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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/south-korea-reports-first-death-from-brain-eating-amoeba SEOUL - South Korea reported its first case of infection from Naegleria fowleri, commonly referred to as “brain-eating amoeba”, health authorities said on Monday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) confirmed that a Korean national in his 50s had died after returning from Thailand. The man came back to South Korea on Dec 10 after a four-month stint there. He was admitted to a hospital the next day and died Wednesday last week. The KDCA said it had conducted genetic tests on three types of pathogens causing Naegleria fowleri to confirm the cause of his death. The testing confirmed the gene in the man’s body was 99.6 per cent similar to that found in a meningitis patient reported abroad. This is the first known infection from the disease in South Korea. The first case was reported in Virginia in 1937. Naegleria fowleri is an amoeba, or a single-celled living organism, that lives in soil and warm freshwater, such as hot springs, lakes and rivers, across the globe. The amoeba enters the body by inhalation through the nose and travels to the brain. The initial symptoms might include headache, fever, nausea or vomiting, and later symptoms can lead to severe headaches, fever, vomiting and a stiff neck, according to the KDCA. The incubation period for Naegleria fowleri is usually from two to three days and up to 15 days at most. Although human-to-human transmission of Naegleria fowleri is impossible, the KDCA asked residents to refrain from swimming in regions and neighbourhoods where the disease broke out. It added that the risk of infection was not high, but most cases start through swimming. “To prevent the infection of Naegleria fowleri, we recommend avoiding swimming and leisure-related activities and using clean water when travelling to areas where cases have been reported,” said Dr Jee Young-mee, who heads the KDCA, via a press release. The KDCA said clean water refers to any type of water that has not been contaminated, but people cannot be infected with Naegleria fowleri by drinking contaminated water. It added that the highest risk is when the water temperature rises during the summer. A total of 381 cases of Naegleria fowleri have been reported around the globe as of 2018, including in India, Thailand, the United States, China and Japan. The US alone reported 154 infections from 1962 through 2021. According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, only four people survived, with a death rate of over 97 per cent. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK Naegleria fowleri is an amoeba that lives in soil and warm freshwater across the globe. PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC)/YOUTUBE

