Retinal Degenerations -

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Résumé :
For centuries, humans have tried to explain the complex process of vision and find effective treatments for eye diseases. Perhaps the oldest surviving record of ancient ophthalmic practices is the Babylonian code of Hammurabi that over 4000 years ago, mentioned fees for eye surgery?and penalties for unsuccessful operations that led to loss of the eye. Babylonian medicine was controlled by priests who directed the work of skilled surgeons. The earliest records of Egyptian medicine date from almost the same time. The Ebers Papyrus, dating back to more than 3500 years ago is a superbly preserved document in which a section outlines a relatively advanced system of diagnosis and treatment of various ocular pathologies. The text reveals that ancient Greek and Egyptian physicians prescribed ?liver juice? for night blindness. This was obtained from roasted and crushed ox liver. We now know that their prescription contained a remarkable amount of vitamin A. It was only within the last century, however, that we have recognized the importance of vitamin A to the function of photoreceptors and visual acuity and that its deficiency can result in night blindness. Egyptian ophthalmological practices were held in high esteem in the ancient world and so were their medical institutes, called ?peri-ankh,? which existed since the first dynasty. Herodotus, the fifth century BC Greek historian, comments on the specialization of the physicians: ?Each physician treats just one disease.

Sommaire:
Retinal Degenerations: Genetics, Progression, and Therapeutics - Table of Contents J Tombran-Tink and CJ Barnstable (eds) University of Missouri-Kansas City and Yale University School of Medicine 1. Living with Retinal Degeneration Coping with Retinitis Pigmentosa: A Patient?s View Gordon Cousins and James Cape 2. Degenerative Diseases of the Retina Epidemiology of ARMD Early in the 21st Century Jie Jin Wang, Paul Mitchell and Ronald Klein 3. Leber Congenital Amaurosis: Biology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics Robert K. Koenekoop 4. Macular Degeneration. Aging Changes and Novel Therapies Peter E. Liggett and Alejandro J. Lavaque 5. Stargardt Disease: from gene discovery to therapy Rando Allikmets 6. X-Linked Juvenile Retinoschisis Bernhard H.F. Weber and Ulrich Kellner 7. Retinal Degeneration in Usher Syndrome David S. Williams 8. Mouse models of RP Bo Chang, Norman L. Hawes, Muriel T. Davisson, J.R. Heckenlively 9. Mechanisms underlying retinal degenerations The Impact of Diabetes on Neuronal, Glial and Vascular Cells of the Retina: Implications for the Pathogenesis of Diabetic Retinopathy Sylvia B. Smith 10. Statins and Age-Related Maculopathy Gerald McGwin Jr. and Cynthia Owsley 11. The role of Drusen in Macular Degeneration and New Methods of Quantification R. Theodore Smith and Umer F. Ahmad 12. RPE lipofuscin: Formation, Properties, and Relevance to Retinal Degeneration Janet R. Sparrow 13. Genetic Modifiers that Affect Phenotypic Expression of Retinal Diseases Malia M. Edwards, Dennis M. Maddox, Jungyeon Won, J?rgen K. Naggert and Patsy M. Nishina 14. X-linked retinal dystrophies and microtubular functions within the retina Alan Wright and Xinhua Shu 15. Synaptic Remodeling in RetinalDegeneration You-Wei Peng and Fulton Wong 16. Developing Therapeutic Strategies for Retinal Degenerative Diseases On The Suppression of Photoreceptor Cell Death in Retinitis Pigmentosa Fiona Kernan, Alex G. McKee, G. J. Farrar and Peter Humphries 17. Cell-based therapies to restrict to progress of photoreceptor degeneration Raymond D. Lund and Shaomei Wang 18. Current Status of IPE Transplantation and its Potential as a Cell-Based Therapy for Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Retinal Dystrophies Makoto Tamai 19. Recent results in Retinal Transplantation give hope for restoring vision Robert B. Aramant, Norman D. Radtke and Magdalene J. Seiler 20. Stem Cells and Retinal Transplantation Joanne Yau, Henry Klassen, Tasneem Zahir and Michael Young 21. Application of Encapsulated Cell Technology for Retinal Degenerative Diseases Weng Tao and Rong Wen 22. Effective treatment for the canine RPE65 null mutation, a hereditary retinal dystrophy comparable to human Leber?s Congenital Amaurosis Kristina Narfstr^m, Gregory E. Tullis and Mathias Seeliger 23. The Use of Neuroprotective Factors in Retinal Degenerations Joyce Tombran-Tink and Colin Barnstable 24. Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors as a possible therapy for RP17, an Autosomal Dominant Retinitis Pigmentosa associated with the R14W mutation, apoptosis, and the unfolded protein response. George Rebello, Jacquie Greenberg and Raj Ramesar