Taiwanese scientists have identified unusual disease genes pertaining to the potentially life-threatening Stevens-Johnson syndrome and chronic psoriasis. Their discovery could help improve the efficiency of both early-detection measures and prevention medicine, according to the National Science Council.
At a press conference held yesterday, council vice chairman Liao Chun-chen (
In the wake of the establishment of advanced core laboratories, Liao said, a few Taiwanese geneticists have recorded great achievements in the last two years.
Taking Stevens-Johnson syndrome as an example, Chen said the identification of particular disease genes could help prevent the disease.
Stevens-Johnson syndrome, or SJS, is an acute skin condition in which the patient develops multiple red and purple blotches on the skin of the palms, soles of the feet, backs of the hands and feet and the "upper surfaces" of the arms and legs.
Chen said that the most commonly cited cause of SJS is an adverse allergic reaction to a variety of drugs, most particularly sulfa drugs. These drugs are commonly used to treat gout, spasm and malaria, among other conditions.
Chen said clinically there had earlier been no method to predict that certain drugs could cause SJS.
Researchers from both Academia Sinica and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital have analyzed the genetic makeup of more than 100 Taiwanese SJS patients. Their unpublished results suggest that people with certain genes are susceptible to SJS, induced by certain drugs.
"Through the early detection of certain disease genes, which had been identified recently, physicians could avoid giving certain drugs to patients at high risk," Chen said.
In addition, Chen said, clinicians at National Taiwan University Hospital had studied a Taiwanese family with a history of psoriasis.
More than a quarter of the total family members suffer from the disease.
Early this year, scientists began to analyze their genetic makeup and found certain genes associated with psoriasis.
Recently, scientists have narrowed their research down to a certain gene.
"Our future studies of the specific gene would help to establish the mechanisms of psoriasis development," Chen said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS