The therapy, called SAINT neuromodulation, was developed by Magnus Medical and has FDA clearance for major depressive disorder. In a previous controlled study, nearly 80% of participants with major depression experienced rapid remission.

According to Dr Kimberly A. Yonkers, Katz Family Chair in Psychiatry and Chair of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at UMass Chan, the study results are promising for women with severe depression and could offer relief to postpartum patients who have not found an effective treatment.

Related: Unseen and unspoken: Mental health among Asian mothers 

Postpartum depression affects roughly one in eight women in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with symptoms appearing during pregnancy or in the months after childbirth. Dr Yonkers noted that current treatments, including antidepressants and therapy, can take weeks to work and may present challenges for women who are breastfeeding.

She also explained that postpartum depression can be devastating and emphasized that a treatment providing relief in days rather than weeks could be life-changing for families.

Maternal health is in crisis—and aid cuts are making it worse

SAINT therapy uses brain imaging to target mood-related areas with focused neurostimulation. Participants receive an MRI to identify the specific brain regions for individualized treatment, followed by magnetic pulses delivered in 10-minute sessions, 10 times a day, over five days at an outpatient clinic. Many patients respond within a week, and ongoing treatments can continue alongside SAINT as long as they remain consistent.

The multisite trial aims to enroll up to 192 women, ages 18 to 45, diagnosed with a major depressive episode with peripartum onset—the technical term for postpartum depression. UMass Chan plans to enroll 85 participants.

The Food Safety Department flagged “Dáng xuân Phục linh Gold” for lacking proper registration, noting discrepancies in the packaging, including an incorrect registration number. Meanwhile, “Best Slim Collagen,” linked to Hoa Anh Đào Medical Equipment Co., Ltd., is still circulating despite the company’s claim that it did not import the contaminated batch.

Sibutramine, once a popular ingredient in weight loss drugs, has been prohibited in several countries due to its association with increased risks of stroke and heart complications. In Vietnam, the Drug Administration banned its import in 2010, leading to the suspension of all related products.

Authorities are stepping up efforts to combat the sale of counterfeit or recalled products, instructing agencies to remove online advertisements and prevent their distribution. The Ministry of Health has intensified its scrutiny of functional foods and health supplements, with a particular focus on products that mislead consumers by promising therapeutic effects similar to prescription drugs.

Despite this improvement, dengue cases from January to mid-February 2025 reached 43,732, a 56% increase from the same period last year. However, the case fatality ratio dropped to 0.38% from 0.42%, indicating effective diagnosis and treatment.

Related: Warning Signs of Dengue that Demand Emergency Attention 

More than half of the cases are concentrated in CALABARZON (9,113), the National Capital Region (7,551), and Central Luzon (7,362), with 17 local government units identified as hotspots. The DOH is working closely with local authorities, providing test kits, reactivating Dengue fast lanes in hospitals, and supporting intensified vector control efforts.

Children aged 5 to 14 are the most affected, prompting health officials to urge parents to use protective measures such as mosquito repellents, long clothing, and nets. Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa reminded the public to eliminate mosquito breeding sites and seek early consultation, noting that PhilHealth covers dengue-related expenses.

The partnership expands TTSH’s Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory (MDL) capabilities, potentially leading to innovative population health solutions. In 2024, MDL and TTSH will conduct a unique three-year research trial using PRS to predict heart disease in the local population. The precision medicine approach aligns with Singapore’s Research, Innovation, and Enterprise 2025 vision, aiming for preventative healthcare in line with the Healthier SG reform plan. Dr. Goh Liuh Ling of TTSH emphasizes early intervention and cost savings, while Fadjar Linawati of Thermo Fisher highlights the shift to personalized medicine. Educational programs and training will further raise awareness and develop local talent in navigating transformative healthcare approaches.

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A strain of the Ebola virus – for which there is no treatment – has been infecting people in the East African country of Uganda, with as many as 63 cases of infection and 29 deaths reported. The cases represent the largest Ebola outbreak in Uganda.

Patients with the Ebola virus initially go through bouts of headache and fever, slowly but surely progressing to widespread internal bleeding; unsurprisingly, it has a mortality rate of over 50%. Although Ebola only spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, caretakers and healthcare workers still remain vulnerable.

The growing number of cases involving the current strain of the virus, known as the Sudan strain, is particularly concerning because there is no approved vaccine or treatment available. However, two potential vaccine candidates are under development, by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Oxford, respectively.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), both vaccines will be deployed to Uganda within two weeks, despite not knowing their potency against the viral strain.

Jane Aceng, Uganda’s health secretary, explained that the virus was able to establish a foothold as locals at first believed that the symptoms were caused by witchcraft, and as such didn’t seek medical care. The first Ebola cases were recorded in the Mubende district, in a community of traders living around a gold mine.