Girls vs. Boys: Brain Differences Might Explain Tech Behaviors By Julie Jargon https://www.wsj.com/articles/girls-vs-boys-brain-differences-might-explain-tech-behaviors-11569317402?shareToken=stf11a3d13d7ef4c92a3a25ed4a6e2867e&mod=djmc_pkt_evgrn Recent research shows the brain’s rewards regions activate when males crave videogames, girls face more depression when overusing social media Many parents of both boys and girls have witnessed striking differences in the way their kids use technology, with their sons generally gravitating to videogames and their daughters often spending more of their screen time scrolling through social media. Emerging research indicates that brain differences between males and females help account for the split. “It is entirely plausible from a neurological perspective that there’s an underlying biological component to this difference people are seeing,” said Larry Cahill, a professor of neurobiology and behavior at the University of California, Irvine, who has spent two decades researching gender differences in the brain. In this column I’ve chronicled the aggression some boys exhibit when they have to shut off videogames and transition to other activities, as well as the problems some young men face when they go to college and have to juggle game time and school work without mom and dad’s help. That led some readers to question why girls don’t appear to be having these problems. Of course, girls have issues of their own, such as smuggling “burner” phones to keep up with forbidden social media accounts. It’s just that when it comes to videogames, most girls seem to have a better handle on when to stop. According to a 2017 survey conducted by Pew Research Center, 41% of teenage boys said they spend too much time playing videogames while only 11% of girls said they do. Marc Potenza, a psychiatry professor at Yale University, teamed up with researchers at universities in China to find out why. Using functional MRIs, which measure brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow, the team studied neural responses in young male and female gamers, particularly in the parts of the brain associated with reward processing and craving—a motivating factor in addiction. When the men and women were shown photos of people playing videogames, those parts of the men’s brains showed higher levels of activation than those parts of the women’s brains. Brain regions that have been implicated in drug-addiction studies also were shown to be more highly activated in the men after gaming. The researchers said the results suggest men could be more biologically prone than women to developing internet gaming disorder. But girls and women aren’t free from problems when it comes to digital media. Data from Pew shows that, in general, women use social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest far more than men. Many girls and women are drawn to those photo-sharing sites because they like to form bonds and find similarities, says Rosanna Guadagno, a social psychologist at Stanford University. Even if women only use those sites more than men because that is where their friends are, many experts and parents say they have found that girls appear to have a greater fear of missing out, which compels them to keep up with what their friends are posting. Some recent studies show that girls feel the ill effects of too much social media use, such as depression and anxiety, more than boys do. Liz Repking, a cyber safety expert and mother of three in suburban Chicago, has seen the differences in her own sons and daughter. Earlier this summer, her 15-year-old daughter said her phone was driving her crazy. She told her that she felt pressured to follow her friends’ Instagram stories and like and comment on their posts, and that it was eating up a lot of her time, Ms. Repking said. Her sons, 18 and 21, use social media—Snapchat, in particular—mostly to communicate with friends but don’t feel compelled to keep up with what people are posting. “There’s more peer pressure and validation I see with it for her than for the boys,” she said. In August, Ms. Repking’s daughter decided to impose some limits, such as being on her phone no more than three hours a day and checking Instagram less frequently. “When I asked her a week later how that was going, she said, ‘I’m only looking at Instagram three times a day but I can’t catch up,’” Ms. Repking said. One might argue that multiplayer videogames are the way boys connect with friends online. But it’s different. “Videogames can be social but there’s also a physical distance because you don’t see photos, and communication is largely through text, which is more consistent with the direct way men tend to communicate with each other,” Dr. Guadagno said. Researchers at the University of Zurich looked at how differences in brain functioning can help explain why women tend to be more prosocial—that is, helpful, generous and cooperative—than men. In the 2017 study, they hypothesized that the areas of women’s brains related to reward processing are more active when they share rewards and that those areas in men are more active when receiving selfish rewards. Brain scans conducted on men and women, in which they chose between receiving a monetary reward only for themselves or one that involved sharing money with others, supported their theory. The Lego Group learned a lot about the prosocial nature of girls more than a decade ago when it conducted research on who buys the brick building kits. At the time, about 90% of the Lego sets purchased in the U.S. were intended for boys. That led the company to conduct more research with girls which revealed, among other things, that girls wanted more role-playing opportunities. Lego created a pastel-colored line called Friends, which sold well but was criticized by some consumer groups—including the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood—for reinforcing gender stereotypes. Academics who study gender differences also have faced backlash for pointing out that boys and girls aren’t the same. “It’s not a debate that there are sex influences throughout the mammalian brain,” said Dr. Cahill. “How they all play out is what we should responsibly explore.” Scientists say understanding those differences is critical to parents’ ability to help kids navigate the fast-changing world of tech. Our brains haven’t caught up to modern times, says Dr. Guadagno, which is why kids’ digital behavior can feel so confusing and overwhelming to parents trying to manage it. “Human brains are wired for survival on the savanna,” she said. “They’re not wired for social media and videogames.” Write to Julie Jargon at [email protected] PHOTO: STEVEN SALERNO

The Straits Times was granted exclusive access to document an awake surgery, where doctors removed a brain tumour from patient Oh Zhi Long while he was still conscious. Mr Oh Zhi Long, 32, discovered by accident that he had a brain tumour. Less than a week later, he lay awake in the operating theatre as surgeons removed a cancerous growth from his brain. Mr Oh and the National Neuroscience Institute gave The Straits Times exclusive access to the operation. Science editor Chang Ai-Lien, deputy picture editor Wang Hui Fen and multimedia journalist Basil Edward Teo documented this remarkable surgery and tracked his year-long journey to recovery. https://www.facebook.com/STVideoPage/videos/559162254468581/ If you have about 8 minutes to share, I think this is worth watching. Never knew awake surgery was possible. Kudos to these doctors!

