Medicine & Healthcare

Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) has launched a unique Hong Kong Rehabilitation Programme for COVID-19 which aims to deliver comprehensive recovery care to discharged COVID-19 patients by integrating cardiorespiratory and resistance exercise training with the use of Chinese herbal medicine.

Researchers offer first proof that Ultraviolet C light with a 222 nm wavelength -- which is safer to use around humans -- effectively kills the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) held the online international symposium “COVID-19 and Beyond, Culturally Speaking” on 15 and 16 September, and over 1300 participants from all over the world gathered to examine and reflect on the COVID-19 pandemic from a cultural perspective.

Drugs tackling chronic myelogenous leukemia have completely transformed prognoses of patients over the last couple of decades, with most cases going into remission. But drug resistance can occur, leading to relapses. Targeting the lipids involved in regulating part of a leukemia stem cell’s life span offers a potential second route to defeat the disease—and solid tumorous cancers as well.

Applying cutting-edge experimental and computational tools to basic science, researchers in Australia and Singapore have discovered a technique that could enable future cell therapies for placenta complications during pregnancy.

Compared to Minimally Invasive Surgery, Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (ESD) represents an advanced less-invasive endoscopic treatment for early gastrointestinal cancer. ESD has significant advantages as an organ preservation surgical treatment, but it is technically challenging with substantial risk of perforation and bleeding. The Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CU Medicine) has been collaborating with researchers from Singapore since 2010 to develop a flexible endoscopic robotic system. This novel system was specifically designed to enhance the safety and efficacy of ESD for the treatment of gastrointestinal cancer. Using the first prototype flexible endoscopic robot, our team at CU Medicine had successfully performed ESD for treatment of early gastric cancer in 2011. The flexible endoscopic robot is now further redesigned and developed for performing ESD in the colorectum– namely The EndoMaster EASE (Endoluminal Access Surgical Efficacy) System. CU Medicine led the world’s first clinical trial on robotic colorectal ESD using the EndoMaster EASE System which commenced in May this year and has demonstrated satisfactory outcomes thus far. Researchers believe this innovative technology will enhance advanced endoscopic resection and benefit more patients with early colorectal cancer who will require ESD treatment.

Professor Dennis Yuk Ming LO from the Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CU Medicine) was just announced as a winner of The 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for discovering that fetal DNA is present in maternal blood and can be used for the prenatal testing of Down syndrome and a variety of genetic diseases. Professor Lo’s prenatal testing technology is now performed over 7 million times annually with women in over 90 countries. The Breakthrough Prize, renowned as the “Oscars of Science”, aims to honour paradigm shifting research in the categories of Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences and Mathematics and was created and funded by founders of a number of leading enterprises in the global technology sector in 2012. The awardees are nominated in an open online process. Each laureate receives US$3 million (equivalent to HK$24 million) in prize money, which is the most generous science award to date and attracts considerable attention in the global scientific community.

Face masks have become an important tool in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. However, improper use or disposal of masks may lead to "secondary transmission". A research team from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has successfully produced graphene masks with an anti-bacterial efficiency of 80%, which can be enhanced to almost 100% with exposure to sunlight for around 10 minutes. Initial tests also showed very promising results in the deactivation of two species of coronaviruses. The graphene masks are easily produced at low cost, and can help to resolve the problems of sourcing raw materials and disposing of non-biodegradable masks.

New centre launched by SingHealth–Duke-NUS to marshal expertise in prehospital emergency research to ensure best possible patient outcomes.

Scientists review macrophage activation syndrome — a feature of the cytokine storm that kills patients with severe cases of COVID-19, as well as possible treatments.

Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CU Medicine) found for the first time that COVID-19 patients have active and prolonged gut viral infection, even in the absence of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. After respiratory clearance of coronavirus, the activity of viral infection and replication will still persist in the gut. The study result has impacted the clinical management of COVID-19 patients and was published in the international medical journal GUT.

Pregnant mice fed diets high in omega-6 fats and low in omega-3 fats are shown in a new study to produce offspring whose brains had a higher level of dopamine-producing neurons—the neurological reward system. These mice went on to chase hyper-caloric diets, suggesting that the fats in a pregnant mother's diet may control the eating habits of her children, and potentially offering a new obesity-prevention strategy.

Conference will see leading regional thought leaders, policymakers, C-suite officers, senior and middle level hospital and healthcare, e-health, clinical operations, medical and nursing professionals convene to explore new ways to innovate and collaborate.

