Source: healio .com

Dry eye disease is likely more prevalent than assumed because patients can exhibit few or no symptoms but still have disease, according to a study presented here.

http://bit.ly/167aVO5

Source: medgadget .com

Bodelin Technologies (Lake Oswego, OR) is about to start shipping a new microscope compatible with just about all iOS devices, including iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches of recent generations. Providing between 20X and 80X magnification, the ProScope Micro Mobile attaches to the camera of your mobile device using a matching sleeve that keeps the lenses precisely aligned.

http://bit.ly/YYy9AD

Source: oteurope .com

Parkinsons disease (PD) is associated with retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) loss and retinal thinning and can be detected by Fourier-domain OCT, claims a new study.

http://bit.ly/18h35Pe

Source: engadget .com

Technologists have been drawing inspiration from the insect world for a long time. And folks working on robotics really seem to love their creepy-crawlies and buzzing arthropods. Researchers at the University of Illinois are looking to our eight-legged planet mates, not for mobility lessons, but as a reference for a new camera design. The system mimics the vision of bees and mantises by combining multiple lenses on a half hemisphere to provide a 180-degree view with a nearly infinite depth of field. The optics themselves are described as "soft, rubbery" and each individual microlens is paired with its own photodiode. The work gets us a heck of a lot closer to the dream of a digital fly eye than previous efforts, though we're likely still quite a while from seeing applications outside of the lab. DARPA funding suggests the artificial compound eyes may have a future in surveillance, though the researchers also see uses for it in medicine.

http://engt.co/16NnttC

Source: engadget .com

Remember those "eye gestures" spotted in Google Glass code? Developer Mike DiGiovanni, who just released the "Bulletproof" lockscreen for Glass, has already used them to develop an app called "Winky" that snaps photos on the Explorer Edition of the AR eyewear. When activated and calibrated, a simple wink of the eye allows you to capture a still of whatever you're looking at, rather than using a voice command or tapping the side of the glasses as normally required, which DiGiovanni says "takes you out of the moment." He released the app purely as Android source code to protect users' personal info, so if you're interested, you'll need to compile and run it as an APK -- assuming you're lucky enough to have a pair of the specs, of course.

http://engt.co/10kh1X0

Source: kevinmd .com

In late fall of 2011, I was tired of medicine. While seeing patients was still enjoyable, I felt underappreciated in my employment and frustrated by the endless BS that I dealt with — new laws undermining the trust my patients place in me, increasing requirements from insurance companies for ordering tests or medications, more forms to sign, less time with patients, a cumbersome EHR to learn, more non-CME education requirements from the system I belonged to … the list grew endless. Most of it boiled down to less control over my professional life and less time to spend with the people I enjoyed-family, friends and patients.

http://bit.ly/10T26zL

Source: chicagotribune .com

Unless there is some recognized analgesic effect of rolling a joint, lighting it up and deeply inhaling the by-products of marijuana combustion, then it stands to reason that you could distill the psychoactive ingredient of marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol, and formulate it into, say, a capsule. Doing so would combine the relief that comes with smoked marijuana with the ease of a pill and the quality control that comes with approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

http://trib.in/1a4gERj

Source: gizmodo .com

Google Glass is capable of some amazing things. Just look at this first crop of videos shot wearing a them. But given how much damage you do to your eyes staring at screens in the first place, will Google Glass harm your eyes in the long run?

http://bit.ly/1821yPD

Source: gizmag .com

For pretty much any endurance-oriented sport, athletes like to be able to reach a target hear rate when they’re training. Typically, this is done using a sensor integrated into a chest strap, that’s linked to a sports watch, smartphone, or even to a heads-up display in a set of glasses. While there are sports watches designed for swimmers, users have to stop swimming in order to read them. With the Instabeat, however, swimmers get the heads-up option in the form of colored LEDs that are projected through the bottom of their goggles.

http://bit.ly/10MvVVv

Source: newsok .com

Software developed by two Oklahoma optometrists is being used in space to test the eyesight of astronauts, following reports of vision loss by one-fifth of those exposed to long-term microgravity.

http://bit.ly/10MvN8I

Source: revophth .com

A new study by scientists from the Schepens Eye Research Institute/Massachusetts Eye and Ear and the Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, suggests that ranibizumab, an anti-VEGF-A monoclonal antibody fragment, is a potential prophylaxis for proliferative vitreoretinopathy. The study was published on the American Journal of Pathology website and scheduled for the May 2013 print edition.

