StemCell Therapy

Photo: Liveright, Handout

He Calls Me by Lightning: The Life of Caliph Washington and the Forgotten Saga of Jim Crow, Southern Justice, and the Death Penalty

He Calls Me by Lightning: The Life of Caliph Washington and the Forgotten Saga of Jim Crow, Southern Justice, and the Death Penalty

Book World: The brutal blindness of Jim Crow justice in 1957 Alabama

He Calls Me by Lightning: The Life of Caliph Washington and the Forgotten Saga of Jim Crow, Southern Justice, and the Death Penalty

By S. Jonathan Bass

Liveright. 413 pp. $26.95

---

How is it possible in a country that prides itself on having a Bill of Rights, expresses reverence for due process and touts equal protection that a 17-year-old can be arrested, put on trial and sentenced to death, and then spend 13 years being shuttled among death row cellblocks in disgusting jails and prisons with his case under appeal, all for a crime he didn't commit?

The answer contains some simple prerequisites: He had to be black, live in the Jim Crow South and be accused of committing, as one deputy sheriff put it, a "supreme offense, on the same level of a white woman being raped by a black man" - that is, the murder of a white police officer.

Teenager Caliph Washington, a native of Bessemer, Ala., was on the receiving end of all three conditions. And as such, Washington became a sure-fire candidate to suffer the kind of tyrannical law enforcement and rotten jurisprudence that Southern justice reserved for blacks of any age.

In "He Calls Me by Lightning," S. Jonathan Bass, a professor at Alabama's Samford University and a son of Bessemer parents, resurrects the life of Washington, who died in 2001 finally out of prison - but with charges still hanging over his head.

Bass, however, does more than tell Washington's tale, as Washington's widow, Christine, had asked him to do in a phone call. Bass dives deeply into the Bessemer society of 1957 where Washington was accused of shooting white police officer James "Cowboy" Clark on an empty dead-end street near a row of run-down houses on unpaved Exeter Alley.

Bessemer-style justice cannot be known, let alone understood, however, without learning about that neo-hardscrabble town 13 miles southwest of Birmingham.

Bessemer served as home to a sizable black majority, an entrenched white power structure and an all-white police department, consisting at the time of a "ragtag crew of poorly paid, ill-trained, and hot-tempered individuals" who earned less than Bessemer's street and sanitation workers.

Bessemer was a town with its own quaint racial customs, such as forcing black men to "walk in the middle of the downtown streets, not on the sidewalks, after dark - presumably to keep them from any close contact with white women."

Bessemer was a town where in 1944 the police forced black prisoners to participate in an Independence Day watermelon run. White citizens reportedly cheered as firefighters blasted the inmates with high-pressure hoses to make the race more challenging. Winners, it is said, received reduced sentences and the watermelons.

It was in that town that Caliph Washington was born in 1939, the same year of my birth in Washington, D.C.

Bessemer's racial climate was no different the year Washington was accused of killing Cowboy Clark. The town's prevailing attitude on race was captured at the time in a pamphlet distributed by a segregationist group, the Bessemer Citizens' Council. Black Christians, the white citizens' council said, should remain content with being "our brothers in Christ without also wanting to become our brothers-in-law."

If ever there was a place to not get caught "driving while black" - which is what Washington was doing on that fateful night in July 1957 - it was Bessemer. And that night's hazard appeared in the form of Clark and his partner, Thurman Avery, who were cruising the streets in their patrol car looking for whiskey bootleggers.

Washington was not one.

But his color was enough to get him chased, pulled over and told by Clark to "get out, boy."

Washington's color was enough to cause Cowboy to instruct him to place his hands over his head, to get him patted down and escorted to the rear of Cowboy's patrol car, where a tussle ensued following Cowboy's accusation that Washington had whiskey in his car; Washington's denial; Cowboy calling Washington a "smart n-----"; and Cowboy getting so angry that he pulled his weapon and started to strike Washington in the head with the butt of the gun.

Three shots went off in rapid succession - the prosecution said Washington pulled the trigger; Washington's defense said the bullet that ripped through Cowboy resulted from an accidental discharge - that it hit the car, ricocheted and tore into Cowboy.

Both sides agreed on one thing: Washington ran off.

It was a dash compelled by fear and a Southern-bred instinct that no good comes to a black man who defends himself against a white man.

Next, a massive manhunt, arrest in Mississippi, return to Bessemer courthouse, angry cursing white cops, lots of guns, plenty of hate and a jury decidedly not of Washington's peers.

Washington, accused of committing a crime against a white man in Bessemer, Ala., entered a courtroom to face a white prosecutor, a white judge and an all-white jury. To have a black lawyer defend Washington in 1957, Bass observes, would have been seen as an affront to Southern traditions.

Bessemer had only one black lawyer: David Hood Jr., a Howard University Law School graduate. Hood and another black lawyer, a fellow Howard graduate, Orzell Billingsley Jr. of Birmingham, helped prepare Washington's case for trial.

But they knew what Bass would later write in his book: that white supremacy and racial superiority were so deeply ingrained, Bessemer in 1957 was no place or time for a black lawyer to defend a black man. So, to represent Washington, the court appointed a white lawyer, giving him 14 days to prepare for the murder trial.

It was the start of a legal proceeding that stretched more than 13 years - a trek that, along the way, found countless opportunities to celebrate the triumph of racial traditions over justice.

Washington endured police interrogations without counsel; denial of the right to cross-examine witnesses; years of confinement behind bars without trial; more than a dozen scheduled dates with the electric chair, relieved by last-minute reprieves; blatantly discriminatory jury selections; and often languid and lukewarm efforts by the defense bar.

One notable exception in Bass' recitation of Alabama judicial horrors is the role played by Gov. George Wallace. Morally opposed to the death penalty, Wallace granted Washington 13 stays of execution. But Wallace's opposition wasn't enough to stop him from letting other prisoners be put to death, and the governor denied Washington's 14th petition for a reprieve.

I stop short of Bass' sympathetic portrayal of Wallace.

It fell to federal Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr., a law school classmate and onetime friend of Wallace, to render justice. Johnson, not Wallace, stayed Washington's execution. Johnson, not Wallace, recognized errors in the trial that found Washington guilty. Johnson, not Wallace, ordered Washington's conviction and death sentence be set aside. It was Johnson, not the racially demagogic Wallace, who redeemed what little there was left of integrity in Alabama jurisprudence and set Washington free to live what was left of his life. And out of America's sight.

In sharper focus, thanks to Bass' painstaking research, is a picture of how Jim Crow legal systems operated at the local and state levels. Because of his diligent examination of the backgrounds, upbringing and pedigree of those white Southern men and women who enforced Deep South justice, we know more about how courtrooms and jails functioned, and how cops, lawyers, courts and juries combined to degrade the judicial system. Bass provides details, details and more details, to the point, at times, of being overdone.

There is much in "He Calls Me by Lightning" that we needed to know. There is much, almost too much, in this book that is simply nice to know. But we are left, at the last page, with insight into a history of America that can no longer be left unknown.

---

King, winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, joined the editorial board of The Washington Post in August 1990 and was deputy editorial page editor from January 2000 until his retirement in 2007. He continues to write a weekly column.

See the original post:
Book World: The brutal blindness of Jim Crow justice in 1957 Alabama - Laredo Morning Times

Willful blindness when it comes to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) could cost companies millions in statutory damages and penalties. Dish Network has been ordered in two cases to pay a total of $341 million based on its failure to prevent TCPA violations committed by its marketing agents. The cases illustrate the factors that courts may consider in determining what level of culpability is appropriate for ignoring TCPA violations, even in the absence of direct knowledge.

