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The inability to recognise faces is a surprisingly common, but fairly unknown, condition.

Those who suffer have to use clothes, hairstyles, voice or walking manner to identify a person.

It means that they often remove themselves from social situations so that they dont embarrass or offend others.

Many people are unaware they are affected, and may just think they have a bad memory.

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Some people with face blindness struggle to recognise their family and friends, and this can have a negative impact on their lives."

Punit Shah

However a new simple test to diagnose face blindness has been presented in research published in the The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

They looked at whether an online questionnaire could accurately reveal face recognition ability.

Punit Shah, lead study author and lecturer in psychology at Anglia Ruskin University, said: Some people with face blindness struggle to recognise their family and friends, and this can have a negative impact on their lives.

Face blindness has been recognised by the NHS since 2016 and it is important to establish how many people are affected in order that they receive the assistance they need.

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Little Geeta, three, and her younger brother Lukeshwar, one, suffer from severe skin condition epidermolysis bullosa - an inherited mutation that makes skin fragile.

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In the questionnaire, the participants were asked how much they agreed or disagreed with particular statements, such as I often mistake people I have met before for strangers or I sometimes find movies hard to follow because of difficulties recognising characters.

Shah explained: Psychologists interested in face blindness have been hesitant to use questionnaires, but our new study suggests that using a well-designed questionnaire is helpful in recognising the condition and is suitable to be used on a large scale.

We are now adapting this questionnaire as there is evidence that prosopagnosia exists in children. It could help to explain why some children struggle to make close friends, and the problem could be more acute in schools where uniforms are worn.

Early detection may be beneficial as training programmes to improve face recognition, which are known to work in adults, may be even more successful in children given that they have a more plastic brain. There is still a lot to learn about prosopagnosia, but this research into identifying the condition using questionnaires is hopefully a step in the right direction.

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One of the most well known sufferers of prosopagnosia is the actor Brad Pitt.

He has spoken in the past about how the condition makes him seem egotistical.

According to the NHS, the condition often affects people from birth.

They are unable to recognise family, friends and partners, and have to use other clues to identify them.

This can be difficult if a sufferer sees someone out of context, and can cause distress.

Read more:
Face blindness test: Do you have the same condition as Brad Pitt? - Express.co.uk

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New research has discovered that switching from a high-glycemic (GI) diet to a low-glycemic diet can stop the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The study by Tufts University found that for the same amount of total carbohydrate, high GI foods release sugar into the bloodstream more rapidly than low GI foods.

This can affect your eyesight by causing damage to the retina.

High GI foods include potatoes, white bread and rice, while examples of low GI foods are whole grains, lentils and fruit.

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The researchers discovered that a high GI diet triggered the development of many features of AMD.

The researchers discovered that a high GI diet triggered the development of many features of AMD.

These included the loss of function of cells at the back of the eye, and of the cells that capture light.

However, eating a low GI diet did not.

Interestingly, switching from a high GI diet to a low GI diet could repair this damage to the retina.

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Sheldon Rowan, scientist at Tufts University and lead study author, said: "We were genuinely surprised that the retinas from mice whose diets were switched from high- to low-glycemic index diets midway through the study were indistinguishable from those fed low-glycemic index diet throughout the study.

We hadn't anticipated that dietary change might repair the accumulated damage in the RPE so effectively.

Our experimental results suggest that switching from a high-glycemic diet to a low-glycemic one is beneficial to eye health in people that are heading towards developing AMD.

AMD happens gradually over time - in the early stages it causes blurred vision, while later on it can develop into blindness.

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There is currently no cure, making these new findings of particular interest.

The researchers also believe theyve found potential biomarkers of AMD which can be used to predict when a person is at risk for this disease.

Allen Taylor, scientist at Tufts University and senior study author, said: "Currently, there are no early biomarkers to anticipate the disease. Our findings show an interaction between dietary carbohydrates, the gut microbiome, specific biochemical molecules, and AMD features.

This work should lead to new approaches to understand, diagnose and treat early AMD - perhaps before it affects vision.

Already anticipated by our human epidemiologic studies, the findings imply that we can develop dietary interventions aimed at preventing the progression of AMD, a disease which impacts millions and costs billions worldwide.

Read the rest here:
Could eating a low GI diet prevent blindness as you get older ... - Express.co.uk

A small and preliminary clinical trial has found that injecting a common cold-like virus into the eyes of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients - one of the leading causes of blindness in the US - can halt and even reverse the progression of the disease.

The results will need to be replicated in a much larger group of patients, but the early signs suggest that a single injection of the specially engineered virus can kick the body's natural immune response into gear, and clear out the fluid that causes permanent vision loss.

The approach, trialled by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Maryland, targeted a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is overactive in people with wet AMD - a rare and more severe form of the disease, which causes new blood vessels to grow beneath the retina and leak blood and fluid into the eye.

This build-up of fluid causes permanent damage to light-sensitive retinal cells, prompting them to progressively die off, leaving blind spots in the centre of a person's vision. Wet AMD affects around 10 percent of all AMD patients.

While treatments do currently exist for wet AMD, they involve getting injections in the eye once every four weeks - and if you want to maintain the benefits, you have to keep up those monthly injections for the rest of your life.

Side effects of current medications include eye infections and a heightened risk of stroke.

What the team at Johns Hopkins has demonstrated in a handful of patients is that, in some cases, there could be a way to halt and even reverse the progression of wet AMD with a single injection.

"This preliminary study is a small but promising step towards a new approach that will not only reduce doctor visits and the anxiety and discomfort associated with repeated injections in the eye, but may improve long-term outcomes," says one of the team, Peter Campochiaro.

"[P]rolonged suppression of VEGF is needed to preserve vision, and that is difficult to achieve with repeated injections because life often gets in the way."

The phase 1 clinical trial involved 19 men and women, who were 50 years or older, with advanced wet AMD.

They were divided into five groups that received increasing doses of a viral vector called AAV2 - a common cold-like virus that's been genetically engineered to penetrate the patients' retinal cells and deposit a gene that prompts the production of a protein called sFLT01.

