Eye News and Research

Latest Eye News and Research

NIH launches "Knockout Mouse Project"

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today awarded a set of cooperative agreements, totaling up to $52 million over five years, to launch the Knockout Mouse Project.

7 Sep 2006

Blindness added to the risk list of obesity

A report from the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) in the UK, says obese adults and children have twice the risk of losing their sight from a range of degenerative eye conditions.

7 Sep 2006

Artificial jelly set to restore lost sight for people with diabetes

Brand new research launched today at the British Pharmaceutical Conference in Manchester is bringing hope to hundreds of people with diabetes who lose their sight each year as a side-effect of the disease.

4 Sep 2006

Edible coatings will be the packaging of the future

The growing demand by consumers for healthier and more ecological foods has driven researchers to develop new systems of packaging that prolong the useful life of the products and that are, at the same time, recyclable.

4 Sep 2006

New device helps people with tunnel vision

Scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, say a visual aid they invented promises to improve the visual abilities of people with tunnel vision.

31 Aug 2006

Variation in 3 genes influences risk of age-related macular degeneration

Researchers in Boston have discovered a new common, noncoding variant in the Complement Factor H (CFH) gene that is associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of irreversible visual impairment and blindness among persons aged 60 and older.

30 Aug 2006

Brits warned against 'maverick' stem cell treatments

A group of top scientists in Britain have warned patients to be wary of "extravagant" claims made for "unorthodox" stem cell treatments offered abroad and that some stem cell treatments could be killers.

29 Aug 2006

Waterborne infectious diseases could soon be consigned to history

Waterborne infectious diseases, which bring death and illness to millions of people around the world, could largely be consigned to history by 2015 if global health partnerships integrate their programmes, according to Alan Fenwick writing in Science.

28 Aug 2006

Health care proxy selections often unexpected

The selection of a designated health care "proxy" often is unexpected, according to a study published in the August issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, the Detroit Free Press reports.

24 Aug 2006

Cancer patient receives first proton therapy treatment

A Cocoa Beach man with prostate cancer has become the first patient to undergo treatment at the new University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute, the first time the most advanced form of radiation therapy available has been offered in the Southeast.

15 Aug 2006

Veggies good for eyesight as you age

Scientists say a diet rich in the compounds lutein and zeaxanthin which are found in carrots and yellow and green vegetables such as sweetcorn, broccoli, peas and squash, offer protection against damage to eyesight in later life.

15 Aug 2006

True colours are in the brain of the beholder

Pictures of brain waves that reveal our ability to see colour could provide a new objective way to diagnose and monitor diseases that affect human colour perception.

9 Aug 2006

China comes clean on bird flu

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the two latest suspected cases of the human form of the bird flu virus in Indonesia and Thailand have been confirmed as the H5N1 strain of the disease.

9 Aug 2006

Vision: stimulating your attention

Researchers have developed a new method for boosting brain function that may have implications for treatments of brain disorders and for improving vision.

8 Aug 2006

Botox offers an additional tool in preventing the formation of bad scars

Mayo Clinic researchers have found that treating a facial wound in the early healing phase with botulinum toxin (Botox) improves the appearance of a scar later.

8 Aug 2006

Further proof that children require more time

Further proof that children require more time comes via a study to be published today in Developmental Science asserting that the fast pace expected by adults - both parents and educators - can be beyond chindren's perceptual abilities.

8 Aug 2006

New screening program effectively roots out toddlers' cavities

Dental researchers are combining the ease of digital photography with the Internet to develop a new and inexpensive way to screen for a common childhood oral disease.

8 Aug 2006

New understanding of how our brains process sensory information

The same chemical in the body that is targeted by the drug Viagra. also helps our brains "boot up" in the morning so we can process sights, sound, touch and other sensory information.

8 Aug 2006

Gene amplification links growth controlling pathway from Drosophila to human cancers

Researchers at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have discovered a new cancer-promoting role for a gene potentially involved in breast, liver, and other kinds of cancers.

8 Aug 2006