Sun, Mar 22, 2009 page3

• Taiwan News Quick Take

  • STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
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  ■MEDICINE

  Cancer center sets up lab

  Taipei Medical University Hospital’s Cancer Center has recently set up a laboratory for research, launching the “bench-to-bedside” approach that is aimed at turning scientific discoveries into practical applications. University president Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達) said the new facility was expected to help upgrade Taiwan’s medical treatment expertise and quality. Chiu Chung-feng (邱仲峰), the lab’s executive director, said that unlike conventional medical laboratories, the new lab would focus on “translating” basic medical research into clinical treatments for various forms of cancer. Equipped with an advanced single-view 3D optical imaging system, the IVIS 200, the translational research lab allows researchers to observe cancer cells in the body of a living lab animal and enables experiments to more closely approach reality, the university said.

  ■HEALTH

  Don’t count sheep: doctor

  People who are unable to sleep should “stop counting sheep” and get out of bed if they cannot get to sleep 20 minutes after turning in, said Yang Chien-ming (楊建銘), an associate professor of psychology at National Chengchi University. He said that many people in Taiwan suffered from sleep problems that usually get worse as a result of common misconceptions about sleep. These misconceptions include the idea that strenuous exercise before bed aids restful sleep, he said, pointing out that this is incorrect, as intense physical activity does not help people go to sleep, but instead “awakens” the nervous system. He said if people found themselves tossing and turning for more than 20 minutes, they should get up and do something else until they feel sleepy.

  ■SOCIETY

  Illustrators showcase work

  Twenty-four award-winning Taiwanese illustrators will showcase their work at an annual international children’s book fair to be held in the Italian city of Bologna next week. All 24 of the illustrators have had their work commended by the Bologna Children’s Book Fair management over the past 20 years, said Linden Lin (林載爵), chairman of the Taipei Book Fair Foundation, which is organizing the Taiwan pavilion activities at the Bologna book fair scheduled for tomorrow through Thursday. Artist Hsu Su-hsia (徐素霞) saw her work cited in the 1989 event, making her the first Taiwanese artist to win such an honor. Since then, 23 Taiwanese artists have won similar recognition at the fair, one of the world’s most important international illustration competitions. Lin said 21 local children’s book publishing companies would showcase a collection of more than 400 titles in the upcoming Bologna fair.

  ■CRIME

  Kinmen obtains drug dog

  Kinmen County obtained its first-ever drug sniffer dog yesterday to help with its narcotics detection operations. The two-year-old black Labrador, Tango, was put into service at customs in Kinmen’s Shuitou Port shortly after it arrived from Kaohsiung City, said Huang Chu-chang (黃鉅昌), head of the Kinmen branch of the Kaohsiung Customs Office. Since direct ferry links between Taiwan’s Kinmen and Matsu islands and several ports in China’s Fujian Province were expanded to include people from Taiwan proper in June last year, the number of passengers using the service, commonly known as the mini links, has reached 3,500 per day, Huang said. As a result, there has been an increase in drug trafficking across the Taiwan Strait via the two outlying islands, which underscores Kinmen’s need to step up its anti-drug inspections, Huang said.
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