Blindness News and Research

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Research to help people born with 'face blindness'

A specific area in our brains is responsible for processing information about human and animal faces, both how we recognize them and how we interpret facial expressions. Now, Tel Aviv University research is exploring what makes this highly specialized part of the brain unique, a first step to finding practical applications for that information.

29 Jul 2010

Redpoint Bio issued patent that covers high-throughput screening technology

Redpoint Bio Corporation, a company focused on the development of healthier foods and beverages and new approaches to the treatment of diabetes and obesity, today announced the issuance of Patent No. 7,749,730 B2 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office entitled "High Throughput Screening Assay for the TRPm5 Ion Channel."

28 Jul 2010

Merck signs non-exclusive license agreement with LabCorp for commercialization of genetic test

Merck announced a non-exclusive license agreement with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings for the commercialization of a genetic test that may help predict the response of patients with Hepatitis C virus infection to peginterferon alpha-based therapy.

28 Jul 2010

DIATHERIX Laboratories opens rapid response diagnostic panels for STD, HSV

DIATHERIX Laboratories ,adds a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) panel and Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) panel to its line up of highly sensitive, rapid response diagnostic panels. The HSV panel identifies herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2 and the STD panel identifies 10 sexually transmitted diseases simultaneously, many of which cannot be accurately identified by current testing methods. These STD organisms, if not appropriately treated, can cause diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhoeae, chlamydia, bacterial vaginosis, etc. and may lead to blindness, infertility or complications during pregnancy.

28 Jul 2010

EFINTD awards 850,000 Euros for medical research on neglected tropical diseases in Africa

More than one billion people all over the world suffer from tropical diseases which are mostly unknown to the wider public and have also been neglected economically. In a joint effort with four other European foundations, the Volkswagen Foundation has opened a second round of funding for African scientists conducting research on these neglected diseases.

27 Jul 2010

Scientists discover mechanism of herpes virus cell entry machinery

The mechanism by which a herpes virus invades cells has remained a mystery to scientists, but now research from Tufts University and the University of Pennsylvania reveals the unusual structure of a key member of the protein complex that allows a herpes virus to invade cells.The new map details an essential piece of the herpes virus "cell-entry machinery," providing scientists with a new target for antiviral drugs.

27 Jul 2010

New drug for type 2 diabetes, Effect of insulin on bones

In a groundbreaking finding, a new medicine Galvus (vildagliptin) has been created for people with type 2 diabetes that would lower blood glucose levels without the side effects of other medications.

26 Jul 2010

Calibra Medical's Finesse insulin patch-pen receives FDA clearance for use with Novo Nordisk's Novolog

Calibra Medical announced today it received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its Finesse™ insulin patch-pen for up to three-day use with Novo Nordisk's Novolog® rapid acting insulin. Combining the mealtime therapy-adherence benefits of insulin pumps with the simplicity and affordability of syringes and pens, Calibra's novel bolus-only patch-pen is a small, adhesively attached, flat device that can be operated discretely through clothing to deliver mealtime, snack time, and correction bolus insulin in seconds.

26 Jul 2010

Study identifies treatment strategies that can slow progression of eye disease associated with diabetes

The VA Maryland Health Care System participated in a landmark national study of more than 10,251 high-risk diabetic adults across the nation, testing if three complementary treatment strategies can reduce the high rate of heart disease and stroke associated with type 2 diabetes and if these treatment strategies can also slow the progression of eye disease associated with diabetes, the leading cause of blindness in working-age Americans.

22 Jul 2010

Valproic acid halts vision loss in patients with retinitis pigmentosa

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School believe they may have found a new treatment for retinitis pigmentosa, a severe neurodegenerative disease of the retina that ultimately results in blindness. One of the more common retinal degenerative diseases, RP is caused by the death of photoreceptor cells and affects 1 in 4,000 people in the United States. RP typically manifests in young adulthood as night blindness or a loss of peripheral vision and in many cases progresses to legal blindness by age 40.

22 Jul 2010

Ampio Pharmaceuticals commences Optina Phase II clinical trial for diabetic macular edema

Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the initiation of a Phase II clinical trial of Optina™ for the treatment of diabetic macular edema, an early stage of diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic macular edema is responsible for most vision loss in patients with diabetes mellitus.

22 Jul 2010

AiCuris presents preclinical data on AIC246 anti-HCMV drug at International Herpesvirus Workshop

AiCuris announced today publication of preclinical data on AIC246, at the International Herpesvirus Workshop in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA from 24 – 29 July 2010. AIC246 is a novel anti-HCMV drug currently in clinical phase 2 testing.

