StemCell Therapy

Diabetes is a chronic condition in which the levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood are too high. Blood glucose levels are normally regulated by the hormone insulin, which is made by the pancreas. Diabetes occurs when there is a problem with this hormone and how it works in the body.

Around 5.1 per cent of Australians aged 18 years or older have diabetes. The risk of diabetes increases with age, from 2.8 per cent in people aged 35 to 44, to 15.0 per cent in those aged 65 to 74. Aboriginal people have one of the highest rates of type 2 diabetes in the world.

The glucose in the bloodstream needs to move into body tissues so that cells can use it for energy. Excess glucose is also stored in the liver, or converted to fat and stored in other body tissues.

Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas, which is a gland located just below the stomach. Insulin opens the doors (the glucose channels) that let glucose move from the blood into the body cells. It also allows glucose to be stored in muscle, the liver and other tissues. This is part of a process known as glucose metabolism.

In diabetes, either the pancreas cant make insulin (type 1 diabetes), or the cells dont respond to the insulin properly (insulin resistance) and the pancreas produces inadequate insulin for the bodys increased needs (type 2 diabetes).

If the insulin cannot do its job, the glucose channels cannot open properly. Glucose builds up in the blood instead of getting into cells for energy. High blood glucose levels cause the health problems linked to diabetes, often referred to as complications.

The symptoms of ketoacidosis are:

If a person with type 1 diabetes skips a meal, exercises heavily or takes too much insulin, their blood sugar levels will fall. This can lead to hypoglycaemica. The symptoms include tremor, sweating, dizziness, hunger, headache and change in mood. This can be remedied with a quick boost of sugar (such as jellybeans or glucose tablets), then something more substantial such as fruit. A person with type 1 diabetes should have lollies on hand at all times, just in case.

Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes, affects 85 to 90 per cent of all people with diabetes. While it usually affects mature adults (over 40), younger people are also now being diagnosed in greater numbers as rates of overweight and obesity increase. Type 2 diabetes used to be called non-insulin dependent diabetes or mature onset diabetes.

Research shows that type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed with lifestyle changes. However, there is no cure.

Certain women are at increased risk of developing gestational diabetes. High risk groups include:

Gestational diabetes can be monitored and treated and, if well controlled, these risks are greatly reduced. The baby will not be born with diabetes.

In severe cases, a person may pass up to 30 litres of urine per day. Without treatment, diabetes insipidus can cause dehydration and, eventually, coma due to concentration of salts in the blood, particularly sodium.

The name of this condition is a bit misleading, since diabetes insipidus has nothing to do with diabetes caused by high blood sugar levels, apart from the symptoms of thirst and passing large volumes of urine. Depending on the cause, diabetes insipidus can be treated with medications, vasopressin replacement and a low-salt diet.

Management depends on the type of diabetes, but can include:

See the rest here:
Diabetes - Better Health Channel

Diabetes is a general term for a group of metabolic disorders that affect the bodys ability to process and use sugar (glucose) for energy. Normally when you eat, the pancreas, an organ located in the upper abdomen, produces the hormone insulin to move glucose from the bloodstream into cells where it can be used for energy and growth. With diabetes, either the pancreas produces too little or no insulin, or the bodys cells dont respond to the insulin.

Diabetes deprives the bodys cells of nutrition and leads to an abnormally high level of glucose in the blood (hyperglycemia). Over time, this can result in damage to the blood vessels and organs and premature death. Diabetes can be medically managed to lower the risk of these serious complications.

Diabetes is a common disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 23.6 million people in the United States are living with diabetes. That is nearly 8 percent of the U.S. population (Source: CDC).

The three most common forms of diabetes are type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and gestational diabetes.

Find a Diabetes Specialist Near You

In type 1 diabetes (juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus), the pancreatic cells that produce insulin are destroyed. Type 1 diabetes is not preventable.

In type 2 diabetes (adult-onset diabetes or non-insulin-dependent diabetes), the pancreas produces insulin, but there is not enough insulin or the bodys cells become resistant to its effects. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes and is preventable in many cases.

In gestational diabetes, a form of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy, the pancreas produces insulin, but pregnancy hormones make the bodys cells more resistant to its effects.

Weight-loss plan for diabetes

Is your diabetes under control?

Symptoms of diabetes that can indicate a dangerous, potentially life-threatening change in your blood sugar level can occur suddenly and rapidly. Symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urination, vomiting, shortness of breath, abdominal pain, confusion, sweating, feeling shaky or faint, extreme irritability, or aggressive behavior.

If you have diabetes and experience symptoms of high or low blood sugar, test your blood sugar and follow your treatment plan based on the test results.

Get immediate help (call 911) if you dont start feeling better quickly, if your symptoms worsen, or if someone you are with has these symptoms.

Excerpt from:
Diabetes Symptoms - Diabetes Treatment and Causes

Diabetes can strike anyone, from any walk of life.

And it does in numbers that are dramatically increasing. In the last decade, the cases of people living with diabetes jumped almost 50 percent to more than 29 million Americans.

Worldwide, it afflicts more than 380 million people. And the World Health Organization estimates that by 2030, that number of people living with diabetes will more than double.

Today, diabetes takes more lives than AIDS and breast cancer combined -- claiming the life of 1 American every 3 minutes. It is a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, amputations, heart failure and stroke.

Living with diabetes places an enormous emotional, physical and financial burden on the entire family. Annually, diabetes costs the American public more than $245 billion.

Just what is diabetes?

To answer that, you first need to understand the role of insulin in your body.

When you eat, your body turns food into sugars, or glucose. At that point, your pancreas is supposed to release insulin.

Insulin serves as a key to open your cells, to allow the glucose to enter -- and allow you to use the glucose for energy.

But with diabetes, this system does not work.

Several major things can go wrong causing the onset of diabetes. Type 1 and type 2 diabetes are the most common forms of the disease, but there are also other kinds, such as gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy, as well as other forms.

What is type 1 diabetes?What is type 2 diabetes?

Do you want to learn more about a cure for diabetes?

We're developingaDRI BioHub mini organ to restore natural insulin production in those living with diabetes. Watch the BioHub video>>

Keep up with the latest updates on the DRI BioHub. Bea DRInsider today. It's free and easy to sign up. Join now! >>

Insulin serves as a key to open your cells, to allow the glucose to enter -- and allow you to use the glucose for energy.

See more here:
What is Diabetes? What Causes Diabetes?

Take charge of your health by ordering your own blood tests without a doctor's order, through MyMedLab. With MyMedLab, you have access to medical tests provided by LabCorp, the same provider used by doctors and hospitals across the US. No appointment or no doctor's orders needed, with conventient locations near you. And you'll pay 50% to 80% less than the usual cost of these tests.

The results are confidential. And you can track changes in your results using MyMedLabs' free "Personal Health Record (PHR)" online. Of course, you'll need to review your results with your physician, but this allows you, the patient, to take the first steps toward getting the tests you need to live well!

Order Mary Shomon's Recommended Basic Thyroid Profile: Thyroid/TSH, Free T4, Free T3, Thyroid Peroxidase Antibody/TPO,Thyroid Antibody/Anti-thyroid AB

Order Mary Shomon's Recommended Followup Thyroid Profile: Thyroid/TSH, Free T4, Free T3

Amherst

Dr. John Leone, Family Practice 61 Maple Rd Amherst, NY, 14221, 716-565-1234. A reader writes: "Dr. Leone is a five star doctor. He is so good that I'm afraid if I tell everyone that his office will get too busy. I was able to change from Synthroid to Armour thyroid without any fuss. He listens and understands that one medicine is not for everyone and that everyone is an individual! Let me say as forthyroid, someone dear to him has a thyroid problem so he does understand. He conveys to me that the group of doctors he is associated with are switching their thyroid patients to Armour Thyroid if Synthroid is not doing the job." (Added 4/03)

Another reader writes: "I agree that Dr. Leone is top-notch! He was willing to switch me from Synthroid to Armour Thyroid. He didn't have a problem with it at all, felt that I could benefit from it, and if that was what I wanted, he would prescribe the Armour. I feel so much more like my old self that it is unbelievable. Dr. Leone is very easy to talk with about concerns and treatment. The best part is, he was already my Primary Doctor and I found out thru this site that he was a recommended Doctor for Thryoid!!!!" (Added 6/05)

Amherst

Patricia Lisoto Endocrinology 1000 Youngs Road Second Floor Amherst, NY 14221 716-798-1947 A reader writes: "She works with Dr. Karen Giardino and I love her. She is very knowledgeable and takes all the time in the world to talk with you. Everything is very thoroughly explained in ENGLISH so you understand everything she is telling you. I very highly recommend her." (Added 11/02)

Amherst

Shahid Haque, Endocrinology, 4247 Maple Rd., NY 14226, 716-835-9871. A reader writes: "Dr. Haque is a board-certified endocrinologist and is the 4th endo I have seen in the Buffalo, NY area. I have been under his care for 3 yrs. after my last endo overmedicated me and I suffered hyper symptoms along with chest pains and thought I was going to have a cardiac event! Dr. Haque does not rush you out of his office and listens to your concerns and addresses them and explains in detail. My TSH fluctuates several times per year and he suggested that I try alternating 2 different dose which seems to be working for the past 6 mos. so far! If I call him because I feel like something is wrong, he will order a blood test and believes me.... He always gives me a complete physical exam annually and orders complete blood work and addresses all issues. His staff is very competent and friendly and the office is very clean." (Added 6/05)

A reader writes: "I have been seeing Dr. Haque for over 4 yrs. now and can't express enough that the title"Top Doc" fits him perfectly! I am very critical of doctors and it took me 11 yrs. to finally find THE BEST endocrinologist in the area. Friends & family that have switched to Dr. Haque have thanked me because he has taken excellent care of them from thyroid issues to diabetes. Every visit entails a complete examination and he treats your body as a whole; not just that little butterfly-shaped organ in your neck. He is more concerned with how YOU feel and that the lab values ranges are only a guideline. He LISTENS to you. Dr. Haque is a KEEPER! I just wish he was a primary care provider. :-)" (March 2009)

Amherst & Williamsville

Karen Giardino -- No Longer listed (October 2006)

Astoria

Charles Krieger, DC -- no longer listed

Ballston Spa

Dr. Eugene Merecki -- No longer listed (October 2006)

Brockport

A reader recommends Dr. Hari Garg, 726-637?2161, West Ave, Brockport-- NY 14420. "Willing to listen to patients-- will prescribe T3-- will give lab results with no problems. Very caring."

