Restoring Vision through “Project Prakash”: The Opportunities for Merging Science and Service

Abstract

By treating curably blind children in India, “Project Prakash” brings sight to children of different ages, offering insights into how their brains adapt to enable them to see. The project's experience highlights the benefits of merging basic research with societal service.

Understanding the development of amblyopia using macaque monkey models

“…However, in many other societies, access to health care-including vision care-is limited. In particular, early congenital cataracts may remain untreated for many years (45). Programs such as Project Prakash (45) have provided a mechanism through which many children have been treated at older ages.…”

Learning to see again: biological constraints on cortical plasticity and the implications for sight restoration technologies

“…In humans, the effects of altered visual experience on higher-level vision comes from case-studies of patients that have had their sight ‘restored’ after prolonged vision loss by ophthalmological procedures such as cataract (Fine et al 2002b, Ostrovsky et al 2009, Sinha et al 2013, McKyton et al 2015) or corneal replacement surgery (Fine et al 2003b, Sikl et al 2013). Improvements in the contrast sensitivity function has been noted in several (though not all) individuals who had sight restored at a young age (between the ages of 8-17 years) (Kalia et al 2014).…”

“…Interestingly these deficits are observable both in individuals who have sight restored in late childhood (Sinha et al 2013) and in a patient, KP, who lost vision at 17, and had his sight restored at age 71 (Sikl et al 2013). Thus, the sensitive period for deprivation appears to be broader (extending well into the teenage years) than the critical period for recovering normal vision.…”

Learning to See Again: Biological Constraints on Cortical Plasticity and the Implications for Sight Restoration Technologies

“…Impairments in shape processing, object recognition, and face processing are also observed in sight recovery patients, and these persist even after more than a decade of restored optical sight (Huber et al 2015). Interestingly these deficits are observable both in individuals who have sight restored in late childhood (Sinha et al 2013) and in a patient, KP, who lost vision at 17, and had his sight restored at age 71 (Sikl et al 2013). Thus, the sensitive period for deprivation appears to be broader (extending to at least well into the teenage years) than the critical period for recovering normal vision.…”

“…Similarly, training monkeys to discriminate novel visual stimuli causes the emergence of a population of IT neurons which respond selectively to these novel stimuli (Kobatake et al 1998, DiCarlo andMaunsell 2000), or which become capable of distinguishing between them (Jagadeesh et al 2001). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 In human, the effects of altered visual experience on higher-level vision comes from case-studies of patients that have had their sight 'restored' after prolonged vision loss, either by ophthalmological procedures (including cataract (Fine et al 2002b, Ostrovsky et al 2009, Sinha et al 2013, McKyton et al 2015 or corneal replacement surgery (Fine et al 2003b, Sikl et al 2013. Improvements in the contrast sensitivity function has been noted in several (though not all) individuals who had sight restored at a young age (between the ages of 8-17 years) (Kalia et al 2014).…”