Why Do Reporters Listen To This Clown?

The "renowned" respiratory scientist, Zhong Nanshan, has made awful predictions as a government adviser on the Wuhan coronavirus and yet people are still listening to him. It is now the middle of May 2020, so we can look back and see just what he predicted:

1. On 29 January 2020 Zhong Nanshan said the Covid-19 infection rate could peak in early February. “I estimate that it will reach its peak in around the next week or 10 days [from 29 January], after that there will be no more major increases,” said Zhong.

It's important to note that Hong Kong experts, who have a great track record in modelling and managing disease outbreaks, quickly disagreed. Professor Gabriel Leung, dean of Hong Kong University’s medical school, is in sharp disagreement on the potential infection rate for the Wuhan virus. Furthermore, Leung's prediction (like others) was correct: “We have to be prepared, that this particular epidemic may be about to become a global epidemic,” he said.

2. On 2 April 2020 Zhong Nanshan said Covid-19 could be under control by end of April. “With every country taking aggressive and effective measures, I believe the pandemic can be brought under control. My estimate is around late April,” said Zhong.

Renowned respiratory scientist and a government adviser on the Wuhan coronavirus,

Zhong Nanshan believes the outbreak could peak in mid-February. FAIL!! Photo: SCMP

Gabriel Leung, dean of Hong Kong University’s medical school, is calling for strict limitations on population mobility during the outbreak. BOSS!! Photo: SCMP

Trump Touts Fake News, No Irony

Yet again, Donald Trump tells the world how to "feel" (specifically, how he "feels" about important issues of our time like Covid-19) rather than how to think.

“Take it. What do you have to lose?” — Donald Trump, about the use of hydroxychloroquine, an unproven anti-malaria drug for treating Covid-19

Trump just does not recognize scientific evidence or expert advice, even when they are literally in front of him.

Anthony Fauci with that familiar "look of despair" 

shared by those who understand how evidence works in medicine

Donald Trump’s top coronavirus adviser, Anthony Fauci, has warned again that there is no scientific evidence to support the use of hydroxycholroquine for Covid-19.

The following chart (Independent) is a great illustration how Trump touts misleading information (when others do it, he accuses them of creating fake news), which he simply backs up with his "gut feeling" about things.

If there is a silver lining to those of us in lockdown and social distancing, it is that Donald Trump continues to entertain ... and hopefully we can learn from his ignorance, improprieties and incompetence.

I love the Wiki tracker of Trump's false claims, which will have likely shot up in recent times (perhaps on a similar rate of trajectory as the rapid rise in Covid-19 cases in the US!).


References

Trump touts hydroxychloroquine as a cure for Covid-19. Don't believe the hype (Guardian)

Trump's quotes mapped onto a coronavirus graph shows president 'downplaying the threat' (Independent)

Evidence shows men are more likely to die than women when infected with coronavirus

Men are more likely to die than women are from Covid-19, which is a coronavirus, because this has happened before in the time of SARS back in 2003. However, researchers are still trying to understand why there is this significant difference between the sexes when it comes to contracting coronaviruses.

In Italy, upward of 70% of Covid-19 deaths have been men. In South Korea, 54% of Covid-19 deaths have been men.

Back in 2003, the first published study by Hong Kong researchers about the disproportionate deaths by sex in coronavirus infections showed 57% of the 299 SARS deaths in Hong Kong were male.

What is of concern is that other countries, including the US and UK, have not published their fatality rates according to sex, which is difficult to understand. In fact, only six out of 20 countries have so far published such a breakdown for case numbers and deaths.


References  

Here's why the coronavirus may be killing more men than women (CNN)

Here's why the coronavirus may be killing more men than women (Washington Post)

Men are much more likely to die from coronavirus - but why? (The Guardian)

Do Men Have a Higher Case Fatality Rate of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome than Women Do? (Free journal article)

Sex, gender and COVID-19: Disaggregated data and health disparities (Free journal article)

Measured reasoned voices amid coronavirus Covid-19 concerns

Among all the Covid-19 sensationalism and scaremongering and disease mongering, it is refreshing and heartening to identify people who are reasonable, sensible and have something worthwhile to share.

Dog in Hong Kong tests "weak positive" for Covid-19

Take the case of a dog in Hong Kong that tested "weak positive" for Covid-19, wherein local media and reporters attempted to create confusion and hysteria without knowing the science behind their headlines. Fortunately, there were a few calming voices that stood out (these are excerpts from this link).

Earlier in the day, Hong Kong veterinary surgeons called for calm after the “weak positive” case was announced. Dr Michael Bradley from Stanley Veterinary Centre said he thought it very unlikely that pets such as dogs and cats could be infected with the coronavirus, as very few viruses can jump between species.

 

“There is no need to panic. There is no evidence yet that the virus can infect dogs, cats or other domestic animals,” he said. “It’s possible that the dog had the virus due to environmental contamination. A dog can be an object that carries the virus the same way as anything else, like a tissue.”

“The dog tested weak positive from the nasal and mouth swab, not from a blood test. It’s quite possible that it is from the dog contacting the owner or being in the same environment with the owner,” Dr David Gething of Creature Comforts said.

Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a respiratory medicine expert from Chinese University, also said that despite the pet’s weak positive result, it did not mean it had been infected. He added that no evidence thus far shows that dogs can be infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) or Covid-19.

Dr Florence Chan, secretary of the HKVA’s executive committee, said although what happened to the dog might appear to be a new development, it would be wrong to jump to conclusions.

“According to what we have on hand, the dog actually did not display any symptoms,” she said.

The World Health Organisation said there was no evidence that companion animals or pets such as dogs or cats could be infected with the novel coronavirus.

References

Coronavirus: quarantine recommended for pets of Hongkongers with Covid-19 as Pomeranian tests positive a second time (28 Feb 2020)

Blood test negative for first dog found with coronavirus, more checks pending (12 Mar 2020)

Coronavirus Don't Panic Song

Social media has caused needless panic about the novel coronavirus that originated from Wuhan in China. Keep calm; there is no need to panic.


This is a lyrical modification of the original song titled Panic by The Smiths.

Drink Driving. Who Is Irresponsible?

This ad is outdated, outrageous and out of context!

This government public service announcement about drink driving only takes into account the driver's perspective and responsibility. However, ALL parties are responsible. In this frequently-played ad (which dates back to the 1990s), the driver's wife and his friends all know the driver is drinking ... so why don't they act like responsible adults and take action?

If you know your lover, relative or friend has been drinking, what do you do? In the ad, the wife knowingly and stupidly gets into the car with a drunk driver! And subsequently she get killed in a car accident. Real smart!

The INTENDED message is targetted at the irresponsible driver (scare tactics?), but the REAL message coming through is that the wife died because she was irresponsible and STUPID to get in a car with a drunk driver! Please use common sense.

This ad is titled "If you drink, don't drive!" but it downplays everyone else's responsibility ... including the government departments and broadcasters (who are too lazy to update their drink-driving prevention campaigns).


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Chalk Him Up As ... Injured

About car plate, licence plate, number plate, registration plate, vanity plate

Know What You Are Protecting

The Hong Kong Cancer Fund has a fantastic health advertisement advising men to protect their balls, er, crown jewels, er, assets. It's clever and, er, cocky. Ballsy, even!

However, it seems one of the men doesn't know his asset from his elbow, perhaps because he has never played football before. Who puts their hands there (look at the big red arrow in the above picture; man far right) when a football is being blasted straight towards you?

Good message though! Real Men Protect Their Assets

Here's the sequence of events as shown in the video: Hong Kong Cancer Fund x The Wynners: "Be on guard against prostate cancer!"

Brain Surgeon Cuts Wrong Side of Patient’s Head

A neurosurgeon in Hong Kong made a major medical blunder when performing urgent brain surgery on a 54-year-old woman at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The right craniotomy began on the patient's left side of her skull with the neurosurgeon removing a bone flap. The anaesthetist realised the error during the operation, at which time the neurosurgeon replaced the left bone flap, while a second neurosurgeon performed the craniotomy on the right side of the patient's skull.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong

UPDATE UPDATE

A Hong Kong brain surgeon who operated on the wrong side of a patient’s skull may have made a crucial error well before surgery even began, according to the city’s health minister.

Secretary for the Food and Health Dr Ko Wing-man described an incident at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in which the left side of a 54-year-old woman’s skull was cut open instead of the right, as “a serious mishap”.

He stressed that doctors had followed procedure prior to the surgery, but it was possible the doctor involved wrongly identified the correct side of the skull from the brain scan images.

Update Reference (SCMP) 11 March 2017, 11:38pm




Reference: (SCMP.com)

Hong Kong brain surgeon operates on wrong side of patient’s skull

The medical mistake was promptly corrected and the patient’s family informed, according to the Hospital Authority; a probe is under way

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 11 March, 2017, 8:33am

Comments: 8 

Christy Leung

 

A serious medical blunder at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in which a doctor operated on the wrong side of a patient’s skull, has led to an investigation by the facility.

The doctor cut open the left side of a woman’s skull, when it was actually the right side that was bleeding and in need of surgery.

The 54-year-old woman was transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Tuesday night.

A brain scan conducted the next day showed that the patient suffered from an aneurysm in the right brain causing an increase in intracranial pressure.

The woman was battling a critical and life-threatening situation.

“The neurosurgeon arranged an urgent craniotomy to drain the cerebrospinal fluid to release high intracranial pressure, but removed a bone flap on the left side of the skull inadvertently,” the Hospital Authority said in a statement on Friday.

The surgeon only realised the mistake when an anaesthetist spotted the error while reviewing the report during the operation.

“The neurosurgeon immediately placed back the bone flap on the left side of the skull while another neurosurgeon performed a right craniotomy.

“The neurosurgical team explained the situation to the patient’s family in the afternoon on the same day,” the statement further read.

The correct operation drained the patient’s cerebrospinal fluid and removed blood clots. A clipping of the aneurysm – to prevent risks from bleeding – was also performed.

The authority said the hospital noted that the medical team had provided prompt clinical treatment to the patient and that it had apologised for the mistake.

The patient is still hospitalised and in a stable condition.

The authority is expected to receive the investigation report in eight weeks.

