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CHICAGO – Almost three months have passed, and the Chicago Police Department appears no closer to solving one of the most bizarre acts of fan-on-fan violence in recent memory. One that left Pittsburgh Steelers fan Zack Heddinger blind, and local authorities searching for a group of Chicago Bears fans that allegedly poisoned him. The frustrating search for clues began a few days after Heddinger passed out at South Loop bar Kitty O’Shea’s, and was taken to Rush University Medical Center following Chicago’s Sept. 20 win over Pittsburgh at Soldier Field. After drinking alcohol that was allegedly offered by a Bears...

Gene Therapy Transforms Eyesight Of 12 People With Rare Visual Defect A single injection in a patient's eye brings 'astounding' results. The findings may offer hope for those with macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. Thomas H. Maugh II October 24, 2009 Pennsylvania researchers using gene therapy have made significant improvements in vision in 12 patients with a rare inherited visual defect, a finding that suggests it may be possible to produce similar improvements in a much larger number of patients with retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. The team last year reported success with three adult patients, an achievement that was...

Blindness first began creeping up on Barbara Campbell when she was a teenager, and by her late 30s, her eye disease had stolen what was left of her sight. Reliant on a talking computer for reading and a cane for navigating New York City, where she lives and works, Ms. Campbell, now 56, would have been thrilled to see something. Anything. Now, as part of a striking experiment, she can. So far, she can detect burners on her stove when making a grilled cheese, her mirror frame, and whether her computer monitor is on. She is beginning an intensive three-year...

Jennifer and Jason Bott knew immediately there was something terribly wrong with their newborn daughter. "Something in my heart said something was wrong," said Jennifer Bott, 31, whose daughter, Emily, was born with slightly misaligned eyes and "cloudy" corneas, a condition that was initially a mystery to the young Vernon parents -- as well as to their doctors. "We were on such a high, to be parents again, and this was like a slap in the face. They didn't alert us of any problems until the next day," added 32-year-old Jason Bott. The Botts eventually learned their daughter, now 20...

Millions of people could have their eyesight saved thanks to ground-breaking laser treatment that has the potential to eradicate the most common cause of blindness. One of Britain's leading eye experts has developed a technique to reverse the disabling effects of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which leaves many older people unable to read, drive or live independently, and eventually robs them of sight in one or both eyes. Professor John Marshall has developed a way of "cleaning" eyes which, due to the ageing process, have accumulated tiny particles of debris which start to cloud their sight. His pioneering technique uses...

BOSTON (June 18, 2009) - Omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish such as tuna and salmon may protect against progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), but the benefits appear to depend on the stage of disease and whether certain supplements are taken, report researchers at the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research (LNVR), Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University. The researchers calculated intakes of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) from dietary questionnaires administered to 2,924 men and women, aged 55 to 80 years, participating in an eight-year supplement trial, the...

Look to the retina as a likely site for the first success in stem-cell therapy. "The eye is the best place to test proof-of-concept for stem cell-based therapies," says Martin Friedlander of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. Friedlander is co-founder of EyeCyte, also in La Jolla, whose investors include industry heavyweight Pfizer. Several laboratories are exploring stem-cell-derived transplants to delay or prevent blindness, and Pfizer recently put up funds for a project nearing human trials at University College London (UCL). Why the eye appeal? As organs go, it is easily accessible, somewhat protected from the immune system's...

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes of blindness in adults, a growing problem as the population ages. Now a team of researchers at the University of Kentucky has raised hope for early detection and preventive treatment. Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati and colleague have discovered a biological marker for AMD, a receptor known as CCR3. They say it shows strong potential as a means for doctors to lesson the impact of the much-feared condition. The findings were reported in an article published online Sunday by the journal Nature. "This is a major paradigm shift in macular degeneration research,"...

