Innovative Method to Diagnose stomach cancer in the Arab World Health --KM Special Feature 
Sami Abdul Aziz Jaffer, Managing Director of National Pharmacy (middle) with Janne Koskimies, Manager and Marko Salonen, Export Manager of Biohit PLC, a Finland based diagnostic and medical equipment company.H-Pylori Infection affects 80 per cent people, claims Biohit Diagnostics of Finland
Dubai -October 20, 2003 People living in the Arab region have high level of Helicobacter - pylori infection - the root cause for stomach cancer and peptic ulcer. According to surveys conducted by some doctors, the infection level is as high as 80 per cent in Iran."This bacterium lives protected from gastric acids on the mucosa of the stomach. The H- pylori injection is usually caught in childhood and rarely in adulthood. The infection spreads orally and via the contents of the stomach. If un traced the infection lasts for a life time and causes an inflammation of the stomach - i.e. gastritis," says Janne Koskimies, Manager of Biohit PLC, a Finland based diagnostic and medical equipment company.
"Over half of the global population is infected by H-pylori -approximately 3 billion people. In half of the infected people, the gastritis develops over the years into atrophic gastritis - inflammation and atrophy of the moucosa of the stomach. H-pylori infection and gastritis are the main reasons for gastric cancer and peptic ulcer," he said during a recent visit to the Gulf region. H-pylori injection was related with the development of gastric cancer in a similar way as smoking is related to lung cancer, he added. Does it sound like an alarm bell from a multinational company trying to sell its diagnostic products? He says no citing solid reasons.
"The doctor should be able to diagnose this infection early. Eating habit, living conditions and drinking water quality affect H-pylori infection level in the Arab region. Normally infection is caused in childhood itself and there are possibilities that it may develop into stomach cancer. In this case mortality rate is very high and early diagnosis is very valuable. Diagnostic method should be economical and easy," he says. He claimed that Biohit, Finland based diagnostic company, has developed a new and innovative diagnostic product range comprising a test panel (GastroPanel) for diagnosing H-pylori infection and atrophic gastritis. It will also screen the risk of gastric cancer and peptic ulcer just from a blood sample. Like measuring blood pressure or the sugar level, H-pylori testing will also become a routine medical check up, he said?
"There is no other cost effective means of diagnosis. In Finland the cost effectiveness of the new method is four to five times. While the traditional diagnostic method costs $250 as against $90 for the new method.," he says. Janne said quoting a UNDP study that population in the Arab region is getting older in next ten years. There will be more old people and naturally more disease. Healthcare costs will go up and cost effective diagnostic systems assume added importance. The Biohit team is visiting all the Arab countries to study the problem and market the new diagnostic system.
H-pylori infection launches a chain of events, such as the development of atrophic gastris, which in certain cases leads to gastric cancer. Approximately 30 per cent of the global population -nearly 2 billion people - suffers from dyspepsia, the occasional or continuous pain or discomfort in the upper part of stomach, he added.
According to Marko Salonen, Export Manager of Biohit, the only traditional method for examining whether a patient suffers from atrophic gastritis has until now been the histological (microscopic) examination of biopsies taken in connection with gastroscopy. "This invasive examination is often uncomfortable for the patient, expensive and its rapid availability limited. The patient is usually treated only on the basis of anamnesis, symptoms or clinical examination. Severe consequences may result from delays in targeted treatment and further examination based on a correct diagnosis. Without a correct diagnosis, the treatment may be delayed and a disease may become impossible to cure," he said.
National Pharmacy, a leading pharmaceutical distributor in Oman will train its own staff and others to handle this new diagnostic method, said Sami Abdul Aziz Jaffer, Managing Director of National Pharmacy. Biohit has developed and patented the unique test panel --Biohit Gastropanel - that enables doctors and laboratory technicians to determine from a blood sample whether the patient suffers from gastritis caused by H-pylori injection. "The new method can also examine whether the gastritis is astrophic and in which part of the stomach the changes are located. The test panel enables doctors to identify those patients whose risk of gastric cancer and peptic ulcer have considerably increased and as a result need to be directed immediately to gastroscopy and the examination of biopsy samples," Sami said."We provide the lab equipment and full diagnostic system," Sami added.