"After the virus deposited the gene, the cells began secreting sFLT01 which bound to VEGF and prevented it from stimulating leakage and growth of abnormal blood vessels," the team explains.

"The goal is for the retinal cells infected by the virus to produce enough sFLT01 to permanently stop the progression of AMD."

Previous research has shown that sFLT01 can inactivate VEGF, but until now, scientists had struggled to get the body to produce it on its own - instead, they've had to regularly inject VEGF-suppressing proteins to keep it at bay.

The first three groups were given the lowest doses of the AAV2 virus, and after they showed no negative side effects, the final two groups were given the maximum dose. No severe side effects were observed in either group.

"Even at the highest dose, the treatment was quite safe. We found there were almost no adverse reactions in our patients," says Campochiaro.

The 19 participants were all selected based on their lack of response to all other standard treatment options - eight of which were unlikely to respond even to their new treatment.

Of the remaining 11, four showed dramatic improvements after a single viral injection, with the amount of fluid in their eyes reducing from severe to "almost nothing", the team reports. Two more patients experienced a partial reduction in the amount of fluid in their eyes.

The remaining five patients weren't so lucky, experiencing no improvement in vision after the injection, but for good reason - the researchers realised that their bodies naturally produced antibodies that attack the AAV2 virus.

And therein lies the rub, because the researchers suspect that these natural antibodies could be widespread in the US at least, becauseadeno-associated viral infections - a relative of the AAV2 virus - are quite common.

It will take a much larger clinical trial to figure out if the almost 50-50 chance of success in this study is an accurate indication of how the wider population will respond to their new treatment, but it's a promising development.

With advanced age-related macular degeneration expected to increase fromapproximately 2.07 million Americans in 2010 to 5.44 million in 2050, treatment that works for only half of wet AMD patients could still change hundreds of thousands of lives.

The research has been published in The Lancet.

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Scientists have reversed age-related blindness by deliberately ... - ScienceAlert

A gene therapy that deliberately infects the eye with a virus can safely preserve vision in people affected by one of the leading causes of blindness, research has shown.

In a small preliminary study, scientists used an altered common cold-type virus to carry a repair gene that combats age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The disease is marked by abnormal blood vessels that leak fluid into the central part of the retina, or macula.

After being injected into patients' eyes, the virus penetrated retinal cells and deposited the gene, which manufactured a therapeutic protein called FLT01.

Lead researcher Professor Peter Campochiaro, from Johns Hopkins University in the US, said: This preliminary study is a small but promising step towards a new approach that will not only reduce doctor visits and the anxiety and discomfort associated with repeated injections in the eye, but may improve long-term outcomes.

The Phase I clinical trial involved 19 men and women aged 50 and older with advanced wet AMD.

With the help of the gene, retinal cells were turned into factories making FLT01.

The scientists hope this will eliminate the need to administer repeated injections of the protein, which suppresses a natural growth-driving molecule called VEGF.

Prolonged suppression of VEGF is needed to preserve vision, and that is difficult to achieve with repeated injections because life often gets in the way, said Prof Campochiaro.

For safety and ethical reasons, the patient group consisted of people for whom standard approved treatments were highly unlikely to restore vision.

Only 11 patients stood any chance of fluid reduction. Of those, four showed dramatic improvements after the gene therapy. The amount of fluid in their eyes dropped from a severe level to almost nothing.

Two other patients experienced a partial reduction in the amount of fluid in their eyes.

The findings are reported in the latest issue of The Lancet medical journal.

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Gene therapy infection can prevent blindness, research shows | The ... - The Independent

A test has been developed that can identify people with the same inability to recognise faces that is thought to affect Brad Pitt.

Face blindness, or prosopagnosia, is thought to affect around one in 50 individuals including the Hollywood star who has talked about how it causes him to appear egotistical.

Sufferers have to rely on other clues to identity such as hair style, clothes, or speech. Sometimes people are so badly affected that they avoid social situations for fear of embarrassment or causing offence.

Psychologists interested in face blindness have been hesitant to use questionnaires, but our new study suggests that using a well-designed questionnaire is helpful in recognising the condition and is suitable to be used on a large scale.

Dr Punit Shah, lead author

Pitt told Esquire magazine in 2013 he had such a hard time recognising people he has met that he thought he must have prosopagnosia. At the time he said the situation was worsening so he was thinking of being tested for it. Former Dragons Den star Duncan Bannatyne, Stephen Fry and the Labour politician Patricia Hewitt also reportedly suffer the same affliction.

Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University have now come up with a simple questionnaire that can provide an accurate way of assessing face recognition. In tests, volunteers were asked the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with 20 statements such as I often mistake people I have met before for strangers or I sometimes find movies hard to follow because of difficulties recognising characters.

Comparing the scores with results from in depth computerised face recognition tasks demonstrated that the test could quickly and effectively diagnose the condition.

Psychologist Dr Punit Shah said: Some people with face blindness struggle to recognise their family and friends, and this can have a negative impact on their lives. Face blindness has been recognised by the NHS since 2016 and it is important to establish how many people are affected in order that they receive the assistance they need.

Psychologists interested in face blindness have been hesitant to use questionnaires, but our new study suggests that using a well-designed questionnaire is helpful in recognising the condition and is suitable to be used on a large scale.

We are now adapting this questionnaire as there is evidence that prosopagnosia exists in children. It could help to explain why some children struggle to make close friends, and the problem could be more acute in schools where uniforms are worn.

Therapeutic training programmes known to work in adults could be even more successful in children because of their plastic brains, he said.

Dr Shah added: There is still a lot to learn about prosopagnosia, but this research into identifying the condition using questionnaires is hopefully a step in the right direction.

The findings are published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Read the original post:
Test could confirm if Brad Pitt does suffer from face blindness - The i ... - iNews

LIVONIA, Mich. (WXYZ) - If you are lucky enough to see Daniel Mancina out skateboarding, you notice right away he has a cane. It takes a moment to comprehend why, because it seems almost impossible.

The cane looks cool, cuz everyone is like- oh wow that guy is blind, said Daniel.