Here's something that people with poor or no vision will be excited about: three patients had their sight restored in less than a month by contact lenses cultured with stem cells. All three patients were blind in one eye. The researchers extracted stem cells from their working eyes, cultured them in contact lenses for 10 days, and gave them to the patients. Within 10 to 14 days of use, the stem cells began recolonizing and repairing the cornea. Of the three patients, two were legally blind but can now read the big letters on an eye chart, while the third,...

BRITISH scientists have developed the world’s first stem cell therapy to cure the most common cause of blindness. Surgeons predict it will become a routine, one-hour procedure that will be generally available in six or seven years’ time. The treatment involves replacing a layer of degenerated cells with new ones created from embryonic stem cells. It was pioneered by scientists and surgeons from the Institute of Ophthalmology at University College London and Moorfields eye hospital.

BRITISH scientists have developed the world’s first stem cell therapy to cure the most common cause of blindness. Surgeons predict it will become a routine, one-hour procedure that will be generally available in six or seven years’ time. The treatment involves replacing a layer of degenerated cells with new ones created from embryonic stem cells. It was pioneered by scientists and surgeons from the Institute of Ophthalmology at University College London and Moorfields eye hospital. This week Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical research company, will announce its financial backing to bring the therapy to patients. The treatment will tackle age-related...

One thing that has always astonished me is how leftists can be blind to the wisdom of the very arts they love and sometimes even the arts they create. How can you tell me you’re a Lord of the Rings fan and yet not understand that evil exists and must be defeated? How can you give an Oscar to No Country for Old Men and not realize that nihilistic chaos follows the breakdown of cultural norms and good manners? How can you read 1984 and continue to be a leftist at all? I’ve just finished reading the novel Blindness. Its...

On March 18th, 2006, one day after the fourth of what would be five operations on the only eye which gave me partial sight, a doctor removed the final bandage and I was totally blind. I could not see shadows. I could not see the doctor's head lamp. I was totally blind. In medical terms, I am considered functionally blind and the one certainty I was later to learn was that I would never see my wife's face again. In the years prior to the complete loss of my sight, I imagined what it would be like to be completely...

iZumi Bio has agreed to license some patents from the J. David Gladstone Institutes as they begin to work together on new adult stem cell technology involved in devising cardiovascular therapies. ReportStem cell transplants were used to restore the sight of six blind patients at a London hospital. StorySome 2,500 delegates attended the recent International Society for Stem Cell Research in Philadelphia. And insiders say that the development of induced pluripotent stem cells has clearly energized the entire field. ReleaseIn a new study regarding age-related diseases, researchers identified two key regulatory pathways that control how well adult stem cells...

The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has announced that it is funding a new adult stem-cell treatment that could treat diabetes-induced retinal damage, a leading cause of blindness. Forbes Magazine says that Pfizer is funding the creation of a San Diego biotech company named EyeCyte to develop stem-cell treatments for eye diseases. The company will base its work upon Scripps Research Institute ophthalmologist Martin Friedlander’s research involving stem-cells from blood and bone marrow. EyeCyte will receive about $3 million from Pfizer, which in return has the right of first refusal regarding the new company’s products. In animal experiments, adult stem-cells have shown...

MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. — When 9-year-old Kacie Sallee saw her father's face more clearly for the first time in her life, she had a question. "She said, 'Is that what he looks like?'" said her mother, Marinda Sallee. Kacie, who is blind, returned last week from China, where she received umbilical-cord stem cell treatment in hopes of improving her eyesight. The nearly four-week trip and medical treatment was paid through $60,000 in local donations. Kacie was born with septo-optic dysplasia, an underdevelopment of the optic nerve and pituitary gland. She could see bright colors out of her right eye but...

A new method of adult stem cell growth, designed in the Area of Cellular Therapy of the University Clinic (University of Navarra), has demonstrated its efficacy for its capacity to grow cornea stem cells. So Ana Fernández Hortelano, ophthalmologist at the Hospital demonstrated applying the growth technique in treating diseases of the cornea, using stem cells, in 70 test animals (rabbits). The aim of the procedure was to regain the damaged epithelium and thus restore transparency to the cornea. In concrete, the thesis defended by doctor Fernández Hortelano at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Navarra, proves the...

* During a Braille Institute of Florida summer camp, a Vision Awareness Rally was held at the Bayfront YMCA Center in Punta Gorda. Cameron Petersen, the nonprofit's poster child, along with friends, family and Stem Cells China's vice president of foreign patient relations participated in the forum type event. PUNTA GORDA -- Cameron Petersen smiled quietly from his father's lap as Dr. Gail Ghigna-Hallas explained what is learned at the Braille camp. The 18-month-old poster child for the Braille Institute of Florida bounced and giggled, while Kirshner Ross-Vaden stood up and began telling the room about the stem-cell treatment...

Iowa State University researchers have developed a new technique that successfully treated rats for blindness caused by glaucoma. Their experimental treatment will be used on canine patients in the next year. If successful, it is expected to move to human trials.   An estimated 3 million people in the U. S. are affected by glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness in the developed world and the number one cause of vision loss among blacks. People with elevated intraocular pressure are at greatest risk for developing glaucoma. Iowa State researchers leading the six-year project are Dr. Sinisa Grozdanic, a veterinary ophthalmologist...

The ability of zebrafish to regenerate damaged retinas has given scientists a clue about restoring human vision and could lead to an experimental treatment for blindness within five years. British researchers said on Wednesday they had successfully grown in the laboratory a type of adult stem cell found in the eyes of both fish and mammals that develops into neurons in the retina. In future, these cells could be injected into the eye as a treatment for diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetes-related blindness, according to Astrid Limb of University College London's (UCL) Institute of Ophthalmology. Damage to...

A revolutionary technique being developed by British scientists could cure blindness in millions of people around the world. The first 45-minute operations could take place within five years and could be as commonplace as cataract surgery in a decade. The improvement is likely to be great enough to transform lives, allowing the blind to regain the ability to carry out everyday tasks such as reading or driving. The pioneering stem cell surgery tackles age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of blindness in the elderly. There are about 300,000 sufferers in this country and the number is expected to...

London, England (LifeNews.com) -- British scientists hope to use embryonic stem cells to cure blind patients age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness among elderly people. However, other doctors have already used adult stem cell research to treat blind patients and their conditions have vastly improved. Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells within the eye play a vital role in the survival and maintenance of the rods and cones that detect light and color. Death of RPE cells may lead to the condition known as AMD. The British researchers hope to develop the embryonic stem cells, which can only...

Stem cells derived from bone marrow and intrastromally injected into the corneas of mice can differentiate into keratocan-producing cells, according to an experimental study by researchers at the University of Cincinnati. Winston Whei-Yang Kao, PhD, and colleagues investigated whether bone marrow stem cells could differentiate into cells that expressed keratocan, a characteristic of corneal keratocytes. The study involved Kera-/- mice. Hongshan Liu, PhD, a research scientist in the university's ophthalmology department, presented their findings at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting. The researchers found that, after 1 week, the abnormal corneas of animals injected with the stem...

Eva Rutland wrote her name in a careful scrawl on the first page of her memoir, "When We Were Colored: A Mother's Story," and included an endearment for her old friend Ruth Hill Thompson. Rutland, who is blind, could be forgiven the poor penmanship. When Thompson quickly checked the signature, as if to verify its authenticity, Rutland protested: "I can write my name!" And a great deal more. The 90-year-old graduate of Spelman College, who joined the 70th reunion of the class of 1937 (the most senior alumna to attend this year's graduation ceremonies), pursued a part-time career as a...

Cincinnati - Adult bone marrow stem cells may help cure certain genetic eye diseases, according to UC researchers. Scientists have completed a study using mice which showed that bone marrow stem cells can switch roles and produce keratocan, a natural protein involved in the growth of the cornea—the transparent, outer layer of the eyeball. This ability of marrow cells to “differentiate” into keratocan-producing cells might provide a means for treating abnormal corneal cell growth in people. Winston Whei-Yang Kao, PhD, professor of ophthalmology, and Hongshan Liu, PhD, research scientist in the department of ophthalmology, will present their findings at the...

