Chinese "herbal" slimming pills contain thyroid extract and cause hyperthyroidism

Chinese herbal slimming pills sold over the counter and via the internet have been found to contain dangerous levels of thyroid tissue. 
Australian path lab scientists made the discovery after a woman developed hyperthyroidism from taking the slimming pills she had bought online from a Chinese supplier. She presented to her doctor after collapsing and showed typical signs of hyperthyroidism such as palpitations, sweating, tremor and weakness of the arms and legs. Her thyroid tests showed she had hyperthyroidism and she admitted to taking a Chinese medicine "Qian Zhi Su" for three months. Analysis of the pills showed they contained thyroid-like tissue, possibly from pigs.
Source: Pathology

Breast cancer gene ESR1 found in Chinese women

A polymorphism near the oestrogen receptor gene (ESR1) (rs2046210) is associated with a risk of breast cancer in Chinese women, researchers from Wuhan have confirmed.
A case control study carried out at the Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, compared 461 cases of breast cancer and 537 controls from a Chinese Han population. It found that the rs2046210 A allele was significantly associated with breast cancer risk, with an increased risk of 32% This was confirmed in a meta-analysis integrating the current study and previous publications with a total of 53,379 cases and 55,493 controls. It found  a significant association between this polymorphism and breast cancer risk  in the overall population and especially among Asians. The increased risk was 14% higher overall and 27% higher among Asians.
Read more: PLOS One

Recurrent stroke risk with metabolic syndrome

Chinese patients who have a stroke are at increased risk of a recurrent stroke if they have metabolic syndrome, Beijing researchers have shown.
In a study of more than 700 patients with ischaemic stroke, researchers from the Department of Neurology at Beijing's Tiantan Hospital, followed patients up at 3-month intervals for one year to monitor development of recurrent stroke or death. Metabolic syndrome was identified in 26% of the stroke patients and these patients had a higher rate of stroke recurrence (7%) than patients without metabolic syndrome (4%).
However, there was no difference in mortality (3.3% versus 3.5%, respectively).
Source: PLOS One

Room for improvement on cataract surgery

Rural Chinese hospitals could increase their cataract surgical output and quality but health managers are a major barrier to change, new research shows.
A survey of attitudes to improving cataract surgery posed questions to hospital administrators, doctors, and nurses at 28 county hospitals in Guangdong Province. It found that all groups identified a critical need for enhanced management training for hospital directors.
Doctors and nurses suggested reducing surgical fees to enhance uptake of cataract surgery , though administrators were resistant to this. While doctors saw the need to improve equipment, administrators felt current material conditions were adequate. The hospital staff surveyed believed that patient satisfaction was generally high, but this finding was in contrast with other studies in the area, highlighting a potential area for intervention, the researchers say.
Source: Investigative Ophthalmology

Bayer in China: interview with new leader

Bayer's new China boss, Alok Kanti

The interview with Alok Kanti was held in his office on the 22nd floor of the Bayer Center on Beijing's East Third Ring Road.
From being an intern in Canada in 1994 to taking up the leading position in China, the company's fastest-growing market, the 46-year-old Indian never imagined he would work in 27 countries around the world for Bayer. He has become an expert in adapting to variation - various jobs, various markets. Kanti calls himself Mr Flexibility.
To date, high turnover, especially in the sales sector, and difficulties attracting talented people, particularly in the research and development unit, are the greatest challenges to multinational pharmaceutical companies in China.
Kanti admits this is true for his company, but said he believes the performance-based system at Bayer makes the company competitive in terms of remuneration with a positive culture to help talent develop professionally.
Although the new leader at Bayer HealthCare China seems confident in his management ability in China, the emerging market is still a place with opportunities and challenges. As Vice-Premier Li Keqiang said, the country's reform of its healthcare system has entered "uncharted waters", which can be taken to mean there are many uncertainties in the market.
China's market is changing rapidly due to medical reform, economic development, increasing incomes, as well as rising consciousness about health.
Kanti said the company will make progress as the market evolves, but he himself does not really want to change much at Bayer HealthCare China, "as it already has a lot of talented people, capability and focus on execution".
A report conducted by international business management and strategy advisory firm Boston Consulting Group said county-level hospitals and community healthcare centers in China have the greatest potential now. Annual growth of the two channels exceeded 30 percent over the last three years.
"Bayer has done well in the community healthcare sector, making up 4.8 percent of the market in 2010, the second-largest among all domestic and multinational companies in China," said Magen Xia, principal of BCG Greater China.
She attributed the success to the Bayer Health House program, which was initiated in 2006. Each "house" acts as a platform for diabetes education, free doctor consultancy services and communication with patients. The program has set up more than 400 such houses in hospitals and communities in 30 cities around China.
Chronic disease treatment is one of the competitive edges of Bayer HealthCare, which it has been making efforts to explore and will continue to do so.
Kanti took the example of hypertension: "About 18 to 20 percent of the population suffers from hypertension, so treating these people not only improves the outcome for the country per se but also creates opportunities for us."
Kanti believes there are lower treatment rates but faster growth, which "doubles the excitement of the market".
BCG's Xia said the favorable scenario for multinational companies is that more hypertension patients have switched from local to multinational brands in the 30 richest cities around China.
In the county-level hospital sector, involving around 10,000 facilities in 2,000 counties and lower-tier cities, local companies are still key players. Only Denmark-based Novo Nordisk AG entered the top 20 list in 2010, taking a 0.8 percent market share.
Kanti said that Bayer is making lower-tier cities one of its priorities in China.
The company is divided into three regions: north, south and west. Each is responsible for its own lower-city market expansion. It helps the company cope with China's vastness and diverse geographic and demographic conditions and helps increase efficiency.
Bayer HealthCare started its Go West Project in 2007 and has invested 20 million yuan to provide free training for doctors and hospital heads in poverty-stricken areas, another move by the company to work with the government to develop China's healthcare infrastructure.
While the emerging sectors are not easy to handle, a BCG report said the large size and fragmentation of the market is the first challenge any multinational company faces. Others include policy issues, inconsistency in the criteria for the nation's Essential Drugs List and market access to key provinces and municipalities.
They all challenge the pharmaceutical company's market judgment and decision making.
Kanti said the most important thing for him to do is to understand the market and the people. During his first six months in China, he traveled a lot and talked to people a lot.
"We have a large organization of 6,500 people around the nation. It is important to listen and maximize the creativity and drive momentum these people created for the organization," he said.
The people, the company's innovative new medicines and a very rich product portfolio on chronic diseases that the aging Chinese population needs most can support continuous growth for Bayer HealthCare in China, he added.
Readmore: China Daily

