Eye News and Research

Latest Eye News and Research

Elderly Medicare, Medicaid patients not receiving quality care

If the care received by vulnerable older people concurrently enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid was evaluated on a grading scale, it would squeak by with a barely passing mark, a new UCLA study has found.

18 Oct 2007

Optical coherence tomography helps track multiple sclerosis

A five-minute eye exam might prove to be an inexpensive and effective way to gauge and track the debilitating neurological disease multiple sclerosis, potentially complementing costly magnetic resonance imaging to detect brain shrinkage - a characteristic of the disease's progression.

16 Oct 2007

Homocysteine appears to be play a part in retinal damage and vision loss

Homocysteine, an amino acid believed to contribute to heart attack, stroke and dementia, likely also is a player in retinal damage and vision loss, researchers say.

16 Oct 2007

Low-volume whole-blood sensors could transform cardiac testing

University of Ulster researchers have teamed up with scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay on a project to develop low-volume whole-blood sensors that could transform point-of-care cardiac testing.

15 Oct 2007

Important insights into blood vessel formation

Researchers have identified a molecular pathway that plays a critical role in the growth of blood vessels.

15 Oct 2007

Fearful eyes and happy faces - how we perceive certain cues

You may not be fully dressed without a smile, but a look of horror will make a faster first impression.

15 Oct 2007

What's wrong with being shy?

What's wrong with being shy, and just when and how did bashfulness and other ordinary human behaviors in children and adults become psychiatric disorders treatable with powerful, potentially dangerous drugs?, asks a Northwestern University scholar in a new book that already is creating waves in the mental health community

12 Oct 2007

Poor self-esteem can trigger the primal fight-or-flight response

Few can tolerate such romantic or professional rebuffs as "It's not you, it's me" and "we regret to inform you that your application was not successful." But while a healthy dose of self-esteem can absorb the shock of rejection, poor self-esteem can trigger the primal fight-or-flight response, according to a new study from the University of California, Berkeley.

12 Oct 2007

Genome update defines landscape of breast and colon cancers

One year after completing the first large-scale report sequencing breast and colon cancer genes, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have studied the vast majority of protein-coding genes which now suggest a landscape dominated by genes that each are mutated in relatively few cancers.

12 Oct 2007

Researchers identify brain circuits used in sensation of touch

The ability to tactually recognize fine spatial details, such as the raised dots used in braille, is especially important to those who are blind.

11 Oct 2007

Antioxidants no use against degenerative eye disease

After analysing a range of research Australian scientists say a diet rich in antioxidant vitamins and minerals does not seem to prevent the degenerative eye disease known as age related macular degeneration (AMD).

10 Oct 2007

Discovery of type of retinal cell that sees motion

A research team combining high-energy physicists from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and neuroscientists from the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif., has discovered a type of retinal cell that may help monkeys, apes, and humans see motion.

10 Oct 2007

Eating fewer refined carbohydrates may slow the progression AMD

Eating fewer refined carbohydrates may slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a new study from researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.

9 Oct 2007

Distinctive patterns of behaviour found in dogs that bite children

Dogs that bite children have often not bitten kids before, but they tend to have underlying behavioural or medical problems, indicates research in the journal Injury Prevention.

3 Oct 2007

ACE inhibitor perindopril may help improve cardiac complications from Marfan syndrome

Preliminary research suggests that use of the ACE inhibitor perindopril, along with a beta-blocker, may help reduce cardiac measures such as aortic stiffness and dilation that are associated with the cardiac complications of Marfan syndrome, according to an article in the October 3 issue of JAMA.

3 Oct 2007

Worm study sheds light on how the human body ages

Microscopic worms used for scientific research are living longer despite cellular defects, a discovery that is shedding light on how the human body ages and how doctors could one day limit or reverse genetic mutations that cause inherited diseases, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study.

2 Oct 2007

Schizophrenia candidate genes affect even healthy individuals

Do gene variants that convey risk for schizophrenia affect apparently healthy individuals? Although these genes are present in every human, individuals may have different versions of these genes, called alleles.

1 Oct 2007

Potential new therapy for uveitis

An inflammatory eye condition that is one of the world's leading causes of blindness could be treated much more effectively and easily thanks to a new discovery here.

29 Sep 2007

High-quality adolescent friendships may come at a cost for youth with shared deviant values

The types of friendships adolescents have often reflect their childhood relationships and predict how they do in the future.

29 Sep 2007

Deviancy training among friends may lead to more trouble

Friendships can be beneficial, but watch out when talk about deviant topics is the best way to get a laugh in an adolescent relationship, because such interaction may well lead to questionable behavior down the road, say University of Oregon researchers.

29 Sep 2007