by admin | Jul 20, 2020 | News
Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey was about to launch its long-awaited Technology Learning Lab when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the nonprofit to temporarily close its locations. Nine students had signed up for the six-week pilot to learn the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system for desktops and laptops. They would use JAWS, a screen reader, or Fusion, a combination screen reader and text magnifier.
VLANJ put the Technology Learning Lab on hold, and introduced Tech Talks, a monthly webinar that covers a different technology topic each session. The webinar is funded by a major grant from The Provident Bank Foundation.
In Tech Talks, instructors Susanne Sytsma and Christina Brino demonstrate a technology and answer participants’ questions during the hourlong class. For example, the 15 people who participated in the first Tech Talks were shown how to use the Zoom video conferencing app for computers, iPhones and iPads. “There’s a lot to learn, especially on computers because it involves many key strokes,” Brino said. During a second session in May, participants discussed grocery store shopping apps. Zoom has become an important platform for VLANJ. The nonprofit in early April began offering virtual versions of its Beyond Sight wellness classes, support groups, and an apps club using Zoom to keep participants active and connected.
Future Tech Talks topics include navigating Facebook; using the Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) service; an introduction to Fusion; and Amazon Basics. The free sessions are held the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. They are open to all with vision loss. To register, or if you have questions, send a message to BeyondSight@vlanj.org. Registrants gain access to the VLANJ Tech Talks Facebook group.
Not yet knowing when locations can reopen, VLANJ now plans to roll out a virtual version of the Technology Learning Lab, VLANJ Executive Director Kris Marino said. One student is currently enrolled in a test run. The Technology Learning Lab will teach participants computer skills that could help them gain employment, Marino said. The initiative has attracted financial support from The Provident Bank Foundation, The William G. and Helen C. Hoffman Foundation, and The Hyde and Watson Foundation. While VLANJ participants have embraced the virtual class offerings, “we’re all missing Vision Loss Alliance and being together,” Sytsma said.
by admin | Jul 20, 2020 | News
Jackie Millard’s encouraging voice comes over Zoom’s audio, piano music tinkling. She directs listeners in their own homes to sit comfortably, then inhale deeply and exhale slowly. “Feel the slow cycle of the breath moving in and out of the body; it’s like a gentle wave,”she says. Spring is a time of renewal, she notes.“Even in this time of challenge, we can use this opportunity to try something new, to think in a new way.”
Welcome to Now and Zen, a virtual yoga class Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey is offering during the COVID-19 crisis. VLANJ tapped Millard, one of the nonprofit’s instructors, to teach the hour-long hatha yoga class on Wednesday mornings.
“I think that in this time, we all can benefit from the calm and stillness,” said Millard, who became a certified yoga instructor seven years ago.
During a recent class, Millard had students begin the session seated, imagining “white light flowing from the base of our spine, through the torso, through the neck, to the crown of the head.” She then had them visualize the light flowing “like a fountain” down the outside of their bodies, spreading relaxation. Millard led students through head-to-toe stretches. She then had them stand for a series of gentle yoga poses. The class moved to nostril breathing exercises.
She rounded out the class with a relaxing guided meditation: students imagined walking through woods, coming upon a river gently flowing over rocks and logs. That, she said, is how people can approach life, “moving over and around obstacles…yielding and bending…moving peacefully and calmly forward.” In the final minutes, the class offers divine peace to the world, repeating the word, “Shanti.”
In addition to teaching Now and Zen, Millard takes five yoga classes a week. Millard, who is blind, teaches mobile technology and essential low vision classes, which were suspended mid-March because of the coronavirus response restrictions. She is one of three instructors for the new Technology Learning Lab, which will launch once the Denville location reopens.
Now and Zen is free to anyone who lives with vision loss. To register, or if you have any questions, send a message to BeyondSight@vlanj.org.
by admin | May 24, 2020 | Blog, News
Article by Edd Gent via Singularity Hub
A New Bionic Eye Could Give Robots and the Blind 20/20 Vision
Image Credit: Free-Photos from Pixabay
by admin | May 23, 2020 | Blog, News
As May is coming to a close and a lot of us are beginning to spend more time outside, it’s imperative to take one more look at eye safety – May is Sports Eye Safety month after all.