In Krakauer v. Dish Network LLC, 14-333 (M.D.N.C. May 22, 2017), the court rejected Dish Networks claims that it sufficiently supervised its marketing agent, Satellite Systems Network (SSN), to prevent SSN from making unsolicited calls to consumers. According to the court, treble damages were appropriate because (1) SSN knowingly violated the statute, and (2) Dish Network turned a blind eye to SSNs TCPA violations. The ruling contributes to the uncertainty regarding when courts will find a TCPA violation to be willful and thus subject to treble damages.

In US v. Dish Network, LLC, No. 09-3073 (C.D. Ill. June 5, 2017), the court found that a mathematical calculation of statutory damages would be disproportionate and unreasonable, and therefore did not award treble damages. The court did find, however, that a large civil penalty was appropriate after considering the degree of Dish Networks culpability, its history of prior conduct, its ability to pay and other circumstances.

The TCPA provides for $500 in statutory damages per violation. Courts have discretion to award treble damages for willing or knowing violations. In recent cases, courts have applied varying standards to determine whether conduct is willful and thus subject to treble damages. Some courts have required that the defendant have direct knowledge of calls made and knowledge that the calls violate the TCPA. For example, in Lary v. Trinity Phys. Fin. & Ins. Servs., 780 F.3d 1101 (11th Cir. 2015), the court found that it was not enough to require only that the alleged violator know that it was engaging in the conduct; instead the violator must also know that the conduct violates the TCPA, [otherwise] the statute would have almost no room for violations that are not willful or knowing. The Lary court also noted that the defendants in that case could not be responsible for treble damages under the TCPAs willful and knowing requirement since the defendants had used a third party to send out advertisements, which suggests that [the defendants] might have had no knowledge that [the plaintiff] received a particular fax. See also Harris v. World Fin. Network Natl Bank, 867 F. Supp. 2d 888, 895 (E.D. Mich. 2012) (observing that an overbroad application of willfulness would significantly diminish the statutes distinction between violations that do not require an intent, and those willful and knowing violations that Congress intended to punish more severely.); Brown v. Enter. Recovery Sys., Inc., 2013 WL 4506582, at *9 (Tex. App. Aug. 22, 2013) (But to recover treble damages, the Browns had to show that ERS knew of the TCPAs requirements and that it knew or should have known that its actions violated the Act.).

In some cases, however, courts have stated that treble damages could be awarded where there was only intent to perform the conduct at issue, regardless of whether the defendant knew that the conduct violated the TCPA. In Clark v. Red Rose, Mentor M.C. No. 04CVF-150, 2004 WL 1146679 (May 3, 2004), a consumer brought an action against Red Rose claiming that the company sent her unsolicited fax advertisements. The court awarded treble damages and noted that, as defined in the Federal Communications Act, the term willfully merely means that the defendant acted voluntarily, and under its own free will, and regardless whether the defendant knew that it was acting in violation of the statute. Regarding the knowing standard, the court explained that [k]nowingly may not be held to mean that the defendant must know that its acts were a violation of the law, since this would conflict with the long-established legal principle that ignorance of the law is no excuse. See also American Home Servs., Inc. v. A Fast Sign Co., Inc., 747 S.E.2d 205, 208-209 (Ga. App. 2013) (AHS admitted that it hired Sunbelt to send advertising faxes on its behalf. This is sufficient to make the violation willful within the meaning of the statute.).

Dish Network, a telecommunications service provider, was sued in 2014 in a class action after its marketing agent, SSN, was accused of making more than 50,000 telemarketing calls on Dishs behalf to numbers on the National Do-Not-Call Registry. The lead plaintiff, Dr. Thomas Krakauer, sought injunctive and monetary relief on behalf of himself and others who had allegedly received the calls. Following trial, the jury found Dish Network liable and awarded $20.5 million in damages. The parties then submitted closing arguments to the court on whether the TCPA violations were willful for purposes of treble damages, which was the subject of the courts May 22 opinion.

The court held that Dish Network willfully and knowingly violated the TCPA and trebled the damages award to $61 million. Although SSN made the calls, the court reasoned that Dish, as the principal, was vicariously liable. The court also explained that certain aggravating factors justified the award of treble damages. First, Dish Network failed to monitor SSNs calling practices, ignored SSNs many TCPA violations over the years, and repeatedly looked the other way. Second, and even more damaging, the court was convinced that Dish Network did not care whether SSN complied with the law or not and that Dish Networks TCPA compliance policy was decidedly two-faced, allowing Dish Network to monitor TCPA compliance while Dish Network failed to do so.

Dish Network is expected to appeal the district courts ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, especially considering the inconsistent standards for awarding treble damages and Dish Networks position that the company did all it could to ensure SSN was in compliance with the TCPA. In the meantime, the ruling adds more concern for defendants on the possibility of treble damages and creates another big-dollar TCPA headline.

Unlike the court in Krakauer, the district court judge in US v. Dish Network, LLC, No. 09-3073 (C.D. Ill. June 5, 2017) decided against statutory damages, which the court found unreasonable and disproportionately high given that such damages totaled in the billions of dollars. The court, therefore, did not consider treble damages. Instead, the court awarded a $280 million civil penalty, citing Dishs culpability, its history of prior conduct, its ability to pay and other circumstances. The court found that culpability was significant because the programs were run in a reckless manner. According to the court, Dish [Network] had on-going problems complying with Do-Not-Call Lawsand understood the potential penalties for Do-Not-Call Law violations could be substantial, and yet the problems persisted over many years. Similar to Krakauer, the court was troubled that Dish Network seemed to make little effort to comply with the TCPA, noting, for example, that Dish Network hired Order Entry Retailers based on one factor, the ability to generate activations and that Dish [Network] cared about very little else, including complying with Do-Not-Call laws.

Companies concerned about avoiding potential TCPA exposure should be aware of the factors that some courts have considered in deciding what level of damages and/or penalties are appropriate:

The TCPA continues to create significant litigation risk for any company that communicates with customers or potential customers by phone, text or fax. Although the potential for treble damages and heavy civil penalties heightens the risk, efforts to put strong compliance procedures in place can not only reduce the risk of lawsuits, but also reduce the risk of treble damages in the event of litigation.

Go here to see the original:
Willful Blindness Costs Dish Network $341000000 For TCPA Violations - Lexology (registration)

New research found that 53% of respondents did not know about the link between smoking and blindness

15 Jun 2017 by Emily McCormick

A recent survey by the Macular Society reports that 53% of people are unaware that smoking can cause blindness.

The national charity performed the survey ahead of Macular Week at the end of the month (26 June 2 July), which aims to raise public awareness about age-related macular degeneration (AMD) the largest cause of sight loss in the UK.

The Macular Society highlights smoking as the biggest modifiable risk factor in the development of AMD and reports that smokers are four times more likely to develop the condition when compared to non-smokers.

During Macular Week the charity will focus on raising awareness about the harmful effects that smoking can have on the eyes, stressing that this includes passive smoking.

Explaining the cause and affect, the charity detailed that tobacco smoke contains toxic chemicals that are transported to the delicate tissues of the eye through the blood stream where they can damage the structure of the cells.

Chief executive of the Macular Society, Cathy Yelf, said: It is surprising how many people do not realise that smoking causes blindness. The message is often missing from anti-smoking messages, which simply concentrate on the life-threatening side effects of smoking. Sight loss, however, is a very important effect of smoking.

Ms Yelf emphasised that smoking is incredibly bad for your eyes, adding: You could be 20 or more times more likely to get macular disease if you have those certain genes and you smoke.

