A Shanghai hospital is collaborating with a biotechnology company from the United Kingdom to start clinical trials of a method to screen for cancer through breathing tests - which it said has great potential to become an easy, noninvasive and less expensive way for early diagnosis of various cancers.It was the first time that such a technology had come to the Chinese mainland, said Renji Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Chinese partner in the Sino-UK project, during a signing ceremony with Cambridge-based Owlstone Medical on Monday in Shanghai.The British company will provide its patented devices and training, and the Shanghai hospital will provide lab space and a research team.Subjects of the test need only wear a breathalyzer and breathe for several minutes as the device checks for volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. The test samples the whole body, doctors said.VOCs are produced as the end product of metabolic processes within the human body. Underlying changes in metabolic activity can produce VOC patterns characteristic of specific diseases, they said.Owlstone said on its website that the device uses a chemical sensor on a tiny silicon chip.Wang Liwei, director of the lab, said the China-UK team is working on a detailed proposal for the trial, which includes setting standards for the telltale VOCs and the age range of the subjects. The trials are expected to begin in three months."Such trials have been carried out in the UK on 4,000 individuals and achieved an accuracy rate that qualified for clinical application. So it may win approval for use in the UK soon," Wang said.He said the hospital will first carry out trials looking for lung cancer, the most common form of cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths in China. The target for the trials is 70 percent accuracy.With a total of 787,000 newly diagnosed patients every year, lung cancer tops China's malignant tumor incidence and accounts for nearly one-fourth of cancer deaths in the country, according to the National Cancer Center."Such a fast and noninvasive means of screening will reduce the cost of medical treatment for individuals and society as a whole and improve the overall early diagnosis and survival rate of cancer patients," Wang said.Chris Hodkinson, vice-president of business development at Owlstone Medical, said the cooperation will improve the technology and eventually benefit more cancer patients at home and abroad.Experts said VOCs originating from all parts of the body are captured in a person's breath, making the technology applicable to a wide range of cancers."We have plans to expand the screening technology to other cancers, including gastric cancer and intestinal cancer, for which the current detection means - gastroscopy and enteroscopy - are kind of painful, and to pancreatic cancer, which is hard to discover," Wang said. embossed printed wristbandsrubber band bracelet charmsembossed printed wristbandcustom silicon wristbandscustom medical bracelets
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam delivers her annual policy address in Hong Kong on Oct 10, 2018. [Photo/VCG] Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said on Wednesday that the government will fearlessly move in accordance with the law against acts that advocate Hong Kong independence. In summarizing this year's Policy Address to the Legislative Council, Lam emphasized the government's firm stance on national security. Lam said neither she nor the government will tolerate any advocacy of independence for Hong Kong or acts that threaten national security, sovereignty or development. She also announced an ambitious plan to greatly increase the city's land supply to address its housing issues. In discussing no fewer than 250 new initiatives this year, Lam mentioned housing 84 times, compared with 45 times a year ago, making it the most frequently used word in her speech. Land was brought up 71 times, more than double the 34 times last year. Lam made land supply and housing a separate section of her speech, placing it before economy and people's livelihoods. The purpose is to demonstrate clearly that the shortage of land not only directly leads to a shortage of housing, but also affects people's quality of life, she said. Leading Lam's plans was a reclamation project dubbed Lantau Tomorrow Vision. The new, long-term project aims to develop artificial islands with a total area of 1700 hectares east of Lantau Island. It is estimated it could provide residential units for 700,000 to 1.1 million people, with 70 percent being public housing, she said. The reclamation's study and design work will start soon, with the aim of starting the first phase in 2025. Lam said the SAR government will persevere in developing new land and building a land reserve. The determination will never waver in the face of short-term fluctuations in the economy or the rise and fall of property prices, she said. Lantau, the city's largest outlying island, which hosts Hong Kong International Airport, is seen as becoming a gateway to the world and other Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area cities after the commissioning of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Also planned are development of brownfield sites and revitalization of industrial buildings. In addition, Lam unveiled other policies such as improving women's rights and innovation. The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, the largest city political party in the legislature, showed its support for land and housing measures. Starry Lee Waiking, the party chairwoman, said the speech responded to the public's expectations. The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce called the speech visionary in a way that will address the city's difficulties. The University Grants Committee, responsible for advising the SAR government on the funding and development of higher education, welcomed the new research initiatives. Yang Zekun contributed to this story.
