Glad to have changed image of Asian women, says actress Michelle Yeoh

Glad to have changed image of Asian women, says actress Michelle Yeoh

Glad to have changed image of Asian women, says actress Michelle Yeoh

Posted: 01 Dec 2013 07:16 PM PST

PANAJI, India: The journey from being just another Malaysian actress to a Bond Girl was not easy for actress Michelle Yeoh, but she is glad to have taken the task of changing the image of Asian women in the west.

"The journey was hard. I was entering an unknown territory. But I felt it was about time somebody took the initiative. Hollywood was very insular. They are the biggest market in the world so they don't care about the rest of the world," Yeoh told Press Trust of India (PTI) in an interview.

"When we first went there it was a great learning experience for me. In Asia we are so blessed everybody knows us, over there people were surprised that I could speak English," she said on the sidelines of the just concluded International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

The 50-year-old actress has starred in several Hollywood hits such as "Tomorrow Never Dies", "Crouching Tiger", "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "The Lady", and attributed her success in Hollywood to her directors and producers who were more than willing to cast an Asian woman in prominent roles.

"I just never liked how Asian women have been depicted in films – as the weaker sex, fragile, always the more subservient one. I felt the need to change those views. But I think I was very fortunate. I met producers and directors and fellow actors who believed in that and who championed it with me," she said.

"I could not have just gone up and said I wanted to be the next Bond girl. There were millions in the line. But the producers and directors had to be in that frame of mind that Asian girls can stand up and be an equal to James Bond. And I was lucky I was the chosen one," she said.

Yeoh was guest of honour at the closing ceremony of the 10-day–long event. Her documentary film "Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey" on which she served as an executive producer was also screened at the festival.

The film directed by Wendy J N Lee chronicles an arduous 450-mile journey by Buddhist monks across the Himalayas led by his holiness Gyalwang Drukpa to spread the message of environmentalism.

In 2002, the actress made her production debut with "The Touch" and went on to produce several other films. When asked which role she enjoys the most, Yeoh said being a producer gives her the freedom to choose and not be on the mercy of others.

Yeoh said he is planning two feature films in India but nothing has been finalised yet.

"We are working on two movies which we hope to make in India. It is in development stages. Until we are ready we will not announce anything. I have great hopes of working in India," she said. – Bernama

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Singapore invited to take part in G20 summit next year

Posted: 01 Dec 2013 07:06 PM PST

SINGAPORE: Singapore has been invited to take part in the Group of 20 nations (G20) Summit in Brisbane, Australia in late 2014, Xinhua News reported the Singapore government as saying on Sunday.

"As a major financial centre and investment hub, Singapore looks forward to contributing to discussions in the G20 on global financial reforms, infrastructure investment financing and the multilateral trading system," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance said in a joint statement.

The G20 Summit next year will take place on Nov 15 and Nov 16, with the leaders expected to discuss the challenges facing the global economy and the policies needed to promote strong, sustainable and balanced growth.

The Singaporean government said it appreciates Australia's efforts to reach out to non-G20 members.

It added that as a member of the Global Governance Group, Singapore will work closely with Australia to promote greater engagement between G20 and the wider United Nations membership.

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Can’t fall asleep? Over-the-counter aids have a mixed record

Posted: 01 Dec 2013 06:39 PM PST

by Jill U. Adams. Posted on December 2, 2013, Monday

EVERY morning I am greeted by Facebook friends complaining of sleepless nights or awakenings. I know the feeling — as do many other Americans.

In a 2005 survey of 1,506 Americans by the National Sleep Foundation, 54 per cent reported at least one symptom of insomnia — difficulty falling asleep, waking a lot during the night, waking up too early or waking up feeling unrefreshed — at least a few nights a week over the previous year. Thirty-three per cent said they had experienced symptoms almost every night.

If insomnia visited me that often, I'd be tempted to pick up something at the pharmacy — something easy, something safe, something that didn't involve making a doctor's appointment. Indeed, 10 to 20 per cent of Americans take over-the-counter sleep aids each year, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

The way they're marketed, over-the-counter sleep aids sound very appealing: The new product ZzzQuil (yes, from the maker of NyQuil) promises "a beautiful night's sleep;" an ad says you'll "fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer" after using Unisom. Companies marketing the herb valerian root and the hormone melatonin as over-the-counter sleep aids make similar claims.

But what's the evidence that supports these claims? "It's quite lean," says Andrew Krystal, who directs the sleep research program at Duke University.

