Feature Channels: Vision

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Glaucoma is typically triggered when fluid is unable to circulate freely through the eye’s trabecular meshwork (TM) tissue. Intraocular pressure rises and damages the retina and optic nerve, which causes vision loss. In certain cases of glaucoma, this blockage results from a build-up of the protein myocilin. Georgia Tech Chemistry and Biochemistry Assistant Professor Raquel Lieberman focused on examining the structural properties of these myocilin deposits. She was surprised to discover that both genetically defected as well as normal, or wild-type (WT), myocilin are readily triggered to produce very stable fibrous residue containing a pathogenic material called amyloid.

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Wearing contact lenses can affect glaucoma measurements, a Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine study has found.

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Dermatology expert offers ideas for younger-looking eyes.

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Pioneering vision study in mice will help revolutionize the study of brain function and mental disease.

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For children with convergence insufficiency (CI)—who have difficulty focusing on objects close up—effective treatments can help to reduce problems at school, 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 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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A UCSF study shows a popular treatment for a potentially blinding eye infection is just as effective if given every six months versus annually. This randomized study on trachoma, the leading cause of infection-caused blindness in the world, could potentially treat twice the number of patients using the same amount of medication.

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Working with guinea pigs, tuberculosis experts at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere have closely mimicked how active but untreated cases of the underlying lung infection lead to permanent eye damage and blindness in people.

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Research offers potential treatment for macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

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Findings provide a better understanding of the effects of normal aging, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases on the performance of everyday cognitive tasks.

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Most people who wear contact lenses perceive themselves as following standard guidelines for lens wear and care—but only a tiny minority are actually compliant with all recommended care steps, according to a study in the November issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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Whether comparing a man and a woman or a parent and a baby, we can still see when two people of different age or sex are genetically related. How do we know that people are part of a family? Findings from a new study published in the Journal of Vision increases our understanding of the brain’s ability to see through these underlying variations in facial structure.

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Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and collaborators have discovered a powerful new protein in the eye of the fruit fly that may shed light on blinding diseases and other sensory problems in humans.

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An appreciation of nature and enjoyment of the outdoors is not limited to those who can see. But nature trails that offer interaction with forests and the natural environment are quite limited for people who are visually impaired or blind. Well-designed environmental education programs, such as New Jersey’s Sensory Awareness Trail, can offer a look at nature through all the senses.

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You’ve seen it on television: A doctor shines a bright light into an unconscious patient’s eye to check for brain death. If the pupil constricts, the brain is OK, because in mammals, the brain controls the pupil. Or does it? Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that in most mammals, in fact in most vertebrates, the pupil can constrict without any input from the brain. Their work, which also describes for the first time the molecular mechanism underlying this process, appears in the Nov. 3 issue of Nature.

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Physical activity may be what the doctor orders to help patients reduce their risk of developing glaucoma. According to a recently published scientific paper, higher levels of physical exercise appear to have a long-term beneficial impact on low ocular perfusion pressure (OPP), an important risk factor for glaucoma.

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Results from a recent scientific study in the U.K. may change the way that healthcare professionals measure eye pressure and allow them to assess the risk of glaucoma with greater accuracy. Glaucoma is the second most common cause of irreversible loss of vision worldwide.

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Older adults with glaucoma are at increased risk of falls resulting in injury, reports a study in the November issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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Two major drug trials conclude there was little risk from a drug aimed at age-related macular degeneration. Yet a Mayo Clinic ophthalmologist began to note something concerning in some of her patients: an increase in pressure inside the eye. It led to a retrospective study and findings that will be presented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology in Orlando.

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The vision research community is discussing with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) how to adopt and/or implement safe and effective endpoint measures for assessing glaucoma therapies in U.S. clinical trials. The group — composed of researchers, clinicians, policymakers and representatives from industry and vision associations — attended a one-day symposium sponsored by the National Institutes of Health’s National Eye Institute (NEI) and the FDA on Sept. 24, 2010.

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Two new computerized tests increase the ability to measure remaining vision in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and other blinding diseases, reports a study in the October issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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Overexposure to antibiotics has long been a concern in the medical community – most specifically the development of antibiotic resistant infections as a result of repeated use. According to a study released this week in the Archives of Ophthalmology, ophthalmologic antibiotics promote antimicrobial resistance too, prompting a call from Vanderbilt Eye Institute physicians to be more judicial in the administration of certain classes of antibiotics.

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Loyola University Health System eye specialist gives tips for kids and eye health.

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Among older adults, falls are a common problem. About one-third of those over age 65 fall once each year. Visual information helps us to coordinate our movements so that we can successfully navigate our surroundings. In fall-prone older adults, however, the ability to collect visual information is compromised, and this group is not adequately compensating for this effect.

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New scientific evidence on how feedback from the eye affects visual development may lead to more effective approaches to treating myopia (nearsightedness) in children, reports a paper in the September issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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Drivers over age 65 are the fastest-growing segment of the driving population, and their eye care providers—ophthalmologists and optometrists—are playing an increasingly important role in assessing their ability to drive safely.

