Staring at
screen all day can damage your eyes
Tokyo: Working in front of a monitor for more than seven
hours per day may lead to symptoms similar to those of dry eye disease, a new
study has warned.
The tear fluid that protects and lubricates the eye contains
a protein called MUC5AC that is secreted by specialised cells in the upper
eyelid.
Researchers have found the levels of MUC5AC in the tears of
those who stare for long periods at computer screens were almost as low as in
people with dry eye disease, 'Utah People's Post' reported.
People staring at screens also tend
to open their eyelids wider as compared to doing other tasks and the extra
exposed surface area in addition to infrequent blinking can accelerate tear
evaporation and is associated with dry eye disease.
"Office workers who are worried about dry eye can make
some simple changes to decrease the risk of disease. The exposed ocular surface
area can be decreased by placing the terminal at a lower height, with the
screen tilted upward," Dr Yuichi Uchino, an ophthalmologist at the School
of Medicine at Keio University in Tokyo said.
Researchers sampled tears from the eyes of 96 Japanese
office workers, roughly two-thirds of which were men. They then measured the
concentration of MUC5AC proportional to the total amount of protein in the
tears.
The amount of MUC5AC in the tears of workers who looked at
screens for more than seven hours per day was, on average, 38.5 per cent lower
than the amount in the workers who spent fewer than five hours a day looking at
screens.
Among the subjects, 14 per cent were diagnosed with dry eye
disease and had 57 per cent less MUC5AC in their tears compared to those
without dry eye disease, the report said.
The research was published in the
journal JAMA Ophthalmology.
Source: www.zeenews.india.com
24.06.2014
Advanced CT
scanners to reduce radiation exposure
New York: The growing use of CT scans could be placing
patients at a higher lifetime risk of cancer from radiation exposure, but advanced
CT scanning equipment has reduced the danger significantly, says a new study.
Computed tomography (CT) scans are an accepted standard of
care for diagnosing heart and lung conditions.
The new study by Beaumont Health System, of 2,085 patients
at nine centres in the US and Middle East, found that using newer generation,
dual-source CT scanners significantly reduced radiation exposure for patients
when compared with first generation, 64-slice, single-source scanners or first
generation, dual-source CT scanners.
Patient radiation exposure was
reduced by 61 percent with the newer scanners, with no significant difference
in image quality for patients having CT scans for coronary artery disease,
pulmonary embolism or aortic disease.
“Newer technology makes a difference in terms of radiation
exposure and the difference is quite large,” said study author Kavitha
Chinnaiyan, director of Advanced Cardiac Imaging Research at Beaumont Hospital,
Royal Oak.
“It is important for patients to ask questions when referred
for a radiation-based test to understand what the procedure involves and what
the risks are of the particular technique and if there are alternative imaging
choices,” she said.
The study findings also have important implications for
referring physicians, she said.
“Clinicians must understand that imaging studies not only
have a major impact on the care of an individual patient, but also on trends in
radiation exposure, as well as overall health care costs,” Chinnaiyan added.
”Incidental findings may require further imaging studies
with other radiation-based tests. It is important to discuss the risks and
benefits of testing with patients, and to refer them to centres that offer
newer technologies,” she said.
The study results provide information that will help in
setting standards for radiation safety quality control in cardiovascular
imaging.
The study appeared online in Journal
of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.
Source: www.zeenews.india.com
24.06.2014
The value of a man should be seen
in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive
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