Worldwide there are about 450 million individuals in all societies who, in their lifetime, will suffer from a neuropsychiatric disorder that would exact a high toll in productivity and costs, and present serious health challenges (including death). This situation will get worse: the global burden of disease attributable to...

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is an important global health problem, with more than 350 million individuals affected worldwide. CHB is particularly important in Asia, as 4% to 10% of the total population are affected, and approximately 75% of patients with CHB worldwide reside in Asia.1,2 During the course of...

Before the introduction of mass vaccination of newborns against hepatitis B virus (HBV) in 1987, almost 10% of children <6 years of age and almost 55% of adults showed evidence of HBV infection in Singapore.1 Like other Asian countries, the primary mode of HBV transmission in Singapore was perinatal.1,2...

Tigecycline is a recently developed antibiotic that belongs to the glycylcycline class, which is a novel analogue of the tetracyclines. Tigecycline is reported to have excellent in vitro activity against most Enterobacteriaceae,1 although minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) are higher against Proteus mirabilis, P. vulgaris, Morganella morganii, and Providencia spp.2...

Prostate cancer is the fifth most frequent malignancy among Singapore males, with the incidence rising steadily over the years.1 With the advent of prostate specific antigen (PSA), the incidence of prostate cancer is not only on the rise, but disease recurrence can also be detected earlier. PSA detects a...