Over-the-counter sleep aids work differently from prescription drugs for insomnia. Most are simply antihistamines in sheep's clothing. (Yes, that's a joke.) The majority of them — ZzzQuil, TylenolPM and Unisom SleepGels — contain diphenhydramine as the active ingredient, the same compound in Benadryl. (Unisom SleepTabs use doxylamine, another antihistamine.)

The clinical studies testing diphenhydramine for insomnia are minimal, Krystal says: There have been only two, which together involved 204 people. "That's it. That's all we have," he says. (Other studies have looked at daytime sleepiness with the drug.)

The studies looked at people with primary insomnia — meaning that their sleep problems were not the result of other medical issues such as depression, anxiety or pain.

The first study included a comparison of the effects of diphenhydramine (50 milligrams, a typical OTC dose) with those of a placebo in 20 elderly people with insomnia. The participants reported slightly fewer nighttime awakenings with diphenhydramine than with the placebo, but no difference in how long they took to fall asleep, how well they slept or how long they slept.

The second study tested 25-milligram doses of diphenhydramine against a placebo and an herbal preparation of valerian and hops in 184 adults with mild insomnia. Compared to a placebo, diphenhydramine improved sleep efficiency (the percentage of time in bed spent sleeping) based on participants' feedback but not on automated readings of brain, eye and muscle activity. Neither did it affect sleep onset or total sleep time.

What these studies did find with diphenhydramine was side effects, including dry mouth, dizziness and headache. Other side effects that can occur with diphenhydramine are constipation and urinary retention, Krystal says.

The valerian-hops combination helped, to some degree: People who took that mixture reported that it took slightly less time to fall asleep and that their insomnia was less severe.

The problem with valerian root is that there's so much variety in the preparations, says Vivek Jain, who directs the Centre for Sleep Disorders at George Washington University Hospital in Washington. You can't be certain how much active ingredient you're getting, he says, and because these products are regulated as supplements rather than drugs, their composition can vary from one maker to the next.

Krystal concurs. "You never know what you're getting. It's an extract from a root. . . . No two batches will be the same."

The bottom line is that the evidence has not shown more than modest effects of valerian, Krystal says.

What about melatonin? Jain says there is some evidence that it helps people fall asleep more quickly. A 2011 study of prolonged-release melatonin found that insomnia patients age 55 to 80 fell asleep 15 minutes sooner than with placebo, on average, but younger patients did not benefit.

Krystal says that melatonin is helpful for shifting one's day-night cycle, for people changing time zones or work shifts and for helping night owls go to sleep at what is for them an unnaturally early time.

There's a larger reason why sleep aids don't work, Jain says, and that's because insomnia is not just a nighttime phenomenon. "It's a 24-hour problem," he says. Our wakeful state is akin to second or third gear in a car with a five-gear transmission. At night we drop into first gear or neutral.

"In insomnia, these gear shifts get unstable," Jain says. Insomniacs spend their days in higher gears than most people, and they have trouble downshifting at night. "Patients don't recognise the daytime problem. They just want to sleep more and more," he says.

When considering sleep aids, he cites the lack of benefit and the risk of side effects and says, "There's no good reason to take these. Ever."

If you are going to use them, he says, "use them intermittently — not every night."— WP-Bloomberg

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Safer deliveries by caesarean

Posted: 01 Dec 2013 06:36 PM PST

THE DIVA (Double Intravenous Vasopressor Automated) system was developed by doctors at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) to manage the blood pressure of patients during a caesarean section under spinal anaesthesia. It automatically administers required amounts of medication to normalise blood pressure and heart rate when they drop.

The system has not yet been implemented in patient care, but has been tested successfully. A 2011 study, jointly carried out by KKH and Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School and involving 55 women, showed that it was more effective than conventional methods at maintaining blood pressure during caesarean section that involves spinal anaesthesia.

Professor Alex Sia, Chairman, Medical Board, KKH, and Dr Sng Ban Leong, Consultant, Department of Women's Anaesthesia, KKH, led the study.

The DIVA system provides an important safety enhancement for patients. "It is a novel invention, enabling very close monitoring and rapid response to better manage patients' blood pressure during caesarean delivery. This new research development reinforces patient safety and boosts clinical outcomes," said Prof Sia, who is also a Senior Consultant at the Department of Women's Anaesthesia, KKH.

Low blood pressure during a caesarean delivery can harm both mother and baby. Up to 60 per cent of women experience it during a caesarean section where spinal anaesthesia is administered. This may cause them to feel nauseous during delivery and in more severe cases, reduce blood flow to the placenta, causing harm to the baby.