http://bit.ly/12T70yB

Source: medicinenet .com

Being outdoors at recess and increased exposure to sunlight both reduce children's risk of nearsightedness (myopia), two new studies suggest.

http://bit.ly/119kIuc

Source: kevinmd .com

Text message: “John, This cough and congestion is killing me. It’s turning thick and green. Can you write me a Z-pak? It always works for me.”

http://bit.ly/119kvap

Source: eurekalert .org

Prostaglandin analogues (PGAs), drugs which lower intraocular pressure, are often the first line of treatment for people with glaucoma, but their use is not without risks. PGAs have long been associated with blurred vision, dryness, changes in eye color and other side effects. Now a new study has found that these drugs also cause upper and lower eyelid drooping and other issues that can interfere with vision. The findings are described in PLOS ONE.

http://bit.ly/10jgOTS

Source: newsfromaoa .org

The Orion Vision Group and Alden Optical announced a strategic partnership supporting Orion Vision’s formal entry into the soft opaque tint segment with the launch of BioColors custom opaque tinted contact lenses.

http://bit.ly/165JZOZ

Source: gizmag .com

Aside from the inconvenience of injecting insulin multiple times a day, type 1 diabetics also face health risks if the dosage level isn’t accurate. A new approach developed by US researchers has the potential to overcome both of these problems. The method relies on a network of nanoscale particles that once injected into the body, can maintain normal blood sugar levels for more than a week by releasing insulin when blood-sugar levels rise.

http://bit.ly/10Kde0R

Source: medicinenet .com

Adding omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients to standard antioxidant vitamins doesn't give older people any added protection against a leading cause of blindness, a new study finds.

http://bit.ly/119jXBl

Source: engadget .com

A new cloud-based file system from SpiderOak looks to challenge the likes of Dropbox with a bigger emphasis on privacy. Those familiar with SpiderOak know that the company has been offering a "100-percent private" file environment for some time; the company can't view any information about the files you upload, whereas other file-sharing sites can access users' data. The just-announced service, dubbed Hive, merges that encryption cred with a simplified interface. Hive utilizes one main folder for dragging and dropping files, and it automatically syncs data across your devices. Files, meanwhile, can be shared with friends or colleagues as links.

http://engt.co/12qVOZA

Source: gizmodo .com

It's easy to assume that these stunning and totally surreal images are the work of Photoshop's helping hand, but all the photographs you see before you, unbelievable as they may be, are the work of nothing more than a photographer, a camera, and impeccable timing.

http://bit.ly/10L6ns3

Source: readwrite .com

Would you trust the "wisdom of the crowd" over your own doctor? CrowdMed thinks you might. The San Francisco start-up has an audacious plan to use crowdsourcing techniques to tap the "collective wisdom" of strangers to help diagnose patients - particularly those who've bounced from doctor to doctor for years trying to understand uncommon symptoms.

http://bit.ly/14M4ECO

Source: gizmag .com

Scientists from Nottingham have announced that they've drafted in some expert help with I-BiT, a research project seeking to treat lazy eye with video games and specially designed 3D glasses. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is to adapt some popular PlayStation 3 titles as part of the ongoing project.

http://bit.ly/19ZglHv

Source: engadget .com

Sony's subtitle glasses have been a long time coming. The US rollout began more than a year ago, but the gradual launch has left hard-of-hearing Americans with few modern closed captioning options at the movies. They'll have a much easier time of it as of this month, as Regal will be providing the glasses to nearly 6,000 theaters before May is over. While the wide-scale deployment is coming later than the original first quarter target, it should be a welcome upgrade for viewers who've had to either deal with clunkier subtitle systems or stay at home. The Sony solution still won't be ubiquitous, especially when it sells for $1,750 per pair, but there's now a better chance that at least one captioning-friendly theater will be within reach.

http://engt.co/13HmWX4

Source: gizmag .com

Just like other parts of the body, the retina needs oxygen in order to survive. If it doesn’t receive enough – should its blood supply be restricted, for instance – permanent blindness can result. Therefore, the sooner that doctors know if a patient’s retina is receiving insufficient oxygen, the better the chances that they can take action in time. Soon, they may be able to use tiny injectable robots to get them the information they need.

