by Alicia Wong

SINGAPORE – To minimise scars from glaucoma surgery, the trade-off has always been the increased risk of eye infection.

But some patients now have another option that does not reduce eye immunity: A biodegradable collagen implant, instead of anti-scarring agent.

Some hospitals recently introduced the implant in the treatment of glaucoma – a life-long disease in which fluid in the eye builds up pressure in the eyeball, damages the optic nerve and potentially leads to blindness.

Each year, about three in 100 Singaporeans aged 40 and above develop the condition. Those with moderate glaucoma and those prone to eye infections are suitable for the implant, said opthalmologist Dr Lim Boon Ang from Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), the first hospital to use the implant here.

TTSH introduced it last year after running clinical trials in 2007. The Singapore National Eye Centre is now carrying out trials, while the National University Hospital began using the implant from Feburary.

Usually, how it works during surgery is that anti-scarring agent Mitomycin C is applied over a drainage channel created to divert the fluid in the eye. The agent keeps the drain from closing – but is quite toxic.

With a mint-sized biodegradable collagen implant, a mould forms for the scar tissue to heal over, without closing the drain. “Within three months, the scaffold is absorbed by the body, leaving a porous structure,” said Dr Lim.

Manufactured in Taiwan, the implant has been on the market for about three years. TTSH, which performs about 150 glaucoma surgeries a year, has used it for over 20 surgeries, with no side effects noted.

So far, TTSH’s success rate in preventing further vision loss is about 80 to 90 per cent in the first 18 months using the implant, comparable with conventional glaucoma surgery.

But vision should drop over time. The success rate for conventional surgery is 70 per cent by the third year, said Dr Lim.

NUH consultant and head of glaucoma services Jovina See said the results are “alright” but “not amazingly better compared to conventional filtration surgery”. NUH is researching whether better materials or novel surgical implants can be used.

TTSH patients using the collagen implant pay $200 to $300 more for surgery – which is the last option after eye drops and laser treatment – or $2,600 (non-subsidised) and $1,200 (subsidised) per eye.

Retiree Lim Pok Beng underwent the surgery using the implant in 2007. He described the outcome as “positive”.

http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC091116-0000020/Patients-say-aye-to-collagen-implants

This article was featured in Today November 16, 2009.

Today is 3rd World Glaucoma Day.

Sources:   www.wgday.net

www.wgday.org

An American architect has broken his own Guinness World Record by building the largest house of free-standing playing cards.

Bryan Berg used 218,792 cards to create a replica of the Venetian Macau, which is on display in its namesake luxury hotel and casino.

Berg took 44 days and 4,051 decks of cards to complete his model inside the Venetian, which sits at the heart of Macau’s Cotai Strip, the China-ruled city’s version of Las Vegas’ neon alley.

US ‘cardstacker’ Bryan Berg poses for photographers after successfully making a new Guinness World Record for the largest house of free-standing playing cards

The architect Berg used 218,792 cards to create a replica of the Venetian Macau, which is on display in its namesake luxury hotel and casino

Since Macau’s casino sector liberalised in 2002, a spate of Las Vegas style gaming giants have transformed the once sleepy former Portuguese colony into the world’s biggest gaming hub.

Weighing 44 stone and measuring 33 feet by just under 10 feet, the model which consisted of cards stacked without glue or tape, nearly collapsed several times.

The structure weighs 272 kg and measures 10 metres by 3 metres

‘This has been the most ambitious project I have undertaken to date,’ Berg said.

‘It’s really like a real construction project because you have to engineer every single adjacency and every support that’s supporting everything above,’ he added.

‘I was inspired to stack cards by my card-playing grandfather; maybe I can inspire some visitors at The Venetian Macao to try their hand at building their own structures.

‘There couldn’t be a more fitting place to build the world’s largest house of cards than at the world’s largest resort hotel,” he added.

Berg works on his masterpiece, which took 44 days to complete and nearly collapsed several times

The record breaker proudly accepts his certificate form the Guinness Book of World Records

Berg’s creation is modelled on the Venetian, which sits at the heart of Macau’s Cotai Strip, the China-ruled city’s version of Las Vegas’ neon alley

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1256905/American-architect-beats-record-creating-worlds-largest-house-cards.html

World Kidney Day is celebrated on the second Thursday of March every year.

http://www.worldkidneyday.org/

Nintendo Wii Game Review New Super Mario Bros Wii

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

OLD is gold, they say. And so New Super Mario Bros Wii sees the heavily moustached mascot from Nintendo making a return to 2D gaming after his successful outings in 3D. Yes, finally, for old fogies like yours truly, no more motion sickness from the classic and simple side-scrolling view.

The game hasn’t lost any of its chops. The level designs are as ingenious as ever and you may find, like I did, your thumbs sore by the time you’re done with this title.

The graphics have gotten a facelift but are nothing to shout about.

