Treating aneurysm now less invasive

Wow, I had this problem 10 years ago. It's actually really scary. New medical breakthrough should really save lives.

Until the next time, cheers.

Treating aneurysm now less invasive
By Claire Huang 

 

	An illustration showing the new surgery procedure to treat aneurysm.

SINGAPORE: More people are susceptible to aortic aneurysms as patients suffering from chronic diseases like diabetes and heart problems increase.

The Singapore General Hospital (SGH) said it sees three to four patients with the condition every week.

An aortic aneurysm is a bulge in a section of the aorta, the body's main artery that supplies oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body. It's almost always fatal when the aneurysm ruptures.

A significant number of patients do not make the cut for the conventional stent operation which can be done to prevent the aneurysm from rupturing.

Two years ago, taxi driver Wong Hon Meng was admitted into hospital with stones in his gall bladder.

And it was a blessing in disguise for the 73-year-old.

It was then that doctors discovered he had an aneurysm that was about 4.4 centimetres.

Back then, the aneurysm had not yet reached dangerous levels. Experts usually recommend surgery if it is more than five centimetres in width. This, as anything that's five to six centimetres will have a five to 10 per cent risk of rupture and after two years, it's 10 to 20 per cent.

Mr Wong said: "The scan showed that the aneurysm was about 6.1 centimetres, I felt my back was pulled and was in pain. The pain doesn't stop.

"My mother also had this condition. She's someone who loved food, but she suddenly stopped eating so I asked why and she told me her back was hurting. It was so bad that my children and I had to send her to hospital and the doctor said they couldn't save her because the aneurysm ruptured."

Like his mother, many patients with the silent killer go undetected.

Consultant at the General Surgery Department at SGH Dr Benjamin Chua said: "There are some other symptoms that patients sometimes present with. Most significant is abdominal pain with back pain, lower back pain. This can sometimes be confused with conditions of the spinal bones of the back, but sometimes in aneurysm it's the underlying cause.

"Other times they can present with pain in walking certain distance, with the inability to walk further than maybe 50, 100 metres and that's because the aneurysm contains blood clots that are showered down into the legs."

Another symptom is a pulsating mass in the stomach.

Doctors said about three to five per cent of the population have this condition. And of these, men aged 60 years and above are more prone to it.

About 30 to 40 per cent of patients, however, do not qualify for the standard stent graft operation and for these patients, the minimally invasive treatment is now available.

With endovascular surgery, the patient goes under light sedation instead of general anaesthesia, which reduces the risk of heart attack or stroke during the operation.

Dr Chua said: "Previously if we had discovered an aneurysm years ago, the operation of choice was open repair and this would involve making an incision in the abdomen and exposing the aorta, and then stitching the graft. Now that sounds relatively straightforward, except the fact that the patient would be under general anaesthesia. This sometimes put a strain on the heart and can precipitate a heart attack inter-operatively, or even a stroke sometimes."

In February this year, Mr Wong went for the new surgery.

Dr Chua said: "We make small little puncture holes in the artery. From there, through a series of wires, across the aneurysm, we then deploy a stent inside the artery to cover the aneurismal portion from the inside."

With the conventional method, patients normally recover in about a months' time but with the new method patients can resume their daily activities within two weeks.

Mr Wong said: "There are barely any scars. The five incisions are really tiny so you can't really tell."

The mortality rates are also lower for endovascular repair than open repair.

Studies have shown that endovascular repair reduces the risks of leakage from 50 per cent to 20 per cent, compared to an open repair.

But stent grafts alone can cost up to S$25,000.

So Dr Chua urged the public to be more vigilant, keep their chronic diseases under control and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

As for Mr Wong, who suffers from high blood pressure and high cholesterol, going for regular check ups is now a must having realised it's hereditary.

On his part, Mr Wong now makes it a point to go for an hour-long walks almost every day.

- CNA/ck

This little girl is awesome....(Video)

This video (link below) is really cute and funny. You should see it. However, they should have said at the end whether the father was OK or not.

Until the next time, cheers.

This little girl is awesome....

A 5-year-old talks on the phone with 911 while her dad is having difficultly breathing. 

Don't leave too soon.  This little girl is not only smart, but very cute and funny.