Read this article:
Many unaware that smoking causes blindness - AOP

Have you ever thought about how people in the modern day have dealt with being blind?

I did some research and learned a lot. Following are some bits of information you may find interesting.

1829: Louis Braille publishes his system of writing the French language. Its 1837 revision was the first modern binary writing form developed.

1832: The Perkins School for the Blind in Boston admitted its first two students sisters Sophia and Abbey Carter.

Perkins manufactures its own Perkins Brailer, which is used to print embossed, tactile books for the blind.

1860: Simon Pollak demonstrates the use of Braille at the Missouri School for the Blind.

1861: Helen Adams Keller is born in Tuscumbia, Ala.

1864: The enabling act giving the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Blind the authority to confer college degrees is signed by President Abraham Lincoln, making it the first college in the world expressly established for people with disabilities. Columbia University, its name later changed to Gallaudet University, is in Washington, D.C.

1878: Joel W. Smith presents his Modified Braille to the American Association of Instructors of the Blind. The association rejects his system, continuing to endorse instead New York Point, which blind readers complain is more difficult to read and write.

What followed was a War of the Dots in which blind advocates for the most part preferred Modified Braille, while sighted teachers and administrators, who controlled the funds for transcribing, wanted New York Braille.

1909: The New York Public School System adopts Modified or American Braille for use in its classes for blind children, after public hearings in which blind advocates call for abandoning New York Point.

1909: The first folding wheelchairs are introduced for people with mobility disabilities.

1921: The American Foundation for the Blind is founded. Helen Keller is its principal fundraiser.

1929: Seeing Eye establishes the first guide dog school for blind people in the United States. Today, this well-known guide dog school is in Morristown, N.J.

1932: The Treaty of London standardizes American and English Braille.

1933: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the first seriously physically disabled person ever to be elected as a head of government, is sworn into office as president of the United States. He chooses to minimize his disability in response to the ableism of the electorate.

1936: Passage of the Randolph Sheppard Act establishes a federal program for employing blind vendors at stands in the lobbies of federal office buildings.

1937: Herbert A. Everest and Harry C. Jennings patent a design for a folding wheelchair with an X-frame that can be packed into a car trunk.

1940: The National Federation of the Blind is formed in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., by Jacobus Broek and other blind advocates. Among other reforms, it pushes for white cane laws and input by blind people into programs for blind clients.

Since 1942: Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB) has created partnerships between people, dogs and communities. With client services and a network of instructors, puppy raisers, donors and volunteers, the agency prepares highly qualified guide dogs to serve and empower individuals who are blind or have low vision throughout the United States and Canada.

All services for GDBs clients are provided free of charge, including personalized training and extensive post-graduation support, plus financial assistance for veterinary care, if needed. GDB has two campuses in San Rafael, Calif., and Boring, Ore.

1943: Congress passes the Vocational Rehabilitation Amendments, known as the LaFollette-Barden Act, adding physical rehabilitation to the goals of federally funded vocational rehabilitation programs and providing funding for certain health care services.

1945: The Blinded Veterans Association is formed in Avon, Conn. Its mission is to promote the welfare of blinded veterans so that, notwithstanding their disabilities, they may take their rightful place in the community and work with fellow citizens toward the creation of a peaceful world.

1961: The American Council of the Blind is formally organized. ACB strives to increase the independence, security, equality of opportunity and quality of life, for all blind and visually impaired people.

1963: John Hessler joins Ed Roberts at the University of California at Berkeley, other disabled students follow. Together they form the Rolling Quads to advocate for greater access on campus and in the surrounding community.

1968: The Architectural Barriers Act is passed by Congress, mandating federally constructed buildings and facilities be accessible to all people.

The ABA requires access for everyone whether blind or with any other disability to have access into any facilities designed, built, altered or leased with federal funds.

This marks one of the first efforts to ensure access to the constructed environment for all people.

Blindness or visual impairment can have a profound impact on your life, but you are still in control there is an abundance of information to help you.

Ernie Jones, a registered nurse who retired due to vision loss, can be reached at 529-9252 or eajsr37@outlook.com.

Follow this link:
Milestones in living with blindness in the modern day | A Different ... - Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

Prevent Blindness Provides Alternative Ideas on Ways Families Can Celebrate Independence Day Safely

CHICAGO (PRWEB) June 14, 2017

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), estimated that injuries from fireworks sent 8,000 Americans to the emergency room over the Fourth of July holiday. The latest CPSC annual report stated that forty-two percent of the estimated emergency department-treated, fireworks-related injuries were to individuals younger than 20 years of age. Sadly, the CPSC also reported 11 non-occupational fireworks-related deaths.

The American Pyrotechnics Association states that Delaware, Massachusetts and New Jersey are the only states that ban all consumer fireworks. Fireworks laws vary from state to state and sometimes, within different counties.

A recent study, "Effect of Fireworks Laws on Pediatric Fireworks-Related Burn Injuries," published in the Journal of Burn Care & Research, concluded that the relaxing of fireworks laws in the United States has had a dramatic effect on the severity of the related injuries, resulting in more inpatient admissions and longer length of stay in the hospital.

Yet despite the thousands of injuries and consumer firework-related deaths, some state government representatives are moving to lift restrictions on consumer fireworks.

In fact, in Iowa, a new law enacted in April allows retail sales of consumer fireworks in permanent buildings between June 1 and July 8, and again between Dec. 10 and Jan. 3.

As a public health-based organization, Prevent Blindness supports the development and enforcement of bans on the importation, sale and use of all fireworks and sparklers, except those used in authorized public displays by competent licensed operators. The national non-profit group, including its affiliates, works with leading organizations to educate the public on the dangers of consumer fireworks and endorses legislation to help protect adults and children from needless injuries from fireworks.

The CPSC states that burns from fireworks are the most common injury to all parts of the body, except the eyes, where contusions, lacerations, and foreign bodies in the eyes occurred more frequently. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, approximately one third of eye injuries from fireworks result in permanent blindness.

Prevent Blindness, the nation's oldest volunteer eye health and safety organization, offers alternatives to celebrate the holiday safely:

"The Fourth of July can still be fun without fireworks," said Hugh R. Parry, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness. "By attending only fireworks shows run by licensed professionals, and being vigilant, we can celebrate our nation's birthday with family and friends, not in the emergency room."

For more information on the dangers of fireworks, please call Prevent Blindness at (800) 331-2020, or visit preventblindness.org/prevent-eye-injuries-fireworks.

About Prevent Blindness Founded in 1908, Prevent Blindness is the nation's leading volunteer eye health and safety organization dedicated to fighting blindness and saving sight. Focused on promoting a continuum of vision care, Prevent Blindness touches the lives of millions of people each year through public and professional education, advocacy, certified vision screening and training, community and patient service programs and research. These services are made possible through the generous support of the American public. Together with a network of affiliates, Prevent Blindness is committed to eliminating preventable blindness in America. For more information, or to make a contribution to the sight-saving fund, call 1-800-331-2020. Or, visit us on the Web at preventblindness.org or facebook.com/preventblindness.

###

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/06/prweb14422232.htm

Read the original:
Prevent Blindness Works to Educate the Public on the Dangers of ... - Benzinga

Christian Guardino brushed off his nerves and blew audiences away with his powerful performance!

The 16-year-old boy from Long Island, New York earned the coveted Golden Buzzer from judge Howie Mandel on Tuesdays Americas Got Talent with a soulful rendition ofThe Jackson 5s 1969 single Whos Lovin You.

