New CNIB Survey Finds Many Canadians Less Than Well-Informed About Family History Of Glaucoma

Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
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According to a new CNIB survey released this week for World Glaucoma Week (March 7-13), few Canadians are as informed as they need to be about their family history of glaucoma, a serious and incurable eye condition that affects 250,000 Canadians.

Despite the fact that glaucoma tends to run in families, the survey found that almost half of Canadians (47 per cent) do not feel well-informed about their family history of the disease. In fact, only one-third of Canadians (33 per cent) have spoken to their immediate families to learn whether glaucoma could be a hereditary concern.

But astonishingly, among the group that reported having had that conversation, almost half (47 per cent) learned that glaucoma was in the family, indicating they could be at an elevated risk.

"People forget that learning about your family history of glaucoma is an important step to protecting your eyesight. Family history, particularly having a parent or sibling with the disease, is considered one of the primary risk factors of glaucoma," said Dr. Keith Gordon, Vice-President of Research and Service Quality, CNIB.

The survey also revealed that most Canadians (71 per cent) are unaware that you could have glaucoma, but still be able to see perfectly well.

Eye Remember

To educate Canadians about the importance of detecting glaucoma early, CNIB has launched its third annual awareness campaign and photo contest called "Eye Remember." From March 8 to May 18, Canadians can visit www.eyeremember.ca to get the facts on glaucoma and upload a photograph that represents a cherished memory from their past - whether it's a summer with family at the cottage, a shot from your honeymoon, or an old black and white picture from grandma's albums - along with a brief description of why it is close to their heart and reminds them to be proactive about their vision health.

All uploaded photos will be entered for a chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime trip for two to one of four popular Canadian destinations, including Banff (Alberta), Quebec City (Quebec), Niagara Falls (Ontario) and the Okanagan Valley (British Columbia).

Glaucoma: The "silent thief"

Caused by damage to the optic nerve, glaucoma usually progresses slowly and painlessly; therefore it's possible to have glaucoma without noticing any symptoms or major changes to your eyesight. In fact, 125,000 Canadians are living with glaucoma today and don't know it.

"Because glaucoma has no symptoms, it can only be picked up by regular eye examinations with an eye doctor," said Dr. Neeru Gupta, Professor, Dorothy Pitts Chair of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, and Director of the Glaucoma Unit at St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto. "If someone in your family has glaucoma, you are at a much higher risk for the disease. Get your eye pressure and optic nerves checked for glaucoma. Early treatment is a powerful way to prevent vision loss."

In addition to family history, risk factors for glaucoma include having elevated eye pressure, being over the age of 40, being of African, Asian or Inuit descent and having myopia.

Over time, glaucoma may cause loss of peripheral (side) vision, followed by "tunnel" vision or complete vision loss. There is no cure for glaucoma and, once you begin to lose your vision, it can't be restored. Fortunately, vision loss from glaucoma can be controlled if detected early.

About the survey

This survey was conducted as part of CNIB's Eye Remember campaign in order to determine how much Canadians know about glaucoma and its risk factors. A random sample of 1,003 Canadians aged 18 and older answered an online survey. Survey results from a sample of Canadians of this size can be considered accurate to +/- 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20. The survey was undertaken by CNIB, with data collection by Ipsos Public Affairs. Eye Remember is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Pfizer Canada Inc.

Source:
CNIB

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Glaucoma Week Designed To Raise Awareness Of "Sneak Thief Of Sight"

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Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
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Often referred to as the sneak thief of sight because it slowly causes vision loss, physicians and researchers at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute are trying to learn if glaucoma could be related to blood flow in the eye. Their discoveries could change treatment options for one of the leading cause of blindness in the U.S.

Glaucoma develops when pressure builds in the eye and causes damage to the optic nerve, explains Louis Cantor, M.D., chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Glick Eye Institute. "The optic nerve is the main cable carrying the messages from the eye to the brain. Damage to the optic nerve can cause blind spots to develop, and those spots often go unnoticed until they increase in size, impairing sight," he said. "The result is vision loss that cannot be recovered."