New additions include power-ups that let Mario glide and jump even higher with the help of a propeller suit or slide on ice in a penguin suit. There are new moves that make use of the Wii’s motion controller. For example, you can only propel high with the propeller suit by shaking the controller.

This ups the difficulty of the game because you need to time your button presses, the shake of the motion controller and that treacherous moving platform onscreen.

There were times when I banged the Wii controller on my bed in frustration. Or screamed into a pillow. I still haven’t quite recovered emotionally from that experience. I managed to finish the game – without much sleep – over a weekend.

New Super Mario Bros Wii does offer a lifeline if you fail too many times. A new feature called Super Guide can complete the level for you. You just need to sit back and watch Luigi (Mario’s brother, for the uninitiated) run through the level for you.

If you thought negotiating tricky button presses was hard in single-player mode, the new multiplayer option lets up to four players play onscreen simultaneously. Choose to cooperate in the main story mode or compete with one another in the dedicated multiplayer modes. It’s a lot harder than it sounds – and a guaranteed fun fracas. Hedirman Supian

VERDICT

Retro gamers will be chuffed with Mario’s latest outing. It’s an instant classic and harks back to the good old days of gaming, with the bonus of multiplayer gameplay and ingenious level designs. If you’re expecting a game with 3D eye-candy, look elsewhere.

Verdict: 4/5

http://www.todayonline.com/Tech/Gaming/EDC100219-0000056/Super-Mario-goes-Wii-high

Famine statues

THERE is arguably no place more central to Ireland’s capital than the River Liffey, snaking its way through the city and dividing Dublin into north and south sides before emptying into the Irish Sea at the city’s edge.

It is along the Liffey riverbanks that many of Dublin’s most iconic sites can be found: The majestic Custom House, the quaintly preserved pedestrian Ha’penny Bridge and the Guinness Brewery. In paintings, postcards and memories, the riverbanks form the perfect microcosm of Dublin and its lifeblood, thriving with traffic, pedestrians and the buzz of the capital.

Those who follow the river to Dublin Port will find a new, modern Dublin along the shore, replete with dining and entertainment options in a sleek, trendy setting.

Mixed in among these neighbourhoods on the north and south sides are elements of the old Dublin, along with memorials and reminders of the city and country’s rich history.

1 The restored chq

Following the Liffey on the north side away from the city centre, visitors will come upon a beautifully restored building called chq – the latest incarnation of a former tobacco store with vaults underneath. Bright and airy, with a glass exterior, the building now houses a handful of eateries, high-end shops and the occasional art installation.

The area next to the building, known as the Docklands, hosts annual events including a Fringe Festival in late summer, an Oktoberfest celebration in autumn and a Christmas market in December. Each of these events brings droves of people into the Docklands, and most feature food, artisan kiosks and various performances with an electric, festive ambiance.

Famine statues

2 Famine memorial

Just across from this space, however, is a sombre sight on the north banks of the Liffey: A famine memorial with life-sized sculptures of starving men and women, and even a skeletal dog, making their way toward Dublin Port to leave Ireland’s shores during the Great Famine of the 1840s.

Jeanie Johnston ship

Just a few steps away, closer to the port, a replica of the ship Jeanie Johnston is anchored in tribute to the 2 million who emigrated.

3 Guinness on deck

A stroll farther along the Liffey leads to another anchored ship, the MV Cill Airne. Turned into a bar and restaurant, it’s a beautiful place to have a drink on a sunny summer’s day, surveying the long riverbanks while enjoying a Guinness on the deck.

The rest of the north side of the Docklands features swanky new apartments and a soon-to-open conference centre with a tilted glass-enclosed front. Located at the edge of the quays before the port is a redeveloped entertainment hall called the O2. It opened in December 2008 and is the largest indoor concert hall in Ireland, with 9,500 seats.
4 Swanky south

Samuel Beckett Bridge, with the new convention centre in the background.

Crossing to the other side of the river – possibly using either the pedestrian Sean O’Casey Bridge or the just-opened Samuel Beckett Bridge, both named for Dublin-born writers – leads to an even trendier part of the city.

Windmill Lane

Grand Canal Dock is a chic collection of bright lights, fashionable apartments and stylish restaurants. U2’s former recording studio, Windmill Lane, is here, covered in graffiti left by hardcore fans on pilgrimages to the band’s home city and haunts.

A few blocks away, Facebook just opened its international headquarters in a Grand Canal Dock building, and Google’s European headquarters stands a 10-minute walk away from the river – signalling the area’s arrival as a 21st-century centre of commerce and technology.

Grand Canal Theatre

Most importantly, the neighbourhood is home to the Daniel Libeskind-designed Grand Canal Theatre, an asymmetric architectural masterpiece. It is scheduled to open by St Patrick’s Day this year and will host concerts, musical theatre performances and other shows. AP

http://www.todayonline.com/Traveller/EDC100306-0000070/Pint-of-new-Irish