Bronx

Dr. Marvin Teich, General practice/internist/primary care,665 Thwaites Place, Bronx 10467, 718-882-3500

A reader writes: "Dr. Marvin Teich is an excellent doctor that my mother goes to. I recommended him to my mother because no one would prescribe Armour Thyroid to her. Dr. Teich will prescribe Armour Thyroid upon request. He is an excellent doctor who truly cares about his patients. He also has a pleasant and caring attitude. My mother's thyroid levels are now normal and she's in better health thanks to Dr. Teich." (July 2008)

Brooklyn

David Borenstein, MD -- relocated to New York City / Manhattan

Brooklyn

Dr. T. AvRuskin, Pediatric endocrinologist - treats adults too, Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, Linden Blvd. at Brookdale Plaza, 718-240-5244

Note: patients report that this doctor relies on TSH for diagnosis, and will not prescribe with Cytomel. (March 2009)

"Dr. AvRuskin is chief of pediatrics but takes care of adults too. He has treated my son for Graves disease and my friend for hypothyroidism. He is like a grandfather has a good sense of humor -- is easy to talk to. He takes a lot of time with patients is very interested in unusual cases and is willing to discuss alternative therapies. He listens to his patients. I am an RN and I recommend him highly."

Brooklyn

Dr. Zhuravenko Igor, Internal Medicine, 445 Kings Hwy, 2 fl, Brooklyn, NY 11223, 718-375-1777.

A reader writes: "Providing with diagnostic services, he also has articles in Russian for multiple thyroid problems. He works with the best surgeons and provides proper treatment for thyroid cancer." (Added 10/05)

Another reader writes: "Great doctor, changed his office address, published many articles about thyroid problems, member of American Thyroid organization. All services, blood work, ultrasound, x-ray is in the office." (May 2008)

Bronx

Martin Surks, MD, 3400 Bainbridge Ave, Bronx NY 10467, 718 920 4331, MSURKS@WESTNET.COM. Note: patients report that this doctor relies on TSH for diagnosis, and will not prescribe with Cytomel. (March 2009)

"He's kind and willing to listen to all the patients concerns. (Added Dec. 04)

Bronx

Ulrich Schubart, MD, endocrinology, 1575 Blondell Ave Suite #200, New York 10461, 718-405-8260. A reader writes: "I was reading request from a TOP DOC in the New York City area...However, he's the GREATEST in The BRONX, his name is Dr. Ulrich Schubart and he is located I'm afraid to share, his office might get to busy, its in the Bronx. @1575 Blondell Ave., Bronx, NY 10461 718-405-8260. EXCELLENT!!!" He returns calls, very good listener, sharp, caring, optimistic, gets results--hes well known as the Top Thyroid Doc in this area-for good reason. It is worth the wait to get in to see him! To ensure that the proper dosage of medication is given he reviews does blood work every six weeks and reviews my dosage until he feels I have reached the right level. He is a good listener and interested in my health concerns. It's been a long three years for me fighting thyroid, but I can honestly say, he will give me the best available information, then let me make the choices." (Added 6/05)

Brooklyn

Dr. David Cohen, naturopath, 1407 46th Street, Entrance B, Brooklyn, NY 11219. (718) 207 0909 / 718 972 1616. His website is http://www.newyorkbodyscan.com, doctorcohen@aol.com. This reader "strongly recommends" Dr. Cohen. "He's a naturopath and very needed for "Hard Cases" such as myself."

Another reader writes: "This Dr. David Cohen is something else. His body scan reading was eerily accurate about medical problems I USED to have as well as the two I still have. About two hours after his homeopathic remedy, I felt enormous relief from my arthritis pain. I really have to say he gave me more relief than any five doctors added up together. Very recommendable fellow. Such relief!"

Another reader recommends Dr. David Cohen: "My neighbor, about 75 yrs young, went to Dr. Cohen after she was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. Not wanting all the heavy-duty meds which weren't working, she followed Dr. Cohen's recommendations, using only naturopathic remedies, and the improvement was so much better than anything the pharmaceuticals could do that her medical doctor cut her thyroid med in half. He's becoming a legend in Brooklyn for really tough cases. I'm quite impressed." (Added 11/02)

More praise from a reader for Dr. Cohen: "Five doctors in a row, including two who are renowned and very expensive, could not put a label on my numerous symptoms. Within an hour or so of Dr. Cohen doing a body scan, the remedies he suggested starting working. Can you imagine waiting sixteen months to get relief, and one naturopath gives you a detailed report about why your body's having so many problems, and BOOM! Relief in a couple of hours. I can't recommend him enough. What a wizard." (added 1/04)

Brooklyn

Gabriel Spergel, M.D., P.C., Endoccrinologist. 135 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, N.Y. Telephone 718 853-3702. A reader writes: I looked up Dr. Spergel, because I was not menstruating and was not losing weight and I was always tired and very fatigued. He ran a battery of tests and after I'd been to so many doctors who had told me there was nothing wrong with me he found that I had an underactive thyroid and started hormone therapy immediately. He also found that I was going through an early menopause. He is a wonderful doctor. Patient a good listener, and is professional and very open and honest with his patients. I have begun to feel much better ever since I started seeing him. He is always there when I need to speak with him about my situation."

Brooklyn

Dr. Michael Tiplitsky, MD, Nutritionist, Holistic Dr., 415 Oceanview Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 718-769-0997, physicianschoice.com. A reader writes: "I was told my cholesterol was high and I had to take Zocor. I decided to go to a holistic doctor, Dr. Tiplitsky, and he said my thyroid was underactive which was causing the high cholesterol. He prescribed Armour Thyroid and some natural remedies for other problems. He's a wonderful doctor and a great listener." (Added 3/03)

Buffalo

Dr. Megan Farrell -- NO LONGER PRACTICING THYROID CARE, NOW SPECIALIZING IN PALLIATIVE CARE

Buffalo

Dr. Clementina Lewis, Endocrinologist,1856 Colvin Blvd, Buffalo, NY, 716-873-6653

A reader writes: "She's open to suggestion, it doesn't have to be her way. she's willing to try different things." (Added 6/05)

Buffalo

Dr. Joseph J. Torre -- no longer listed

Commack (Suffolk County)

Scott R. Torns, D.C. Chiropractor 717 Larkfield Road, Commack, New York 11725 (631)858-1788. A reader writes, "Dr. Scott, as he is affectionately called, not only listens but hears what you say. He spends 1/2 hour to 1 hour with his patients and skillfully keeps their bodies aligned. I have never found a doctor in any specialty that had the skill and caring of Dr. Scott. I have Hashimotos & Lupus and he has successfully kept my joint pain and fatigue at a minimum. P.S. He is also and Adjunct Professor at CW Post College teaching Kinesiology."

Derby

Dr. Paul J. Caro, Caro Medical Center 7020 Erie Rd. Derby NY 14047 716 947-9147. A reader writes: When I first went to Dr. Caro he spotted it right away like it was written on my forehead. He sent me to get blood work done and test results said that my number was out of the park. Now I am probably the youngest case he has ever had. He has a great personality. I recommend him to anybody. (Added 11/02)

Dix Hills

Dr. William Romero, Nutrition, Majestic Road, New York, 631-549-4500, http://www.romeroclinic.com, drwromero@aol.com. A reader writes: "Dr. Romero is one of the most approachable, kind and responsive doctors I have ever met. His invaluable expertise and caring nature have been extremely helpful as a patient receiving treatment for hypothyroidism. I highly recommend him." (Added 6/05)

Another reader writes: "Dr. Romero was a Godsend to me....I was experiencing all the typical symptoms of thyroid disease and sought out a top doc because my endo refuse d to deal with anything other than my TSH level...I got very depressed and frustrated as my symptoms were clearly related to my Hashimotos disease, yet they would not treat me beyond a certain point...(fear of lawsuits??) I sought and got relief from my symptoms as Dr. Romero listened to my sobs and saw my despair. There is hope, and he encourages you to find it. I am on Armour now and feeling better than I have in over one year...I no longer feel the despair of, is this how my life is going to be? Dr. Romero uses meaningful analogies to help you find that little "ember, and fan it" . He has been a blessing in an otherwise atrocious year." (Added 6/05)

Another reader writes: "My hypothyroidism is under control and I lost almost 30 pounds. Dr Romero listens and follows up. He also communicates and encourages through email in between appointments." (Added June 2005)

More praise for Dr. Romero: "Dr. Romero is a body mechanic. He listens to his patients and understands how the body works. I am reborn. The energy I have alone is amazing. Im on Armour Thyroid and seeing such an improvement. Make an appointment to see the body mechanic, you will not be sorry!" (Added 10/05)

Another fan of Dr. Romero: "Dr. Romero has done more for me than my endocrinologist. He listens to the person with compassion, develops a total wellness plan including diet, nutrition, exercise, and medication/herbs. I highly recommend him to anyone who is not satisfied with their doctor." (Added 10/05)

East Setauket

Marie C. Gelato, MD, PhD, Endocrinologist, University Hosptial at Stony Brook, State University of Stony Brook, 26 Research Way, East Setauket, NY 11733, 516 444-0580. A reader writes: "Dr. Gelato is a caring, listening, open minded doctor. When I complained about how I felt on Synthroid, she listened, tried other dosages, and listened some more. I don't feel right on Synthroid. I learned about Armour Thyroid. She was open to trying it. I've been on Armour now for almost 2 years. I feel much better. Need I say more? She is definitely a top doc!"

Another reader writes: "Dr Gelato was the THIRD endocrinologist I had been to and I was not really optimistic since the others had not really heard my complaints about how I was feeling. Well, I was so pleasantly surprised! Not only did she listen to my issues, she took my symptoms as well as my "numbers" into consideration and tried me on Unithroid. To my surprise, within three weeks I felt like a new person! I can't believe there are still doctors who think that a set of lab values tells the whole story! Dr. Gelato was willing to see if a different medicine worked for me and how my body would process the medication. She took my individual symptoms into account and since she treated me as a "whole person" and not just labwork, she gets my vote as a Top Doc!" (Added Apr 06)

Forest Hills

Carl Adler, General practice/internist/primary care, Osteopath/DO, 110-06 72 Ave, Forest Hills, N.Y, 11375, 718-793-6779

A reader writes: "This doctor is very smart; explained that TSH levels are not accurate according to research and should be set lower and cases are being missed" (March 2009)

Garden City

Dr. Ashok Vaswani, Nutrition, 520 Franklin Ave., Suite L2, Garden City, NY 11530, 516 739-0414. "I felt he gives you confident care." (Added 6/02)

Another reader recommends Dr. Vaswani: "Dr. Vaswani is Board Certified in Endocrinology and Metabolism and Internal Medicine. He really listens and is kind and gentle." (added 1/04)

A reader writes: "He is a good listener. He will listen to all my symptoms. I have thyroid nodules and he was very gentle when he did my biopsy. He is always sympathetic and never discards my feelings." (Added: June 2004)

A reader writes: "Dr. Vaswani, is a terrific diagnostician and also prescribes the right dosage of medicine. He is easy to talk to. He diagnosed my problem within 2 minutes after meeting me and prescribed the right dose of Levoxyl. He gave me my life back. I was a mess and my G.P. had put me on anti depressants which wasn't really the answer. It was a band aid and got me through until I saw Dr. Vaswani. I went off the anti depressants and I am taking my thyroid medication and I feel great. Dr. V gave me my life back and I am so grateful to him." (Added Apr 06)

Garden City

Dr. Rajesh S. Kakani, Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery, 877 Steward Avenue, Suite 2, Garden City, NY, 516-222-1105. A reader writes: "Not only is Dr. Kakani a very skilled surgeon, but also very compassionate and caring." (Added 10/05)

Gasport

Ron Miller, Physicians Assistant, Gasport. 716-735-7774. This reader suggests the addition of Ron Miller, "Because he listens! He says that no one knows our bodies better than ourselves. He prescribed Armour without hesitation. He appreciated all the research Ive done on the disease."

