Latest news with #SunYatSenUniversity
Metro
05-07-2025
- Science
- Metro
Incredible Pacific Sleeper Sharks footage captures feeding scenes 3,000ft deep
Rare footage has been capture of giant Pacific sleeper sharks feeding on the ocean floor. Scientists observed the fascinating scramble after dropping a dead cow into the South China Sea near the island of Hainan. Pacific sleeper sharks are rarely spotted that far south, with the giant species usually preferring the colder waters of the North Pacific. The discovery also extends their known range, the Economic Times reported. The incredible footage appeared to show the predators queueing to feed from the bovine carcass in a hierarchical system. Individuals approaching the carcass from behind appeared to take precedence over those in front already feeding. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Researchers from Sun Yat Sen University in Guangzhou and Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory lowered the bovine carcass to a depth of 1,629 metres and placed cameras to observe the behaviour of marine animals. They were surprised to find huge sleeper sharks among those gathering for the meat. The large species, which can grow to nearly four metres long, is usually found in the North Pacific, including in the Bering Sea and in the Gulf of Alaska. Pacific sleeper sharks are thought to be both scavengers and successful stealth predators as they make little noise underwater. Interestingly, all the sharks captured feeding from the cow carcass were females, possibly indicating the area may serve as a nursery ground for large shark species. Other shark species including the megamouth shark are known to have female bias in the South China Sea. Pacific sleeper sharks can live in depths as low as 2,000 metres below sea level. According to the Shark Research Institute, they prefer continental shelves and slopes, where they rely on stealth predatory behaviour and scavenging. While they are typically found in the icy waters of the North Pacific and near the Arctic Circle, the latest study shows they can range much further south. Very rare, scientists say, given that Pacific sleeper sharks are thought to prefer far colder waters, such as in the Bering Sea and Baja California. The discovery in the South China Sea considerably extends the known range of the species. More Trending Because of the depth of their typical habitat, much remains unknown about Pacific sleeper sharks, including exactly how they feed and reproduce. However previous sightings of the rare species in the southern hemisphere have been known. A huge Pacific sleeper was spotted in the Tonga Trench in January of this year. The unusual discovery was found at a depth of around 1,600 metres where water temperatures are usually around 2.5C. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: The Dalai Lama issues statement to China ahead of his 90th birthday MORE: Donald Trump says a group of 'very wealthy people' want to buy TikTok MORE: Driver left dangling over edge of a bridge after massive landslides in China
South China Morning Post
28-06-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
Trailblazing mathematician Yitang Zhang leaves US for job at Chinese university
Chinese-American mathematician Yitang Zhang has left the United States to join Sun Yat-sen University in southern China as a full-time professor. The 70-year-old number theorist has been appointed to the university's newly established Institute of Advanced Study Hong Kong and will live and work in the Greater Bay Area , the university announced at a ceremony on Friday afternoon. While the university did not give further details about his appointment, it noted that Zhang had relocated to China with his family. Zhang spent a decade as a mathematics professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Zhang is best known for his groundbreaking work on prime numbers. In a 2013 paper published in the Annals of Mathematics, he proved for the first time that infinitely many pairs of prime numbers are separated by a bounded gap. The result marked a major step towards solving the twin prime conjecture – a fundamental unsolved problem in mathematics – and reignited global interest in number theory. Born in Shanghai in 1955, Zhang showed a strong talent for maths from an early age. He was unable to attend high school during the Cultural Revolution but taught himself and was admitted to Peking University in 1978. In 1985, he went to Purdue University in the US for his PhD. After graduating in 1991, he struggled to find an academic position. To make ends meet, Zhang worked various jobs, including as an accountant, restaurant manager, and Chinese food delivery driver, and at one point lived in his car.
