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Awareness weeks guide

Health Awareness Week

World Braille Day

4th of January 2022

Our Vision: A world in which we, as persons who are blind or partially sighted, can participate fully in any aspect of life we choose. World Blind Union

Articles

Diagnosis

Research

Treatment

E-books

Journals

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Articles

Diagnosis

Combining transfer learning with retinal lesion features for accurate detection of diabetic retinopathy
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a late microvascular complication of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) that could lead to permanent blindness in patients, without early detection. Although adequate management of DM via regular eye examination can preserve vision in in 98% of the DR cases, DR screening and diagnoses based on clinical lesion features devised by expert clinicians; are costly, time-consuming and not sufficiently accurate. This raises the requirements for Artificial Intelligent (AI) systems which can accurately detect DR automatically and thus preventing DR before affecting vision. Frontiers in medicine 8 November 2022

Clinical characteristics and causes of vision impairment in a paediatric population in a university-based low vision clinic
Paediatric vision impairment can have a negative impact on the quality of life. Local data related to the characteristics of children with vision impairment can be used to enhance the services provided in this university-based low vision clinic. This is important as efforts aimed at early identification, management, and rehabilitation will help minimise functional limitations and improve the quality of life of affected children. British journal of visual impairment 14 December 2022

A deep transfer learning framework for the staging of diabetic retinopathy
Diabetes is a highly prevalent and increasingly common health disorder, resulting in health complications such as vision loss. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most common form of diabetes caused eye disease. Early diagnosis and treatment are crucial to prevent vision loss. DR is a progressive disease composed of five stages. The accurate diagnosis of DR stages is highly important in guiding the treatment process. In this study, the authors propose a deep transfer learning framework for automatic detection of DR stages. They examine their proposed model by comparing different convolutional neural networks architectures: VGGNet19, DenseNet201, and ResNet152. The results demonstrate better accuracy after applying transfer learning and hyper-parameter tuning to classify the fundus images. When the general test accuracy and the performance evaluations are compared, the DenseNet201 model is observed with the highest test accuracy of 82.7%. Among the classification algorithms, the highest AUC value is 94.1% obtained with RestNet152. Journal of Scientific Reports-A 1 January 2023

Using electronic clinical decision support to examine vision rehabilitation referrals and practice guidelines in ophthalmology
A clinical decision support system (CDSS) for patient identification and referral offers an acceptable mechanism to apply practice guidelines and prompt ophthalmologists to facilitate low vision rehabilitation (LVR) care. Further study is warranted to optimize ophthalmologist user experience while refining alert criteria beyond visual acuity. Translational Relevance: The CDSS provides the framework for multi-center research to assess the development of pragmatic algorithms and standards for facilitating LVR care. Translational vision science and technology 12 October 2022

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Research

Investigation of structural alterations in inherited retinal diseases: A Quantitative SD-OCT-analysis of retinal layer thicknesses in light of underlying genetic mutations
Inherited retinal diseases can result from various genetic defects and are one of the leading causes for blindness in the working-age population. The present study aims to provide a comprehensive description of changes in retinal structure associated with phenotypic disease entities and underlying genetic mutations International journal of molecular sciences 16 December 2022

Understanding the relationship between eye disease and driving in very old Australian women: a longitudinal thematic evaluation
Key findings highlighted driving cessation, or reduction, is often attributed to deterioration in vision. The consequence is dependence on others for transport, typically children and friends. Access to successful treatment for eye disease allowed older women to continue driving. The authors posit that occupational therapists can play an essential role in promote driving confidence and ability as women age. BMC ophthalmology 24 June 2022

Intelligent guide robots for people who are blind or have low vision: A review
This  article  compares the  capabilities  of  both  existing  robotic  mobility  aids,  and  existing cutting-edge  robotic  technologies,  against  a  set  of  fundamental functional  mobility  aid  characteristics  with  the  aim  of  proposing  a minimum viable product to support people who are blind or have low vision  in  everyday  mobility  and  navigation  tasks. Vision and rehabilitation international 27 December 2022

