Lazy Eye Discovery: How An Old Gene Learns New Tricks

Researchers have made a discovery which could lead the way for new treatments into a rare eye disorder which if not treated can result in permanent blindness in childhood.


An eye disorder which leads to "lazy eye" (strabismus) first described in early 1900, and a gene known since 1990 to be widely expressed within the nervous system, have now been linked together.


Mutations of the CHN1 gene give rise to a hyperactive gene product called a2 chimerin that in turn affects the normal eye development.


These new findings published in Science today (Thursday 24 July) demonstrate how genetic errors can explain developmental errors.


The research shows that seven CHN1 mutations found in families with a history of Duane's Retraction Syndrome (DRS) - a rare, disorder of eye movement which is present at birth - lead to abnormal development of the cranial nerve III which is integral to normal eye development.


A large team of experts from UK and USA, including a scientist now based in Aberdeen, have been involved in the research into the CHN1 gene and its connections to this unique syndrome which affects 1% of the general population of individuals with eye movement disorders worldwide. The condition may affect one or both eyes and is more common in girls.


Dr Maria Psatha, University of Aberdeen who co-authored the paper said: "In normal eye movements, 3 cranial nerves control 6 eye muscles, which control the movement of each eye horizontally, up and down, or at an angle. In DRS,miswiring between the muscles and the nerves can cause some eye muscles to contract when they should not and other eye muscles not to contract when they should. This typically occurs around the sixth week of pregnancy when the cranial nerves and eye muscles develop. During this time, the mutations of the gene of CHN1 have now been shown to explain the pathophysiology of the DRS disorder."


It is hoped that this latest discovery will lead to future developments in the treatment of Duane's Syndrome.


Dr Psatha,continues: "I have been very fortunate to be part of a very fruitful international interdisciplinary collaboration that resulted in a high impact paper reporting the findings of the gene responsible for an important yet rare eye disorder that affects children. I look forward to more collaboration of this calibre in the very vibrant environment of the University of Aberdeen."


The research was undertaken by Dr Maria Psatha while at King's College of London in collaboration with the Harvard Medical School

FDA Approves New TECNIS(R) Foldable Acrylic Intraocular Lens for Cataract Patients

Advanced Medical
Optics, Inc today announced that the US Food & Drug
Administration (FDA) has approved the TECNIS(R) intraocular lens (IOL) on an
acrylic platform.


The TECNIS(R) foldable acrylic IOL offers surgeons and their patients the
same unique benefits as the TECNIS(R) silicone IOL. AMO is the only company
to market IOLs with a claim approved by the FDA for reduced spherical
aberration and improved functional vision.


"FDA approval of the TECNIS(R) acrylic IOL marks an important milestone
for AMO because it represents the first approved product that combines the
outstanding optical technology from our 2004 acquisition of the Pfizer
ophthalmic surgical business, with our existing advanced IOL materials
expertise," said AMO President and CEO Jim Mazzo. "This FDA approval broadens
our portfolio of acrylic IOLs, providing more options for our customers and
their patients."


Visual performance degrades with age, including a loss of functional
vision, which is caused by an increase in the optical aberration of the eye
that may result in difficulty seeing in low light conditions. Cataract
patients with reduced functional vision may be challenged driving at dusk or
at night, experience trouble reading or doing work at close range, or lack
confidence navigating stairs or unfamiliar settings. The TECNIS(R) lens
reduces spherical aberration and improves functional vision in varying light
conditions, which is likely to provide a meaningful safety benefit for older
drivers and pedestrians with whom they share the road.


In a simulated night driving study, patients viewing a rural road through
the TECNIS(R) lens identified a pedestrian hazard significantly sooner than
through a traditional spherical IOL. The TECNIS(R) lens also provided a
45-foot advantage in detection and identification distance. At 55 MPH, this
would provide an additional 0.5 seconds to perceive and react to a pedestrian
hazard.
AMO plans to release the TECNIS(R) foldable acrylic IOL commercially in
the U.S. and Europe in September 2005.


About the TECNIS(R) IOL


The eyes, like other parts of the body, actually fall out of balance with
age. The cornea and natural crystalline lens of a young person work together
to focus light onto the retina. Over time, the natural lens loses some of its
ability to balance the cornea, resulting in vision that is not quite as crisp
as it used to be.


Typical cataract surgery restores cornea/lens balance to a
level equivalent to that of a healthy older person. The TECNIS(R) lens
implant restores the cornea/lens balance to a level more like that of a
healthy younger person. While most IOLs are made with a spherical (rounded)
surface, the TECNIS(R) lens is an aspheric wavefront-designed optic.

This
design was developed by collecting actual wavefront measurements from human
corneas of a representative sample of the population. Then, a modified
prolate intraocular lens surface was created that reduces spherical aberration
and works with the cornea in a way that more closely resembles the balance of
a natural lens and cornea of a young person. The result is improved
functional vision for most people after cataract surgery.















TECNIS(R) foldable intraocular lenses are indicated for primary
implantation for the visual correction of aphakia in adults in whom a
cataractous lens has been removed by phacoemulsification. The lenses are
intended to be placed in the capsular bag. Rx Only. For a complete listing of
precautions, warnings and adverse events, refer to the package insert.


About Advanced Medical Optics (AMO)


AMO is a global medical device leader focused on the discovery and
delivery of innovative vision technologies that optimize the quality of life
for people of all ages. Products in the ophthalmic surgical line include
intraocular lenses, laser vision correction systems, phacoemulsification
systems, viscoelastics, microkeratomes and related products used in cataract
and refractive surgery. AMO owns or has the rights to such ophthalmic
surgical product brands as ReZoom(TM), Phacoflex(R), Clariflex(R), Array(R),
Sensar(R), CeeOn(R), Tecnis(R) and Verisyse(TM) intraocular lenses, STAR S4
IR(TM) laser vision correction system, WaveScan Wavefront(R) System,
CustomVue(TM) procedure, Sovereign(R) and Sovereign(R) Compact(TM)
phacoemulsification systems with WhiteStar(TM) technology, Amadeus(TM) and
Amadeus(TM) II microkeratomes, Healon(R) and Vitrax(R) viscoelastics, and the
Baerveldt(R) glaucoma shunt. Products in the contact lens care line include
disinfecting solutions, daily cleaners, enzymatic cleaners and lens rewetting
drops. Among the contact lens care product brands the company possesses are
COMPLETE(R) Moisture PLUS(TM), COMPLETE(R) Blink-N-Clean(R), Consept(R)F,
Consept(R) 1 Step, Oxysept(R) 1 Step, UltraCare(R), Ultrazyme(R), Total
Care(R) and blink(TM) branded products. Amadeus is a licensed product of, and
a trademark of, SIS, Ltd. AMO is based in Santa Ana, California, and employs
approximately 3,500 worldwide. The company has operations in 24 countries and
markets products in approximately 60 countries. For more information, visit
the company's Web site at amo-inc.


Forward-Looking Statements


Mr. Mazzo's statements and statements in this press release regarding new
product benefits and expected release timing, and any other statements that
refer to AMO's estimated or anticipated future results are forward-looking
statements. All forward-looking statements in this press release reflect
AMO's current analysis of existing trends and information and represent AMO's
judgment only as of the date of this press release. Actual results may differ
from current expectations based on a number of factors affecting AMO's
businesses, including but not limited to unexpected changes in competitive,
regulatory and market conditions, AMO's ability to obtain adequate product
supply, unexpected litigation or intellectual property issues, and the
uncertainties associated with market acceptance of new products. Therefore,
the reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. AMO
disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.


Additional information concerning these and other risk factors may be
found in previous financial press releases issued by AMO. AMO's public
periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the
discussion under the heading "Certain Factors and Trends Affecting AMO and its
Businesses" in AMO's 2004 Form 10-K filed in March 2005 include information
concerning these and other risk factors. Copies of press releases and
additional information about AMO are available at amo-inc, or you can
contact the AMO Investor Relations Department by calling 714-247-8348.


Advanced Medical Optics, Inc.


Investors:

Sheree Aronson

(714) 247-8290

sheree.aronsonamo-inc


Media:

Steve Chesterman

(714) 247-8711

steve.chestermanamo-inc


Advanced Medical Optics, Inc.

amo-inc

HealthSaver Focus On Back-To-School: Vision, Dental Check-Ups Open Eyes, Brighten Smiles For Learning

It's back-to-school across
America, and it's time to focus on ways to open students' eyes and brighten
their smiles for learning success. As the school bell is set to ring -- and
with one in four children having undiagnosed vision problems and tooth
decay one of the most common childhood diseases -- now is the time to give
students a clear vision for their future. Also, make sure pre-schoolers
have the recommended immunizations and vaccinations.


HealthSaver, an emerging health care discount program, recommends that
in addition to new school supplies, backpacks and trendy clothes, it's a
good idea for students to undergo a comprehensive vision exam, dental
checkup and required immunizations.


"Early vision testing and proper oral hygiene are great ways to start
the school year off on the right foot," said HealthSaver Vice President
Lorien Saumier. "A complete and comprehensive eye and dental exam can spell
greater success in the classroom."


This year alone, 10 million children will return to school with a
vision problem that could interfere with their learning ability, contribute
to disciplinary problems and put them at risk for permanent vision loss,
according to the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD). The
group also warns that when vision problems go undetected, students have
trouble reading and doing schoolwork, and they often display fatigue,
fidgeting, and frustration in the classroom. An estimated 70 percent of
school-age children who have a learning disability in reading have some
sort of visual problem, according to COVD.


