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

That's My Metrics

When a reporter asked Donald Trump: "What metrics will you use [to help determine when to open up the United States again after lockdown]?" ...

“Right here, that’s my metrics [points to his temple]. 

That’s all I can do.” 

Doesn't that just fill you with the greatest confidence? No!

Reading some of the comments (selected below) from the YouTube video provides further doom and gloom about this "leader of the free world", the POTUS:

Trump : "I didn't think of it until yesterday.  I said you know this is a big decision".
Everyone : *sigh

He will blame "the greatest minds" if anything goes off the tracks. Again "no responsibility."

“Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.” – George Carlin

Reference
Trump says he'll consult experts on re-opening government, but decide himself | ABC News (YouTube) 10 April 2020

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)

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.

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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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.

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).

Designer Vaginas Euphemism

 Designer Vaginas

Hong Kong's English-language newspaper ran a feature about women undergoing surgery on their labias, or vaginal folds. It was accompanied by a picture of orchids, white ones. How charming!

Over at Miss Fong's blog, there is also mention of labia, lingerie and lewdness. What fun!

Note: Continuing this blog's main theme about names, the feature article (below) about designer vaginas was written by Dick Lord. Hilarious!!


Reference

More women undergo surgery in quest for 'designer vaginas' (SCMP; paywall)

Tuesday, 26 February, 2013, 12:00am

Richard Lord healthpost@scmp.com

Labiaplasty - an operation to reduce one or both of the labia minora, or inner lips of the vagina - is rapidly gaining popularity as women go under the knife for health-related or purely cosmetic reasons.

In the West, the rise in the operation's popularity is startling. In Britain, for example, there's been a five-fold increase in the past five years to more than 2,000 surgeries in 2011 in the public health system alone; while American women spent US$6.8 million on the procedure in 2009, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

It's increasingly common in Asia, too, with the cosmetic surgery hot spot of Thailand catering to a growing number of women from around the region - including plenty from Hong Kong.

Part of the trend for so-called "designer vaginas" - other popular types of cosmetic vaginal surgery include vaginal rejuvenation or tightening, hymenoplasty ("revirgination") and clitoral unhooding - labiaplasty is a fairly straightforward surgical procedure, using a scalpel or laser. It can be performed either under local or general anaesthetic, takes about 20 minutes and rarely goes wrong.

Still, it is not the type of operation that any woman would take lightly. So why are so many women willing to undertake the surgery when many doctors question whether, in most cases, it's necessary, or even advisable, for them to do so?

In this type of surgery, there is no clear dividing line between what is necessary and what isn't.

Overly large labia can be present from birth, but can also be caused or exacerbated by medical conditions, and by the stresses and strains of childbirth, sex, masturbation and even genital piercings. Some women opt for labiaplasty because the size of one or both of their labia is causing them discomfort, or even pain, usually during sex or while undertaking strenuous seated activities such as cycling, but in some cases all the time.

Other women are just unhappy with the appearance of their vagina and want to change it. The problem is there's no definition of a "normal" vagina. There is no set of dimensions women and their doctors can use to determine whether labia are abnormally large. The term labial hypertrophy describes the labia minora extending beyond the labia majora, but that's quite common and may not be a problem in itself.

That has led to concerns that women are opting for the procedure to conform to an unrealistic notion of what the female genitalia should look like. It is the ultimate area in which women are being asked to live up to an ideal of beauty. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says labiaplasty is unnecessary, and possibly unsafe and unethical.

Clinical guidelines state that, in addition to women with any form of gynaecological disease and smokers, the surgery is inadvisable for women with unrealistic body-image goals - but realism in this case is entirely subjective and at least partly culturally defined.

The divide between functional and aesthetic motivations for the surgery is reflected in confusion over which medical discipline performs it. In Thailand, as in many countries, most labiaplasties are undertaken by cosmetic surgeons, but in United States, for example, gynaecologists commonly perform it - largely because they're trying to muscle in on the lucrative cosmetic surgery market. The procedure isn't cheap - costing between HK$8,000 and HK$20,000 in Thailand - and so, as with all cosmetic surgery, doctors have an incentive to recommend it.