This week is World Glaucoma Week, dedicated to bringing awareness to the disease. The observance is to raise awareness of the disease, which can occur without symptoms in up to 50 percent of patients who have glaucoma. In the United States, more than 4 million people have glaucoma. African-Americans and Hispanics are more susceptible to the disease although it strikes all races. Risk factors for glaucoma include:

- Age
- Being African-American or Hispanic
- Having a family history of glaucoma
- Having elevated eye pressure
- Being farsighted or nearsighted
- Having previous eye injuries
- Having other health problems such as diabetes, low blood pressure or migraine headaches.

Working with Alon Harris, Ph.D., director of clinical research for the Glick Eye Institute, Dr. Cantor hopes their approach to understanding glaucoma will benefit patients in Indiana and around the world. "In Indiana alone, the number of patients with glaucoma could fill Lucas Oil Stadium," he says. "And there are thousands more who have the disease who don't know it, and they are most at risk for vision loss."

Their study, the Indianapolis Glaucoma Progression Study, is the largest of its kind in the United States. With 120 patients enrolled for three years, the clinical trial is in its second year, and is focused on vascular - or blood flow - causes or effects of the disease. Dr. Harris is principal investigator of the study.

"I hope they learn something that can be applied to problems in the short run," said patient Jim Palmer, an Indianapolis resident. "This study of blood flow might find out that it is just as significant as pressure, and that could be of benefit to all glaucoma patients."

Dr. Harris explains that eye pressure is the most common measurement in glaucoma. But he notes that some patients develop glaucoma and don't experience the high ocular pressure common in other patients, and some of those patients without high pressure lose sight to the disease. The research is important to determine if blood flow plays a part in the disease.

Maybe, he said, some patients don't receive enough blood flow to their eyes. This study will help determine if improper blood flow is a side effect of the disease or a cause of the disease.

"Unlocking the answer to that question could give us different treatment options for glaucoma," Dr. Harris said. "Understanding the role the vascular system plays in the disease would bring a new way of looking at glaucoma patients."

Dr. Harris is an international expert on the field of ocular blood flow and has designed and perfected many of the diagnostic tests performed on the study patients.

"I've learned a fair amount about this disease because of participating in the study," Palmer said. "And they check so many different things that it would be cost-prohibitive to have all of this done if I did not participate in the study."

Palmer, 67, has experienced glaucoma since about 1986. He learned he had the disease when he saw an ophthalmologist for a detached retina. He currently manages his glaucoma with drops he uses three times a day.

Study participant Carolyn Christman also is a long-time glaucoma patient. "I've learned the newest information from the doctors and the fellows and it's been helpful to me to have this information about my glaucoma," she said. The 70-year-old patient has had glaucoma since she was 42.

"This study, working on the relationship between blood pressure and blood vessels around the eye, is interesting to me," she said. "Participating is my way of helping other people."

The opportunity to participate in a study that could determine new treatments also appealed to Ronnie Adams. The retired 70-year-old African-American says glaucoma runs in his family - his father lost vision in one eye due to the disease and his sister, who also has glaucoma, convinced him to have his eyes examined.

"I'd say the study experience has been really good," Adams said. "I don't want to lose my eyesight and right now it looks as if the drops I use are helping. It's important to try to do something to improve the situation or not lose vision."

Cantor and Harris say the participation of their study patients is crucial to their success in formulating new discoveries about glaucoma.

"We rely on our patients to help us understand why this disease strikes when it does," Cantor said. "We're interested in learning if the blood flow theory is one we could explore further and we need our study patients to help us."

Glaucoma is not the only disease that causes vision loss - but vision loss from many conditions can be prevented with proper care. Most people begin to experience changes in their vision as they turn 40, Dr. Cantor said. By age 65, one in three Americans will experience some form of vision-impairing eye disease.

