Cell Reprogramming In Situ Generates Photoreceptor Cells to Treat Blindness in Mice
In this study, researchers reprogrammed Müller glia cells into rod photoreceptors in the retinas of uninjured mice, both in wildtype mice and in two strains that serve as models of congenital blindness. The team developed a two-step technique, first injecting an adeno-associated virus with a gene that expresses β-catenin, a protein that helps the glia re-enter the cell cycle, into the retinas of the four-week-old mice. Two weeks later, the mice received a second injection of an adeno-associated virus with the genes that express the transcription factors Otx2, Crx, and Nrl - shown in past studies to aid in the development...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 24, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 20th 2018
Fight Aging! provides a weekly digest of news and commentary for thousands of subscribers interested in the latest longevity science: progress towards the medical control of aging in order to prevent age-related frailty, suffering, and disease, as well as improvements in the present understanding of what works and what doesn't work when it comes to extending healthy life. Expect to see summaries of recent advances in medical research, news from the scientific community, advocacy and fundraising initiatives to help speed work on the repair and reversal of aging, links to online resources, and much more.
This content is...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 19, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
RightEye Vision Tests with Contextualized Results: Review and Interview
In conclusion, I really enjoyed the opportunity to use the RightEye system. Working with Dr. Kungle and the RightEye system resulted in the most comprehensive, informative session I’ve ever had about my own vision and left me with clear areas to improve, as well as some initial tools to realize that improvement.
Interview with Dr. Kungle
Mike Batista, Medgadget: How did you initially engage with RightEye?
Dr. Jennifer Kungle: My engagement with the team at RightEye began as part of an initiative for better vision screenings in schools. Most vision screeners just look at acuity, but patients can still have vision p...
Source: Medgadget - August 16, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Michael Batista Tags: Exclusive Neurology Neurosurgery Ophthalmology Source Type: blogs
Is Glaucoma an Autoimmune Condition?
The consensus on the progressive blindness of glaucoma is that the primary cause is rising pressure in the eye, resulting from an age-related failure of fluid flow in surrounding structures. Medications that reduce pressure in the eye, such as by reducing the pace of creation of new fluid, slows down the loss of sight associated with glaucoma, but even after successful treatment the condition can still progresses towards blindness. Researchers may now have identified why this is the case, and here present evidence to suggest that a form of autoimmunity is the process that causes loss of vision.
One of the biggest ...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 14, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Improved Brain Health for All! (update on the BRAIN initiative)
adapted from Figure 3 (Koroshetz et al., 2018). Magnetic resonance angiography highlighting the vasculature in the human brain in high resolution, without the use of any contrast agent, on a 7T MRI scanner. Courtesy of Plimeni& Wald (MGH).[ed. note: here ' s a great summary onIf, how, and when fMRI goes clinical, by Dr. Peter Bandettini.]TheJournal of Neuroscience recently published a paywalled article onThe State of the NIH BRAIN Initiative.This paper reviewed the research and technology development funded by the “moonshot between our ears” [anewly coined phrase]. The program has yielded a raft ofpublications (461...
Source: The Neurocritic - August 12, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
EyeQue Insight Visual Acuity Screener: A Medgadget Review
Every year, our “screen time” continues to increase as our gadgets get bigger and brighter. According to the Vision Council, our digital devices are causing 60.5% of Americans to report symptoms of digital eye strain, and it’s uncertain how these devices will affect our vision long-term. Aside from taking frequent breaks from our devices, reducing screen glare, and adjusting the distance between our eyes and the screen, it’s also important to frequently monitor for changes in our vision. While regular exams by an eye care professional are absolutely necessary, Newark, California-based EyeQue has developed a...
Source: Medgadget - July 18, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Scott Jung Tags: Exclusive Ophthalmology Rehab Sports Medicine Source Type: blogs
Dyslexia and Entrepreneurialism: Is There a Connection?
Conclusion
Dyslexia is probably the result of deficits in the brain at multiple levels. There is an impaired phoneme discrimination resulting in difficulty in understanding spelling. Visual perceptual impairment leads to further worsening of word recognition, and phonological awareness impairment causes speech disturbances. In the center of all this is delayed temporal processing. The end result is delayed speech development, difficulties in reading and comprehending texts, and poor academic performance.
