With 30 million drivers in the US aged 65 and over, we count on older Americans to recognize when they can no longer drive safely and decide that it's time to stay off the road. A newly released study finds that a decrease in vision function is a key factor in bringing about this decision. The Salisbury Eye Evaluation and Driving Study (SEEDS), conducted by scientists affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, looked at changes in vision, cognition and the general health status of more than 1,200 licensed drivers aged 67-87 in Salisbury, MD, a community with limited public transportation. SEEDS is unique, in that the scientists performed comprehensive tests of both vision and cognitive function........

An atomic-resolution view of an enzyme found only in the eye has given scientists at the University of Washington (UW) clues about how this enzyme, essential to vision, is activated. The enzyme, phosphodiesterase 6 (PDE6), is central to the way light entering the retina is converted into a cascade of signals to the brain........

An Indiana University study observed that HIV care providers in rural Indiana report significant stigma and discrimination in the rural medical referral system surrounding issues of HIV and substance abuse. Providers felt that these factors impeded their ability to offer quality care to their patients........

Neurons constituting the optic nerve wire up to the brain in a highly dynamic way. Cell bodies in the developing retina sprout processes, called axons, which extend toward visual centers in the brain, lured by attractive cues and making U-turns when they take the wrong path. How they find targets so accurately is a central question of neuroscience today........

Patients visiting an ophthalmologist report that prayer is important to their well-being and that God plays a positive role in illness, as per a report in the recent issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Ethical medical practice includes doctor behavior, beyond technical competence, that promotes healing and optimizes the patient's welfare," the authors write as background information in the article. "The doctor who respects the patient as a person with dignity must acknowledge the patient's value system to establish a relationship that permits conversations that nourish trust for joint therapeutic decision making. For a number of patients, religion and spirituality is important to their value system and may represent a unique source of motivation and coping with life events, including the experience of personal illness (illness refers to the response of a patient to a disease)"........

Since the idea of using DNA to create faster, smaller, and more powerful computers originated in 1994, researchers have been scrambling to develop successful ways to use genetic code for computation. Now, new research from a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute suggests that if we want to carry out artificial computations, all we have to do is literally look around........

One of the easiest ways to identify an object is by its color -- perhaps it is because children's books encourage us to pair certain objects with their respective colors. Why else would so a number of of us automatically assume carrots are orange, grass is green and apples are red? In two experiments by Holger Mitterer and Jan Peter de Ruiter from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, perception of color and color constancy (the ability to see the same color under varying light conditions) were examined using different hues of orange and yellow. By using these hues on different objects, the scientists hoped to show that knowledge of objects can be used to identify color........

The severity of retinal hemorrhaging for young children in motor vehicle crashes is closely corcorrelation to the severity of the crash, as per a new study by scientists at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Retinal hemorrhages occur when the blood vessels lining the retina rupture, resulting in bleeding onto the surface of the retina........

Catching a football. Maneuvering through a room full of people. Jumping out of the way when a golfer yells "fore." Most would agree these seemingly simple actions require us to perceive and quickly respond to a situation. Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Mark Changizi argues they require something more - our ability to foresee the future........

Hypertension and high cholesterol levels appear to be risk factors for retinal vein occlusion, a condition that causes vision loss, as per a report in the recent issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Retinal vein occlusion occurs when one or more veins carrying blood from the eye to the heart become blocked, as per background information in the article. Bleeding (hemorrhage) or fluid buildup (edema) may follow, damaging vision........

A low-vision treatment program that includes a home visit, counseling, assistive devices such as magnifiers and assignments to practice using them appears to significantly improve vision in veterans with diseases of the macula (the area of the retina with the sharpest vision), as per a report in the recent issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals........

The standard eye chart only covers letters and numbers, but athletes need above average vision to track balls hurtling toward them at alarming speeds. To test those special skills, a University of Houston optometrist has founded the Sports Vision Performance Center, a facility where athletes perform while a strobe light is flashing, play tag with a board of lights and engage in other activities designed to improve their visual abilities........

It is the No. 1 line-item cost of Medicare reimbursement and affects more than 20 million people in the United States. Cataracts, which can have devastating effects on the eye, affect 42 percent of the population between the ages of 70 and 80, and 68 percent of the population over the age of 80, as per the National Eye Institute. Now, a University of Missouri professor has identified an important step in how cataracts form. This discovery, published in a recent edition of The Journal of Biological Chemistry, could lead to a better therapy or cure for cataracts in the future........

The ocular lens belongs to the optical apparatus and focuses incidental beams of light onto the retina. Now, a research team led by Professor Dr. Jochen Graw of the Institute of Developmental Genetics, of the Helmholtz Zentrum München, has been able to decipher a genetic defect responsible for small eyes and an incomplete, clouded lens in the so-called Aey12 mouse mutants. These results lead to conclusions concerning cataracts in humans, because, in this case too, the lens loses its transparency........

Worldwide, an average 95.4 percent of LASIK patients are satisfied with their new vision, as per the first review of the world body of scientific literature, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery announced recently. With 16.3 million patients having had LASIK worldwide, and more than a decade of clinical study and technological innovation behind it, LASIK is considered among the most successful elective procedures available today........