And despite recent improvements in dental care in the United States,
tooth decay is still one of the most common childhood diseases, according
to the American Dental Association. It is five times as common as asthma in
5-17 year-olds, according to the association. And, it affects more than one
fifth of American children aged 2-4, half of those aged 6-8 and nearly 60
percent of those aged 15, according to the National Center for Health
Statistics.


Since 1995, August has been National Children's Vision and Learning
Month, and the goal of this national observance is to help educate parents
and teachers across the country about the critical link between vision and
learning. With that in mind, the experts at HealthSaver and the COVD have
developed a checklist for common signs and symptoms of vision problems that
may indicate the need for a comprehensive vision exam:


Physical signs or symptoms:


-- Frequent headaches or eye strain

-- Blurring of distance or near vision, particularly after reading or

other close work

-- Avoidance of close work or other visually demanding tasks

-- Poor judgment of depth

-- Turning of an eye in or out, up or down

-- Double vision

-- Poor hand-eye coordination

-- Difficulty following a moving target

-- Dizziness or motion sickness















Performance problems:


-- Poor reading comprehension

-- Difficulty copying from one place to another

-- Loss of place, repetition, and/or omission of words while reading

-- Difficulty changing focus from distance to near and back

-- Poor posture when reading or writing

-- Poor handwriting

-- Can respond orally but can't get the same information down on paper

-- Letter and word reversals

-- Difficulty judging sizes and shapes


And brush-up on dental hygiene with these tips from the HealthSaver,
the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the American Dental
Association:


-- A Good Cleaning. Your child may think they're old enough to brush their
own teeth, but until they reach the age of six, make sure to take
command and brush their teeth for them at least twice a day, using a
pea-sized amount of ADA-approved toothpaste. Make sure older children
brush at least twice a day, too.


-- Visit your Dentist. Visit a dentist as soon as your baby's first tooth
appears and no later than age one. Book routine visits for professional
cleanings and check-ups as recommended by your child's dentist.


-- Drink Fluoridated Water. Water fluoridation can prevent up to 40
percent of tooth decay. Drinking water with fluoride is still the
easiest and most effective way to fight tooth decay.


-- Don't Forget in Between. A toothbrush can't get into every nook and
cranny so it's important for parents to floss their child's teeth.


-- Eat Well. Make sure your child eats a balanced diet, stays hydrated,
and seeks healthy options for between-meal snacks. Do not put your
child to bed with a bottle containing anything but water, and encourage
use of a cup as their first birthday approaches.


About HealthSaver


HealthSaver offers discounts of 20 percent on vision care, as well as
discounts of 10 to 50 percent on prescriptions at participating pharmacies,
20 percent off complementary and alternative health care treatments and
fitness club benefits. HealthSaver also offers discounts of 10 to 35
percent on dental care services at some 42,000 participating provider
locations nationwide, including routine cleanings, X-rays, fillings,
orthodontics, and even popular cosmetic dentistry procedures such as teeth
whitening. Members can also save from 5 to 50 percent off vitamins and
supplements by mail. Discounts are based upon reasonable and customary
costs or manufacturers suggested retail price (MSRP) and are only available
from participating providers. HealthSaver is not an insurance product or
service. More information about HealthSaver is available online at
healthsaver or toll free by calling 1-800-7HEALTH (1-800-743-2584).
A one month trial membership in HealthSaver ( healthsaver or
1-800-743-2584) costs $1 and can be canceled anytime during the trial
period. Unless the member calls to cancel during the trial, membership will
be extended automatically and billed to a credit card number at the $149.99
annual fee. Members may call toll free to cancel at any time and receive a
refund of the unused portion of their current year's fee. HealthSaver is
offered by Affinion Group, a leader in the membership, insurance and
loyalty marketing businesses, providing products and services that touch
the lives of millions of Americans.


About Affinion Group


Affinion Group, affiniongroup, is a leading affinity direct
marketer of value-added membership, insurance and package enhancement
programs and services to consumers. With more than 30 years of experience,
Affinion Group currently offers its programs and services worldwide through
more than 4,500 affinity partners. Its diversified base of affinity
partners includes leading companies in a wide variety of industries,
including financial services, retail, travel, telecommunications, utilities
and Internet. Affinion Group also has a growing loyalty solutions operation
which administers points-based loyalty programs. Based in Norwalk, Conn.,
Affinion Group has approximately 3,600 employees throughout the United
States and in 13 countries across Europe.


HealthSaver

healthsaver

Mutated Gene In Zebrafish Sheds Light On Blindness In Humans

Among zebrafish, the eyes have it. Inside them is a mosaic of light-sensitive cells whose structure and functions are nearly identical to those of humans. There, biologists at The Florida State University discovered a gene mutation that determines if the cells develop as rods (the photoreceptors responsible for dim-light vision) or as cones (the photoreceptors needed for color vision).


Described in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the landmark study of retinal development in zebrafish larvae and the genetic switch it has identified should shed new light on the molecular mechanisms underlying that development and, consequently, provide needed insight on inherited retinal diseases in humans.


From FSU's Department of Biological Science and Program in Neuroscience, doctoral candidate Karen Alvarez-Delfin (first author of the PNAS paper), postdoctoral fellow Ann Morris (second author), and Associate Professor James M. Fadool are the first scientists to identify the crucial function of a previously known gene called "tbx2b." The researchers have named the newfound allele (a different form of a gene) "lor" -- for "lots-of-rods" -- because the mutation results in too many rods and fewer ultraviolet cones than in the normal eye.


"Our goal is to generate animal models of inherited diseases of the eye and retina to understand the progression of disease and find more effective treatments for blindness," said Fadool, faculty advisor to Alvarez-Delfin and principal investigator for Morris's ongoing research. "We are excited about the mutation that Karen has identified because it is one of the few mutations in this clinically critical pathway that is responsible for cells developing into one photoreceptor subtype rather than another."


"What is striking in this case is that the photoreceptor cell changes we observed in the retinas of zebrafish are opposite to the changes identified in Enhanced S-cone syndrome (ESCS), an inherited human retinal dystrophy in which the rods express genes usually only found in cones, eventually leading to blindness," Alvarez-Delfin said. "Equally surprising is that this study and others from our lab show that while alterations in photoreceptor development in the human and mouse eyes lead to retinal degeneration and blindness, they don't in zebrafish. Therefore, the work from our Florida State lab and with our collaborators at the University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University and the University of Louisville should provide a model for better understanding the differences in outcomes between mammals and fish, and why the human mutation leads to degenerative disease."


Morris calls the zebrafish an ideal genetic model for studies of development and disease. The common aquarium species are vertebrates, like humans. Their retinal organization and cell types are similar to those in humans. Zebrafish mature rapidly, and lay many eggs. The embryos are transparent, and they develop externally, unlike mammals, which develop in utero.















"This lets us study developmental processes such as the formation of tissues and organs in living animals," she said.


"From a developmental biology perspective, our research will help us unravel the competing signals necessary for generating the different photoreceptor cell types in their appropriate numbers and arrangement," Morris said. "The highly specialized nature of rods and cones may make them particularly vulnerable to inherited diseases and environmental damage in humans. Understanding the genetic processes of photoreceptor development could lead to clinical treatments for the millions of people affected by photoreceptor cell dystrophies such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration."


The mosaic arrangement of photoreceptors in fish was first described more than 100 years ago, but the J. Fadool laboratory at Florida State was the first to successfully take advantage of the pattern to identify mutations affecting photoreceptor development and degeneration.


"Imagine a tile mosaic," Fadool said. "That is the kind of geometric pattern formed by the rod and cone photoreceptors in the zebrafish retina. This mosaic is similar to the pattern of a checkerboard but with four colors rather than two alternating in a square pattern. The red-, green-, blue-, and ultraviolet-sensitive cones are always arranged in a precise repeating pattern. Human retinas have a photoreceptor mosaic, too, but here the term is used loosely, because while the arrangement of the different photoreceptors is nonrandom, they don't form the geometric pattern observed in zebrafish.


"So how do we ask a fish if it has photoreceptor defects?" he asked.


Fadool explained that because the mosaic pattern of zebrafish photoreceptors is so precise, mutations causing subtle alterations are easier to uncover than in retinas with a "messier" arrangement.


"Just as we can easily recognize a checkerboard mistakenly manufactured with some of the squares changed from black to red or with all-black squares, by using fluorescent labeling and fluorescence microscopes we can see similar changes in the pattern of the zebrafish photoreceptor mosaic," he said. "Karen showed that within the mosaic of the lots-of-rod fish, the position on the checkerboard normally occupied by a UV cone is replaced with a rod. The identity of the mutated gene is then discovered using a combination of classical genetics and genomic resources."


To access the PNAS paper ("tbx2b is required for ultraviolet photoreceptor cell specification during zebrafish retinal development"), visit the journal's Web site at pnas/content/106/6.toc.


Funding for the Fadool laboratory's zebrafish research comes in large part from a five-year grant totaling more than $1.7 million from the National Institutes of Health.


Florida State University

114 Westcott Bldg.

Tallahassee

FL 32306-1430

United States

fsu.edu

Gene for age-related macular degeneration discovered by Yale researchers

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have identified a gene for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) on a region of
chromosome 1, leading the way for targeted treatment for this widespread eye disease that causes blindness in millions of
people.


