Eye News and Research

Latest Eye News and Research

Herceptin and chemotherapy improves response rates without major adverse effects in HER2 breast cancer

Women with a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer seem to do better if they are treated with a combined anthracycline and taxane chemotherapy regimen before surgery, together with trastuzumab (Herceptin) before and after surgery, according to results from the largest multi-centre trial to investigate this treatment.

18 Apr 2008

Children with migraine more likely to have sleep disorders

Children with migraine are more likely to have sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea and lack of sleep, than children without migraine, according to research on the effects of headaches on children’s sleep patterns that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 12-19, 2008.

17 Apr 2008

New clues to cataract formation

It is the No. 1 line-item cost of Medicare reimbursement and affects more than 20 million people in the United States. Cataracts, which can have devastating effects on the eye, affect 42 percent of the population between the ages of 70 and 80, and 68 percent of the population over the age of 80, according to the National Eye Institute.

17 Apr 2008

Study suggests that antidepressants could also be used for the treatment of amblyopia

In the April 18 issue of Science, scientists from the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy and the Neuroscience Centre at the University of Helsinki, Finland, provide new information about the mechanism of action of antidepressant drugs.

17 Apr 2008

Babies with an eye-alignment disorder called infantile esotropia have developmental delays

Babies with an eye-alignment disorder called infantile esotropia have delays in motor development milestones, but development "catches up" after corrective surgery, reports a study in the April Journal of AAPOS (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus).

17 Apr 2008

New vector carries big genes linked to inherited blindness

Some clinicians and researchers hope that individuals with inherited diseases (such as cystic fibrosis and recessive Stargardt disease, which causes progressive loss of sight) might one day be cured by providing them with a corrected version of their disease-causing faulty gene, i.e., by gene therapy.

16 Apr 2008

Very early photoscreening yields better visual outcomes in amblyopia treatment

Children who screen positive for amblyopia, reduced vision in one eye, before age 2 appear to have better visual outcomes than those whose vision problems are detected during screenings between ages 2 and 4, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

15 Apr 2008

When it comes to emotions, eastern and western cultures see things very differently

A team of researchers from Canada, Japan and Amsterdam have uncovered some remarkable results on how eastern and western cultures assess situations very differently.

10 Apr 2008

NanoViricides begins HIV drug animal trials

NanoViricides, Inc. has announced that preliminary animal trials of the Company's HIV therapeutic candidates have begun at a BioSafety Level 3 (BSL-3) Laboratory facility in Boston, MA.

8 Apr 2008

Computer developed to interpret attractiveness in women

Beauty goes the old saying, "is in the eye of the beholder." But does the beholder have to be human?

7 Apr 2008

Surviving without sex - Bdelloid rotifers do!

Birds and bees may do it, but the microscopic animals called bdelloid rotifers seem to get along just fine without sex, thank you.

3 Apr 2008

Genetic mutations tied to immune comeback during therapy for HIV-1

Researchers with the Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program (IDCRP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) here and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have published a patient outcome study in the March 30 online edition of Nature Medicine that may signal a need for a change of thought in the management of HIV.

3 Apr 2008

Botox scare as scientists say the toxin may spread in the body

Scientists are warning that the anti-wrinkle treatment Botox used by millions of women every year can spread from the face to the brain.

3 Apr 2008

Confusing sexual interest with friendliness

New research from Indiana University and Yale suggests that college-age men confuse friendly non-verbal cues with cues for sexual interest because the men have a less discerning eye than women -- but their female peers aren't far behind.

2 Apr 2008

Older corneas suitable for transplantation

The age pool of corneas for transplant should be expanded to include donors up to 75 years of age, based on findings from a study funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

2 Apr 2008

The mysterious link between summer birthdates and myopia

Do corneas from older donors meet quality standards for transplant surgery? These are among the topics explored in the April 2008 issue of Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

2 Apr 2008

Dallas area cornea shortages could benefit from national study

Surgeons and patients from UT Southwestern Medical Center and UT Southwestern Transplant Services Center joined in a landmark study showing that corneas from older donors are as successful for transplants after five years as is tissue from younger donors, allowing possible expansion of the donor pool.

2 Apr 2008