Connecting Research and Experts with Journalists

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A recent report by the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigators Group (PEDIG) provides evidence that increasing patching from two to six hours a day is effective at treating persistent amblyopia. The research was funded by the National Eye Institute, a part of the National Institutes of Health.

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Some of the most common vision disorders take their toll by damaging blood vessels near the retina. But it’s difficult for eye care professionals and researchers to see these vessels with standard techniques. NIH’s National Eye Institute is supporting the development of new methods to get deeper, more detailed views of the retinal vasculature.

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Ten years after a transplant, a cornea from a 71-year-old donor is likely to remain as healthy as a cornea from a donor half that age, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Corneas from donors over age 71 perform slightly less well, but still remain healthy for the majority of transplant recipients after 10 years, the study found.

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For adults and children who undergo cataract surgery, implantation of an artificial lens is the standard of care. But a clinical trial suggests that for most infants, surgery followed by the use of contact lenses for several years—and an eventual lens implant—may be the better solution.

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An inexpensive glaucoma drug, when added to a weight loss plan, can improve vision for women with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), according to a study funded by NEI. This disorder mostly affects young, overweight women. Vision loss and headaches are common symptoms.

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A new study offers an explanation for how years of chronic sunlight exposure can increase the risk of cataract, a clouding of the eye lens that typically occurs with aging. The study firms up a link between the sun’s damaging rays and a process called oxidative stress.

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In laboratory tests, researchers have used electrical stimulation of retinal cells to produce the same patterns of activity that occur when the retina sees a moving object. Although more work remains, this is a step toward restoring natural, high-fidelity vision to blind people.

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Telemedicine is an effective strategy to screen for the potentially blinding disease known as retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), according to a study funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI). The investigators say that the approach, if adopted broadly, could help ease the strain on hospitals with limited access to ophthalmologists and lead to better care for infants in underserved areas of the country. NEI is a part of the National Institutes of Health.

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Uveitis occurs when immune cells invade the eye, causing inflammation, swelling and vision loss. Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have found a unique type of immune cell and a secreted protein that, in tests on mice, can protect against the disease.

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Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have described the functions of a gene responsible for anchoring cilia – sensory hair-like extensions present on almost every cell of the body. They show in a mouse model that without the gene Cc2d2a, cilia throughout the body failed to grow, and the mice died during the embryonic stage. The finding adds to an expanding body of knowledge about ciliopathies, a class of genetic disorders that result from defects in the structure or function of cilia.