Eye News and Research

Latest Eye News and Research

MSU researcher helps develop computer game for Ugandan children recovering from cerebral malaria

The computer program Captain's Log - originally used with individuals diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, brain injuries or learning disabilities - is being adapted to rehabilitate Ugandan children who are survivors of cerebral malaria.

24 Oct 2007

Advances in drug screening

With the discovery of suitable molecular targets - cellular molecules along pathways crucial for sustaining the life of cancer cells - comes the perplexing dilemma of where to find the next therapeutics that will bind to and disable those targets.

23 Oct 2007

Decorative contact lenses can seriously damage the eyes

Consumers are being warned that decorative contact lenses bought without a prescription can permanently damage people's eyesight.

23 Oct 2007

Physicians successfully trained to perform cataract surgery in rural China

Patients in rural China who received cataract surgery from specially trained non-ophthalmologists had improved vision 10 to 14 months following surgery, according to an article that will appear in the November 2007 print issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

22 Oct 2007

Stem cells to treat damaged eyes and a rare skin disorder

Doctors and scientists in Italy have shown how stem cells can be used to treat damaged eyes and, in combination with gene therapy, a rare and debilitating skin disease.

22 Oct 2007

Little evidence to support therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe and ongoing emotional reaction to an extreme psychological trauma; it affects significant numbers of people, in particular military personnel and veterans, who have seen active duty in war zones.

22 Oct 2007

Researcher identify specific cell that causes eye cancer, disproving long-held theory

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have identified the cell that gives rise to the eye cancer retinoblastoma, disproving a long-standing principle of nerve growth and development.

19 Oct 2007

Discovery of binocular vision gene

A team of researchers at the Bosch Institute have identified an important gene responsible for binocular vision.

19 Oct 2007

Massive reanalysis of genome data solves case of the lethal genes

It is better to be looked over than overlooked, Mae West supposedly said. These are words of wisdom for genome data-miners of today.

19 Oct 2007

Elderly Medicare, Medicaid patients not receiving quality care

If the care received by vulnerable older people concurrently enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid was evaluated on a grading scale, it would squeak by with a barely passing mark, a new UCLA study has found.

18 Oct 2007

Optical coherence tomography helps track multiple sclerosis

A five-minute eye exam might prove to be an inexpensive and effective way to gauge and track the debilitating neurological disease multiple sclerosis, potentially complementing costly magnetic resonance imaging to detect brain shrinkage - a characteristic of the disease's progression.

16 Oct 2007

Homocysteine appears to be play a part in retinal damage and vision loss

Homocysteine, an amino acid believed to contribute to heart attack, stroke and dementia, likely also is a player in retinal damage and vision loss, researchers say.

16 Oct 2007

Low-volume whole-blood sensors could transform cardiac testing

University of Ulster researchers have teamed up with scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay on a project to develop low-volume whole-blood sensors that could transform point-of-care cardiac testing.

15 Oct 2007

Important insights into blood vessel formation

Researchers have identified a molecular pathway that plays a critical role in the growth of blood vessels.

15 Oct 2007

Fearful eyes and happy faces - how we perceive certain cues

You may not be fully dressed without a smile, but a look of horror will make a faster first impression.

15 Oct 2007

What's wrong with being shy?

What's wrong with being shy, and just when and how did bashfulness and other ordinary human behaviors in children and adults become psychiatric disorders treatable with powerful, potentially dangerous drugs?, asks a Northwestern University scholar in a new book that already is creating waves in the mental health community

12 Oct 2007

Poor self-esteem can trigger the primal fight-or-flight response

Few can tolerate such romantic or professional rebuffs as "It's not you, it's me" and "we regret to inform you that your application was not successful." But while a healthy dose of self-esteem can absorb the shock of rejection, poor self-esteem can trigger the primal fight-or-flight response, according to a new study from the University of California, Berkeley.

12 Oct 2007

Genome update defines landscape of breast and colon cancers

One year after completing the first large-scale report sequencing breast and colon cancer genes, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have studied the vast majority of protein-coding genes which now suggest a landscape dominated by genes that each are mutated in relatively few cancers.

12 Oct 2007

Researchers identify brain circuits used in sensation of touch

The ability to tactually recognize fine spatial details, such as the raised dots used in braille, is especially important to those who are blind.

11 Oct 2007

Antioxidants no use against degenerative eye disease

After analysing a range of research Australian scientists say a diet rich in antioxidant vitamins and minerals does not seem to prevent the degenerative eye disease known as age related macular degeneration (AMD).

10 Oct 2007