HEALTH
Alzheimer’s test developed
National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) and National Taiwan University Hospital researchers have developed a new blood test for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. The test, based on immunomagnetic reduction, can detect early signs of the condition and even mild cognitive impairment, with 85 percent accuracy. The test, which can be completed in five hours, is faster and safer than spinal fluid tests, according to the scientists. The results were achieved by a research team led by Horng Herng-er (洪姮娥), a professor at the Institute of Electro-optical Science and Technology at NTNU, in collaboration with another team led by neurologist Chiu Ming-chang (邱銘章) at the hospital. Chiu said early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s is important for treatment of the condition. Compared with spinal fluid tests, which are highly invasive, blood tests are more likely to be accepted by patients and are also more convenient, he said.
EDUCATION
Collaboration for science
The Taiwan-based Tang Prize Foundation and US-based Experimental Biology signed an agreement in Taipei earlier this week to work together to promote biology education over the next 10 years. Through its collaboration with Experimental Biology — an annual meeting comprising more than 14,000 scientists and exhibitors — the foundation hopes to achieve its goal of promoting people’s wellbeing, Tang Prize Foundation chief executive Chern Jenn-chuan (陳振川) said. The Tang Prize is like a bridge that links Taiwan with the international community and is expected to help advance the country’s global integration in the area of science and technology development, Chern said. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Chien Shu (錢煦), a Taiwanese professor of bioengineering and medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Chien said that the first Tang Prize for Biopharmaceutical Science was awarded to US academic James Allison and Japan’s Tasuku Honjo for their development of a type of treatment called “immune checkpoint blockade therapy.” Their work helped launch a new era of therapeutic treatment and highlighted the importance of joint efforts in scientific research, Chien said.
TRANSPORT
Traffic measures in place
A series of traffic control measures are to be implemented on all freeways throughout the nation during the Tomb Sweeping Festival from today until Monday to help prevent congestion, the National Freeway Bureau said yesterday. It said the measures would include a suspension of tolls from midnight to 5am on the four days, so that motorists are encouraged to use the roads in off-peak hours. On some sections of Freeway No. 5, only vehicles carrying three or more people would be allowed, the bureau said. It said that from 7am to noon today and tomorrow, only high-occupancy vehicles would be allowed to enter the southbound lanes from the Nangang (南港) onramp in Taipei and the Xindian (新店) and Pinglin (坪林) onramps in New Taipei City. The same rules would apply to the northbound lanes from 3pm to 8pm on Sunday and Monday at the onramps in Suao (蘇澳), Luodong (羅東), Yilan City (宜蘭) and Toucheng (頭城) in Yilan County, the bureau said. During the four-day holiday, the standard toll rate would be reduced 25 percent to NT$0.9 per kilometer, the bureau said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,