In Memory of My Late Father.

This photo shows the place where my late father's house was located in Hainan,China.I can't believe I was standing right on the spot where my late father grew up before he finally migrated to Malaysia.He was such a hardworking and enterprising man without any formal education.I salute him for enduring so much trials and tribulations to bring me up.Thank you dad and I will always remember your deeds.

Japanese firm invents mirror to spot the flu

A Japanese technology firm on Tuesday unveiled a mirror-like thermometer that can identify a person who is feverish.

"Thermo Mirror," which looks like a table mirror, measures the skin temperature of the person looking into it, without the need for physical contact, said the firm, NEC Avio Infrared Technologies.

The person's temperature is displayed on the surface, and the device has an alarm that will beep when detecting a subject who is feverish.

With two versions priced at 98,000 yen and 120,000 yen ($1,180-$1,440) each, the product costs less than 10 percent of thermography cameras used at airports to screen for people who might have communicable diseases, the company said.

"We foresee uses at corporate receptions, schools, hospitals and public facilities," NEC Avio said in a statement.

The company said it aimed to sell 5,000 units in one year.

Don't ignore frequent nosebleeds

Most of us would have experienced a nosebleed at some point in our lives.

About 80 to 90 per cent of nosebleeds are spontaneous and occur in normal, healthy people, especially children, said Dr Yuen Heng Wai, consultant at Changi General Hospital's (CGH) Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Department.

While an occasional nosebleed is rarely cause for concern, frequent and severe nosebleeds may sometimes indicate underlying problems such as hypertension (high blood pressure), clotting problems or cancer, said ENT experts.

In extreme cases, frequent bloodstains in the nasal mucus or sputum may indicate advanced-stage nasopharynx carcinoma (NPC), which is cancer of the nose.

Dr Duncan Wong, associate consultant at Khoo Teck Puat (KTPH) Hospital's ENT Department, said he would perform a thorough nasal endoscopic examination, go through the patient's family history and do a blood test to exclude NPC. Patients suspected of having NPC are required to undergo a biopsy.

A person with high blood pressure may have nosebleeds more easily and find it harder to stop the bleeding, said Dr Wong.

According to Dr Yuen, studies have not proven that hypertension directly causes more frequent nosebleeds. What high blood pressure does, however, is that it could result in more severe bleeds.

"When the nose bleeds, the patient gets anxious and scared. His blood pressure goes up even more, and the bleeding continues. It is a vicious cycle," explained Dr Yuen.


When a nosebleed ends up as an emergency

An average nosebleed lasts five to 10 minutes. However, Dr Wong has seen instances where the severe loss of blood required emergency treatment and blood transfusions.

"Especially if the patient has cardiovascular problems and is on blood thinning medications such as aspirin and warfarin. Any trauma on the nose will cause them to bleed more severely," he said.

Dr Yuen advised: "As a rough guide, if you are having nosebleeds several times a week for consecutive weeks, and if it takes more than half an hour to stop despite taking measures, you should seek medical attention."

Stopping the bleeding

Tips from ENT specialists.

- Learn forward, not backward, to avoid swallowing the blood or choking.

- Pinch the lower, softer part of the nose. This exerts pressure on the most common area of bleeding.

- Put an ice pack on the forehead or back of the neck. Gurgling some iced water may also help contract the blood vessels.

- If the bleeding still does not stop after 30 minutes, seek medical attention.

Two hours of TV-watching boosts heart risk

People who spend more than two hours per day of leisure time watching television or sitting in front of a screen face double the risk of heart disease and higher risk of dying, said a study on Monday.

Researchers said the effect was seen regardless of how much people exercised, indicating that how we choose to spend our free time away from work has a huge impact on our overall health.

"It is all a matter of habit. Many of us have learned to go back home, turn the TV set on and sit down for several hours - it's convenient and easy to do," said Emmanuel Stamatakis, expert in epidemiology and public health at University College London.

"But doing so is bad for the heart and our health in general," said Stamatakis, who along with the other study authors is advocating public health guidelines to warn of the risks of being inactive during non-work hours.

Such warnings are urgent, "especially as a majority of working age adults spend long periods being inactive while commuting or being slouched over a desk or computer," said the study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Researchers studied data from 4,512 adults who took part in the Scottish Health Survey of households.