Study by researchers at Duke-NUS Medical School, Duke University and SingHealth finds that dispatch-assisted CPR, training in CPR and use of an Automated External Defibrillator, and a volunteer first responder mobile app, increased the likelihood of laypeople performing CPR during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, which was associated with increased survival rates.

Researchers at the Smart-Aging Research Center (IDAC) at Tohoku University have developed an innovative training protocol that, utilizing immersive virtual reality (IVR), leads to real physical and cognitive benefits.

Scientists have reviewed reported cases and testing data of COVID-19 and have determined that changes in the testing rate may be masking the true growth rate and extent of the pandemic.

Understanding the skin damage caused by rubbing could lead to better topical skin treatments and help prevent the formation of new routes for viral and bacterial infection.

The older population and those with dementia around the world are facing an unprecedented threat from COVID-19 which threatens them with a higher risk of death when infected. As of 23 August 2020, in Hong Kong, the mortality rate for people aged 60 or above was around 6.27%, which was almost 105 times of those below 60 (0.06%). All deaths from the third wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong are 60 years old or above. Data from the United Kingdom showed that having dementia was associated with a two-fold increase in the risk of death from COVID-19. In light of this, a dementia team of the Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CU Medicine), initiated an international effort to devise strategies that can reduce the adverse impact which can come from public health interventions and protect them from getting COVID-19.

Duke-NUS, the only graduate-entry medical school in Singapore, has joined the TriNetX global research network to increase clinical trial adoption and to facilitate better collaboration with other global healthcare organizations (HCOs). This latest member for TriNetX in Asia will provide the network with access to de-identified data from more than a million patients.

A group of scientists have detected genetic material from SARS-CoV-2 in untreated wastewater samples collected in April 2020 from two wastewater treatment plants in Louisiana, USA.

Hong Kong has been experiencing hotter summers and more scorcher days in recent years due to climate change and heat island effect. Amid the increasing number of “hot nights”, it is found that consecutive “hot nights” are more detrimental to human health than “very hot days”, although the actual temperature does not reach the level of daytime, according to a collaborative research conducted by the Institute of Future Cities at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), as well as researchers from the University of Hong Kong. The research also identified that lack of urban greenery and poor air ventilation in a high-density context are factors that lead to more “hot nights” than “hot days” in some areas. The team suggests that better urban planning and building design are long-term mitigation measures.

Hokkaido University scientists have shown that Interleukin-34 is a prognostic marker and drug target for Triple Negative Breast Cancer.

Uterine fibroid is a common benign gynaecological disease for women of reproductive age and often leads to heavy menstrual bleeding, pelvic pain and pressure related symptoms. Both surgical and non-surgical treatment options, such as High-Intensity-Focused-Ultrasound (HIFU), are available for patients nowadays. The Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CU Medicine) has developed a modified HIFU treatment protocol for patients with uterine fibroid. The innovative procedure implements a modified energy transmission protocol and oxytocin augmentation which has proved to provide better therapeutic outcomes than other non-surgical treatments. The findings were recently published in the international journal Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.

A new catalyst design enables unprecedented control over the modification of fatty acid derivatives that opens the door to creating useful substances in a green and efficient manner.

Under the “Saving the Lives of Healthcare Workers” project in the Philippines, ASSIST and Project HOPE will distribute kits of personal protective equipment (PPE) to select hospitals and health facilities in COVID-19 hotspots in the Philippines.

Malignant glioma is the most common type of primary brain cancer. But lack of early diagnosis, among many other factors, has made it difficult to be treated. Recently, a team of cross-disciplinary scientists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has discovered new biomarkers in blood serum, which can be quantitatively detected by the label-free biosensors developed by the team, for the early detection of glioma progression. The findings enable a non-invasive liquid biopsy of glioma to be conducted, making it a promising diagnostic tool in the future.

Nanoprodrugs have immense potential for cancer treatment, more so than conventional drug delivery systems. Researchers have, for the first time, developed a comprehensive study on the dynamics of the SN-38 nanoprodrug.

The human brain efficiently executes highly sophisticated tasks, such as image and speech recognition, with an exceptionally lower energy budget than today's computers can. The development of energy-efficient and tunable artificial neurons capable of emulating brain-inspired processes has, therefore, been a major research goal for decades.

Duke-NUS spinout, PairX, led by US and Singapore scientists and investors, to advance immunotherapy biotech exclusively licensed from Duke-NUS.

Researchers in China have taken the first step towards a new way of treating gastric wounds by using a microrobot combined with the new concept of “in situ in vivo bioprinting” to carry out tissue repair inside the body.