http://bit.ly/12REBZy

Source: ubergizmo .com

Being stylish is of utmost importance to some of us, think “The Devil Wears Prada” and you will get what I mean. Well, the 3D printing industry might be in its infancy at this point in time, but this does not mean that no quantum leaps in progress can be made. It is encouraging to hear that the 3D printing industry does not seem to be affected by the economy as there is no slowdown at all, considering projects such as the 3Doodle pen and 3D photo booths springing to life, but when will we see innovative 3D printed consumer products finally catch up? Marc Levinson, the chief executive officer of Protos Eyewear, has come up with a slew of 3D printed eyewear that is not only consumer grade, but will boast of, in their own words, “striking designs that are impossible to make through standard manufacturing methods.”

http://bit.ly/10ifgJS

Source: engadget .com

Dustin Adams, a Ph.D student at the University of California at Santa Cruz, has teamed up with colleagues at his school in order to craft an app that helps visually impaired users line up the ideal snapshot. The project started out as a quiz, asking 54 people with varying degrees of ocular impairment what they found most difficult about taking photos. From there, he essentially boiled that down into requirements for a smartphone program. For starters, the app does away with a conventional shutter button, instead relying on an upward swipe gesture to grab a frame.

http://engt.co/10L58cg

Source: thedryeyereview .com

Have you considered how many more patients eye docs, both optometrists and ophthalmologists are going to be required to see in the very near future? We are facing an unprecedented time where the numbers of patients required to be seen is exponentially growing and the number of doctors just can’t keep up with the pace.

http://bit.ly/16EuUUp

Source: visionmonday .com

In a move that broadens its presence in the internet e-commerce realm, particularly in the international arena, Essilor has acquired a majority stake in EyeBuyDirect.com, VMail has learned.

http://bit.ly/16EuCgo

Source: readwrite .com

Google Glass is now “unofficially officially” out in the wild, early reviews are in, and they’re not spectacular. I’ve been a Glass skeptic from the start, but now I’m just going to come right out and say it: If the developer version is at all an accurate representation of what Glass will look like as a finished product, it's going to fail.

http://bit.ly/14o8faw

Source: medscape .com

Antioxidant and omega-3 supplements do not reduce the risk for advanced macular degeneration, according to results from the highly anticipated Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS2).

http://bit.ly/17U47Df

Source: medicalnewstoday .com

People have long taken for granted that glasses and contact lenses improve vision for nearsightedness, but the genetic factors behind the common condition have remained blurry. Now researchers at Duke Medicine are closer to clearing this up.

http://bit.ly/10gsF5i

Source: nerve .in

Koothattukulam -, May 12 - The world's first ayurvedic ophthalmic hospital here says that more and more people are turning to the ancient Indian system of medicine to resolve eye problems.

http://bit.ly/18cbzak

Source: gizmodo .com

LED lightbulbs are already energy efficient, but they would be even better if they could emit light without connecting to the grid at all. Brooklyn-based designer Danielle Trofe is trying to make that happen.

http://bit.ly/1622yTX

Source: visionmonday .com

Computers, mobile and digital media, and featured guest Walt Mayo, OD, are the focus of the Wednesday May 15 edition of the “The Power Hour,” the free weekly online radio talk show hosted by Gary Gerber, OD, founder of The Power Practice, a practice management company.

http://bit.ly/10HZNOU

Source: coolest-gadgets .com

Is it just me, or did everyone think we would have holograms in our everyday life by now? I remember being a kid and imagining what it would be like watching cartoons in the center of our living room floor. I just knew it would be real… I just wildly underestimated the time it would take to make it happen.

http://bit.ly/14m4XEK

Source: engadget .com

Square just announced a new product meant to replace traditional point-of-service systems: the aptly named Square Stand. The hardware turns an iPad (2 or 3; support for the Lightning connector is coming later this year) into an all-in-one POS with an integrated card reader that accepts cash, plastic and Square Wallet payments. Available for pre-order today, the stand will set business owners back a rather steep $299, but the sleek design has a decidedly smaller footprint than the cash registers of yore, and it offers merchants real-time analytics for tracking sales via the Square Register app. Of course, if you want the full retail setup, you'll still have to spring for Square's receipt printer, barcode scanner and cash drawer.

http://engt.co/10dFt8Y

Source: engadget .com

We've seen a few interesting apps built specifically for Google's new headset but, to our knowledge MedRef for Glass is the first that recognize people's faces. The basic functions aren't anything terribly ground breaking: you can create and search patient files, and even add voice or photo notes. What makes Lance Nanek's creation unique is its support for facial recognition. A user can snap a picture of a subject and upload it to the cloud, where it will search patient records for a match using the Betaface API.

http://engt.co/14m4CSx

Source: gizmodo .com

Everything we see has made its way through our eyes, which also means, there's a good chance that most of our lives is reflected in our eyes. Here are 12 fantastic images that celebrate that idea.

