Scientists and parents have worked together to identify a new genetic disease that causes neurologic, muscle, eye and liver problems in children. The discovery was unusually fast thanks to a combination of modern gene-sequencing techniques, social medi…
Author: Medical News Today
Exercise and occasional drinking may protect against visual impairment
You stay physically active, but you are also fond of the occasional drink? Not to worry, you may be doing your eyes a favor, according to new research in the journal Ophthalmology.”Visual impairment” – loss of sight caused by eye disease, trauma or a c…
Why do our eyes widen in fear and narrow in disgust?
Think about the last time you were home alone and you heard a loud, unexpected noise. Chances are, your eyes widened as you listened for more information. In a new paper, researchers have detailed why this happens, as well as why our eyes narrow when s…
Variations in eye structure and function may reveal features of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease
Investigators at the Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute have discovered eye abnormalities that may help reveal features of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. Using a novel laboratory rat model of Alzheimer’s disease and high-resolution imaging …
Early detection of childhood eye cancer doesn’t always improve survival, prevent eye loss
For the most common form of childhood eye cancer, unilateral retinoblastoma, shortening the time from the first appearance of symptoms to diagnosis of disease has no bearing on survival or stage of the disease, according to a study by researchers at Co…
NHS sight tests include unevaluated screening examinations that lead to waste
On bmj.com, a leading eye doctor says that opticians are making too many referrals to doctors.Michael Clarke, Consultant Ophthalmologist at Newcastle Eye Centre, says that apart from trauma and orthopaedics, ophthalmology receives more NHS outpatient r…
How safe are ‘eye-safe’ lasers when very low-energy radiation can damage DNA?
Damage to DNA by high energy radiation constitutes the most lethal damage occurring at the cellular level. Surprisingly, very low-energy interactions – with OH radicals, for instance – can also induce DNA damage, including double strand breaks. It is k…
Driving simulator used to help learn how the visually impaired can drive safely
A diagnosis of hemianopia, or blindness in one half of the visual field in both eyes as the result of strokes, tumors or trauma often means the end of driving.In about half of the states in the United States and in many other countries, driving with he…
Information overload acts ‘to dim the lights’ on what we see
Too much visual information causes a phenomenon known as ‘load induced blindness’, with an effect akin to dimming the lights, reports a new UCL study.The new findings could be used to identify high-risk situations in all walks of life and look at ways …
Movement kicks visual system into higher gear
Whether you’re a Major League outfielder chasing down a hard-hit ball or a lesser mortal navigating a busy city sidewalk, it pays to keep a close watch on your surroundings when walking or running.
Is glaucoma, in fact, diabetes of the brain?
Researchers at All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Ambedkar Centre for Biomedical Research India have proposed a new mechanism of glaucoma which suggests that diabetes can occur in the brain and may be the cause of many neurodegenerative disord…
Low-cost devices developed to turn smartphones into ‘eye-phones’
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed two inexpensive adapters that enable a smartphone to capture high-quality images of the front and back of the eye. The adapters make it easy for anyone with minimal training to ta…
Sensory substitution approach enables blind to ‘see’ bodies with sound
People born unable to see are readily capable of learning to perceive the shape of the human body through soundscapes that translate images into sound, according to researchers who report their findings in the Cell Press journal Current Biology.
Sight-saving eye drops could replace injections
Drug treatments for diseases that cause blindness could be delivered by eye drops instead of uncomfortable and costly eye injections, say UK researchers. The team reports how it tested this innovation on animals in the nanotechnology journal Small.
Link discovered between sharp vision and the brain’s processing speed
Middle-aged adults who suddenly need reading glasses, patients with traumatic brain injuries, and people with visual disorders such as “lazy eye” may have one thing in common – “visual crowding,” an inability to recognize individual items surrounded by…
Contact lenses recommended for babies after cataract surgery
It is standard for adults and children who undergo cataract surgery to be implanted with an artificial lens in their eye. But a clinical trial funded by the National Eye Institute suggests that the ideal treatment for infants should be surgery followed…
New innovation could mean eye injections are a thing of the past
Drugs used to treat blindness-causing disorders could be successfully administered by eye drops rather than unpleasant and expensive eye injections, according to new research led by UCL scientists that could be a breakthrough for the millions worldwide…
Motion-sensing cells in the eye let the brain ‘know’ about directional changes
How do we “know” from the movements of speeding car in our field of view if it’s coming straight toward us or more likely to move to the right or left?Scientists have long known that our perceptions of the outside world are processed in our cortex, the…
Space veggies could be made more nutritious by bright pulses of light
Exposing leafy vegetables grown during spaceflight to a few bright pulses of light daily could increase the amount of eye-protecting nutrients produced by the plants, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder.One of …
Motion-sensing cells in the eye let the brain ‘know’ about directional changes
How do we “know” from the movements of speeding car in our field of view if it’s coming straight toward us or more likely to move to the right or left?Scientists have long known that our perceptions of the outside world are processed in our cortex, the…