Category: Community
Indian women more prone to gestational diabetes than Swedish women
High blood glucose incurred during pregnancy, known as gestational diabetes, is typically affected by differing lifestyle and genes. But the extent of such differences was only realised after a recent study by Lund University Diabetes Centre (LUDC), Sweden, which examined pregnant women in India and those in the countries of Scandinavia. The large study comparing […]
Dengue cases, deaths double in Malaysia
Malaysia has been plagued by dengue once again – as of August 3, 2019, some 80,000 cases and 113 deaths have been reported in the country, nearly twice as many as last year. Over 70% of cases occurred in urban areas, such as flats and apartments, with 251 hot spots in nine states, including Selangor, […]
Red wine compound helps relieve depression, scientists find
Depression and anxiety may have an opponent in resveratrol – a plant-derived compound in red wine – has been found have a more potent antidepressant effect than most drugs on the market. Researchers from US’s University of Buffalo (UB) and China’s Xuzhou Medical University (XZMU) experimented on mice to determine depression-/anxiety-like behaviour and ways to […]
Chronic disease plagues China’s booming evolution
China’s resurgence of chronic illnesses, including heart disease and lung cancer, are now leading causes for premature death in the country, according to a recent study by the Global Burden of Disease (GBD). The advent of non-communicable diseases reflects a decline in maternal and child mortality over some three decades due to rapid economic and […]
Verbal abuse rampant for home healthcare aides
Caregivers/healthcare aides are a godsend for those who need them at home, but a recent US study suggests that these aides are likely to face verbal or even physical abuse from their clients, with mounting frequency. Such abuse was observed in some 950 home aides by a team from the University of Massachusetts (UMass) in […]
WHO declares Ebola outbreak in Congo a global health emergency
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the second-largest Ebola outbreak in history in the Democratic Republic of Congo a “public health emergency of international concern”. The Ebola crisis has so far affected 2,500 people in the region since August 2018 – more than 1,600 of them have died and new cases are still being […]
Philippines declares national dengue alert
A recent surge in dengue cases in several regions has prompted Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH) to issue a national alert for the first time. About an 85% increase in nationwide cases were reported in the first six months of 2019 – 106,630 cases compared to 57,564 cases over the same period last year. DOH […]
Seagulls in Australia carry dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Australian coasts teem with numerous seagulls –the birds could now be dangerous to human health. Research on silver gulls found more than 20% of the species nationwide carry bacteria that causes urinary tract/blood infections and sepsis, contracted from scavenging in rubbish and sewage. Alarmingly, the faecal bacteria also proved resistant to antibiotic medications such as […]
More US citizens report alcohol’s secondhand harms
Smoking’s secondhand effects are better known than alcohol’s – a new US study suggests the latter’s effects are much more dangerous and varied. Women were likely to be harmed by a spouse, partner or family member who is inebriated while men were more likely to be harmed by a drunken stranger. Katherine Karriker-Jaffe at the […]
Thai research deploys natural killer cells against cancer
Natural killer cells are a component of white blood cells, which are crucial to our immune system’s detection/destruction of abnormal cells before they develop into cancerous tumours. Recently, Thai researchers have successfully used these natural killer cells in their national cancer therapy, for high-risk leukaemia (blood cancer) patients. Dr. Koramit Suppipat, Head Researcher of Cell […]