Fire Department Gives Food Advice

Nine people have already choked to death in Japan this year after eating sticky New Year rice cakes.

"The fire department is advising people, especially the elderly and infants, to cut mochi into small pieces before eating it." Sound advice from the fire services people, but why them? Is choking on food considered a fire hazard too?

Furthermore, are mochis getting larger now, so that people are more likely to choke? Or don't people chew their food anymore?

A grilled mochi or sticky rice cake, which families in Japan traditionally put in "ozouni" vegetable soup

Reference

Nine people choke to death in Japan after eating sticky New Year rice cakes

PUBLISHED : Monday, 05 January, 2015, 4:14pm

UPDATED : Tuesday, 06 January, 2015, 8:56am

Agence France-Presse in Tokyo

Nine people have choked to death in Japan after eating traditional glutinous “mochi” rice cakes to celebrate the New Year, an official and local media said.

In Tokyo alone, 18 people were sent to hospital due to suffocation after eating the New Year delicacy, and three of them – all men – died, a fire department official said.

The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said the death toll from rice cake accidents reached nine by Friday across the nation and 13 others were in a serious condition.

At least 128 people were rushed to the hospital after choking last week, the paper said.

During the New Year period, one of Japan’s biggest holidays, families traditionally cook “ozouni” soup and put the sticky rice cakes in the vegetable broth.

The fire department is advising people, especially the elderly and infants, to cut mochi into small pieces before eating it.

Every year, several Japanese die after choking on rice cakes.

In addition to the Tokyo deaths, three people died in Chiba prefecture, while one each died in Osaka, Aomori and Nagasaki prefectures, the Yomiuri reported.

In the Nagasaki case, an 80-year-old-man choked on a mochi that was in sweet bean soup served for free at a Shinto shrine.

Japanese customarily visit shrines and temples to welcome the new year, and mochi, sake and other treats are sold or given out.

With additional reporting from Associated Press

Karren Brady Real Waxwork Dummy

When watching Sir Alan Sugar's Junior Apprentice, he was explaining to the kids that Madame Tussauds was full of dummies and then the screen cut to this shot …

Karren Brady looking like a dummy in a room full of dummies

The appearance of Karren Brady is hilarious. Yes, she is a successful businesswoman and a baroness, but she also conjures up the stereotypical image of the British woman. Bad hairstyle, poor makeup and a frumpy unhealthy look.

Karren Brady. Pic from Wikipedia

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Please Sir, I Want Some More

A Fat Little Emperor among millions in China. Pic Reuters

There are now 62 million Chinese who are classified as obese. A ready market to do good business, if ever there was one.

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Health Living … Not

Reference


2.1 billion of the world’s population now overweight: China and US top fat list (SCMP; paywall)

China has the fourth-greatest increase in childhood obesity
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 29 May, 2014, 11:46am

Jeanette Wang jeanette.wang@scmp.com

China has the second-largest number of obese people in the world behind only the United States, according to a pioneering study published in a leading international medical journal.

Globally, there are 2.1 billion people classified as overweight or obese. Of that number, 671 million people were classified as obese, according to the report in The Lancet.

Overweight means that a person has a body mass index - which factors in weight in relation to height - of 25 to less than30. With a BMI of 30 or more, a person is classified as obese.

More than half of the world's obese population live in 10 countries, led by the United States with 86.9 million.

Study data showed said there were 62 million obese people living in China last year, or more than 9 per cent of the world's total.

Conducted by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), the study, the first of its kind, analysed data from 188 countries over 33 years and found that nearly 30 per cent (2.1 billion) of the world's population were either overweight or obese last year, up from 857 million people in 1980. Over the same period of time, the overweight and obesity rates among adults had increased for both men (to 37 per cent from 29 per cent) and women (to 38 per cent from 30 per cent).

Lead study author Dr Marie Ng, assistant professor of global health at IHME, who had previously worked at Hong Kong University, told the South China Morning Post that although the overall prevalence of people being overweight or obese in China was relatively low compared to other countries, the total figure was "alarming" in terms of the consequent financial burden on the health system.

"Childhood obesity in China is another issue that really needs attention," Ng said. "The proportion of obese boys, in particular, is almost double the proportion of obese men [at 6.9 and 3.8 per cent respectively]."

Among the 188 countries studied, China had the fourth-greatest increase in overweight/obesity prevalence among children during the study period. In 1980, 5.7 per cent of people under 20 years old in the country were overweight or obese; last year, the number was 18.8 per cent. For adults (20 years and above), China had the 10th biggest absolute change in overweight/obesity prevalence, rising from 11.3 per cent in 1980 to 27.9 per cent last year.

"Obesity is an issue affecting people of all ages and incomes, everywhere," said Dr Christopher Murray, director of IHME. "In the last three decades, not one country has achieved success in reducing obesity rates, and we expect obesity to rise steadily as incomes rise in low- and middle-income countries in particular, unless urgent steps are taken to address this public health crisis."

The highest overweight and obesity rates were seen in the Middle East and North Africa, where more than 58 per cent of men and 65 per cent of women aged 20 or older were found to be either overweight or obese. Among children and adolescents, the prevalence of overweight or obesity increased by nearly 50 per cent between 1980 and last year.

