25-year-old Anousa Jack, a resident of Chanthabouly District, was shot fatally on Saturday.
Sources report that Anousa “Jack” Luangsuphom, a 25-year-old man who was thought to have died in a shooting in Vientiane Capital on Saturday, is now believed to be alive.
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 4 May 2023 – A Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) collaborative research team has shown that urine tests for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) can identify the risk of end-organ diseases such as pneumonitis, gastrointestinal ulcers, hepatitis and myocarditis, earlier in patients who have been infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). The findings suggest that HCMV detection in urine should be implemented as a routine test for HIV-1 patients who are progressing towards acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), as anti-HCMV treatments could reduce the incidence of lung and cardiovascular end-organ diseases by half.
The research findings have been published in the Journal of Clinical Virology, an international scientific journal.
No routine HCMV check-ups for HIV-1 patients
HIV-1 infection is divided into four clinical stages. In the first stage, patients are infected and some experience mild illnesses such as a cold without any apparent symptoms. HIV-1 infection then slowly progresses towards AIDS in the second and third stages of infection. These two stages, collectively regarded as the “developing” stage, usually last several years if they are comprehensively controlled by a range of medications before developing into AIDS, which represents the fourth stage of HIV-1 infection.
HCMV is a DNA virus found in more than half of the human population. It is controlled by an intact immune system and remains dormant in healthy individuals. However, it can be reactivated in patients with poor immune systems, such as those in the fourth stage of HIV-1 infection, and as a result it can become one of the major opportunistic infections that cause life-threatening end-organ diseases. In Hong Kong, HCMV detection is not part of the routine check-ups for HIV-1 patients unless they suffer from apparent end-organ diseases. In such cases, blood tests are the preferred method of detection.
A research team co-led by Dr Allen Cheung Ka-loon, Assistant Professor of the Department of Biology at HKBU, and Professor Chen Zhiwei, Professor of the Department of Microbiology, LKS Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, in collaboration with researchers from the Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen, investigated the detection of HCMV in urine for the continuous monitoring of end-organ disease risk in HIV-1 patients. They also examined the relationship between HCMV detection and end-organ diseases in HIV-1 patients in the “developing” stage.
Easier to detect HCMV in urine than in blood
The team screened the records of more than 130,000 HIV-1 patients in Shenzhen between January 2011 and June 2022, and selected about 13,700 patients with relevant blood and urine test records. They were grouped according to the four stages of HIV-1 infection, and the results of their HCMV blood and urine tests were then compared.
It was discovered that in all the four patient groups, the proportions of patients found to be HCMV-positive were higher in the urine samples than in the corresponding blood samples. The situation was particularly obvious for HIV-1 patients in the “developing” stage. Urine tests showed that 5.8% of second-stage HIV-1 patients were HCMV-positive compared to only 0.9% using blood tests. The proportions of third-stage HIV-1 patients found to be HCMV-positive using urine and blood tests were 12.8% and 1.4%, respectively. This suggests that HCMV is more easily detected in urine than in the blood, especially during the “developing” stage of HIV-1 infection.
The researchers further filtered 233 “developing” stage HIV-1 patients with detailed clinical and disease records to evaluate the association between HCMV and the onset of different types of end-organ diseases. Statistical analysis revealed that there is a significant association between the incidence of lung and cardiovascular end-organ diseases and the detection of HCMV in urine.
Early anti-HCMV treatment lowers the risk of end-organ diseases
To study the effect of early interventions with anti-HCMV treatments, the team tracked the data of 54 “developing” stage HIV-1 patients who had been hospitalised at least once. They were divided into three groups: those who received no anti-HCMV treatments, those who received treatments but not during each round of hospitalisation, and those who received treatments during all rounds of hospitalisation.
The data showed that those who received anti-HCMV treatments in all rounds of hospitalisation had the lowest incidence of lung and cardiovascular end-organ diseases. Furthermore, compared to those who had not received anti-HCMV treatments, the incidence of such end-organ diseases in patients who had received the treatments was reduced by half. This suggests that continuous anti-HCMV treatments are effective in reducing the onset of lung and cardiovascular end-organ diseases in patients who are progressing towards AIDS.
Dr Allen Cheung said: “Patients have to face a difficult journey once they have tested positive for HIV. They are often at risk of developing end-organ diseases without any apparent symptoms. Our study shows that routine urine tests for HCMV can monitor the development of end-organ diseases more effectively, which signals the need for early medical intervention. We thus recommend that HCMV detection in urine should be implemented as a routine test for HIV-1 patients.”
