Her vision: Better, clearer sight
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Marguerite McDonald performed the world’s first laser vision correction surgery
- She also conducted the first custom laser surgeries in the United States
- Several pharmaceutical and medical device companies also use McDonald as a consultant
(CNN) — Dr. Marguerite McDonald has a clear vision for helping people see better.
Throughout her career, McDonald, an ophthalmologist at Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Island (New York), has performed several pioneering eye surgeries.
In 1987, she performed the world’s first excimer laser treatment, a procedure that eliminates or reduces the need for contact lenses. She used this technique in 1993 — for the first time anywhere — to treat farsightedness. An excimer laser is a type of laser used in eye surgeries.
McDonald was also the third physician in the world to perform a procedure called conductive keratoplasty — a noninvasive surgery for farsightedness that involves using radio-frequency energy to heat small spots around the cornea. She served as the medical monitor of clinical trials of the procedure in the United States, which led to Food and Drug Administration approval.
In addition, McDonald conducted the first wavefront-based laser surgeries in the United States. Wavefront technology allows doctors to customize surgeries for individual patients.
You don’t know them, but these innovators may have changed your life
In September 2003, she was the first in North America to perform Epi-LASIK — a relatively new procedure that may avoid some of the risks associated with LASIK — in September 2003.
“Along with being noted for performing the first laser vision correction procedure… (McDonald) takes an active role in advancing women’s careers through mentoring,” Jan Beiting, president of Ophthalmic Women Leaders, said in a statement. “She is a trailblazer in every way.”
Ophthalmic Women Leaders announced in 2012 that she had won the organization’s Visionary Woman Award.
McDonald served as the director of the Southern Vision Institute in New Orleans from 1993 to 2005.
Today, she is a clinical professor of ophthalmology at NYU School of Medicine, and an adjunct clinical professor of ophthalmology at Tulane University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans.
Several pharmaceutical and medical device companies also use McDonald as a consultant.
Mom’s death inspires doctor’s life’s work
CNN’s Edythe McNamee contributed to this report.
Part of complete coverage on
updated 9:37 AM EDT, Wed May 15, 2013
You may have never heard of them, but they changed medicine as we know it — and you may benefit from their work today.
updated 7:09 AM EDT, Tue May 14, 2013
For decades, Dr. Eric Kandel has studied how we create short- and long-term memories with the help of a foot-long slug called Aplysia.
updated 2:02 PM EDT, Tue May 14, 2013
CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen looks at some strategies to fight sexually transmitted diseases.
updated 8:01 AM EDT, Sun May 12, 2013
“How much did you weigh when you were born?” Dr. Alfred Brann asks the first time we talk. It seems like a normal question coming from him.
updated 7:05 AM EDT, Fri May 10, 2013
Nadine Kaslow loved ballet and psychology, so she found a career path that would allow her to do both.
CNN’s “Life’s Work” features innovators and pioneers in the world of medicine. Learn more about women who have made significant contributions.
updated 9:34 AM EDT, Thu May 16, 2013
Frans de Waal studies how our close primate relatives demonstrate behaviors suggestive of a sense of morality.
updated 12:45 PM EDT, Fri May 3, 2013
David Nalin helped develop oral rehydration treatment, which has saved millions of cholera victims.
updated 11:22 AM EDT, Fri April 26, 2013
Dr. Vincent L. Gott was one of the pioneers in the development of the pacemaker — a device that he himself benefits from today.
Up to 1 in 5 children suffer from mental disorder: CDC
NEW YORK |
(Reuters) – Up to 20 percent of children in the United States suffer from a mental disorder, and the number of kids diagnosed with one has been rising for more than a decade, according to a report released on Thursday by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the agency’s first-ever study of mental disorders among children aged 3 to 17, researchers found childhood mental illnesses affect up to one in five kids and cost $ 247 billion per year in medical bills, special education and juvenile justice.
Children with mental disorders – defined as “serious deviations from expected cognitive, social, and emotional development” – often have trouble learning in school, making friends, and building relationships later in life, the report said.
They are more likely to have other chronic health problems, such as asthma and diabetes, and are at risk for developing mental illnesses as adults.
“This is a deliberate effort by CDC to show mental health is a health issue. As with any health concern, the more attention we give to it, the better. It’s parents becoming aware of the facts and talking to a healthcare provider about how their child is learning, behaving, and playing with other kids,” Dr. Ruth Perou, the lead author of the study, told Reuters in an interview.
