Eye News and Research

Latest Eye News and Research

New gene-silencing pathway found in plants

Biologists at Washington University in St. Louis have made major headway in explaining a mechanism by which plant cells silence potentially harmful genes.

17 Nov 2008

Cost of health insurance rises 33% with state pricing rule

New research shows that the cost of health insurance for a typical family increases about $100 per month when state governments limit price adjustments based on factors like age, health or risky behaviors such as smoking.

17 Nov 2008

Forgotten but not gone - how the brain takes care of things

Thanks to our ability to learn and to remember, we can perform tasks that other living things can not even dream of.

17 Nov 2008

NicOx's Naproxcinod shows highly significant reduction in daytime blood pressure versus Naproxen

NicOx S.A. has announced that a new analysis of the data from the 104 Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) study for naproxcinod was presented yesterday at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2008, in New Orleans, USA.

12 Nov 2008

Light triggers a new chemical code for brain cells

Brain cells can adopt a new chemical code in response to cues from the outside world, scientists working with tadpoles at the University of California, San Diego report in the journal Nature this week.

12 Nov 2008

Sleep disorders linked to eye disease

If a good night's sleep helps the brain and body perform better, it's a good guess that sleep problems can cause more than just fatigue.

11 Nov 2008

Sleep disorder linked to eye disease

Research has already suggested that sleep problems can cause more than just tiredness - they have been linked to cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease and metabolic disorders, and are also thought to raise the risk of obesity and diabetes.

10 Nov 2008

Eye problems the most common disorder for Australian children

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) roughly one in every six Australian children wears glasses - and eye disorders are the most common long-term health problem for Australia's youth.

10 Nov 2008

NEI releases complete data from age-related eye disease study

The National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announces the release of more than 10 years of data collected during the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), which looked at the progression of age-related macular degeneration and age-related cataract in 4,757 adults aged 55 to 80.

10 Nov 2008

Simple brain mechanisms explain arbitrary human visual decisions

Mark Twain, a skeptic of the idea of free will, argues in his essay "What Is Man?" that humans do not command their minds or the opinions they form.

10 Nov 2008

New automotive safety systems to predict and prevent traffic accidents

A new automotive safety systems built by European researchers will alert drivers to potential hazards by using information from the car, other road users and the roadside infrastructure to predict and prevent traffic accidents.

10 Nov 2008

Latest glaucoma research

Glaucoma-related highlights of today's scientific program of the 2008 Joint Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (Academy) and European Society of Ophthalmology (SOE) include a study that correlates optic nerve damage in glaucoma patients with carotid artery narrowing and potentially elevated risk for stroke, and a survey that looks at how the practice of fasting, common to the world's seven major religions, may affect patient compliance with treatment for glaucoma and other eye diseases.

10 Nov 2008

Ellex Medical Lasers announces results of retina regeneration therapy

Ellex Medical Lasers has announced the six-month clinical study results for the groundbreaking treatment Retina Regeneration Therapy (Ellex 2RT) at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

10 Nov 2008

Advances in ophthalmology

The 2008 Joint Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (Academy) and European Society of Ophthalmology (SOE), the largest and most comprehensive ophthalmic educational meeting in the world, is in session November 8 to 11 at the Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta.

10 Nov 2008

Unusual use of toys in infancy a clue to later autism

Researchers at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute have found that infants later diagnosed with autism exhibited unusual exploration of objects long before being diagnosed.

7 Nov 2008

Fat tissue found to produce melanin

A two-year study conducted by researchers at George Mason University, INOVA Fairfax Hospital and the National Cancer Institute may open the door to new therapies for combating chronic diseases associated with obesity, a condition that affected more than 33 percent of American adults in 2005-06 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

7 Nov 2008

Computer that reacts to thought a lifeline for brain injured

People who have suffered traumatic brain injuries and who are unable to speak or move are being given the first chance to communicate using just the power of thought - and a laptop loaded with sophisticated algorithms.

6 Nov 2008

Genetic mutation linked to seasonal affective disorder

With the days shortening toward winter, many people will begin to experience the winter blahs.

4 Nov 2008

Anti-VEGF drugs for retinal diseases could have serious side effects

Scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute have found that reducing the levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is best known as a stimulator of new blood vessel growth, in adult mice causes the death of photoreceptors and Muller glia -- cells of the retina that are essential to visual function.

3 Nov 2008