Blindness News and Research

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City Tech Nursing Professor provides community-based care plan to study difference in health outcomes

Patients with diabetes who follow a self-care regimen generally have success in controlling their disease. But what about patients whose other health conditions, such as cognitive impairment and/or depression, create barriers to effective treatment?

17 Dec 2010

Opinions: Kangaroo care; NTDs, Women's health

New York Times contributing writer Tina Rosen, on the newspaper's "Opinionator" blog, examines the success of a system known as kangaroo care, which has helped to improve the survival rates of premature infants by using skin-to-skin contact with mothers in place of incubators in low-resource settings. The post notes the potential value of such a strategy in poor countries "where pregnant women are unlikely to get the food and care they need," and "low birth weight babies are very common."

16 Dec 2010

Elsevier enables text-to-speech option for all ePub book titles

Elsevier, the world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, announced today that it has enabled the text-to-speech option on all of its ePub book titles. The text-to-speech function enables an e-book to read aloud. This will facilitate access by readers who would otherwise face a range of access challenges through blindness, dyslexia, or motor difficulties.

10 Dec 2010

Blocking growth of blood vessels with antibodies could improve treatment of cancerous tumors

A novel strategy of blocking the growth of blood vessels with antibodies should result in improved treatment of cancerous tumors.

10 Dec 2010

Three-day meeting on eliminating river blindness kicks off in Nigeria

A three-day meeting of the WHO African Program for Onchocerciasis (River blindness) Control (WHO/APOC) opened in Abuja, Nigeria, on Tuesday, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports (12/8).

10 Dec 2010

Ameco Medical to commence clinical trials for PNT procedure's reimbursement approval

Sunridge International, announced today that Ameco Medical is preparing to start the short term clinical trials needed for reimbursement approval.

9 Dec 2010

New software predicts key information about nasal insulin treatment regimens in type 1 diabetes

A La Jolla Institute team, led by leading type 1 diabetes researcher Matthias von Herrath, M.D., has demonstrated the effectiveness of a recently developed computer model in predicting key information about nasal insulin treatment regimens in type 1 (juvenile) diabetes. Development of the software, the Type 1 Diabetes PhysioLab- Platform, was funded through the peer-reviewed grant program of the American Diabetes Association.

9 Dec 2010

FDA clears Valeritas' V-Go Disposable Insulin Delivery Device

Valeritas, Inc., a medical technology company committed to the development and commercialization of innovative drug delivery solutions, announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration has cleared the company's V-Go Disposable Insulin Delivery Device for the continuous subcutaneous delivery of insulin in preset basal rates and with on-demand bolus dosing for adult patients requiring insulin.

8 Dec 2010

Study comparing subcutaneous, intravenous administration of VELCADE in relapsed MM patients presented at ASH

Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company today reported results from a randomized, international Phase III clinical trial comparing subcutaneous and intravenous administration of VELCADE (bortezomib) in patients with relapsed multiple myeloma. These data were presented at the 52nd annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, held December 4-7 in Orlando, Florida.

8 Dec 2010

32% of UAE residents could have diabetes or prediabetes by 2020

One in three United Arab Emirates (UAE) residents could have diabetes or prediabetes by the end of the decade, according to a new analysis from international health and well-being company UnitedHealth Group, released today at the World Health Care Congress Middle East meeting in Abu Dhabi.

7 Dec 2010

Study: Mixing exenatide with insulin provides better blood sugar control in type 2 diabetes patients

A new study finds that combining the newer diabetes drug exenatide with insulin provides better blood sugar control in patients with type 2 diabetes than insulin alone and helps promote weight loss.

7 Dec 2010

New study reveals that sick teens are more isolated than other kids

A new study reveals that sick teens are more isolated than other kids, but they do not necessarily realize it and often think their friendships are stronger than they actually are.

7 Dec 2010

Closer to restoring vision loss due to optic nerve damage

Damage to the optic nerve, connecting the eye with the brain, is a major cause of blindness. The most common culprit is glaucoma, estimated to affect more than 4 million Americans. There is currently no way to restore the lost vision, because the optic nerve, like other nerves in the mature central nervous system (CNS), cannot regenerate. Now, scientists at Children's Hospital Boston report achieving the greatest regeneration to date in the mammalian optic nerve.

