consultation room, he covered his good eye and looked up at the ceiling light.

"I can barely tell there is a light. I can't see even see my hand," he said as he waved inches from his face. Now he looks forward to returning to work.

"I have a couple jobs lined up. I want to get back to work, but I don't want to get hurt," he said.

Originally posted here:
Operation Sight Day leads 23 cataract patients back into the light - Salt Lake Tribune

Give light to my eyes. Psalm 13:3.

Daddy has macular degeneration, the kind for which there is no cure, just worsening vision over time. It has taken most of the vision in one eye, and he just recently found out he has it in the other eye as well. However, the macular in that eye was masked by diminished vision from a cataract.

About a month ago the eye doctor finally decided the cataract was ripe enough to remove. The doctor said daddys eyesight in that eye could improve by 30 percent or more.

I had been praying for a long time that daddy would not completely lose his sight and that if there was something that could be done to improve it, it would be done. So I was glad for the prognosis of 30 percent 30 percent improvement in one eye is better than nothing.

The doctor removed the cataract but gave daddy the bad news that he had macular in that eye, too.

For now, though, his eyesight is better than it was (improved more than the predicted 30 percent), and the doctor is offering to perform another surgery that will help with some fluttering he has been experiencing. He has also regained enough sight to be able to drive again. He still has his license, and the surgery performed in March gave him distance vision. (He was always near sighted.) He isnt wearing glasses now except to read. He and my mother would like to take a drive up to their old haunts in Wyoming and Montana this summer or fall to celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary, and it would be nice if daddy could help with the driving (and not just as a side-seat driver.)

Daddy reads all the time, so it is important he can still see to keep up with the many magazines, newspapers and books he reads. He has to adjust to needing reading glasses while before he would take his glasses off to see up close.

I am grateful for even some improved vision for my father. I believe even though he doesnt have perfect vision, any improvement at this point is a miracle one of so many miracles that have guided and preserved my fathers life in all his 88 years (his birthday is today.)

He doesnt look or act anywhere near 88!

Even if his physical vision is impaired, my fathers spiritual eyesight is clear and becoming even more focused as he nears the destination he has been journeying toward for many decades now, the place where all that was cloudy and blurred will become plain and clear and he will see his Savior face to face.

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Still Waters: Renewed vision - Valley Courier

A wise man once noted that God gave human beings one mouth and two ears. You should prioritize accordingly, this sage concluded. The ratio of ears to eyes is less suggestive but Jewish lore has occasional hints that hearing might still be the preferred sense for gathering information. After all, when Divine Law was passed to the Children of Israel at Mount Sinai, it was done so orally, and the Israelites replied, We will do and we will hear.

These thoughts spring rather readily to mind when contemplating two new films, The Ticket and Karl Marx City, whose stories hinge on the unreliability of vision and the dangers of excessive vision, respectively. The first, a fiction film by Israeli writer-director Ido Fluk, examines the parabolic trajectory of a blind man who regains his sight, while the latter, a documentary by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker, investigates the undigested historical aftermath of the fall of the German Democratic Republic. While it might seem unlikely, the two films chime together.

James (Dan Stevens), the protagonist of The Ticket, lost his eyesight while in his teens. He has thrived despite that setback, and has a house, a wife, a son and apparent happiness, somewhere in the Midwest. When he wakes up one morning to find his vision restored the change energizes him. He goes from being an earnest, mildly successful real estate salesman in a firm that seems to specialize in hiring the blind to do cold calls, to reinventing himself as an unscrupulous predator, using the ongoing chaos of the post-crash market, combined with a slick line of fake self-help doctrines, to scam his neighbors out of their homes. At the same time, he trades up in car, house and wife, turning his back on the saintly Sam (Malin Akerman) for fellow wheeler-dealer Jessica (Kerry Bish) and dumping his best friend Bob (Oliver Platt).

Fluk and co-writer Sharon Mashihi clearly intend The Ticket as a parable and a cautionary tale about the fleeting nature of sensory pleasures. Fluk gives the film a substantial and creative layering of visual textures, particularly effective in the films opening moments when Jamess vision returns in a welter of flashes and movements of light, but he resists any urges to make the world in which the film is set concrete and specific. Consequently, The Ticket feels thin, moralistic without an anchor in a social reality.