Indian surgeons remove 'heaviest recorded' brain tumour Feb 23, 2018 MUMBAI: Indian surgeons who removed a massive brain tumour in a marathon seven-hour procedure said Thursday it could be the heaviest ever recorded. Santlal Pal, a 31-year-old shopkeeper, had been carrying around a tumour weighing nearly two kilos before the surgery on February 14.Doctors at Mumbai's BYL Nair hospital where he was treated said the tumour was so large that "it appeared as if he had two heads mounted on top of each other". "It was an extremely daunting and complex surgery," the hospital's head of neurosurgery Trimurti Nadkarni told AFP. He said the operation took seven hours to complete and the patient required 11 units of blood. "After the patient regained consciousness, we researched and concluded this was the world's heaviest tumour to be reported so far," he added. The tumour weighed 1.87 kilos (four pounds), making it the heaviest ever to be successfully removed from a surviving patient, according to a hospital statement. "It was a rare operation and the patient has survived. Before the surgery, he had minimal vision, which may improve now," Nadkarni said. The hospital said the patient had made a good recovery and was now walking and eating normally. The previous heaviest tumour to be successfully excised from a patient who survived the procedure was 1.4 kilos, it said. http://www.asiaone.com/asia/indian-surgeons-remove-heaviest-recorded-brain-tumour?xtor=EREC-16-4[Emarsys_Newsletter]-20180223&extid=6934d0cfb7b252f1ae9f0dbddf5ff88ca8637e77

Been watching this show since last year............and I think is a great show to share...........cant imagine how mighty the brain can be.......quite impressive i would say...........but too bad is only in mandarin.........so sorry to the bros/sis whom cannot understand........ more than an hour show..............but I think is worth watching............enjoy enjoy.......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4y0-iXUH5A

Brainless or Idiot?

Hmmmmm............ used to called peoples 'Bird Brain', think again ...... found it on yahoo : Bird Sings 'If Youre Happy and You Know It' A plastic food container makes this cockatiel so happy that he starts to sing the Japanese version of, 'If You

From ST Forum: http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/forum-...ia-moh-20130326 Brain-death diagnosis based on stringent clinical criteria: MOH Published on Mar 26, 2013 THE Sunday Times reported on the case of Ms Suzanne Chin, who recovered from a coma ("Back from the dead: 'I have been blessed with a second chance'"; Sunday). We are happy that Ms Chin has made a recovery. However, we are not able to comment on the case as we do not have access to specific information on her medical treatment in Hong Kong and what exactly was diagnosed and communicated to her family. Brain death is diagnosed only when there is catastrophic brain injury. When brain death has occurred, blood flow and oxygen delivery to the brain ceases irreversibly and all brain functions are lost and will never return again. Brain death is determined according to strict clinical criteria. Once diagnosed, it is recognised both medically and legally in Singapore as death of the person. This definition is similar to those used in countries such as Australia, Canada, Denmark, Britain and the United States. Brain death implies the irreversible cessation of consciousness, loss of capacity to breathe and other brain stem functions, and is accepted as the termination of a human's life; correspondingly, the diagnosis of brain death is very important. The neurological criteria for diagnosing brain death in Singapore are based on current best medical evidence and knowledge, and are similar to those adopted by countries such as the US, Australia, and Britain. In Singapore, all criteria have to be fully met for the diagnosis of brain death, including absence of pupillary response to light, absence of corneal reflex and absence of respiratory drive or spontaneous breathing, to cite a few; and when one or more of these tests cannot be done, additional tests to demonstrate the absence of brain circulation need to be performed. In addition, two doctors are required to certify brain death, at least one of whom has to be independent and not involved in the care of the patient. Doctors accredited to perform brain-death certification in our hospitals are specialists who have had appropriate training to certify brain death. We would like to reassure the public of the highest standard of medical practice in our hospitals, and that correctly diagnosed brain death is not a reversible medical condition. Kwek Tong Kiat (Clinical Associate Professor) Senior Consultant, Ministry of Health, Hospital Services Division Head and Senior Consultant Dept of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine Tan Tock Seng Hospital Lee Heow Yong (Dr) Acting Director/Hospital Services Division, Health Services Group Ministry of Health

Drive big car = big ego = small brain or no brain ..... This Big white horse has been parking in the handicap lot on a daily basis ....... and he would not spare a thought for some one that realy needs the lot .... my guess is that he is probably mentally handicap .. or practising to park for his future needs. Bloody inconsiderate if you ask me .....

