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Sleep deprivation, which means getting too little high-quality sleep, is a serious health problem. Sleep deprivation has negative impacts on mental and physical health. Eye problems such as dryness and itching are commonly experienced after episodes of sleep deprivation, while long-term sleep deprivation comes with an increased risk for eye disease. The cornea, which is the transparent tissue layer covering the eye, is essential for assuring health and function of the eye. The cornea is maintained by stem cells, which divide to replace dying cells and to repair small injuries. Corneal stem cell activity needs to be precisely tuned to...

Explanation: Why are the regions above sunspots so hot? Sunspots themselves are a bit cooler than the surrounding solar surface because the magnetic fields that create them reduce convective heating. It is therefore unusual that regions overhead -- even much higher up in the Sun's corona -- can be hundreds of times hotter. To help find the cause, NASA directed the Earth-orbiting Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) satellite to point its very sensitive X-ray telescope at the Sun. Featured here is the Sun in ultraviolet light, shown in a red hue as taken by the orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)....

The visible surface of the Sun, or the photosphere, is around 6,000°C. But a few thousand kilometers above it – a small distance when we consider the size of the Sun – the solar atmosphere, also called the corona, is hundreds of times hotter, reaching a million degrees celsius or higher. This spike in temperature, despite the increased distance from the Sun’s main energy source, has been observed in most stars, and represents a fundamental puzzle that astrophysicists have mulled over for decades. In 1942, the Swedish scientist Hannes Alfvén proposed an explanation. He theorized that magnetized waves of plasma...

...why is its outer atmosphere hotter than its fiery surface? University of Michigan researchers believe they have the answer, and hope to prove it with help from NASA's Parker Solar Probe. In roughly two years, the probe will be the first manmade craft to enter the zone surrounding the sun where heating looks fundamentally different than what has previously been seen in space. This will allow them to test their theory that the heating is due to small magnetic waves travelling back and forth within the zone... Such high temperatures cause the solar atmosphere to swell to many times the...

There are ghostly shapes hidden in magnetic fields. They're not made of stuff in the way a lightning bolt or a beam of light is. A lighting bolt carries a fairly defined group of electrons from the sky all the way to the ground.... But magnetic fields contain things called skyrmions that are different from electrons and photons; a skyrmion is a knot of magnetic field lines looping around each other. As it drifts from one spot to the next, a skyrmion makes itself anew out of the magnetic field lines that are already there. The knot holds together because...

Ulster University scientists have made a remarkable breakthrough which it is hoped could cure hereditary blindness. They have discovered a treatment that can target the gene that leads to corneal dystrophy—a condition that causes cloudy deposits on the cornea. […] Currently, those with corneal dystrophy face a lifetime of treatment and the only option for those who go blind is a corneal transplant from a donor eye, but this has risks and varying success rates. […] But the new treatment, developed by scientists at the University’s School of Biomedical Science, currently involves just one injection into the eye, which destroys...

Boston researchers have successfully regrown human corneal tissue—a feat that could potentially restore vision in the blind. The achievement also marks one of the first times that scientists have constructed tissue using adult-derived human stem cells. In a new study published in the journal Nature, researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear Institute, Boston Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the VA Boston Healthcare System detailed their groundbreaking research. According to the paper, the key to the study’s success revolves around a molecule known as ABCB5, which serves as a biomarker for previously elusive limbal stem cells. Residing in the...

Embedded in your eye is a body part that until recently, no one knew existed.

Corneas made in the laboratory have successfully restored the sight of 10 Swedish patients with significant vision loss.Produced entirely from synthetic collagen, the implants offer the tantalising possibility for a replacement to human donor tissues. The custom-made corneas work by prompting regeneration of the nerves and cells in the eye. This is the first time vision has been restored in this way. > The patients all recovered their sight as well as if they had received human donor corneas. In some respects, recovery of the eye was better than when compared to a human graft. "Nerve regeneration was faster in...

Mumbai: Seven years after its inception amid much fanfare, Reliance Life Sciences, or RLS, is finally rolling out stem cell-based therapies in India, beginning with a treatment that can restore or improve vision. “This is the first commercial stem cell treatment in ophthalmology in the country,” said K.V. Subramaniam, CEO and president, RLS, part of the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance group. The company, which has invested around Rs1,000 crore in the business, has lined up other stem cell therapies for cardiac infarction, diabetic ulcer, and stable vitiligo or leukoderma (a skin disease), among others, to be offered in clinics in the...

ScienceDaily (May 19, 2008) — An improved artificial cornea, which could restore the vision of more than 10 million people worldwide who are blind due to diseased corneas, finally is moving toward reality, scientists in California conclude in a new analysis of research on the topic. Curtis Frank, Christopher Ta, David Myung, and Jennifer Cochran point out that disease or injury to the cornea -- the clear tissue covering the front of the eye -- is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. Although treated in developed countries with transplants from donors, cornea transplants are unavailable in many parts of...

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...

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...

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...

With increasing frequency, American citizens and others from around the globe are experiencing newfound freedom from disease, affliction, and infirmity. Individuals' lives are forever changed with the strengthened faith and renewed hope that arise from healed bodies and physical restoration. These seemingly miraculous cures are the result of adult stem cell treatments. Yet the debates in the popular media tend to ignore and obscure the medical breakthroughs made by adult stem cell research--success that has conspicuously eluded embryonic stem cell treatments.[1]  Adult stem cells (or, more accurately, tissue stem cells) are regenerative cells of the human body that possess the...

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...

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...