http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—Visually impaired children could benefit from a revolutionary new computer game being developed by a team of neuroscientists and game designers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-game-sight-visually-impaired-children.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:21:09 EST news286093260 The eye is covered by a clear and protective layer called the cornea, and abnormal thickness of the cornea can result in eye disease. An international research team including Chiea Chuen Khor of the A*STAR Genome Institute of Singapore has pinned down 27 genetic variations that are strongly associated with a heritable trait known as central corneal thickness (CCT). Some of these variations are also directly linked to eye diseases, so the findings may lead to better prevention and treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-identification-specific-genetic-variants-common.html Genetics Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:20:09 EST news286004465 A research team led by Dr. Robert Hess from McGill University and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) has used the popular puzzle video game Tetris in an innovative approach to treat adult amblyopia, commonly known as "lazy eye". By distributing information between the two eyes in a complementary fashion, the video game trains both eyes to work together, which is counter to previous treatments for the disorder (e.g. patching). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-lazy-eye-disorder-therapeutic-approach.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:00:01 EST news285847218 The retina is a highly vascularized tissue, but too much or too little vascularization can lead to visual impairment and diseases such as familial exudative vitreoretinopathy or macular degeneration. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Alfred Nordheim and colleagues at Tuebingen University in Tuebingen, Germany, identified the DNA transcription factor SRF and its cofactors MRTF-A and MRTF-B as critical regulators of vascularization in the postnatal mouse eye. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-transcription-factors-retinal-vascularization.html Medical research Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:00:04 EST news284639184 Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) continues to be the leading cause of visual impairment in the United States for people over age 65, according to a study recently published online in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. AMD is a potentially blinding disease that affects more than 9.1 million Americans. This study, which tracked vision loss in relation to eye disease and treatment response in nearly 5,000 patients over a 20-year period, showed that despite the recent discovery of sight-saving drugs and advances in disease prevention, AMD still causes severe vision loss in approximately 15 percent of Americans 85 and older. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-ophthalmologists-urge-early-diagnosis-treatment.html Ophthalmology Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:25:17 EST news284207093 Restoring vision might sometimes be as simple as turning out the lights. That's according to a study reported on February 14 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, in which researchers examined kittens with a visual impairment known as amblyopia before and after they spent 10 days in complete darkness. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-vision-total-darkness.html Neuroscience Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:13:16 EST news280069972 An international team of scientists led by King's College London has discovered 24 new genes that cause refractive errors and myopia (short-sightedness). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-genes-short-sightedness.html Genetics Sun, 10 Feb 2013 13:00:09 EST news279716204 (Medical Xpress)—A cure for congenital sight impairment caused by lens damage is closer following research by scientists at Monash University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-petri-dish-lens-eye-treatments.html Ophthalmology Thu, 31 Jan 2013 07:33:09 EST news278839953 (Medical Xpress)—Doctors may one day treat some forms of blindness by altering the genetic program of the light-sensing cells of the eye, according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-eye-cells-day-vision.html Ophthalmology Fri, 25 Jan 2013 06:46:28 EST news278318773 The prevalence of nonrefractive visual impairment (not due to need for glasses) in the U.S. has increased significantly in recent years, which may be partly related to a higher prevalence of diabetes, an associated risk factor, according to a study in the December 12 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-prevalence-visual-impairment.html Ophthalmology Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:00:01 EST news274462229 The odds of individuals with open-angle glaucoma undergoing visual field testing decreased for all racial/ethnic groups from 2001 through 2009, but the odds decreased the most for Hispanic men and women in a study of enrollees in a large U.S. managed care network, according to a report published in the December issue of Archives of Ophthalmology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-odds-visual-field-glaucoma-decreased.html Ophthalmology Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:00:12 EST news274369693 By growing new retinal cells to replace those that have malfunctioned, scientists hope to one day create and fuse entire layers of fresh cells –– a synthetic patch akin to a contact lens –– as a treatment for age-related macular degeneration, the top cause of visual impairment among people over 60. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-envisioning-approaches-eye-disease-medicine.html Medical research Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:24:49 EST news269612673 Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that the worm which causes River Blindness survives by using a bacterium to provide energy, as well as help 'trick' the body's immune system into thinking it is fighting a different kind of infection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-scientists-reveal-river-worm.html Genetics Wed, 22 Aug 2012 17:04:52 EST news264873877 Medicare patients 65 years and older who underwent cataract surgery had a lower odds of hip fracture 1 year after the procedure when compared with patients with cataract who did not have cataract surgery, according to a study in the August 1 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-older-patients-hip-fracture-cataract.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:00:01 EST news262968183 (HealthDay) -- Older Americans see better than their parents did in old age, according to a new study that finds visual impairment among the U.S. elderly has declined 58 percent since the 1980s. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-older-americans-today.html Ophthalmology Fri, 20 Jul 2012 15:10:01 EST news262008625 The visual information from eyes is sent into the brain unconsciously even if you are not aware. One of examples of unconscious seeing is a phenomenon of "blindsight" [Subjects have no awareness, but their brains can see ] in subjects with visual impairment, caused by the damage of a part of the brain called the visual cortex. Although it is already reported that the patients with damage in the visual cortex, who were not aware of seeing, can walk and avoid obstacles, it was not proved whether this was really blindsight. In this new study, the international collaborative research team including Assistant Professor Masatoshi Yoshiday and Professor Tadashi Isa from The National Institute for Physiological Sciences, The National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Japan and Professor Laurent Itti from the University of Southern California demonstrated that blindsight in monkeys is available not only under the specific conditions of the laboratory, but also in everyday environments. This research result will appear in Current Biology as an electronic version on June 28, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-scientists-blindsight-everyday-life-scenes.html Neuroscience Thu, 28 Jun 2012 14:40:01 EST news260112179 Cerebral damage and retinopathy of prematurity appear to be independently associated with visual impairment among preschool children who were born extremely premature, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Ophthalmology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-factors-visual-impairment-preschool-children.html Ophthalmology Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:58:29 EST news258649093 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 It has long been thought that blindness after brain lesions is irreversible and that damage to the optic nerves leads to permanent impairments in everyday activities such as reading, driving, and spatial orientation. A new study published in Elsevier's Brain Stimulation suggests that treating such patients with low levels of non-invasive, repetitive, transorbital alternating current stimulation (rtACS) for 10 days (30-40 min per day) significantly reduces visual impairment and markedly improves vision-related quality of life. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-noninvasive-current-sight-patients-optic.html Neuroscience Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:37:43 EST news239276251 Doctors should be cautious about prescribing intensive glucose lowering treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes as a way of reducing heart complications, concludes a new study published in the British Medical Journal today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-intensive-treatment-patients-diabetes.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 26 Jul 2011 18:30:01 EST news230919315 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 A Monash industrial design student has developed an interactive play set which helps visually impaired children learn the basics of Braille and develop their motor skills. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-mat-story.html Other Tue, 17 May 2011 13:45:45 EST news224858721