Glen Cove

Dr. Idel I. Moisa, M.D., Ear, Nose and Throat - Head and Neck Surgeon, 3 School St, Suite304, Glen Cove, NY 11542. "Experienced, professional, professional staff, and caring," noted one reader.

Glen Cove

Dr. Richard Linchitz, Holistic/complementary/alternative MD, 70 Glen Street, Glen Cove, NY, 11542, 516-759-4200. A reader writes: "Dr. Linchitz does all the proper testing for testing for thyroid FT3, FT4, Anti, Ferritn, saliva tests for adrenals and hormones. He is patient, kind, and has empathy for the patient. He also prescribes Armour Thyroid and Cortef if needed. Everyone in his office is very pleasant. I can't find enough good things to say about this Dr. Before visiting him I saw 5 Endo's which turned out to be a waste of my time. Thank you." (August 2007)

Glen Cove

Paul Capobianco, D.O. Osteopath/DO 71 Walnut Road Glen Cove 11542 5166715017 http://www.do-online.org/drcapobianco graceofhealing@aol.com

The doctor writes: "Please include my address on your site. I have been using Armour thyroid, vitamins and kelp on my patients for years. I am now getting more interested in L-tyrosine. I am also looking into the Iodoral as a possible way to nourish the thyroid. I am also consider adopting Dr. Blanchard's 98/2% method, as some patient's are sensitive to too much T3. " (March 2009)

Goshen

Tabbsum Malik, Endocrinologist & Internist, 70 Hatfield Lane, Goshen, N.Y. 10924, (845) 294-5472. "She is most knowledgeable and supportive. She is encouraging about alternative therapies and will prescribe Armour. I have suffered from Hashimotos for over 20 years and have Fibromyalgia. She recommended my first thyroid ultrasound and uses it as a tool. I finally found a good doctor whose opinion I trust. I have been off sugar, wheat, yeast, cheese, for over 11 months and I'm truly encouraged. I do 1 hour of Kundalini Yoga 5 days a week and at the age of 57, feel better than I have in years. I've also been using the new Rife frequency machine. There is hope for us." (added 1/04)

Another reader writes: "She listens very well. Requested an ultrasound to rule out any complications. She seems very open minded and helpful. Her assistance provide treatment consistency and good follow-up on explaining and going over the labs. Only downside, it takes weeks to months to see her." (Added 6/05)

Another fan: "I have been going to Dr.Malik for over 3 yrs. She is very knowledgeable and very compassionate. She will listen to every concern and give the encouragement you need. Her staff is friendly and welcoming. I travel an hour to visit her office- it is worth the distance!" (Added 1/06)

NOTE: Readers are reporting that this doctor's office may be heavily overbooking patients, and you may have to wait an hour or more past your scheduled time. (October 2006).

Grand Island

Kevin Augustine, DC -- no longer listed

Hartsdale

Susanne Saltzman, M.D., Homeopathic Medicine, 250 E. Hartsdale Ave. St.22, Hartsdale, NY, 10530, 914-472-0666. A reader writes: "I'm open-minded, compassionate, flexible and well-liked by patients. I also have a thyroid problem myself (Hashimoto's) and I've done alot of research on it. I know that people require different treatments- one size does NOT fit all when it comes to thyroid disease (or any disease for that matter!) (Added Apr 06)

Hicksville, Long Island

Edward Persuad of Medical Network of Long Island 516 937 7440 in Hicksville, Long Island, NY. A reader writes: "He not only treats allergies, but sensitivities to everything including hormones. No other doctor caught the fact that I was sensitive to t3 t4 and trh. After being treated for this, and numerous other things, my very complicated symptoms abated, something many doctors couldn't do to the extent that Edward has done. He's truly in this business to help people, not money hungry at all. He spends at least an hour each time I see him. Sometimes I spend $140 sometimes less, sometimes more depending on how many allergens I buy. He's treated my insomnia, cravings and constipation like no one else has. He uses something called immunology which is explained on http://www.allergychoices.com/allergies_oral_faq.asp. He treated all bacteria, fungi, food, vitamins, environment allergies and hormone imbalances etc. Please recommend this very innovative dr. He has a superb reputation." (Added 2/03)

Huntington

Dr. William Romero Huntington Atrium, 775 Park Avenue Suite 155, Huntington NY 11743, 631-549-4500, http://www.bariatricdoctor.com I highly recommend Dr. William Romero. In the past I had been put on Synthroid but had become symptomatic (gaining weight without any lifestyle/eating changes, sleeping 10-14 hours a day and still feeling exhausted, falling and tripping so much that moving around was almost a safety hazard . . . etc). After spending an hour with Dr. Romero on my first visit, I felt like I had a new lease on life with him as my cheering section. He also prescribed a combination of Armour and Synthroid and a well balanced diet and exercise program (it's a lifestyle change, folks!) . . . that was 3 weeks ago. I just returned from a 2 week European vacation (historically, I gain about 1 pound per day when I go on vacation despite exercising, watching my diet and exploring the sights). When I weighed in at Dr. Romero's office, I did not gain 14 pounds, but instead maintained my weight like a normal, active person! In Europe, I was also able to explore the sights (including climbing up to the Acropolis, walking up and down stairs in Venice, and navigating over many cobblestone walkways) WITH ENERGY AND WITHOUT TRIPPING! I am now able to sleep a solid 8 hours and wake up feeling refreshed!! My thinking is clearer and I am not as forgetful and I used to be. If you live in the LI area and are tired of doctors who tell you that you overeat, overwork, don't exercise enough or everything is in your head, you must make an appointment with Dr. Romero. After 28 years, I feel reborn!

Another fan: "He is caring, he listens, he works with you, and he adjusts your treatment when required." (Added Dec. 04)

Read this article:
New York Top Doctors -- Best Thyroid Doctors ...

Dr. Stuart J. Frank Division Director

Welcome to the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at UAB. The Division has a broad mission that includes state-of-the-art clinical care for a wide variety of disorders of the endocrine system, clinical and basic endocrine investigation, and the education of medical students, graduate students, residents, and postdoctoral fellows.

Early Division leaders in the 1960s-1980s included Drs. Rex Clements, Buris Boshell, S. Richardson Hill, and James Pittman. The late Dr. Jeffrey Kudlow directed the Division from 1989-2006 and fostered the growth of its clinical service and molecular and clinical endocrinology research efforts. Dr. Stuart Frank has served as Director of the Division since 2007. The Division has enjoyed continued expansion and extensive collaboration with many other DOM divisions. Additionally, a hallmark of the Division in recent years has been its broad interaction with Centers and other academic units outside the DOM. These interactions have allowed the Division to enhance its impact. Dr. Anath Shalev has directed the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center since 2010 and Dr. Frank has served as Co-Director of the UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science (an NIH-funded CTSA) since 2010.

The faculty possesses broad clinical expertise in diabetes, thyroid disease, pituitary disorders, adrenal disease, lipid disorders, gonadal disorders, and metabolic bone disease and interacts closely with the Departments of Surgery, Ophthalmology, Radiology, Reproductive Endocrinology, as well as other Divisions in the Department of Medicine. These interactions take the form of both shared multidisciplinary clinics and clinical case conferences. The Division supports one of the Department of Medicines largest outpatient clinics in The Kirklin Clinic, staffs the Endocrinology Section of the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and maintains a consultation service that evaluates patients with a wide variety of endocrine problems within all hospitals of the UAB Medical Center. In addition, Division faculty contribute inpatient General Medicine attending service at both University Hospital and the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Division faculty are engaged in cutting edge basic and clinical research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, American Diabetes Association and other industry and foundations. Division research is fostered by the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center, the NIH-sponsored UAB Diabetes Research and Training Center, the UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science and the UAB Center for Metabolic Bone Disease. Faculty members are also closely affiliated with UABs Comprehensive Cancer Center, Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Research Center and Center for Aging.

The Division sponsors an Endocrinology Fellowship Program that provides three physician trainees with broad outpatient and consultative experience in all areas of clinical endocrinology with added exposure to Pediatric Endocrinology, Reproductive Endocrinology, and other disciplines on an elective basis. Fellows are also encouraged to gain investigative experience in clinical or basic research with faculty mentors either within the Division or in other academic units at UAB. Completion of the Fellowship allows ABIM Board Eligibility in Endocrinology and Metabolism.

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UAB - Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism - Home

The Department of Human Genetics offers comprehensive clinical services for the diagnosis and management of genetic disorders, in addition to state-of-the-art laboratory diagnostics.

Two medical geneticists and three genetic counselors participate in pediatric and general genetics, neurogenetics, and craniofacial clinics, as well as provide consultation services. Areas of specialization and research interests include evaluation and counseling for brain malformations, metabolic conditions, and mental retardation of unknown origin.

Our cytogenetics laboratory offers routine chromosome analysis and FISH analysis for prenatal diagnosis, as well as congenital and reproductive disorders. Cancer cytogenetic services are available through the Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology and Oncology.

The molecular genetics laboratory provides DNA analysis for a variety of conditions affecting adults and children, as well as prenatal diagnosis. Molecular genetic assays for infectious diseases and somatic abnormalities associated with cancers are available through our Department of Pathology.

Specialty services offered in our laboratories include testing for telomere rearrangements, imprinting disorders, brain malformations, and customized diagnostics for families affected with rare, or orphan, diseases.

