Review Article
2023 clinical practice guidelines on autism spectrum disorder in children and adolescents in Singapore
(illustration by Nata Blackthorn)
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that presents as differences in social communication and social interaction, together with restricted, repetitive behaviours.1 These social communication and interaction differences, as well as restricted, repetitive behaviours, are also referred to as the “core symptoms” of autism. The...
Review Article
Laboratory Safety Aspects of SARS at Biosafety Level 2
In Singapore, the majority of patients suffering from the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) were cared for at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The dramatic and serious nature of this outbreak in 2003 focussed unprecedented attention on laboratory safety practices.
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Review Article
SARS Revisited: Managing “Outbreaks” With “Communications”
In the short span of 3 years since SARS first appeared on the Asian landscape, terms like “risk communications” and “outbreak communications” have assumed greater import and found common usage in the lexicon of governance by public health systems in our part of the world.
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Review Article
Retardation of Kidney Failure – Applying Principles to Practice
By 2010 there will be more than 2 million patients worldwide on maintenance dialysis, a 400% increase in 20 years.1 This increase, occurring predominantly in developing nations, is being driven especially by a worldwide increase in the incidence of diabetes, and is too great to be offset by increased...
Original Article
Risk Perception is Affected by Modes of Risk Presentation Among Singaporeans
The communication of risk is an important aspect of healthcare and medical research. In 2003, the British Medical Journal1 and the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society2 each published a special issue on this topic, highlighting its relevance to both clinicians and statisticians. There are various ways of presenting...
Others
The Eye Institute–Bausch & Lomb Research Prize
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Others
Vision Restoration Therapy: New Hope for Stroke Patients with Visual Field Loss
Patients suffering from visual field defects caused by optic nerve or post-chiasmatic injury commonly experience many limitations in their daily activities. The generally accepted paradigm that nothing can be done leaves little hope for such patients as restoration was once considered impossible.
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Review Article
Art and the Eye: The Impact of Ocular Pathology on Their Artistic Legacy
The review articles in this journal represent the advancing frontier of the dynamic specialty of ophthalmology. In the cacophony of advancing scientific opinion, we often forget the issue that lies at the very heart of our discipline of ophthalmology. The very question that first brings the patient to his...
Review Article
Recent Developments of Informed Consent in Eye Research
Two recent court rulings1 have underlined the global trend of relying on the principles of medical ethics of autonomy or self-determination of the individual when determining whether informed consent has been given by the relevant subject. This article discusses the importance of respecting the individual person, especially in cases...
Review Article
Endoscopic Cyclophotocoagulation: An Overview and Asian Perspective
The heterogeneous group of conditions resulting in glaucomatous optic neuropathy have been treated with a combination of medical and surgical therapies. The advent of anti-glaucoma medications has reduced the requirement for surgical procedures in glaucoma.
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Review Article
Is There a Role for Nutritional Supplements in Dry Eye?
The possible role of nutritional supplementation in preventing or halting the progression of ocular disease is of interest to healthcare professionals and patients. Nutritional supplements are available in many forms such as vitamins A, B, C and E, carotenoids (beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin), minerals such as selenium and zinc,...
Review Article
Prophylaxis Against Endopthalmitis in Cataract Surgery
Endophthalmitis is an uncommon but potentially devastating complication of cataract surgery and often carries a poor prognosis. Due to variations in study design and methods of data collection, as well as real differences in incidence among various centres, the reported rates of endophthalmitis vary considerably, ranging from 0.05% to...
Review Article
Current Biologic Agents in the Treatment of Uveitis
Uveitis is a general term describing inflammation of one or all parts of the uveal tract. Deleterious effects on vision, either by acute ocular inflammation or by its sequelae, such as cataracts, glaucoma and retinal vascular ischaemia, make uveitis one of the major causes of visual loss.1 Uveitis can...
Review Article
The Role of Advancement Flaps in Peri-ocular Reconstructive Surgery
The advancement flap is a modality of skin defect closure via mobilisation of tissue along a linear direction. It is one of the most versatile flaps used commonly in many surgical disciplines including ophthalmology. This technique may be used to close a variety of defects of various sizes and...
Review Article
The Role of Muller’s Muscle-Conjunctiva Resection (MCR) in the Treatment of Ptosis
The Muller’s muscle (MM) is a sympathetically innervated upper eyelid muscle that elevates the eyelid besides the levator palpebral superioris. The MM resembles smooth muscle and originates from the levator aponeurosis about 15 mm above the superior tarsus.1 The MM is adherent to the conjunctiva but easily separable from...
Review Article
Age-related Macular Degeneration – An Asian Perspective
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a group of non-Mendellian disorders which share the common manifestation of chronic progressive degeneration of the macula involving changes in the neuro-sensory retina, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and/or the inner choroid in patients above 50 years of age.
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Review Article
The Emerging Challenge of Age-related Eye Diseases in Singapore
Singapore has one of the fastest ageing populations in the world today. The current elderly population, defined as persons 65 years or older, comprises 7% of Singapore’s total population and is expected to multiply almost threefold to 19% by the year 2030.1 Although the current figure stands at 7%,...
Others
Retinal and Cardiovascular Diseases: The “Common Soil” Theory
There is increasing evidence that retinal and cardiovascular diseases share a “common soil”. Risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia and cigarette smoking, are known to influence the development of a range of retinal diseases, including hypertensive retinopathy, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein and artery occlusion, retinal...
Editorial
Prevention of Blindness in Singapore: No Room for Complacency
It is now a well-known fact that Singapore’s population is greying dramatically due to the ageing of the “baby boomers” – defined as those born between 1947 and 1964. In 2005, 1 in 12 Singapore residents was 65 years or older. By 2030, this is expected to escalate to...
Clinical Update
The Evolving Role of the Community Pharmacist in Chronic Disease Management – A Literature Review
Pharmacy has matured as a clinical profession and is presently well positioned to transform itself from a product and task oriented (dispensing) to a patient oriented profession (provision of care, advice and counselling). Every day, millions of people across the world visit community pharmacies for their healthcare needs for...
Editorial
Preventive Psychiatry
In medicine, measures that save the most lives and improved the quality of life of millions have largely been public health measures that in most instances, had been preventive measures. The most obvious examples are the infectious diseases which were – to use the cliché – the scourge of...
Original Article
A Review of Fatal Road Traffic Accidents in Singapore from 2000 to 2004
As countries become more developed, there is often an accompanying rise in life expectancy. However, increasing motorisation that accompanies economic growth has led to an increase in road traffi c accidents (RTAs), and a corresponding rise in fatalities. Indeed, the World Health Organization has predicted that traffi c fatalities...
Original Article
Natural History and Comorbidities of Subjects with Subclinical Hyperthyroidism: Analysis at a Tertiary Hospital Setting
Subclinical hyperthyroidism (SH) is characterised by low serum concentration of thyrotropin (TSH) in the presence of normal serum thyroid hormones and the absence of obvious symptoms of hyperthyroidism. The reported prevalence of SH is variable (depending on the area, iodine intake, inclusion of exogenous SH), more common in women...
Letter to the Editor
Recommendations for standards of neuromuscular monitoring during anaesthesia
Dear Editor,
We presented recommendations for neuromuscular monitoring during anaesthesia, which were approved by the Council of the College of Anaesthesiologists, Singapore in September 2019 and the Council of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore in May 2021. Neuromuscular blocking drugs (NMBDs) are used to facilitate tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation;...