Last year, more than 22 per cent of girls and nearly 24 per cent of boys in developed countries were found to be overweight or obese.

In the developing world, the figures for both boys and girls were about 13 per cent.

In developed countries, the peak of obesity rates is moving to younger ages.

The rise in global obesity rates over the last three decades has been substantial and widespread, presenting a major public health epidemic in both the developed and the developing world. Health risks such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and chronic kidney disease increase when a person's BMI exceeds 23. In 2010, overweight and obesity were estimated to have caused 3.4 million deaths, most of which were from cardiovascular causes.

There is, perhaps, a little ray of hope from the report. The study found that in developed countries, increases in obesity that began in the 1980s and accelerated from 1992 to 2002 have slowed since 2006.

Health Living … Not

Hong Kong bodybuilder Anna Christianne Ho says health goes beyond the skin. Photo: SCMP

Can having exceptional muscle definition and tone really be defined as healthy living? This seems to be a dubious claim.

Anna Christianne Ho, silver medalist at the 2013 Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship in Vietnam, claims: "What matters is to take care of your heart, lungs and other organs. A healthy workout is better than just paying attention to your skin."

But Ho is endorsing bodybuilding as healthy living. This is wrong (or perhaps the journalist is reporting it wrong?). A healthy lifestyle should comprise a balance of an effective exercise regime with effective nutrition intake. Bodybuilding is an unhealthy balance because it amounts to achieving a very low body fat composition by restricting nutritional and water intake, which has repercussions on the body's functions (e.g. affecting hormonal levels, metabolism, stamina, endurance, etc).

Although Ho did well in the "athletic physique category", this does not mean she is an athlete. There are plenty of proper athletes who have better physiques and who really do perform (which indicates they have good-functioning "hearts, lungs and other organs"). These are proper athletes who have strength, stamina, skill and "sportiness". They showcase their sporting prowess and physicality by using their bodies to achieve high performance levels at their peak.

Bodybuilders, in attempting to achieve their peak, restrict their water and food intake just to show off their muscle definition. Bodybuilding cannot be considered healthy living or healthy performance.

Simply compare the body of Ho with, say, Kimiko Date, another 40-something or Rebecca Zhu, winner of Miss Hong Kong 2011, who has a well-conditioned and healthy body (from her years spent training as a ballerina).


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Reference

Anna Ho's passion for healthy living takes her to bodybuilding's world championships (SCMP; paywall)

Pursuit of fitness rather than just superficial beauty has paid off for 46-year-old
Sunday, 06 October, 2013, 1:55am

Alvin Sallay alvin.sallay@scmp.com

Beauty being skin deep, Anna Christianne Ho decided a long time ago that she would prefer to devote her energy towards having a truly healthy body instead of one just pretty on the surface. Ten years later, her efforts paid off when she won a silver medal at the Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship in Vietnam last month.

Think bodybuilding and the stereotypical images are Arnold Schwarzenegger flexing his biceps and grunting "I'll be back", or of Lou Ferrigno bursting his shirt and turning green with rage. So, on the lookout for a ripped female giant, I was surprised when my subject walked into our Starbucks rendezvous rake-thin and with a mischievous smile on her face.

"Everyone expects a bodybuilder to be sprouting muscles but in my case it is more about muscle definition and tone, as I'm in one of the smaller weight categories," Ho says. "In Hong Kong, women are all generally of a smaller size and as such we compete in the model physique category or, like I do, in the athletic physique category."

If it was boxing, she would be competing in the lightest weight category. Weighing around 47 kilograms, Ho excelled in the Ho Chi Minh City event, which drew 350 contestants from 27 countries. She was just pipped to the gold by a Thai competitor.

"It was amazing. I only returned to Hong Kong from living abroad last year and I soon found myself in the thick of it all, winning a local competition. It was a great feeling to stand on the podium representing Hong Kong."

Bitten by the bug, she has now set her sights higher and will represent Hong Kong at next month's World bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championships in Budapest, Hungary, along with two other medal winners at the Asian competition - Josephine Yeung Ka-yin and Zico Hau Kin-man, bronze-medal winners in model physique and men's fitness respectively.

It all began for Ho, 46, soon after her second child was born 10 year ago. A yoga and fitness practitioner, she decided bodybuilding would suit her passion for healthy living.

"It is a lifestyle I chose. In Hong Kong, most women focus on beauty. They want to be thin rather than healthy," Ho said. "But being beautiful on the outside does not really help - what matters is to take care of your heart, lungs and other organs. A healthy workout is better than just paying attention to your skin."

As she is a physical trainer by profession, the healthy workout was readily available, and it was just a matter of taking the next step to become a bodybuilder.

"It's all about discipline, especially your diet. We bodybuilders have to be very careful about what we eat. While it is not so bad on a daily basis, when it comes closer to competition time, you have to make a lot of sacrifices, the biggest being water intake."

While she tries to cut down as much as possible on salt, sugar and oil in her normal diet - "I occasionally fry an egg with three drops of olive oil" - Ho as a habit drinks alkaline water ("it helps detox your body"), eats a lot of protein ("mainly fish") and maybe a slice of rye bread. A piece or two of dark chocolate is a treat and when she really wants to indulge, she will go for a piece of creamy Japanese cheesecake.

