Vision Loss News and Research

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Studies examine rates of blindness and vision impairment worldwide

Sobering new statistics released by the Global Burden of Disease study found no significant reduction in the number of people with treatable sight loss worldwide since 2010 as public health services failed to meet World Health Organization (WHO) targets.

2 Dec 2020

Researchers develop telomerase gene therapy for treating different pathologies

After several years of research and many joint scientific publications, molecular biologists Maria Blasco (National Cancer Research Centre, CNIO) and Fàtima Bosch (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, UAB) have developed a telomerase gene therapy for the treatment of different pathologies related to shortening telomeres and, therefore, ageing.

2 Dec 2020

Study uncovers a promising therapeutic target for retinal dystrophies

A team of LSU Health New Orleans researchers reports for the first time that deleting one of the inhibitors of the RPE65 gene in a mouse model that carries a human disease mutation prevents degeneration of cone photoreceptors that are used for daytime high-resolution color vision.

1 Dec 2020

New gene therapy approach offers promise for treating eye disease

Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have developed a new gene therapy approach that offers promise for one day treating an eye disease that leads to a progressive loss of vision and affects thousands of people across the globe.

26 Nov 2020

Study focuses on link between financial exploitation and frailty in older adults

Scams and fraud exact a heavy toll on older adults, with estimates of yearly losses ranging from $3 billion to $36 billion in the U.S. alone.

19 Nov 2020

Researchers decode brain maps of human color perception

Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have decoded brain maps of human color perception. The findings, published today in Current Biology, open a window into how color processing is organized in the brain, and how the brain recognizes and groups colors in the environment.

17 Nov 2020

Study finds diabetes epidemic among Xavante indigenous community in Central Brazil

The Xavante, one of the indigenous communities most vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 in Brazil, are suffering from an epidemic of diabetes, a "silent" disease considered a risk factor for severe COVID-19.

10 Nov 2020

Scientists use gene therapy to regenerate damaged optic nerve fibers

Scientists have used gene therapy to regenerate damaged nerve fibers in the eye, in a discovery that could aid the development of new treatments for glaucoma, one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide.

5 Nov 2020

Children with multiple islet autoantibodies are more likely to progress to type 1 diabetes

Children with multiple islet autoantibodies - biological markers of autoimmunity -- are more likely to progress to symptomatic type 1 diabetes (T1D) than those who remain positive for a single autoantibody.

30 Oct 2020

Scripps Research scientists uncover potential new strategy for treating eye diseases

Scientists at Scripps Research have uncovered a potential new strategy for treating eye diseases that affect millions of people around the world, often resulting in blindness.

27 Oct 2020

Common medication used to treat diabetic macular edema is less effective in Black patients

A medication frequently used to treat diabetic macular edema, which is the most common cause of blindness in people with diabetes, is less effective when used to treat the condition in Black patients, new study results show.

22 Oct 2020

Newly developed light-sensing protein restores vision in blind mice

A newly developed light-sensing protein called the MCO1 opsin restores vision in blind mice when attached to retina bipolar cells using gene therapy.

22 Oct 2020

Quarter of people with severe sight loss have unmet needs

Almost a quarter of people with severe sight loss in the UK are going without the treatment they need, according to a new study being presented at the World Congress on Public Health today (Friday 16 October).

16 Oct 2020

Researchers identify a promising method to stop COVID-19 infection

While the world waits eagerly for a safe and effective vaccine to prevent infections from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers also are focusing on better understanding how SARS-CoV-2 attacks the body in the search for other means of stopping its devastating impact.

8 Oct 2020

Drugs used to treat HIV and hepatitis B could be repurposed to prevent type 2 diabetes

A group of drugs used to treat HIV and hepatitis B could be repurposed to prevent type 2 diabetes, a new study suggests.

23 Sep 2020

Parkinson's disease drug may improve vision in patients with age-related macular degeneration

Investigators have determined that treating patients with an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with levodopa, a safe and readily available drug commonly used to treat Parkinson's disease, stabilized and improved their vision.

10 Sep 2020

New insights into how the brain can induce diabetes remission in rodents

In rodents with type 2 diabetes, a single surgical injection of a protein called fibroblast growth factor 1 can restore blood sugar levels to normal for weeks or months. Yet how this growth factor acts in the brain to generate this lasting benefit has been poorly understood.

7 Sep 2020

Surgeons use patients' own stem cells to rebuild damaged corneas

Surgeons at Massachusetts Eye and Ear have replaced the ocular surface of four patients who each experienced chemical burns to one eye by using their own stem cells taken from the other healthy eye, in a technique known as "cultivated autologous limbal epithelial cell transplantation" (CALEC).

1 Sep 2020

CNOT3 protein plays a key role in diabetes

A protein that's common throughout the body plays a key role in regulating glucose levels, says new research conducted in the Cell Signal Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University and Riken Center of Integrative Medical Sciences.

28 Aug 2020

FDA approves drug for treatment of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Enspryng (satralizumab-mwge) for the treatment of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) in adults with a particular antibody - patients who are anti-aquaporin-4 or AQP4 antibody-positive.

17 Aug 2020