Eye Health News and Research

Latest Eye Health News and Research

Custom-designed contacts improve vision for subjects with keratoconic eyes

Keratoconic eyes are rare but disabling. From the side, the eyes look more pointed or cone-shaped than round. The apex shift from visual axis in the cornea causes people with the condition to see halos and double and triple images. About 1 in 2,000 people suffer from the disease, usually in both eyes.

18 May 2007

Quality improvement effort pays off in diabetes care

Spending money to improve diabetes care at federally qualified community health centers is a sound investment, according to one of the first studies to examine the clinical and economic impact of quality improvement on diabetes care.

18 May 2007

Danube Pharmaceuticals starts trial of DNB-001 in patients with ocular hypertension

Danube Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced the initiation of a multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled Phase II study with DNB-001 in 60 patients with ocular hypertension (elevated intraocular pressure).

18 May 2007

Link between extreme sleep disorder and onset of parkinsonism or dementia

Mayo Clinic researchers and a group of international collaborators have discovered a correlation between an extreme form of sleep disorder and eventual onset of parkinsonism or dementia.

17 May 2007

Clearer view of synaptic plasticity

Scientists are keenly studying how neurons form synapses--the physical and chemical connections between neurons--and the "pruning" of neural circuits during development, not least because synaptic abnormalities may partially underlie many developmental and neurodegenerative diseases.

17 May 2007

Surgeons rebuild war veteran's nose using his own body parts

It took only seconds for the Humvee to flip over and crash on a highway near Camp Bucca in southern Iraq in August 2005.

17 May 2007

Radically different approach to nuclear magnetic resonance

Detecting the molecular structure of a tiny protein using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) currently requires two things: a million-dollar machine the size of a massive SUV, and a large sample of the protein under study.

16 May 2007

Gender disparities in heart disease and diabetes managed care

Women with heart disease and diabetes are less likely to receive several types of routine outpatient medical care than men who have similar health problems, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

16 May 2007

Middle-aged men and women with a history of migraine and other headaches are more likely to have retinopathy

Twenty-two percent of the participants had a history of migraine or other headaches. Those with a history of headaches were slightly younger, more likely to be female, and more likely to be white than those without a history of headaches.

16 May 2007

Eating lots of fish plus vitamin D reduces risk of age-related macular degeneration

Individuals who have higher dietary intake of foods with omega-3 fatty acids and higher fish consumption have a reduced risk of advanced age-related macular degeneration, while those with higher serum levels of vitamin D may have a reduced risk of the early stages of the disease, according to two reports in the May issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

15 May 2007

Is the 90-minute deadline for inflation of angioplasty balloons really critical?

In the treatment of heart attack, the 90-minute goal for inflation of an angioplasty balloon in a blocked coronary artery to restore normal blood flow is so revered it's been codified in clinical guidelines, accreditation standards, and pay-for-performance programs.

15 May 2007

Distant ancestor less mentally advanced than expected

A surprisingly complete fossil skull of an ancient relative of humans, apes and monkeys bears striking evidence that our remote ancestor was less mentally advanced than expected by about 29 million years ago.

15 May 2007

Thin people may be obese on the inside

British researchers have found that those who control their weight through diet rather than exercise are more likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim.

14 May 2007

Insulin therapy shown to treat early experimental diabetic retinopathy

Researchers presented study results that indicate that subconjunctivally delivered insulin ameliorates degenerative and inflammatory responses in diabetic rat retinas.

11 May 2007

Adult bone marrow stem cells may help cure certain genetic eye diseases

Scientists have completed a study using mice which showed that bone marrow stem cells can switch roles and produce keratocan, a natural protein involved in the growth of the cornea, the transparent, outer layer of the eyeball.

11 May 2007

Important for pregnant women to get healthful exercise

Summer isn't the most fun time to be pregnant - heat and sweat add to the ordinary discomfort of pregnancy, and hormonal changes can make women less able to regulate body temperature.

10 May 2007

People with diabetes need more than sunglasses to protect their eyes

The crack of the bat on Opening Day at Fenway Park is a sure sign that summer is on its way.

10 May 2007

Fine motor skills, social acceptance lower in children with 'lazy eye'

A recent study evaluating the fine motor skills and perceived self esteem of children with amblyopia (or "lazy eye") compared with age-matched children will be presented during the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) 2007 Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

10 May 2007

Researchers watch repair proteins arrive around DNA breaks

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital had a molecule's eye view of the human cell's DNA repair kit as it assembled on a double-strand break to link together the broken ends.

10 May 2007

One-third of older Americans not treated for glaucoma

Almost one-third of older Americans diagnosed with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) are not treated medically or surgically for the condition according to a study presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

8 May 2007