Stimulated by the sparkling form of guest auctioneer, Jeffery Archer and the generosity of those who attended, the fabulous sum of £55,882 was raised on the inaugural Birdshot Uveitis charity clay pigeon shoot. Continue reading
We’d like to canvass your opinion on where the next Birdshot Day should be held? The date we are aiming for is March 2015.
To keep it simple we have 3 suggestions to choose from with the opportunity for you to make your own suggestion if preferred.
It’s a bit of an experiment as we have never used this software before, but do please do cast your votes and let us know which of the following locations you would prefer.
Many thanks
The Birdshot Team
Students learning about Birdshot Chorioretinopathy
BUS helped at the Fight for Sight Optometry Examinations by sending along Birdshotters to be examined by future optometrist. Many of the students had never heard of Birdshot Uveitis, so it was a great opportunity to get them better acquainted with the eye condition.
Birdshot is difficult to diagnose even for experienced ophthalmologist because the tell tale lesions do not necessarily appear straight away. But it is useful for optometrists to know a bit more about it, that floaters, flashings and inability to see in the dark, a failed field test for example,might be a sign of something more serious going on in the eye that needs to be referred to a specialist for further tests.
The Sight Loss and Vision Priority Setting Partnership Survey in 2012 asked patients, carers and eye health professionals to identify unanswered questions about the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of sight loss and eye conditions that they wished to see answered. A number of Birdshot Uveitis Society members took part in this survey and raised many interesting questions. Continue reading
A recent paper (1) confirmed the previous finding (2) of the involvement of the T helper 17 (th17) cells in birdshot. Th17 cells are associated with autoimmune diseases and are also involved in diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis and behcet disease (also associated with uveitis).
(1)Yang P, Foster CS. Interleukin 21, Interleukin 23, and Transforming Growth
Factor β1 in HLA-A29-Associated Birdshot Retinochoroidopathy. Am J Ophthalmol.
2013 Apr 23. doi:pii: S0002-9394(13)00168-2. 10.1016/j.ajo.2013.03.004.
(2)Kuiper JJ, Mutis T, de Jager W, de Groot-Mijnes JD, Rothova A. Intraocular
interleukin-17 and proinflammatory cytokines in HLA-A29-associated birdshot
chorioretinopathy. Am J Ophthalmol. 2011 Aug;152(2):177-182.e1. doi:
10.1016/j.ajo.2011.01.031.
The research suggest the importance of systemic therapy and offer new insights into the potential of targeted treatments for Birdshot Uveitis.
Mchael Porath Petersen and Nic Ladha, friends of Rea Mattocks decided to raise money for Birdshot Research by running the Richmond Half Marathon in support of Birdshot Uveitis Society. So far they have raised over over £1000 for Birdshot research and the money is still coming in. Thank you so much. Continue reading
BUS has a facebook friend who is a young sufferer of Birdshot Uveitis who would like to be in touch with others in a similar age bracket. If you would like to be in touch by email or via facebook please do let us know and we will help you connect.
Annie
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Recently a volunteer from RNIB wrote to BUS telling us about a services that they provide for blind and partially-sighted people. It is called their Technology Support Service and they are asking us to promote it to our members.
The Technology Support Service aims to help blind and partially-sighted people to remain or become independent. So if your vision has been badly affected by your Birdshot at the moment, or you know someone else who could use this help, you might like to get in touch with RNIB to find out more. Note you do not have to be registered as partially sighted, but you do need to be based in the UK!
RNIB specialist volunteers – known collectively as the Technology Support Squad – are available to help with all kinds of technology-related tasks such as installing DVD players, connecting PC’s/Laptops, helping individuals access audio libraries, using DAISY talking book player and many other technical type problems which you might find difficult on your own.
They also have a network of volunteers who are available to help people by visiting them in their homes.
If you think you know of someone who could benefit from the use of this service, please ask them to get in touch with the Technology Support Squad on; 0303 123 9999, email; helpline@rnib.org.uk or find us online; rnib.org.uk/techsupport.
If you do decide to try it out, please do let us know how you get on. It is always interesting to get feedback about services like this.
Annie
We have a member based in Capetown who would like to be in touch with others in South Africa who have Birdshot so that you can share your local knowledge and experience of treatment etc.
If you would like to be put in touch with this Birdshotter, please email us let us and we will be pleased to put you in touch.
Thank you
Annie for the Birdshot Team
We are delighted to announce the publication of a paper about the 1st Birdshot Day which, as you will see from the list of authors, involved many of us. It was published by the British Journal of Ophthalmology (on-line), on the 7th March 2013 .