The study, led by Josephine Hoh, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health (EPH) at Yale School
of Medicine, will be published online in the March 10 issue of Science Express. Hoh and colleagues from Yale, Rockefeller
University and the National Eye Institute, used a highly interdisciplinary approach to conclude that the gene for a substance
known as complement factor H (CFH) on chromosome 1 is associated with AMD.


"This is the first study to identify a common variant of the specific gene being associated with AMD," said Hoh. "Caucasian
AMD patients are at least four times more likely to have one particular alteration in the CFH gene that produces a different
form of the CFH protein compared to individuals without the disease."


AMD is a debilitating eye disease affecting about 15 million people in the United States. It destroys vision by attacking an
area of the retina called the macula, particularly in people age 60 or older. The macula is the most sensitive region of the
retina, enabling fine-detail vision, reading, driving and leisure tasks such as playing sports and watching movies and
television. As part of the normal aging process, yellowish waste deposits called drusen accumulate around the macula, but in
individuals with AMD, the drusen are larger and more numerous, killing cells necessary for the nourishment of adjacent
retinal photoreceptor cells. As these photoreceptors die in and around the macula, central vision is lost. Peripheral vision
is not impaired by AMD.


There are two forms of AMD, the more common "dry" form and the less common "wet" form. The wet form can rapidly lead to
blindness, while the dry form progresses more slowly. Both are associated with the same variant in the CFH gene.


Hoh and her team used new genetic analysis and microscopic imaging technologies to find the genetic variant of the AMD gene.
"What sets our study apart from previous research is that we used many more genetic markers to find the specific gene and
variation," said Hoh. "Past research has involved collecting family data that pinpoint a region on chromosome 1, but failed
to find the specific gene. We analyzed the DNA of unrelated patients with AMD and compared their genetic profile to that of
AMD-free controls. In this sea of DNA information, we applied computation-intensive, statistical analyses and were able to
find the differences between the two groups. Subsequently, the gene association has been confirmed by at least three
independent studies with results pending publication."


"This work is not only important for the gene we have found, but also highlights the value in new paradigms for whole genome
analysis for chronic diseases," Hoh added. "I believe that in order to find genes responsible for diseases, you have to use a
totally different approach, instead of an educated guess. Our findings support greater use of this technique."


Other authors on the study are Caroline Zeiss, Susan T. Mayne, Michael B. Bracken, Colin Barnstable and Shrikant M. Mane of
Yale; Robert J. Klein, Richard S. Sackler, M.D., Chad Haynes and Jurg Ott of Rockefeller University; and Alice K. Henning,
John Paul San Giovanni, Emily Y. Chew, M.D., and Frederick L. Ferris, M.D. of the National Eye Institute.


The research was supported by a grant from the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Fund for the Arts and Sciences.


Citation: Science, Online Publication March 10, 2005.


Contact: Karen N. Peart

karen.peartyale.edu

203-432-1326

Yale University

yale.edu

Paragon CRT(R) Inquiries Increase With Recent FDA Hearing On Dangers Of LASIK

Paragon Vision Sciences announced a surge in inquiries for Paragon CRT® contact lenses, which gently reshape the cornea during sleep, temporarily correcting nearsightedness. The increase follows the April 25 FDA hearing regarding the dangers of LASIK surgery.


Paragon CRT® provides similar visual benefits as LASIK in that patients can see all day without glasses or daytime contacts. However, CRT provides other significant benefits for both children and adults as it's temporary and reversible.


"With approximately 400,000 Americans experiencing unacceptable outcomes from LASIK surgery, Paragon CRT® offers consumers a non-surgical and reversible alternative," said Joe Sicari, President and CEO of Paragon Vision Sciences. "I'm pleased that since the recent FDA hearing more consumers are seeking out Paragon CRT® and encourage everyone considering LASIK to also research this alternative."


While LASIK is a good procedure for most people, many fear eye surgery. Paragon CRT® offers an alternative to those worried about the outcome of a permanent, surgical procedure.


Paragon CRT® contact lenses temporarily reshape the cornea to correct nearsightedness with or without moderate astigmatism during sleep, allowing users to see clearly without lenses for their waking hours. If a patient chooses to discontinue wearing the lenses, the cornea will return to its original shape. Corneal Refractive Therapy with Paragon CRT® allows for adjustments for normal changes in vision that occur as people age. Not only is the therapy a non-invasive alternative to laser-corrective surgery, there are no age restrictions and it is reversible.


Paragon CRT® is the only therapeutic contact lens FDA-approved for overnight contact lens corneal reshaping. Paragon CRT® gently and safely reshapes the cornea.


The lenses are only available through trained and certified practitioners. An estimated 4,000 practitioners in the USA already fit CRT lenses with more than 200,000 happy consumers including adults and children.


Paragon CRT® is a product of Paragon Vision Sciences, a privately held corporation based in Mesa, Ariz. Paragon Vision Sciences is a leading manufacturer of advanced materials used to produce contact lenses. For over 25 years, the company has been at the forefront of research and development, including a 10-year R&D project with NASA involving studies aboard three Space Shuttle missions. This project led to the development of the technology behind the oxygen-permeable material used in the manufacture of Paragon CRT®. All operations are conducted in compliance with the FDA regulations.

paragoncrt
paragonvision

MS Drug Helps Reduce Vision Loss

A drug that slows disability and reduces relapse rates in multiple sclerosis (MS) has been found to also reduce vision loss in patients with relapsing MS. Vision loss is one of the most common and debilitating symptoms of MS. The findings are published in the April 17, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.


The analyses were performed on data from the AFFIRM and SENTINEL studies, which involved 2,138 men and women with relapsing multiple sclerosis from clinics in Europe, North American, Australia, and New Zealand. More than half of the people received the drug natalizumab every four weeks for two years. The rest of the group received placebo. Researchers used eye charts of low contrast letters to test the vision of the participants every 12 weeks.


The study found vision loss, defined as a worsening in score by two rows of letters on the eye chart, was reduced by as much as 47 percent among people taking natalizumab compared to those taking placebo.


"Not only does natalizumab prevent the worsening of vision loss in people with relapsing MS, we also found the drug was associated with significant reductions in the likelihood of sustained vision loss," said study author Laura J. Balcer, MD, MSCE, with the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA, and member of the American Academy of Neurology. "Specifically, this drug may have implications for preventing further sustained vision loss due to inflammatory demyelination of nerve fibers that connect to the eye, which is common in MS."


However, Balcer said the potential benefits of natalizumab treatment must be weighed with the drug's potential risks or complications, including the rare, often lethal brain disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), of which three confirmed cases have been reported.


In addition, data from AFFIRM and SENTINEL studies showed that low-contrast letter acuity eye chart testing is effective for assessing visual outcomes in future MS clinical trials, which have not typically included visual testing components despite vision loss being a main disability of MS.


The study was supported by Biogen Idec and Elan, makers of natalizumab.


The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 20,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to improving patient care through education and research. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as epilepsy, dystonia, migraine, Huntington's disease, and dementia.


American Academy of Neurology (AAN)

1080 Montreal Ave.

St. Paul, MN 55116

United States

aan

Foresight Biotherapeutics Announces Positive Results From An Open Label Pilot Study In Patients With Viral Conjunctivitis

Foresight Biotherapeutics, Inc. announced completion of a multi-center open-label pilot study of FST100 in the treatment of viral conjunctivitis. FST-100 is a novel formulation of dexamethasone that includes povidone iodine. The trial studied patients with clinical signs and symptoms of acute conjunctivitis who tested positive for adenoviral antigen by the RPS Adeno Detector® (RPS). Patients were enrolled in a single arm utilizing FST-100 topical ophthalmic suspension given 4 times daily for 5 days. The RPS Adeno Detector® test was performed at baseline and at each visit along with conjunctival swabs for adenoviral titers by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and cell culture with confirmatory immunoflourescence (CC-IFA). The primary endpoint of the study was clinical resolution of conjunctival injection and conjunctival discharge. These signs were scored on a scale from zero to three. Secondary endpoints included reduction of viral titers measured by qPCR and eradication of infectious virus determined by CC-IFA.


FST-100 met the primary endpoint of the study by demonstrating complete resolution of conjunctivitis signs (a score of zero) in all eyes completing the study. One patient was lost to follow-up. In all RPS positive eyes with confirmed viral infection by qPCR and CC-IFA clinical symptoms resolved within 72 hours. All eyes completing the study with detectable adenovirus by qPCR demonstrated significant reduction in viral titers by 48-96 hours and the majority demonstrated elimination of infectivity by CC-IFA by 72-96 hours. There were no adverse events in the study.


Lead investigator Jesse Pelletier, M.D. commented, "We are excited about this preliminary data and look forward to enrolling patients in a larger controlled clinical study. Currently, there are no drugs approved for the treatment of viral conjunctivitis and it is certainly an area of unmet medical need."


Source

Foresight Biotherapeutics, Inc.