The clinical genetics laboratories are CLIA-certified and CAP-accredited, and will facilitate genetic research for University of Chicago faculty by providing core services (cell culture, DNA isolation, sequencing and genotyping, and patient specimen storage) in a quality-controlled setting.

Our clinical and laboratory genetics staff also contribute to the prenatal and cancer risk clinics that are provided through the obstetrics & gynecology and medicine departments, respectively.

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Human Genetics - The University of Chicago Medicine

SCIENCE

March 13, 2014 | By Melissa Healy, This post has been corrected. Please see below for details.

When the Food & Drug Administration last November ordered the Mountain View, Calif.-based firm 23andMe to stop marketing its health-related genetic test kit to consumers, the ensuing debate took on a "rage against the machine" tenor. Entrepreneurs, patients' rights advocates and genetics geeks across the country argued that the plodding, risk-averse regulators of the FDA had neither the right nor the expertise to insert themselves between people wishing to own whatever mysteries their genes contained, and a company that promised to deliver such information.

NEWS

December 20, 2012 | By Melissa Healy

Will Adam Lanza's genes help answer the incomprehensible? Connecticut's chief medical examiner, Dr. H. Wayne Carver II, has said that he has asked a geneticist at the University of Connecticut to contribute to the investigation of Lanza , the 20-year-old who last week shot 20 children and six adults at a school in Newtown, Conn., and then turned the gun on himself as police arrived. Hope of peering into Lanza's state of mind as he prepared his final act has been dashed by the assailant's apparent destruction of his computer's hard drive.

CALIFORNIA | LOCAL

March 24, 2010 | By Thomas H. Maugh II

Dr. Leena Peltonen, an unusually prolific genetics researcher whose team discovered mutated genes responsible for 15 inherited diseases and who established the department of human genetics at UCLA, died of cancer March 11 at her home in Finland. She was 57. Her "contribution to understanding the genetics of human disease has been a lifelong commitment and is simply outstanding," said Allan Bradley, director of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in England, where Peltonen ended her career.

SCIENCE

August 7, 2012 | By Eryn Brown, Los Angeles Times

North African Jews are more closely related to Jews from other parts of the world than they are to most of their non-Jewish neighbors in North Africa, a study has found. Furthermore, their DNA carries a record of their migrations over the centuries: Some bits trace back to the Middle Eastern peoples thought to have migrated to North Africa more than 2,000 years ago, while other bits are linked to Spanish and Portuguese Jews who fled to North Africa after their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula in the late 15th century, the study's authors said.

SCIENCE

July 21, 2007 | From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Scientists have linked certain genes to restless legs syndrome, suggesting the twitching condition is biologically based and not an imaginary disorder. Research in the New England Journal of Medicine, linked a gene variation to nighttime leg-twitching. It involved people in Iceland and the United States. A second study in Nature Genetics identified the same variation and two others in Germans and Canadians with the syndrome.

BUSINESS

December 15, 2013 | MICHAEL HILTZIK

Cutting-edge companies often walk a tightrope between regulators trying to keep their technologies under control and marketers trying to push them out to consumers as fast as possible. That's where a Silicon Valley company named 23andMe is today. The Mountain View, Calif., firm has been hawking genetic tests for you to take at home. You spit into a receptacle and ship your saliva back to the company so it can analyze your DNA for a mere $99. Eventually you get a readout detailing your genetic susceptibility to hundreds of diseases.

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Articles about Genetics - latimes

Welcome to the Department of Genetics, one of the ten basic science departments within the Sue Golding Graduate Division of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.The Department is on an exciting trajectory of renewed growth and development after having been without a chair for the last several years. Based on its academic excellence in areas varying from genetics of nematode behavior to the molecular basis of human disease, the Department is poised to enter new, exciting areas of genetics research made possible by revolutionary changes in our tools to study genes and their function in an integrated manner in various organisms.

By taking an integrated approach, both within the Department and across other Einstein departments, with a strong interdisciplinary focus and our emphasis on clinical applicability, the Department of Genetics is becoming a driver of basic and translational research at Einstein.

Two new divisions, the Division of Translational Genetics and the Division of Computational Genetics, directed by Bernice Morrow and John Greally, respectively, were added to a Division of Molecular Genetics under the leadership of Nick Baker. Our laboratory space in the Ullmann building is being renovated and beautiful new facilities in the Price Center have become available. New faculty are currently being recruited with a focus on human disease genetics with ample attention to strengthening the Departments technology base.

Indeed, two next-generation sequencers will come on line soon and new faculty, i.e., technology innovators, are actively being recruited to develop new genomics tools to accelerate Einsteins basic and clinical research. Our already strong suite of core genomics technology services will be re-organized and expanded, providing our researchers with the cutting-edge tools for making new, fundamental discoveries in genetics. Increased emphasis on epigenetic regulation has led to a new Center for Epigenomics, directed by John Greally, which focuses on understanding how the normal epigenome becomes dysregulated in human disease. By taking an integrated approach, both within the Department and across other departments, with a strong interdisciplinary focus and are-emphasis on clinical applicability, the Department of Genetics is becoming a driver of basic and translational research at Einstein.

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Overview | Department of Genetics | Albert Einstein College ...

Grade: 6 - 12

Learn about the basics of cells, chromosomes, and the genes contained in our DNA.

4:25

Grade: 6 - 12

Learn about the variations in our DNA called SNPs, and how they can help us understand relationships between people.

1:50

Grade: 6 - 12

Find out how chromosomes and genes are passed down from parent to child.

4:15

Grade: 6 - 12

Discover how our observable traits, also called phenotypes, are the result of interactions between our genes and environment.

2:05

Grade: 6 - 12

DNA and genetics for kids - Learn about genetics and the structure of DNA.

6:30

Grade: 6 - 12

6:35

Grade: 6 - 12

A lesson on genetics, it defines the central principle of biology and explains how DNA works to translate proteins. It compares mitosis and meiosis, and also explains how Mendelian genetics differs from the current understanding of genetics.

6:40

Grade: 6 - 12

The lesson reviews the major concepts in genetics - DNA and RNA, mitosis and meiosis, haploid and diploid cells, Mendelian and chromosomal genetics.

19:40

Grade: 6 - 12

The presentation describes the molecular structure of DNA.

10:30

Grade: 6 - 12

The lesson explains simple Mendelian genetics. It begins with a brief introduction of Gregor Mendel and his laws of segregation and independent assortment. Also presented are a number of simple genetics problems along with their answers.

16:00

Grade: 6 - 12

A presentation about Gregor Mendel and his immense contribution to the study of genetics.

4:55

Grade: 6 - 12

Learn about heredity. Heredity is the transmission of traits and characteristics from parent to offsprings through genes.

3:10

Grade: 6 - 12

The presentation explains how genome works and how it affects our lives.

3:35

Grade: 6 - 12

Since 'Jurassic Park', everyone's waiting for a cloned dino. Well, how about a woolly mammoth? It's not that easy; learn about the recent discoveries that are helping this process.

3:00

Grade: 8 - 12

Learn about the DNA replication process, the enzymes that are involved, and how the amazing process that makes life possible works!

8:00

Grade: 8 - 12

A lesson on genetics, DNA and laws of inheritance.

10:00

Grade: 8 - 12

10:00

Grade: 8 - 12

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Genetics for Kids - Science Games and Videos

mendelian genetics

The scientific study of heredity

Augustinian monk and botanist whose experiments in breeding garden peas led to his eventual recognition as founder of the science of genetics (1822-1884)

specific physical characteristic that varies from one individual to another

section of DNA that codes for a specific trait

a genotype with two different alleles.

different forms of a gene

Mendel's second conclusion, which states that some alleles are dominant and others are recessive

specialized cell involved in sexual reproduction

process in sexual reproduction in which male and female reproductive cells join to form a new cell

term used to describe organisms that produce offspring identical to themselves if allowed to self-pollinate

parental generation, the first two individuals that mate in a genetic cross

the first generation of offspring obtained from an experimental cross of two organisms

the second generation of offspring, obtained from an experimental cross of two organisms; the offspring of the F1 generation

The likelihood that a particular event will occur

a chart that shows all the possible combinations of alleles that can result from a genetic cross

genetic makeup of an organism

The physical traits that appear in an individual as a result of its gentic make up. What an organism looks like.

Scientific term for having two different alleles for a trait

Scientific term for having two identical alleles for a trait

Scientific term for having two dominant alleles for a trait

Scientific term for having two recessive alleles for a trait

creates a blended phenotype; one allele is not completely dominant over the other

situation in which both alleles of a gene contribute to the phenotype of the organism

(genetics) cell division that produces reproductive cells in sexually reproducing organisms

term used to refer to a cell that contains a complete set of chromosomes

an organism or cell having only a half set of chromosomes

pair of identical chromosomes

a genotype with two of the same alleles.

the study of genetics

SS and Ss

QQ, Qq, qq

3 smooth face: 1 face spikes

tongue rolling

3 tongue rolling:1 cannot roll tongue

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Genetics flashcards | Quizlet

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Annual Review of Genetics - Home

Inattentional blindness is the failure to notice a fully-visible, but unexpected object because attention was engaged on another task, event, or object.

This phenomenon is related to but distinct from other failures of visual awareness such as change blindness, repetition blindness, visual masking, and the attentional blink. In most cases, studies of inattentional blindness involve a single critical trial in which an object appears unexpectedly while observers are performing their task. At the end of the trial, observers are asked a series of questions to determine whether or not they saw the unexpected object.

The term inattentional blindness was coined by Arien Mack and Irvin Rock to describe the results of their extensive studies of the visual perception of unexpected objects. Many of their studies from the early 1990s culminated in their 1998 Book entitled Inattentional Blindness (Mack & Rock, 1998). In their canonical task, observers view a briefly-presented cross on a computer display and attempt to judge whether the horizontal or vertical arm of the cross is longer. On a critical trial, an additional shape appears in the display, and after the trial, observers are asked whether they noticed anything other than the cross on that trial. Subsequent trials examine whether observers notice the shape now that it is expected (they know it can appear). Such trials were described as divided attention trials. Finally, observers often complete one trial in which they are told to ignore the cross and to report anything they see (see Figure 1). This full attention trial serves as a control condition to demonstrate that the unexpected object was perceptible even if it was not perceived on the critical trial. Using this approach, Mack, Rock, and their students and colleagues showed that people often miss the unexpected shape on the critical trial, even when it was a unique color and appeared for 200ms. Noticing rates typically ranged from 25-75% depending on the condition.

