Research proves shock wave from explosives causes significant eye damage

Results may help prevent eye injuries among soldiers

2014-06-30

(Press-News.org) Researchers at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) are discovering that the current protective eyewear used by our U.S. armed forces might not be adequate to protect soldiers exposed to explosive blasts.

According to a recent study, ocular injuries now account for 13 percent of all battlefield injuries and are the fourth most common military deployment-related injury.

With the support of the U.S. Department of Defense, UTSA biomedical engineering assistant professor Matthew Reilly and distinguished senior lecture in geological sciences Walter Gray have been collaborating with researchers at the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research at Joint Base San Antonio Fort Sam Houston and the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio to understand the unseen effects that can occur as a result of a blast injury.

In a basement laboratory at Fort Sam Houston military base, the research team has spent the last two years simulating Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts on postmortem pig eyes using a high-powered shock tube.

So far, they have discovered that the shock wave alone created by an IED, even in the absence of shrapnel or other particles, can cause significant damage to the eyes that could lead to partial or total blindness.

Perhaps the most striking discovery is that these blasts can damage the optic nerve, which transmits information from the eye to the brain. Optic nerve injuries occur even at low pressures and could be the cause of many visual deficits, which until now have been associated traumatic brain injuries.

"There has been considerable controversy surrounding whether primary blasts could damage the eye," said Reilly. "No one had shown conclusive evidence before, perhaps because they weren't looking at the problem quite as closely as we have. We had some idea of what to look for based on results from computational models and now we have experimental data that supports this phenomenon."

This groundbreaking research will not only help physicians know what type of injuries to screen for and treat following a blast injury, it will also create a reliable model to test various protective eyewear solutions that might prevent or reduce blast damage to the eyes.

Moving forward, the research team plans to delve further into the link between the optic nerve and the brain in an effort to understand the causes and symptoms of traumatic brain injuries.

INFORMATION:

Learn more about the UTSA College of Engineering at engineering.utsa.edu.

Connect online with UTSA at http://www.facebook.com/utsa, http://www.twitter.com/utsa, http://www.youtube.com/utsa or http://www.utsa.edu/today.

About UTSA

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is an emerging Tier One research institution specializing in health, energy, security, sustainability, and human and social development. With nearly 29,000 students, it is the largest university in the San Antonio metropolitan region. UTSA advances knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. The university embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property – for Texas, the nation and the world.

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Earth-Kind roses analyzed for salt tolerance

2014-06-30

COLLEGE STATION, TX – Earth-Kind® roses are favorites with gardeners and landscapers. Chosen for their superior tolerance to heat, drought, and pests, as well as their outstanding performance in landscapes, Earth-Kind® roses can thrive in most environments, even with limited care. A new study focused on determining the best Earth-Kind® varieties for withstanding the challenges of salt stress. As alternative water sources such as reclaimed water are becoming more commonly used as irrigation for urban landscapes and agricultural crops, plants are being subjected to higher ...

New method to grow zebrafish embryonic stem cells can regenerate whole fish

2014-06-30

New Rochelle, NY, June 30, 2014—Zebrafish, a model organism that plays an important role in biological research and the discovery and development of new drugs and cell-based therapies, can form embryonic stem cells (ESCs). For the first time, researchers report the ability to maintain zebrafish-derived ESCs for more than 2 years without the need to grow them on a feeder cell layer, in a study published in Zebrafish, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Zebrafish website. Ho Sing Yee and coauthors from the ...

With climate change, heat more than natural disasters will drive people away

2014-06-30

Although scenes of people fleeing from dramatic displays of Mother Nature's power dominate the news, gradual increases in an area's overall temperature — and to a lesser extent precipitation — actually lead more often to permanent population shifts, according to Princeton University research. The researchers examined 15 years of migration data for more than 7,000 families in Indonesia and found that increases in temperature and, to a lesser extent, rainfall influenced a family's decision to permanently migrate to another of the country's provinces. They report in the ...

