New Observation on the Role of Rhodopsin and Retinal Degenerative Diseases

New observation on the behavior between rhodopsin and photoreceptor cells could help explain retinal degenerative diseases and find new ways to treat blindness.

Retinal degenerative diseases refers to diseases that causes the retina, the light-sensitive layer of tissue, lining the inner surface of the eye, to deteriorate. As it deteriorates, cells of the retina starts to die.

Of the cells affected by retinal degeneration, the photoreceptor cells are most important. Photoreceptor cells are neurons that convert light stimuli into signals for the brain to process.

Neurons are unlike some other cells as they do not divide or multiply. Damaged or dead photoreceptor cells can cause vision impairment and even blindness.

How photoreceptor cells die is still under study. It is believed that the biological pigment in photoreceptor cells of the retina called rhodopsin may have something to do with it. Rhodopsin is extremely sensitive to light, enabling vision in low-light conditions, and is responsible for triggering the eye to see light.

Studies Show That Brown Eyes Are Perceived To Be More Trustworthy Than Blue Eyes

A study on how the color of the eyes influence perception of trustworthiness showed that people tend to trust brown eyed people over the blue eyed.

The human brain interprets another person's face and expression to identify origin, emotional tendencies, health qualities, and some social information. This is called face perception. How the brain interprets the face would dictate how to socially interact with the person.

Face perception is domain specific, heritable and independent of the person's cognitive abilities. But it is influenced by environment, ethnicity, and to some extent, culture.

This process is highly adaptive in any social environment, especially for distinguishing a friend from a foe. Face perception provides information on the person's level of trustworthiness which helps the person succeed socially, economically, and in terms of extending his race, reproductively.

The amygdala (the part of the brain that is responsible for the "fight or flight" response) reacts to the information and sends the appropriate signal whether the person can be trusted or not. People with bilateral amygdala damage have problems judging a person's face and ultimately the person's trustworthiness.

The brain picks up many features of the face to process face perception. One part of the face that seems to have influence over how the face is interpreted are the eyes.

Rise In Diabetes Major Cause In Increase Of Visual Impairment Cases For Young People

Studies show that cases of visual impairment not due to need for glasses is significantly increasing because of the rise in type 2 diabetes.

Obesity is a major contributing factor on the rise of type 2 diabetes among young people. For the past few years, steps have been undertaken to control obesity even going as far as increasing the taxes levied on soda and sugar rich food.

Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes with 95% of diabetes cases. Obesity, physical inactivity and family history of the disease are the three prime causes of the disease. But with the prevalence of diabetes, also comes its underlying effects and consequences such as vision impairment and a weakened immune system.

Type 2 diabetes is an incurable disease where the body starts to reject its own produced insulin. Insulin is needed to control the glucose (blood sugar) levels in the body. Without insulin, complications such as hyperglycemia can occur.

Bionic Eye, Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, Gets Approval Recommendation From US FDA

The Argus II retinal prosthesis system is called the bionic eye. It is a retinal implant that is used to send image data straight to the brain. The California company, Second Sight, developed Argus II. Their goal with the Argus II is to provide sight to people who have been blinded from outer retinal degenerations, such as retinitis pigmentosa.

Retinitis Pigmentosa is an eye disease where the retina of the eye is damaged. The retina is locaated at the back of the eye and is responsible for converting light images to nerve signals that the brain can interpret.

The Argus II works by bypassing damaged photoreceptor tissues in the eye. The patient wears special eyeglasses that houses a small video camera, wireless transmitter, and is connected to a small computer worn by the person. The camera captures the image which the computer processes and converts into data that the brain can understand. The wireless transmitter then sends these signals to the eye implant which transmits it directly to the optic nerve, sending the signal directly to the brain.

The eye is implanted with a wireless receiver that receives the data from the glasses and an electrical array that sends it straight to the optic nerve. (See video below).

The optical system is named after the Greek mythological giant, Argus Panoptes. Argus had 100 eyes and was the servant of the goddess, Hera. Argus was considered all-seeing and was relied upon by Hera to stand guard and monitor things.