Although Mack and Rock coined the term inattentional blindness, earlier work had explored similar failures of awareness under conditions of selective attention. In perhaps the most prominent early demonstrations of this phenomenon, Ulric Neisser and his colleagues (Neisser, 1979; Neisser & Becklen, 1975) used a selective looking task to explore the role of attention in the detection of unexpected events. Their task was a visual analogue of earlier dichotic listening methods in which people often failed to notice the content of speech presented to one ear when they were actively focusing attention on speech presented to the other ear (e.g., Moray, 1959). In the studies by Neisser and colleagues, observers viewed two distinct, superimposed videos of people performing simple actions such as passing a basketball or playing a hand-slapping game. When observers focused attention on one of the events, they often failed to notice an unexpected event occurring in the other. For example, when counting the number of times several people passed a basketball while ignoring a hand-slapping game, they often failed to notice when the people in the hand-slapping stopped and shook hands (Neisser & Becklen, 1975). Recent replications and extensions of this approach by Simons and Chabris (1999) showed that such sustained inattentional blindness occurs even when the unexpected object is fully visible and the displays are not superimposed. In their study, participants counted basketball passes by players wearing white shirts and ignored passes made by players wearing black. Under these conditions, approximately 50% of observers failed to notice when a person in a gorilla suit entered the display, stopped and faced the camera, thumped its chest, and exited on the far side of the display (see movies at http://www.dansimons.com/videos.html).

More recent studies of inattentional blindness have explored how aspects of the task and stimuli contribute to inattentional blindness and the detection of unexpected objects: the role of expectations in the detection of unexpected objects (Most et al, 2005), the role of visual similarity of the unexpected objects to the attended and ignored items in the display (Most et al, 2001), the role of visual distinctiveness of the unexpected object, and the role of spatial proximity of the unexpected object to the focus of attention (Newby & Rock, 1998; Most et al, 2000). Other recent studies have examined how differences in the observers affect detection, including the effects of alcohol consumption (Clifasefi et al, 2006) or expertise in the primary task (Memmert, 2006).

All of the following criteria must hold to classify a failure of awareness as inattentional blindness as opposed to a different type of failure of awareness. Note that not all failures of awareness that result from distraction or inattention to a stimulus constitute inattentional blindness.

Traditionally, inattentional blindness refers specifically to the failure to notice unexpected objects. Some recent studies have demonstrated failures to notice objects that occur on many trials due to attentional engagement on a primary task. In such cases, the critical objects are expected, but observers fail to report them because they are engaged in another task. Although such failures of awareness can be attributed to attentional engagement, they do not precisely constitute examples of inattentional blindness. When a critical stimulus appears repeatedly during an experiment, observers do have a reason to look for it (they will be asked about it). Consequently, it might be attended, just not sufficiently to produce awareness of it. Such failures of awareness might be due to insufficient attention rather than inattention. The unexpected nature of the critical stimulus is what differentiates inattentional blindness from other failures of awareness due to distraction or attentional failures (e.g., the attentional blink).

Conclusions from studies of inattentional blindness are premised on the idea that a failure to report an unexpected stimulus results from a failure to see that stimulus. In principle, though, people might fail to report the unexpected stimulus even if they did see it they could simply forget that they saw it by the time they are asked about it. That is, they have inattentional amnesia rather than inattentional blindness (Wolfe, 1999). Differentiating these alternatives might be impossible because questioning inherently occurs after the event, leaving open the possibility of forgetting. Whether or not the inattentional amnesia explanation is more plausible or palatable is a matter of debate. For the amnesia account to hold, observers would have to consciously perceive the unexpected object and then forget that they saw it, something that might be less plausible when the unexpected object is particularly distinctive or unusual (e.g., a person in a gorilla suit).

Another alternative to the inattentional blindness account is that observers see the critical object in the display but do not process it extensively and consequently do not retain it. In essence, they experience inattentional agnosia (see Simons, 2000). They might see that there is something in the display, but not identify it as a gorilla. In fact, they might not identify it as a coherent object at all. Under this explanation, something is perceived, but it is not perceived as some thing. Because it is not encoded as a thing, it is not remembered and reported after the display is removed. However, evidence that the critical object can prime a subsequent response suggests that it is processed to some extent, even when it is not reported.

Change blindness refers to the failure to notice something different about a display whereas inattentional blindness refers to a failure to see something present in a display. Although these two phenomena are related, they are also distinct. Change blindness inherently involves memory people fail to notice something different about the display from one moment to the next; that is, they must compare two displays to spot the change (see Simons & Rensink, 2005). The signal for change detection is the difference between two displays, and neither display on its own can provide evidence that a change occurred. In contrast, inattentional blindness refers to a failure to notice something about an individual display. The missed element does not require memory people fail to notice that something is present in a display. In a sense, most inattentional blindness tasks could be construed as change blindness tasks by noting that people fail to see the introduction of the unexpected object (a change it was not present before and now it is). However, inattentional blindness specifically refers to a failure to see the object altogether, not to a failure to compare the current state of a display to an earlier state stored in memory.

Studies of inattentional blindness demonstrate that people fail to notice unexpected objects in a display. Or, more precisely, that they fail to report having noticed an unexpected object. The information from the unexpected object is filtered from awareness by the time people are asked about it. However, it is unclear how much processing of the unexpected object occurs before this filtering. In its strongest form, the word "blindness" implies that the information is processed minimally if at all. However, other evidence suggests that the unexpected object is processed and that it can influence perception. For example, when the unexpected object involves the grouping of background dots in a display, the unreported grouping can affect judgments of line length in the Mueller-Lyer illusion (Moore & Egeth, 1997). And, as for early studies of dichotic listening (Treisman, 1964), some stimuli apparently are less subject to inattentional blindness. For example, observers typically fail to see common words in the Mack and Rock task, but they do see their own name when it appears unexpectedly (Mack & Rock, 1998). Observers also show some priming from unreported words as evidenced by a tendency to complete word fragments with the unreported word rather than other more common words (Mack & Rock, 1998). These findings suggest that the unexpected object is processed, possibly to a semantic level, even when it is unreported. If so, they also suggest that the inattentional agnosia explanation is wrong, at least at some level semantic processing implies that the object was identified at some level of the visual system.

Evidence that the unreported stimulus is processed to some extent is reminiscent of other research on subliminal perception, the idea that unseen stimuli exert an influence on perception or possibly behavior. However, care must be taken to draw strong inferences about implicit or subliminal perception from the inattentional blindness tasks. Inattentional blindness tasks rely on a single critical trial to determine whether or not an unexpected object was consciously perceived. However, the inference that it was not perceived depends on a report after the trial, and such reports are subject to many influences other than just whether or not the object was seen. For example, some people might be more hesitant to report an incredible object when they lack certainty that they saw it (in signal detection terms, they respond conservatively). If so, they might not report the unexpected object even if they have some inkling that something might have been present in the display. In other words, they might have consciously perceived the unexpected object, but been hesitant to say so definitively. With only one critical trial, the inattentional blindness task is poorly designed to discriminate between the ability to detect the stimulus and biases in the tendency to report the stimulus. That said, the unexpected object does fall below a subjective threshold for awareness in that people do not report it. And, that subjective threshold for awareness may be practically important, even if observers objectively saw something.

Evidence for inattentional blindness comes mostly from relatively simple laboratory tasks, but the phenomenon likely has many daily analogues. For example, automobile accident reports frequently report driver claims that they looked but failed to see the other vehicle. Many collisions between cars and motorcycles involve cars turning in front of an oncoming motorcycle, with the car driver not seeing the motorcyclist. Given that in many contexts, motorcycles are less common that cars, inattentional blindness is more likely. Critically, the difficulty of the primary task in an inattentional blindness task increases the probability that people will miss the unexpected object. In practical terms, the more people focus on aspects of their visual world other than the detection of unexpected objects, the less likely they are to detect such objects. Recent evidence suggests that talking on a cell phone, for example, dramatically increases the probability of missing an unexpected object (Scholl et al, 2003).

Although inattentional blindness constitutes a limit of the visual system, it also illustrates a critical aspect of visual processing. Specifically, it reveals the role of selective attention in perception. Inattentional blindness represents a consequence of this critical process that allows us to remain focused on important aspects of our world without distraction from irrelevant objects and events. Only when those unselected aspects of our world are both unexpected and important does inattentional blindness have practical consequences. And, inattentional blindness itself may be useful in some contexts. For example, by guiding selective attention to one part of a display, it is possible to reduce the visual quality of a different part of the display with minimal consequence, possibly allowing greater visual compression in motion sequences (Cater et al, 2002).

Internal references

Attention, Cognition, Models of Consciousness, Neural Correlates of Consciousness, Consciousness and Attention, Visual Cognition, Visual Attention, Change Blindness

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Inattentional blindness - Scholarpedia

What are the different types of blindness?

Color blindness is the inability to perceive differences in various shades of colors, particularly green and red, that others can distinguish. It is most often inherited (genetic) and affects about 8% of males and under 1% of women. People who are color blind usually have normal vision otherwise and can function well visually. This is actually not true blindness.

Night blindness is a difficulty in seeing under situations of decreased illumination. It can be genetic or acquired. The majority of people who have night vision difficulties function well under normal lighting conditions; this is not a state of sightlessness.

Snow blindness is loss of vision after exposure of the eyes to large amounts of ultraviolet light. Snow blindness is usually temporary and is due to swelling of cells of the corneal surface. Even in the most severe of cases of snow blindness, the individual is still able to see shapes and movement.

People often say, "I am 'blind as a bat' without my glasses." All bat species have eyes, and most have excellent vision. More importantly, the term blindness means the inability to see despite wearing glasses. Anyone who has access to glasses and sees well with the glasses cannot be termed blind.

The many causes of blindness differ according to the socioeconomic condition of the nation being studied. In developed nations, the leading causes of blindness include ocular complications of diabetes, macular degeneration, and traumatic injuries. In third-world nations where 90% of the world's visually impaired population lives, the principal causes are infections, cataracts, glaucoma, injury, and inability to obtain any glasses.

Infectious causes in underdeveloped areas of the world include trachoma, onchocerciasis (river blindness), and leprosy. The most common infectious cause of blindness in developed nations is herpes simplex.

Other causes of blindness include vitamin A deficiency, retinopathy of prematurity, blood vessel disease involving the retina or optic nerve including stroke, ocular inflammatory disease, retinitis pigmentosa, primary or secondary malignancies of the eye, congenital abnormalities, hereditary diseases of the eye, and chemical poisoning from toxic agents such as methanol.

Medically Reviewed by a Doctor on 2/25/2015

Blindness - Causes Question: Please discuss the cause of blindness in a relative or friend?

Blindness - Diagnosis Question: Discuss the events that led to a diagnosis of blindness.