Turn your speaker on.... this is priceless! 

 

http://www.maniacworld.com/stay-calm-dad.html

 

This is the power of technology. Big brother will be watching you all the way. Everything can be traced in the near future.

Until the next time, cheers.

Jobs catches burglar from beyond the grave

San Jose Mercury, August 16, 2012

Mike Rosenberg, Jason Green, San Jose Mercury

Steve Jobs … house ransacked. Photo: AP

PALO ALTO, California: Kariem McFarlin told police he was desperate for easy cash when he saw a Palo Alto home being renovated, hopped over the fence, found a spare key and went inside. No lights, no alarm, no one home. Then he discovered what hallowed ground he was on: the home of the late Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.

Alone and with the run of a house belonging to one of the richest and most secretive families on the planet, McFarlin made off with some of the legendary gadgets Mr Jobs helped create, police said. He grabbed iPhones, iPads, Macs and iPods, then found Mr Jobs's wallet - with a single dollar inside - and took his driver's licence.

Police said he also snatched $US60,000 ($49,000) worth of jewellery and champagne, a soda maker and kitchen blender.

Ultimately, it was Apple's technology that allowed a Silicon Valley high-tech crime taskforce to track down the alleged burglar.

Police said when McFarlin, 35, used the stolen devices to connect to the internet with his iTunes account, Apple investigators were able to identify him using an IP address. After gathering more evidence, police went to his apartment in Alameda, California, and found many of the items he allegedly stole. Then he confessed and wrote a letter of apology to Jobs's widow, police said.

''What an idiot,'' said McFarlin's former boss, Ross Rankin. ''There's certain things you don't do, and burglary is one of them, but burglarising an icon like that, that just puts yourself pretty much in the deep hole.''

McFarlin was arrested on August 2 and is in jail in lieu of $US500,000 bail. He is due in court next week.

Police said McFarlin told investigators he was down on his luck and had been sleeping in his car before breaking in to a few homes.

The report said McFarlin got into the grounds by climbing scaffolding after construction crews renovating the home had gone home for the day. He walked into an open garage workshop, found a key and walked through the house door, the report said. He realised where he was when he saw a letter addressed to Mr Jobs.

''The best we can tell is it was totally random,'' prosecutor Tom Flattery said.
Mr Jobs's widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, was staying nearby.

San Jose Mercury

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/jobs-catches-burglar-from-beyond-the-grave-20120815-248zi.html#ixzz23lc8Kdnp

The question of the mistreatment of the poor and defenceless has been on since the beginning of mankind. However, it is really rather shocking at this age and time when we expect humans to be much more educated and cultured. Many rich people believe that they can do whatever they want as they have the money to get away with it.

This mistreatment is also quite prevalent in Malaysia. I suppose this is a cross culture problem. 

I have also seen the movie The Help and it was an eye opener what the blacks had to go through even as recently as in the 50s. So, it does not matter if you're white or black or yellow or brown, there are evil humans!!

Until the next time, cheers.

India's servants bear brunt of callous rich

The Sydney Morning Herald, August 11, 2012

Amrit Dhillon

A still from the film showing an upset maid. 

ONCE in a while, the Indian media carry stories of rich Indians abusing domestic servants.

A teenage girl bludgeoned to death for trying on her employer's lipstick; a maid left for a week with no food and locked in the flat by a doctor couple who have gone to Bangkok; a boy punished for over-salting his employer's food by having a hot spatula pressed against his face.

But the daily indignities of staff are known only to the victims, and it is these experiences that film director Prashant Nair portrays in his film Delhi in a Day. A satire on Delhi's nouveaux riches, the film lampoons their conspicuous consumption, endless socialising, narcissism, social one-upmanship - and mistreatment of staff.

Director Prashant Nair. 

''My characters do charity work and engage in philanthropic activities but the moment they get home, they can't treat the staff with civility or dignity,'' said Nair, 35, an engineering graduate who turned to making films a few years ago.

In his first feature film, Nair has chosen not to portray the worst crimes committed against domestic help. Depicting brutality would have worked against his intention to use humour and to generate debate among Indians about mistreatment of servants. Also, too dark a film might have run the risk of being rejected outright by Indians.

