Made by DATEXIS (Data Science and Text-based Information Systems) at Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin
Deep Learning Technology: Sebastian Arnold, Betty van Aken, Paul Grundmann, Felix A. Gers and Alexander Löser. Learning Contextualized Document Representations for Healthcare Answer Retrieval. The Web Conference 2020 (WWW'20)
          Funded by The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy; Grant: 01MD19013D, Smart-MD Project, Digital Technologies
           
        
Genetic testing can confirm albinism and what variety it is, but offers no medical benefits except in the cases of non-OCA disorders that cause albinism "along with" other medical problems which may be treatable. There is no 'cure' for Albinism. The "symptoms" of albinism can be assisted by various methods.
Since there is no cure for albinism, it is managed through lifestyle adjustments. People with albinism need to take care not to sunburn and should have regular healthy skin checks by a dermatologist.
For the most part, treatment of the eye conditions consists of visual rehabilitation. Surgery is possible on the extra-ocular muscles to decrease strabismus. Nystagmus-damping surgery can also be performed, to reduce the "shaking" of the eyes back and forth. The effectiveness of all these procedures varies greatly and depends on individual circumstances.
Glasses, low vision aids, large-print materials, and bright angled reading lights can help individuals with albinism. Some people with albinism do well using bifocals (with a strong reading lens), prescription reading glasses, hand-held devices such as magnifiers or monoculars or wearable devices like eSight
and Brainport.
Albinism is often associated with the absence of an iris in the eye. Contact lenses may be colored to block light transmission through the aniridic eye. Some use bioptics, glasses which have small telescopes mounted on, in, or behind their regular lenses, so that they can look through either the regular lens or the telescope. Newer designs of bioptics use smaller light-weight lenses. Some US states allow the use of bioptic telescopes for driving motor vehicles. (See also NOAH bulletin "Low Vision Aids".)
To support those with albinism, and their families, the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation was set up to provide a network of resources and information.
Ocular albinism type 1 (OA1), also called Nettleship–Falls syndrome, is the most common type of ocular albinism, with a prevalence rate of 1:50,000. It is an inheritable classical Mendelian type X-linked recessive disorder wherein the retinal pigment epithelium lacks pigment while hair and skin appear normal. Since it is usually an X-linked disorder, it occurs mostly in males, while females are carriers unless they are homozygous. About 60 missense and nonsense mutations, insertions, and deletions have been identified in "Oa1". Mutations in OA1 have been linked to defective glycosylation and thus improper intracellular transportation.
The eponyms of the name "Nettleship–Falls syndrome" are the ophthalmologists Edward Nettleship and Harold Francis Falls.
To date there is no treatment for ocular albinism, probably because little is known about the receptor function and its role in the pathophysiology of the condition. Though surgery for strabismus is sometimes helpful, there does not seem to be a sure remedy for it until the cause of ocular albinism is well established. However, with the recent discovery of the upstream ligand (L-DOPA) and the discovery of Oa1's possible downstream G alpha partner (Gai3) the Oa1 pathway is becoming clearer and future of Oa1 research looks promising.
Touloukian "et al." have characterized OA1 immunologically as a melanoma/melanocyte differentiation antigen. Flow cytometry data suggests that OA1-specific T cells are all CD8+. This indicates that OA1 peptide is processed and presented on the surface of melanoma cells to be recognized by antigen-specific T cells. Moreover, recognition of OA1 by T cells induces cytokine production by the OA1-specific T cells. This means that OA1 is a potential target for melanoma vaccines.