The information on screen time came from self-reported data about TV or DVD watching, leisure time computer use and playing video games.

When scientists compared people who reported spending less than two hours a day in front of screen-based entertainment to those who spent four or more hours per day, they found a 48 percent higher risk of death from any cause.

In those spending just two or more hours per day in front of screen after work, they also found a 125 percent higher risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack.

"These associations were independent of traditional risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, BMI (body mass index), social class, as well as exercise," the study noted.

However researchers were able to make associations between the levels of inflammation and cholesterol in sedentary people.

"One fourth of the association between screen time and cardiovascular events was explained collectively by C-reactive protein (CRP), body mass index, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol," said the study.

CRP, an indicator of low-grade inflammation, was about twice as high in people who spent more than four hours of free time daily in front of a screen compared to people who spent less than two hours a day.

Stamatakis said he intends to continue to study how prolonged sitting impacts human health and how lifestyle changes could be advocated to reduce the amount of time people spend inactive.

China grads choose working in villages over cities

A new breed of college graduates is emerging in China and instead of joining the rat race in the city, some are heading out to the countryside to find jobs.

One such graduate is 23-year-old Hu Ji, who graduated in 2009 with a sociology degree from East China University of Political Science and Law.

She's what you call a "village official" - a buzzword in China these days as college graduates are selected to serve as village officials.

In 2008, during the global financial crisis, China started recruiting graduates to work in the countryside.

It was a way to help unemployed college graduates find jobs, as well as to enrich the lives of local farmers.

Huo Jian Village village secretary Qiu Feng Guo said: "The literacy standards of our village cadres are pretty low. These graduate village officials can help us enhance the cultural qualities in the village".

Working as an assistant to the village secretary, Hu Jin says her job scope is varied and allows her to be more hands on.

"On the one hand, I learn how to communicate with villagers from senior officials. This, you will never learn at college," she said.

"The Communist Youth League works with young people as well, and I'm good at that because I'm still young so it's easy for me to get along with youngsters."

Hu Ji also helps the elderly and goes door-to-door to check on them.

Her stint is going down well with farmers here.

One retired farmer said: "She's quite considerate of the villagers and often drops by to ask about our current situation. I can't accept her ideas and thoughts 100 per cent, but basically she's done a good job."

Another female villager said: "College graduates are highly educated; our villagers cannot compare with them."

Hu Ji said she hopes her field work will set her apart from her peers.

"Working as a village official for three years will be an immaterial wealth for me," she said.

"Chairman Mao said that the village is a vast land. This is a big world and if I commit myself to the village, I will definitely gain a lot from this experience."

Village secretary Qiu said: "They know little about village life beforehand. But they learn a lot about the villagers' situation and the village itself, once they start work".

In two years' time, there should be about 100,000 Chinese college graduates employed as village officials, a project aimed at developing the rural areas in China.

New studies boost heart benefit from moderate drinking

Two medical investigations published on Tuesday have strengthened arguments that modest daily consumption of alcohol is good for the heart and the blood system.

People who drink alcohol in moderate amounts -- equivalent to about one drink a day or less -- are between 14 and 25 percent less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than counterparts who drink no alcohol at all, they said.

The two papers, published online by the British Medical Journal (BMJ), cast their net over scores of previous studies to give what the authors say is the widest view ever of this issue.

The research, led by William Ghali, a professor at the University of Calgary in Canada, says moderate drinking increases levels of "good" cholesterol in the body, which has a protective effect against heart disease.

Work published in November among middle-aged men in three French cities and Northern Ireland found that binge drinking, long known as a cause of liver damage, is also linked to heart disease.

Scientists connect global warming to extreme rain

EXTREME rainstorms and snowfalls have grown substantially stronger, two studies suggest, with scientists for the first time finding the telltale fingerprints of man-made global warming on downpours that often cause deadly flooding.

Two studies in Wednesday's issue of the journal Nature link heavy rains to increases in greenhouse gases more than ever before.

One group of researchers looked at the strongest rain and snow events of each year from 1951 to 1999 in the Northern Hemisphere and found that the more recent storms were 7 per cent wetter. That may not sound like much, but it adds up to be a substantial increase, said the report from a team of researchers from Canada and Scotland.

