Journal 9, October 25

http://www.physorg.com/news175692544.html

This article is about gene therapy, and how it has been used to help children and adults who were classified as legally blind to see. Half of the patients improved enough to no longer be considered legally blind, some with exceptional results. A child who could only see light and shadows since he was born was able to see the color of his fathers eyes, and was able to play soccer with his father. This is a great advancement in the medical field, and is important for gene therapy as well. If diseases related to the retina and eyes can be fixed with gene therapy, other diseases could be improved or cured as well, with slightly different methods. Senses are something that most people take for granted, but not everyone is able to enjoy being able to see the world around them. Being able to improve the sight of children who were born legally blind is definitely something to be celebrated. It doesn't only help children, though, adults and teenagers participated in the research as well and showed good results. The best results were in the children, but some as old as 44 participated and still showed some results. This particular disease is age-dependent, though, and if action is to be taken it is best to do so before the damage to the retina progresses beyond the point of repair. If eyes can be fixed with gene therapy, then other things can, as well, and I think this is a great use of medicine and will benefit a lot of people.