http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Implementing a routine national glaucoma screening program for middle-age African American patients may be clinically effective; however its potential effect on reducing visual impairment and blindness may be modest, according to a computer-based mathematical model reported in the March issue of Archives of Ophthalmology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-routine-glaucoma-screening-benefit-middle-age.html Ophthalmology Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:00:07 EST news250779451 A newly developed, genetically modified pig may hold the keys to the development of improved treatments and possibly even a cure for retinitis pigmentosa (RP), the most common inherited retinal disease in the United States. The pig model was developed by researchers in the University of Louisville Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and at the National Swine Resource and Research Center at the University of Missouri. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-pig-debilitating-eye-disease.html Ophthalmology Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:54:05 EST news250440710 Wii remotes are not all about fun and games. Scientists can use them to assess and diagnose children with an abnormal head position caused by eye diseases. As described in a recent Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science article, researchers developed a low-cost digital head posture measuring device with Nintendo Wiimotes to help diagnose this condition, medically called ocular torticollis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-nintendo-wii-game-vision-disorder.html Ophthalmology Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:39:27 EST news250429156 A new paradigm to explain glaucoma is rapidly emerging, and it is generating brain-based treatment advances that may ultimately vanquish the disease known as the "sneak thief of sight." A review now available in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, reports that some top researchers no longer think of glaucoma solely as an eye disease. Instead, they view it as a neurologic disorder that causes nerve cells in the brain to degenerate and die, similar to what occurs in Parkinson disease and in Alzheimer's. The review, led by Jeffrey L Goldberg, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, describes treatment advances that are either being tested in patients or are scheduled to begin clinical trials soon. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-characterizes-glaucoma-neurologic-disorder-eye.html Ophthalmology Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:23:12 EST news250334582 One of the most difficult things optometrists and ophthalmologists must tell a patient is that he or she has an eye disease that already has or could permanently rob them of their vision. Today, the most common diseases in the adult population that cause permanent vision loss are macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. Although treatments are available for each of these diseases that can either slow down or prevent further loss of sight, there are far too many individuals whose vision declines regardless of medical intervention. Losing vision as an adult affects every aspect of that person’s life: most importantly, the loss of independence and quality of life. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-medical-minute-vision-loss.html Ophthalmology Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:31:20 EST news249553870 (Medical Xpress) -- Researchers at McMaster have developed a new system for delivering drugs to the back of the eye - one that could offer more effective treatment while sparing patients with vision-related diseases the excruciating routine of having drugs injected into their eyes by syringe every six to eight weeks. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-needle-eye-medical-device-relief.html Ophthalmology Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:38:25 EST news247394100 (Medical Xpress) -- Researchers at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute and colleagues who successfully transplanted specialized retinal cells derived from human embryonic stem cells into the eyes of two legally blind patients report that the transplants appear safe and that both patients have experienced modest improvement in their vision. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-vision-modestly-patients-human-embryonic.html Medical research Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:19:27 EST news246604747 Researchers 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. The researchers hope that this might mean that vitamin D supplements could provide a simple and effective way to combat age-related eye diseases, such as macular degeneration (AMD), in people. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-vitamin-d-combat-effects-aging.html Health Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:37:09 EST news246019016 Replacing visual acuity screenings for new Medicare enrollees with coverage of a dilated eye exam for healthy patients entering the government insurance program for the elderly "would be highly cost-effective," suggests a study being published Online First by the Archives of Ophthalmology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-medicare-visual-acuity-screening-dilated.html Other Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:28:10 EST news245348855 A new study conducted in an eye clinic in India found that correction of amblyopia, also called "lazy eye," can be achieved in many older children, if they stick to a regimen that includes playing video games along with standard amblyopia treatment. Today at the 115th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Dr. Somen Ghosh will report on the approaches that allowed about a third of his study participants, who were between 10 and 18 years old, to make significant vision gains. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-video-games-treatment-lazy-eye.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Sun, 23 Oct 2011 11:10:26 EST news238586996 The global trend towards using fluorescent globes instead of incandescent ones as a strategy to beat climate change could be increasing eye disease, according to new research by scientists at The Australian National University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-eyes-energy-saving-fluoros.html Health Fri, 21 Oct 2011 09:03:00 EST news238406565 An attenuated, or weakened, strain of Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria can be used as a vaccine to prevent or reduce the severity of trachoma, the world's leading cause of infectious blindness, suggest findings from a National Institutes of Health study in monkeys. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-experimental-vaccine-monkeys-trachoma.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:36:01 EST news237461117 North American babies who acquire toxoplasmosis infections in the womb show much higher rates of brain and eye damage than European infants with the same infection, according to new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-basic-toxoplasmosis-newborns-contends.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:46:48 EST news237055580 Combining the expertise of several different labs, University of Iowa researchers have found a new genetic cause of the blinding eye disease retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and, in the process, discovered an entirely new version of the message that codes for the affected protein. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-genetic-eye-disease.html Genetics Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:50:02 EST news232105273 An ophthalmologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center has helped create a convenient device that lets patients who have a degenerative eye disease better track vision changes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-ophthalmologists-device-degenerative-eye-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 26 Jul 2011 08:45:01 EST news230888679 Inspired by earlier successes using gene therapy to correct an inherited type of blindness, investigators from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, are poised to extend their approach to other types of blinding disorders. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-potential-gene-vector-broaden-treatment.html Medical research Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:00:05 EST news227966075 A computer modeling study suggests that administering the drug ranibizumab is associated with reducing the magnitude of legal blindness and visual impairment caused by age-related macular degeneration in non-Hispanic white individuals, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of Ophthalmology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-potential-ranibizumab-age-related-macular-degeneration.html Ophthalmology Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:02:30 EST news227199734 If you are one of the millions of people around the world who struggle with dry eye disease, good news is on the way. A new research discovery published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology offers hope for new drugs that treat the cellular cause of the disease rather than its symptoms. That's because the research is the first to identify natural killer (NK) cells, a type of cell that provides innate immunity to the eyes, as promoting the inflammation that plays a critical role in the development of dry eye disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-scientists-early-cellular-eye-disease.html Medical research Tue, 31 May 2011 11:30:01 EST news226058730 When infants' tear ducts are blocked, the decision about when to intervene and the cost-effectiveness of doing so depend on how likely it is the problem will self-resolve, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of Ophthalmology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-cost-effectiveness-strategies-infant-tear-duct-obstruction.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 09 May 2011 16:36:41 EST news224177773 Women under the age of 75 with high vitamin D status were less likely to have early age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in adults, a University at Buffalo study has shown. The disease affects approximately 9 percent of Americans aged 40 and older. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-vitamin-d-age-related-macular-degeneration.html Health Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:30:01 EST news221758563 Fear of the unknown is one of the greatest issues facing patients with glaucoma - the second leading cause of blindness worldwide after cataracts - according to research in the April issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing. People also worry about how the eye disease, which can be hereditary, will affect other members of their family. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-glaucoma-patients-wide-range-emotional.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 11 Apr 2011 10:25:16 EST news221736293