Eye Health News and Research

Latest Eye Health News and Research

New anti-cancer drug made from corn lillies kills brain tumor stem cells

A drug that shuts down a critical cell-signaling pathway in the most common and aggressive type of adult brain cancer successfully kills cancer stem cells thought to fuel tumor growth and help cancers evade drug and radiation therapy, a Johns Hopkins study shows.

30 Aug 2007

Gamma globulin effective treatment for pinkeye

Gamma globulin, a type of antibody isolated from blood samples that used to be routinely given to health care workers and international travelers to protect them from infectious diseases, is a highly effective treatment for pinkeye with little apparent toxicity, according to a study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

29 Aug 2007

China: The aging giant

China's efforts to control population growth in the present may cause problems for the county's senior citizens in the future.

29 Aug 2007

Zinc and macular degeneration link

A team of scientists, including three researchers at George Mason University, found that the mineral zinc could play a role in the development of macular degeneration.

28 Aug 2007

Nasal spray effective for most severe kind of headache

A nasal spray is safe and effective at rapidly treating cluster headaches, which are considered to be the most painful kind of headache with few treatment options, according to a study published in the August 28, 2007, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

28 Aug 2007

Potential new strategies for treating obsessive compulsive disorder

Using genetic engineering, researchers have created an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) - like set of behaviors in mice and reversed them with antidepressants and genetic targeting of a key brain circuit.

24 Aug 2007

Insight into autism's origin in the brain

In the first study of its kind, researchers have discovered that in autistic individuals, connections between brain cells may be deficient within single regions, and not just between regions, as was previously believed.

23 Aug 2007

What's making you fat? - the answer could be a virus!

According to researchers in the U.S. a common virus (adenovirus-36), that causes throat and eye infections may play a part in obesity.

21 Aug 2007

We need to treat cancer like an infectious disease

Among the many medical miracles produced by science over the years, vaccines and antibiotics have undoubtedly saved the most lives.

17 Aug 2007

Age-related macular degeneration patient receives investigational eye drops

An 88-year-old man at The Methodist Hospital in Houston is one of two patients in the world today to receive an investigational eye drop that may restore sight for those suffering from neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration, a major cause of central visual loss and one of the leading causes of blindness in people over 60 in the United States.

17 Aug 2007

Why we are unable to distinguish faces of other races (and sometimes our own)

A troubling psychological phenomenon that just about everyone has experienced but few will admit to; having difficulty distinguishing between people of different racial groups.

16 Aug 2007

Immune deficiency linked to squamous cell eye cancer

The incidence of squamous cell eye cancer is greater among kidney transplant patients and people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) than the general public, which suggests the disease is associated with immune deficiency.

16 Aug 2007

Another reason to quit - smoking increases the risk blindness in seniors

Australian researchers say people who smoke are four times more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

14 Aug 2007

New avenues for the treatment of amblyopia

Contrary to accepted dogma, a University of Maryland researcher has developed a method that allows an adult to recover function in an eye that has been damaged and dysfunctional throughout life.

13 Aug 2007

Discovery of new mechanism of resistance to endocrine or anti-hormonal therapies

When a woman receives a breast cancer diagnosis her entire life may change in the blink of an eye.

13 Aug 2007

Cause of major subtype of glaucoma discovered

In a paper published in the journal Science, scientists from deCODE genetics and academic colleagues from the National University Hospital in Reykjavik and Uppsala University in Sweden report the discovery of two common single letter variations (SNPs) in the sequence of the human genome that appear to account for virtually all cases of a major subtype of glaucoma.

12 Aug 2007

GSK receives FDA 'not approvable letter' for Advair for COPD

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a not approvable letter for the supplemental drug application for the 500/50 strength of Advair Diskus (fluticasone propionate and salmeterol inhalation powder) in the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

9 Aug 2007

New Alzheimer's drugs may help prevent glaucoma

British eye specialists have shown for the first time that key proteins involved in Alzheimer's disease are also implicated in glaucoma.

8 Aug 2007

World's largest respiratory health study launches next phase

The Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study (TAHS), the world's largest and longest running respiratory health research study, is launching a new research phase focussing on the 21,000 brothers and sisters of the original sample.

8 Aug 2007

Underinsured children in the U.S. increasingly at risk for not getting needed vaccines

Due to limited federal and state funding for vaccines, underinsured children in the United States are increasingly at risk for not getting needed vaccines, according to a new study published August 8 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

8 Aug 2007