Visual Processing Part One
More than 50 percent of our brain is dedicated to visual processing. Yet there is so much going on. How do our brains process the information that is coming in from our eyes? One research project at Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Munich, University of California Berkeley and Harvard University looked at the retinal […]
Cataracts and the Zika Virus Affect Vision Development
When babies are born, they can see an object with their peripheral vision but their central vision is still developing. Over the first few weeks, as a baby’s retina develops, his or her pupils widen and the baby can see light and dark ranges and patterns. At one month, a baby may briefly focus on […]
Cutting the Fat & Turning Back the Clock
During the coronavirus lockdown, many people used this time to exercise more. As a result, their clothes aren’t as tight and they felt better. The bad thing about the lockdown is that it led to a lot of shortages, like toilet paper. Too bad we can’t turn back the clock to February 2020 and stock […]
Research
Thanks to biomedical research, our understanding of the human body is evolving and this has led to treatments that improve health outcomes. This includes vision research and as a result, more is being learned about what leads to amblyopia and a possible treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Amblyopia Amblyopia, also known as lazy eye, […]
Good for One, Bad for Another
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) is a protein that our bodies produce to promote the growth of new blood vessels. This is a good thing since more blood vessels mean more oxygen goes to the tissues. The lungs have VEGF because blood flow is so important. Of course, what’s good for one organ isn’t good […]
On/Off Switches Part Two
In On/Off Switches Part One I wrote about research done at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) that discovered a compound that controls the growth of blood vessels. This can be utilized for conditions ranging from diabetic retinopathy to cancer. They aren’t the only ones doing this type of research. Scientists at Johns Hopkins have […]
On/Off Switches Part One
Isn’t electricity great? You flip a switch and an appliance turns on or off. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to do something similar for our bodies, in particular our eyes. That way when an injury or disease comes along, something in the cellular level could be turned on or off and […]
Turmeric & Stem Cells
The search for treatments to improve outcomes for many eye diseases and conditions is ongoing. Sometimes what can end up being used to treat an eye condition is surprising and sometimes it isn’t. First the surprising development. Researchers at Texas A&M University have developed a treatment for uveitis in dogs using turmeric. Don’t worry you […]
Sports Vision
“Keep your eye on the ball,” is a phrase many of us heard when we were playing a sport as kids. For most of us, we were just good enough to play a pick-up game with friends or to play on a school team or community league. What about those who are good enough to […]
Immune System & Eye Disease: More than Meets the Eye
Having an immune system is a good thing. It deals with bacteria and viruses, so that either we don’t get sick or if we do, our body fights them off and, for the most part, sickness isn’t fatal. Sometimes our immune system doesn’t work the way we want it to. That can range from an […]