Eye Care News

November 20, 2024

Top Headlines

Trial Shows Alcohol-Mimicking Medication Can Give Laryngeal Dystonia Patients Back Their Voice

Nov. 20, 2024 — Researchers have led a clinical trial of a drug that mimics the effects of alcohol in more than 100 patients with laryngeal dystonia, a neurological condition that causes involuntary muscle spasms in ...

Brain-Based Visual Impairment in Children

Nov. 19, 2024 — Experts have identified five elements of a brain-based condition that has emerged as a leading cause of vision impairment starting in childhood in the United States and other industrialized nations. Known as cerebral (or cortical) visual impairment ...

Synthetic Cells Emulate Natural Cellular Communication

Nov. 12, 2024 — A research team has succeeded in synthesizing simple, environmentally sensitive cells complete with artificial organelles. For the first time, the researchers have also been able to emulate natural cell-cell communication using these proto-cells -- ...

'Sleepy Cannabis': Cannabinol Increases Sleep, Study Suggests

Nov. 11, 2024 — Research shows that a non-hallucinogenic marijuana constituent increases both REM and non-REM sleep in rats. Human trials are now under ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:55pm EST

Disruption of Visual Stability

Nov. 7, 2024 — A research team has been investigating the question of how we perceive a stable environment despite constant eye movements. The result: rapid and smooth eye movements are based on different ...

Why Some Patients Don't Respond Well to Wet Macular Degeneration Treatment

Nov. 4, 2024 — A new study explains not only why some patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (or 'wet' AMD) fail to have vision improvement with treatment, but also how an experimental drug could be ...

Subtle Eye Movements Optimize Vision

Oct. 29, 2024 — Our ability to see starts with the light-sensitive photoreceptor cells in our eyes. A specific region of the retina, termed fovea, is responsible for sharp vision. Here, the color-sensitive cone ...

AI Eye to Eye With Ophthalmologists in Diagnosing Corneal Infections, Study Finds

Oct. 22, 2024 — Eye care specialists could see artificial intelligence help in diagnosing infectious keratitis (IK), a leading cause of corneal blindness worldwide, ...

Medicare Prior Authorization Affecting Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Didn't Have Hoped-for Effect

Oct. 9, 2024 — A new policy increased wait time for patients, but didn't speed up the move from hospital-based to outpatient-based ...

Targeting 'Undruggable' Diseases: New Levels of Detail in Targeted Protein Degradation

Oct. 11, 2024 — Targeted protein degradation has opened up a new field of drug discovery with potential to treat previously 'undruggable' diseases. The work means ...

New Research Offers Hope for Preventing Age-Related Blindness

Oct. 2, 2024 — Researchers have identified a protein involved in the early stages of AMD and found that blocking its activity could reduce the formation of drusen, the lipid deposits in the retina that are a ...

Stem Cell Transplants Close Macular Holes in Monkeys

Oct. 3, 2024 — Human stem cell transplants successfully repaired macular holes in a monkey model, researchers report. After transplantation, the macular holes were closed by continuous filling of the space with ...

Researchers Use AI to Help People See More Clearly

Oct. 2, 2024 — A serious, irreversible eye disease known as myopic maculopathy is on the ...

When Detecting Depression, the Eyes Have It

Sep. 30, 2024 — It has been estimated that nearly 300 million people, or about 4% of the global population, are afflicted by some form of depression. But detecting it can be difficult, particularly when those ...

Scientists Discover Gene Responsible for Rare, Inherited Eye Disease

Sep. 26, 2024 — Scientists have identified a gene responsible for some inherited retinal diseases (IRDs), which are a group of disorders that damage the eye's light-sensing retina and threatens vision. Though ...

Homemade 'Play-Putty' Can Read the Body's Electric Signals

Sep. 18, 2024 — Researchers demonstrates the effectiveness of homemade play putty at reading brain, heart, muscle and eye activity. The research outlines the conductive properties of this material, so-named ...

Studies Point to Potential Development of a Cataract Drug

Sep. 18, 2024 — Researchers identified a protein, known as RNF114, that reverses cataracts, a clouding of the eye's lens that occurs commonly in people as they age. The study, which was conducted in the ...