Blindness - Treatment Question: Please discuss treatments for blindness received by you or someone you know.

Blindness - Legally Blind Question: Please discuss in what ways being "legally blind" has affected your lifestyle.

Medical Author:

Andrew A. Dahl, MD, is a board-certified ophthalmologist. Dr. Dahl's educational background includes a BA with Honors and Distinction from Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, and an MD from Cornell University, where he was selected for Alpha Omega Alpha, the national medical honor society. He had an internal medical internship at the New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center.

Medical Editor:

Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.

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Blindness Symptoms, Causes, Treatment - MedicineNet

By Jose Saramago. Translated from the Portuguese by Giovanni Pontiero from the 1995 Ensaio sombre a Cegueira. 309 pages London: The Harvill Press, 1997 ISBN: 0-15-136700-9

Comments of Bob Corbett October 2001

How are we to imagine a world in which some central part of our meaning system suddenly disappears? I've played with the idea in thinking about having survived an atomic war which destroyed most humans, and all the basic infrastructures of everyday life. The problems one runs into even in such a game of imagination is to be consistent and being able to step far enough away to see what it is that really changes. In my day-dreaming imaginings I never went so far as to even dare to consider the inner changes in my person or the other survivors around me. It was much more than I could do to even anticipate and manage the physical problems of change and how to deal with them.

Jose Saramago presents us with exactly such a problematic, yet his masterful analysis deals not only with the physical aspects of change and how his characters deal with them, but he inters into the psychological realm and astounds us with his insights and brilliance.

A man is sitting at a traffic light one day waiting for the light to turn green and he suddenly goes blind. This is the "first blind man." Slowly this mysterious form of blindness, the like not known in the literature of modern medicine, spreads to the whole nation. As best we know, there is only one sighted person left in the realm. We follow a cast of fewer than 10 characters in detail. We have no names, only descriptors. After all one character tells us "blind people need no names." There is the first blind man, the first blind man's wife. The blind man had a seeming good semaritan who helps him home and but then steals his car and is thus called the man who had stole the car. There is the doctor whom he consults and the doctor's wife, the girl with dark glasses, the boy with the squint and the man with the black eye patch. There are a few others, but these become our key characters, later on adding the dog of tears.

In the early days of the white blindness in which each person seems only a white creamy mass, the government freaks out at the quick contagion of it and inters a large number of the blind in an old insane asylum. There, in scenes which are quite reminiscent of Golding's The Lord of the Flies, pure anarchy reigns and a gang sets itself up to control the government delivered food.

Soon however, the 7 central characters have escaped the asylum when it turns out that all the guards who are keeping them interred have themselves gone blind and they simply walk out into a world of all blind people.

All blind people that is, save one. The doctor's wife somehow remains sighted and she is able to give this small group the advantages that allows it to survive when others could not. She can locate places, keep them all in line and, most importantly, find food and water in a world gone blind.

What is this odd book of Jose Saramago? Is it an allegory? If so an allegory of what? Of the dependency of humans on basic systems of order in the manner of Thomas Hobbes? Is it a condemnation of humans as being only on the edge of civilization and being shown to be ready to plunge into barbarism at the least shaking of central systems of order? Or on a more positive note, is the tiny group of 7 the hopeful core that even in such catastrophic circumstances would maintain humanity and re-create a safer environment? Were this latter the case then the critic has a difficult time explaining the presence of the one sighted person who survives and leads. Or does this problematic suggest that leaders are essential to the continuation of the human species?

Or, abandoning the allegory theory, is this simply an astonishing tour-de-force of imagination, being just what it is literally and no more, the investigation of the logic of life when something such as sight disappears and the sighted woman is necessary as a sop since no other believable mode of survival would be easily available. This view would harmonize with the direction one finds in other Saramago novels especially The Stone Raft and The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, perhaps even of The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis. Saramago seems to have a passion for playing with alternative realities and attending with care to the logic of the system he once sets up.

I believe I lean much more to this notion that we are to understand Blindness not as an allegory, but as an exploration of an alternative reality. On his view we are freer to remain inside the story as given and just marvel at how he unravels the story and develops not only the physical ramifications, but especially how he deals with the inner realities and changes in the character's minds. However, on this view we are left with the curious status of the doctor's wife's sight, and then the even more curious recurrence of the "special" dog which we had in The Stone Raft as well. Saramago seems to like dogs in nearly occult roles in his fantasies. This one, however, plays no central as the dog in The Stone Raft. Rather, it gets it name by licking away the tears of the doctor's wife when she breaks down in near despair on see what has happened to the blind city. The dog of tears remains with the group the rest of the tale, but seems to have no other role.

After just the first few pages I nearly lost my faith in Saramago. The blind man goes blind at the stop sign, gets taken home by the car thief and soon is taken to the doctor, who is an ophthalmologist, by his wife. I began to wonder -- how in the world can he sustain an entire moderately long novel as the story of this blind guy. Where could this go? What is there to build on? I suspected I may have had a weak Saramago novel in my hand. And then the thunderous second shoe drops, the doctor goes blind in the night. I simply gasped aloud on the subway I was riding when that happened. I knew I was now in for something odd, but I had no idea just how odd and soon people were falling into blindness with great rapidity and I was hooked on a new alternative world according to Saramago. The ending, which I won't mention was very unsatisfactory to me, but I'll leave that to the reader to discover and evaluate on his or her own.

Jose Saramago is one of the great masters of storytelling and fiction of our time. His language is impeccable and he plays with it often, calling attention to it, even interrupting the story to reflect on words and modes of expressing thoughts. The story itself is captivating and in the later sections when the group of 7 are wandering in this nightmare of a city where all are blind is one of the most frightful and even terrifying scenes I know in fiction. This is in no way a horror story, yet I can't imagine a novel in the genre of horror rising to the level of terror that Saramago strikes in us in these scenes of wandering bands of blind people struggling to find food and stay alive. It is a macabre and brilliant painting of pictures for the verbally sighted and yet another addition to the marvelous list of Saramago triumphs.

Special thanks to George Snedeker for this note:

I have just read your review of Saramago's BLINDNESS. as a visually impaired person, I have been trying to make sense of his use of blindness as a trope. blindness operates in his text as both an intertextual sign and as a referent. blindness represents limitation. this is true in the very obvious sense of the analogy between knowing and seeing. blindness also leads the characters to return to the state of nature. I have always been troubled by the doctor's wife. her eyes allow her to lead the others to safety. she is also necessary as the narrator of the story. without her, who would describe the events and scenes of the novel.

A more systematic review from George Snedeker

BETWEEN METAPHOR AND REFERENT:Reading Saramago's "Blindness" George Snedeker Sociology Program SUNY/College at Old Westbury

Jose Saramago received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998. Although several of his books were available in English translation, not many people in the United States had read his novels prior to the award. Soon his latest novel, Blindness, was on the New York Times Best-Seller List. If I had not previously read two of his earlier books, I would not have been much interested in reading an allegorical novel that uses blindness as its master sign.

Saramago uses a quotation from the Book of Exhortations as the epigram to Blindness: "If you can see, look. If you can look, observe". Near the end of the novel, when the blind people are getting their vision back, he has one of his characters remark:" I don't think we did go blind, I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see" (292). These two quotations indicate the political and philosophical intention of the novel. They indicate, but do not disclose it. The greatest problem with an allegorical novel like Blindness is that it grants too much freedom to the reader. It allows too many interpretations.

Saramago uses blindness as a metaphor for both personal misfortune and social catastrophe. The story begins when the first blind man loses his vision in his car while waiting for a traffic light to change. The man who helps him get safely home goes back and steals his car. The next day the wife of the first blind man takes him to see the eye doctor. Within a few days, the wife of the first blind man, the car thief, the doctor and all of the patients in his waiting room also go blind. The only character in the novel that miraculously avoids the affliction of blindness is the doctor's wife.

With a large number of people going blind quickly and with no apparent cause, public health officials panic and the blind are interned in a former mental hospital to protect the population from infection.

They are provided with food but are left to fend for themselves within the walls of the abandoned mental hospital. Soldiers keep watch and threaten to kill anyone who tries to escape.

The numbers of infected persons increases rapidly. New groups of blind people are imprisoned in the hospital. Among the new inmates are a group of hoodlums, one of whom possesses a gun. The hoodlums soon demand that the other internees pay for their food and provide them with women to fulfill their sexual desires. This outrage soon leads to a revolt. A few days later, the blind internees realize that the entire population of the city has gone blind and they leave the hospital in search of food.

As the narrative of Blindness progresses, the conditions of the blind continue to get worse. They find themselves in a society that no longer functions. Blind people roam the streets looking for food and shelter. After scavenging for days, they realize that soon it will be impossible to obtain enough nourishment to keep alive. While they are at the edge of despair their vision miraculously begins to return. The novel abruptly ends without making clear in what ways people have been transformed by the horrific experience of collective blindness.

As I mentioned earlier, the doctor's wife is the only character who does not go blind. She remains free from infection. This allows her to assist the group of blind people. Her eyes allow her to exercise a degree of control over the situation. It is she who kills the blind man with the gun. It is she who leads the blind in their search for food and shelter.

Blindness is clearly a sign of limitation in this novel. It causes the entire society to no longer function. It also places blind people in the condition of physical jeopardy and psychological torment. The society no longer functions because the blind are not able to provide the ordinary services that we are routinely dependent upon for survival: the production and distribution of food, water and electricity and the maintenance of the infrastructure of transportation and communication.

The central problem with Saramago's novel is that his master sign "blindness" is a floating signifier. No matter what his intention, the metaphor of blindness has a real referent. Readers of this novel are faced with an ambiguity, the relationship between the "symbolic" and the "real". The authorial voice of the novel and the critical response which has appeared in the mainstream press has occluded the problem of the referent. Saramago writes as if his metaphorical depiction of misfortune and catastrophe could somehow be innocent of the cultural meanings that are routinely associated with visual impairment. It is interesting to note that reviews which have appeared in the mainstream press fail to even consider that the use of blindness as a metaphor might pose a problem.

Reviewers have often made the comparison between Blindness and Camus' Plague, Kafka's Trial and Golding's Lord of the Flies. None of the reviews I have read have made the more obvious comparison to H.G. Wells' short story "The Country of the Blind". In this story, Wells uses blindness to represent a restricting society and the struggle of the individual against social conformity. Both Saramago and Wells use blindness as a sign of limitation because this idea is readily available. It is part of our common stock of cultural images. They use "blindness" for the same reason that Golding uses "children" in Lord of the Flies.

Like Camus, Saramago uses disease as a way of representing social and political crisis. Both authors emphasize the human response to social catastrophe. However, there is a problem with the representation of historical events by means of a medical model. In this representation, nature displaces the social and replaces it with an image of fate. As a consequence, blindness is defined as a physical condition.