South China Morning Post
23-06-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Elderly Hongkongers can use healthcare vouchers at 2 Zhuhai hospitals from Thursday
Elderly Hongkongers will be able to use healthcare vouchers for medical services at two hospitals in Zhuhai later this week under a government subsidy scheme, part of the city's plan to expand the coverage of the project across the border. Advertisement The government on Monday announced that the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme would be launched at Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University and Zhuhai People's Hospital on Thursday. The latest additions would bring the total number of hospitals in mainland China that accepted the city's healthcare vouchers to 11. Currently, more than 1.78 million elderly people in Hong Kong are eligible to use government healthcare vouchers. As in Hong Kong and other existing locations in the Greater Bay Area, the vouchers cannot be used for inpatient services, prepaid healthcare procedures and day surgeries. Advertisement They also cannot be used solely for the purchase of goods, medication, medical equipment or products, or redemption for cash.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
AB Science - New peer-reviewed data provide strong evidence supporting masitinib potential for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease
PRESS RELEASE NEW PEER-REVIEWED DATA PROVIDE STRONG EVIDENCE SUPPORTING MASITINIB'S POTENTIAL FOR THE TREATMENT OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE THROUGH A DUAL MECHANISM OF COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT AND NEUROPROTECTION THIS PUBLICATION CORROBORATES NEW ANALYSIS FROM THE CLINICAL PHASE 2B/3 STUDY SHOWING COGNITIVE IMPROVEMENT UNDER MASITINIB TREATMENT PHASE 3 CLINICAL STUDY WITH MASITINIB AS A DISEASE-MODIFYING THERAPY FOR ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE HAS BEEN AUTHORIZED BY THE FDA AND KEY EU COUNTRIES Paris, June 23, 2025, 8am CET AB Science SA (Euronext - FR0010557264 - AB) today announced that a new peer-reviewed study from an independent research team based in China (Guangdong Pharmaceutical University and Sun Yat-sen University) presents new evidence showing that masitinib offers a promising new approach to treating Alzheimer's disease, specifically the most common form, sporadic Alzheimer's disease (sAD), which accounts for over 95% of all cases. Masitinib is a highly innovative drug for Alzheimer's disease because unlike the majority of drug development research in this indication, masitinib targets the brain's innate immune system, including mast cells and microglia. The positioning of masitinib as a treatment of Alzheimer's disease is also different from other drugs. New evidence from peer-reviewed study This new publication is accessible online from the Neuroscience Letters journal website at: [1] In the study, researchers used a well-established mouse model that mimics the cognitive and behavioral symptoms of human sAD. When treated with masitinib, the mice showed marked improvements in memory, learning, sense of smell, and anxiety-like behaviors, all of which are early indicators of Alzheimer's progression. The research also revealed that masitinib: • Reduced toxic brain proteins such as hyperphosphorylated Tau. • Alleviated synaptic dysfunction and morphological damage, i.e., it protected synapses, which are essential for brain cell communication. • Suppressed microglial activation, which in turn inhibited the NF-κB/NLRP3/caspase-1 signaling axis, a key inflammatory signaling cascade linked to Alzheimer's disease, thereby suppressing inflammation in the brain of sAD mice. The authors emphasized that this is the first study to demonstrate that masitinib attenuates sporadic Alzheimer's disease pathology through dual mechanisms of cognitive enhancement and neuroprotection. Professor Olivier Hermine, MD, President of the Scientific Committee of AB Science and member of the Académie des Sciences in France said, 'These new, independent findings provide strong evidence supporting masitinib as a promising disease-modifying therapy for sporadic Alzheimer's disease and perfectly compliment previously published clinical and preclinical data for masitinib in this indication.' New data from phase 2B/3 study in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease It has previously been shown that masitinib enhances cognitive function and synaptic integrity in a familial Alzheimer's disease mouse model [2]. Moreover, randomized, placebo-controlled, phase 2 and phase 2B/3 studies demonstrated that masitinib (4.5 mg/kg/day) can effectively delay or mitigate the progression of dementia [3,4]. Clinical and preclinical study findings have also been summarized in a review article [5], with the authors concluding that 'all research studies revealed positive effects concerning the cognitive functions in Alzheimer's disease and generally with good safety and tolerability'. New analysis from the completed phase 2B/3 study (AB09004), shows that masitinib treatment may not only slow down worsening of cognition in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease, but actually improves it over the treatment period of 24 weeks. Indeed, study AB09004 included patient with both mild and moderate AD (MMSE [12 - 25]). In the overall study population, which included patient with both mild and moderate AD (MMSE [12 - 25]), masitinib 4.5 mg/kg/day plus standard of care (memantine and anticholinesterase) demonstrated a significant reduction in cognitive impairment (ADAS-Cog LS Mean Diff = -2.15; p=0.0003) compared with standard of care alone. However, the clinical benefit on ADAS-Cog was greater in patients with mild impairment (LS Mean Diff = -2.89 ; p=0.0008) than in patients with moderate impairment (LS Mean Diff = -1.74; p=0.0284). Notably, there was a meaningful improvement in cognitive function between baseline and week 24 in the mild AD subgroup under masitinib treatment (LS Mean = -2.47), while it remained stable in the control arm (LS Mean = -0.42), as presented in the table below. ADAS-COG Change from Baseline to Week 24 N LS Mean LS Mean Diff.(97.51% CI) p-value Mild and moderate AD patients Masitinib 4.5 mg/kg/day + SoC 182 -1.45 -2.15(-3.48, -0.81) 0.0003 Placebo + SoC 176 0.69 ADAS-COG Change from Baseline to Week 24 N LS Mean LS Mean Diff.