Blindness News and Research

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New device to measure ethanol's deadly twin

Methanol is sometimes referred to as ethanol's deadly twin. While the latter is the intoxicating ingredient in wine, beer and schnapps, the former is a chemical that becomes highly toxic when metabolized by the human body.

16 Sep 2019

Children's Tumor Foundation harnesses interest in rare disease research through NF Innovation Week

Neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body and which affects 1 in 3,000 people - that's over 2.5 million worldwide - has no cure and few workable treatment options.

15 Sep 2019

Two uveitis drugs perform similarly in a head-to-head clinical trial

Methotrexate and the more expensive mycophenolate mofetil performed similarly in a head-to-head clinical trial that compared the two drugs for treating noninfectious uveitis, an eye disease that accounts for up to 15% of blindness in the U. S.

11 Sep 2019

Associations between sounds and shapes depend on early visual experiences

Data from individuals with different types of severe visual impairment suggest that the associations we make between sounds and shapes -- a "smooth" b or a "spiky" k -- may form during a sensitive period of visual development in early childhood.

10 Sep 2019

'Junk food' diet can lead to blindness

An extreme case of "fussy" or "picky" eating caused a young patient's blindness, according to a new case report published today [2 Sep 2019] in Annals of Internal Medicine.

3 Sep 2019

Early planned delivery reduces impact of preterm pre-eclampsia

Doctors have long debated over the optimal time to deliver mothers with pre-eclampsia in late pregnancy (after 34 but before 37 completed weeks). This is because too early delivery compromises the baby’s health, while delayed action may endanger the mother’s health.

29 Aug 2019

Retina-on-a-chip may provide useful alternative to existing models for studying eye disease

The development of a retina-on-a-chip, which combines living human cells with an artificial tissue-like system, has been described today in the open-access journal eLife.

27 Aug 2019

New study provides unprecedented insights into retina's genetic code

Australian scientists have led the development of the world's most detailed gene map of the human retina, providing new insights which will help future research to prevent and treat blindness.

27 Aug 2019

New insights into protein transport could help define strategies for treating eye disease

Many forms of vision loss stem from a common source: impaired communication between the eye and the brain. And at the root of all eye-to-brain communication are the hundreds of proteins generated by the retina's nerve cells.

22 Aug 2019

Type 1 diabetes linked to gut microbiome and genetic factors

A new study has revealed that the gut microbiome of children with a high genetic risk of developing type 1 diabetes is markedly different from those who have a low risk of the condition.

20 Aug 2019

Herpes treatment greatly improved by adding charcoal

A novel charcoal-based drug-delivery system to treat herpes infections topically shows greatly improved efficacy over conventional treatment. Here, the medication called acyclovir, commonly used for herpes infection, was combined with activated carbon particles.

15 Aug 2019

Older adults are less distracted by negative information, study shows

A new study shows that compared to younger adults, older adults are less distracted by negative information -- even in the earliest stages of attention.

12 Aug 2019

Finding ways to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in mums

University of South Australia researchers are appealing for greater support mechanisms to help women diagnosed with gestational diabetes return to or maintain a healthy weight post pregnancy.

12 Aug 2019

Scientists announce major breakthrough in understanding dry AMD

Scientists at Trinity College Dublin have announced a major breakthrough with important implications for sufferers of a common eye disease - dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) - which can cause total blindness in sufferers, and for which there are currently no approved therapies.

8 Aug 2019

Johns Hopkins researchers use nanotechnology to repair faulty brain circuits

Working with mouse and human tissue, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report new evidence that a protein pumped out of some — but not all — populations of “helper” cells in the brain, called astrocytes, plays a specific role in directing the formation of connections among neurons needed for learning and forming new memories.

31 Jul 2019

Thin photoelectric film can stimulate degenerated retinal tissues

In a study recently published in Advanced Biomedical Engineering, researchers at Okayama University report a thin photoelectric film which can stimulate degenerated retinal tissues of the eye.

29 Jul 2019

On a mission to help people control diabetes — and save money on insulin

In a former church parsonage in Grundy County, Tenn., Karen Wickham ladled out her lentil stew as people arrived for an evening health education class.

25 Jul 2019

Virginia Tech graduate student wins NIH award to map unexplored area of the brain

As you read this article, your eyes are capturing light and your brain is decoding it into tangible fragments of information - things like colors, edges, words, and ideas.

22 Jul 2019

Research team detects novel mechanism of inheritance

Non-Mendelian, oligogenic inheritance could bean unrecognized and important element for occurrence ofhereditary retinal degenerations (HRDs, comprising retinitis pigmentosa) which are caused by ultra-rare mutations and cause progressive blindness.

18 Jul 2019

Marijuana isn’t a great choice for glaucoma treatment, says expert

Marijuana can help reduce the pressure inside the eye (IOP, or intraocular pressure). Being a euphoric drug, it is now a commonly used recreational and medicinal drug. In fact, its use ranks fourth among all substances, behind tobacco, alcohol and caffeine.

18 Jul 2019