StemCell Therapy

Aaron Hudson, PhDvice president and general manager of global marketing, SCIEX

Glaucoma is called the silent thief of sight because in its most common form, there are usually no symptoms until the disease has insidiously progressed to the point of irreparable optic nerve damage and irreversible sight loss.1,2 If left untreated, the initial loss of peripheral vision will continue to become tunnel vision, which will then shrink down until all sight is lost.

The thought of being blind sent me into a deep depression.3

Looking back, I could find out that there were many times, and a couple of auto accidents, in which I didnt see cars coming from the left or the right sideand that was a consequence of losing that peripheral vision. But you never know that when you dont know you have any disease.4

I find myself, since Im half-blind, constantly worrying about: what if I lost the vision in my right eye? Because that would change everything about my life. It would change my dreams, it would change my relationships, it would change everything.5

These quotes, all shared by glaucoma patients, dramatize how people who lose their vision also lose peace of mind. Even eye diseases that do not impair vision can be devastating.

After getting dry eyes, I became very frustrated and almost depressed for a while. Its hard to deal with.6

The most common form of glaucoma, open-angle glaucoma, is also the most mysterious. Although a strong hereditary component has been implicated, the underlying disease mechanisms remain largely a mystery.2

To unravel the mystery and to identify biomarkers for the diagnosis and stratification of patients for precision medicines, researchers in Finland and Singapore are working together to analyze the proteome of tears from individuals with eye disease. Specifically, the researchers are using advanced analytics techniques with liquid chromatography (LC) triple time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) and SWATH Acquisition to rapidly obtain complete data on tear samples from individual patients.

Tear fluid is especially useful because it is a more accessible and less complex body fluid than serum or plasma, and sampling is much less invasive. Using the SWATH Acquisition method enables the capture of a wealth of information from each sample in one go, meaning that researchers can go back to interrogate their data time and time again as more information emerges about the biology of the eye and tears. The advantage of the MS method is that it allows researchers to process samples from individual patients quickly, sensitively, and precisely, eliminating the need to pool samples.711 With MS, it is possible to analyze the proteomic profiles of individual patients, even in large clinical trials. Eventually, it may bring proteomic analysis to clinical practice. It has the precision needed to achieve precision/stratified therapy.7,11

In one clinical study, LC-MS and the TripleTOF system were used to evaluate the expression levels of proteins in tears between patients with glaucoma. People with glaucoma are prone to getting concomitant ocular surface disease, such as dry eye disease. During a year-long study of patients with glaucoma who were experiencing dry eye symptoms, the researchers were able to identify protein biomarkers that predicted which patients would benefit most from a switch of eye drop medication from one with preservatives to one without preservatives.7

Using SWATH Acquisition, the researchers discovered that the dry eye symptoms of patients with increased levels of proinflammatory proteins and decreased levels of protective proteins improved more after the medication switch than those of other patients. The study went on to define three subpopulations based on these and other biomarkers: a group that did not respond to the medication switch, a group that had moderate improvement in symptoms in response to the switch, and a group that benefitted the most from the medication switch.7

Another study using the TripleTOF system with SWATH Acquisition to examine the proteomic expression of tears has found proteins that could be used as biomarkers to stratify patients with dry eye disease, identifying those who would benefit most from treatment with flourometholone, as opposed to polyvinyl alcohol.8 Similarly, studies using SWATH Acquisition have revealed proteins that may be potential biomarkers for predicting progression to severe thyroid eye disease in patients with autoimmune thyroid disease,9 whereas other proteins have been discovered that may be indicative of aging and the effects of aging in eye tissues and functions.10

Tears are also being analyzed to understand a host of other eye diseases and infections, such as diabetic retinopathy, peripheral ulcerative keratitis, aniridia, ocular allergies, and trachoma.12 Research continues apace to better understand the physiology and pathophysiology of the eye and eye diseases, particularly over time, as many eye diseases occur more often with older age.

The increasingly common utilization of advanced analytical technologies such as MS to better interrogate biological samples from individual patients and healthy controls means that we are getting ever closer to the identification and use of biomarkers to predict and diagnose disease, as well as to monitor patient responses to therapeutic agents, marking progress in the field of predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine, both in general and in terms of addressing eye disease. Precision medicine promises to revolutionize healthcare for many people, not only those with eye disease but also individuals with other diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.

References1. University of Utah Health. Glaucoma: The Silent Thief of Sight.2. National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health. Glaucoma: The Silent Thief Begins to Tell Its Secrets. 01/12/14.3. Nttinen J, Jylh A, Aapola U, et al. Patient Stratification in Clinical Glaucoma Trials Using the Individual Tear Proteome. Sci. Rep. 2018; 8: Article 12038.4. Glaucoma Australia. My Glaucoma Story. Victorias Story.5. Glaucoma Research Foundation. Art Takahara: Learning about Glaucoma.6. Glaucoma Research Foundation. Personal Story: Hannah Eckstein.7. Cook N, Mullins A, Gautam R, et al. Evaluating Patient Experiences in Dry Eye Disease Through Social Media Listening Research. Ophthalmol. Ther. 2019; 8(3): 40720.8. Nttinen J, Jylh A, Aapola U, et al. Topical fluorometholone treatment and desiccating stress change inflammatory protein expression in tears. Ocul. Surf. 2018; 16: 8492.9. Chng CL, Seah LL, Yang M, et al. Tear Proteins Calcium Binding Protein A4 (S100A4) and Prolactin Induced Protein (PIP) are Potential Biomarkers for Thyroid Eye Disease. Sci. Rep. 2018; 8: Article 16936.10. Nttinen J, Jylh A, Aapola U, et al. AgeAssociated Changes in Human Tear Proteome. Clin. Proteomics 2019; 16: 11.11. Jylh A, Nttinen J, Aapola U, et al. Comparison of iTRAQ and SWATH in a Clinical Study with Multiple Time Points. Clin. Proteomics 2018; 15: 24.12. Hagan S, Martin E, Enrquez-de-Salamanca A. Tear Fluid Biomarkers in Ocular and Systemic Disease: Potential Use for Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine. EPMA J. 2016; 7: 15.

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SCIEX is a Danaher operating company.

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Surveying the Tear Proteome to Stratify Glaucoma Patients - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

RICHMOND, Va.(WRIC)Conexus needs your help this Fall to help give area children the gift of sight. The non-profit goes into schools to give children eye tests. 80% of what a child learns in school is through vision, and 1 in 4 school children have a vision problem significant enough to impact learning, and in Greater Richmond, that number is closer to 1 in 3. Studies indicate that children with uncorrected vision of less than 20/20 are 3 times more likely to fail a grade in school. Undetected and untreated vision problems impact incidences of juvenile delinquency, adult illiteracy, and unreached potential.

During the 2018-2019 school year, Conexus screened over 54,000 children across the Commonwealth and 16,959 were referred for additional exams; a rate of 31.2%. The national average is 25%. In Greater Richmond, 12,006 children were screened by Conexus with a referral rate of a staggering 39%.

Through the Conexus Gift of Light campaign, you can help the organization get into schools and help children. For a charitable gift of $10, Conexus can provide a child a VisioCheck screening; for a charitable gift of $50, Conexuscan provide an eye exam and glasses for a child; for a charitable gift of $150, Conexus can provide screening for anentire classroom; and for a larger charitable gift of $500, Conexus can provide an entire day of Mobile Vision Clinicservices. You can donate online here.

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Conexus needs help to give the gift of clear sight to kids across RVA and beyond - 8News

BALTIMORE, Oct. 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Deadly. Blinding. Costly. Epidemic. These are the words used to describe diabetes, a devastating condition affecting more than 30 million Americans (about 9.4% of the population). Of those, nearly 30 percent (or 10 million people), have diabetic retinopathy, a potentially blinding disease that costs Americans more than $500 million every year.

The new Versant Health white paper, The health and financial costs of diabetic retinopathy, outlines the toll both physically and financially that diabetic retinopathy can take on a person. Not only can the disease have a debilitating impact on vision, but medical costs associated with diabetic retinopathy are higher than with other diabetes-related conditions, including neuropathy and chronic kidney disease.

"Early intervention is critical when it comes to the successful treatment of diabetic retinopathy," says Mark Ruchman, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Versant Health and contributor to the white paper "In its early stages, when treatment has the greatest likelihood of success, patients are typically asymptomatic. Thus, a regular eye exam is a critical component of any health and wellness program to reduce blindness from this disease."

Versant Health supports the overall health of its diabetic members in several ways, striving to reduce the risk for and/or severity of diabetic eye disease, including Diabetic Outreach, medical management, and detailed provider portal questionnaires. To learn more, download the health and financial costs of diabetic retinopathy white paperfrom the Versant Health website.

About Versant HealthVersant Health is one of the nation's leading managed vision care companies serving more than 33 million members nationwide. Through our Davis Vision plans and Superior Vision plans, we help members enjoy the wonders of sight through healthy eyes and vision. Providing vision and eye health solutions that range from routine vision benefits to medical management, Versant Health has a unique visibility and scale across the total eye health value chain.As a result, members enjoy a seamless experience with access to one of the broadest provider networks in the industry and an exclusive frame collection.Commercial groups, individuals, third parties, and health plans that serve government-sponsored programs such as Medicaid and Medicare are among our valued customers.

For more information visitversanthealth.com.

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Versant Health releases white paper: The health and financial costs of diabetic retinopathy - Herald-Mail Media

For many of us, our eyesight is something we take for granted until we start getting older.

And then, suddenly we think, Oh, I might need glasses to read, and we accept thats part of the process. But theres more to it.

Eye health is something you can actually help controlas you get older, especially to reduce your risk ofAge-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) which can lead to low vision and blindness.

Anyone whos caring for a parent or grandparent would want the best for their eyesight too. So, we all need to know what we can do and there arepreventative measures that go beyond just wearing sunglasses to block UV rays.

Here are four facts about your eyes that can help protect your vision, and the vision of those you care for, for years to come.

You may already know that smoking can increase your risk of developing an eye condition. But did you know that high cholesterol and high blood pressure can too?

High cholesterol and high blood pressure can damage the blood vessel walls, increasing the likelihood of things like blood clots.

Take note also if you have an older person in your life who may need help getting on top of these things.

No, we dont mean just eating lots of carrots!

To help reduce the risk of developing an eye condition, Macular Disease Foundation Australia (MDFA) recommends that we adopt the following simple practices as a normal part of our diets:

Now, what about carrots? It turns out theyre not thenumber one food for eye health, despite what were told as kids.

MDFA notes that while carrots are a good source of vitamin A, which is important for general health, you should choose dark leafy greens as your main eye health vegetable.

For recipes that are tailored to improving your eye health, check out their free Eat For Your Eyes electronic cookbook on theirwebsite.

