http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A new research report published in The FASEB Journal will help ophthalmologists and scientists better understand a rare genetic disease that causes increased susceptibility to blue light, night blindness, and decreased vision called Enhanced S-Cone Syndrome or Goldman-Favre Syndrome. In the report, scientists found that the expression of genes responsible for the healthy renewal of rods and cones in the retina was reduced and that this problem originates in the photoreceptors themselves rather than in the adjacent retinal pigment epithelial layer as once thought. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-scientists-unravel-rare-genetic-disease.html Medical research Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:40:56 EST news234009584 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 On rare occasion, the light-sensing photoreceptor cells in the eye misfire and signal to the brain as if they have captured photons, when in reality they haven't. For years this phenomenon remained a mystery. Reporting in the June 10 issue of Science, neuroscientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered that a light-capturing pigment molecule in photoreceptors can be triggered by heat, as well, giving rise to these false alarms. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-animals-dont-infrared-vision.html Neuroscience Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:31:07 EST news226852249 Disorders of the eye are excellent targets for gene therapy because the ocular environment is readily accessible, relatively easy to monitor, and sequestered from the rest of the body. A series of articles available online ahead of print in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., highlight several exciting developments in ocular gene therapy. The articles are available free online at www.liebertpub.com/hum http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-latest-advances-gene-therapy-ocular.html Genetics Mon, 09 May 2011 15:53:56 EST news224175194