Screen for Glaucoma Earlier, Says Study

 "Although [glaucoma] can be treated, new research shows Canadians may not be doing enough to protect themselves," according to a MedicalNewsToday post. "According to a new study by Lawson Health Research Institute's Dr. Cindy Hutnik, many Canadian glaucoma patients are not screened until the disease has reached moderate or advanced stages." Read more.

Finding Those Misplaced Car Keys

"How do we find something we are looking for?" asks the MedicalNewsToday post.  "New data support the hypothesis that when we want to find something, we hold an image of it in our visual working memory. Volunteers' brain activity was measured as they looked for an object in a complex scene. Results indicate that visual working memory mechanisms may be involved in maintaining attention for a specific target during a search task. These findings have important clinical implications - for example, working memory problems may be mistaken for attentional deficits."

Mac D Declining, Acccording to Report

"The percentage of Americans aged 40+ with AMD (age-related macular degeneration) has dropped to 6.5% in 2005-2008 from 9.4% in 1988-1994, researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison reported in an article published in Archives of Ophthalmology," reports MedicalNewsToday.

Anti-Bacterial/Colored CLs Done Easily? Maybe with CO2

"Researchers are now impregnating plastics with compressed CO2 in a process that could lead to new applications ranging from colored contact lenses to bacteria-resistant door handles," according to MedicalNewsToday.

New Finding about Underlying Causes of Glaucoma

"The Glaucoma Research Foundation ... announced that novel new findings about the underlying cause of glaucoma have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences," according to a post on MedicalNewsToday.

Lucentis-Avastin Debate Still Rages

MedicalNewsToday weighs in on the Lucentis-Avastin debate: "Genentech (Hoffman - La Roche) manufactures two critically important pharmaceuticals, Lucentis and Avastin, which are both used for treatment of several common eye diseases - including age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Despite considerable clinical similarity, the price difference between these drugs is substantial, with Lucentis generally costing up to 100 times the equivalent treatment with Avastin. A National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical trial titled, "Comparison of AMD Treatment Trials" (CATT), is currently under way to compare the safety and efficacy of the two drugs, and the results may have far-reaching economic implications for Genentech, patients, Medicare, and third party payors."

Partial Solar Eclipse Has European ECPs Concerned

European eye care professionals (ECPs) are concerned about people looking at the partial solar eclipse, which will be easily seen in Europe tomorrow (January 4). "When the partial solar eclipse occurs tomorrow morning, Tuesday 4 January, do not look directly at the sun or you risk permanently damaging your eyesight and even blindness, warns the UK government's Interim Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies," according to a MedicalNewsToday post.

Lazy Eye Solved with a Pin Prick

MedicalNewsToday reports that "acupuncture may eventually become another optional treatment apart from patching for lazy eye, also known as amblyopia, especially among older children who have a poorer response to patching, say researchers from China in Archives of Ophthalmology. Approximately 0.3 to 5% of people globally are affected by lazy eye, the authors report as background information."