AMD is a chronic eye disease, which if left unchecked, may cause blindness. Its also the leading cause of blindness in Australia.

The macula is the part of your eye used for sharp, central vision. AMD causes the macula to deteriorate, and over time leads to blurred sight, and even black spots in your central vision.

This makes it hard to drive, read and recognise peoples faces. Its a scary thought for a lot of us, isnt it? And its particularly hard to watch a loved one going through it.

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4 facts you need to know about your eyes as you age. - Mamamia

Nicole Cicchetti said she felt instantly isolated when she covered her eyes with a black mask at Dining in the Dark. Of course I couldnt see, but my hearing was affected too: it was like the conversation at the table became muffled, explained Cicchetti, one of 180 guests at Vision Loss Alliance of New Jerseys annual fundraiser on Oct. 24.

Across The Meadow Wood ballroom, VLANJ participant and line dance instructor Harry Buddy Bradley coached Jill McNeil as she struggled to slice her chateaubriand. The next challenge was eating the small-cut pieces. She laughed when she brought an empty fork to her mouth. Ive done that three times! she said. Fourth try was a charm.

Held during Blindness Awareness Month, Dining in the Dark gave sighted guests a glimpse of what life is like for people who are blind or have significant vision loss. It also showcased the fulfilling lives people with vision loss enjoy.

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I never lost my vision; I lost my eyesight! said Joseph Ruffalo Jr., president of the New Jersey affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind. Ruffalo and the Morristown Medical Center Community Health Committee received VLANJs Founders Award, while VLANJ honored Senior Program Manager Linda Groszew for 15 years of service.

VLANJ is one of the states longest-serving nonprofits for adults with vision loss. Created in 1943 as a social club in Newark, it relocated to Denville in 1955 and operated as a summer camp for women. It evolved into the only comprehensive, nonresidential vision rehabilitation program for adults in New Jersey. VLANJ provides direct services in three counties to 225 adults, and another 1,000 participate in outreach programs.

I am inspired daily by the individuals who attend the programs that we offer. They refuse to let vision loss define who they are and what they can accomplish, VLANJ Executive Director Kris Marino said.

Longtime newspaperman and book author Mark DiIonno, who emceed the event, told guests how impressed he was by the camaraderie he witnessed at VLANJ. That sense of community is paramount to what this organization is all about, DiIonno said.

Vision Loss affects 1 out of 40 adults in New Jersey, and the numbers are expected to increase significantly as the population ages. The National Eye Institute projects the number of people with visual impairment or blindness in the U.S. will double to more than 8 million by 2050.

Dining in the Dark guests watched three videos of VLANJ participants describing how the nonprofit has impacted their lives. They also heard from VLANJ trustee Claudia Schreiber, who became blind more than a decade ago, when her two children were still in elementary school.

Devastated, she turned to VLANJ, and learned skills that helped her reclaim her independence.

This was the beginning of my journey back, Schreiber said. Slowly, slowly, I started to feel like the person I was before. A sculptor, Schreiber returned to her art, and has become a mentor and advocate for others with vision loss. I am happier today than I ever have been in my whole life! she said.

Dining in the Dark, which included a silent auction and a wine pull, raised more than $50,000 to provide services at the nonprofits center in Denville and at locations in Montclair in Essex County and Ridgewood in Bergen County.

The event was sponsored by: Aegis Capital Corp.; Williams Jones Wealth Management; Paramount Assets, LLC; Peapack Private; Carl Stahl Sava Industries, Inc.; Thatcher McGhees; Summit Lions Club; Mynt Properties, LLC Commercial Real Estate; The Church of the Saviour; Norman Dean Home for Services; Anthony Felicetta; and Florio Management. Joseph and Antoinette Cicchetti chaired the event, and members of the Chester Lioness Club volunteered.

ABOUT VISION LOSS ALLIANCE OF NEW JERSEY

Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey is a 501(c)(3) that provides practical training and emotional support to help those who have experienced profound vision loss regain self-esteem and self-reliance. Since its founding in 1943, Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey has used a holistic approach to empower those with profound vision loss to live engaged, productive and independent lives. Go to vlanj.org for more information.

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180 Guests at Dining in the Dark Glimpse Life with Low Vision - TAPinto.net

Potentially the most successful coach in the history of rugby union is hiding in plain sight. Maybe it is because she is a woman and gives relatively few interviews. More likely it is because people do not see her on the touchline or in the coaching box each week. Whichever it is, her visionary work will be staring everyone in the face in Saturdays World Cup final.

Should England win she will also be entitled to a unique place in rugby history. Only a handful of oval-ball legends Richie McCaw, Steve Hansen, Kieran Read have shared in two World Cup triumphs. No one, male or female, has ever achieved three. Step forward Englands unobtrusive secret weapon, Dr Sherylle Calder, now just 80 minutes away from an unprecedented global hat-trick.

Sixteen years ago, when many were dismissing the concept of a vision specialist as a gimmick, Calder was a valued member of Clive Woodwards backroom staff during Englands lengthy climb to 2003 success. In 2007, in the green and gold tracksuit of her native South Africa, she helped the Springboks conquer the world. And now here she is again, back in the red rose fold at the behest of Eddie Jones, who knows a winner when he sees one.

Have you ever wondered exactly why, say, Jonny May looks a more rounded, confident player; why Henry Slade is snaffling more interceptions, or noted the increasingly deft handling of Maro Itoje and Englands other big forwards? A significant part of the explanation can be traced back to the regular eye exercises Calder has conducted with Joness squad for almost three years.

In her previous role with the Springboks she turned the winger Bryan Habana into world rugbys greatest try poacher to the point where Habana was still going through last-minute reflex-sharpening work with her just seconds before the 2007 final against England kicked off. As a former South African hockey international, Calder is that rarest of mentors: someone who both understands the psyche of top athletes and can provide specific tools to help them improve on a daily basis.

Her EyeGym programmes have helped improve the performance of everyone from the golfer Ernie Els to the Mercedes F1 driver Valtteri Bottas but, having grown up in Bloemfontein, rugby has always been on her radar.

As a kid I used to watch South Africa in the early hours of the morning with my parents when they played the All Blacks. If youd told me then Id ever be involved in a World Cup I wouldnt have believed you, Calder says.

If youd told me Id be involved in three World Cups Id have said: Youre dreaming. If you told me Id win even two World Cups Id have said you were completely crazy.

Famously, Calder is on record as saying that spending too long on mobile devices, not least on match days, hinders athletic performance because it does not encourage peripheral vision, spatial awareness or increase eye movement. Her focus, instead, is on helping players to train their instincts and, as a result, make more effective decisions under pressure. Handling is only one aspect. Your eyes will show you, for example, which running line to take or where not to go. Timing of tackles, timing of runs, judgment of kicks and passes . . . people forget that for the past three years the players have been training that.

So when Itoje scoops a ball improbably off his toes or Tom Curry emerges almost overnight as a top-class lineout option, it is not quite the happy accident it might appear at first glance.

Habana, for one, felt Calders exercises made a massive difference to his game. He used to say to me: Thanks for making my eyes as fast as my feet. He felt that even though he was really quick that didnt mean his timing of runs and tackles would be correct. Timing comes from what you see. High balls? I believe all players should be able to take them. When commentators say: Thats a great catch, I think: Thats what he should be doing.

Calder is adamant her techniques can be applied to every walk of life and all ages. We do a lot of work with young kids. Parents started coming back to us saying: Our kids academic results have improved. If you can read information quickly, comprehend it immediately and then use it effectively . . . thats exactly what happens on a sports field as well. Its about picking up information early and then being able to execute it.

The proof of her worth will be even more glaring if England can replicate their 2003 triumph this weekend. Calder still has fond memories of that era, having been convinced for a long while that Martin Johnsons squad would rule the world.

They were definites to win, I always knew that. But they also did the right things, both as a management and as a player group. Thats what wins World Cups. I remember talking to Jonny Wilkinson on the field afterwards. Wow, fantastic I said. Well done. He replied: Thank you for what youve done for my game. For him, at that moment, to have the presence of mind to say that shows what a quality bunch they were. They were an amazing combination of people together.

Winning with the Boks in 2007 and subsequently at the Suntory club in Japan also cemented her professional respect for Jones. I see him as a rugby mastermind. Thats my experience of him. Hes great at what he does.

She also knows the Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus but any split national loyalties will disappear out of the window should the Webb Ellis Cup once again find its way into Englands and her own hands.

It would be marvellous. Words probably couldnt describe it but Im not a person who counts their chickens before theyre hatched. Im just blessed. I created the science, I love what I do and I know it makes a difference. Guardian

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The eyes have it: England vision coach Calder closing in on unique prize - The Irish Times

Aniridia is a congenital disorder that causes severe eye problems, and also affects metabolism sometimes resulting in severe obesity. It is associated with mutation of a major developmental gene, called PAX6. People born with aniridia have no irises in their eyes, often are legally blind, and whatever eyesight they have continually worsens with age. The disease is uncommon, but disorders associated with genetic mutations can involve common eye problems, including cataracts and glaucoma.

To better understand and treat aniridia and other disorders involving the PAX6 gene, researchers and clinicians at the University of Virginia are combining clinical research, patient treatment and powerful basic science investigations.

They have organized for this weekend a major symposium focused on congenital eye disorders and the PAX6 gene, bringing together top researchers from the University and around the nation and Europe, along with patients living with aniridia and their families.

The organizers are Rob Grainger, W.L. Lyons Brown Professor of Biology, and Dr. Peter Netland, Vernah Scott Moyston Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology. Both are members of UVAs Brain Institute, and are research collaborators.

In his studies, Grainger uses frogs that are mutated to mimic aniridia and other eye disorders. Netland treats congenital eye disorders and conducts clinical research.

Here, the two colleagues explain for UVA Today readers their research and the goals of the 2019 John F. Anderson Symposium, Aniridia-PAX6 and Beyond

Q. Why did you organize this particular kind of symposium, connecting how eyes develop before birth and genetic diseases that can follow?

Grainger: Each of us works on different perspectives concerning eye formation. In my lab, we focus on how the eye is constructed during embryonic development; in Peter Netlands practice, on how to treat diseases that affect these processes.

These are complementary approaches two sides of the same coin. In one case we focus on the assembly of the eye, and in the other, what occurs when the eye is not constructed properly, leading to multiple serious consequences for the patient.

This interplay highlights the importance of looking at these two perspectives together, a collaboration in this case between the two of us (one in the School of Medicine and the other in the College of Arts & Sciences) each providing insights for the other.

Netland: The value of this kind of interaction has motivated us to bring together many of the worlds experts who pursue these two perspectives, including as well a third group: patients and their families who want to learn more about these diseases and treatments. There are few meetings held with this sort of three-way interaction in mind, and we anticipate that many fruitful insights and collaborations will emerge.

