Evolving Trends and Hottest Ingredients in Sun Protection

THANKS:Maria Coronado Robles/EURO MONITOR INTERNATIONAL

Published; JUNE 18TH, 2017

As consumers are shifting to healthier lifestyles what is inside the products is becoming more important. More than ever before, consumers are questioning the ingredients and their sources and this is having an impact on the ingredients market.

Protection at the heart of consumer preferences

In a little over 50 years, the sun protection industry has evolved tremendously in both the level and type of protection and the aesthetic properties of the products, driven by consumer needs and technological advances, such as new encapsulating technologies and delivery systems. This has allowed companies to feed consumers with more attractive products that protect from a wide range of new environmental and technological stressors, from sun radiation to air and light pollution.

Change with your customers

The world is constantly changing and sun protection is no longer limited to traditional sun care products. Consumers are increasingly aware of the effects of UV radiation on skin health and appearance all year around and this is driving demand for sunscreen ingredients worldwide. Sunscreens are becoming essential ingredients in a wide range of products, from traditional sun protection and daily skin care to hair care, colour cosmetics and bath and shower products. As a result, there are an increasing number of new products and claims reaching the market. Perhaps one of the most interesting launches is Dr Russo Facial Cleanser SPF 30, with three encapsulated chemical UV filters (octocrylene, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate and avobenzone) that remain on the skin once the cleanser is washed off, providing a protective layer.

Aware of the heterogeneous landscape of consumer lifestyles, preferences and needs across the globe, sun protection manufacturers are now targeting specific market segments. Multicultural products designed for different skin tones and environmental conditions or sports products designed for active lifestyles are gaining attention among consumers. In response, companies are launching specific sunprotection lines to cover this gap in the market. For instance, the natural brand UNSUN has launched its Sun Protection For All Skin Tones that do not leave whitening residue; Happy Skin is selling in Filipinas its Catch the Sun line with moringa seed oil that protects against UV rays and pollution and Lancaster is using its new Full Light Technology that can now be found in Lancaster’s Sun Beauty line.

More from less is driving consumer purchases in sun protection

Growing consumer and industry interest in multi-functional products is driving demand for ingredients that can serve multiple functions in their formulations. In fact, according to Euromonitor Beauty Survey, the use of multifunctional ingredients is among the top ten reasons to purchase sunscreens or dedicated sun protection products worldwide.

REASONS FOR PURCHASING SUNSCREEN OR DEDICATED SUN PROTECTION PRODUCTS

As consumers increasingly want sun protection products that go beyond simple UV protection, there is a growing need for multifunctional ingredients and simpler formulations. Ingredients suppliers are developing ingredients able to play different roles in the formulation, from UV, light and pollution protection to anti-ageing, skin conditioning and benefiting agents.

Synthetic polymers with multiple functions and benefits such as film formers for better UV and pollution protection, as well as water and sand resistance, are expected to grow by 1,000 tonnes in the global sun protection market over 2015-2020. In this context, Covestro has launched a new waterproof polymer for transparent sun protection that shows an SPF-boosting effect. Demand for emollient esters with excellent spreadability on the skin – able to solubilise organic sun filters and disperse inorganic sunfilters, which also offer a barrier to the natural moisture loss from the skin and improve the sensorial sensation – are expected to grow globally by 2,000 tonnes in the sun protection market between 2015 and 2020. Vitamins and botanicals and especially plant extracts with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory andanti-pollution properties that boost SPF, provide UVA protection and have added skin benefits, are getting a lot of attention from both consumers and manufacturers.

Blending multifunctional actives with multiple claims is an increasingly appealing option which also fits the clean label trend. It enables manufacturers to use less ingredients which ultimately have a positive impact on the manufacturing process and the price of the product. In addition, this makes it easier for consumers to understand what is in their products.

Products that offer multiple properties are especially appealing to the youngest generations of consumers for whom pricing plays an extremely important role. Consumers that belong to Generation Z and especially those who live in developing countries are more likely to purchase sun protection products with multifunctional ingredients than those living in developed countries. These consumers with lower incomes own fewer products and thus want effective and cost-effective formulations with multifunctional ingredients that provide all-in-one integrated solution.

PERCENTAGE OF CONSUMERS WHO BUY SUNSCREEN OR DEDICATED SUN PROTECTION PRODUCTS WITH MULTIFUNCTIONAL INGREDIENTS

In developing countries such as India, Indonesia and Brazil, where the highest growth in sun protection is expected, between 30% and 40% of consumers opt to buy sunscreen products with multifunctional ingredients, while only 10% of the consumers in Australia, Japan and South Korea consider ingredients’ multifunctionality a key product feature

Opportunities in Western European sun protection

There is an increasing demand for healthier, safer and more effective sun protection products with improved spreadability and lighter textures which offer non-whitening, broad and long lasting sun, light and water protection. This has brought some challenges that the industry has turned into opportunities for a wide range of ingredients to meet consumer needs for convenience, protection and enhanced aesthetic appeal.

In Western Europe, the emphasis on protection is driving demand for a number of sunscreen ingredients, synthetic polymers, botanicals and vitamins, while the desire for easier application and better skin feeling is fuelling demand for emollient esters and hydroalcoholic formulas which tend to be lighter and dry faster.

Sunscreen ingredients present huge opportunities for volume gains. Although there is a strong growth for ZnO in Western Europe due to the new regulation in place which approves the use of ZnO as UV filter (in its nano and non-nano form), the absolute growth in volume projected for mineral filters is still far lower than that expected for chemical filters. Homosalate is the UV filter which benefits the most from the high SPF trend due to its affordability, its high legal limits in sun protection formulations, its compatibility with other filters and its ability to dissolve and stabilise solid filters such as avobenzone.