At KKH, where 30 to 35 babies are delivered a day, about a third are caesarean births. Currently, an anaesthetist monitors a patient's blood pressure, and when it falls, manually administers vasopressors – medication that raises blood pressure by constricting blood vessels. This method is both labour-intensive and limited by the monitoring equipment, which gives readings at one-minute intervals, potentially delaying response time.

The DIVA system, on the other hand, is much quicker. Blood pressure and heart rate data are measured and recorded every second, and sent to a computer from two finger cuffs worn by the patient. An advanced programme then calculates the dosage of vasopressor required and automatically administers it to the patient through a syringe pump.

Besides safer deliveries, the DIVA system also has other benefits.

Dr Sng said: "The automated system allows anaesthetists to focus on other important aspects of holistic patient care, including establishing better communication and rapport with the patients and their partners. This further enhances a patient's comfort and experience during a caesarean delivery."

• This story was first published in Singapore Health, Nov/Dec 2013.

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Four dead, 67 injured as New York train derails

Posted: 01 Dec 2013 04:48 PM PST

NEW YORK: A train hurtled off the tracks in a New York suburb Sunday, killing at least four people, injuring 67 and coming perilously close to plunging into a freezing river.

New York emergency services launched a major rescue operation after the train careered off rails in the Bronx district as it headed for Grand Central station in Manhattan.

New York fire department said four people were killed, 11 others seriously injured and another 56 had minor wounds. Officials said some passengers were injured by debris as carriages flew into the air, while others had to be cut free from tangled metal.

Many passengers suffered broken limbs or injuries to their heads or necks, with some being led away with bloodied faces, applying ice-packs to their heads.

At least one passenger said the train was going faster than normal as the train moved along a curve on a downward slope leading into Spuyten Duyvil station, just north of Manhattan.

Before reaching the station, the derailed wagons flew across a grassy bank separating the rail line from the Hudson and Harlem rivers, which meet at that point.

All seven of the train's cars came off the tracks and the front carriage came to rest only a few feet from the river. Two carriages toppled on their side and two others also completely left the track, barely staying on their wheels.

More than 130 firefighters were quickly on the scene using air cushions to stabilize the wagons.

Divers searched the rivers in case passengers were hurled into the frigid water by the force of the derailment. Three of the dead were thrown from the train, police said.

Police sniffer dogs remained at the wreckage hours afterwards, making sure no casualties had been missed.

Philip Banks, a top New York police official, told reporters more than 100 people were believed to be on the train which had left the town of Poughkeepsie at 6:00am (1100 GMT). The accident happened 80 minutes later.

A freight train had derailed on a nearby stretch of track earlier this year.

But passenger Frank Tatulli, who escaped with injuries to his head and neck, told WABC TV that the commuter train was going "a lot faster" than normal as it went into the bend.

Other travellers gave similar accounts about the speed. The unnamed train driver survived the crash, police said, and was being treated in hospital. He was to be questioned by accident investigators later Sunday.

The curved section of track leading into Spuyten Duvil is a slow speed area. Thomas Prendergast, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority which runs the regional rail and bus network, said speed would be probed.

But New York state governor Mario Cuomo told reporters at the scene: "We need more information before we can make any hard determinations."

The rail network "has had a number of accidents in the last nine months, and so we are very concerned about seeing another one," National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Deborah Hersman told CBS television.

The NTSB will lead the investigation into the disaster.

Sunday marks the end of America's Thanksgiving holiday weekend and a surge of travelers was expected.

The White House said that President Barack Obama had been briefed on the accident. Governor Cuomo said the accident had cast a shadow over Thanksgiving.

"Let's all say a prayer and remember those people who we lost this morning and their families and we'll let the first responders do their job."

Train services in the region were suspended because of the derailment. – AFP

Fatal accident in Sungai Liang

Posted: 01 Dec 2013 04:44 PM PST

KUALA BELAIT: A road accident which happened in the early hours of Sunday claimed the life of a local motorist. The incident occurred in the vicinity of the traffic junction of SPARK in Sungai Liang and involved two vehicles, Borneo Bulletin reported.

According to the Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF), they received a call about the incident at 6.30am, while the Sungai Liang Fire Station received a call at 6.39am from the Berakas Fire and Rescue Operations Centre.

Four personnel led by Deputy Station Officer Awg Azami bin Haji Ali were dispatched to the scene.

The driver, a local man, was found trapped in his seat as the accident caused the metal road dividers to pierce through the victim's car. Fire and Rescue personnel took three minutes to extricate the victim from the wreckage before he was rushed to Suri Seri Begawan Hospital, Kuala Belait.

Efforts to save his life went in vain as the man died six hours later at the hospital according to police.

A source said the driver and passengers of the other vehicle were safe. The cause of the accident is still being investigated by the police.

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