There's a ‘double-edged sword' in your stomach
It's not always obvious which of the multitude of species of bacteria riding around in us should be classified as germs and attacked, and which are essential workers that should be nurtured.
One that's particularly hard to classify is H. pylori, which was the subject of the 2005 Nobel Prize for the discovery that it causes peptic ulcers.
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Straits Times
14 minutes ago
- Straits Times
NUS Medicine hopes to help Singaporeans age more healthily
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine has come far in 120 years. The Straits Times takes a look at some of its achievements and where it is headed. SINGAPORE - Eternal youth might be a pipe dream, but having healthier bodies as one ages is a reality that the Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme hopes to make possible for people. Its mission is to add healthy years of life by delaying ageing, as well as having people stay free of disease for as long as possible, so they are able to lead physically adept and socially active lives. It is an ambitious project involving about 45 NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine faculty members. They are leading or participating in many associated projects that look at different aspects of ageing, with the aim of slowing its progression. The programme, headed by Distinguished Professor Brian Kennedy, who was trained in biochemistry, mathematics and biology, was launched in 2022. Prof Kennedy said they hope to accomplish this goal 'through developing biomarkers to measure ageing, testing interventions to slow ageing, and creating implementation strategies to extend healthy life expectancy in Singapore'. The programme has developed an algorithm to calculate people's biological clock, which could be different from their years of life and indicates their mortality risk. Prof Kennedy said Singaporean Chinese, in general, have a biological age that is three to four years younger than their chronological age. But while Singaporeans today have a life expectancy of 83.5 years, they will spend an average of 10 years in relatively poor health. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Seniors can claim $800 SG60 vouchers from July 1; adults to get $600 in vouchers from July 22 Singapore NSman, 30, dies in hospital after collapsing outside Maju Camp Asia Thai PM's suspension could spell end of Shinawatra clan's era of political dominance Singapore Judge rejects woman's claim that she owns 99% of Bukit Timah condo mostly paid for by ex-boyfriend Singapore 'He fought till the end': Man who survived acid attack as a baby dies of cancer at 26 Singapore Trial opens for 3 women who allegedly organised procession outside Istana Business Do not overcommit to a single solution in a multi-polar world, says ex-foreign minister George Yeo Singapore 1MDB saga: Standard Chartered Bank disputes $3.4 billion claim by liquidators in Singapore Prof Kennedy said: 'Ageing impacts every aspect of how you function. It's the biggest risk factor for everything that goes wrong. So if we understand that, we can understand why people are getting sick and what to do about it better.' The team pursues a two-pronged approach. One is the effect of lifestyle, which means understanding the role of exercise, mental health, sleep and nutrition in ageing. The other focuses on the small molecules that impact ageing. Prof Kennedy said: 'We test supplements and repurpose drugs that we would target for people while they're still healthy to keep them healthy, rather than waiting until they get a diagnosis of some disease (before) trying to treat them at that stage.' Keeping its population healthy and active as it matures is what will make Singapore economically strong and give its citizens the best quality of life, he added. But while there are many products on the market that claim to keep people healthier for longer, there is also a lack of unbiased science around these products for people to know what truly is useful. 'We're trying to provide that credibility,' said Prof Kennedy. Many of the supplements his team tests are commercially available. 'These are not drugs that need 10 years to be developed. There are things that consumers can already purchase.' The Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme headed by Distinguished Professor Brian Kennedy was launched in 2022. PHOTO: NUS One supplement the team has studied that he is confident of pushing is alpha ketoglutarate (AKG), a compound made by the body that is involved in hundreds of different cell reactions. As people age, their levels of AKG drop. He said AKG acts as a kind of lubricant that allows enzymes to do what they need to do at the right time. 'But when the levels drop, the cell has trouble compensating for changes in its environment. We're trying to restore that, as in a way, that slows ageing and promotes health,' he explained. The team is also looking at the possibility of repurposing several drugs that have shown anti-ageing effects. Studies are still being done on these prescription-only drugs. Prof Kennedy added that there is no one magic bullet, but many different things which, together, can slow the ageing process. 'Small, sustainable changes make differences. Maybe it only gives you two to five years of extra health, but that's still a big effect.' One study involved deep phenotyping – determining and predicting the similarities and differences in how people age biologically and how the impact of the environment affects a person's health – of 400 people across ethnicities here. It measured the participants' biological age, physical function, body composition of fat, muscle and bone, and their grip strength. They were also given cognitive tests. 'We're trying to understand how Singaporeans are ageing, and what's unique in the Singapore population that may need to be addressed,' Prof Kennedy said. The study has been completed and is awaiting publication. Asians lose more bone density with age, compared with Caucasians. Prof Kennedy said that in the West, obesity and diabetes are driving age-related complications. Among Asians, the bigger issue is loss of muscle strength and frailty.
