Combating blindness is vision of University of Tennessee

Millions of people at risk of becoming blind could one day be helped by an Oak Ridge National Laboratory technology originally intended to understand semiconductor defects. The project takes advantage of the Department of Energy lab's proprietary content-based image retrieval technology, which is a method for sorting and finding visually similar images in large databases. Manufacturers of semiconductors have found this technology highly effective for rapidly scanning hundreds of thousands of tiny semiconductors to learn quickly about problems with manufacturing processes.

"We're adapting a proven technology and combining it with new image gathering and analysis tools to help create a database to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of blinding eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration," said project co-leader Ken Tobin of ORNL's Engineering Science & Technology Division.

Diabetic retinopathy alone will affect 239 million people worldwide by 2010, according to Tobin, who noted that this number will have doubled since 1994.

Partnering with ORNL is Edward Chaum, an ophthalmologist and Plough Foundation professor of retinal diseases at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.

Researchers plan to use digital retinal photography and optical coherence tomography -- a technique for examining living tissue non-invasively -- to image and quantify specific disease-based changes in the retina. They will develop an extensive image database of known retinal disease states for clinical validation studies.

Institutional Review Board approval was secured to enable Tobin and ORNL colleagues Tom Karnowski and Priya Govindasamy to assemble a database of thousands of fluorescein angiography and optical coherence tomography images representing hundreds of diagnosed human patients and retinal diseases.

"The dataset provided by Dr. Chaum documents the visual attributes of fluorescein angiography and optical coherence tomography imagery that are used to diagnose a wide range of pathologies," Tobin said. "This is a necessary step to support developing our statistical feature descriptions for image indexing, retrieval and diagnosis."

Tobin and Chaum expect this project to provide benefits not only for diagnosing and treating blinding diseases in broad-based population screening programs, but also for novel biomedical imaging and telemedicine.

"With 180 million people worldwide either blind or at risk of becoming blind, this research has a chance to make a profound effect on people's lives," Chaum said. "By developing a computer diagnosis system to improve early detection of eye disease by non-experts and through telemedicine, we can potentially treat or prevent up to 80 percent of blindness."

Funding for the project, which began in June 2004, is provided by ORNL's Laboratory Directed Research and Development program. ORNL, which is managed by UT-Battelle, employs 1,500 scientists and engineers and is the Department of Energy's largest multipurpose science and energy laboratory.

Related stories:

Transparent transistors to bring future displays, 'e-paper'
Researchers have used nanotechnology to create transparent transistors and circuits, a step that promises a broad range of applications, from e-paper and flexible color screens for consumer electronics to "smart cards" and "heads-up" displays in auto windshields.
Chinese don't wait for Apple launch to get iPhone
In scenes reminiscent of a generation ago, Chinese are tapping friends and relatives travelling abroad to bring back electronic devices that are unavailable in China. The irony is the object they desire is made in China and the US company responsible for the scarcity is proud of its free-thinking image -- Apple Computers.
Microsoft deploying in-store customer-service reps
(AP) -- As part of its new $300 million marketing campaign and image makeover, Microsoft Corp. plans to deploy its own customer-service representatives at retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City to help people with their PC purchases.
Disruption-free videos
Standardized video coding techniques still have their snags -- digitally transmitted images are not always disruption-free. An extension of the H.264/AVC coding format allows to protect the most important data packets to ensure they arrive safely at the receiver.
Scientists peel away the mystery behind gold's catalytic prowess
Few materials have exercised as much of a hold on the human imagination, or on human history, as has gold. But for all of its popular uses – money, medals, jewelry and more – gold's potential as a catalyst lay hidden until the 1980s, when Masatake Haruta and Graham Hutchings independently discovered that gold, which had long been considered inactive, could be an extraordinarily good catalyst. Haruta demonstrated the low-temperature oxidation of CO and Hutchings the hydrochlorination of acetylene to vinyl chloride.
A light bulb and a few chemicals: Scientists find a way to help make new reactions
(PhysOrg.com) -- Princeton scientists have discovered a way of stimulating organic molecules that they expect will prompt researchers to create materials from new kinds of chemical reactions.
Digitized student: Accelerated research using a digital camera
A researcher on a short trip to a foreign country, with little money, but a digital camera in hand has devised a novel approach to digitizing foreign archives that could speed up research.
Team studies how new helium ion microscope measures up
Just as test pilots push planes to explore their limits, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology are probing the newest microscope technology to further improve measurement accuracy at the nanoscale. Better nanoscale measurements are critical for setting standards and improving production in the semiconductor and nanomanufacturing industries.

News discussion:

General Science news