Petra Epperlein in a scene from the documentary Karl Marx City, directed by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker. Photo courtesy of BOND/360.

That sensation is amplified by the rather flat characterizations. Jamess evolution from loving husband to louse needs more detail to make sense, a problem that is reinforced by the monotony of Stevenss performance (although his glassy blue-gray eyes, offset by a weak chin, make him an effective anti-hero reminiscent of Arthur Kennedy). With more psychological texture and concrete detail, The Ticket could have been a telling fable of incipient corruption. As it is, the film never is more than a blueprint for one.

Oddly, Karl Marx City is a brilliant reversal of that set-up, with the carefully chosen weight of details, drawn from hundreds of hours of surveillance footage and home movies, making the story of filmmaker Petra Epperlein and her family a potent stand-in for thousands whose lives were blighted by the paranoiac secret-keepers of the East German security state. The film takes its title from the East German name for what was once Chemnitz, Karl-Marx Stadt. Fittingly in the 1990s the industrial citys populace chose to return to the former name, trying to shuck off the GDR years as quickly as they had shed the Nazi period before them.

This is where Epperlein grew up and it was, the films narration rather tentatively proposes, a happy childhood. Her father was a successful management figure in one of the citys many industrial plants, esteemed by colleagues and superiors alike. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, he and his wife endured some economic hardships but nothing that would have suggested that shortly after New Years Day 1999, he would commit suicide. Epperleins investigation of the circumstances surrounding that event becomes the armature for her film, a stark and chilling accounting of the pervasive spy state that was the GDR.

Epperlein and Tucker astutely structure the film around a bricolage composed of Stasi footage and tapes, interviews with historians and curators specializing in the East German state, home movies and contemporary footage of Epperleins family and a series of recurring images of the co-director wandering the streets of Chemnitz with a boom mike in her hand, a somewhat obvious yet effective metaphor for her turning the tables on her nations former tormentors. All of this footage is either in black-and-white or faded period color until the penultimate shot of the film when the 21st century suddenly returns in the muted palette of a rather clinical-looking library, a moment made all the more effective for its subtle hues.

As we all know by now, the East German state was the perfect Orwellian beehive, with over 200,000 informers cooperating with the massive security apparatus to eavesdrop on a mere 17 million people. As Karl Marx City makes brutally clear, nothing was off limits in the states obsessive desire to know everything from their political attitudes to their personal hygiene, from their sexual preferences to what street they walked home on about its citizen-victims. And as any German Jew of a certain generation can tell you, that is not a safe street on which to walk home.

The Ticket is screening at the Cinema Village (22 E. 12th St.), and will be available on demand. Cinemavillage.com.

Karl Marx City is playing through April 11 at Film Forum (209 W. Houston St.). filmforum.org.

Original post:
Lack Of Vision - Jewish Week

Twenty people may lose their vision partially after they were injected with a contaminated medicine in their eyes at Guru Teg Bahadur hospital on Saturday.

Of the 20, eight were surgically treated to save their vision at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Sunday.

Some had mild reaction and were just kept under observation, but eight of them needed a vitrectomy, a surgery to remove the infectious part of the vitreous humor. We hope that all of them get most of their vision back, said Dr Atul Kumar, head of the Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences at AIIMS.

One of the vials of the medicine Avastin used by GTB doctors was contaminated. Twenty doses can be prepared from a single vial of the drug and because of one contaminated bottle, the people who received the drug developed an acute reaction, said Dr Kumar.

Read more

Avastin is a standard treatment for blindness prevention due to ageing, diabetes, hypertension and rupturing blood vessels. The medicine is imported from Switzerland and USA.

My brother received the injection in his eye on Saturday. He was called for a routine check-up the next morning. He had pain and red eyes. The doctors were concerned and immediately called their seniors. My brother was sent to AIIMs for a surgery, said Jaswinder Singh, whose brother had been receiving treatment at the ophthalmology department of GTB hospital for more than a month.

He had ruptured vessels in his retina.