Emollient esters with enhanced UV filter solubility and attractive skin feeling are ingredients that present big opportunities for growth. Although synthetic polymers and botanicals which also offer pollution and UVA protection offer smaller opportunities for growth in absolute volume, they are projected to grow at the fastest rate driven by the trend towards natural ingredients and the growing number of anti-pollution sunscreen product launches. Besides this, high-value ingredients such as peptides present further opportunities for growth in the forecast period (2015-2020).

What’s next for sun protection?

Global demand for multifunctional, full protection and long lasting products with increased sunscreen sensoriality, lighter touch and greater spreadability is projected to continue. The major challenges in the years to come are related to the need for safer and more effective sunscreens with fewer and more natural ingredients. Companies are now performing research to optimise the UV delivery systems and to improve the photostability, efficacy and wash-off resistance of the active ingredients with no detriment to aesthetic properties.

The new wave of products that goes beyond UV protection is expected to continue and this provides opportunities for novel ingredients with pollution and full light protection claims to enter the market. For instance, Indena has launched Vitachelox and antipollution active with botanical compounds andGreentech is marketing Soliberine with Buddleja Officinalis flowers that stimulate cellular detoxification systems and protect against blue light and IR rays.

Further studies are being conducted to look for natural alternatives to synthetic UV filters. In this context, the growing desire for natural and skin microbiome-friendly ingredients among consumers, with the recent penetration of probiotics in the skin care market, opens up opportunities for bio-derived sunscreens to reach the market in the long term. Although promising, however, the development of bio-UV filters that emulate bacterial natural sun protection mechanisms is a long and expensive road with many technical and regulatory barriers, especially in the US where SPF products are regulated as drugs and the process of getting approval for new ingredients is an overcomplicated path.

How ‘guerilla’ start-ups can make the world a better place

Thanks; @IBGC_Fletcher & Word Economic Forum

REUTERS/Thomas Peter

At the Stockholm Tech Fest this year, Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Zennström issued a rare and refreshing call to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their next startup idea. As founder of Skype, he knows a thing or two about opportunity-spotting.

The UN goals involve complex problems, but when it comes to clever startups, a lot can happen between now and 2030. After all, some of the most exciting ideas in recent decades have come from the “guerilla” startups rather than from the “gorilla” corporations; use of the guerilla’s creativity could help to find solutions to sustainable development problems.

However, it is important to ask: Is Zennström’s call to action just fluff, or is there are a deep enough bench of entrepreneurs with robust ideas? Are there resources to support such startups through different phases of growth?

Historically, keeping the growing body of “social” entrepreneurs nourished has largely fallen to impact investors, foundations, NGOs and a few progressive government agencies. so far, the track record of guerillas has not been stellar; far too often it is the same handful of examples that make the rounds. This is a field that, while not starved for people or ideas, is in need of fresh sources of nourishment. Getting big “gorilla” corporations to work with the “guerilla” startups could provide this nourishment.

Findings from our Inclusion, Inc. research initiative suggest that large corporations are well-placed to unblock startups’ path to wider impact.

How do we find ideas?

There is a growing pool of budding social entrepreneurs; the Skoll World Forumevent alone offers an encouraging and uplifting glimpse of the many guerillas in our midst. We are experiencing a surge in interest and ideas on university campuses. At UC Berkeley, the Blum Center has highlighted examples of businesses and people already helping to fulfil the goals.

Closer to home, The Fletcher School’s collaboration with the One Acre Fund’s D-Prize draws numerous contestants with ideas for social enterprises that take on “poverty solutions”; in recent years, we have funded a startup that used bus networks to distribute solar lamps to far-flung communities in Burkina Faso; a venture finding sponsors for girls’ high school education; and a ground transportation brokerage to serve as “the connective tissue” between smallholder farmers and transporters.

A second piece of good news is that capital is ready to be mobilised. A 2014 study by J.P. Morgan and the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) identified $46bn in impact investments under management, with annual funding commitments estimated to increase by 19% in 2014. Sir Ronald Cohen, chair of the Global Social Impact Investment Taskforce, believes the impact investing market can grow to match the “$3tn of venture capital and private equity.”

According to Judith Rodin and Margot Brandenburg of the Rockefeller Foundation: “Aspirational estimates suggest that impact investments could one day represent 1% of professionally managed global assets, channeling up to hundreds of billions of dollars towards solutions that can address some of our biggest problems, from poor health to climate change.”

What are the bottlenecks?

So, why does all this good news not translate into more meaningful outcomes? Two bottlenecks are worth highlighting. The first is what a Monitor and Acumen study calls the “pioneer gap”. Their 2012 study, From Blueprint to Scale, observes that pioneer firms are starved of capital and support at very early stages in their development.

The second choke point occurs in the phase of actually getting to scale. A second report, Beyond the Pioneer, identifies a chain of barriers to scale, ranging from those within the firm and the industry to those in the domain of public goods and the government.

These bottlenecks represent different forms of market failures. An approach to the first of them involves “de-risking” early stage social ventures. However, a key source of risk is the chain of barriers to scale in later stages. If we can make meaningful advances on lowering the barriers, it helps in de-risking and also supports early-stage startup development.

Given the breadth of the barriers to scale, impact investors, NGOs and foundations would find it challenging to facilitate end-to-end solutions. Apart from funding and convening, such organisations have few other levers. Large corporations, on the other hand, can tackle business model and managerial issues within the firm and help boost negotiating power within the value chain or the public sector.

The biggest questions, of course, have to do with whether the gorilla corporations can ever be organisationally and culturally compatible with the startups. Given the potential for value creation these gaps are worth taking on.

The Monitor and Acumen study lists potential barriers: “firm level” barriers, which include weak business models, propositions to customers/producers, leadership and managerial and technical talent and a lack of capital.

Eye Mitra, launched in 2013, had trained over 1,000 young entrepreneurs and reached 150,000 people by the end of 2015. The business helps individuals to set up eye care provider businesses in rural communities using low-cost products.