Delhi in a Day shows a rich, loudmouth socialite who leads a frou-frou lifestyle with her wealthy businessman husband in a mansion in south Delhi. A semi-alcoholic cook, butler, two drivers, and a maid minister to their needs. The socialite routinely calls them ''idiots'' or waves them away in front of guests.

The event that serves as a catalyst to expose how the rich view servants is the visit by a British friend who comes to India seeking spiritual inspiration and finds only the family's rank materialism. His money is stolen. The family assumes automatically that one of the servants is the thief. They are given 24 hours to replace it - or else.

While choosing a location, Nair looked at about 40 sprawling farmhouses in south Delhi. ''In every one, the servants' quarters were pathetic,'' he said. As a French-Indian director, Nair brings a dual perspective: he is an outsider who has lived all over the world with his diplomat parents before settling in Paris but is also an insider who was born in India and used to spend childhood summers in Delhi.

In these holidays, Nair saw a far greater contempt for poor Indians than any shown by the white Mississippi women towards their black maids in the film The Help, with which his film has been compared.

''I used to see children kicking elderly staff. Once I saw a servant being slapped in front of 80 to 90 people for forgetting something. My aim is to get people to … realise that such behaviour needs to change,'' he said.

The film is not the first to portray this lack of humanity. In 2008, Mumbai director Raja Menon, in his film Shortchanged, showed how when a driver tries to borrow money - the equivalent of what a family would spend on a pizza - from the tenants in the building where he works, they brush him off without a thought that he needs it for his son's medical treatment.

But Delhi in a Day focuses on the routine and casual cruelties meted out to servants every day. ''I don't see things getting better. If anything, the younger generation are even more selfish and materialistic,'' Nair said.

Well done, we have to take pro active stand ourselves. I have noticed that the major shopping malls are being very serious about this (but then again it's their bread and butter).

Until the next time, cheers.

The Star, Friday August 10, 2012

Security guards stop fleeing robbery suspects at 1Utama shopping centre

PETALING JAYA: Four men were nabbed by security guards in a mall here when they tried to flee after being spotted behaving suspiciously in the carpark.

The men in the car rammed into several other vehicles at the basement carpark when they sped against traffic flow to flee from guards patrolling the mall.

They were nabbed after their car got stuck on a divider in the Wednesday night drama at the 1Utama shopping centre in Bandar Utama.

A police source said the suspects were waiting to rob shoppers.

Drama in carpark: Police personnel inspecting the car which the suspects rammed onto a divider in their bid to escape.

 

He said the car had earlier been reported stolen in Sungai Buloh. Two parang were found in the boot.

A witness said the suspects were loitering on the fourth level of the carpark earlier.

“Despite being blocked by other cars, the suspects were desperate to escape and drove till their car got stuck on the divider,” he said, adding that the four men were handed over to the police.

Petaling Jaya police chief ACP Arjunaidi Mohamed confirmed that police had received a report on the incident.

The management of 1Utama, on its Facebook page, thanked shoppers for their positive comments and encouraging words for the mall's security team.

They, however, reminded shoppers to “always be vigilant and to help each other in ensuring safety” at the shopping centre.

In SHAH ALAM, Selangor CID chief SAC Mohd Adnan Abdullah said the four suspects had been remanded and that the police would investigate their modus operandi.

“The security guards suspected something amiss when they noticed the four men waiting in a Proton Wira at the parking bay.

“When the guards approached them, they sped off. However, they failed to escape.”

Meanwhile, SAC Mohd Adnan said the police had concluded their probe into the death of TV9 administrative executive Syaleza Jaffar. He, however, declined to give details.

Syaleza was found with strangulation marks on her neck at her home in Saujana Apartment, Damansara Damai, on July 28.

A man, said to be a relative, has since been remanded and questioned while statements have been recorded from 23 others.

This article is interesting and funny too. It looks like samnsung will be chasing the tail of Apple and heaven forbid, even overtake it in the near future. I have been an apple fan but I am really tempted to buy the SIII. Almost did it a few times but held back at the last minute.

There is a video also but I do not know how to download it so you may need to go to the link at the bottom and see whether you can view it from that link. it did help me to expand my knowledge of Siri though.

