Eye News and Research

Latest Eye News and Research

UGR researchers provide early diagnosis of ARMD and keratitis

Researchers from the UGR have provided an early diagnosis of certain ocular diseases that are very common today, such as age-related macular degeneration and keratitis, by applying an existing optical technique that, nevertheless, had never before been used for this purpose.

25 Nov 2009

Researchers develop new device to detect skin cancer

Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev are developing a new device that detects cancerous skin tumors, including melanomas that aren't visible to the naked eye.

25 Nov 2009

Wellcore announces leadership team and product introduction plans

Wellcore Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based company dedicated to developing wireless products and services that promote wellness, safety and security, is announcing its leadership team and product introduction plans.

25 Nov 2009

Public ponders fairness of 'Cadillac' tax, affordability issues

BusinessWeek: "In chasing revenue to help pay for health-care reform, Democrats have managed to rally two groups that tend to oppose each other—unions and Big Business. The focus of their ire: a proposed 40% excise tax on high-premium or so-called Cadillac health plans."

24 Nov 2009

Guardian Technologies' novel imaging analysis technology platforms may help avoid mammography false positives

Guardian Technologies International, Inc. -- A recent U.S. Preventive Services Task Force report suggests that while mammograms save lives, they also lead to unnecessary additional procedures. Experts suggest that the problem with mammography is that improvements are needed to reduce false positives and increase accuracy.

24 Nov 2009

TAP delivers customized automated protein purification system in collaboration with a European major

The Automation Partnership (TAP), a world leader in the design and development of innovative automation for life science applications, today announced its Advanced Projects Group has successfully collaborated with a major European antibody therapeutics company to deliver a custom automated protein purification and concentration system helping the company accelerate its pre-clinical research.

24 Nov 2009

Lobbying is up as health industry examines impact of reform proposals

"Companies and groups hiring lobbying firms on health issues nearly doubled this year as special interests rushed to shape the massive revamp of the nation's health care system now in its final stretch before Congress." As many as 1,000 groups "have hired lobbyists since January, compared with 505 during the same period in 2008, according to a USA TODAY analysis of congressional records compiled by the nonpartisan CQ MoneyLine."

23 Nov 2009

Acucela to present data on its ACU-4429 visual cycle modulator for dry AMD

Acucela, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing new treatments for blinding eye diseases, announced today that data for the company’s novel visual cycle modulator, ACU-4429, a potential oral treatment for dry age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD), will be featured at the 8th International Symposium on Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ISOPT) being held in Rome, Italy from December 3 to 6, 2009.

23 Nov 2009

Most Canadians hope OAB symptoms will go away

A recent poll conducted by Leger Marketing, on behalf of the Powder Room - a national education program for those with overactive bladder (OAB) - asked 1,500 Canadians about their bladder health. The findings revealed that although people are experiencing OAB symptoms, most are choosing not to seek medical attention - perhaps assuming the frustrating and embarrassing symptoms will go away, or that they will just have to live with them.

23 Nov 2009

OEPA reports substantial reduction of river blindness in six endemic countries

A regional initiative launched in the 1990s to eliminate onchocerciasis (river blindness) in the Americas has substantially reduced the prevalence of the disease in recent years, as evidenced by a 31% decrease in the number of individuals requiring mass drug administration in six endemic countries. Results were reported today at the 58th annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH).

23 Nov 2009

UAB performs complicated eye reconstruction surgery

Singh and the team were practicing in Bundi, in northwestern India. It was a common drill, the coach hitting a golf ball at Singh, trying to keep the ball low. A field hockey ball is about the size of a baseball, and by trying to stop the much smaller and faster moving golf ball, it was thought a goalie could improve his reflexes and timing. Only this time the coach hit the ball too high.