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A team of researchers comparing the two leading treatment approaches for the eye condition uveitis, which is the fifth leading cause of blindness in the US, have found that a time-release corticosteroid implant placed surgically in the eye is similarly effective in treating the disease as anti-inflammatory corticosteroids and immunosuppressive drugs taken orally. The report was published online this week in the journal Ophthalmology.

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Many Americans suffer from diabetes and hypertension and, according to a study by researchers at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center, these individuals may have an increased risk of developing open-angle glaucoma (OAG).

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Patients with diabetes who also suffer from depression are more likely to develop a serious complication known as diabetic retinopathy, a disease that damages the eye’s retina, a five-year study finds.

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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.

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Cells that were thought to be identical and responsible both for setting the body’s circadian rhythm and for the pupil’s reaction to light and darkness, are actually two different cells, each responsible for one of those tasks.

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Several reports indicate that prolonged viewing of mobile devices and other stereo 3D devices leads to visual discomfort, fatigue and even headaches. According to a new Journal of Vision study, the root cause may be the demand on our eyes to focus on the screen and simultaneously adjust to the distance of the content.

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With R&D assistance from Georgia Tech and seed funding from the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), an Atlanta-based company is developing what it hopes will be the next-generation instrument for optimizing eyesight for the hundreds of millions of people who wear glasses or contacts.

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The days of being blinded by glare from the sun, despite the $300 sunglasses straddling your face, may soon be over. Chris Mullin has developed sunglasses that detect bright light and darken specific parts of the lens to protect wearers from blinding glare.

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Smart phone users reading text messages and internet pages hold their devices at a closer distance than they would for printed text—which may have important implications for prescribing vision correction, reports a study in the July issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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Measuring oxygen during eye surgery, investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered a potential reason that African-Americans are at higher risk of getting glaucoma than Caucasians. They found that oxygen levels are significantly higher in the eyes of African-Americans with glaucoma than in Caucasians.

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Using owls as a model, a new research study reveals the advantage of stereopsis, commonly referred to as stereovision, is its ability to discriminate between objects and background; not in perceiving absolute depth. The findings were published in a recent Journal of Vision article, Owls see in stereo much like humans do.

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Cedars-Sinai stem cell researchers investigating ways to prevent eye problems in diabetic patients have been awarded a $3 million grant from the National Eye Institute to develop gene therapy in corneal stem cells to alleviate damage to corneas that can cause vision loss.

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Blocking two tiny molecules of RNA – a chemical cousin of DNA – appears to suppress the abnormal growth of blood vessels that occurs in degenerative eye disorders, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

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Could a simple eye scan detect early signs of diabetes-related nerve damage? Recent research toward developing such a test is the topic of a special article in Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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Insight: Research and Practice in Visual Impairment and Blindness – For older adults, a fall can pose a serious health risk. Add in blindness or visual impairment, and the possibility of a fall increases. The approach of “it takes a village” can be applied to reducing the risk of a fall. Cross-disciplinary fall prevention programs that address multiple risk factors have been shown to be effective.

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The Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Montefiore Medical Center has established itself as one of the largest ophthalmology departments in the nation. Throughout the year, experts are available for interviews on the latest, state-of-the art eye care services.

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Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD, FARVO (Emory University School of Medicine) is the new president of the Association of Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). He succeeds J. Mark Petrash, PhD, FARVO (University of Colorado), whose one-year term ended in May.

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Slowing down the aggregation or “clumping” of vitamin A in the eye may help prevent vision loss caused by macular degeneration, research from Columbia University Medical Center has found.

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New research from McMaster University may answer a controversial question: do the blind have a better sense of touch because the brain compensates for vision loss or because of heavy reliance on their fingertips? The study, published in the most recent edition of the Journal of Neuroscience, suggests daily dependence on touch is the answer.

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A study shows promise in slowing age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Tufts researchers demonstrate for the first time that a gene therapy approach to deliver CD59, an inhibitor of complement, can significantly reduce uncontrolled blood vessel growth and cell death that is typical in AMD, the most common cause of blindness in the elderly.

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Results from the first year of a two-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical trial show that Avastin®, a drug approved to treat some cancers and is commonly used off-label to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is as effective as the more expensive FDA-approved drug Lucentis® for treating AMD.

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The brain is apparently programmed from birth to develop the ability to determine sunrise and sunset, according to new research on circadian rhythms that sheds new light on brain plasticity and may explain some basic human behaviors.

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A new national study, designed and analyzed by Penn Medicine’s Center for Preventive Ophthalmology and Biostatistics, has determined that two medications commonly used to treat age-related macular degeneration are equally effective. These results, from the Comparison of AMD Treatments Trials (CATT) study, were published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary consistently promotes eye health and regular vision screenings as part of it’s mission – and this month the hospital is highlighting healthy sight during the month of May. May is the Healthy Vision Month, an annual observance established by the National Eye Institute.

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Eye examinations every other year are more cost-effective than currently recommended annual eye exams for people with diabetes who are at low risk of diabetic retinopathy progression.