(97.51% CI) p-value Mild patients [MMSE (21-25)] Masitinib 4.5 mg/kg/day + SoC 63 -2.47 -2.89(-4.80, -0.99) 0.0008 Placebo + SoC 61 0.42 Moderate patients [MMSE (12-20)] Masitinib 4.5 mg/kg/day + SoC 119 -1.04 -1.74(-3.52, 0.04) 0.0284 Placebo + SoC 115 0.70 SoC = Standard of care = memantine and anticholinesteraseNote : Negative change in LS Mean of ADAS-COG means an improvement of cognition. Positive change in LS Mean of ADAS-COG means a worsening of cognition. Authorized phase 3 to support New Drug Application in case of success AB Science previously received an Investigational New Drug (IND) approval letter from the FDA and similar authorizations from several European countries to initiate Phase III study (AB21004) in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Study AB21004 is a randomized, double-blind phase 3 study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of masitinib in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease, as an add-on therapy to standard of care, cholinesterase inhibitors and/or memantine. The study will enroll 600 patients. The objective of study AB21004 is to confirm results from the first phase 2B/3 study, AB09004, which showed that masitinib administered at 4.5 mg/kg/day significantly slowed cognitive deterioration relative to placebo and also reduced loss of functional ability in activities of daily living in the targeted AD population. Study AB21004 will evaluate the effect of masitinib on absolute change from baseline in cognition (ADAS-Cog-11) as primary endpoint and integrated AD rating scale (iADRS) and daily living (ADCS-ADL) as secondary endpoints. Expected patent protection until 2041 Based on the results from AB09004 study, AB Science filed a patent application relating to methods of treating Alzheimer's disease (i.e. a medical use patent) with its lead compound masitinib (WO2022129410A1). If granted, this patent will provide intellectual property protection for masitinib in this indication until 2041. A similar strategy was successfully applied in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, with medical use patent for masitinib in ALS being granted worldwide (press release dated June 1st 2023). References : Jia K, Shen Q, Zhang Z, et al. Masitinib attenuates neuropathological changes in acrolein-induced sAD mouse model via NF-κB/NLRP3/Caspase-1 signaling pathway. Neurosci Lett. Volume 862, 27 July 2025, 138300. Published online June 10, 2025. Li T, Martin E, Abada YS, et al. Effects of Chronic Masitinib Treatment in APPswe/PSEN1dE9 Transgenic Mice Modeling Alzheimer's Disease. J Alzheimers Dis. 2020;76(4):1339-1345. doi:10.3233/JAD-200466 Dubois B, López-Arrieta J, Lipschitz S, et al. Masitinib for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease: results from a randomized, placebo-controlled, phase 3, clinical trial [published correction appears in Alzheimers Res Ther. 2023 Apr 22;15(1):85. doi: 10.1186/s13195-023-01230-9.]. Alzheimers Res Ther. 2023;15(1):39. Piette F, Belmin J, Vincent H, et al. Masitinib as an adjunct therapy for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease: a randomised, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial. Alzheimers Res Ther. 2011;3(2):16. Published 2011 Apr 19. doi:10.1186/alzrt75 Ettcheto M, Cano A, Sanchez-López E, et al. Masitinib for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Neurodegener Dis Manag. 2021;11(4):263-276. doi:10.2217/nmt-2021-0019 About AB ScienceFounded in 2001, AB Science is a pharmaceutical company specializing in the research, development and commercialization of protein kinase inhibitors (PKIs), a class of targeted proteins whose action are key in signaling pathways within cells. Our programs target only diseases with high unmet medical needs, often lethal with short term survival or rare or refractory to previous line of treatment. AB Science has developed a proprietary portfolio of molecules and the Company's lead compound, masitinib, has already been registered for veterinary medicine and is developed in human medicine in oncology, neurological diseases, inflammatory diseases and viral diseases. The company is headquartered in Paris, France, and listed on Euronext Paris (ticker: AB). Further information is available on AB Science's website: Forward-looking Statements - AB ScienceThis press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts. These statements include projections and estimates as well as the assumptions on which they are based, statements based on projects, objectives, intentions and expectations regarding financial results, events, operations, future services, product development and their potential or future performance. These forward-looking statements can often be identified by the words "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate" or "plan" as well as other similar terms. While AB Science believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of AB Science and which may imply that results and actual events significantly differ from those expressed, induced or anticipated in the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include the uncertainties related to product development of the Company which may not be successful or to the marketing authorizations granted by competent authorities or, more generally, any factors that may affect marketing capacity of the products developed by AB Science, as well as those developed or identified in the public documents published by AB Science. AB Science disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update the forward-looking information and statements, subject to the applicable regulations, in particular articles 223-1 et seq. of the AMF General Regulations. For additional information, please contact: AB ScienceFinancial Communication & Media Relations investors@ Attachment Alz sAD Model PreClin vENG VFError while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
South China Morning Post
16-06-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong can lead world in AI healthcare by tapping trove of patient data: expert
Hong Kong has the potential to develop the world's most sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) system for healthcare, thanks to the data of millions of residents stored in the city's public hospitals, according to a leading expert in the field from mainland China. Professor Wang Haibo, director of the Research Centre of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Medicine under the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, told the Post that the health data system in the city's public sector was something he had not seen in the United States or Europe. 'Hong Kong has the best opportunity to develop the most sophisticated AI system for medicine in the world,' Wang said on the sidelines of the Asia Summit on Global Health last month. 'The system is the only single technical platform system that harbours generations of the Hong Kong people's population data and medical data,' he said, referring to the clinical management system used by the city's 43 public hospitals. The Hospital Authority started to develop the system in the 1990s, and as of last year, it contained at least 11 million patient records. Wang, who worked at the University of Hong Kong for about a decade and studied at Harvard University and the University of Maryland in the US, said he had not seen a healthcare data system similar to the Hong Kong one in the North American country or Europe.
