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| SEPTEMBER 2016 AMD UPDATE |
AMD & Genetic Testing
With the advent of genetic sequencing, it becomes more and more apparent that each of us is truly unique and our health is in part dictated by our genes. Researchers have identified more than 50 gene mutations that impact the likelihood of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Does individualized genetic data increase the success of various treatments?
Read more
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AMD.org Affirmations: A Nod to Positivity
A positive attitude
can bring greater health, happier relationships and more luck.
7 Tips to Stay Positive
1. Decide to have a positive attitude. We are responsible for our own happiness.
2. Surround yourself with positive people. Their attitude is contagious.
3. Use positive affirmations. Instead of "I hate getting up." say, "I am grateful for a new day."
4. Be very selective of the music and news you listen to. GARBAGE IN = GARBAGE OUT!
5. Help other people. Service gets us out of our own misery & positively impacts our world.
6. Get in touch with your spiritual source. Faith fuels hope, hope fuels a positive attitude.
7. Don't stop; never give up. Do not give in to the negativity around us.
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Dr. Karen Squire, OD, our low vision expert from the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis offers some more practical tips for living with AMD. This month, she reminds you how to
make the most of your Smart Phone.
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CLINICAL TRIALS:
WHERE PATIENTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Q: Can I get my AMD treatment in an eye drop instead of injection?
A: Not yet, but sometime soon.
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Here Comes the Sun
Our friends at Cocoons Eyewear have developed sunglasses with the AMD community in mind.
Read here for some tips to consider before you purchase your next pair of sunglasses.
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WEBSITES WE LOVE:
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Don't let AMD stop you from enjoying books. Even if it has been a few years since you've stopped by your local library, it may be time to dig out that library card and visit - online.
Overdrive.com
is an app that can be downloaded onto your smart phone, i-Pad, laptop or desktop computer. Using your library card to 'log in,' you'll have access to thousands of audio book titles. You check them out just as if you went to your local branch. The books stay on your computer for a few weeks and then are automatically 'returned' unless you renew them.
Overdrive also permits you to download e-books, and depending on your computer screen, you may be able to adjust to large readable type. If reading has become a chore, listening to someone read a book aloud - whether bestseller, biography, fiction, or a good mystery, is a nice way to spend an afternoon.
If your local library does not subscribe to Overdrive (there are 30,000 libraries that do), your library likely subscribes to a similar system that will permit you to check out and listen to audiobooks or read large print books. Talk to your librarian who can share information about other services that may be available to you.
In addition to these local programs, remember there is the original lending library for those with low vision. The National Library Service, set up in the 1930s by the Library of Congress, was established to provide braille books, textbooks and music scores for the blind and partially sighted. If your doctor will certify you as having low vision, you'll be able to sign up for this wonderful, free program.
More than 1 million titles are available as part of their lending library. Audio books can be shipped directly to your home, and you'll be provided with free playback equipment that is easy to use. There are local branches of the NLS in every state, many located in institutes that provide other services for those with low vision.
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YOUR GIFT MAKES A DIFFERENCE. . .
Your tax-deductible* donation to UC-Irvine Foundation is used exclusively to support the programs of the Macular Degeneration Partnership.
Thank you!
*
to the full extent of the law. Contact your tax advisor for details.
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Our Pledge . . .
The Macular Degeneration Partnership seeks to provide comprehensive and easily understood information about living with age-related macular degeneration for everyone who needs it.
Visit our website for more information, or call us at 888-430-9898 if you have a question.
Good health to you,
Mary Prudden
Executive Program Director
Macular Degeneration Partnership
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Founded in 1998, the Macular Degeneration Partnership is a program of the Discovery Cornea and Retina Center, Gavin Herbert Eye Institute University of California, Irvine.
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