SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2010
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from The Mini Page © 2010 Universal Uclick Finding a Cure Disease of the retina
One eye disease that affects millions of people is called retinitis pigmentosa (reh-tuh-NIE-tus pig- muhn-TOE-suh), or RP. With RP, the outer parts of the retina
stop working first. Night vision and vision to the sides, top and bottom fail. People notice they don’t see as well at night. They start bumping into things. RP affects some kids. Over many years, it can cause blindness.
The missing ingredient RP is caused by damaged genes. A
gene acts like a small map inside a living cell. Genes carry instructions to tell the body what to do or how to look. They pass on information from our ancestors. When a gene is abnormal, it stops sending the right information. In RP, damaged genes turn off the supply of a protein, or chemical mix, that the eyes need. The retina starts dying. It is like a car not getting enough gas.
from The Mini Page © 2010 Universal Uclick
Ready Resources The Mini Page provides ideas for websites,
books or other resources that will help you learn more about this week’s topics.
On the Web: •
www.FightBlindness.org •
www.VisionWalk.org •
http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/eyes.html •
http://isee.nei.nih.gov
At the library: • “Taking Hold: My Journey Into Blindness” by Sally
Hobart Alexander • “Living With Blindness” by Patsy Westcott
TM
Lancelot has a type of RP. He and his brothers and sisters were all blind. Scientists tested their cure on Lancelot and other dogs before testing it on humans. It worked, and now Lancelot can see.
Treating RP Scientists thought if eyes started
getting the missing protein, people with RP could see again. This would be like putting gas into a car to make it start again. That is exactly what has happened in the first tests of this idea.
Making it work In the last few years, scientists
have put together a library of all the human genes. Eye researchers were able to go to that gene library and check out the gene they needed. They needed a
way to get the gene to the right place. So they turned a virus into a kind of taxicab. A virus is a tiny organism that
can cause diseases such as the flu. Each type of virus has gone to the same place in the body for millions of years. So scientists were able to pick a virus that would go to the eye. Scientists took the dangerous
genes out of the virus and loaded the good gene into it. Then they sent the virus carrying the gene into the eye. Their idea worked! The gene told
the body to start making the protein again. Animals, and then people in the tests, were able to see again.
from The Mini Page © 2010 Universal Uclick Blindness TRY ’N FIND
Words that remind us of vision problems are hidden in the block below. Some words are hidden backward or diagonally, and some letters are used twice. See if you can find: BLIND, CAMERA, CURE, DISEASE, DOG, ELECTRICAL, EYE, GENE, HOPE, KID, LENS, LIGHT, PROTEIN, RETINA, SCIENTISTS, SEE, SIGHT, SIGNALS, TESTING, TREATMENT, VISION, WALK.
SEE YOU AT VISIONWALK!
WS T S I T N E I C S L G C C VA B L H K AN I T E R O A T PV L L E O E S A E S I D M E R I C K IN P K I D F
J LE S
O S E U K N SEL I G H TR T TI S
Y R L D L S I G H T A I
EO E M E E V S L A N G I S N IN E N N T N E M T
NE N E G L A C I R T C E L E A E R T G © 2010 Universal Uclick New Ideas Give Hope Treating Blindness Have you ever imagined what
it would be like to lose your sight? Soon, blindness might affect fewer people. Scientists are making exciting progress in treating certain types of blindness. The Mini Page talked with a
doctor from the Foundation Fighting Blindness to learn more about eyes and hopeful discoveries about certain types of diseases that cause blindness.
The eye The eye is like a camera. The
retina (REH-tuh-nuh), at the back of the eye, captures the light. It is like film in older cameras and like the special light sensor in digital cameras. The light comes in through the
pupil and lens at the front of the eye (and through the lens in a camera). In both the
eye and the camera, light is turned into electrical signals. In the eye, these signals are sent to the part of the brain that translates them into vision. A digital camera runs the electrical
signals through a small computer chip. It forms a picture on the camera’s screen.
This is what people with normal vision would see.
This is what people with a retinal disease called retinitis pigmentosa would see.
art courtesy National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health
Eye diseases There are several types of diseases
that hurt the retina. When people get these diseases, they can go blind.
In some types of retinal disease,
the retina dies a little at a time. The retina is no longer able to take light and turn it into useful electrical signals.
This diagram shows parts of the eye.
The iris (EYE-ris) is the blue, green or brown part. It helps control how much light enters the eye.
The pupil (PYU-pul) is the black circle in the middle of the iris. It lets light in.
The cornea (KOR-nee- uh) is a clear protective covering over the iris and pupil.
September 19, 2010 from The Mini Page © 2010 Universal Uclick
photo courtesy Foundation Fighting Blindness
photos courtesy National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health
Basset Brown The News Hound’s
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