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Semaglutide and vision loss: A new concern for NAION risk?

This article has been verified for CPD. Click the button below to answer a few short questions and download a form to be included in your CPD folder. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) have emerged as transformative agents in...

Empowering primary care patients registered blind or partially sighted

With two million people in the UK living with visual impairment [1], being able to provide equitable and effective communication to this group of patients is essential in primary care. Yet, as highlighted by research conducted by Sight Loss Councils,...

Diabetes and diabetic retinopathy: Changes in understanding of the disease over the last 25 years and how the UK is helping low-income countries tackle the challenges

Diabetes – a historical perspective Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic disease caused by inherited and / or acquired deficiency in production of insulin by the pancreas, or by the ineffectiveness of the insulin produced. Such a deficiency results in...

Eye research: where next?

Eye research in the UK is underfunded relative to other areas of medical research and general awareness of sight loss and its prevention remains poor, messages that were reinforced in presentations and discussions during a recent research summit meeting in...

The role of inflammation in the pathophysiology of DMO

Diabetic macular oedema (DMO) is a major cause of visual loss in diabetes, with a complex multifactorial pathogenesis. In the UK alone it is estimated that there are nearly 2.5 million diabetic patients aged over 12 years. Approximately 65,000 of...

Myasthenia gravis presenting with isolated ptosis: a poorly studied subgroup

Investigation into the cause of one isolated symptom or sign can be challenging if that particular sign may be caused by a variety of pathological processes, affecting different tissues, and presenting to different specialties. Unilateral ptosis is a case in...

Coming to terms with AI

A machine might be called intelligent if its response to questions could convince a person that it was human, a test proposed by Alan Turing in 1950 [1]. The author considers potential applications of artificial intelligence (AI) using machine learning...

The bionic eye – behind the headlines

Multiple visual prosthetic projects and other vision regeneration initiatives being tested in preclinical and clinical development worldwide illustrate continuing progress and opportunities in addressing profound blindness from hereditary retinal diseases and other causes (Table 1). Three implantable bionic vision systems...

Initiatives in macular service provision

A report from Monitor in October 2015 identifies good practices that will realise most of the potential productivity gain in elective care available to NHS hospitals. These include: stratifying patients by risk and creating low-complexity pathways for lower-risk patients (tailoring...

Designing ophthalmology services Part 2: How do we address the queues for a clinic?

The first of this three-part series showed how systems engineering can be used to correctly diagnose and address the causes of delays in a clinic. This second article describes how to design a more productive system that meets the new...