Soft Contact Lenses: Risk of Serious Fungal Infection

My last post about contact lens infection by contact lens solution is here and here where I thought I was infected by keratitis. Throwed my almost full bottle of Baush & Lomb's Renu and went to the near eye shop to buy a new one. I bought AMO Complete Moisture Plus produced by Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) Ireland but manufactured by AMO China (Made in China??!, hmm.. hope it will be fine.)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have learned of RARE but SERIOUSeye infection in people who wear soft contact lenses. The infection is fungal keratitis, caused by the Fusarium fungus. It can cause a permanent loss of vision. Several patients with this infection have needed corneal transplants to save their vision.

According to the American Optometric Association, there are over 30 million contact lens wearers in the United States and fewer than 30 cases of fungal keratitis have been reported in the US during this recent outbreak. Still, patients with signs or symptoms of microbial keratitis should be scheduled immediately. Indications that a patient may have microbial keratitis include:

-Red and irritated eyes lasting for an unusually long period of time after lens removal
-Pain in and around the eyes especially if it progressively worsens
-Increased sensitivity to light
-Rapid onset of blurred or fuzzy vision
-Excessive tearing or discharge

From Baush & Lomb Renu's FAQ about Fusarium infection: Fusarium is a fungus commonly found throughout our everyday environment, including on our skin. It especially thrives in tropical climates. Fusarium typically enters the eye through some sort of trauma or injury to the cornea, resulting in an inflammatory reaction. The situation is generally aggressively treated with combinations of anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory medications. The earlier the treatment is commenced, the better the results will be.

From DoctorFungus.org:

Mycotic keratitis

Definition

Mycotic keratitis refers to the corneal infection caused by either filamentous fungi (moulds) or yeast. There are important epidemiological and clinical differences between these two forms. The most important risk factors related to fungal keratitis include trauma (generally with plant material), chronic ocular surface diseases, contact lens usage, surgery, corneal anesthetic abuse, and immunodeficiencies. Interestingly, fungal keratitis is a condition related to warm climates. In the southernmost states of the United States, fungal keratitis explains up to 35% of microbial keratitis cases compared with 1% in New York or Minnesota.

Prognosis and therapy

Fungal keratitis is a serious condition that requires prolonged treatment and close follow-up. Natamycin (Pimaricin) appears to be the drug of choice and amphotericin B a second alternative. Chlorhexidine has emerged as a potential inexpensive option but current data are limited. Systemic therapy with azoles, particularly fluconazole should be considered when yeasts are involved. Surgery may be necessary, depending upon the degree of damage to the eye. Interventions range from simple scraping of ulcerative lesions to superficial or lamellar keratectomy. Animal models suggest that excimer laser may have a role in the future. Anecdotal experience with liposomal preparations of amphotericin B have suggested their potential role in refractory cases.

Read More at DoctorFungus.org If the link doesn't work, just type "Keratitis" on the top search box of the site.

Malaysia-Singapore Bridge Scrapped

Finally, the planned bridge to link Malaysia and Singapore is scrapped.


The Malaysian government decides to discontinued the plan to build the bridge to replace the Johor Causeway which linking Malaysia and Singapore. The government decision was made after considering the public views and sentiments particularly about the Singapore's demand supply of sand and the use of airspace by the Singapore Air Force. The government also decides to stop all the negotiation related to the bridge.


Media announcement by Malaysian Prime Minister


Years ago (in Mahathir Mohammad era), the Malaysian government decided to build a crooked bridge aka "scenic" bridge (picture above) in the Malaysia side because of Singapore demands of sand supply from Malaysia and the use of Malaysia airspace if Malaysia wants to build a full bridge. A few months ago, Malaysia begin the construction work and Singapore was surprised and disappointed with Malaysia's decision despites all the negotiations are still on.


And now, no bridge, no half-bridge, no sand and no airspace. Only the old causeway left. Malaysia wants the bridge cause it will bring so much benefit for Tanjung Pelepas Port and Pasir Gudang Port when ships will be able to sail through the Johor Straits. Unfortunately, Singapore will loose big time in their port business.


Singapore's MFA Spokesman said:"We are surprised at this sudden decision when negotiations for a full bridge were still ongoing"




Chronology of Malaysia-Singapore Bridge

1996: Then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad first raises the proposal for a bridge to replace the Causeway.

1999: Singapore says the bridge proposal must have the agreement of both sides. Both countries agree to thrash out outstanding bilateral issues as part of a package. The bridge proposal is one of them.

2002: Malaysia unilaterally decides to jettison the package approach. Singapore's response is that all issues, including the bridge, will be negotiated individually and decided on their own merits.

2003: Singapore says that in order for it to agree to Malaysia's bridge proposal, there must be a balance of benefits. Malaysia then comes up with a new proposal of a half-bridge.

2004: Singapore maintains that any bridge Malaysia has in mind has to comply with the International Tribunal for Law of the Sea (Itlos) ruling that both sides must cooperate in the management of the common marine environment in the Johor Strait. So Malaysia needs to consult Singapore on any plans to build a half-bridge.

2005: Foreign Minister George Yeo reiterates stand that Malaysia has to consult Singapore, and there would be serious implications if Malaysia were to demolish its half of the Causeway.

Jan 26, 2006: Malaysia decides to go ahead with the replacement of its half of the Causeway without demolishing the bridge, but says negotiations with Singapore to build a full bridge would continue.

April 4, 2006: Singapore maintains its position that constructing a full straight bridge to replace the Causeway would incur 'huge financial costs and no significant benefits' for the country, but will consider Malaysia's proposal for a full bridge if there is a 'balance of benefits'.