Q. Dr. Netland, why is aniridia an area of particular interest to you?

Netland: More than 20 years ago, I spent an extended period of time in the Middle East and India, where there are high rates of consanguinity and congenital eye disorders, which led to a book I produced about pediatric glaucomas, other scholarly contributions and development of my clinical skills. About 20 years ago, I cared for an infant with aniridia and the family of that patient. The potentially disabling issues for the patient, which involved all parts of the eye, and the compelling issues that the family were dealing with drew me toward this condition.

Another patient was very influential to me, because she was a patient advocate and mother of an affected child. I began to see increasingly larger numbers of patients with congenital eye disorders and aniridia, and I developed further clinical and academic interests in the topic.

Around 20 years ago, we started biannual meetings with the patient advocacy group Aniridia Foundation International, and developed connections with other patient support groups, which helped shape the direction of our efforts. With increasing contact with the patients and their families, I became deeply interested in trying to help these patients.

About 20 years ago, I cared for an infant with aniridia and the family of that patient. The potentially disabling issues for the patient, which involved all parts of the eye, and the compelling issues that the family were dealing with drew me toward this condition.

- Dr. Peter Netland

This is a disease that results from damage to the gene PAX6, already known to be perhaps the most fundamental gene involved in eye formation overall and consequently affecting the entire visual system. However, we knew much less about how to treat the many facets of this disorder; for example, cataract, glaucoma and corneal opacification (scarring), which are frequently acquired by patients. Some of these problems are common in the general population, and have broad significance. Many advances have been made in the past, but there is much more progress that is needed for the future.

Q. Why do you use frogs in your eye research, Professor Grainger?

Grainger: We have been examining eye development in frog embryos for over 20 years in my lab, initially because so much embryology, going back to the beginning of the 20th century, was done on these large, easy-to-obtain-and-raise embryos.

In the early days, we were learning how the different parts of the eye, notably the lens and retina, are formed by interactions between parts of the embryo to form a coordinated whole organ exactly the interactions that are disturbed when things go awry in aniridia patients.

Q. Six years ago the Grainger lab developed a gene-editing technique that allows you to mimic human lesions. How is this advancing eye research?

Grainger: While the utility of the frog system for understanding embryological processes is undisputed, during the decades that we have been doing research, the techniques allowing us to manipulate and understand gene function have blossomed, including genome projects and more recently gene editing the ability to inactivate genes of interest to learn how they function during normal development.

In 2013, we published our first paper using this new technology to inactivate genes critical for eye formation in frogs and to follow in precise detail how things go awry. This has allowed us to make important clarifications in how these genes contribute to development of the eye. Because the frog eye develops much as the human eye, these mutations help us look in detail in a way not feasible in human embryos; thereby allowing us to understand how these genetic errors lead to the problems that occur in human patients. Specifically, we have made mutations in frogs in the PAX6 gene that lead to frogs having aniridia, with features of the animals strikingly similar to those in human patients.

These are complementary approaches two sides of the same coin. In one case we focus on the assembly of the eye, and in the other, what occurs when the eye is not constructed properly, leading to multiple serious consequences for the patient.

- Robert Grainger

Q. What kind of clinical research and therapies are UVA conducting that connect with the basic research?

Netland: We have looked at many of the vision-threatening eye problems in our aniridia patients. We have also found that their mutation is linked with obesity, and have performed clinical trials to evaluate the causes of this. We have performed studies to better understand the mechanisms for some of their clinical problems, such as glaucoma.

We are excited about precision medicine trials identifying patients who can benefit from a specific gene-based therapy and we recently completed a two-year clinical trial evaluating targeted gene therapy. In parallel, similar problems are under study in the frog to complement and build on the work with human patients.

Q. What future do you see for patients with eye disease as this research moves forward?

Netland: We are working with patients with known mutations of a specific gene, so naturally we are excited about precision medicine approaches to these patients. We believe that genetic-based approaches will continue to increase understanding of these diseases and will provide the basis for rational therapy for affected patients, and more broadly for others in the general population who are suffering from the same clinical problems. We believe that new imaging techniques will produce new insights in this area.

Grainger: In the frog, our lab has developed a method for efficiently creating exact patient mutations, again amplifying the opportunities for an integrated approach to precision medicine. There are opportunities with in situ gene modification and other gene-based therapies for addressing problems and improving the quality of life of patients.

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Patients, Physicians and Researchers Gather to Probe Genetic Eye Disorders - University of Virginia

After an Ohio mom's daughters, who were born deaf, receivedcochlear implants, a device that provides those with moderate to profound hearing loss with a modified sense of sound, they were thriving. Shortly after the procedure, however, the then five- and two-year-old girls lost their father a pilot in theUnited States Air Force in a plane crash. Not long after that, both daughters failed a vision screening at their school.

Anna Chambers's daughters, Ava and Stella Rose, were diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder,Usher syndrome, the leading cause of combined deafness and blindness. With no cure, Ava, 14, and Stella Rose, 11, will ultimately be robbed of their sight.

With their diagnosis and the death of their father, Capt Jeff Haney, the "holidays had lost the sparkle, according to Anna.

The diagnosis was a curveball I was not expecting after the tragic loss of their father," Anna tells Yahoo Lifestyle, adding that the family had left Alaska where Haney was stationed, to move to Ohio, after his death.

"It was overwhelming for me as a mother, and I just knew I needed to start some new traditions for our new life," Anna says. "To bring back a little joy."

Ava and Stella Rose, sisters who have Usher syndrome, were born deaf. Now, their mother, Anna, is ensuring they have "visual memories" as their eyesight deteriorates. (Photo: Anna Chambers)

Growing up, her girls had always asked their mom to dress up with them on Halloween. Typically, without having the time to put together a costume for two young children and herself, she'd toss on a simple item, like a cowboy hat, to go trick-or-treating.

Anna tells Yahoo Lifestyle that dressing up was "always something I said 'no' to," but following her daughters diagnosis, she "wanted to start saying 'yes' more."

The sisters' eyesight has already begun to deteriorate, causing night blindness and other issues.

"After realizing their vision would slowly keep deteriorating, creating visual memories and new traditions for our new life became so important to me," Anna says. "This is where my idea of dressing up to surprise them for Halloween came to me."

Even though Ava and Stella Rose are entering eighth and sixth grade, respectively, and they may be a bit embarrassed by their mom putting together an epic costume, they still talk about what Anna will surprise them with during the months before Halloween.

This year, Anna dressed as Lady Gaga, with the help of her friendMegan Massingill Engelmann.

"I think Lady Gaga was the perfect choice this year. We all love her," Anna tells Yahoo Lifestyle. "My focus with them this year is to make sure they know that God made them perfectly. God makes no mistakes. I hope they will always be true to who they are, no matter what."

Anna, the founder ofSisters for Sight, hopes to raise awareness of her daughters' type of Usher syndrome (Type 1B) and has recently teamed up withSave Sight Now, a foundation dedicated to finding a cure or treatment for childhood blindness related to Usher syndrome Type 1B.

She also hopes that this tradition will always be a happy moment for her daughters.

"I hope that when they are grown, they will look back and it will be a really special memory for them," Anna says. "If they do lose their sight, I hope they will always keep a visual memory of this tradition."

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Mom dresses up as Lady Gaga to 'create visual memory' for her daughters losing their sight - Yahoo Food

UK police are helping to make the roads safer by enforcing vision standards for driving.

Figures released to OT through the Freedom of Information Act reveal that since 2017 police have referred 801 drivers to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) after they failed roadside eyesight checks.

In September last year, road safety charity Brake partnered with police forces in Thames Valley, Hampshire and West Midlands on a month-long campaign to raise awareness about vision and driving.

Drivers had their licence revoked if they could not pass the 20m number plate test.

Brake senior public affairs officer Samuel Nahk highlighted that good eyesight is fundamental to safe driving.

Any driver who gets behind the wheel with poor eyesight is not only putting themselves but all other road users in grave danger. That's why it's vital for drivers to get their eyes professionally checked at least every two years eyesight can deteriorate rapidly without someone noticing, Mr Nahk emphasised.

He shared that the current licensing system does not do enough to protect the public from drivers with poor eyesight.

It is of huge concern that there is no mandatory requirement on drivers to have an eye test throughout the course of their driving life, other than the 20m number plate test when taking the driving test. Only by introducing compulsory professional eye tests can we fully tackle the problem of poor driver vision on our roads, Mr Nahk said.

The DVLA has confirmed that 61,526 motorcycle and car drivers have had their licences revoked since 2012 as a result of poor vision, while 9941 bus and lorry drivers also lost their licences due to poor vision over the same period.

The rest is here:
Laying down the law - AOP

Last year a drunk pigeon won New Zealand Bird of the Year. It's time for our nation's staunchest bird of prey to take out the title, writesVICKI ANDERSON.

On the back country roads of NorthCanterbury, the sun dapples pleasantly through a lush green canopy of trees.Elbow out the window, travelling at a steady 100kmh,suddenly around a gentle blind corner you're confronted with life and death.

Staunchly hunched over acarcass, extracting the dead creature's organs with brutal and determined precision, the swamp harrier aka theharrier hawkor khu doesn't flinch when it spots the vehicle bearing down.

Scott Bowman

Oscar is a little blind owl ''who who who'' visits Christchurch schools and rest homes to teach people about wildlife.

Defiantly the hawk raises its angular head like a thug in an alleyway with a "what are you looking at?" vibe, a rabbit liver or heart dangling from its sharp beak.

READ MORE:*Bird of the Year campaigns to ruffle feathers*Oscar the blind owl winning hearts*Bird is the word - meet the everyday Kiwis saving feathered lives

These birds have "killer vision" so focused on their prey they often don't see cars until it's often too late.

But this time, with an exaggerated pause to gulp down the bloody morsel, the bird slowly and effortlessly unfurls its huge wings and saunters off into the sky with a wild elegance.

You cannot help but stare in awe as it returns to cruisinghigh above paddockand farmland.

The near miss story causes Scotty Bowman of Oxford Bird Rescue, a non-profit organisation dedicated to wildlife rehabilitation,to bury his face with both hands in genuine horror.

"Vehicle strikes are the biggest threat to harrier hawks in New Zealand," he says solemnly.

Beside him, wife and fellow "bird rehabber"Traceynodsin agreement.

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF

This harrier hawk is in rehab at Oxford Bird Rescue. Hawks often blink one eye at a time.

Every year during autumn, winter and early spring the Bowmans end up nursing many harriers back to health from vehicle-inflicted injuries.

New Zealanders value our wildlife, as evidenced by the continued public interest in the winner of the Bird of the Year competition.

