MedicineWorld.Org brings daily ophthalmology news from various sources to keep you updated on the latest events in the world on this topic. Medicineworld ophthalmology news service is the most comprehensive ophthalmology news service on the internet. We keep an archive of previous few days of news on this site. Please go down through the list to find the older news items. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT en-us http://medicineworld.org/images/ophthalmology-news.jpg 120 82 http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/the-worlds-most-common-operation.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/the-worlds-most-common-operation.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT As a number of as 10 million people around the world suffer from cataracts. Thomas Kohnen of the Goethe University in Frankfurt and his coauthors discuss cataract surgery with the implantation of an artificial lens in the current issue of Deutsches rzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2009; 106[43]: 695and#65533;)........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/research-study-on-near-vision.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/research-study-on-near-vision.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT The Cornea and Laser Eye Institute is participating in a research study to determine if an investigational corneal inlay can safely and effectively reduce the need for reading glasses. Dr. Peter Hersh, the study doctor, will perform the procedures. The investigational AcuFocus Corneal Inlay (ACI) is intended to improve near vision in patients with presbyopia, which is the loss of near vision, and reduce dependency on reading glasses. Qualified participants will receive the procedure at no charge........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/6-2009/how-the-brain-processes-what-the-eye-sees.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/6-2009/how-the-brain-processes-what-the-eye-sees.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT Scientists at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN) at Rutgers University in Newark have identified the need to develop a new framework for understanding "perceptual stability" and how we see the world with their discovery that visual input obtained during eye movements is being processed by the brain but blocked from awareness........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/4-2009/how-the-retina-works-like-a-multi-layered-jigsaw-puzzle.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/4-2009/how-the-retina-works-like-a-multi-layered-jigsaw-puzzle.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT About 1.25 million neurons in the retina -- each of which views the world only through a small jagged window called a receptive field -- collectively form the seamless picture we rely on to navigate our environment. Receptive fields fit together like pieces of a puzzle, preventing "blind spots" and excessive overlap that could blur our perception of the world, as per scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2009/vision-therapy-to-combat-vision-problems.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2009/vision-therapy-to-combat-vision-problems.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT You've probably been there. In a doctor's office, being advised to do what you dread exercise. You get that feeling in your gut, acknowledging that, indeed, you should exercise but probably won't. Now imagine that the doctor is your optometrist. Don't clean your glasses. You read that right. Eye exercises are used to treat a variety of vision disorders, as per Dr. Janice Wensveen, clinical associate professor at the University of Houston's College of Optometry........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2009/action-video-games-improve-vision.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2009/action-video-games-improve-vision.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT To learn whether high-action games could affect contrast sensitivity, Bavelier, in collaboration with graduate student Renjie Li and his colleagues Walt Makous, professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, and Uri Polat, professor at the Eye Institute at Tel Aviv University, tested the contrast sensitivity function of 22 students, then divided them into two groups: One group played the action video games "Unreal Tournament 2004" and "Call of Duty 2." The second group played "The Sims 2," which is a richly visual game, but does not include the level of visual-motor coordination of the other group's games. The volunteers played 50 hours of their assigned games over the course of 9 weeks. At the end of the training, the students who played the action games showed an average 43% improvement in their ability to discern close shades of grayclose to the difference she had previously observed between game players and non-game playerswhereas the Sims players showed none........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2009/retinal-dark-cells-imagined.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2009/retinal-dark-cells-imagined.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT A layer of "dark cells" in the retina that is responsible for maintaining the health of the light-sensing cells in our eyes has been imaged in a living retina for the first time. The ability to see this nearly invisible layer could help doctors identify the onset of a number of diseases of the eye long before a patient notices symptoms. The findings are reported today's issue of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2009/how-vision-sends-its-message-to-the-brain.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2009/how-vision-sends-its-message-to-the-brain.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT Researchers have known for more than 200 years that vision begins with a series of chemical reactions when light strikes the retina, but the specific chemical processes have largely been a mystery. A team of scientists from the United States and Switzerland, have she new light on this process by "capturing" this chemical communication for future study. This research, reported in the February 2009 issue of The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), may lead to the development of new therapys for some forms of blindness and vision disorders........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2009/eye-injuries-caused-by-paintballs.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2009/eye-injuries-caused-by-paintballs.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT Paintballs can cause severe and 'visually devastating' eye injuries, particularly when used in unsupervised settings without proper eye protection, reports a study in the recent issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology (www.AJO.com), published by Elsevier. "Eye injuries secondary to high-velocity paintballs can cause tremendous damage to vital ocular structures often requiring extensive surgical intervention," comments Dr. Kyle J. Alliman of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "Unfortunately, visual loss is often permanent"........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/1-2009/when-do-older-drivers-stop-driving.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/1-2009/when-do-older-drivers-stop-driving.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT With 30 million drivers in the US aged 65 and over, we count on older Americans to recognize when they can no longer drive safely and decide that it's time to stay off the road. A newly released study finds that a decrease in vision function is a key factor in bringing about this decision. The Salisbury Eye Evaluation and Driving Study (SEEDS), conducted by scientists affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, looked at changes in vision, cognition and the general health status of more than 1,200 licensed drivers aged 67-87 in Salisbury, MD, a community with limited public transportation. SEEDS is unique, in that the scientists performed comprehensive tests of both vision and cognitive function........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/10-2008/atomic-resolution-views-suggest-function-of-enzyme.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/10-2008/atomic-resolution-views-suggest-function-of-enzyme.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT An atomic-resolution view of an enzyme found only in the eye has given scientists at the University of Washington (UW) clues about how this enzyme, essential to vision, is activated. The enzyme, phosphodiesterase 6 (PDE6), is central to the way light entering the retina is converted into a cascade of signals to the brain........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/9-2008/rural-hiv-care-has-economic.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/9-2008/rural-hiv-care-has-economic.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT An Indiana University study observed that HIV care providers in rural Indiana report significant stigma and discrimination in the rural medical referral system surrounding issues of HIV and substance abuse. Providers felt that these factors impeded their ability to offer quality care to their patients........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/9-2008/keeping-nerve-axons-on-target.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/9-2008/keeping-nerve-axons-on-target.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT Neurons constituting the optic nerve wire up to the brain in a highly dynamic way. Cell bodies in the developing retina sprout processes, called axons, which extend toward visual centers in the brain, lured by attractive cues and making U-turns when they take the wrong path. How they find targets so accurately is a central question of neuroscience today........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/9-2008/spirituality-is-important-to-eye-patients.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/9-2008/spirituality-is-important-to-eye-patients.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT Patients visiting an ophthalmologist report that prayer is important to their well-being and that God plays a positive role in illness, as per a report in the recent issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Ethical medical practice includes doctor behavior, beyond technical competence, that promotes healing and optimizes the patient's welfare," the authors write as background information in the article. "The doctor who respects the patient as a person with dignity must acknowledge the patient's value system to establish a relationship that permits conversations that nourish trust for joint therapeutic decision making. For a number of patients, religion and spirituality is important to their value system and may represent a unique source of motivation and coping with life events, including the experience of personal illness (illness refers to the response of a patient to a disease)"........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/7-2008/human-visual-powerful-computer.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/7-2008/human-visual-powerful-computer.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:55:46 GMT Since the idea of using DNA to create faster, smaller, and more powerful computers originated in 1994, researchers have been scrambling to develop successful ways to use genetic code for computation. Now, new research from a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute suggests that if we want to carry out artificial computations, all we have to do is literally look around........ ]]>