■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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by