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Simulated sightlessness can have negative effects on people's perceptions of visually impaired

Using simulation to walk in the shoes of a person who is blind -- such as wearing a blindfold while performing everyday tasks -- has negative effects on people's perceptions of the visually impaired, according to a University of Colorado Boulder study.

15 Jan 2015

Two UTHealth professors selected as AAAS Fellows for their efforts to prevent blindness

Two professors in the School of Public Health at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston - Stephen Daiger, Ph.D., and Robert Hardy, Ph.D. - have been elected to the rank of Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science for their efforts to prevent blindness.

14 Jan 2015

Genetic finding could lead to new treatments for people living with blindness, vision loss

Finding genes for retinal degenerations has immediate benefits for people living with blindness and vision loss, their families, and their physicians. Establishing a genetic cause confirms the clinical diagnosis at the molecular level, helps predict the future visual prognosis, suggests therapies, and allows some patients to join clinical trials. While more than 200 genes for retinal degenerations have been identified, approximately 40-50% of cases remain a mystery.

13 Jan 2015

Carl Zeiss Meditec to invest in Oraya Therapy for treatment of wet AMD

Carl Zeiss Meditec AG and Oraya Therapeutics, Inc. jointly announced today that the companies have entered into a collaboration agreement under which Carl Zeiss Meditec will provide funding to Oraya over a period of up to two years for the implementation of Oraya’s growth strategy, and in turn receive rights in the company reaching up to a majority stake after two years.

8 Jan 2015

Glaucoma Awareness Month: Mount Sinai ophthalmologists offer tips for glaucoma prevention

Glaucoma, a degenerative eye disease that causes damage to the optic nerve, is the second leading cause of blindness in the world, according to the World Health Organization. To observe Glaucoma Awareness Month, ophthalmologists at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System are offering tips for prevention and early detection of the condition.

7 Jan 2015

Chronic hypertension increases glaucoma risk

A new study published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science has found that chronic (long term) hypertension increases a person's susceptibility to glaucoma. These results suggest that doctors should consider a patient's blood pressure levels in managing the potentially blinding eye disorder.

6 Jan 2015

Careful blink assessment essential to preserve vision in face transplant procedures

Face transplantation can dramatically enhance a patient's quality of life after severe facial trauma, but lack of attention to eyelid function and vision can leave patients with impaired vision, corneal exposure, eyelid retraction that occurs when the upper or lower eyelid pulls away from the eyeball, and other eyelid-related complications.

31 Dec 2014

Prostaglandin analogue eye drops reduce risk of vision loss in OAG patients

Prostaglandin analogue eye drops, the most commonly prescribed treatment for glaucoma, can greatly reduce risk of vision loss in people with open angle glaucoma (OAG), one of the leading causes of blindness, according to the first placebo-controlled trial to assess their vision-preserving effect published in The Lancet.

22 Dec 2014

EC grants orphan drug designation to TxCell's Col-Treg for treatment of autoimmune uveitis

TxCell SA, a biotechnology company developing innovative, cost-effective, personalized T cell immunotherapies using antigen specific regulatory T-cells (Ag-Tregs) for severe chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, announces today that the European Commission (EC) has granted orphan drug designation to TxCell's investigational medicinal product Col-Treg, a personalized T cell immunotherapy using collagen-II specific regulatory T-cells, for the treatment of autoimmune uveitis.

18 Dec 2014

Researchers develop new eye tracking technology that can assess impact of brain injury

Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have developed new technology that can assess the location and impact of a brain injury merely by tracking the eye movements of patients as they watch music videos for less than four minutes, according to a study published Friday on-line in the Journal of Neurosurgery.

17 Dec 2014

DNDi awarded USAID grant to develop new treatments for river blindness, elephantiasis

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative has been awarded US$ 10 million by the United States Agency for International Development to develop new treatments for onchocerciasis (river blindness) and lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) - the first-ever USAID grant for neglected tropical disease research and development (R&D).

