Cerebral visual impairment on the web:An exploration of an educational web resource as a bridge to public understanding

Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) is the most common form of childhood visual impairment. Yet it remains the least well understood by parents and professionals alike. There is an urgent need to provide a bridge between academic knowledge concerning CVI, and to give a practical understanding of the condition to those affected, parents, carers, and professionals alike so that a common language can be shared between patients, their carers and professionals. The wide ranging manifestations of CVI, and the lack of accessible well recognised terms to describe it, render it difficult to understand how someone with their own unique form of CVI actually “sees”. However, with graded progressive explanation, knowledge can be gained, leading to an understanding of the visual effects of CVI from the perspective of those affected. The current position of limited understanding of the condition presents a major challenge for health and education professionals: How does one bring about the requisite CVI literacy, to render the subject accessible to families, affected children and adults, and the public? One way of doing this is by means of a plain language, multi-media resource, hosted on a publicly available website, driven by a partnership of adults with CVI, parents of children with the condition and experienced professionals from around the world, including those from the vision sciences and education. Within this context, we have explored the website resource of the not-for-profit organisation CVI Scotland (https://cviscotland.org/). This comprises a growing body of CVI knowledge created for teaching, sharing, learning and developing knowledge and understanding. By analysing anonymised data concerning the activity of 80,000 users from 170 countries, we have examined where the users who are accessing the website come from, what users are seeking in terms of information, how they have accessed the website, and what devices they use. The results are interpreted though frequency analysis and linear regression. Based on this analysis several recommendations are made in terms of disseminating information about CVI to members of the public as well as developments to enhance the website itself. To our knowledge this is the first study to examine the use of a website dedicated to CVI using Google analytics.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Mammal responses to global changes in human activity vary by trophic group and landscape

Wildlife must adapt to human presence to survive in the Anthropocene, so it is critical to understand species responses to humans in different contexts. We used camera trapping as a lens to view mammal responses to changes in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 163 species sampled in 102 projects around the world, changes in the amount and timing of animal activity varied widely. Under higher human activity, mammals were less active in undeveloped areas but unexpectedly more active in developed areas while exhibiting greater nocturnality. Carnivores were most sensitive, showing the strongest decreases in activity and greatest increases in nocturnality. Wildlife managers must consider how habituation and uneven sensitivity across species may cause fundamental differences in human–wildlife interactions along gradients of human influence.Peer reviewe

Cerebral Visual Impairment on the web:an exploration of an educational web resource as a bridge to public understanding

Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) is the most common form of childhood visual impairment. Yet it remains the least well understood by parents and professionals alike. There is an urgent need to provide a bridge between academic knowledge concerning CVI, and to give a practical understanding of the condition to those affected, parents, carers, and professionals alike so that a common language can be shared between patients, their carers and professionals. The wide ranging manifestations of CVI, and the lack of accessible well recognised terms to describe it, render it difficult to understand how someone with their own unique form of CVI actually “sees”. However, with graded progressive explanation, knowledge can be gained, leading to an understanding of the visual effects of CVI from the perspective of those affected. The current position of limited understanding of the condition presents a major challenge for health and education professionals: How does one bring about the requisite CVI literacy, to render the subject accessible to families, affected children and adults, and the public?One way of doing this is by means of a plain language, multi-media resource, hosted on a publicly available website, driven by a partnership of adults with CVI, parents of children with the condition and experienced professionals from around the world, including those from the vision sciences and education. Within this context, we have explored the website resource of the not-for-profit organisation CVI Scotland (https://cviscotland.org/). This comprises a growing body of CVI knowledge created for teaching, sharing, learning and developing knowledge and understanding. By analysing anonymised data concerning the activity of 80,000 users from 170 countries, we have examined where the users who are accessing the website come from, what users are seeking in terms of information, how they have accessed the website, and what devices they use. The results are interpreted though frequency analysis and linear regression. Based on this analysis several recommendations are made in terms of disseminating information about CVI to members of the public as well as developments to enhance the website itself. To our knowledge this is the first study to examine the use of a website dedicated to CVI using Google analytics.</p

Effectiveness of early spectacle intervention on visual outcomes in babies at risk of cerebral visual impairment: a parallel group, open-label, randomised clinical feasibility trial protocol

