A team of researchers from the US and Switzerland has developed a contact lens that may improve vision in AMD patients by offering them a choice between normal or magnified vision.

 

The system uses mirror surfaces to make a telescope that has been integrated into a contact lens just over a millimeter thick. The centre of the lens provides unmagnified vision, while the ring-shaped telescope located at the periphery of the regular contact lens magnifies the view 2.8 times. The user can switch between the two thanks to the liquid crystals in the glasses ordinarily used for viewing 3D television. These glasses selectively block either portion of the contact lens.

 

“For a visual aid to be accepted it needs to be highly convenient and unobtrusive,” says one of the members of the team led by Dr. Joseph Ford, researcher Eric Tremblay, of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. This lens would be an attractive compromise between the huge frame-mounted telescopes and surgically implanted micro-telescopes.

 

Tests showed that the magnified image was clear and provided a much larger field of view than other magnification approaches. Improvements still need to be made, namely with regard to colour correction, before the system can be used by patients.

Sources:

http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-21-13-15980

http://www.visionmonday.com/latest-news/article/telescopic-contact-lens-may-help-amd-patients/

 

The 20^th edition of the Silmo d’Or is fast approaching and the organizers just announced the nominees in the different categories. We have listed them below and, as in previous years, the name of the winners will be announced the morning following the Gala.

“VISION” CATEGORY:
• BBGR with “Intuitiv”
• ESSILOR with “Crizal Prevencia”
• NOVACEL with “SymbioZ”
• COOPERVISION with “MyDay”
• CVE with “UltraHealth”

“MATERIAL/EQUIPMENT” CATEGORY:
• ACEP with “Smart Mirror Mobile”
• NIDEK with “ARK-1s”
• NOVACEL with “Master RPGA”

“LOW VISION/OPTICAL INSTRUMENT” CATEGORY:

• ACCES’SOLUTIONS with “i-loview super  HD”
• ETEX with “Pebble HD”
• ESSILOR with “Prodigi Duo”
• OLLENDORF with “Visu Plus 10”
• VISIOLE with “Véo” 

“CHILDREN” CATEGORY:
• INFACE with “IF 9001-02”
• JF REY with “JOSEBA”
• KARAVAN & Co with “Monsieur Madame MM0015” 
• OPAL with “Tartine & Chocolat AA249”
• SEAPORT with “KILT 03” de Façonnable

“OPTICAL FRAME” CATEGORY:
• DITA EYEWEAR with “Thom Browne TB-011”
• HAPTER with “A01L”
• KAME MANNEN with “KMN-701”
• MASUNAGA with “Masunaga GMS Limited 2013” 
• SUGIMOTOKEI with “KS52 C-4” 

“SUNGLASSES” CATEGORY:
• DITA EYEWEAR with “Thom Browne TB-701”
• FACTORY900-AOYAMA with “Fa-1111”
• FEB31st with “ISAAC 48000”
• KUBORAUM with “H1”
• UNDOSTRIAL- Lucas de Staël with “Once Upon a time …” 

“SPORTS EQUIPMENT” CATEGORY:
• GRASSET Associés with “Magnesium P5560” d’Eden Park
• Groupe LOGO with “Fury” de SALOMON
• JULBO with “Tensing Flight”
• MAUI JIM with “Hot Sands”

“FRAME TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION” CATEGORY:
• CIDI with “3MOMI Tech”
• IC! BERLIN with “Julius”
• MARIUS MOREL with “Var”
• PQ EYEWEAR with “Angel”
• W-EYE WOODEN EYEWEAR with “King Eider”

Essilor International is up five spots and now ranks 23^rd on Forbes Magazine’s list of the 100 most innovative companies in 2013.

 

For Forbes, the most innovative companies are those that are most likely to succeed in the future. Essilor International ranks as the 5^th most innovative company in Europe, and the 2^nd most innovative in France.  The magazine based this ranking on the more than $200 million that Essilor invests in R&D each year, its three Innovation and Technology Centres and its 500 researchers on various continents. Approximately 40% of Essilor’s annual sales are generated from products launched over the last three years.

 

Quebec-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which recently acquired Bausch+Lomb, ranks 62^nd. The company, whose sales have increased by over 36% in the 12 months preceding the release of the list, is the only Canadian company to be included on the list.

 

Other industry players are also named, such as Regeneron (4^th), whose drug Eylea is a major competitor for Lucentis in the treatment of AMD, and might also be used to treat diabetic macular edema. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton came in 75^th place, whereas adidas is in 92^nd place.

Sources:

 

http://www.forbes.com/innovative-companies/list/

http://www.acuite.fr/articles.asp?REF=8910

 

A recent meta-analysis contradicts previous ideas about the risks of statins.

 

Statins are among the most widely prescribed drugs in the world. In Canada, in 2006, 23.6 million statin prescriptions were filled. For years, the side effects, namely the development of cataracts, have raised concerns.

 

In 2010, a British study involving more than two million patients found that 16% of them were currently treated or had been treated with statins. They claimed that for each 10,000 users, statins taken for five years caused 307 cases of cataracts. In 2012, at the University of Waterloo, a study of 6,400 patients found that the use of statins increased the risk of cataracts by 57%.

 

And now, a new meta-analysis, this time American, involving 2,399,200 people and 25,618 cataracts, claims that statins actually reduce the risk. Patients taking statins were about 20% less likely to have developed a cataract than the others. The risk decreased by half among patients in their forties and by only 10% among those who were over seventy. Also, the effectiveness increased with long-term statin use.

 

According to lead researcher John B. Kostis, the findings dispel worries about the connection between statins and cataracts. Unless, of course, a new study comes along to contradict these findings… 

Sources:

http://www.passeportsante.net/fr/Actualites/Nouvelles/Fiche.aspx?doc=statines-cholesterol-effets-indesirables-surveiller-de-pres_20100604  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/248785.php

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130831110911.htm

 

A new study confirms that different ethnic groups see differently.

 

Investigators in California studied 1,501 non-Hispanic white children and 1,507 Asian children aged 6 to 72 months, in addition to interviewing their parents about their lifestyle.

 

They found the prevalence of myopia to be 1.20% among white children and 3.98% for Asian children. The prevalence of hyperopia was 25.7% in white children and 13.5% in Asian children. Asian girls were more likely to have hyperopia than boys (16.2% vs. 10.8%). Finally, the prevalence of astigmatism (≥ 1.5 diopters) was 6.33% in white children and 8.29% in Asian children. The prevalence of astigmatism of 3.00 diopters or more was 0.73% in white children and 1.19% in Asian children.

 

After comparing these findings with data from previous research (MEPEDS), the investigators found that myopia and astigmatism are less common among white children than among Asian, Hispanic and black children.

 

Genetics, as well as lifestyle, partly explain the differences. According to the researchers, Asian parents early on encourage activities that involve near vision, such as reading, whereas white children participate in more outdoor activities, such as playing sports, which involves far vision.

Source:

 

http://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(13)00576-9/abstract