Light of Wisdom

‘Customised’ Food Pyramid and Workout Scheme?

Posted on March 3, 2019March 6, 2019 by nha.sh

Following a post I wrote a few weeks ago – on how smartphone app developers should be more focused about their target audience in designing health apps – companies are now providing personalised dietary and fitness plan….based on your DNA!

A FitnessGenes’ customer short ‘documentary’

Rephrasing Vitl, another DNA testing company that provides ‘nutritional benefit’: ‘DNA tests are not just about eye colour or ancestral origin, they can now help people in real life‘. Surprisingly, by sending your saliva for a DNA test, the result will not only be able to tell you how much coffee you should only be drinking or what kind of gym training you should be working on, Vitl can also provide you with vitamins and minerals that you should be taking – based on your DNA test result – through the personalised “non-GMO and 100% free from bulking agents, sugar, artificial colours and preservatives” vitamins.

Vitl vitamins are made from ‘the most bioavailable form of each base nutrient’

While this company is actively developing ‘uniquely formulated, high quality supplements’ for its customers, on the other hand, for the recent decade nephrologists have been working hard to increase awareness among the public on the implication of consuming supplements. “Although people tend to think of dietary supplements as healthy, many contain ingredients that can actually be harmful to the kidneys,” said Vanessa Grubbs who led a team in looking at the use of dietary supplements among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). With that said, how should trust to medical advice be built in the public – will it create any sort of misconception and confusion – and how should public education on choosing healthcare service be warranted?

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Prosthetic: From absent to present (or consistently different?)

Posted on February 20, 2019March 6, 2019 by nha.sh

The need to cater to the physically disabled people and the desire to help them improve the quality of their life have been made possible with the advancement of technology due to its ability to alter biological conditions and its capacity to create mechanical invention that’s able to mimic human anatomical function.

Prosthetics example and personalised prosthetics in-the-making

While technology has strived to help the physically disabled people to look or function as a normal person by inventing prosthetics to restore the missing body parts to aid them with their daily routine, the invention has simultaneously raised a lot of questions about the future of bionics, including the concern on re-conception and redefinition on what is initially perceived to be ‘normal’ (Hogle, 2005).

The term OKU (Malay: Orang Kurang Upaya) which can be directly translated as ‘less-abled-person‘ has for long been used in Malaysia to refer to a group of people with physical or mental disabilities. However, in 2012, there has been a call for change in the definition of the term as ‘Orang Kelainan Upaya‘ which means ‘differently-abled-person‘ in order to further appreciate and pay respect for this group of people. With the adoption of prosthetics in some of the OKUs’ lives and the advancement in bionics, they are now not only different-abled due to their physical disabilities, but their differences can be defined through the enhancement technologies that they embodied. How would the terminology and policy be reconsidered – should they (OKU with prosthetics) still be receiving the privileges for their status as an OKU, or should they be treated to live their lives like ‘normal’ people do?

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Making the best out of your app store!

Posted on February 6, 2019February 10, 2019 by nha.sh

Smartphones are now the most invaluable treasure of the world – they are handy life facilitators. While people are being increasingly drawn to smartphones and mobile apps, health care professionals (HCP) reckon this mobile technology as one of the opportunities to make use of the apps in benefiting the healthcare industry, especially due to its boundless accessibility.

Infographic from Healthcare Intelligence Network (HIN) 2013

For HCP, mobile apps are useful for many purposes such as administration, health record maintenance and access, communications and consulting, reference and information gathering, and medical education. A number of Android and Apple apps have been developed to provide ‘mobile’ medical resources which are not only limited to clinical use by physicians, but also for nurses, medical students and other HCP.

Moreover, there are also tonnes of apps developed to allow and encourage the public to exercise a healthier lifestyle, from getting guidance on proper eating habits to tracking their daily fitness activity.

However, the rise of epigenetic research for the past decade has demonstrated ‘biological plasticity’ in different individuals.

What is epigenetics? Infographic from GeneticAlliance.org

Having said that, there is a detrimental need for app developers to look into the ‘target audience’ of their app (potential app users). Although some applications do narrow down their target to specific group of customers, eg. pregnancy nutrition apps and diabetic patient’s sugar level consumption tracker, app designers might have to start taking geographical and cultural background differences into consideration, looking beyond common dietary restriction and various allergy conditions.

Therefore, app developers should also be looking into the consequences of lifestyle practices across different groups to increase the effectiveness of mHealth – whilst combating epigenetic effects – especially for the future generation – the digital millennials.

Implications of nutritional epigenetic research.
(Nestle Nutrition Institute, 2015)

Note: Want to know more about epigenetics? Watch this ENTERTAINING video to find out!

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Virtual Reality – more than just a gaming experience

Posted on January 29, 2019February 10, 2019 by nha.sh

From just a new form of entertainment, virtual reality (VR) is increasingly becoming one of the advanced technologies that contributes to a wide range of healthcare services. Virtual reality, in technical terms, is defined as a three-dimensional generated environment which can be explored and interacted with by a person. A person who engages with or becomes part of this virtual world is basically immersed within the virtual environment; a ‘near-reality’ setting that commonly refers to a particular type of reality emulation.

VR is used to stimulate our senses together so that the illusion of reality can be generated. In the healthcare context, for instance, VR has been used to assist medical training by allowing medical students to perform ‘hands on’ procedures. The Telegraph and The Independent has cited five ways VR has helped to improve healthcare. These include phobia treatment, rehabilitation, pain management, medical staff training and physical therapy (see case studies cited below).

The use of virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR). Infographic by Neofect

While researches are on the rise in presenting positive outcomes of virtual reality, challenges need to be addressed not only in terms of the complex computational modelling and technological development, but also in terms of investigating the changes (or improvement) in human-nature interactions. Besides, ethical issues must also be taken into account in order to protect healthcare users as they are still in the risk of being exposed to some form of discomfort.

Nonetheless, virtual reality has benefited a lot of stakeholders and has become part of the applicable solution to the problem of public access to healthcare, which has been a major concern of medical anthropologists. Healthcare services have been made more convenient through virtual technology for its cost-efficiency and also its capacity to be used remotely.

Watch this insightful 4-minute video on VR in medicine!

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