Eye Health News and Research

Latest Eye Health News and Research

Genomic sequences from all over the world help fight SARS-CoV-2

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages across the world, killing hundreds of thousands and infecting over 4.1 million, researchers are racing against time to understand the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The SARS-CoV-2 genome has now been sequenced in many different regions of the world, and researchers are collaborating by sharing information to better understand the make-up and mutations that the virus has undergone.

11 May 2020

Regeneron and CCPM collaborate to advance human genetics, precision medicine

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus today announced a large-scale research collaboration designed to advance the field of human genetics and precision medicine through the sharing of 450,000 DNA samples and corresponding health records from de-identified, consented patient participants in the expansive UCHealth system.

11 May 2020

Clinical trial launched to evaluate experimental COVID-19 therapies

Clinical leaders from the University of Kentucky's Markey Cancer Center, College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy have launched a clinical trial for experimental therapies to treat patients infected with COVID-19.

11 May 2020

Predictive models could more accurately detect early-stage Parkinson's disease

How is your sense of smell? Do you find yourself frequently dozing off during the day or thrashing about during dreams? Often, early stage Parkinson's disease does not present with typical motor disturbance symptoms, making diagnosis problematic.

11 May 2020

Keeping the COVID plague at bay: How California is protecting older veterans

Dr. Vito Imbasciani has been at war with viruses since he was 5. Growing up near the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York, he contracted polio in 1952 and couldn't walk for two months. In medical school in Vermont 30 years later, he witnessed AIDS steal the lives of otherwise healthy gay men.

11 May 2020

Study shows how our eyes recycle vitamin A

Many of us will remember been told as kids when we refused to eat our vegetables that 'carrots are good for your eyes'. Although our parents may not have fully understood it at the time, there is some truth to this. Carrots are a rich source of the vitamin A essential for healthy vision.

11 May 2020

Our pupil can follow rhythms that arise in the environment

When we find something particularly beautiful or impressive, we literally get big eyes: Our pupils dilate. The pupil controls how much light enters the eye and falls on the retina.

8 May 2020

Protein shredder in brain cells indirectly regulates fat metabolism

A protein shredder that occurs in cell membranes of brain cells apparently also indirectly regulates the fat metabolism.

8 May 2020

Economic blow of the coronavirus hits America’s already stressed farmers

Richard Oswald, still mourning the loss of his family's homestead to flooding along the Missouri River, is planting corn and soybeans into ground that last year was feet deep underwater.

7 May 2020

New survey gains broader insights into the personal impact of Covid-19 on people with eye conditions

Eye research charity Fight for Sight has launched a survey to gather broader insights into the personal impact that Covid-19 is having on people with sight loss and eye conditions.

7 May 2020

Study proposes novel training technique to reinforce significance of proper PPE use

Despite the use of personal protective equipment, reports show that many health care workers contracted the coronavirus disease, which raises substantial concerns about the effectiveness of the PPE.

6 May 2020

Scientists identify unexpected player that causes vision loss in patients with AMD

Scientists have identified an unexpected player in the immune reaction gone awry that causes vision loss in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a new study published today in eLife.

6 May 2020

Study: Genetics of AQP4 water channels impact the intensity of deep sleep

The reason why we sleep remains an unresolved question of the 21st century. Research by Sara Marie Ulv Larsen, Sebastian Camillo Holst and colleagues from the Neurobiology Research Unit at the University Hospital Copenhagen, published this week in the open access journal PLoS Biology, now shows that the depth of non-rapid-eye-movement (nonREM) sleep in humans is associated with different genetic versions of a gene that encodes a water channel involved in fluid flow in the brain.

6 May 2020

Researchers discover gene variants that reduce the risk of glaucoma

An international research collaboration led by researchers from the University of Helsinki and Stanford University has identified rare changes in a gene called ANGPTL7 that lower intraocular pressure and significantly reduce the risk of glaucoma

6 May 2020

PPE combined with proper training can reduce COVID-19 risk in health care workers

Health care workers carry a significant burden of coronavirus infections worldwide, but a new evidence review by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University shows the rate can be lowered with the use of personal protective equipment combined with proper training in infection control.

6 May 2020

Rice scientist wins federal grant for eye research

A Rice University researcher has won a prestigious federal grant to study how a recently identified protein in the cornea aids development, homeostasis and wound healing in the eye.

4 May 2020

Children with chronic health problems showed higher rates of mental illness in later years

In the study, published in Development and Psychopathology, children reported to have chronic health problems showed higher rates of mental illness at 10 years, and those health problems continued to be associated with poor mental health at the ages of 13 and 15.

4 May 2020

AI-based technology could help accelerate clinical trials for glaucoma

The technology, supported by an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm, could help accelerate clinical trials, and eventually may be used in detection and diagnostics, according to the Wellcome-funded study published today in Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics.

4 May 2020

Study: Unique glucose-sensing neurons in the brain prevent severe hypoglycemia

Low blood sugar levels, known as hypoglycemia, can be a life-threatening situation, especially for people with type 1 diabetes who rely on intensive insulin therapy to prevent blood sugar from going too high.

4 May 2020

Low molecular weight heparins inhibit SARS-CoV-2 cell invasion

A recent paper available on the preprint server bioRxiv* reports preliminary data on the ability of low molecular weight heparins to interact with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), elicit structural changes in its key proteins and subsequently halt cell invasion.

3 May 2020