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FDA requires boxed warning and risk mitigation strategy for metoclopramide-containing drugs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that manufacturers of metoclopramide, a drug used to treat gastrointestinal disorders, must add a boxed warning to their drug labels about the risk of its long-term or high-dose use.

1 Mar 2009

Do I need glasses?

Find yourself squinting to identify someone across the room or getting headaches from staring at your computer screen for too long?

5 Jan 2009

Only one in five children have eyes tested, Australian figures show

The Optometrists Association Australia is urging parents to have their children's eyes tested as new figures show that only 19 per cent of school-aged children had their eyes tested in the past financial year.

8 May 2008

A biosensing nanodevice to revolutionize health screenings

One day soon a biosensing nanodevice developed by Arizona State University researcher Wayne Frasch may eliminate long lines at airport security checkpoints and revolutionize health screenings for diseases like anthrax, cancer and antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

26 Mar 2008

Eye test peers into heat-related multiple sclerosis symptoms

A bodysuit that heats or cools a patient, combined with painless measurements of eye movements, is providing multiple sclerosis researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center with a new tool to study the mysterious link between body temperature and severity of MS symptoms.

24 Mar 2008

Applied DNA Sciences files patents for optical DNA SigNature markers

Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. has announced that it has filed multiple patent applications to cover its latest developments in optical reporter markers.

23 Jan 2008

Better understanding of circuitry in the brain's emotion center

Whether it's a mugger or a friend who jumps out of the bushes, you're still surprised.

20 Sep 2007

New gel to treat retinal diseases in development

New research presented at the British Pharmaceutical Conference (BPC) in Manchester shows that a new gel for under the eyelid could provide an innovative way of delivering drugs to treat age-related retinal diseases such as wet macular degeneration - potentially making some invasive eye injections a thing of the past.

11 Sep 2007

Children with Tourette's better at mental grammar skills

Children with Tourette's syndrome may have to put up with some unwanted movement and verbal tics, but neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center and the Kennedy Krieger Institute have found that they are much quicker at processing certain mental grammar skills than are children without the disorder.

16 Jul 2007

Coffee protects against involuntary eye spasm

People who drink coffee are less likely to develop an involuntary eye spasm called primary late onset blepharospasm, which makes them blink uncontrollably and can leave them effectively ‘blind', according to a study published online ahead of print in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry .

20 Jun 2007

Custom-designed contacts improve vision for subjects with keratoconic eyes

Keratoconic eyes are rare but disabling. From the side, the eyes look more pointed or cone-shaped than round. The apex shift from visual axis in the cornea causes people with the condition to see halos and double and triple images. About 1 in 2,000 people suffer from the disease, usually in both eyes.

18 May 2007

New type of laser for providing high-resolution 3-D images of the retina

In efforts that may improve diagnoses of many eye diseases, researchers will introduce a new type of laser for providing high-resolution 3-D images of the retina, the part of the eye that converts light to electrical signals that travel to the brain.

4 May 2007

Sunny days pose risk of 'flicker illness' for a few airlifted patients

"This shouldn't preclude transporting a patient from point A to point B in an aircraft, but this concern does need to register as a legitimate risk for a small number of patients. Personnel ought to know how to guard against it."

8 Mar 2007

Older schizophrenia drugs cheaper and work just as well

According to a new study an older antipsychotic drug has been found to be both cheaper and as effective for some patients with schizophrenia as the newer drugs on the market.

4 Dec 2006

Faulty gene linked to hair pulling disorder

An unusual and uncommon psychiatric disorder that compels people to pull out their hair is now thought to be caused by a mutant gene.

27 Sep 2006

Chinese surgeons carry out world's second face transplant

According to the Chinese state media a 30-year-old man has been given the country's first face transplant by Chinese doctors, the second operation of its kind in the world.

17 Apr 2006

If you're squinting right now stop reading this

If you are squinting while you're reading this, stop right now ! because according to US researchers you are blinking less and in danger of irritating your eyes.

5 Dec 2005

What a blinking waste of time!!

According to researchers from University College London, parts of the brain are temporarily "switched off" when we blink.

27 Jul 2005

BMA clarifies position on Mental Capacity Bill

The Mental Capacity Bill is going to report stage tomorrow in the House of Commons. There have been articles in the press incorrectly linking this Bill to euthanasia. The primary focus of the Mental Capacity Bill is to protect patients who have lost their ability to make their own decisions.

13 Dec 2004

President Bush's eyes revealed more uncomfort in the debate than Kerry's

The eyes may well be the window to the soul, but they also are indicators of the mind's condition. People who have watched the presidential and vice-presidential debates earlier this month and preparing for the final debate on Oct. 13 could gather clues to the candidates' state of mind by watching the candidates' eyes.

12 Oct 2004