X-Message-Number: 11678 Date: Tue, 04 May 1999 21:51:19 -0400 From: Jan Coetzee <> Subject: heart muscle Report: Machine Catches Vision Problems In Children WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A computerized machine that can automatically measure vision works to identify problems in young children and even babies, researchers reported Monday. The device, made by San Diego-based EyeDx Inc., uses a digital camera and a computer. Dr. David Granet of the Abraham Ratner Children's Eye Center in San Diego tested it on more than 200 children, compared the results to an examination by a pediatric opthamologist, and said it works. ``The EyeDx system can detect eye disorders in children of all ages and is affordable, quick, and easy to use,'' Granet, who presented his findings at a meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, said in a statement. ``This means we can test more children at an early, critical age, identify eye problems sooner and possibly save them from a lifetime of visual impairments,'' he added. ``Few children under age 4 now are receiving adequate examination, which is partly due to the lack of adequate and automated screening tools.'' The camera takes a quick snap of the patient's eyes and the image is downloaded into a computer, which screens for cataracts, tumors, alignment problems, myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), and astigmatism. Factor may trigger heart cell division NEW YORK, May 03 (Reuters Health) -- Researchers have identified a factor that appears to trigger heart cells to divide, a discovery that may lead to new treatments for heart muscle defects or damage, such as those caused by birth defects or heart attacks, according to a report presented Sunday at the Pediatric Academic Societies' annual meeting in San Francisco. The molecule is a transcription factor, which triggers changes in DNA. The investigators isolated the gene for the transcription factor hCdc5, which ``pushes cells into the final phase of cell division,'' said Dr. Harold S. Bernstein of University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). Normally, heart cells divide only until shortly after birth and once heart muscle damage occurs -- or if an infant is born with a heart defect -- it cannot be repaired by the body. Bernstein and colleagues have been able to induce partial cell division of heart muscle cells in laboratory experiments using hCdc5. Bernstein told Reuters Health in an interview that ``what's interesting is that others have gotten cells to start dividing, but they've gotten stuck at exactly the point where our transcription factor works.'' A combination of all the transcription factors and processes discovered over the past year or so may result in the ability to stimulate complete division of heart muscle cells, Bernstein said. If this proves true, the implications for repair of heart damage are enormous, according to the California researcher. ``The reason we are so interested in the cell cycle is that we need better treatments for children whose heart muscle is damaged due to heart abnormalities -- the most common form of birth defect,'' said Bernstein in a statement issued by UCSF. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=11678