Daniel has RP or Retinitis pigmentosa. It slowly has taken away his ability to see.

I found out when I was 13. I went to a normal eye check up and the optometrist noticed something that wasnt right, said Daniel By his early twenties the Livonia man lost much of his vision.

I definitely went through a couple years of depression and feeling really bad about myself, said Daniel. He said at some point he decided he wasnt going to give in to self-pity.

You are only as disabled as your attitude is.

He decided to try to get back on the board about four years ago. He wasnt sure if he could do it. He is 100% blind in the left eye, and 95% blind in the other. The small peripheral vision he has in his right eye is blurry. The 29-year-old found he could skateboard using the lines he can barely see painted on a tennis court .

I cant see the board or the box. All I see are the white lines., said Daniel.

Still he attempts moves fromthe crooked grind to flip tricks.

It is a really crazy feeling. It is all feel and trustthat the board is going to be there.

Like any skateboarder, Daniel wipes out. His message is about getting back up.

It is just like in life. You know you need to keep getting up and dusting yourself off, no matter the obstacle in life, he said.

Daniel is using social media to spread his story and inspire others. You can follow him at https://www.instagram.com/blindphoto/.

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Livonia man refused to let blindness keep him from skateboarding - WXYZ

A Sydney grandmother has been accused of scamming taxpayers of more than $200,000 by pretending to be blind for 21 years.

Channel 9s A Current Affair reported last night that Rebecca Assie hadreceiveda disability pension for the past 21 years after claiming that she was unable to work due to blindness, despite also passing the sight tests required to obtain a drivers licence.

ACA, which videoed Assie walking about her neighbourhoodand going about activities without assistance or apparent vision impairment, said thatthe 60-year-old shopped around for an ophthalmologist that was willing to attest to her blindness, after one told the Department of Human Services that he could not understand why the patient is applying for a pension.

She has normal corrected vision for distance and near, the sceptical ophthalmologist wrote. After Assie found an ophthalmologist willing to certify that she was blind, Centrelink granted her a disability pension.

She also, however, maintained an drivers licence, apparently passing the vision tests required to do so, ACA reported.

But it appeared from the program (below)the DHS had caught up with Assie. ACA also interviewedHuman Services Minister Alan Tudge, who called her case one of the most extraordinary hed come across.

ACA reported that the DHS was now working with the Sydney woman to retrieve the $209,000 in payments she had wrongfully claimed.

Read more here:
Grandmother 'scammed' $200K from taxpayers by faking blindness - Starts at 60

Daily Mail

New eye drops to treat age-related blindness developed The Hindu Scientists have developed a revolutionary new eye drop to treat an age-related eye disorder, spelling the end for painful injections used to combat one of the leading causes of blindness. The eye disorder known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD ... Eye drops for blindness could stop need for injectionsDaily Mail Scientists develop eye drops to cure age-related blindnessNews Nation Soon, Eye Drops to Replace Painful Injections in Vision-Loss TreatmentNDTV ReliaWire all 9 news articles »

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New eye drops to treat age-related blindness developed - The Hindu

Eye docs believethe treatment could help over 60,000 Brits who suffer from wet age-related macular degeneration

EXPERTS have developed a potential cure for one of the UKs leading causes of sight loss.

The therapy safely and effectively treated wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in trials.

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Wet AMD which affects 60,000 Brits is a painless condition that causes loss of central vision.

It develops when abnormal blood vessels leak fluid into the macula, found at the back of the eye.

This makes things look blurry and reading, driving and recognising faces becomes difficult.

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Patients currently require monthly injections into the eye that help to temporarily clear up the fluid.

But many find the process cumbersome, so give up, and eventually lose their sight.

Now scientists believe they have found a way of curing the condition with just one jab.

Getty Images

Abnormal blood vessels form because patients produce too much of the growth factor VEGF.

Current injections contain a protein that binds to VEGF and inactivates it.

But this leaks from the eye over the course of a month and needs to be topped-up.

The new jab contains a modified virus like the common cold that penetrates cells in the eye and deposits a therapeutic gene.

This instructs the cells to produce a constant supply of the anti-VEGF protein, meaning it no longer needs to be injected.

Study leader Peter Campochiaro, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, in Maryland, US, said: This preliminary study is a small but promising step towards a new approach.

It will not only reduce doctor visits and the anxiety and discomfort associated with repeated injections in the eye, but may improve long-term outcomes.

Prolonged suppression of VEGF is needed to preserve vision, and that is difficult to achieve with repeated injections because life often gets in the way.

Even at the highest dose, the treatment was quite safe. We found there were almost no adverse reactions in our patients.

The phase one clinical trial involved 19 men and women, aged 50 years or older.

For safety and ethical reasons, the study group was composed of people for whom standard approved treatments were highly unlikely to be successful.

It meant that only 11 of the 19 had the potential for fluid reduction.

Of those eleven patients, four showed dramatic improvements, with the amount of fluid in their eyes dropping from severe to almost nothing.

Two other participants showed a partial reduction in the amount of fluid in their eyes and five showed no reduction in fluid levels.

All of the patients who failed to improve were found to be immune to the virus, meaning their body probably destroyed it before it had a chance to insert the gene.

Researchers warn this is likely to limit the therapys use because 60 per cent of the population is believed to be immune. They are continuing to investigate its constraints.

The findings are published in the Lancet medical journal.

More:
Scientists have developed a potential cure for blindness and it only takes a single injection - The Sun

Things looked great for Xianzhong Lau a month ago. The 30-year-old Singaporean had completed a PhD in translational biology and snared a job as a project leader with a company founded by one of Australia's top life sciences entrepreneurs, Darren Kelly.

All he needed was the 457 visa that he had already applied for to come through, and he could look forward to some exciting work with Melbourne-based OccuRx as it worked on plans to bring a drug aimed at curing retinal blindness to clinical trials next year.

Days later Lau's plans lay in ruins after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's shock "Australia first" decision to abolish 457 visas. With his existing 485 visa which lets post-graduates stay 18 months due to expire Lau had to quit his job at OccuRx and return to Singapore within two weeks.

