Smith-Kettlewell Institute

One of the most challenging tasks for blind and visually impaired individuals is navigation through a complex environment. The goal of the present multidisciplinary study is to increase spatial-cognition abilities in people who are blind or visually impaired through training with the previously-developed Cognitive-Kinesthetic Rehabilitation Training to improve navigation, and to investigate the resultant neuroplastic brain reorganization through multimodal brain imaging.
In accordance with National Eye Institute (NEI) strategic goals, this multidisciplinary project will promote the development of well-informed new approaches to navigational rehabilitation, memory enhancement and cross-modal brain plasticity to benefit 'cutting edge' fields of mobile assistive technologies, vision restoration and memory facilitation for the aging brain.

The planned study is a prospective analysis of non-psychoactive Cannabidiol (without THC) as an adjunctive therapy for blepharospasm in a masked double cross-over study. This prospective study is a follow-up to a retrospective study completed by the researchers using over-the-counter, self purchased CBD. This study will use FDA approved Cannabidiol medication, Epidiolex, directly from GW pharmaceuticals, rather than self-purchased CBD from the internet. Patients will undergo videorecording with a high resolution videocamera system at days 0, 45, 90, 135, and 180 using a novel blink analysis to gather objective data measurements of changes induced by CBD in Blepharospasm patients. This study will attempt to codify the data and quantify if adjunctive CBD therapy improves those areas compared to botulinum injection alone.

Most preterm newborns are managed by phototherapy to reverse hyperbilirubinemia with the intent to prevent bilirubin neurotoxicity. A threshold-based relationship between a specific total bilirubin level and need for intervention has been elusive. This is most likely due to other biomarkers such as hemolysis, developmental maturation, concurrent illnesses, or even interventions, may impede bilirubin/albumin binding. The over-prescription of phototherapy has impacted clinical and family-centered care, and in the extreme preterm infants, it may have augmented their risk of mortality. Thus, the opportunity to individualize phototherapy in in order to reduce its use is unique. The investigators have assembled a transdisciplinary team to examine critical unanswered questions including the role of bilirubin binding capacity (BBC) of an individual during the first week of life in the context of clinical modifiers and antecedents for a domain of bilirubin-induced neurologic disorders, that includes neuro-anatomical, hearing, visual and developmental processing impairments. In this study, the investigator will evaluate two new innovative nanotechniques to quantify bilirubin load for the first time in the context of a clinical decision algorithm to identify those most at risk for any bilirubin-related neurotoxicity. The investigators anticipate that knowledge gained from this study will lead to ethically testable hypotheses to individualize the prescription of phototherapy.