The study did not single out specific storms but examined worst-of-each-year events all over the Northern Hemisphere. While the study ended in 1999, the close of the decade when scientists say climate change kicked into a higher gear, the events examined were similar to more recent disasters: deluges that triggered last year's deadly floods in Pakistan and in Nashville, Tennessee, and this winter's paralysing blizzards in parts of the United States.

The change in severity was most apparent in North America, but that could be because that is where the most rain gauges are, scientists said. Both studies should weaken the argument that climate change is a 'victimless crime,' said Myles Allen of the University of Oxford.

He co-authored the second study, which connected flooding and climate change in Britain. Not all the extreme rain and snow events the scientists studied cause flooding. But since 1950, flooding has killed more than 2.3 million people, according to the World Health Organization's disaster database.

Business Times CEO of the Year 2010 Datuk Seri Stanley Thai has made it into the list of Malaysia's 40 richest individuals, a Malaysian Business survey reveals.

The magazine, in its Feb 16 issue, listed Thai, of Supermax Corporation Bhd, as a newcomer to the group, together with Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum of Mah Sing Group Bhd and Datuk Tan Heng Chew of Tan Chong Holdings Bhd.

The magazine said the combined wealth of Malaysia's 40 richest tycoons has risen by more than 30 per cent, spurred by the bullish stock market and an expanding economy.

They were worth RM206.27 billion as at Jan 21, compared with RM156.7 billion a year ago.

It says there are more billionaires this year -- 27 of them, an increase of five from last year.

Robert Kuok, who returned to the sugar business last year, still tops the list at RM50.04 billion and telecommunications tycoon T. Ananda Krishnan remains in second place with RM45.78 billion.

Public Bank's Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow moved to the third place with a fortune estimated at RM12.77 billion while fourth is IOI Corporation Bhd's Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng who is worth RM12.74 billion.

Genting Group's Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, unchanged at No. 5, has RM10.89 billion while Hong Leong Group's Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan takes the sixth spot with RM10.75 billion, up from RM7.09 billion previously.

In seventh place is Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary of the Albukhary Foundation, whose flagship is the DRB-Hicom Group. He is valued at RM8.84 billion.

Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong's widow, Puan Sri Lee Kim Hua, unchanged at number eight, has RM7.43 billion while Tan Sri Tiong Hiew King of the Rimbunan Hijau Group returns at No. 9 with RM4.77 billion.

Singapore-domiciled Ong Beng Seng claims the 10th spot, with his wealth doubled to RM3.98 billion, going past Berjaya Group's Tan Sri Vincent Tan who drops two rungs to No. 12.

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's son, Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir, of Kencana Petroleum, is ranked 19th with RM1.665 billion.

Read more: Three newcomers in rich list http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/2ssr/Article/#ixzz1EBUr8wWB

China climbs up Japan slides down

China now worlds second largest economy.

Conservative estimates by analysts has China overtaking USA in next decade.

But the fact is the rise in China economy is not linear and the exponential factor would indicate the USA becoming no.2 well before 10 years pass.

World's 10 biggest economies
US
China
Japan
Germany
France
UK
Italy
Brazil
Canada
Russia
Source: IMF 2010

Held back by the USA for so long - China has shown the true courage and resilience of the Chinese people - the world will be a much better place without the hegemons at the top of the ladder - a peacefull and harmonious world superpower is what has been needed for a long time and China is about to fill the position.

Early balding linked to risk of prostate cancer

A STUDY showing that men who start to go bald at 20 may be more likely to develop prostate cancer in later life suggests they might benefit from early screening or preventative therapy, scientists said on Tuesday.

French researchers compared 388 men being treated for prostate cancer with 281 healthy men and found that those with the disease were twice as likely as the healthy men to have started losing their hair when they were 20.

If the men only started going bald when they were 30 or 40, there was no difference in their risk of developing prostate cancer compared to the healthy group.

'At present there is no hard evidence to show any benefit from screening the general population for prostate cancer. We need a way of identifying those men who are at high risk,' said Philippe Giraud of Paris Descartes University, who led the study.

'Balding at the age of 20 may be one of these easily identifiable risk factors and more work needs to be done now to confirm this,' he said in a statement.

Mr Giraud, whose findings were published in the cancer journal Annals of Oncology, said men identified as at higher risk of prostate cancer could be selected for earlier screening, or for chemo-prevention therapy using so-called anti-androgenic drugs like Merck's Proscar, or finasteride. -- REUTERS