RetGen

"[This] suggests that there is a compensatory mechanism in our brain that negates individual differences in the relative numbers of red and green cones that we observed," Joseph Carroll, a researcher at the Center for Visual Science at University of Rochester and a collaborator of the study, told LiveScience.

The researchers took advantage of adaptive optics imaging, which uses a camera containing a corrective device that cancels the effects of the eye's imperfect optics on image quality, to produce a high-resolution retinal picture.

Although ipRGCs sense light in mice and humans, they don't connect to the brain's visual cortex. Instead, they send signals to deeper, more ancient parts of the brain, such as the hypothalamus, from which they project to the brain regions that control the circadian clock as well as the response of the pupil to light.

"The multi-electrode array technique that Dan Tu and Don Zhang have brought into this field should help us learn a lot more about how these retinal ganglion cells influence all kinds of non-visual functions and reinforce the fact that the eye is responsible for more than just vision," Van Gelder says.

?It is an ambitious goal but our ultimate aim is to develop a web-based imaging system from which optometrists and ophthalmologists can upload images which will then be assessed for retinal markers of future cardiovascular disease,?? Associate Professor Wong says.

Development of this retinal imaging system follows on from Associate Professor Wong?s research which is the first in the world to categorically demonstrate that subtle damage to blood vessels in the retina can predict cardiovascular disease.

"We are pleased to gain approval of RETAANE(R) suspension in Australia for all lesions with a classic component because we believe RETAANE(R) suspension can provide retinal specialists with a unique new therapy to treat wet AMD. We will continue our efforts to gain approval of RETAANE(R) suspension in other jurisdictions, including the U.S., Europe, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Switzerland," said Scott Krueger, Ph.D., Alcon's vice president, R&D Pharmaceutical Development.

Following a review of than 20 research studies on thousands of patients around the world, Prof. Michael Belkin and Dr. Zohar Habot-Wilner of the Goldschleger Eye Institute at the Sheba Medical Center found a consistently strong correlation between obesity and the occurrence and development of all four of the major eye diseases that cause blindness - age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy. Their report appeared recently in the Israeli medical journal Refuah.