Virginia Tech Students Advancing the Possibilities with SolidWorks 3D CAD Software

SolidWorks 3D CAD Software Helps Enable Launch of SideEyes, a Potentially Life-Saving Infrared Alert System

Passionate about making God’s Word available, OM Moldova’s literature ministry offers audio-Bibles to those who cannot read.

Shaktimaan, which originally aired in 1997 on Doordarshan, became one of the most popular superhero shows in India

Title: Overconfident Folks May Blind Others to Their Real Abilities
Category: Health News
Created: 8/27/2014 2:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 8/28/2014 12:00:00 AM

Vision is initiated by capturing photons in highly specialized sensory cilia known as the photoreceptor outer segment. Because of its lipid and protein composition, the outer segments are prone to photo-oxidation, requiring photoreceptors to have robust antioxidant defenses and high metabolic synthesis rates to regenerate the outer segments every 10 days. Both processes required high levels of glucose uptake and utilization. Retinitis pigmentosa is a prevalent form of inherited retinal degeneration characterized by initial loss of low-light vision caused by the death of rod photoreceptors. In this disease, rods die as a direct effect of an inherited mutation. Following the loss of rods, cones eventually degenerate, resulting in complete blindness. The progression of vision loss in retinitis pigmentosa suggested that rod photoreceptors were necessary to maintain healthy cones. We identified a protein secreted by rods that functions to promote cone survival, and we named it rod-derived cone viability factor (RdCVF). RdCVF is encoded by an alternative splice product of the nucleoredoxin-like 1 (NXNL1) gene, and RdCVF was found to accelerate the uptake of glucose by cones. Without RdCVF, cones eventually die because of compromised glucose uptake and utilization. The NXNL1 gene also encodes for the thioredoxin RdCVFL, which reduces cysteines in photoreceptor proteins that are oxidized, providing a defense against radical oxygen species. We will review here the main steps of discovering this novel intercellular signaling currently under translation as a broad-spectrum treatment for retinitis pigmentosa.

A team at the University of Technology Sydney has developed an assistive technology for blind people and those with low vision. The system consists of glasses that can view their surroundings through an on-board camera, appraise the objects nearby using computer vision technology, and then play a sound that provides a cue for the wearer […]

Neuralink’s visual prosthesis Blindsight has been designated a breakthrough device by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which potentially sets the technology on a fast track to approval.

In confirming the news, an FDA spokesperson emphasized that the designation does not mean that Blindsight is yet considered safe or effective. Technologies in the program have potential to improve the current standard of care and are novel compared to what’s available on the market, but the devices still have to go through full clinical trials before seeking FDA approval.

Still, the announcement is a sign that Neuralink is moving closer to testing Blindsight in human patients. The company is recruiting people with vision loss for studies in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Visual prostheses work by capturing visual information with a video camera, typically attached to glasses or a headset. Then a processor converts the data to an electrical signal that can be relayed to the nervous system. Retinal implants have been a common approach, with electrodes feeding the signal to nerves in the retina, at the back of the eye, from where it travels on to the brain. But Blindsight uses a brain implant to send the signal directly to neurons in the visual cortex.

In recent years, other companies developing artificial vision prosthetics have reached clinical research trials or beyond, only to struggle financially, leaving patients without support. Some of these technologies live on with new backing: Second Sight’s Orion cortical implant project is now in a clinical trial with Cortigent, and Pixium Vision’s Prima system is now owned by Science, with ex-Neuralink founder Max Hodak at the helm. No company has yet commercialized a visual prosthetic that uses a brain implant.

Elon Musk’s Claims About Blindsight

Very little information about Blindsight is publicly available. As of this writing, there is no official Blindsight page on the Neuralink website, and Neuralink did not respond to requests for comment. It’s also unclear how exactly Blindsight relates to a brain-computer interface that Neuralink has already implanted in two people with paralysis, who use their devices to control computer cursors.

Experts who spoke with IEEE Spectrum felt that, if judged against the strong claims made by Neuralink’s billionaire co-founder Elon Musk, Blindsight will almost certainly disappoint. However, some were still open to the possibility that Neuralink could successfully bring a device to market that can help people with vision loss, albeit with less dramatic effects on their sense of sight. While Musk’s personal fortune could help Blindsight weather difficulties that would end other projects, experts did not feel it was a guarantee of success.

