Health and Medicine

Study findings may offer prevention for avoiding those annoying spots caused by macular degeneration

The primary function of the retina is to capture light and initiate neural signals. The retina contains the photoreceptors, which are the site of sensory transduction in the visual pathway. Major landmarks in the retina are the fovea and macula, where light has a direct pathway to the receptors. An interruption of the blood supply to these landmarks can lead to age-related macular d

Scientists from the University of Leicester are taking revolutionary research further with the potential to offer new hope for knee-injury victims.

They are following up international research that aims to improve knee cartilage repair techniques, termed ‘chrondrocyte implantation’. The procedure, developed in Sweden ten years ago, involves growing a patient’s knee cartilage cells in a laboratory, which are then implanted through open knee surgery. Recent exciting developments revolve

A team of scientists supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and other parts of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the private sector, have discovered a genetic “signature” present in some patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who develop such life-threatening complications as blood disorders, central nervous system damage and kidney failure.

Using DNA microarrays — small silicon chips that contain tiny amounts of tho

Researchers at Oxford University’s Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics have located a variant form of a polynucleotide sequence in the MHC region of chromosome 6p and identified its association with an increased secretion of TNF. Potential applications for this discovery include the diagnosis of asthma in patients, or a predisposition to asthma, and a patients’ suitability for treatment with anti-TNF therapy.

Asthma is a disease in which the airways become inflamed leading to blockage a

UH Research Suggests Possible Therapies for Eye Disorders, Injury

A new study designed to find out why cells in the eye die when exposed to lead may provide novel therapies for retinal damage caused by injury or diseases such as diabetes and retinitis pigmentosa.

The study, published in the Feb. 4 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focused on identifying how low-level lead exposure during development in mice injures and eventually kills rod-shaped

Scientists study those vaccinated more than 60 years ago versus one year ago

Oregon Health & Science University researchers are studying the effectiveness of the smallpox vaccine in patients who received inoculations decades ago compared with those vaccinated more recently. The universal belief has been that smallpox vaccinations provide protection for only three to five years. Until now scientists and physicians assumed that anyone vaccinated more than five years ago had little to n