 |
|
New technique captures high-res images of full retina
December 02, 2008Technology could help in the monitoring and treatment of diseases of the eye that may cause blindness
Rockville, MD - Researchers used a new imaging technique to take high quality color photographs of the clinical stages of ocular inflammation in mice, and the technology could help in the monitoring and treatment of diseases of the eye that may cause blindness.
The study, "The Clinical Time-Course of Experimental Autoimmune Uveoretinitis Using Topical Endoscopic Fundal Imaging with Histologic and Cellular Infiltrate Correlation," was published in the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology journal Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2008 49: 5458-5465).
It featured the use of Topical Endoscopic Fundal Imaging (TEFI), a technique that uses an endoscope with parallel illumination and observation channels connected to a digital camera. TEFI was developed by Michel Paques, et al (see Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2007 48: 2769-2774).
David Copland, BSc, MSc, and the team from the University of Bristol's Academic Unit of Ophthalmology monitored changes in the mice retina over time without distress to the animals or the need for anesthesia.
"TEFI enhances our monitoring of clinical disease in a rapid and non-invasive fashion," the researchers reported. "It will aid in the design of experimental protocols according to clinical observations."
The study focused on a condition similar to human posterior uveitis, which can be difficult to monitor using present techniques. TEFI allowed the researchers to see changes to the eye that were previously undetectable.
The researchers wrote that TEFI can help monitor the effects of new ocular therapies, as well as invasive procedures such as intravitreal or sub-retinal injections.
Though the method will be a helpful resource to improving detection, Copland's team said the technology should be used in conjunction with existing techniques for monitoring the progression of eye diseases.
"Combined TEFI and histological methods enable the observation of clinical features and severity of disease, but information regarding the dynamics, phenotype, function and quantity of cellular traffic through the eye is only provided through detailed analysis of cell populations present in the eye at various stages of disease progression."
Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
It featured the use of Topical Endoscopic Fundal Imaging (TEFI), a technique that uses an endoscope with parallel illumination and observation channels connected to a digital camera. TEFI was developed by Michel Paques, et al (see Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2007 48: 2769-2774).
David Copland, BSc, MSc, and the team from the University of Bristol's Academic Unit of Ophthalmology monitored changes in the mice retina over time without distress to the animals or the need for anesthesia.
"TEFI enhances our monitoring of clinical disease in a rapid and non-invasive fashion," the researchers reported. "It will aid in the design of experimental protocols according to clinical observations."
The study focused on a condition similar to human posterior uveitis, which can be difficult to monitor using present techniques. TEFI allowed the researchers to see changes to the eye that were previously undetectable.
The researchers wrote that TEFI can help monitor the effects of new ocular therapies, as well as invasive procedures such as intravitreal or sub-retinal injections.
Though the method will be a helpful resource to improving detection, Copland's team said the technology should be used in conjunction with existing techniques for monitoring the progression of eye diseases.
"Combined TEFI and histological methods enable the observation of clinical features and severity of disease, but information regarding the dynamics, phenotype, function and quantity of cellular traffic through the eye is only provided through detailed analysis of cell populations present in the eye at various stages of disease progression."
Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
Blindness Current Events and Blindness News RSSPredicting the Fate of Stem Cells
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered a new method for predicting - with up to 99 percent accuracy - the fate of stem cells.
The pig and its pancreas
The increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes places a huge burden on its victims and poses a tremendous challenge to healthcare systems.
Stem cells restore sight in mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa
An international research team led by Columbia University Medical Center successfully used mouse embryonic stem cells to replace diseased retinal cells and restore sight in a mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa.
Untreated poor vision in elderly linked to dementia, University of Michigan study shows
Elderly people with visual disorders that are left untreated are significantly more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease -- the most common form of dementia, according to a University of Michigan Health System study.
All eyes on retinal degeneration
Research by Johns Hopkins sensory biologists studying fruit flies, has revealed a critical step in fly vision. Humans with problems in this same step suffer retinal dystrophies, which manifest as visual defects ranging from mild visual impairments to complete blindness.
New gene discovery could help to prevent blindness
Scientists have uncovered a new gene that could help save the sight of patients with a type of inherited blindness.
Prevention is key research goal for premature babies, scientists say
Family history, infection and stress all may play a role in raising a woman's risk of having a premature baby - but they don't fully explain why some women give birth too soon and others don't.
A Common Cholesterol Drug Fights Cataracts, Too
Statins, a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels, have been successfully fighting heart disease for years. A new study from Tel Aviv University has now found that the same drugs cut the risks of cataracts in men by almost 40%.
Melatonin Precursor Stimulates Growth Factor Circuits in Brain
Scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have discovered unexpected properties for a precursor to melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep cycles.
NIH scientists identify maternal and fetal genes that increase preterm birth risk
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have identified DNA variants in mothers and fetuses that appear to increase the risk for preterm labor and delivery. The DNA variants were in genes involved in the regulation of inflammation and of the extracellular matrix, the mesh-like material that holds cells within tissues.
