Category: Eye Health / Blindness

Every year, in Germany alone, around 7000 people wait for a new cornea to save their eyesight. But donor corneas are in short supply. In an EU project, researchers have developed an artificial cornea which is to be clinically tested in early 2008.A patient whose cornea is damaged through a congenital malformation, hereditary disease or corrosion is at risk of going blind. One solution is to implant a donor cornea.

Every year, in Germany alone, around 7000 people wait for a new cornea to save their eyesight. But donor corneas are in short supply. In an EU project, researchers have developed an artificial cornea which is to be clinically tested in early 2008.A patient whose cornea is damaged through a congenital malformation, hereditary disease or corrosion is at risk of going blind. One solution is to implant a donor cornea.

Children of women with hypothyroidism an under active thyroid who had elevated thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy, had a significantly reduced ability to see visual contrasts, compared to women with hypothyroidism with normal TSH levels during the first two trimesters, and pregnant women with normal thyroid levels, according to a new study being presented on Thursday, Oct.

Glaucoma Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding a cure for glaucoma, announced that it has met the Standards for Charity Accountability of the Better Business Bureau (BBB). As a result, GRF has earned the right to feature the BBB Wise Giving Alliance Seal on its website and printed materials.”At GRF, we believe strongly in organizational transparency,” said President and CEO Thomas M. Brunner.

Loss of acuity in hearing and vision is a common accompaniment to aging. While only an estimated one in every 1,000 people under the age of 45 has visual impairment, one in every 13 people over the age of 65 does, according to the American Foundation for the Blind. Hearing suffers a similar decline: among people aged 65 to 74, 23 percent have trouble hearing; after age 75, the figure climbs to nearly 40 percent.

Phylonix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that it has been awarded a $1,092,031 Phase II Small Business Innovation Grant (SBIR) from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop zebrafish eye disease models for drug screening. The grant for “New Models for Eye Diseases” will support the Phylonix program over a period of three years.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology has joined the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA) and other veteran’s service organizations in support of legislation that would establish a Center of Excellence within the Department of Defense (DoD) to improve the tracking, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up for service members who have incurred eye injuries while serving on active duty. The “Military Eye Trauma Treatment Act of 2007,” (H.R. 3558) introduced in the House today by Rep.

When a child is farsighted or has astigmatism or has both conditions in both eyes, bilateral amblyopia may develop. In contrast to single-eye amblyopia or “lazy eye,” where one eye presents an unclear image to the brain, bilateral amblyopia affects both eyes and is less common.

A study by researchers at UCL (University College London) explains why humans see illusions by showing that virtual robots trained to ’see’ correctly also - as a consequence - make the same visual mistakes that we do. The study, published in the latest edition of PLoS Computational Biology, shows that illusions are an inevitable consequence of evolving useful behaviour in a complex world.

An inflammatory eye condition that is one of the world’s leading causes of blindness could be treated much more effectively and easily thanks to a new discovery here.In experiments with laboratory rats, scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have developed a potential new therapy for uveitis — the inflammation of the uvea, a layer of tissue that lies just below the outer surface of the eyeball and includes the iris.