FDA recommends approval for Second Sight's Argus II retinal prosthesis system in the USA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Ophthalmic Devices Advisory Panel unanimously voted 19-0 that the probable benefit of the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System outweighs the risks to health, an important step toward the FDA market approval of this product manufactured by Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. In making this determination, the panel spent ten hours carefully reviewing and discussing data submitted from the international clinical trial of this innovative retinal implant that, for the first time ever, partially restores vision to patients who are blind due to Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP).

Eye Writing Technology Help People Unable To Communicate

A new technology described in the paper published online on July 26 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, might allow people who have almost completely lost the ability to move their arms or legs to communicate freely, by using their eyes to write in cursive. The eye-writing technology tricks the neuromuscular machinery into doing something that is usually impossible: to voluntarily produce smooth eye movements in arbitrary directions.

"Contrary to the current belief, we show that one can gain complete, voluntary control over smooth pursuit eye movements," says Jean Lorenceau of Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris. "The discovery also provides a tool to use smooth pursuit eye movements as a pencil to draw, write, or generate a signature."

The advance could be of great benefit for people deprived of limb movements, such as those with Lou Gehrig's disease (also known as ALS), the researchers say. It might also help to improve eye movement control in people with certain conditions such as dyslexia or ADHD and/or for experts, such as athletes or surgeons, whose activities strongly rely on eye movements.

Photoswitch Chemical AAQ May Restore Vision To The Blind

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is an eye disease that affects the macula. The macula is a part of the retina. The retina sends light from the eye to the brain, and the macula allows the person to see the fine detail of the image.

AMD blurs the sharp central vision needed for straight-ahead activities such as reading, sewing, and driving. There are two forms of AMD: dry macular degeneration and wet macular degeneration.

AMD is painless and the progression of AMD is slow that people notice little change in their vision. In others, the disease progresses faster and may lead to a loss of vision in both eyes. AMD is a common eye condition among people age 50 and older. It is a leading cause of vision loss in older adults.

Chemical makes blind mice see; compound holds promise for treating humans

A team of University of California, Berkeley, scientists in collaboration with researchers at the University of Munich and University of Washington in Seattle has discovered a chemical that temporarily restores some vision to blind mice, and is working on an improved compound that may someday allow people with degenerative blindness to see again.

The approach could eventually help those with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disease that is the most common inherited form of blindness, as well as age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of acquired blindness in the developed world. In both diseases, the light sensitive cells in the retina — the rods and cones — die, leaving the eye without functional photoreceptors.

The chemical, called AAQ, acts by making the remaining, normally "blind" cells in the retina sensitive to light, said lead researcher Richard Kramer, UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology. AAQ is a photoswitch that binds to protein ion channels on the surface of retinal cells. When switched on by light, AAQ alters the flow of ions through the channels and activates these neurons much the way rods and cones are activated by light.

Restoring Vision Through Stem Cell Regeneration of Retina and Optic Cup of the Eye

This is a human ES cell-derived optic cup generated in our self-organization culture (culture day 26). Bright green, neural retina; off green, pigment epithelium; blue, nuclei; red, active myosin (strong in the inner surface of pigment epithelium).
Credit: Nakano et al. Cell Stem Cell Volume 10 Issue 6

Stem cells are cells that have the ability to form into most types of biological cells in the body.

In terms of human stem cells, these cells can be made into various human cells and tissues. This technology has great potential to treat otherwise untreatable diseases and conditions. Stem cells can repair and even replace diseased cells in organs and tissues. It can even assist in organ regeneration.

Advances in stem cell research has expanded the procurement of stem cells. During the early years of stem cell study, the cells were harvested from human embryos which have caused it to be a moral issue since embryos can develop into a human fetus.