The couple are among a growing number volunteering their time to care for injured wildlife.They run their bird rehab centre alongside regular jobs.

Bowman is also the campaign managerfor the harrier hawk in this year's Bird of the Year competition.Harrier (Khu) | Bird of the Year 2019

"On Facebook the campaign managershave been giving each other a bit of stick," he says. "Come on... adrunk pigeon won last year."

Why do our birds need our help to survive?

Clumsy kerer become drunk on fermented berries and crash into things trying to find their nests while our cheeky and photogenic kea get lead poisoning after nibbling just one roof too many.

Forget the cuddly image you've been sold ofpenguins via the sweet dance moves of Happy Feet.Unlike swans, which form monogamous bonds,penguins are the shaggers of the bird world.

Notoriously promiscuous, penguins have sex up to 50 times a day and are essentially riddled with sexually transmitted diseases. They are typically rescued after being bitten by peckish sharks, barracuda or becoming entangled in set nets.

The Bowmans specialise in caring for raptors - harrier hawks and little owls.

WReNNZ Wildlife Rehabilitators Network of New Zealand is a society dedicated to bird rehabilitation. It has been operating for more than 25 years and is open to anyone interested in New Zealand wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and release.

Khuare the largest of the 16 species of harrier. Mori believed them to be a messenger from the gods.

Boasting extremely sharp vision, they can spot the slightest movement from vast distances.

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF

Scotty Bowman, of Oxford Bird Rescue, is the campaign manager for the Harrier Hawk in the New Zealand Bird of the Year 2019. He is rehabilitating this bird after it flew into a front-end loader.

An opportunistic bird, they prefer to hunt live prey such as rabbits, hares, waterfowl, smaller birds, the occasional pkeko, rats and mice.

Scotty Bowman's life as a bird rehabber began in 2012when he hit a harrier hawk driving home from work.

After many phone calls, he found a bird rehabber who took it in and followed itsprogress until it was healed and returned to the wild.

"I got hooked in that way."

Early on,he found himself in some interesting situations.

"There was a hawk on the side of the road injured. I went to pick it up and it got a talon embedded in my hand," he says. "Itried to get it out but I couldn't.

"Eventually I drove home with one hand withthe bird on the passenger seat with the talon still in my other hand and when I got home I called out to Tracey to give me some help to free it."

He turns his hand over to reveal a small white scar.

Other people wear gloves to handle birds of prey but Bowman just reaches around themand deftly swoops them up, secures them and cradles them like an angry baby in his arms.

Fiercely blinking one eye at a time, a tawny-coloured bird stares stoically from its spot under Bowman's wing.

"That bird came from the Department of Conservation in Greymouth. He head-butted a front-end loader. They put him up on a bank and he sat there for two days and they realised something was wrong. I was in Queenstown and drove all the way through to Haast to go and get him."

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF

Bowman checks a Harrier Hawk that was injured after headbutting a front-end loader.

On average only onein 10 birds can be saved and successfully released into the wild.

"It's not the best in terms of figures," he says.

"They eat carrion all year around, but they much prefer fresh and to hunt. They only resort to carrion or roadkill during the colder months when other food becomes more scarce. Roadkill is their last choice basically. If they're eating that you're looking at a starving bird."

This year he has been on a campaign in the Oxford area to help change these statistics.

"Wherever safe to do so, we encourage people to stop and move carrion to the verge to provide a safe meal for these stunning raptors and save a life. It has been incredibly successful and we have had far less birds than usualbeing hit locally."

Natives, their conservation status is "not threatened". If anything some joke these savvy hunting birds are more likely to add to endangered lists, but they play an important part in our environment by both hunting pest species and cleaning up dead animals on farmland.

Each spring the hawks' mating dance is "incredibly dramatic".

Theaerial courtship is often called "sky dancing" and involves plunging u-shaped dives around each other and distinctive loud calls.

The bloke bird apparently offers a loud "kee-a", and maybe even a whistle,to which the female, if keen, responds with a "kee-o".

Ground nesters, they prefer to build nests in swamps and wetlands to lessen access by predators but will also nest in long grass and crop paddocks.

Keenly intelligent, these birds shrewdly selectand strategically placestones warmed by the sun to ensure the nest is kept warm while the motherhunts dinner.

"These birds are just so incredibly clever," says Bowman.

When he talks about hawks, he becomes increasingly animated.Just don't mention falconry. He is not a fan.

"No, don't get me started on that," he says, turning the palms of his hands up apologetically. "I'll get cross... it's not about the birds with them."

As we talk, the hawk which hit the front-end loader is unusually still. Its bright yellow eyes blink as it observes us. its tail feathers are incredibly beautiful up close.

"Most people don't get a chance to see them. They fly away so fast when you see them, it's really hard to get photos of them as anyone who has tried knows.Their eyesight is so fantastic they see you a mile away and move away, that's why it's so hard to get close to them,"Bowman says.

"He's quite unusual because he's so calm. He is probably still recovering from concussion. This bird is not stressed. If they are stressed they open their beaks and leave them open."

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF

Scotty Bowman with a harrier hawk that was injured after headbutting a frontend loader. Bowman is the campaign manager for the harrier hawk in the New Zealand Bird of the Year 2019.

He doesn't give the birds names because it "pays not to get too attached".

"Now and again a bird comes along that you can't help but name, like Hollywood the owl last year Tracey looks after the owlsbut we try not to as a rule."

Bowman gently weighs the stunned bird, which still has a dangling piece of meat in its beak,and then carries it to an outdoor aviary.

"He was very thin when he got here. I had to hand feed him for two days until I finally got him eating. He wasn't happy."

When rescued, the bird also had a "funny stance". Further X-rays showed one leg had an old break which had already fused.

The bird naturally stands with one leg forward like a footwear model.

"There is no nerve damage and he can still use his leg. I just need to build up his muscles."

As hawks age they lighten in colour, changingfrom a richchocolate brown as a juvenile to a mix of white and light tan.

Their eye colour also changes, starting out dark and turningyellow.

HARASSED HAWKS

While the native bush falcon is today considered a threatened species, retreating as forests have been cleared, the harrier hawk is more widespread than ever. According to conservation experts, the khuis "doing OK". This is quite impressive considering their haters.

Depending on what theyfarm, farmers adore and deplore hawksin equal measure.

Its fair to say many landowners have a complicated relationship with them.

Harrier hawks were once treated as vermin and suspected of stealing baby lambs but were given partial protection status in 1986.

However, landowners were still permitted to kill birds threatening their domestic birds and animals specifically "cattle, sheep, horses, mules, asses, dogs, cats, pigs or goats".

Butif a hawk is stalking your alpaca or your pet guinea pig, you can't shoot them without a special permit from DOC.

There are many other curious technicalities in the law when dealing with the hawks,Bowman says.

"Fish and Game decided to target harrier hawks a few years ago, 2014, and now they've almost got no protection. I think the Department of Conservation supported the law change because they cull them over areaswhere the black-billed gulls are. It makes it easier for them to run their culling programmes."

It is illegal to take any feathers from a hawk killed on the road.The fine for killing harrier hawks other than in accordance with the law is $5000 or $10,000 for a body corporate.

The Bowmans appreciate DoC's workbut also negotiatetheir own difficulties withsome of the regulations.

In 2016 they rescued a blind, tiny German owlfound beside a chicken coop by a young child. His mother called the Bowmans to help save his life and Oscar has lived with them ever since.

It is believed Oscar's blindness is a result offlying into the wire fence.

The disabled bird has since become an online hit and won hearts around Canterbury as fans follow his deeds on the Oxford Bird Rescue Facebook page.

Now an advocacy bird, he regularly visits schools, rest homes and other groups to raise awareness.

"We don't technically have a permit for Oscar. If they wanted to, technically DOC could say he needs to be culled," Bowman says.

"If he can't be returned to the wild he should be culled, that's typically what the rules say. It's always black and white for government departments. If Oscar could see we could release him back into the wild but we can't do that as he wouldn't survive. Why does he need to be killed? He's a beautiful bird. Life has a lot of grey areas and sometimes the rules don't fit that."

WILDERNESS REHAB

Seven hawks in various stages of rehabilitation are dangling on the aviary netting as far away from us as they can get, giant wings flapping frantically.

Their beaks are open slightly. We don't want to stress them out so we retreat to until their beaks close again.

Bowmanpoints out onebird. "He is just about ready to be returned to the wild. He was in a bad way when he came in here and now he's nearly fully healed. That's the best part of it, releasing them back where they came from. We always try to return them to the spot they were found."

Across the sprawling paddocks, magpies call to one another.

"That family of magpies has been living in those trees for decades," Bowman pointinto the distance. "They co-exist with these hawks but there was one hawk I rehabilitated and released. He left and then turned up one day about a year later. Everything was going well but then he ate one of the magpies' babies and they forced him out. He shouldn't have done that."

Two years ago the couple were caring for so many birds in their home shelter that it began to take a toll on their health.

A Massey University survey in 2017 looked at compassion fatigue exhaustion from prolonged exposure to the stresses of caring for sick and vulnerable wildlife among New Zealand wildlife rehabilitators.

It found most were able to keep a healthy balance, despite the pressures of the role, but this wasn't the case for the Bowmans.

"Because we are doing this around our 9-5 jobs and it is in our home, we took on too much, but now we have scaled it back to primarily concentrating on raptors to make it more manageable so we can keep going.Bird rescue is a lot of work and a big commitment but it is all worth it when you watch that effort result in a wild bird flying free."

Koshy Yohannan

Fran, aka Miss December in the 2017 Wingspan Calendar, is an adult female harrier hawk.

See the article here:
Khu vision: Why this harrier hawk is New Zealand's swaggiest bird - Stuff.co.nz

Here is why shooting glasses are so important.

Protective eyewear is one of the most important investments you can make if you're a regular at the shooting range. A good pair of glasses offer eye protection not just from spent shells or casings, but from things like unburned powder and small pieces of material that may ricochet off your target and back at you.

Safetyglasses are arguably as important as hearing protection for preserving two of your most important senses. But while people talk about ear protection all the time, eye protection is a secondary thought.

Which is why we're addressing this issue today. We're going to give you some suggestions on the bestshooting glasses out there and why you should be wearing them more often.

Both men and women who shoot guns need to take this simple advice: find a pair of shooting glasses that work for you, and never skip wearing them for as long as you're aiming down a barrel.

As we've already stated, shooting can be hazardous to the eyes. The biggest and most realistic thing I've encountered is spent casings. Every once in a great while, my Glock 19 handgun will throw a piece of hot brass back in my face. You don't want something like that to hit your eye. It could cause permanent damage and in some extreme cases, even blindness.