A BRITISH hospital has made the world's first attempt to treat blindness with a revolutionary gene therapy. Surgeons at the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London operated on Robert Johnson, who was born with a rare sight disorder known as Leber’s congenital amaurosis (LCA), which deteriorates with age. Mr Johnson, 23, who had genes inserted into one eye, could see only outlines during the day and very little at night before having the procedure yesterday. He is one of a dozen young patients selected for the first clinical trial to test the new therapy, which has already proved successful at restoring...

MELBOURNE, April 18, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A man's vision has been restored by a corneal patch grown from adult stem cells by a team at the University of Melbourne's Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) and the Bernard O'Brien Institute of Microsurgery (BOBIM). The patch, which replicates the cornea, was cultivated from a single stem cell from a donor eye and was transplanted to the surface of the man's eyes. The research team was led by Dr Mark Daniell (CERA) and Dr Erik Thompson (BOBIM). The process, known as a limbal stem cell transplant, is thought to be the first...

Please join me in prayer for Antoinette who has lost vision in her right eye due to macular degeneration. I pray to Almighty God that this is a temporary situation only and that vision will be restored through the healing power of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A bionic eye implant that could help restore the sight of millions of blind people could be available to patients within two years. US researchers have been given the go-ahead to implant the prototype device in 50 to 75 patients. The Argus II system uses a spectacle-mounted camera to feed visual information to electrodes in the eye. Patients who tested less-advanced versions of the retinal implant were able to see light, shapes and movement. "What we are trying to do is take real-time images from a camera and convert them into tiny electrical pulses that would jump-start the otherwise blind...

A bionic eye implant that could help restore the sight of millions of blind people could be available to patients within two years. US researchers have been given the go-ahead to implant the prototype device in 50 to 75 patients. The Argus II system uses a spectacle-mounted camera to feed visual information to electrodes in the eye. Patients who tested less-advanced versions of the retinal implant were able to see light, shapes and movement. "What we are trying to do is take real-time images from a camera and convert them into tiny electrical pulses that would jump-start the otherwise...

Scientists say they've restored the vision of blind mice by introducing light-sensitive cells into the rodents' retinas.       These "photoreceptor precursor cells" are not undifferentiated stem cells but come from a later stage of cell development when stem cells have already "committed" to being a particular cell type -- in this case the rod-and-cone photoreceptors the eye uses to sense light.The study invigorates the search for cell transplants that might someday restore the vision of millions of people who suffer from a loss of these photoreceptors.  "We think this is a major breakthrough because it shows what can be achieved," said...

Transplant of limbal stem cells offers hope to patients with corneal disorders. Photo: K. GopinathanUnique capacity: A part of the eye constantly renews itself.CAN you imagine a part of your eye that constantly renews itself for the whole of your life? Half the cells are replaced every two months under normal conditions. The cells replicate fast and move across the surface at an incredible speed of 60 to 80 mm per hour. These are the properties of the Corneal epithelium — the outermost layer, or "skin" of your cornea, composed of five to six layers of specialised cells that...

“After every Diwali, a large number people are blinded while bursting fire crackers. There are others who suffer from blindness due to chemical burns. But there is a ray of hope for such patients,” said Dr Radhika Tandon, Additional Professor, Ophthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at the national symposium on stem cells being held at Panjab University. “Standard corneal transplant does not work in cases where blindness is due to chemical burning. But stem cell transplant can prove to be effective,” she said, adding that stem cell transplants do not ensure a perfect vision, but the patient...

Overweight and obese people should be aware that their unhealthy lifestyle could put their eyesight at risk, scientists say. It is common knowledge that expanding waistlines are linked to conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. But research shows that obesity is also linked to eye problems, which could lead to loss of eyesight. Two Israeli ophthalmologists are now warning that the prospect of eye disease should also be a powerful incentive to lose weight. Professor Michael Belkin and Dr Zohar Habot-Wilner, from the Goldschleger Eye Institute at the Sheba Medical Centre, reviewed more than 20 studies involving thousands...