Saramago's writings have often been discussed as an example of "magic realism". However, Blindness has more in common with Kafka's allegorical novels than it does with works by Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Salman Rushdie.

The fundamental problem posed by allegorical novels is how to locate their political and social meaning. Saramago provides his readers with few clues to guide interpretation. The story is set in an unnamed country, somewhere in the second half of the twentieth century. There are few identifying characteristics that provide a context for the events that transpire.

The epidemic of blindness takes place without any apparent cause; the disease spreads quickly and as the novel ends the blind are getting their vision back. Their recovery has as little explanation as the onset of blindness. The problem the reader is faced with is what to make of the metaphorical illness, the social catastrophe, and the miraculous recovery. What does it all mean?

Near the end of the book, Saramago has one of his characters suggest that perhaps they had never really been blind, that perhaps the sighted do not really see. If this is meant to be the underlying message of the novel it is, in fact, not a very original idea, since the analogy between "seeing" and "understanding" is one of the oldest ideas in Western philosophy. It is perhaps most clearly illustrated in Book 7 of The Republic, where Plato uses a visual metaphor to illustrate the limits of human understanding. He describes a cave where several people are seated in such a way that they cannot see the direct light of the fire. Instead, they can only see its distorted shadows upon the wall of the cave.

I suspect that Saramago is more interested in probing the human capacity to understand social reality than the Platonic concept of Absolute Truth. I wish he had chosen a better way of representing this quest.

Bibliography

Plato. 1961.The Collected Dialogues of Plato. Princeton: Princeton University Press

Saramago, Jose. 1997. Blindness. New York: Harcourt Brace

Wells, H. G. 1911. The Country of The Blind and Other Stories. London: T. Nelson

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BLINDNESS by Jose Saramago - Webster University

01/14/2016

research article

Sensory neuron diversity is required for organisms to decipher complex environmental cues. Qingyun Li and colleagues highlight the importance of the early prepatterning gene regulatory network as a modulator ofsensory organ precursorand terminally differentiated olfactory receptor neurondiversity in Drosophila.

01/20/2016

research article

Telomeres shorten with each cell division and telomere dysfunction is a recognized hallmark of aging. Madalena Carneiro and colleagues show that telomere shortening and DNA damage in key tissues triggers not only local dysfunction but also anticipates the onset of age-associated diseases in other tissues, including cancer.

01/20/2016

research article

The thymic medulla is known to be an essential site for the deletion of auto-reactive T cells. Rumi Satoh and colleagues show thatStat3 meditated signal via EGF-R is required for the postnatal development of thymic medullary regions.

01/21/2016

Viewpoints

Stephanie Dyke and colleagues examine the variation in data use conditions that are based on consent provisions for genomics datasets in research and clinical settings.

Image credit: Duncan Hull, Flickr, CC BY

Image credit: K. Adam Bohnert and Kathleen Gould

Image credit: Hey Paul Studios, Flickr, CC BY

12/23/2015

review

Albino Bacolla and colleagues discuss recent advances on three-stranded (triplex) nucleic acids, with an emphasis on DNARNA and RNARNA interactions.

Image credit: mira66, Flickr, CC BY

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PLOS Genetics: A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal

Gene therapy is an experimental treatment that involves inserting genetic material into your cells to give them a new function or restore a missing function, as cancer may be caused by damaged or missing genes, also known as gene mutations. Although gene therapy may be one way to overcome these changes and treat or prevent cancer, it is currently only available through clinical trials.

Cancer is caused by changes in our genes. Genes are inherited from our parents, and determine our traits and characteristics. They are made of biological molecules called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). DNA and RNA are responsible for making proteins, which have many functions, such as helping a cell to maintain its shape or controlling its growth and division. Changes or mutations in genes can affect the proteins and may sometimes lead to diseases, such as cancer.

Gene therapy is designed to modify cancer cells at the molecular level and replace a missing or bad gene with a healthy one. The new gene is delivered to the target cell via a vector, which is usually an inactive virus or liposome, a tiny fat bubble.

Gene therapy can be done in two ways: outside (ex vivo) or inside (in vivo) your body. Ex-vivo techniques involve taking some of the cancer cells out of your body, injecting them with good genes, and then putting them back into your body. The in-vivo process requires that good genes be put directly into a tumor, which may be difficult depending on its location or if the cancer has spread. Scientists generally use two types of cells in gene therapy the tumor cells themselves and immune system cells that attack the tumors.

Researchers from Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health System are studying several gene therapy techniques for breast cancer, melanoma, leukemia and pancreatic cancer.

For example, they have been integrally involved in the development of Herceptin, a targeted therapy that is proving to be effective in curing localized human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) breast cancer. HER2 controls how cells grow, divide and repair themselves.

Researchers have also been injecting a modified herpes virus into melanoma tumors, with the intention of improving the bodys immune defenses against the disease.

Gene therapy called TNFerade Biologic involves a DNA carrier containing the gene for tumor necrosis factor-alpha, an immune system protein with potent and well-documented anti-cancer effects. TNFerade is being studied in combination with radiation therapy for first-time treatment of inoperable pancreatic cancer.

TNFerade and the herpes strategies use gene therapy to enhance the killing effect of the primary mechanism radiation in TNFerade and viral induced cell lysis, or splitting, in the herpes virus.

When will gene therapy be available? Gene therapy is only available as a cancer treatment through clinical trials.

Are there any risks associated with gene therapy clinical trials? Yes. Viral vectors might infect healthy cells as well as cancer cells, a new gene might be inserted in the wrong location in the DNA, or the transferred genes could be overexpressed and produce too much of the missing protein, causing harm. All risks for any procedure should be discussed with your doctor.

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Gene Therapy - Cancer Treatments - Moores Cancer Center ...

Human eyesight is a sense which enables animals to perceive the light, different colors, shapes and it serves to the general perception of the environment. It is oriented mainly towards the perception of contrast and thus even contours and it significantly helps with orientation in space. For a human being the eyesight is the most important sense and that is mainly because almost 80% of information from our surroundings is perceived through it.

The human eye (oculus) is the organ of eyesight and is composed of the eye bulb and additional organs. Photosensitive layer is called the retina and contains photoreceptors, highly specialized photosensitive cells, rods and cones thanks to which the image is created. These cells are embedded in the pigmented epithelium which supplies them with nourishment and light isolation.

Vision itself, individual perception of the light, is based on the sensitivity of the eyesight pigments (e.g. rhodopsin) to the light. Under the influence of light the sight pigments decompose and that triggers the cascade chemical reactions which lead to the change of signal into electric potential, impulse, that carries information to the optical centers of the brain.

For the eyesight perception to be perfect we need also parts of the human eye that form its optical system (cornea, vitreous humor, lens, vitreous body) that collects the rays in the way that their focus is on the retina. A defect of optical system causes inability to create a sharp image on the retina and it leads to refractive errors (short-sightedness, long-sightedness, astigmatism).

Human eye equity is the ability to differentiate between two points in space. It depends on the ability of the optical apparatus to concentrate rays on the retina but also depends on the transparency of the human eye, intensity of light and on density and integration of photoreceptors in the given place on the retina.

Ultraviolet rays are the component of sunlight and is divided into UV-A and UV-B and UV-C radiation. UVA rays tan skin and is due to premature skin aging. UV-B rays cause sunburn and are often associated with skin cancer and eye problems such as cataracts. UV-C rays are most dangerous. There are, fortunately, blocked by ozone layer and do not get to the earth's surface.

The color vision is a very complicated psychophysical process during which human eye distinguishes different colors. From the physical point of view the color does not exist and it is only a visual perception which is conditioned by the wavelength of the light. The certain part of the spectrum reflects from different objects, then it falls on the eye where it causes the irritation of the light sensitive elements which react to color the cones. For its realization, it is necessary to have a correct and undisturbed function of the eyesight and the human eye as the receiving organ, the optical path as the transmitting system and the centers of the brain thanks to which we distinguish and thus they are the analyzer of the perception.

When driving a motor vehicle a driver has to continuously monitor not only what is happening on the road but also the data on the panel board. The tilting of his head (in average around 30 degrees) leads to reduction of the sharpness of the image of events happening on the road which is caused by the movement of the eyes. When looking at the speedometer the movement of the eyes exceeds the target by 5 degrees in average and it is immediately balanced with the subsequent movement of the eyes.

If you have uneasiness and it seems to you, that your sight worsen and feeling pain in eyes, you should visit an ophthalmologist. Today, good vision is very important and sight problems should not be ignored, but solved.

Accommodation of the eye is the ability of the human eye to see sharply all objects which are located at various distances in front of the eye depending on the changes of massiveness of the optical system of the eye. The mechanism of eye accommodation is not the same for all animals. For example fish accommodates through the change of position of the lens, some types of birds accommodate through the increase of curvature of the cornea and protraction of the human eye. As far as humans are concerned accommodation is caused by the increased curvature of anterior area of the eye lens while at the same time its thickness also changes. Accommodation is usually the same on both eyes.

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Eyesight and vision - About-Vision.com

Most Common Adult Vision Problems Most Common Childhood Vision Problems Blurred vision (refractive errors)

These conditions affect the shape of the eye and, in turn, how the eye sees. They can be corrected by eyeglasses, contact lenses, and in some cases surgery.

Strabismus occurs when the eyes do not line up or they are crossed. One eye, however, usually remains straight at any given time. Common forms of strabismus include:

If detected early in life, strabismus can be treated and even reversed.

If left untreated strabismus can cause amblyopia.

Amblyopia often called lazy eye is a problem that is common in children.

Amblyopia is a result of the brain and the eyes not working together. The brain ignores visual information from one eye, which causes problems with vision development.

Treatment for amblyopia works well if the condition is found early. If untreated, amblyopia causes permanent vision loss.

All people with diabetes, both type 1 and type 2, are at risk for DR. It is caused by damage to blood vessels in the back of the eye (retina). The longer someone has diabetes, the more likely he or she will get DR.

People with this condition may not notice any changes to their vision until the damage to the eyes is severe. This is why it is so important for people with diabetes to have a comprehensive eye exam every year.

There are four stages of DR. During the first three stages of DR, treatment is usually not needed. To prevent progression of diabetic retinopathy, people with diabetes should control their levels of blood sugar, blood pressure, and blood cholesterol. For the fourth stage of DR, called proliferative retinopathy, there are treatments that reduce vision loss, but are not a cure for DR.

Warning signs of diabetic retinopathy includes blurred vision, gradual vision loss, floaters, shadows or missing areas of vision, and difficulty seeing at nighttime.

