Blindness News and Research

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Nonharmful stress promotes disease resilience in offspring, shows study

Research led by Jeff Gidday, PhD, Professor of Ophthalmology, Biochemistry, Neuroscience, and Physiology at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, reports what is believed to be the first study in a mammalian model documenting the reprogramming of heritability to promote disease resilience in the next generation.

10 Sep 2020

Parkinson's disease drug may improve vision in patients with age-related macular degeneration

Investigators have determined that treating patients with an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with levodopa, a safe and readily available drug commonly used to treat Parkinson's disease, stabilized and improved their vision.

10 Sep 2020

Fight for Sight partners with Diabetes UK to investigate link between eye disease and COVID-19

Eye research charity Fight for Sight is partnering with Diabetes UK to investigate if people with the eye disease diabetic retinopathy are at greater risk of developing complications from Covid-19, in a study that hopes to save lives.

8 Sep 2020

Surgeons use patients' own stem cells to rebuild damaged corneas

Surgeons at Massachusetts Eye and Ear have replaced the ocular surface of four patients who each experienced chemical burns to one eye by using their own stem cells taken from the other healthy eye, in a technique known as "cultivated autologous limbal epithelial cell transplantation" (CALEC).

1 Sep 2020

WHO advises healthcare professionals to ensure correct administration of chlorhexidine

WHO has been made aware of multiple, recent reports of eye injury, including blindness, with the use of chlorhexidine gluconate 7.1%, in nine countries in sub Saharan Africa.

31 Aug 2020

Study may help explain the symptoms and organs involved with SARS-CoV-2 infection

A study of a gateway receptor for SARS-CoV-2 led by Walter Lukiw, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience, Neurology and Ophthalmology at LSU Health New Orleans' Neuroscience Center of Excellence and School of Medicine, may help explain the wide variety of symptoms and organs involved with SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19.

28 Aug 2020

Study offers hope for treatment of Krabbe disease

In one out of 100,000 infants, a mutation in the GALC gene causes an incurable, always fatal disorder known as infantile Krabbe disease, or globoid cell leukodystrophy. Most children with the condition die before they turn 2.

26 Aug 2020

Doctors with disabilities call for a paradigm shift to make medical education, profession more inclusive

Doctors treat and heal patients, but they are seldom seen as people who may themselves require care or accommodation. Medics with disabilities are now calling for a paradigm shift in this mindset to make medical education and the profession more inclusive.

21 Aug 2020

A healthy lifestyle for cardiovascular health may reduce odds of developing ocular diseases

In a new study, investigators found that ideal cardiovascular health, which is indicative of a healthy lifestyle, was associated with lower odds for ocular diseases especially diabetic retinopathy.

20 Aug 2020

Diabetes-related complications increase with elevated levels of heart failure marker

Healthy people - especially women - with elevated levels of the heart failure marker NT-proBNP have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

18 Aug 2020

Smartphones could be used to detect Type 2 diabetes

Researchers at UC San Francisco have developed a "digital biomarker" that would use a smartphone's built-in camera to detect Type 2 diabetes - one of the world's top causes of disease and death - potentially providing a low-cost, in-home alternative to blood draws and clinic-based screening tools.

17 Aug 2020

Nanoparticle carriers expand the effectiveness of gene therapies for human eye diseases

NIBIB-funded researchers have created nanoparticles for successful gene therapy of a mouse model of macular degeneration.

15 Aug 2020

A software-based on AI helps assess the progression of geographic atrophy

A software-based on artificial intelligence (AI), which was developed by researchers at the Eye Clinic of the University Hospital Bonn, Stanford University and University of Utah, enables the precise assessment of the progression of geographic atrophy (GA), a disease of the light sensitive retina caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

13 Aug 2020

Choosing the best milk fortifiers can lead to improved health outcomes in premature babies

More than 380,000 babies are born prematurely in the United States each year, according to the March of Dimes.

13 Aug 2020

Bayer supports WHO through donated medicines for treatment of T. solium infection

A recent agreement between the World Health Organization and the German pharmaceutical company Bayer promises hope of expanding access to essential medicines for the treatment of people exposed to or infected by the pork tapeworm Taenia solium.

12 Aug 2020

Gene therapy to the inner retina prevents blindness in mouse model of CLN3 Batten disease

Gene therapy to the inner retina prevented blindness in a mouse model of the neuro-degenerative disorder CLN3 Batten disease.

10 Aug 2020

Scientists identify new treatment targets for blinding retinal disease

When the eye isn't getting enough oxygen in the face of common conditions like premature birth or diabetes, it sets in motion a state of frenzied energy production that can ultimately result in blindness, and now scientists have identified new points where they may be able to calm the frenzy and instead enable recovery