In the midst of a territory that has long been a hotspot for armed confrontation and humanitarian instability, the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group (SJEHG) has managed to provide top quality eye care, as well as ophthalmic training to local medical professionals. 

“For its commitment to providing essential eye care in a region marked by conflict”, the Group has now been recognized with the one-million-euro 2023 António Champalimaud Vision Award, the Champalimaud Foundation announced in a statement.

Presided over by the President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the event served as a testament to Dr. Botelho's commitment to advancing the Champalimaud Foundation's mission.

Why we have a brain

“The brain’s primary function is movement”, explains Claudia Feierstein, lead author of the study published today in Current Biology. “Plants don’t need a brain because they don’t move. Yet, even for something as seemingly simple as eye movements, the brain’s role remains largely enigmatic. Our goal is to illuminate this ‘black box’ of motion and to decode how neural activity controls eye and body movements, using zebrafish as our model organism”.

World Physiotherapy Day has been celebrated since 1996, but 8 September was chosen as the date because this was when World Physiotherapy (a global collective of Physiotherapists) was founded in 1951.

The day marks the unity and solidarity of the global physiotherapy community. It is also an opportunity to recognise the work that physiotherapists do for their patients and community. 

The St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group (SJEHG) has been developing its activity at the centre of three major world religions. The ongoing conflict in the region has had a severe impact on health care access and delivery.

But this doesn’t mean these two areas are totally distinct. In fact, epidemiology also deals with the causes of disease. But while epidemiology involves the study of determinants and distribution of disease, aetiology attempts to confirm the causes.

That said, this definition has been widening throughout the years to include potential chemopreventive substances that are not necessarily drugs. So-called “nutraceuticals”, such as dietary fiber, prebiotics, probiotics, polyunsaturated fatty acids, antioxidants (such as vitamins) and different types of herbal or natural foods (dietary supplements) are also being studied for cancer chemoprevention. However, to date, the efficacy of these substances has not been confirmed.