News by Subject Medicine & Health

By combining two imaging modalities -- adaptive optics and angiography -- investigators at the National Eye Institute (NEI) can see live neurons, epithelial cells, and blood vessels deep in the eye's light-sensing retina. Resolving these tissues and cells in the outermost region of the retina in such unprecedented detail promises to transform the detection and treatment of diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness among the elderly.

Cataracts surgery is a modern-day medical marvel, but even 10 years after a procedure, so-called secondary cataracts can form. UD researchers are identifying what's behind that and how to stop it.

The most common test for glaucoma can underestimate the severity of the condition by not detecting the presence of central vision loss, also known as macular degeneration, according to a new Columbia University study.

A new era in the management of glaucoma is ushered in by a landmark study published in the Journal of Glaucoma, Official Journal of the World Glaucoma Association. Patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) showed significant improvements of both ocular and general health after participating in a program of mindful meditation focused on breathing compared to the control group that did not partake.

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, have discovered that neurons located in the vision centers of the brains of blind rats functioned normally following fetal retina cell transplants, indicating the successful restoration of vision. The research was published today in JNeurosci, the Journal of Neuroscience.

Sheets of fetal cells integrate into the retina and generate nearly normal visual activity in the brains of blind rats, reports new research published in JNeurosci.