PAP Community Foundation to open more active ageing, senior care centres
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CNA
6 hours ago
- CNA
South Korea medical students end 17-month class boycott
SEOUL: Thousands of South Korean medical students are set to return to classrooms after a 17-month boycott, an industry body told AFP on Monday (Jul 14), ending part of a standoff which also saw junior doctors strike. South Korean healthcare was plunged into chaos early last year when then-president Yoon Suk Yeol moved to sharply increase medical school admissions, citing an urgent need to boost doctor numbers to meet growing demand in a rapidly aging society. The initiative met fierce protest, prompting junior doctors to walk away from hospitals and medical students to boycott their classrooms, with operations cancelled and service provision disrupted nationwide. The measure was later watered down, and the government eventually offered to scrap it in March 2025, after Yoon was impeached over his disastrous declaration of martial law. "Students have agreed to return to school," a spokesperson for the Korean Medical Association told AFP Monday, adding that it was up to each medical school to decide the schedule for student returns. The Korean Medical Students' Association said in an earlier statement that the students had reached this decision because a continued boycott "could cause the collapse of the fundamentals of medical systems". Some 8,300 students are expected to return to school, but no specific timeline has been provided. Prime Minister Kim Min-seok welcomed the decision, calling it a "big step forward" in a Facebook post Sunday, adding President Lee Jae Myung was deliberating ways to solve the issue. In addition to the student boycott, some 12,000 junior doctors went on strike last year - with the vast majority of them still declining to return to work. Lee - who took office in June after winning snap elections following Yoon's removal from office - had said on the campaign trail he would seek to resolve the medical strike. The increase in medical school admissions led to a record number of students re-taking the college entrance exam in November in a bid to capitalise on reforms that made it easier to get into coveted majors.
CNA
13 hours ago
- CNA
Oxford study linking vaccines to lower dementia risk needs more evidence, say Singapore doctors
SINGAPORE: A recent Oxford study suggesting that certain vaccines may help reduce the risk of dementia has drawn interest from medical professionals in Singapore, but they said the findings are still too preliminary to influence clinical practice. Released in June, the study analysed health data from nearly 437,000 individuals in the United States. It found that those who received either the shingles vaccine or the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine – both of which contain the AS01 adjuvant – had a lower risk of developing dementia within 18 months. Specifically, the RSV vaccine, Arexvy, was associated with a 29 per cent reduction in risk, while the shingles vaccine, Shingrix, was linked to an 18 per cent reduction. Researchers believe the AS01 adjuvant, a substance used to enhance immune response, may be the key factor behind this potential benefit. 'It gives us a possible explanation that the secret recipe may lie in the adjuvant,' said Dr Philip Yap, a senior consultant in geriatric medicine at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. 'The adjuvant is actually given in these recombinant vaccines to boost its efficacy,' he said. 'When you give an adjuvant, the vaccine is supposed to elicit a stronger immune response, like a booster.' EVIDENCE STILL 'TOO WEAK' Despite these encouraging findings, Dr Yap and other dementia specialists in Singapore stressed that the results should be interpreted cautiously. Dr Chong Yao Feng, a consultant in the neurology division at the National University Hospital, said that while the study was 'well done', it was epidemiological in nature – based on observational data rather than randomised controlled trials. 'The nature of epidemiological studies is that they demonstrate associations but not causations, unlike randomised controlled trials.' He expressed concerns about how the study would be interpreted and whether it could influence actions by individual patients or by health authorities. "We cannot repurpose shingles or RSV vaccines for dementia prevention on the basis of this study alone," Dr Chong said. "Neither should individual patients sign up for these vaccinations with the belief that their risk of dementia is reduced. The current evidence is too weak for such actions to be taken." Others said that longer-term studies are necessary before drawing firm conclusions, particularly since the effects of introducing these vaccines into the immune system need to be carefully examined. Dr Zhao Yi Jing, a neurologist at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, said the 18-month window observed in the study is too short to assess long-term effects on a condition like dementia, which often takes decades to develop. The pathological process of dementia can begin 10 to 20 years before clinical symptoms appear. The study does not provide enough evidence to show that the vaccines can prevent dementia or slow its progression in patients, she said. Still, Dr Zhao acknowledged that the idea is not without precedent. Other vaccines have been used to treat other diseases, such as the hepatitis vaccine being used to prevent liver cancer. 'It's still too early to tell, but it's not like it hasn't happened before. But when you do that, there are a lot of ethical regulatory considerations,' she added. Khoo Teck Puat Hospital's Dr Yap, who also chairs social service agency Dementia Singapore, echoed her sentiments. "It is really too premature, it's still too early. There are positive signals that warrant further investigation. So these positive signals shouldn't be ignored, but neither should we take them to be confirmatory," he said. 'We need more studies to understand whether future studies can replicate the same findings. So the more studies we have, that means the evidence becomes stronger and more robust.' Dr Yap warned that while an enhanced immune response might help clear amyloid plaques – proteins implicated in Alzheimer's disease – it could also provoke chronic inflammation. 'You want to remove the bad amyloid, the toxic substances. But at the same time, you do not want damage to the good cells,' he said. PREVENTING DEMENTIA Beyond vaccines, doctors highlighted well-established methods for lowering dementia risk. These include regular exercise, mental stimulation and a balanced diet. Preserving hearing and vision is also increasingly recognised as important. 'It has been shown that hearing loss increases the risk of dementia by up to two times,' said Dr Yap, advising people to consider hearing aids and 'not neglect things' that can be easily addressed. He also advised those with poor vision due to cataracts to get it treated – "quite a simple, low-risk surgery" – instead of living with the problem. Sleep and alcohol consumption are also risk factors. Poor sleep can disrupt the brain's glymphatic system, which is crucial for clearing toxic substances like amyloid plaques, said Dr Yap. Mount Elizabeth's Dr Zhao added that high alcohol consumption can trigger a general inflammatory response in the body and direct neurotoxicity. 'I have seen patients where through chronic alcoholism, their brain has gone through significant shrinkage compared to other people of their age who don't drink a lot of alcohol,' she said.
CNA
20 hours ago
- CNA
Science, risks and solutions behind obesity in Singapore
Obesity isn't just a global problem - it's hitting Singapore hard. In 2022, nearly 12 out of every 100 adults were obese - double the rate from 30 years ago. What's behind the surge and how is Singapore fighting back? Nicolas Ng talks to a senior endocrinologist to uncover the risks and solutions.
