Narrow Results

AUSTRALIA — A Web-based Tool to Predict Bone Fracture Risk

AUSTRALIA — World's First Stem Cell Screening Facility to Target Brain Tumors

CHINA — Agro-Technology to Build Biodiesel Refinery

CHINA — TCM Development Strategy Established

CHINA — Folic Acid Prevents Stomach Cancer

CHINA — A Major Nanobiology Research Project is Initiated at CAS

CHINA — Scientists to Sequence Giant Panda Genome

CHINA — Biotech Company Announces World's First Genetically Modified Phytase Corn

CHINA — Smoking — A Major Risk Factor of Stroke in China

HONG KONG — ASB Biodiesel to Build Hong Kong Plant

INDIA — CCRAS Identified 39 Formulations for Eight Specific Disease Conditions

INDIA — First Hi-tech TomoTherapy System Installed

INDIA — Government Research Labs Develop 28 New Drugs for Chronic Ailments

INDIA — BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring Cardiac Devices Launched in India

INDIA — Biotech Incubation Center to Become a Reality Soon

JAPAN — Radiation Exposure in utero and in Young Children Increases Adult Cancer Risk

JAPAN — Anchoring Protein Variant Associated with Increased Breast Cancer Risk

JAPAN — Stem Cells Develop New Organs in Mice

NEW ZEALAND — New Diabetes Treatment Now Available in New Zealand

NEW ZEALAND — Trans-Tasman Scientists Study Livestock Methane

PHILIPPINES — Philippines Bioethanol Capacity to Expand

SINGAPORE — Asia's First Research Center for Palliative Care Opens in Singapore

SINGAPORE — Millipore Corporation (MIL) Announces New Facility in Singapore

SINGAPORE — Patients Under Chronic Disease Management Program Show Better Disease Control

SINGAPORE — NTUC Childcare Issues Health Alert Following Hong Kong Flu Outbreak

TAIWAN — Gene Screening Used in IVF for Healthy Babies

TAIWAN — Researchers Tout Progress in Vaccine to Combat HIV

TAIWAN — Taipei Program to Help Cardiac Arrest Victims

Landmark Discovery of "Engine" that Drives Cell Movement.

Asia's First Palliative Care Research Center in Singapore.

Growing Green Technologies with Organic Photovoltaics.

Siemens Opens First Corporate Technology in South-east Asia at the PUB's Waterhub.

Singapore's First Reservoir in the City Embodies Water and Energy Renewal Directives.

The Asian cancer.

Eliminating viral hepatitis in Indonesia by 2030.

Liver cancer treatments - A decade later.

Like a sniper.

Hepatocellular carcinoma detection using artificially engineered materials.

Is Asia ready for more elderly people with cancer?

Emerging treatments for spinal cord damage.

Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s – Confusions, myths and tips.

An update on Alzheimer’s disease.

Integration of Traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine in cancer treatment.

TCM’s integration into modern health system.

The following topics are under this section:

• ASIA-PACIFIC — Research Institute in Singapore to help empower oral health research and innovation in Asia
• ASIA-PACIFIC — Lien Centre for Palliative Care celebrates tenth year of providing quality palliative care services for citizens
• ASIA-PACIFIC — Smartphone device for monitoring water quality provide fish farmers with high-tech and low-cost solution
• ASIA-PACIFIC — Discovering possible treatments for liver cancer
• ASIA-PACIFIC — Existing treatments and vaccines no longer effective against dengue virus
• ASIA-PACIFIC — Singapore-led global diabetes study relevant on an international stage
• ASIA-PACIFIC — Genetic analyses reveals new species of seaweed
• ASIA-PACIFIC — Preliminary results draw attention to the need to understand risk factors of influenza
• ASIA-PACIFIC — New strategy for rice plant resilience to change in climate conditions
• REST OF THE WORLD — Study finds that cancer patients have higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease
• REST OF THE WORLD — Researchers discover signs of damage due to brain inflammation in obese adolescents
• REST OF THE WORLD — Shedding light on healthcare-associated infection pathogens
• REST OF THE WORLD — Nutrient-producing silk coats can help seeds germinate in unfavourable conditions

For the months of November and December 2022, APBN explores the theme of ''Virology'' and considers the role they play in our environment and how we can deal with them in the years to come.

Firstly, we dive into the world of marine viruses with Vanessa Lunardi as she shares with us how these microscopic agents direct life in the ocean and how they could potentially contribute to climate change.

Next, Dr Sunny Himansu, Associate Director of Infectious Diseases at Moderna, talks about the Nipah virus, its presence in Southeast Asia, and how Moderna is working to develop a Nipah virus mRNA vaccine.

Closer to home, Junghun Justin Kim, Country Manager at Takeda Singapore, discusses the issue of dengue – a disease that has seen a three-fold increase in Singapore this year – and how we can best manage it.

Other highlights in this issue include a column by Ivor Campbell, CEO of Snedden Campbell, on the various developments in diagnostics and medical technology as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and an interview with Erica Wu Yun, Nurse Clinician at Allium Care Suites on how we can best prepare for a transition from life to death.

Supportive and palliative care services are integral to the provision of comprehensive cancer care (and no cancer service should call itself ‘comprehensive’ without a comprehensive supportive and palliative care team). All people diagnosed with cancer should have access to supportive care and the one in two people who will have their lives shortened as a result of cancer need to be able to access palliative care. The skill base, competencies and clinical evidence base for these disciplines is shared.

Properly resourced and integrated supportive and palliative care services have been shown to deliver improved health outcomes without compromising life expectancy to:

• people with cancer,

• their caregivers (while in the role and subsequently), and

• health services that are prepared to adequately invest in these services, with more efficient use of resources.

In order to achieve these improved health outcomes, early identification of people who have more complex needs becomes a responsibility of each member of the clinical cancer care team. Systematic assessment of current and likely future needs is imperative to improve the patient-defined outcomes that are necessary to live well with cancer or to ensure that life goals are met if premature death will occur because of cancer.

With around 90% of people dying with cancer preferring to die at home, palliative care is an important aspect of General Practice work as GPs care for 5–8 patients dying of cancer each year on average. This chapter seeks to explore the experience of GP palliative care from three perspectives.

(1) Palliative care as a paradigm of excellence for the generalist. The specific nature of palliative care allows GPs to showcase the strength of a generalist approach. This ‘excellence’ manifests as a creative tension between evidence-based biomedical care, a patient-centred approach and the more traditional role of ‘healer’. GPs think and reflect around patient stories, rather than the abstraction of data to achieve best practice care. Teamwork is an emerging aspect of such care.

(2) Palliative care can be a catalyst for maturity for General Practitioners. One quarter of GPs choose not to become involved in palliative services. For the majority who do so, they embark on a journey towards maturity as a practitioner. In this section the issues explored include maturity and suffering, educational challenges, communication and relational skills, self-awareness including cultural and spiritual awareness and the strength of becoming a ‘wounded healer’.

(3) Palliative care and the challenge of self-care. GPs do not have a strong tradition of self-care activities. The experience of palliative care has the potential to cause stress and burn out. GPs need to pay attention to self-care and there is emerging evidence to help in this area. The ‘experience of dying’ again has specific challenges which need both thoughtful care and self-care. This can extend into the ‘aftermath’ period when managing one's grief and supporting the wider family take precedence.