Until the next time, cheers.

Battle of the smartphones: iPhone 4S v Galaxy S III

The Sydney Morning Herald, August 9, 2012

Katie Cincotta

WHILE Apple and Samsung have been fighting it out in court, we thought we'd put their latest smartphones to the test to see who really does put the ''smart'' into smartphone.

By smart, we mean user-friendly, intuitive, fast, design-savvy and with high AI (artificial intelligence) for knowing what you might want and giving it to you. Basically, a phone that's a personal assistant that you're not going to fire on day one because it's speed-dialled your ex at 2am, photo-tagged you in a drunken mess, or thrown up bizarre search results (like radiation doses from eating bananas when what you asked for was the size of a king-size bed). That's a true example from silly Siri, who Steve Wozniak reckons has turned to ''poo poo'' since Apple bought it in 2010.

You might argue Samsung Galaxy S III running Android 4.0 has an unfair advantage because the iPhone 4S on iOS5.1.1 was released three months ago, but for the sake of this road test we're looking at the current playing fields for intelligent mobile phone software.

The Samsung Galaxy III and the iPhone 4S both have their good points, but which one can really double as a helpful virtual assistant? 

iPhone 5 might up the ante with a rumoured near-field communications release come spring, which would turn your phone into a tech wallet but, until we have it in our hot little hands, it's all Apple pie in the sky.

Bio recognition
Samsung wins for facial recognition technology because the 4S simply doesn't have it. To unlock the screen with your face go to settings/security/screenlock /faceunlock. Once you activate SmartStay under the display settings, the III even lights or dims the screen according to your eye movement, which means it stays on while you're reading and then switches off if you fall asleep.

The Galaxy S III has upped the IQ factor. 

It also automatically tags you and your friends in photos if you select Facetag (hit the options button next to the home button). Slightly creepy that your phone knows you that well, but also a clever security factor. Just bear in mind that the III can't distinguish between a photo and the real face, so it is still hackable.

So, does Siri know who you are? Unfortunately, she doesn't even know who she is.

''Who are you?''

''I am well, Katie.''
(I said, 'Who', not 'How?' Grrrr.)

''I'm just a humble virtual assistant.''

Obviously, you need to work on your voice recognition, Miss Siri, or I need to work on my diction.

Samsung also has the jump on direct calling, which it can even do based on gesture recognition, which is mighty handy if your Bluetooth in the car has run flat, or you have your hands full at the checkout. When a contact is on the screen, to call them, just raise the phone to your ear.

Screen grabs are also a step ahead with Samsung. No more simultaneously locking and holding buttons. Just swipe your palm from right to left on the III to take a screen shot.

Good looks
Lighter, wider and skinnier seem to be the trends for mobile phones, which makes the 4S look slightly chunky up against the new sleeker III. We wait eagerly to see what shape the 5 will be and if it will follow the Samsung Galaxy III's lead with a massive 4.8-inch screen that only weighs 133 grams. It's not quite ''phablet'' size like the Note, and fits snug in the back pocket of your jeans, but it's still probably too big to squeeze into a purse.

Still, the iPhone does command attention for its beautiful and simple interface, especially Siri's Q&A format, which looks really clean.

Samsung is definitely more complicated, takes some getting used to and its icons aren't as sophisticated. So we might have to call the style stakes a draw.

Set-up
To get a lot of the Samsung Galaxy III's features working you have to set them up, including the facial recognition. And while they're nifty, it takes a bit of fiddling to get them up and running, which some might find frustrating. No need to start Siri on Apple, just start talking after you hold down the home button and hear the two quick beeps. ''What can I help you with?'' will come up on the screen.

Hot shots
At eight megapixels and with HD video recording, the iPhone 4S camera is a knockout, but Samsung has lifted the bar with those same specs by adding automatic photo-taking features. Burst Shot captures 20 continuous frames and then selects eight of the best shots automatically. That editing function is an Instagrammer's best friend, especially now that IG has taken a bite out of Apple and is available on Android devices. Another great upgrade on the Galaxy III is that it lets you record still and video at the same time, which you can't do on the 4S.

