Professor creates app that detects eye cancer in children

Baylor chemistry professor Bryan Shaw and computer science professor Greg Hamerly, are hoping their newly launched iPhone app will speed up the detection of a form of eye cancer in children.

It was officially launched in Apple’s App Store on Oct. 22. It scans photos on an iPhone or iPad and searches for white pupils, or leukocoria, which is a symptom of retinoblastoma, a cancer that affects children up to age 5.


Staff photo— Rod Aydelotte

Baylor University chemistry professor Bryan Shaw draws with his son Noah, 6. Shaw was inspired to create a White Eye Detector app after Noah was diagnosed with retinoblastoma as an infant, a rare cancer that can be detected by the appearance of white pupils in photos.

                        
                                                                                                                           
It can also directly scan a child’s eye and detect leukocoria. Leukocoria becomes apparent in photos as the camera flash bounces off tumours in the back of the eye, creating the white pupil in the image.
A white eye can also indicate cataracts in children and adults, as well as Coat’s disease, a condition the causes abnormal growth in blood vessels behind the retina which can lead to blindness.

Often the first sign of retinoblastoma that is noticed is leukocoria, a whitening of the pupil that looks like a "cat's eye". This whiteness can be seen in certain lighting conditions. It is often noticed in photographs of the child taken with a flash, which usually causes the eyes to appear red in the picture. Instead of the normal red reflex, you may notice a white pupil in the photo, which comes from the white surface of the tumor itself.

 

Examples of leukocoria:

Leukocoria is the most common sign of retinoblastoma and can be seen in 60% of patients. Other signs may include strabismus or crossing of the eyes, which is noticed in 20% of children. Furthermore, in approximately 10% of children, eye swelling with pain and redness occurs. (Photo of leukocoria)

Children with this rare cancer require the most advanced testing and management to ensure the cure of the cancer with preservation of the greatest amount of vision. Specialized testing is very important to confirm diagnosis, as there are no blood tests available to confirm a diagnosis of retinoblastoma. Unlike tumours in other parts of the body, a biopsy cannot be performed due to the risk of spreading cancer cells outside the eye.

 

 

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Princess Charlene of Monaco gives birth to twins!

Princess Charlene of Monaco was allegedly admitted to the Princess Grace hospital this morning, where she delivered a set of twins - a boy and a girl by caesarean section.

The babies are the first children born to the 36-year-old South African and her 56-year-old husband Prince Albert II, although he has two children from earlier relationships.

PHOTOS: Passer-by rescues newborn baby flushed down the toilet by his mother after hearing his cries from a sewer

The cover of a sewer in China’s Shaanxi Province was opened to rescue a newborn baby after a passer-by heard his cries from a sewer. The baby was found lying on his back in a small pool of water in the sewer.

Suide County fire department squad leader Li Zhi said: "It was really a race against time because somebody could have flushed something down the sewer again at any stage, or the baby might have turned over and ended up face first in the filthy water and drowned.
"But we didn't want to smash the pipe because we thought that might also hurt or even kill the baby. So we had to use a mixture of tools in order to ease him towards the opening and then pull him out.
"He still had the umbilical cord attached and it had obviously been clumsily cut."
The newborn baby was taken to hospital where after being cleaned and fed he was announced to be perfectly healthy.
Dr Li Zhiping, who had been attending to him said: "The child survived the ordeal surprisingly unscathed. I can't think of any similar case where a child survived being effectively flushed down the toilet."
The child, nicknamed Xiaoxiao by his rescuers, is being taken care of by members of the fire department who have volunteered to be his temporary parents pending investigations.
Police have appealed for help in tracking down the mother who may need medical help but have also warned that she will face legal charges if found.

24 year old woman dies after taking overdose of raspberry ketone slimming pills

 

24 year old Cara Reynolds suffered a heart attack after taking Forza raspberry ketones, a popular herbal slimming pill, naturally occurring chemical compounds that give raspberries their scent, promoted as 'fat burners' .