According to a study by Dalberg Global Development Advisors [pdf], the programme added $4m a year in impact across the six districts surveyed; with Essilor’s scaling resources, Eye Mitra could represent the potential to unlock economic impact of $487m a year across India.

“Value chain barriers”

There are also value chain barriers which include lack of suitable labour inputs and financing for bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) producers and customers, weak sourcing channels and weak distribution channels involving BoP producers and customers, and weak linkages and support service providers.

Corporations with experience have become adept at finding creative ways around barriers in the value chain. Consider Unilever’s Project Shakti, which enables rural women to become entrepreneurs by distributing goods to hard-to-access rural communities.

Over 70,000 Shakti Entrepreneurs distribute Unilever’s products in more than 165,000 villages, reaching over 4m rural households. At the other end of the value chain, Coca-Cola’s Source Africa initiative facilitates sustainable and financially viable supply chains for key Coca-Cola agricultural ingredients, e.g. mango production in Kenya and Malawi and citrus and pineapple production in Nigeria.

In another sector, when Saint-Gobain builds a plant in a new country, it trains the local workforce in collaboration with YouthBuild. The latter trains disadvantaged youths in professional skills, while Saint-Gobain adds training in construction science.

“Public goods barriers”

Then, there are the public goods barriers: Lack of hard infrastructure; lack of awareness of market-based solutions; lack of information, industry knowhow and standards.

Olam offers a good illustration of a company’s deep involvement in a nation’s hard infrastructure. Olam jointly owns Owendo, a port in Gabon and is a key partner in the country’s special economic zone. On the “soft” public goods front, Janssen, a unit of J&J, works with multiple stakeholders to increase access to medicines and has formed the Janssen Neglected Disease Task Force to advocate for legislation to support new research into treatments for neglected diseases. It also coordinates a consortium to support HIV patients and their caretakers in managing the disease.

Fourth and finally, there are the government barriers: inhibitory laws, regulations and procedures; inhibitory taxes and subsidies; adverse interventions by politicians or officials.

MasterCard and its growing collaboration with the Association for Financial Inclusion to educate public officials about issues relevant to financial inclusion. This includes technical capacity building, developing national-level public-private engagement strategies, research and best practices to inform policymaking and exposing officials to innovative products, business models and approaches.

Combining global reach with entrepreneurial creativity

Perhaps the best mechanism for bringing gorilla and guerilla together is through a corporate venture or impact investing fund. Consider Unilever Ventures as an example. It has invested in a range of enterprises, including ones that focus on water management as part of its “sustainable living” portfolio, e.g. Recyclebank, a social platform that creates incentives for people to take environmentally responsible actions, WaterSmart, that develops tools for water utilities to help customers save water and money or Aquasana, Voltea and Rayne Water that develop water purification, desalination and filtration technologies.

Gorillas have the global reach and scale but they need the proximity to the problem, local knowledge and the entrepreneurial creativity of the guerillas. Zennström’s call-to-action requires guerillas and gorillas to dance. It is, no doubt, an awkward coupling; but it can – and must – happen for guerilla entrepreneurs to have gorilla impact on the world’s hardest problems.

Doctors Agree—Stay Away From These Popular Health Supplements

Thanks; Kelsey Clark 

PHOTO: Original Illustration by Stephanie DeAngelis

September 12, 2016 NEWS
The supplements we often turn to as beauty or dietary aids may be doing more harm than good, according to new findings from Consumer Reports. Despite populating the shelves at pharmacies and health-food stores across the country, these over-the-counter aids can be contaminated with “dangerous bacteria” and often falsely advertise in terms of their benefits. All signs point to a lack of formalized government regulation surrounding these supplements, which can inadvertently lead to organ damage, cardiac arrest, or even cancer. These are the top five supplement ingredients to stay away from, as reported by Health:
Caffeine powder: Used for weight loss, increased energy, and athletic performance.

Green tea extract powder: Used for weight loss.

Kava: Used for anxiety and insomnia.

Aconite: Used for inflammation, joint pain, and gout.

Chaparral: Used for weight loss, inflammation, colds, rashes, and infections.

“These products don’t always contain what they claim to,” explains Ellen Kunes, the health content team leader at Consumer Reports. “That could mean you’re just wasting your money on something harmless—but the reality is, a lot of it is not harmless. … Many times, the FDA only gets involved after they get a report that there’s a problem.”

Kunes contends that eating a balanced diet of fruits and vegetables, exercising on a regular basis, getting the recommended six to eight hours of sleep every night, and monitoring your stress levels are more than enough to make you feel happy and healthy. “We recommend getting your health from food and healthy habits, rather than popping a pill.”

Check out the full list of supplements to avoid over at Health.com, and try monitoring your health using the C25K app.

Thailand hospitality sector has best year for two decades | Bangkok is Asia’s most popular destination‏

THANKS;Bangkok Business Briefing/Centaur Management Co., Ltd. (Head Office)/Nicola Jones-Crossley

THAILAND HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY HAS BEST YEAR IN TWO DECADES

Thailand’s hospitality industry reached new highs in 2015, enjoying its best year in over two decades, according to research revealed exclusively by leading research institute STR Global.

Thailand closed the year with an overall occupancy of 73.4%, an increase of 13.6% over 2014, as arrivals soared to near the 30 million mark, driven by the demand from the mainland China market. December was a particularly strong month as occupancy levels reached 77.4%, the highest levels since 1995.

Organised by C9 Hotelworks, in cooperation with Thailand’s American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) and supported by the InterContinental Hotel Group, Thailand Tourism Forum, now in its fifth year, has emerged as an important platform for tourism news and discussion, attracting over 500 registered delegates this year.

