In today's San Francisco Chronicle

Protein discovered that may stave off blindness

In people who suffer from diabetes-related blindness and macular
degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in adults over 65, blood vessels
grow out of control and cloud the clear parts of the eye.

Scientists at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago and the
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston have discovered a protein in healthy
human eyes that can stop blood vessels from growing. The protein, pigment
epithelium-derived factor, helps keep small vessels from invading the
cornea and the clear jelly of the eyeball.

The protein is produced in the retina and controlled by the amount of
oxygen in the eye. When the eye is healthy, oxygen is plentiful, and levels
of the protein are high enough to stop excessive blood vessel growth. But
in a diseased eye, oxygen levels drop and the protein becomes inactive.


Marty Tibor
1 Stop Speech Recognition and Adaptive Technology Synapse
3095 Kerner Blvd., Suite S, San Rafael, CA  94901
toll-free 888-285-9988
http://www.naturalspeak.com
Providers of adaptive and assistive technology solutions.

http://www.unixspeech.com
UNIX, mainframe and Mac speech recognition

http://www.synapseadaptive.com/joel/default.htm
Synapse hosts the Dragon NaturallySpeaking Unofficial Information Pages


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html