A team of doctors from Singapore and Malaysia has managed to raise cure rates for a group of child leukemia patients from 69.6 per cent to 91.6 per cent while also lowering relapses from 30 per cent to 13 per cent.

Assoc Prof Justin Chu and his research team at Department of Microbiology and Immunology conducted a study on using salivary micro RNA as a diagnostic marker for Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD) in paediatric patients. The team has accurately distinguished HFMD patients from healthy persons in Singapore and Taiwan.

Amputation among diabetics is increasingly becoming a last resort, as doctors find new ways of saving patients' legs. "As surgeons, we try not to amputate any part of the leg or foot, but it is often a necessary operation... to remove the gangrenous or infected part of the limb in order to save a patient's life or prevent serious infection," said Dr Chee Yu Han from NUS Medicine’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

The leading cause of death in 70 per cent of the 400,000 diabetic patients is cardiovascular disease. Professor Tan Huay Cheem, Director at the National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS), believes that everyone should pay more attention to, and adopt measures to control and prevent diabetes. Prof Tan is also Professor of Medicine at NUS Medicine.

Associate Professor Jacqueline Chin from NUS Medicine’s Centre for Biomedical Ethics, and her counterparts from the US and UK, published with a report to recommend appropriate national policies to support the provision of home care, the involvement and participation of hospitals and healthcare institutions in ensuring the right care processes are in place at home, training for caregivers, as well as emotional and social support to enable them to cope with the demands of looking after their elderly charges.