Key announcements included global hotel chain InterContinental Hotel Group unveiling expansion plans of its Hotel Indigo brand in Phuket, following its Bangkok launch last year, and Southeast Asia.

“We are delighted to be expanding our boutique hotel brand, Hotel Indigo, after its successful debut in Bangkok with Hotel Indigo Bangkok Wireless Road in 2015. In Thailand, we are slated to open the 180-room Hotel Indigo Phuket Patong in 2018 with our partners Kebsup Group Company Limited,” said Clarence Tan, Senior Vice President, Development, IHG Asia, Middle East & Africa.

The hotel investment community was out in force, led by keynote speaker Kenneth Gaw, President and Managing Principal of Gaw Capital Partners, whose company handles over USD10 billion in hospitality and real estate AUM (Assets Under Management) across the world.

“As a destination for hotel investment, Thailand remains one of our preferred choices because it is one of the most attractive travel destinations in the region,” Gaw said.

“Operating costs are relatively low and there is an abundance of opportunities. Thailand will remain the preferred travel destination for ASEAN and all Asian markets for years and we wish to continue to grow and be part of that. But there is the opportunity for even higher potential if it can achieve long-term political stability and relax foreign ownership restrictions.”

Thailand’s unique position in ASEAN, its upcoming 30 million annual arrivals milestone, the China market and its economic woes and what is termed the “new normal” – a period of almost continual disruption and challenge in the destination – were all addressed – along with the future of the hospitality industry in Thailand.

… AND BANGKOK IS THE REGION’S MOST POPULAR CITY

Bangkok has increased its lead over the pack as the region’s most popular destination, with international overnight visitors breaking the 20 million mark for the first time, according to the results of the inaugural MasterCard Asia Pacific Destinations Index released. Second place was a close fight between Singapore and Tokyo.

The inaugural index provides a ranking of 167 destinations across Asia Pacific. Thailand dominated the top ten destinations, taking three of the top ten rankings, with Phuket securing fifth place (9.3 million) and the coastal city of Pattaya coming in at eighth place (8.1 million).

Half of the top 10 destinations saw 10 percent growth or more in international overnight visitor numbers between 2014 and 2015 – Osaka (54.0 percent), Tokyo (53.2 percent), Bangkok (28.6 percent), Phuket (15.5 percent) and Pattaya (10.0 percent).
The top 20 destinations of Asia Pacific represent around half of all international overnight arrivals to the 167 Asia Pacific destinations covered by the Index.

The top ten Asia Pacific destinations ranked by international overnight visitor numbers:

1.       Bangkok 21.9 million
2.       Singapore 11.8 million
3.       Tokyo  11.8 million
4.       Kuala Lumpur 11.3 million
5.       Phuket 9.3 million
6.       Seoul 9.2 million
7.       Hong Kong 8.3 million
8.       Pattaya 8.1 million
9.       Bali 7.2 million
10.     Osaka 6.5 million

Bangkok also ranked number one in total expenditure at US$15.2 billion, with Seoul (US$14.4 billion) coming in second place, followed by Singapore (US$14.1 billion), Tokyo (US$11.9 billion) and Kuala Lumpur (US$10.5 billion).Asia Pacific’s tourism industry is the largest in the world by total contribution to GDP, having overtaken Europe in 2014. Tourism contributed US$2.27 trillion to Asia Pacific economies and 153.7 million jobs in 2015

Matthew Driver, Group Executive, Global Products & Solutions, Asia Pacific, MasterCard, commented, “The tourism industry in Asia Pacific is continuing to show robust growth with an increasing number of destinations receiving well over five million visitors a year, driven by increased consumer wealth, particularly from China. Our Asia Pacific Destinations Index (APDI) 2015 reveals the continued resilience of the Thailand market for tourism led by a resurgent Bangkok, as well as the return to popularity of Japan for visitors as demonstrated by the more than 50 percent growth year on year in its top four destinations.”

IMPACT SPENDS 500M BAHT ON EXPANSION

IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Center has set aside a budget of 500 million baht to build a Sky Bridge connecting IMPACT Challenger 1 and the outdoor area at the side of IMPACT Arena and a 5-storey retail building with approximately 8,000 square meters of floor space that will feature retail stores, restaurants, food court, and outlet stores. The company has come up with this investment in response to exhibitors and organizers needs of expanding exhibition space to support the growing popularity of their events.

“Although IMPACT Challenger is the world’s largest column free hall with a combined space of 60,000 square meters and has always been chosen as a preferred venue for large-scale trade fairs and exhibitions at both national and international levels, some events need more space to support an increase in exhibitors, visitors and sales volume as they have become more successful,” said Paul Kanjanapas, Managing Director of IMPACT Exhibition Management.

For example, ThaiFEX and Bangkok Gems & Jewelry Fair have expanded their floor space to 70,000 square meters and 80,000 square meters respectively by including IMPACT Forum. Meanwhile, OTOP City has spread over IMPACT Exhibition Hall 1-4. And more recently, the Automotive Aftermarket International Trade Fair (AAITF), a part of Thailand International Motor Expo which was held at IMPACT Challenger, took place at IMPACT Forum.

Construction of the Sky Bridge is expected to be fully completed during the next ThaiFEX in May 2016. Meanwhile, the 5-storey retail building is scheduled to open in late 2016.

 

AIS, TRUE IN NATIONAL 4G WAR

 

AIS and True Move both announced intentions to deploy nationwide LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) service over recently bought 4G spectrum.

AIS says it has already deployed in 42 provinces and is investing THB34 billionto take the service nationwide (72 provinces) by March, the Bangkok Post reported. It says it will deploy 7,000 new base stations in the next two months alone using 1.8GHz spectrum.

True plans to invest THB56 billion on 13,500 base stations in n the 1.8GHz band and up to 4,000 base stations on the 900MHz frequency.

