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THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR EYE AND VISION RESEARCH

E-ZINE Volume 2, Number 2 (May 2006)

Welcome to the second edition of the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research's (NAEVR) E-Zine, a quarterly electronic publication that highlights breakthrough eye and vision research funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI). The nation's investment in the NEI results in new treatments and therapies to not only stabilize vision loss but to restore it, or ultimately prevent the onset of eye disease. Vision impairment and eye disease currently cost the United States $68 billion annually in healthcare expenditures, reduced productivity, and diminished quality of life.

In this edition:

MAY IS NEI’S HEALTHY VISION MONTH: REDUCING WORKPLACE EYE INJURY

Thanks NEI for Healthy Vision Month! The annual May observance is coordinated by NEI and co-sponsored this year along with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the National Safety Council.

Healthy Vision Month is devoted to promoting the vision objectives of Healthy Vision 2010, which is a part of the national Healthy People 2010 health promotion and disease prevention initiative. Healthy Vision 2010 identifies the most significant preventable threats to eye health and establishes national goals to reduce these threats.

Eye Safety at Work is Everyone’s Business is the theme for Healthy Vision Month 2006. Each day, more than 2,000 U.S. workers are treated for an eye injury sustained on the job. Healthy Vision Month 2006 focuses "on what employers and employees can do to reduce the number of job-related eye injuries," announced NEI Director Paul A. Sieving, M.D., Ph.D.

Many eye injuries happen because workers are wearing either no eye protection, the wrong type of eye protection, or ill-fitting eye protection. Common workplace eye hazards include fragments of metal, wood, concrete, and other building materials; windborne dust and debris; splashed chemicals and molten metal; hot sparks; and optical radiation.

"Eye safety should receive continuing attention in workplace education programs," Dr. Sieving notes. "Procedures for handling eye injuries should be established and reinforced."

Research shows that poor vision also affects work safety. Dr. Sieving adds that, "Workers should have a comprehensive eye examination on a regular basis to help maintain healthy vision, a first step in avoiding injuries on the job."

Future themes for NEI’s Healthy Vision Month are impairment due to glaucoma (2007), protective eyewear (2008), vision screening for children (2009), and impairment due to refractive error (2010).

For more information about Healthy Vision 2010, please visit http://www.healthyvision2010.org/.

NEI STUDY FINDS MOST AMERICANS SEE WELL: MAJORITY OF THE 14 MILLION WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT COULD ACHIEVE GOOD VISION

Not since the mid-1970s have we had a count of the number of people in the US who are visually impaired. Now, a study reported in the May 10, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association presents the current data, plus recommendations for addressing this important issue. The study was designed and supported by the National Eye Institute.

The findings of the study are straightforward:

  • Most Americans (94%) aged 12 and older see well.
  • The remaining 6%, or 14 million, are visually impaired.
  • Of the 14 million, 11 million could achieve good vision with proper eyeglasses or contact lenses.

Teenagers, people with diabetes, Hispanics, and people who are economically disadvantaged were found to have the highest rate of uncorrected visual impairment.

Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., director of the NIH, finds optimism in the study findings. "This…confirms that uncorrected visual impairment is a major public health problem. The good news is that we now have information on the extent of visual impairment in the United States that will be available to policymakers as they seek to address health care issues at the local, state, and national levels."

The authors of the study offer concrete recommendations to health care professionals, patients, and policymakers:

  • Health care professionals should talk to their patients about the importance of eye health and encourage them to participate in routine vision screenings and eye examinations.
  • People who already wear eyeglasses or contact lenses should return to their eye care professional for periodic eye examinations.
  • Efforts to increase public awareness about the importance of routine eye examinations should be undertaken.
  • Vision screening opportunities for the public should be expanded.

A comment by NEI’s epidemiology branch chief Mary Frances Cotch, Ph.D., who is one of the authors of the study, helps drive the point home. "Providing corrective lenses to people who need them is an important public health issue,” says Cotch, “with implications for safety and quality of life." The findings support NEI’s 2006 Healthy Vision Month focus on reducing workplace eye injury.

Details of the study, related fact sheets, and additional support materials are provided by NEI, http://www.nei.nih.gov/CanWeSee/.

BLIND MICE RECOVER VISUAL RESPONSE FOLLOWING TREATMENT WITH PROTEIN FROM GREEN ALGAE

Innovative research funded by the NEI shows that the brain can react to light even when cells of the eye that normally detect light are missing, at least in mice with a condition that resembles an inherited retinal disorder in humans called retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

RP affects about 100,000 people in the U.S. It is typically diagnosed in adolescents and young adults. Most people with RP are legally blind by age 40.

The missing cells of the eye are called photoreceptors. They normally reside by the many millions in the eye’s retina. Sight is impossible without them—or so we’ve always thought. Now, researchers from Wayne State University School of Medicine have shown that another type of retinal cell can be coaxed into responding to light.

The researchers discovered the malleability of the cells by inserting a light-absorbing protein from green algae into the cell wall. Remarkably, the cells became light sensitive. Better yet, the signal that the light evoked traveled to the visual cortex, the part of the brain where we actually "see" what is in front of us. The researchers cannot say if the mice regained usable vision. This will require additional study and technical refinements.

Dr. Paul Sieving, director of the NEI, says he finds the research "compelling."

"This is a clever approach that offers the possibility of some extent of vision restoration at some time in the future," he adds. RP is not the only retinal condition that could be impacted. The research could ultimately help patients with other forms of retinal degenerative disease.

A report of this research was published in the April 2006 issue of the peer-reviewed scientific journal Neuron.