Vision

Remarkable new research into the way environmental factors affect the development of the brain has opened up the possibility that an infant’s future mental abilities and susceptibility to mental illness can be permanently altered by dietary changes in early life. Evidence that changes in early diet can have long term effects on brain structure, verbal IQ, eyesight, appetite regulation and possibly on neurodevelopmental outcome will be presented at the international symposium on Early Nutrition Programming in Granada, Spain (23 April). This is an area of research in which the EC is investing…

BIRMINGHAM, England, April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- - ATTN: Midlands Region Editors Are you currently hiding your creative flair under an easel? Well, now is your chance to let it be seen. Kodak Lens Vision Centres across the Midlands are teaming up with the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA) to discover budding artists in the region. Candidates can enter in three age groups (Under tens; 11 - 17 years; and 18 years and over) and must create a picture around the theme of 'Your World, Through Your Eyes.' Prizes include private expert tuition from the RBSA, professional artist tools and…

PARIS, February 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanofi-aventis announced today that the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design has awarded a 2007 GOOD DESIGN(TM) Award for the new SoloSTAR(R) disposable insulin injection pen for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. "LANTUS(R) SoloSTAR(R) and APIDRA(R) SoloSTAR(R), the results of over four years of intensive development, have been designed in dialogue with patients, nurses and doctors and meet the high standards of the industry," said Paul Jansen, Global Head Medical Devices, sanofi-aventis. "We are proud to receive this prestigious GOOD…

Should we drink at least eight glasses of water a day? Does shaving hair cause it to grow back faster or coarser? Does reading in dim light ruin your eyesight? What percentage of our brains do we use? Do fingernails grow after death? These and other common medical beliefs were tackled in this week’s Christmas issue of the BMJ. Researchers in the United States selected seven medical beliefs, espoused by both physicians and members of the general public, for critical review. They then searched for evidence to support or refute each of these claims. The quality of evidence was taken into account…

Every year, in Germany alone, around 7000 people wait for a new cornea to save their eyesight. But donor corneas are in short supply. In an EU project, researchers have developed an artificial cornea which is to be clinically tested in early 2008. A patient whose cornea is damaged through a congenital malformation, hereditary disease or corrosion is at risk of going blind. One solution is to implant a donor cornea. The central part of the natural cornea is removed in a circular fashion, and the new cornea is inserted and sutured in place. A vast number of patients are affected: every year,…

Researchers have discovered that even the gruesome and brutal lifestyle of the Evarcha culicivora, a blood gorging jumping spider indigenous to East Africa, can’t help but be tempted by that ‘big is beautiful’ mantra no matter what the costs. A study recently published in Ethology found that despite the inherent risk of sexual cannibalism, virgin females were attracted to bigger males when losing their virginity before opting for the safer smaller male as a longer term mate choice. Pick me, pick me. I am too small to eat you. It is quite common for male spiders to fall victim to female…

Planning for a summer delivery for your child? You might want to choose an ophthalmologist along with an obstetrician. If your child is born in the winter or fall, it will have better long-range eyesight throughout its lifetime and less chance of requiring thick corrective glasses, predicts a Tel Aviv University investigation led by Dr. Yossi Mandel, a senior ophthalmologist in the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps. Forming a large multi-center Israeli team, the scientists took data on Israeli youth aged 16-23 and retroactively correlated the incidence of myopia (short-sightedness) with…

People suffering from a severe retinal disease will sooner or later lose their eyesight considerably or even become completely blind. Coordinated by the geneticist Ronald Roepman from Nijemegen, an international team has identified a further gene for the inherited retinal disease Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) and discovered evidence how it functions. This represents new opportunities for gene therapy, a very promising approach for LCA since the disease is caused by a single mutation. LCA causes blindness very early on – often shortly after or within a few months of birth. The disease can…

Tears protect and lubricate the cornea and conjunctiva of the eye and help provide a clear medium through which we see. When human tears break up too quickly, eyes feel gritty, hot and scratchy -- even eyesight can become blurry. For many people the solution has been to use artificial tears, but they're expensive and they don't last as long the real thing. Associate Professor Millar, from the School of Natural Sciences, says the interaction between the liquid tear and air holds the key to slowing the 'break-up time' of tears. "At the surface of all liquids, including tears, molecules are…

Michael Marmor, MD, wanted to know what it was like to see through the eyes of an artist. Literally. After writing two books on the topic of artists and eye disease, the Stanford University School of Medicine ophthalmologist decided to go one step further and create images that would show how artists with eye disease actually saw their world and their canvases. Combining computer simulation with his own medical knowledge, Marmor has recreated images of some of the masterpieces of the French impressionistic painters Claude Monet and Edgar Degas who continued to work while they struggled with…