What's Inside
- People going blind due to long waiting lists to get glaucoma treatment
- Major genetic discovery on childhood blindness made in Montreal
- Elderly woman loses her vision after doctor misdiagnoses her condition
- And, about 25 more articles about the science, medicine and preventing of blindness.
Editorial By Chris Hofstader
It's Wednesday so it must be time for this week's edition of WBH Science Week. This was a big week for the digest and it covers a lot of different topics in science, medicine and preventing blindness.
Glaucoma topped the list of stories this week. People are going blind due to glaucoma because waiting lists to see eye doctors are too long and some new research published on stopping glaucoma in young people from progressing. Other eye diseases are covered and we have a lot about preventing blindness in that section.
In January, this digest, the blind news digest I publish and third party content will all be moving over to the World Blind Herald web site where you can now check out our "Coming Soon" page and read all about this exciting and entirely unique new publication. This site will revert to being my own personal blog where I'll publish the sorts of things you would expect me to write about topics outside of blindness.
Science and Medicine
People 'needlessly going blind' due to glaucoma waiting lists, say politicians
Patients are ‘needlessly going blind’ because of the length of ophthalmology waiting lists in the UK, two politicians have warned. Marsha De Cordova, MP for Battersea, and Lord Low of Dalston, chair and co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Eye Health and Visual Impairment, have made the warning as part of the Specsavers State of the UK’s Eye Health report. This story comes to us from: Association of Optometrists.
Tatarstan learns how to stop the development of glaucoma
World Sight Day was yesterday, and ophthalmologists draw the attention of Tatarstan citizens to a rise in diseases leading to blindness, especially among young and able-bodied citizens. At the moment we see that we unlikely fully understand what it means to go blind. But we are so afraid of going blind and even slight eye floaters cause serious anxiety among us. Meanwhile, there is an eye disease leading to blindness that is impossible to be diagnosed without a special examination when there is still hope. And this disease is widely spread today. Read about insidious glaucoma, new possibilities of the Republican Clinical Ophthalmological Hospital and specialists’ recommendations for those who want to keep their eyes in good health in Realnoe Vremya’s report. This story comes to us from: Realnoe Vremya.
Excessive use of steroid eye drops can cause glaucoma
A consultant ophthalmologist/vitreoretinal surgeon, at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Edo State, Dr Osayem Otabor-Olubor, tells ALEXANDER OKERE how glaucoma, an incurable eye disease that causes blindness, can be managed. This story comes to us from: punchng.com.
Each Gene Tells a Story': Discovery of Child Blindness Made in Montreal
A promising discovery recently published in Science Advances shows that a mutation in a gene known as BCOR causes premature retinitis pigmentosa. This story comes to us from: Eminetra Canada.
A closer look: How smoking causes visual impairment
Did you know that smoking increases your risk of developing serious eye conditions such as cataracts and age-related macular degeneration, which could lead to permanent vision loss? According to World Health Organization (WHO), vision impairment remains one of the major public health issues across the globe. At least 2.2 billion people worldwide have vision impairment, according to the latest WHO data. Out of those recorded vision impairment cases, at least 1 billion—or almost half— could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed. This story comes to us from: Inquirer.Net.
Gene Therapy Rapidly Improves Night Vision in Adults with Congenital Blindness, Penn Study Finds
Adults with a genetic form of childhood-onset blindness experienced striking recoveries of night vision within days of receiving an experimental gene therapy, according to researchers at the Scheie Eye Institute in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. This story comes to us from: Penn Medicine.
The Prevalence of Cataract in Children
Cataract is the leading cause of childhood blindness in developing countries. Early detection and treatment of childhood cataracts can reduce the burden of blindness in the nation. Often the etiology of pediatric cataract is idiopathic; however, genetics play a role in the development of congenital cataract. According to epidemiologists, one-fourth of cases of congenital cataracts are hereditary. This story comes to us from: Cureus.
Opening a window to glaucoma
Glaucoma, caused by neurodegeneration of retinal ganglion cells, is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss affecting tens of millions of people worldwide. Previous research at VUMC has shown that mutations in the gene for Adamts10, a metalloprotease enzyme, cause glaucoma in dogs. Adamts10 regulates signaling through transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta), which promotes the development of retinal ganglion cells. In a recent study, John Kuchtey, PhD, and colleagues found that reducing Adamts10 expression in zebrafish embryos drastically reduced TGF-beta signaling in the eye. This story comes to us from: VUMC Reporter – Vanderbilt University.
Retina conference to share new research
There's a lot of catching up to do at the Fighting Blindness Retina conference – the first since the Covid pandemic. This story comes to us from: Irish Medical Times.
NHRC issues advisory to Centre, States, UTs on prevention of ocular trauma, responsible for 5 percent blindness in India
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued an advisory to the Centre, State governments and Union Territory administrations to prevent and minimise the impact of ocular trauma, which is responsible for around five percent of irreversible or permanent blindness in the country. This story comes to us from: India Legal.
