Articles

[Ms. Kathy]

Brain's Visual Cortex Tied to Tactile Discrimination in the Blind
Published on 11 February 2009, by Insciences


Researchers have found that in blind individuals, the brain’s visual cortex is engaged in tactile discrimination—unlike in the sighted.

The finding, recently published in the Journal of Vision, implies that the visual cortex in the blind does not lie fallow but is recruited for other tasks, such as tactile perception.

Dr. Krish Sathian with a patient


"The present study explored whether tactile sensory processing recruits visual cortical activity. The answer is definitely affirmative," says lead author Krish Sathian, MD, PhD, professor of neurology, rehabilitation medicine and psychology at Emory University, and medical director of the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation R&D Center of Excellence.

"Knowing this may help people design better tactile interfaces for the blind that capitalize on the abilities of the visual cortex. Such tactile interfaces include navigational and virtual reality devices," says Sathian.

Although blindness changes how the brain processes non-visual tasks, previous studies did not clearly indicate how purely perceptual tasks are processed, he says. The current study showed that the visual cortical regions in the blind interacted mainly with one another as well as with cortical regions that govern tactile sensation, according to Gopikrishna Deshpande, who conducted the connectivity analyses.

The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the neural processing underlying a task involving fine tactile discrimination versus a task involving tactile temporal discrimination.

The former task incorporated an embossed plastic three-dot pattern. The central dot was offset to the left or right by a variable distance. Participants were asked to determine whether the central dot was offset to the left or right. The latter task also involved a three-dot relief pattern but without an offset of the central dot. The pattern was applied to participants’ fingerpads; they indicated whether the contact duration was long or short.

The sensory processing in the tasks is analogous to that necessary for Braille reading.

"We were specifically interested in determining whether the relevant sensory processing, independent of linguistic or other cognitive factors, evoked activity in visual cortical areas and whether this differed as a function of the age at which subjects became blind. Thus, we explored the effect of the age of blindness and whether there were particular regions of the brain whose degree of activation predicted tactile spatial activity," says Randall Stilla, first author of the study.

The present study showed no significant acuity differences between early blind and late blind subjects, between use of the left and right hand, or between the Braille-reading or non Braille-reading hand. Interestingly, the level of activity in both somatosensory and visual cortex predicted individual acuity in the blind, whereas in the sighted an earlier study from the Sathian lab had shown such predictive activity in a different brain region, the posterior parietal cortex. This means that a lot of the circuitry underlying fine tactile perception is quite different between blind and sighted people.

"Although visual cortical activity is clearly involved in tactile perception, the underlying reasons for this remain uncertain, since such activity also characterizes a host of cognitive process including language processing, verbal memory and attention. There may be a common denominator underlying all these tasks, and if so, it’s most likely a high-level cognitive factor. This issue remains open for future research," says Sathian.

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Veterans Administration.

Reference: Stilla, R., Hanna, R., Hu, X., Mariola, E., Deshpande, G., and Sathian, K. (2008). Neural processing underlying tactile microspatial discrimination in the blind: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Journal of Vision, 8(10):13, 1-19, journalofvision.org/8/10/13/, doi:10.1167/8.10.13.



The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center of Emory University is an academic health science and service center focused on missions of teaching, research, health care and public service. Its components include schools of medicine, nursing, and public health; the Yerkes National Primate Research Center; the Emory Winship Cancer Institute; and Emory Healthcare, the largest, most comprehensive health system in Georgia. The Woodruff Health Sciences Center has a $2.3 billion budget, 17,000 employees, 2,300 full-time and 1,900 affiliated faculty, 4,300 students and trainees, and a $4.9 billion economic impact on metro Atlanta.

Contact: Holly Korschun: 404-727-3990

Source: The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center

Source Link: insciences.org/article.php?article_id=2221

[Ms. Kathy]

National Federation of the Blind Responds to Authors Guild Statement on the Amazon Kindle 2
WSource Lnk: news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-12-2009/0004971766&EDATE=

BALTIMORE, Md., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Federation of the Blind, the largest organization of blind people in the United States, today responded to a statement put out by the Authors Guild advising its members to consider negotiating contracts prohibiting e-books to be read aloud by the new Amazon Kindle 2, which incorporates text-to-speech technology. The Authors Guild argues that the reading of a book out loud by a machine is a copyright infringement unless the copyright holder has specifically granted permission for the book to be read aloud.


Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "The National Federation of the Blind supports all technologies that allow blind people to have better access to the printed word, including the ability of devices like the Kindle 2 to read commercial e-books aloud using text-to-speech technology. Although the Authors Guild claims that it supports making books accessible to the blind, its position on the inclusion of text-to-speech technology in the Kindle 2 is harmful to blind people. The Authors Guild says that having a book read aloud by a machine in the privacy of one's home or vehicle is a copyright infringement. But blind people routinely use readers, either human or machine, to access books that are not available in alternative formats like Braille or audio. Up until now, no one has argued that this is illegal, but now the Authors Guild says that it is. This is absolutely wrong. The blind and other readers have the right for books to be presented to us in the format that is most useful to us, and we are not violating copyright law as long as we use readers, either human or machine, for private rather than public listening. The key point is that reading aloud in private is the same whether done by a person or a machine, and reading aloud in private is never an infringement of copyright.


"Amazon has taken a step in the right direction by including text-to-speech technology for reading e-books aloud on its new Kindle 2," Dr. Maurer continued. "We note, however, that the device itself cannot be used independently by a blind reader because the controls to download a book and begin reading it aloud are visual and therefore inaccessible to the blind. We urge Amazon to rectify this situation as soon as possible in order to make the Kindle 2 a device that truly can be used both by blind and sighted readers. By doing so, Amazon will make it possible for blind people to purchase a new book and begin reading it immediately, just as sighted people do."


About the National Federation of the Blind


With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is the largest and most influential membership organization of blind people in the United States. The NFB improves blind people's lives through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and self-confidence. It is the leading force in the blindness field today and the voice of the nation's blind. In January 2004 the NFB opened the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.

[Ms. Kathy]

Sperian Protection, Makers of Uvex® Brand Eye & Face Protection, Donates $5,000 to Prevent Blindness America
Source link: Earth Times www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/sperian-protection-makers-of-uvexreg,715326.shtml

SMITHFIELD, R.I. - (Business Wire) Sperian Protection, the world leader in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), donated $5,000 to Prevent Blindness America recently, as part of a fundraising effort at September’s NSC Congress & Expo in Anaheim, CA. For each attendee badge scanned at the Uvex booth, Sperian Protection made a donation to Prevent Blindness America.

“We are so pleased to make this contribution,” said Peggy Costabile, Director of Strategic Development at Sperian Eye & Face Protection “The mission of Prevent Blindness America is perfectly aligned with our goal of working to reduce the number of eye injuries and helping to build a culture of safety both in the workplace and at home. We hope that this partnership will help raise awareness for these efforts.”

Founded in 1908, Prevent Blindness America is the nation's leading volunteer eye health and safety organization dedicated to fighting blindness and saving sight. Focused on promoting a continuum of vision care, Prevent Blindness America touches the lives of millions of people each year.

“We want to thank Sperian Protection for their generous contribution to our organization as well as for their continued dedication to preventing serious eye injuries,” said Hugh R. Parry, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness America.


About Uvex by Sperian
Uvex by Sperian is the leading U.S. brand of premium quality, state-of-the-art, feature-rich safety spectacles, goggles and face shields that offer comfort and innovation without compromise. The world’s top-selling protective eyewear brand, Uvex has been an acknowledged leader in safety eyewear innovation for more than 50 years and is the pioneer of many groundbreaking innovations such as Dura-stremeTM Dual Coating Technology offering combined Anti-fog / Anti-Scratch lenses with 3x longer life, a cost-effective silicone goggle body and MMT — Multi-Material Technology®. Sperian Protection offers Uvex branded safety eyewear and face protection products exclusively in the Americas. For more information, please visit www.uvex.us.

[Ms. Kathy]

Disability in Europe: Improvements changes and proposals from the AER
Interview with: Murat Ellialti , Member of the Istanbul Provincial Council since 2004 and the Chairman of EU and Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Assembly of Regions
16 February 2009 - Issue : 821



Murat Ellialti , Member of the Istanbul Provincial Council since 2004 and the Chairman of EU and Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Assembly of Regions



Murat Ellialti has been a member of the Istanbul Provincial Council since 2004 and the Chairman of EU and Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Assembly of Regions for two years. Thanks to his role he has come up with a proposal on improving disability infrastructure in the wider European Regions, New Europe talked to him about these proposals.

