http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- Blind musicians have had restricted access to scores due to the scarcity and limitations of Braille transcriptions. A new European system makes music for the blind more available and far easier to use. http://phys.org/news183310325.html Technology Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:32:22 EST news183310325 An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered new links between a common form of inherited blindness affecting children and a gene known as Abelson helper integration site-1 (AHI1). Their findings, which may lead to new therapies and improved diagnostics for retinal disease, will appear online in advance of publication in the journal Nature Genetics on January 17. http://phys.org/news182957998.html Medicine & Health Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:40:21 EST news182957998 (PhysOrg.com) -- The findings bolster the claims by some scientists, like Stanford's Brian Wandell, who say certain visual abilities must develop properly in childhood and cannot be learned as an adult. http://phys.org/news182626969.html Medicine & Health Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:10:01 EST news182626969 A research team led by a Michigan State University professor has discovered a link between diabetes and bone marrow nerve damage that may help treat one of the disease's most common and potentially blindness-causing complications. http://phys.org/news182000777.html Medicine & Health Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:10:07 EST news182000777 (PhysOrg.com) -- A ringing alarm clock signaled the loss of sight for Indianapolis entertainer Jimmy Gilford. http://phys.org/news181933656.html Medicine & Health Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:09:00 EST news181933656 This week's edition of The Lancet sees the first in a four-part Series on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) -- conditions which almost exclusively affect the world's poorest people, namely those 2.7 billion people living on less than $US 2 per day. This first paper is written by Dr Bernhard Liese, Department of International Health, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA, and colleagues. http://phys.org/news181468883.html Medicine & Health Fri, 01 Jan 2010 03:12:57 EST news181468883 Need a little extra incentive to kick the habit? Just in time for New Year's resolutions, a UCLA study finds that even after age 80, smoking continues to increase one's risk for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in Americans over 65. http://phys.org/news181457348.html Medicine & Health Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:50:22 EST news181457348 "Changing patterns of global childhood blindness suggest a reassessment of research, training, and programmatic needs," says a team of eye specialists from India, Malawi, and Tanzania. http://phys.org/news179482655.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:10:02 EST news179482655 (PhysOrg.com) -- Visually impaired people appear to be fearless, navigating busy sidewalks and crosswalks, safely finding their way using nothing more than a cane as a guide. The reason they can do this, researchers suggest, is that in at least some circumstances, blindness can heighten other senses, helping individuals adapt. http://phys.org/news177773741.html Medicine & Health Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:20:04 EST news177773741 Schepens Eye Research Institute scientists have found that--when tested in a driving simulator--patients with hemianopia (blindness in one half of the visual field in both eyes) have significantly more difficulty detecting pedestrians (on their blind side) than normally sighted people. These results, published in the November 2009 issue of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, fly in the face of some recent on-road studies that have found most people with hemianopia safe to drive. http://phys.org/news177250328.html Medicine & Health Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:00:02 EST news177250328 Intel Corporation today announced the Intel Reader, a mobile handheld device designed to increase independence for people who have trouble reading standard print. http://phys.org/news177146151.html Electronics Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:30:02 EST news177146151 Born with a retinal disease that made him legally blind, and would eventually leave him totally sightless, the nine-year-old boy used to sit in the back of the classroom, relying on the large print on an electronic screen and assisted by teacher aides. Now, after a single injection of genes that produce light-sensitive pigments in the back of his eye, he sits in front with classmates and participates in class without extra help. In the playground, he joins his classmates in playing his first game of softball. http://phys.org/news175692544.html Medicine & Health Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:29:40 EST news175692544 Everyone tends to float off into space once in a while and fail to see what is sitting there right in front of them. Recently researchers decided to put the theory of "inattentional blindness" to the test: the unicycling clown test. They documented real-world examples of people who were so distracted by their cell phone use that they failed to see the bizarre occurrence of a unicycling clown passing them on the street. The study is published in an upcoming issue of Applied Cognitive Psychology. http://phys.org/news175190497.html Medicine & Health Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:30:03 EST news175190497 Ever wonder how your eyes adjust during a blackout? When we go from light to near total darkness, cells in the retina must quickly adjust. Vision scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified an intricate process that allows the human eye to adapt to darkness very quickly. The same process also allows the eye to function in bright light. http://phys.org/news174663395.html Medicine & Health Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:37:50 EST news174663395 As more extremely pre-term infants survive in Sweden, an increasing number of babies are experiencing vision problems caused by abnormalities involving the retina, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.. http://phys.org/news174585039.html Medicine & Health Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:30:08 EST news174585039 Investigators