Source:
IU School of Medicine

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Eye Development Error Found To Be The Cause Of Cataracts, Glaucoma

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Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Genetics
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A Jackson Laboratory research team, working in collaboration with researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, show that RNA granules - key players in messenger RNA (mRNA) processing - can affect eye development, leading to juvenile cataracts in humans and mice.

The research, published in the March 25 issue of Science, also demonstrates the first connection between RNA granules and glaucoma, as the humans and mice in the study developed glaucoma.

In the laboratory of Jackson Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Simon John, Ph.D., study coauthors Stephen Kneeland, Ph.D., and Gareth Howell, Ph.D., identified a malfunctioning gene in a mouse strain that develops both cataracts and glaucoma. The gene, Tdrd7, fails to build an essential protein and disrupts the development of the mouse eye lens. Mice missing the protein developed high intraocular pressure and optic nerve damage--the hallmarks of glaucoma--as well as cataracts.

The John team learned that Salil A. Lachke, Ph.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, then a research fellow in the laboratory of Richard L. Maas, M.D., had found the same malfunction in a study of genetic data from patients with pediatric cataracts.

The research teams combined forces and discovered that the protein missing in the children and the mice belongs to a type of structure known as RNA granules. RNA granules function to regulate mRNAs in the cell. mRNA's primary job is to serve as a template to carry DNA-encoded information from the nucleus into the cytoplasm or body of the cell, providing the blueprints for protein production. The TDRD7 mutation affects mRNA regulation, and this misregulation was implicated in causing the cataracts. Furthermore, the human patients developed glaucoma following cataract extraction.

TDRD7 deficiency greatly reduces the number of stress granules that are produced in lens cells in response to oxidative stress, the researchers show. Stress granules, a specific type of RNA granule, are important to protect the cell in stressful conditions. Oxidative stress has been previously suggested to contribute to glaucoma by damaging the ocular drainage structures. The new findings imply that mice and patients with these mutations may not have adequate protection from oxidative stress in the drainage structures of the eye. With increasing age, their tissues may be more susceptible to oxidative damage resulting in high intraocular pressure and glaucoma.

Although further experiments are needed to be certain, this work is the first to suggest that RNA granules are important in modulating the oxidative stress response relevant to glaucoma. John notes, "There is a growing body of literature indicating that if you disturb oxygen levels in the eye--including after cataract surgery--the risk of developing glaucoma increases."

John says that mutations in the TDRD7 gene could cause a double jeopardy for childhood glaucoma. "First, they cause cataract, and cataract extraction may raise oxidative stress in the ocular drainage tissues. Second, they impair the formation of protective stress granules in response to oxidative stress."

In an indication of the paper's landmark status, Science is publishing the report together with a Perspective article on the study's implications for RNA granule research. Lachke, now an instructor in medicine, comments, "This is a good example of a 21st century collaboration, with major contributions by multiple groups, including basic and clinical researchers across multiple continents."

Jackson Research Scientist Richard Smith, M.D., a former eye surgeon now in the John lab, describes pediatric cataracts as "a very difficult problem to deal with" in the clinic. "The surgical techniques have gotten better," he says, "but a lot of these kids get cataracts shortly after birth, a period with substantially increased glaucoma risk following cataract extraction." Smith notes that while pediatric cataracts are relatively rare in the United States (occurring in about one in every 30,000 births), they are a major problem in other parts of the world, notably the Middle East. "In Saudi Arabia about one in 2,500 babies is born with juvenile cataracts," Smith says.

Glaucoma accounts for about 10 percent of all blindness, with about 4 million cases in the United States. The eye disease, which has no cure, is generally associated with raised pressure within the eye, called intraocular pressure, which damages the optic nerve. Earlier this month the John lab reported that they identified early stages of glaucoma in mice, and successfully blocked the disease in some of the mice by targeting some of the molecular events in those early stages.

Notes:

Funding for the research came from the National Eye Institute, The Barbara and Joseph Cohen Foundation, and the Dubai Harvard Foundation for Medical Research, Kuwait University, the American Heart Association and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. John and his collaborator Gregory Hannon of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory received support from Kathryn W. Davis.

