| Africa: Fighting Tropical Diseases | | Posted Sunday, January 14, 2007 2:58:17 PM by Blog57 Team | | Leprosy, lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), onchocerciasis (river blindness), schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminths, sleeping sickness, elephantiasis and trachoma, most of these diseases have little name recognition in industrialised countries. Together they cause severe disability in the world's poorest countries, resulting in billions of dollars of lost productivity. The big three" infections Aids, TB and malaria - have caught the world's attention but other disabling and fatal infectious diseases in Africa are being ignored. .... | |
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| | | City hall receptionist doesn't let blindness interfere with work | | Posted Tuesday, November 14, 2006 1:01:17 PM by Blog57 Team | | Here's an interesting proposition: If you want directions to the county administration building or any other Venice office, business or landmark, just ask Alicia Vis at city hall. Though she has never "seen" any of those buildings, she really can tell you how to get there. Alicia Vis is blind. Yet, she has been amazing people all of her life with her acute senses of hearing, touch, perception and an astounding memory for details. Vis first worked as the city's receptionist and switchboard operator for about nine months back in 1992 and 1993. At that time she was an unpaid, part-time "volunteer" being trained and evaluated by the Florida Division of Blind Services in order to determine her potential for placement in any clerical position available in the Venice area. Although she had held a similar job before at Manatee Community College, the experience at city hall enabled her to get the "stamp of approval" of the DBS.... | |
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| | | Uganda: Vitamin A Fortified Potato to Combat Blindness | | Posted Thursday, November 09, 2006 11:11:07 PM by Blog57 Team | | UGANDANS can now combat malnutrition and blindness. A team of reseachers at Namulonge and Kabanyoro Research Institute have come up with a Vitamin A fortified sweet potato variety. The sweet potato, which is orange, has carotene, the most important source of Vitamin A. Vitamin A is essential for good eyesight and lack of it can cause blindness or, in milder cases, inability to see or drive at night. Prof. Patrick Rubaihayo, a plant breeder, who led the team of researchers said the variety was not genetically modified, but a product of pure breeding done in line with the United Nations' Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). "It is purely a product of normal breeding. We are now testing our product with farmers. It looks ordinary but, it is improved nutritionally," he said.... | |
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| | | Doctor bids to end a form of blindness | | Posted Thursday, November 02, 2006 6:53:56 PM by Blog57 Team | | A North-East doctor hopes his research will ultimately lead to a cure for the most common cause of blindness among elderly people. James Talks, consultant ophthalmologist at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, has been studying a Japanese family with the eye disorder Sorsby's fundus dystrophy. The condition, which affects the central part of vision, is hereditary and relatively rare. But Mr Talks hopes that if he can understand more about it, that could result in better treatment - or even a cure - for similar disorder, macular degeneration, which blinds people over the age of 60. .... | |
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| | | Diabetes innovation scoops award | | Posted Thursday, October 26, 2006 3:06:07 PM by Blog57 Team | | A Scottish scientist has won a major award for a treatment which could allow diabetics to inhale insulin. Currently, Scotland's 200,000 diabetes patients need daily injections to regulate their blood sugar levels. Dr Marie-Claire Parker, chief executive of Glasgow-based company XstalBio, has developed tiny particles containing insulin which can be inhaled. She is due to pick up the Royal Society of Edinburgh's top award for science innovation on Friday. The society said her work could transform the treatment of many diseases and save countless lives. .... | |
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| | | Team tracks genetic origins of eye cancer | | Posted Thursday, October 19, 2006 6:56:36 PM by Blog57 Team | | MORGANTOWN, W.Va., Oct. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have tracked the chromosomal abnormalities associated with a tumor that develops in the eye and often leads to blindness and death. Joginder Nath, a West Virginia University professor of genetics, and former doctoral students Jason White and Alison Director-Myska say they are hopeful their findings might lead to improved treatments. In two separate papers, the researchers describe the specific differences in chromosomal material in cell lines established from sample tissue of the tumors and similar anomalies observed in nearly 100 patients. "Uveal melanoma develops within the eye, and it's commonly detected when vision begins to be affected," White said. "By this time, the tumor has grown quite large, and it then migrates to the liver.... | |
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| | | ORBIS International and Alcon Inc. Celebrate World Sight Day with Blindness Prevention Tips | | Posted Friday, October 13, 2006 2:53:52 AM by Blog57 Team | | Every five seconds, someone in the world goes blind. Yet 75 percent of these cases can be prevented or cured. And while the overwhelming majority of avoidable blindness occurs in the developing world, people in the United States are in no way immune. These are some of the messages nonprofit ORBIS International and leading eye care company Alcon Inc. are delivering today on World Sight Day, a global observance to stimulate greater public awareness of eye health issues. World Sight Day is coordinated by "VISION 2020 - The Right to Sight," a joint initiative of the World Health Organization " /> World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. ORBIS is a founding member of VISION 2020. "Although ORBIS works in developing countries, where 90 percent of the world's blind live, few Americans realize that blindness is an ever-increasing problem in the United States," said Eugene Helveston, M.D., ORBIS ophthalmologist-in-chief.... | |
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| | | PHOTO: Fighting blindness | | Posted Friday, October 06, 2006 12:55:09 PM by Blog57 Team | | Isabelle Langley and Nancy Brash from the Cambridge Highlands Lions Club were at the Cambridge Centre recently accepting toonies for the Help Prevent World Blindness campaign. Here, Elaine Gate places her toonie next to the others that were donated by shoppers.The club's goal is to raise $10,000 over the next five years. The group will be at Zehrs in South Cambridge Centre on Oct. 28 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. .... | |
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| | | Specialists seek trials of cheaper drug to prevent blindness | | Posted Friday, October 06, 2006 10:53:52 AM by Blog57 Team | | Eye specialists are calling for trials which would set a hugely expensive new blindness-preventing drug against a cheap alternative which many doctors are already using on their patients. The issue spilled over into the pages of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) yesterday, with the publication of official studies showing that Lucentis, costing about $2,000 (£1,062) a dose, is an effective treatment for age-related "wet" macular degeneration. While news of the successful trials is widely welcomed, editorials in the same journal point out - as the Guardian revealed in June - that ophthalmologists around the world have treated thousands of patients with tiny doses of a similar drug, Avastin, which is licensed not for eyes but for bowel cancer. Although it, too, is very expensive in the large dose used in cancer, doctors can split one phial into the tiny quantities they need for injecting into the eye, bringing down the cost to only about $150 (£79) a time.... | |
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| | | Cameroon: River Blindness - Six Million Cameroonians Affected | | Posted Friday, September 29, 2006 6:56:20 PM by Blog57 Team | | An international conference grouping Onchocerciasis (River Blindness) control partners in Africa begins today in Yaounde. Ahead of the international meeting grouping Onchocerciasis control partners in Africa which begins today in Yaounde, the Minister of Public Health, Urbain Olanguena Awono, yesterday granted a press briefing during which he underscored the need to eradicate River Blindness, stating that over six million Cameroonians are affected by the disease. .... | |
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