Today there are processes in gathering stem cells that generate four types of stem cells, these are:

1. Embryonic Stem Cell
2. Nuclear Transplant Stem Cell
3. Parthenote Stem Cell
4. Induced Stem Cell

The first three types require a fertilized egg cell to form. Induced stem cells are generated by modifying the genetic structure of a normal cell to activate its stem cell properties.

Scientists see new hope for restoring vision with stem cell help

Human-derived stem cells can spontaneously form the tissue that develops into the part of the eye that allows us to see, according to a study published by Cell Press in the 5th anniversary issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell. Transplantation of this 3D tissue in the future could help patients with visual impairments see clearly.

"This is an important milestone for a new generation of regenerative medicine," says senior study author Yoshiki Sasai of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology. "Our approach opens a new avenue to the use of human stem cell-derived complex tissues for therapy, as well as for other medical studies related to pathogenesis and drug discovery."

Color of Eyes May Affect Risk of Skin Conditions Like Melanoma and Vitiligo

A study shows that melanoma and vitiligo, both skin conditions, may be affected by what color eyes a person has.

Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer and is the leading cause of death from skin disease. 75% of deaths from skin cancers is caused by Melanoma.

Melanoma is caused by changes in melanocytes, turning to malignant tumors. Melanocytes are skin cells that produces melanin, a skin pigment. The melanin in the cells is responsible for the color of the skin and hair.

Although very dangerous, melanoma is not as common as other skin cancers.

Vitiligo

Vitiligo is a skin condition that results in depigmentation. Depigmentation are irregular coloration or white patches in some areas of skin. This is caused by a loss of brown color or pigment from areas of skin affected.

It is the complete loss of melanin in the skin.

This occurs when the immune starts to destroys melanocytes which are responsible for the coloration of the skin. This condition is believed to be an autoimmune problem but some studies suggest it is also an acquired condition. The cause of vitiligo is still unknown.

Vitiligo occues in the same areas of the face or it may appear in patches. With vitiligo, the skin maintains the same texture but appears flat and depigmented.

Eye color may indicate risk for serious skin conditions

Eye color may be an indicator of whether a person is high-risk for certain serious skin conditions. A study, led by the University of Colorado School of Medicine, shows people with blue eyes are less likely to have vitiligo. It then follows, according to scientists, that people with brown eyes may be less likely to have melanoma. Vitiligo is an autoimmune skin disease in which pigment loss results in irregular white patches of skin and hair. Melanoma is the most dangerous kind of skin cancer.

Researchers Report Breakthrough in the Prevention of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is an eye disease. AMD affects the macula, a part of the retina. The retina sends light from the eye to the brain, and the macula allows the person to see the fine detail of the image.

What AMD does is it blurs the sharp central vision needed for straight-ahead activities such as reading, sewing, and driving. There are two forms of age-related macular degeneration: dry macular degeneration and wet macular degeneration.

AMD is painless and the progression of AMD is slow that people notice little change in their vision. In others, the disease progresses faster and may lead to a loss of vision in both eyes. AMD is a common eye condition among people age 50 and older. It is a leading cause of vision loss in older adults.

Controlling an inflammatory component IL-18 in age-related macular degeneration could prevent the development of the disease

Scientists at Trinity College Dublin have discovered that a part of the immune system called the inflammasome is involved in regulating the development of one of the most common forms of blindness, called Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). They have discovered that controlling an inflammatory component IL-18, in cases of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) could prevent the development of the disease.

The disease AMD involves loss of central vision, people with advanced disease being unable to read, watch TV, enjoy the cinema, drive, or use a computer − in short, everyday living becomes very difficult. The research, which is published this week in the international medical journal, Nature Medicine, is supported by Science Foundation Ireland, the American Health Assistance Foundation (AHAF), the Health Research Board (HRB) and Fighting Blindness Ireland.

Osteoporosis Medication May Cause Serious Eye Disease

A study suggests that first time users of a drug used to prevent osteoporosis may increase the risk of serious eye disease.

