Blindness News and Research

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UK-led technologies set to transform treatments on the NHS

Video games, pioneering gene therapies and new medical devices are set to transform treatments on the NHS, with support from the Department of Health and the Wellcome Trust.

19 May 2012

Researchers create prosthetic retina for patients with AMD

A device which could restore sight to patients with one of the most common causes of blindness in the developed world is being developed in an international partnership.

18 May 2012

Sensory substitution device enables blind persons to actually 'read' an eye chart

A method developed at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for training blind persons to "see" through the use of a sensory substitution device (SSD) has enabled those using the system to actually "read" an eye chart with letter sizes smaller than those used in determining the international standard for blindness.

17 May 2012

Smartphones can improve QOL for people with poor vision

iPhones and other smartphones can be a huge help to the visually impaired, but few vision doctors are recommending them to patients, according to a study co-authored by a Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine ophthalmologist.

17 May 2012

ACE2 molecule now protects major organs in diabetic patients

ACE2, a molecule that has been shown to prevent damage in the heart, is now proving to be protective of the major organs that are often damaged in diabetic patients.

17 May 2012

World health statistics 2012 report puts spotlight on growing problem of NCD burden

The World health statistics 2012 report, released today, puts the spotlight on the growing problem of the noncommunicable diseases burden.

16 May 2012

Mass. Eye and Ear announces recipients of 2012 Curing Kids Fund grants

The Mass. Eye and Ear Curing Kids fund has awarded grants for research projects that aim to help the brain locate sound, identify genes that cause congenital blindness, cure deafness through hair cell regeneration, and improve treatment for childhood eye cancer.

16 May 2012

Genetic test can accurately predict spread of eye cancer

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a genetic test that can accurately predict whether the most common form of eye cancer will spread to other parts of the body, particularly the liver.

15 May 2012

Narrower CRAE may increase risk of CVD among African Americans with type 1 diabetes

Among African Americans with type 1 diabetes mellitus, narrower central retinal arteriolar equivalent (average diameter of the small arteries in the retina) is associated with an increased risk of six-year incidence of any cardiovascular disease and lower extremity arterial disease, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, a JAMA Network publication.

15 May 2012

New system may help restore vision in eye diseases

Using tiny solar-panel-like cells surgically placed underneath the retina, scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have devised a system that may someday restore sight to people who have lost vision because of certain types of degenerative eye diseases.

14 May 2012

Human Gene Therapy highlights new advances in human retinal disease

Gene therapy strategies to prevent and treat inherited diseases of the retina that can cause blindness have progressed rapidly. Positive results in animal models of human retinal disease continue to emerge, as reported in several articles published in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

9 May 2012

Plans to tackle growing waistlines and the obesity epidemic from the Institute of Medicine

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), obesity in America is a crisis that threatens national security and it demands urgent action.

9 May 2012

Bayer Yakuhin, Santen enter co-promotion agreement for EYLEA Injection in Japan

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Bayer HealthCare today announced that Bayer's Japanese subsidiary, Bayer Yakuhin, Ltd., and Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. entered into a co-promotion agreement for EYLEA aflibercept) Injection in Japan.

From Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. 8 May 2012

Amakem presents key preclinical data on AMA0076 at ARVO meeting

Amakem NV, a kinase platform company focusing on ophthalmology, presented key preclinical data on its potent, locally active Rho Kinase (ROCK) inhibitor AMA0076 at the 2012 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting being held at Fort Lauderdale, US from 6 - 10 May. The ARVO meeting is the world's largest gathering of international eye and vision researchers.

8 May 2012

Metformin blocks uveitis in laboratory rats

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have discovered that a drug already prescribed to millions of people with diabetes could also have another important use: treating one of the world's leading causes of blindness.

8 May 2012

Cheaper anti-blindness drug could save NHS £85 million annually

Avastin (bevacizumab), which is used to treat wet age-related macular degeneration – the most common cause of blindness among the elderly costs only £60 per injection. But despite trials showing it is no less effective, another drug, Lucentis, is the current official choice, even though it costs £700 per shot. Avastin is intended to treat bowel cancer, but research by the National Institute for Health Research has shown that it also works just as effectively and safely as Lucentis in treating Wet AMD.

8 May 2012

Screening for diabetic retinopathy once every two years maybe safe, cost-effective

Research carried out at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (PCMD), University of Exeter, has concluded that it would be a safe and cost-effective strategy to screen people with type 2 diabetes who have not yet developed diabetic retinopathy, for the disease once every two years instead of annually.

7 May 2012

Oral nutriceutical restores vision to otherwise hopeless patients facing permanent loss

There may be new found hope for patients whose vision is threatened when medicine injected directly into the eyes fails to cause abnormal blood vessels to recede. While injectable drugs called angiogenesis (an-gee-oh-jen-esis) inhibitors are considered a modern miracle and have become the standard of care for patients with the fast-progressive form of macular degeneration, they are not foolproof.

7 May 2012

Researchers identify new mechanism that causes choroidal neovascularization

Sloppy shipping of a donated human retina to an Indiana University researcher studying a leading cause of vision loss has inadvertently helped uncover a previously undetected mechanism causing the disease. The discovery has led researchers to urge review of how millions of dollars are spent investigating the cause of a type of age-related macular degeneration called choroidal neovascularization.

5 May 2012

Bionic eye helps two blind men see for the first time in 20 years

In a medical breakthrough two blind men have regained partial sight for the first time in more than 20 years after receiving a “bionic eye”. Scientists said the first clinical trials of the microchip eye implant, which measures just 3mm across and is fitted behind the eyeball, have proved successful and “exceeded expectations”.

4 May 2012