In reality, however, a lot of women who undertake the procedure don't need medical prompting. Jenny (whose name has been changed for reasons of patient confidentiality), 29, from Sydney, was thinking about having the operation for at least a decade before she travelled to Bangkok's Yanhee International Hospital 18 months ago.

"I've never liked the appearance of my genitalia," she says. "As a teenager I always felt embarrassed about the way my vagina looked and felt that I was abnormal. I had quite long labia minora with a large asymmetry [of more than 2.5cm] between the length of each side. In particular, I felt uncomfortable to wear small underwear because I would find that my lips might protrude. I often felt embarrassed if I was with a new partner and didn't feel I was sexy. I also found that the lip that protruded could become itchy or irritated from being exposed and was often uncomfortable."

In fact, she adds, the operation didn't feel like a risk at all: "I really disliked the appearance so figured it couldn't be much worse."

She says that the operation itself was a good experience, although she was in pain and swollen afterwards, with an intense itching and burning sensation that lasted several weeks. She adds that she was advised not to have sex for six to eight weeks afterwards, but that it was actually more like four months.

The result, however, she says, "is perfect. It looks totally natural. I am much more confident in myself as a woman and am also more comfortable physically."

Vitasna KetglangThe doctor who performed Jenny's operation was   director of the Cosmetic Gynaecology Centre at Yanhee International Hospital, where about 50 labiaplasties are performed a month, and the chair of the Thai Cosmetic Gynaecology Society. She says that labiaplasty has become more popular in recent years because before, "a woman who had not heard about the surgery may possibly have felt insecure about her enlarged labia, but would not do anything about it, and may have considered having an elongated labia minora her 'normal' anatomy.

"Women are becoming more aware of how their body looks down there and are empowered by information. The adult media and the internet may be important tools in disseminating information about the labiaplasty procedure."

As Professor Somyos Kunachak of Bangkok's Yoskarn Clinic says, "This is not a new procedure: we have been performing it for more than 20 years." He adds that most women who have "unsightly" labia - a subjective judgment, of course - want them corrected, but "in the past, they just didn't know that this area could be beautified and may have been a bit shy to request it".

He says that almost all his patients, who include a number from Hong Kong, have the operation for aesthetic reasons, and about half also have vaginal rejuvenation at the same time.

Vitasna, who has also had many patients from Hong Kong, says women come to her for a mixture of aesthetic and functional reasons.

She acknowledges that the operation can pose ethical questions.

"I am an advocate of women's rights and I believe in respecting a woman's autonomy or freedom: women have the right to choose to change their bodies however they like," she says "It is, however, important to determine the motivation for surgery.

"Surgery is just an option. It takes great courage for some women to accept having elongated, large labia. They think it is not normal. Acceptance and surgery are both options women need to weigh."

According to Jano Ha, spokesperson for Kamol Cosmetic Hospital in Bangkok, which is headed by leading aesthetic surgeon Kamol Pansritum, the operation can have a helpful psychological effect. "We have found that many people have had mental problems because of a little part of their body that they did not like. Plastic surgery can help them to fix those parts and so to improve their mental state."

Cosmetic surgery often provokes strong opinions, and surgical genital alteration, of course, is always an emotive subject. Labiaplasty might sound a drastic move, but an increasing number of women feel they need it. That could just be because more women have heard about it, but it could also be because more want it, for whatever reason.

As ever with cosmetic surgery, the line between correcting an abnormality and trying to conform to a physical ideal is often blurred.

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.

Follow up to Chinese Medicine post

This is a follow up from The Perils of Traditional Chinese Medicine post about a two-year-old boy with liver disease whose parents chose TCM treatment for him instead of surgical treatment based on modern medical diagnoses.

The news story mentions that the father is most likely to be a compatible donor for his son (i.e. good for a partial liver transplant). However, the father is reluctant to temporarily put himself 'out of commission' because he appears to be the only breadwinner in the family, who has to look after his parents as well as his own family. The father believes he can only 'sacrifice' himself after 20 years has passed. He is quoted as saying:

"If I can find [a donor], I can look after [my son] for 20 years. By that time, when [my boy] needs a liver transplant again, I will give him my liver without hesitation."

