| « | September 2010 | » | ||||
 |
||||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | ||
TheStar, a New Zealand newspaper, reported that avoidable blindness had to be included in the broader development agenda to receive the necessary attention from policymakers, according to speakers at the World Congress on Refractive Error. Almost 700 million people in the world are vision impaired. Why? They can't get an eye exam or glasses. The World Health Organization has noted that the world economy annually loses $269 billion in productivity because of correctable myopia.
"Researchers from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research's Genetics and Population Health Division have tapped into data collected from more than 1,000 sets of twins to discover genes that affect people's eyesight," according to a story posted on MiVision.
The website also reports: "A new imaging system using six different wavelengths to illuminate the interior of the eyeball (ocular fundus) may pave the way for optometrists and ophthalmologists to easily screen patients for common diseases of the eye, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy." The system is described in the journal Review of Scientific Instruments.
The American Optometric Association's (AOA) annual American Eye-Q® survey shows that men and women see and treat vision health differently. For example, almost three-quarters of women suffer from seasonal eye allergies, compared to only two-thirds of the men surveyed. The report adds, "Surprisingly though, more men (16 percent) than women (9 percent) have missed work because of seasonal eye allergies."
Thirty-five percent of women (compared to 28 percent for men) check for UV protection when purchasing sunglasses. The survey also showed that "more men (36 percent) than women (27 percent) mistakenly believe name-brand sunglasses are better for your eyes and offer more protection than generic or less expensive sunglasses."
"Eyeglasses that failed ballistic tests four years ago are available in Self Service Supply Centers, and the Army wants them off the shelves now. What’s more, the Army is warning soldiers against wearing the inferior glasses. All Army Action Message calls on the supply centers to stop stocking and issuing Pyramex Venture II glasses, national stock number 4240-01-500-6173, and directs commanders to ensure their personnel are wearing Army-approved eyewear." That's a story from ArmyTimes.
A story posted by 3news says that "a complaint about a website advertisement for contact lenses wrongly claiming approval by optometrists has been upheld by the New Zealand's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). L Frederikson of the New Zealand Association of Optometrists (NZAO) complained about claims made by Luxottica Retail NZ on its Contacts2Go website, saying they contained errors in fact and were misleading."
Optometrists in New Zealand objected to the phrase on the home webpage saying "Optometrist Approved" and the body of the ad that stated Contacts2Go has been approved by optometrists.
The story noted that "the ASA said there was a high standard of social responsibility expected in the advertising of therapeutic products and the ad failed to meet those standards, so breached the therapeutic products advertising code."
Who cares? Great Britiain's DailyMirror apparently has little better to do than follow David Beckham, wondering why he was honing and then removing his eyewear.
Here's one from VisionMonday: "The President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies appeared in newspapers and on national TV wearing Pramaor eyewear."
Fifty people reported sore eyes after visting the Royal Adelaide Show. South Australia Health Department officials traced the cause to stagnant cow urine in the dairy pavilion. The urine mixed with rain, releasing ammonia. The reactions were severe enough to send 20 victims to the hospital.