Young Malaysian women are apparently not money-minded and materialistic. When it comes to finding a life partner, many female participants at a recent youth forum said they would rather have someone with five 'As' (Affection, Appreciation, Ambition, Acceptance and Attitude) instead of the so-called five 'Bs' (Billions, Bungalow, Benz, Brain and Body). In the long run, I'm sure they would eat their words. What I can infer is that, these women wouldn't mind having an ambitious partner who maybe isn't stable job-wise and monetarily-wise but appreciates them? Surely, they can't be completely not money-minded? Of course, I won't expect my partner to be a billionaire residing in a bungalow driving a Benz, but he must have a stable income at the least? If not, how can I enjoy a random food feast, being the foodie that I am!? In my opinion, it's relatively easy to find someone to give you affection and to appreciate you as you are, especially in the case whereby the female is the sole breadwinner and the guy isn't exactly "brainy" enough to get a high-paying job. Because he's relying on you, and he may have a good heart but where's the stability? To me, it's expected of the guy to accept you as you are and have the characteristics you're looking for in a partner, so that shouldn't be a fixed criteria for a partner. It's almost the same as making the statement "I'm looking to find a guy who isn't abusive." Anyone in their right mind wouldn't want someone like that! I guess in Singapore, it's hard not to be money-minded, especially with regards to the future. I, for one, would mind if my partner gets a lower salary than I do, because of the generalized stereotype that the man is supposed to be the one who "looks after the house." I wouldn't want to be in the compromising position whereby I have to pay for almost everything. And I'd like to think that people do use their materialistic products to show off how well they are doing, which explains why branded goods are more favoured. But that doesn't make it a necessity, most of us can do without these items anyway. http://starblog.stomp.com.sg/post.php?blogid=2252

So when you are doing big business in overseas, remember to top up your deposit to $10,000!!

Time now is 2011. 09.11 1513hrs. read the attachment and is what is wrong. I utterly give up liao.

Hi everyone, I have started on a new topic as my FYP idea is rejected by my teacher, he wants something simpler. Seriously wasted my plans. Sigh now he wants something like cylindrical shape so will be more stable. And now what I am stressing on is the separation in the cylinder. How am I going to separate the oil and water mixture taken in from the sea? Anyone from marine industry has good ideas on how can I actually install some oil separation techniques into this cylinder? Thanks

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STOP complaining! That's the message Mr Suhaimi Nor Nan has for Singaporeans. The 26-year-old part-time security officer is fed up with hearing people complain about anything and everything. He said Singaporeans complain about the most trivial matters. Two months ago, he read in The Straits Times that some park goers were concerned about police vehicles patrolling on footpaths. But, Mr Suhaimi noted, the police were doing it for the people's welfare. After Mr Suhaimi read about the gripes, he decided 'enough was enough'. He wrote to The New Paper to, well, complain about Singaporeans complaining too much. So, what are some of the things he think Singaporeans complain about too much? Electronic Road Pricing (ERP), he pointed out. 'You have to accept it. I'm affected by it myself when I take a taxi, but we have a good transport system,' he said. 'If you don't want to pay ERP, just take the bus.' TAXI FARES He was also sick of people griping about taxi fares. 'If you compare our fares with those of other countries, our fares are so much cheaper.' Another common complaint these days is about petrol prices, though they have been dropping in recent weeks. Mr Suhaimi said: 'Driving is not necessary because Singapore is so small. If you choose to drive, you pay.' He himself has complaints about the bad habits of some Singaporeans. But unlike many others who air their complaints in public, he said he will gripe only in conversations with his close friends. No need to kick up a big fuss, he said. What irks Mr Suhaimi most is that people complain about what he sees as really trivial issues. Like when VivoCity opened in October 2006, shoppers complained that the lighting on the floors may cause people to trip. And recently, Mr Suhaimi said some commuters complained that the floors at MRT stations were too slippery. To those people, he had this to say: 'There's no need to make it news, just raise it with the management.' Mr Suhaimi's advice to Singaporeans who love to complain: 'Make sure you're really affected by the matter before you complain. 'Don't complain for the sake of it.' [thumbsup]