Besides the infected traders, four of the victims of the outbreak have been health workers, said WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

There have been several Ebola outbreaks in this part of Africa, including in Uganda’s neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Congo, but these were caused by the Zaire strain of the virus. By and large, they’ve been kept under control through the use of vaccines, treatment campaigns, and other health measures – two vaccine types and one monoclonal antibody treatment were also approved against that strain.

Aceng added that the country has repeatedly called on the international community to provide aid in the shape of specialists and personal protective equipment. Uganda’s ability to contain the outbreak is currently depleted as the country is working to simultaneously contain or prevent the resurgence of malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV; its health sector is also still reeling from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) found that late eating increases our appetite and obesity risk, and also affects our energy expenditure and molecular pathways in adipose tissue (fat). Studies have highlighted the simultaneous effects of late eating on the three main players in body weight regulation and obesity risk: regulation of calorie intake, the number of calories burnt, and molecular changes in fat tissue. 

“…late eating is associated with increased obesity risk, increased body fat, and impaired weight loss success. We wanted to understand why,” said Dr. Frank Scheer, Director of the Medical Chronobiology Program in the Brigham’s Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders. 

According to the latest research, eating later – by four hours – makes a significant difference for our hunger levels, the way we burn calories after we eat, and the way we store fat, revealed Nina Vujovic, a postdoctorate researcher in the same Program at BWH. 

Vujovic, Scheer, and their team studied 16 patients with a body mass index (BMI) in the overweight or obese range. Each participant completed two laboratory protocols: one with a strictly scheduled early meal schedule, and the other with the exact same meals, each scheduled about four hours later in the day. In the last two to three weeks before starting each of the in-laboratory protocols, participants maintained fixed sleep and wake schedules, and in the final three days before entering the laboratory, they strictly followed identical diets and meal schedules at home.  

In the lab, participants regularly documented their hunger and appetite, provided frequent small blood samples throughout the day, and had their body temperature and energy expenditure measured. To measure how eating time affected molecular pathways involved in adipogenesis, or how the body stores fat, investigators collected biopsies of adipose tissue from a subset of participants during laboratory testing in both the early and late eating protocols, to enable comparison of gene expression patterns/levels between these two eating conditions. 

Results revealed that eating later had profound effects on hunger and appetite-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin, which influence our drive to eat. Specifically, levels of the hormone leptin, which signals satiety, were decreased across the 24 hours in the late eating condition compared to the early eating conditions. When participants ate later, they also burned calories at a slower rate and exhibited adipose tissue gene expression towards increased adipogenesis and decreased lipolysis, which promote fat growth.  

The findings convey converging physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying the correlation between late eating and increased obesity risk. 

By tightly controlling for behavioural and environmental factors such as physical activity, posture, sleep, and light exposure, the researchers were able to detect changes in the different control systems involved in energy balance, a marker of how our bodies use the food we consume – however, in real life, many of these factors may themselves be influenced by meal timing, the researchers note. 

Recently, consulting firm McKinsey found that up to a third of employees in Asia are burnt out. Jim Falteisek, Senior Vice President, 3M Asia Corporate Affairs and Managing Director of 3M Korea, addresses how we can normalize speaking up about mental health, and ways to tackle this problem to ensure a more engaged, productive, and sustainable workforce.

1 in 3 employees are burnt out. How can we get more employees to speak up about mental health here in Asia?

Fatigue, apathy about work, headaches. These are all common signs of burnout and they affect a shocking number of workers today.

McKinsey found that a quarter of employees worldwide are experiencing burnout, and in Asia, that figure climbs to one in three.

According to the 2022 Wellness Report, 58% of Malaysian workers are feeling burnt out from work.

To prevent employee disengagement, absenteeism, and attrition, employers must proactively address these challenges. The impetus is on employers to create a safe space and encourage staff to share their mental health struggles and provide support to help them overcome these challenges.

Here’s how they can do so.

First, let’s change the way we talk about mental health and burnout.

We need to change how we view and talk about mental health. Let’s stop putting mental health on the backburner, or something we think about only after we’ve hit our breaking point.

Do not be afraid to invest in longer, more intensive programs towards creating a mentally-well workplace. For example, our company has dedicated a month towards mental health awareness, where we host and share a series of content and events for our employees to attend throughout the month. Additionally, our employee-led Mental Health Advocacy Group which serves all individuals and allies navigating mental health issues provide additional resources all year long.

Spotlighting sessions on mental health during health and wellness programs help normalize the topic. It encourages employees to view mental health as another part of one’s holistic health and well-being, and something we need to take care of.

