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“IF I AM FOR THE DARK I MUST CATCH THE LIGHT IN WORDS”
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STEM CELL RESEARCH IN MACULAR DEGENERATON
Professor Pete Coffey of The London Project to Cure Blindness is carrying out ground-breaking research into the use of stem cells in restoring sight in some cases of Age-Related Macular Degeneration. He gave a UCL lecture ‘Seeing is Believing’ on his work on 4th December 2008. To listen to the lecture go to:
THE 1000-YARD STARE
The critic A A Gill was interviewed by Stuart Husband in The Observer on Sunday 2 November 2008. On asked if in his journalistic capacty in Iraq he had observed atrocities on video Gill’s reply was “People will tell you that you need to see those things as a journalist, but there are things that you put in your head that you can’t get rid of”. His interviewer wryly added “There is no click-and-drag to the recyle bin in your memory. I don’t want to develop a 1000-yard-stare”.
At a time when eye professionals still routinely describe children who cannot read their books in the absence of found ocular disorders as malingerers, it is salutory that this journalist puts his finger on the essence of psychosomatic eye disorders: we may not see what we cannot bear.
BLIND PILOT GUIDED TO LAND BY RAF
A pilot who suddently lost some sight while flying his plane at 15,000ft was guided in to land by an RAF plane.
A plane was scrambled from the RAF fase at Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire to help stricken pilot Jim O’Neill, 65.
He was flying a two-seater Cessna aircrft from Prestwick airport to Colchester, Essex, when he suffered a stroke and lost some sight. The RAF plane flew alongside Mr O’Neill and the pilot shephered him to the base with instructions over the radio.
For further information see http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/7715345.stm.
ON-LINE EYES AND VISION SPECIALIST LIBRARY
The Eyes and Vision Specialist Library (EVSL) http://www.library.nhs.uk/eyes is one of 32 specialist libraries commissioned by the National Library for Health. It is an online library that is accessible 24/7 to any generalist or specialist health professional involved in eye health care e.g. GPs, casualty officers/senior house officers (SHOs), high street optometrists, ophthalmologists, orthoptists and nurses.
The purpose of the library is to find, organise, and facilitate access to the best currently available evidence on eye health in order to support and inform clinical care in NHS England. Clearly knowledge gaps exist - the conditions covered at launch represent those eye conditions that are sufficiently common to have had guidance procured by the NHS or prepared by professional bodies.
The library provides access to online resources produced, commissioned or licensed by the NHS (e.g. Health Technology Assessment reports, NICE guidelines, National Service Frameworks, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination abstracts, the Cochrane Library) and professional body publications. Key research findings (as presented in peer-reviewed articles) that have shaped current clinical thinking and current practice are also being added to the library.
http://www.library.nhs.uk/eyes