Blindness News and Research

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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

Research to Prevent Blindness, IRRF partner to advance knowledge about AMD

Research to Prevent Blindness, the leading eye research foundation, is partnering with the International Retinal Research Foundation to advance knowledge about age-related macular degeneration (AMD) through novel stem cell research.

5 Dec 2014

Study reports effective treatment approach to inhibit herpes virus infection

A multi-institutional study reports an effective treatment approach to inhibit and keep latent viruses like herpes simplex from reactivating and causing disease. The work, whose lead author is the late James Hill, PhD, LSU Health New Orleans Professor and Director of Pharmacology and Infectious Disease at the LSU Eye Center, is published in the December 3, 2014, issue of Science Translational Medicine.

4 Dec 2014

IRIDEX's China distributor secures large tender to supply ophthalmology laser equipment

IRIDEX Corporation (Nasdaq: IRIX) announced today that its China distributor has been awarded a competitive tender for more than $620,000 in ophthalmology laser equipment to fulfill a government program designed to provide advanced ophthalmology solutions to patients across vast areas of China's rural regions.

2 Dec 2014

Apellis Pharmaceuticals completes $33M private placement of Series C Preferred Stock

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading biotechnology company applying immunotherapy to autoimmune disease, today announced that it has completed a $33M private placement of its Series C Preferred Stock.

2 Dec 2014

Researchers find that human eye can sense invisible infrared light under certain conditions

Any science textbook will tell you we can't see infrared light. Like X-rays and radio waves, infrared light waves are outside the visual spectrum.

2 Dec 2014

People diagnosed with diabetes in midlife experience cognitive problems later

People diagnosed with diabetes in midlife are more likely to experience significant memory and cognitive problems during the next 20 years than those with healthy blood sugar levels, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.

2 Dec 2014

Blindness News and Research

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

Research to Prevent Blindness, IRRF partner to advance knowledge about AMD

Study reports effective treatment approach to inhibit herpes virus infection

IRIDEX's China distributor secures large tender to supply ophthalmology laser equipment

Apellis Pharmaceuticals completes $33M private placement of Series C Preferred Stock

Researchers find that human eye can sense invisible infrared light under certain conditions

People diagnosed with diabetes in midlife experience cognitive problems later

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

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