AIS will spend THB20 billion to expand its 3G network on the 2.1GHz band and increase its 3G base station total to 27,000. AIS has 38 million mobile connections, giving it a 46 per cent market share.

But while Bangkok hotels might be booming, exports fell more than expected last month.

Exports account for over half the GDP but fell 8.73% in December from a year earlier with the export value of US$17.1 billion, the Commerce Ministry said. The biggest fall was the China market, down 9.5%,

The fall exceeded analyst expectations.

The Bangkok Post said the fall was the highest since the 2011 floods.

THAILAND’S BIGGEST DATA CENTRE BEGINS CONSTRUCTION

Construction has begun on the new THB11 billion SUPERNAP Thailand, located in Hemmaraj Industrial Estate in Thailand’s eastern province Chonburi. SUPERNAP Thailand will be the first Uptime Institute rated Tier IV Gold data center in Asia, as well as the largest data center in the Kingdom.  The facility, which is expected to open in the first quarter of 2017, will have capacity for more than 6,000 data server racks.

“The SUPERNAP Thailand data center is a mirror of Switch SUPERNAP U.S. facilities, which are the first Tier IV Gold carrier-neutral colocation data centers on the planet. This cutting-edge data center will meet the global demand for innovation in Asia Pacific,” said CEO of SUPERNAP International Khaled Bichara. “With the emergence of the AEC and with Thailand’s focus on digital growth, this data center will set a new precedent for quality, security and innovation in Asia Pacific. We look forward to working with Thailand to attract more investment and more growth to the Thai digital economy.”

SUPERNAP International is developing the project in partnership with a group of leading Thai organizations, including CPB Equity, Kasikorn Bank, Siam Commercial Bank and True IDC. Executives from Kasikorn Bank and Siam Commercial Bank say the development of the SUPERNAP Thailand data center will enhance the banks’ use of technology to better serve their customers and provide a homegrown solution for Thai companies that seek to expand their IT capabilities.

“SUPERNAP Thailand aims to generate significant benefits for Thailand’s economy. This unique data center design will not only bring innovative technology to the Kingdom, but will also attract international investors. The facility will play an important role to support the country’s business development by showcasing Thailand as a regional hub for data centers,” said Siam Commercial Bank Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and SUPERNAP Thailand Chairman Deepak Sarup.

The new SUPERNAP Thailand data center will cover an area of nearly 75 rai or 12 hectares and will be strategically built outside the flood zone, 110-meters above sea level and only 27 kilometers away from the international submarine cable landing station, which links the facility to national and international telecoms and IT carriers.

ONYX USES REVCASTER

 

Leading international hospitality provider ONYX Hospitality Group has switched to Rainmaker’s competitive rate shopping tool, Revcaster, citing Revcaster’s functionality, the incremental revenue it generates, and the Rainmaker team’s responsiveness. Revcasterâ?Ts compatibility with numerous regional channels also factored into ONYXâ?Ts decision.

“Most critical for me in selecting a technology vendor is the partnership aspect,” said Stefan Wolf, senior vice-president, revenue and distribution strategy for ONYX. “From first contact, Rainmaker was prompt in responding to our needs and its product and services have proven very flexible. Of the presentations we received, we determined Rainmaker’s Revcaster best served our needs and, in fact, included some unexpected useful extras.”

Collecting market-specific hotel price information from hundreds of branded sites and online agencies, Revcaster provides deep-dive local knowledge and analysis, giving property managers the market intelligence and control to make real-time decisions that optimize rates. Easy-to-use downloadable reports are available anytime online in daily, weekly and other formats. Pricing data downloads into any revenue management tool or PMS.

Headquartered in Bangkok, ONYX Hospitality Group operates four diverse yet complementary brands Saffron, Amari, Shama and OZO each catering to the distinctive requirements of todayâ?Ts business and leisure travellers.

FABRINET HIRES NEW CTO

Fabrinet, a Bangkok based provider of advanced optical packaging and precision optical, electro-mechanical and electronic manufacturing services to original equipment manufacturers of complex products, said Dr Hong Q. Hou has joined the company as Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer. Dr. Hou brings to Fabrinet extensive technical and executive-level experience in the semiconductor and fiber-optic communication industries. In 1998 he co-founded EMCORE Corporationâ?Ts photovoltaic division and led the commercialization of high-efficiency multi-junction solar cell technology for space power applications.  Dr. Hou holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at San Diego, and he has completed executive management courses at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Early in his career he conducted research at the AT&T Bell Laboratories and the Sandia National Laboratories. He holds eight U.S. patents and has published more than 200 technical articles

GLOBAL MARKET ADVISORS HIRES NEW ASIA HEAD

Global Market Advisors, a leading consulting firm to the casino gaming, hotel, and airline industries, said Shaun McCamley has joined the company as head of its Asia regional office.  Due to the company’s growth, GMA recently moved to larger space in the central business district of Bangkok, Thailand, which is where Shaun will be based.  GMA continues to invest and expand in the Asian gaming and hospitality segment, providing clients with services such as financial feasibility reports, marketing strategies, internet/ social gaming, and government relations.

BANGKOK TO GAIN DIRECT FLIGHT FROM URUMQI

Bangkok has been chosen as the destination of the first direct flight linking northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to a Southeast Asian country, Urumqi Diwopu International Airport announced according to the China Daily.
The flight will be operated by China Southern Airlines between Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, and Bangkok, the airport said in a statement. Flights will be on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday each week, with a stopover at Lanzhou, capital of northwestern China’s Gansu province.

Autohemotherapy

Thanks;ARIZONA CENTER for ADVANCED MEDICINE

Autohemotherapy is a technique used all over the world to boost the immune system. The technique is very simple. A small amount of blood is withdrawn from a vein, and re-introduced into a muscle by injection.

