FAMILY BIOMARKERS STUDY
Evidence from early work in the Monash South East Asia
Community Observatory (SEACO), in Segamat, Johor,
demonstrated that children that had one or more obese
parents, had a two-fold greater risk of being obese.
However, it is not clear how much of this risk is associated
with environmental exposures (diet and physical activity)
within the family, and how much of it may have some
hereditary or biological components. SEACO's research
infrastructure has supported the collection of data within
families that includes not only the physical health status of
parents and children, but also some data to assess their
eating habits and physical activity, and biological data to
determine possible genetic and other biomarkers that might
explain obesity risks.
COST EFFECTIVENESS OF EDOXABAN IN
PATIENTS WITH NON-VALVULAR ATRIAL
FIBRILLATION IN HONG KONG
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common abnormal beating of
the heart associated with many damaging and debilitating
consequences. Recently the new non-vitamin K antagonist
oral anticoagulants (NOACs) including edoxaban have been
suggested as alternatives to warfarin in patients with AF.
Although they are welcomed by clinicians and patients,
the rapid increased use may create a financial challenge to
the healthcare system. The need to understand their health
economic value compared with existing therapies is
therefore of paramount importance. We use a Markov
projection model to evaluate the long term health and
economic benefits of NOACs in the public sector of
Hong Kong. The results will help in both clinical
decision-making and resource allocation, thus maximising
benefits for patients.
PROJECT FRESH
This project examines the impact of a recently developed
fatigue detection device, wrist-worn capable of capturing
the heart-rate variability, as well as on driver behaviour.
Professional drivers from two Trading and Supply (T&S)
hauliers based in Malaysia volunteered to participate in
the study. Incidents of harsh brake, fatigue and sleep diary
of the drivers were gathered for three months. Data will be
analysed to determine if the device is reliable and accurate
in alerting a tired driver 1 to 7 minutes prior to the likelihood
of a fatigue event occurring, thus reducing the likelihood of
road accidents.
RESEARCHERS
Prof Daniel Reidpath
Prof Pascale Allotey
Uttara Partap
(University of Cambridge, UK)
Dr Manj Sandhu
(Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK)
Dr Liz Young
(University of Cambridge, UK)
COLLABORATING INSTITUTION
University of Cambridge, UK
RESEARCHERS
Prof Kenneth Lee Kwing Chin
Dr June Choon Wai Yee
Dr David Wu Bin Chia
FUNDING AGENCY
Daiichi Sankyo Hong Kong LTD
RESEARCHERS
Prof Shantha Rajaratnam,
(Monash University Australia)
A/Prof Shamsul Haque
A/Prof Alexandre Schaefer
Dexter Shee
Dr Mark Howard
(Institute for Breathing & Sleep,
Australia)
Dr Alexander Powell Wolkow
(Monash University Australia)
INDUSTRY PARTNER
Shell Global Solutions
International B V
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