"If you train yourself and make it a habit, it becomes easy. If you have been eating dessert all your life, try to cut it by half, and then another half and before you know it the benefits will start showing."

Ten days before the Asian championships, Ho cut down her water intake drastically, making do with 800 millilitres a day to increase her muscle definition and "vascularity". "Your veins jut out and you become more ripped," she says.

A member of the Hong Kong China Bodybuilding Association, Ho admits her sport struggles with an image of being riddled with doping and steroids.

"Even though the sport is practised by a small handful and is overshadowed by drug scandals, the Hong Kong China Bodybuilding Association would like to raise awareness, not only of its health and fitness benefits but also so we can portray the correct body image which our vibrant population, especially the youth, should try to adopt," says Ho.

Ho stresses that she and all other athletes are constantly being monitored by the Hong Kong Anti-Doping Committee, and that they are clean.

"We have to undergo random urine tests taken out of competition and I'm pleased to say that we are all clean. This is all about living a healthy life and why would you want to dope yourself?" she says.

Large Fat Tongues

I've noticed more TV presenters and celebrities who have large fat tongues. This makes them talk in a characteristic and noticeable way (lispy, if you like). For example, TV chefs Jamie Oliver and Allegra McEvedy.

And then coincidentally, while watching a BBC documentary called The Men Who Made Us Fat, the presenter Jacques Peretti also had a large fat tongue. A doctor put him in an MRI machine and examined how much internal (visceral) fat he had. Peretti is a classic example known as a TOFI; thin outside fat inside.

Has there been any studies that have linked fat people (either obese, overweight or TOFI's) with having large fat tongues? Can the presence of having a large fat tongue be a predictor that someone has, or could have, a dangerous amount of fat in their bodies?


Apparently, Hong Kong people look healthy but in actual fact many of them as classic TOFI's (see post here).

Food for thought !!


The Men Who Made Us Fat Part 1 of 12 (YouTube)

Tennis Health and Fitness Views

On show at Wimbledon this year is 19-year-old Laura Robson and 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm and their relative states of "healthiness".

  

 Laura Robson (above) and Kimiko Date-Krumm

 Photos from here and here

 Laura Robson, 19,  still has some chubbiness

Most of us have heard of "puppy fat" but in general body fat composition can be controlled relatively early in life. For example, there are many sports events where young sportspersons at the start of their professional careers have already attained, more or less, their ideal body fat and protein ratios (e.g. football players, track athletes, cyclists, to name a few).

Young tennis players in general do not fall into this category.  They seem to get healthier and less chubbier with time—this apparently after they "discover" the correct training regime that truly gives them their optimal fitness that in turn allows them to produce optimal performances consistently on the tennis court. Andy Murray is an example of someone who belated optimized his fitness levels. Andre Agassi is another and Serena Williams' muscle definition has certainly matured along with her career.

If Laura Robson is to become a Top Ten female tennis player (she's just this minute reached the last 16 of Wimbledon) and fulfill her Grand Slam potential, it is clear her health and fitness levels will need to improve.

Taking a look at the British tennis players who did not progress beyond Wimbledon's first round (e.g. James Ward, Tara Moore, Johanna Konta, Elena Baltacha, Anne Keothavong, Kyle Edmund and Samantha Murray), I would hazard an educated guess that their fitness are not optimal. For instance, Elena Baltacha has always been chubby and has not made much progress in her years as a journeywoman tennis pro. This is a fate that Laura Robson should avoid. 




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Hamburger and Coke: A Champion's Diet

"I still can have a hamburger in my hand and a Coke in my hand and eat on the street and nobody would recognise me."

confesses plump female Chinese golfer Feng Shanshan

Fatty golfer Feng Shanshan is a champion

Reference

China trailblazer Feng returns to defend major title (SCMP; paywall)
Thursday, 06 June, 2013, 4:16pm

Reuters

Shanshan Feng, of China. Photo: AP

Feng Shanshan won accolades when she returned home after becoming China’s first winner on the LPGA Tour, and now she returns to Locust Hill to defend her LPGA Championship, the second major of the season.

The 23-year-old Feng, coming off a runner-up finish in last week’s ShopRite LPGA Classic in New Jersey, will be trying to extend a streak of eight consecutive LPGA majors won by Asian players in the tournament beginning on Thursday.

Her LPGA Championship triumph in Pittsford, New York, thrust Feng into the spotlight.

She held a news conference at the airport upon her return to China, another one in Beijing and another in her hometown of Guangzhou and topping her list of “coolest things about being a major champion” came at a special awards ceremony in January.

“I was named best non-Olympic athlete in China,” Feng said ahead of Thursday’s opening round.

“I was sitting with so many of the Olympic players in China and I was the first golfer to be nominated. I think the government is paying more attention to golf.”

Feng had seven other top-10 finishes last year. This year, she has posted four top-10s from eight events and feels a switch to different clubs helped her to the runner-up finish last weekend and boosted her confidence.