When you're shooting a target at close range, there is also the chance for pieces of your target or even unburned powder to get deflected back at you. Now, you should always be taking precautions to avoid this type of thing. But weird stuff happens sometimes, and a piece of debris can get launched back at you from far downrange. The more you shoot, the more likely something like this will happen to you.

The other reason why shooting safety glasses are so important is simply because of the off chance of a catastrophic failure. It's very rare, but if something happens and a round leaves the barrel sideways or there's an obstruction in the barrel, it could cause your firearm to literally blow up in your hands.

If your face is down peering through a scope or set of sights, that puts your eyes in immediate danger in a situation like this. Protective eyewear could literally save your vision.

There are many different things to consider for eye protection. First off, I've seen some people just wear a simple pair of sunglasses from off the rack at Walmart. While this will protect your eyes from the little things like spent brass or powder, you should really use a pair designed for shooting.

That's because most safety glasses are made with a polycarbonate material that helps prevent them from shattering. This goes back to what I said about preparing for a worst-case scenario. Many glasses will have a list of safety standards they meet in their promotional materials.

You might see the phrase "ANSI Z87.1 certified" tossed around in marketing for shooting glasses. It's not a marketing buzz term. This simply refers to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The Z87.1 just means it meets basic standards. It's not a bad idea to get a pair of shooting glasses that satisfies them.

In regards to lens color, you'll be inundated with a ton of choices. I find clear lenses work best for most scenarios. Many people stick to clear just for indoor ranges, and tinted when they shoot outside. I suggest trying several pairs to see what you like best.

The lens color can actually enhance your shooting if you know what to look for. Have you ever watched an Olympic shooting event on TV? You probably noticed the shooters change their lenses depending on the lighting conditions.

For instance, if it's sunny and clear out, you'll see them wearing darker lenses that look like sunglasses. But if there are clouds in the sky, you might see them in blue, bronze or yellow-colored lenses.

There's a tactical advantage here, especially for clay shooters.

The contrast created by the colored lens, especially the yellow option, helps them more easily pick up their target. Some of the best ballistic shooting glasses on the market today offer interchangeable lenses to help adapt to the conditions.

You should also consider a comfortable fit, especially if you're going to be wearing them for extended periods of time. Look at things like the nose pads and flexibility. If they leave a mark on your nose, they probably aren't ideal. Users of eyeglasses are already aware of how important a comfortable nosepiece can be.

Some styles will protect better than others. A flat, aviator style of glasses isn't going to offer better protection than a wraparound style.

Other features to consider are how scratch-resistant a pair is, and whether or not they are covered by any warranty. You want to get your money's worth, right? Oh, and don't forget about anti-fog properties. Nothing is more annoying than having to constantly wipe the lenses because your warm breath or thick humidity keeps fogging them up.

I used to wear prescription eyeglasses when I was younger. These days I wear a pair of yellow-tinted glasses to protect my eyes from computer eye strain while I'm working. So, I'm aware of the problems a pair of glasses can cause when it comes to simple things like using binoculars or rangefinders.

I'm sure many of you will agree with me when I say that sunglasses or shooting glasses designed to fit over prescription eyeglasses are a real pain to use. Annoyingly, I've never found a pair I liked. The choice was always between hassling with annoying gimmicks that never seemed to work properly, or sacrificing my vision while shooting.

But fortunately, some companies have recognized this and are now offering specialty prescription eyeglasses that allow you to keep your vision and protect your eyes from danger at the same time.

If you're lucky, your ophthalmologist may be able to order a pair of these for you. Otherwise there are companies like Tactical RX or Revision Outdoors that you can order a pair from. They are more expensive than a standard pair of safety glasses, but at least you won't have to fool with adapters or fit-over styles anymore. It's probably worth the investment in the end.

We checked out some of the offerings of the top brands out there and here are a few with great impact resistance we can recommend that will help protect your eyes at the shooting range.

The good news about most of these glasses is that they are very reasonably priced.

These Wiley X Saber Advanced glasses are one of the top offerings on Cabela's. They carry high ratings from users on the site for their comfort and adaptability. The Wiley X meetsANSIZ87.1 and OSHA standards and feature foam on the nosepiece for a more comfortable fit. They also come with a variety of lens options including grey/rust, grey/clear and grey/rust/vermillion options to truly get your money's worth. Some reviewers say they get double use as UV protection as sun/driving glasses off the shooting range!

Sometimes simplicity is best. These Beretta glasses are available with clear, orange or yellow polycarbonatelenses. The frame is plastic, meaning these are extremely light weight. This is a wrap-around style which should fit most faces comfortably. We especially like the price. At just $20, this is a great option to protect your sight on a budget.

These Cabela's branded glasses are also priced at only $20. But these are a little more stylish if you want to use them off the range to keep harmful UV rays out of your face. They're ANSI-rated and include a rubberized nosepiece. That will help keep them on your face for a long day at the range. As a bonus, you get a pair of foam earplugs with these in case you haven't bought hearing protection yet.

You know what they say, you get what you pay for. Oakley is a very popular brand of high-quality eye protection that you can trust to keep your eyes safe. These M Frame Alpha impact resistant glasses come with an anti-fog coating and the ability to swap out lenses via a "Trap Door" exchange system. The only downside to them is the price. These glasses cost $156.

For more outdoor content fromTravis Smola, be sure to follow him onTwitterand check out hisGeocachingandOutdoors with Travis Youtube channels.

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Shooting Glasses: Why You Need Them, and the Best to Choose From - Wide Open Spaces

A man testifying in the trial of two brothers, one of them a Toronto police officer, accused of brutally beating a black teen nearly three years ago, described peering through his window that night and seeing two people repeatedly punching someone against a wall.

James Silverthorn told the court he awoke in the early hours of Dec. 28, 2016, to the sound of screams so loud he believed they were inside his Whitby, Ont., home, and after realizing they came from outside, rushed to see what was happening through the shutters of his bathroom window.

"I could see that one individual was being beaten by two other people," between his home and the neighbouring one, Silverthorn said Tuesday. "It was continuous, it was very hard."

Shortly afterward, a black male began pounding on Silverthorn's front door, yelling for someone to call 911, he testified. Silverthorn's wife had already made the call and he quickly went back upstairs to speak to the dispatcher, he said.

The banging at the door stopped, and at some point, Silverthorn looked through his front window and saw someone on the ground of his driveway next to his wife's SUV, he told the court.

One of the two people he had seen doling out punches earlier stood nearby, holding what looked like a broomstick or pipe and using it to "stab down" and prevent the person on the ground from getting up, he said. The other person from earlier was at the end of the driveway talking on a cellphone, he said.

Silverthorn, a district chief with Toronto Fire Services, was in the witness box inthe trial of Michael Theriault, a Toronto police constable, and his brother Christian Theriault, who are jointly charged with aggravated assault in the beating of Dafonte Miller in the early hours of Dec. 28, 2016.

Michael Theriault, who was off duty at the time, and his brother are also separately charged with obstruction of justice in connection with how they portrayed the incident to investigators. They have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Prosecutors allege the brothers saw Miller, then 19, walking in the area with friends, chased him, assaulted him, then continued that assault after he briefly escaped them.

Court heard the pair told police they caught Miller breaking into their car. The young man was arrested that night but the charges were later dropped.

In a brief opening statement on Tuesday, Crown attorney Peter Scrutton said the brothers could also be found guilty of aggravated assault for carrying out an unlawful arrest or using excessive force during that arrest.

A police officer called to investigate the incident testified that she first saw Miller face down on the ground with a white man restraining him, but was able to see him more clearly after the teen was pulled up.

"There was a quantity of blood coming from his left eye.It appeared to me to be a significant injury," Durham Regional Police Service Const. Jennifer Bowler told an Oshawa, Ont., court.

"It made me a little queasy," she said.

Bowler said she was dispatched to the outside of a home after three calls were made to 911 one by Miller, one by a resident, and one by a man reporting that he had caught someone breaking into cars.

She was tasked with photographing the area and anything that seemed relevant, including any injuries, the officer said.

Bowler said she took photos of Miller and of Christian Theriault's hand, which had a cut, but that no other injuries were reported or visible. She told the brothers to get in touch if injuries appeared in the next few days but to her knowledge, they did not, she testified.

Under cross-examination, the officer said it was possible the brothers would have been in shock immediately after the incident, and would have seen a doctor rather than police if any injuries emerged later.

Among the other things Bowler saw and photographed at the scene were blood spots and droplets, a pair of black gloves, a metal pole, two cellphones and some change, she told the court.

The constable eventually went to take photographs of a truck at a nearby home after another man, this one in his 50s, said it was "entered as part of the incident," she testified. Bowler took photos that showed the inside console of the truck was left open.

When she returned to the original scene, she noticed blood on the hood of a car in the driveway, and assumed the "tissue" came from Miller's eye, she said.

After collecting items at the site, Bowler took them to a police station for processing, and noticed that some of them appeared to have blood on them, including the metal pole, she said.

The pole, roughly a metre long, was shown in court Tuesday.

Lawyers for Miller have previously alleged race was a factor in the incident, and that the Theriault brothers kicked their client and hit him in the face with a metal pipe.

Miller's left eye was knocked out of its socket and split into four, his lawyers have said. He also suffered a broken nose, broken orbital bone, bruised ribs, reduced vision in his right eye and a fractured wrist, they said.

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Witness testifies he saw 2 men punching someone 'very hard' in Dafonte Miller beating trial - CBC.ca

"La rptition au foyer de la danse" (ca. 1870-1872) is included in the Musee d'Orsay's exhibition "Degas at the Opera."

"La rptition au foyer de la danse" (ca. 1870-1872) is included in the Musee d'Orsay's exhibition "Degas at the Opera."

Photo: Edgar Degas/The Phillips Collection

"La rptition au foyer de la danse" (ca. 1870-1872) is included in the Musee d'Orsay's exhibition "Degas at the Opera."

"La rptition au foyer de la danse" (ca. 1870-1872) is included in the Musee d'Orsay's exhibition "Degas at the Opera."

Degas had a gift for conveying the truth - even when he was making it all up

PARIS - Fake news and truth, the terms we hear so much about lately, are supposed to be mutually exclusive. Truth is obdurate and aloof. Fake is fake: It's a sham. Simpering and obscene, it demeans everyone it touches.

We want - we need - the distinction to be clear-cut, since so much rides on it. But in the realm of art (isn't it always so?) things are more complicated.

Take Edgar Degas, whose work is now the subject of a sprawling, stupendous show, "Degas at the Opra," at the Muse d'Orsay. (It will travel in modified form to the National Gallery of Art next year.)

Degas is supposed to have been on the side of truth. But truth in art and truth in public life are very different things. And we get Degas badly wrong if we mistake him for a documentarian.

