Feature Channels: Vision

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For the second consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Mass. Eye and Ear as the #1 hospital in the nation for ear, nose and throat care and #1 in New England for eye care.

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UAB’s dual Doctor of Optometry and Master of Public Health degree program combines clinical learning with community leadership to improve eye care.

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Safe driving requires clear central vision and adequate peripheral vision. Glaucoma typically leads to constriction of the visual field, sparing the central vision.

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Sunil Puria, Ph.D., recently joined Massachusetts Eye and Ear as the second Amelia Peabody Scientist in the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories. Dr. Puria, an electrical engineer who trained as a postdoctoral researcher at Mass. Eye and Ear from 1991 to 1997, brings more than 20 years of experience in mathematical modeling and hearing research in both academia and industry settings back to Mass. Eye and Ear, where he will direct the OtoBiomechanics Group.

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An infusion of stem cells could help restore proper drainage for fluid-clogged eyes at risk for glaucoma. That's the upshot of a study led by a Veterans Affairs and University of Iowa team.

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When a 62-year-old visually impaired woman expressed an interest in learning to hit a ball off a tee for a Leader Dogs for the Blind charity golf tourney, an NMU student was eager to accept the challenge.

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Individuals with dry eye have hope as researchers continue to learn more about causes, symptoms and treatments.

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In a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a University of Wisconsin-Madison research team pinpoints how immune abnormalities beneath the retina result in macular degeneration, a common condition that often causes blindness.

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Regenerative medicine company jCyte and the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center at the University of California, Irvine report that their investigational therapy for retinitis pigmentosa (RP) has demonstrated a favorable safety and tolerability profile in an ongoing Phase I/II clinical trial.

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Indiana University researchers have created a virtual tissue model of diabetes in the eye that shows precisely how a small protein that can both damage or grow blood vessels in the eye causes vision loss and blindness in people with diabetes. The study, reported in the journal PLOS Computational Biology, could also lead to better treatment for diabetic retinopathy, which currently requires multiple, invasive procedures that aren’t always effective in the long term.

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The journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS) is commemorating the 25th anniversary of the development of optical coherence tomography (OCT) with the release of a special issue of more than 70 papers from authors on five continents.

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A new, minimally invasive procedure appears to be effective for many patients with the common eye disease Fuchs endothelial dystrophy (FED), without the potential side effects and cost of the current standard of care, a cornea transplant.

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Leading organization for vision and health offers unique programs for adults and children with visual impairment.

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Scientists may have overcome a major roadblock in the development of Alzheimer’s therapies by creating a new technology to observe ― in the back of the eye ― progression of the disease before the onset of symptoms. Clinical trials are to start in July to test the technology in humans according to a paper recently published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science ( IOVS).

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A study in mice funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shows for the first time that high-contrast visual stimulation can help damaged retinal neurons regrow optic nerve fibers, otherwise known as retinal ganglion cell axons. In combination with chemically induced neural stimulation, axons grew further than in strategies tried previously. Treated mice partially regained visual function. The study also demonstrates that adult regenerated central nervous system (CNS) axons are capable of navigating to correct targets in the brain. The research was funded through the National Eye Institute (NEI), a part of NIH.

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Do you really need to get your eyes checked—even if you haven't noticed any vision problems or eye-related symptoms? More than half of routine eye examinations in asymptomatic patients lead to a change in vision prescription or other changes in care, according to a study in the June issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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Researchers from the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology at King’s College London have shed light on how we perceive and recognise specific visual stimuli.

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The risk of blindness caused by spinal fusion, one of the most common surgeries performed in the U.S., has dropped almost three-fold since the late 1990s, according to the largest study of the topic to date.

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Stimulating the brain with a mild electrical current can temporarily sharpen vision without glasses or contacts, Vanderbilt University researchers have found.

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Vision loss due to glaucoma or optic nerve damage is generally considered irreversible. Now a new prospective, randomized, multi-center clinical trial demonstrates significant vision improvement in partially blind patients after 10 days of noninvasive, transorbital alternating current stimulation (ACS). In addition to activation of their residual vision, patients also experienced improvement in vision-related quality of life such as acuity, reading, mobility or orientation. The results are reported in PLOS ONE.

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Der Verlust der Sehkraft durch Glaukom oder Schädigung des Sehnervs gilt als irreversibel. Jetzt zeigt eine prospektive, randomisierte, multizentrische, klinische Studie signifikante Verbesserungen des Sehvermögens in teilweise erblindeten Patienten nach 10 Tagen Behandlung mit nicht-invasiver, transorbitaler Wechselstromstimulation (alternating current stimulation, ACS). Die Behandlung führte zu der Aktivierung von Restsehleistungen und sehbezogenen Verbesserungen der Lebensqualität wie Sehschärfe, Lesen, Mobilität und Orientierung. Diese aktuellen Ergebnisse wurden in PLOS ONE berichtet.

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Juveniles of numerous lizard species have a vividly blue-colored tail that likely serves to deflect predator attacks toward the detachable tail rather than the lizard's body. Now researchers have found that certain differences in blue and UV light reflectance in lizard tails are likely adaptations to predators with different color vision capabilities.

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Older adults experience deficits in inhibition, which can affect how quickly they process information visually, according to a new study involving the University of Arizona.

