If you wear soft reusable contact lenses instead of soft disposable ones, your chance of getting an uncommon eye infection rises by almost four times. These sobering conclusions come from study conducted by the University College London (UCL) Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital, which looked at what variables could make someone more likely to get Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK).

“In recent years we have seen an increase of Acanthamoeba keratitis in the UK and Europe, and while the infection is still rare, it is preventable and warrants a public health response,” said lead researcher Professor John Dart in a statement.

“Contact lenses are generally very safe but are associated with a small risk of microbial keratitis, most commonly caused by bacteria, and which is the only sight threatening complication of their use. Given that an estimated 300 million people across the globe wear contact lenses, it is important that people know how to minimise their risks for developing keratitis.”

Over 200 patients were recruited by Dart and colleagues, 83 of them had AK and the remaining 122 were taken to the Moorfields Eye Hospital for various ailments. The second served as a control group so that the researchers could determine what risk factors made someone more likely to develop the corneal infection.

According to their findings, people who wear reusable soft contact lenses had a 3.8-times higher risk of acquiring AK than people who wear daily disposable lenses. Wearing lenses while sleeping and taking a shower raised risk by 3.9 and 3.3 times, respectively. According to the researchers’ calculations, switching to daily disposable lenses might avoid 30-62 percent of AK cases in the UK, and this may hold true for other nations as well.

“Previous studies have linked AK to wearing contact lenses in hot tubs, swimming pools or lakes, and here we have added showers to that list, underlining that exposure to any water when wearing lenses should be avoided,” said first author, Associate Professor Nicole Carnt of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital. “Public pools and coastal authorities could help reduce this risk by advising against swimming in contact lenses.”

Even though sight loss from AK is uncommon, it can occur in extreme cases, which is why the researchers decided to further explore potential risk factors. The team is working to find ways to reduce the annual incidence of AK, which is estimated to affect 1 in 20,000 contact lens wearers in the UK.

Opthalmology published the paper.

Looking at today’s technology it is kind of hard to believe that 20 or 30 years ago we didn’t know what a smartphone was, right? Hell, most of us (kids and adults alike) didn’t even have a mobile phone! And those of us who had one were in complete awe over games like Snake or Pong!

Therefore, I think that a quick look at how mobile games evolved over time is a true testament to the speed of technology. I mean, going from Snake played on a 1990 Nokia phone to a high-graphics game played on the latest Android or iOS smart device is a huge leap!

Even more, nowadays we can run complex apps on our mobile devices, and some are quite impressive. Let’s take apps designed for dentists and their patients – a simple search will reveal a plethora of options, so I chose only the top-rated ones as an example.

DDS GP

This is an app, for iOS users, that makes a dentist’s work with patients easier. The app is equipped with over 200 illustrations, images, and animations that showcase the effects of various dental conditions. This way, a dentist can literally illustrate how a specific disease will progress in time if not properly treated.

DDS GP can help explain some of the most common dental problems such s decay, cracks, or periodontal disease. Furthermore, it accepts edits and drawings which the user can save, and it helps to create individual treatment plans for each patient.

Now, since it’s such a well-detailed app, the price is a bit steep, but for those interested to learn, there are more options at healthyteeth.org (and for free).

iBracesHelp

If you have to wear braces or you’re planning on installing some in the near feature, this app may be of great use. The app provides useful information, videos, and pictures on how to care for braces and what to do if any problems would show up.

DentalNavi

Designed by a dentist for dentists everywhere, this free app for iOS provides users with animations and 3D video representations of various dental procedures. Given that some patients are new to the field and some may even be fearful of some treatment methods, DentalNavi is a fantastic way to illustrate what happens in a patient’s mouth while you’re working on it.

The app has several different modules such as implantology, interactive jaw movement, and checking for occlusions. Everything is highly graphical, which is why communication with your patients will be improved significantly.

My Dental Clinic

A free Android app that can help you manage the activity of an entire dental clinic – cool, right? You won’t have to deal with papers and difficult planners since everything will be readily accessible using your phone!

The app allows you to keep patients’ records such as personal information, notes, appointments, dental charts, and more. Furthermore, you have the possibility to call a patient directly from the app, and the appointments can be sent to your Android calendar.

Overall, this is a fantastic virtual planner for small to medium clinics, and most users seem happy with the features provided.

In Conclusion

As you can see, the world of mobile apps has evolved from low-graphics games to high-end graphics and advanced apps that can keep up with various services at once. Isn’t this advancement impressive?

A few weeks ago, I talked about the A.I. capable of detecting Cancer with incredible accuracy results. Now, we are going to talk about how humanity is getting one step closer to becoming Solid Snake from Metal Gear. Nanomachines which can drill into cancer cells, killing them in just 60 seconds, have been developed by scientists.

The tiny spinning molecules are driven by light, and spin so quickly that they can burrow their way through cell linings when activated. In one test conducted at Durham University the nanomachines took between one and three minutes to break through the outer membrane of prostate cancer cell, killing it instantly.

This is an amazing development for the scientific community. Dr Robert Pal of Durham University said: “We are moving towards realising our ambition to be able to use light-activated nanomachines to target cancer cells such as those in breast tumours and skin melanomas, including those that are resistant to existing chemotherapy.”

This effort is done to provide a potential step change in non-invasive cancer treatment and greatly improve survival rates and patient welfare globally. It’s just incredible to see such development that has us stepping closer and closer to remove Cancer from our lives once and for all.

So, how do these nanomachines work? I mentioned that they are driven by light, but there are also important aspects on their structure to take into account. The ‘motor’ is a rotor-like chain of atoms that can be prompted to move in one direction, causing the molecule to rotate at high speed. You can look at this video for further information:

Dr James Tour, a member of the international team from Rice University in Houston, US, said: “These nanomachines are so small that we could park 50,000 of them across the diameter of a human hair, yet they have the targeting and actuating components combined in that diminutive package to make molecular machines a reality for treating disease.”