Natural Eye Care Blog: News & Research on Vision

Nerve Cells Adapt to Changing Images

Study could lead to new therapies to help improve sight following trauma or stroke

University of Texas neuroscientists having been looking at how nerve cells in the visual cortex of the brain handle and adapt to images as they change.

Researchers evaluated the results of stimulating the visual cortex upon optic neurons whose electrical activity was measured at the same time in lab animals. With the animal viewing movies they monitored the behavior of visual cortex neurons as the images changed.

Results showed that short exposure or adaptation to a fixed visual stimulus caused changes in how much individual neurons cooperated with each other and in so doing improved the efficiency of the cells to encode information for interpretation by the brain.

The authors of the study wrote that how we see our environment depends upon the ability of the neural networks of our brain and body to adapt very quickly to changes in what we perceive. Scientists are increasingly realizing that how our neural networks are structured and how they communicate is itself an adaptive process – our nerve cells change how they respond appropriately depending on what is in our sensory environment – converting ” electrical impulses in the brain into thoughts, memories and decisions”.

Source: “Populations Of Brain Cells Adapt To Changing Images,” Dragoi, et al., Nature 452, 220-224 (13 March 2008).

Contact Lenses Related to Ulcers of the Cornea

contact lens and cornea ulcers An increase in the use of contact lenses may be making ulcers of the cornea twice as common. A study of over a million Californians showed that people who wore contact lenses were 9 times more likely to suffer from corneal ulcers. Many people do not follow basic contact lens safety principles.

Researcher Dr. David Gritz of Montefiore Medical Center in New York told Reuters Health: “As new contact lens innovations become available, and people hear that they can wear these contact lenses for weeks or a month without taking them off, they do just that. They don’t realize the dramatic increase in risk it causes them. Our eyes do need breaks from contact lens wear.” He went on to say, “Contact lenses can even act as a bandage over eye irritation, covering up symptoms.”

People infected with HIV were also nine times more likely to develop the condition than those who were HIV negative.

Follow our Vision Wellness Protocol and prevent ulcers of the cornea and other eye conditions by taking care of your entire body.

Vitamin A Deficiency Causes Blindness; Prevent Night Blindness With Nutrition

Vitamin A deficiency is uncommon in the U.S., but it affects many people in the developing world. One of first symptoms of a vitamin A deficiency is night blindness, which, if untreated can develop into full scale blindness. According to the World Health Organization Report on Vitamin A Deficiency, night blindness is estimated to affect 5.2 million preschool-age children and 9.8 million pregnant women around the globe.

Writing on a case in The Lancet, doctors who treated a pregnant woman who came to the emergency room after several weeks of progressive sight loss described this particular case, “Vitamin A deficiency can be secondary to poor intestinal absorption due to weight loss surgery, Crohn’s disease or pancreatic dysfunction. Our patient had anorexia nervosa and had limited her diet to white onions, white potatoes, and red meat for the past 7 years.”

We usually recommend taking vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene, which converts to vitamin A with a small amount of fat in the diet. Food sources of vitamin A include: yellow and orange vegetables (including yams, carrots, mangoes, cantaloupe, apricots, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes), and asparagus, spinach, kale, bok choy. If you wish for additional supplementation, the recommended dose is approximately 15,000 to 25,000 I.U. of beta-carotene daily.

Learn more about food as sources of vital nutrients at our website.

Smokers’ Life: How Smoking Changes Your Life (Infographic)

From before birth to the end of your life, smoking has a radical, nasty effect on your life: not only your health, but your social and mental life as well. It impacts every aspect of your life – your vision, your health, your happiness – from the time in the womb until your old age.

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7 Ways to Wreck Your Vision

You make bad health decisions every day – and you’re likely aware of them. You know the impact of two slices of cake after an already big meal, neglecting regular workouts in favor of a sedentary lifestyle, and drinking that second scotch sour. But what about the small choices you make every day that impact your eye health? Some bad habits you know, and you’re probably blissfully unaware of the others.

If you knew exactly how your bad eye care habits impact your vision, would you change your routine? Get ready to see clearly (the error of your ways). Read on to learn seven things you do every day that can damage your vision.

Continue reading “7 Ways to Wreck Your Vision”

Early Eye Disease Detection Improved with MIT Hand-Held Device

handheld eye scanner Currently, most eye disease detection equipment is only available in an optometrist’s office. A new handheld optical device could allow general practitioners to quickly screen all patients for eye disease such as glaucoma and macular degeneration. These visually devastating diseases are most easily treated or controlled in their early stages. The new high-speed prototypes were developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The idea of a handheld, easy-to-use scanner is not new. However, the new device combines ultrahigh-speed Continue reading “Early Eye Disease Detection Improved with MIT Hand-Held Device”

Hyperspectral Photography May Detect ARMD and Diabetic Retinopathy Sooner

eye exam Devastating eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy may be detectable sooner with a new camera being developed by ophthalmologist Jean-Daniel Arbour and Photon Etc. in Canada. The camera is designed to detect changes at the metabolic level, even before anatomical changes are visible. It uses hyperspectral photography, which utilizes all wavelengths to detect more details.

Current technology uses light to see the retina in the back of the eye, and the blood vessels flowing out of the optic nerve. But the disease Continue reading “Hyperspectral Photography May Detect ARMD and Diabetic Retinopathy Sooner”

The six patients had severe vision loss from choroideremia, a form of retinopathy that is genetic. The disease is fairly rare and manifests only in males. The cells at the back of the eye gradually die, leading to gradual vision loss and ultimately, Continue reading “Oxford Eye Surgeons use Gene Therapy to Treat Eye Disease”