Eye News and Research

Latest Eye News and Research

No added benefit from aflibercept, shows study

For the third time in one year, the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) dealt with the drug aflibercept. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG), the Institute now examined whether aflibercept (trade name: Eylea) offers an added benefit over the appropriate comparator therapy in visual impairment due to macular oedema following occlusion of the central retinal vein.

8 Jan 2014

Viewpoints: Slowing health costs; possibility of Medicaid deal in virginia; a new name for brain death

For decades a common refrain was that the rapid rise in health spending hurt the competitiveness of American businesses and ate into workers' take-home pay. Businesses and politicians from both sides of the aisle agreed that something had to be done to slow the growth of health-care costs.

8 Jan 2014

Texas hospital officials criticize proposal to limit Obamacare navigators

Texas hospital officials and Democrats complained about proposed state legislation to impose greater training requirements and fees on navigators, while a Florida group gets a grant for outreach to Hispanics.

7 Jan 2014

Food labeling, product placement intervention can promote healthy choices

The use of color-coded "traffic light" food labels and changes in the way popular items are displayed appear to have produced a long-term increase in the choice of more healthful food items among customers in a large hospital cafeteria. A Massachusetts General Hospital team reports in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that the previously reported changes in the proportions of more and less healthy foods purchased in the months after their program began have persisted up to two years after the labeling intervention was introduced.

7 Jan 2014

Viewpoints: Rethinking what health insurance should cover; Sen. Johnson suing over congressional health plan; Medicaid's unsung success

The proper role of health insurance should be to finance necessary and expensive medical services without the patient incurring devastating financial consequences. Over the last decade, however, Americans have come to expect their health insurance to subsidize the consumption of all medical care. ... This shift in expectation has meant that health insurance stands out as entirely different from all other types of insurance. Ask yourself: Would you use automobile insurance to buy gasoline? Would you use homeowner insurance to finance painting your house? This wrongheaded view has played an important role in contributing to rapidly rising health care costs (George P. Shultz, Scott W. Atlas and John F. Cogan, 1/5).

7 Jan 2014

Mutations in small proteins that help convey electrical signals may influence nerve health

Mutations in small proteins that help convey electrical signals throughout the body may have a surprisingly large effect on health, according to results of a new Johns Hopkins study study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in December using spider, scorpion and sea anemone venom.

7 Jan 2014

RegeneRx's Tβ4 gets FDA Orphan Drug designation for treatment of Neurotrophic Keratopathy

RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that it has received Orphan Drug designation from U.S. FDA's Office of Orphan Products Development for its drug candidate, Thymosin beta 4 (Tβ4), for the treatment of Neurotrophic Keratopathy, a serious degenerative disease of the corneal epithelium (the outside layer of the eye).

5 Jan 2014

Study explores safety and efficacy of scoop and run approach in Philadelphia

A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found no significant difference in adjusted overall survival rates between gunshot and stabbing (so-called penetrating trauma injuries) victims in Philadelphia whether they were transported to the emergency department by the police department or the emergency medical services division of the fire department.

3 Jan 2014

New tool may help predict retinal detachment after open globe injuries

Ocular trauma causing open globe injury, or a breach in the wall of the eye, remains an important cause of vision loss, with more than 200,000 open globe injuries occurring worldwide each year. In many cases, retinal detachment follows the traumatic injury, causing significant vision loss or blindness.

2 Jan 2014

Binge drinking during pregnancy can lead to fetal alcohol syndrome

Recent data shows that more than 500,000 women in the U.S. report drinking during pregnancy, with about 20 percent of this population admitting to binge drinking.

31 Dec 2013

Study finds way to boost corneal transplant acceptance rate

For the estimated 10 percent of patients whose bodies reject a corneal transplant, the odds of a second transplant succeeding are poor. All that could change, however, based on a UT Southwestern Medical Center study that has found a way to boost the corneal transplant acceptance rate.

31 Dec 2013

CF101 drug fails to meet primary efficacy endpoint in phase III study for Dry Eye Syndrome

Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd., a biotechnology company with a pipeline of proprietary small molecule drugs that address inflammatory and cancer diseases, announced today that its subsidiary OphthaliX Inc. released results from a 24 week, placebo-controlled phase III study involving 237 patients with moderate-to-severe Dry Eye Syndrome who were treated with its licensed drug CF101, an A3 adenosine receptor agonist.

