Eye News and Research

Latest Eye News and Research

Viewpoints: FDA needs more power to regulate compounding pharmacies; Time to revamp military benefits, including health

Traditionally, the licensing and control of pharmacies has been left to the states, but their performance has been uneven. The federal role has been thrown into question in recent years by lawsuits. ... compounding pharmacies are not generally required to inform the FDA that they are in business nor to register with the FDA or disclose what products they are making.

15 Feb 2013

Second Sight Medical Products receives FDA approval for Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, the first implanted device to treat adult patients with advanced retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

14 Feb 2013

Amblyopia screening guidelines updated

The American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, the professional body for pediatric eye care, has issued revised guidelines for preschool vision screening based on new evidence.

14 Feb 2013

Novel approach uses adult stem cells to save sight of diabetes sufferers

Scientists at Queen's University Belfast are hoping to develop a novel approach that could save the sight of millions of diabetes sufferers using adult stem cells.

14 Feb 2013

CATT study clarifies value of genetic testing for age-related macular degeneration

New findings from a landmark clinical trial show that although certain gene variants may predict whether a person is likely to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a potentially blinding eye disease that afflicts more than nine million Americans, these genes do not predict how patients will respond to Lucentis- and Avastin-, the two medications most widely used to treat the "wet" form of AMD.

13 Feb 2013

DNAzymes and gold nanoparticles used to detect infectious diseases

Infectious diseases such as malaria and syphilis can be diagnosed rapidly and reliably in the field by using a simple test developed by Canadian scientists. The test is based on the use of DNAzymes and gold nanoparticles. As the researchers report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, their test allows for the sensitive detection of bacteria, viruses, and parasites.

12 Feb 2013

Roadblocks continue despite efforts to address causes of hospital readmissions

Hospital readmissions are miserable for patients, and a huge cost -- more than $17 billion a year in avoidable Medicare bills alone -- for a nation struggling with the price of health care. Now, with Medicare fining facilities that don't reduce readmissions enough, the nation is at a crossroads as hospitals begin to take action.

12 Feb 2013

Unilife revenues decrease to $0.7 million for three months ended December 31, 2012

Unilife Corporation, a developer and supplier of injectable drug delivery systems, today announced its financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2012, (the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2013).

12 Feb 2013

NIH researchers review research on dog cranium development

Man's best friend may touch our hearts with their empathy, companionship, playfulness and loyalty, and they may also lead us to a deeper understanding of our heads.

11 Feb 2013

Bipartisan duo introduces Medicare 'doc fix' bill in House

The effort, by Reps. Schwartz and Heck, would change the system known as the sustainable growth rate for Medicare physician payments.

10 Feb 2013

$Scientists discover 24 new genes that cause refractive errors and myopia$

Scientists discover 24 new genes that cause refractive errors and myopia

An international team of scientists led by King's College London has discovered 24 new genes that cause refractive errors and myopia (short-sightedness).

10 Feb 2013

Harvard's Wyss Institute completes first clinical study of new rapid neuroassessment device

Doctors routinely track their patients' hand-eye coordination to monitor any neuromuscular deficits, particularly as patients age or when they are injured -- but the tests they have been using to track this kind of information may be subjective and qualitative.

10 Feb 2013

AARP opposes bill that would allow insurers to charge older people more

The powerful seniors lobby says it cannot support proposals that would let premiums go higher for older beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the administration announces that a health program for low- and moderate-income people, which is optional for states, will not be able to start until 2015.

10 Feb 2013

New data on attention and visual perception

The journal PLOS ONE has recently published a study which provides new data around attention and visual perception. The article "A role of eye vergence in covert attention" is signed by led by Hans Supèr, ICREA researcher at the Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (IR3C) of the University of Barcelona; Maria Solé Puig, J. Antonio Aznar Casanova and Laura Pérez Zapato, all of them researchers at the IR3C, have also participated in the study.

10 Feb 2013

Health care action at state capitols: Hospital fees, abortion, nurses' power to write prescriptions

Lawmakers around the country consider a bevy of bills related to health policy.

10 Feb 2013

Hoping for universal family planning by 2030

Dana Horvig, CEO of Marie Stopes International, writes in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog that his hope is "that by 2030 we are finally living in the golden age of family planning ... in which everyone has access to whatever type of contraception they want, no matter where they live or what their circumstances are." He continues, "If we are to reach this golden age though, we must keep an ever watchful eye on results and impact, and make sure family planning services are available to the people who need them most."

9 Feb 2013

New technique can detect mercury contamination in water

Chemists at the University of Burgos (Spain) have manufactured a sheet that changes colour in the presence of water contaminated with mercury. The results can be seen with the naked eye but when photographing the membrane with a mobile phone the concentration of this extremely toxic metal can be quantified.

9 Feb 2013