The standard Degas narrative is that he dispensed with the stale repertoire of religious, mythological and historical subjects and turned his gaze instead to contemporary life: the city's racetrack, cafe concerts, milliners' shops, brothels and ballet classes. Everyone knows, too, that Degas helped form the Impressionist group - and what was Impressionism about if not showing the world as it is?

That story is fine as far as it goes. But neat stories - especially those involving sunlight and poppy fields - don't really adhere to Degas. He was an indoor creature, slightly vampiric, ferociously independent. ("If I were the government," he once said, "I would have a special brigade of gendarmes to keep an eye on artists who paint landscapes from nature. Oh, I don't mean to kill anyone; just a little dose of birdshot now and then as a warning." And you want to call this guy an Impressionist?)

In the century since Degas's death, the idea that he embraced Impressionist-style spontaneity and natural light has been hard to shake. So has the notion that he was an intrepid realist haunting the hidden corners of Paris. But when we look at Degas through the lens of the one subject that dominated his oeuvre - the Paris Opra - both notions finally fall apart.

Unlike other subjects, which Degas treated only sporadically, the Opra was a continuous subject for about four decades. As you move from one image to the next in this show (which was organized by Degas biographer Henri Loyrette, with the assistance of Leila Jarbouai and Marine Kisiel of the Muse d'Orsay and Kimberly Jones of the National Gallery), you could be fooled into imagining that Degas was giving you a brisk tour of the Opra building:

Here is the stage ... There is the orchestra ... Here are the dancers ... Here is where they rehearse ... And here is where the gentlemen subscribers in top hats come to procure sexual favors.

Surely not from those sweet ballerinas in tutus?

The "little rats"? Yes, yes. From them.

Degas, however, was no tour guide. Nor was he a journalist. For him, it all went far, far deeper. Everything he did had an underlying aesthetic rationale. And everything was invented.

That's right: Degas was a fabulist. His art was a studio product. ("No art is less spontaneous than mine," he said.) It did not come from standing about in the fields like a damn cow. It came from hard work and imagination, and always drew from the Old Masters, toward whom Degas's reverence was palpable.

Even the settings of the Opra works were mostly invented: The first Paris opera house Degas came to know was on the rue Le Peletier. Already scheduled for demolition by the time he started attending, it was destroyed by fire in 1873. The fire kick-started the stalled construction of the new opera house, the opulent Palais Garnier (the famous setting for "The Phantom of the Opera"), which finally opened in 1875.

But Degas much preferred the old building, so he proceeded as if the Palais Garnier simply didn't exist: The identifiable settings of almost all his depictions of the Opra are in the destroyed building on the rue Le Peletier.

So much for truth-telling.

Casting off false notions about Degas frees us to perceive the Opra's significance to him. Certainly he was attracted to the music. (Degas was an aficionado, with sophisticated tastes. He loved 18th-century composers - Bach, Rameau and especially Gluck - and rejected the cult of Wagner then sweeping Europe.)

But the deeper reason the Opra seduced him as an artist stands in plain sight: It was a place of make-believe, of spectacle, of artifice. For Degas, according to Loyrette, it was "a closed universe," "a microcosm of infinite possibilities, allowing all kinds of experimentation."

Degas reveled in this. In his Opra pictures, he played with points of view and contrasts of light and dark; with movement and gesture; with cropping and composition; and with format, medium and scale.

The Opra's appeal must also have been psychological. Anyone who goes to the theater gets it immediately. Stage, backstage, curtains, scenery, audience: The atmosphere is infectious. You feel the thrill of voyeurism, the possibility of adopting alternative personas, the tart, vinegary taste of so much brazen artifice. (One thinks of Matisse describing the hotel rooms in Nice that he transformed into stage sets, decked out with Oriental fabrics and adorned with local models posing as odalisques: "Everything was fake, absurd, amazing, delicious.")

In his great essay "The Painter of Modern Life," Charles Baudelaire argued that beauty is composed of two equal parts. One part hinges on eternal values; the other is "relative, circumstantial" and plugged into the contingent present. Degas - perhaps even more convincingly than his friend douard Manet - met the challenge of how to express such beauty pictorially.

He united suggestions of an impersonal, Arcadian dream with an intense, streaming, present-tense intimacy. The intimacy burns cleanly, drawing its fuel from Romanticist color and movement and its oxygen from modern disjuncture. The Arcadian side of his work, meanwhile, draws on the timeless spell of ancient Greece (via Degas' hero, the neoclassicist J.-A.-D. Ingres).

Only the Opra gave Degas the license to bring all this together.

The first of his Opra-inspired works was an 1867 depiction of a well-known dancer, Eugnie Fiocre, on the set of a ballet, "La Source." For many years, the picture confused art historians, because it looks like a landscape - a mountain scene in the Caucasus, no less, replete with a horse drinking from a stream. All that gives it away as a stage set for a ballet is a pair of pink ballet slippers visible between the horse's front legs.

Over the next few years, Degas painted many astute portraits of singers and musicians. He made a breakthrough in 1870 with "The Orchestra at the Opera," a portrait commissioned by the bassoonist Dsir Dihau. It shows Dihau in his natural habitat - the orchestra pit at the Opra, surrounded by fellow musicians.

Degas returned repeatedly to this composition - the dark pit in the lower half, the colorful stage above. It looks spontaneous, but the tableau was entirely artificial. The bassoonist, for starters, would not have occupied a place in the orchestra's front row. Nor did the musicians sit at right angles to the stage.

So many incredible images unfurl like a Chinese scroll painting from these early breakthroughs. The most famous, of course, are the dancers. Degas depicted them stretching at the bar, retying their slippers or perched atop a grand piano while stretching and scratching their backs. Here again, though, he freely invented features of the rooms they occupy and concocted details of their activities. When he asked a friend, Albert Hecht, for a pass permitting him to see the weekly dance examinations, he sheepishly admitted: "I have done so many of these dance examinations without having seen them that I am a little ashamed of it."

Next door to the Opra was a brothel. Degas did not ignore the sad, seamy fact of their connection. Yet again, though, his vision was filtered through someone else's imaginings. Inspired by best-selling novellas by a friend, the librettist Ludovic Halvy (who collaborated with Bizet on "Carmen"), Degas depicted men propositioning the young dancers. Most were desperately poor, working-class girls. Those who trafficked in sex were often pimped by their own mothers. In a series of monotypes, Degas even takes us inside the brothel and - uncharacteristically - lets his revulsion show.

As he aged and his eyesight slowly deteriorated, Degas maintained his devotion to themes he had been inspired by at the Opra. Retreating from his earlier fascination with people as unique psychological entities immersed in social space, he turned instead to a more private vision. His late dancers (clumps of overlapping girls resembling many-limbed, many-headed monsters, weirdly endowed with their own interiority) amount to a kind of long and death-haunted monologue - obsessive, ravished and, in the annals of art, unprecedented.

- - -

"Degas at the Opera"

Through Jan. 19 at the Muse d'Orsay, Paris. musee-orsay.fr.

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Degas had a gift for conveying the truth - even when he was making it all up - Alton Telegraph

Scientific advances with stem cells and gene editing have raised the prospect that many diseases, traumatic injuries, and chronic conditions could one day be treatedeven curedwith products derived from human biological materials. Most cell- and gene-based regenerative therapies remain in clinical trials or earlier stages of development; a handful have gained Food and Drug Administration approval as new drugs. However, hundreds of businesses in the United States have seized on public interest in this promising field to sell unproven and potentially dangerous stem cell treatments directly to consumers. Patients receiving such products have experienced bacterial infections, permanent vision loss, strokes, and other harms.

Knowingly or not, many clinics offering cell-based therapies may be violating federal law and regulations governing the approval of new drugs, medical devices, and biologic products. FDA has taken important steps to prompt these businesses to comply with appropriate requirements, and the agency should continue enforcement activities to reduce and ultimately eliminate the marketing of unapproved stem cell products.

As of May 2017, at least 716 clinics, spread across 45 states and the District of Columbia, offered unapproved stem cell products.1 (See Figure 1.) The number of new stem cell businesses with websites doubled on average every year between 2009 and 2014, suggesting that the total number operating today could be significantly larger.2

Stem cell businesses promote their products as treatments for a wide range of conditions, from orthopedic pain and arthritis to multiple sclerosis and Parkinsons disease. Little to no evidence exists to support most claims, but several of these treatments have adversely affected patients. For example:

Such cases underscore the public health risks when businesses fail to demonstrate a products safety and effectiveness to FDA prior to marketing and do not adhere to the agencys rules for good manufacturing practices.

Broader enforcement activitiesbacked by sufficient resources from Congressare needed to protect Americans from the risks that unapproved stem cell products pose. The agency should maintain pressure on businesses offering these products to ensure that this promising medical field develops into one that clinicians and patients can trust and safely access.

FDA established a regulatory framework for regenerative therapies in 2005 and issued four guidance documents in November 2017 to clarify the characteristics and approval requirements associated with low-, middle-, and high-risk products. High-risk therapies include those in which stem cells undergo more than minimal manipulation or are intended to perform a different function in the recipient than they do in the donor; this is referred to as nonhomologous use.7 Such products must receive FDA approval as new drugs, devices, or biologics before they enter the market.

These materials laid important groundwork for broader enforcement efforts. Agency leaders have said they will target enforcement resources at products that pose the greatest risks to patients until November 2020. FDA should build on this foundation for effective oversight by using its full array of enforcement tools, including:

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FDA Enforcement Will Foster Development of Safe, Effective Regenerative Therapies - The Pew Charitable Trusts

ALAMEDA, Calif. & DOUGLAS, Isle of Man--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. (AgeX; NYSE American: AGE), a biotechnology company developing therapeutics for human aging and regeneration, and Juvenescence, a life sciences company developing therapeutics and technologies to treat diseases of aging and to increase human longevity, announce the publication of a new paper in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Regenerative Medicine. The paper is on the engineering of allogeneic cells to be hypoimmunogenic (universal), so as not to produce an immune response. The strategies reviewed in the paper include deletion of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class Ia/II proteins, expression of HLA class Ib molecules, and manipulation of immune checkpoints.

In addition, the paper presents a previously unpublished in vivo observation on allogeneic human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) modified with AgeXs proprietary immunotolerance technology, UniverCyteTM. In humanized mice (those with a functional human immune system), UniverCyte-positive hPSCs formed larger and heavier tissue compared to controls. This observation provides support for the premise that UniverCyte-expressing tissue was potentially hypoimmunogenic and might have escaped recognition by a functional human immune system and continued to grow. Further work is required to substantiate this preliminary in vivo finding.

