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The next time you're sipping your favorite hot beverage, consider what it Dr. Lisa Zhuoting Zhu has found a positive link between coffee and tea consumption and the thickness of our macular retinal nerve fiber layer. The macula is the central part of the retina at the back of the eye that gives us sharp central vision. The retinal nerve fiber layer is a thin layer of nerve cells that transmit visual information from the eye to the brain. "Our findings indicate if we consume two to three cups of coffee or more than four cups of tea per day,...

Drug repurposing shows promise in the treatment of retinal degenerations, according to a new study. A combination treatment incorporating three existing drugs—tamsulosin, metoprolol and bromocriptine—slowed disease progression in pre-clinical retinopathy models. Drug repurposing refers to the use of existing drugs to treat diseases or conditions that they were not originally developed or approved for. The new study focused on drug repurposing in the context of inherited retinal degenerations, IRDs. IRDs are a group of genetic diseases that cause the deterioration of retinal anatomy and function, leading to gradual loss of vision and often blindness. Most IRDs are currently inaccessible therapeutically,...

Researchers have found a potential link between putative retinal gliosis and Alzheimer's disease. The study demonstrates that putative retinal gliosis could be a sign of Alzheimer's disease-related neuroinflammation, an inflammatory response within the brain or spinal cord. Putative retinal gliosis refers to changes in the retina caused by activation of glial cells, which are support cells that become activated when there is damage or disease in the retina. In this study, Edmund Arthur, O.D., Ph.D. found that presumed neuroinflammation was larger in the retina of preclinical Alzheimer's disease patients compared to similarly aged controls, like from postmortem tissues and animal...

A team of researchers argue that vitamin supplements can help prevent secondary strokes. They also advocate for the value of new technologies in eye research to verify these findings. Homocysteine is an amino acid associated with stroke and secondary stroke when elevated above normal levels. B vitamins and folate, also known as vitamin B9, can help lower levels of homocysteine and stroke, according to a peer-reviewed editorial. Elevated homocysteine is the result of genetic mutations or inadequate stores of vitamins B6, B12, folate and riboflavin (B2). Lowering it is relatively inexpensive because it can be achieved through vitamin supplementation. The...

In a recent randomized, controlled human study, consuming grapes for 16 weeks improved key markers of eye health in older adults. The study looked at the impact of regular consumption of grapes on macular pigment accumulation and other biomarkers of eye health. This is the first human study on this subject, and the results reinforce earlier, preliminary studies where consuming grapes was found to protect retinal structure and function. Science has shown that an aging population has a higher risk of eye disease and vision problems. Key risk factors for eye disease include oxidative stress and high levels of ocular...

a microscopic image of a retina. It looks like an orange circle, with red blood vessels...Credit: noon@photo / Adobe Stock / Annelisa Leinbach The path to reversing a common cause of blindness might be in our eyes already — and a new gene therapy shows how to take advantage of it. Retinal degeneration: When light enters the eye, it travels to the retina, where nerve cells called “photoreceptors” convert the light into electrical signals that are eventually sent to the brain. Genetic diseases and other health issues can damage retinal cells. This condition, called “retinal degeneration,” is one of the...

Degenerative retinal disease is a problem for millions of people worldwide, as light-sensitive cells called photoreceptors at the back of the eye die without being replaced. Thanks to new research, a solution to the problem might not be far off. Scientists in Canada have come up with a way to transform dormant support neurons called Müller glial cells into tissues that work like cone photoreceptors, which are required for color perception and visual acuity. While the process has only been tested on mice cells, it could eventually be developed into a therapy that can restore vision in people. Part of...

“It’s not just an affectation and it’s not artistic licence,” says Antico. “I’m actually painting exactly what I see. If it’s a pink flower and then all of a sudden you see a bit of lilac or blue, I actually saw that.” Antico is a tetrachromat, which means she has a fourth colour receptor in her retina compared with the standard three which most people have. While those of us with three of these receptors – called cone cells – have the ability to distinguish around one million different colours, tetrachromats see an estimated 100 million. According to Dr Kimberly...

Damage to the retina is the leading cause of blindness in humans, affecting millions of people around the world. Unfortunately, the retina is one of the few tissues we humans can't grow back. Unlike us, other animals such as zebrafish are able to regenerate this tissue that's so crucial to our power of sight. We share 70 percent of our genes with these tiny little zebrafish, and scientists have just discovered some of the shared genes include the ones that grant zebrafish the ability to grow back their retinas. "Regeneration seems to be the default status, and the loss of...

Currently there are no treatments for Advanced Dry AMD, also known as GA, which can lead to significant central vision loss.The National Eye Institute (NEI), one of the federally funded National Institutes of Health, is launching the first clinical trial in the US for induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), stem cells that are derived from mature human cells. The iPSC in the landmark study are being derived from the patient’s own blood and developed into retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells for the treatment of geographic atrophy (GA), the advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which causes progressive central...

Lou Tomososki was a high school teen in 1962 when his science teacher told the class about a solar eclipse that was going to take place that afternoon, NBC affiliate KGW reported. Tomososki and a friend viewed the partial eclipse outside Marshall High School in Portland. "The sun at that time, at 3:30 p.m., was in the one o’clock position," said Tomososki. "I said to Roger, 'If you stare at it long enough the brightness goes away.'" By that night, both Tomososki and Roger were having vision problems. He said the vision problems never got any worse — but they...

An experimental drug is showing promise against an untreatable eye disease that blinds older adults — and intriguingly, it seems to work in patients who carry a particular gene flaw that fuels the damage to their vision. Age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, is the leading cause of vision loss among seniors, gradually eroding crucial central vision. There are different forms but more than 5 million people worldwide, and a million in the U.S., have an advanced type of so-called "dry" macular degeneration that has no treatment. First patients may notice blurriness when they look straight ahead. Eventually many develop blank...

Also a buckle.

..........Furthermore, the results show, using 9,800 optogenetically stimulated ganglion cell responses, that the combined effect of using the code and high-resolution stimulation is able to bring prosthetic capabilities into the realm of normal image representation.

UNIVERSITY of Sydney researchers could be on to a remedy to fight blindness caused by long-term diabetes. Lead researcher Professor Basil Roufogalis said pharmacy researchers have identified the ancient Tibetan goji berry could help fight diabetic retinopathy. "Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness for people with diabetes, with up to 60 per cent of people living with either type one or type two diabetes developing chronic hyperglycaemia, a condition which can damage retina cells," he said. Prof Roufogalis said the goji berry is abundant in taurine. "We found that goji berry protected against the death of cells caused...

Here we report the dynamic, autonomous formation of the optic cup (retinal primordium) structure from a three-dimensional culture of mouse embryonic stem cell aggregates.

Retinal pigment epithelial cells secrete neurotrophic factors and synthesize dopamine: possible contribution to therapeutic effects of RPE cell transplantation in Parkinson's diseaseRetinal pigment epithelial cells secrete neurotrophic factors and synthesize dopamine: possible contribution to therapeutic effects of RPE cell transplantation in Parkinson's disease

Retinal Coordination: Picture Perfect Presentation of Design by Brian Thomas, M.S.* Evidence abounds that vertebrate eyes cannot be the result of chance formation. Recently, scientists found even more evidence when they discovered that retinal neurons work together to provide the brain with a finely-tuned visual picture...

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 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...