Learning to scan for approaching vehicles efficiently with a visual impairment
This article describes in an orderly presentation a training procedure previously presented only in workshops and on websites, and ex-pounds on the possible vision science to describe the problems. Vision and rehabilitation international 1 January 2020

A smart assistive technology for visually challenged
In this modern era of globalization, the use of smartphones is increasing among the general population, but visually challenged individuals face many difficulties in their routine day-to-day activities to orient themselves to an environment. Visually challenged children pursue their education through Braille, in the form of printed dots, which is their medium of learning. Since these children lack visual coordination, they find it difficult to acquire good oral health. Although there are many accessible technologies available for visually challenged children to guide them in their daily day-to-day activities without depending on others, but there is no mobile user-friendly application available regarding oral health maintenance for these individuals. Hence, there is a need to develop a mobile application in understanding their difficulties and challenges faced by them so that these special need children get benefitted. Journal of scientific dentistry 15 December 2022 

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Treatment

Characteristics, treatment and complications of herpes zoster ophthalmicus at a tertiary eye hospital
Herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO), a condition that affects the ophthalmic division of the trigeminal nerve, is caused by reactivation of latent varicella zoster virus; about 10% of people with varicella zoster infections experience HZO.1 Over the past decade, the number of emergency department presentations by people with herpes zoster in Australia has increased by 2–6% per year, and the number of people with herpes zoster managed in general practice has almost doubled. The purpose of our study was to develop a contemporary perspective of the clinical presentation, incidence of complications, and treatment practice for patients with HZO referred to an Australian tertiary eye hospital. MJA 20 April 2020

Non‐clinical eye care support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians: a systematic review
Non‐clinical support is critical for facilitating attendance at appointments by patients and ensuring that preventive, primary, and tertiary eye care services are accessible to Indigenous Australians. Greater financial investment is needed to support key providers of non‐clinical support, especially eye health coordinators, community‐based liaison officers, and family members and carers. MJA 20 February 2020

Optogenetic therapy for visual restoration
Optogenetics is a recent breakthrough in neuroscience, and one of the most promising applications is the treatment of retinal degenerative diseases. Multiple clinical trials are currently ongoing, less than a decade after the first attempt at visual restoration using optogenetics. Optogenetic therapy has great value in providing hope for visual restoration in late-stage retinal degeneration, regardless of the genotype. International journal of molecular sciences 30 November 2022

Autophagy in glaucoma pathogenesis: Therapeutic potential and future perspectives
Glaucoma is a common blinding eye disease characterized by progressive loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and their axons, progressive loss of visual field, and optic nerve atrophy. Autophagy plays a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of glaucoma and is closely related to its pathogenesis. Targeting autophagy and blocking the apoptosis of RGCs provides emerging guidance for the treatment of glaucoma. Here, we provide a systematic review of the mechanisms and targets of interventions related to autophagy in glaucoma and discuss the outlook of emerging ideas, techniques, and multidisciplinary combinations to provide a new basis for further research and the prevention of glaucomatous visual impairment. Frontiers in cell and development biology 14 December 2022

Identifying best-practice features of diabetic retinopathy treatment models for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians
The findings from this study identified seven best-practice features for diabetic retinopathy treatment. These have the potential to inform and influence how care is delivered to Indigenous Australians. Although further research is warranted to capture other service provider inputs and Indigenous end-user perspectives, these features in the meantime can begin to inform the decisions of the Indigenous eyecare sector on policy reforms and best-practice diabetic retinopathy treatment approaches. The Australian journal of rural health 12 November 2022

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Journals

This is just a sample of the journals the library subscribes to – you will need your library login

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E-books

This is just a sample of the e-books the library subscribes to – you will need your library login

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Previous Awareness Weeks

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