Page 36 - The Indian Optician Digital Edition Jan-Feb 2020

LINK FOUND BETWEEN GLAUCOMA AND of light - whether an illuminated
DEGENERATION OF THE BRAIN spot on the retina or a ‘guide star’
in astronomy - to rapidly compute

A global research team led by of Primary Open Angle Glaucoma distortion rate and then correct for it.
(POAG), specifically in people with
scientists from Singapore
According to study co-author
and the United States has found new African ancestry. Stephen Burns, the research team
evidence about an underlying link successfully imaged the trabecular
between degeneration of the eye The research findings confirmed meshwork in nine study participants,
and brain. a common suspicion that glaucoma including two with pigment
may not simply be an eye disease,
The global research team but also linked to degeneration of dispersion syndrome, an eye disorder
consisted of scientists and clinicians the brain. Two lines of evidence that can lead to a form of glaucoma.
from the Agency for Science, were proven—first, genetic variation
Technology and Research’s (A*STAR), at a beta-amyloid gene family NEW INJECTION TO
Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), was observed to be significantly SLOW DOWN AMD
Singapore Eye Research Institute
(SERI), Singapore National Eye Centre associated with POAG risk and R esearchers at the Australian
(SNEC), Duke University, Duke-NUS secondly, beta-amyloid deposits were National University (ANU)
Medical School, partner institutions also significantly increased in eye and have found a new treatment to help
(including the University of California brain tissues of patients with POAG fight against age-related macular
San Diego, UCSD, and the University compared to unaffected individuals. degeneration (AMD), a disease which
of California San Francisco, UCSF), as The researchers concluded involves damage to the part of the
well as leading eye centers around that degeneration of the eye was eye that creates the sharpest vision.
the world.
possibly linked to deterioration of the Researcher Joshua Chu-Tan from
The researchers discovered that brain as beta-amyloid is one of the ANU said that they are developing
genetic variation at a beta-amyloid known causes for nerve cell death in a gene therapy for dry age-related
gene was associated with greater risk Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. macular degeneration that can
hypothetically save millions of
TELESCOPE TECHNOLOGY TO VIEW people from going blind.
GLAUCOMA EYE STRUCTURE The new treatment involves

O ptometry researchers at elevates pressure in the eye, leading injecting a “cocktail of molecules”
into the eye to stop the disease
the Indiana University have
to glaucoma. The problem is the
used adaptive optics technology meshwork can only be seen poorly from progressing. Dr Chu-Tan has
to create the first undistorted with the normal instruments in your focused his research on preventive
microscopic images of the eye’s doctor’s office, due to its location gene therapy using tiny molecules
trabecular meshwork, which could where the iris inserts into the wall he has labelled as “the gods of gene
help improve treatment for glaucoma. of the eye, as well as the near-total regulation”, which are also called
The work is reported in the journal reflection that occurs when looking microRNA.
of Translational Vision Science and through the cornea.” “When we inject anti-
Technology.
Using methods originally inflammatory mircoRNA into the
“Normally, clear fluid circulates developed by astronomers to view eye we see a decrease in genes
inside the eye to supply nutrition and stars more clearly through Earth’s responsible for inflammation and
keep it ‘inflated’ to its normal shape,” atmosphere, the IU researchers cell death, as well as a slowing in
said Dr Brett King, chief of advanced modified an existing ophthalmic laser the damage progression of the
ocular care services and associate microscope with a programmable retina,” reveals Dr Chu-Tan, adding,
clinical professor at the IU School of mirror able to deform in real time to “By injecting a cocktail of these
Optometry, who co-authored the correct for the eye’s imperfections. molecules we think we can slow
study. “Alterations of the trabecular The technology called “adaptive the progression of this disease and
meshwork, which allows fluid to drain, optics,” uses a real or artificial point hopefully halt vision loss.

| JAN-FEB 2020 | 32 OPHTHALMIC NEWS

January-February 2020 SK News IDML.indd 5 02/15/2020 20:32