Hypoimmunogenic allogeneic cells are the Holy Grail in regenerative medicine, and a number of accomplished researchers have made great strides toward engineering them over the last few years, commented Dr. Nafees Malik, Chief Operating Officer at AgeX, Head of Cell & Gene Therapy at Juvenescence (a major investor in AgeX), and lead author on the paper. This is a huge area of focus for us at AgeX, via our UniverCyte technology platform. In support of our own research and as a service to the overall field, we decided to put together this paper, analyzing all the leading strategies to engineer universal cells and encapsulating them in one paper.

Dr. Maliks co-authors on the paper are Gregory Bailey, MD, Chairman of the Board of Directors of AgeX and CEO of Juvenescence; Annalisa Jenkins, MBBS, FRCP, who serves on the Board of Directors of AgeX; and Jim Mellon, Chairman of Juvenescence.

Mr. Mellon added, AgeXs UniverCyte technology platform will not only be important to the company in developing in-house therapies, it may also be transformative for the wider cell therapy industry via collaborations and licensing deals. It is quite conceivable that in the near future, allogeneic cell therapies may potentially need to be universal to be clinically and commercially competitive.

AgeX is developing its UniverCyte technology platform at its new 15,700-square-feet R&D facility, in the San Francisco Bay Area, which has current good manufacturing practices (cGMP)-capable manufacturing capacity.

Universal cells would help us and others to fulfill the original vision of cell therapy, said Dr. Bailey. Thus, I am pleased that my colleagues at AgeX and Juvenescence have put together this paper, as it should be of considerable benefit to researchers, possibly enabling them to accelerate their progress. He added, AgeXs UniverCyte technology uses a novel, modified form of the tolerogenic molecule HLA-G, which in nature plays a key role in preventing a mother from rejecting her semi-allogeneic baby.

The paper is being published online ahead of print on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. It may be found here.

About AgeX Therapeutics

AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE American: AGE) is focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapeutics for human aging. Its PureStem and UniverCyte manufacturing and immunotolerance technologies are designed to work together to generate highly-defined, universal, allogeneic, off-the-shelf pluripotent stem cell-derived young cells of any type for application in a whole host of diseases with a high unmet medical need. AgeX has two preclinical cell therapy programs: AGEX-VASC1 (vascular progenitor cells) for tissue ischemia and AGEX-BAT1 (brown fat cells) for Type II diabetes. AgeXs revolutionary longevity platform named induced Tissue Regeneration (iTR) aims to unlock cellular immortality and regenerative capacity to reverse age-related changes within tissues. AGEX-iTR1547 is an iTR-based formulation in preclinical development. HyStem is AgeXs delivery technology to stably engraft PureStem cell therapies and slowly release iTR molecules in the body. AgeX is developing its core product pipeline for use in the clinic to extend human healthspan and is seeking opportunities to form licensing and partnership agreements around its broad IP estate and proprietary technology platforms for non-core clinical applications.

For more information, please visit http://www.agexinc.com or connect with the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.

About Juvenescence

Juvenescence is a life sciences company developing therapies to increase healthy human longevity. It was founded by Jim Mellon, Dr. Greg Bailey and Dr. Declan Doogan. The Juvenescence team are highly experienced drug developers, entrepreneurs and investors with a significant history of success in the life sciences sector. Juvenescence will create, partner with or invest in new companies with longevity-related therapeutics, by in-licensing compounds from academia and industry, or forming joint ventures to develop therapeutics for longevity. Juvenescence believes that recent advances in science have greatly improved our understanding of the biology of aging and seeks to develop therapeutics with the possibility of slowing, halting or potentially reversing elements of aging.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not historical fact including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as will, believes, plans, anticipates, expects, estimates should also be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the business of AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. and its subsidiaries, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in more detail in AgeXs reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commissions (copies of which may be obtained at http://www.sec.gov). Subsequent events and developments may cause these forward-looking statements to change. AgeX specifically disclaims any obligation or intention to update or revise these forward-looking statements as a result of changed events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release, except as required by applicable law.

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AgeX Therapeutics and Juvenescence Publish Paper on Engineering Strategies for Universal Cells and Provide in Vivo Observation on Immunotolerance...

Ethan Brown, CEO of Beyond Meat, turned heads this week when he announced that his company is going to become the Amazon or Tesla of the meat industry.

Like, why is Tesla able to do what it does? Brown told Business Insider on Wednesday. There is a DNA to certain companies that allow them to get an insight into an industry and get far enough ahead before others catch on. And then the game is to just stretch that lead and continue to play into your strengths.

It may not offer an online store that offers almost everything, nor does it promise to popularize the electric car, but Beyond Meats plant-based burgers could have a major influence on the $1.4 trillion meat industry.

Alternatives to traditional meats termed alt-meats by the New York Times and Fast Company are on the rise. While plant-based burgers have made a big impact on the market, new foods and even lab-grown meats could take it to all-new levels.

I dont think Ive personally, in a very long career, seen anything quite like this, Marie Wright, chief global flavorist for Archer Daniels Midland, tells Inverse. I think its exciting and I think its necessary. We need other sources of protein, other sources of food, if were going to feed the world.

Traditional meat has played a key role in the human diet for thousands of years. Human remains in a cave near Beijing suggest some of the earliest modern humans regularly ate fish 40,000 years ago.

Fast forward 40 millennia and foods that recreate the taste of animal meat are on the rise. Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, founded in 2009 and 2011 respectively, are both aiming to use plants to recreate the taste of meat. Lab-grown meat, which some experts expect to reach dinner plates in 2021, encourage stem cell growth in a bioreactor to produce more animal tissue and eventually cut the animal from the equation.

Plant-based meats have made a big impact on the market. The Good Food Institute, a non-profit organization that lobbies for alt-meats, released a report in July that found plant-based meat is growing five times faster than animal meats in the American retail space.

Its set to rise further. Consultancy firm AT Kearney found in June 2019 that plant-based meat would account for 10 percent of the market by 2025. By 2040, its set to account for 25 percent of the market while lab-based meat accounts for 35 percent.

The main area where these products will grow is expanding into other areas of meat. Wright explains that new advancements in flavor technology can unlock new alt-foods. Developing a cleaner pea protein, for example, could mask its vegetable tastes and enable its use in other products. Beyond Meat uses pea protein, while Impossible Foods uses soy and potato protein. Advancements in flavor can pave the way for new dishes.

I think were going to see an expansion into other products, Wright says. Steak. Chicken, which is a much lighter tasting meat. Maybe fish eventually. Fish is a hard one, but chicken certainly.

Both companies are already expanding their repertoire. Impossible Foods has been experimenting with an anchovy-like broth that could make fish. Its partnered with Wow Bao to make an Impossible Bao, while Dos Toros is using the firms ground beef to create burritos. Beyond Meat has partnered with Subway to create a plant-based meatball sub.

These new meats may pose problems. Chicken is relatively easy to accomplish, but the use of coconut and palm to simulate chicken fat could pose sustainability and taste issues. Fish is a more complex and harder meat to simulate in terms of taste.

But Wright also notes that foods of the future may not necessarily aim to simply replace meat. It could mix both meat and meat replacements, appealing to flexitarians less concerned with reducing animal consumption. It could experiment with more flavors and spices, appealing to consumer interest in food variety. The race to directly mimic meat products could fade away: Wright notes how China has a long history of using meat alternatives like seitan, which retain the umami flavors of meat.

At the moment excitement is on the mimicking, Wright says.

Lab-based meat could transform this area. Researcher Mark Post publicly ate a cultured burger in 2013, a burger that experts at the tasting previously told Inverse resembled a McDonalds burger.

Ahead of an expected launch in supermarkets over the next two years, researchers have been growing meat in space, developing edible scaffolding, and even experimenting with new meats. Suggested products include kangaroo, bacon, steak, foie gras, seafood, and even combination portions that take cells from multiple animals.

Wright suggests, however, that these meats may still require some perfection to attain the feeling of traditional meat.

Meat as it is today, whether its grass-fed, the age, Wright says. Theres different flavors associated with that. Its like wine. If you grow wine in different terroirs, you get different flavors.

Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Browns comparison to Tesla may have raised eyebrows, but it could prove particularly relevant as this area develops. When Tesla launched the Roadster in 2008, it could only travel 240 miles per charge. Its second-generation Roadster, set to launch next year, reaches 620 miles per charge. Similarly, the initial offerings from Beyond Meat and others could pale in comparison to what comes next.

Plant-based meat, a passing fad? The alt-meat industry could just be getting warmed up.

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As Beyond Meat aims to be the next Tesla, heres how alt-meat could surge - Inverse

SportsPulse: Lorenzo's locks have been just over 70% these season but he isn't satisfied. He wants a perfect weekend. Here's his locks for Week 9. USA TODAY

OWINGS MILLS, Md. Every time Mark Andrews jogs off the field between possessions in a game, he slips off his receiving gloves and pricks his finger. Then he does it again. And again. And maybe one more time, just to be sure.

While his teammates are sipping Gatorade and reviewing film, the Baltimore Ravens tight end has an additional responsibility. As therare Type 1 diabetic in the NFL, Andrews pricks his fingers approximately30 times over the course of game to monitor his blood sugar levels and make sure he's not too high or too low, striking a careful balance that will allow him to play at his best.

"Its one of those things where Im at the stage that this is my job, so I cant let (diabetes) affect it," he told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday."And I havent."

Andrews, 23, has become one of the league's most reliable tight ends and the favorite target of MVP hopeful Lamar Jackson. He leads the team in catches (36) andreceiving yards (449) and is tied for the team lead intouchdowns (3) as the Ravens prepare to host the undefeated New England Patriots on Sunday night the team's first game in November, which is National Diabetes Month.

Sep 15, 2019; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews (89) runs for a first quarter touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports(Photo: Tommy Gilligan, Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports)

Andrews has reached those professional heights while also managing Type 1, the autoimmune disease that prevents his pancreas from producing insulin unlike Type 2 diabetes, in which the body produces too little insulin or doesn't process it effectively.

"He handles it really well," fellow tight end Hayden Hurst said."He has a system set up and he kind of follows things pretty closely. He does a really good job with it."

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The American Diabetes Association estimates that1.25 million Americans have Type 1 diabetes, butit is extremely rare among NFL players. While retired quarterback Jay Cutler, longtime Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Kendall Simmons and a handful of others played with Type 1,Andrews is believed to be the only active NFL player with the disease, which has no known cure.

Andrews has dealt with diabetes for the majority of his life. He was 9 years old when he received his diagnosis.His parents, Paul and Martha, were worried that their youngest childwas repeatedly subbing out of youth soccer games to use the bathroom, so they took him in for a check up.

"It was the first time Id ever seen my parents break down and cry," Andrews said. "I knew at that point that something serious was going on in my life."

