NASA has relaxed its vision requirements for astronauts. The space agency will now consider applicants who have had LASIK or PRK. NASA is also slightly loosening requirements to allow more applicants who wear glasses or contact lenses.

 

After reviewing the Food and Drug Administrations oversight of clinical trials, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) concluded that the FDA comes up short in a number of areas, particularly in patient safety. Specifically, the FDA lacks adequate information systems to oversee clinical trials. Data limitations hinder the FDAs ability to ensure that participants are protected from unreasonable risks, says Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson. The OIG identified several ways the FDA could improve its system, such as developing a comprehensive database of all its clinical trials.

 

Childhood vaccination for the rubella virus may have nearly eliminated Fuchs heterochromic iridocyclitis (FHI) as well, say researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago in a study in Septembers American Journal of Ophthalmology. FHI is much less common in Americans born since the introduction of the rubella vaccination program in 1969. During the same time, the percentage of foreign-born cases has correspondingly increased.

Vol. No: 144:10Issue: 10/15/2007