30 Dec 2013

Survey shows 75% of individuals committed to improving overall fitness in new year

As holiday festivities come to an end with full stomachs and fear of the scale, attention turns to the start of 2014 and another year of making resolutions that typically fail.

26 Dec 2013

Rutgers New Jersey Medical School's David Perlin explains how fungal infections can become deadly

Ask someone what the term 'fungus' brings to mind, and chances are it will be an image of something that smells or looks disgusting. Ask David Perlin, executive director of the Public Health Research Institute at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, and the response will be far more somber - because he knows how deadly fungi can be.

24 Dec 2013

Researchers identify potential therapy for meibomian gland dysfunction

Meibomian gland dysfunction is the leading cause of dry eye disease, which affects tens of millions of Americans. However, there is no FDA-approved treatment for MGD. Researchers from the Schepens Eye Research Institute/Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School have just identified a potential therapy.

24 Dec 2013

Insurers unnerved by rule changes for consumers with canceled policies

The Obama administration's announcement last week that consumers whose policies had been canceled could buy catastrophic health plans and were also exempt from the law's mandate in the first year spurred handwringing in some quarters.

24 Dec 2013

Melanocyte-secreted fibromodulin promotes angiogenic microenvironment

The decreased vision loss that accompanies age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is associated with abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye. Frequencies of AMD development are different among racial backgrounds, with occurrence of AMD highest among individuals of mixed European decent.

22 Dec 2013

Small molecule nonsense suppression strategy for aniridia-associated defects

Congenital aniridia is a progressive disease that is associated with improper development of eye structures as well as abnormalities in the brain and pancreas. A variety of nonsense mutations in the PAX6 gene are linked with aniridia; however, despite understanding the genetic basis of the disease, few treatment and prevention strategies are available.

22 Dec 2013

Scientists develop new potential cure for rare eye disease

University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health scientists have developed a potential cure for a rare eye disease, showing for the first time that a drug can repair a birth defect.

22 Dec 2013

New optical device puts the power to detect retinal disease in the palm of a hand

A new optical device puts the power to detect eye disease in the palm of a hand. The tool-about the size of a hand-held video camera-scans a patient's entire retina in seconds and could aid primary care physicians in the early detection of a host of retinal diseases including diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and macular degeneration.

22 Dec 2013

Eye News and Research

Latest Eye News and Research

No added benefit from aflibercept, shows study

Viewpoints: Slowing health costs; possibility of Medicaid deal in virginia; a new name for brain death

Texas hospital officials criticize proposal to limit Obamacare navigators

Food labeling, product placement intervention can promote healthy choices

Viewpoints: Rethinking what health insurance should cover; Sen. Johnson suing over congressional health plan; Medicaid's unsung success

Mutations in small proteins that help convey electrical signals may influence nerve health

RegeneRx's Tβ4 gets FDA Orphan Drug designation for treatment of Neurotrophic Keratopathy

Study explores safety and efficacy of scoop and run approach in Philadelphia

New tool may help predict retinal detachment after open globe injuries

Binge drinking during pregnancy can lead to fetal alcohol syndrome

Study finds way to boost corneal transplant acceptance rate

CF101 drug fails to meet primary efficacy endpoint in phase III study for Dry Eye Syndrome

Survey shows 75% of individuals committed to improving overall fitness in new year

Rutgers New Jersey Medical School's David Perlin explains how fungal infections can become deadly

Researchers identify potential therapy for meibomian gland dysfunction

Insurers unnerved by rule changes for consumers with canceled policies

Melanocyte-secreted fibromodulin promotes angiogenic microenvironment

Small molecule nonsense suppression strategy for aniridia-associated defects

Scientists develop new potential cure for rare eye disease

New optical device puts the power to detect retinal disease in the palm of a hand

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Eye News and Research

Latest Eye News and Research

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How can super-resolution technology help study neurotransmission?

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Synthetic Biology and the Pursuit of Living Diagnostics

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