In a national clinical trial led by Joslin Diabetes Center’s Beetham Eye Institute, ultrawide field (UWF) scanning technology significantly improved the ability of experts at a remote central location to identify diabetic retinopathy in a patient, and to judge whether the eye disease warranted referring the patient to an ophthalmologist for further care.
Glaucoma Research Foundation marked World Glaucoma Week today by announcing $1.3 million in research grants to investigators at prestigious universities and medical research centers nationwide.
Harris Health System treats more than 350 patients annually through its Low Vision Clinic where patients suffering from congenital diseases like glaucoma or cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, trauma or stroke get a chance to regain some vision independence. Patients are evaluated and paired up with high-powered lenses and work with an occupational therapist who trains them on the equipment or ways to maximize their vision levels. Now, patients also have access to a new support group where like-diagnosed patients can share and learn from each other.
Researchers at Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear have shown a link between mitochondrial dysfunction in corneal endothelial cells and the development of Fuchs’ Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy. This study, published today in the journal, Antioxidants & Redox Signaling, is the first study to demonstrate that lifelong accumulation of oxidative DNA damage leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and subsequent cell death in the tissue of the corneal endothelium. These changes are the result of free radical-induced molecular changes that are characteristic of FECD.
Do you see what I see? Maybe not, if you know more about it than I do.
Someday, cicadas and dragonflies might save your sight. The key to this power lies in their wings, which are coated with a forest of tiny pointed pillars that impale and kill bacterial cells unlucky enough to land on them. Now, scientists report they have replicated these antibacterial nanopillars on synthetic polymers that are being developed to restore vision. The researchers present their work at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
A two-year clinical trial that compared three drugs for diabetic macular edema (DME) found that gains in vision were greater for participants receiving the drug Eylea (aflibercept) than for those receiving Avastin (bevacizumab), but only among participants starting treatment with 20/50 or worse vision. Gains after two years were about the same for Eylea and Lucentis (ranibizumab), contrary to year-one results from the study, which showed Eylea with a clear advantage. The three drugs yielded similar gains in vision for patients with 20/32 or 20/40 vision at the start of treatment. The clinical trial was conducted by the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network (DRCR.net), which is funded by the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.
Uncorrected refractive error (URE)—nearsightedness, farsightedness, and other focusing problems correctable by prescription lenses—is responsible for moderate to severe vision impairment in 101 million people and blindness in seven million people worldwide, reports a study in the March issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.
New study sheds light on a link between noncorrectable vision problems and ADHD in children.
Through a partnership with John Hancock Financial Services, Massachusetts Eye and Ear is preparing a team of runners for the 2016 Boston Marathon.® “Team Eye and Ear” comprises 57 members fundraising in support of Mass. Eye and Ear’s research programs to fight disorders of the eyes, ears, nose, throat, head and neck.
Sideline vision tests to detect concussion are increasing in youth and pro sports, but a new study from researchers at NYU Langone's Rusk Rehabilitation shows language may affect results.
The first study to measure the full spectrum of age-related damage to all five senses found that 94 percent of older adults in the United States have at least one sensory deficit, 38 percent have two, and 28 percent have three, four or five. Deficits in multiple senses were strongly associated with age, gender and race.
Researchers believe that adults whose eyes are slow to adjust to the dark have a greater risk of developing age-related macular degeneration.
Poor visual working memory can play an important role in the struggles experienced by autistic children, according to a new study conducted by Dr. Tracy Alloway, associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Florida.
Researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School and the University of Crete have conducted a phase I/II clinical trial investigating the efficacy of statins (cholesterol-lowering medications) for the treatment of patients with the dry form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) — the leading cause of blindness in the developed world.
Findings suggest smart contact lenses could help clinicians tailor therapy to glaucoma patients and better evaluate whether treatments are working or not.
Potential new approaches to treating eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are described in a new study published in the February Journal of Experimental Medicine. Hongkang Xi, Menno van Lookeren Campagne, and colleagues discovered that a signaling protein, or cytokine, called IL-33, plays a key role in recruiting phagocytes to damaged retina and induces retinal degeneration. Blocking the IL-33 receptor inhibits this process and prevents injury-induced retinal degeneration.
Mass. Eye and Ear researchers describe the role of endomucin, a molecule that – under healthy circumstances – resists the adhesion of white blood cells as they move through the circulatory system. These findings suggest that promoting the expression of endomucin may prevent the collection of white blood cells that causes tissues to become inflamed.
For his research project to determine whether therapies can be designed to modulate the immune system to prevent vision loss and blindness in glaucoma patients, Stuart J. McKinnon, MD, PhD was awarded the 2016 Shaffer Prize for Innovative Glaucoma Research.
Scientists have used a new gene-editing technology called CRISPR, to repair a genetic mutation responsible for retinitis pigmentosa (RP), an inherited condition that causes the retina to degrade and leads to blindness in at least 1.5 million cases worldwide.
For children with severe astigmatism, wearing glasses to correct blurred vision can significantly improve accurate reading speed, reports a study in the February issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.
Kids with uncorrected farsightedness lose ground on reading skills before they ever start first grade, a new study has found. The research, led by Marjean Taylor Kulp of The Ohio State University, uncovers evidence that moderately farsighted preschoolers and kindergarten students perform worse in early literacy than children with normal vision.
A study funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has shown that uncorrected farsightedness (hyperopia) in preschool children is associated with significantly worse performance on a test of early literacy.