 

 

Doctors who analysed the over-the-counter tablets said each contained as much caffeine as four cans of Red Bull.

Cara told her parents she planned to take them to help her lose weight while working out at the gym.

Her father said: 'She was 5'4" and a size 10. She wasn't overweight at all.

'But we wanted to be supportive of her. She told us the slimming pills were made from natural ingredients, so we didn't think they were anything to worry about.'




Her father Michael said many popular retailers should ban over-the-counter sales of slimming pills such as these. He said: 'If the ketones had not been so readily available, Cara might still be here today'


After taking two pills, Miss Reynolds went to her father complaining of heart palpitations.

He said: 'She'd only taken the recommended amount of pills but was scared because her heart was going 10 to the dozen.

'That's when she said she wasn't going to take them for weight loss any more - it had really worried her.'

But a month later, on March 5, 2013, she had a seizure.

Miss Reynolds admitted she had taken most of the slimming pills and was vomiting and fitting for half an hour before falling unconscious.







After finding his daughter unconscious on her bedroom floor, Mr Reynolds noticed evidence of raspberry ketones and called an ambulance.

He said: 'I held my only daughter in my arms and before she became unresponsive she kept telling me she had made a mistake and that she didn't want to die.

'She'd broken up with her fiance of one year and was left devastated by the rocky relationship.

'In a moment of madness, she'd taken an overdose because she had the ketones to hand.

'It was the most heart breaking moment of my life, and one I will never forget.'

When paramedics arrived to rush her to the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, he told medics he had found the empty packaging by her body.

Despite 44 attempts to resuscitate her, Miss Reynolds died five hours later from cardiovascular collapse because of the fatal dose of caffeine she had ingested.

A case report of her death submitted to the British Medical Journal (BMJ) said the high dosage of caffeine sent her heart into cardiac arrest.

The report author stated: 'This case report highlights the dangers of increasingly popular over-the-counter slimming pills.

'Many slimming products have concentrations of up to 250mg of caffeine per tablet which is equivalent to more than four cans of Red Bull or seven cans of Coca Cola.



Her family has now launched a campaign to make stores take the pills off their shelves.

Raspberry ketones are advertised on Boots' website as a natural, fruit extract to help with weight loss.

It is recommended that no more than four capsules are taken each day - the caffeine equivalent to 16 cans of energy drink.

Mr Reynolds added: 'These pills are dangerous and need to be taken down by retailers.

'There also need to be age restrictions imposed on the purchase of diet pills and so called safe weight loss pills alike.

'These pills are not herbal or harmless like most people are led to believe.'

As part of his campaign, he has written to the retailer informing them of his daughter's death and asking them to stop selling raspberry ketones.


A representative for Forza said: 'This is a tragic and understandably upsetting situation for her family and friends, but it could have been effected through the misuse of any supplement.

'Forza products meet vigorous health and safety standards and have clear labelling and directions for safe usage.

'It is regrettable to our client that an intentional overdose of a large number of capsules of a food supplement has potentially contributed to Miss Reynolds' suicide.

'The facts surrounding this incident are not yet wholly clear, but our client entirely rejects any implication that an inherent safety issue with its products is responsible.'

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VIDEO: Naturalist Paul Rosolie finally gets eaten alive by anaconda...

Naturalist Paul Rosolie was finally eaten by an 18ft snake, and it was kind of underwhelming following all the trailers and hype about the documentary. Paul didn't actually get to the belly because the anaconda's constriction proved too much for the man to bear before any real swallowing took place.

"My arm's torqueing, this thing is gonna break" Paul tells waiting rescuers. "I'm calling it! I need help!"
Last week, he told Entertainment Weekly of the ordeal: "She nailed me right in the face and the last thing I saw was her mouth wide open before everything went black.

CLICK BELOW TO WATCH VIDEO:

Reports have it that things started going south when Rosolie couldn't find and capture a 25-foot snake in the Amazon ... so he had to use a ringer, a normally captive snake that was too small to get the job done though was still strong enough to rip his arm out of the socket.