You were like a little mouse that turned into a lion. You are one of my favorite contestants Ive seen this year. Not only in terms of your voice. I just like you. Theres something about you, and its just the best possible feeling when we meet someone like you, Simon Cowell told Christian, who teared up on stage.

And when Mandell asked the singer if he could make one wish come true, Christian said: Probably the golden buzzer.

The Golden Buzzer puts Christian directly through to the hit NBC talent competitions upcoming live rounds.

On Tuesdays episode, Christian and his mother, Elizabeth, opened up about his journey of being blind for most of his life before an experimental treatment gave him back his sight.

Christian was diagnosed with a retinal disease called Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), according to his September 2016 profile in National Geographic. He was cured of blindness after receivinggene therapy treatment andnow can see well enough to read enlarged notes on sheet music.

Christian has plenty of singing experience.He has previously performed four times at theApollo Theater in Harlem, New York.

Mandels Golden Buzzer recipient is the third one this season, following Mel Bs 12-year-old singing ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer and Cowells 29-year-old deaf singer Mandy Harvey. Judge Heidi Klum still has yet to select her Golden Buzzer contestant.

Americas Got Talent airs Tuesdays (8 p.m. ET) on NBC.

Read the rest here:
WATCH: Long Island Teen, 16, Cured from Blindness Earns Golden Buzzer on America's Got Talent - PEOPLE.com

In the 1800s, as today, people overcame challenges to make great accomplishments.

Although many people dont know who he is, the subject of this weeks story has been called our greatest American historian.

Francis Parkman was born in Boston in 1823. His grandfather was a wealthy merchant whose estate provided him with enough money to be a man of independent means.

In 1846, Francis graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard. After graduation, he became intrigued with the French and Indian Wars from 1689 to 1763, and decided to write a book. For background material, he felt it was necessary to get a picture of the Indian before the arrival of the Europeans.

Realizing he was no longer able to do that with the northeastern Indians, Francis headed west. On June 15, 1846, he arrived at Fort Laramie, Wyo. Over the next six months, he lived with the Oglala Sioux and discovered these blood-thirsty savages were actually a warm and generous people who indulged their children to excess and were devoid of greed. The result was an important book about the ethnicity of the Indian titled, The Oregon Trail.

Because of an illness that plagued him throughout his life, he had to return east after six months. In a short time, Francis became virtually blind, making it impossible for him to see what he wrote. He had to use a device called a noctograph that had spaced wires so he could write on a straight line. For five years, he couldn't concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time.

In spite of these handicaps, Francis Parkman's passion for chronicling the true history of the United States kept him working. During his life, he wrote more than 30 books and is considered one of our great writers.

Dakota Livesay is the editor of the Chronicle of the Old West. For more information about the Old West visit http://www.ChronicleoftheOldWest.com. You can hear Dakota at 10 a.m. each day on KZUZ 93.5 in Show Low and KZUA 92.1 in Holbrook.

See the original post:
Despite blindness, Parkman successfully chronicled US history - White Mountain Independent

An initiative in Los Angeles aims to address eye problems in diabetics before they get too bad to treat.

Los Angeles Times: A Simple Test Is Helping Thousands Of Diabetics In L.A. County Who Face An Increased Risk Of Going Blind The condition, called diabetic retinopathy, is the leading cause of blindness among working-age adults nationwide. A simple test can detect and help treat the problem, but four years ago most diabetics in Los Angeles Countys massive healthcare system werent getting screened. (Karlamangla, 6/12)

In other news

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Text Messages Can Help Lower Blood Sugar Levels, Study Finds Text messages can help motivate Type 2 diabetics to lower their blood-sugar levels, according to a new paper that involved a researcher at the Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute in La Jolla. The study randomly assigned 126 people whose blood-sugar levels were not well controlled to either of two groups one that received standard care and another that got up to three motivational diabetes-related text messages per day. Both groups were monitored for six months. (Sisson, 6/9)

Go here to read the rest:
An Easy Screening Can Help Defuse 'Ticking Time Bomb' Of Blindness For Diabetics - California Healthline

In January 2016, a 24-year-old woman in Mannheim, Germany was reportedly raped by three migrants. At first, she identified them to police as German nationals, later explaining her lie as reluctance to help fuel aggressive racism. Then, astonishingly, she wrote a letter of apology to her attackers in which she blamed her society for their crime, saying I wanted an open Europe, a friendly one You, you arent safe here, because we live in a racist society. You are not the problem. You are not a problem at all.

British political commentator Douglas Murray recounts this anecdote in his brilliant new book, The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam. The victim, seemingly beset by a reflexive, socially entrenched fear of appearing Islamophobic, was willing to sacrifice justice to virtue-signalling. Such conduct is a microcosmic example of the bottomless white guilt that is crippling Europe.

Canada hasnt experienced the same migrant-related stressors as Europe, but that victims spasmodic recoil from perceived Islamophobia looks awfully familiar. Case in point: a fascinatingly logic-tortured June 9 Toronto Star columndevoted to Islamism exculpation, entitled Terrorists are misogynists first. In the piece, pundit Heather Mallick informs us that religion isnt terribly relevant in recent European attacks. No, the real problem is male misogyny. Mallick knows this because It is my job to see patterns in events. And we women see different patterns than men do. (Sigh. Mallick never speaks for me. I wish shed drop that we women shtick.)

In a recent column, Heather Mallick informs us that religion isnt terribly relevant in recent European attacks. No, the real problem is male misogyny

What is the pattern in events that Mallick sees? That all the killers are young males, with a narrow world view who suffer from status anxiety. The wanton spilling of blood is simply the way they display maleness. This is a simplistic theory cut from whole cloth. It completely ignores the role of ideology in terrorism, and the fact that millions of men have status anxiety but do not resort to terrorism to express it.

From the assertion that misogyny is universal, Mallick irrationally leaps to the conclusion that terrorism knows no particular race or culture. Look, she says, at the hateful men we have come to know: here, she lists four Islamist terrorists andfive North American, non-Muslim massacrists (only two of whom were motivated by misogyny), implying a general numerical equivalence. But her non-Muslim, North American massacrists were not associated with organized terror movements or with a specific ideology. And her non-Muslim, North American massacrists and their victims are statistically nugatory beside the vast human wreckage that has occurred as a result of individuals carrying out radical Islamists apocalyptic vision.

In a further attempt at moral equivalence, Mallick writes, Its of no interest to us whether were attacked by a mens rights advocate, the alt-right, a Muslim terrorist or an Irish one. But these are shamelessly misleading comparisons. IRA terrorism is not animated by gender bias, and was territorially and temporally constrained by political ends attainable through negotiation. Islamist terrorism is global and not open to negotiation. Mens rights advocate? A dreadful slur on a civilized movement. To my knowledge, no massacrist has ever cited encouragement to violence from any mens rights association.

Whats Mallicks solution? First, she thinks we ought to discard Muslim or Islamic as an adjective. (Obama and many other politicians have tried that, Heather. It didnt work.)

Whats Mallicks solution? First, she thinks we ought to discard Muslim or Islamic as an adjective. (Obama and many other politicians have tried that, Heather. It didnt work.) Because why single out Islam, when the misogyny of the Roman Catholic church is one of its pillars. Even if that were true (which I dont think it is), where is the organized terrorism or any terror perpetrated in Christs name that Mallicks reckless equivalency implies?

The column is a sad read, but emblematic of the desperation progressives feel when objective evidence contradicts their beloved multicultural theories, and the intellectual corruption to which they fall victim in their stubborn refusal to acknowledge reality. Mallicks jejune finale only plunges deeper into polemic bathos: Lets tackle misogyny at its source and find a way to raise boys to be more like the studious, gentle girls many of them have been told to despise.Lets, as in let us? As in Canada? Been there, done that, Heather. Any other brilliant suggestions for ending Islam er, I mean, status-anxiety driven terrorism?

All thats missing in Mallicks column is a sincere letter of apology to ISIL for the bad rap they are getting from people less enlightened than her. Regrettably, many Canadians think as Mallick does, or think they should. They need to read Murrays book and get woke.

National Post kaybarb@gmail.com Twitter.com/BarbaraRKay

Read the rest here:
Barbara Kay: The West's willful blindness to the threat of Islamist terrorism knows no bounds - National Post

Toronto Sun

Cyclist sets his sights on fighting blindness Toronto Sun John Tomasino isn't just along for the ride he's leading it. Although severely sight impaired, the 55-year-old teacher is Ambassador for the Cycle For Sight Creemore fundraising event and he'll be putting in 150 km on June 24 to fight blindness ...

See original here:
Cyclist sets his sights on fighting blindness - Toronto Sun

ISLAMABAD: Over two million Pakistanis are blind and 80 percent of them could have been cured had they been diagnosed at an early stage, Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospitals Executive Director Brig (r) Rizwan Asghar said on Sunday.

He said that data available with Al Shifa showed that lack of basic facilities in far-flung areas and unawareness about the timely check-up were the major causes of eyes diseases and ultimately blindness in the country.

"In last one year, we conducted 40,000 eye surgeries, 350,000 patients were treated and half a million people were screened for possible eye disorders," Asghar said.

Sharing the annual report of the trust with the media, he said that the trust was increasing its services by ten percent annually. "Only the private sector cannot cope with the challenge of blindness as eye diseases are increasing at a fast pace," he said.

"Our population is increasing at an alarming rate. This is putting a strain on services such as sanitation and cleanliness. Many of the viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi that can invade the human body are also capable of attacking the surface or interior of the eye," he said.

"Unfortunately, diseases that damage the retina, the optic nerve, or the blood vessels that feed them often cause no pain at all, which is another major problem," he said.

"The trust is running its four state-of-the-art eye hospitals in Rawalpindi, Sukkur, Kohat and Muzaffarabad. The hospital in Rawalpindi has a capacity of 250 beds. It has 40 highly-qualified eye surgeons and disease specialists. They treat about 1,200 patients daily and conduct 80 to 100 operations per day," he said.

Eyesight development:

A new study suggests that vision develops until midlife. This may have a significant impact on people with amblyopia, which is an eye disorder that causes what is commonly known as a "lazy eye".

A team of researchers led by Kathryn Murphy, a professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, set out to examine the evolution of the primary visual cortex in the human brain by analysing the postmortem brain tissue of 30 people, ranging in age from 20 days to 80 years.

Until now, the accepted view has been that in humans, the maturation of the primary visual cortex is completed in the first few years of life.

This traditional belief was based on anatomical studies of how the synapses are formed, as well as how connections within the cortex and between the cortex and other brain regions occur.

Murphy and colleagues looked at the so-called GABAergic activity in the brain. GABA stands for gamma-aminobutyric acid, and "GABAergic" refers to the brain's ability to produce it.

GABA is a neurotransmitter whose main function is to inhibit the action of another neurotransmitter called glutamate.

Their former study looked at the balance between excitation and inhibition in the brain, and how it is linked to the plasticity and aging of the visual cortex. The researchers followed the maturation of this brain region and showed how these GABAergic mechanisms change across the human lifespan.

This previous research showed that the GABA-producing mechanisms continue to mature until quite late in life. However, it still was not clear whether all of the mechanisms that regulate the plasticity of the synapses behaved in the same way.

GABA is inhibitory, but what about the excitatory neurotransmitters and synapses?

The researchers found that some of the glutamatergic proteins - that is, the ones that produce the excitatory glutamate - develop until late childhood, but others develop until around the age of 40.

Read more:
DailyTimes | 'Lack of proper treatment, awareness main causes of ... - Daily Times

One of the fastest growing causes of blindness around the world is an eye disease thats almost entirely preventable.

Diabetic retinopathy is a condition that occurs among diabetics when high blood sugar levels damage the retinal blood vessels, leading to complete vision impairment over time. The disease is a threat to those who have lived with diabetes for years, but it can be detected early and treated if patients are regularly screened.

Unfortunately, in India, which is home to over 69 million diabetics (as of 2015), regular eye examinations arent easy to come by, particularly outside big cities. While access to even basic healthcare is difficult, the problem is compounded by a serious shortage of trained ophthalmologists. So, some 45% of patients suffer from vision loss before theyre even diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy.

And thats where artificial intelligence comes in.

Specialist doctors are trained to diagnose the disease by analysing retinal photographs and looking for different types of lesions, such as microaneurysms or haemorrhages, that can indicate its severity. Last year, Google announced that it had taught an image-recognition algorithm how to detect signs of diabetic retinopathy using a dataset of 128,000 retinal photographs. In subsequent tests with other images, the algorithm managed to perform on par with a panel of ophthalmologists.

Since then, the project team has been working to validate the results with two hospital chains in India, Aravind Eye Care and Sankara Eye Hospital, and has recently completed initial clinical trials. Aravind even found the algorithm performing slightly better than its average ophthalmologist, Lily Peng, product manager at Google Research and a former nanoscientist and bioengineer, said during a talk earlier this year.

Now, Google is in the early stages of figuring out pilot deployments for the technology in India.

Machine learning has the capability of helping extend the reach of healthcare providers and bringing high quality care to everyone, especially rural and under-served communities where there is a shortage of experts, Peng told Quartz in an email.

Thats particularly important in India, where the condition is a major cause of preventable blindness. In 2014, a study by the All India Ophthalmological Society found that diabetic retinopathy was detected in nearly 22% of its sample of over 6,200 diabetic patients across the country. More importantly, signs of the condition were detected even in patients who hadnt yet experienced any vision impairment, suggesting that early screening is the one thing that could make a big difference in avoiding blindness.

As advanced as the diagnostic algorithm is, though, were still a long way from technology replacing doctors, even as AI and virtual reality are being increasingly incorporated into Indias healthcare sector. Peng notes that the successful adoption of the Google algorithm depends on healthcare providers who will need to adapt to handle an increase in patients as more people are diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy.

Machine learnings true potential will only be realised when deployed in partnership with healthcare providers, Peng said.

But as diabetes spreads, notably among low-income communities who can hardly afford medical care, the first order of business is still the matter of getting ordinary Indians through the door.

More here:
A Google algorithm could help Indian diabetics avoid a disease that leads to blindness - Quartz

Islamabad

Over nine hundred thousand people were benefitted from our services of during the last one year but a lot is yet to be done, a leading eye care hospital announced.

In last one year, we conducted 40,000 operations, three hundred and fifty thousand patients were treated while half a million people were screened for possible eye disorders, said Executive Director of Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospitals, Brigadier (r) Rizwan Asghar.

Sharing the annual report of the trust with the media persons, he said that we are increasing the services by ten percent annually but only the private sector cannot cope with the challenge of blindness as eye diseases are increasing at a fast pace.

"Our population is increasing putting the strain on services like sanitation, pollution is compromising hygiene while fact remains that many of the viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi that can invade the human body are also capable of attacking the surface or interior of the eye," he said.

Unfortunately, diseases that damage the retina, the optic nerve, or the blood vessels that feed them often cause no pain at all which is another major problem, he added.

Brigadier (r) Rizwan Asghar informed that over two million Pakistanis are blind and eighty percent of them could have been cured if properly checked at an early age.