Introduction Hypoaccommodation is common in children born prematurely and those with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE), with the potential to affect wider learning. These children are also at risk of longer-term cerebral visual impairment. It is also well recognised that early intervention for childhood visual pathology is essential, because neuroplasticity progressively diminishes during early life. This study aims to establish the feasibility and acceptability of conducting a randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness of early near vision correction with spectacles in infancy, for babies, at risk of visual dysfunction.Methods and analysis This is a parallel group, open-label, randomised controlled (feasibility) study to assess visual outcomes in children with perinatal brain injury when prescribed near vision spectacles compared with the current standard care—waiting until a problem is detected. The study hypothesis is that accommodation, and possibly other aspects of vision, may be improved by intervening earlier with near vision glasses. Eligible infants (n=75, with either HIE or &lt;29 weeks preterm) will be recruited and randomised to one of three arms, group A (no spectacles) and two intervention groups: B1 or B2. Infants in both intervention groups will be offered glasses with +3.00 DS added to the full cycloplegic refraction and prescribed for full time wear. Group B1 will get their first visit assessment and intervention at 8 weeks corrected gestational age (B1) and B2 at 16 weeks corrected gestational age. All infants will receive a complete visual and neurodevelopmental assessment at baseline and a follow-up visit at 3 and 6 months after the first visit.Ethics and dissemination The South-Central Oxford C Research Ethics Committee has approved the study. Members of the PPI committee will give advice on dissemination of results through peer-reviewed publications, conferences and societies.Trial registration number ISRCTN14646770, NCT05048550, NIHR ref: PB-PG-0418-20006

Effectiveness of early spectacle intervention on visual outcomes in babies at risk of cerebral visual impairment: a parallel group, open-label, randomised clinical feasibility trial protocol

Introduction Hypoaccommodation is common in children born prematurely and those with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE), with the potential to affect wider learning. These children are also at risk of longer-term cerebral visual impairment. It is also well recognised that early intervention for childhood visual pathology is essential, because neuroplasticity progressively diminishes during early life. This study aims to establish the feasibility and acceptability of conducting a randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness of early near vision correction with spectacles in infancy, for babies, at risk of visual dysfunction. Methods and analysis This is a parallel group, open-label, randomised controlled (feasibility) study to assess visual outcomes in children with perinatal brain injury when prescribed near vision spectacles compared with the current standard care—waiting until a problem is detected. The study hypothesis is that accommodation, and possibly other aspects of vision, may be improved by intervening earlier with near vision glasses. Eligible infants (n=75, with either HIE or <29 weeks preterm) will be recruited and randomised to one of three arms, group A (no spectacles) and two intervention groups: B1 or B2. Infants in both intervention groups will be offered glasses with +3.00 DS added to the full cycloplegic refraction and prescribed for full time wear. Group B1 will get their first visit assessment and intervention at 8 weeks corrected gestational age (B1) and B2 at 16 weeks corrected gestational age. All infants will receive a complete visual and neurodevelopmental assessment at baseline and a follow-up visit at 3 and 6 months after the first visit. Ethics and dissemination The South-Central Oxford C Research Ethics Committee has approved the study. Members of the PPI committee will give advice on dissemination of results through peer-reviewed publications, conferences and societies. Trial registration number ISRCTN14646770, NCT05048550, NIHR ref: PB-PG-0418-20006. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0

Association scan of 14,500 nonsynonymous SNPs in four diseases identifies autoimmunity variants

We have genotyped 14,436 nonsynonymous SNPs (nsSNPs) and 897 major histocompatibility complex (MHC) tag SNPs from 1,000 independent cases of ankylosing spondylitis (AS), autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD), multiple sclerosis (MS) and breast cancer (BC). Comparing these data against a common control dataset derived from 1,500 randomly selected healthy British individuals, we report initial association and independent replication in a North American sample of two new loci related to ankylosing spondylitis, ARTS1 and IL23R, and confirmation of the previously reported association of AITD with TSHR and FCRL3. These findings, enabled in part by increased statistical power resulting from the expansion of the control reference group to include individuals from the other disease groups, highlight notable new possibilities for autoimmune regulation and suggest that IL23R may be a common susceptibility factor for the major 'seronegative' diseases