21 Nov 2009

ENTA opens new medical offices in Edison and Old Bridge

ENT and Allergy Associates LLP (ENTA) is pleased to announce a significant expansion of their practice, with the opening of 2 new locations-in Edison and Old Bridge, New Jersey. These State-of-the-art medical offices will serve the growing population of Middlesex County, with physicians and clinical staff providing full service Otolaryngology, Audiology and Allergy medical services. This expansion includes the merging of Dr. Gerald Scott’s existing Edison and Old Bridge practice into ENTA, effective immediately.

21 Nov 2009

Tax hikes in Reid-Obama healthcare bill can affect families with special needs children

There are 18 separate tax hikes in the Reid-Obama healthcare bill. One of them caps the amount that can be deferred in Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) at $2500 per year (a similar provision was included in the Pelosi-Obama health bill and written about by Congressman Cathy McMorris-Rogers, R-Was., for National Review Online).

21 Nov 2009

Obesity: A major contributor to the development of Type 2 diabetes

"Many Americans have a very limited understanding of the basic facts about diabetes, as well as the serious consequences for health that accompany the disease," commented Sue McLaughlin, RD, CDE, President, Health Care & Education, American Diabetes Association, in a media alert. She blames the problem on a combination of factors including denial of the disease and promotion of inaccurate information or myths surrounding diabetes.

21 Nov 2009

USAID nominee visits Capitol Hill

President Barack Obama's nominee to head USAID, Rajiv Shah, "made the rounds" on Capitol Hill Thursday, which included a meeting with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry (D-Mass.), Politco's Laura Rozen reports on her foreign policy blog. Rozen also examines this week's markup of the Kerry-Lugar foreign aid reform bill and quotes a Hill staffer saying that there is a "fundamental disagreement between what USAID should look like and what it should do between the administration and Congress."

20 Nov 2009

Poll: Majority of Americans support medical malpractice reform

The Associated Press further analyzed its poll from earlier this week, with an eye on medical malpractice limits: "54 percent favor making it harder to sue doctors and hospitals for mistakes taking care of patients, while 32 percent are opposed. The rest are undecided or don't know. But congressional Democrats are reluctant to press forward on the issue. They don't want to upset a valuable political constituency — trial lawyers — even if President Barack Obama says he believes that fear of being sued leads doctors to practice defensive medicine, driving up costs for everyone."

20 Nov 2009

Image of a water flea wins top prize in the 2009 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

A glowing, eerily beautiful image of a water flea with its radiant green "crown of thorns" took top prize in the 2009 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition®, the world's foremost forum for showcasing microscope photos and movies of life science subjects. Dr. Jan Michels, a zoologist at the University of Albrecht, Kiel, Germany, took top honors for the image of a water flea, with its defensive "crown of thorns" to protect it against predators. The image reveals not only the exoskeleton, but also interior detail down to the nuclei within its cells, seen as tiny, glowing blue dots. This

From Evident Corporation - Life Sciences 20 Nov 2009

Twenty-five design teams compete in Brown School of Engineering Elevator Pitch Contest

Twenty-five Senior Design Teams competed for prizes Thursday night at Rice University's Brown School of Engineering Elevator Pitch Contest. The purpose of the contest was to get students to think about the commercial viability of their designs before building prototypes. Teams had 60 seconds to pitch their design project to an audience of local venture capitalists and business leaders.

20 Nov 2009

Advanced Cell Technology files an IND with the FDA for study using embryonic stem cells to treat SMD

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. announced today that it filed an Investigational New Drug (IND) Application with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate a Phase I/II multicenter study using embryonic stem cell derived retinal cells to treat patients with Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy (SMD). Among the most common causes of untreatable blindness in the world are degenerative diseases of the retina.

19 Nov 2009

ISCO, Scripps Research Institute collaborate in study of parthenogenetic stem cells

International Stem Cell Corporation, announced today that it is collaborating with renowned stem cell researcher Jeanne F. Loring, Ph.D., and the Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, CA) to study parthenogenetic stem cells and potentially therapeutic cells that can be derived from them.

19 Nov 2009