Vision And Nerve Growth Restored By Biosynthetic Corneas Formulated With Recombinant Collagen

FibroGen, Inc., has announced results of a 2-year clinical study demonstrating that surgical implantation of biosynthetic corneas formulated with the company's proprietary recombinant human type III collagen (rhCIII) restored vision and promoted nerve regeneration (restoring sensitivity) in patients who had corneal damage and significant vision loss. The results of this phase 1, investigator-sponsored study were published in Science Translational Medicine.1



Corneal damage and disease are major causes of blindness worldwide. In countries where tissue banking is available, such as the US, treatment is by implantation of human donor corneas. However, there is a severe shortage of human donor tissue worldwide. Patients who do receive donor human corneas, however, can still suffer complications, such as tissue rejection. Corneal prostheses, made from synthetic plastics are used in limited cases, but only where human donor grafts are contraindicated or have been repeatedly unsuccessful. These synthetic alternatives are not designed to replace donor tissues or promote tissue regeneration.



FibroGen pioneered the development of recombinant collagen production technology and is the only producer of rhCIII. Since 2005, FibroGen has collaborated with Dr. May Griffith of Link?¶ping University, senior author of today's publication, to develop biosynthetic corneas molded from chemically cross-linked rhCIII. The biosynthetic implants are designed to mimic the human cornea, which is composed mainly of the protein collagen.



"Recombinant human collagen is a viable replacement for naturally occurring human collagen that does not have the limitations of human donor tissue or animal-sourced collagens, such as risk of disease transmission and availability of donor supply," said Dr. Griffith. "Our study provides proof-of-concept that corneal implants composed of recombinant human collagen can promote tissue regrowth and restore vision."



"These clinical results suggest that our collagen could potentially provide an important option for patients by reducing risk of disease transmission and increasing supply of corneal implant material in the face of the worldwide shortage of human donor corneas," said Thomas B. Neff, Chief Executive Officer of FibroGen. "This product concept continues to be improved and additional studies are planned."



About the Phase 1 Study:

In the clinical study, 10 patients with corneal disease underwent resection, followed by surgical implantation with rhCIII-based biosynthetic corneas. Two-year post-surgery results demonstrated that 100% of the transplanted corneas remain viable at two years, cells from the patients' own corneas had grown into the implant, and nerves that had been severed during surgery regrew. In addition, the blink reflex and tear film were restored. In terms of visual acuity, at 24 months, best spectacle-corrected visual acuity improved in six patients, remained unchanged in two patients and decreased in two. None of the patients experienced any rejection reaction or required long-term immunosuppressive therapy, serious issues associated with the use of human donor tissue.
















Unmet medical need for a biosynthetic corneal implant:

Loss of vision due to corneal disease or trauma affects over 10 million individuals worldwide, but lack of access to good quality donor tissue severely limits the number of transplant procedures that can be done, particularly in the developing world. In the US, an estimated 42,000 corneal grafts are performed annually using optical tissue from cadavers; however, graft rejection can occur, and failure rates are significant. In addition, the mandatory use of steroids with cadaver-sourced corneal material limits their successful use to certain patient populations. Fully synthetic prostheses (without biological activity) have been developed, but their use has been limited to cases where human donor tissue fails repeatedly or cannot be used. Moreover, apart from the US, in most countries, tissue donation and banking systems do not exist.



About FibroGen's recombinant human collagens:

FibroGen is the only producer of highly purified, fully characterized recombinant human type III collagen (rhCIII) intended to replace similar animal- or human-derived materials currently used in a variety of medical, pharmaceutical, and consumer applications. FibroGen uses proprietary recombinant methodology in a yeast expression system with human DNA sequences to develop synthetic versions of human collagens essentially identical to the native protein. Mixtures of various collagen types found in animal-sourced collagen are nearly impossible to segregate. FibroGen has been able to produce specific types of recombinant human collagen (e.g., types I or III) consistently and reproducibly. FibroGen has developed simple, scalable purification processes that provide highly purified and reproducible lots of protein in any desired quantity, and employs a series of rigorous analytical tests to ensure lot-to-lot consistency and high quality.



Reference:

1Fagerholm P, et al., A Biosynthetic Alternative to Human Donor Tissue for Inducing Corneal Regeneration: 24-Month Follow-up of a Phase 1 Clinical Study. Science Translational Medicine Volume 2 (25 August 2010).



Source:

Laura Hansen

FibroGen, Inc.

UC Davis Ophthalmologist to Examine Ancient Chilean Mummy Eyes

Over the next week, UC Davis ophthalmologist William Lloyd will dissect and examine the eyes of two North Chilean mummies for evidence of various diseases and medical conditions. One of the eyes belonged to a boy who was 2 years old when he died 1,000 years ago, and the other is from a female, who was approximately 23 years old when she died 750 years ago.


"The opportunity to analyze two pre-Columbian era mummy eyes is exciting and fascinating," said Lloyd, an accomplished physician, researcher, professor, author and expert in comparative ophthalmology, which involves the study of the eye across species. Lloyd holds joint appointments in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, and Pathology at the UC Davis School of Medicine. "By analyzing these eyes, we hope to determine if their pathology suggests any so-called modern day diseases, like diabetes or high blood pressure."


It all began when Huck Holz, chief resident in the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, read an article about the founder of modern paleopathology, Arthur Aufderheide, in the May 16 issue of the New Yorker magazine. Paleopathology, the study of ancient diseases, has taken Aufderheide around the globe, salvaging mummies' organs and tissues in various stages of decomposition. The thin tissues that make up the eye allow it to dehydrate quickly and, because moisture causes decay, most mummies are found with well-preserved eyes.


In the New Yorker article, Aufderheide said that he's been saving the eyes for the right investigator, someone with the expertise and the commitment to examine them thoroughly. Holz and Lloyd convinced Auferheide that they were the researchers he'd been waiting for.


During the week of Oct. 17, Lloyd will inspect and examine the eyes. The process involves rehydrating the eyes and optical nerves, preparing the tissues for chemical processing, embedding the tissues in paraffin, slicing the specimens for microscopic viewing, applying stains to highlight selected cellular characteristics, and finally examining the tissues under a microscope. Preliminary findings should be available by the end of the week. Slow rehydration may postpone the findings by a day.


Tests for eye diseases, such as glaucoma and macular degeneration, will be conducted, but Lloyd says there are many more systemic ailments that can be found by examining the eyes.


"During modern-day eye exams we can see signs of diabetes, high blood pressure, various cancers, nutritional deficiencies, fetal alcohol syndrome and even early signs of HIV infection," said Lloyd. "These same changes are visible under the microscope."















Both mummies are already known to have recovered from pneumonia. One of the female's lungs was adherent to her chest wall and both of the young boy's lungs were adherent to his chest wall.


"This adherence is consistent with a recovery from pneumonia," said Auderheide, who is a professor of pathology at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, School of Medicine. "Since we see it on both of the boy's lungs, he probably had and recovered from pneumonia, twice."


The child, who was one of the last members of the Tihuanacu culture, also had an inherited cystic disease in his liver.


"We're not sure if the liver disease is what killed him," said Aufderheide. "There were a few preserved internal organs, but most of the body was in decay."


The 23-year-old woman was buried in a seated position, fully clothed in embroidered V-neck wool shirts. She wore sea-lion-hide sandals and on her head, a bandana. Her hair was in two braids. In addition to the pneumonia, she had lice, bad teeth and osteoporosis.


"It's likely that the young woman's osteoporosis was caused by a diet that included oxalate-producing plants, which inhibits the body's ability to assimilate calcium," said Aufderheide. "Perhaps something in Dr. Lloyds findings will tell us more about the lives and deaths of these two people."


UC Davis Health System is an integrated, academic health system encompassing UC Davis School of Medicine, the 530-bed acute-care hospital and clinical services of UC Davis Medical Center, and the 800-member physician group known as UC Davis Medical Group.


Public Affairs

UC Davis Health System

4900 Broadway, Suite 1200

Sacramento, CA 95820

Phone: (916) 734-9040

FAX: (916) 734-9066

E-mail: publicaffairsucdmc.ucdavis.edu

ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/newsroom

Sight Could Be Restored In Those With Macular Degeneration Using Light-Sensitive Photoswitches

A research center newly created by the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) aims to put light-sensitive switches in the body's cells that can be flipped on and off as easily as a remote control operates a TV.



Optical switches like these could trigger a chemical reaction, initiate a muscle contraction, activate a drug or stimulate a nerve cell - all at the flash of a light.



One major goal of the UC Berkeley-LBNL Nanomedicine Development Center is to equip cells of the retina with photoswitches, essentially making blind nerve cells see, restoring light sensitivity in people with degenerative blindness such as macular degeneration.



"We're asking the question, 'Can you control biological nanomolecules - in other words, proteins - with light?'" said center director and neurobiologist Ehud Y. Isacoff, professor of molecular and cell biology and chair of the Graduate Group in Biophysics at UC Berkeley. "If we can control them by light, then we could develop treatments for eye or skin diseases, even blood diseases, that can be activated by light. This challenge lies at the frontier of nanomedicine."



The research got off the ground this month thanks to a $6 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), part of a nanomedicine initiative within NIH's Roadmap for Medical Research. The initiative, which has funded eight Nanomedicine Development Centers around the country, including one last year at UCSF that involves UC Berkeley collaborators, is designed to "take cutting edge technology from one branch of science - nanotechnology - and apply it to another - medicine," according to Isacoff.



The nanoscience breakthrough at the core of the research was developed at UC Berkeley and LBNL over the past several years by neuroscientist Richard Kramer, professor of molecular and cell biology, Dirk Trauner, professor of chemistry, and Isacoff - all three members of the Physical Bioscience Division of LBNL. It involves altering an ion channel commonly found in nerve cells so that the channel turns the cell on when zapped by green light and turns the cell off when hit by ultraviolet light.



