ODAK is an industry led FP7 project which aims to develop a safe and effective treatment for a rare eye disease Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK), a devastating and severely debilitating condition which can lead to blindness and in over 85% of cases associat…
Author: Medical News Today
Light-sensitive switches turn pain off and sight on
Photoreactive compounds developed by LMU scientists directly modulate nerve-cell function, and open new routes to the treatment of neurological diseases, including chronic pain and certain types of visual impairment.All modes of sensory perception are …
Color vision abnormalities found in 40 percent of older adults
Abnormal color vision increases significantly with aging – affecting one-half or more of people in the oldest age groups, reports a study in 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.
Brain-training game improves vision and success of baseball players
In baseball, vision can play a key role in a player’s success. If they have trouble seeing the ball, chances are they could be out after three strikes. But new research from the University of California, Riverside, suggests that a brain-training video …
Daily multivitamin use could reduce cataract risk for men
New research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, both in Boston, MA, has found that long-term daily use of multivitamin supplements could reduce the risk of cataract for men.The study findings were recently published in the jo…
Potential to restore light sensitivity in blindness
Progressive degeneration of photoreceptors – the rods and cones of the eyes – causes blinding diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. While there are currently no available treatments to reverse this degeneration, a …
Glaucoma treatment may be improved by nanodiamond-embedded contact lenses
By 2020, nearly 80 million people are expected to have glaucoma, a disorder of the eye that, if left untreated, can damage the optic nerve and eventually lead to blindness.The disease often causes pressure in the eye due to a buildup of fluid and a bre…
Exercise may slow diseases that cause blindness
A new study suggests aerobic exercise may slow the progression of diseases that destroy the retina and eventually cause blindness. In mice exposed to harmful bright lights, the ones that had regularly run on treadmills had much better function in their…
Teaching our brains to see better in life and baseball
With a little practice on a computer or iPad – 25 minutes a day, 4 days a week, for 2 months – our brains can learn to see better, according to a study of University of California, Riverside baseball players reported in the Cell Press journal Current B…
Nystagmus – Expert warns children with disabling sight problem ‘being written off’, UK
A leading eye specialist has warned thousands of children with a disabling sight disorder are being “written off”. Jay Self, a consultant paediatric ophthalmologist at Southampton Children’s Hospital, said simple interventions used to improve the lives…
Novel contact lenses ‘enable more effective glaucoma drug delivery’
According to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, approximately 2.2 million Americans have glaucoma – a leading cause of blindness in the US. Now, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles have created nanodiamond-embedded contact lenses …
New eye layer has possible link to glaucoma
A new layer in the human cornea – discovered by researchers at The University of Nottingham last year – plays a vital role in the structure of the tissue that controls the flow of fluid from the eye, research has shown.
Age-related macular degeneration may be delayed by exercise
Moderate aerobic exercise helps to preserve the structure and function of nerve cells in the retina after damage, researchers at the Emory Eye Center and the Atlanta VA Medical Center have found.The findings, from a study of an animal model of age-rela…
How Galileo’s visual illusion works in the mind’s eye
Scientists have studied a visual illusion first discovered by Galileo Galilei, and found that it occurs because of the surprising way our eyes see lightness and darkness in the world. Their results advance our understanding of how our brains are wired …
Exercise may slow progression of retinal degeneration
Moderate aerobic exercise helps to preserve the structure and function of nerve cells in the retina after damage, according to an animal study appearing February 12 in The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings suggest exercise may be able to slow the p…
Computer models help decode cells that sense light without seeing
Researchers have found that the melanopsin pigment in the eye is potentially more sensitive to light than its more famous counterpart, rhodopsin, the pigment that allows for night vision.
Enabling the blind to ‘see’ colors and shapes with EyeMusic Sensory Substitution Device
Using auditory or tactile stimulation, Sensory Substitution Devices (SSDs) provide representations of visual information and can help the blind “see” colors and shapes. SSDs scan images and transform the information into audio or touch signals that use…
Stem cells cultivated without using human or animal cells
Previously, stem cells have been cultivated using animal proteins or by growing them from other human cells. Both methods come with associated problems. But, according to a study published in the journal Applied Materials & Interfaces, researchers have now identified a new method for cultivating stem cells.
Short stays in darkness can boost hearing, study shows
Music experts often say that blind performers like Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder are good examples of how not being able to see can enhance one’s ability to hear. Now, a new neuroscience study appears to support this – it found preventing sight for as …
Sjögren’s syndrome may not impede function, despite burden
People living with Sjögren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disorder characterized by dry eyes and dry mouth, appear to function at a level comparable to their healthier peers, according to a cross-sectional study published online in advance of print in Clinical Rheumatology.