Reference


Liver toddler takes turn for the worse (SCMP; paywall)

Lo Wei and Sally Wang
May 16, 2012   
     

The mainland toddler with liver disease who made headline news last winter when his parents sought help in Hong Kong, and for whom city residents donated nearly HK$120,000, is in critical condition.
Two-year-old Li Liuxuan, who was born with a blocked bile duct, was admitted to Guangzhou Children's Hospital last Thursday because of internal bleeding.

His parents, from rural Henan , are falling behind on medical bills and fear their son will be forced out of the hospital and die for lack of urgent treatment.

Hongkongers had donated HK$119,870 to help pay for a HK$1 million liver transplant after learning of the toddler's plight when his desperate parents sought care in the city in October. But father Li Xianfeng and his wife later decided against the surgery and turned to traditional Chinese remedies instead.

The donations are still sitting in the fund set up to help the family.

But on Thursday Liuxuan was taken in with a swollen abdomen due to his hardened liver, and doctors say this is the source of the bleeding. The boy is unable to eat or drink.

Wen Zhe, Liuxuan's doctor, said the toddler managed to survive several grave moments on Friday and Saturday. "But he remains in critical condition, and eventually will need a liver transplant," Wen said.

Since Thursday, the boy's father has racked up 9,000 yuan (HK$11,000) in credit card debt for his son's medical fees, and expects the total bill to reach 30,000 yuan.

"We have no money to pay now," said Li, who stopped working as a freelance construction worker in Henan to take care of his son. "Doctors say they will stop the medication. We're afraid they may drive us out of the hospital and that our son will die." Professor Lo Chung-mau, director of Queen Mary Hospital Liver Transplant Centre whom the Lis consulted last year, said donors and fund managers would have to approve the use of the donated funds for Liuxuan's latest medical bill.

Li Xianfeng said he was still apprehensive about letting his son undergo surgery, particularly after Liuxuan's failed bile duct operation at a Guangzhou hospital when he was three months old.

Li is also worried that any surgery done in Hong Kong would require the family to quickly return to the city for future treatment - which may be difficult. If Liuxuan has a transplant in Hong Kong, his father is also the most likely donor of a liver.

"It is not that I don't want to do this [operation] for my son," the father said. "But I have to make a careful decision because of the consequences for the family; I am the only person that can support the family. Who can bring my son to see the doctor and take care of my parents if I fall ill?"

Last year - after being refused treatment by many doctors and hospitals in six mainland provinces - the Li family came to Hong Kong. Guangzhou Children's Hospital helped put them in touch with Lo, who told them that a transplant was the only way to save Liuxuan's life.

The boy was at the time in stable condition, but Lo warned that fatal complications could occur anytime.

The liver transplant would cost HK$1 million because Liuxuan is not a resident in Hong Kong, where the family found much aid after the story was reported in the South China Morning Post.

But after a week in Hong Kong, the family returned home and consulted a Guangzhou doctor specialising in traditional medicine, saying surgery was a "last resort". The boy was treated with crocus flowers, but the parents quickly ran out of money to pay for the herbs.

Li now hopes to find a liver donor either in Hong Kong or Shanghai. "If I can find [a donor], I can look after [my son] for 20 years. By that time, when [my boy] needs a liver transplant again, I will give him my liver without hesitation," he said.

Doctor Doctor: Do As I Say Not As I Do

Local reporter Kenneth Foo's powers of observation enabled him to write:

Samartzis, being obese himself, said: "There is no better gift to give yourself than the gift of good health, so we hope our findings can add fuel to the fire for people to be more conscious of their weight."

Assistant Professor Dino Samartzis advises the public to be more aware of their weight

Apparently, Adrian Wan of SCMP did not notice (or chose to ignore) the fact that Samartzis is obese.


References

Study links obesity to lower back pain (The Standard)

Kenneth Foo
Monday, February 27, 2012

Overweight and obese adults are significantly more likely to suffer from back pain compared to those of normal weight, a study by the University of Hong Kong has shown.

Researchers studied nearly 2,600 people and found 73 percent have lumbar spine degeneration, a leading cause of lower back pain.

More significantly, those with a high body mass index are much more likely to get the disease and suffer from more advanced degeneration.

The condition was found to be more common in men than women and more prevalent among the elderly.

