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There is an adverse association between calcium channel blocker (CCB) use and glaucoma, according to a study. Alan Kastner, M.D. and colleagues examined the association between systemic CCB use and glaucoma and related traits in a population-based cross-sectional study involving U.K. Biobank participants with complete data for analysis of glaucoma status, intraocular pressure (IOP), and optical coherence tomography-derived inner retinal layer thicknesses. Data were included for 427,480 adults (median age, 58 years), including 33,175 CCB users (7.8 percent). The researchers found that use of CCBs, but not other antihypertensive agents, was associated with increased odds of glaucoma after adjustment for...

International research led by QIMR Berghofer has found hundreds of new genes linked to a person's risk of developing glaucoma, including key genetic targets that could, for the first time, pave the way for treatments that prevent the retinal damage that causes blindness. The findings, from the largest-ever global genetic study of the degenerative eye disease, have been published in Nature Genetics. The research significantly advances our understanding of the genetics of glaucoma, building on a previous 2021 study to identify another 185 previously unknown genes linked to glaucoma risk, bringing the total number to 312 genes. "Existing treatments focus...

Purpose The most important variable risk factor for developing glaucoma is intraocular hypertension. Timely lowering of high intraocular pressure (IOP) significantly lowers the likelihood of developing glaucoma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the food supplement Mirtogenol® (Mirtoselect® and Pycnogenol®) on IOP and ocular blood flow in a product evaluation study. Methods Thirty-eight asymptomatic subjects with intraocular hypertension were either given Mirtogenol® (20 subjects) or were not treated (18 subjects). The visual acuity, IOP, and ocular blood flow were measured at two, three, and six months. Results After two months of supplementation with Mirtogenol®, the...

Abstract Citicoline is the generic name of cytidine-5’-diphosphocholine (CDP-choline), an endogenous compound that is able to increase the levels of neurotransmitters in the central nervous system by interacting with the synthesis of cellular membranes phospholipids, especially phosphatidylcholine. Exogenous Citicoline, administered by ingestion or injection, is hydrolyzed and dephosphorylated in order to form cytidine and choline, which resynthesize CDP-choline inside brain cells. It has proven neuroprotective effects in Alzheimer disease, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease, as well as in glaucoma and amblyopia. Citicoline acts as a neuroprotector for those patients with progressive glaucomatous disease in spite of well-controlled intraocular pressure. The purpose...

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is the most common form, and yet the cause of this disease is poorly understood. Findings from previous genome-wide association studies suggest that there is a complex metabolic network that affects optic nerve health. Researchers aimed to identify plasma metabolites associated with risk of developing POAG in a case-control study nested within the prospective Nurses' Health Studies and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. This study included 599 participants who developed POAG and 599 matched controls and examined pre-diagnostic circulating plasma metabolites from approximately 10 years before POAG...

The earlier individuals develop type 2 diabetes or hypertension in life, the earlier they are likely to develop primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), the leading cause of irreversible blindness, researchers reported in a recent study. The findings could lead to better screening protocols for POAG, which accounts for up to 90% of all cases of glaucoma. "Currently, we lack the tools to cure glaucoma, but with enough advanced notice, we can preserve patients' vision. Early detection of glaucoma is the key to better control of intraocular pressure and preventing blindness," said Karanjit Kooner, M.D. Tens of millions of people have POAG....

Glaucoma is an irreversible blinding eye disease characterized by progressive ganglion cell death. To date, IOP control has been almost the only clinical option for the treatment of POAG. However, visual field damage continues to progress after lowering IOP in most patients, suggesting the existence of more complex pathogenic mechanisms in glaucoma. Recently, a collaboration between Academician Yang Zhenglin and Professor Zhang Houbin of Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital affiliated with the University of Electronic Science and Technology revealed the important role of cholesterol metabolic homeostasis in the pathogenesis of glaucoma and rescued the ganglion cells of ABCA1 knockout mice after...

Glaucoma is group of eye diseases that cause progressive vision loss through damage to the optic nerve. It is the second-leading cause of blindness. Fruits and veggies are good sources of vitamins A and C, as well as the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin. These can protect against oxidative stress associated with damage to the optic nerve and other tissues of the eye in glaucoma. A study that included 584 Black women found that those who consumed three or more fruit or juice servings daily were 79% less likely to have glaucoma than those who had less than one. Research has...

Glaucoma involves a high risk of losing sight. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and St. Erik Eye Hospital, among others, have now studied the effects of nicotinamide, the amide of vitamin B₃, on animal and cell models for glaucoma. The study, published in Redox Biology, may be a future neuroprotective therapy in glaucoma in humans. A clinical trial will start in the autumn. In glaucoma, the optic nerve, which connects the eye to the brain, is progressively damaged, often in association with elevated pressure inside the eye. The only treatment strategies currently available target the pressure in the eye using eye...

Belkin Laser’s Eagle device delivers healing laser beams quickly and without touching the patient; any ophthalmologist can use it.One hundred and forty million people suffer from glaucoma, a degenerative eye disease that can lead to blindness. It is most prevalent among people aged 60 and up. Glaucoma is generally preventable, either by eye drops or laser surgery. Patients have poor compliance with drops, and laser surgery is cumbersome, uncomfortable and usually performed only by a specialist. Israeli startup Belkin Laser has developed an alternative laser treatment that is fast, guided by sophisticated image-processing software, and can be offered by any...

