Taiwanese researchers have developed a potential alternative to atropine eye drops that could cure childhood pseudomyopia without the side effects from atropine use.
The experimental eye drops, which last year received the National Innovation Award, use ribonucleic acid (RNA) interference to reverse childhood myopia and are scheduled to begin clinical trials late next year.
Controlling pseudomyopia — a precursor to myopia — is an important task in preventive medicine, Juo Suh-hang (卓夙航), head of the research project and a professor at China Medical University’s Institute of New Drug Development, said on Monday.
While myopia’s effect on vision can be corrected, surgical procedures do not lessen the risks of retinal detachment, macular degeneration and glaucoma that accompany severe myopia in middle-aged or older people, Juo said.
The most commonly prescribed eye drops for pseudomyopia contain the active ingredient atropine, he said.
However, atropine induces pupil dilation, which causes light sensitivity, blurry vision and increased susceptibility to eye damage from ultraviolet rays, he added.
As the groups most likely to receive treatment for pseudomyopia are school-aged children and adolescents, such side effects are amplified by prolonged periods of study and outdoor activities, Juo said.
To find an alternative for atropine, his team turned to genetics and found that people with myopia have an excessive amount of microRNA-328, he said.
Rather than suppress the secretion of microRNA-328 — which could alter the patient’s genes — the team developed a synthetic substance that neutralizes microRNA-328 and inhibits gene expression, a technique known as RNA interference, he said.
Animal trials have shown the experimental drug to be three to four times more effective than atropine and capable of reversing myopic eye axis elongation, while avoiding the side effects caused by atropine-induced pupil dilation, Juo said.
Research data suggest that the drug could completely cure pseudomyopia in children with vision equal to or better than minus-5 diopter, while halting myopic progression in children with worse vision and adults, he said.
Should the new drug pass human trials, it would be commercialized in seven to eight years, he added.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
RSS