Copyright 2012 Medical News TodayLatest Health News and Medical News posted throughout the day, every day.http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/eye_health/admin@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Admin)editors@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Editors)en-us Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241392.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241392.phpA new study identifies specific cell-stress signaling pathways that link injury of the optic nerve with irreversible vision loss. The research, published by Cell Press in the February 9 issue of the journal Neuron, may lead to new strategies that will help to protect vulnerable neurons in the retina after optic nerve damage and diseases...Eye Health / Blindness Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241389.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241389.phpGene therapy for congenital blindness has taken another step forward, as researchers further improved vision in three adult patients previously treated in one eye. After receiving the same treatment in their other eye, the patients became better able to see in dim light, and two were able to navigate obstacles in low-light situations. No adverse effects occurred...Eye Health / Blindness Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241376.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241376.php Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have conducted a recent study, published in Science Translational Medicine which focuses on gene therapy for congenital blindness. The scientists were able to improve sight in 3 adult patients who had previously been treated in one eye...Eye Health / Blindness Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240910.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240910.phpThe eyes are the window into the soul - or at least the mind, according to a new paper published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Measuring the diameter of the pupil, the part of the eye that changes size to let in more light, can show what a person is paying attention to...Psychology / Psychiatry Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240709.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240709.phpA new gene therapy method developed by University of Florida researchers has the potential to treat a common form of blindness that strikes both youngsters and adults. The technique works by replacing a malfunctioning gene in the eye with a normal working copy that supplies a protein necessary for light-sensitive cells in the eye to function...Eye Health / Blindness Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240665.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240665.phpMembers of a University of Pennsylvania research team have shown that they can prevent, or even reverse, a blinding retinal disease, X-linked Retinitis Pigmentosa, or XLRP, in dogs. The disease in humans and dogs is caused by defects in the RPGR gene and results in early, severe and progressive vision loss. It is one of the most common inherited forms of retinal degeneration in man...Eye Health / Blindness Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240650.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240650.phpThe first published results of trials using cells derived from human embryonic stem cells appear to show they have passed an initial safety hurdle...Stem Cell Research Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240564.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240564.phpA disease-fighting protein in our teardrops has been tethered to a tiny transistor, enabling UC Irvine scientists to discover exactly how it destroys dangerous bacteria. The research could prove critical to long-term work aimed at diagnosing cancers and other illnesses in their very early stages...Eye Health / Blindness Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240574.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240574.phpAge-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most frequent cause of blindness in the Western World. A report from the University of Copenhagen and Glostrup Hospital in Denmark shows the number of new cases of blindness and severe visual loss in Denmark has been halved during the last ten years...Eye Health / Blindness Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240510.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240510.phpEighty-five percent of children's learning is related to vision. Yet in the U.S., 80 percent of children have never had an eye exam or any vision screening before kindergarten, statistics say. When they do, the vision screenings they typically receive can detect only one or two conditions...Eye Health / Blindness Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240504.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240504.phpScientists are reporting development of contact lenses that could provide a continuous supply of anesthetic medication to the eyes of patients who undergo laser eye surgery - an advance that could relieve patients of the burden of repeatedly placing drops of medicine into their eyes every few hours for several days. Their report appears in ACS' journal Langmuir...Eye Health / Blindness Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240449.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240449.phpGlaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness. Nearly 4 million Americans have the disorder, which affects 70 million worldwide. There is no cure and no early symptoms. Once vision is lost, it's permanent...Eye Health / Blindness Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240393.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240393.phpResearchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have found that vitamin D reduces the effects of ageing in mouse eyes and improves the vision of older mice significantly...Eye Health / Blindness Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240343.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240343.phpHundreds of times during a baseball game, the home plate umpire must instantaneously categorize a fast-moving pitch as a ball or a strike. In new research from the University of Chicago, scientists have pinpointed an area in the brain where these kinds of visual categories are encoded...Neurology / Neuroscience Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240332.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240332.phpA study about how wearing contact lenses affects glaucoma measurements has been named the top presentation at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine's annual St. Albert's Day research symposium. First author of the study is Marie Brenner, a fourth-year student at Stritch School of Medicine...Eye Health / Blindness Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240231.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240231.php St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project findings help solve mystery of retinoblastoma's rapid growth in work that also yields a new treatment target and possible therapy New findings from the St...Eye Health / Blindness Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240262.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240262.phpCan eating grapes slow or help prevent the onset of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a debilitating condition affecting millions of elderly people worldwide? Results from a new study published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine suggest this might be the case. The antioxidant actions of grapes are believed to be responsible for these protective effects...Eye Health / Blindness Thu, 12 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240218.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240218.phpVisual rehabilitation will continue to increase in importance in the near future, particularly because the number of older patients is rising. Susanne Trauzettel-Klosinski summarizes the present state of knowledge in the current issue of the Deutsches Arzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011; 108[51/52]: 871-8)...Eye Health / Blindness Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240185.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240185.phpWhen nerve cells communicate with one another, specialized receptor molecules on their surfaces play a central role in relaying signals between them. A collaborative venture involving teams of chemists based at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich and the University of California in Berkeley has now succeeded in converting an intrinsically "blind" receptor molecule into a photoreceptor...Eye Health / Blindness Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240204.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240204.phpA major part of Florida's emergency department eye care is reimbursed through Medicaid or paid for directly by the patients. According to a study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, these findings may be beneficial in strategic planning as the debate over how best to implement the nation's new health care reform law progresses...Eye Health / Blindness Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240205.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240205.phpA study published Online First in the Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, suggests that it "would be highly cost-effective" to replace visual acuity screenings for new Medicare enrollees with coverage of a dilated eye exam for healthy patients who enter the government insurance program for the elderly...Eye Health / Blindness Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240119.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240119.phpObjects that resemble faces are everywhere. Whether it's New Hampshire's erstwhile granite "Old Man of the Mountain," or Jesus' face on a tortilla, our brains are adept at locating images that look like faces. However, the normal human brain is almost never fooled into thinking such objects actually are human faces...Eye Health / Blindness Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240017.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240017.php In the future, patients in need of perfectly matched neural stem cells may not need to look any further than their own eyes. Researchers reporting in the January issue of Cell Stem Cell, a Cell Press publication, have identified adult stem cells of the central nervous system in a single layer of cells at the back of the eye...Eye Health / Blindness Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240045.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240045.phpThere's a 3-D world in our brains. It's a landscape that mimics the outside world, where the objects we see exist as collections of neural circuits and electrical impulses. Now, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are using new tools they developed to chart that world, a key step in revolutionizing research into the neurological basis of vision...Neurology / Neuroscience Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/239879.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/239879.phpFor children with convergence insufficiency (CI) who have difficulty focusing on objects close up effective treatments can help to reduce problems at school, reports a study in the January issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health...Eye Health / Blindness