Balance is key. Having adequate rest and down time is important for employees to remain productive and happy. Let’s be compassionate and understanding to ourselves and others. Encourage employees to prioritize healthy habits and hobbies. Allow them the flexibility and autonomy to take short work breaks or arrange work schedules that best fit their needs, and encourage them to seek professional help, if needed.

At 3M, we’ve seen how ‘Work Your Way’, a trust-based approach that lets employees create a schedule that helps them work when and where they can most effectively, transform the way employees work fostering an agile, inclusive and collaborative culture.

Second, let’s create a safe environment to talk about mental health

To create a safe and effective environment to speak up and seek help on mental health, it is important to invest in programs that go beyond education. Companies can do this through tapping on quality providers to implement a mental health-focused Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

For example, our EAP provides a tele-counselling hotline so employees can seek confidential consultations when needed. Employees are also not limited to seeking help for problems at the workplace. We understand that it’s difficult for work and life to be treated in silos. Thus, employees can also seek these services for problems they are facing in their personal lives too.

The EAP professionals help employees assess these concerns and develop a response plan. They will provide information, problem solving, guidance, coaching, advice, and ongoing support, as needed. They will also suggest resources inside and outside of 3M.

It does not have to stop at the employee level. We could extend these programs for families and work groups too. For example, retired employees or dependents of our employees can also tap on our EAP program if they are facing challenges.

Of course, these consultations should be strictly confidential, and these should be communicated to employees so they need not worry about seeking help.

No one should struggle with mental health alone. We are responsible for ensuring that our employees feel safe at work and are comfortable to be themselves. These initiatives will go a long way in supporting employees’ wellness and help manage everyday needs.

Third, let’s lead by example

Leaders set the tone and example for employees to follow. If leaders are open to sharing their struggles and advice, this will be greatly encouraging for staff. They will understand that they will not be penalized.

From a team level, organize mental health training sessions for leaders and managers, and encourage managers to set aside time to check-in with employees individually.

That said, conversations around mental health are not easy to navigate. Here’s what I’ve learnt when talking about such topics.

First, keep an open mind and avoid remarks that may be misconstrued as judgement or downplaying of one’s experience. Second, practice active listening. Third, ask what you can do and follow through. For example, you can help team members manage their workloads and working hours.

However, always encourage those affected to seek professional help as we are not experts. Trust is a two-way exchange – it helps if leaders who have experienced mental health challenges themselves also open up about them with their teams.

Conclusion: It takes a village

Mental health is a complex issue. But businesses have a great role to play. By prioritizing our people, we can safeguard the happiness, health, and mental well-being of our employees and build a better future of work that is more productive, engaging, and sustainable.

Periodontitis is an inflammatory gum disease characterised by persistent inflammation, an imbalance of bacteria in the mouth, and destruction of the bones and structures that support the teeth – untreated, gum disease can lead to painful and bleeding gums, difficulty chewing, and tooth loss. Researchers at NYU College of Dentistry (NYU Dentistry) have developed an at-home topical treatment for gum disease made up of a succinate compound that simultaneously suppresses inflammation and changes the makeup of oral bacteria.

Increased levels of succinate, a molecule produced during metabolism, has been linked to higher levels of inflammation and subsequently, gum disease, according to previous studies.

Yuqi Guo, an associate research scientist in the Department of Molecular Pathobiology at NYU Dentistry, and colleagues similarly discovered that elevated levels of succinate activated the succinate receptor and, in turn, drove inflammation and bone loss, and led to greater imbalances in healthy and unhealthy bacteria in the mouth.

The researchers examined dental plaque samples from humans and blood samples from mice to eventually develop a gel formulation of a small compound that targets the succinate receptor and prevents it from being activated.

The compound was applied as a topical gel to the gums of mice with gum disease, which reduced local and systemic inflammation and bone loss in a matter of days. In one test, the researchers applied the gel to the gums of mice with gum disease every other day for four weeks, which cut their bone loss in half compared to mice who did not receive the gel.

Mice treated with the gel also had significant changes to the community of bacteria in their mouths. Notably, bacteria in the Bacteroidetes family – known to be dominant in gum disease – were depleted in those treated with the gel.

The researchers are continuing to study the gel in animal models to find the appropriate dosage and timing for application, as well as determine any toxicity. Their long-term goal is to develop a gel and oral strip that can be used at home by people with or at risk for gum disease, as well as a stronger, slow-release formulation that dentists can apply to pockets that form in the gums during gum disease.

“Current treatments for severe gum disease can be invasive and painful. In the case of antibiotics, which may help temporarily, they kill both good and bad bacteria, disrupting the oral microbiome. This new compound that blocks the succinate receptor has clear therapeutic value for treating gum disease using more targeted and convenient processes,” concluded Xin Li, professor of Molecular Pathobiology at NYU Dentistry.