A US oncologist's impressions of a Chinese medical school

Paul R Helft, MD

by  Paul R. Helft, MD
I just returned from a week-long trip to Southeastern China, where I visited a large and well-respected Chinese medical school in the city of Guangzhou in Guangdong Province.
My University has a relationship with this sister school in China, Sun Yat-sen University, and I was lucky to receive an invitation from the faculty involved in the medical school bioethics curriculum, because the group is in the process of revising their undergraduate ethics curriculum. I got to meet with faculty, the dean of education for the medical school, many undergraduate medical students, post-graduate residents, and students from the integrated schools of public health and nursing.
I visited one of the affiliated specialty hospitals (specializing in liver disease and liver transplantation) and got experience as a patient in the main university hospital, where I was treated by a traditional Chinese physician for back pain after registering as a patient in the Chinese health care system.
As is nearly always the case with international travel, and especially in a place so different from what we are accustomed to in the United States, the whole experience was delightfully eye-opening, both for those dimensions of medical care and education that struck me as remarkably similar, as well as those that seemed wholly foreign. One of the more striking things I learned about the undergraduate ethics curriculum at this medical school, which in its original form has been in place for nearly ten years, was that most of it was based on cases and principles derived from Western references. This was striking to me, given how radically different Chinese culture is from US and Western culture (as if either of these were homogeneous enough to make such a statement!). Take abortion or transplant ethics, for example. Abortion is widespread and commonplace in China, in part because of the one child per family policy that is in place for families who reside in urban areas. Many Chinese people consider themselves atheists. How could the debate about abortion, which polarizes along lines such as those represented by the pro-life and pro-choice viewpoints in the Western world, possibly have the same outlines in such a different culture? Procuring organs for transplant, as another example, is not done on a completely voluntary basis in China. So the ethical framework for organ procurement and transplantation is just different, and analysis of a case based on Western experiences will have a completely different valence. One suggestion I talked a lot about during my meetings with faculty was to develop a curriculum based on Chinese cases, using a Chinese framework. This suggestion was not popular.
I stood in several long lines to register to become a patient, to obtain a medical record document, to be evaluated by one physician, then to be treated by another. It was clear to me that no one has his or her own physician. I stood in line again to pick up a prescription that had been entered into a computer by the treating physician and was then sent electronically to one of about 30 pharmacy windows, where it was ready for me when I arrived there to pick it up.
Even though throngs of people stood in line everywhere (including to get into the parking garage—police had created a special lane of traffic along the boulevard just to handle those awaiting entry), it did not feel inordinately chaotic, and I didn’t identify anyone who appeared upset or witness anyone complaining (although I might have missed this, given how limited my Chinese language skills are). I was told by students and residents and faculty that the sense of communitarianism that permeates Chinese culture would make it unusual for any one person or family to demand special treatment.
I did not leave China with the sense that there was very much about the Chinese healthcare or medical education system that we should adopt, but as we enter an era of healthcare reform after decades of prioritizing doctors’ individual rights and authority, as well as patients’ expanded ability to demand treatments no matter how expensive, I wonder where we will get a bit more communitarian spirit, and I begin to see many of the choices we will have to make in the light of our collective and interconnected lives. I remain anxious that our prospects for being successful at this are limited.
Dr. Helft is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine; his clinical work is based in the Gastrointestinal Oncology Program at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center. Dr. Helft is also director of the Charles Warren Fairbanks Center for Medical Ethics at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis.
Source: Cancer Network

Podcast for learning some medical Chinese ...

Not news as such, but a great podcast on the use of medical terms that you might need for a hospital visit in China. From those wonderful people at PopUp Chinese.
cheers - Michael

Carcinogens in Shenzhen food supply pose cancer risk

High levels of carcinogenic aromatic hydrocarbons have been found in vegetable, pork and rice samples collected from Shenzhen. The cancer risk from exposure to polycyclic and halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons was estimated to be between "serious" and "acceptable", with children facing the highest cancer risk, followed by adolescents, seniors and adults.
Read more: Science of the Total Environment

Beijing TB more common but has milder symptoms

A study of TB genotypes in China has found that about two thirds are caused by the 'Beijing' genotype.
The Beijing genotype was more common in younger people and in those living in urban areas, while people of Uyghur and Zhuang ethnicity were less likely to have the Beijing infection. A high rate of chest symptoms such as haemoptysis was seen in the one third of patients with the non-Beijing genotype.
Source: BMC Infectious Diseases.

Antibiotics found in the Yellow Sea

Significant levels of the antibiotics erythromycin, sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim have been found in the offshore waters of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea. Researchers from the State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences say that although the concentrations were low, they nevertheless posed ecological risks  to some sensitive aquatic organisms, including Synechococcus leopoliensis and Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata.
Source: Environmental Pollution

Albuminuria shows J-curve with BP

A J-shaped relationship exists between the risk of albuminuria and BP for both systolic and diastolic BP, a Shanghai study has shown.
Researchers at the Centre for Epidemiological Studies and Clinical Trials, The Shanghai Institute of Hypertension, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine investigated the single and combined effects of systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) on albuminuria (urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio of at least 17 and 25 mg/g in men and women, respectively) in Chinese. The J-shaped relationship showed nadir levels of 110 mmHg and 70 mmHg, a level far below the currently recommended target BP of 140/90 or 130/80 mmHg.
Read more: Blood Pressure

Waist and triglycerides predict diabetes risk

A combination of waist circumference and raised triglycerides can be used as a simple and inexpensive screening approach to identify people at increased risk of diabetes, Tianjin researchers have shown.
The hypertriglycedemic-waist (HTGW) phenotype is a simple and inexpensive screening parameter to identify people at increased risk for cardiovascular disease and it has now been shown to predict prediabetes and diabetes in Chinese urban adults.
Dr Zhang Meilin and co-researchers at the Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Tianjin screened healthy 2908 adults and followed them for three years.  There were 1533 new prediabetes and 90 new diabetes cases diagnosed during the follow-up period. The accumulated incidence of prediabetes and diabetes was 53 % and 3.%, respectively.
The risk of developing diabetes was 4.5 times higher in men and women who had the hypertriglycedemic-waist profile.
"The HTGW phenotype can be used as a simple screening approach to predict diabetes. By using this approach, it is possible to identify individuals at high-risk for diabetes, which is of great significance in reducing the incidence of diabetes among Chinese urban adults.
Source: BMC Public Health

Employment X-ray checks pose cancer risk to college graduates

The routine X-rays demanded by employmers mean that jobseekers are exposed to high levels of radiation

As the country's college graduates seek bright futures with rigorous job hunts, they invite a clear danger to their health when the offers come rolling in, as getting interviews means undergoing more X-ray examinations, according to a new report.
Zhang Ming, a student from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE), has been to four hospitals to have physical exams in a month.
"The employment situation is not good this year. When there is a chance of being recruited by a company, I am very happy," Zhang said. He expects to get more offers from companies, and choose one he likes the best.
However, to be eligible for these offers, Zhang has to face the physical exams required by different employers, and he cannot use one physical exam report with all his potential employers.
Companies use their own designated hospitals, and before the last round of interviews, Zhang has to take a specific physical exam, after which he might get an offer.
Zhang had two physical exams within three days in November, and on December 7 and 12, he underwent two more exams, each costing him half a day. In addition to fasting for blood tests, he had to get X-rays taken at each visit.
Another SUFE student surnamed Wang who had undergone two physical exams including X-rays said, "We are asked to finish the physical exams before the final interviews, otherwise we are not allowed to participate in the interviews."
Wang, also frustrated, added, "We want to get our offers and compare them with each other and then make a choice based on the salaries and details of the employers."
Tan Yuxu, a SUFE employee who works on student employment, said that "90 percent of SUFE graduate students received two offers, and many have received more than three offers."
Tan is happy to see students get many offers, but she also is worried about how the X-rays will influence their health. "Commonly, a person gets X-rays once a year, and they are having so many in a short time."
Liu Shiyuan, a professor from the Chinese Society of Radiology (CSR), said that frequent X-rays can impact human health. "If they are exposed to too many X-rays, the radiation can cause cancer and might influence their offspring."
Liu said that a system should be established that allows for physical exam reports documented by qualified hospitals and physical examination centers to be accepted by all employers, and then a job seeker could submit copies of the physical exam report to potential employers.
Employers argued that the current system, wherein candidates accept physical exams at designated hospitals, avoids fake physical reports and that they have the right to know whether candidates' health meets their demands.
Labor law expert Hong Guibin said that there were no definitive regulations on physical exams, and agreed that there should be a unified physical exam system that considers job seekers' health and saving costs.
Source: Shanghai Morning Post