After Neuralink announced on X (formerly Twitter) that Blindsight had received the breakthrough device designation, Musk wrote:

The Blindsight device from Neuralink will enable even those who have lost both eyes and their optic nerve to see.

Provided the visual cortex is intact, it will even enable those who have been blind from birth to see for the first time.

To set expectations correctly, the vision will be at first be [sic] low resolution, like Atari graphics, but eventually it has the potential be [sic] better than natural vision and enable you to see in infrared, ultraviolet or even radar wavelengths, like Geordi La Forge.

Musk included a picture of La Forge, a character from the science-fiction franchise Star Trek who wears a vision-enhancing visor.

Experts Puncture the Blindsight Hype

“[Musk] will build the best cortical implant we can build with current technology. It will not produce anything like normal vision. [Yet] it might produce vision that can transform the lives of blind people,” said Ione Fine, a computational neuroscientist at the University of Washington, who has written about the potential limitations of cortical implants, given the complexity of the human visual system. Fine previously worked for the company Second Sight.

A successful visual prosthetic might more realistically be thought of as assistive technology than a cure for blindness. “At best, we’re talking about something that’s augmentative to a cane and a guide dog; not something that replaces a cane and a guide dog,” said Philip Troyk, a biomedical engineer at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Restoring natural vision is beyond the reach of today’s technology. But among Musks recent claims, Troyk says that a form of infrared sensing is plausible and has already been tested with one of his patients, who used it for help locating people within a room. That patient has a 400-electrode device implanted in the visual cortex as part of a collaborative research effort called the Intracortical Visual Prosthesis Project (ICVP). By comparison, Blindsight may have more than 1,000 electrodes, if it’s a similar device to Neuralink’s brain-computer interface.

Experts say they’d like more information about Neuralink’s visual prosthetic. “I’m leery about the fact that they are very superficial in their description of the devices,” said Gislin Dagnelie, a vision scientist at Johns Hopkins University who has been involved in multiple clinical trials for vision prosthetics, including a Second Sight retinal implant, and who is currently collaborating on the ICVP. “There’s no clear evaluation or pre-clinical work that has been published,” says Dagnelie. “It’s all based on: ‘Trust us, we’re Neuralink.’”

In the short term, too much hype could mislead clinical trial participants. It could also degrade interest in small but meaningful advancements in visual prosthetics. “Some of the [Neuralink] technology is exciting, and has potential,” said Troyk. “The way the messaging is being done detracts from that, potentially.”

Video of legally-blind photographer living his Whole Day, as he captures a celebration of senses and movement

India, a nation known for its resilience and progress, is burdened by a preventable blindness crisis. Over 85% of its blind citizens could have seen the light if early measures had been taken.

Patients born with genetic medlinkblindness/medlink experienced significant visual improvements after a single treatment with gene therapy developed

It is very important to create comfort in the kitchen while having decoration for the window as well. Recently it has been found that shutters have more advantage than curtains and drapes in kitchen. The blinds consist of horizontal or...

निर्देशक- शोम मखीजाकलाकार- सोनम कपूर, पूरब कोहली, विनय पाठक, लिलेट दुबे, शुभम सराफप्लेटफॉर्म- जियो सिनेमा "मेरे दिमाग के अंधेरे में मत घुसो जिया, भटक जाओगी.." एक बेहरम सीरियल किलर फोन पर धमकी देते हुए जिया (सोनम कपूर) से

Venetian blinds is a popular home decor item and can be mostly seen in Indian offices and homes in coastal areas. But then the charm of the blinds has made us to fall in love with them to try and experiment

Jones doesn't appear to be willing to concede that opposing teams are also aware of when and where the sun sets.

National Bureau of Economic Research

'Acting, by definition, is a portrayal of a character other than oneself.''If every role is to be played only by someone answering to that precise description, most professional actors -- of all ethnicities and genders -- would be out of a job,' observes Indira Kannan.

The Pakistan Blind Cricket Council (PBCC) said the tournament will go ahead on schedule irrespective of India's participation.