After Satish Kumars father received the injection, he started losing his vision and developed a pain in his eyes. He had been receiving treatment at GTB for diabetic retinopathy, damage to the retina due to diabetes.

He had a surgery at AIIMS yesterday (on Monday). The doctors have said that his vision will come back to normal in about a month, said Kumar.

Guru Teg Bahadur hospitals medical director, Dr Sunil Kumar, said the samples have been sent for testing.

Excerpt from:
Delhi: 20 receive contaminated eye injection, may lose sight partially - Hindustan Times

While we all know eating carrots wont magically give us 20-20 vision, can what we eat affect our eyesight?

It turns out, eye health is crucially linked to diet consuming certain essential nutrients can stave off eye disease and age-related degeneration. Fox News spoke to Dr. Andrea Thau, president of the American Optometric Association, and Lauren Blake, a dietitian at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, to get their tips on the best foods to eat for optimum eye health:

1. Leafy greens The carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin found in eggs and leafy greens like spinach and kale are essential for eye health, Thau and Blake said. Studies have shown that lutein and zeaxanthin reduce the risk of chronic eye disease, including age-related macular degeneration, Thau explained. (Age-related macular degeneration is a common cause of vision loss in people over 50.)

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2. Salmon Essential omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish like salmon and tuna, can help reduce inflammation, enhance production of tears, and support the outer layer of the eye, Thau said.

3. Sweet potatoes Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that helps protect our eyes from free radicals, which break down healthy tissues, Thau said. She noted that sweet potatoes and fortified cereals are both great sources of vitamin E.

4. Chickpeas Zinc is a trace mineral and helper molecule that plays an essential role in bringing Vitamin A from the liver to the retina, Thau said. Good sources of zinc include chicken, chickpeas and pumpkin seeds.

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5. Bell peppers Vitamin C, found in foods like bell peppers, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts, can help protect against UV light damage to our eyes, Blake said. It can also lower the risk of developing cataracts and even, in combination with other nutrients, slow down the rate of age-related macular degeneration, Thau said.

6. Almonds Vitamin E is another essential nutrient that can help prevent cataracts and age-related degeneration, Blake said, noting that good sources include wheat germ, peanut butter and almonds.

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7. Vitamin and mineral supplements An overall healthy diet is the best aid for eye health, Blake said. But what happens if you struggle to get the nutrients you need through diet alone? In that case, discuss your concerns with your doctor during your annual eye examination: Thau noted that your physician can work with you to determine whether you need certain supplements to make sure youre getting all the nutrients you need.

Originally posted here:
Foods to improve eyesight: Almonds, sweet potatoes and beyond - Fox News

DJ OG ONE Robert Chhuth (DJ Gigahurtz)

In an heartfelt video update posted to his GoFundMe page on Saturday, DJ OG Onethe Trail Blazers' beloved disk jockeyreports improvements in his health since a life-saving cancer surgery left him without eyesight or feeling in his right arm.

Im hopefully talking straight to the camera, DJ OG One (whose given name is David Jackson) laughs in the video. He says when he came out of surgery, he saw only darkness. However, he is slowly regaining his sight. I can see color, but its still blurred vision, Jackson says of his right eye. His left eye only sees blurred motion.

I have seen some improvement in my arm, he says, displaying an impressive range of motion. After surgery, he was unable to feel or move his right arm, but now only lacks feeling in his hand.

While Jackson was happy to report his improvements, he focused mainly on thanking people for the overwhelming support he has received since his surgery.

I just want to thank everyone who has donated to my GoFundMe account, he says. The account was set up by his friend and fellow DJ Robert Chhuth (AKA DJ Gigahurtz). Donations have ranged from $5-500, and will be used to help pay Jacksons medical bills.

To those who have been sending their thoughts and prayers and positive energy my way, I wanted to thank you as well, he says, because thats just as important.

Jackson remains hopeful that he will continue to recover from the complications of his surgery. I believe Ill be okay, he says. Its a slower process than I would like, but I will get there.

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Good News from the Trail Blazers' DJ OG One, After Cancer Surgery Left Him Without Eyesight - The Portland Mercury (blog)