The researchers demonstrated in 2004 that they could turn cultured nerve cells on and off with this optical switch. Since then, with UC Berkeley Professor of Vision Science and Optometry John Flannery, they've injected photoswitches into the eyes of rats that have a disease that kills their rods and cones, and have restored some light sensitivity to the remaining retinal cells.



Isacoff, Kramer, Flannery and Trauner have now joined forces with 9 other researchers from UC Berkeley and LBNL, as well as from Stanford University, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the California Institute of Technology, to perfect this fundamental development and bring it closer to medical application. Their group, centered around the optical control of biological function, will develop viruses that can carry the photoswitches into the correct cells, new types of photoswitches based on other chemical structures, and strategies for achieving the desired control of cell processes.
















"The research will focus on one major application: restoring the response to light in the eyes of people who have lost their photoreceptor cells, in particular, the rods and cones in the most sensitive part of the retina," Isacoff said. "We plan to develop the tools to create a new layer of optically active cells for the retina."



Loss of photoreceptors - the light detectors in the retina - is the major cause of blindness in the United States. One in four people over age 65 suffers vision loss as a result of this condition, the most common diagnosis being macular degeneration.



The chemistry at the core of the photoswitch is a molecule - an azobenzene compound - that changes its shape when illuminated by light of different colors. Kramer, Trauner and Isacoff created a channel called SPARK, for Synthetic Photoisomerizable Azobenzene-Regulated K (potassium) channel, by attaching the azobenzene compound to a broken potassium channel, which is a valve found in nerve cells. When attached, one end of the compound sticks in the channel pore and blocks it like a drain plug. When hit with UV light, the molecule kinks and pulls the plug, allowing ions to flow through the channel and activate the nerve cell. Green light unkinks it and replugs the channel, blocking ion flow.



Isacoff said that this same photoswitch could be attached to a variety of proteins to push or pull them into various shapes, even making a protein bend in half like a tweezer.



In 2006, in a cover article in the new journal Nature Chemical Biology, the researchers described for the first time a re-engineered glutamate receptor that is sensitive to light, which complements the SPARK channel because the same color of light will turn one on while turning the other off.



"Now we have photochemical tools for an on switch and an off switch for nerve cells," Kramer said. "This will allow us to simulate the natural activity of the healthy retina, which has on cells and off cells that respond to light in opposite ways."



Isacoff, Kramer, Trauner and their colleagues are experimenting with other molecules that can force shape changes, looking for improved ways to attach shape-changing molecules to proteins, developing means to shuttle these photoswitches into cells, building artificial genes that can be inserted into a cell's DNA to express the photoswitches in the correct cell, and searching for ways to get light into areas of the body not possible to illuminate directly.



"I'm struck by how versatile this approach seems to be," Isacoff said, noting its applications for screening, diagnosing and treating disease. "I'm convinced that we'll come up with a therapy that will work in the clinic."






Contact: Robert Sanders


University of California - Berkeley

First large-scale evaluation of iris recognition under way

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced that it is running the Iris Challenge Evaluation (ICE), the first large-scale evaluation of iris recognition.


Iris recognition is a potentially valuable biometric (a characteristic such as fingerprints that can be used to identify a person). Previous evaluations of iris recognition have concentrated on the performance of systems. The ICE is the first evaluation designed to measure the accuracy of the underlying technology that makes iris recognition possible.


The goals of the ICE are to (1) promote the development and advancement of iris recognition and (2) assess the technology's current level of performance. This will be accomplished in two phases.


Phase I--which will be conducted from now until the end of the year--will seek researchers and developers from industry, research institutions and academia who interested in participating in iris recognition "challenge problems." Taking part in these "challenge problems" (designed to promote technology development) will give participants the opportunity to improve their current performance rates and help prepare them for ICE Phase II.


Phase II--tentatively scheduled for the first quarter of 2006--will give iris recognition system developers an opportunity to take part in a large-scale, independent evaluation. To guarantee accurate assessments, the ICE will measure iris matching performance with sequestered data (iris images not previously seen by the participants). A standard dataset and test methodology will be employed so that all participants are evaluated evenly.


The ICE is sponsored jointly by the following federal agencies: NIST; two Department of Homeland Security agencies--the Science and Technology Directorate and the Transportation Security Administration; two Department of Justice agencies--the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Institute of Justice; the Intelligence Technology Innovation Center under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; and the interagency Technical Support Working Group, the U.S. national forum that identifies, prioritizes and coordinates interagency and international research and development requirements for combating terrorism.


To learn more about the ICE and access instructions on participating in the project, go to iris.nist/ICE.


Michael E. Newman

michael.newmannist

301-975-3025

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

nist

The Food & Drug Administration Clears Indication For Thermage Thermacool System

Thermage(R), Inc.
(Nasdaq: THRM) today announced that the Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
provided a first-time-ever 510 (k) clearance for the non-invasive treatment
of periorbital wrinkles and rhytids, including upper and lower eyelids.
Thermage's proprietary ThermaCool(R) system, utilizing customized
ThermaTip(TM) treatment tips, is the only medical device in the
non-invasive skin tightening category with this clearance.


"Thermage is the first and only company to receive FDA clearance for
non-invasive eyelid treatments," said Stephen J. Fanning, president and
chief executive officer at Thermage. "We believe that the clinical data
supporting this milestone further defines Thermage as the gold standard in
non-invasive skin tightening and contouring, differentiating our
technology, safety profile and efficacy from other companies in the
aesthetic market."



Eyes by Thermage(TM) is one of several treatment procedures provided by
Thermage. The procedure was launched in March 2006 under the FDA general
clearance for the non-invasive treatment of wrinkles and rhytids. This
exclusive treatment reduces hooding, improves skin texture and tone, and
smoothes the eye area. To date, more than 20,000 procedures have been
completed worldwide and clinicians in 27 countries have been trained on
Eyes by Thermage with approved procedure guidelines. The specific FDA
clearance for eyelids is based on a multi-center clinical study conducted
in the United States and Canada.



"This is a landmark event in the non-invasive aesthetics industry as no
other device has a specific eyelid indication," said Brian Biesman, M.D.



Consumers are seeking cosmetic improvements but due to demanding
lifestyles, downtime is often not an option. According to recent reports
from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, non-invasive
aesthetic procedures are a rapidly growing alternative to cosmetic surgery
with eyelid surgery as one of the top five procedures performed during
2006. Physicians can now be assured that by offering patients Eyes by
Thermage, the only FDA cleared non-invasive alternative to eyelid surgery,
they are providing an effective and desired treatment for the reduction of
wrinkles.



About Thermage, Inc.



Thermage's innovative technology provides a unique non-invasive
procedure designed to tighten and contour skin, significantly expanding the
non-invasive aesthetic applications physicians can offer to the rapidly
growing "anti-aging" market. The company commercially launched its flagship
ThermaCool(R) system in 2002 when it received clearance from the U.S. Food
& Drug Administration. Today, the ThermaCool system is available in 80
countries; more than 400,000 patients have been treated with Thermage and
approximately 2,000 dermatologists, plastic surgeons and other cosmetic
physicians are using the Thermage(R) procedure worldwide.



This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Specifically, statements concerning our belief that we are the gold
standard of non-invasive skin tightening and contouring and our estimate of
the number of Eyes by Thermage(TM) procedures performed constitute such
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on
management's current, preliminary expectations and are subject to risks and
uncertainties, which may cause Thermage's actual results to differ
materially from the statements contained herein. Actual results may be
affected by a number of factors, including the introduction of other
medical devices for the non-invasive treatment of eyelids. Further
information on potential risk factors that could affect Thermage's business
are detailed in the Company's Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31,
2007. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements,
which speaks only as of the date they are made. Thermage undertakes no
obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new
information, events or circumstances after the date they were made, or to
reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.



Thermage and ThermaCool are registered trademarks of Thermage, Inc.
ThermaTip and Eyes by Thermage are trademarks of Thermage, Inc.


Thermage, Inc.

thermage

One Donor Cornea, Two Patients Helped

German researcher Claus Cursiefen, MD, also affiliated with Harvard School of Medicine, reports good results with a surgical strategy that uses a single donor cornea to help two patients with differing corneal diseases. In the United States keeping pace with demand for donated corneal tissue for use in transplant surgery is a cause for concern, while in Europe and Asia shortages lead to treatment delays. Dr. Cursiefen's new approach restored good vision to patients who had Fuchs' dystrophy (degeneration of certain corneal cells) or keratoconus (thin, cone-shaped cornea) while also addressing the supply problem. The study appears in February's Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.


Advanced keratoconus (and other diseases of the anterior portion of the cornea) is often treated with a surgery called deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK). Fuchs' dystrophy and similar diseases can be treated via several surgical techniques, including the recently developed Descemet's membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK). Dr. Cursiefen and his colleagues noted that, once the tissues needed for DALK were removed from a donor cornea, the precise tissues needed for DMEK remained. They reasoned that scheduling two patients for surgery on the same day, with the DALK patient always scheduled first, would make it possible to use one cornea for two patients. Since about 80 percent of the cornea diseases that require transplants can be treated with DALK or DMEK, this approach might potentially nearly double the available corneal tissue supply and make timely treatment available to many more patients.