He told the Singapore Straits Times it was "devastating" to have to uproot his life in Melbourne, where he had lived for nine years, in a fortnight. Now he is trying to be positive, Australia's loss could be another country's gain.

"I'll be looking locally [for a new job] and probably elsewhere in Europe and Canada or somewhere like that, just to keep my options open," Lau tells The Australian Financial Review from his home in Singapore.

"The global climate right now is protectionist, so everyone understands that Australia wants to protect local jobs."

If he lands a job in Singapore, he will pay less tax rate than in Australia, where the top rate cutting in at $180,000 could rise to 49.5 per cent if Labor has its way. Singaporeans pay no more than 18 per cent on income up to $S200,000 ($192,000).

For Darren Kelly, it means spending three to six months finding another project leader who can match Lau's rare combination of entrepreneurial and life sciences skills, just as OccuRx should be pedal to metal on its research and raising more capital next year for clinical trials.

"This will leave us seriously short staffed in the middle of a key project," Kelly says.

"To make such a major change with no industry consultation is short-sighted and is damaging to the National Innovation & Science Agenda.

"It's frustrating because we run biotech companies quite lean financially and human resources are a critical part of keeping our program moving." It's also vital to keep research moving as a company moves closer to clinical trials of a new drug.

Kelly is one of the Aussie life sciences industry's pin-up boys after selling Fibrotech, the drug developer he spun out of Melbourne University, to Irish drug group Shire Pharmaceuticals for up to $500 million in 2014. OccuRx has raised $10 million to find a cure for retinal disease, a common cause of blindness, and Melbourne has made him associate dean of innovation and commercialisation.

Not even those credentials could insulate him from the sudden policy reversal. Lau's combination of skills is so rare in Australia that the Turnbull government made it the focus of innovation policy and seeded a $500 million Biomedical Translation Fund, only to get cold feet after voters decided that innovation was more threatening than exciting.

"We have a skills shortage of people with a science and business background and the 457 visa allows us to bridge that gap," Kelly says.

"Until we educate our local workforce, we need to have the ability to bring in skills from overseas."

OccuRx has one other affected worker apart from Lau. The company is just one example among many of the 457 visa changes causing chaos at life sciences companies and university research teams.

Blood products giant CSL said last week it had about 40 staff on 457 visas, including top managers at its manufacturing plant in Broadmeadows who are transferring skills and knowhow from a model plant in Switzerland, but was confident it would get some relief when immigration officials produce a revised list by July 1. Tech firms such as Atlassian and universities have also complained the new rules will make life harder for them.

Even the heads of federal agencies such as NBN chief executive Bill Morrow and Australian Energy Market Operator Audrey Zibelman are potentially snared by the sweeping changes.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has agreed to review the list in response to complaints but lives are being turned upside down in the meantime.

Lau faces a challenge matching his unusual skill set to a job opening. "Even though all of us are researchers we are very diverse in the skill sets that we have. From the background of our studies we each find our own niche, so it's a tricky issue."

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457 visa crackdown derails drug to cure blindness - The Australian Financial Review

May 16, 2017

Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland have discovered a likely cause for visual impairment and eventual loss of vision in the Finnish variant of Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (NCL). Visual impairment associated with the Finnish variant of NCL may be caused by impaired retinal waste management system, including autophagy, leading primarily to the death of photoreceptor cells that are of essential for vision.

The NCLs are the most common neurodegenerative disease group among children. NCL diseases constitute part of the Finnish disease heritage and they are more common in Finland than anywhere else in the world. Childhood NCL diseases lead to loss of vision and to premature death. No drug therapy to stop the disease is approved by the drug regulatory agencies, and the disease mechanisms remain poorly understood.

A new study carried out at the University of Eastern Finland analysed the causes behind loss of vision and detrimental retinal changes in CLN5 disease, i.e. the Finnish variant of NCL. The researchers used genetically modified mice in which the gene encoding the CLN5 protein had been made defective. In humans, malfunction of the gene leads to CLN5 disease.

The researchers found that CLN5 deficient mice developed retinal degeneration long before reaching sexual maturity. Retinal function, especially associated with rod photoreceptors and the retinal pigmented epithelium cells, was reduced in young mice, and a similar phenomenon has been observed in several dog and sheep breeds with NCL. Scientific evidence on humans is inconclusive, but researchers believe that photoreceptor degeneration precedes the degeneration of other parts of the retina in humans as well.

Retinal protein analyses revealed that compared to age-matched controls, CLN5 deficient mice had abnormal levels of several autophagy related proteins in the retina. Earlier studies have observed similar changes and impaired lysosomal degradation in several distinct tissues from mice expressing other forms of NCL, including brain tissue. Lysosomal degradation is the final phase of autophagy, preventing the accumulation of detrimental waste materials in cells.

Normal visual function requires constant renewal of photoreceptors through lysosomal degradation. In CLN5 deficient mice, this degradation mechanism seems impaired, and this is why photoreceptors may die as the disease progresses, although detrimental pigment accumulation typical of NCL diseases can be observed in the entire retina. Similar retinal changes have also been observed in mice, dogs and sheep with several other forms of NCL, suggesting that the findings could apply to several forms of NCL. According to the researchers, the role of impaired lysosomal degradation in NCL-associated detrimental changes in the brain remains unknown.

"Non-invasive retinal examinations could possibly be used as biomarkers of central nervous system diseases", says Henri Leinonen, Ph.D., the first author of the article. In the future, retinal examinations may prove useful in studying treatment responses and disease progression in neurological diseases. Compared to brain examinations, retinal examinations have the advantage of being relatively cost-effective and safe. In NCL diseases, retinal examinations are used to study disease mechanisms in animals, and nowadays retinal examinations can also be used to support diagnosis in humans.

Explore further: Brain diseases manifest in the retina of the eye

More information: Henri Leinonen et al, Retinal Degeneration In A Mouse Model Of CLN5 Disease Is Associated With Compromised Autophagy, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-01716-1

Diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) may manifest as pathological changes in the retina of the eye. Research from the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) shows that retinal changes may be detected earlier than brain ...

