News | Optometrists, Opticians
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Secrets of retinoblastoma uncovered
Thursday, February 2, 2012
A study published in Nature helped identify the mechanism that makes retinoblastoma – an eye tumour that is found in 5,000 children worldwide each year – so aggressive. Retinal cells are generally slow to form. They take years or even decades to multiply, often going undetected. However, retinoblastoma is more like the sprinter than the marathon runner. This highly aggressive cancer develops at a devastating speed in children....
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Better vision equals better grades
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Treatment of convergence insufficiency in children can help improve their performance at school, according to a recent study published in the January issue of Optometry and Vision Science. This study shows that improving the ability to focus on objects close up has a positive direct effect on the reduction of problems at school, on behaviour at school and on parental concern regarding the ability of their children to read and...
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Small treasures in our eyes
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Researchers have identified adult stem cells of the central nervous system at the back of the eye. This could make it easier to access cells needed for transplants in patients and could provide the key to certain eye diseases. The stem cells were found in the layer of cells known as the retinal pigment epithelium. They are able to self-renew and can therefore wake up, produce active cultures and form other cell types. “These...
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Transforming Canada’s health care system
Monday, January 30, 2012
The Canadian Medical Association continues to campaign for the adoption of a set of principles to guide the transformation of Canada’s health care system to better meet the needs of patients. According to a recent Angus Reid poll, a vast majority of Canadians would support the principles put forward by the CMA and the Canadian Nurses Association, which are available at http://www.cma.ca/advocacy/hctprinciples. When asked whether...
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What’s new at Vision Expo East 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Organizers of the upcoming Vision Expo East have announced that participants can expect to see a few new program features this year. Something to dream about this spring. The event will be held March 22–25, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Thanks to the renovations made to the building, the continuing education sessions will be located on Level 1, the same level as the Lenses & Processing...
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Hoya invests in Mississauga
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Hoya Canada is making a major capital investment to increase the capacity of freeform lens production at its facility in Mississauga (Ontario). The investment, the exact amount of which is secret though it is said to be in the “seven-figure” range, will help add equipment used in the manufacture and quality control of advanced freeform lenses. HOYA Vision Care Canada president David Pietrobon told ClipInfo.ca that this...
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Glaucomas that like cold weather
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
An American study recently published in Ophthalmology shows that the risk of developing exfoliation glaucoma is greater in the North than in the South. Almost all patients with exfoliation glaucoma have a mutated version of the LOXL1 gene. However, the environment also seems to play an important role in the development of the disease. The American study involved 120,000 Americans, whose place of residence was analyzed over a...
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Treating farsightedness in three months.... on the phone
Monday, January 23, 2012
The American company Ucansi, based in Israel, claims to have developed a smartphone app that treats farsightedness in three months. The GlassesOff application operates by stimulating the visual cortex. According to Ucansi, it “enhances the visual system’s image processing capabilities with the help of the Gabor patches, using the brain as optical lenses.” Consequently, the brain’s image processing speed and quality are...
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Trachoma: Achieving more with less
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Researchers from the University of California in San Francisco conducted a study in Ethiopia which showed that trachoma can be treated with smaller doses of antibiotics given every six months, instead of once a year. This discovery could treat twice the number of patients, particularly in areas where the high cost of drugs impedes treatment. In the 24 Ethiopian communities involved in the study, 40% to 50% of the children had...
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Unfortunate inheritance
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Researchers from the Ohio State University have discovered a hereditary syndrome that predisposes certain people to uveal melanoma and other types of cancer. According to the findings published in the Journal of Medical Genetics, an inherited mutation in the BAP1 gene causes the disease in a small group of patients. Study leader Dr. Frederick Davidorf says that this gene seems to play an important role in regulating cell growth...
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