"In this exploratory study, we were able to use one cornea to successfully treat two patients, for 10 of 12 consecutive donor corneas," Dr. Cursiefen said. "Only twice during surgery did we find that a full corneal transplant, rather than DALK, was needed. Our early follow-up with all patients shows good visual outcomes and few complications," he added.


At their six-month follow up, successful DALK patients achieved, on average, 20/35 vision, and DMEK patients achieved 20/31 vision, on average. The two patients scheduled for DALK who instead received full transplants achieved 20/50 vision, on average. All surgeries were performed at the University Eye Hospital, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany, in 2009.


Drawbacks of this approach are that both DALK and DMEK are demanding surgeries that at present can only be performed at leading-edge ophthalmic hospitals, and, because both techniques are relatively new, longer-term outcomes and effectiveness remain to be determined. Also preparation and care of the split corneas requires sophisticated planning and preparation, and access to additional corneas is essential in case full transplants becomes necessary. Further research will determine whether the approach will be widely accepted.


Source:

American Academy of Ophthalmology

New Research Reveals Unexpected Biological Pathway In Glaucoma

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Early Edition ahead of print), a team of researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and four collaborating institutions, identified a new and unexpected biological pathway that appears to contribute to the development of glaucoma and its resulting vision loss.


Prior research has suggested that the optic nerve head, the point where the cables that carry information from the eye to the brain first exit the eye, plays a role in glaucoma. In this study, researchers report a series of findings that offer novel insights into cellular and molecular mechanisms operating at the optic nerve head in two mouse models of glaucoma. Most notably, they discovered that at a specific location within the optic nerve head, there is a unique class of cells called astrocytes that demonstrate properties that appear to make them a critical factor in the visual blinding that occurs in glaucoma.


Further, at this same site, researchers found abnormal forms of a protein called gamma synuclein that is similar to abnormal forms of alpha synuclein, a related protein known for its key role in cell loss in Parkinson's disease. The findings suggest that a biological process similar to Parkinson's disease unfolds in glaucoma at the specific anatomical location pinpointed in this study for the first time.


Finally, researchers discovered that at this anatomical location, there is a surprising process whereby astrocytes remove the debris of neurons, the cells that die in neurodegenerative disorders such as glaucoma. It is likely that this newly discovered process involving removal of the debris of one cell by a neighboring cell is important not only in glaucoma and Parkinson's disease, but also for many neurodegenerative diseases.


"These findings are very exciting because they give us several novel targets for future interventions," said Dr. Nicholas Marsh-Armstrong, senior study author and a research scientist at Kennedy Krieger Institute. "I believe these findings put us on the cusp of discovering a treatment for glaucoma that may also have relevance for a number of other neurodegenerative diseases."


Future studies will examine this novel pathway and molecular/cellular mechanism to understand precisely what steps go awry in glaucoma and what can be controlled pharmacologically to identify interventions that slow the disease progression.


Dr. Marsh-Armstrong and other scientists at Kennedy Krieger Institute collaborated on this study with colleagues at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, University of California at San Diego, Cardiff University in England, and the University of Murcia in Spain.


This research was principally supported by the Melza M. and Frank Theodore Barr Foundation through the Glaucoma Research Foundation, with additional grant funding provided in part by the International Retinal Research Foundation and the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health.


About Glaucoma


Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes blindness by damaging the optic nerve, which sends signals from the eye to the brain. It affects more than 60 million people and is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. While older individuals are at higher risk for the disease, babies and children are also susceptible to glaucoma, especially those with certain neurological disorders.


Source: Kennedy Krieger Institute

Second Sight Announces Significant Results From The Argus™ II Retinal Prosthesis Trial At The ARVO 2011 Annual Meeting

Exciting results from the Argus™ II Retinal Prosthesis System ('Argus II') clinical trial were presented today at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc. (ARVO) 2011 Annual Meeting. The clinical trial included 30 subjects implanted in 10 centers worldwide, and has run for nearly 4 years. The results that were presented from the trial showed that the Argus II System provided significant improvements in vision for the blind subjects who are suffering from profound Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). Two paper presentations outlined the safety, reliability and performance of the system. In February 2011, Argus II became the first such treatment for the blind to obtain the CE Mark and make the leap from research to the marketplace in Europe. An application for FDA approval in the US is being submitted in 2011.


Argus II is Second Sight's second generation implantable device intended to treat blind people suffering from degenerative diseases such as RP. The system works by converting video images captured from a miniature camera, housed in the patient's glasses, into a series of small electrical pulses that are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes on the surface of the retina (epi-retinal). These pulses are intended to stimulate the retina's remaining cells resulting in the corresponding perception of patterns of light in the brain. Patients can learn to interpret these visual patterns thereby gaining some functional vision.


Mark S. Humayun, MD, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Professor of Ophthalmology, Biomedical Engineering, Cell and Neurobiology, Doheny Eye Institute, University of Southern California, presented the interim performance results from the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis trial:


With over 70 cumulative subject-years of follow-up on 30 subjects, this is the largest trial of a visual prosthesis to date. The results confirm previous reports of the ability of Argus II to provide visual function over the long-term.


"All subjects implanted with a Second Sight® Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System previously had only bare light perception or worse vision due to RP or related outer retinal degenerative disease. During the clinical trial we were pleased to observe the promising results of the system that revealed that all 30 subjects in the trial obtained visual perceptions from the device. A large majority of them experienced benefit from the system in terms of visual function tests that ranged from localizing and identifying an object to grating visual acuity. Functional vision orientation and mobility tests demonstrate that subjects were significantly better at performing visual tasks such as following a line or finding a door with the system ON vs. OFF. These gains in vision were maintained by many subjects during long-term follow-up (i.e. > 2 years)," explained Professor Humayun.


Dr. Humayun also reported on research conducted by Dr. Paulo Stanga, Consultant Ophthalmologist and Vitreoretinal Surgeon for the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, Manchester, UK, that showed that subjects fitted with Argus II were able to consistently perceive colors.


"We were delighted to observe, for the first time ever, that nine participants were able to reliably and repeatedly perceive up to eight different colors using Argus II", said Dr. Stanga. "Color perception could be achieved by precisely controlling aspects of the electrical stimulation. Color vision obtained in this manner represents a unique feature of an epi-retinal approach employing an external camera and processor."


Argus II is the first retinal prosthesis in which the feasibility of reading sentences with prosthetic vision has been demonstrated.


As cited by Professor Sahel, Chairman, Department of Ophthalmology: Centre Hospitalier National d'Ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts, Paris, France. "The fact that two of our patients implanted with Argus II were actually able to correctly read 4-word sentences, was beyond our highest expectations. We were also excited to observe that reading speeds increased quickly for these motivated patients, and that one patient was able to read at the rate of ten words per minute".


April Lufriu, recently crowned Mrs. America, and Tampa Bay Chapter President for the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), was excited by the Argus II results. "It is a blessing that Argus II has already helped so many people suffering from severe RP. As a person who is afflicted with the disease, it was a pleasure meeting some of the trial participants, and to see that Argus II can restore some functional vision to them. We should all be encouraged that a treatment for this disease is now available in Europe and, hopefully, soon here in the US as well."


Source:

Second Sight Medical Products, Inc.

New Implantable Lenses Can Reduce The Need For Glasses After Cataract Surgery

Cataract surgery involves
removing a clouded natural lens from inside the eye and replacing it with a
plastic one. While the operation itself hasn't changed much over recent
years, the plastic lenses have. The biggest advantage of the newer lenses
is their ability to reduce the need for glasses after surgery, says a newly
updated report from Harvard Medical School.


The Aging Eye: Preventing and Treating Eye Disease explains that the
older types of plastic lenses help people see well at one distance -- be it
close up, far away, or at a medium distance. Two newer types of lenses,
accommodating and multifocal, let the eye focus at varying distances, so
fewer patients need glasses for reading or distance vision.



The accommodating intraocular lens has hinges on its sides that permit
it to move as the eye's ciliary muscle contracts or relaxes. This improves
the ability to change focus from near to far. The multifocal intraocular
lens uses a new type of refractive technology to provide focus for multiple
distances. This type has either small, concentric circular ridges that
permit the eye to change its range of focus or broad zones to provide near,
intermediate, and distance vision.



Insurers may not cover these newer lenses, and some people cannot
receive them because of other medical issues. The most common problems with
the newer lenses are glare, halos, and the continued need for eyeglasses.


Harvard Health Publications

health.harvard.edu/AE

Blind People Perceive Touch Faster Than Those With Sight

People who are blind from birth are able to detect tactile information faster than people with normal vision, according to a study in the Oct. 27 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.



The brain requires a fraction of a second to register a sight, sound, or touch. In this study, a group of researchers led by Daniel Goldreich, PhD, of McMaster University explored whether people who have a special reliance on a particular sense - in the way blind people rely on touch - would process that sense faster.



"Our findings reveal that one way the brain adapts to the absence of vision is to accelerate the sense of touch," Goldreich said. "The ability to quickly process non-visual information probably enhances the quality of life of blind individuals who rely to an extraordinary degree on the non-visual senses."



The authors tested the tactile skills of 89 people with sight and 57 people with various levels of vision loss. The volunteers were asked to discern the movements of a small probe that was tapped against the tips of their index fingers. Both groups performed the same on simple tasks, such as distinguishing small taps versus stronger taps. But when a small tap was followed almost instantly by a larger and longer-lasting vibration, the vibration interfered with most participants' ability to detect the tap - a phenomenon called masking. However, the 22 people who had been blind since birth performed better than both people with vision and people who had become blind later in life.