Study of animal urination could lead to better-engineered products

2014-06-30

Sir Isaac Newton probably wasn't thinking about how animals urinate when he was developing his laws of gravity. But they are connected – by the urethra, to be specific. A new Georgia Institute of Technology study investigated how quickly 32 animals urinate. It turns out that it's all about the same. Even though an elephant's bladder is 3,600 times larger than a cat's (18 liters vs. 5 milliliters), both animals relieve themselves in about 20 seconds. In fact, all animals that weigh more than 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) urinate in that same time span. "It's possible because ...

Comparison study of planting methods shows drilling favorable for organic farming

2014-06-30

SALINAS, CA – In the fertile growing regions of the central coast of California, scientists are looking for ways to increase organic production of strawberry and other crops. Because cover crops can provide weed and erosion control, determining the best method for establishing a uniform and dense cover crop stand as soon as possible after planting is a critical first step. The authors of a new study say that determining optimal planting strategies that accelerate cover crop emergence and reduce light penetration to weeds should be a primary focus. Eric Brennan and Jim Leap ...

Surgical treatment for metastatic melanoma of the liver increases overall survival

2014-06-30

CHICAGO (June 30, 2014): Surgical resection markedly improves survival among metastatic melanoma patients whose disease is isolated to a few areas in the liver, according to new study findings published in the July issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. These results mark a departure for melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer, that is most often considered fatal once it has spread to the liver and then, not amenable to surgical treatment. In the past, surgical treatment for liver metastases was not considered an option for most patients, as the ...

In human evolution, changes in skin's barrier set Northern Europeans apart

2014-06-30

The popular idea that Northern Europeans developed light skin to absorb more UV light so they could make more vitamin D – vital for healthy bones and immune function – is questioned by UC San Francisco researchers in a new study published online in the journal Evolutionary Biology. Ramping up the skin's capacity to capture UV light to make vitamin D is indeed important, according to a team led by Peter Elias, MD, a UCSF professor of dermatology. However, Elias and colleagues concluded in their study that changes in the skin's function as a barrier to the elements made ...

New research study shows huge savings for health care

2014-06-30

DETROIT, Mich., Monday, June 30, 2014 – Recently published findings in Annals of Internal Medicine by Steven Lipshultz, M.D., Wayne State University professor and chair of pediatrics and pediatrician-in-chief at the Children's Hospital of Michigan, part of the Detroit Medical Center, and colleagues could help to reduce health care charges while also protecting childhood cancer survivors from heart ailments caused by drug therapy. That's the "very exciting and very hopeful" bottom line of the recently published study, said co-author Lipshultz, who has spent more than ...

Studies provide important new information on genetic risk of sudden cardiac death

2014-06-30

Two international research studies, both led by investigators affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, have uncovered new information about genes that may increase the risk of serious cardiac arrhythmias. The studies recently received back-to-back advance online publication in Nature Genetics and Nature Methods. The Nature Genetics report identifies several new gene regions associated with variations in the QT interval – a stage in the heart's electrical cycle that, if prolonged, increases the risk of drug-induced ...

Bacterial colonies evolve amazing diversity

2014-06-30

Like human societies--think New York City--bacterial colonies have immense diversity among their inhabitants, often generated in the absence of specific selection pressures, according to a paper published ahead of print in the Journal of Bacteriology. Microbiologists have long been aware of this phenomenon, and they credit it as a reason microbes have been able to colonize almost every conceivable terrestrial habitat from underground Antarctic lakes to hot springs to intensely radioactive pools, says corresponding author Ivan Matic, of INSERM, Paris. But none had tried ...

Why Some Bacteria Survive Antibiotics and How to Stop Them - New study reveals that bacteria can survive antibiotic treatment through two fundamentally different “shutdown modes”

Research proves shock wave from explosives causes significant eye damage

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: