Eye Health News and Research

Latest Eye Health News and Research

Community spread of trachoma could be stopped by treating all household members

All members of the household need to be treated for trachoma in order to prevent rapid re-infection, according to a new study published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

30 Mar 2009

River blindness under control in Escuintla, Guatemala

An international team of researchers led by Rodrigo Gonzalez of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala reports that the transmission of onchocerciasis or river blindness has been broken in Escuintla, Guatemala, one of the largest endemic areas in the Western Hemisphere to date to stop the transmission of the parasitic disease.

30 Mar 2009

Gene scan shows body's sleep cycle influences numerous physical functions

The pineal gland - integral to setting the body's sleep and wake cycles - may be involved in a broad range of bodily functions, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

30 Mar 2009

Autism skews developing brain with synchronous motion and sound

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) tend to stare at people's mouths rather than their eyes.

29 Mar 2009

Action video games improve real-world vision

Video games that involve high levels of action, such as first-person-shooter games, increase a player's real-world vision, according to research in today's Nature Neuroscience.

29 Mar 2009

Vindictiveness doesn't pay

Vindictiveness doesn't pay. This has been demonstrated by a current study at Bonn and Maastricht Universities.

29 Mar 2009

Protein from tick saliva shows potential for myasthenia gravis treatment

Looking for a better treatment for the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis, researchers have found that a protein in tick saliva shows promise in limiting the severity of the disease in an animal model in a study published in the Annals of Neurology.

29 Mar 2009

Positive phase 3 uveitis trial results for voclosporin

Isotechnika Inc. has announced that their partner, Lux Biosciences, Inc., reported the results from the three Phase 3 LUMINATE trials investigating voclosporin oral capsule (LUVENIQ or LX211) for the treatment of uveitis.

29 Mar 2009

AHIP, BCBS say insurers willing to stop basing premiums on members' health status if all U.S. residents are required to obtain coverage

In a letter to leaders of the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committees on Tuesday, America's Health Insurance Plans and the BlueCross BlueShield Association said that their memberships would be willing to end the practice of charging different premiums based on individuals' health status if all U.S. residents were required to obtain coverage, CongressDaily reports (Edney, CongressDaily, 3/25).

25 Mar 2009

Lifeless cells ensure sharp vision

Seemingly dead cells perform a surprising task in the lens of a fish eye. Every morning and evening they change the lens's capacity to refract light in order to enhance color perception during the day and night vision when it's dark. This is shown in new research from Lund University in Sweden.

25 Mar 2009

Research provides new perspective on the way kids think

For parents who have found themselves repeating the same warnings or directions to their toddler over and over to no avail, new research from the University of Colorado at Boulder offers them an answer as to why their toddlers don't listen to their advice: they're just storing it away for later.

24 Mar 2009

Obama's proposed FY 2010 budget would require nearly $9.3 trilion in borrowing over 10 years, according to CBO report

President Obama's $3.6 trillion fiscal year 2010 budget proposal would require borrowing nearly $9.3 trillion over the next decade, or $2.3 trillion more than the White House projected, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released on Friday, the Washington Post reports (Montgomery, Washington Post, 3/21).

23 Mar 2009

Powerful antioxidant found in a tiny plant reduce computer eye strain

Along with the computer age comes the age of eye fatigue. As we sit for endless hours staring at our computer (whether at work or leisure), we develop a host of symptoms and resulting complaints. Burning achy eyes, headache, blurry vision, stiff shoulders ... sound familiar? Well, you are not alone.

20 Mar 2009

Insights into Parkinson's disease and deep-brain stimulation

About the only thing doctors have understood about deep-brain stimulation, which is widely used to treat Parkinson's disease symptoms, is that somehow it works for many patients.

20 Mar 2009

New class of smart prosthetic implants may help prevent blindness

Blindness in millions of people with diseases that starve eye tissue and nerves of oxygen might be averted with a procedure being developed by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Southern California and the University of Tennessee.

20 Mar 2009

Fetal alcohol syndrome testing expands

Improved technology, partnerships and collaboration across two provinces have allowed Queen's University scientists to dramatically expand the use of eye-movement tests that help identify and assess children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

20 Mar 2009

Ultra-detailed 3-D images of eyes reveal details of age-related macular degeneration

To get a better look at the abnormalities that cause age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of vision loss in Americans and Europeans over 50, the research groups of James Fujimoto at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and collaborators Jay Duker of the Tufts University School of Medicine, and Joel Schuman of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have created ultra-detailed 3-D images of the eyes of more than 2,000 people from different ethnic groups, 400 of whom have AMD.

20 Mar 2009

Lifestyle changes could prevent one in four cases of bowel cancer by 2024

Improving lifestyles now could prevent 12,000 cases (26 per cent) of bowel cancer by the year 2024 - a new report by Cancer Research UK predicts today.

17 Mar 2009

Sirion Therapeutics sNDA for Durezol to treat uveitis accepted for FDA review

Sirion Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that its supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking market approval of Durezol(TM) (difluprednate ophthalmic emulsion) 0.05% to treat endogenous anterior uveitis has been accepted for review.

16 Mar 2009

Shire withdraws European application for Daytrana (Methylphenidate Transdermal System)

Shire plc has announced that it has decided to withdraw the European Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for Daytrana (methylphenidate transdermal system) for the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

16 Mar 2009