21 Jul 2010

California companies are developing new medicines for diabetes: Report

Pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies based in California are researching and developing 58 new medicines for diabetes, a chronic disease that afflicts 220 million patients worldwide, including 23.6 million Americans, a new report shows.

21 Jul 2010

Scientists identify key genes for Silk Road disease

Scientists have identified key genes responsible for a severe inflammatory disease that has spread along the old silk trading routes from the Far East to the edge of Europe.University of Manchester researchers, working as part of a large international consortium, have revealed some of the genetic mutations that lead to Behçet's disease. The group's findings are published in Nature Genetics.

21 Jul 2010

International Stem Cell, IBVI sign letter of intent concerning funding, establishment of ISCO India

International Stem Cell Corporation, www.internationalstemcell.com, and Insight Bioventures India Private Limited, announced today that they have signed a letter of intent concerning funding and establishment of an Indian affiliate of ISCO. The goal is to establish world-class development and manufacturing operations for ISCO's research and pharmaceutical products in India, including its Lifeline Cell Technology research products and human corneal tissue, CytoCor, for treatment of corneal vision impairment and testing of chemicals.

20 Jul 2010

Mother’s obesity surgery may cause vitamin deficiencies in children

Biliopancreatic diversion surgery for morbid obesity is known to cause multiple vitamin deficiencies that may worsen during pregnancy. In the June issue of the Journal of AAPOS, the Official Publication of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, a group of Australian clinicians report a child who was born blind as a result of Vitamin A deficiency caused by his mother's obesity surgery.

17 Jul 2010

An overview of AAPM annual meeting

AAPM is the premier organization in medical physics, a broadly-based scientific and professional discipline encompassing physics principles and applications in medicine and biology. Its membership includes medical physicists who specialize in research that develops cutting-edge technologies and board-certified clinical medical physicists who apply these technologies in community hospitals, clinics, and academic medical centers.

16 Jul 2010

American Heart Association comments on FDA advisory committee's rosiglitazone recommendations

After two days of hearings, an advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that the FDA allow the type 2 diabetes drug rosiglitazone (brand name, Avandia), to stay on the market, but with most committee members suggesting that the label be revised to include increased warnings. Rosiglitazone is one in a class of drugs called thiazolidinediones (TZDs), used to treat type 2 diabetes.

15 Jul 2010

University of Louisville ophthalmology professor receives $60,000 RPB Special Scholar Award

Qingxian Lu, PhD, assistant professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, has received the $60,000 William and Mary Greve Special Scholar Award from the Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) organization. The funds will go toward Lu's research in retinitis pigmentosa, a group of genetic disorders that can lead to night blindness, loss of peripheral vision and total blindness.

15 Jul 2010

Highlights of AAPM 52nd meeting

The 52nd meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) convenes from July 18 - 22, 2010 in Philadelphia, PA.

14 Jul 2010

Blindness News and Research

Research to help people born with 'face blindness'

Redpoint Bio issued patent that covers high-throughput screening technology

Merck signs non-exclusive license agreement with LabCorp for commercialization of genetic test

DIATHERIX Laboratories opens rapid response diagnostic panels for STD, HSV

EFINTD awards 850,000 Euros for medical research on neglected tropical diseases in Africa

Scientists discover mechanism of herpes virus cell entry machinery

New drug for type 2 diabetes, Effect of insulin on bones

Calibra Medical's Finesse insulin patch-pen receives FDA clearance for use with Novo Nordisk's Novolog

Study identifies treatment strategies that can slow progression of eye disease associated with diabetes

Valproic acid halts vision loss in patients with retinitis pigmentosa

Ampio Pharmaceuticals commences Optina Phase II clinical trial for diabetic macular edema

AiCuris presents preclinical data on AIC246 anti-HCMV drug at International Herpesvirus Workshop

California companies are developing new medicines for diabetes: Report

Scientists identify key genes for Silk Road disease

International Stem Cell, IBVI sign letter of intent concerning funding, establishment of ISCO India

Mother’s obesity surgery may cause vitamin deficiencies in children

An overview of AAPM annual meeting

American Heart Association comments on FDA advisory committee's rosiglitazone recommendations

University of Louisville ophthalmology professor receives $60,000 RPB Special Scholar Award

Highlights of AAPM 52nd meeting

Achieving and maintaining ISO 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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