from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the VA Boston Healthcare System have shown, at 6 months in a small group of patients, that there is no difference in efficacy between Bevacizumab (Avastin) and Ranibizumab (Lucentis) for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The study, which appears currently on-line in the American Journal of Ophthalmology, is the first to report early outcomes of a prospective, double-masked, randomized, controlled trial comparing Bevacizumab to Ranibizumab for the treatment of exudative (wet) age-related macular degeneration. http://phys.org/news174302546.html Medicine & Health Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:50:02 EST news174302546 Researchers at the University of Toronto, St. Michael's Hospital and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre have discovered a previously unidentified form of circulation within the human eye which may provide important new insights into glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness. http://phys.org/news173966488.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:30:02 EST news173966488 (PhysOrg.com) -- Inspired by the success of cochlear implants that can restore hearing to some deaf people, researchers at MIT are working on a retinal implant that could one day help blind people regain a useful level of vision. http://phys.org/news172920565.html Technology Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:30:36 EST news172920565 (PhysOrg.com) -- Cases of restored vision after a lifetime of blindness, though exceedingly rare, provide a unique opportunity to address several fundamental questions regarding brain function. After being deprived of visual input, the brain needs to learn to make sense of the new flood of visual information. Very little is known about how this learning takes place, but a new study by MIT neuroscientists suggests that dynamic information -- that is, input from moving objects -- is critical. http://phys.org/news172400454.html Medicine & Health Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:01:25 EST news172400454 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the University of Washington and the University of Florida used gene therapy to cure two squirrel monkeys of color blindness — the most common genetic disorder in people. http://phys.org/news172325926.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:19:09 EST news172325926 The blind and visually impaired often rely on others to provide cues and information on navigating through their environments. The problem with this method is that it doesn't give them the tools to venture out on their own, says Dr. Orly Lahav of Tel Aviv University's School of Education and Porter School for Environmental Studies. http://phys.org/news171802541.html Technology Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:56:42 EST news171802541 By 2020, 1.4 million Nigerians over age 40 will lose their sight, and the vast majority of the causes are either preventable or treatable, according to the Nigeria National Blindness and Visual Impairment Study Group. http://phys.org/news171626824.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:07:26 EST news171626824 (AP) -- The Helen Keller International nonprofit organization has won a $1.4 million prize from a Portuguese foundation for its work in preventing blindness in the developing world, the foundation said Friday. http://phys.org/news171351089.html Medicine & Health Sat, 05 Sep 2009 06:50:01 EST news171351089 Significant numbers of children in the UK are suffering from preventable levels of disability, particularly blindness, and premature death because of poor diagnosis of brain tumours. http://phys.org/news168857999.html Medicine & Health Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:30:01 EST news168857999 Researchers have found a way in mice to convert another type of pancreas cell into the critical insulin-producing beta cells that are lost in those with type I diabetes. The secret ingredient is a single transcription factor, according to the report in the August 7th issue of Cell, a Cell Press journal. http://phys.org/news168788864.html Chemistry Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:10:01 EST news168788864 An international team of scientists and clinicians from the United States and Saudi Arabia are working to develop gene therapy for treating a rare, hereditary retinal disease. The therapy has been shown to restore lost vision in animal models of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Their work is being funded in part by a $1.5 million grant from the Prince Salman Center for Disability Research in Saudi Arabia, where the recessive gene mutation that leads to the eye disease RP has been found in children from several families. http://phys.org/news168094180.html Medicine & Health Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:20:02 EST news168094180 Current research suggests that a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids may help prevent one of the leading causes of legal blindness among the elderly. The related report by Tuo et al, "A high omega-3 fatty acid diet reduces retinal lesions in a murine model of macular degeneration," appears in the August 2009 issue of the American Journal of Pathology. http://phys.org/news167548837.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Jul 2009 06:21:43 EST news167548837 (AP) -- A New Zealand biotech company began a trial Thursday that will implant cells from newborn pigs into eight human volunteers as an experimental treatment for their diabetes. http://phys.org/news167547270.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:57:39 EST news167547270 A student team in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering is providing the blind with an opportunity many never thought possible: The opportunity to drive. http://phys.org/news166887787.html Technology Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:43:37 EST news166887787 Researchers of the University of Granada (Spain) have used a technique consisting of the induction of neuronal degeneration neuronal for intense light exposure in the mouse's retina that will be helpful for the study of retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a group of hereditary diseases which lead to blindness and affect more than one million persons a year all over the world. http://phys.org/news166270657.html Medicine & Health Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:18:37 EST news166270657