View clinical trials related to Blindness.
Filter by:My Space aims to identify the ontogenesis of spatial representation through cross-sectional and longitudinal studies in infants, children, and adolescents with typical and atypical development (visual impairments). The results will serve for the design and development of a novel multisensory device for sensorimotor rehabilitation in blind children from the early stages of life.
Early Check provides voluntary screening of newborns for a selected panel of conditions. The study has three main objectives: 1) develop and implement an approach to identify affected infants, 2) address the impact on infants and families who screen positive, and 3) evaluate the Early Check program. The Early Check screening will lead to earlier identification of newborns with rare health conditions in addition to providing important data on the implementation of this model program. Early diagnosis may result in health and development benefits for the newborns. Infants who have newborn screening in North Carolina will be eligible to participate, equating to over 120,000 eligible infants a year. Over 95% of participants are expected to screen negative. Newborns who screen positive and their parents are invited to additional research activities and services. Parents can enroll eligible newborns on the Early Check electronic Research Portal. Screening tests are conducted on residual blood from existing newborn screening dried blood spots. Confirmatory testing is provided free-of-charge for infants who screen positive, and carrier testing is provided to mothers of infants with fragile X. Affected newborns have a physical and developmental evaluation. Their parents have genetic counseling and are invited to participate in surveys and interviews. Ongoing evaluation of the program includes additional parent interviews.
Postural control requires the integration of the vestibular, visual, and somatosensory systems. Vision, in particular, exerts a considerable influence on body sway during activities that require balance. The investigators aimed to analyze the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with proprioceptive exercises on postural control in individuals between 18 and 55 years old, with congenital and acquired blindness. The intervention will occur in three phases: 1 - Determine differences in postural control and gait between individuals with congenital and acquired blindness with and without the use of a guide stick when wearing shoes and when barefoot; 2 - Will be a pilot study containing 10 subjects in each group (total of 40) where a sample size estimation will be analyzed based on a gait and balance parameters result from a ten consecutive days treatment protocol consisting of tDCS plus proprioceptive; 3 - A treatment protocol will be conducted in which the participants will be allocated to four groups: G1 - active tDCS + dynamic proprioceptive exercises; G2 - sham tDCS + dynamic proprioceptive exercises; G3 - active tDCS + static proprioceptive exercises; and G4 - sham tDCS + static proprioceptive exercises. Evaluations will involve a camera system for three-dimensional gait analysis, a force plate to measure the postural control, and electromyography to analyze the muscle activities. Dynamic stability will be determined using the Timed Up and Go test and static stability will be analyzed with the aid of the force plate. The viability of this study will allow the determination of differences in postural control between individuals with congenital and acquired blindness, the analysis of the effect of tDCS on postural control, and the establishment of a rehabilitation protocol.