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Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have developed gene-carrying nanoparticles that home in on target cells and prevent vision loss in mice with a human form of Leber congenital amaurosis.

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In a small and preliminary clinical trial, Johns Hopkins researchers and their collaborators have shown that an experimental gene therapy that uses viruses to introduce a therapeutic gene into the eye is safe and that it ...

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A synthetic, soft tissue retina developed by an Oxford University student could offer fresh hope to visually impaired people.

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The tip of our optic nerve is typically the first place injured by glaucoma.

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Photoreceptor cell death leads to blindness in CLN5 form of Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis - Medical Xpress

(KMSP) - Drivers can be blinded by distraction even when their eyes are on the road.

The Fox 9 Investigators saw how this happens after testing six drivers at the Dakota County Technical College and asking them to drive on the closed driving track while they talked on their phones, which is legal to do in Minnesota.

Professor Dan Simons is an awareness researcher from the University of Illinois.

"You can look right at something, stare directly at it and simply not see it because your mind is otherwise occupied," he said.

Researchers have a name for the strange trick our brains can play and its called inattentional blindness."

In 2015, 74 deaths and 5,387 injuries were linked to inattentive driving in Minnesota.

Last year, state insurance premiums had their biggest increase in nearly a decade.

The average 2017 car insurance premium is now $772.

"You can't hold a good conversation when you're driving, and you can't drive effectively while you're holding a conversation. Those two things are mutually interfering with each other," said Simons.

DISTRACTED DRIVERS ON THE COURSE

The volunteer drivers were asked to drive the course and count the number of cones covered with white bags.

At the same time, they were talking with Aaron Machtemes by phone.

At the time, they didnt know he is a police officer from Eagan and was watching them from a squad car on a hill overlooking the track.

We placed some eye-catching items right next to the cones, including a tire, a toy car, a school bus with its stop arm extended, a Santa Claus decoration and a second stroller.

Trying to count cones while talking to the officer was challenging for all the drivers.

"You're more likely to be using up those attention resources, which makes you less likely to notice something unexpected," said Simons.

At the end of each run, Machtemes pulled right behind the test car with his emergency lights on.

Four drivers saw the squad and pulled over.

But two were so engaged in conversation with him, they didnt notice he was following them, so he was forced to put on his siren to get their visual attention.

THERE WAS A SCHOOL BUS ON THE TRACK

One of the drivers didnt even remember passing by the school bus with its stop arm extended.

A second driver said he saw the bus, but not the stop arm or the flashing red lights.

Every one of the volunteers could not recall seeing some of the items that were right next to the cones they were counting.

The point is: a persons attention has limits, especially while driving.

"What we don't realize is having that conversation is really cognitively demanding as is driving. And they interfere with each other. It's a lot like we know we can't whistle and chew gum at the same time," said Simons.

He added that using a hands-free device doesn't make a difference.

Just talking uses up attention resources, which means drivers are less likely to notice something unexpected.

Excerpt from:
Do you suffer from inattentional blindness on the road? - KMSP-TV

Requires N3m lifeline for eye surgery in Kaduna Swindlers hit peasant family

By Cletus Opukeme

KIAGBODO FOR fine-looking 27-year-old Miss Blessing Barda, an indigene of Kiagbodo, Burutu Local Government Area, Delta State, who is slowly going blind due to ulcer infection in her eyes, what is standing between her life and death is the sum of N3 million. She requires it urgently to undergo operation at a specialist institution, Relish Eye Hospital, Kaduna, operated by Indians, but neither she nor her peasant family, has the money.

Her appeal to the governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, Burutu local government council and kind-hearted Nigerians is to raise the funds to enable her undergo an operation at the hospital to save her from completely going blind. Miss Brada, who spoke to NDV, said she had earlier undergone a cornea transplant operation sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, following the intervention of a prominent Deltan, but obviously the problem is still there.

Heartless fraudsters dupe family: With tears dripping from her eyes, she told NDV that her problem started in 2005, but despite her challenges, some unscrupulous people have taken advantage of the situation to extort money from the family amongst other vulgarities. Dejected Barda said she had visited several eye hospitals, tests, recommendations and treatment were carried out, but lack of money for proper follow-up made her case to deteriorate, hence her cry to the state government, Burutu local government council and nongovernmental organizations to help to avert complete blindness blind.

Lack of funds: These issues aggravated because there was no money to go to a better hospital with better facilities to get good treatment. Since then, I have been going to Benin once every month for treatment and drugs.

She concluded: The female optician there referred me to a specialist hospital in Kaduna called Relish Eye Hospital; this hospital is managed by Indians. I went to Kaduna and a test was carried out to ascertain the level of damage to know if the right eye can still be operated upon so that my sight can be restored. The result shows that there is 90 per cent chance of complete restoration of my sight but treatment will cost N2 million, please come to my aid to give me back my sight, she pleaded.

While expressing appreciation to all in anticipation of positive and quick response by the state government, Burutu local government and public spirited individuals, Miss Barda gave details of how she could be reached with donations through her mother. Account Name: Jane Barda, Account Number: 3084575262, First Bank and phone number: 07035383650

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Pretty Miss Barda cries for help to prevent total blindness - Vanguard

Revolutionary eye drops to treat age-related blindness Science Daily This is a problem because, apart from being an unpleasant procedure for patients to undergo, the injections can cause tearing and infections inside the eye and an increased risk of blindness. Now scientists led by biochemist Dr Felicity de Cogan, from ... and more »

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Revolutionary eye drops to treat age-related blindness - Science Daily

Scientistshave been working for a very long time on how to cure colour blindnessand to make sure that these people could also enjoy the beauty of the surrounding just like the normal person. In the same cause, Magic Leap has developed a new idea of giving the unique experience to the colour blind people with the help of augmented reality technology.

This is a massive step in the field of technology if they can really implement this technology in the real world as there are may people who can not enjoy the life to the fullest just because of colour blindness. They have applied for the patent of this technology on 19 September 2016.

