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In patients with multiple sclerosis, the immune system incorrectly reacts to myelin, the insulating sheath that covers nerves in the brain, optic nerve, and spinal cord, and then destroys it, disrupting normal transmission of electrical signals. This results in symptoms from partial limb numbness to paralysis and blindness.

The new human trial is part of a collaboration between Northwestern’s Feinberg School, University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland and University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany.
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 The study appeared in Stroke, the journal of the American Heart Association. Researchers from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Schools of Public Health reported that the risk is especially high for older women. They connect lower levels of  the hormone DHEAS, or dehydroepiandrosterone  sulfate, with this higher stroke risk.

The study’s subjects included women from the Nurses’ Health Study of 1976. They had no reported history of strokes when they joined that study.  The levels of DHEAS of these women were tested between 1989 & 1990. The 461 stroke patients were matched up for age, race,
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New evidence continues to support dietary lutein, carotenoids, zeaxanthin, and meso-zeaxanthin as a means of inhibiting development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is the leading cause of loss of vision in Western people over age 55.

A study published in 2010, in Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics by the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at University of Utah, found that production of singlet oxygen in the human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and choroid is prevented or reduced by lutein, zeaxanthin, and meso-zeaxanthin, which act as
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 OSA requires proper diagnosis and management. This ailment often goes untreated, despite being recognized nearly 50 years ago.

With a 9% incidence rate among the female Caucasian population of the United States and 24% in the male Caucasian population, more than 80% of those affected by OSA are believed to be undiagnosed, or untreated even if they are.

So what does obstructive sleep apnea have to do with proper eye care?
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Ask any of the countless people with substandard vision if there was one thing they could change about themselves and the typical response will be 20/20 vision. Betty Ming Liu, like most glasses-wearing individuals, had simply accepted the fuzzy side of life and continual degeneration of her eyes. Betty and her 20/650 vision had begun to additionally require the help of reading glasses to get by. She was less-than-enthused by the prospect of laser eye surgery.

By chance, Betty was introduced to holistic eye doctor Marc Grossman who opened her to the idea of eye exercises that promised to improve her vision. Within the
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A recent study linking cholesterol and macular degeneration may shed light on a highly significant problem caused by aging and potentially illuminates hope for a treatment or perhaps even a cure.

Macular degeneration is the leading cause in partial or complete blindness of adults over 60 in the United States. The disease targets the macula in the eyes which in large part is what enables us to perceive the fine detail that allows us do things like reading and driving.

A new study, published in the journal Cell Metabolism on April 2 2013, involved the study of macrophages from old mice and humans with macular degeneration. Macrophages, white blood cells that deconstruct cholesterol, have been found in higher than normal concentration in subjects with macular degeneration. In previous studies, this cellular build up has been shown
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Researchers have found a layer of tissue in the eye that can self-renew and may provide cures in the future for retinal diseases such as Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD), Stargardt’s disease, Best’s disease, and some types of retinitis pigmentosa. These eye diseases begin in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), which is a layer of eye tissue that supports the cells that make vision possible (photoreceptors). When the RPE degenerates, vision is compromised and can result in blindness.

Around ten percent of the cells in the RPE can renew themselves. In essence, they are dormant RPE stem cells. Cures for retinal diseases could lie in coaxing the dormant stem cells into becoming mature RPE cells. This could undo the damage from retinal diseases
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Researchers are looking into squalamine eye drops as a treatment for wet (neovascular) Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD). Their goal is evaluate the safety and effectiveness of squalamine lactate eye drops in improving wet AMD, the less-common forms of AMD.

ARMD is a degenerative eye disease that causes central vision loss. It progresses over time and can results in significant vision loss. The disease is prevalent in the aging. This will be a double-blind study with randomized assignment, which is considered to be a very strong research design. It also means
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Researchers have found that the anti-diabetic drug metformin reduces the production of inflammatory cytokines. When inflammatory cytokines are produced in excess, they cause inflammation that increases cancer risk and the incidence of other diseases.

The University of Montreal researchers reported that metformin inhibits the expression of genes that code for several inflammatory cytokines observed during cellular senescence. These inflammatory cytokines are normally secreted by the
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