Three senior-high school students went to Hsinchu Cathay General Hospital’s Department of Ophthalmology last week for eye problems brought on by excessive use of smartphones. The intense light shining directly on the macula had caused internal bleeding and blurry vision, leaving them unable to see what they were looking at. Their vision was rehabilitated after receiving emergency treatment. The doctor who treated them urges young people not to use mobile devices excessively so as to avoid doing irreversible damage to their eyes.
Chen Ying-shan, head of the Department of Ophthalmology at Hsinchu Cathay General Hospital, said that two high school girls came in last week saying that their vision was slanted and distorted and that they could not see properly. Their parents had rushed them to the hospital, and the girls cried because they were anxious about not being able to read their books to study for final exams. After having an eye examination it was found that their visual acuity (VA), or clarity of vision, was only around 20/65 (0.30). Another patient, a high school boy, also had a similar situation, but his visual acuity had fallen to 20/100 (0.20)
Chen says that light does not penetrate the center of the eye when people watch television or look at computer screens, but that when sliding your finger across a smartphone the images and small font put added stress on the eyes, and light directly hitting the macula creates a burning effect when looking at the screen at such close proximity and directly the whole time. When this burning effect occurs for an extended period of time it causes scabbing in the fundus of the eye, and the capillaries in the eye burst once the scabs fall off, causing one’s vision to become impaired, and in severe cases leads to blindness.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者吳正庭
You should never use your smartphone for more than 20 minutes at a time, Chen says, adding that it is best if you only look at it for a moment and then turn it off. An appropriate distance of more than 15 to 20cm should be kept from your cellphone, and people should never watch movies on their smartphones, he says.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
新竹國泰醫院眼科上星期連續傳出三名高中生,因使用智慧型手機過於頻繁,導致強光直射黃斑部,造成內出血而視力模糊,想看的東西看不到,經緊急治療才挽回,醫師呼籲少年千萬別做低頭族,否則眼睛將受到難以挽救的傷害。
新竹國泰醫院眼科主任陳瑩山說,上週連續有兩名高三女生,都說「看東西會歪斜、扭曲」「想看的東西看不到」,由家長緊急帶往看診,由於正逢期末考,書本與考題內容根本看不到,兩個女生都急哭了,經檢測視力僅剩零點三左右。還有名高一男生也是同樣情況,但視力驟降到只有零點二。
陳瑩山說,民眾看電視、電腦螢幕,其光線不會正中眼部,但滑智慧型手機時,因有圖像吸引加上字體小,不僅距離近而且全程直視,於是光線直接對黃斑部造成燒灼效果,長期燒灼會在眼底產生如結痂的情況,一旦結痂脫落,微血管便破裂,變成想看的東西看不到,嚴重時甚至會失明。
陳瑩山呼籲,民眾使用智慧型手機,絕對不要超過二十分鐘,最好是看一下就關掉,而且應保持適當距離,約在十五到二十公分以上,他更呼籲民眾別用手機看電影。
(自由時報記者蔡彰盛)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into