There are many people in the world that are suffering from colour blindness. Color-blind persons have difficulty distinguishing various colours. The elderly people often experience the change in their ability to sense different colours and many of these people see objects as if they have been viewed through yellowish filters.

Also, over time ultraviolet rays degenerate proteins in the eye, and light having short wavelengths is absorbed and blue cone sensitivity is thereby reduced. As a result, the appearance of all colours changes and specifically yellow tending to predominate.

To overcome the inability to distinguish colours, such people become habituated at identifying and learning reliable cues that indicate the colour of any specific object.

Also Read:EBay Enters Augmented Reality To Improve Customer Experience

These people could not enjoy the beauty of nature to the fullest just because of one disease. Its a very good approachby the Magic Leap company that they have decided to use the advancement of the technology to do something that will change the life of many people in the world.

If this technology is implemented successfully, then these people could also analyse and view things just like the normal person.

There is an augmented reality application program which is provided to help the people suffering from colour blindness. The program assists the users in determining different colours and difference between those would otherwise be invisible to them.

In this specific system, the program is based on a theory of the human visual system. The theory states that somewhere in the human visual system the processing is done on the pure colour. The assumption is that there are relatively few hues the visual system could actually see, but for the colour blind people, hue determination is impeded by slight changes in the eye.

The application has various modes or filters that could make hues easier to detect or differentiate. The program provides the user with a large number of configurable settings and adjustments so that he can find a particular setting that provides him with the desirable results.

Image Source: freshpatents.com

The program is helpful to those people that are suffering from with anomalous trichromacy, which is not actually blind to any particular colour but represents the less ability to differentiate between different colours. The tech provides a method and apparatus for dynamically modifying computer graphics content for colours, patterns, or both that are problematic for visually challenged, in particular, color-blind viewers, prior to display.

The graphics content could be modified in many stages of the graphics pipeline that are the render or raster stage so that the images that provided to the user are visible to color-blind viewers upon display without any further modification.

The present system provides a method and apparatus for dynamically modifying computer graphics content for colours that are problematic for visually challenged people. The graphics content is in the form of an original screen image and is provided to a color-blind filter of the present invention.

The color-blind filter detects the colours and modifies the given images. It also analyses the graphics content that could be problematic for colour challenged users. It then modifies these graphics content such that the graphics content is visible to colour challenged users.

Also Read:Augmented Reality Scenario Market Shift to Capture Real World Instances

Whats next?

The next challenge will implement this technology in the practical life. The actual output could only be observed when they use this technology in real life. But, if this works as it is said then it could change the whole life of the people that are suffering from colour blindness.

Image Source: Medium

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Magic Leap Has Developed Augmented Reality Experience For Colour Blindness - Techstory

Helen Tran doesnt have much time to exercise. The mother of one is a full-time financial analyst who does her best to fit in a weekly walk or two.

But shes recently decided to step up her fitness regime in preparation for a 30-kilometre walk along the Mornington Peninsula to raise money for The Fred Hollows Foundation.

Ms Tran said she was inspired to take on the challenge, later this month, after a colleague told her about the important work the foundation did to end avoidable blindness in the worlds poorest communities.

I came from a Third World country and I understand how hard it would be for people to get the treatment, she said.

I just couldnt believe that with only $25 you could save a person from blindness. This is the least I can do to help people in need.

The Cairnlea resident will join 1900 walkers on May 26 for the Wild Women On Top Melbourne Coastrek, which will begin at Koonya Beach and finish at Point Nepean.

Organisers hope to raise more than $1.5 million for the Fred Hollows Foundation.

Foundation director Gabi Hollows said four in every five people who were blind dont need to be.

Everyone who takes on the Coastrek challenge is helping us to restore sight and change lives, she said. For every $1 invested in eliminating avoidable blindness, at least $4 is returned to the local economy, as adults can return to work and children can receive an education and fulfil their potential.

To support Ms Tran, go to melbourne.coastrek.com.au.

Alexandra Laskie

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Cairnlea woman to walk to fight preventable blindness - Star Weekly

2017-05-13 08:57:41 2017-05-13 08:55:00 The Standard : Eve Woman 40 58 Catherine Mwayonga, 63, with her grand children, Mary Wambui (left) Christopher Mwayonga and Esther Njeri (right) during an interview with The Standard at her home in Thika

"You're a great mother!" These are words I hear almost every day from my children. The combination of widowhood, blindness and HIV sero-positive status has never been stigmatising enough to make me lose my self esteem as a woman and as a mother.

ALSO READ: The secret weapon to achieving your goals

Over the years, I have convinced myself that despite my blindness, which I got when I was only 7 years old, I have a right to do everything that a normal woman does. This includes a right to good education, falling in love, marriage, enjoying sex and having children. Even though my husband died, leaving me with school-going children and a HIV sero-positive status over 20 years ago, I am now the proud mother of eight very successful children and as they call me, a grand woman.

I wasn't born blind, neither was I born with HIV; but since this happened to me, I had to take control of my life knowing only too well that my life solely depended on my positive attitude. Brooding and murmuring about how life is unfair has never been part of me.

I became my own activist at an early age of seven when blindness struck me and since then I made up my mind to live life to the fullest. Though it hadn't occurred to me how challenging life would be as a blind girl then, I settled for nothing short of a happy life. I had to succeed like all the other girls who had their sight. Though I couldn't go dancing or do other outdoor social things that girls do, I made myself beautiful everyday for my own gratification.

I was born in Gatundu, Kiambu County 63 years ago and was the only girl among four brothers. I knew my rights long before I joined school and would never allow my brothers to bully me. When I look back today, I think I would see admiration in their eyes. It was so tragic then when one day a cow whose calf I was playing with charged and hit me throwing me up a nearby mango tree.

I screamed and people came to rescue me from the charging cow but I didn't feel hurt and had no visible injuries so the issue was ignored. It would later complicate my sight and gradually drive me to a total darkness for the rest of my life. Back-and-forth visits to the then King George hospital (now Kenyatta National Hospital) bore no fruit hence my parents resorted to enrolling me to the Thika School for the Blind though I could see dimly. I gradually lost my sight completely.