With reference to this thread and article, http://www.mycarforum.com/forum/General_C1...prices_P2419793 TALK IS CHEAP!!! i can also say the same. don't u all agree? i mean i can easily give my solid arguments that ministers or civil servants should serve with their hearts instead of putting money $ into the equation. its getting late. i shall say no more and resign to fate. comments pls

'Two individuals proceeded towards the apex of a natural geologic protuberance, the purpose of their expedition being the procurement of a sample of fluid hydride of oxygen in a large vessel, the exact size of which was unspecified. 'One member of the team precipitously descended, sustaining severe damage to the upper cranial portion of his anatomical structure; subsequently, the second member of the team performed self-rotational translation, orientated in the same direction taken by the first team member.' ANY GUESSES WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT?

Dear all, I hv finally seen one myself today. I hv been hearing comments from fellow mates abt FT cyclist racing / playing wif each other. todae i hv witness it with my own @.@ I was driving on the left lane of the 2 lane road. in front of me is a line , of abt 6~7 FT cyclist, nothing wrong. Suddenly one of them over took the fella in front and decided to play wif him. then in return the "overtaken" rammed and sideswipe his bicycle, causing the other fella to lose his balance and nearly mount the kerb and fell. All these while i m abt 2~3 car length behind them, siam first... All MCFers just take note and beware, in case one of these days the fella fell just in front of our ride then its really mice

can u spot the man among the coffee beans?

Just a brain teaser Qn for you: 2 pipes takes 5 minutes to fill up a tank, and the smaller pipe alone takes 6 minutes more than the bigger pipe to fill the tank. How long would it takes for the bigger pipe to fill the tank alone? I will provide the answer shortly.

He soon began to realise that it was an 'unwise' decision, as banks' interest rates started to drop. He said: 'I still regret my foolish action. Sometimes, God gives you a fishing rod and you throw it back because you didn't want to catch fish, and so it's gone. I tried to buy another annuity, but I can't get the payouts I was receiving.' He and his wife could get by with about $1,000 a month for day-to-day expenses and twice-a-year travels. The couple does their marketing and refuels their car in Johor Bahru. http://news.asiaone.com/News/The%2BStraits...idin%2527t.html

Braun and Catherine weigh 51kg. Joan and Braun weigh 81kg. Braun is 3 times heavier than Catherine. What is their total average weight?

haa.....many of us are smarter LONDON - Speaking Mandarin may take more brainpower than speaking English, the BBC reports. It says researchers in Britain have found that people who speak Mandarin use both sides of their brain to understand the language whereas English-language speakers need to use only one side of their brain. Advertisement http://ads.asia1.com.sg/image.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&site=tsti&size=300X250 The researchers said the findings could boost understanding of how the brain processes languages. This in turn could one day help scientists develop better ways of aiding people to relearn languages after a stroke or similar damage to the brain. In the study done by Dr Sophie Scott and her colleagues at the Wellcome Trust, brain scans were carried out on a group of Mandarin and English speakers. It was found that the left temporal lobe, which is located by the left temple, became active whenever English speakers heard English. The researchers believe that this area of the brain links speech sounds together to form individual words. When these people heard Mandarin, both the left and right temporal lobes became active. Dr Scott said: 'People who speak different sorts of languages use their brains to decode speech in different ways.' Mandarin is a notoriously difficult language to learn. Unlike English, speakers use tones to distinguish between different meanings of words. According to the BBC, the researchers believe that this need to interpret tones explains why Mandarin speakers have to use both sides of their brain. The right temporal lobe is normally associated with being able to process music or tones. 'We think that Mandarin speakers interpret intonation and melody in the right temporal lobe to give the correct meaning to the spoken words,' said Dr Scott. 'It seems that the structure of the language you learn as a child affects how the structure of your brain develops to decode speech. 'Native English speakers... find it extraordinarily difficult to learn Mandarin.' She said the findings could help scientists understand how the brain learns language, and this could also lead to new drugs to help people who have lost their language skills. 'There is evidence from other studies that certain drugs affect learning in the brain regions that support hearing and speech,' she said.