Vision Loss News and Research

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Optical treatment strategies to correct peripheral vision may slow progression of myopia

New scientific evidence on how feedback from the eye affects visual development may lead to more effective approaches to treating myopia (nearsightedness) in children, reports a paper in the September issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

29 Aug 2011

Seven research teams across the U.S. to develop new drugs for nervous system disorders

The National Institutes of Health has made awards to investigators across the United States for an ambitious set of projects seeking to develop new drugs for disorders of the nervous system.

19 Aug 2011

Lucentis receives Health Canada approval for treatment of retinal vein occlusion

Following a priority review, Health Canada has approved Lucentis (ranibizumab) as a treatment for vision loss resulting from retinal vein occlusion (RVO). This makes Lucentis the first approved treatment of its class in Canada for this debilitating condition. Patients will now have access to a treatment that is proven to be effective and has an established safety profile.

18 Aug 2011

Researchers team up to combat age-related macular degeneration

A professor at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering has received a $100,000 grant to develop a new technique to fight a disease that gradually destroys vision.

8 Aug 2011

Early detection critical in preventing vision loss among Baby Boomers

Probably the most worrisome health concern for Baby Boomers as they age is the increased possibility of visual impairment or vision loss. For this reason, early detection is critical in successfully preventing and treating eye conditions such as macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, before they lead to major visual changes.

27 Jul 2011

New convenient device can track degenerative eye disease

An ophthalmologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center has helped create a convenient device that lets patients who have a degenerative eye disease better track vision changes.

27 Jul 2011

African-Americans with glaucoma have higher oxygen levels than Caucasians

Measuring oxygen during eye surgery, investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered a reason that may explain why African-Americans have a higher risk of glaucoma than Caucasians.

12 Jul 2011

AHAF awards 22 new grants to scientists worldwide for innovative vision research

The American Health Assistance Foundation (AHAF), a nonprofit organization with a history of funding cutting-edge research on age-related diseases, announced today that it has awarded 22 new grants totaling nearly $2.2 million to scientists worldwide who are studying glaucoma and macular degeneration. The two conditions are the leading causes of irreversible vision loss and blindness in the U.S.

8 Jul 2011

Healthy diet might help reduce risk of macular degeneration

Eating a diet high in vitamin D, as well as the nutrients betaine and methionine, might help reduce the risk of macular degeneration, according to new research conducted by Tufts Medical Center scientists. Their study of identical twins from the US World War II Twin Registry also found that the more a person smoked, the higher their risk of developing macular degeneration.

6 Jul 2011

Novel drug delivery device can treat diabetes-related retinal damage

A team of engineers and scientists at the University of British Columbia has developed a device that can be implanted behind the eye for controlled and on-demand release of drugs to treat retinal damage caused by diabetes.

1 Jul 2011

Positive results from RISE and RIDE Phase III trials of Genentech's Lucentis for diabetic macular edema

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, today announced 24-month results from the two pivotal Phase III trials (RISE and RIDE) assessing the efficacy and safety of Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) in people with diabetic macular edema (DME).

29 Jun 2011

Cedars-Sinai receives National Eye Institute grant to develop gene therapy for corneal disease

Cedars-Sinai stem cell researchers investigating ways to prevent eye problems in diabetic patients have been awarded a $3 million grant from the National Eye Institute to develop gene therapy in corneal stem cells to alleviate damage to corneas that can cause vision loss.

17 Jun 2011

InNexus files patent protection for new Age-related Macular Degeneration therapeutic

InNexus Biotechnology Inc., a biopharmaceutical company creating and developing innovative solutions for cancer, inflammation and other difficult-to-treat diseases, announced today that it has filed for patent protection covering a novel antibody product for Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and other eye disorders.

16 Jun 2011

MSU professor to lead acetazolamide clinical trial on idiopathic intracranial hypertension

A rare but increasingly more common disease striking overweight, younger women is the focus of a clinical trial at Michigan State University, where an osteopathic physician is testing the effectiveness of a certain drug against a potentially blindness-causing ailment.

8 Jun 2011

UCSD students study what happens when blood floods headward in microgravity

In space, the old movie slogan declares, "no one can hear you scream." On the other hand, you might look like it, with puffy face, swollen eyes and distended neck veins. This is what happens when, screaming or not, bodily fluids shift in the absence of gravity.

25 May 2011

New faceshields offer protection to football players with amblyopia

Game-worn football faceshields are more susceptible to breaking when subjected to high-velocity impact than are new faceshields, according to recent research.

24 May 2011

VIDAS TOXO IgG Avidity assay to test for recent Toxoplasma gondii infection receives FDA clearance

On May 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the first test to help determine whether a pregnant woman or a person with swollen lymph nodes testing positive for toxoplasmosis, sometimes known as cat scratch disease, developed the infection within the past four months.

20 May 2011

Modified vitamin A drug may help prevent age-related macular degeneration

Slowing down the aggregation or "clumping" of vitamin A in the eye may help prevent vision loss caused by macular degeneration, research from Columbia University Medical Center has found.

19 May 2011

Queen's University scientists partner to treat premature baby blindness with stem cells

Scientists from the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at Queen's University Belfast are teaming up to develop a cure to an illness that can lead to blindness in premature babies, thanks to funding from children's charity Action Medical Research.

18 May 2011

German doctors among first to treat ischemic stroke patients with new blood clot retrieval device

Doctors in Germany are among the first to treat ischemic stroke patients outside the United States with the REVIVE SE, a new self-expanding blood clot retrieval and removal device designed to remove blood clots and restore blood flow to the brain in patients having a stroke.

12 May 2011