He said that data available with Al-Shifa shows that lack of basic facilities in far-flung areas and unawareness about the timely check-up are the major causes of eyes diseases and ultimately blindness in the country.

He said that the trust is running its four state-of-the-art eye hospitals at Rawalpindi, Sukkur, Kohat and Muzaffarabad.

The hospital in Rawalpindi eye has a capacity of 250 beds with 40 highly qualified eye surgeons and disease specialists. They treat about 1,200 patients daily and conduct 80 to 100 operations per day.

Link:
Lack of facilities, awareness behind blindness | Islamabad | thenews ... - The News International

HIGHLAND PARK TheFoundation Fighting Blindness,the worlds largest private funder of sight-saving retinal disease research, will host the 16thAnnual Artistry of Wine from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 22, at the Highland Park Country Club. Thistasting eventwelcomes some of the top restaurants in the Chicago area. It also includes a silent auction featuring many unique items and a sweepstakes drawing to win a chance to drive a new Tesla SUV for a long weekend.

The event benefits the foundations mission to advance research into preventions, treatments and cures for blinding retinal diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigments (RP)that affect more than 10 million Americans, young and old. As promising treatments move into critical human studies, the need for research funding is greater than ever.

Featured tasting stations at the event include: Bella Via, Bent Fork Bakery, Coopers Hawk Winery & Restaurant, Copper Fiddle Distillery, Half Day Brewing Company, Highland Park Country Club, KOVAL Distillery, La Macchina Caf, Maggianos Little Italy, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Onion Garden, Park Street, Pinstripes, Revolution Brewery, Spin-Spun Gourmet and Wildfire.

Artistry of Wine Co-Chairs and Foundation Fighting Blindness National Trustees Joel and Barbara Stone of Highland Park have two sons affected with Retinitis Pigmentosa. When our first son, Michael, was diagnosed we were told there is no treatment or cure for his degenerating retinal disease, says Barbara. Today there is still no cure, but thanks to the promising research funded by the Foundation Fighting Blindness, there is hope for a brighter future for all those affected with these blinding diseases.

About Foundation Fighting Blindness

The Foundation Fighting Blindness isa national non-profit organization driving the research that will lead to preventions, treatments and cures for retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration, Usher syndrome and the entire spectrum of retinal diseases that affect more than 10 million Americans. Since 1971, the Foundation has raised nearly $700 million as the leading non-governmental funder of inherited retinal research. Breakthrough Foundation-funded studies using gene therapy have restored significant vision in children and young adults who were previously blind, paving the way for additional clinical trials to treat a variety of retinal diseases. The Foundation also has nearly 45 chapters that provide support, information and resources to affected individuals and their families in communities across the country.

View original post here:
North Shore Restaurants Come Together to Fight Blindness on June ... - Daily North Shore

America, do you rightfully expect our 45th president to defend and protect our constitutional freedoms or do you blandly trust him to say and do what he feels like at any moment in time? Facts are subjective to scrutiny to verify that the stated information is indeed factual. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America is a promise, sacred and cherished, to protect and defend each of us, all of us, whether this is your country of birth or country by choice. It is not allegiance to any one person regardless of their position of power. Our forefathers must have had the brilliant insight and instinct to foresee possible future consequences of any abuse of power and so none of the three branches of government (executive, legislative, judicial) could have its power left unchecked. It is called balance of power and checks and balances for that very reason. It may only take one person to be deceitful and duplicitous, but it takes at least two to activate the deception two entities, two governments, two countries it still takes two. Collusion may be corrupt or criminal or both. In any case, democracy has its very foundation in truth. It has survived and thrived in America for over 240 years that is provable; that is a fact. Thankfully, democracy is our very foundation.

So what really happened on 11/8/2016? Inquiring minds want to know. What really prompted the firing of FBI Director James Comey? Was it just another example of someone getting far too close for comfort to the truth? Truth requires transparency. Why not have an independent, nonpartisan special investigation into allegations that a foreign government was possibly involved and influenced the outcome of a presidential election in a democracy? Why are so many so terrified of the truth, and what it would reveal? Was the presidents firing of Director Comey just another way of his diversion of factual knowledge being secured when Director Comey was in search of the truth about what actually transpired between two countries with some obvious contradictions? It is not inconceivable, to me, that any individual of any country could alter the potential future of a healthy and active democracy. It felt like I was witnessing the presidential version of The Price Is Right. Director Comey is invited to Come on down and choose Door #1 (personal loyalty), Door #2 (see no evil/hear no evil) or Door #3 (conscience/integrity). Fortunately for America, Mr. Comey chose Door #3 because his allegiance is and was to one nation under God. Unfortunately, Door #3 was also the exit door to transparency and truth. Doesnt anyone else see this as obstruction of justice in seeking some definitive answers to actually proving if any criminal activity was involved, and if so, who, exactly, were the criminals involved? Perhaps when an independent investigation is initiated and completed, Americans will better appreciate our democracy. In the meantime, there are some undisputed facts that all of us need to remember:

Fact #1: America is not for sale. Not now. Not ever.

Fact #2: America is a democracy and as such our Constitution must be protected and preserved.

Fact #3: Our 45th president (and all presidents to follow) is not the CEO of America. Our nation is not a business. He is our employee for our nation, as in We the People.

Fact #4: No president is above or beyond the reach of the law, as in the I word, aka Youre fired.

Fact #5: If youre not outraged, youre not listening.

Did this president, elected only six months ago, somehow miss his high school Civics/Government 101 class or in his ignorance or arrogance has he not even read the U.S. Constitution? (Fortunately, his predecessor taught constitutional law and upheld it in highest regard.) Or is it that he believes that the world, and the United States of America, revolve around him? Incorrect assumption. To assume is to make an ASS of U not me. This so reminds me of not too many years ago when *CIA operative Valerie Plame and her husband were getting much too close to the truth about our countrys actual reasoning for invading Iraq. And then not so coincidentally her identity was accidentally leaked to a reporter, thus terminally compromising her safety and security while undermining the security of our own country. There are no coincidences. Power is a privilege but often it is used as a weapon of mass destruction. In a world of way too many warriors waging war without questioning, why are we not seeking transparency and truth? But if you actually believe the assertion that this inauguration in Washington, D.C., on 1/20/17 was attended by more people than the second inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009, then Fact #5 is not applicable to you. Blindness, literally and figuratively, keeps you captive in the dark. However, I will trust a blind human being (without even a guide dog) over self-perpetuated blindness any day. Reality check, please. Seek answers. Find truth. Know justice.

Linda Principe lives in Thousand Oaks. *National Geographic, June 2017, Why Do We Lie?

Read the original post:
Blindness keeps you captive in the dark - Ventura County Reporter

Jaap Bosman

Depending on the market, commoditized work can be quite complex. For instance, project finance is one area of specialization for which you need a lot of expert knowledge and experience. The problem is that in a sophisticated market like New York or London, there are just too many good project finance lawyers around who can do the work perfectly well. Hence, in those markets all but the most complex or innovative project finance matters will be considered commoditized.

To better understand lets look at the definition of commoditization in the legal market:

Commoditization is when for a particular matter, the client can choose between multiple lawyers and multiple law firms without sacrificing any aspect of quality. In other words, when from the clients perspective, the process and the final product are the same.

It is important to understand that commoditization is not measured from the law firms perspective. It is the client who decides. It is also important to understand that commoditization is black or white. A certain legal service or product is either commoditized or not. The consequence of commoditization is ultimately, and unavoidably, pressure on price. If everything else is equal and the client has a choice, price will become the decisive factor.