4 Dec 2010

Merck plans to acquire SmartCells

Today pharmaceutical company, Merck & Co., Inc. announced it will acquire SmartCells, Inc., a private biotech developing a glucose-responsive insulin whose proof-of-concept preclinical trials were partially funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

4 Dec 2010

Scripps scientists find way to transform mature human cells into stem cells

Scripps Research Institute scientists have made a significant leap forward in the drive to find a way to safely reprogram mature human cells and turn them into stem cells, which can then change into other cell types, such as nerve, heart, and liver cells. The ability to transform fully mature adult cells such as skin cells into stem cells has potentially profound implications for treating many diseases.

3 Dec 2010

Anacor, UCSF and NYBC collaborate to discover drug therapies for river blindness

Anacor Pharmaceuticals, the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Sandler Center and the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute (LFKRI) of the New York Blood Center (NYBC) today announced the establishment of a research and development collaboration to discover new drug therapies for the treatment of river blindness (onchocerciasis), a parasitic disease that is the second leading cause of infectious blindness worldwide, and is most prevalent in Africa.

1 Dec 2010

ACT files IND application to initiate Phase I/II study for Dry AMD

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. announced today that it has filed an Investigational New Drug (IND) Application with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate a Phase I/II multicenter study using human embryonic stem cell (hESC) derived retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells to treat patients with Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration (Dry AMD).

30 Nov 2010

QOI and Quantel enter co-promotion agreement for Activis PDT Lasers

QLT Inc. today announced that its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, QLT Ophthalmics, Inc. ("QOI"), and Quantel Medical and its distributor, Quantel USA, Inc., have entered into a co-promotion agreement for the sale of Activis PDT Lasers used to activate Visudyne® during photodynamic therapy of primarily classic lesions in wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The lasers are manufactured by Quantel Medical and sold by Quantel USA, Inc. and will be promoted by both Quantel USA, Inc. and QOI's sales force to the retina community in the United States.

29 Nov 2010

FDA grants ACT clearance for Phase I/II clinical trial of hESC derived retinal cells in patients with SMD

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Company's Investigational New Drug (IND) application to immediately initiate a Phase I/II multicenter clinical trial using retinal cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to treat patients with Stargardt's Macular Dystrophy (SMD), one of the most common forms of juvenile macular degeneration in the world. The decision removes the clinical hold that the FDA had placed on the trial.

22 Nov 2010

Phase 3 study of VEGF Trap-Eye regimen meets primary endpoint in patients with wet AMD

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Bayer HealthCare announced that in two parallel Phase 3 studies in patients with the neovascular form of age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), all regimens of VEGF Trap-Eye (aflibercept ophthalmic solution), including VEGF Trap-Eye dosed every two months, successfully met the primary endpoint compared to the current standard of care, ranibizumab dosed every month.

22 Nov 2010

Blindness News and Research

City Tech Nursing Professor provides community-based care plan to study difference in health outcomes

Opinions: Kangaroo care; NTDs, Women's health

Elsevier enables text-to-speech option for all ePub book titles

Blocking growth of blood vessels with antibodies could improve treatment of cancerous tumors

Three-day meeting on eliminating river blindness kicks off in Nigeria

Ameco Medical to commence clinical trials for PNT procedure's reimbursement approval

New software predicts key information about nasal insulin treatment regimens in type 1 diabetes

FDA clears Valeritas' V-Go Disposable Insulin Delivery Device

Study comparing subcutaneous, intravenous administration of VELCADE in relapsed MM patients presented at ASH

32% of UAE residents could have diabetes or prediabetes by 2020

Study: Mixing exenatide with insulin provides better blood sugar control in type 2 diabetes patients

New study reveals that sick teens are more isolated than other kids

Closer to restoring vision loss due to optic nerve damage

Merck plans to acquire SmartCells

Scripps scientists find way to transform mature human cells into stem cells

Anacor, UCSF and NYBC collaborate to discover drug therapies for river blindness

ACT files IND application to initiate Phase I/II study for Dry AMD

QOI and Quantel enter co-promotion agreement for Activis PDT Lasers

FDA grants ACT clearance for Phase I/II clinical trial of hESC derived retinal cells in patients with SMD

Phase 3 study of VEGF Trap-Eye regimen meets primary endpoint in patients with wet AMD

Changing the landscape of R&D to build clinical success from the ground up

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

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