UF finding could lead to approaches to treat macular degeneration GAINESVILLE, Fla. - University of Florida scientists conducting experiments with mice have found evidence that the body naturally replenishes small amounts of cells in the eye essential for healthy vision. The finding may shatter the belief that a cell layer vital for eyesight called the retinal pigment epithelium, or RPE, is a nonrenewable resource, say researchers writing in a recent issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. RPE plays a vital role in our visual health by forming the outer barrier of the retina and supporting the function of cells...

Scientists are taking the first major step in using stem cells to replace retinal cells lost to degenerative eye diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. According to findings published today, researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle can reliably make retinal cells from embryonic stem cells. The researchers are now implanting the cells into blind animals to see if the cells can restore vision. "This work is the first step toward retinal reconstitution," says Stephen Rose, chief research officer at the Foundation Fighting Blindness, a nonprofit funding agency based in Owings Mills, MD. ~snip~ According to a...

Marion Kleinfeld got up one Sunday morning, picked up the newspaper, settled down to read it, and couldn't see the words. Kleinfeld, 79, of Delray Beach, Fla., already blind in her right eye, lost sight in her other eye because of a condition called wet age-related macular degeneration, AMD, the leading cause of blindness in people over 55. Leaking blood vessels in the back of the eye cause a large black spot in the center of vision. "I could not see at all. It was very frightening," she said. After years of having to tell patients losing their eyesight to...

Another Point of View: Evangelical Blindness on Lebanon The academic dean of the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary is angry at evangelical Christians, Israel, Hezbollah, the U.S., and the international community. by Martin Accad ------------------------------------ Note: When covering international crises, such as the current fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Christianity Today takes care to listen to evangelical Christian leaders in the places most affected. We may find their views corrective, provocative, or even abhorrent at times, but in each case we learn about areas where we stand together and areas where we disagree. In the case of this submission from Martin...

ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- The first drug shown to significantly improve the vision of patients threatened by a major cause of blindness in the elderly won federal approval Friday. The drug, called Lucentis, treats the wet form of age-related macular degeneration, a disorder where blood vessels behind the retina leak blood and fluid, worsening vision and often causing blindness. An estimated 90 percent of the 1.4 million Americans who have lost their eyesight due to the disorder have the wet form. Lucentis, made by Genentech, Inc., a South San Francisco, Calif., biotechnology company, inhibits the growth of blood vessels when...

Jefferson can find hope in past caseFriday, May 26, 2006 Lolis Eric Elie "There are two sides to every story," Congressman William Jefferson said Monday. I doubt anybody would disagree with that general sentiment. But unanimity may have been lost when the New Orleans Democrat tried to apply that platitude to the specifics of his own situation. We've heard only the FBI's side, but it's pretty compelling. The feds say they have a videotape showing Jefferson accepting a $100,000 bribe. They also say most of that money ended up in Jefferson's freezer. Two of Jefferson's former associates have pleaded guilty....

NEW DELHI: Age-related degeneration of vision has been a common problem, which so far has no cure. However, an ongoing stem cell study at AIIMS might just provide a solution. For about six months now, Dr Rajender Prasad Centre for Opthalmic Sciences at AIIMS has been studying the effect of stem cells in patients who suffer from degenerative vision disorders — the patients taken in the Phase I of study can’t see beyond 3 metre and according to the WHO classification are termed ‘blind’. The study is being conducted on patients who have age-related vision loss or are affected by...

ENGLAND: The day is coming when British Muslims form a state within a state By Alasdair Palmer The Telegraph Group February 19, 2006 For the past two weeks, Patrick Sookhdeo has been canvassing the opinions of Muslim clerics in Britain on the row over the cartoons featuring images of Mohammed that were first published in Denmark and then reprinted in several other European countries. "They think they have won the debate," he says with a sigh. "They believe that the British Government has capitulated to them, because it feared the consequences if it did not. "The cartoons, you see, have...

