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Bryan F. Shaw, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry in Baylor's College of Arts and Sciences. When his son was diagnosed with retinoblastoma (the formation of tumors on the retina) he learned that "white eye" (a white spot appearing in the pupil) was a sign of leukocoria which is a precursor to the disease.
This led him to research old photographs of his son to see if they showed the white eye symptom. His research indicated that, indeed, the symptom was present as early as 12 days old. Since his investigation, investigators at Baylor and Harvard University have reviewed more than 7,000 photographs to determine the presence of the symptoms. Dr. Shaw is developing software that can detect the "white eye" symptom in the photographs of children.
Ultimately, Shaw would like to see this software available anywhere there's a picture of a child. "I would like this application, this software, to be free, and I would want it anywhere a picture of a kid is: your laptop computer, your Flickr account, your Facebook account, your phone, your camera," Shaw says. "I don't care where."
Dr. Shaw will need more samples to validate the detector, both from parents who have had their children diagnosed with retinoblastoma, and those without. His goal is to improve the symptom detection methodology while reducing the incidence of false positives.
You can submit a photo for analysis, but be mindful that this is currently version 0.1 of the software.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Angry Jesus on Thursday May 08 2014, @05:46PM
There are already websites out there exactly like what you are asking for. Tons of news [thv11.com] stories, [hlntv.com] youtube videos [youtube.com] and dedicated informational sites. [knowtheglow.org]
The fact that you didn't know about them shows why this software is important -- it doesn't require educating the public in order to be useful. Facebook could make it part of their standard photo upload process and alert people when it finds something. They are already running facial recognition on all the photos, at least this would benefit society.
(Score: 2) by skullz on Thursday May 08 2014, @06:02PM
Thanks for the links, very informative (someone mod Jesus up!). Going to go blast my kids with the flash ASAP.
(Score: 2) by tynin on Thursday May 08 2014, @06:51PM
Very informative. I had no idea about this. One should hope if you have a kid, and took them in for regular check ups, that the doctor would notice. However I still plan on checking out my sons eyes tonight.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 08 2014, @07:24PM
I had no idea about this
Over a decade ago, I would listen to the radio broadcasts of Dean Edell MD.
He was mentioning this repeatedly even back then (minus the software).
I guess we need more parenting (self-)support groups to share knowledge (the Cooperatives thing yet again).
-- gewg_
(Score: 2, Insightful) by MozeeToby on Thursday May 08 2014, @09:05PM
Because 4 cases per million kids makes worrying about it a losing proposition. You can't worry about everything that can affect your kid. You certainly can't know the details of how to detect every one in 250,000 chance risk that your child faces growing up. It's just not possible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 08 2014, @09:25PM
The network effect, crowdsourcing, the Many Eyes thing, 6 degrees of separation--there are lots of names for what I'm referencing.
It only takes 1 someone who heard Dr. Dean, or who knows someone who is aware, or knows someone who knows someone who is aware.
Guilds, user groups, support groups, cooperatives--whatever you want to call them--I'm saying they're a Good Thing(tm).
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 08 2014, @07:36PM
...And a Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leukocoria [wikipedia.org]