Blindness News and Research

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StemGenex offers stem cell treatment studies to patients diagnosed with diabetes, neurological diseases

According to The American Diabetes Association there are over 25 million people in the US living with diabetes. These patients are suffering from complications such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, blindness, kidney disease, neuropathy and amputation.

8 Jan 2014

Kindergarten teacher diagnosed with rare neurological syndrome

The journal Neurology is reporting an unusual and heart-rending case of a reading teacher who suddenly lost her ability to read.

6 Jan 2014

Dysfunction in MADD gene in mice causes fasting hyperglycemia

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found that dysfunction in a single gene in mice causes fasting hyperglycemia, one of the major symptoms of type 2 diabetes. Their findings were reported online in the journal Diabetes.

5 Jan 2014

Novel technique helps people with word blindness to read again

In the journal Neurology, researchers report a novel technique that enables a patient with "word blindness" to read again.

3 Jan 2014

New tool may help predict retinal detachment after open globe injuries

Ocular trauma causing open globe injury, or a breach in the wall of the eye, remains an important cause of vision loss, with more than 200,000 open globe injuries occurring worldwide each year. In many cases, retinal detachment follows the traumatic injury, causing significant vision loss or blindness.

2 Jan 2014

Study finds way to boost corneal transplant acceptance rate

For the estimated 10 percent of patients whose bodies reject a corneal transplant, the odds of a second transplant succeeding are poor. All that could change, however, based on a UT Southwestern Medical Center study that has found a way to boost the corneal transplant acceptance rate.

31 Dec 2013

MitoQ antioxidant reverses MS-like disease in animal

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered that an antioxidant designed more than a dozen years ago to fight damage within human cells significantly helps symptoms in mice that have a multiple sclerosis-like disease.

27 Dec 2013

New tools for neglected diseases: an interview with Dr. BT Slingsby, CEO, GHIT Fund

Nearly 3.3 billion people, a little less than half of our world’s population, are at risk of malaria, TB and what we call “neglected tropical diseases”—diseases caused by worms, parasites, viruses and bacteria like Chagas disease, river blindness, elephantiasis, sleeping sickness, etc.

24 Dec 2013

Rutgers New Jersey Medical School's David Perlin explains how fungal infections can become deadly

Ask someone what the term 'fungus' brings to mind, and chances are it will be an image of something that smells or looks disgusting. Ask David Perlin, executive director of the Public Health Research Institute at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, and the response will be far more somber - because he knows how deadly fungi can be.

24 Dec 2013

Researchers identify potential therapy for meibomian gland dysfunction

Meibomian gland dysfunction is the leading cause of dry eye disease, which affects tens of millions of Americans. However, there is no FDA-approved treatment for MGD. Researchers from the Schepens Eye Research Institute/Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School have just identified a potential therapy.

24 Dec 2013

ANP reports positive interim results from ATL1103 Phase II clinical trial for acromegaly

Antisense Therapeutics Limited is pleased to advise that positive results have been achieved from the interim analysis of a subset of available data from its Phase II clinical trial of ATL1103 in patients with the growth disorder, acromegaly.

23 Dec 2013

FibroGen starts patient enrollment in FG-3019 Phase 2 study for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis treatment

FibroGen, Inc., announced today that patient enrollment has started in a new Phase 2 clinical study of FG-3019 in patients who suffer from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

20 Dec 2013

People with diabetes at risk of developing diabetic macular edema during their lifetime

Despite recent advances in prevention and treatment of most vision loss attributed to diabetes, a new study shows that fewer than half of Americans with damage to their eyes from diabetes are aware of the link between the disease and visual impairment, and only six in 10 had their eyes fully examined in the year leading up to the study.

20 Dec 2013

FDA accepts Regeneron's EYLEA Injection sBLA for standard review

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted for standard review the Company's supplemental Biologics License Application for EYLEA (aflibercept) Injection for the treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema.

18 Dec 2013

New treatment options for diabetic wound healing in cornea and skin

Diabetes Mellitus (DM), a metabolic disorder that affects nearly 170 million people worldwide, is characterized by chronic hyperglycemia that disrupts carbohydrate fat and protein metabolism resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. DM can cause long-term damage, dysfunction and even failure of various organs.

13 Dec 2013

Probe mimics pathogen's amino acids, solving mystery behind Chlamydiae cell wall

Biochemical sleuthing by an Indiana University graduate student has ended a nearly 50-year-old search to find a megamolecule in bacterial cell walls commonly used as a target for antibiotics, but whose presence had never been identified in the bacterium responsible for the most commonly reported sexually transmitted disease in the United States.

12 Dec 2013

Study resolves 50-year 'chlamydial anomaly' using novel method

Researchers studying Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria, which cause the sexually transmitted infection chlamydia as well as infectious blindness, have confirmed that the bacteria contain-and, in fact, cannot function without-the common molecule peptidoglycan, a structural component found in the cell wall of many bacteria. This finding puts an end to years of uncertainty about whether Chlamydia bacteria, like almost all bacterial species, rely on peptidoglycan to reproduce and to maintain their shape and structure. In addition, the novel method the investigators used may be adapted to further examine the molecule's role in the structure and function of other bacteria.

12 Dec 2013

Beta-carotene: An important and safe precursor for vitamin A

A Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine study in the November 22 issue of Journal of Biological Chemistry, explains how vitamin A is generated from beta carotene, its dietary precursors. The discovery sheds new light into how beta carotene’s enzymes are utilized differently contributing to the vitamin’s production. This insight will help guide solutions for vitamin A deficiency, a global public health problem affecting more than half of all countries, according to the World Health Organization.

11 Dec 2013

Researchers develop new drug-eluting contact lens for prolonged delivery of glaucoma medication

For nearly half a century, contact lenses have been proposed as a means of ocular drug delivery that may someday replace eye drops, but achieving controlled drug release has been a significant challenge.

10 Dec 2013

Drugmaker pushes new drug over cheaper equivalent at Medicare's expense

The Washington Post explores the public impact of doctors' decisions to choose a more expensive drug to prevent blindness despite trials showing the drug is equivalent to a much cheaper product.

9 Dec 2013

Blindness News and Research

StemGenex offers stem cell treatment studies to patients diagnosed with diabetes, neurological diseases

Kindergarten teacher diagnosed with rare neurological syndrome

Dysfunction in MADD gene in mice causes fasting hyperglycemia

Novel technique helps people with word blindness to read again

New tool may help predict retinal detachment after open globe injuries

Study finds way to boost corneal transplant acceptance rate

MitoQ antioxidant reverses MS-like disease in animal

New tools for neglected diseases: an interview with Dr. BT Slingsby, CEO, GHIT Fund

Rutgers New Jersey Medical School's David Perlin explains how fungal infections can become deadly

Researchers identify potential therapy for meibomian gland dysfunction

ANP reports positive interim results from ATL1103 Phase II clinical trial for acromegaly

FibroGen starts patient enrollment in FG-3019 Phase 2 study for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis treatment

People with diabetes at risk of developing diabetic macular edema during their lifetime

FDA accepts Regeneron's EYLEA Injection sBLA for standard review

New treatment options for diabetic wound healing in cornea and skin

Probe mimics pathogen's amino acids, solving mystery behind Chlamydiae cell wall

Study resolves 50-year 'chlamydial anomaly' using novel method

Beta-carotene: An important and safe precursor for vitamin A

Researchers develop new drug-eluting contact lens for prolonged delivery of glaucoma medication

Drugmaker pushes new drug over cheaper equivalent at Medicare's expense

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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