Two Common Surgeries Equally Effective for Treating Blinding Condition of the Eyelid

Sep. 17, 2024 — Trachomatous trichiasis, a potentially blinding condition where inward-turned eyelashes scratch the front of the eye, can successfully be treated by either of the two most common types of eyelid ...

New Gene Therapy Offers Promise for Treating Glaucoma -- As Well as AMD

Sep. 9, 2024 — Scientists developed a highly promising gene therapy to treat glaucoma -- a debilitating eye condition that can lead to complete vision loss, and which affects around 80 million people worldwide. The ...

100x Improvement in Sight Seen After Gene Therapy Trial

Sep. 6, 2024 — The vision of people with a rare inherited condition that causes them to lose much of their sight early in childhood was 100 times better after they received gene therapy to address the genetic ...

New Technology 'Lights Up' Bacteria in Wounds for Better Infection Prevention

Aug. 27, 2024 — New research suggests there may be a more effective method to detect bacteria during wound ...

Declining Senses Can Impact Mental Health and Loneliness in Aging Adults

Aug. 22, 2024 — Researchers found that people who develop sensory disabilities with age tend to have worse mental health, and that different types of sensory disability are associated with different aspects of ...

How Cell Nuclei Organize Eyes and Brain

Aug. 12, 2024 — In work conducted both at UC Santa Barbara and the Physics of Life Excellence Cluster of TU Dresden, biophysicist Otger Camp s and his research group have found that cell nuclei control the ...

Dozing at the Wheel? Not With These Fatigue-Detecting Earbuds

Aug. 6, 2024 — To help protect drivers and machine operators from the dangers of drifting off, engineers have created prototype earbuds that can detect the signs of drowsiness in the brain. In a new study, the ...

New Visual Technique Could Advance Early Detection of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Aug. 6, 2024 — Researchers developed a new visual diagnostic technique that can be used to advance early detection for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's disease and similar diseases that affect ...

A Brain Fingerprint: Study Uncovers Unique Brain Plasticity in People Born Blind

July 30, 2024 — Neuroscientists reveal that the part of the brain that receives and processes visual information in sighted people develops a unique connectivity pattern in people born blind. They say this pattern ...

Have a Seat, Doctor: Study Suggests Eye-Level Connection Makes a Difference in Hospitals

July 26, 2024 — When doctors sit at hospitalized patients' bedsides, it can have a more positive impact than if they stand, a review of data suggests -- but a new study seeks to find out for ...

Preclinical Model Offers New Insights Into Parkinson's Disease Process

July 23, 2024 — A new preclinical model offers a unique platform for studying the Parkinson's disease process and suggests a relatively easy method for detecting the disease in ...

Supplements Slow Disease Progression During Late Stage of 'Dry' Age-Related Macular Degeneration

July 16, 2024 — In a new analysis of data, researchers have found that taking a daily supplement containing antioxidant vitamins and minerals slows progression of late-stage dry age-related macular degeneration ...

Thousands of High-Risk Cancer Gene Variants Identified

July 15, 2024 — Researchers have mapped the exact variants in a gene that dramatically increase a person's risk of developing several types of cancer. This could lead to improved early detection and targeted ...

Biomarkers Reveal How Patients With Glaucoma May Respond to Treatment

July 12, 2024 — Markers in the blood that predict whether glaucoma patients are at higher risk of continued loss of vision following conventional treatment have been identified by ...

Novel Genome Editing Approach Restores Hearing in Adult Preclinical Models With Genetic Deafness

July 10, 2024 — Researchers restored hearing in preclinical mouse models with a specific form of inherited deafness called DFNA50 caused by mutations in microRNA, by using a novel in vivo CRISPR genome editing ...

A New Target for Treatment of One Type of Macular Degeneration

July 2, 2024 — A new study in mice hints at the promise of an eventual alternative treatment option for the 'wet' version of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Researchers determined in mice that an ...

Implantable Microphone Could Lead to Fully Internal Cochlear Implants

July 2, 2024 — Researchers developed a prototype of an implantable microphone for a cochlear implant. Their device, which senses the movement of the ear drum in the inner ear, performed as well as commercial ...