Vessel damage may precede diabetic retinopathy, researchers find
A University of Iowa-led study of diabetes-related vision impairment holds good news — and some bad news — for patients with signs of these disorders. Scientists have long known that patients with diabetes mellitus — both Type 1 and Type 2 — are at high risk for developing diabetic retinopathy, the most common cause of… Read More
Gene therapy shows long-term benefit for treating rare blindness
Pioneering gene therapy has restored some vision to patients with a rare form of genetic blindness for as long as four years, raising hopes it could be used to cure common causes of vision loss, new University of Oxford research published today shows. A technique which involves injecting a virus into the eye to deliver… Read More
Surprising central role of darks in brain visual maps
Scientists have been studying how visual space is mapped in the cerebral cortex for many decades under the assumption that the map is equal for lights and darks. Surprisingly, recent work demonstrates that visual brain maps are dark-centric and that, just as stars rotate around black holes in the Universe, lights rotate around darks in… Read More
Can an iPad help you see?
The proportion of older adults with age-related vision loss is estimated to be as high as one in three over the age of 50. In Canada, that’s roughly 3.6 million people. Many of these individuals turn to adaptive devices designed to magnify objects and text, but these devices can be prohibitively expensive, uni-functional and bulky…. Read More
Researchers identify candidate biomarker of accelerated onset diabetic retinopathy
Researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Schepens Eye Research Institute have shown an association between a defective myogenic response — the regulatory increase or decrease in blood pressure to keep blood flow within the vessels of the retina constant — and early, accelerated development of retinopathy in patients with type 1 diabetes. These findings,… Read More
The invisible world of human perception
Stage magicians are not the only ones who can distract the eye: a new cognitive psychology experiment demonstrates how all human beings have a built-in ability to stop paying attention to objects that are right in front of them. Perception experts have long known that we see much less of the world than we think… Read More
Stem cells used to identify cellular processes related to glaucoma
Using stem cells derived from human skin cells, researchers led by Jason Meyer, assistant professor of biology, along with graduate student Sarah Ohlemacher of the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, have successfully demonstrated the ability to turn stem cells into retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), the neurons that conduct visual information from the… Read More
April is Sports Eye Injury Awareness Month
Parents and coaches play an important role in making sure young athletes protect their eyes and properly gear up for the game. Protective eyewear should be part of any uniform because it plays such an important role in reducing sports-related eye injury. Eye injuries are the leading cause of blindness in children in the United… Read More
Discovery identifies new treatment target for age-releated macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s
For the first time, researchers at LSU Health New Orleans have shown that a protein critical to the body’s ability to remove waste products from the brain and retina is diminished in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), after first making the discovery in an Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain. The research team, led by Walter Lukiw, PhD,… Read More
Eye cells may use math to detect motion
Our eyes constantly send bits of information about the world around us to our brains where the information is assembled into objects we recognize. Along the way, a series of neurons in the eye uses electrical and chemical signals to relay the information. In a study of mice, National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists showed… Read More
