Visual Impairment News and Research

Latest Visual Impairment News and Research

Research pinpoints potential new therapeutic target for retinal degeneration

Multi-disciplinary work led by researchers from Trinity College Dublin has pinpointed a potential new therapeutic target for treating retinal degeneration. The work has discovered that a protein (SARM1) involved in neuronal cell injury may also have a role in the progression of retinal degeneration.

20 Apr 2020

Recognizing CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder

News-Medical speaks to Dr. Dan Lavery about the LouLou Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to CDLK5 Deficiency Disorder.

17 Mar 2020

Modern virtual and augmented reality device can be used to simulate visual impairments

Published today, during World Glaucoma Week 2020, a new study demonstrates how commercially available head mounted displays can be used to simulate the day-to-day challenges faced by people with glaucoma.

10 Mar 2020

Cardiac and visual degeneration compensated by taurine supplement

Our genome consists of 20,000 genes, all of which may be capable of triggering disease. It is estimated that there are 7,000 unknown genes that cause recessive genetic diseases resulting from mutations in two copies of a gene that have been inherited from each parent.

21 Jan 2020

Older people can improve their vision by changing the power of glasses

Overall, Swedish 70-year-olds' eyesight is good, but many could see even better. Six in ten can improve their vision by getting eyeglasses or changing the power of the glasses they already have, according to a new study from the University of Gothenburg.

14 Jan 2020

Scientists identify 'modifier gene' that determines severity of inherited kidney disease

Scientists have developed a new way to understand complex genetic diseases and have identified a gene that modifies the severity of inherited kidney disease, paving the way for personalised treatments.

9 Jan 2020

UIC researchers to study the impact of chronic eye disease among Latinos

With $9.7 million in funding from the National Eye Institute, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago will study the impact of chronic eye disease among Latinos.

10 Dec 2019

AI detects over 95 percent of diabetic retinopathy cases

A new study presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmologists (AAO) on October 14, 2019 reports an astonishing 95.% yield when artificial intelligence (AI) is used to screen a real life population for diabetic retinopathy.

15 Oct 2019

How Is Ophthalmology Changing To Meet New Challenges?

Ophthalmology, a highly dynamic space in vision loss and age-related eye diseases with approximately 1.3 billion people living with vision impairment.

From Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. 15 Oct 2019

World Report on Vision highlights urgent need for sustainable global outreach efforts

Staggering new statistics released by the World Health Organization in its first World Report on Vision estimate more than 1 billion people are visually impaired because they don't get the care they need-;a finding that brings renewed urgency for sustainable global outreach efforts.

10 Oct 2019

WHO’S first world report on vision

Vision is the most compelling contributor to the quality of our senses, and yet eye care lags behind many other areas in the importance it commands in public health. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said, in its report timed for World Sight Day (October 10), that over 2.2 billion people around the world (out of a total of 7.7 billion) are blind, completely or partially.

9 Oct 2019

First genetic cause for a rare eye disease discovered

John A. Moran Eye Center physician-researcher Paul S. Bernstein, MD, PhD, and his patients at the University of Utah played a key role in the recent discovery of the first genetic cause for a rare eye disease.

11 Sep 2019

Associations between sounds and shapes depend on early visual experiences

Data from individuals with different types of severe visual impairment suggest that the associations we make between sounds and shapes -- a "smooth" b or a "spiky" k -- may form during a sensitive period of visual development in early childhood.

10 Sep 2019

'Junk food' diet can lead to blindness

An extreme case of "fussy" or "picky" eating caused a young patient's blindness, according to a new case report published today [2 Sep 2019] in Annals of Internal Medicine.

3 Sep 2019

Care led by non-physician health workers more than doubled control of hypertension

Hypertension is the leading cause of cardiovascular disease worldwide, causing about 7.5 million deaths, approximately 12.8 percent of the total of all deaths. It is also a major risk factor for coronary artery disease and stroke.

3 Sep 2019

AR glasses could help improve quality of life for low vision patients

Nearly one in 30 Americans over the age of 40 experience low vision significant visual impairment that can't be corrected with glasses, contact lenses, medication or surgery.

27 Aug 2019

FDA approves new drug for specific type of highly treatment-resistant tuberculosis

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Pretomanid Tablets in combination with bedaquiline and linezolid for the treatment of a specific type of highly treatment-resistant tuberculosis of the lungs.

14 Aug 2019

New guidance helps pharmacists decide which patients should use pill organizer

Researchers at the University of East Anglia have developed guidance to help prescribers and pharmacists decide which patients should use a pill organizer.

8 Aug 2019

Rutgers Health treats children with multiple sclerosis at the dedicated pediatric MS program

Alexander Wallerson was 12 years old when he saw a popular movie with his mother. Now 26, he remembers that specific day vividly. It was the first time he experienced the signs of multiple sclerosis (MS)."I walked like I was drunk," says Wallerson, who lives in New Brunswick. "I was limping but not in pain."

29 Jul 2019

Fight for Sight poll: Brits put their eyesight at risk through unsafe contact lens habits

Poll results released today by charity Fight for Sight highlight that many Brits are frequently putting their eyesight at risk through unsafe contact lens habits, unaware that these could lead to a painful and sight-threatening eye infection called Acanthamoeba keratitis.

10 Jul 2019