“My iron shots were really accurate and my short game was pretty good. So I would say the clubs helped a lot,” the world number seven said.

Competition in the 144-player field will be keen, including a trio of South Korean winners of the last three major titles.

World number one Inbee Park, winner of this season’s opening grand slam, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, reigning US Women’s Open champion Choi Na-yeon, and British Women’s Open winner Jiyai Shin are eager to add more hardware on the testing Locust Hill layout.

“I don’t know whether I’m getting old, [but] the course is tougher,” said 24-year-old Park. “It’s a very tough golf course, very good, challenging. The rough is really up and the greens are really firmer than the years I’ve played before.”

American Stacy Lewis, winner of the 2011 Kraft Nabisco and the last non-Asian to win a major, is confident she can return to the winner’s circle.

“I feel like I’ve had chances, and I’ve been in contention, so it doesn’t weigh on me that much,” said world number two Lewis, who has won six times on tour since winning the Kraft.

“I feel like my game is made for majors and it’s only a matter of time.”

Australian Karrie Webb, who held off Feng to win last week’s LPGA event, showed she was still a threat to add to her major championships haul of seven.

“I guess I don’t look at the age thing,” said Webb. “I know what I’m capable of and I know that’s good enough to win out here.”

Feng showed she could win by charging back from three-shots out to win in her last visit Locust Hill, firing a final-round 67 for a two-stroke victory.

Despite the newfound attention, Feng said she has a way to go to match the popularity of Yani Tseng and Ai Miyazato in their home countries.

“Yani’s like a rock star in Taiwan. It’s like Ai Miyazato in Japan,” said Feng. “Me, in China, well, I still can have a hamburger in my hand and a Coke in my hand and eat on the street and nobody would recognise me.

“But of course, after we play better and better, of course more and more people will recognise us.”

Verbal Diarrhoea #15

"The biggest headache regarding traditional Chinese medicine is that its effectiveness often cannot be explained. The curing process can be so sophisticated it may not be simply explained scientifically, physically or chemically."

Claims Dr Dong Xieliang, president of the Xian Xietong Hospital in Shaanxi.

Dr Dong and other idiots-in-prominent-positions who blindly champion traditional Chinese medicine cannot get their brains to work critically. They do not know what evidence-based medicine means.

It is useless to tell them that the placebo effect is one such simple explanation.



About Verbal Diarrhoea


Related Posts Verbal Diarrhoea


Reference

China health officials' TCM advice in flu fight draws fire (SCMP; paywall)

Recommended remedies from some mainland officials will do little to stop spread of bird flu
Friday, 05 April, 2013 [Updated: 05:16]

Stephen Chen and Lo Wei

A doctor collects blood from a chicken yesterday during a test for bird flu in a market in the Shanghai suburbs. Photo: Simon Song

Mainland health officials have been criticised by some doctors for suggesting traditional Chinese medicine and other alternative treatments to help ward off bird flu as the months-long process of creating a new vaccine gets under way.

Gansu's health commission, for instance, encouraged residents to go outdoors, preferably into wooded areas, for fresh air and sunshine. Listening to music was also deemed an effective way to keep the H7N9 virus at bay.

Massaging the side of one's nose was also said to help, as was exposing parts of one's legs and stomach to incense once a day.

Health authorities in the eastern province of Jiangsu suggested a long list of herbal drinks, including the popular ban lan gen, a type of root that is often taken to fight the flu and was prescribed during the Sars outbreak a decade ago.

Dr Fang Shimin , biologist and a popular science writer on the mainland, was among those who questioned the clinical effectiveness of these methods.

In his microblog on Sohu .com he reminded people that Gansu health authorities have promoted the eating of pig's feet as an effective treatment for various diseases, including Aids and cancer.

"The traditional Chinese medicine industry is trying to cash in," he wrote.

Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, who teaches respiratory medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said there was no scientific evidence to show that ban lan gen is effective at preventing influenza.

David Fong Wang-fun, a retired professor of Chinese medicine at Hong Kong's Baptist University, said Chinese medical theories have long shown that ban lan gen functions as a health supplement, but it is not for emergency treatment.

Traditional Chinese medicine, even when effective, is sometimes greeted with scepticism because much of its purported benefits are not backed by the kind of laboratory evidence for its Western counterparts.

"The biggest headache regarding traditional Chinese medicine is that its effectiveness often cannot be explained," said Dr Dong Xieliang, president of the Xian Xietong Hospital in Shaanxi . "The curing process can be so sophisticated it may not be simply explained scientifically, physically or chemically."

Dong said mainland doctors found several herbal therapies helpful in relieving patients' ailments during the fight against Sars and other flu outbreaks over the past decade.

However, a challenge has been that every herb has a side effect, and prescriptions are often very sophisticated, with more than a dozen herbs needed for maximum effectiveness.

Dong expressed concern that some misleading therapies proposed to fight the new bird flu could further damage the reputation of traditional Chinese medicine on the mainland. "Some advice is obviously wrong, such as going outdoors and eating certain kinds of food or herbs," he said. "Effective treatment should be much more sophisticated."



