Spice and saffron good for AMD?

Clinical trials in Italy and Australia have shown that the spice, saffron, can improve vision in people with AMD.The trial was conducted at Policlinico Gemelli in Italy by Professor Benedetto Falsini.

It was double blind and randomly controlled, involving 25 subjects over six months. Half the group was given a saffron pill for the first three months followed by a placebo the second three months.

The other half of the group followed the same protocol in reverse. All subjects in the first group experienced up to 2 lines of improvement in their vision while taking saffron pill, but the effect quickly disappeared when the dose was discontinued.

Researchers theorize that the improvement is a result of the anti-apoptotic properties of the spice. A 12-month dose-escalation trial is now underway at the Catholic University of Rome and the University of L'Aquila.

According to Richard Trevino, O.D., in a recent message to MDList, "It seems the research focused on improvements in vision function, rather than actual morphologic retinal improvements (eg OCT changes). This is similar to the research on lutein - it may improve the vision function of surviving cells but does not roll-back the damage that is already present.

"I have read," continued Dr. Trevino, "that the healing benefits of saffron are attributed to crocin, a carotenoid. So, rather than look for saffron pills, you may want to look for a crocin supplement, or just get more saffron in your diet."

Source: www.medindia.net

New Gene Delivery Tool

Researchers have developed a new tool for gene therapy that significantly increases gene delivery to cells in the retina compared to other carriers and DNA alone. The study was published in the January 2010 issue of The Journal of Gene Medicine by Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts (Rajendra Kumar-Singh, PhD, senior author).

A peptide called PEG-POD provides a safe and effective vehicle for transferring DNA into cells without using a virus, currently the most common means of DNA delivery. According to Dr. Kumar-Singh, PEG-POD protects DNA from damage in the bloodstream, allowing for gene therapy treatments that can be administered through an IV and directed to many other parts of the body.

The researchers used an in vivo model to compare the effectiveness of PEG-POD with two other carriers (PEG-TAT and PEG-CK30) and a control (injections of DNA alone). They found that gene expression in specimens injected with PEG-POD was far more effective than the other two carriers at 215 times greater than the control.

Events 2010 - Akan Datang

Dear MDS members,

Apologies for the delay in announcing the events for 2010. We are in the process of confirming venues for this year because our previous "home" at Alexandra Hospital will be moving to a new location in Yishun in the next few months.

Give us a little bit more time and notices will be placed here and on our website very soon. We are scheduling our first event to be in end February and we hope it will be an exciting year once again. Thanks.

Cheers,
MDS Exco

Marigold the miracle?

Is marigold the new miracle supplement for macular degeneration? A story from the United Kingdom has been stunning the world of macular degeneration lately, after a British man claimed that taking marigold extracts have pretty much cured him of age-related macular degeneration.


The British media has been hailing him as possibly the first person in the country to recover from the devastating condition that causes blindness.

Mr Harry Marsland, 73, is a retired optician and he had lost most of his sight in his right eye to AMD. He was even considering learning Braille, with his left eye also heading down the same route as his right.

After trying various treatments without success, he decided to try a vitamin supplement called Macushield, which contains mesozeaxanthin, derived from marigolds. He said he has since recovered 95 per cent of his sight in his left eye.

"It was in August my wife Nina picked up my magnifying glass and realised it was dusty,' he said. "She was the first to realise I no longer needed to use it.

"A few months later we were walking in the dark and I suddenly realised I was no longer holding on to my wife. It's miraculous, considering at one point I was literally blind in the dark.'

Click here and here to read more about this amazing story.

First human trials for stem cells?

Macular degeneration patients could soon become the world's first to benefit from a new transplant operation using embryonic stem cells. Scientists from an American biotechnology company has applied for a licence to begin clinical trial on those with macular degeneration. They are confident that it would be approved and the trials could start as soon as early next year.

Embryonic stem cells are stem cells derived from human embryos that are only a few days old. They are believed to have the ability to develop into any of the scores of specialised tissues of the body. The hope is that they could be used to repair the damaged organs and tissues of patients with a relatively simple transplant procedure. In the case of macular degeneration sufferers, repair the macula.

Scientists are optimistic, citing positive results from tests on animals. Transplants of the human cells into rats with macular degeneration resulted in a "100 per cent improvement" in vision with no side-effect.

For the complete story, click here.

Goodbye stilettos and slippers

Alexandra Hospital gerontologist Lydia Au treated some 30 MDS members to a very interesting talk last Saturday. She is an expert on falls amongst the elderly and gave us some good news and bad.

We learned, for example, that 1 out of 4 over 65-year-olds who have fallen and broken a hip, do not survive the first year after the fall. They generally die of infections. Women are more likely to break a hip, but they are also more likely to survive the experience! Therefore Dr Au recommends keeping up our calcium and Vitamin D levels to help retard osteoporosis.

Some factors that predispose to falls are intrinsic and not much can be done about them – the ageing process, for example, means that our balance, eyesight, hearing, blood circulation, etc. is not what it used to be. But many factors are extrinsic, and therefore controllable.

Paying attention to slippery floors, poor lighting, clutter, loose carpets is particularly important for those who have experience a fall. Because their chances of a second fall are greatly higher.

So what to look out for? Some factors are medical, like paying attention to the side-effects of drugs, monitoring blood pressure and glucose levels, avoiding rapid movements which might affect balance, and making sure that one wears the right type of shoes – avoid high heels, loose-fitting shoes, and especially open-heeled slippers.

Simple awareness, we learned, can help reduce the changes of a nasty fall. And those of us with MD – or any form of poor vision – are especially vulnerable.

MDS Talk - Low Vision and Falls

Speaker: Dr Lydia Au
Date: Nov 28, 2009 (Sat)
Time: 2 - 4pm

Venue: Seminar Room, Alexandra Hospital

With low vision as a result of macular degeneration, sufferers are more likely to have some difficulties navigating around previously-familiar spaces like homes and offices. While the occasional trips may just be a nuisance, serious falls, especially among the elderly, would be severe. In some instances, it could even be life threatening.

Alexandra Hospital's geriatrician Dr Lydia Au is an expert on falls among the elderly and has studied the problem that low vision people has with movements. She spoke during last year's AMD Awareness Week, and has now kindly agreed to share her work and expertise with MDS members.

Tips will also be shared on how to make little changes in your homes to make sure that it is as friendly to low-vision people as possible.

* All talks are free for MDS members. Non-members can sign up as members at the door for an annual fee of just $10.

** Space is limited, so please reserve your seats soon. Please register by calling Anne at 6238-7387 or e-mail Sharon at