Eye News and Research

Latest Eye News and Research

Discovery of new type of retinal cell

Harvard University researchers have discovered a new type of retinal cell that plays an exclusive and unusual role in mice: detecting upward motion.

31 Mar 2008

University of Kentucky physician revolutionizes gene research

A dramatic new study published in the most recent issue of Nature questions some of the mechanisms underlying a new class of drugs based on Nobel Prize-winning work designed to fight diseases ranging from macular degeneration to diabetes.

28 Mar 2008

Insulin-like growth factor found to have new role in development of brain's smell center

A human hormone known to stimulate the growth of cells throughout the body has a new role - helping to set up the proper nerve connections in the odor center of the brain, according to University of California, Berkeley, scientists.

28 Mar 2008

New understanding of how color vision is processed

New York University biologists have mapped the medulla circuitry in fruit flies, setting the stage for subsequent research on how color vision is processed.

26 Mar 2008

Toward the ethical treatment of whole genome research participants

Recent technological developments have made it possible for scientists to sequence an entire human genome, but these advances may be a mixed blessing.

25 Mar 2008

Eye test peers into heat-related multiple sclerosis symptoms

A bodysuit that heats or cools a patient, combined with painless measurements of eye movements, is providing multiple sclerosis researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center with a new tool to study the mysterious link between body temperature and severity of MS symptoms.

24 Mar 2008

Easter eye warning as occy straps lash out

Easter-period travellers are being warned to take care with octopus straps that hospitalise 540 people each year with severe eye injuries.

21 Mar 2008

Parental observations and perceptions important in detecting sleep problems in children

A new study from the University of Rochester has found that parental observations and perceptions of their childrens' sleep habits are a valuable supplement to objective laboratory tests in detecting obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

20 Mar 2008

Botulinum toxin, Quo Vadis?

The journal Medical Hypotheses, an Elsevier publication, has announced the winner of the 2007 David Horrobin Prize for medical theory.

19 Mar 2008

New hope for victims of macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa

Scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute have discovered what chemical in the eye triggers the dormant capacity of certain non-neuronal cells to transform into progenitor cells, a stem-like cell that can generate new retinal cells.

19 Mar 2008

Zebrafish enables cell regeneration studies to help understand, treat human disease

One aquarium fish's uncanny ability to regenerate essentially any cell type has given scientists a way to mimic cell loss that occurs in diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes then watch how the fish make more of them.

18 Mar 2008

Study outlines risk of treatment-resistant infection following facelift surgery

About one-half percent of patients undergoing facelift surgery at one outpatient surgical center between 2001 and 2007 developed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, according to a report in the March/April issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

18 Mar 2008

Researchers develop method to rapidly ID optimal drug cocktails

UCLA researchers have developed a feedback control scheme that can search for the most effective drug combinations to treat a variety of conditions, including cancers and infections.

18 Mar 2008

National Institutes of Health launches center to study genomics and health disparities

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced the establishment of the NIH Intramural Center for Genomics and Health Disparities (NICGHD), a new venue for research about the way populations are impacted by diseases, including obesity, diabetes and hypertension.

18 Mar 2008

Researchers discover second depth-perception method in brain

It's common knowledge that humans and other animals are able to visually judge depth because we have two eyes and the brain compares the images from each.

17 Mar 2008

MicroRNAs help zebrafish regenerate fins

Biologists have discovered a molecular circuit breaker that controls a zebrafish's remarkable ability to regrow missing fins, according to a new study from Duke University Medical Center.

17 Mar 2008

Blood vessel protein reverses macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy in mice

Two major eye diseases and leading causes of blindness—age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy can be reversed or even prevented by drugs that activate a protein found in blood vessel cells, researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine and several other institutions have announced in a new study.

17 Mar 2008

Glaucoma associated with increased risk of cardiovascular death in black patients

In a population of African origin, persons with diagnosed and treated glaucoma appeared to have an increased risk of death from cardiovascular causes, according to a study by Suh-Yuh Wu, and colleagues in the Departments of Preventive Medicine and Ophthalmology at Stony Brook University, the University of the West Indies, and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

12 Mar 2008

Virtual reality therapy for stroke patients

Israeli hospitals have recently started to use virtual reality therapy for stroke patients.

11 Mar 2008

Glaucoma associated with increased risk of cardiovascular death in black patients

Black patients with diagnosed and treated glaucoma and those with high pressure in their eyes appear to have an increased risk of death from cardiovascular causes, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

11 Mar 2008