When I discuss the topic of commoditization with lawyers, the first response is always: There might be commoditization in the market, but what I do is 100 percent bespoke.. This phenomenon is called commoditization blindness. The second-most common remark is that the lawyer has a unique and trusted relationship with the clienta relationship that is so strong and special that price alone will never destroy it. Who am I to judge this? So I spoke to a general counsel from a sizable international company and asked him how often he worked with lawyer that he did not like.

The answer did not come as a surprise. Almost all of the lawyers he had worked with during his long career were highly qualified people who did their best to deliver excellent client service and were very pleasant to work with. Basically, all lawyers were equally nice and managed to build a trusted relationship pretty fast. We might think our relationship with our client is unique, but form the clients perspective, even that unique relationship they can get elsewhere.

Commoditization has become a fact of life for law firms, and commoditization will lead to pressure on price. Because of its eroding effect on profit, commoditization might well be the single-most disruptive factor in the legal sector today. To fully grasp the seriousness of this effect, we need to first fully understand a law firms financial model. The basics are simple: revenue minus costs equals profit. Since profit is distributed amongst the partners, there is a direct linear relationship between profit and partner compensation.

The important thing to understand here is the fixed nature of the costs. For a law firm, fixed elements like salaries, rent, insurance and IT can make up to 90 percent of all costs. All of these are invariable in the short term. In most markets, cost will be about 65 percent of budget revenue. So the equation would look like the accompanying chart. As you can see, a 10 percent drop in revenue will result in a 30 percent drop in profit. This leveraged effect is one of the main reasons why commoditization is so dangerous for law firms.

To make things worse and even more threatening, this effect will be amplified by todays increased partner mobility. Loyalty between partners and their firms is at an historic low, and many partners feel free to pick up their books of business and move to another firman event that could easily be triggered by profits declining at the firm they are with. When the most profitable partners leave the firm, taking their books of business, revenue again drops while costs remain the same (salaries, housing, insurance, IT, etc.). Consequently, for the remaining partners, profit will drop even further. This could easily lead to an unstoppable downward spiral with more and more partners leaving.

Eventually this could even lead to the collapse of the firm as we have seen at SJ Berwin, the European branch of King and Wood Mallesons at the end of 2016.

Commoditization will quickly erode profitability. Understanding and accepting the concept of commoditization will help us to understand that in order to maintain our profitability, we will need to adapt our business model. There are several ways to do that. The traditional business model is based on the markup we make on our associates and on time spent. So if a client is billed $3,000 for an associate to complete a task, the profit for the firm will be (based on industry average) $1,000. What if we replace half of what the associate did by a computer, and at the same time charge the client 30 percent less? The calculation will now look more like this: Revenue $2,000, cost $1,000 (only 50 percent time of the associates time spent), profit still $1,000.

Making lawyers more efficient with the help of technology is only one of the solutions. Other measures include reducing the number of equity partners, making costs more flexible, or making the services more valuable though brand building and positioning.

But whatever the solution, it all starts with accepting the situation. We need to stop sticking our heads in the sand and stop believing that what we do is so unique that it cannot be done equally well in every aspect by another lawyer or another firm. As my friend the general counsel said: Typically, all lawyers to a pretty good job and are pleasurable to work with.

Jaap Bosman is a leading strategy consultant, investor and one of the founding partners of TGO Consulting, a boutique consultancy focusing on the legal sector operating from New York, The Hague and Hong Kong. In 2015 he published Death of a Law Firm, recently translated into Chinese. Jaap is a regular speaker on the future of the legal sector.

See the article here:
Do you suffer from 'commoditization blindness'? If others can do your work for less, open your eyes - ABA Journal

CIRM funds many projects seeking to better understand diseases of blindness and to translate those discoveries into new therapies.

Nearly a million Americans are blind, with another 2.4 million suffering significant visual impairment. While there are several causes of blindness, the leading cause of all visual impairment is age-related macular degeneration, which affects 1.7 million Americans.

Californias stem cell agency funds research into potential therapies for three of the causes of blindness. All the research teams are seeking to use various forms of stem cells to rescue or replace cells in the eye damaged or threatened by the diseases. Several groups are working on ways to restore vision for people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Other projects are looking to preserve vision in patients with retinitis pigmentosa, and to restore clarity to the surface of eyes impacted by corneal disease.

In AMD the layer of cells that support the photoreceptors is destroyed. Without this support system, the photoreceptors, the cells that actually allow us to sense light start to malfunction. CIRM-funded teams are looking at various methods of replacing this layer of support cells called RPE (retinal pigment epithelial) cells. Some are using embryonic stem cells as a starting point to generate new RPE cells. Others are using stem cells obtained by reprogramming adult cells to be like embryonic cells, which could potentially come from the patients themselves.

Retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited and progressive vision loss that leaves most patients legally blind by mid-life, directly destroys the photoreceptors. CIRM-funded researchers are seeking to use stem cells to rescue the receptors from further damage and potentially replace them with new ones.

The cornea, the outer surface of the eye, is constantly refreshed by stem cells that reside in neighboring tissue. But some people just dont have enough of these stem cells, called Limbal stem cells, to make enough new cornea cells. CIRM-funded researcher are trying to correct this condition, limbal stem cell deficiency, by retrieving the few existing limbal stem cells, and using various techniques to expand them in the laboratory until there are enough cells to rebuild a healthy cornea.

Some projects we fund are trying to take promising therapies out of the laboratory and closer to being tested in people. These Disease Team Awards encourage the creation of teams that have both the scientific knowledge and business skills needed to produce therapies that can get approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be tested in people. In some cases, these awards also fund the early phase clinical trials to show that they are safe to use and, in some cases, show some signs of being effective.

This team is using embryonic stem cells to produce the support cells, or RPE cells, needed to replace those lost in AMD. Because these cells exist in a thin sheet in the back of the eye, they are assembling these sheets in the lab by growing the RPE cells on synthetic scaffolds. These sheets are then surgically implanted into the eye. They are testing the human embryonic stem cell-derived RPE cells in a Phase 1/2a clinical trial to treat the advanced dry form of AMD.

For retinitis pigmentosa, the team is using donor tissue to isolate cells that are part way down the path from neural stem cells to adult eye tissue. These retinal progenitor cells are grown in large quantities in the lab and then injected into the eye. The team suggests the cells could help in two ways. They may be able to protect the photoreceptors not yet damaged by the disease, and they may be able to form new photoreceptors to replace those already lost. The team is testing the safety of transplantinghuman retinal progenitor cells into patients with RP in a phase 1/2 clinical trial.

The same team from UC Irvine is now conducting a Phase 2b clinical trial for retinitis pigmentosa using the same stem cell derived retinal progenitor celltherapy. The trial, which is sponsored by the company jCyte, will test the treatment in a larger patient population to determine whether the treatment is effective at restoring some vision.After finishing patient enrollment, the team willconductpatient follow up studies and collectof all clinical outcome measures.

Total:

Find Out More: Stem Cell FAQ | Stem Cell Videos | What We Fund

See the article here:
Blindness Fact Sheet | California's Stem Cell Agency

Over time, high blood sugar levels from diabetes lead to damage of the retina, the layer on the back of the eye that captures images and sends them as nerve signals to the brain. Whether diabetic retinopathy develops depends in part on how high blood sugar levels have been and how long they have been above a target range. Other things that may increase your risk for diabetic retinopathy include high blood pressure, pregnancy, a family history of the condition, kidney disease, high cholesterol, and whether you smoke.