My adolescence was normal and I desired to love and be loved. Since the nearest is the dearest, I felt loved and appreciated when an older student in the school developed good interest in me. Christopher Mwayonga was older than me by ten years but he would later make my husband, father of my children and my best friend.

I was young and nave and enjoyed the way he held me and told me sweet nothings. He joined college and studied telephone operation and soon got a job at the then Kenya Canners Company (now Delmonte Kenya LTD). I felt safe and loved in Christopher's arms and before I knew it I was pregnant with our first son. Though generally I was a lover of babies, it dawned on me that I was in real trouble because my parents wanted me to join college.

ALSO READ: Taking personal responsibility of your career

Like any other young girl, I blamed Christopher and refused to involve him in my pregnancy journey. Though my mother was very tough, she supported me and mentored me on how to clean the baby on my own, feed him and to understand the different types of crying. After one year with the baby, I joined Kilimambogo Teachers College. Chris loved me so much that he pursued me to the college and soon our love was rekindled; this time from a more informed perspective.

My real experience in pregnancy and as a mother was with my second son whom I got shortly after I graduated from Kilimambogo. Being, blind, pregnant and a student was not an easy task for me at all but other students who of course had sight at the college were very supportive. I was posted at Likoni in Mombasa with a one month old baby.

I had thought Likoni was an appropriate place for me because Chris was from the Duruma Community in the then Coast province so we both thought it was good to be nearer home. How wrong we were! First his family couldn't accept a Kikuyu claiming that I was out to steal their land and on the other hand my family refused his community claiming that people from Coast were engaged in witchcraft. Life became so hostile for me at Likoni and Chris had to come for me to start teaching at the Thika School for the Blind to be near him and more so to bring up a family together.

Against all odds, we solemnised our marriage and life because so good for us and our children. Having grown up among boys, I was determined to have a daughter, so I kept trying but I ended up getting six sons! I didn't want the "men" to have the notion of me as the only woman in the house so I adopted two daughters.

After almost ten years of happiness, my husband suddenly developed a stroke which threw him on a sick bed for four years. I was the sole bread winner and most of all; I had to deal with his tantrums when he felt so helpless. To date, my payslip has never been without a loan. I was determined to have my children complete their studies and never to feel the impact of my blindness. I also had to pay for my husband's therapies. When my husband later died, I also started falling sick and was in and out of the hospital.

I would never have imagined I had HIV because Chris was my first boyfriend and to me he was an angel. Even today, I don't ever like to imagine that Chris may have cheated on me and contracted HIV. I had no one to cry to when I finally got my HIV results; Chris was long gone.

My eldest son had already completed university and so he took charge of his siblings. He denied himself the privilege of even getting married so he could help educate his siblings. Seeing his efforts gave me the passion to live though the doctors had given me only six months to live. "I have to live for my children!" I kept reassuring myself.

ALSO READ: I got stuck with a Sh6,800 dinner bill - We wined and dined but he could not pay

I fought for my life with all my strength. I started attending HIV related clinics and meetings and buying medication which was very expensive that time at the same time looking for sponsors for my children's school fees. I made rapport with the head-teachers and as a result two of my sons got bursaries. My elder son and I continued to work hard to pay for the others.

That was the toughest time of my life. Most of my in-laws from whom I expected help were either unwilling or were genuinely unable to help. I am glad that looking back at what happened; the whole experience made me a stronger person and made my children more responsible.

Today, all my sons have completed colleges and universities and are already married. The little girls are both in colleges and are doing very well. My eldest son still plays the head of the family though he has since married and has his own family.

He assigns his siblings responsibilities for taking care of me. I am a very happy mother and grandmother and now I live only with my househelp and her child. I am the national chairperson of the Disabled Infected and HIV Affected (DIAHA) Winners network and a board member of Kenya Network of Positive Teachers (KENEPOTE) among other positions.

"You're a great mother," are words I hear every day from my sons, their wives and my daughters!

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Blindness and my HIV status did not stop me from raising 8 great children - The Standard

A groundbreaking experiment conducted at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem using embryonic stem cells has succeeded in preventing blindness in the elderly. The researchers used stem cells to transplant retinal pigment cells into older patients with vision impairment.

Retinal degeneration in older age is a particularly common disease in the Western world. 30 percent of adults older than 75 suffer from it, and 6 to 8 percent of them suffer from total vision loss.

(Photo: Shutterstock)

Embryonic stem cells are harvested from in vitro fertilized embryos. When the couple decides they do not want to expand the family unit anymore, frozen embryos can be used to isolate the stem cells. These cells are unique because during pregnancy they are the ones that actually form the body of the fetus, and they can serve as a source of transplantation for every cell in the human body.

Prof. Benjamin Reubinoff, director of the Hadassah Center for Embryonic Stem Cell Research and an expert in obstetrics and gynecology, founded a company called Cellcure, which focuses on developing embryonic stem cell transplantation in patients with incurable diseases in the nervous system and the eyes.

Prof. Reubinoff and Prof. Eyal Banin, director of the Center for Retinal Degeneration Diseases at Hadassah's Department of Ophthalmology, began performing transplantations in five patients. Using imaging, they found that the transplanted cells were successfully absorbed into the retina.

"This is a great achievement for us. The vision of the elderly has remained stable and has not deteriorated as it would have without the transplant," explained Prof. Reubinoff. "If the treatment is proven to be effective, we will implant the cells at an early stage of the disease, thereby preventing millions of elderly people around the world from losing their sight."

Despite the success of the trial, the researchers believe it will take more time for the treatment to be available to all patients. "We will also have to prove safety and efficacy before we make it effective for everyone," concluded Prof. Reubinoff.

(Translated and edited by N. Elias)

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The Israeli breakthrough that will prevent blindness in the elderly - Ynetnews

In Kitwe, the second largest city in Zambia, young mother Verah is carrying her one-year-old daughter, Racheal, into the consultation room at the eye annexe. The only dedicated paediatric eyecare centre in the country, the Kitwe annexe also attracts patients from neighbouring Angola and Congo. Racheal is here for surgery to remove the bilateral cataracts that prevent her from seeing.

