Using peanuts to cure allergy

Using peanuts to cure allergy
185 illegals held at squatter areas
Have Christian ministers often met to discuss issues affecting community? – Bumburing
Keeping tradition of making ‘jiaozi’ alive
NS trainees help to educate pedestrians on road safety
Liew’s CNY open house not associated with LDP – Senator

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 06:29 PM PST

Doctors said Thursday they could treat peanut allergy by feeding children the very thing their bodies reject, so building tolerance that could save a life in case of accidential ingestion.

Small doses of peanut powder taken over several months seemed to induce tolerance in children with the potentially deadly allergy, a research team wrote Wednesday in The Lancet medical journal.

After six months of treatment, dubbed oral immunotherapy or OIT, 84-91 percent of the children in a trial could safely tolerate daily doses of 800 mg (0.03 ounces) of peanut powder — the equivalent of about five peanuts, wrote the team.

This was 25 times the amount they could tolerate before the therapy, and much larger than any accidental dose is likely to ever be.

"The treatment allowed children with all severities of peanut allergy to eat large quantities of peanuts, well above the levels found in contaminated snacks and meals, freeing them and their parents from the fear of a potentially life threatening allergic reaction," said study leader Andrew Clark from Cambridge University Hospitals.

"The families involved in this study say that it has changed their lives dramatically."

The trial involved 99 allergic children aged seven to sixteen.

One in five of the kids receiving OIT reported "adverse events" — mostly mild itching of the mouth, the authors said.

They stressed that people should not try the treatment at home as more research was needed.

Peanut allergy affects about one in fifty children and is the most common cause of fatal food allergy reactions, said a press statement. About 10 million people around the world are allergic to peanuts.

Symptoms vary from mild to severe, from swollen lips or shortness of breath to anaphylactic shock, which can be fatal.

While "exceptionally promising", the method remains experimental, Matthew Greenhawt from the University of Michigan Food Allergy Center wrote in a comment also carried by The Lancet.

"It is unknown if OIT can produce lasting tolerance," he wrote. -AFP

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185 illegals held at squatter areas

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 06:24 PM PST

KOTA KINABALU: The Special Task Force has detained 185 illegal immigrants during a two-day operation, dubbed Ops Tanduk, around the State capital.

Its director, Datuk Suhaimi Mohd Salleh, said 169 of them were Filipinos and 15 were Indonesians.

He said the operation, which began on January 27, focused on illegal squatter areas around Kota Kinabalu and Penampang

"During the two-day operation, a total of 376 people have been checked for documents and we detained 185 of them for entering the county illegally.

"Those arrested are currently being placed at temporary detention centres for further action," he said when contacted yesterday.

Asked about overcrowding of illegal immigrants at temporary detention centres in Sabah as claimed by certain party, Suhaimi said the claim was baseless as the detained illegal immigrants were immediately deported to the country of origin once their personal documentation had been recorded.

"For the record, there are three temporary detention centres in Sabah – Papar, Sandakan and Tawau, which can accommodate about 6,000 detainees.

"We have also deported more than 1,000 illegal immigrants or detainees to their country of origin in January this year," he said, adding that the detainees were deported via ferries from two locations, namely from Sibuga in Sandakan to Zamboanga, Philippines and Semporna to Bungou, while the second location is from Tawau to Nunukan, Indonesia.

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Have Christian ministers often met to discuss issues affecting community? – Bumburing

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 06:23 PM PST

KOTA KINABALU: Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) president Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburing has questioned how many times have the Christian ministers in Malaysia met to discuss issues affecting the Christian community in the country.

The Tamparuli assemblyman said that it was imperative for the ministers to have gotten together to discuss issues after the 10-Point Solution was adopted by the government.

"On the 'Allah' issue and other issues involving Malaysian Christian: Point number 10 of the 10-point solution signed and documented by the Prime Minister states, 'The Christian ministers in the cabinet will meet on a regular basis with representatives of the various Christian groups in order to discuss their issues and work with the relevant ministries and PM in order to resolve them.

"I therefore want to ask these Christian ministers how many times they have met to discuss issues affecting the Christian community since the adoption of the 10-point solution? Or have they met at all to discuss issues involving Malaysian Christians?

"Calls are being made to the federal government to adhere to the 10-point solution and yet our own leaders are not able to meet together to discuss pertinent issues affecting the Christian communities," Bumburing opined in a statement yesterday.

He also suggested that the State Government adopt the 10-point solution adopted by the Federal cabinet.

"Recently we have read reports of some folks in the remote areas of Pitas who have allegedly been converted to Islam without their consent. While I urge the relevant authorities to investigate and get to the bottom of this issues, I also called upon our Christian leaders in the State cabinet, especially Huguan Siou Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan to take a leading role, seek and provide acceptable explanation to the Pitas episode and find a concrete and comprehensive solution so that every Malaysian of all creed can live in peace without having to fear for anything," he said.