Shanghai hospitals open satellite hospitals in suburbs

Downtown hospitals such as the Ruijin Hospital have opened  branches in outlying areas of Shanghai

Fewer residents in Shanghai's outskirts will need to travel downtown for more sophisticated medical treatment as two of the biggest public hospitals in the city announced yesterday that they have established branches in outlying areas.
Ruijin Hospital has set up a branch in Jiading District and Huashan Hospital has opened up in Baoshan District, officials said.
The announcement marked a major step toward completion of plans begun in 2008 for one city-level health facility, the most sophisticated level, in each of nine outlying regions like the Qingpu, Jiading and Nanhui areas and Chongming County by 2012.
The plan also facilitates the goal of redistributing population from the crowded downtown to new towns in the outskirts, officials said.
Five hospitals are branches of the city's leading downtown hospitals, three are upgraded from the original district-level hospitals and one was moved from another area.
Nearly 5,000 new beds are expected to be added in the outlying hospitals to give residents top-level health services within a short distance.
Five new hospitals have started operation, three have been built and are awaiting approval and one is being built.
The project can greatly benefit people living in the outskirts and make it convenient for them to see top medical experts, said Vice Mayor Shen Xiaoming.
The newly established hospitals also will be used to try out health reforms, such as selling medicines at cost.
Hospitals currently are allowed to add up to 15 percent of the purchase price to medicines they sell. Any losses would be reimbursed by the government.
Source: ECNS

Subversion charges dropped against medical debt blogger

Chen Pingfu lost his job after a heart attack

All charges of inciting subversion against the blogger Chen Pingfu, were dropped by local procuratorate on Friday in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, leading the government critic to declare it was a victory for free speech in China.
"My articles might harm the image of government but it is not wrong to expose the dark side of the social system," Chen told the Global Times, adding that he believed the end of his house arrest is evidence that freedom of speech is protected in the country.
Chen said he had been under house arrest since the Lanzhou People's procuratorate charged him with subversion of State power on August 14. The case first went to trial on September 4 but proceedings were postponed three times at the request of the local procuratorate, which finally dropped the charges on Friday, Beijing News reported.
He Huixin, Chen's lawyer from the Lanzhou-based Rongqing Law Firm, told the Beijing News that the dismissal is a victory for the rule-of-law but added he was disappointed the Procuratorate did not provide its reasoning for withdrawing the case.
The Lanzhou Intermediate Court and the procuratorate could not be reached Tuesday.
Chen, 55, is a former math teacher who suffered a heart attack in 2005. After surgery Chen could not afford to pay his medical debts and in 2008 he lost his teaching job when the state factory-affiliated college he worked for closed.
To pay his son's tuition and his medical bill Chen was reduced to playing violin on the streets of Lanzhou until the city's Chengguan, or urban management officers, stopped him.
"Those experiences strengthened my belief in safeguarding freedom of speech," said Chen, who started to write blogs in 2007 to express his dissatisfaction toward the unfairness of the current system and the wrong doings of the local government.
The articles caught the attention of local police and were deemed by the local procuratorate as evidence that Chen had committed subversion.
Source: Global Times

Nanjing offers free health checks to migrant workers

Nanjing city launched on Tuesday a free physical examination program for migrant workers at construction sites in the city and the first batch of 170,000 workers have already started to enjoy free physical examination.
The city released in September a new regulation on enhancing basic medical care and treatments for construction workers, which stipulates that all construction operators in Nanjing whose major disease medical insurances are valid can enjoy a free check-up after they receive the Nanjing Resident Card.
Before that, construction workers in Nanjing already enjoyed the favorable policy of “refund for 50 to 80 percent of medical care bills below 800 yuan” and refund for over 80 percent of hospitalization expenses if their medical insurance covers related treatments.
Statistics show there are some 500,000 migrant workers at construction sites in Nanjing.
Source: Jiangsu China

Stigma of HIV removed with the help of influential hospital staff

A trial in over 40 hospitals in China has shown that stigmatising attitudes and behaviours toward people living with HIV can be reduced through education of influential hospital staff.
In the study, researchers recruited about 15% of the popular opinion leaders within hospitals, who were trained to disseminate stigma reduction messages.
In these hospitals there were significant improvements in reducing prejudicial attitudes, reducing avoidance intent towards people living with HIV, and increasing institutional support in the hospitals after six months. The effects of the campaign persisted and were strengthened at 12 months.
Source: American Journal of Public Health

China has low rates of adverse reactions to immunisation.

Adverse reactions to immunisations are uncommon and generally non-serious, new figures from Zhejiang show.
Passive surveillance data for adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) reported to the National AEFI Surveillance System in Zhejiang province show that the overall rate was 9.2 per 100,000 doses for 2008-2011. There were two spikes in adverse reactions, one associated with the introduction of pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine (pH1N1) in 2009 and the other for a Measles-Mumps vaccine (MM) campaign in 2010. The majority of adverse reactions reported were non-serious events. There were15 deaths were recorded but only one was possibly related to immunisation. The most frequently reported reactions were fever and injection site reaction.
Source: Clinical Vaccine Immunology

More than one in 20 Chinese at risk of gout

About 7% of Chinese people living in urban areas have high blood levels of uric acid that put them at risk of gout, a Shandong study shows. 
A study of 4,218 adults in the Jinan area found that hyperuricemia (serum uric acid ≥416 μmol/L in men and ≥357 μmol/L in women) was present in 6.4 % of men and 2.1 % of women overall. The prevalence of hyperuricemia was greater in urban (6.7 %) than in rural areas (1.7 %) of Jinan city. High uric acid levels were associated with hypertriglyceridemia and high serum creatinine level and also significantly associated with male sex, urban residence, hypertension, obesity, and hypercholesterolemia.
Source: Rheumatology International

Regressive health funding means the poor drop out of treatment

The poorest people in China face discrimination in health because they pay a disproportionately higher  amount of their income for medical treatment, a new study shows. Researchers have called for further reforms to health funding after they found high levels of inequity in health financing.  In a study of more than 13,000 people they found that low-income households were burdened with a larger share of the health care financing burden in recent years. They generally paid a higher amount of income in tax, yet received less support for health cover and paid more in out-of-pocket payments. The researchers said this shows health insurance system in China is "regressive" and has the effect of excluding the poor from health care because they cannot afford to pay for medical care and so withdraw from treatment.
"Optimizing benefit packages in public health insurance is as important as expanding coverage," they conclude.
Read more: BMC Health Services Research