Coming from a Turkish background how would you describe the facilitiesand the everyday life of a Turkish person with disabilities?

Our Council is the democratic decision-making body of Istanbul Special Provincial Administration which is mainly responsible with education, health, culture, tourism, environment, and many other things except water supply, transportation and road construction. All these public policy areas involve disabled people. We have special schools for disabled residents e.g. for blind pupils or deaf children. Our Social Service Department deals with disabled people in need of special care. With the introduction of Law on Disability, we revised the construction plans for schools for physically disabled students.

On the other hand, there are municipalities in Istanbul, which are highly autonomous local authorities. They are responsible with building roads, transportation and infrastructure. With the growing sensitivity on disability in the society, every institution has been doing some thing to improve the conditions for disabled people. Yet, we observed that sometimes there are conflicts in services provided for disabled people. Therefore we decided to create a coordination unit to coordinate all activities among all the institutions and tried get them together and establish coordination. Beside all these, in 2004 elections, 16 disabled politicians were elected to regional and local parliaments. In the Provincial Council, a special committee on disability was created for the first time since the council came in to existence in 1913

Is this what prompted this proposal and if not, what did?

Personally I have been involved in disability matters for over 15 years. When I started my university education, I met some blind friends and then we founded an association for the blind people and brought computer technology related to blindness. This personal background made me deal with disability issues when I became a politician. The triggering incident for the proposal took place during a study visit made to AER’s head office in Strasbourg where AER staff made presentations about the work of the Assembly to our delegation. During the presentation on Committee II (Social Policy and Public Health) a colleague, who was a mobility trainer for adult blinds, asked why AER doesn’t deal with disability issues in its work. However, I had already known that this issue was already written in the committee’s work. Therefore we decided to create working group under this committee and asked our colleagues whether we could do it or not. The idea was welcomed by everybody in the AER and then put into practice.

What would you say are the widest differences between the regions on this issue?

If you talk about Turkey as a country, there is a big gap between my region and the others since Istanbul is one of the biggest cities in the world. In comparison with the rest of Europe, many regions have different activities about disabled people. For example, Ille de France has a commission formed by various sectors, like doctors, lawyers engineers etc. In UK, a region has a “Disabled Right Commission”. Every region has different structures and policies depending on the overall socio-economic development level, political awareness and strong civil society presence.

Do you think that town planners and local councils will be very open to these ideas?

If you look around Europe from a disability point of view, you will notice that there are many things that are done according to the needs of disabled people. When you see a traffic light, you hear that it sounds for people who has visual problem, or you see some points adjusted for a wheel-chaired persons. Even for car parks, there are places specially allocated for disabled people. Thus, the policy- makers already have a view on disability needs and rights within Europe. Yet, our initiative intends to do two things. Firstly, it will push disability issue on the agenda and work of regions that lacks any policy on the matter. Secondly, and more importantly, it aspires contributing in establishing a transnational European area for disabled citizens, where disabled persons can enjoy their lives as equal citizens through both removing the barriers and enabling measures. The Working Group can facilitate a cooperation and coordination between the European regions while feeding the EU policy process in accordance with the subsidiarity principle and possibly more.

It’s such a massive project - but it is something that can only be pushed at a regional level - could you describe for our readers the power of working at a regional level and how effective it really is?

At regional level, you are close to both the central policy-makers but also to the citizens as well. Also, being elected directly by the residents of a region gives you extra power in representing their interest and concerns. At the EU level, because of the multilevel governance structure, the regions have multiple channels to advance their policy preferences.

Is educating the regions on the disability issue through bottom-up an appropriate approach? Of course my answer will be yes, but yes will is not sufficient to this question. As European societies, we are bound by some important values and policies like equality, human rights, sustainable development etc. We shouldn’t have the mission to educate regions, but should draw their attentions to this subject. Actually they are already aware of the importance of the matter but what we need to do is to create a common understanding and share our experiences.

Interview by Alia Papageorgiou
Source Link: European Weekly--New Europe www.neurope.eu/articles/92632.php

[Ms. Kathy]

Mysterious Valentine surfaces at Perkins
Posted on February 16, 2009 by Chris Helms
Filed Under Fun and games, Schools |


Someone created this Valentine on the Perkins School lawn.

Perkins’ take on the mysterious message is after the jump.


