Vision Loss News and Research

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First animal model of age-related macular degeneration

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have created the first animal model of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) caused by a mutation known to produce disease in people, an important first step in developing treatments.

10 Oct 2007

Eating fewer refined carbohydrates may slow the progression AMD

Eating fewer refined carbohydrates may slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a new study from researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.

9 Oct 2007

Effectiveness of interventions to promote screening for diabetic retinopathy

Increasing patient and clinician awareness and improving access to health care can encourage people with diabetes to seek annual eye exams, which help prevent a serious complication called retinopathy, according to a new systematic review of studies.

26 Sep 2007

Brain surgery with eyes wide open!

A team of Australian neurosurgeons have performed a landmark brain surgery procedure while the patient was awake.

24 Sep 2007

Long-term use of rosiglitazone (Avandia) increases heart attack risk by more than 40 percent

An analysis of four studies involving more than 14,000 patients found that long-term use of the diabetes drug rosiglitazone (Avandia) increased the risk of heart attack by 42 percent and doubled the risk of heart failure, according to a new report from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues.

12 Sep 2007

Brooklyn woman infected with West Nile virus

According to health officials in New York a 41-year-old woman from Brooklyn has become the year's first known human case of the West Nile virus in New York State.

10 Sep 2007

Age-related macular degeneration patient receives investigational eye drops

An 88-year-old man at The Methodist Hospital in Houston is one of two patients in the world today to receive an investigational eye drop that may restore sight for those suffering from neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration, a major cause of central visual loss and one of the leading causes of blindness in people over 60 in the United States.

17 Aug 2007

Vision restoration therapy shown to help brain injured patients recover lost vision

Columbia University Medical Center researchers have demonstrated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), that brain activity was increased in stroke and traumatic brain injury survivors who underwent Vision Restoration Therapy (VRT), a rehabilitative treatment that helps these patients recover lost vision.

16 Aug 2007

MS patients given hope with new vaccine treatment

Canadian researchers have developed a vaccine to stop the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) and they say encouraging results have already been seen.

14 Aug 2007

Another reason to quit - smoking increases the risk blindness in seniors

Australian researchers say people who smoke are four times more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

14 Aug 2007

New treatment for glaucoma shows promise

Iowa State University researchers have developed a new technique that successfully treated rats for blindness caused by glaucoma.

3 Aug 2007

Dietary glycemic index linked to risk of vision loss

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and its associated vision loss may be connected to the quality of carbohydrates an individual consumes.

12 Jul 2007

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids protect against retinopathy

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids protect against the development and progression of retinopathy, a deterioration of the retina, in mice.

26 Jun 2007

Basically eating fish may protect against type of blindness

Increasing intake of the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA, found in popular fish-oil supplements, may protect against blindness resulting from abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye, according to a study published online by the journal Nature Medicine on June 24.

26 Jun 2007

Avastin helps those with radiation retinopathy

Patients with radiation retinopathy who were destined to go blind within five years now can keep their sight longer through localized treatment with Avastin, a well-known cancer drug, according to a two-year study published in the June, 2007 Archives of Ophthalmology.

23 Jun 2007

Why do more women than men die from strokes?

It is well known that more women than men die of stroke even though men are more at risk.

7 Jun 2007

New insights into visual disturbances accompanying skull deformations

Most children with a craniofacial deformity known as unicoronal synostosis have the eye-alignment abnormality strabismus, reports a study in the May Journal of Craniofacial Surgery , published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

1 Jun 2007