Eye Health News and Research

Latest Eye Health News and Research

Gene therapy for retinitis pigmentosa

An international team of scientists and clinicians from the United States and Saudi Arabia are working to develop gene therapy for treating a rare, hereditary retinal disease.

31 Jul 2009

Heat shock proteins provide protection against cataracts

The human eye lens consists of a highly concentrated mix of several proteins. Protective proteins prevent these proteins from aggregating and clumping. If this protective function fails, the lens blurs and the patient develops cataracts. Two research groups at the Department of Chemistry of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have succeeded in explaining the molecular architecture of this kind of protective protein.

31 Jul 2009

Discovery of genetic link to age-related cataracts

Bing-Cheng Wang, Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine professor of pharmacology and senior staff scientist at MetroHealth Medical Center, and Sudha K. Iyengar, Ph.D. professor of genetic and molecular epidemiology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, have discovered the first gene associated with the formation of age-related cataracts, a leading causes of blindness.

31 Jul 2009

Sunbeds confirmed as cancer risk

Sunbeds have been put in the highest cancer risk category by the international body charged with evaluating potential cancer hazards.

29 Jul 2009

As they debate health overhaul, politicians keep eye on 2010

"Fifteen months before the midterm congressional election, health care is appearing in candidate stump speeches and interviews - particularly by Republican challengers… running in districts recently claimed by Democrats," USA Today reports.

28 Jul 2009

Gene expression patterns in cancer could aid early screening and prevention

Distinctive patterns of genes turned off - or left on - in healthy versus cancerous cells could enable early screening for many common cancers and maybe help avoid them, Medical College of Georgia scientists say.

28 Jul 2009

Intensive glucose control halves complications of longstanding type 1 diabetes

Near-normal control of glucose beginning as soon as possible after diagnosis would greatly improve the long-term prognosis of type 1 diabetes, concludes a study published in the July 27, 2009, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, which updates information about the clinical course of type 1 diabetes.

27 Jul 2009

University at Buffalo start-up provides innovative digital sperm analysis to infertile couples worldwide

Couples struggling with fertility problems have a new option for assessing their ability to have a child with the start-up of a new Buffalo-based company called LifeCell Dx, Inc. (LCDX).

27 Jul 2009

Sticky protein protects cells from mechanical stress

A new study by scientists at the University of Iowa shows why muscle membranes don't rupture when healthy people exercise.

26 Jul 2009

New drug may reduce heart attack damage

A novel drug that targets a master disease-causing gene can dramatically reduce heart muscle damage after a heart attack and may lead to significantly improved patient outcomes, researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have shown.

22 Jul 2009

Six finance Senators strive for bipartisan compromise

As the public face of health reform devolves into a partisan fight - with one GOP Senator [Jim DeMint, S.C.] saying the reform push is President Obama's "Waterloo," and Democrats retorting that Republicans would derail the overhaul for political gain - a group of legislators in the Senate Finance Committee has continued to strive for a compromise behind closed doors, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

22 Jul 2009

Carnosine may help prevent, treat cataracts

Researchers are reporting evidence from tissue culture experiments that the popular dietary supplement carnosine may help to prevent and treat cataracts, a clouding of the lens of the eye that is a leading cause of vision loss worldwide.

15 Jul 2009

How much health care for $1 trillion?

USA Today asks what the additional $1 trillion cost of a health care overhaul (over 10 years) will actually buy. "Although the eye-popping price tag would help boost insurance coverage to 95% or more of the public, it's not enough to do everything advocates initially want.

15 Jul 2009

Overcoming the big ‘nanotech’ challenges

Whether in the fields of medicine, sustainable energy supply or environmental protection, without making use of nanotechnology we will not be capable of overcoming the challenges which the future presents. In parallel with these efforts, though, it is essential that we examine the new technology very carefully for potential risks, such as those presented by free nanoparticles.

14 Jul 2009

Novel drug discovery tool could bring new therapies for Parkinson’s

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have turned simple baker?s yeast into a virtual army of medicinal chemists capable of rapidly searching for drugs to treat Parkinson's disease.

13 Jul 2009

Senate Democrats eye August timeline, search for savings

Despite some roadblocks, Senate Democrats are trying to hold true to their pledge to pass health care reform legislation by the August recess, Roll Call reports.

7 Jul 2009

California Rulings: State can cut Medi-Cal benefits but not home care wages

"A federal judge on Thursday blocked a $2 hourly wage cut for California in-home care workers that was slated to begin July 1, potentially increasing California's budget deficit by another $98 million," The Sacramento Bee reports.

29 Jun 2009

New understanding of how cells cover gaps

Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, came a step closer to understanding how cells close gaps not only during embryonic development but also during wound healing. Their study, published this week in the journal Cell, uncovers a fundamental misconception in the previous explanation for a developmental process called dorsal closure.

28 Jun 2009

Migraines with aura in middle age associated with late-life brain lesions

Women who suffer from migraine headaches in middle age accompanied by neurological aura (visual disturbances, dizziness or numbness that can precede migraines) are more likely to have damage to brain tissue in the cerebellum later in life, according to a study by researchers at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and the Icelandic Heart Association in Reykjavik.

23 Jun 2009

Anxiety’s hidden cost

The researchers, Professor Michael Eysenck and Dr Nazanin Derkshan, designed several experiments to explore the effects of anxiety on our ability to perform tasks such as avoiding distractions on a computer screen, when reading a story, or solving a series of simple mathematics problems.

22 Jun 2009