 

Autohemotherapy is a technique used all over the world to boost the immune system.

autohematherapyThe technique is very simple. A small amount of blood is withdrawn from a vein, and re-introduced into a muscle by injection. This creates a tiny inflammatory response which acts very much like a wound. Muscle is slightly injured by the injection, since the needle used (no matter how small the gauge) is larger than capillaries. Injured capillaries leak calls platelets into the tissues, thus triggering the release of growth factors and inflammatory proteins. The immune system is now activated. If there are foreign proteins in the blood, these proteins are picked up by antigen presenting cells and given to the T cells of the immune system to make the appropriate antibodies.

And voilà – effectively we have created a vaccine. If the proteins belong to cancer cells, we have created an effective vaccine against cancer. And because we repeat the autohemotherapy frequently, every injection contains fresh proteins. We are not risking making a vaccine to something which is no longer relevant – the major drawback of conventional cancer vaccines.

Thanks2;

The International Journal of Artificial Organs [2004, 27(9):766-771]

Type: Clinical Trial, Controlled Clinical Trial, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t

Abstract

Ozonotherapy is a complementary medical approach in the treatment of resistant infections, immune deficiency syndromes, orthopedic pathologies and vascular diseases. The criticism of this method is associated with potentially harmful effects of ozone on cells. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of ozonated autohemotherapy (O3-AHT) on the cellular response of the immunologic system represented by cytotoxic activity of natural killer cells. 12 hemodialyzed patients (8 M, 4 F) aged 64.8 +/- 7.6 years with peripheral arterial disease as the main reason for the treatment with O3-AHT were examined in a prospective, placebo controlled, single blind study. They received 9 sessions of autohemotherapy without ozone exposure as a placebo-control and subsequent 9 sessions of O3-AHT. The procedures were performed 3 times a week, just before hemodialysis session. Ozone-oxygen gas mixture with ozone concentration of 50 microg/ml produced by ozone generator (ATO3, KrioMetrum, Poland) was used during O3-AHT Natural killer cell activity was measured using lactate dehydrogenase release assay There was no statistical difference between natural killer cell activity (%) at the baseline (16.78 +/- 8.07), after nine sessions of control autohemotherapy (15.98 +/- 6.67), and after nine sessions of O3-AHT (18.26 +/- 8.82). In conclusion, our findings showed that O3-AHT in a dose of 50 mg/mL does not have any significant influence on natural killer cell function in hemodialyzed patients.

Full-Metal Therapy

THANKS;Matthew Mientka / May 22, 2014 1:17 PM EDT

We’re not quite to the point where humans can be given liquid metal-based self-healing powers like those showcased by the super-cyborgs in the Terminator film series. But we’re closing in. Last month, neurosurgeons in China announced the development of a new liquid metal that can help regrow completely severed nerve fibers.

As many as 20 million Americans today suffer varying levels of debilitation from over 100 different types of damage to peripheral nerves within the spine and throughout the body. Many types of nerve damage may be treated with surgery and physical therapy, but when a nerve fiber is totally severed, the only hope is to reconnect the separated ends.

In recent years, techniques have been developed to reconstruct severed nerves, usually involving grafting nerve segments from other parts of the body (or a donor cadaver) into the gap between the severed endings. The process, however, is far from perfect; it relies on the nerve endings growing and knitting themselves back together—and nerves grow very slowly. It can sometimes take years for the nerve endings to reconnect. During this time, muscles that rely on the recuperating nerve can continue to degrade, sometimes to a point beyond repair, leading to long-term disability.

Researchers have hypothesized that if signals from the brain could continue reaching the muscles during the recovery period, they could speed up the healing process. But they haven’t quite figured out how to make this happen. A team of researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing, led by Jing Liu, believe they’ve come up with the solution.

Liu’s team took a severed sciatic nerve connected to the calf muscle of a bullfrog and bathed it in a liquid metal alloy—gallium-indium-selenium (GaInSn). It turns out that the liquid metal acts almost flawlessly as a temporary bridge, allowing electronic signals to travel from brain to muscle (and back) almost as well as the intact nerve. If used during surgical nerve repair, GaInSn could help maintain near-perfect nerve function throughout the healing process.

The long-term safety of having the liquid metal in the human body is still unknown—this lab-controlled animal test is only the first step. And though researchers have been looking into GaInSn for years (primarily as a tool for medical imaging), this is the first time the liquid metal has been tested for medical purposes. Nevertheless, the study holds tremendous promise for the millions every year who suffer from serious peripheral nerve damage.

16 Amazing Facts About Sleep That Will Surely Impress You

Thanks;ANNA CHUI IN LEISURE, LIFESTYLE | JANUARY 9

You need to sleep every day and sleeping is so important to you that lacking it could shorten your life. But I guess you didn’t really know much about sleep until you read this, right? Some of the facts about sleep really surprised me! I hope you’ve learnt something new about sleep from this infographic.

Medical sciences news highlights of 2013

Thanks;BBC news

With a baby cured of HIV and breakthroughs in dementia, it’s been a year where two of the great scourges of our time have been put on the back foot.

Meanwhile a vision of the future of medicine has emerged, with scientists growing miniature organs -including brains – and performing the first steps of human cloning.

BBC health and science reporter James Gallagher reviews the year in medical science.

HIV baby cure

One of the most remarkable stories of the year was a baby girl in the US seemingly being “cured” of HIV.

Her mother had an uncontrolled HIV infection and doctors suspected the baby would be infected too, so they decided to give antiretroviral drugs at birth.

Normally the drugs hold the virus in check, but the very early treatment seems to have prevented HIV taking hold.

The baby is now three, has been off drugs for more than a year and has no sign of infection.

However, as this analysis explains, a cure for HIV is still a distant prospect. Yet there have been other developments – two patients have been taken off their HIV drugs after bone-marrow transplants seemed to clear the virus.