China has millions of children with cerebral palsy needing support

China has  six million patients with cerebral palsy, many living in rural areas with little support

Cerebral palsy, a group of disorders that affect the brain and nervous system, is taking a huge toll on Chinese society, experts say, and families with CP patients are in desperate need of help.
That was the consensus during the opening ceremony of a campaign held in Beijing on Dec 12 to raise social awareness about the disease.
The campaign was initiated by One Foundation, China Philanthropy Research Institute of Beijing Normal University, and other nonprofits.
The groups made an appeal for social-welfare legislation that would help families coping with cerebral palsy.
Caused by damage to the motor-control centers of the developing brain, the condition can occur during pregnancy, delivery, and in small children under 3.
It will severely damage a patient's social function if not diagnosed and treated early.
China is estimated to have about 6 million cerebral-palsy patients, including up to 1.2 million children under 6, according to the campaign organizers.
About 70 percent of these children live in remote and poverty-stricken areas, meaning they have little access to treatment and rehabilitation training, and are easy targets of social stigma, experts say.
Treatment and rehabilitation are very expensive - up to 10,000 yuan (about $1,600) a month in China - and are often excluded from medical insurance coverage, according to Shang Xiaoyuan, a social development and public policy researcher with Beijing Normal University.
Studies show that a patient with the disease will cost the family at least more than 500,000 yuan in treatment in his or her lifetime.
In addition, the main care-givers or guardians often have to devote most of their time to taking care of children with cerebral palsy, and may sometimes have to quit their jobs.
This often reduces the family's total income and aggravates its financial burden, according to Chen Hongle, an executive with One Foundation, a charity initiated by celebrity actor Jet Li.
Zhang Dakui, 31, says he always feels grateful to his parents and stepmother for his recovery.
The doctoral candidate in computer science with the Beijing Institute of Technology developed cerebral palsy after an infection in infancy, and lost almost all ability to walk and talk.
His family did not give up on him. Instead, they made great sacrifices to continue his treatment and education.
After years of effort, Zhang is now able to work and live much as others do, despite not being able to walk and talk as normal.
Zhang never forgot a girl he knew who also had the disease and used to be in a better condition than he was.
But with the prospect of recovery dim and treatment costly, her family chose to stop the treatment.
Today, she is confined to a trolley, and has to depend totally on others to move her around.
"I cannot help feeling sad whenever someone praises me, after they know what I have gone through," Zhang says.
Although he is happy to see more charities paying attention to his fellow sufferers and offering help, the majority of patients in China are not as fortunate as he is.
They are more likely to share the immobile fate of his friend, Zhang adds.
"In the past years, the government and society have made big progress in helping children in need, but there is still much to do," says Yang Peng, the secretary-general of One Foundation.
The healthcare system also covers more diseases for children than in the past.
The Ministry of Education has also issued regulations to guarantee the quality of special schools for children physically and intellectually challenged.
In addition, charitable associations and foundations in China nowadays are better able to help children in need, including children with cerebral palsy.
But such help is merely a drop in the ocean, Yang says.
"If the country legislates to guarantee welfare of families with CP children, it will be much more efficient and beneficial to them than the weak support from charities," Yang says.
Source: China Daily

How Sanofi plans to conquer the China diabetes market

Jean-Luc Lowinski

Sanofi is no different from any other major pharma company in seeing China as the single most important growth market for the next decade and beyond. One of the things that sets it apart from competitor is heritage in the country - Sanofi was one of the very first foreign pharmaceutical companies to open offices in China, in 1982.
The firm is today one of the largest multinational pharma companies in China, and is committed to remaining a top player. Sanofi plans to do this by using its seven growth platforms.
These are: its diabetes franchise, human vaccines, innovative drugs, consumer healthcare, emerging markets, animal health and the new Genzyme.
Headquartered in Shanghai, it is supported by 11 regional offices in Beijing, Tianjin, Shenyang, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Jinan and Urumqi. The company has six manufacturing facilities, in Beijing (pharmaceutical), Hangzhou (one pharmaceutical, one consumer healthcare), Nanchang (animal health), Shenzhen (vaccine), and Tangshan (consumer healthcare).
Sanofi is engaged in integrated research and development (R&D) in China, ranging from drug target identification to late-stage clinical studies. Its China R&D Centre and Asia-Pacific R&D Centre are based in Shanghai, supported by branches in Beijing and Chengdu. Since 2008, it has also established over 30 strategic collaborations on the discovery front, with top scientific institutions in China focusing on cutting-edge research in cancer, stem cell, diabetes and age-related diseases.
Jean-Luc Lowinski has served in the role of senior vice president of Sanofi Asia since 1 May 2012. Dr Lowinski is responsible for the company’s business and growth in Greater China, Southeast Asia (including the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia) and Indochina (including Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).
Pharmafocus: What are the reasons behind the success of Sanofi China?
Jean-Luc Lowinski: “Although I have now been in China since May 2012, I previously worked in the country from 2002 to 2006, so this is my second time here.
"I can say with some certainty that the market has changed a great deal. Sanofi has indeed achieved great success in China and there are four reasons for this. The first is the early entry of Sanofi into China and the time the company has spent in this market. Sanofi has been in China since 1982, and we are about to celebrate our 30th anniversary. Our knowledge and familiarity with the country plays a big part.
"Secondly, we have a diversified portfolio, which matches the needs of the Chinese market. Thirdly, we are strongly embedded in Chinese society. Although we are an international company, we have a strong local network. We have six manufacturing plants across China, a far-reaching distribution network, over 4,000 sales people and eleven regional offices. We also have a strong network when it comes to R&D, with over 30 partnerships across China.
"Fourthly, and finally, there are of course our people. We have been very good at creating a strong team, mainly based on local talents - we have very few expatriate staff here.”
Read more: Pharma File

Half a million Chinese are blind due to diabetic retinopathy

The prevalence of visual impairment due to diabetic retinopathy in Beijing residents was 0.25%

by Michael Woodhead
More than half a million older Chinese people have lost their sight due to diabetic retinopathy, a major study carried out by Beijing researchers has found.
Dr Qi You and colleagues from the Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Hospital screened a population of more than half a million rural residents near Beijing who were aged over 55. The study involved over 2500 ophthalmology technicians who carried out visual screening checks for retinopathy.
Of the  562,788 people screened, 54,155 (9.6%) had a visual acuity of <0.30 in at least one eye.
The most common cause of vision impairment was cataract, which was seen in 19,163 (3.4%) of people. Diabetic retinopathy was detected in 2.7% of the population screened. Visual impairment due to diabetic retinopathy was bilateral in 66% of these patients.
The prevalence of visual impairment associated with diabetic retinopathy was 0.25%, which is similar to the results of the previous Beijing Eye Study, in which 0.54% of people screened showed
severe non-proliferative or proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
"Transferred to the total population of China of 206 million subjects aged 55-85 years, it
indicates that 514,000 Chinese in that age group are blind due to diabetic retinopathy," they conclude.
Source: Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology

Is turtle jelly the Chinese answer to Lipitor?