"Obesity results in diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, but what is bad for the heart is also bad for the back," said assistant professor Dino Samartzis of the university's Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine.

"We found that by taking preventive steps obese people can avoid the disease," he said.

The study's findings have been published in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.

The development of the disease typically leads to a lifetime of low back pain episodes, which can diminish the quality of life, decrease productivity, increase health-care costs, and even lead to psychological distress.

Magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess the adults, and it was that found 73 percent had degenerative discs while the rest did not.

It is common belief that disc degeneration occurs with aging. As a person ages, their spinal discs begin to wear down, leading to a tearing of the outer layers of the discs.

But researchers found that packing on the kilograms may also lead to this disease, and the greater the BMI figure, the more serious was the disc degeneration.

The research found that overweight people with a high BMI are 30 percent more likely to suffer from disc degeneration.

On the other hand, those who are obese have double the risk of being afflicted by the disease.

Being overweight or obese is like carrying a heavy haversack, which contributes to the process, because the discs are loaded with extra weight, clinical professor Kenneth Cheung Man-chee said.

A patient named Sean, 33, who weighs 108 kilograms, said he has to apply for sick leave 10 days a year because of his degenerative disc disease brought on by being overweight.

He has stopped playing basketball because of his lower back pain.

Robin Mellecker of the university's Institute of Human Performance said even a fairly small decrease in weight can give rise to significant health benefits.

Samartzis, being obese himself, said: "There is no better gift to give yourself than the gift of good health, so we hope our findings can add fuel to the fire for people to be more conscious of their weight."

Obesity can be a pain in the back, says study (SCMP; paywall)

Research shows that being overweight can double the risk of disc degeneration in later life
Adrian Wan
Feb 27, 2012

Obesity doubles the risk of disc degeneration in adulthood and could lead to a serious need for back surgery, a University of Hong Kong study has revealed.

The research found that more than two-thirds of adults aged at least 21 had disc degeneration, which can cause severe chronic pain. Some 36 per cent of them were overweight, 9 per cent were obese and about half were of normal weight.

Researchers at HKU's Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine studied the magnetic resonance imaging scans of a cross-section of about 2,600 people.

"Those who are overweight will have an increased likelihood of severe pain and the need for lower back surgery in late life," said Professor Kenneth Cheung Man-chee, of the university's orthopaedics and traumatology department, who carried out the study with Dr Dino Samartzis.

Disc degeneration disease was irreversible and could cause long-term suffering, Cheung said. This could include serious lower back pain, which might prevent patients from leading a normal work and social life.

The findings are based on data from the Hong Kong Degenerative Disc Disease Cohort, the largest study of its kind in the world.

Launched in 2001, it addresses disc degeneration and lower back pain by tracking the health of more than 3,500 southern Chinese volunteers aged 10 to 80.

The HKU study also found that the more overweight an adult was, the more serious the backache would be, compared with adults who were in the normal weight range. People who were obese had a 79 per cent increased risk of disc degeneration, while those who were overweight had a 30 per cent risk.

It has long been known that ageing, genetics and biomechanics - the structure and function of biological systems - are contributory causes of disc degeneration.

The findings were published in the latest issue of the medial journal Arthritis and Rheumatism. They are in line with a previous study by the same team that found a third of teenagers suffered from backache, and the condition was three times more likely if they were overweight.

The number of people overweight or obese in Hong Kong is rising. Department of Health data shows that in 2010, 39 per cent of adults aged 18 to 64 were overweight or obese.

Degeneration of the intervertebral discs - the joints of the spine - was on the increase in Hong Kong and the mainland, said Dr Robin Mellecker, a fellow at HKU's Institute of Human Performance.

"This is because populations are eating and sitting more," she said.

The Perils of Traditional Chinese Medicine

A recent news story reported that mainland Chinese parents are putting faith and wishful thinking in to using crocus flowers to treat their 19-month-old son's severely damaged liver caused due to a congenital blocked bile duct. The parents were earlier told by medical doctors in Hong Kong that their infant son needed a liver transplant.

Although lack of money and lack of access to modern resources may be major factors that are stopping the parents from accepting modern medicine, their belief in traditional Chinese medicine is still a huge concern, and illustrates how many people are tricked into believing traditional Chinese medicine is effective when compared with modern medicine.