HIV was once thought to be impossible to cure; now there is real optimism in the field.
Post-menopausal pregnancy

Dr Kazuhiro Kawamura of the St Marianna University medical school holding the newborn
Going through an early-menopause used to be seen as the end of a woman’s reproductive life.

But this year a baby was born after doctors, in the US and Japan, developed a technique to “reawaken” the ovaries of women who had a very early menopause.

They removed a woman’s ovaries, activated them in the laboratory and re-implanted fragments of ovarian tissue.

Any eggs produced were then taken and used during normal IVF.

Fertility experts described the findings as a “potential game-changer”.

However, things will not change for women going through the menopause at a normal age as poor egg quality will still be a major obstacle.
Angelina and Andy

The cult of celebrity catapulted two diseases into the public eye this year – breast cancer and strokes.

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie had a double mastectomy after her doctors said she had an 87% chance of developing breast cancer during her lifetime.

She has a mutation in her DNA, called BRCA1, which greatly increases the odds of both breast and ovarian cancer.

In a newspaper article she said: “I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity…for any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options.”

BBC presenter Andrew Marr had a stroke after an intensive rowing machine session and a year of “heavily overworking”.

It put a spotlight on the standard of care for stroke patients and raised the question why do healthy people have strokes?

He says he’s “lucky to be alive” and is back presenting, although the stroke has affected “the whole left hand side of my body”.

Lab-grown mini organs

This purple and green image is of a very special human brain which was grown from skin cells entirely in a laboratory.

The pea-sized “cerebral organoid” is similar to the brain of a nine-week-old foetus.

It has distinct brain regions such as the cerebral cortex, the retina, and an early hippocampus, which would be heavily involved in memory in a fully developed adult brain.

Scientists hope the organoids, This purple and green image is of a very special human brain which was grown from skin cells entirely in a laboratory.

The pea-sized “cerebral organoid” is similar to the brain of a nine-week-old foetus.

It has distinct brain regions such as the cerebral cortex, the retina, and an early hippocampus, which would be heavily involved in memory in a fully developed adult brain.

Scientists hope the organoids, which are not capable of thought, will transform the understanding of the development of the brain and neurological disorders.

And it’s not just brains. Japanese researchers said they were “gobsmacked” at making tiny functioning livers in the same way.

They think transplanting thousands of these liver buds could help to reverse liver failure.

On a larger scale, researchers have made full-sized kidneys for rats which were able to make urine.

Their vision is to take a donor kidney and strip it of all its old cells to leave a honeycomb-like scaffold, which would then be used to build a new kidney out of a patient’s own cells.

Expect more from the “grow-your-own organs” field in the coming years. are not capable of thought, will transform the understanding of the development of the brain and neurological disorders.

And it’s not just brains. Japanese researchers said they were “gobsmacked” at making tiny functioning livers in the same way.

They think transplanting thousands of these liver buds could help to reverse liver failure.

On a larger scale, researchers have made full-sized kidneys for rats which were able to make urine.

Their vision is to take a donor kidney and strip it of all its old cells to leave a honeycomb-like scaffold, which would then be used to build a new kidney out of a patient’s own cells.

Expect more from the “grow-your-own organs” field in the coming years.

Dementia on the back foot

Loss of tissue in a demented brain compared with a healthy one
Understanding the billions of neurons which make up the human brain, one of the most complex structures in the universe, is one of the greatest challenges in medical science.

This year marked a major breakthrough in defeating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

A team of UK Medical Research Council scientists used a chemical to stop the death of brain cells, in a living brain, that would have otherwise died due to a neurodegenerative disease.

This is a first and a significant discovery. One prominent scientist said this moment would “be judged by history as a turning point in the search for medicines to control and prevent Alzheimer’s disease”.

Dementia has also become a major global priority in 2013 amid fears it is rapidly becoming the health and social care problem of a generation.

The G8 group of nations have pledge to fund research aimed at curing the disease by 2025.

It is just one aspect of a flood of money entering brain research.

President Obama has dedicated millions of dollars for mapping the connections in the brain and in Europe the billion pound Human Brain Project to simulate the organ using computers is now under way.

Human cloning

Human cloning was used to produce early embryos which a group of US scientists described as a “significant step” for medicine.

It has been a long struggle to reach this stage, the same technique was used to produce Dolly the sheep way back in 1996.

No-one is considering attempting to let a cloned embryo develop.

Instead the cloned embryos were used as a source of stem cells, which can make new heart muscle, bone, brain tissue or any other type of cell in the body.

However, it is an ethically charged field of research and there have been calls for a ban.

Meanwhile, the first trial of stem cells produced from a patient’s own body has been approved by the Japanese government.

Scientists will use the cells to attempt to treat a form of blindness – age-related macular degeneration.

And a new era of regenerative medicine could be opened up by transforming tissue inside a living animal back to an embryonic state.

It’s an inherently dangerous thing to do; the tissues became cancerous in the experiments, but if it was controlled then it could be used to heal the body.

A new role for sleep and body clock resets

Scientists have found a new explanation for why we sleep – for a spot of housework.

As well as being involved in fixing memories and learning, it seems the brain uses sleep to wash away the waste toxins built up during a hard day’s thinking.

They think failing to clear some toxic proteins may play a role in brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s diseases.

Meanwhile, a separate group of researchers think it may be possible to slow the decline in memory and learning as we age by tackling poor sleep.

And there is no doubt about the impact a poor night’s sleep has on the whole body. The activity of hundreds of genes was altered when people’s sleep was cut to less than six hours a day for a week.

Of course you could blame the moon after a “lunar influence” on sleeping patterns was discovered. It showed that the extra light from a full moon makes it harder to sleep.

There may be good news on the horizon for shift workers and jet setters who will be intimately familiar with the pains of having a body clock out of sync with the world around them.