More Blindness Current Events and Blindness News Articles
 |
Blindness (Movie Tie-In) by Jose Saramago (Author) NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" that spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and assaulting women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers—among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears—through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses-and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit. |
 |
Blindness by Jose (Author) Saramago (Author) A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers-among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears-through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses-and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit. The stunningly powerful novel of man's will to survive against all... |
 |
Blindness Starring: Maury Chaykin, Danny Glover, Julianne Moore, Don McKellar, Sandra Oh Directed By: Fernando Meirelles A doctor's wife becomes the only person with the ability to see in a town where everyone is struck with a mysterious case of sudden blindness. She feigns illness in order to take care of her husband as her surrounding community breaks down into chaos and disorder. Based on a novel by Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago. |
 |
Blindness by Jose Saramago (Author) |
 |
Seeing by Jose Saramago (Author), Margaret Jull Costa (Translator) On election day in the capital, it is raining so hard that no one has bothered to come out to vote. The politicians are growing jittery. Should they reschedule the elections for another day? Around three o’clock, the rain finally stops. Promptly at four, voters rush to the polling stations, as if they had been ordered to appear. But when the ballots are counted, more than 70 percent are blank. The citizens are rebellious. A state of emergency is declared. But are the authorities acting too precipitously? Or even blindly? The word evokes terrible memories of the plague of blindness that hit the city four years before, and of the one woman who kept her sight. Could she be behind the blank ballots? A police superintendent is put on the case. What begins as a satire on governments... |
 |
Blindness (British Literature) by Henry Green (Author) Blinded in an accident on his way home from boarding school, John Haye must reevaluate his life and the possibilities for his future. His stepmother--worried that, blind and dependent, he'll spend the rest of his life with her--wants to marry him off to anyone who will take him, provided she's of the "right" social class. Contrary to her hopes, John falls in love with the daughter of the town drunk (who is also the town parson). She whisks him off to London, where in this strange city he is confined to a room above a major thoroughfare while she gets on with her life. BLINDNESS was first published when Henry Green was an undergraduate at Oxford. Highly praised as a master of high-modernism, Green went on to write eight other novels, including CONCLUDING and DOTING. |
 |
Blindness (Two Disc Special Edition) Directed By: Fernando Meirelles Also With: Alice Braga (Primary Contributor), Bernal (Primary Contributor), Danny Glover (Primary Contributor), Gael Garcia (Primary Contributor), Julianne Moore (Primary Contributor), Mark Ruffalo (Primary Contributor) |
 |
Touching the Rock: An Experience of Blindness by John M. Hull (Author) Shortly after John Hull went blind, after years of struggling with failing vision, he had a dream in which he was trapped on a sinking ship, submerging into another, unimaginable world. The power of this calmly eloquent, intensely perceptive memoir lies in its thorough navigation of the world of blindness -- a world in which stairs are safe and snow is frightening, where food and sex lose much of their allure and playing with one's child may be agonizingly difficult. As he describes the ways in which blindness shapes his experience of his wife and children, of strangers helpful and hostile, and, above all, of his God, Hull becomes a witness in the highest, true sense. Touching the Rock is a book that will instruct, move, and profoundly transform anyone who reads it. "John Hull goes a... |
 |
Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening by Stephen Kuusisto (Author) A memoir of blindness and listening rendered with a poet's delight by the author of the acclaimed Planet of the Blind. Blind people are not casual listeners. Blind since birth, Stephen Kuusisto recounts with a poet's sense of detail the surprise that comes when we are actively listening to our surroundings. There is an art to eavesdropping. Like Annie Dillard's An American Childhood or Dorothy Allison's One or Two Things I Know for Sure, Kuusisto's memoir highlights periods of childhood when a writer first becomes aware of his curiosity and imagination. As a boy he listened to Caruso records in his grandmother's attic and spent hours in the New Hampshire woods learning the calls of birds. As a grown man the writer visits cities around the world in order to discover the art of sightseeing... |
 |
Blindness Starring: Lisa Lu, Vivian Wu, Han Chin, Joe Lando, Chin Han Directed By: Anna Chi Also With: Patrick Rousseau (Cinematographer), Richard 'Rico' Sands (Cinematographer), Anna Chi (Producer), Anna Chi (Writer), Brian Johnson (Editor), Michael A. Stevenson (Editor), Federico Faggin (Producer), Karen Koch (Producer), Jared Rappaport (Writer) A blind Asian-American woman lives with her son and his wife, a woman she is constantly at odds with. When an old family friend, who was sent to prison for murdering his father, breaks in holding the wife hostage and accusing the blind woman's dead husband of being the real killer, a family's deepest, darkest secrets are revealed. In this gripping psychological drama nothing is ever as it appears to be. |
| © 2010 BrightSurf.com |