What Makes a Dyslexic a Successful Person?
From Leonardo da Vinci to Einstein, children with learning disabilities prove...
Source: World of Psychology - July 14, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Psych Central Staff Tags: Brain and Behavior Brain Blogger Industrial and Workplace Personality Publishers Research business Dyslexia dyslexic Entrepreneurs Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, July 2nd 2018
Fight Aging! provides a weekly digest of news and commentary for thousands of subscribers interested in the latest longevity science: progress towards the medical control of aging in order to prevent age-related frailty, suffering, and disease, as well as improvements in the present understanding of what works and what doesn't work when it comes to extending healthy life. Expect to see summaries of recent advances in medical research, news from the scientific community, advocacy and fundraising initiatives to help speed work on the repair and reversal of aging, links to online resources, and much more.
This content is...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 1, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
A patient is left with a choice: financial devastation or blindness
That statement from a recent patient was a summary to me of what is bad in our health care “system.” It’s a terrible summary of what is seen all over this country with people who must make the choice between financial solvency and health.
Here’s what happened: It was a new patient I saw, who is a veteran who owns two businesses. He went out on his own when he “kept getting laid off.” He has largely been successful in what he’s doing, but as is the case with many these days, he couldn’t afford health insurance. This was especially bad because he had a heart attack last year, which required stenting...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 29, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/rob-lamberts" rel="tag" > Rob Lamberts, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Primary Care Public Health & Policy Source Type: blogs
The Evidence Crisis: Causal Inference – Don ’ t be a chicken (Part 3)
By ANISH KOKA
Part 1
Part 2
Physicians have been making up numbers longer than people have been guessing weights at carnivals. How much does this statin lower the chances of a heart attack? How long do I have to live if I don’t get the aortic valve surgery?
In clinics across the land confident answers emerge from doctors in white coats. Most of the answers are guesses based on whatever evidence about the matter exists applied to the patient sitting in the room. The trouble is that the evidence base used to be the provenance of experts and anecdotes that have in the past concluded leeches were good for pneumonia...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 29, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: anish_koka Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Suggesting that Lower Levels of NAD+ Increase Cellular Senescence in the Retina
Present investigations and attempts to influence nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) metabolism in aging might be viewed as the direct descendant of the heavily hyped sirtuin research of a nearly decade ago. We can check the boxes for (a) mechanisms linked to mitochondrial activity, (b) supplements claimed to adjust age-related changes in those mechanisms, and (c) many of the same people in the scientific community being involved. At the end of the day this may well arrive at the same destination as that sirtuin development, which is to say nothing of any practical use to improve human longevity, but at least the outc...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 26, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
How to Be Kind
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
I seem to constantly skirt trouble. Writing and medicine are fractious bedfellows – a marriage not always congenial. On one hand, to write well, to truly produce good work, you have to crack yourself open and claw out the truth for examination in the light. No fluffing around, avoiding the difficult topics. No wilful blindness to your own biases. No doing stuff to be liked. No pretence. Writing about medicine, on the other, requires a good deal of restraint – case anony...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - June 19, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Michelle Johnston Tags: 'How to...' series. An Instruction manual for those in Critical Care How to Be Kind Source Type: blogs
Sunday Sermonette: God is a psychopath
Genesis 19 is in the running for weirdest book of the Bible. Here ' s how it begins:The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - June 17, 2018 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
A Primer on Giant Cell (Temporal) Arteritis
Neuropathologists are often tasked with handling ophthalmic pathology at their institutions. As such, they are assigned all cases submitted by ophthalmologists -- including temporal artery biopsies for determination of the presence of active giant cell (temporal) arteritis. What follows is a quick reference on the important points to remember about giant cell arteritis. (If there are things I am forgetting, please add your comments.):Arrow points to a giant cell in a temporal artery wall(from Robbins Basic Pathology, 10th edition)Refering to the condition as " temporal arteritis " is not entirely accurate as giant cell art...
Source: neuropathology blog - June 14, 2018 Category: Radiology Tags: ophthalmic pathology Source Type: blogs