"We think interference happens because the brain has not yet completed the neural processing required to fully perceive the tap before the vibration arrives and disrupts it," Goldreich said. "The more time between the tap and the vibration, the more formed the perception of the tap will be, and the less interference the vibration will cause."



The authors measured the minimum amount of time needed for participants to perceive sensory input by varying the period between the tap and the vibration. They found that congenitally blind people required shorter periods than anyone else. Those same individuals also read Braille fastest. The authors note that each blind person's perception time was approximately equal to the average time that person took to move a finger from one Braille character to the next as they read.



The findings suggest that early onset blindness leads to faster perception of touch. However, whether that advantage is due to the brain adapting to the absence of vision - a change called plasticity - or to a lifetime of practicing Braille is still unclear.



Richard Held, PhD, of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an expert in the brain and visual development who was unaffiliated with the study, said the results suggest that a lack of visual experience changes how information acquired by touch is processed.



"The heightened skill of tactile integration seems to account for the remarkable speed of Braille-reading demonstrated by some congenitally blind individuals," Held said. "This work constitutes a solid step forward in our understanding of the interaction between senses."



The research was supported by the National Eye Institute and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council in Canada.



Source:

Kat Snodgrass

Society for Neuroscience

Vax And Pax: Taking Turns To Build An Eye

Opposing ball clubs don't take the field at the same time, and neither do teams of proteins responsible for creating the eye. While one team builds the retina, in adjacent cellular turf the opponents are busy constructing the cord that carries visual signals to the brain. And these guys aren't supposed to mingle.



That's why researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies were surprised to find the respective team captains--Vax2, a protein that along with Vax1 builds the optic nerve cord, and Pax6, a protein that drives retinal fate--playing on the same field. That puzzle is explained in a forthcoming paper in Genes and Development.



Earlier studies from the laboratory of Greg Lemke, Ph.D., professor in Salk's Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, had shown that Vax2 antagonized Pax6. "We knew that Vax1 and 2 acted together to inactivate Pax6. That's how you get an optic nerve--by preventing it from becoming a retina," explains Lemke. The only problem was that later on both Vax2 and Pax6 were co-expressed in the same cells. "If Vax2 was repressing Pax6 this seemed inconsistent," he says.



Both proteins bind DNA and function in a cell's nucleus to switch genes on and off. Pax6 regulates the development of the retina, while Vax2 ensures that the optic nerve gets built. Finding both proteins in the same nucleus would make about as much sense as having runners for the Giants and the Dodgers on base at the same time.



Analyzing eye development in both mouse and chick tissues, Lemke and former postdoctoral fellow Jin Woo Kim, Ph.D., solved the mystery. Stina Mui, a former graduate student in the Lemke lab had originally observed Vax2 in the cytoplasm of cultured cell lines and Kim had taken on the task of figuring out why. He showed that Vax2 protein is indeed expressed in the same retinal cells as Pax6, but that Vax2 shuttles in and out of the nucleus in response to a signaling molecule known as Sonic hedgehog.



"Vax2 only entered the nucleus when its biological activity was needed," says Kim. Once its job was done, Vax2 was apparently booted out of the nucleus into the cytoplasm where it remained in cellular time-out.



Kim and Lemke found that Vax2 shuttling was controlled by a chemical modification known as phosphorylation. Phosphorylation benched Vax2 in the cytoplasm, where it took a breather while Pax6 took over to form the retina. Kim then made a dramatic discovery. When he engineered a Vax2 protein that could not be phosphorylated--putting Pax6 permanently out of commission--and forced that protein into chick retinal precursor cells, the chicks had no eye.



"What you had was a chicken with just a big optic nerve," says Lemke, noting with satisfaction that this was exactly the opposite outcome his group had observed when they genetically eliminated Vax2 and Vax1 genes from mice. "In that case you had no optic nerve but a giant eye. This basically says that you really have to get this protein out of the nucleus--if you keep it there you get no retina at all."
















But why doesn't mother nature simply dispose of Vax2 when she's finished with it? Most likely because it's recycled for use again later in development. Explains Lemke, "This is a mechanism for pushing Vax2 aside--so it can't do any damage by repressing Pax6--but keeping it close by so it can be quickly activated when it is needed again later on."



"One consequence of this work is that we learn things ultimately important for medicine," he continues. "The Sonic hedgehog pathway plays an important role during embryogenesis and also in the development of a series of cancers. Understanding the pathway is directly relevant to a whole spectrum of human diseases."



Kim, who is now an assistant professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon, South Korea, will continue collaborating with the Lemke lab by engineering a so-called "knock-in" mouse expressing the nonphosphorylatable protein in the normal developmental timeframe. The prediction is that, like the chicks, that mouse should have big problems making an eye. Stay tuned.






The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to fundamental discoveries in the life sciences, the improvement of human health and the training of future generations of researchers. Jonas Salk, M.D., whose polio vaccine all but eradicated the crippling disease poliomyelitis in 1955, opened the Institute in 1965 with a gift of land from the City of San Diego and the financial support of the March of Dimes.



Contact: Gina Kirchweger


Salk Institute

Contact Lenses A Good Choice For Children 12 And Younger

Children 8 to 12 years old are just as adept as teenagers at handling and wearing contact lenses.



"Optometrists traditionally don't prescribe contact lenses to children until they are at least 12 years old," said Jeffrey Walline, an assistant professor of optometry at Ohio State University. "But we found that younger children are just as responsible with their lenses."



He and his colleagues studied 169 children and teenagers who participated in the Contact Lens in Pediatrics (CLIP) study, which compares contact lens wear in children 8 to 12 with teens 13 to 17. About half the participants were in each group.



The researchers presented their findings from the month-long study on December 8 in Denver at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Optometry. The current findings confirm those of a much smaller study conducted by Walline and others, which suggested that children 8 to 12 could easily handle daily disposable contact lenses.



None of the children or teens in the current study had worn contact lenses prior to the study. The researchers gave each participant a three-month supply of disposable soft contact lenses, instructing the children and teens to take the lenses out each night and to throw each pair away after two weeks.



Each participant answered questions on the Pediatric Refractive Error Profile (PREP), a survey containing quality-of-life questions related to wearing contact lenses and glasses. The children and teens filled out the profile before they began to wear contact lenses, and again one month after wearing the lenses. PREP scores range from 100 (excellent quality of life) to 0 (poor quality of life.)



Questions included how much a child or teen liked wearing contact lenses or glasses, how clear her vision was while wearing the lenses or glasses, what her eyes physically felt like when wearing lenses or glasses, friends' reactions to the change and how easy the contact lenses were to handle.



PREP scores suggested that the children and teens were more satisfied with wearing contact lenses than with wearing glasses: scores rose from 65 (pre-contact lens wear) to 74.5 for children, and from 63 (pre-contact lens wear) to 73 for teens.



"The biggest boosts were in terms of satisfaction with their correction and also with participation in activities," Walline said. "Children and teens reported that it was much easier to engage in sports, dancing and other activities while wearing contact lenses."



The researchers noted that there was little change in participants' feelings toward their own appearance, nor did peer perceptions seem to change dramatically once a child or teen began wearing contact lenses.



"Vanity doesn't seem to be a factor in children's or teens' satisfaction with switching to contact lenses," Walline said.



Children wore their lenses almost as long as teens - parents reported that their children wore the contact lenses about 10.5 hours a day, while teens wore their lenses about 11.5 hours each day.



The soft disposable contact lenses used in this study, along with the necessary cleaning solutions, can cost roughly $260 a year, said Walline. Since children's and teens' vision can change very fast, such lenses are typically sold in a six-month supply. Adults can buy a one-year supply.



Walline and his colleagues are currently analyzing data gathered from the study participants after three months of wearing the contact lenses. Although that data isn't included in this presentation, Walline said the findings are very similar to what he and his colleagues found at the one-month point.



"Children are very capable of taking care of contact lenses on their own," he said.



In related work, Walline and his colleagues found that optometrists initially spend about 14 minutes longer fitting a child with contact lenses and teaching him how to insert and remove those lenses (total exam time was 110 minutes for children and 96 minutes for teens.)



"After the training is complete, children and teens both showed excellent understanding of contact lens care," Walline said.






He conducted the study with Ohio State colleagues Lisa Jones, David Berntsen, Stacy Long and Monica Chitkara and with colleagues from the University of Houston and the New England College of Optometry.



Holly Wagner



Contact: Jeffrey Walline


Ohio State University

Solar Cell Implant May Restore Some Sight for the Blind

Ophthalmologists at Rush University Medical Center implanted Artificial Silicon Retina (ASR) microchips in the eyes of
five patients to treat vision loss caused by retinitis pigmentosa (RP). The implant is a silicon microchip 2mm in diameter
and one-thousandth of an inch thick, less than the thickness of a human hair.


Four patients had surgery Tuesday, January 25. The fifth patient is scheduled for a later date.


Rush principal investigator Dr. John Pollack performed the surgeries with Dr. Kirk Packo, Dr. Pauline Merrill, Dr. Mathew
MacCumber, and Dr. Jack Cohen. All are members of Illinois Retina Associates, S.C., a private practice group and are on the
Rush faculty. Patients leave the hospital the same day and will be followed for two years as part of the study, and then
indefinitely.