The Jackson Laboratory is a nonprofit biomedical research institution based in Bar Harbor, Maine. Its mission is to discover the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human diseases, and to enable research and education for the global biomedical community.

Lachke et al.: Mutations in the RNA Granule Component TDRD7 Cause Cataract and Glaucoma. Science, March 25, 2011

Source:
Joyce Peterson
Jackson Laboratory

Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.

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New CNIB Survey Finds Many Canadians Less Than Well-Informed About Family History Of Glaucoma

Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
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According to a new CNIB survey released this week for World Glaucoma Week (March 7-13), few Canadians are as informed as they need to be about their family history of glaucoma, a serious and incurable eye condition that affects 250,000 Canadians.

Despite the fact that glaucoma tends to run in families, the survey found that almost half of Canadians (47 per cent) do not feel well-informed about their family history of the disease. In fact, only one-third of Canadians (33 per cent) have spoken to their immediate families to learn whether glaucoma could be a hereditary concern.

But astonishingly, among the group that reported having had that conversation, almost half (47 per cent) learned that glaucoma was in the family, indicating they could be at an elevated risk.

"People forget that learning about your family history of glaucoma is an important step to protecting your eyesight. Family history, particularly having a parent or sibling with the disease, is considered one of the primary risk factors of glaucoma," said Dr. Keith Gordon, Vice-President of Research and Service Quality, CNIB.

The survey also revealed that most Canadians (71 per cent) are unaware that you could have glaucoma, but still be able to see perfectly well.

Eye Remember

To educate Canadians about the importance of detecting glaucoma early, CNIB has launched its third annual awareness campaign and photo contest called "Eye Remember." From March 8 to May 18, Canadians can visit www.eyeremember.ca to get the facts on glaucoma and upload a photograph that represents a cherished memory from their past - whether it's a summer with family at the cottage, a shot from your honeymoon, or an old black and white picture from grandma's albums - along with a brief description of why it is close to their heart and reminds them to be proactive about their vision health.

All uploaded photos will be entered for a chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime trip for two to one of four popular Canadian destinations, including Banff (Alberta), Quebec City (Quebec), Niagara Falls (Ontario) and the Okanagan Valley (British Columbia).

Glaucoma: The "silent thief"

Caused by damage to the optic nerve, glaucoma usually progresses slowly and painlessly; therefore it's possible to have glaucoma without noticing any symptoms or major changes to your eyesight. In fact, 125,000 Canadians are living with glaucoma today and don't know it.

"Because glaucoma has no symptoms, it can only be picked up by regular eye examinations with an eye doctor," said Dr. Neeru Gupta, Professor, Dorothy Pitts Chair of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, and Director of the Glaucoma Unit at St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto. "If someone in your family has glaucoma, you are at a much higher risk for the disease. Get your eye pressure and optic nerves checked for glaucoma. Early treatment is a powerful way to prevent vision loss."

In addition to family history, risk factors for glaucoma include having elevated eye pressure, being over the age of 40, being of African, Asian or Inuit descent and having myopia.

Over time, glaucoma may cause loss of peripheral (side) vision, followed by "tunnel" vision or complete vision loss. There is no cure for glaucoma and, once you begin to lose your vision, it can't be restored. Fortunately, vision loss from glaucoma can be controlled if detected early.

About the survey

This survey was conducted as part of CNIB's Eye Remember campaign in order to determine how much Canadians know about glaucoma and its risk factors. A random sample of 1,003 Canadians aged 18 and older answered an online survey. Survey results from a sample of Canadians of this size can be considered accurate to +/- 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20. The survey was undertaken by CNIB, with data collection by Ipsos Public Affairs. Eye Remember is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Pfizer Canada Inc.

Source:
CNIB

Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.

Please note that we publish your name, but we do not publish your email address. It is only used to let you know when your message is published. We do not use it for any other purpose. Please see our privacy policy for more information.

If you write about specific medications or operations, please do not name health care professionals by name.

All opinions are moderated before being included (to stop spam)

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For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.

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Bexhill-on-Sea, UK
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