Vitamin A pill could protect the sight of millions

A drug based on vitamin A could prevent millions from going blind as they get older, say researchers.

The treatment was able to stop the most common cause of blindness in old age during trials.

Researchers behind the drug, fenretinide, found it halted the advance of age-related macular degeneration, for which there is currently no cure.

They targeted the most prevalent form of the condition, known as ‘dry’ AMD, which is caused by the deterioration and death of cells in the macula – the part of the retina used to see straight ahead.

The disease robs sufferers of their sight by creating a blackspot in the centre of their vision, reports the Daily Mail.

It can make it impossible to carry out everyday tasks such as reading, driving and watching television.
While the less common ‘wet’ form can be treated, nothing can be done to help the bulk of patients.

The US research studied fenretinide, which is derived from vitamin A, the vitamin found in carrots, and which was originally designed to tackle arthritis.

Almost 250 men and women with dry AMD took a fenretinide pill a day or a placebo.

In the highest dose, the drug halted visual deterioration after a year. This suggests that while it was unable to do anything to stop cells that were already damaged from dying, it protected healthy cells.

Although the research is still preliminary, it offers promise of a treatment for the disease.

It affects millions across the world. The number of British sufferers could more than treble to one million within 25 years as the population ages.

Jason Slakter of New York University School of Medicine said: “There are currently no effective treatments for dry AMD and the need for finding one is grave.

Personal information from Facebook passed on to ad firms

Facebook was hit by another privacy row after it emerged that millions of pieces of personal information from the site were being shared without users’ consent.
Vast quantities of data, including the names of individual members and their online ‘friends’, were passed to internet ad firms, with tens of millions of people thought to have been affected.
The leaks were possible even when members had deliberately set their privacy options to the maximum secrecy levels, reports the Daily Mail.
The practice violates Facebook’s own rules on data protection and will raise questions about the company’s ability to keep information about its members’ activities secure, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Security experts warned that the details could be used – when combined with other publicly available information – to build up a detailed picture of an individual’s interests, friendship circle and lifestyle.
Campaigners condemned what they called a “gross invasion of privacy” and warned users that Facebook was “not a private place”.
Around 25 advertising and data firms were receiving the information. It was passed to them by firms whose ‘apps’ – games and other features – operate on Facebook and not by the social networking site itself.
Using the data allows advertisers to better target individuals with promotion for specific products.
The Wall Street Journal said the 10 most popular apps on the site were transmitting user IDs to outside companies, including the popular game FarmVille – which has 59 million users – Texas Hold, Em Poker and FrontierVille.
Monday night, Facebook said it had taken immediate action to disable all applications that violated the rules. But it is the latest privacy row to engulf the site, which has 26 million users in Britain alone.

Now operate your Cell Phones as soon as the plane lands

Now you don’t have to wait to switch on your cell Phone while you are on the plane. India’s air safety regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has said in a statement that the passengers would now be allowed to use their handsets once the plane has landed, provided there are clear visibility conditions.

The statement reads, “The DGCA has amended the Rule 29B of Aircraft Rules to provide for the use of the cellular phones by passengers after the aircraft has landed and cleared the active runway, except in cases when low visibility conditions exist at the airport.”

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