"If it really worked, there wouldn't be so many people needing transplants," said Professor Lo Chung-mau, director of Queen Mary Hospital's Liver Transplant Centre

Do the parents actually know what is in the best interests of their child?

It is heart warming to hear that Hong Kong citizens have so far raised over HK$100,000 for the child's plight. A liver transplant in Hong Kong typically costs HK$1 million.


Reference

Parents backtrack on baby's liver operation (SCMP; paywall)
Infant whose plight won sympathy in HK will be treated with traditional methods, his father says

Lo Wei
Jan 04, 2012

The mainland couple whose infant son doctors say needs a life-saving liver transplant have decided to forgo the surgery - for which the Hong Kong public made donations - in favour of traditional Chinese treatment.

The parents of 19-month-old Li Liuxuan , whose plight made front-page news in the city two months ago, said a transplant would be a "last resort" for now.

"Little Liuxuan's health is progressing well with the Chinese medicine he has been taking," the father, Li Xianfeng , said last week.

"He has a better appetite now. His skin is not so yellow and he has grown taller and heavier.

"[Our] Chinese doctor said an operation may not be necessary, and we hope to avoid causing him serious harm [through a transplant operation]," the 32-year-old said.

The family has been consulting a doctor specialising in traditional Chinese medicine in Guangzhou since returning to the mainland.

The baby is being treated with crocus flowers, said to treat yellowing skin caused by liver disease.

Hongkongers donated tens of thousands of dollars to help the couple pay for a HK$1 million operation for Liuxuan, who was born with a blocked bile duct and whose liver was severely damaged.

The baby's recent progress may not be a sign of recovery, warns Professor Lo Chung-mau, director of Queen Mary Hospital's Liver Transplant Centre, who was consulted by the Li family in October.

Liuxuan's liver has been irreversibly damaged, Lo says, and a liver transplant - which has a 95 per cent success rate - is the only way to save the baby's life. "He may be in stable condition now, but complications such as intestinal bleeding or bile duct inflammation may occur any time and cause death," he said.

Lo also doubts the crocus flower's effectiveness. "If it really worked, there wouldn't be so many people needing transplants," he said.

Post readers sent donations to help Liuxuan, and the University of Hong Kong set up a Liver Transplant Charitable Fund. So far HK$119,870 has been received from 30 donors.

If the couple confirm they will not proceed with the transplant, donors who sent aid specifically for the baby will get a refund.

The liver centre will contact the family soon to get their final decision, Lo said.

Healing Hands Hocus Pocus

Q: Why do otherwise intelligent people fall for scams?

A: Because they believe they are intelligent and therefore do not think they are stupid enough to be tricked.

Reiki rears its ugly head again in Hong Kong. Pic from here.

Apparently, reiki practitioners use their hands "to transfer qi, or life-force energy. It is based on the principle that we all have qi running through us - the more we have the happier and healthier we feel. If our qi is low, we fall ill or feel stressed."

What a load of mumbo jumbo ... we may as well substitute "qi" for "midichlorians" and it will make just as much sense (i.e. nonsense). Here's the verbal diarrhoea quote from the news story):

"Reiki doesn't require anything special. Just place your hands on anyone you want to heal. You can use it on your family members or yourself."

Oh OK then. If a person is feeling unhealthy, they should just lay their own hands upon themselves ... free of charge ... and they will miraculously heal themselves. If reiki is so wonderful, why hasn't it shaken up the public health system in Japan (its place of origin) and other countries?

It is unfortunate that the Fifth Evolution Asia Yoga Conference will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on June 9 to 12. Charlatans, crackpots, charmers and seductresses with sexy bodies will promote reiki, yoga, pilates, astrology, nia technique, ayurveda, qi gong and meditation to gullible, witless attendees who have lots of cash to splash and few brain cells to use.


About Hong Kong Hocus Pocus

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Healing hands (The Standard)

Ivy Ong-Wood
Tuesday, May 31, 2011

As a physiotherapist, Ivy Mok Ka-pik is in the business of healing. The 31-year- old has a bachelor's degree in physiotherapy from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University but she was eager to add to her knowledge.