The traditional Chinese food of turtle jelly (also known as 龟苓膏 or Guilinggao) in southern China has anti-cholesterol effects, a study shows.
The hypocholesterolemic effects of turtle jelly were investigated in rats and it was found that turtle jelly markedly reversed the increased serum total cholesterol, increased LDL lipoprotein, and decreased HDL lipoprotein induced by hypercholesterolemic diet with a dose-dependent improvement on the atherogenic index. It also demonstrated good hepatoprotective function by reducing fat depositions and overall lipid contents in the liver and increasing the activities of hepatic antioxidative enzymes. The blunted nitric oxide/endothelium-mediated aortic relaxation in rats fed with hypercholesterolemic diet was partially restored after turtle jelly consumption. It is postulated that the hypocholesterolemic effect is the primary beneficial effect given by turtle jelly; it then leads to secondary beneficial effects such as vasoprotective and hepatoprotective functions. The results suggest that turtle jelly may block the downregulation of LDLR and PEPCK and upregulation of PPARα mRNA and protein expressions in the livers of rats fed with hypercholesterolemic diet.
Source: Evidence based Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

New book: Barefoot Doctors and Western Medicine in China, by Fang Xiaoping

In 1968, at the height of the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese Communist Party endorsed a radical new system of health-care delivery for the rural masses. Soon every village had at least one barefoot doctor to provide basic medical care, creating a national network of health-care services for the very first time.
The barefoot doctors were portrayed nationally and internationally as revolutionary heroes, wading undaunted through rice paddies to bring effective, low-cost care to poor peasants.

This book is the first comprehensive study to look beyond the nostalgia dominating present scholarship on public health in China and offer a powerful and carefully contextualized critique of the prevailing views on the role of barefoot doctors, their legacy, and their impact. Drawing on primary documents from the Cultural Revolution and personal interviews with patients and doctors, Xiaoping Fang examines the evidence within the broader history of medicine in revolutionary and post-reform China. He finds that rather than consolidating traditional Chinese medicine, as purported by government propaganda, the barefoot doctor program introduced modern Western medicine to rural China, effectively modernizing established methods and forms of care. As a result, this volume retrieves from potential oblivion a critical part of the history of Western medicine in China. 

Xiaoping Fang is research fellow at the China Research Centre of the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.
Review: "Xiaoping Fang gives the English-reading world a reliable account of the barefoot doctor movement and its tremendous importance in the creation of the Chinese health-care system. Contrary to received opinion, Fang shows how the movement prompted a decline in the popularity of traditional healing methods while promoting biomedicine in the countryside. This study greatly advances our understanding of the history of medicine in modern China." --Bridie Andrews, associate professor of history, Bentley University.
Source: University of Rochester Press

Global mental health centre opens in Shanghai

China's first academic cooperative body that focuses on global mental health issues was launched in Shanghai on Monday.
The Collective Center for Global Mental Health was jointly established by the Shanghai Mental Health Center and Emory University in the US.
It will work as a global platform for exchange and communication in the field of mental health research and training, and further promote the development of mental health in China.
"Many developed countries have had their own centers focus on global mental health, but it's very rare in developing countries," said Michael Phillips, who has pioneered research on Chinese suicide for more than two decades. He is also the director of the Suicide Research and Prevention Center of the Shanghai Mental Health Center.
"The center provides opportunities for mutual study, where China and other countries can learn more from each other," he said.
The center's first program will start with India, which has accumulated a lot of positive experiences in promoting mental health in local communities.
"India has a similar conditions to China. It has carried out metal health projects among local communities very early, and China could learn from the experiences," he said.
The center will also carry out some basic research in mental health with experts from Emory University.
Source: China Daily

PM2.5 pollution from coal burning kills 9000 a year and costs $1 billion

Report shows the high health costs of fine particle pollution in four Chinese cities

An estimated 8,572 premature deaths occurred in four major Chinese cities in 2012, due to high levels of PM2.5 pollution, a joint study by Greenpeace East Asia and Peking University’s School of Public Health has concluded.
The report also estimates PM2.5 pollution caused the cities of Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi’an and Beijing to suffer a combined total of US$1.08 billion in economic losses over the past year. Greenpeace is calling for an urgent policy adjustment, including capping regional coal consumption, De-NOx retrofiting for existing coal-fired power plants, and shutting down inefficient coal-fired industrial boilers.
The report “PM2.5: Measuring the human health and economic impacts on China's largest cities” states that if these cities can effectively lower their PM2.5 levels to meet the World Health Organization’s Air Quality Guidelines (WHO AQG), such deaths would be reduced by at least 81%, and the economic losses for these four cities could be reduced by $US868 million. Unfortunately no cities currently have a timeline to meet WHO AQG.
“PM2.5 is putting public health at high risk every day, but worse still, if we follow the current official plans we would need to wait 20 years to get to the national standard, which is still risky compared to the WHO guidelines,” said Greenpeace campaigner Zhou Rong. “Who can afford the wait?” Greenpeace is calling for a concrete and ambitious timetable to tackle PM2.5 pollution, thus improving the air quality to reach the health standard set out by WHO AQG.
For the report, researchers from Greenpeace and Peking University’s School of Public Health studied the impact of PM2.5 in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi’an, which represented major urban centres in China’s north, east, south and west respectively.
“Besides saving a lot of human lives, combating PM2.5 can also significantly reduce the national cost on health care,” said Zhou Rong. Taking Beijing as an example, the report found the Chinese capital experienced a loss of US$328 million in 2012 because of PM2.5 pollution. But had it reached WHO AQG, US$283 million could have been saved. (For details please refer to the media briefing paper section three).
Recent statistics from China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) show cities in China’s Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region suffered over 100 hazy days a year with PM2.5 concentration two to four times above World Health Organization guidelines. The effects of PM2.5-related air pollution extend beyond hazy days, also leading to systematic damage to human health.
PM2.5 is small in particle size but as pollution can reach a large surface area. It is more prone to carrying a variety of toxic heavy metals, acid oxides, organic pollutants and other chemicals, as well as microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses in the air. When inhaled, it can enter a person’s blood stream. Exposure to PM2.5 can contribute to cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as greater cancer risks, all leading to a significantly higher mortality rate.
Studies have shown PM2.5 is most prevalant in the combustion of coal. Since the majority of China’s energy comes from coal plants, Greenpeace is urging regional governments to cap coal consumption.
Greenpeace is also calling on the local governments in key regions to go beyond requirements raised by recent MEP plans, and to take ambitious steps to set up specific air quality improvement plans, including detailed PM2.5 pollution reduction timelines.
Source: Greenpeace

China sees surge in numbers seeking treatment for infertility

The number of Chinese seeking treatment for infertility is increasing, say reproductive medicine specialists

