Virus Outbreak: NHRI working on virus vaccine
Staff writer, with CNAThe National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) yesterday said it is working “night and day” to develop a vaccine against the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), but a market-ready solution would likely come too late for use in the current outbreak. Researchers are aiming to create within two months a vaccine that produces a high level of immunity against 2019-nCoV in rats, before beginning clinical trials within six months, NHRI Chairman Lin Tzou-yien (林奏延) said. However, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology director Liao Ching-len (廖經倫) said that as genome sequencing of the virus had only recently been completed, it was too early to discuss how effective a possible vaccine might be. From the laboratory to the market, the vaccine development process usually takes one to three years, even in the US, so this vaccine would not be used in the current outbreak, he said. The first of the NHRI’s vaccine types, a peptide vaccine, uses protein components to engineer targeted immune responses and could be developed within a few months, Liao said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC
Ultrasound used to treat Parkinson’s
By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterA team of National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) researchers yesterday said that they have used ultrasonic waves to treat Parkinson’s disease in mice, turning ultrasound — mainly used for medical scanning — into a treatment tool. The microbubbles break apart when hit by ultrasonic waves, allowing the reformed prestin to reach target cells directly, which is another form of precision medicine, he said. The technique has proved effective in treating mice with Parkinson’s disease, with their mobility greatly improving after treatment, as shown in a video released by the team. While ultrasonic waves are mainly used for medical examinations, the team has turned them into a treatment tool, Lin said, expressing the hope that the technique could be used to treat diabetes or cancers by activating pertinent cells. Medical ultrasound frequencies are usually higher than 100kHz, but the team has only experimented with ultrasonic waves of up to 500kHz, Lin said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC
Virus Outbreak: Taiwan seeks drug to fight virus
Chen confirmed the request, and said that the drug — which is not yet licensed or approved in any nation — still requires government approval before it could be used. On Friday last week, Gilead said it was working with Chinese authorities to test the drug on coronavirus patients. Some doctors have reported that remdesivir was beneficial in treating the related coronavirus Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) during a 2015 outbreak in South Korea, Chang said. Doctors are treating the pneumonia patients with supportive care, which includes using supplemental oxygen to reduce breathing difficulties, Chang said. As doctors have yet to find any drugs that are highly effective in treating the coronavirus, Chang said none of the patients have been treated with other antiviral medications.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC
Brexit ends Scotsman’s mayoralty in Germany
“I don’t have a vote in Germany anymore, and if you have no vote ... you cannot be mayor,” he told reporters in his office squeezed under the rafters. His political participation dropped from “100 to zero at midnight” on Friday last week, Britain’s final day of EU membership, the 70-year-old said. The day before Brexit, Macnab sealed the end of his term in the voluntary post, handing over to his deputy with little ceremony at a meeting of the village council. On the day itself, Macnab spent the evening rehearsing with his rock group, the Lucky Devils, before sharing a few glasses of whiskey with his bandmates. A present from his constituents just before he stepped down, the Scottish flag now waves in the wind outside Macnab’s house.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC
Global automaker supplies threatened by coronavirus
Parts made in China are used in millions of vehicles assembled elsewhere, and China’s Hubei Province, epicenter of the outbreak, is a major hub for vehicle parts production and shipments. Chinese auto parts and assembly plants have extended previously planned New Year’s shutdowns through Monday next week, but some have pushed the shutdowns out further. Other global automakers have not disclosed details about potential disruptions outside China, but have said that they are monitoring the risks. Toyota operating officer Masayoshi Shirayanagi said that the automaker is “looking very closely at inventories of components” outside China. When a fire at a Michigan supplier plant threatened production of Ford Motor Co’s high-profit pickup trucks, Ford moved rapidly to relocate production tools to a plant in Ontario.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC
Pingtung County to expand Lili River solar project
By Lo Hsin-chen and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Pingtung County Government on Tuesday said that its pioneering green embankment project is to be expanded following the venture’s initial success. The county government launched the 2 megawatt (MW) project last year, installing solar panels along a 2km section of the Lili River (力力溪) embankment. “The Lili River solar project makes the county the first in Taiwan to produce energy on an embankment,” Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said. The county has built solar farms at sea, promoted power generation from biomass and ocean currents, and placed solar panels in detention basins in an effort to support the central government’s renewable energy policies, Pan said. The planned expansion would increase the installation of solar panels to a 2.4km section of the embankment, with a total power generation capacity of 2.5MW, Chiang said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC
Virus Outbreak: Health officer vacancies filled within a day: CDC
By Chien Hui-ju and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerVacancies for airport health inspection officers posted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Thursday were filled within a day, the centers’ Northern Regional Center said yesterday. A notice was posted on Facebook and the Ministry of Health and Welfare Web site to recruit 96 people to work at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Plant and Animal Quarantine Station. The Northern Regional Center praised the public’s patriotism, noting that the positions were filled overnight. Interviews of the applicants began yesterday, it added. As a health worker who has taken the Nightingale pledge, Ilsa said that she hoped to do her part in contributing to the nation’s disease prevention efforts.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC
Exports last month fell 7.6% due to holiday, virus
By Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterExports last month fell 7.6 percent to US$25.07 billion, slipping back into contraction territory as the Lunar New Year holiday and the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak have disrupted operations and limited order visibility, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. “Fewer working days weighed on exports, but they might regain growth momentum from this month” in the absence of major downside risks, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing in Taipei. Without the virus disruption, exports this month would have staged a 20 percent rebound, given last year’s low comparison base, Tsai said, adding that last month’s outbound shipments would have expanded 2.6 percent without the holiday disruption. In particular, semiconductor exports increased 6.7 percent, benefiting from 5G deployment and a demand for new smartphones and high-performance chips, the ministry said. Shipments bound for all destinations declined, except for a 1 percent gain in shipments to the US, it added.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC
Uber forecasts first-ever quarterly profit by Q4
Gross bookings would decline slightly in this quarter from the fourth quarter of last year, chief financial officer Nelson Chai said. For the fourth quarter, Uber edged out Wall Street’s expectations, with bookings up 28 percent and a loss that was narrower than analysts’ estimates. Gross bookings for the fourth quarter were US$18.1 billion, showing that demand for transportation and food delivery orders remains strong. Eventually, Uber Eats expects to reduce discounts for customers, which would drive a decline in spending by next quarter. “It’s just running a year behind.”The ride-hailing business was profitable on a standalone basis in the fourth quarter, Uber said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC
US claims killing of al-Qaeda leader Qassim al-Rimi
Al-Rimi is a founder of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Al-Rimi had said in an 18-minute video that his group was responsible for the Dec. 6 shooting at the base. Al-Rimi called the shooter, Royal Saudi Air Force second lieutenant Mohammed Alshamrani, a “courageous knight” and a “hero.”The shooter opened fire inside a classroom at the base, killing three people and wounding two sheriff’s deputies before one of the deputies killed him. The shooting focused public attention on the presence of foreign students in US military training programs and exposed shortcomings in the screening of cadets. The US last month sent home 21 Saudi Arabian military students, saying that the trainees had posted jihadist or anti-US sentiments on social media pages or had “contact with child pornography,” including in Internet chat rooms.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC
PBOC vows to step up support in crisis
“In terms of monetary policy, the next step is to strengthen countercyclical adjustments, maintain reasonable and ample liquidity, and provide a sound monetary and financial environment for the real economy,” Pan said. Pan reiterated that China has sufficient policy tools to cope with the pressure, saying that the central bank has more room to support growth than in other major economies. The bank would use tools such as targeted reserve requirement cuts, relending and rediscounting to support key sectors, he said. The cost of special relending, at 300 billion yuan (US$42.95 billion), from the PBOC to commercial banks is relatively low, Pan added. Beijing needs growth of about 5.6 percent this year to fulfil its goal of doubling GDP and incomes over the past decade.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC
Virus Outbreak: New government awareness campaign says masks are not needed on bus, MRT
By Lee Hsin-fang and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, staff writer and CNAA government disease prevention and awareness TV spot yesterday stated that wearing masks on a bus or MRT metropolitan rail system was unnecessary for healthy people. “Masks should be saved for those truly in need, such as medical staff and sick patients,” Chen said in the video. However, a government official yesterday added that people should wear masks when taking a flight. Each NHIA-contracted drugstore is allotted 200 adult masks and 50 children’s masks per day, the agency said. People whose identification numbers end in an odd digit may purchase masks on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while those with even numbers can buy masks on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, it said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC
Political Developments: Caucuses agree to talks on new legislative session
By Sean Lin / Staff reporterThe Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have agreed to hold a round of cross-caucus negotiations on Friday next week to decide on the starting date of the new legislative session, Legislative Speaker Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) said yesterday. KMT caucus whip Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) discussed the issue with DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) at a closed-door meeting at the legislature in Taipei that Yu also attended. As Feb. 28 and 29 are national holidays, the latest date on which the session must start is Feb. 27, Yu said. The draft bill should be the first item on the agenda when the new legislative session opens, he said. The KMT caucus would finalize its version of the proposal as soon as possible, he said, calling on the other caucuses to sponsor their own versions.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC
Political Developments: Lai invited to US for rights advocacy: pastor
Staff writer, with CNA, WASHINGTONVice president-elect William Lai (賴清德) was invited to the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington because of his advocacy for freedom of religion and human rights, prominent Chinese-American pastor Bob Fu (傅希秋) said on Thursday. Since Lai stepped down as premier in January last year, he has been deeply involved in the promotion of human rights, Fu said. US President Donald Trump and US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed the gathering of religious and political leaders from around the world. Lai is to be sworn in as vice president in May. The National Prayer Breakfast, a bipartisan event founded in 1953, aims to “unite individuals of different nationalities, religions and political perspectives through the power of prayer,” the formal invitation says.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC
Xi has lots at stake as Chinese officials point fingers over virus
By Sharon Chen / BloombergSince taking power, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has effectively made himself “chairman of everything.” The 2019 novel coronavirus scare (2019-nCoV) is showing all the risks involved with that strategy. While lower-ranking Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials are starting to admit they were slow to contain the virus, senior leaders very quickly realized the enormous political stakes. In China’s top-down system of government, much of the political intrigue takes place behind closed doors — stability and control are cherished among top leaders. Worried that they might end up being scapegoats, local officials in the firing line are publicly pointing fingers at each other. The mayor of Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the virus originated, said he had to wait for “authorization” before he could release information on the outbreak to the public.
Source:Taipei Times
February 06, 2020 16:20 UTC