Postponement of pilates event

Dear MDS members, 

Our pilates session slated for this Sat, Nov 29, has been postponed. Several members expressed interest but are travelling during this school holidays. To make sure more of us can attend, we will aim to hold it in January, subject to availability of the instructor and venue. 

We will update with new details once we have them.

Thanks.

Retinal prosthesis video

Mobile game to treat lazy eye?

Nov 13, 2014

The Straits Times

By Lester Hoi

Ideas for a mobile game to help children with lazy eye improve their condition and an app which translates dialects into English or Mandarin were the winners in the inaugural Solve for Tomorrow competition.

A team from the Singapore Management University, Eyenovation, clinched first place in the university category of the competition organised by Samsung. Its idea was a game that is split into two visual parts and played with goggles. The stronger eye sees the static elements of the game, while the lazy eye sees the moving elements.

“To use the example of Tetris, the stronger eye will see the bricks that are fixed at the base, while the lazy eye sees the moving bricks that are falling,” said team member Leonard Li, 23. The idea is to force the lazy eye to “relearn” how to see without depending on the stronger eye.

Six teams – three from the university and three from the polytechnic categories – presented their ideas. The competition is aimed at getting students to use technology to come up with solutions to social issues in Singapore.

Winners get a $10,000 cash prize, a study trip to Samsung’s headquarters in South Korea and an internship opportunity at Samsung Singapore. Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s team, First Words, topped its category for its conceptualisation of a mobile app that translates Chinese dialects into English or Mandarin and vice versa through speech recognition software.

One of the judges, Ms Karen Ngui, head of group strategic marketing and communications of DBS Bank, said: “All six finalists demonstrated how technology can be humanised to better impact how we live each day.”

Pilates for Health & Fitness

Remember the Qigong workout we had last year? MDS is going for fitness again! We are holding our last event of 2014 with an event to help members stay fit and healthy. And this time, we are trying out pilates! 

Pilates instructor Suzanne Sim, who is a fellow MDS members, will give us a beginners' guide to the exercise, targeted at those who have never tried pilates before.

Pilates is a gentle restorative exercise that is suited for most people as they recover and work to rebuild their bodies. Pilates creates strong muscles and more range of movement. It improves postural problems, increases core strength, stability and mobility; helps prevent injuries; improves balance, coordination and circulation; heightens body awareness; and is a low-impact form of exercise.

Date: Nov 29, 2014 (Sat)

Time: 2pm to 4pm

Venue: Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Tower B, Level 1, Learning Centre, Kaizen 5

Free for MDS members. MDS subscription fee of $20 for 2014-2015 will be collected at the door if you have not paid up.

Look forward to seeing you! 

Call Anne at 6238-7387 or send an e-mail to alleyes@singnet.com.sg to register.

Two eye treatments for the price of one

Oct 11, 2014

The Straits Times

By Salma Khalik

Get your astigmatism corrected too when you have your cataract or clouded lens removed.

Gleneagles Hospital has bought an $80,000 machine that, coupled with its bladeless cutter, makes the lens placement following the removal of the cataract so accurate that it can even adjust for astigmatism, where vision is distorted or blurred.

Dr Lee Hung Meng, the first ophthalmologist here to use the new system, said it can map the eye, and adjust for any change that occurs when a person lies down. It can also track the centre of the eye, which might shift after the eye is dilated before the procedure. This way, when an incision is made and the new artificial lens is inserted, it will still be centred exactly at the right spot.

Dr Lee added that in eye surgery, a 0.2-0.3mm difference can impact the outcome, making vision less than perfect.

So far 30 patients have benefited from its accuracy since the new machine was acquired in end August. The public sector does not use such equipment currently but the National University Hospital said it is evaluating several machines that provide equally good outcomes. With close to 40,000 cataracts removed here each year - or over 100 every day - cataract surgery is one of the most common eye treatments, especially among older people.

Correcting the problem is simple and quick, taking only about 15 to 20 minutes. Cost varies from about $1,000 for subsidised patients to as high as $9,000 for private patients, for each eye, depending on the lens and method.

Mr S.K. Chan, 59, one of the first to have his cataract done using the new equipment at Gleneagles, said it was well worth the extra $60 for using the new machine. This was for his right eye.

The electronic chip trader said the cataract in his left eye was done earlier without the new device. His verdict: "There's a slight difference. The right eye feels better and has recovered faster."

Appreciation for MDS at AMD Awareness Week 2014

Organisers of the AMD Awareness Week presenting a token of appreciation to MDS secretary Peh Shing Huei for the society's support and partnership of the annual event. 

Macular pigment levels could be key to determining risk of developing AMD

The first-ever local study led by Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, which examined 95 Singaporean Chinese participants, revealed that low macular pigment levels may be useful to determine a person's risk of developing Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD).

Channel News Asia

Oct 11, 2014

SINGAPORE: Low macular pigment levels - which is a layer to protect the eye's retina from damage - may be useful to determine a person's risk of developing Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD).

AMD is a degenerative eye condition that affects a tiny part of the retina at the back of the eye, called the macula. It causes blurring of central vision, but does not lead to total loss of sight and is not painful. It also results in poor vision and thus significantly affects one's quality of life.

This came out of a first-ever local study led by Khoo Teck Puat Hospital which examined 95 Singaporean Chinese participants. The study also found that 15 per cent of the participants who had this condition were older and overweight. Females also had lower levels of macular pigment compared to males.

Launching the AMD Awareness Week, Senior Minister of State for Health Dr Amy Khor said educating Singaporeans about the two types of AMD could improve disease control. "The dry form is more common and slower in progression," added Dr Khor. "It can be controlled by managing modifiable risk factors such as smoking, increasing dietary intake of green leafy vegetables and other measures.

"For the less common wet form of AMD, it is more progressive but vision can be preserved and even improved if the disease is detected early and treated promptly."

In Singapore, Age-related Macular Degeneration is the third most common cause of blindness and low vision for those above 60 years old. It also affects one's quality of life and doctors say that early prevention and detection is crucial to ensure that seniors do not suffer from this condition.

A 2006 study by Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) showed that only 7.3 per cent of Singapore residents interviewed were aware of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). This was much lower than the awareness levels in countries like the United States, Canada and Australia.

But a follow-up study in 2011 showed that awareness levels for AMD had increased to 28 per cent - a four-fold increase over five years. This could be attributed to the increased efforts by eye professionals on raising the awareness of AMD among Singaporeans.