April 12, 2006: Malaysia announces it will abandon the bridge project.

Renu contact lense solution put off shelve on US

Although there is no evidence of eye infection caused by Renu contact lense solution, the solution has been put off shelve on many countries, and the latest is the US.

Reuters- Bausch & Lomb responds to infection in lens wearers.

From Baush & Lomb official site:

Bausch & Lomb Provides Information Regarding U.S. Sales of ReNu® with MoistureLoc® Solution

FOR RELEASE MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2006

Rochester, NY --- Bausch & Lomb (NYSE:BOL) earlier today announced that it is temporarily suspending U.S. shipments of ReNu® with MoistureLoc® lens care solutions produced in its Greenville, S.C., manufacturing facility. In an effort to provide investors with assistance in understanding the magnitude of revenues derived from the ReNu with MoistureLoc solutions, the company indicated that the product generated sales of approximately $45 million in the United States in 2005.

Yes, it is about our eyes. These are the guidelines from the American Optometric Association regarding contact lense:

• Carefully and regularly clean contact lenses, as directed by an optometrist and the patient information included with lens care products.


• Rub the contact lenses with fingers and rinse thoroughly before soaking the lenses overnight in enough multi-purpose solution to completely cover the lens.


• Store lenses in the proper case and replace the lens storage case every three months. Clean the contact lens case after each use and keep the case open and dry between cleanings.


• Use the proper products to clean and disinfect contact lenses as recommended by your optometrist. Remember that saline solutions and rewetting drops are not designed to disinfect lenses.


• Only fresh solution should be used to clean and disinfect contact lenses. Never re-use old solution. Contact lens solution must be changed every day, even if the lenses are not used daily.


• Always replace old contacts when you get a new contact prescription.

New Proton Savvy ZeroKit

New Savvy from Proton!

SEPANG, April 8 -- SAVVY R3... Proton today unveiled The New Savvy ZeroKit in conjuction with the High Performance Challenge Track Day held at the Sepang International Circuit.The new variant of Proton's latest model, which developed by Race Rally Research (R3)-the Motorsports Division of Proton, enhances the original's sporty exterior with a much more performance oriented outlook.Available in Magma Red, Midnight Black, Stratos Blue, Apple Green and Sterling Grey, the new looks Savvy is priced between RM43,000 to RM46,000 depending on manual or automated manual transmissions and metallic or solid colours.

Savvy owner have published thier own website SAVOC (Savvy Owners Club) at http://savvoc.net .


Normal Savvy (left picture) owners also have the chance to upgrade theirs to Savvy ZeroKit by install the performance kit from Race Rally Research.

DivX Pro 6

Last night I tried DivX Pro 6 Converter. Previously, I had convert a concert WMV file to MPG and Lumix FX9 MOV to MPG using TMPGenc XPress, and the quality is excellent. Then last night, I tried to use DivX Pro 6 to convert this file to smaller size but not loose any quality.

The converter is so simple. You only need to drag and drop any file you want to convert and click convert button. There is not much setting can be changed. In the converter itself, there is no configuration button. If you want to change the configuration, you have to change from the codec configuration utility. Hence, there is not much to change though. I just leave it as default. There is more setting options in DivX Pro Converter 6.1.



From my experiments, I found that when I convert an MPG of a concert which I had converted from WMV, the quality is excellent but in a smaller size. Original MPG is 13MB, convert to DIVX using DivXPro 6 Converter, the size decrease to about 9MB. I also convert the original WMV to DIVX, and the quality is also excellent.

Another experiment, I converted an MPG file which was from MOV and I found that the quality is worse where viewable block everywhere in the video. And another bad things, the converter cannot open MOV file. So could not convert MOV directly to DIVX.

My conclusion, I will use the DivXPro 6 Converter to convert my WMV files and stick to use TMPGEnc to convert my MOV file to MPG.

Bittorrent Clients - Azureus, ABC, BitTornado, BitComet and utorrent

This page have been moved to http://www.neyokes.com/2006/04/21/bittorrent-clients-azureus-abc-bittornado-bitcomet-and-utorrent-2/

Simplest Way to Convert MOV to MPG

In my posting here http://sekoyenworld.blogspot.com/2005/11/panasonic-lumix-dmc-fx9.html, I stated that I converted my Lumix FX9 MOV video to VCD using TMPGenc, and the quality is excellent (at that time).

But now I have a DVD player with DIVX ability, I want to convert the videos to AVI. Unfortunately, I have tried many ways but the AVIs' quality I got was not acceptable. So I drop that idea, perhaps until I got the right and the best way to convert MOV to AVI.

Instead, I found a way to convert MOV to MPG with excellent quality and 35% of original MOV file. The quality is very far better than the first method.

Now I use TMPGenc 3.0 Xpress.

This is the configuration of TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress to get that excellent MPG quality. Click to view the actual image.

To get that setting:
1. At set Output window, I select "Standard Template" - "MPEG Output"
This is a general MPEG standard which do not follow VCD or DVD standards. Some DVD or VCD may not be able to play this format. Off course, my Samsung HD850 can play it!

2. Change the output stream format to MPEG-1 Video-CD (non-standard). Change the resolution to the original size, 640 x 480. Aspect ratio Pixel 1:1.

3. Click the Audio tab to change the audio setting. I only changed the sampling frequency to 44100 Hz.

4. That's all!

Click encode and start encode. The process is quite fast. About 5 minutes to process 100MB MOV file to 35MB MPG file, depend on your computer. Currently, I only use Pentium III 866MHz with 256MB RAM and 8MB AGP shared memory display.

I also found that this software also could convert WMV to MPG with excellent quality and reduced file size, using the same configuration as above.