Eye Health News and Research

Latest Eye Health News and Research

Protein globin E helps avian eyes 'breathe' and contributes to visual acuity

Say what you will about bird brains, but our feathered friends sure have us -- and all the other animals on the planet -- beat in the vision department, and that has a bit to do with how their brains develop.

24 Jun 2011

Discovery sheds new light on initiation of vision process

A discovery by a team of researchers led by a Syracuse University physicist sheds new light on how the vision process is initiated. For almost 50 years, scientists have believed that light signals could not be initiated unless special light-receptor molecules in the retinal cells first changed their shape in a process called isomerization.

24 Jun 2011

Growth-braking tumor-suppressor gene slows growth of childhood brain tumors

Johns Hopkins researchers have found a likely explanation for the slow growth of the most common childhood brain tumor, pilocytic astrocytoma. Using tests on a new cell-based model of the tumor, they concluded that the initial process of tumor formation switches on a growth-braking tumor-suppressor gene, in a process similar to that seen in skin moles.

24 Jun 2011

Anticholinergic drugs might increase risk of cognitive impairment, death in older people

A side effect of many commonly used drugs appears to increase the risks of both cognitive impairment and death in older people, according to new research led by the University of East Anglia.

24 Jun 2011

Some drug mixtures may be fatal for elderly: study

British scientists warn that well known brands of hay fever tablets, painkillers and sleeping pills pose a previously unknown threat to elderly people’s health when taken together. Many are available over the counter at pharmacies as well as being prescribed by GPs, nurses and chemists they said.

23 Jun 2011

The role of pharmaceutical companies in global health

Owen Barder, a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development, examines the relationship among aid donors, GAVI and pharmaceutical companies in a post on the center's "Global Health Policy" blog.

23 Jun 2011

Los Alamos National Lab scientists win three R&D Magazine's 2011 awards

Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have won three of R&D Magazine's 2011 R&D100 Awards. Recognized as the "Oscars of Invention" by the Chicago Tribune, these awards honor the top 100 proven technological advances of the past year.

23 Jun 2011

Summer safety tips to keep kids safe

Summer fun is in full swing, which coincides with an increase in bumps, bruises, scrapes and possibly worse. To keep kids safe, prevention and first-aid should be at the forefront of parents' minds this summer according to Dr. Karen Judy, Loyola University Health System pediatric safety expert and professor of pediatrics at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

23 Jun 2011

Controversy surrounding McKinsey insurance survey continues

Though the consulting firm released its methodology, its findings continue to draw debate and criticism. Meanwhile, Avalere released a study of its own, which seems to contradict the McKinsey report.

22 Jun 2011

Researchers identify potential cause of hereditary, progressive blindness

Medics at the RUB have found the cause of hereditary, progressive blindness: they have identified the previously unknown protein CCDC66, the loss of which initially leads to night blindness and in due course usually results in complete blindness.

22 Jun 2011

Oxford BioMedica reports RetinoStat progress in Phase I study against wet AMD

Oxford BioMedica plc, a leading gene therapy company, today announces that the first dose level of RetinoStat is safe and well-tolerated at one month following treatment.

22 Jun 2011

Endocrine Practice journal publishes new clinical guidelines on hyperthyroidism

New clinical guidelines for optimal care of patients with hyperthyroidism, a condition when the thyroid gland produces more thyroid hormone than the body needs, which affects about one percent of Americans, appear in the current issue of Endocrine Practice, the journal of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

22 Jun 2011

New VEP technique fast and effective for detecting glaucoma damage

A recent paper published in the Journal of Glaucoma shows a new visual evoked potential (VEP) technique to be a fast, objective method to screen for functional damage in glaucomatous eyes.

22 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 21, 2011

In today's headlines, the latest on the debt-reduction talks, the next chapter in the saga surrounding a McKinsey insurance survey and the details of the Obama administration's effort to tout the health law's prreventive care benefits.

22 Jun 2011

Benefis selects NextGen Ambulatory EHR, Health Information Exchange as technology foundation

NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc. and a leading provider of healthcare information systems and connectivity solutions, announced today that Benefis Health System has selected NextGen Ambulatory EHR, NextGen Practice Management and NextGensm Health Information Exchange as its technology foundation.

21 Jun 2011

Rocking allows for better sleep – even in insomniac adults!

A new study shows that people tend to sleep faster and even achieve better quality sleep if they are gently swayed. The findings may explain why parents instinctively rock babies to sleep, and why we find it so easy to nod off when slumped in a rocking chair, they add

21 Jun 2011

Fluorescent signature discovery helps identify parathyroid glands during endocrine surgery

The parathyroid glands - four small organs the size of grains of rice located at the back of the throat - glow with a natural fluorescence in the near infrared region of the spectrum.

21 Jun 2011

Medicare, Medicaid increasingly become hot topics in debt-ceiling talks

The future of these entitlement programs will be in play this week as negotiations continue, with both parties beginning to make concessions and hint that a deal could emerge.

20 Jun 2011

New insight into progressive supranuclear palsy

There are new genetic clues on risk factors and biological causes of a rare neurodegenerative disease called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), according to a new study from an international genetics team led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

20 Jun 2011

Australians getting fatter but living longer and smoking less: Health report card

Experts formulating a report on Australia’s health related figures say that Australian men and women are living longer than ever thanks to a drop in deaths from notorious diseases and cancer, but the rising weight has left the door open to a host of new health problems. The key finding of a major study released today was that excess weight carried by one in four children and more than 60 per cent of adults was contributing to an increase in chronic diseases across the country.

19 Jun 2011