The early stages of retinal damage are called nonproliferative retinopathy. First, tiny blood vessels called capillaries in the retina develop weakened areas in their walls called microaneurysms. When red blood cells escape through these weakened walls, tiny amounts of bleeding (hemorrhages) become visible when the retina is viewed through an instrument called an ophthalmoscope. To clearly see your retina, the ophthalmologist will enlarge (dilate) your pupils (which serve as a window to the back of your eye) and may also use a special dye to help identify blood vessels that may be leaking.

Fluid from the blood also escapes, leading to yellowish "hard exudates." This type of damage does not cause problems with vision unless some of the leaking fluid is near the macula. (The macula is the area of the retina that is responsible for central vision.) An ophthalmologist who specializes in the treatment of retinal problems will attempt to stop blood leakage by using a laser in a process called photocoagulation. By using an appropriately selected laser, your ophthalmologist may seal the small blood vessels that can leak when a person has nonproliferative and proliferative retinopathy. More recently, ophthalmologists have been using injectable medicines to treat retinal leakage.

If fluid leaks out near the macula, it can disrupt vision. This is called macular edema. As retinopathy becomes more severe, parts of the abnormal capillaries can become closed off. This kills parts of the retina that the capillaries previously supplied with blood. These tiny damaged parts of the retina are called "cotton wool" spots and can be seen using an ophthalmoscope.

The later stages of retinal injury are called proliferative retinopathy, because new fragile blood vessels grow to supply the damaged areas of the retina. These new blood vessels can bleed into the vitreous gel, the gel-filled area in front of the retina. Over time, scar tissue that forms from bleeding can cause the retina to detach from the wall of the eye (retinal detachment) and cause loss of vision.

Severe proliferative retinopathy may be treated with laser surgery in order to save vision. Your eye doctor may use more aggressive laser therapy, called scatter (pan-retinal) photocoagulation. This process is more thorough than that used in localized photocoagulation. And it may require more individual treatments. But it allows your doctor to minimize the growth of new blood vessels across the back of your retina. Severe proliferative retinopathy may also be treated with medicines that slow the growth of abnormal blood vessels in the retina. The growth of these vessels is triggered by a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Anti-VEGF medicines, such as ranibizumab (Lucentis), block the effects of VEGF.

Laser treatments may not always work in treating proliferative retinopathy. If you have retinal detachment or hemorrhages that cannot be repaired, your retinal specialist will need to use a surgical technique to try to restore your vision. This surgical technique, called pars plana vitrectomy, attempts to repair your retina and reduce hemorrhaging. Like many surgical techniques, it has several risks and is much more likely to damage your eye than laser surgery.

People who have diabetes are also at risk for other problems, such as cataracts and glaucoma, that damage vision. They are also at risk for a severe form of glaucoma called neovascular glaucoma. Cataracts are frequently caused by a lifetime of sun exposure, and diabetes speeds up their formation.

The following table outlines the major causes of blindness in people who have diabetes.

Condition

How it causes vision loss

Preventive measures

If you notice problems with your vision, you should immediately seek medical evaluation by an ophthalmologist. Regular eye exams are meant to detect any retinopathy at the nonproliferative stage, where it may still be treated with a good chance of success.

If nonproliferative retinopathy is not detected and treated early, it may progress to proliferative retinopathy. During proliferative retinopathy, your body tries to correct the microaneurysms. To replace blood vessels that have broken or leaked, new blood vessels begin to form. These blood vessels are fragile and may break easily, causing bleeding into the middle of the eye and clouding vision. They also form scar tissue that can pull on the retina and cause the retina to detach from the wall of the eye.

With aggressive management of your condition-keeping your blood sugar in your target range and controlling blood pressure-along with regular screening of your vision, you may be able to prevent or delay blindness.

WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise

Follow this link:
How Diabetes Causes Blindness-Topic Overview - WebMD

The Hindu

Saving three-month-old infant from blindness The Hindu Like blood pressure, every eye has intraocular pressure. In glaucoma, the watery fluid called aqueous humour flows into the eye, but does not exit. This increases the eye pressure and leads to blindness, says S.A. Hussain Naqvi, head of medical ... 2-month-old baby undergoes successful eye surgeryThe Hans India 2-month-old treated for rare glaucomaTimes of India all 4 news articles »

See the article here:
Saving three-month-old infant from blindness - The Hindu

Fox - credit gingiber

Humanity and compassion have been on the forefront of peoples minds in recent weeks, and even demonstrated by our politicians.

What a shame, though, that there cant be more compassion shown towards the animal kingdom at a time when the enjoyment of inflicting pain and death on fellow creatures is as popular as ever.

And it even featured in the Conservative manifesto.

RELATED CONTENT

Nearly one in three satellite tagged golden eagles in Scotland died in suspicious circumstances, finds SNH

MSPs to consider banning wild animals from travelling circuses

Theresa May tells voters she is in favour of fox hunting

The UK Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, Andrea Leadsom, who self-identifies as an animal lover, recently tweeted: Fully committed to protecting rare species in our Conservative manifesto. Saving iconic and hugely loved elephant is vital.

This is a ludicrous assessment of a manifesto which dropped a commitment to a ban on the sale of ivory.

Its a mystifying move given that an elephant is killed by poachers every 25 minutes, as the march towards extinction gathers apace; and it is far, far too late for politicians to be worrying about their popularity among the crucial wealthy antique-dealer electorate.

Perhaps less surprising is the indication that restrictions on fox hunting will be repealed.

Leadsom has said preventing hunters in traditional dress driving a pack of dogs through the countryside to chase then rip apart a fox has not proven to be in the interests of animal welfare whatsoever.

And Theresa May told some factory workers she was in favour of hunting.

Trying to explain fox hunting to my seven-year-old daughter is a difficult process, because while children can be very cruel, they also understand cruelty should not be fun.

The hunting lobby argues that people who oppose it the majority of people fail to understand the longstanding traditions and pursuits of countryside life, that people who live in cities over-sentimentalise animals.

Even leaving aside the class element to that, these arguments fall flat because they are condescending and fickle. However you dress it up, cruelty is cruelty. A culture of cruelty. Even a seven-year-old can understand that.

Compassion is not ignorant. Finding blood sport abhorrent is not complicated, it is principled. Its human.

And blood sport blindness is not exclusively a Tory pastime. The Scottish Government is considering relaxing the ban on amputating puppies tails introduced in 2007.

New exemptions would apply to just two breeds and only if they are likely to be used as a working dog, but the British Veterinary Association told MSPs that any concession would be a retrograde step for Scotland when prior to now it has always been cited as a key example of the Scottish lead on animal welfare.

Arguments for introducing exemptions come from another community of enthusiastic blood sport fanatics. Evidence shows gun dogs who work, particularly Spaniels, are at risk of injury if they have a tail.

But instead of examining the bloodthirsty practice that causes such injuries to these dogs, the answer instead is to mutilate the animal when they are born, and without any pain relief. The fact a dog uses its tail for balance and communication is inconvenient in such a job, apparently.

If your dog is suffering life-threatening injuries during your pursuit of the murder of birds, just maybe that isnt the fault of its tail.

Add in the corpses of driven grouse and the death of a number of inconvenient birds of prey - one in three golden eagles - as well as an annual cull of meddlesome mountain hares, and countryside pursuits is racking up quite the body count.

Will animal rights legislation ever recognise the culpability of the human in the equation?

We are supposed to be special because we have reason and rational thought. Indeed, Scotland is famous for both. But theres really nothing reasonable or rational about cruelty.

Time for some humanity and compassion in the face of barbarism.

Read the rest here:
Blood sport blindness afflicts our politicians - Holyrood.com