"Some of my friends took a reiki course and told me how good it was. As I was interested in alternative therapy, I thought reiki would be helpful in hands- on treatment," she said.

After returning from a two-day "attunement" course, Mok tested to see if the technique worked. "I had a client with chronic back pain. She had tried physiotherapy and acupuncture for a year but with no significant improvement. So I gave her two sessions of nothing but reiki.

"After the second session she called me up and asked me: 'What did you do? All I saw was you putting your hand on my back. But today I woke up and the pain had disappeared.' So I knew it was working."

So what is reiki? According to the International Center for Reiki Training, it is a Japanese technique developed by Mikao Usui in 1922 for stress reduction and also healing.

Practitioners lay on hands to transfer qi, or life-force energy. It is based on the principle that we all have qi running through us - the more we have the happier and healthier we feel. If our qi is low, we fall ill or feel stressed.

Mok has been a physiotherapist for nine years and has been practicing reiki for two. But you don't have to be a professional healer to benefit from the technique, she said. "Many of the friends who took the course aren't therapists. Reiki doesn't require anything special. Just place your hands on anyone you want to heal. You can use it on your family members or yourself. I don't feel tired so easily now that I practice it."

She has met her share of skeptics, of course. "I tell them be open and pay attention to how they feel, not what they think. Most patients don't get any special feeling during a session but find they have recovered after that."

Mok mostly uses the technique in addition to her other therapies. "I don't think you can be a therapist using only reiki."

During the session, she lays her hands on the patient and taps into both their qis. "Sometimes, I feel abnormal pain and discomfort on body parts other than what a patient has told me and I will ask. I've had patients asking me in surprise: 'How did you know I have a migraine?'"

Usually, Mok uses reiki for chronic cases - such as when a patient has tried different treatments without results. "It's like a last resort."

You can learn more about reiki, yoga, pilates, astrology, nia technique, ayurveda, qi gong and meditation at the Fifth Evolution Asia Yoga Conference, to be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on June 9 to 12. The conference, which is sponsored by Pure Yoga, offers almost 200 classes for all levels, with over 60 different styles of yoga presented by more than 50 world-renowned faculty members.

Shopaholics are also catered for - a more than 20,000-square-foot Yoga Bazaar selling yoga products, books, DVDs and CDs. Open to the public, it will also hold yoga demonstrations and events.

I Can't Hear Clearly Now

A friend commented on my recent post that linked to Tracy Chapman, saying that she thought the singer was a man. She had never heard of Tracy Chapman, and on first listen thought it was a man singing the song.

This is an interesting peculiar phenomenon. It is similar to how the same song can mean different things to different people in different situations and in different times (as mentioned here). Just different perceptions.

This time it is about perceptions of the singing voice without any reference to visual cues. I experienced this interesting peculiar phenomenon when I first heard the excellent song I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash on the radio. I thought it was a female singer. In fact, IMHO the song I Can See Clearly Now sounds like it should fittingly be sung with a female voice.

Just click on the YouTube video below and close your eyes. Is Johnny Nash's voice feminine?



However, the funny thing is I (a man) do not perceive Tracy Chapman to have a male voice, and my friend (a woman) does not perceive Johnny Nash to have a female voice (and vice-versa ... if you get my drift!). Perhaps some people are biased toward perceiving male-sounding voices, and others toward female-sounding voices, while others have perfect hearing and can distinguish the sex of singers??

So, does anyone else perceive:
1) Tracy Chapman to have a male-sounding voice?
2) Johnny Nash to have a female-sounding voice?

Are there any other examples of this "sex-perception interesting peculiar phenomenon"?

I would appreciate it if anyone can comment or even have a theory to explain this interesting peculiar phenomenon.

Gagarin Google Doodle

Wow, we have achieved half a century of human spaceflight.

If we look at what has been achieved with a full century of human aviation, just imagine what the next 50 years of human spaceflight will bring!!

Google Doodle celebrating Yuri Gagarin's first human to orbit the Earth in 1961

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Second Whale Sighting in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s second whale sighting occurred last Saturday 19 February 2011, two years following the first sighting. Unfortuately, this time there are no photos … only eyewitness accounts. This is how the SCMP reported it (Whale sighted at weekend thought to be calf, Feb 23, 2011):

A whale sighted off Pok Fu Lam on Saturday may already have left Hong Kong, with conservation officials yesterday confirming there were at least two sightings over the weekend.