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Keeping tradition of making ‘jiaozi’ alive

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 06:22 PM PST

CHINESE dumplings (jiaozi) are traditionally prepared and eaten during celebrations of people from North China. One of the celebrations is Chinese New Year and descendants of the Northern Chinese or 'Shantung' group residing in Sabah took pride in preparing and serving the dumplings then.

Veronica Chin Siew is a third generation 'Shantung' and prepares the 'jiaozi' every year for her family when they come home for the Chinese New Year celebration. Veronica and husband Bernard have three daughters who are all married and live abroad.

This year, their eldest daughter Anneline and her husband Amin Malik Shah with their three daughters Iman, Amal and Sophia are at home to celebrate the lunar new year and together with Veronica, they prepare the 'jiaozi' for the family gathering on Chinese New Year eve.

For Veronica, making the dumplings with her daughter, grandchildren and relatives is one way of keeping the tradition of their 'Shantung' ethnicity alive as most are now of mixed parentage.

According to Veronica, the traditional filling for the 'jiaozi' is minced pork but she substituted it with chicken as her daughter and family are Muslims.

"It can also be filled with garlic and chives for those who are vegetarian," she said, adding that the boiled version is called 'jiaozi' while the fried dumplings are known as 'gouteh' or 'woteh' as it is popularly known here in Kota Kinabalu.

"When I was younger, the whole family would get together to make this and in fact my eldest sister, youngest brother and their families still do this on the first day of Chinese New Year," she said, adding that she was happy that the tradition is being kept alive.

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NS trainees help to educate pedestrians on road safety

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 06:22 PM PST

KOTA KINABALU: Fatalities involving pedestrians are on the rise. As such a special campaign was organised by the Road Safety Department (RSD) to send the message across, especially with the Chinese New Year break around the corner.

This time RSD had brought 104 National Service trainers and trainees, including the newly launched NS Volunteer Brigade members, to tag along on their campaigns.

RSD director Herdianshah Abdul Karim disclosed that in 2012, a total of 10 fatalities involving pedestrians were recorded and last year, the number grew to 17.

"We hope through the programme we will be able to educate pedestrians on road safety as they are those categorised to be at high risk," he told reporters during the Road Safety Campaign in conjunction with CNY 2014.

He said the campaign was an integrated programme with relevant authorities and enforcement agencies, as well as non-governmental organisations to minimise road accidents.

"We will be expanding similar programmes in other districts," he said.

Herdiansah also said the NS Volunteer Brigade was also part of the effort to instil the love for community activities among the NS trainees.

At the event yesterday, the campaign was carried out at three locations simultaneously, namely Wisma Dang Bandang; Padang Merdeka and Bandaran.

"We would like to educate the NS trainees, as well as the public, on the importance of road safety. We want them to be role models so they will be able to pass on the information to their family and friends, and the people," he said.

He said the campaign had been proven to be effective, and this was evident with the reduction in the number of road accidents in the state.

"There have been positive implications, and we believe that apart from campaigning to reduce fatalities, we must also beef up awareness programmes," he said.

Herdianshah said based on statistics, the accident rates in areas such as Kota Kinabalu, Tawau, Sandakan and Lahad Datu were higher than that recorded in the interiors of Sabah.

"But we cannot be complacent but instead carry out awareness programmes in the urban, rural and interior parts of the state," he said.

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Liew’s CNY open house not associated with LDP – Senator

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 06:22 PM PST

KOTA KINABALU: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is holding its Chinese New Year open house events on the first (January 31) and third (February 2) day of Chinese New Year in Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu respectively.

LDP deputy president Senator Datuk Chin Su Phin said another open house organized by former president Datuk Liew Vui Keong in Sandakan on the third day of Chinese New Year (February 2) was not associated with the party.

Chin said LDP president Datuk Teo Chee Kang and himself would lead the Supreme Council members to celebrate the Chinese New Year with the people at Sandakan Futsal, Jalan Borehole, Batu 4 Jalan Utara, from 10am to 1pm, on January 31.

He urged the people in Sandakan to attend the event.

In a press statement issued yesterday, Chin clarified that the Chinese New Year open house in Sandakan on the third day of Chinese New Year was being organized by Liew in his personal capacity.

"It seems that Liew is urging the people to attend his open house by putting up banners and giant billboards using the name of LDP. That event is not organized by LDP," he stressed.

Chin reiterated that LDP had held an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on October 6 last year, in which the members voted to suspend Liew's membership pending action by the disciplinary committee.

On January 2, the Registrar of Societies (ROS) issued an official letter endorsing Teo and Chin as the president and deputy president of LDP respectively.

The ROS also ruled that the party congress and elections held on October 19-20 last year, as well as the Supreme Council members elected, as legitimate.

Although Liew had filed an application for a judicial review on the ROS decision, Chin said ROS had endorsed Teo as the new president, whom also received blessing from the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

"Even so, Liew has the audacity to issue press statements, put up banners and billboards using the name of LDP president," he said.

He said LDP would hold an open house at Dewan Hakka off Tanjung Lipat on the third day of Chinese New Year (February 2) from 10am to 1pm.

Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin and Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman are expected to arrive at 11am.

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