Osteoporosis is a disease of the bones where the bone tissue thins and bone density decreases over time. This leads to an increased risk of bone fracture. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Osteoporosis as a bone mineral density that is 2.5 standard deviations or more below the mean peak bone mass (average of young, healthy adults) as measured by DXA; the term "established osteoporosis" includes the presence of a fragility fracture.

Osteoporosis is the most common type of bone disease.

It is estimated that about 1 out of 5 American women over the age of 50 have osteoporosis. Around 50% of all women over the age of 50 will have a fracture of the hip, wrist, or vertebra (bones of the spine).

Osteoporosis occurs when the body fails to form enough new bone, when too much old bone is reabsorbed by the body, or both.

Some causes for osteoporosis are:

• Long periods of bed confinement
• Chronic rheumatoid arthritis, chronic kidney disease, eating disorders
• Taking corticosteroid medications (prednisone, methylprednisolone) every day for more than 3 months, or taking some antiseizure drugs
• Hyperparathyroidism
• Vitamin D deficiency

Some medications that are used to treat osteoporosis are:

• Bisphosphonates - primary drugs used to both prevent and treat osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.
• Calcitonin - slows the rate of bone loss and relieves bone pain.
• Parathyroid Hormone - Teriparatide (Forteo) is approved for the treatment of postmenopausal women who have severe osteoporosis and are considered at high risk for fractures.
• Raloxifene (Evista) - used for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. Raloxifene is similar to the breast cancer drug tamoxifen

Increased Risk of Eye Disease

Drugs that are commonly used to prevent osteoporosis may increase the risk of serious inflammatory eye disease in first-time users, found an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Oral bisphosphonates, the most commonly prescribed class of drugs used to prevent osteoporosis, have been linked to adverse events such as unusual fractures, irregular heartbeat, and esophageal and colon cancer. Some case reports have shown an association between these drugs and anterior uveitis and scleritis, inflammatory eye diseases that can seriously affect vision.

Eye Treatment to Protect Against Glaucoma Being Studied

Scientists demonstrate that administration of a therapeutically relevant x-ray treatment to a single eye can protect it against glaucoma in the future.

Glaucoma is a disorder that pertains to a group of eye conditions that damages the optic nerve. It is characterized by the dysfunction and loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). A retinal ganglion cell (RGC) is a type of neuron located near the inner surface (the ganglion cell layer) of the retina of the eye. The RGC carries visual information from the eye to the brain.

Glaucoma is a leading cause of visual loss. It is a complex disease that is characterized by the loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and their axons. Major risk factors include older age and higher intraocular pressure (IOP). Current treatments act to lower IOP but are not effective in many cases. Although glaucoma is estimated to affect over 60 million people, more work is needed to understand the molecular mechanisms that damage RGCs.

There are four major types of Glaucoma:

• Open-angle (chronic) glaucoma: The most common type of glaucoma and occurs over time. The IOP pushes on the optic nerve.
  
• Angle-closure (acute) glaucoma: Treated as an emergency, this type of glaucoma occurs when the exit of the aqueous humor fluid is suddenly blocked. This causes a quick, severe, and painful rise in the pressure in the eye.
  
• Congenital glaucoma: Present at birth and is caused by abnormal eye development.
  
• Secondary glaucoma: Caused by drugs, disease, and trauma.

Treatment for glaucoma involves relieving the intraocular pressure on the optic nerve. Depending on the type of glaucoma, treatment may be through eye drops, laser therapy (iridotomy), or surgery.

Researchers Study Visual Intelligence Through Facebook Users

What is visual intelligence?

Visual intelligence put simply is being "picture smart". It is the ability to recreate and manipulate and modify ones perception of the world in one's mind visually.

It is the spatial understanding of shapes, patterns, designs, and colors. Visual intelligence refers to the ability to reproduce the outer world environment internally in one's mind through images. Chess players, painters, architects, sculptors, theoretical physicists, war strategists, navigators, illusionists, graphic artists, designers, cartographers, and film makers are said to have enhanced visual intelligence.