A team at Kyoto University has found the body clock’s “reset button” inside the brain.

They tested a drug which let the body clock rapidly adjust to new timezones, instead of taking days. It brings the prospect of drugs to avoid jet lag much closer.

Deadly infections new and old

Two new viruses have attracted global attention and concern this year.

A new bird flu, H7N9, emerged in China infecting more than 130 people and causing 45 deaths.

However, most were confined to the beginning of the year when the virus first emerged. Closing live poultry markets in affected areas has largely cut the spread of the virus.

And Saudi Arabia is at the centre of an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. The animal source of the virus has not yet been confirmed, although camels are a likely culprit.

Meanwhile, polio has returned to war-torn Syria for the first time in 14 years.

And in the UK, an outbreak of measles infected 1,200 people – as a result of a drop in vaccination during the completely unfounded MMR-autism scare a decade earlier. The World Health Organization warned Europe risked failing to meet its pledge to eliminate measles by 2015.

Odds, ends and an impotent James Bond

The mobile app in action: Scanning the back of the eye
There were many interesting one-off stories this year too – some serious, some not…

A modified smartphone is being tested in Kenya to see if it can prevent blindness in some of the poorest parts of the world.

Doctors warned that antibiotics were running out and could lead to an “antibiotic apocalypse”.

Scientists claimed a milestone moment for cancer after finding 21 major mutations behind that accounted for 97% of the most common cancers.

There was a shift in understanding psychiatric disorders when it was shown autism, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia all shared several genetic risk factors.

A surgical knife which can sniff out tumours was developed to improve cancer surgery.

The iKnife
New teeth have been grown out of the most unlikely of sources, human urine.

A treatment to banish bald spots is a step closer after human hair was grown in the laboratory, however, there are still engineering challenges to get the hairs the same shape, size and as long as before.

Another thing to blame your parents and grandparents for…behaviour can be affected by events in previous generations which have been passed on through a form of genetic memory.

A wheelchair was controlled with a pierced tongue.

The UK’s first hand transplant took place in Leeds while in China a severed hand was kept alive on an ankle.

Brain scans showed babies could decipher speech as early as three months before birth.

Lullabies may help sick children by reducing pain and improving their wellbeing.

And finally… James Bond’s sexual prowess was seriously questioned with doctors describing him as an “impotent drunk”.

Doctors say James Bond, played here by actor Daniel Craig, has a drink problem

Harvard Student Charged for Bomb Hoax

Thanks;David Winograd

After false bomb reports shut down campus buildings

A Harvard University student was charged Tuesday for filing unfounded claims that bombs had been placed around the school’s campus, CBS Boston reports.

The U.S. Attorney’s office alleges that Eldo Kim, 20, emailed the Harvard University Police and a school newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, about the non-existent bombs Monday before he was scheduled to take a final exam.

Campus buildings were evacuated following the warnings, though authorities found no evidence of bombs.

Kim will appear in federal court on Wednesday. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine under the bomb hoax statute.

Time to stop saying ‘AIDS in Africa’

Thanks;Erin Hohlfelder, health campaigner, Special to CNN

Editor’s Note: Erin Hohlfelder is the Global Health Policy Director at The ONE Campaign, where she specializes in infectious diseases, maternal and child health, and global health financing mechanisms.

She has conducted research in Kenya on holistic care for female AIDS orphans. The opinions in this commentary are solely hers.

(CNN) – Travel back in time with me to 1988: Guns N’ Roses was blasting onto the music scene, Dustin Hoffman turned in an award-winning performance in Rain Man, and Nike coined the now-famous tag line, “Just Do It.” But the year also brought a cultural touchstone with much deeper significance: the first World AIDS Day.

The importance of such a day — to be held annually on December 1st — could not be understated, particularly at a time when the disease was still widely misunderstood, and a diagnosis often meant a death sentence.

Twenty-five years on, it is difficult to imagine a world without World AIDS Day (or without AIDS, for that matter).

But in the quarter century since the first World AIDS Day, much has changed—so much so, in fact, that leaders have begun to call for “the beginning of the end of AIDS,” a global tipping point when the number of people newly infected with HIV is surpassed by the number of people newly offered treatment.

A new study released by The ONE Campaign this week demonstrates just how far we’ve come, and suggests that if current rates of progress continue, the world will reach “the beginning of the end of AIDS” as early as 2015.

Reaching this milestone would have been unimaginable just a few years ago, and is testament to the immense global effort and impressive new science that has emerged, particularly in the last decade.

That acceleration has also been fueled by the simple fact that AIDS treatment now works better, and costs far less. In 1988, the only drug available to treat HIV/AIDS was AZT; it was not hugely effective, and it cost as much as a car. Today, for the price of an iPhone — less than a dollar a day — combination antiretroviral treatment allows HIV-positive individuals to not only stay alive, but live long and productive lives.

The progress we’ve made also means that the language we use to describe the AIDS pandemic needs a refresh. In particular, ONE’s report stresses that it’s time to retire the phrase “AIDS in Africa.” Of course, this doesn’t mean the disease has disappeared from the continent, but it does mean that African countries have made widely divergent progress, and that a one-size-fits-all approach no longer makes sense.

In fact, 16 African countries have already achieved the beginning of the end of AIDS. Countries like Ghana, Zambia, and Malawi are leading the way, deftly combining their own domestic health financing and planning with donor aid to achieve real impact. Political leadership has also been important in elevating HIV/AIDS as a priority issue on the national agenda, supported (and sometimes pushed) by dynamic civil society organizations on the ground.

It’s important that we celebrate all of this progress, and honor those who have worked so hard to make it happen. But the work is far from over, and in many ways, the AIDS fight today is struggling precisely because of its own success. Because it is no longer perceived as an emergency, but rather a chronic and manageable disease, the fight has lost some of its political momentum and funding has not grown to match the global need.