DOS AND DOUBTS

Preventive measures advocated by health organisations in China and elsewhere

National Health and Family Planning Commission

- Avoid eating raw or half-cooked eggs and birds.
- Beijing Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and Centre for Preventive Medical Research
- Avoid contact with dead animals and wash hands frequently.

Jiangsu Health Bureau

- Consume Chinese medicines ban lan gen (woad root) in granules and radix astragali oral liquid.
- Guangxi Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
- Avoid consumption of raw chicken and cook animal foodstuffs thoroughly.

Gansu Health Bureau
 

- Massage facial acupuncture points and consume traditional Chinese medicine.

Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection

- Cover the nose and mouth while sneezing or coughing, hold the spit with tissue and put it into covered dustbins.

World Heath Organisation

- Cook food so that it reaches 70°C in all parts (with no pink parts).

Try Telling That To Professor Stephen Hawking

The University of Hong Kong marathon team has been promoting a rather strange slogan, particularly for a tertiary institution where many academics and, say, medical doctors cannot be said to be very healthy.

"A strong mind starts with a healthy body"


Oh yeah!? Where's your evidence please?

Verbal Diarrhoea #15

"For years, Santos, a book lover, could not concentrate enough to finish one book. Last month, she read four."

Claims a newspaper article about Maria Santos, (name changed for patient confidentiality reasons), 44, a project manager at a bank who moved to Hong Kong four years ago from the United States, where she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid).





Question: Are these completely new books, or the books that she never finished over the years? Pray tell.

About Verbal Diarhhoea




Reference

The silent scourge of thyroid disorders (SCMP; paywall)

 WORLD THYROID DAY
Nadine Bateman (healthpost@scmp.com)
May 29, 2012    

For more than a decade, Maria Santos suffered symptoms of a thyroid disorder that left her struggling at work and unable to enjoy life.

"I felt tired all the time and found it really hard to get out of bed in the mornings," says Santos (name changed for patient confidentiality reasons), 44, a project manager at a bank. She moved to Hong Kong four years ago from the United States, where she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid).

"I couldn't concentrate properly; my brain felt 'foggy' and slow. I was moody and irritable. My skin, hair and nails were terrible - really dry and dull - and I gained weight easily … My husband used to say 'Come on, let's go to the gym, you can get out of this lethargy', but I just couldn't."

Hongkonger Milia Chan, 40, has experienced the other extreme of thyroid disorder - hyperthyroidism, or an overactive thyroid - since being diagnosed in 1995. The service business manager with an information technology company has symptoms that include "an extremely fast heartbeat, shaking hands, shortness of breath and bad temper".

Both forms of thyroid disorder are surprisingly common (an underactive thyroid being more common) but they often go undiagnosed because many of the symptoms are similar to those of other conditions. The symptoms can also be attributed to "lifestyle factors", such as stress, poor nutrition, and a lack of exercise or sleep.

The thyroid, a butterfly-shaped gland in the neck, controls metabolism. It produces hormones called T3 and T4, which tell cells how much energy to use. Hyperthyroidism occurs when the thyroid overproduces the hormones and the body uses energy faster than it should. Hypothyroidism is the opposite: the thyroid doesn't produce enough hormones and the body uses energy slower.

People of all ages can get the disease, but women have it more often than men. It is estimated that one in five people worldwide have a thyroid disorder. Hence World Thyroid Day, last Friday, to promote understanding of the condition.

Dr Lauren Bramley, a family doctor who has a clinic in Central, suspects the figure is higher because many cases go undiagnosed. She recently completed a master's in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the Chinese University and is treating a number of patients with thyroid conditions.

"Hypothyroidism is now rampant," says Bramley. "Hyperthyroidism, although increasing in prevalence, is not nearly as common as hypothyroidism. Furthermore, many hyperthyroid patients can become hypothyroid."

She says the list of hypothyroid symptoms is exhaustive, which is why it can be difficult for doctors to diagnose. "For example, fatigue - a major symptom of hypothyroidism - is also present in many other conditions or the result of lifestyle factors. But thyroid disorder has more symptoms than any other disorder in the body. This is because the thyroid gland is important in so many functions of every organ."

Other key symptoms of hypothyroidism include low body temperature, sensitivity to heat or cold, difficulty waking up in the mornings, severe fatigue at around 3pm, difficulty concentrating, low mood, enlargement of the thyroid gland in the neck and thinning of the outer areas of the eyebrows. Weight gain and hair loss are common complaints but are not always present. Bramley also believes pollution may negatively impact the function of the thyroid gland.

Hypothyroidism can be caused by many factors, such as autoimmune thyroid disease, hereditary conditions, inflammation (thyroiditis) and tumours. Worldwide, the most common cause is believed to be iodine deficiency.

Dr Teofilo San Luis of the Asia & Oceania Thyroid Association says: "Iodine is available through eating marine foods such as fish, shrimps, squid, oysters, crabs and seaweeds; processed foods which have been iodised; milk; and iodised salt."

He says people affected with thyroid disorders will have goitre (thyroid enlargement) as evidence of poor iodine nutrition. However, he says that goitre is "only the tip of the iceberg" as there are "more insidious manifestations" of iodine deficiency not commonly recognised, such as reproductive failures.