The candidate’s excesses appeal to voters who feel marginalised and for whom the temptation is to blur reality and illusion

Whenever I think about the dysfunctional horror of the looming presidential election in America – so weird that Nigel Farage can pop up in Mississippi on the Trump campaign – I can’t get Susan Sarandon or Plato out of my mind. Let’s talk first about the actor. When did Plato make a decent movie, eh?

A few weeks ago Sarandon gave a magazine interview to an overawed writer in which she set out her well-known political stall as a radical feminist who backed Bernie Sanders and doesn’t think much of Hillary Clinton. “There’s nothing about her I find feminist except that she’s a woman,” she said.

New research demonstrates an extreme form of inattentional blindness in which we fail to see the unexpected

There’s much more to visual perception than meets the eye. What we see is not merely a matter of patterns of light falling on the retina, but rather is heavily influenced by so-called ‘top-down’ brain mechanisms, which can alter the visual information, and other types of sensory information, that enters the brain before it even reaches our conscious awareness.

Related: Memory contaminates perception | Mo Costandi

Related: Language boosts invisible objects into visual awareness | Mo Costandi

It is very important to create comfort in the kitchen while having decoration for the window as well. Recently it has been found that shutters have more advantage than curtains and drapes in kitchen. The blinds consist of horizontal or...

Eurostar’s new on-board lighting makes me think of an operating theatre lit for intricate surgery

The Peaky Blinders are back all right, walk and all. The fifth series of Steven Knight's magisterial tale of a bunch of Brummie ne'er- do-wells is reckoned by all those involved to be the best yet

Why is every alternate person in rural India above the age of 40 blinded by cataract when only one in five in cities has the disease?

Since companies even in orange and green zones require components from red zones, the economic disruption has remained, and will remain, massive. The virus is still spreading fast, so economist Neelkanth Mishra estimates that red zones will expand from 130 districts to 181. The answer can’t be to keep shutting down more and more districts.

Two new species of blind snakes found living on small, low-lying atolls in the Caroline Islands, are an unexpected discovery that is quite difficult to explain,

The post Not on a plane, but how did blind snakes ever get to the Pacific’s Caroline Islands? appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Plant blindess is the "inability to see or notice the plants in one's own environment," which leads to "the inability to recognize the importance of plants."

A boy from Thousand Oaks started making Braille labels for his local grocery store and now Whole Foods.

Thomas Panek just became the first blind runner to complete the NYC Half Marathon with guide dogs.

Headset was designed to help assist and enrich navigation for the visually impaired.

Touching a giant hogweed can cause burns and even blindness.

Blind brothers ask you to take a leap of faith to help find a cure for blindness.

Adopting a blind dog isn't hard just different. Here's how you and your family can prepare your home to accommodate a special needs dog.

A UPS driver thought he saw something in the snow. Turns out it was a tiny, white puppy that had been abandoned.

A tiny poodle named Porschia not only escaped a hawk's clutches, but made it back home again.

New research finds a protein in honeybee semen that makes the queen temporarily blind.

Daniel Kish is leading the way for research on echolocation and blind people because of his self-taught ability to navigate smoothly without sight.

It's so deep there could be species lurking in its depths that we've never seen before.

Next time you have a meal, look at your plate - what colors do you see? If its mostly white and brown then your diet might be colorblind!

Have you recently moved into your new home and are looking for ways to spruce up the place? While many homeowners tend to focus on beautifying their home interior, remember that your outdoor space matters too! Why not use outdoor blinds to cover your patio or veranda? You will be happy to know that when it comes to purchasing outdoor blinds.

People expect that you treat their email addresses, personal and other contact details privately. The BCC option provides a sure fire method of not abusing anyones trust and divulging their email address to possible spammers or others to whom it should not be given. This article discusses BCC and it's advantages and disadvantages.

Award Honors Work in Audio Description with National Park Service

Budget Blinds is a company specialized in the sale and installation of Custom Blinds, Shades, Shutters & Drapery, servicing the Waterloo Region. Budget Blinds wins this year its third Consumer Choice Award.

Callnovo, the benchmark service provider for cross-border e-commerce overseas customer call center, can bring the significant value to COD model industries.