Andrews said his parents were a bit wary, at first, about their son playing sports at least right away. But he loved soccer, and his team had a big tournament coming up the weekend after his diagnosis. So, despite their nervousness, they let Andrews play. And he proceeded to score three or four goals in his return to the field proving to himself that he could still compete, and showing his parents that he was going to be alright.

Football didn't become Andrews' focus until high school, when he was alanky wide receiver in a suburb of Phoenix, carrying a drawstring "diabetes bag" filled with snacks and other supplies that help him check and maintain his blood sugar levels during every game.

Andrews still carries one of those drawstring bags with him now, as a second-year player with the Ravens, though managing his blood sugar has gotten a bit easier thanks to technological advances. He wears a continuous glucose monitor that gives him real-time information on his phoneabouthis blood sugar levels and shares it automatically through an app with family members, his agent and Ravens head trainer Ron Medlin.

"Im always checking this thing before the games and making sure that my numbers are flat and steady and ready to go," said Andrews, who added he prefers to prick his fingers during games for convenience and immediacy.

The 6-foot-5, 256-pounder also keeps a relatively strict diet, especially leading up to games, to keep his blood sugar from fluctuating. He has four eggs before every game, and two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches one the day he plays, and one the night before. ("A lot of peanut butter, not a lot of jelly," he said, noting peanut butter's value as a complex carb.)

During games, and while at practice,the training staff fills separate bottles for Andrews with Gatorade Zero which has no sugar or carbs, and therefore doesn't affect his blood sugar levels. If those levels get too low at any point, he'll eat a pack or two of fruit snacks for a quick jolt. If they get too high, which is rare, he'll have to reconnect his insulin pump.

"He's got to manage all of that while hes still playing football," said Dr. Robert Gabbay, chief medical officer at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. "And the margin of error is not great. If he gets too low, his muscles wont work as well. ... Too high, he can get dehydrated. And physical performance can be affected, as well.

Its sort of an added thing that he has to do and juggle that other people dont."

Andrews views diabetes as a complicating factor, but not a limiting one. And he's gone out of his way to become a visible advocate and support system for others with the disease particularly children, and their parents.

He doesn't want any high-school football player with Type 1 to wonder if they can make it to the NFL, or any college coach to be concerned about recruiting a player with diabetes.

"I tell this to everybody: Diabetes is incredibly difficult, but I wouldnt change it for the world," Andrews said. "Ive had people tell me I cant do things and doubt me, whatever it may be, because of my diabetes. So Ive used it to kind of fuel me and just shape who I am as a person.

"Its why Im at where Im at, and why Im playing the way I am.

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

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'I wouldn't change it for the world': Ravens TE Mark Andrews not slowed by Type 1 diabetes in breakout season - USA TODAY

Physical exercise helps lower your blood sugar level and you should aim for 2.5 hours of activity a week, according to the NHS. You can be active anywhere as long as what you're doing gets you out of breath, including:

One of the primary benefits of exercise is it helps people to lose weight, and carrying excess weight is particularly risky for people with type 2 diabetes.

According to Diabetes.co.uk, studies suggest that abdominal fat causes fat cells to release pro-inflammatory chemicals, which can make the body less sensitive to the insulin it produces by disrupting the function of insulin responsive cells and their ability to respond to insulin.

The health site added: Obesity is also thought to trigger changes to the bodys metabolism. These changes cause fat tissue (adipose tissue) to release fat molecules into the blood, which can affect insulin responsive cells and lead to reduced insulin sensitivity.

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Type 2 diabetes: Include this oil in your diet to lower blood sugar - Express

In celebration of our 15 Year Anniversary, Academic Editor Ronald CW Ma highlights advancements published in PLOS Medicine in diabetes research and care, including improved precision medicine.

Happy 15th Birthday to PLOS Medicine! I still remember reading about the PLOS journals and the idea of making science accessible to all back when PLoS was first launched. It is amazing how far the Open Access movement has developed, how far that idea has advanced and how scientific publishing has been revolutionized. Congratulations PLOS Medicine on this important milestone!

Among the many articles that I have enjoyed reading in PLOS Medicine over the years, I would like to highlight two for sharing with other readers on this special occasion.

1) Event Rates, Hospital Utilization, and Costs Associated with Major Complications of Diabetes: A Multicountry Comparative Analysis

This paper by Philip Clarke and colleagues from the ADVANCE Collaborative Group, published back in 2010, highlighted the significant economic burden of diabetes and rates of hospitalization resulting from diabetes co-morbidities, using data from the Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease: Preterax and Diamicron MR Controlled Evaluation (ADVANCE) study, a landmark multi-centre trial on the treatment of diabetes conducted in 20 countries. Within the ADVANCE trial settings, the study demonstrated important differences in the rates of hospitalization for different diabetes complications in different regions of the world (Asia, Eastern Europe, and established market economies such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada), mirroring epidemiological observations of comparative higher nephropathy rates, higher stroke risk, and lower risks of coronary artery disease among Asians (mostly from Chinese centres in this particular trial) with type 2 diabetes, thereby highlighting the heterogeneity of risk of diabetes complications (and costs) in different populations.

This study also provided important tools to facilitate estimation of healthcare expenditure associated with diabetes in different healthcare settings. At the time of the study, it was estimated that the average annual per capita health expenditure was approximately 216 international dollars in China, and 698 international dollars in Russia, but that the annual hospital costs for people with diabetes experiencing major macrovascular complications such as coronary or cerebrovascular events would be around four and ten times these average per capita expenditures. Perhaps not fully appreciated at the time was the significant burden associated with hospitalization with heart failure, which is a topic of much current interest in relation to recent advances in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Although the work was focused on evaluating the economic burden of diabetes in different parts of the world, this work can be considered as an important example of early attempts to deconstruct the heterogeneity of type 2 diabetes. As the diabetes epidemic continues unabated, the healthcare burden of diabetes complications has become a major concern globally.

2) Type 2 diabetes genetic loci informed by multi-trait associations point to disease mechanisms and subtypes: A soft clustering analysis

The second article, by Jose Florez and colleagues, utilized a state-of-the-art multi-omics approach to use available genetic and epigenomic data to probe the issue of heterogeneity of diabetes. The authors showed that identified genetic loci linked to diabetes can be segregated according to underlying biological mechanisms which can be used to classify individuals, to provide a way forward for individualized diagnosis, monitoring and treatment. The study highlighted the potential role of genetic variants related to the beta cell, pro-insulin, obesity, lipodystrophy and liver/lipid traits in accounting for different patient characteristics, as well as long-term diabetes outcomes.

What was particularly interesting is the soft-clustering approach adopted by the authors, which did not require genetic variants to fit into only one pathway, or for individuals to be classified to have diabetes due to only one specific pathophysiological defect, but instead, for individuals to be identified to have scores in each of the above-mentioned categories, and thereby accepting that individuals may have developed diabetes with different contribution from the different underlying pathophysiology. The use of such genetic risk scores may be useful in selecting the most appropriate therapies for individualized care in the future.

Over the last 15 years, the global burden of diabetes has more than doubled, from less than 200 million people affected back in the early 2000s to now more than 422 million people affected globally (with the majority in LMICs). These 2 articles represent important advances in our understanding of type 2 diabetes over the last decade. Whilst the ADVANCE study was a landmark study that generated much interest, the Clarke paper highlighted much of the burden of diabetes complications, and our lack of understanding regarding the heterogeneity in risk of diabetes complications. Together with the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) and Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial (VADT) studies, these landmark studies, published between 2008-2010, have highlighted the potential dangers of hypoglycaemia, and heralded the debate and call for more individualized treatment in type 2 diabetes, and contributed to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) to propose in their joint position statement on management of hyperglycaemia in type 2 diabetes in 2012 to move away from a one-size-fit-all approach to treatment, but instead adopt a treatment strategy that is more tailored to individual patient profile, disease duration, co-morbidities and expectations. This represented a major watershed moment in the evolution of diabetes research and care.

With recent advances in genomic medicine and the genetics of type 2 diabetes, some of which have been reported in PLOS Medicine, the era of precision medicine in diabetes is very much here to stay. We, as diabetes researchers and clinicians caring for people with diabetes, look forward to further advances in our understanding of how best to treat individuals with diabetes based on their underlying genetics, pathophysiology, and needs, and to improving outcomes for people with diabetes.

Congratulations again PLOS Medicine and we look forward to the next 15 years of exciting advances!

Ronald Ma is Professor and Head of Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes at the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and co-lead of the Chinese University of Hong Kong-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Research Centre in Diabetes Genomics and Precision Medicine. He is a member of the Executive Board, Asian Association for the Study of Diabetes (AASD), and member of the editorial board of PLOS Medicine.

Acknowledgement: RCWM acknowledge support from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council Research Impact Fund (R4012-18).

Image Credit: stevepb, Pixabay (CC0)

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Charting the evolution of diabetes research and care | Speaking of Medicine - PLoS Blogs

BALTIMORE, Oct. 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Deadly. Blinding. Costly. Epidemic. These are the words used to describe diabetes, a devastating condition affecting more than 30 million Americans (about 9.4% of the population). Of those, nearly 30 percent (or 10 million people), have diabetic retinopathy, a potentially blinding disease that costs Americans more than $500 million every year.

The new Versant Health white paper, The health and financial costs of diabetic retinopathy, outlines the toll both physically and financially that diabetic retinopathy can take on a person. Not only can the disease have a debilitating impact on vision, but medical costs associated with diabetic retinopathy are higher than with other diabetes-related conditions, including neuropathy and chronic kidney disease.

"Early intervention is critical when it comes to the successful treatment of diabetic retinopathy," says Mark Ruchman, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Versant Health and contributor to the white paper "In its early stages, when treatment has the greatest likelihood of success, patients are typically asymptomatic. Thus, a regular eye exam is a critical component of any health and wellness program to reduce blindness from this disease."

Versant Health supports the overall health of its diabetic members in several ways, striving to reduce the risk for and/or severity of diabetic eye disease, including Diabetic Outreach, medical management, and detailed provider portal questionnaires. To learn more, download the health and financial costs of diabetic retinopathy white paperfrom the Versant Health website.

About Versant HealthVersant Health is one of the nation's leading managed vision care companies serving more than 33 million members nationwide. Through our Davis Vision plans and Superior Vision plans, we help members enjoy the wonders of sight through healthy eyes and vision. Providing vision and eye health solutions that range from routine vision benefits to medical management, Versant Health has a unique visibility and scale across the total eye health value chain.As a result, members enjoy a seamless experience with access to one of the broadest provider networks in the industry and an exclusive frame collection.Commercial groups, individuals, third parties, and health plans that serve government-sponsored programs such as Medicaid and Medicare are among our valued customers.

For more information visitversanthealth.com.

SOURCE Versant Health

versanthealth.com

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Versant Health releases white paper: The health and financial costs of diabetic retinopathy - PRNewswire