"Women are very vulnerable because of increased demands for iodine during pregnancy and lactation, and if their iodine nutrition is overlooked this could result in their babies having significantly lower IQ levels."

Patients are typically diagnosed through a physical examination, analysis of medical history and laboratory tests such as blood tests. Bramley notes lab test results can sometimes be unreliable.

If the condition is hypothyroidism due to iodine deficiency, San Luis says the treatment is to increase intake of iodine through iodised salt or, in extreme cases, iodised oil capsules. (Bramley, however, suggests refined, iodised salt is "not the ideal source". She advises taking unrefined sea salt which is not iodised, and supplements such as Iodoral tablets or Lugol's Solution.)

In general, Bramley advises first correcting underlying deficiencies of iron, vitamin D3, selenium and iodine, and suggests a review of heavy metal toxicity such as mercury, arsenic and fluoride.

Medications such as oral contraceptives and psychiatric drugs should also be considered. Identifying and balancing other hormones such as cortisol, progesterone and DHEA are important, says Bramley.

Chan had an operation to remove her thyroid gland last April. Her doctor, Laurence Shek, prescribed thyroxine, which she will take every day for the rest of her life. "It took my body a while to adjust, but my heart is better now and I can do more exercise," Chan says.

Last September, Santos was prescribed T3, vitamin D, DHEA and iodine supplements - she had previously taken T4 medication for years without benefit. "I'm so much happier. I've more energy - I go to the gym three times a week. I feel good when I wake up in the mornings; I'm enjoying socialising again; and I'm losing weight."

For years, Santos, a book lover, could not concentrate enough to finish one book. Last month, she read four.

Another Asian Contagion?

A new form of acquired immune deficiency is creeping up on Asians.

It's interesting how there are diseases specific to Asians, so it will be fascinating to see whatever it is in the 'Asian' environment and lifestyles ... coupled with the 'Asian' genotype that makes Asians susceptible to such disease outcomes.



Reference


Mystery Aids-like disease hits Asians

Researchers in US, Thailand and Taiwan are at a loss to explain the cause of an autoimmune disorder that is striking middle-aged patients
 HEALTH
Associated Press
Aug 24, 2012    


Researchers have identified a mysterious and sometimes fatal new disease that has left scores of ethnic Asians with Aids-like symptoms, even though they are not infected with HIV.

The patients, both in Asia and the US, had immune systems that became damaged, leaving them unable to fend off germs.

The new form of acquired immune deficiency in adults is neither contagious nor inherited, said Dr Sarah Browne, a scientist at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. It does not spread the way Aids does through a virus, she said.

Browne helped lead the study with researchers in Thailand and Taiwan where most of the cases have been found since 2004. Their report was published in yesterday's New England Journal of Medicine.

"This is absolutely fascinating. I've seen probably at least three patients in the last 10 years," who might have had this, said Dr Dennis Maki, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

It's still possible that an infection of some sort could trigger the disease, even though the disease itself does not seem to spread person-to-person, he said.

The disease develops at around age 50 on average but does not run in families, which makes it unlikely that a single gene is responsible, Browne said. Some patients have died of overwhelming infections, including some Asians now living in the US, although Browne could not estimate how many.

Kim Nguyen, 62, a seamstress from Vietnam who has lived in Tennessee since 1975, was gravely ill when she sought help for a persistent fever, infections and other bizarre symptoms in 2009. She had been sick off and on for several years and had visited Vietnam in 1995 and 2009.

"She was wasting away from this systemic infection" that at first seemed like tuberculosis but wasn't, said Dr Carlton Hays, a doctor in Jackson, Tennessee.

Nguyen was referred to specialists at the National Institutes of Health who had been tracking similar cases. She spent nearly a year at an NIH hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, and is there now for further treatment.

"I feel great now," she said on Wednesday. But when she was sick, "I felt dizzy, headaches, almost fell down," she said. "I could not eat anything."

Aids, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is a specific disease in which the immune system becomes impaired during someone's lifetime, rather than from inherited gene defects like the "bubble babies" who are born unable to fight off germs.

HIV, the virus that causes Aids, destroys T-cells, key soldiers of the immune system that fight germs. The new disease doesn't affect those cells but causes a different kind of damage. Browne's study of more than 200 people in Taiwan and Thailand found that most of those with the disease make substances called auto-antibodies that block interferon-gamma, a chemical signal that helps the body clear infections.

Blocking that signal leaves people like those with Aids vulnerable to viruses, fungal infections and parasites, but especially micobacteria, a group of germs similar to tuberculosis that can cause severe lung damage. Researchers are calling this new disease an "adult-onset" immunodeficiency syndrome because it develops later in life and they don't know why or how.

The fact that nearly all the patients so far have been Asian or Asian-born people living elsewhere suggests that genetic factors and an environmental factor such as an infection may trigger the disease, researchers said.

"We know there are many others out there," including many cases mistaken as tuberculosis, Browne said.

Butt-Faced Cheeks Bare Backs

Have you seen better butts and have you seen better backs?

The good news is that, given time, the Japanese girls' butts can be improved with good exercise and diet (see Healthy and Fit).

The bad news is that they have allowed a tattoo 'artist' to ruin their bodies for life.