Perkins Deafblind Program Has Snowy “Secret Admirer”

Mysterious Valentine’s Day Greeting Placed on School Lawn

Watertown, MA - Teachers, staff and students in Perkins School for the Blind Deafblind program arrived for school this morning to find an anonymous Valentine heart fashioned from sticks and twigs on the sloping lawn in front of the Hilton Building where classes are held on the Watertown campus.

“We have no idea who did this, but how sweet is that!” exclaimed psychologist Pamela Ryan, who has been at the school since 1971. “Nothing like this has happened before that I recall.”

Barbara Mason, Perkins Deafblind Program Supervisor, speculates about the origin of the image, “Someone had reported seeing a guy out there making it on Wednesday. Maybe a Perkins employee or a parent? We couldn’t even see any footprints, so it’s a bit of a mystery.”

Many of the students in Perkins Deafblind Program have partial vision and were able to enjoy the message lovingly placed atop the fast-melting snow. What did the students think? Mason says, “They liked it. It’s fun, sort of like a gift. I think it’s fabulous.”

The greeting brightened an otherwise damp, muddy school day. A light-hearted investigation continues in hopes of solving the mystery before the snow melts away and the twig-and-stick heart sinks into the soil. At least one student speculated it was “a gift from Helen Keller” who, like the current students, was deafblind and one of Perkins most illustrious pupils.

One of the leading institutions in educating children who are deafblind, Perkins’ experienced staff is geared toward maximizing individual potential, whether the student focuses on basic communication and daily living skills, or preparation for college.

Perkins School for the Blind, the nation’s first school for the visually impaired, provides education and services to help build productive, meaningful lives for more than 94,000 children and adults who are blind, deafblind or visually impaired with or without other disabilities in the U.S. and 63 countries worldwide. Founded in 1829, Perkins pursues this mission on campus, in the community and around the world. Learn more online at www.perkins.

[Ms. Kathy]

MONDAY APRIL 20, 2009 :: Last modified: Friday, April 17, 2009 11:36 PM MDT

Hope, seen here, was born blind, hard of hearing and had to undergo surgery for a heart murmur. Donations helped pay for Hope's surgery. COURTESY PHOTO/FOUR PAWS PET ADOPTIONS

(photo at this link)
www.rexburgstandardjournal.com/content/articles/2009/04/18/news/27.jpg

Generosity of humans saves blind dog's life

The story of Hope, a locally born dog, has touched the lives of many people.

Hope has had overcome many obstacles since her birth in August 2008. The first: Hope was born without eyes.

In addition to her blindness, she is also hard of hearing.

Her story began when she was surrendered to the City of Rexburg Animal Shelter by a breeder unable to sell her. In January, she was taken from the shelter to the Four Paws Pet Adoptions.

According Jodi Johnson of Four Paws, employees at the adoption center didn't initially know what to do with her since they didn't have the resources to properly care for Hope. Employees feared she would have to be euthanized. But word of Hope's condition spread to other shelters in the area, and connections were made to transfer Hope to the Milo Foundation, an animal rescue in northern California.

But tragedy struck again when during a medical exam, Hope was found to have a "massive heart murmur." Her only option was open heart surgery -- a procedure which would cost between $6,000 to $8,000.

After determining that she was an excellent candidate for surgery, employees at Milo and local shelters worked to find donations, and they were received.

Despite a chance Hope would not survive surgery, the procedure went ahead.

Performed by the Dr. Lisa Alexander of the Animal Care Center in Rohnert Park, Calif., the surgery was a complete success.

Hope was taken in by the BrightHaven organization, a holistic retreat for disabled animals.

Hope now has a bright and happy future in part because of the efforts of those that worked at the Four Paws Pet Adoption who tried so hard to get her to a place where she could be properly cared for.

Johnson says that stories like Hope's are possible because of local donations which help cover animal medical expenses. She said that last month alone the adoption center spent $2,000 on animal medical bills.

But locals do have the opportunity to help out. Four Paws Pet Adoptions will hold a "Spaghetti Fundraiser" at VSW Hall on April 24. The event will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and tickets will be $8 for adults and $5 for children over 5.

Tickets are available at the door, at Four Paws Pet Adoptions and at Joe's Filling Station.

NATE SUNDERLAND

[e-mail]

[Ms. Kathy]

World Health Assembly closes with resolutions on public health
www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2009/world_health_assembly_20090522/en/