Eyesight hope for stroke victims
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Scientists in Aberdeen say a breakthrough could help improve the vision of thousands of stroke victims.
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Genetic breakthroughs and an unlikely drug offer hope for a disease ravaging the eyes of an aging population.
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(InfoWorld) - Playing high-action video games for a few hours each day can improve your vision, according to researchers in the U.S. But an eye expert in the U.K. called their findings into question. The researchers from the University of Rochester in New York found that people who play video games for a few hours a day over the course of a month can improve certain aspects of their vision by about 20 percent. Playing the games changes the pathways in the brain responsible for visual processing, as the brain adapts to the additional pressure that playing such games puts on the visual system, they said. The researchers found a group of students who played little or no video games -- which was a challenge in itself -- and gave them a test that measured how well they could discern the orientation of a letter "T" within a crowd of other, distracting symbols. They then divided the students into two groups. One group was told to play the shoot-em-up game "Unreal Tournament" for an hour each day for a month, while a control group played "Tetris," a less visually complex game. After about a month, the students playing the action game could determine the orientation of the "T" much more easily than before, while the Tetris players showed no improvement, the researchers said. The T test measures visual acuity, or the clarity of a person's vision, according to the researchers, who are Daphne Bavelier, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences, and graduate student Shawn Green. That means playing video games should improve your ability to identify letters on a standard eye-test, they said. An optometry expert in the U.K. disagreed, however. The American researchers are confusing visual acuity with visual search, which is what the T test really measures, according to Maggie Woodhouse, a senior lecturer in the School of Optometry and Vision Sciences at Cardiff University. "The test they're using is not for visual acuity," she said after being told of the research. "They've trained their students to make rapid eye movements and to scan large areas to find objects of interest. ... That is visual search." There may indeed be a benefit from playing high-action video games, she said, but it will be in the ability to locate objects in a large or crowded area. That means it could help you pick out a friend's face at a football game, or play a fast-moving sport like ice hockey. The improvement may not last for very long, however, and Woodhouse seemed to consider the overall impact of video games a negative one. Playing for too long can cause eye strain, she said. She also said playing video games "gives you brain damage," although that seemed to be her subjective view rather than a scientific one. The researchers at Rochester University could not immediately be reached for comment. They said the results of their test suggest that people with visual defects could improve their visual acuity with special software that mimics the need to identify objects quickly in an action game. The research is due to appear in next week's Psychological Science journal.
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NEW YORK  - Inexpensive video game   components can be adapted for use in rehabilitation of the hand   in people who have suffered a stroke, according to a research   showcased at the International Workshop on Virtual   Rehabilitation in New York.
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(National-NBC) Sept. 3, 2004 - An experimental implantable contact lens is showing promise in helping nearsighted people see without glasses.
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[Health India]: London, Nov 16 : A new research has found that constant use of computers may be linked to the development of a progressive eye disease, specially in shortsighted people, which eventually leads to blindness, according to a report published
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Scientists discover how to make eye cells sensitive to light, offering hopes of treatments for blindness.
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Biotech company Eyetech Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it is optimistic about the Food and Drug Administration&#39;s advisory panel review for its age-related blindness treatment Macugen.
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If you are short sighted and spend nine hours or more each day in front of your computer screen you are significantly increasing your chances of developing glaucoma - an eye disease which can eventually make you blind.
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NEW YORK  - Nearly one-quarter of elderly  people undergoing rehabilitation following hip fracture have  failing eyesight, and this impairment appears to impede their  recovery, according to new research.
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A sharp-eyed observation by an emergency room nurse has led to the possibility of a new way to limit the damage suffered by people who have strokes, researchers report.
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An "electronic eye" that can be fitted to a pair of glasses could help the blind cross roads more safely, scientists said on Friday.
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From diagnosis to treatment to rehabilitation to preventing it altogether, a stroke is a litany of missed opportunities.
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It's a tiny vacuum cleaner for the brain: A new treatment for stroke victims promises to suction out clogged arteries in hopes of stopping the brain attack before it does permanent harm
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It's a tiny vacuum cleaner for the brain: A new treatment for stroke victims promises to suction out clogged arteries in hopes of stopping the brain attack before it does permanent harm.
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By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.  Feb. 9--Geerat Vermeij pulls one shell, then another, from a nest of plastic boxes, rarely pausing to check the Braille labels curled beside them. His long fingers dart into each shell's opening.
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A U.S. advisory panel on Friday will review data on an experimental drug that is injected into the eye to stop vision loss in elderly patients at risk of going blind.