Eye Health News and Research

Latest Eye Health News and Research

Antioxidants may slow vision loss

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have successfully blocked the advance of retinal degeneration in mice with a form of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) by treating them with vitamin E, alpha-lipoic acid and other antioxidant chemicals.

21 Jul 2006

Giving up driving may be fast lane to aged care

Researchers have found that elders who stay behind the wheel are less likely to enter nursing homes or assisted living centers than those who have never driven or who have given up driving altogether.

21 Jul 2006

Certain genetic variations increase risk of the vision disorder age-related macular degeneration

The combination of a certain genetic variation, along with inflammatory factors and smoking, significantly increases the risk of the vision disorder age-related macular degeneration.

19 Jul 2006

Oh what a mess is the NHS!

A new report on the National Health Service in Britain has damned it as being in "a complete mess".

19 Jul 2006

Gene screen for breast cancer better than pathologist's "eye"

Johns Hopkins scientists have found that a method they developed to screen body fluids for certain kinds of cells and some of their genetic blueprint is twice as accurate at spotting breast cancer cells as a pathologist's view with a microscope.

17 Jul 2006

Type 2 diabetes is associated with primary open angle glaucoma in women

A 20-year study of women in the Nurses' Health Study has shown that Type 2 diabetes is associated with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), the most common form of glaucoma, accounting for about 60 to 70% of all glaucomas.

12 Jul 2006

"Magic" mushrooms create profound mystical experience and change behaviour

A group of healthy well educated volunteers appear to have achieved some sort of profound mystical experience that led to behaviour changes lasting for weeks after taking a drug derived from 'magic mushrooms'.

12 Jul 2006

Don't smoke and eat fish to keep your sight later in life

New research from Australia and the U.S. into Age-related Macular Degeneration, has found that cigarette smoking increases the risk but eating fish protects against it, and hormone replacement therapy makes no difference whatsoever.

10 Jul 2006

Scientists now feel age may not be a limiting factor to developing better vision

Imagine going through life seeing the world in two dimensions.

10 Jul 2006

Media coverage of obesity outweighs smoking cessation stories

Obesity is grabbing more headlines, but not necessarily crowding out media coverage of the dangers of tobacco use, according to a new study sponsored by a drug company. However obesity made more news while tobacco got less attention, based on an analysis of eight years of medical stories in the media.

5 Jul 2006

New Australian 'assassin' drug has huge potential

Australian researchers have come up with a new drug which they believe has the potential to fight a wide range of illnesses and diseases including cancer, age-related blindness, heart disease and arthritis.

5 Jul 2006

Amazing brain repairs itself!

Doctors in the U.S. have discovered that the brain of a man so severely damaged in a car accident that he was left in a barely conscious state, has healed itself and he is now conscious and communicating with those around him.

4 Jul 2006

New class of experimental drug that targets master regulator gene called c-Jun

University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers have announced they are developing a new class of experimental drug that has the potential to treat a diverse range of health problems, from inflammation and cancer through to eye and heart disease.

3 Jul 2006

How the brain rewires after lesions

Scientists from Bochum investigate the reorganizational capacity of the adult brain.

3 Jul 2006

New drug restores sight in sufferers from AMD

A new drug with the capacity to reverse vision loss in some patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has won approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S.

3 Jul 2006

Enter hospital at your peril!

As many as two dozen patients at a British hospital have died after contracting the virulent stomach bug Clostridium difficile (C. diff).

3 Jul 2006

When it comes to honesty the eyes have it!

According to researchers in the UK people behave in a more honest fashion when they think they are being watched.

28 Jun 2006

Major intestinal surgery may boost the chances of subsequent vitamin A deficiency

Major intestinal surgery, including stomach reduction for obesity, may boost the chances of subsequent vitamin A deficiency, suggests a small study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

14 Jun 2006

New drug helps diabetics keep their sight

Trials of an experimental drug which helps slow down the loss of vision caused by diabetes have had very optimistic results.

12 Jun 2006

University of Florida finding could lead to approaches to treat macular degeneration

University of Florida scientists conducting experiments with mice have found evidence that the body naturally replenishes small amounts of cells in the eye essential for healthy vision.

9 Jun 2006