Salk scientists map the frontiers of vision

There’s a 3-D world in our brains. It’s a landscape that mimics the outside world, where the objects we see exist as collections of neural circuits and electrical impulses.

Now, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are using new tools they developed to chart that world, a key step in revolutionizing research into the neurological basis of vision.

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Breakthrough in treatment to prevent blindness

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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Novel approach to treat proliferative vitreoretinopathy shows promise

Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR), or the formation of scar tissue within the eye, is a serious, sight-threatening complication in patients recovering surgical repair of retinal detachment. A new study conducted by investigators at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, published in the December issue of the American Journal of Pathology, suggests that a cocktail containing reagents to neutralize a relatively small subset of vitreal growth factors and cytokines may be an effective treatment.

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Laser’s precision and simplicity could revolutionize cataract surgery

Two new studies add to the growing body of evidence that a new approach to cataract surgery may be safer and more efficient than today’s standard procedure. The new approach, using a special femtosecond laser, is FDA-approved, but not yet widely available in the United States. It’s one of the hottest topics this week at the 115th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Research reported today by William W. Culbertson, MD, of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine, and by Mark Packer, MD, of Oregon Health and Sciences University, confirms several advantages of laser cataract surgery.

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Wayne State announces license agreement for breakthrough approaches to vision restoration

DETROIT — RetroSense Therapeutics, LLC, a Michigan-based company, announced that it has executed its exclusive, worldwide option and signed a license agreement for novel gene-therapy approaches for treating blindness developed at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine.

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Cell-specific mechanism-based gene therapy approach to treat retinitis pigmentosa

In a paper published in the October 2011 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, a team of researchers at Columbia University Medical Center led by Stephen Tsang, MD, Ph.D have achieved temporary functional preservation of photoreceptors in a mouse model for retinitis pigmentosa (RP) using novel bipartite gene therapy.

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Cocaine users have 45 percent increased risk of glaucoma

A study of the 5.3 million men and women seen in Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinics in a one-year period found that use of cocaine is predictive of open-angle glaucoma, the most common type of glaucoma.

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Potential new eye tumor treatment discovered

Baltimore, MD — New research from a team including several Carnegie scientists demonstrates that a specific small segment of RNA could play a key role in the growth of a type of malignant childhood eye tumor called retinoblastoma. The tumor is associated with mutations of a protein called Rb, or retinoblastoma protein. Dysfunctional Rb is also involved with other types of cancers, including lung, brain, breast and bone. Their work, which will be the cover story of the August 15th issue of Genes & Development, could result in a new therapeutic target for treating this rare form of cancer and potentially other cancers as well.

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OHSU scientists discover new role for vitamin C in the eye — and the brain

In a surprising finding, vitamin C is found to prolong proper functioning of retinal cells

Portland, Ore. — Nerve cells in the eye require vitamin C in order to function properly — a surprising discovery that may mean vitamin C is required elsewhere in the brain for its proper functioning, according to a study by scientists at Oregon Health & Science University recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

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Twin study shows lifestyle, diet can significantly influence course of macular degeneration

Even individuals with a high genetic risk can make a difference in their disease progression

BOSTON — Eating a diet high in vitamin D, as well as the nutrients betaine and methionine, might help reduce the risk of macular degeneration, according to new research conducted by Tufts Medical Center scientists. Their study of identical twins from the US World War II Twin Registry also found that the more a person smoked, the higher their risk of developing macular degeneration. The study, “Smoking, Dietary Betaine, Methionine, and Vitamin D in Monozygotic Twins with Discordant Macular Degeneration: Epigenetic Implications” published in the journal Ophthalmology on July 1, is the first to look at identical twin pairs in which one twin had early age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and the other had late stage AMD.

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