CDC: Most Contact Lens Wearers Are Risking Infection - http://clapway.com/2015/08/20/cdc-most-contact-lens-wearers-are-risking-infection123/

According to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most contact lens wearers are at risk of getting an eye infection.

“Taken together, the survey results indicate that millions of Americans could be at risk for serious eye infections because of poor contact lens hygiene behaviors,” the CDC said in a statement to the press. Almost one third of respondents in the survey of Americans that wear contact lenses reported that they had gone to the doctor for uncomfortable or red eyes because of issues caused by contacts.

WHAT THEY DID WRONG

– 99 percent of the people interviewed said that engaged in at least one risk related to their contacts.

– 82.3 percent wore the lens for a longer than recommended period.

– 50.2 percent slept with their contacts in.

– 55.1 percent of respondents added new solution to the one they had previously used instead of emptying the case first.

Doing any of these things will increase your risk of eye infection by at least five times.

“Good vision contributes to overall well-being and independence for people of all ages, so it’s important not to cut corners on healthy contact lens wear and care,” said Dr. Jennifer Cope, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC, said.

HOW TO HEALTHY WITH YOUR CONTACTS

In the press release, the CDC also listed some of the healthy contact habits that you can adopt to avoid infection, like changing replacing the cases every three months and washing hands with soap and water before touching the contact lenses.

For a complete list of healthy contact habits check out these great guidelines that the organization made. It describes all of the things you can do to have great eye health, as well as the science behind all of it.

CONTACT LENS HEALTH WEEK

The CDC has made August 24-28 2015 Contact Lens Health Week, which it is preparing by publishing research like the survey mentioned above and working with its partners in the eye care industry.

MORE COOL EYE STUFF

Check out this awesome Clapway article to learn about glasses that can potentially make the colorblind see color!

PHOTO SOURCE: OPTHALMIC CONSULTANTS OF BOSTON

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You might want to slip on contacts to witness virtual reality like never before:

CDC: Most Contact Lens Wearers Are Risking Infection

Maybe we"re more different than we think. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/01/do-males-and-females-experience-pain-differently-uab-study-says-yes-233/

A new study conducted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham suggests that males and females may experience pain differently, using different biological systems when processing pain. The findings may lead to alternative pain therapies for each gender while promoting equality in using lab animal test subjects from both sexes.

Study Suggests Pain Receptors May Differ in Males and Females

A team of researchers led by Dr. Robert Sorge at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have published a study that suggests males and females may process pain differently. The study was published this week online in Nature Neuroscience. The findings have contradicted popular assumptions that men and women experience the same pain because we share a common pain circuit.

It follows that the genders should experience pain differently because different sex-related hormones may affect the pain receptors. Current research suggests that each sex uses its own biological system to process pain, which accounts for the different sensitivity to pain.

Alternative Pain Therapies for Different Genders

Past experiments examined the importance of the immune system’s microglia cells in pain processing. When microglia is activated by injury, it releases a chemical that sends a message to neurons in the spinal cord which essentially tells our bodies we’re in pain. Now, recent research has proven the immune system is an even bigger player in pain response as it works in tandem with the nervous system but differs among males and females.

The new study reveals that the microglia process occurs only in male mice as female mice instead use T-cells, a cell that plays a crucial role in the immune system, to produce the same pain response. Researchers did note that the female mice could use the male process, but only did so under specific circumstances.

Dr. Robert Sorge, the study’s lead researcher, believes new findings will help promote more effective therapies for each sex.

“Females could respond better to a treatment that is different from what is prescribed for males — that’s something we as researchers were not looking at before, and this study has helped us uncover that need,” said the assistant psychology professor at UAB.

Sex Equality in the Lab, Using Male and Female Lab Animals

Though women suffer from chronic pain in much greater numbers than men according to the CDC, the sex difference between pain responses has never been discovered until now. Sorge and the other researchers point to the fact that most research is conducted on male rats and mice.

However, in a recent announcement, the U.S. National Institutes of Health have announced a mandatory policy to use female animals in the pre-clinical research.

As Sorge and his team of researchers concluded, the female lab animals and their cell lines will ensure that problems that are sex-related will be more easily identified.

“The current findings from this paper are an excellent example of the wisdom of this policy,” Sorge said.

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If males and females experience pain differently, does Pavlok would work better on a particular gender?

Do Males and Females Experience Pain Differently? UAB Study Says Yes