Vision Loss News and Research

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Pandemic lockdown created mental and emotional issues for older adults with sensory impairment

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, many assisted living and senior center facilities were forced to close their doors to outside visitors to limit potential exposure to the virus.

1 Dec 2021

Retinoid therapy improves vision in mice with Usher syndrome

Using data generated from patients and mice with genetic mutation for the disorder Usher syndrome, researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health's National Eye Institute, and National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, documented the natural history of vision impairment in patients and identified the cell mechanism behind progressive vision loss.

9 Nov 2021

New findings can help identify people at increased risk of hydroxychloroquine-related retinopathy

New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology's annual meeting, shows that higher doses, longer duration of use, chronic kidney disease and Asian race could all be independent risk factors for retinopathy in people using hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug commonly used to treat lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases.

1 Nov 2021

New project investigates stem cell therapy as a potential treatment for glaucoma

Oregon Health & Science University is part of a national research project investigating stem cell therapy as a potential treatment for glaucoma, the world's second leading cause of blindness.

29 Oct 2021

Albert Einstein College of Medicine wins new NIH funding to support diabetes research

Albert Einstein College of Medicine has received a five-year, $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to support the New York Regional Center for Diabetes Translation Research (NY-CDTR).

20 Oct 2021

Researchers identify new gene variants that may cause inherited retinal dystrophies

An international team of researchers, led by scientists at University of California San Diego and Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego Health, has broadened and deepened understanding of how inherited retinal dystrophies (IRDs) affect different populations of people and, in the process, have identified new gene variants that may cause the diseases.

20 Oct 2021

New technology streamlines the development of gene therapy for genetic blinding disorders

A novel computational platform developed by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine identifies top-performing viral vectors that could deliver gene therapies to the retina with maximum efficiency and precision.

19 Oct 2021

Study: Youth with type1 diabetes who use insulin pumps less likely to develop diabetic retinopathy

In one of the largest and most racially diverse studies to date of American children and adolescents with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin have identified the clinical and demographic factors associated with pediatric diabetic retinopathy.

7 Oct 2021

Australian researchers hope to switch on sight with new gene therapy

Australian researchers are developing a new gene therapy which they hope will ‘switch on sight’ by regenerating light-sensing photoreceptor cells in the retina at the back of the eye.

7 Oct 2021

WHO and partners launch the first ever global strategy to defeat meningitis

Today, the World Health Organization and partners launched the first ever global strategy to defeat meningitis - a debilitating disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people each year.

1 Oct 2021

Damaging DNA builds up in the eyes to drive blinding age-related macular degeneration

Damaging DNA builds up in the eyes of patients with geographic atrophy, an untreatable, poorly understood form of age-related macular degeneration that causes blindness, new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine reveals.

1 Oct 2021

New handheld screening device accurately identifies children with amblyopia

A handheld screening device that detects subtle misalignment of the eyes accurately identifies children with amblyopia (lazy eye), according to a study published in the Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus.

27 Sep 2021

Ozone exposure linked to the development of Type 2 diabetes

Older Californians who live in communities with poor air quality, even those who engage - as recommended - in physical activities but do so outdoors, have a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes, a complex and chronic metabolic disorder caused by insulin resistance and cell dysfunction.

24 Sep 2021

Saliva test to screen for leading infectious cause of infant hearing loss was feasible and well-received

A saliva test taken by parents to screen for the leading infectious cause of hearing loss in babies was feasible and well-received, according to a new study.

15 Sep 2021

NIH researchers develop a detailed cellular map of chronic MS lesions

Chronic lesions with inflamed rims, or "smoldering" plaques, in the brains of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) have been linked to more aggressive and disabling forms of the disease.

10 Sep 2021

Novel method uses AI to screen for glaucoma

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), in collaboration with clinicians at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) in Singapore have developed a novel method that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to screen for glaucoma, a group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and blindness through damage to the optic nerve at the back of the eye.

7 Sep 2021

Study could pave way for an effective approach to amblyopia treatment

Amblyopia is the most common cause of vision loss in children, according to the U.S. National Eye Institute.

1 Sep 2021

COVID-19 associated mucormycosis cases in India

India continues to grapple with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). To date, the country has reported over one million new cases for the past 28 days.

31 Aug 2021

Study discourages use of non-standard therapies for infantile spasms

Children with infantile spasms, a rare form of epileptic seizures, should be treated with one of three recommended therapies and the use of non-standard therapies should be strongly discouraged, according to a study of their effectiveness by a Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigator and collaborating colleagues in the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium. Early treatment with an effective therapy is important for improving neurodevelopmental outcomes and, for some children, can result in permanent remission of epilepsy.

28 Aug 2021

Researchers identify a brief window of opportunity to prevent NF1-associated optic pathway glioma

Researchers at Children's National Hospital identified a vulnerability in a developmental signaling pathway that can be hijacked to drive pediatric low-grade glioma (pLGG) formation, according to a pre-clinical study published in Developmental Cell.

23 Aug 2021