Nearly half of glaucoma patients don't take their daily prescription eye drops as prescribed, due to forgetfulness or physical limitations like arthritis. However, missing vital doses of glaucoma medication makes these patients vulnerable to increased vision loss and blindness.

A medicated silicone ring that rests on the surface of the eye reduced eye pressure in glaucoma patients by about 20 percent over six months, potentially benefiting 3 million people in the United States who have glaucoma. Phase 2 clinical trial results on this technology were published today and the results are also being presented today at the Ophthalmology Innovation Summit in New Orleans.  

This month, the International Agency for Research on Cancer will issue another paper suggesting a chemical causes cancer - probably one of the compounds in coffee - and journalists will read what IARC actually claims about calculating risk and assume IARC calculates risk. Then, after blowback from scientists who do not consult for Environmental Defense Fund or were not hand-picked to be on the IARC committee, IARC will state they don't talk about risk.

There is a difference between hazard and risk, of course. Caffeine is far more hazardous than BPA, glyphosate or aspartame but, like with those three compounds, you'd have to drink 7,000 cups of something containing them per day to get a toxic effect.

Researchers at the University of Maryland and the U.S. Agriculture Department recently found that several parasites and the diseases they vector into honey bee colonies are the source of most of the bee health problems and supposed ‘die-offs’ observed in recent years

The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) feeds on insects. It attracts a meal with its flower-like reddish color and ripe fruity smell on leaves converted to ambush traps. Seeking nectar, an insect will inevitably touch the highly sensitive sensory hairs on the leaves. This causes the trap to snap shut at lightning speed, imprisoning the prey.

Dionaea must then decide how much energy to invest in the capture and consumption. It estimates the size of the prey by counting how often it touches the sensory hairs. Two touches and Dionaea activates a special hormone. With five or more stimuli, the plant produces enzymes and transport proteins for digesting and absorbing the prey.

A chemical byproduct, or metabolite, created as the body breaks down ketamine likely holds the secret to its rapid antidepressant action, National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists and grantees have discovered. This metabolite singularly reversed depression-like behaviors in mice without triggering any of the anesthetic, dissociative, or addictive side effects associated with ketamine.

Bioethicists from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and The Hastings Center, working with a research administrator at The Rockefeller University, are proposing a reexamination of an internationally recognized rule limiting in vitro research on human embryos to 14 days post-fertilization. Under the rule, such research is permitted before the cut-off date at 14 days and prohibited thereafter.