There is good news for frequent public speakers. New research shows that individuals have the ability to quickly and accurately identify a crowd’s general emotion as focused or distracted, suggesting that we can trust our first impression of a crowd’s mood. The paper,Mixed emotions: Sensitivity to facial variance in a crowd of faces was recently published in the Journal of Vision.
A large new study reveals previously unknown risk factors associated with an eye condition that causes serious progressive nearsightedness at a relatively young age. The findings, made through the largest-ever clinical study of the condition called keratoconus, could help more people receive newer treatments that can slow the problem and protect their vision.
Over 3 million Americans and over 60 million people worldwide have glaucoma. Experts estimate that half of them don’t know they have it. Learn more about this sight-stealing disease and what you can do.
Researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have led an international effort to identify three genetic associations that influence susceptibility to primary open angle glaucoma — the most common form of adult onset glaucoma and the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world.
An analysis funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has identified three genes that contribute to the most common type of glaucoma. The study increases the total number of such genes to 15.
Glaucoma patients may experience increased eye pressure as the result of performing several different head-down positions while practicing yoga, according to a new study published by researchers at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE) in the journal PLOS ONE.
Researchers at New Mexico State University are mimicking high-stakes visual search scenarios in the lab to gauge performances of independent searchers and search pairs. Preliminary research showed that two heads might not always be better than one.
I've heard that glaucoma is caused by high eye pressure, and that left untreated glaucoma can cause blindness. At what pressure will I go blind?
The presence of myopia, or nearsightedness, significantly affects the muscles used in focusing the lens of the eye—a finding with important implications for the development of "accommodating" implanted intraocular lenses (IOLs) that can adjust to different visual distances, reports a study in the January issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.
As we age, proteins in the lenses of our eyes start misbehaving: They unfold and congregate in clusters that block, scatter and distort light as it passes through the lens. A cloudy area, or cataract, forms. In a new study, scientists found that throughout our lifetime, levels of a key protein decline, and may be an early warning sign of a developing cataract. The study, conducted by scientists at the National Eye Institute and the Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins Hospital and published online in Ophthalmology, suggests that there is a window before cataracts develop when there may be time to intervene and prevent them.
A new study at Massachusetts Eye and Ear showed that in some cases of vestibular schwannoma, a sometimes-lethal tumor often associated with neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2), secretions from the tumor contain toxic molecules that damage the inner ear. The findings, published online in Scientific Reports, explain why some vestibular schwannomas cause hearing loss even though they are not large enough to compress nearby structures that control hearing.
An international study of about 43,000 people has significantly expanded the number of genetic factors known to play a role in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of vision loss among people age 50 and older. Supported by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, the findings may help improve our understanding of the biological processes that lead to AMD and identify new therapeutic targets for potential drug development.
Teams of geneticists from nine countries, involving more than 100 scientists, analyzed the genes of more than 33,000 individuals in the hope of finding genetic variations responsible for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of vision loss among people age 50 or older.
Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness worldwide. Vision loss from glaucoma occurs when axons in the optic nerve become damaged and can no longer carry visual information to the brain.
Another reason to worry about climate change: Expanding areas of arid land, air pollution, and greater exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation all present potential health hazards to your eyes, according to Sheila West, Ph.D., vice chair for research at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University. In October, West discussed these hazards at a symposium on the health consequences of climate change.
Atropine .01 percent eye drops slow down nearsightedness by roughly 50 percent in five-year clinical trial on Singaporean children. Researchers suggest low-dose drops safe as “first line” defense against rapid development of nearsightedness in children.
New drug found to heal eyes in two days after corneal surgery. Originally created in France for chronic diabetic skin wounds, the heparin sulfate mimetic Cacicol (or RGTA) helps eyes heal faster by stimulating collagen production.
Data science continues to gain ground as an immensely powerful tool for medicine, accelerating physicians’ ability to identify new strategies to improve patient care.
Fighting and assault caused nearly 8,000 eye injuries treated in hospitals from 2002-2011, while falling led causes of ocular trauma with more than 8,500 incidents reported.
Programmable digital glasses for lazy eye work as well as eye patching, study shows, improving vision by about 2 lines on the reading chart after 3 months. First new effective lazy eye treatment in 50 years.
A clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health has found that the drug ranibizumab (Lucentis) is highly effective in treating proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The trial, conducted by the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network (DRCR.net) compared Lucentis with a type of laser therapy called panretinal or scatter photocoagulation, which has remained the gold standard for proliferative diabetic retinopathy since the mid-1970s. The findings demonstrate the first major therapy advance in nearly 40 years.
RPB-supported researchers have made a significant discovery that might lead to the delay or prevention of the most common cause of blindness in the elderly: age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Patients who take the drug L-DOPA (for Parkinson Disease, Restless Legs or other movement disorders) are significantly less likely to develop AMD and, if they do, it is at a significantly later age.
“Blink and you’ll miss it” isn’t only for eyelids. The human brain also blinks, dropping a few frames of visual information here and there. Those lapses of attention come fast — maybe just once every tenth of a second. But some people may be missing more than others, according to psychologists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Listen to the latest breakthroughs in eye care from scientists presenting at the world’s largest ophthalmology conference, AAO 2015. Three ophthalmology researchers will discuss their cutting-edge work on topics ranging from using nanoparticles to treat blinding retinal diseases to eye drops that could slow nearsightedness in children.
The thickness of the cortex in a region of the brain that specializes in facial recognition can predict an individual's ability to recognize faces and other objects.
Salmon migrating from the open ocean to inland waters do more than swim upstream. To navigate the murkier freshwater streams and reach a spot to spawn, the fish have evolved a means to enhance their ability to see infrared light.
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