The patients were recruited from a pool of about 5,000 applicants.


The implants are designed for people with retinal diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, which cause
blindness and vision impairment in about 10 million Americans. More than one million of these people are legally blind.



"As is commonly seen in with retinitis pigmentosa, these patients all have severe narrowing of their visual fields down to a
very small central circle, and all patients in the study are legally blind," says Pollack.


The Artificial Silicon RetinaTM (ASR) was invented by Dr. Alan Chow, pediatric ophthalmologist and Rush faculty member, who
developed the chip and founded Optobionics, with his brother Vincent, vice president of engineering. Optobionics is located
in Naperville, Illinois.


"This is an expansion of the study of the first 10 patients completed in 2002," says study investigator Dr. Kirk Packo, who
oversees the three participating sites. The sites are Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Emory University School of
Medicine/Atlanta VA Medical Center and Rush.


Pollack says the current protocol has been modified to reduce the likelihood of inadvertant scientific bias. "We operated on
the right eye of each of the initial 10 patients. For the next 20 patients we will randomly select which eye will receive the
ASR chip. In addition, post-operative vision testers will be masked as to which eye received the ASR chip implant. The
current study is being performed at these study centers in order to independently validate previous studies performed by
Optobionics."


The first 10 patients all reported some degree of improvement in visual function, says Pollack. "Improvement in visual
function was variable and included the ability to read letters, improvement in color vision, and expansion of their visual
field. Some patients gained new ability to recognize facial features -- something that they were unable to do before ASR chip
implantation. Some patients have experienced improvement in activities of daily living such as improved ambulation-not
bumping into objects around the house, and reading the time on a clock."















Still in Phase II clinical trials, Pollack cautions it is still too early to determine what percentage of patients might
experience improvement in vision and what resolution capability these patients might eventually have. "Although we hope that
all patients receiving the chip will experience some improvement in visual function, we can't say for sure how these patients
will respond to this new treatment since this is still an experimental trial. If this study and future studies show safety
and efficacy of the chip and it's approved by the FDA, it could be as soon as three to five years that this technology would
be available to others."


Surgical Information


The ASR chip contains approximately 5,000 microscopic solar cells that convert light into electrical impulses. The purpose of
the chip is to replace damaged photoreceptors, the "light-sensing" cells of the eye, which normally convert light into
electrical signals within the retina. Loss of photoreceptor cells occurs in persons with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and other
retinal diseases.


The microsurgical procedure starts with three tiny incisions in the white part of the subject's eye, each incision no larger
than the diameter of a needle. Through these incisions, the surgeons insert a miniature cutting and vacuuming device that
removes the gel in the middle of the eye and replaces it with saline. They then make a pinpoint opening in the retina through
which they inject fluid to lift up a portion of the retina from the back of the eye, creating a small pocket in the
"subretinal space" just wide enough to accommodate the ASR.


The surgeons then enlarge the pocket opening and insert the implant into the subretinal space. Finally, they reseal the
retina over the ASR, insert air into the middle of the eye to gently push the retina back down over the device, and close the
incisions. Over a period of 1 week the air bubble is resorbed and replaced by fluids created within the eye.


According to Chow, "The use of the subretinal space to hold a device that artificially stimulates the retina seems a logical
step in replacing the loss of photoreceptor cells of the retina. If the implant is tolerated well and is able to successfully
stimulate the retina, it may open up new opportunities for restoring sight in patients with the end stages of retinitis
pigmentosa."


Contact: Mary Ann Schultz

mary_ann_schultzrush.edu

312-942-7816

Rush University Medical Center

rush.edu

General Optical Council Highlights Importance Of Student Supervision, UK

The General Optical Council (GOC) is today reminding all optical businesses, students and supervisors to ensure their current arrangements for professional supervision of students meet the requirements outlined by the GOC, and examination or assessment bodies. This follows the recent Fitness to Practise (FTP) hearing involving Boots Opticians Ltd (a GOC-registered business); Trevor Burgess, a registered student dispensing optician; and Richard Simmons, a registered dispensing optician.


On 26 June, an independent FTP Committee determined that Boots Opticians Ltd had failed to take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent Trevor Burgess from dispensing spectacles to a patient under the age of 16. The Committee found that the fitness to practise of Boots Opticians Ltd was impaired, and imposed a fine of ??30,000. Trevor Burgess was given a formal warning. No sanction was imposed on Richard Simmons.


GOC chief executive and registrar, Dian Taylor commented: "Supervision of students is essential for protecting patients and the public. This case highlights the importance of having proper supervision mechanisms in place, and ensuring those mechanisms are communicated to staff, and implemented at ground level".


Dian Taylor added: "With appropriate supervision, students can develop the core competencies they need to practise safely, in a controlled, restricted environment. But without it, students may not know their limits, and the consequences can be potentially harmful to patients."


By law, GOC-registered students (of both optometry and dispensing optics) must not carry out any of the following unless supervised by a GOC-registered professional:


- Testing sight

- Fitting contact lenses

- Dispensing to children under 16, or to the visually impaired


Business registrants are bound by the GOC's Code of Conduct for business registrants. This is available from optical


'Supervision' means that the supervisor must be on the same premises as the student they are supervising, and in a position to intervene at any time.


Detailed guidance on supervision is published by ABDO and the College of Optometrists. Visit abdo or college-optometrists

Source
General Optical Council

Too Few Infants Get Comprehensive Eye Assessments; One In 10 Have Undetected Vision Problems

One in 10 infants in the U.S. have undetected vision problems, ranging from crossed eyes to cancer. While most parents know eye and vision problems can be detected in children before they're a year old, only 19 percent of those who participated in the American Optometric Association's (AOA) annual Eye-Q® survey report taking their infant for a comprehensive eye assessment. Thirty-three percent of parents wait until their child is between one and two years of age, while 26 percent wait until their child is five years of age or older.


"It is critical that infants undergo a comprehensive eye assessment from an optometrist by the time they turn a year old," said Dr. Glen Steele, optometrist and chair of the InfantSEE® committee, a program of Optometry Cares The AOA Foundation. "Optometrists have the clinical background and expertise to detect eye and vision problems as well as ensure your baby has healthy eyes and their vision is developing appropriately."


Unfortunately, only 19 percent of respondents know that cancer can be detected in an infant's eyes, while the majority of respondents understand problems like lazy eye (amblyopia), crossed eyes, nearsightedness and farsightedness could be identified.


"Early intervention is essential for maintaining infant eye and vision health," said Dr. Steele. "Most conditions are easier to treat when caught early."


Traditional eye chart testing requires identification of letters or symbols and demands sustained attention, making it impossible to use with infants and toddlers. Instead, an evaluation of visual acuity includes tests to assess whether an infant can fix his eyes on an object and follow the object, or identify which objects the baby prefers to look and at what distances.


"It is crucial that parents understand the importance of comprehensive eye exams for infants and how they are administered," said Dr. Steele. "The good news about a trip to the optometrist is that most babies seem to enjoy the 'games' we use to determine whether their visual development is progressing normally and their eyes are healthy."


Demographic Comparisons


Ethnicity Comparisons


According to the 2010 Eye-Q® survey, Hispanics (26 percent) are more likely than Caucasians (17 percent) and African-Americans (16 percent) to take their baby for a comprehensive eye assessment before their first birthday. The majority of Caucasians (35 percent) wait until their child is between one and two years of age, while the majority of African-Americans (36 percent) wait until their child is five years of age or older to have a comprehensive eye exam administered.


Gender Comparisons


Surprisingly, more men (21 percent) than women (17 percent) report having their infants' eyes checked by an eye doctor between six months and one year of age. In addition, the majority of male respondents (37 percent) reported their child having a comprehensive eye exam for the first time between one and two years of age, compared to the majority of female respondents (37 percent) who said their child was five years or older.


How the AOA Can Help


Optometry Cares - The AOA Foundation and Vistakon®, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. created InfantSEE®, a no-cost public health program developed to provide professional eye care for infants nationwide. Through InfantSEE®, optometrists provide a one-time, comprehensive eye assessment to infants between six and 12 months of age, regardless of a parent's ability to pay.


The AOA recommends that infants have an InfantSEE® assessment before their first birthday and young children have comprehensive eye exams at age three, before starting school and then every two years thereafter.


Source: InfantSEE

Eat Fruits And Vegetables For Better Vision

Carotenoids, found in green leafy vegetables and colored fruits, have been found to increase visual performance and may prevent age-related eye diseases, according to a study in the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists. Authors from the University of Georgia compiled the results of multiple studies on the effects of the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin on visual performance. These carotenoids play an important role in human vision, including a positive impact on the retina.


After reviewing the various studies, the authors concluded that macular pigments, such as lutein and zeaxanthin do have an effect on visual performance. Lutein and zeaxanthin can reduce disability and discomfort from glare, enhance contrast, and reduce photostress recovery times. They can also reduce glare from light absorption and increase the visual range.


Lead author Dr. Billy R. Hammond Jr. noted that the research of the effects of lutein and zeazanthin are important because "it is clear that they could potentially improve vision through biological means. For example, a study conducted in 2008 suggests that the pigments protect the retina and lens and perhaps even help prevent age-related eye diseases such as macular degeneration and cataract."


Source
Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)