Although Wang Xia has a successful career as a university lecturer in central China's Henan Province, life is imperfect. She cannot bear a child.
"I really want to have a child and I've tried several hospitals for treatment but failed," Wang said, adding that she ended up divorced from her husband because they could not have a child.
Wang became pregnant after she got married but went for an induced abortion because she wanted to pursue her career.
A surgical infection caused her bilateral tubal obstruction, causing her reproductive disability.
According to statistics provided by the China Population Association, more than 40 million Chinese people are diagnosed with infertility, 12.5 percent of the total amount of people of childbearing age. The rate was only three percent 20 years ago.
The first test tube baby on the Chinese mainland was born in 1988 at the Center of Reproductive Medicine of the Third School of Clinical Medicine of Peking University, where about 1,500 patients every day queue to see reproductive experts.
Qiao Jie, director of the center, said many professional women postpone marriage and having a child, which may cause physical over-tiredness and even symptoms such as amenorrhea and menopausal hot flashes.
"Their productive ability deteriorates when they eventually want a child," Qiao added.
Twenty-two-year-old Xiaoyu, not her real name, had an ectopic pregnancy twice with one of her oviducts being removed.
"A careless induced abortion before marriage caused reproductive problems," she said. "I leave all my hope in the operation of the oviduct on the other side."
According to Guo Yihong, vice director with the Center of Reproductive Medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, the number of infertile people is increasing with more than 150,000 patients accepting treatment from the center in 2011.
Zhang Cuilian, an expert in reproductive medicine of Henan Province People's Hospital, said that 70 percent of the female infertile and 50 percent of the male infertile was due to poor daily habits.
Tubal obstruction and endometrial over-thinness caused by induced abortions is the prime cause for female infertility, Zhang said.
Zhang knows of one couple where the woman had 10 abortions during her 20s, thinking that she and her partner would have a child at a later age. However, she could not bear a child when she was 30.
Experts also said living conditions may be the cause of infertility, such as street pollution, formaldehyde in newly bought furniture and radiation from daily electronic devices.
Staying up late and pressure are other reasons in developing infertility, said Peng Hongmei, associate chief physician of Gynecology and Obstetrics of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Hospital.
Peng has witnessed a surge in patient numbers seeking treatment during the last two years.
"The prime time for women to bear children is in their 20s to at most 35," Peng suggested. "Giving birth to children at a relative young age will not only increase pregnancy quality but also repress some gynecological diseases."
Couples who want children should go to a legal hospital for diagnosis if they have failed to have a child within one or two years, she added.
Source: Shanghai Daily

Antibotic resistance leaks from labs into China's rivers

Leakage of plasmids used in Chinese labs into rivers is promoting the spread of resistance

Researchers report that antibiotic resistance genes used in Chinese molecular biology and genetic engineering experiments may have reached the environment. 
In six Chinese rivers, researchers found bacterial DNA carrying these synthetic genes (Environ. Sci. Technol). Still experts call for more studies to confirm the results and pinpoint specific sources of the genes.
Heavy use of antibiotics in hospitals and on farms has polluted the environment with bacteria carrying genes that confer resistance to the drugs. Once in the environment, the microbes can quickly transfer the genes to other bacteria, leading to antibiotic-resistant strains that can cause severe and sometimes untreatable infections.
But these resistance genes also are cheap, powerful tools for biologists. In so-called molecular cloning studies, researchers introduce the genes into synthetic versions of plasmids, which are small, circular molecules of DNA found in bacteria. The synthetic plasmids also include another gene that the scientists want to study. By treating the bacteria with the antibiotic, the researchers can ensure that the microbes that survive contain both the resistance gene and their gene of choice.
To make sure that the plasmids don’t escape the lab, academic institutions in the U.S. follow special procedures to treat waste from the experiments before disposing of it: They kill any remaining microbes with high heat and sometimes then incinerate the waste.
Researchers sampled six rivers (A through F) throughout eastern China and found synthetic antibiotic resistance genes in all of them.
Industrial scientists have also used molecular cloning to engineer crops and bacteria for biofuel production and environmental remediation. To prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance, however, most genetically modified crops are now produced without these genes.
But because this technique is still commonly used in molecular biology labs, some researchers have been concerned that these experiments could release resistance genes into the environment. To search for antibiotic-resistance genes introduced by synthetic plasmids, Jun-Wen Li at the Institute of Health and Environmental Medicine, in Tianjin, China, and his colleagues took water samples from six Chinese rivers downstream of densely populated cities. They extracted plasmids from the samples and transferred the DNA into Escherichia coli. Then they screened the bacteria for a gene commonly used in academic and industrial labs that confers resistance to the antibiotic ampicillin. To determine if a gene in a sample came from a manmade source, they used polymerase chain reaction to look for sequences unique to several synthetic plasmids.
The researchers found synthetic resistance genes in all six rivers. Of all of the ampicillin-resistance plasmids they found in the rivers, about 27% had the synthetic vector-sourced gene.
Justin J. Donato, a biochemist at the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, Minn., says the study provides the first definitive evidence that genetic constructs from the lab have reached the environment. Given that no one previously had reported observing these synthetic plasmids in the environment, Donato is surprised by how prevalent they are. He says the study requires replication especially to rule out the possibility of sample contamination from plasmids already in Li’s laboratory.
Source: Chemical Engineering News

Government requires mental health education for schools

New guidelines require psychological counselling be made available in all Chinese schools

China's Ministry of Education on Monday urged more efforts to provide qualified mental health education and services to students in primary and middle schools.
Local education authorities and schools should strictly implement a newly revised guideline on mental health education, according to a circular published on the ministry's website on Monday.
The circular stresses systematic arrangements for mental health-related curriculum and accessible in-school psychological counseling. It also pledged to include mental health education in the overall evaluation of a school's performance.
In-school counseling should be strengthened in order to prevent and resolve students' mental health issues, says the circular.
It also highlights the guideline's requirement that each school should have at least one mental health teacher.
The guideline also introduces an examination procedure for all textbooks to be used in mental health classes from the spring semester of next year.
A previous version of the guideline was adopted in 2002.
In 2010, China's total enrollment at regular primary schools and junior secondary schools was 152.2 million, according to the ministry.
Source: Shanghai Daily

Hospitals ordered not to get into debt to upgrade facilities

Hospitals must not take out further loans to fund construction or new facilities, China's government says

The Chinese government has ordered county-level public hospitals to stop borrowing money after an audit showed some of them took on too much debt when upgrading facilities, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News.
The National Development and Reform Commission, the finance and health ministries and the China Banking Regulatory Commission, requested banks stop issuing new loans and reduce lines of credit to county hospitals nationwide, according to the Oct. 31 emergency notice that was distributed this month and seen by Bloomberg.
The contents of the document were confirmed by three people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the order has not been made public.
County hospitals in Xinjiang in northwestern China were ordered not to raise new debt, according to a statement posted on website of the autonomous region’s Development and Reform Commission, dated Dec. 10. An employee at the NDRC’s information office said such a notice hasn’t been made public and declined further comment. Employees at the Health and Finance Ministry’s press offices declined to comment. Calls to the CBRC’s press office weren’t picked up.
China’s central government spent 450.6 billion yuan ($72.3 billion) in 2009-2011 on improving medical services, which included building and upgrading county hospitals. It is also ordering hospitals to stop marking up the price of drugs, sales of which contribute 50 percent of hospitals’ revenues, in a bid to reduce health-care costs for patients.
Source: Bloomberg

