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Scientist discovered a new compound capable of reversing the effects of cataract.
The most notorious eye disease may have found her match. A group of researchers from New York have just discovered a new cure for cataract. The solutions has been tested only on mice and on some human tissue but the results are encouraging.
Cataract can be described as being a clouding in the lens that can alter our vision. It usually takes a lot to set, but it is capable of affecting one or both eyes. Traditionally, the symptoms and sigs of cataract depend on which type of cataract you have. But the denominator for all types of cataract seems to be the reduction of vision.
There are a couple of causes that can lead to cataract. Medical literature argues that the most common cause for cataract is age, as the proteins created by your eye lenses begin to fade out. Other disease associated with onset of cataract in elderly would be diabetes mellitus and hypertension.
Another cause that can trigger cataract is trauma. Usually in the case of blunt trauma, the area around the eye lens is swelled, thickened and has a white coloration. Although the swelling usually subsides in time, the eye might preserve the white coloration. Patients that have suffered electrical electrocution are 1 percent more predisposed to develop cataract.
Also, radiation is another cause that leads to cataract, specifically long exposure to ultraviolet light. Microwave radiation and lasers could also damage the eye lenses.
Genetics is also considered to be a leading cause of cataract. If the mechanism that dominates lens protecting is impaired by a genetic anomaly, it can trigger cataract in the early stage of childhood.
Among other causes that lead to cataract we should also mention skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis, eczema and ichthyosis, drug abuse and medication abuse.
New cure for cataract has been developed after the group of scientist screed approximately 2400 compounds. The winners of this compound lottery were the sterols. Twelve sterols were chose in order to carry on with the experiment.
One of the sterols, which goes by the name of lanosterol can be used in order to reverse the damaging effects of cataract. Only problem is that this compound in not soluble enough. After seeking out another group of 29 sterols, scientists came up with the substance called “compound 29” which had the ideal percentage of water solubility.
Preliminary tests of mice, which either exhibited symptoms of cataract attributed to old age or they were genetically predisposed, revealed that compound is highly effective against cataract.
Researchers even went ahead and tested the compound on human tissue to see how it fares. The result are astounding, proving that there is a change for the 20 million people all over the world who suffer from cataract.
Image source:webeye.edu