http://bit.ly/14HioyR

Source: kevinmd .com

One of the more contentious topics on my site is the scope of practice for non-physician providers, such as nurse practitioners. This echos the debate on the national stage where leaders of physician organizations, who want to protect their scope of practice, conflict with those of nurse practitioners’, who want to perform the tasks that physicians traditionally have.

http://bit.ly/113hGNU

Source: engadget .com

Google I/O is always full of surprises, and we came across yet another elusive bit of hardware on the show floor today: Google Glass "prescription edition". No, it's not actually called that (we made up the name), but what you're looking at is definitely Glass that's been neatly integrated with a pair of prescription glasses -- in fact, it looks a lot like the version of Glass that Google recently mentioned on its blog. We don't really know anything else about this device, but we've reached out to Google for comment. Is this a custom design built by combining Google Glass Explorer Edition with off-the shelf eyewear? Is this a Glass prototype that's designed specifically for people who wear prescription spectacles? Share your thoughts in the comments and don't forget to check out the gallery below.

http://engt.co/13Alfah

Source: gizmodo .com

Everyone's now aware of 3D printing — they’ve read about it in the papers, on blogs or seen it on TV. The mentality now seems to be that, in the future, we'll be able to download our products or make them ourselves with CAD programs, apps and 3D scanners, then just print them out, either at home, or in localised print shops. Which in turn will supposedly decentralize manufacturing, bringing it back to the West. But like the cupcake, Daft Punk’s latest album, or goji berries, 3D printing is severely overhyped — and I should know, because it’s what I do for a living.

http://bit.ly/14HhySA

Source: gizmodo .com

Yesterday saw Google face a lot of questions over Google Glass privacy: not only was it grilled by developers at I/O, but Congress also sent it a list of eight questions it wants answered. It's response? Don't sweat it; you'll know if someone is spying on you, silly.

http://bit.ly/17RTjWn

Source: gigaom .com

As student debt levels reach new highs – the total outstanding debt just topped $1 trillion – it’s hard to argue that the current model of financial aid isn’t in need of a fix.

http://bit.ly/13DJ1pt

Source: gigaom .com

Ringadoc, a San Francisco startup that helps doctors manage patient phone calls, has raised an additional $700,000 in seed funding.

http://bit.ly/15Y4nBw

Source: imedicalapps .com

Purpose of App Review
How useful is this app in teaching about hypertension?
Introduction
Learning the complex pathophysiology of diseases can seem like a daunting task. Reading physiology from a textbook prevents the reader from visualizing the actual processes that happen throughout our bodies, making the learning process especially hard.

http://bit.ly/10bwhC7

Source: imedicalapps .com

As April 19th ended so did TEDMED 2013 and what a diverse event it was.
TED events seem to be able to gather passionate individuals from diverse backgrounds and interests.

http://bit.ly/10NkuKb

Source: medscape .com

Examining the retina may aid in the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), new research suggests.

http://bit.ly/10dkaYP

Source: medicinenet .com

For those who aren't born with long, fluttery eyelashes, cosmetic extensions can help achieve that often sought-after look. But eye experts warn that the adhesives used to apply these eyelash extensions can cause allergies and infections.

http://bit.ly/11OcJKr

Source: medscape .com

The first 4 reported cases of infant cataract surgery with a femtosecond laser demonstrated that the laser has "great potential" to make these challenging surgeries easier and more predictable, German ophthalmologists report in an article published in the May issue of the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

http://bit.ly/13y4yfA

Source: medscape .com

Middle-aged women with depression are more than twice as likely to have a stroke as those without depression, a new study shows, suggesting the stroke risk in these women is stronger than previously thought.

http://bit.ly/14E23L2

Source: iovs .org

Purpose: To evaluate whether veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression have differences in dry eye symptoms and signs compared to a population without these conditions. Methods: Male patients aged ≥50 years with normal eyelid, conjunctival, and corneal anatomy were recruited from the Miami Veterans Affairs eye clinic (N=248). We compared dry eye symptoms (determined by the Dry Eye Questionnaire 5 [DEQ5] score) to tear film indicators obtained by clinical examination (i.e., tear osmolarity, corneal staining, tear breakup time, Schirmer's, meibomian gland quality, orifice plugging, lid vascularity), between patients with PTSD or depression versus those without these conditions. Student T-tests, Chi-squared analyses, and linear and logistic regressions were used to assess differences between the groups.

http://bit.ly/11PswU2