A few months after Racheal was born, Verah noticed that something didnt seem right with her vision. I would move my hands in front of her face but she would not react. I would move things past her eyes but she would not follow them, she explains.

The team of nurses, anaesthetists and paediatric ophthalmologists treating Racheal have been trained and are being continually supported by peers from some of the worlds most respected eye hospitals, who fly in on a specially adapted plane the flying eye hospital thanks to an initiative of Orbis, an international blindness prevention charity.

Orbis volunteers who come to share their knowledge and give technical support are very good most of them have been working for a long time so they have very good experience, says Chineshe Mboni, the paediatric ophthalmologist treating Racheal. So we have some from the US, Britain and Israel etc. Techniques are different around the world, so we get a mix of everything.

Sharing experiences and discussing cases with the visiting Orbis medical volunteers raises your confidence, to see that what you are doing is what everyone else is doing around the world, Mboni concludes.

Globally, 285 million people are blind or visually impaired and yet for 80% of them, this could be prevented with access to the right treatment like the surgery Mboni is able to give Racheal. Orbis focuses its efforts in Africa, Asia and Latin America because 90% of the worlds 39 million blind people live in developing countries. Many of the conditions causing blindness such as cataract and trachoma can be easily treated. The loss of sight these conditions can cause have a huge impact as it will impede a persons ability to gain an education, prevent them from finding employment and can plunge families into a life of poverty.

Ann-Marie Ablett, a nurse from the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, has been giving up four weeks of her annual leave to volunteer with Orbis since 2003. You cant change everything overnight but you can start with one patient and help them, she says. If everyone plays their small part together, you can make changes.

Ablett is speaking in a terminal at Stansted Airport and just outside is the flying eye hospital, here for a short promotional visit. The white MD-10 aircraft on the tarmac looks like a typical passenger plane. In fact, this is a 46-seat classroom complete with audio-visual equipment that transmits live surgeries that can be watched in 3D. The lead surgeon, who is just next door in a state-of-the-art operating theatre, can be asked questions throughout the procedure. The aircraft, donated by FedEx, also features pre- and post-op spaces and a laser suite.

Orbiss main aim is to train eyecare teams and strengthen hospitals in the 92 countries where it works. Its for this reason that Ablett first chose to volunteer. She says: Were not in the developing country just for numbers, were there to teach so that means we do less surgeries but when we fly off to the next country, the local doctors have got the skills to treat their own patients because they were trained up.

Dr Jonathan Lord, global medical director for Orbis, went from being a regular volunteer to giving up his position as a consultant at Moorfields eye hospital in London and becoming a staff member for the charity before being promoted to his current role.

I was just hooked after my visit trip, he says. Seeing the flying eye hospital work in real life, in the field with the patients being treated on the plane and that treatment being part of a really comprehensive training package that is upskilling all the groups of staff that are needed for each surgery, is amazing.

The need round the world is huge. You realise the magnitude when you look at some of the statistics. In Ethiopia, there is a population of over 80 million, but [until recently] there was little over 80 ophthalmologists practising in the whole country. When I left Moorfields, it had over 150 covering just the catchment area of London.

Programmes usually last two weeks, and require a lot of pre-planning with a team from Orbis flying in ahead to consult on what would be most helpful to the healthcare professionals in that country. The plane will land at a local airport and the team of local surgeons, nurses and anaesthetists board to join their volunteer counterparts. Meanwhile, another team of volunteers goes to the local hospital to provide training using the equipment in situ. At the end of the week, the teams swap.

Becoming hooked after stepping foot on the plane is a running theme among staff and volunteers, including the pilots, all FedEx employees who volunteer their time. Gary Dyson, who has been involved since 2001, says: On my first trip, which was to China, I saw a child who couldnt see on Monday but could see on Wednesday. Its such a life-changing event for them.

For Racheal, the short surgery will have undoubtedly had that effect. As Mboni removes the patches, she blinks a few times and waves her hands in front of her eyes, before looking up and seeing her mother for the first time.

News is spreading across Zambia of successes like this, Mboni says. [People] know we can act fast, so they are telling patients with eye conditions This problem? Go to Kitwe central hospital.

Join the Healthcare Professionals Network to read more pieces like this. And follow us on Twitter (@GdnHealthcare) to keep up with the latest healthcare news and views.

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The life-changing flying eye hospital treating blindness across the globe - The Guardian

Increasing laser pointer attacks have Havasus ferry captains concerned.

The ferry between Lake Havasu City and Havasu Landing has been struck three times by green laser pointers in the past month, from locations including Windsor Beach, Crazy Horse Campground and from further within mainland Havasu. When directed into the pilots cabin, these lasers can cause temporary blindness or difficulty seeing, according to ferry Captain Greg Erkes. Laser pointers can put the crew, the ship and its passengers in jeopardy.

It can blind someone if its intense enough, Erkes said. We run our ships at night with the lights off so we can see other lights on the water. If (laser pointer owners) are doing it intentionally, then its malicious.

In Arizona, deliberately shining a laser-pointer at another person in such a way that requires medical treatment qualifies as an act of misdemeanor assault, punishable by up to one year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

Ferries arent the only recent targets of laser pointers, and the devices have proven a constant hazard for aircraft pilots as well.

Havasu-based Air Methods operates emergency medical helicopters throughout the state, and serves Havasu Regional Medical Center. While laser flashes are more common in major cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas, they are still a threat.

Pilots have been warned, dont look at them, said Air Methods spokeswoman Karey Madsen. One past crew member got hit in the eye with a lasershe was out for a while. It can cause eye damage, and it can be a distraction for the pilot. It could definitely put crews and patients in jeopardy. If a pilot cant see, they cant land or maneuver the aircraft.

Deliberately aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft is a felony in Arizona, punishable by a prison sentence up to 18 months. Federal penalties for doing so include a $250,000 fine and up to five years in prison.

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Laser pointer 'attacks' are putting boaters, pilots at risk of temporary blindness - Today's News-Herald