Hashtag: #HIV #HKBU
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Trend Micro’s Cyber Risk Index finds preparedness is slowly improving
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 4 May 2023 – Trend Micro (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global cybersecurity leader, today announced that cyber-risk levels have improved from “elevated” to “moderate” for the first time, but that insiders represent a persistent threat for global organizations.
Jon Clay, VP of threat intelligence at Trend Micro: “For the first time since we’ve been running these surveys, we saw the global cyber-risk index not only improve but move into positive territory at +0.01. It means that organizations may be taking steps to improve their cyber-preparedness. There is still much to be done, as employees remain a source of risk. The first step to managing this is to gain complete and continuous attack surface visibility and control.”
The CRI found that cyber-preparedness improved in Europe and APAC but declined slightly in North and Latin America over the past six months. At the same time, threats declined in every region bar Europe.
Most organizations are still pessimistic about their prospects over the coming year. The CRI found that most respondents said it was “somewhat to very likely” they’d suffer a breach of customer data (70%) or IP (69%) or a successful cyber-attack (78%).
These figures represent declines of just 1%, 2%, and 7%, respectively, from the last report.
The top four threats listed by respondents in the CRI 2H 2022 remained the same from the previous report:
Clickjacking
Business Email Compromise (BEC)
Ransomware
Fileless attacks
“Botnets” replaced “login attacks” in fifth place.
Global respondents also named employees as representing three of their top five infrastructure risks:
Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of Ponemon Institute, said: “As the shift to hybrid working gathers momentum, organizations are rightly concerned about the risk posed by negligent employees and the infrastructure used to support remote workers. They will need to focus not only on technology solutions but people and processes to help mitigate these risks.”
Based on the global survey results, the greatest areas of concern for businesses related to cyber-preparedness are:
People: “My organization’s senior leadership does not view security as a competitive advantage.”
Process: “My organization’s IT security function doesn’t have the ability to unleash countermeasures (such as honeypots) to gain intelligence about the attacker.”
Technology: “My organization’s IT security function does not have the ability to know the physical location of business-critical data assets and applications.”
*The six-monthly Cyber Risk Index was compiled by the Ponemon Institute from interviews with 3729 global organizations. The index is based on a numerical scale of -10 to 10, with -10 representing the highest level of risk. It is calculated by subtracting the score for cyber threats from the score for cyber-preparedness.
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About Trend Micro
Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fueled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro’s cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organizations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. As a leader in cloud and enterprise cybersecurity, the platform delivers a powerful range of advanced threat defense techniques optimized for environments like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, and central visibility for better, faster detection and response. With 7,000 employees across 65 countries, Trend Micro enables organizations to simplify and secure their connected world. www.trendmicro.com.hk.
Attendees at a sustainable tourism awareness raising event (photo: Pasason)
Ms. Sengsoda Vanthanouvong, Deputy Director of the Tourism Promotion Department, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism (MICT) recently spoke about the impact of tourism on the environment at an event aimed at raising awareness for sustainable tourism.
Labor and Human rights advocates in Thailand gathered in front of the Government House earlier this week to protest for an increase in the minimum daily wages to THB 700 (USD 20.48) and to set up a fund to support laid-off workers.
The Hong Kong 4As recognizes SDMC’s commitment to upholding the highest standards of professionalism and business ethics in the advertising industry.
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 4 May 2023 – SDMC, a leading full-scope digital marketing company in Hong Kong, proudly announces its affiliate membership with Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of Hong Kong (The Hong Kong 4As). This membership recognizes SDMC’s commitment to upholding the highest standards of professionalism and business ethics in the advertising industry.
SDMC x The Hong Kong 4As
As an affiliate member, SDMC looks forward to actively contributing to the industry and forging long-term development partnerships with fellow members. Through collaboration and knowledge-sharing, SDMC aims to drive innovation and elevate the advertising and marketing landscape in Hong Kong.
With a diverse range of services, SDMC supports businesses in navigating the complexities of the digital landscape. Their tailored solutions, which encompass SEO, media buying, social media management, China marketing, and micro-influencer marketing, focus on delivering results and meeting clients’ unique needs.
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SDMC is a full-scope digital marketing company. We dissect Search Engine information and user behavior through the insight of “Big Data” from the digital market. Provides Goal-oriented, Tailor-made, Sustainable optimization of online marketing solutions to any business industry.
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SDMC is a full-scope digital marketing company. We dissect Search Engine information and user behavior through the insight of “Big Data” from the digital market. Provides Goal-oriented, Tailor-made, Sustainable optimization of online marketing solutions to any business industry. 
