dave's blog

Carl Camras, a renowned glaucoma researcher who helped develop latanoprost, has died at only 55 years of age.

The Chicago native died of heart failure Tuesday at his home in Omaha.

The glaucoma eye drop latanoprost, sold under the trade name Xalatan, has become the most effective drug to treat glaucoma. Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness, affecting more than 2 million Americans.

Read the abstract or download the article here...

Effect of Continuous Strenuous Exercise on Intraocular Pressure by Isaac Ashkenazi, Shlomo Melamed, and Michael Blumenthal

Introduction

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are highly enriched in the nervous system. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3),in particular, is the most abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid in the brain and is concentrated in aminophospholipids of cell membranes. Numerous studies have indicated that this concentration of DHA in the nervous system is essential for optimal neuronal and retinal functions (1).

Although the underlying mechanisms of its essential function are still not clearly understood, emerging evidence suggests that unique metabolism of DHA in relation to its incorporation into neuronal membrane phospholipids plays an important role. In this review, biochemical mechanisms for enriching and metabolizing DHA in neural cells are discussed in the context of their biological significance in neuronal function.

Read the abstract or download the article here...

Read the abstract or download the article here...

Read the abstract or download the article here...

Read the abstract or download the article here...

I'd like to share my thoughts and experiences with you. I believe that monitoring my eye pressure closely has been invaluable for me. I also monitor a lot of other things, but intraocular pressure is still considered the most important risk factor in glaucoma. And I believe intraocular pressure is misunderstood. Therefore, we, the community of glaucoma patients, have two important opportunities in regard to monitoring our intraocular pressure right now. 

• First, we can improve the management of our own glaucoma and give ourselves better odds for maintaining good vision. On this blog I discuss many examples of how monitoring my own eye pressure closely has helped with the management of my glaucoma. This has been a good thing for me, so I'm enthusiastic about sharing my experiences. In fact, my experiences with monitoring my own eye pressure led me to get involved in intraocular pressure research and I am now collaborating with one of the most respected scientists in this field.
• Second, by doing closer monitoring of our eye pressure and then sharing that data, we might be paving the way to insights that benefit many other glaucoma patients. One example is the discussion about how Weight Lifting Lowers My Eye Pressure and another is my Postural Changes and Eye Pressure. The best example may be the connection between stress and intraocular pressure. Those of us who are doing high-frequency intraocular pressure monitoring in conjunction with the research projects FitEyes.com is promoting are helping advance medicine's understanding of eye pressure.

I believe that, when used skillfully, the air puff tonometer can be very accurate in a wide variety of conditions. It is a powerful instrument for self-tonometry. Naturally, I had something to say when I saw a message where someone wrote the following:

The air-puff [tonometer] is not very accurate at all.

I suggested they see this previous article on tonometers. In this current article, I will elaborate on my tonometer experiences.

 I thought it might be interesting to do a series of profiles on top glaucoma specialists around the world. I was inspired to start this because of my recent visit with Dr. Robert Ritch. He is certainly one of the top glaucoma specialists in the world from a variety of points of view. He is highly respected by his peers and he has been voted "Best Doctor" many times by his patients.

A man who lost his sight 30 years ago says he can now see flashes of light after being fitted with a bionic eye.

Ron, 73, had the experimental surgery seven months ago at London's Moorfield's eye hospital.

He says he can now follow white lines on the road, and even sort socks, using the bionic eye, known as Argus II.

Read the whole article at BBC News - Health

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7919645.stm

Many glaucoma patients complain of discomfort from using glaucoma eye drops. The discomfort can including stinging, itching, burning, or even a foreign body sensation (which can also feel like a scratch on the cornea in my experience).

Thousands of unconscious eye movements stop us from going blind

Humans make thousands of unconscious flickering eye movements to stop them from going blind, a study has shown.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/4602894/Thousands-of-uncons...

Here is a 10 minute video on effortless deep breathing from YouTube that I recommend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh_C4LBBMrY

If you know of similar or better instructional videos on breathing, please let me know.

News Release:

A host of musicians will perform at a gig promoting transcendental meditation.

And even more...
"Is there such a thing as Ayurvedic Pizza? Today I undertook to make a Kapha-balancing Pizza and it turned out wonderful. Here's the story..."
Cook away!

From NBC News:

High blood pressure and hypertension are huge problems in this country.

Millions of people suffer from the condition which can lead to heart attack, stroke and kidney disease.

Now, a study shows that a different type of program can help get blood pressure under control.