A team of researchers from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) have developed a web application to test the visual intelligence of Facebook users through the social network. The new platform will enable researchers to test different cognitive skills and to obtain large amounts of data that determine what parameters affect the brain's visual capacity.

Any Facebook user can download this application (available in both Spanish and English languages), which consists of different tests for measuring visual intelligence and calculation ability.

Gonzalo García de Polavieja, CSIC researcher and head of the enquiry who works for Cajal Institute states: "It is the first time that we use a social network for a cognitive research. This will enable us to obtain large amounts of information on the cognitive capacity of Internet users worldwide. Once we collect that information, we will analyze it in order to obtain innovative models and results on visual ability".

New Eye Scan Data Uncovers How Menus are Read

Restaurants have long believed that there is a correct way to design a menu. The assumption is that there are certain areas of the menu that consumers will look at first and longer (sweet spots) than other areas of the menu. A SF State researchers employed eyetracking technology (scanpaths) to determine how consumers really read a restaurant menu.

The new study by SF State researcher Sybil Yang, assistant professor of hospitality and tourism management, suggests that on average diners read menus sequentially like a book, and that their gaze doesn't linger noticeably longer over any particular location on the menu. The finding goes against decades of conventional wisdom in the restaurant business that suggests there is a menu "sweet spot" where diners look the longest.

Restaurants place the items they hope to sell the most in this fabled sweet spot, lying just above the midline on the right-hand page. The sweet spot is just one strategy, along with colorful text and highlighted boxes, which menu designers use to catch a diner's wandering eye, said Yang.

It's an idea with surprisingly little data behind it, Yang found out. While researchers have studied how people scan a Web page or textbook, there are very few empirical studies of menu reading. Menu reading might be quite different from reading in other contexts, Yang pointed out, "because in a restaurant you have an audience with the motivation to read the entire thing."

Digital Contact Lens for Heads Up Display and Augmented Reality

Movies and computer games have long used the Heads Up Display (HUD). Usually in movies, these are used to depict futuristic weapon systems or devices. Movies like Terminator, Iron Man and even the old Robocop movies have shown the HUD.

In computer games, those information on the screen help the player know what is going on during the game.

A head-up display or heads-up display (HUD) is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. In real life applications, most would recognize the HUD from videos of jet fighters. Those are the things the pilot sees superimposed to his helmet visor or screen.

They were initially developed for use in assisting pilots flying military aircraft and other military applications. Now, HUDs can be seen used in commercial aircraft, automobiles, and other applications.

Researchers from the University of Washington, Seattle, and Aalto University in Finland constructed a device that could one day lead to this kind of technology without the use of heavy bulky devices. They constructed a computerized single-pixel contact lens.

Babak Parviz is from the University of Washington and the lead researcher of the study.

Video: An imagining of how HUD can seamlessly integrate into our daily lives.

Parviz says, "Our group has expertise in miniaturization and integration of devices into unconventional substrates. The contact lens is a perfect platform for this. We also wanted to explore if it is possible to have a single personal display instead of numerous devices with numerous displays per person,"

The lens display consists of an antenna to gather power from an external source, an integrated circuit to store this energy, and a transparent sapphire chip containing a single blue LED. According to Parviz, this device does not affect the function as a normal contact lens in any way. It feels like a normal contact lens.

The device could overlay computer data onto what the person is seeing, making it easy to access information instantly from platforms such as laptops, computers, and mobile phones. It could also be linked to a person's body monitor or biosensor gather information and alert the wearer to any changes in his body.

At the moment, the device is in its early stages. The researchers are looking into making improvements that will allow a fully functional, remotely powered, high-resolution display on the lens. They also need to resolve the display of text characters on the display.

Parviz explains, "We still need to perfect the focusing mechanism further before we can do this if the text is arbitrary. Pre-determined text is a lot easier..."

Parviz and team are not the only ones looking into this technology. Electrical Engineering students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst are also developing a Personal Head-Up Display. One such design is a HUD in skiing goggles.