17 Dec 2014

Added benefit of aflibercept not proven in patients with diabetic macular oedema

Since August 2014, aflibercept (trade name Eylea) has been available also for patients with visual impairment due to diabetic macular oedema (DMO). The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care examined in a dossier assessment whether this drug offers an added benefit over the appropriate comparator therapy.

15 Dec 2014

UR researchers on track to solve mystery of weight gain

University of Rochester researchers believe they're on track to solve the mystery of weight gain - and it has nothing to do with indulging in holiday eggnog.

12 Dec 2014

MU researcher recognized as AAAS Fellow for contributions to ophthalmology research

Cataracts, a clouding of the lens in the eye leading to vision loss, affects more than 24 million people in the United States, according to National Institutes of Health estimates. Often linked to the natural process of aging, cataracts are a major cause of blindness worldwide. K. Krishna Sharma, an ophthalmology researcher at the University of Missouri, has worked for more than two decades to study the mechanisms involved in this degenerative disease.

12 Dec 2014

CWRU researchers find mechanism that enables LRAT enzyme to store vitamin A

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have uncovered the mechanism that enables the enzyme Lecithin: retinol acyltransferase (LRAT) to store vitamin A — a process that is indispensable for vision.

12 Dec 2014

Stem cells from healthy eye could one day be used to repair scarred cornea

Treating the potentially blinding haze of a scar on the cornea might be as straightforward as growing stem cells from a tiny biopsy of the patient's undamaged eye and then placing them on the injury site, according to mouse model experiments conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

11 Dec 2014

Enzymatic activity essential for vision may provide target for drug transport

10 Dec 2014

Multiple factors influence survival of extremely premature infants

Multiple factors influence how well a severely premature infant (23 weeks gestation) will do after birth and over the long-term, according to researchers at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. These findings were published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Perinatology.

10 Dec 2014

Bayer, DNDi sign first agreement to develop new oral treatment for onchocerciasis

Bayer HealthCare and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) have signed an agreement under which Bayer will provide the active ingredient emodepside to support DNDi in its effort to develop a new oral drug to treat river blindness (or onchocerciasis). The world's second leading infectious cause of blindness, river blindness is a neglected tropical disease caused by a filarial worm.

10 Dec 2014

Breakthrough research could lead to prosthetic retinas for people suffering from retinal damage

Scientists have developed a new light-sensitive film that could one day form the basis of a prosthetic retina to help people suffering from retinal damage or degeneration. Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers collaborated with colleagues from Tel Aviv University and Newcastle University in the research, which was published in the journal Nano Letters.

5 Dec 2014

Blindness News and Research

Simulated sightlessness can have negative effects on people's perceptions of visually impaired

Two UTHealth professors selected as AAAS Fellows for their efforts to prevent blindness

Genetic finding could lead to new treatments for people living with blindness, vision loss

Carl Zeiss Meditec to invest in Oraya Therapy for treatment of wet AMD

Glaucoma Awareness Month: Mount Sinai ophthalmologists offer tips for glaucoma prevention

Chronic hypertension increases glaucoma risk

Careful blink assessment essential to preserve vision in face transplant procedures

Prostaglandin analogue eye drops reduce risk of vision loss in OAG patients

EC grants orphan drug designation to TxCell's Col-Treg for treatment of autoimmune uveitis

Researchers develop new eye tracking technology that can assess impact of brain injury

DNDi awarded USAID grant to develop new treatments for river blindness, elephantiasis

Added benefit of aflibercept not proven in patients with diabetic macular oedema

UR researchers on track to solve mystery of weight gain

MU researcher recognized as AAAS Fellow for contributions to ophthalmology research

CWRU researchers find mechanism that enables LRAT enzyme to store vitamin A

Stem cells from healthy eye could one day be used to repair scarred cornea

Enzymatic activity essential for vision may provide target for drug transport

Multiple factors influence survival of extremely premature infants

Bayer, DNDi sign first agreement to develop new oral treatment for onchocerciasis

Breakthrough research could lead to prosthetic retinas for people suffering from retinal damage

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

The role of UV-Vis in biopharma QC

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