A Dose of Medical News #2.7 - Traditional Medicine Practitioner to Learn from Chinese Masters

IPOH: The Health Ministry’s traditional and complementary medicine (TCM) division has started a programme to facilitate technology transfer from professional practitioners in China.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said local traditional Chinese medicine practitioners would be attached to the Chinese practitioners for three months through the programme to learn from them.

He said currently three oncologists from China have been recruited and each would have three local TCM practitioners under his wing.

“The programme, which started recently, includes hands-on lectures and observations on theories and practices using herbs as adjunct treatment for cancer patients,” said Liow at the opening of the Tongren private medical centre here Sunday.

He said the programme was meant to help build the foundation for all local TCM practitioners in the future.

From the Star this morning. To give them credit, Tong Ren Healing System has been studied by Harvard Medical School Professor (...... of Psychiatry). Game on!

Photography Chemo Regime #2.5 - The TIPA Awards

The Technical Image Press Association award winers has been announced today and it looks like Canon is winning big. They bagged the awards for Best Expert SLR (EOS 5D Mark II - although Best Professional SLR went to Nikon D3x), Best Expert HD Camcorder (LEGRIA HF S10), Best Expert Compact Camera (Canon G10), Best Professional Lens (TS-E 17 f4L) and Best Expert Photo Printer (PIXMA Pro-9500).

Other notable winners are best photography software going to Adobe Lightroom 2 - although I personally prefer CS4, Nokia N96 (Best Mobile Imaging Device), Nikon D90 (Best Advanced SLR), Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR (Best Digital Compact) and Wacom Intuos4 (Best Digital Accessory).

You can fine the full list of winers on this link.

Tech Dose #2.4.2 - Even Nokia Experiencing A Downturn

Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, has reported a 90% fall in profits for the first quarter of 2009.

The company said net profits sank to 122m euros ($160m; £108m) in the quarter, down from 1.2bn euros in the same period a year ago.

Sales were down by 27% to 9,28bn euros in the quarter from 12.7bn euros a year ago, Nokia said.

Well, nobody seems immune in this climate. Wonder if they do a cut price at Sungai Wang on all Nokia.

A Dose of Haematology News #2.4.1 - Why More Black American Haemophiliacs Have Inhibitors?

I read an interesting article in the NEJM this morning. It was a study to try to explain why black population in America with Haemophilia A (FVIII deficiency) more readily forms antibody against the transfused factor VIII used as part of treatment compared to their white counterpart.

The suggested answer put forward by the team from America was surprisingly elegant and simple. There are 6 types of (wild) type, or naturally occurring FVIII in humans, conveniently named H1 to H6. Whites and majority of other races only have gene for either H1 or H2 (or deficiency of H1 or H2 in case of Haemophilia). In this study of 78 Black subjects, the haplotype of the FVIII gene was mapped and it was found that 24% of them have eitehr H3 or H4 haplotypes. Since the commercially available FVIII replacement are made from H1 and H2, those that are natively non-H1 or H2 will understandably produce antibodies against them.

In this study, the statistical analysis just about found significance at p=0.04, OR 3.6 (1.1 to 12.3). Maybe if bigger subject population was studied, the power of the study will be higher. Maybe we should do a similar study here in Malaysia to at least map the wild-type gene that our Haemophiliacs carry.

Tech Dose #2.4.1 - Macs Can Be a Target As Well

When news like the rampaging Conficker virus hits, Mac users often feel a certain sense of comfort — if not smug superiority — knowing it doesn’t affect them.

But just how relaxed (or smug) should Mac users be? It’s true that very few viruses have been written for Macs — and none are spreading actively right now. Similarly, hacker programs distributed by malicious Web sites typically run only on PCs.

Yet Macs’ relative safety is primarily due to their still-slim market share. They’re simply a waste of time for today’s attackers, who are trying to accomplish crime on a large scale by infiltrating millions of computers. And there’s nothing inherently more secure about a Mac. Researchers found 26 vulnerabilities in OS X in 2008, about the same as in Windows Vista (27), according to the security software maker Symantec. If its market share rises enough, the Mac will become a target and attacks will succeed.

Sound advice as I am sure as Macs becomes popular, hackers will make them target as well. It is just a matter of time.

Stem Cell Treatment for Diabetics

An experimental stem cell treatment has enabled patients with type 1 diabetes to go for as long as four years without insulin injections, researchers say.

A US-Brazilian project with 23 patients found most were able to produce their own insulin after a transplant of stem cells from their own bone marrow.

The two main properties of stem cell is self-renewal (regeneration) and ability to evolve into a more specialised cell under certain circumstances. In diabetic, where the main issue is the lack of insulin-producing cells - beta cells - in the pancreas, stimulating the stem cells into beta cells is a an attractive and viable treatment option.

Photography Chemo Regime #2 - The Lumix DMC-LX3

Even though I love my digital SLR, it can appear cumbersome especially when going out with the kids. I still need them if I am out alone but if spontaneity you want, nothing beats a compact point-and-click. I was looking at a Leica actually before I realised from the forums that Panasonic uses the same bits for the DMC-LX3 down to the glass although some might say otherwise. There is a place in Low Yatt that is keen to do a deal with me for RM1400. The reviewers has been raving about this camera, so I thought I post the video review by cameralabs.com for the photography segment this week.

Enjoy

A Dose of Haematology News #2.1 - With Sperm Banking, Fertility is Still Preserved After Chemotherapy

CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 13 (UPI) -- The birth of a baby conceived from sperm frozen for 21 years may tie the world record for the longest-frozen, viable sperm, U.S. fertility specialists say.

Thirty-eight-year-old Chris Biblis of Charlotte, N.C., was treated for leukemia from age 13-18. In 1987, at age 16, his family encouraged him to freeze his sperm, even though there was no treatment for male infertility at the time.

Sperm banking is currently still the best way to preserve fertility in male patient after chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant. 

You have got to see this!

Not to be missed! These guys are my hero, fulfilling my lifelong ambition, inspired by all the om and Jerry cartoons I have been watching over the years!

A Dose of Haematology News #2 - Side Effect of Donating Your Stem Cells

Even in UMMC, we do an average up to 5 mobilisation process per month. The majority are still for patient's own use (autologous mobilisation), done at the end of admiistration of chemotherapy.

In cases where the stem cells are needed for a different person, likely the sibling, the subject are given 4 days twice-daily injection of a hormone, G-CSF to promote growth of stem cell in the bone marrow. Consequently the cells will spill over into the peripheral blood and using the process of aphoresis or capturing of cells in the blood akin to dialysis.

In the recent Blood article, the American National Marrow Donor Program published their surveillance data of 2408 stem cell donors who undergo the mobilisation process. The donors are mainly for their unrelated marrow transplant program (the donors and recipient are unrelated). The side effects of exposure to G-CSF, the mobilisation process and other effect were studied.

The results showed that female subjects are more likely to develop problem with bone pain and venous access (more needing the use of invasive central catheter). Obese donor also reported more bone pain symptoms. There were also 15 patients who developed discomfort and chest pains needing hospitalisation for observation, but nothing major was established.

Full recover is the rule. The majority will have bone pain, with 1 in 4 complaining of headache and nausea during mobilisation.