“What’s concerning is the number of families affected by these issues. But we can do something about this. Mental health problems are diagnosable, treatable and people can recover and lead full healthy lives,” Perou added.
The study cited data collected between 1994 and 2011 that showed the number of kids with mental disorders is growing. The study stopped short of concluding why, but suggested improvements in diagnoses as one possible explanation
“Changes in estimated prevalence over time might be associated with an actual change in prevalence, changes in case definition, changes in the public perception of mental disorders, or improvements in diagnosis, which might be associated with changes in policies and access to health care,” the study said.
Perou told Reuters more research was needed to determine the specific causes of mental disorders, and that greater awareness could lead to an uptick in diagnoses. A host of environmental factors, including chemical exposure and poverty, can also affect a child’s mental health, she said.
Lead, for example, is known to be “one of the biggest toxins to impact behavior and learning,” Perou said. Poor children are at a higher risk for developing certain conditions, according to the study.
The most prevalent mental health diagnosis, as reported by parents, was Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which affects 6.8 percent of children. Also common were behavioral conduct problems (3.5 percent), anxiety, which consists mostly of fears and phobias (3 percent), depression (2.1 percent) and autism spectrum disorders (1.1 percent). Many of these disorders occur together, the report said.
Boys were found more likely to have most of the listed disorders except for depression and alcohol abuse, which affect more girls.
The study also noted that suicide, which can be precipitated by an untreated mental illness, was the second leading cause of death (after accidents) among children 12 to 17 years old.
The CDC report was based on multiple other studies that collected data and interviewed children and their guardians about their diagnoses, habits, behaviors and other factors.
(Reporting by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Bob Burgdorfer)
Erectile Dysfunction Tied to Long-Term Narcotic Use in Men
In examine, more males on impotence meds ended up using opioids for long-term back pain
WebMD Information from HealthDay
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Might fifteen (HealthDay News) — If you’re a man, the pain-killing medications known as opioids may possibly do a lot more than alleviate soreness — they may possibly also set a damper on your sex daily life.
A new study discovered that males who have been recommended prescription drugs for erectile dysfunction or minimal testosterone amounts ended up much more very likely to be using opioid (narcotic) medications for persistent back soreness.
“Folks who have persistent soreness problems need to have to know that a possible aspect result of prolonged-phrase opioid use may possibly be erectile dysfunction,” mentioned guide study writer Dr. Richard Deyo, a clinical investigator for the Kaiser Permanente Heart for Well being Study in Portland, Ore. “This is not a effectively-acknowledged prospective facet impact among sufferers, and it must be regarded when thinking about treatment method.”
Deyo also famous, nonetheless, that “the character of this research as an observational research restrictions our ability to make a causal [result in-and-impact] inference. Opioid use and erectile dysfunction look to go jointly, but we have to be careful about stating 1 causes the other.”
Outcomes of the examine had been printed in the May possibly concern of the journal Backbone.
Far more than 4 million people use opioids on a typical basis, Deyo stated. Generally prescribed opioids consist of hydrocodone, oxycodone and morphine. In this study, use of opioids was considered extended-term if patients utilized them for more than a hundred and twenty days, or much more than ninety days if more than 10 prescriptions ended up filled for the medicines.
The study included knowledge on about 11,000 men who experienced back again discomfort. In that team, a lot more than 900 gained medicines for erectile dysfunction or testosterone alternative. These who were presented prescriptions for erectile dysfunction medications or testosterone ended up more mature than those who did not get this kind of prescriptions. They also were much more very likely to have depression and other well being conditions.
And these who had been taking erectile dysfunction drugs or testosterone tended to be smokers or end users of sedative drugs, according to the study.
Erectile dysfunction drug prescriptions were for sildenafil (Viagra), tadalafil (Cialis) and vardenafil (Levitra).
Age was the most important issue in acquiring a prescription for erectile dysfunction, according to the review. Men between the ages of sixty and sixty nine had been fourteen instances more likely to receive a prescription for an erectile dysfunction medication than males who ended up amongst 18 and 29.
Right after altering the data to account for other achievable aspects, such as age, the researchers identified that men who took opioid discomfort medications for lengthy durations were about 50 % much more probably to just take erectile dysfunction prescription drugs or testosterone substitution therapy.
Dr. Daniel Shoskes, a professor of urology at the Cleveland Clinic’s Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, stated the study will not confirm that the ache prescription drugs cause the erectile dysfunction.