THE uncanny ability of blind people to "sense" unseen objects has been demonstrated for the first time in sighted volunteers whose vision was blanked out by scientists. The findings suggest "blindsight", which has been observed in blind people whose eyes function normally but who have suffered damage to the brain's visual centre, is a real and not imagined phenomenon. In tests, the blind have been able to distinguish basic shapes of objects they cannot see, as well as their orientation and direction of motion. On other occasions a blind person has reported experiencing a "feeling" that an object is present,...

The GOP Could Lose in '06 Have congressional Republicans lost their way? With Rep. Tom DeLay's forced departure as majority leader, Newt Gingrich says, the Republican Party stands at a crossroads as important as any it has faced since nominating Ronald Reagan for president in 1980. "It must decide if it is going to be a party that fundamentally reforms government or one that merely presides over existing institutions and spends more money," he says. Which path the GOP now takes may determine not only how much damage it suffers in next year's elections but also whether it can hold...

Researchers have finally found evidence for what good Catholic boys have known all along – erotic images make you go blind. According to a report in New Scientist, the research has added to road-safety campaigners' calls to ban sexy billboard-advertising near busy roads, in the hope of preventing accidents. The new study by US psychologists found that people shown erotic or gory images frequently fail to process images they see immediately afterwards. And the researchers say some personality types appear to be affected more than others by the phenomenon, known as "emotion-induced blindness". David Zald, from Vanderbilt University in Nashville,...

Answering concern about reports of a rare form of sudden blindness afflicting men who had taken erectile dysfunction medications Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning label to adorn all new packaging. The particular form of blindness, non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), is caused by lack of blood flow to the optic nerve and is most common in the elderly, especially among those suffering from diabetes or high blood pressure. The condition affects an estimated 1,000 to 6,000 Americans a year. After 38 Viagra users reported sudden vision impairment soon after taking the drug,...

WASHINGTON - Federal health officials are examining rare reports of blindness among some men using the impotence drugs Viagra and Cialis, a disclosure that comes at a time when the drug industry can ill afford negative publicity about another class of blockbuster medicines. ADVERTISEMENT The Food and Drug Administration still is investigating, but has no evidence yet that the drug is to blame, said spokeswoman Susan Cruzan. This type of blindness is called NAION, or non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. It can occur in men who are diabetic or have heart disease, the same conditions that can cause impotence and...

Stem cells used to restore vision A hospital in West Sussex is pioneering the use of stem cells to restore the eyesight of patients. The trial, being carried out at the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, has already helped 40 people see again. The surgery at the hospital has been developed over the past five years. Stem cells from the patient or a donor are used to redevelop the cornea, the transparent film at the front of the eye which lets in light. Opthalmic surgeon Sheraz Daya said: "Many people who've had injuries to their eyes, or even people born...

Fourteen men reportedly have had vision loss while taking the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, say ophthalmologists at the University of Minnesota. The men lost only part of their vision. Cases appear to be very rare. Most of the affected men had other health problems and the structure of their optic nerve (the nerve that handles vision) raised their risk of the condition. “The number of cases is extremely small,” says Howard Pomeranz, MD, PhD, who details seven of those cases in a new report. The condition is called nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION). “The likelihood of this happening in...

Solar Cell Implant May Restore Some Sight for the Blind CHICAGO-Ophthalmologists at Rush University Medical Center implanted Artificial Silicon Retina (ASR) microchips in the eyes of five patients to treat vision loss caused by retinitis pigmentosa (RP). The implant is a silicon microchip 2mm in diameter and one-thousandth of an inch thick, less than the thickness of a human hair. Four patients had surgery Tuesday, January 25. The fifth patient is scheduled for a later date. Rush principal investigator Dr. John Pollack performed the surgeries with Dr. Kirk Packo, Dr. Pauline Merrill, Dr. Mathew MacCumber, and Dr. Jack Cohen. All...