A Pok Fu Lam resident who saw the whale from a distance suspected it was a baby humpback. Officers who conducted a search said it was probably a whale but they could not determine the species.

The Pok Fu Lam resident who reported the sighting on Saturday said yesterday: "It was a small one, perhaps three metres long. It was swimming between Lamma and Cyberport and heading south. It left the water sometimes and we could see its tail." She said the whale was spotted in the evening and it spent two hours swimming in the area. But poor visibility made it difficult to take pictures.

For some wonderful whale photos from the 2009 sighting, see here.

Educating Rita! The Wrong Way To Inspire Young Scientists

Here’s how NOT to inspire young scientists: don’t allow government officials to talk publicly about topics that they know very little about. Granted, this is a very broad and general rule that can usually be applied to most situations involving privileged individuals who are in positions of power that are beyond their competence and comprehension.

Really Rita Lau Ng Wai-lan—Commerce and Economic Development Secretary of the Hong Kong government—do you sincerely believe that asking our students to “be more creative” and to “come up with new icons that are unmistakably Hong Kong” is the best way to motivate them?
(Reference: Creative cuppa runs over for students from The Standard)

To further demonstrate her ignorance of the way science works, Rita Lau used Hong Kong’s terrible tasting Milk Tea as the prime example to encourage students to be better scientists! That is pathetic and laughable. Telling young scientists here to set up a goal of creating a money-making Hong Kong icon such as Milk Tea is like telling a young Einstein to be creative and aim to make a mega-rich German product that will rule the world! Science doesn't work like that, and nor should scientists!

[Young scientists are told to aspire to create iconic products similar to Hong Kong-style milk tea. Pic Wikipedia]

Without going into detail (here), some useful suggestions on how to inspire young scientists is to first ensure a good teaching environment (i.e. quality science teachers and teaching resources); second nurture curiosity and an enthusiasm to ask questions; and third culture an attitude where business and making money (i.e. Rita’s call to “create a new Hong Kong icon”) is not the priority and instead the emphasis should be on nurturing fun and fascination with how the natural world works.

It seems in addition to educating Hong Kong’s young scientists, educating Rita Lau is warranted too.

Creative cuppa runs over for students (The Standard)

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Commerce and Economic Development Secretary Rita Lau Ng Wai-lan is calling on young scientists to be more creative and come up with products that are unmistakably Hong Kong.

Lau said although they may face many trials and failures along the way, they should aim at creating a new icon - the way that Hong Kong-style milk tea has become a popular drink.

Invited by milk-tea master Law Tak, Lau and four young scientists - Chan Yik-hei, Stephanie Yeung, Christie Lin and Chan Hoi- yee - gathered to taste Law's signature drink.

Chan Yik-hei, a fourth-year student in electronic and computer engineering at the University of Science and Technology, won an award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in 2004.

St Paul's Convent School Form Seven student Yeung, Carmel Pak U Secondary School Form Seven student Chan Hoi-yee, and Heep Yunn School student Lin were honored at this year's Awards for Little Scientists of Tomorrow.

Lau said Hong Kong-style milk tea is unique and represents the city's culture. According to the beverage industry, local people consume one billion cups of Hong Kong-style milk tea every year.

Law, who won this year's International KamCha Competition - a milk-tea brewing competition - said the choice of tea leaves, milk, sugar, water temperature, time and blending method all affect the drink's quality.

Most importantly, the maker must be dedicated in attempting to brew the perfect cup, he said.

Lau said there are many young people in Hong Kong who want to develop a career in innovative technology. The passion is there, all they need is encouragement and support.

She said the government, through policy- making, hopes to promote and encourage them to make the best use of their creativity.

Lau said the work of scientists was similar to that of milk-tea brewers - they must endure trials and failures, yet remain innovative. If they persevere, they will succeed.

STAFF REPORTER

Quirky Geeky Party Tricks

It’s the party season, so what better than to showcase some fun party tricks. Enjoy!

Top 10 quirky science tricks for parties

These quirkology clips, and other daily posts on quirky mind stuff, originate from Richard Wiseman’s blog.