Headache in China more likely to be migraine

Migraine accounts for almost 40% of headaches treated in specialist clinics in Beijing

by Michael Woodhead
In contrast to other counties, migraine seems to be the most common form of headache seen in specialist headache clinics, Beijing researchers report.
In a review of 1843 headache patients treated at the headache clinic of the General Hospital for PLA in Beijing, researchers found that migraine and tension-type headache are the two most common presentations, accounting for 39% and 33% of the total patients, respectively.
These findings are in contrast to international studies in which the proportion of headaches is found to be 11% for migraine, and 42% for tension-type headache.
Dr Zhao Dong and colleagues at the International Headache Center, Department of Neurology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, say that  there may be racial or social factors that determine the character of headache treated at specialist clinics in China.
Their study also found that  cluster headache and other trigeminal autonomic headaches were much less common than other severe headaches such as migraine but nevertheless more than 5% of patients had these kinds of headache.
"The reasonable explanation may be the fact that cluster headache is an excruciating headache syndrome and patients often responded poor to nonspecific treatment such as analgesics and the low recognition rate by many physicians and even neurologist. As a result, these patients are willing to go to headache clinic for specific treatment," they suggest.
The peak ages of tension type headache at onset for males and females were both in the 30–39 years age group, but the most likely period of migraine seems to be earlier, at 20–29 years of age for females and 10–19 years of age for males.
Almost 15% of headache patients were given an additional diagnosis of chronic daily headache, of which half were defined as medication-overuse headaches.
The researchers say their study gives a more accurate picture of headache in Chinese specialist clinics as they used the criteria define by the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd Edition.
Source: PLOS One

Thermal scanners at airports missed 97% of swine flu

Temperature screening at airports has a sensitivity of only 3% for detecting influenza

The thermal scanners introduced to screen incoming passengers  at China's airports during the 2009 global swine flu pandemic were extremely inaccurate and would have missed almost all of cases of influenza, a new study shows.
A review of the effectiveness of airport border screening measures by New Zealand researchers found that thermal imaging devices had only a 3% sensitivity rate for detecting influenza.

The study which involved a questionnaire, temperature testing and respiratory tract viral testing found that the rate of influenza was 1.1% overall and  4% among symptomatic passengers.
The sensitivity of screening criteria ranged from 84% for “any symptom of influenza” to 3% for a fever of 37.8 °C or greater. The positive predictive value was low for all criteria.

"Border screening using self-reported symptoms and temperature testing has limitations for preventing pandemic influenza from entering a country. Using “any symptom” or cough would lead to many uninfected people being investigated, yet some infected people would remain undetected. If more specific criteria such as fever were used, most infected people would enter the country despite screening," they conclude..

Source: American Journal of Public Health

Depression a "time bomb" for China's wife-less young men

China's increasing numbers of unmarried men are prone to depression, suicidal feelings and aggression

by Michael Woodhead
China's sex ratio imbalance is producing an increasing number of unmarried men who have a high risk of depression, suicidal ideation, lower self-esteem and greater propensity to aggression, a Hangzhou study has shown.
Dr Zhou Xudong and researchers at the Institute of Social and Family Medicine of  Zhejiang University,  Hangzhou, studied psychiatric characteristics of 1,059 never-married men and 1,066 married men aged 30–40. They found that never-married men were poorer, less well educated and had lower self-esteem than married men. Never-married men were also much more likely to have depression symptoms, higher levels of aggression and were more likely to have suicidal thoughts or wishes  than married men.
The researchers say China has the highest excess of male births in the world at 118 to every 100 female, with a current excess of 20 million men of reproductive age. They say their study is one of the first to show that this sex imbalance is having an impact on the psychological well-being of the large numbers of men who will never marry.
"The high prevalence of severe depression and suicide ideation in these men is of particular concern. In rural China mental health services are currently very sparse, but rural doctors could be trained to use a check score to identify severe depression, and refer as appropriate to specialist services," they say.
"Our results present evidence for a potential mental health timebomb in rural large areas of rural China," they add.
They say the immediate question is what can be done to support the millions of men who, through no fault of their own, will be unable to marry and have children, and who, as a consequence have high rates of depression and suicidal tendencies.
"The challenge here is the virtual non-existence of mental health services in most of rural China. There are 1.3 psychiatrists and two psychiatric nurses per 100,000 people in China, but the overwhelming majority are in urban areas."
According to the researchers few men with depression are diagnosed or treated because of the lack of trained mental health professional in rural China.
"It would be straightforward and feasible to train rural doctors to identify key symptoms and signs of mental illness, or simply to administer a mental well-being check list as a screening tool for referral. The problem of depression is not of course confined to older unmarried men and such screening would identify vulnerable married men and women as well. This would of course require a major strengthening of mental health services at county level and above. But with mental health now rising on the health agenda and more resources available for health services as a result of the health reforms in China, there is a real opportunity now to address this," they conclude.
Source: Social Psychiatry

Shanghai hospital gives children cancer chemo by mistake

Three children at the Xinhua hospital, Shanghai, were given the anti-leukaemia drug cytarabine by mistake

At least two more children were mistakenly given an anti-cancer drug at Xinhua Hospital, a day after the hospital admitted it gave the drug to a four-year-old boy.
The two girls given the wrong medicine, cytarabine, had adverse reactions, including vomiting and fever, the parents told a Shanghai television station. The girls got the wrong drug at Xinhua's emergency department on December 4, the same day as it was given to the boy.
All three children were supposed to get an anti-viral drug and all three were believed to have been prescribed the wrong drug by the same doctor, who was training at the hospital.
The medicine they were given, cytarabine, is meant to treat acute leukemia and acute lymphoma. Its side effects can include injury to the body's blood cell production system, resulting in low white cell counts and low platelets.
Hospital officials were not available for comment yesterday. The parents of both girls said the hospital had admitted the mistake and apologized. The parents said they were angry that the hospital didn't tell them until a week later.
"When we questioned them about the delayed apology, they said they were afraid that the parents might lose control if informed of the bad news in a timely manner," the father of a four-year-old girl said.
They also questioned the hospital's explanation, that the doctor picked the wrong drug because of a similar Chinese name from the medicine list in the computer, instead saying it appeared the doctor didn't know the effects of the medicine.
"Because he also prescribed the anti-cancer medicine, a cytarabine injection, by handwriting on my child's medical record," said the father of an eight-year-old girl, who was sent to the hospital for mumps.
The mother of the eight-year-old said the girl received 200 milligrams of intravenous injection and started to vomit and have fever after returning home. She was sent to another hospital, which found her white cell counts were in the lowest limit of normal. The quantity of the drug was what would be given an adult of 100 kilograms.
The hospital said it had trouble finding the boy given the drug, but after tracking him down after 10 days, all his medical tests were normal.
Source: Shanghai Daily

