Google continues its development of an Internet-connected contact lens, and a recent patent shows that this initiative is increasingly ambitious.

 

Regular readers of ClipInfo.ca have known since February that Google is working on contact lenses that could monitor glucose rates in diabetics (http://infoclip.ca/News/4167/72/A-Google-contact-lens-that-monitors-glucose-levels/d%2Cnouvelles ). New information now suggests that the lenses are even more sophisticated.

 

They contain a camera that the wearer could operate with a simple blink of the eye. According to Google, it would be possible to add an extremely thin camera without having to add to the thickness of the lens. The camera would naturally follow the wearer’s line of sight without obstructing his or her view. The lens could then analyze and detect faces, objects or colours.

 

The device could also be extremely helpful for blind people. The camera, for example, could identify whether it is safe to cross the street and then relay that information to a connected  smartphone that would read the message out loud.

 

In the end, these new lenses could do essentially the same thing as Google Glass, while being more subtle.

Source:

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2014/04/14/smart-contact-lens-with-built-in-micro-camera-patented-by-google/

 

Children who have undergone bone marrow transplantation have a higher risk of developing ocular complications and should receive special follow-up from eyecare professionals.

 

Researchers from Memphis recently presented a study on the topic to the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. Their study involved 63 girls and 85 boys who had an ophthalmic examination before bone marrow transplantation between 1995 and 2009.

 

At a mean follow-up of 3.8 years, 40 (27.5%) of the children developed cataracts and 4 (10%) required cataract surgery. The risk for cataract development increased with length of survival after transplantation. Patients who survived 15 years after surgery had a 42.88% risk of developing a cataract.

 

In addition, 38.5% of patients had developed dry eye syndrome.

 

“With medical advances, children requiring bone marrow transplant have increasing survival rates,” said first author Julie Calderwood. “It’s important for pediatric and general ophthalmologists to be aware that potential ocular complications can have a long-term impact.”

Source:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/823528

 

 

A team of scientists from Trinity College Dublin, in Ireland, have made a major breakthrough that could lead to new AMD therapies.

 

The scientists found that a component of the immune system called IL-18 acts as a guardian of eyesight by suppressing the production of damaging blood vessels behind the retina at the back of the eye. In addition, experiments conducted on pre-clinical models showed that IL-18 can be administered in a non-invasive way, which could represent a major improvement on the current therapeutic options that are available to patients.

 

“We were initially concerned that IL-18 might cause damage to the sensitive cells of the retina, because it is typically linked to inflammation,” explained Sarah Doyle, lead author of the paper published in Science Translational Medicine. “But surprisingly we found that low doses had no adverse effects on the retina and yet still suppressed abnormal blood vessel growth.”

 

The only therapeutic options available today for wet AMD are intraocular injections of antibodies. However, IL-18 could produce the same results through intravenous injections, according to preclinical study findings.

Sources:

http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/6/230/230ra44

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140402144310.htm

 

Optrafair, the British optical-eyewear show was held for the first time in London this year.

 

Held from April 11 to 13 in West Kensington, the Optrafair London debut attracted 4,616 attendees. They were able to see 500 brands presented by 150 exhibitors. The organizers, The Federation of Manufacturing Opticians (FMO), the journal The Optician and Reed Exhibitions were all pleased with the results.

 

The event, which was held in Birmingham for over 40 years, will now alternate between the two cities. This decision is not unrelated to rival organizations’ attempts to hold a show in London, providing competition for Optrafair. The FMO said its efforts to move the show to West Kensington means the profession and the industry can be confident that a world-class event will now take place in London as well and will provide a showcase for UK optical brands.

 

In 2013, The Eye Show London was scheduled to be held February 12 to 14, but was cancelled two weeks before its official opening by organizer Emergexpo. Despite the letdown, this seems to have alerted Optrafair organizers to the urgent need for a show in London.

 

Optrafair 2015 will be held April 13–15 in Birmingham.

Sources:

http://www.fmo.co.uk/news.html

http://www.opticianonline.net/Articles/2014/04/15/32434/Optrafair+London+visitor+numbers+announced.htm

http://www.insightnews.com.au/_blog/NEWS_NOW!/post/The_Eye_Show_in_London_collapses/

http://www.visionmonday.com/latest-news/article/optrafair-london-2014-debuts-in-west-kensington-1/

 

 

 

 

 

A US study shows that young Caucasian boys are at the highest risk of being colour blind.

 

Researchers from the Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease Study Group tested 4,005 California children between three and six years of age. For girls, the rate of prevalence ranged from 0% to 0.5%, which is too low to compare rates among ethnic groups.

 

However, among the boys, the study findings highlighted certain trends. The researchers found the following prevalence by ethnicity for boys:

 

• 5.6% of Caucasians;
• 3.1% of Asians;
• 2.6% of Hispanics;
• 1.4% of African-Americans.

 

According to the researchers, this shows the importance of screening children early on for this vision deficiency. It is all the more important because it can have a negative impact on a child’s school performance and ability to learn. An early diagnosis will help them benefit from appropriate learning strategies and tools.

 

The study findings were published in the journal Ophthalmology.

Sources:

http://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(14)00049-9/abstract

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140403084243.htm