| Vision Correction Options
LASIK nearly always results in improved vision without correction. However, LASIK is an imperfect procedure that does not always result in 20/20, or even 20/40 visual acuity.Advances in the understanding of how to better treat eye conditions, eye disorders and eye diseases have led to development of new technologies and procedures for treatment. LASIKWhat makes a good LASIK candidate? Appropriate levels of nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism Relative intolerance of glasses or contact lenses Properly motivated and realistic patient The difference between traditional LASIK and custom LASIK (Wavefront)Wavefront TechnologyThis breakthrough treatment establishes a new standard in laser vision correctionWaveScan technology provides your eye doctor with a map of your eyeAfter WaveScan, patients notice results immediately, and their vision will continue to improve over the next few daysWavefront-guided LASIK is an elective procedure with the alternatives including but not limited to eyeglasses, contact lenses, photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), conventional LASIK, and other refractive surgeriesRisks: Custom LASIK does have risks but it also produces better visual improvement than one-size-fits-all LASIK procedures and there is a lower incidence of undesirable side effects such as halos and glare Implantable Contact LensesImplantable contact lenses are powerful additions to the present refractive options, especially for those individuals whose refractive errors presently fall out of the range for LASIKWhat makes a good candidate? Typically, the best candidates for implantable contact lenses are between the ages of 21 and 55, with moderate to severe myopia.Implantable contact lenses, known as phakic intraocular lenses (IOLs), are powerful refractive tools with almost unlimited potential to correct refractive errors (nearsightedness and farsightedness)Unlike LASIK vision correction, the procedure is completely reversibleRisks: rarely do patients experience complications with implantable contact lenses and when complications do occur, they are typically minor when handled expeditiously Educational Forums & Free ScreeningsUniversity Health Care's Moran Eye Center offers educational forums on laser and non-laser vision correction, including the latest information on LASIK, as well as free vision correction screenings.
Making Mice With Enhanced Color Vision
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and their colleagues have found that mice simply expressing a human light receptor in addition to their own can acquire new color vision, a sign that the brain can adapt far more rapidly to new sensory information than anticipated.
This work, appearing in Science, also suggests that when the first ancestral primate inherited a new type of photoreceptor more than 40 million years ago, it probably experienced immediate color enhancement, which may have allowed this trait to spread quickly.
"If you gave mice a new sensory input at the front end, could their brains learn to make use of the extra data at the back end?" asks Jeremy Nathans M.D., Ph.D., professor of molecular biology and genetics, neuroscience, and ophthalmology at Hopkins.
Centralise specialist surgery, report says
Twenty per cent of all surgery should be carried out in specialist centres rather than local hospitals because of advances in technology, according to a report launched today by Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt. The report by national clinical advisor on surgery Professor Sir Ara Darzi says that medical advances such as keyhole surgery are changing the delivery of planned surgery. The ability to provide more surgery locally, coupled with greater specialisation for complex cases could result in an 80/20 split for planned surgery in future, Darzi says in the report. Local hospitals could carry out 80% of surgery, mainly as day cases and short stays, with the remaining 20% of planned surgery being carried out as specialised centres, such as those for trauma and cancer.
Cessna: Revisionist historians should love Gary Blair
Gillispiegate might have been great for Dennis Franchione and the football program, but it overshadowed a remarkable season by the Texas A&M women's basketball team. The football team's 45-10 loss to California in the Holiday Bowl disappointed Aggie fans, but they found instant solace in the most publicized men's basketball season in school history. Sellouts and national rankings became commonplace in head coach Billy Gillispie's third season. Aggies just couldn't get enough basketball. The craze peaked with the men's NCAA Sweet 16 appearance followed by a bizarre post-postseason that saw Gillispie given a contract extension and raise as Arkansas unsuccessfully tried to pry him away only for it all to become moot a week later when Kentucky whisked him away. Gillispie's exit allowed some to look differently at football and the women's basketball program.
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