No link between MSG and asthma, Nanjing study shows

Large study found no link between MSG consumption and asthma

by Michael Woodhead
The first major population study to look at the possible role of MSG and asthma has found no link between the consumption of monosodium glutamate and asthma rates.
Dr Shi Zumin, a researcher from the Department of Nutrition and Foodborne Disease Prevention at Jiangsu Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, undertook a study of MSG and asthma because emerging evidence shows that diet is related to asthma.
In a study of data from 1486 Chinese men and women who participated in the Jiangsu Nutrition Study, MSG intake and dietary patterns were assessed in 2002. Information on asthma history was collected during followed-up in 2007.
Of the study population, 1.4% reported ever having asthma. MSG intake was not positively associated with asthma. However, there was a significant positive association between ‘traditional’ (high loadings on rice, wheat flour, and vegetable) food pattern and asthma. No link with asthma was seen with a diet rich in meat and alcohol, nor for a 'sweet tooth' diet high in cake, milk, and yoghurt, or a ‘vegetable rich’ diet high in whole grain, fruit, and vegetables.
Dr Shi says a MSG was first reported  to be linked to asthma attacks in 1981 after a person developed asthma after ingesting a meal in a Chinese restaurant. However, small clinical trials on MSG and asthma have yielded inconsistent results, with some suggesting that MSG intake was a trigger factor for asthma, while others showing no  link.
He notes that the prevalence of asthma in the Chinese population is lower than Western populations, and the prevalence of asthma (1.4%) in the study was consistent with that of other studies
"In our [study], even though the mean MSG intake is high compared with many developed countries, we did not observe a significant increased risk of asthma," he concludes.
Source: PLOS One

Traditional medicine TM81 effective in diabetes

TM81 reduced glucose levels in people with type 2 diabetes

The traditional Chinese medicine TM81 (糖敏灵丸 or Tang-Min-Ling-Wan) is effective in controlling blood glucose level and is safe to use in patients with early-stage type 2 diabetes,a  study shows.
Dr Lian Feng-Mei  and co-researchers from the Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, evaluated the safety and effectiveness of TM81 in 480 overweight type 2 diabetes. The patients received 6 g TM81 or placebo, three times daily for 12 weeks. After treatment, HbA1c decreased 1.02% in the TM81 group vs. 0.47% in the placebo group. The fasting plasma glucose decreased 0.8 ± 0.1 mM in the TM81 group vs. an increase of 0.2 ± 0.2 mM in the placebo group.  The TM81 was more effective for patients with higher baseline HbA1c levels. The TM81 group also showed improved β-cell function and increased HOMA-β. In addition, body weight, BMI, and waist circumference of subjects in the TM81 group were reduced, and the symptoms related to diabetes were improved. There were no significant differences in the types and frequency of adverse reactions between the two groups.
The researchers say TM81 contains the herb Rhizoma Coptidis and is derived from a classic formula described in the Treatise on Exogenous Febrile Diseases over 1,000 years ago.
"This Chinese herbal medicine has
the potential to be a new option in clinical management of type 2 diabetes," the researchers conclude.
Source: Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism

Medical research in China is a $7 billion industry

In 2012, the Medical Research industry in China is expected to generate $6.8 billion. Annualized growth over the past five years period has been about 14.3%. Over half of industry revenue is derived from government funding.
The Medical Research industry is beginning to mature and competition for government funds and private funds has increased. IBISWorld estimates that profitability is low in 2012 due to the high costs for medical research and commercialization difficulties. Profitability varies among different participants in the industry, however. Biotechnology companies tend to be profitable, while medical research institutes are more likely to suffer losses.
In 2012, the combined market share of the top four companies in the Medical Research industry in China – Chinese Academy of Sciences, WuXi AppTec, Shanghai Institute of Pharmaceutical Industry, and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences – is estimated at 19.7%. This low concentration level is due to the existence of a large number of non-profit medical research institutions and small-scale biotechnology companies. Non-profit medical research institutions rely heavily on government funding.
With increasing importance attached to research and development, the Medical Research industry in China is expected to develop steadily over the next five years. More research institutions are expected to restructure into for-profit enterprises or establish their own enterprises. Further, biotechnology companies will continue to increase in size.
Source: IBIS World

Shanghai's new suicide hotline receives hundreds of calls

Shanghai's new suicide hotline offers counselling day and night

by Wang Hongyi
Shanghai's first 24-hour suicide-intervention hotline received more than 200 calls during its first week of operation.
The free hotline at 021-5161-9995, launched on Dec 3, is run by the Life Education and Crisis Intervention Center, a nonprofit organization.
Compared with other similar hotlines in the city, this new line extends its psychological service into late nights and early mornings, peak times for people to reach out for mental comfort, according to the hotline operator.
"We received a lot of phone calls after the hotline was launched. This reflects that many people are needing the psychological and mental health aid," says psychological expert Lin Kunhui, the founder, who is also the secretary-general of the Taiwan Suicide Prevention and Cure Association.
During the first week, a total of 201 calls were received. Among them, 137 calls were "ordinary" psychological counseling calls while 64 required crisis intervention.
The psychological crises were divided into seven degrees by the center; degree five and above are considered serious and needing urgent intervention.
Among the 64 calls that required crisis intervention, 22 were urgent, according to the center.
When receiving the most serious calls, Lin says, "the immediate thing for our staff member to do is to manage to lower the callers' degree of crisis".
Volunteers will contact the 110 or 120 emergency hotlines immediately if they suspect a life may be in danger, he adds.
So far, about 100 volunteers have been trained, and they work in shifts for the 24-hour service.
According to statistics by the center, most phone calls were received between 10 pm and 8 am. Peak times for psychological crisis occurred on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.
"So far, we have only mastered one week's figures. After several weeks' operation, we will sort and analyze the data, and identify the peak periods when people most need psychological crisis intervention," Lin says.
The World Health Organization said that each year about 287,000 people kill themselves in China, while about 2 million more attempt suicide.
The first suicide intervention hotline on the Chinese mainland was opened in Beijing in 2002. Since then, similar hotlines have opened across the country, such as in Guangzhou in Guangdong province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province and Nanjing in Jiangsu province.
"In Taiwan, a 24-hour suicide intervention hotline can receive as many as 100,000 calls each year on average. But on the Chinese mainland, the number is still lagging behind," Lin says. "In this regard, psychological aid and crisis intervention need to be widely publicized."
In addition to enrolling volunteers citywide, Life Education and Crisis Intervention Center will also organize public education and training activities at local schools, communities and companies.
An online platform for psychological health guidance and suicide intervention is also expected to be operating within three to six months.
Source: China Daily

"My experience in a Beijing hospital - good once you've paid upfront"

I’m recovering from an operation carried out in a Beijing hospital recently and I thought some of you might be interested to know what that was like.
Obviously I wasn’t seriously ill and this would be called “elective surgery”, that is, I’d been putting it off for years and I wanted to get it sorted out before I retire next month. It was no big deal but the symptoms can be annoying at times and something had to be done sometime. It was about sorting out the effects on one's body of having five children. Enough said. We have a good global insurance policy with our job, which helps a lot.
I will only talk about hospital services in Beijing, because that is all I know. Perhaps it is multi-layered but up there at the top for Westerners is Beijing United Family Hospital. When I first arrived in China, a man who had been living here for many years told me that the only hospital he would ever go to is BUFH. Having been there earlier this year, I have to say it is absolutely amazing! I felt like I was the only patient in the place – no waiting for an appointment, no waiting to be seen, the undivided attention of the consultant, cheerful, charming nurses, the most modern facilities, etc. Mind you, it is very expensive, so really only for people with good global insurance.
Read more: Beijing travel blog