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About 9.6 million U.S. adults are severely nearsighted, a new study shows. Researchers also found that 41,000 suffer a rare complication that can cause blindness, with the prevalence rate among women double that of men. Published in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

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A new study led by researchers the National Eye Institute suggests how the genesis of rod photoreceptors may have occurred to give rise to nocturnal mammals.

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Thousands of people, many of them children, suffer eye injuries from fireworks each year in the United States. UAB ophthalmologists at the only eye emergency room in Alabama provide safety tips.

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Louis R. Pasquale, M.D., Director of the Glaucoma Service at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and a Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, is one of three vision researchers to be appointed to the National Advisory Eye Council (NAEC) of the National Eye Institute (NEI) this year. The NAEC provides guidance on research, training and other NEI programs.

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Loyola Medicine optometrist Eileen Gable, OD, FAOO, has been named president-elect of the Illinois chapter of the American Academy of Optometry (AAO). “Increasing education about eye care is a passion of mine and I look forward to continuing to expand the instructional programs of the Illinois chapter of the American Academy of Optometry," said Dr. Gable, who specializes in pediatric optometry at Loyola. “I am really proud of how that translates into the exceptional work done in the communities by my AAO colleagues."

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Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast and University College London have discovered that a drug, originally developed to treat cardiovascular disease, has the potential to reduce diabetes related blindness.

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People with type 2 diabetes who intensively controlled their blood sugar level during the landmark ACCORD Trial Eye Study were found to have cut their risk of diabetic retinopathy in half in a follow-up analysis conducted four years after stopping intensive therapy. Investigators who led the ACCORD Follow-on Eye Study (ACCORDION) announced the results today in New Orleans at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting. The study was supported by the National Eye Institute.

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Separate awards will fund research on the brain's roll in a compromised visual system and on technology to make daily tasks easier for those with vision loss.

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Knowing the exact number of molecules located at specific junctures in cells can be a critical measure of health as well as disease. For example, abnormally high numbers of growth factor receptors on cells can be an indication of cancerous and precancerous states. Now, a simplified method known as qPAINT uses the blinking pattern of the light that marks each molecule, to find, count, and study individual molecules that are just a few nanometers apart.

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When Aleksandra Pryszczewska was a toddler, she often stumbled and bumped into things because of an eye condition called strabismus, or lazy eye. Her left eye veered to the far right, altering her line of vision causing her sight to be impaired. While strabismus is traditionally corrected during early childhood, Ms. Pryszczewska's only surgery was unsuccessful. Loyola is one of the few medical centers that treats adult strabismus.

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The American Academy of Ophthalmology announced plans to launch a new scientific journal focused exclusively on retina-related eye diseases and conditions.

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Visual blurring—like that produced by bifocals or multifocal lenses—may cause errors in foot position when walking. And that could contribute to the risk of tripping and falling in older adults, suggests a study in the June issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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A recent study shows that infants and toddlers take longer to notice new visual stimuli and are less accurate in their gaze than adults, but slowly improve as they age. The findings reinforce the importance of raising young children in stimulating environments, and set an important baseline as detection of developmental disorders increasingly rely on tracking eye movements. The paper, “Development and learning of saccadic eye movements in 7-42 month-old children” was published in the Journal of Vision.

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Eye cancer took the life of author and neurologist Oliver Sacks last year, bringing attention to the rare, hard-to-treat disease. Now, a team led by scientists at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah report in Cancer Cell that a mutation that causes the cancer relies on a protein, ARF6, to distribute cancer-promoting signals. Further, treatment with a drug made against the protein inhibits eye tumors formation.

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Researchers from Brazil and Stanford University report on an ocular case study of three Brazilian infants with microcephaly presumed to be caused by Zika virus. Findings will appear in Ophthalmology, journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

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The number of people with visual impairment or blindness in the United States is expected to double to more than 8 million by 2050, according to projections based on the most recent census data and from studies funded by the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. Another 16.4 million Americans are expected to have difficulty seeing due to correctable refractive errors that can be fixed with glasses, contacts or surgery.

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A study published today by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) Roski Eye Institute in JAMA Ophthalmology found that the U.S. prevalence in visual impairment (VI) and blindness is expected to double over the next 35 years. By 2050, the number of Americans with a variety of eye disease and impairment issues, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy (DR) and cataracts, will dramatically increase impacting both individuals and society.

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Researchers from the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School have designed three new eyeglasses using high-power prisms to optimally expand the visual fields of patients with hemianopia, a condition in which the visual fields of both eyes are cut by half. The new designs, described in Optometry and Vision Science, address some limitations of existing prism correction available to this population.

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Cornea tissue is a promising biomaterial for Brad Boyce, a Sandia National Laboratories materials scientist. More than a decade after Boyce and his co-workers investigated the biomechanics of dissected cow corneas, their findings have been confirmed in healthy human eyes.

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Light sensitivity, or photophobia, is a frequent symptom of migraine headaches, which affect nearly 15 percent of the world’s population. A new study, led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and published today in Brain, has found that exposing migraine sufferers to a narrow band of green light significantly reduces photophobia and can reduce headache severity.

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Ever search desperately for something, then realize you're looking straight at it the whole time? Research indicates that vision is controlled by the part of the brain associated with thinking. And in sight, too, it can be absent minded.