A patient’s facial image data – while extremely useful when it comes to identifying and diagnosing disease – is susceptible to data breaches and is not easily anonymised for medical recordkeeping. A joint team of researchers from the University of Cambridge, UK, and Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, have introduced a “digital mask” that enables secure storage of facial images, at the same time preventing potentially sensitive personal biometric information that can be derived from these images from being leaked out.

Facial images are important markers of identifying signs of disease: for example, features such as deep forehead wrinkles and wrinkles around the eyes are significantly associated with coronary heart disease, while abnormal changes in eye movement can indicate poor visual function and visual cognitive developmental problems.

However, facial images also inevitably record other biometric information about the patient, including their race, sex, age and mood – details which are to be kept private. This, combined with the risk of data breaches, has led to widespread reluctance to share medical data for public medical research or electronic health records, hindering the development of digital medical care.

The team successfully used three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction and deep learning algorithms to create a digital mask that would erase identifiable features from facial images while retaining disease-relevant features needed for diagnosis. The digital mask would reconstruct a face, complete with eyelids and eyeballs, in a new output video.

Converting the output videos of 3D faces back to the original videos is extremely difficult because most of the necessary personal information is no longer retained in the mask – in simple terms, it is not possible to identify the individual from the digital mask video.

In tests, the researchers noted how useful the masks were in clinical practice and found that diagnosis using the digital masks was consistent with that carried out using the original videos. This suggests that the reconstruction was precise enough for use in clinical practice.

Professor Haotian Lin from Sun Yat-sen University, had earlier raised a concern, “During the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to turn to consultations over the phone or by video link rather than in person. Remote healthcare for eye diseases requires patients to share a large amount of digital facial information. Patients want to know that their potentially sensitive information is secure and that their privacy is protected.”

“Digital masking offers a pragmatic approach to safeguarding patient privacy while still allowing the information to be useful to clinicians. At the moment, the only options available are crude, but our digital mask is a much more sophisticated tool for anonymising facial images,” answered Professor Patrick Yu-Wai-Man from the University of Cambridge.

“This could make telemedicine [phone and video consultations] much more feasible, making healthcare delivery more efficient. If telemedicine is to be widely adopted, then we need to overcome the barriers and concerns related to privacy protection. Our digital mask is an important step in this direction.”

A new mechanism has been identified through which very small pollutant particles in the air may trigger lung cancer development in people who have never smoked, according to the ESMO Congress 2022 reports from the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO). Pollutant particles are typically found in vehicle exhaust and smoke from fossil fuels, and have been associated with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) risk – accounting for as much as 250,000 lung cancer deaths globally per year.

“The same particles in the air that derive from the combustion of fossil fuels, exacerbating climate change, are directly impacting human health via an important and previously overlooked cancer-causing mechanism in lung cells,” said Charles Swanton, the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK.

“The risk of lung cancer from air pollution is lower than from smoking, but we have no control over what we all breathe. Globally, more people are exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution than to toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke, and these new data link the importance of addressing climate health to improving human health.”

The findings are based on human and laboratory research on mutations in a gene called EGFR which are seen in about half of people with lung cancer who have never smoked.

In a study of nearly half a million people living in England, South Korea, and Taiwan, exposure to increasing concentrations of airborne particulate matter (PM) of 2.5 micrometres (μm) in diameter was linked to increased risk of NSCLC with EGFR mutations.

In the laboratory studies, the Crick Institute scientists showed that the pollutant particles (PM2.5) promoted rapid changes in airway cells which had mutations in EGFR and in another gene linked to lung cancer called KRAS, driving them towards a cancer stem cell like state.

They also found that air pollution drives the influx of macrophages which release the inflammatory mediator, interleukin-1β, driving the expansion of cells with the EGFR mutations, in response to exposure to PM2.5, and that blockade of interleukin-1β inhibited lung cancer initiation.

Commenting on the results, Tony Mok, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said: “This research is intriguing and exciting as it means that we can ask whether, in the future, it will be possible to use lung scans to look for pre-cancerous lesions in the lungs and try to reverse them with medicines such as interleukin-1βinhibitors.”

Like Swanton, he stresses the importance of reducing air pollution to lower the risk of lung diseases, including cancer.

“We have known about the link between pollution and lung cancer for a long time, and we now have a possible explanation for it. As consumption of fossil fuels goes hand in hand with pollution and carbon emissions, we have a strong mandate for tackling these issues –for both environmental and health reasons,” Mok concluded.

The late-breaking data is likely to introduce new approaches to lung cancer prevention and treatment.