People with diabetes are at greater risk for cataract and glaucoma as well.

Photos courtesy of the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health

AMD is a disease that blurs the sharp, central vision needed to see straight-ahead. It affects the part of the eye called the macula that is found in the center of the retina.The macula lets a person see fine detail and is needed for things like reading and driving.

The more common dry form of AMD can be treated in the early stages to delay vision loss and possibly prevent the disease from progressing to the advanced stage. Taking certain vitamins and minerals may reduce the risk of developing advanced AMD.

The less common wet form of AMD may respond to treatment, if diagnosed and treated early.

Photos courtesy of the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health

There are different types of glaucoma, but all of them cause vision loss by damaging the optic nerve. Glaucoma is called the sneak thief of sight because people dont usually notice a problem until some vision is lost.

The most common type of glaucoma happens because of slowly increasing fluid pressure inside the eyes.

Vision loss from glaucoma cannot be corrected. But if it is found early, vision loss can be slowed or stopped. A comprehensive eye exam is important so glaucoma can be found early.

Photos courtesy of the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health

A cataract is a clouding of the lens of the eye. It often leads to poor vision at night, especially while driving, due to glare from bright lights.

Cataracts are most common in older people, but can also occur in young adults and children.

Cataract treatment is very successful and widely available.

Photos courtesy of the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health

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Types of Vision Problems - Department of Health

In 2012, when Tyler Millard wrote the song Alivenow available on iTunes, with proceeds going to the Foundation Fighting Blindnesshe was having a rough time. Since being diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) seven years earlier, hed lost enough eyesight to have to give up his plans to teach math. Hed also taken up the guitar and was singing and songwriting, although the gigs were few and far between. Continue Reading

One of the biggest challenges in overcoming rare retinal diseases is, well, that theyre rare. Theres limited information about the conditions in humans, making it difficult for researchers to understand why they cause blindness and develop vision-saving treatments. Continue Reading

The Foundation Fighting Blindness scientists, donors and volunteers made 2015 an outstanding year in our fight against blindness. As I tabulated the years top 10 research advancesall made possible through FFB fundingI realized that eight are for clinical trials of emerging therapies that are launching or underway. Continue Reading

Its holiday time, the giving season, when people not only buy gifts for family, friends and co-workers, but also donate to worthy causesof which there are many. But, if youll permit me, Id like to make a pitch for the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), which happens to be offering a Holiday Board Match, meaning every donation is doubled. Continue Reading

If youre a young or middle-aged adult who enjoys being outside in the bright sunshine, youre probably not thinking about the risk for going blind from age-related macular degeneration (AMD). But according to a new study published in the journal Retina, you should be. Continue Reading

Were approaching a critical milestone in the fight against blinding retinal diseases, and it has the potential to tremendously boost and accelerate the advancement of virtually all gene therapies in development for dozens of inherited retinal diseases.

Sometime in 2016, Spark Therapeutics will request marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its landmark gene therapy for retinal conditions caused by mutations in the gene RPE65, namely certain forms of Leber congenital amaurosis and retinitis pigmentosa. Continue Reading

Gordon Gund, whos held in extremely high esteem by people inside and outside the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), has been completely blind for decades. He lost his eyesight to a disease called retinitis pigmentosa in his thirties. Not that it slowed him down much. Among other accomplishments, hes been a financier, venture capitalist, sports-team owner and sculptor. And, of course, hes a co-founder of FFB and its chairman of the board. Continue Reading

I am delighted to welcome Valerie Navy-Daniels to the Foundation Fighting Blindness family. As our new chief development officer, she is overseeing all of our fundraising programs including events, major gifts and membership as well as communications and marketing. As many of you know, most of our research is funded by these fundraising programs, so her role is critical to the success of our mission of saving and restoring vision. Continue Reading

Many people with retinal conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and age-related macular degeneration dont think they can donate their eyes after theyve passed away. They cant imagine anyone would want eyes that didnt work well. But in reality, affected eyes are in big demand. Continue Reading

X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP) is an inherited retinal disease causing significant vision loss, sometimes complete blindness, in males. Females are often considered to be unaffected carriers of the condition, with a 50 percent chance of passing XLRP to their sons. Continue Reading

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Eye on the Cure - Blog of the Foundation Fighting Blindness

Inattentional blindness is an inability to perceive something that is within one's direct perceptual field because one is attending to something else. The term was coined by psychologists Arien Mack and Irvin Rock, who identified the phenomenon while studying the relationship of attention to perception. They were able to show that, under a number of different conditions, if subjects were not attending to a visual stimulus but were attending to something else in the visual field, a significant percentage of the subjects were "blind" to something that was right before their eyes.

Because this inability to perceive, this sighted blindness, seemed to be caused by the fact that subjects were not attending to the stimulus but instead were attending to something else ... we labeled this phenomenon inattentional blindness (IB).*

Mack and Rock go on to argue that, in their view, "there is no conscious perception without attention."

Others, such as U. Neisser, D. Simons, and C. Chabris, have replicated and extended the work of Mack and Rock with experiments that have subjects attending to a specific task while watching a film, such as counting how many times a basketball is passed from one team member to another, while someone walks through the scene carrying an umbrella or wearing a gorilla suit. A surprisingly large percentage of subjects do not perceive something as obvious as a person in a gorilla suit moving through the scene they are observing, if they are attending to something else in their visual field. (Several examples of these experiments can be viewed on the Simons Lab page of the University of Illinois.)

Inattentional blindness may explain, for example, how a pilot with an interest in crop circles could fly right over one without even noticing it. The pilot had flown to see a recently discovered crop circle near Stonehenge. After visiting the site, he flew back to the airport to refuel before setting off on a trip that took him back over the site he had just visited. On the return flight he noticed another crop circle near the one he had visited earlier in the day and swears that the new circle was not there just forty-five minutes earlier. The new circle is very elaborate and could not have been produced by human hoaxers in such a short time. He concludes that some mysterious force must have been at work. Perhaps, but it seems more likely that the pilot experienced inattentional blindness when he was flying to the airport. He was focused on other tasks when he flew over the site and didnt notice what was right beneath him all the time. (See "Crop Circles - Quest for Truth.")

Research by Chabris and Simons indicates that inattentional blindness is a "necessary, if unfortunate, by-product of the normal operation of attention and perception" (2010, p. 38). They point out that even radiologists, who are highly trained experts at detecting visual signs of medical problems, "can still miss subtle problems when they 'read' medical images." This may explain why my dentist didn't see a crack in one of my teeth on an x-ray until I started to complain about the pain in a particular area. To eliminate inattentional blindness, we'd have to eliminate focused attention. That would not be a good idea. Even worse would be the condition of being able to attend to everything in our sensory field at once. It would drive us mad.

Research also shows that training people to improve their attention abilities may do nothing to help them detect unexpected objects. "If an object is truly unexpected, people are unlikely to notice it no matter how good (or bad) they are at focusing attention" (Chabris and Simons: 2010, p. 32). Remember this the next time you're at the airport watching the transportation security screener do his or her job. It should not be surprising to find that these folks miss a lot of contraband planted by their bosses to test them. You might also remember this: there is no scientific evidence to support the belief that driving while talking on a hands-free phone is safer than driving while holding a cell to your ear. Worse, both have about the same effect as driving under the influence of alcohol (Chabris and Simons: 2010, pp. 22-26).

See also change blindness, confabulation, and my review of The Invisible Gorilla.

further reading

books and articles

Chabris, Christopher and Daniel Simons. 2010. The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us. Crown.

Simons, Daniel J. and Christopher F. Chabris. (1999). "Gorillas in our midst: sustained inattentional blindness for dynamic events." Perception, 1999, volume 28, pages 1059-1074.

Mack, Arien and Irvin Rock. (2000). Inattentional Blindness. MIT Press.

websites

The Invisible Gorilla blog

Simons Lab (teachers may be interested in purchasing the DVD the VCL sells)

Inattentional Blindness - An Overview by Arien Mack & Irvin Rock

David Chalmers's list of papers on change blindness and inattentional blindness

The Choice Blindness lab

news

AAA: Voice-to-text devices worse driver distraction than cell phones An in-depth scientific study from AAA finds that using voice-to-text electronic devices is a far greater distraction for drivers than talking on cell phones, even if they are hands free.

Why Even Radiologists Can Miss A Gorilla Hiding In Plain Sight by Alix Spiegel - 83 percent of the radiologists didn't see the gorilla in the X-ray.

Study reveals how memory load leaves us blind to new visual information "The new results reveal that our visual field does not need to be cluttered with other objects to cause [inattentional blindness] and that focusing on remembering something we have just seen is enough to make us unaware of things that happen around us."

gorillas, working memory, and the media by Daniel Simons The news media doesn't get it quite right about a new study from the University of Utah. Typical is this Eureka alert:

University of Utah psychologists have learned why many people experience "inattention blindness" the phenomenon that leaves drivers on cell phones prone to traffic accidents and makes a gorilla invisible to viewers of a famous video. The answer: People who fail to see something right in front of them while they are focusing on something else have lower "working memory capacity" a measure of "attentional control," or the ability to focus attention when and where needed, and on more than one thing at a time.

"The media is reacting to the finding that, under some conditions, differences in working memory capacity predict noticing of an unexpected gorilla. They over-generalize the finding to suggest that people who are high in working memory capacity are immune to inattentional blindness....Any scientist reading the journal article would recognize that the correlation between working memory and noticing is imperfect and would separate speculative conclusions from definitive results. Unless the press release makes those limitations explicit, the media will not either. Unless the press release explicitly identifies the limited scope and imperfect correlation and flags speculation as such, an untrained reader (or headline writer) will naturally infer that the result and the speculation are one and the same. In this case, they will infer that working memory differences explain inattentional blindness in its entirety. By not reining in the speculation, the release suggests that the working memory is the primary (if not the only) reason that some people notice and some people miss unexpected objects."

Ghost busters, parapsychology, and the first study of inattentional blindness "More than 50 years ago, Tony Cornell, a parapsychology researcher, decided to test how people would react upon seeing him dressed as a ghost. Would they experience him as a "real" ghost or as something more mundane?....Each night, Cornell or his assistants dressed in a white sheet and strolled down a path, making various hand gestures before shedding the sheet 4.5 minutes later. Other assistants observed how many people were "in a position to observe the apparition." His finding: "although it was estimated that some 70-80 persons were in a position to observe the apparition, not one was seen to give it a second glance or to react in any way." That's true even though a number of cows apparently followed the ghost around."Last updated 14-Jan-2014

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inattentional blindness (aka inattention blindness)- The ...