Blindness News and Research

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University of Delaware researchers identify prime suspects in cataract formation

When cataracts encroach on the eyes, the only effective remedy is to surgically replace the eyes' lenses with synthetic substitutes. But what if scientists found a way to delay or prevent cataracts from forming in the first place? Researchers at the University of Delaware may have found such an opportunity by identifying the prime suspects in the formation of cataracts - deficiency of two genes that encode regulatory proteins.

19 Jun 2015

Injectable drug ocriplasmin improves vision in patients with symptomatic vitreomacular adhesion

In two ancillary studies of two multi-center international clinical trials led by the University of Southern California Eye Institute, the injectable drug ocriplasmin appears to improve vision among patients suffering from symptomatic vitreomacular adhesion (VMA), a condition related to the aging eye that could cause permanent vision loss if left untreated.

18 Jun 2015

Research finding could help develop artificial retinas for people with vision loss

Driving a car at 40 mph, you see a child dart into the street. You hit the brakes. Disaster averted. But how did your eyes detect that movement? It's a question that has confounded scientists. Now, studying mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have an answer: A neural circuit in the retina at the back of the eye carries signals that enable the eye to detect movement.

17 Jun 2015

Researchers suggest link between solar storms and incidences of RA and GCA

What began as a chat between husband and wife has evolved into an intriguing scientific discovery. The results, published in May in BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal) Open, show a "highly significant" correlation between periodic solar storms and incidences of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and giant cell arteritis (GCA), two potentially debilitating autoimmune diseases.

16 Jun 2015

Discovery could help scientists reduce global vitamin A deficiency

A research team's discovery of new information about how plants synthesize carotenoids, precursors for vitamin A that are essential for plant development and survival, and human health, could help scientists increase the levels of provitamin A in food crops and reduce global vitamin A deficiency.

16 Jun 2015

Catalan researchers first to use liposomes to fight against diabetes

For the first time liposomes that imitate cells in the process of natural death have been used to treat Diabetes. Researchers at Germans Trias Research Institute (at UAB-Campus of International Excellence Sphere) generated liposomes in collaboration with professionals from the ICN2. PLOS ONE Journal publishes the work.

10 Jun 2015

Keeping blood sugar levels under control can help protect hearts from diabetes-related damage

Day in and day out, for years on end, millions of people with diabetes prick their fingers to test their blood sugar level. And many may wonder if all the careful eating, exercise and medication it takes to keep those levels under control is really worth it.

4 Jun 2015

Researchers conduct noise output measurements on electric cars to improve safety of blind and visually-impaired people

The Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University is conducting human trials to determine if electric and hybrid electric vehicles traveling at low speeds provide sufficient sound to be safe for pedestrians, especially those who are blind and visually-impaired.

3 Jun 2015

Scientists identify gene mutation that causes color blindness

A rare eye disorder marked by color blindness, light sensitivity, and other vision problems can result from a newly discovered gene mutation identified by an international research team, including scientists from Columbia University Medical Center.

3 Jun 2015

ASCO 2015: Novartis presents data on Zykadia and Tafinlar studies for non-small cell lung cancer

Novartis today announced new data from two Phase II studies of Zykadia (ceritinib), as well as one Phase II study of Tafinlar® (dabrafenib) in combination with Mekinist (trametinib) in certain patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

2 Jun 2015

Medicare physician reimbursement data could be confusing to the public

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today released to the public data relating to 2013 Medicare payments made to physicians and other providers. In response, the American Academy of Ophthalmology is providing necessary context for the reimbursement data, which in its raw form are often complex and difficult to understand.

2 Jun 2015

Combination of Mekinist and Tafinlar drugs improves outcome in patients with metastatic melanoma

Novartis today announced data from the Phase III COMBI-d study showing a significant survival benefit for patients with BRAF V600E/K mutation-positive metastatic melanoma when treated with the combination of Tafinlar (dabrafenib) and Mekinist (trametinib) compared to Tafinlar monotherapy alone.

1 Jun 2015

NYU researchers identify root cause of eye infections among contact lens wearers

Using high-precision genetic tests to differentiate the thousands of bacteria that make up the human microbiome, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center suggest that they have found a possible — and potentially surprising — root cause of the increased frequency of certain eye infections among contact lens wearers.

1 Jun 2015

TxCell to deliver two presentations on Col-Treg and Ovasave at ISCT Annual Meeting

TxCell SA, a biotechnology company developing innovative, personalized T cell immunotherapies using antigen specific regulatory T-cells (Ag-Tregs) for severe chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, announces today that Dr. Arnaud Foussat, VP Research and New Products, TxCell, will deliver two presentations at the 21st Annual Meeting of the International Society of Cellular Therapy, May 27-30, 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US.

30 May 2015

Amgen to present clinical data on multiple blood cancer treatments at EHA 2015

Amgen today announced that it will present data from multiple Kyprolis (carfilzomib) for Injection, BLINCYTO (blinatumomab), oprozomib and Nplate (romiplostim)‎ studies at the 20th Congress of the European Hematology Association taking place in Vienna, June 11 - 14, 2015.

28 May 2015

Six research teams awarded grant to accelerate discovery of new drugs for brain, nervous system disorders

CQDM, Brain Canada and the Ontario Brain Institute award close to $8.5M to six (6) multi-disciplinary and multi-provincial research teams across Canada to address unmet needs in neuroscience within their Focus on Brain strategic initiative. To this amount, $1.5M is added from the various research entities involved as in-kind contributions.

27 May 2015

Study could offer new way to treat, prevent diabetes-associated blindness

Reporting on their study with lab-grown human cells, researchers at The Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland say that blocking a second blood vessel growth protein, along with one that is already well-known, could offer a new way to treat and prevent a blinding eye disease caused by diabetes.

26 May 2015

Scientist receives $4.9 million CIRM grant to advance work in retinitis pigmentosa

Shaomei Wang, MD, PhD, a research scientist in the Eye Program at the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, received a $4.9 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to advance her work in retinitis pigmentosa, a type of degenerative retinal disease.

22 May 2015

Continuous glucose monitoring using real-time CGM helps better manage diabetes

Patients with insulin-dependent diabetes can better control their HbA1c value with a combination of blood glucose self-monitoring (BGSM) and continuous interstitial glucose monitoring (CGM) using a real-time measurement device (real-time CGM) than with BGSM alone without severe or serious hypoglycaemia occurring more frequently.

21 May 2015

Diabetes screening will overwhelm India’s health system, study predicts

The new study, which used mathematical models to simulate the outcome of screening the whole population, estimates that between 158 million and 306 million people would be referred for confirmatory testing, but only 26-37 million of those would meet the diagnostic criteria for diabetes...

20 May 2015