Proof-of-concept study represents first successful attempt to reverse the aging clock in animals through epigenetic reprogramming. Scientists turned on embryonic genes to reprogram cells of mouse retinas. Approach reversed glaucoma-induced eye damage in animals. Approach also restored age-related vision loss in elderly mice. Work spells promise for using same approach in other tissues, organs beyond the eyes. Success sets stage for treatment of various age-related diseases in humans. ========================================================== ========================================================== Harvard Medical School scientists have successfully restored vision in mice by turning back the clock on aged eye cells in the retina to recapture youthful gene function. The team’s work,...

The potential dangers of the booming use of new technology in the office and at home were outlined by researchers at the Toho University school of medicine in Tokyo, Japan, in the Journal of Epidemiology. They tested 10,000 workers with an average age of 43 as part of a general medical check-up as well as collecting their histories of computer use and eye disease. Just over 5% had visual field abnormalities and there appeared to be a significant link between these and heavy computer use among those with long or short sight. But detailed eye tests revealed that a third...

Ketamine, a drug that is used as an anesthetic, may be a way to safely treat pain, PTSD, depression, and ringing ears (tinnitus), a new study suggests. Since the drug is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it could potentially be available sooner and cost less. “It’s a lot more economical to repurpose drugs than to take a new drug and make it from scratch,” says David E. Potter, professor and chair of pharmaceutical sciences at Texas A&M University’s Rangel College of Pharmacy. “Not only in terms of dollars, but also in terms of time.” And because a...

DENVER (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul courted donors from the new marijuana industry Tuesday, making the Kentucky senator the first major-party presidential candidate to publicly seek support from the legal weed business. Paul's fundraiser at the Cannabis Business Summit - tickets started at $2,700, the maximum donation allowed for the primary contest - came as the marijuana industry approached its first presidential campaign as a legal enterprise....

A new Harvard study has discovered a high incidence of vision problems among men and women who drank three or more cups of coffee a day. The research, published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, http://www.iovs.org/content/53/10/6427.abstract?sid=9dd04ef5-beba-4204-b980-19a9afd4a3aa linked heavy consumption of caffeinated coffee with increased likelihood of developing exfoliation glaucoma, an eye disorder that affects about 10 percent of adults over age 50 and can lead to vision loss or blindness. Specifically, the researchers reported that adults who drank three or more cups of coffee daily were 34 percent more likely to develop exfoliation glaucoma, compared to those who abstained from...

Scientists have confirmed that the healthful substances found in green tea — renowned for their powerful antioxidant and disease-fighting properties — do penetrate into tissues of the eye. Their new report, the first documenting how the lens, retina, and other eye tissues absorb these substances, raises the possibility that green tea may protect against glaucoma and other common eye diseases. It appears in ACS's bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Chi Pui Pang and colleagues point out that so-called green tea "catechins" have been among a number of antioxidants thought capable of protecting the eye. Those include vitamin C,...

Enlarge ImageReversible? Compared to a healthy eye (left), an eye with glaucoma (right) shows evidence of damage to the optic nerve (white region). Credit: Lambiase et al./PNAS In people suffering from glaucoma, damage to the optic nerve can slowly degrade peripheral vision and, in the worst cases, eventually lead to blindness. But eyedrops containing nerve growth factor (NGF)--a protein that promotes the survival and growth of neurons in the developing brain--appear to prevent nerve damage in rats and restore some vision in three human glaucoma patients, the authors of a new study claim. Not everyone thinks the reported effect...

The FDA has approved Latisse, the first drug to promote eyelash growth, according to Allergan, the company that makes Latisse. Latisse, which will be available by prescription starting in the first quarter of 2009, contains the active ingredient of the glaucoma drug Lumigan, which is also made by Allergan. Eyelash growth is a known side effect of Lumigan. But Lumigan and Latisse are used differently. Lumigan is an eyedrop, and Latisse gets dabbed along the lash line on the upper eyelids to promote longer, thicker, darker lashes. Allergan states that "Latisse users can expect to experience longer, fuller, and darker...

A Blind Eye to Prevention By DIANA FURCHTGOTT-ROTH October 22, 2007 Manhattan resident Debora Grobman, a former federal prosecutor and white-collar criminal defense lawyer, had no idea that she was gradually going blind. But in 2006 a routine eye exam revealed that she was suffering from glaucoma, a degenerative eye disease. Her future vision is now dependent on laser surgery — she had one operation last year and may have another — and a daily regimen of five different types of eye drops. Last week Ms. Grobman spoke at a Washington D.C. conference sponsored by the Glaucoma Foundation and the...

Researchers have discovered the genetic flaws that underlie a major type of glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness. By pinpointing what goes wrong, their finding may provide a basis for devising new treatments. The finding is part of a continuing wave of discoveries about the genes underlying common diseases. The wave began this spring as researchers reported the first results using a new device, DNA-scanning chips containing information on up to 500,000 genetically variable sites across the human genome. By comparing the genomes of patients with those of people in good health, researchers can identify which of the variable sites...