Eye Health News and Research

Latest Eye Health News and Research

Upcoming Supreme Court ruling: GOP as 'dog that caught the car'; Growing concerns about mandate

[T]he GOP may be positioning itself to become the dog that caught the car. Political and policy uncertainty is perhaps inevitable given the range of what the Court could do. But the Republicans need a more coherent strategy. ... An orderly unwinding of ObamaCare was always going to be difficult. But based on its disarray and confusion so far, the GOP may be making it harder.

19 Jun 2012

Cheaper drug to treat wet AMD increases risk of serious eye inflammation

A Queen's University study of two eye drugs used to treat wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) has determined the cheaper of the two could lead to eye inflammation, a potentially blinding adverse effect.

19 Jun 2012

FDA clears LensAR Laser System for anterior capsulotomy

LensAR Inc., developer of the LensAR Laser System for cataract surgery, announced today that it has received 510(k) clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the company's next-generation commercial system, for use in anterior capsulotomy, with and without laser phacofragmentation during cataract surgery.

18 Jun 2012

Study reveals value of graphic warning labels on cigarette packaging

In a first of its kind study in the U.S., researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that the addition of graphic warning labels on cigarette packaging can improve smokers' recall of the warning and health risks associated with smoking. The new findings are published online-first in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

16 Jun 2012

CMS awards nearly $18 million to spread collaborative care model for managing depression

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded almost $18 million to a local and national collaboration of partner organizations with the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) as lead organization.

16 Jun 2012

Not many EHR systems meet new federal standards

Electronic health records (EHRs) are used widely by California physicians, but many of their systems are not designed to meet new federal standards aimed at improving the quality of health care, according to a report from UCSF researchers.

16 Jun 2012

GOP states weigh health exchanges even if health law is struck down

Politico reports that some conservatives think that despite their disdain for the health law, a number of Republican-controlled states might want to go forward with health exchanges to help lower the number of uninsured.

16 Jun 2012

Freedom Innovations’ Plie 2.0 MPC Knee receives American Technology Award

Freedom Innovations, LLC, today announced that its Plie 2.0 MPC Knee has been selected as winner of the Health & Medical Technologies category for the TechAmerica Foundation's American Technology Awards, the only national "Best Of" awards that recognize products and services across the technology industry.

From PROTEOR 16 Jun 2012

Parents not totally responsible for child’s eyesight

Research from Guangzhou, China shows that a high proportion of children with myopia do not have highly myopic parents, indicating that environmental as well as genetic factors contribute to the development of the eye condition.

15 Jun 2012

First Edition: June 15, 2012

Today's headlines include the latest on how the White House and congressional lawmakers are bracing for the Supreme Court's health law decision.

15 Jun 2012

Sanofi’s insulin glargine delays progression from pre-diabetes to T2DM

Sanofi presented results from the landmark ORIGIN trial (Outcome Reduction with Initial Glargine Intervention) at the American Diabetes Association 72nd Scientific sessions. The key findings showed that, compared to standard care, Lantus(insulin glargine [rDNA] injection) had no statistically significant positive or negative impact on cardiovascular (CV) outcomes versus standard care during the study period and that there was no association between insulin glargine use and increased risk of any cancer.

15 Jun 2012

Positive results from Salutaris’ episcleral brachytherapy trial on Wet AMD

Positive results from a trial of episcleral brachytherapy to treat Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (Wet AMD) were presented today at the ARVO Drug and Gene Delivery to the Back of the Eye Conference.

15 Jun 2012

Cedrus, Tobii to introduce StimTracker

Tobii Technology, the global leader in eye-tracking and interactive gaze technology, announced today that it has partnered with Cedrus, the leading provider of stimuli and response hardware for psychological studies, to introduce the StimTracker for Tobii TX300 Eye Tracker.

15 Jun 2012

Antioxidant rhSOD reduces risk of blindness in extremely low gestational age newborns

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is the second most common cause of childhood blindness in the United States, occurring in half of premature infants born earlier than or at 28 weeks gestational age. The condition is caused by abnormal blood vessel development in the retina of the eye. ROP risk increases with decreasing gestational age.

15 Jun 2012

Invuity closes $25M Series D round of financing

Invuity, a leading developer of state-of-the-art surgical visualization and illumination technology, has raised a $25 million Series D round of financing to expand the development, manufacturing and commercialization of the company's advanced medical devices.

14 Jun 2012

UHCO alumnus donate $5 million to University of Houston

University of Houston College of Optometry (UHCO) alumnus Dr. Doug Barnes and his wife, Molly, have made a $5 million pledge to the University of Houston. The gift will be submitted for state matching funds through the Texas Research Incentive Program.

14 Jun 2012

State roundup: Mass. bill seeking Alzheimer's care standards moves forward

A proposal to create minimum standards for Alzheimer's and dementia care in Massachusetts nursing homes is one step closer to becoming law. The state Senate Tuesday unanimously passed legislation that would require the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which regulates nursing homes, to establish minimum standards for facilities with dementia care units. The House approved the proposal last month.

14 Jun 2012

Ophthotech’s Fovista anti-PDGF combination therapy superior to Lucentis for wet AMD

Ophthotech Corporation today announced results from the first clinical trial to show statistically significant superior efficacy over Lucentis (ranibizumab) monotherapy for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD).

14 Jun 2012

Human-derived stem cells can spontaneously form optic cups and retina

Human-derived stem cells can spontaneously form the tissue that develops into the part of the eye that allows us to see, according to a study published by Cell Press in the 5th anniversary issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.

14 Jun 2012

Investigational Insomnia Medicine from Merck improved patients’ ability to fall and stay asleep according to new phase III Data

Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced new data from two pivotal Phase III efficacy trials for suvorexant, the investigational medicine Merck is developing for the treatment of insomnia. In the studies, suvorexant significantly reduced the time it took patients to fall asleep and increased the time that patients stayed asleep as early as the first night and at the three-month time point compared to placebo. The investigational medicine met statistical significance for all primary endpoints except for one measurement at Month 3 in one of the trials. These late-breaking data were presented here today at SLEEP 2012, the 26th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

13 Jun 2012