Retinopathy Of Prematurity s Early Detection Can Yearly Save 5000 Babies From Blindness
Treatment of ROP includes laser therapy and intravitreal injections. In severe cases, vitreoretinal surgery is recommended. This story comes to us from: BW Healthcareworld.
Elderly woman went blind after GP misdiagnosed her eye condition
'She may still be here today if she hadn't lost her sight. This story comes to us from: MSN.
Diabetic patients risk blindness, experts warn
He said early detection and treatment of diabetes are keys to preventing such occurrences. This story comes to us from: punchng.com.
Avoidable childhood blindness in a high-income country
Aims Addressing childhood visual disability is an international priority, with data on causes needed to plan, implement and evaluate public health and clinical care. We have examined the contribution of ‘avoidable’ blinding disorders to childhood visual impairment, severe visual impairment and blindness (VI/SVIBL) in the UK. This story comes to us from: British Journal of Ophthalmology – BMJ.
Andhra Pradesh: Cornea collection centers to be set up in all districts, increasing number of blind people
Soon cornea collection centers will be set up at all district headquarters of the state. Due to increasing pollution and unsafe conditions, the number of corneal blindness among people is increasing. To overcome this, the Indian Red Cross Society-Andhra Pradesh branch has initiated measures to set up collection centers in collaboration with the LV Prasad Eye Institute. Among them, the first cornea collection center at Eluru will be inaugurated on Saturday by the governor and Indian Red Cross Society-Andhra Pradesh President Biswa Bhushan. This story comes to us from: India.
State Ophthalmology seminar organised in Kannur
Further, he said that glaucoma is an important cause of irreversible blindness. Since this a silent blinding condition without pain, and the patient doesn’t recognise the loss until the situation worsens, everyone should do an eye check up at least by the age of 40. This story comes to us from: The Hindu.
Preventing Blindness
Early detection, management of utmost importance in preventing glaucoma
In a continuous effort toward driving disease awareness, Allergan, an AbbVie company, recently shed light on the need for early diagnosis and treatment for glaucoma. Currently, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment of glaucoma is possible with medicines, surgery, or laser treatments, so that further vision loss can be prevented. This story comes to us from: ET HealthWorld.
Shielding your sight
The World Sight Day was initially started in 1917 by the Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF), headed by Melvin Jones, as part of its Sight First campaign in 2000. It is now coordinated by the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) under the garb of the Vision 2020 mission.
It's a global initiative that tirelessly seeks to achieve the objective of ensuring that none is needlessly left visually weakened in this world. This story comes to us from: Herald Goa.
'Blind Cook' Christine Ha Urges Everyone to Get Their Vision Checked
The MasterChef winner has partnered with Horizon Therapeutics to raise awareness of serious eye disorders on World Sight Day. This story comes to us from: People.
Avoid excessive eye makeup, expert warns women
The National Chairman, Eye Health Committee at the Federal Ministry of Health, Professor Afekhide Omoti, has warned against the application of excessive makeup around the eyes to avoid visual impairment. Omoti also urged women to remove the makeup around their eyes before going to bed. Omoti said this at an event organised by the FMoH, the Ministry of Transportation and a non-governmental organisation, the Sightsavers Nigeria, in commemoration of the 2022 World Sight Day with the theme, “Love Your Eyes." This story comes to us from: Punch Newspapers.
Eye health and dynamics of the modern world
This year, World Sight Day was observed on October 13 to draw our attention to the reality of vision impairments and blindness globally. The World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) stated this a special day to recognize the good work done by thousands of research and practice optometrists, ophthalmologists, opticians, and orthoptists all over the world working towards protecting and improving human sight, and treatment of eye diseases and visual impairments.
Globally, according to WHO, at least 1 billion people live with near or distance vision impairment that could have been prevented. This story comes to us from:
[Charles pays tribute to Malawi's elimination of disease causing blindness][29]
The King has praised Malawi for its “remarkable success” in eliminating the infectious disease trachoma. This story comes to us from: The National.
Let us Prevent Blindness
Unless you have significant vision problems, chances are you take your eyesight for granted. You may not give a lot of thought to what life is like for those with visual impairments. However, today, World Sight Day gives us the opportunity to adopt a new way of thinking. This annual event focuses on preventing blindness through good eye care, and it also provides an excellent opportunity to support people who have suffered vision loss. This story comes to us from: Trinidad Guardian.
World Sight Day stirs concerns on inclusive, affordable eye care
On October 13, stakeholders gathered across the world in celebration of World Sight Day to focus the world’s attention on eye health as a global issue. The theme for this year’s event was: “Love Your Eyes.’ In commemoration of the event, board of Optometrist and Dispensing Opticians Registration of Nigeria, prioritised eye-check, diagnosis and treatment for motorists due to the nature of their job. This story comes to us from: punchng.com.
–End
Leave a Reply