Sharing
App-happy iPhones need a sharing app such as Bump to transfer files, but Samsung has gone one better with S Beam. Tap the two phones, hold for a second and then tap on the file you want to share. No pairing, no set-up, no waiting. From each photo, you can also choose to share to any of your social media sites instantly. Android wins.

Q&A
''Where can I buy MAC eyelashes in Melbourne?'' I ask both phones. Siri gives us a Google search return in seconds with a list of MAC stores. But when I ask her to find my husband, she goes shy. Yes, she gives me his contact details on the screen, but when I ask to dial his number, she's obviously out on a smoko and repeats twice, ''Here's that contact information,'' which is code for, ''Do it yourself, you lazy human.''

If I ask the Galaxy III S Voice the same shopping query, I'm told, ''I know I love you. I cannot love as humans do.'' Has Galaxy taken an acid trip? I try again. This time Galaxy thinks I've said, ''Where can I buy Mac on elections in Melbourne?'' Fail. On the third try, S Voice offers to do a web search but I have to type in the query. Epic fail.

Where Galaxy picks up points is on navigation. I set off to navigate from home to my son's school and it brings up the map instantly and proceeds with turn-by-turn navigation - superb functionality if you haven't had time to set up and program your GPS.

Siri says she can only look for maps and traffic in the US. ''Sorry about that.'' Well, how's that for a parochial PA?

Speed
This one's a no-brainer. Everything is faster on the Samsung Galaxy III, even the water effect on the touchscreen seems to bounce.

Verdict
Clearly, the Samsung Galaxy III has upped the IQ factor for its ''smart'' features with an impressive range of intuitive functions and a more natural voice, which leaves iPhone's 4S Siri to contemplate her college entry prospects until perhaps the 5 can prove she really can make good as a virtual assistant you can rely on for more than weather reports and comic relief when she gets your query wrong.

''Are you smart, Siri?''

''No comment,'' she answers.

Diva.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/battle-of-the-smartphones-iphone-4s-v-galaxy-s-iii-20120808-23sz9.html#ixzz237bOezak

Wow, telling does not pay...tell that to our politicians!!!

Until the next time, cheers.

Time to come clean: little white lies found to be a health hazard

USA Today, August 6, 2012

Sharon Jayson

Research from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana has shown telling the truth improves health.

ORLANDO, Florida: Honesty may actually help your health, suggests a study presented to psychologists at the weekend that found telling fewer lies benefits people physically and mentally.

For this ''honesty experiment'', 110 individuals aged 18 to 71 participated over a 10-week period. Each week, they visited a laboratory to complete health and relationship measures and to take a polygraph test assessing the number of major lies and white lies they had told that week.

''Recent evidence indicates that Americans average about 11 lies per week. We wanted to find out if living more honestly can actually cause better health,'' said lead author Anita Kelly, a psychology professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

''We found that the participants could purposefully and dramatically reduce their everyday lies, and that in turn was associated with significantly improved health.''

Researchers instructed half the participants to stop telling lies for the 10 weeks. The instructions said ''refrain from telling any lies for any reason to anyone. You may omit truths, refuse to answer questions, and keep secrets, but you cannot say anything that you know to be false.''

The other half - who served as a control group - received no such instructions. Over the study period, the link between less lying and improved health was significantly stronger for participants in the no-lie group, the study found. As an example, when participants in the no-lie group told three fewer white lies than they did in other weeks, they experienced, on average, about four fewer mental-health complaints and about three fewer physical complaints.

For the control group, when they told three fewer white lies, they experienced two fewer mental-health complaints and about one less physical complaint. The pattern was similar for major lies, Ms Kelly said.

Overall, Ms Kelly says participants in the more truthful group told significantly fewer lies across the study. By the fifth week, they saw themselves as more honest, she says. For both groups, when participants lied less in a given week, they reported their physical health and mental health to be significantly better that week.

And for those in the more truthful group, telling fewer lies led them to report improvements in close personal relationships. Overall, they reported that their social interactions had gone more smoothly, the study found.

Among those asked not to lie, the participants explained how they did it. Their responses included realising they could: simply tell the truth rather than exaggerate; stop making false excuses for why they were late or had failed to complete tasks; answer a troubling question with another question; change the topic or be vague; and laugh as if the questions were ridiculous.

USA Today