Straits Times
16 minutes ago
- Straits Times
NUS team taps digital medicine to make treatments more precise for patients
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine has come far in 120 years. The Straits Times takes a look at some of its achievements and where it is headed. Professor Dean Ho and his team are developing ways to take the guesswork out of medication, and to optimise drug doses and combinations for each person. SINGAPORE - Drugs not only work differently on different people, but they could also have different effects on the same person at different times of their lives. Professor Dean Ho heads biomedical engineering at the National University of Singapore and is director of the Institute for Digital Medicine at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. He and his team are developing ways to take the guesswork out of medication, and to optimise drug doses and combinations for each person. For instance, said Prof Ho, it is common for doctors to give cancer patients a two-drug combination as the standard dose. Though adequate, the treatment would be even more effective if there was a way to 'modulate the dose a little bit to study the interplay of the two within the patient'. In a clinical trial that he is conducting on his algorithm, called a small piece of a tumour is used to find the best dose for a particular patient. It is tested against up to a dozen drugs, providing about 900 different combinations to find which works best. His team then recommends the dose to the doctor, who will decide what to give the patient. Sometimes, the optimum dose for a patient might be lower than the standard dose, and it could change as treatment progresses. In Singapore , a lower dose could result in significant savings for the patient, who also benefits from the lower toxicity. Prof Ho, who moved to Singapore from the United States in 2018, is known for his work in the use of artificial intelligence in precision and personalised medicine, among other things. In 2023, he was invited by the US Food and Drug Administration to speak on defining and optimising drug dosages using AI. His work at NUS and the University of California, Los Angeles, where he started on it, has led to a spin-off company called KYAN Technologies. In March 2025, KYAN and Mayo Clinic Laboratories (MCL), a subsidiary of Mayo Clinic and a global leader in diagnostics , especially those related to cancers, formed a collaboration to test MCL's president and chief executive, Dr William Morice, said: 'This collaboration with KYAN Technologies provides another avenue for physicians to have access to the most robust and reliable diagnostic options available, empowering them to make informed decisions for better health outcomes and deliver customised treatment plans for their patients.' Digital medicine is important not only for cancer. Said Prof Ho: 'Digital medicine is our ability to leverage tools that we have, whether it's through wearables or through making better sense of our biomarkers and how they change over time, so we are able to better manage care, to better dose medicines, exercise, and even train our brains.' He is a strong proponent of wearable technology, which tracks people's exercise, sleep, stress levels and other patterns. He said people are more likely to make changes if they are aware of what is happening in their own bodies. His trials have also included cognitive training carried out on about 300 to 400 people: 'We developed this multitasking game, and we've helped healthy people sharpen their brain performance even more.' Another area Prof Ho plans to pursue is diabetes prevention, to give people tools 'to pre-emptively and behaviourally change, to strengthen insulin sensitivity, not lose it over time'. The American is an ardent supporter of Singapore, and he said he is never leaving because 'if you want to move your treatments from bench to bedside, from idea to implementation, Singapore is the place to be in'. 'It's not the technology alone. You need leadership at a university that really supports what you do. You need accessible stakeholders, policymakers, regulators, reimbursement people, implementation scientists. Singapore, in my opinion, is the only place in the world where you can have that access at a timescale that lets you help people quickly and safely.'
Straits Times
11 hours ago
- Straits Times
Barcelona investigates street sweeper's death as Spain swelters in heatwave
BARCELONA - Spanish authorities are investigating whether a street sweeper's death over the weekend in Barcelona was caused by an intense heatwave gripping the country and region, the city council said late on Monday. The woman, who had been cleaning the old town in Barcelona on Saturday afternoon, died later that day at home, her sister told the Antena 3 TV station. Her sister said the 51-year-old woman, identified just as Montserrat, had told a colleague she thought she "was dying." Temperatures reached 30.4 degrees Celsius (86.7 degrees Fahrenheit) in Barcelona on Saturday, weather agency AEMET said. Extreme heat can kill by causing heat stroke, or aggravating cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, with older people being among the most vulnerable. The City council said on Monday it would investigate the woman's death. Last year, there were 2,032 deaths attributable to heat in Spain, according to the Health Ministry. That number was still lower than heat-linked fatalities in 2023 and 2022. The first heatwave of the summer hit Spain during the weekend and is set to last until Tuesday. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
