Eye Health News and Research

Latest Eye Health News and Research

Apraclonidine causes severe lethargy in infants

New research suggests that an eyedrop used to diagnose a rare syndrome in infants can cause severe lethargy lasting up to 10 hours and requiring hospital admission and oxygen administration.

17 Jul 2007

Children with Tourette's better at mental grammar skills

Children with Tourette's syndrome may have to put up with some unwanted movement and verbal tics, but neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center and the Kennedy Krieger Institute have found that they are much quicker at processing certain mental grammar skills than are children without the disorder.

16 Jul 2007

New target for muscular dystrophy drug therapy

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine report how the gene for utrophin, which codes for a protein very similar to dystrophin, the defective protein in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), puts the brakes on its own expression in muscle cells, thereby suggesting a new target for treatment.

13 Jul 2007

Eye lens and nose cells for smelling have same origin

A team of researchers at Umeå University in Sweden have discovered a unique mechanism by which the same signal molecule determines the formation of the both the lens of the eye and the olfactory cells of the nose.

13 Jul 2007

FDA approves CustomVue Monovision LASIK

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved for marketing the first LASIK device designed for treating one eye to see far away objects and the other eye for close-up vision.

12 Jul 2007

Dietary glycemic index linked to risk of vision loss

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and its associated vision loss may be connected to the quality of carbohydrates an individual consumes.

12 Jul 2007

Two-thirds of nursing home residents not getting regular eye care

Two-thirds of nursing home residents in a new UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) study had no record of or reference to an eye examination in their medical charts, although more than half were visually impaired.

11 Jul 2007

Court rules in favor of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) has announced that the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Judge William G. Young, following a Nov. 6, 2006 jury decision, ruled in favor of MEEI on claims of unjust enrichment and unfair trade practices against QLT Inc.

11 Jul 2007

Age-related macular degeneration associated with increased mortality risk

Individuals age 49 and older with cataract and those age 49 to 74 years with age-related macular degeneration appear to have higher mortality rates over an 11-year period than those without such visual impairments, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

10 Jul 2007

Peregrine licenses worldwide rights to a novel anti-angiogenesis technology

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that it has licensed worldwide exclusive rights to a novel anti-angiogenesis technology from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

10 Jul 2007

High vision impairment rates among nursing home residents - many do not get regular eye examinations

In a study of Alabama nursing home residents, more than half were visually impaired yet two-thirds had no record of or reference to an eye examination in their medical charts, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

10 Jul 2007

Etravirine reduces HIV viral loads when taken with Prezista

The experimental antiretroviral drug etravirine, made by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Tibotec Pharmaceuticals, greatly reduces HIV viral loads in people with a history of drug resistance when taken in combination with Tibotec's antiretroviral Prezista, according to two studies published Saturday in the journal The Lancet.

10 Jul 2007

Summer is an opportunity for introducing more fruits and vegetables in children's diets

The abundance of summer's fresh produce - from farmer's markets to roadside stands - offers families the perfect opportunity to introduce the healthy habit of eating more fruits and vegetables, say UT Southwestern Medical Center clinical nutritionists.

9 Jul 2007

Chickens orientate themselves by the Earth's magnetic field

40 years ago, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wiltschko was the first to prove that migrating robins use the Earth's magnetic field to direct themselves during migration.

9 Jul 2007

Cataract surgery safe and very common

Here's an eye-opening statistic from the July issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource: By age 80, more than half of all Americans either have a cataract or have had cataract surgery.

4 Jul 2007

Hearing loss and von Hippel-Lindau disease

Patients with the genetic disorder von Hippel-Lindau disease may suddenly experience hearing loss because of a tumor-associated hemorrhage in the inner ear, according to a study in the July 4 issue of JAMA.

4 Jul 2007

People with narcolepsy have a high frequency of REM sleep without muscle atonia

Normal rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is characterized by tonic features, including cortical electroencephalogram (EEG) desynchronization and muscle atonia, as well as phasic events, including bursts of REM, phasic activities of both chin and limb electromyography (EMG), and cardiorespiratory variability.

4 Jul 2007