Why the focus on eyes? Aren’t sports supposed to be fun and good for your health?
Yes, sports are generally great for your health, but they can also bring about lots of injuries! More than 600,000 eye injuries related to sports occur each year, and approximately one-third of these injuries occur in children. Eye injuries, coincidentally, are the leading cause of blindness in children, and most eye injuries among kids aged 11-14 occur while playing sports.
What kind of injuries are we talking about?
Sports eye injuries can range from abrasions of the cornea and bruises of the lid to internal eye injuries, such as retinal detachments and internal bleeding. Nearly 43 percent of sports-related eye injuries involve children under the age of 15.5 and boys between the ages of 11 and 15 are up to five times more likely to sustain eye injuries requiring hospital treatment than girls of the same age. Every 13 minutes an emergency room in the U.S. treats a sports-related eye injury for children and adults. It is also estimated that sports-related eye injuries in the U.S. account for more than 100,000 physician visits per year at a cost of more than $175 million . Of the 1.6 to 2.4 million Americans who sustain eye injuries each year, an estimated 40,000 will be legally blinded in the injured eye.
How can you protect your eyes?
Taking all of this data into account, it’s astonishing that the number of people who use protective eyewear (safety glasses or goggles) is extremely low. Yet, the best way to prevent a sports-related eye injury is to wear appropriate, sport-specific protective eyewear that is properly fitted. The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Ophthalmology and American Optometric Association all strongly recommend protective eyewear for all participants in sports in which there is a risk of eye injury, whether it be tennis, golf, basketball or any other sport. Bottom line – get some eye gear and keep your eyes safe when playing sports.
Image via University of Wisconsin.
by admin | May 20, 2020 | Blog, News
Google has developed an Artificial intelligence (AI)-based system that performed as well as, and in certain cases better than, clinicians in predicting progression of a common eye condition that can cause vision loss.
The results, published in the journal Nature Medicine, suggest that the AI model, built in partnership with Alphabet subsidiary DeepMind and Moorfields Eye Hospital in Britain, could help doctors study preventive treatments for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the third largest cause of blindness across the globe.
Around 75 per cent of patients with AMD have an early form called “dry” AMD that usually has relatively mild impact on vision.
A minority of patients, however, develop the more sight-threatening form of AMD called exudative, or “wet” AMD. This condition affects around 15 per cent of patients, and occurs when abnormal blood vessels develop underneath the retina.
These vessels can leak fluid, which can cause permanent loss of central vision if not treated early enough. Wet AMD often affects one eye first, so patients become heavily reliant upon their unaffected eye to maintain their normal day-to-day living.
Unfortunately, 20 per cent of these patients will go on to develop wet AMD in their other eye within two years. The condition often develops suddenly but further vision loss can be slowed with treatments if wet AMD is recognised early enough.
The new research showed that the Google Health AI model has the potential to predict whether a patient will develop wet AMD within six months.
The researchers trained their model using a retrospective, anonymised dataset of 2,795 patients. These patients had been diagnosed with wet AMD in one of their eyes, and were attending one of seven clinical sites for regular 3D optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging and treatment.
For each patient, the researchers worked with retinal experts to review all prior scans for each eye and determine the scan when wet AMD was first evident.
The AI system is composed of two deep convolutional neural networks, one taking the raw 3D scan as input and the other taking a segmentation map outlining the types of tissue present in the retina. It used the raw scan and tissue segmentations to estimate a patient’s risk of progressing to wet AMD within the next six months.
In the future, this system could potentially help doctors plan studies of earlier intervention, as well as contribute more broadly to clinical understanding of the disease and disease progression.
Article via Express Computer. Click the link below for more info!
https://www.expresscomputer.in/artificial-intelligence-ai/google-ai-could-predict-eye-condition-behind-vision-loss/56246/