"In the Arab region, especially in Iran, 80 per cent of people are injected with gastritis, mainly upper stomach pain and nausea which leads to stomach cancer. 80 per cent of the people carry this bacteria in their body and new studies are going on to determine the reasons for high H-pylori infection." National Pharmacy, one of the leading drug distributors in Oman, is selected as the local agent to distribute this diagnostic product in hospitals, polyclinics and laboratories.
'It can act as a preventive medicine compared to other diagnostic methods because the operation is cheaper. Annual screening of patients can be made to put them into certain groups. Stomach cancer does not show in early stage and it is good to diagnose it early before it is too late.Biohits Test panel promotes targeted diagnoses and treatment as well as prevention of disease. Biohits Gastropanel and related GastroSoft are well suited for the use of general practitioners and specialists for diagnosing. Biohit, a leading diagnostic manufacturer in the world accounts for sixty per cent of world market for laboratory equipment. It provides equipment to labs, hospitals and institutional service labs. It also trains manpower to conduct the diagnostic tests using the existing infrastructure in labs. Roche Diagnostic is one of the major product distributed by National Pharmacy in Oman.
Biohit also develops and manufactures liquid handling products and diagnostic test systems for use in health care, research and industrial laboratories. Biohits liquid handling product range covers electronic and mechanical pipettors, and the range offered is currently the widest in the world. Biohit is the market leader of electronic pipettors and the leading manufacturer of Original Equipment Manufacturer electronic pipettors. (products which are tailor made to customer specifications). In the area of diagnostics, Biohit develops and manufacturers enzyme immunoassay based test kits and monoclonal antibodies for the screening of different types of diseases. (keralamonitor.com)
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MANAGING THE HEALTH RISKS
Dinesh C. Sharma*
In today's fast-paced life, our health is under attack from innumerable sources - stress, environmental pollution, unhealthy work conditions, industrial smoke, unsafe water, noise and so on. The average number of visits to the doctor that we make for ourselves or for our children has gone up in the past decade or so despite the fact that health science and the medical field have witnessed revolutionary advances in the same period. In that sense, our health is at greater risk than what it was a decade or two ago. More
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Electronics and Computer LG Enters Competitive Mid East Tablet Market Centrino Based Tablet Features 5.41 Hour Battery Life
Dubi - 20th October 2003 LG Electronics, the global and regional digital leader, has entered the highly competitive regional Tablet PC market with a ground-breaking model.
Unveiled for the first time in the Middle East at GITEX, the tablet has a 40Gb hard drive, a 12.1” XGA wide viewing angle screen, a keyboard, WACOM pen solution and incredible battery life of 5.41 hours. Mr P.C. Choi, LG Electronics Gulf FZE President said: “Our Tablet is lighter, faster and more efficient than most competitive offerings and complements our top of the range notebook and desktop range.”
Weighing in at just 3.79lbs, this lightweight showstopper is feature packed. Running on Intel’s Banias 1.6GHz chip, the machine has 256Mb of RAM and double wireless options with 802.11x quad band and Bluetooth connectivity.
LG will also add to its tablet line-up soon with a new edition taking advantage of Intel’s new Dothan, a 1.8GHz, 90 nanometer mobile chip with a 400MHz front side bus and 2Mb of cache. LG’s lightweight tablet on show at GITEX uses the principle of a single spindle around which the screen rotates 180 degrees and folds back on top of the keyboard. “At just 19.8mm thick, the LG Tablet PC is not only one of the slimmest notebooks on the market, t is also one of the most versatile tablet PCs,” said Choi.
“Whilst the Tablet PC market is still quite young in the Middle East and Africa, we believe the LG product will satisfy some concerns over battery life and wireless connectivity.”
Centrino based laptops are known to draw more power from batteries when used in a wireless state, leading customers to compare models carefully.“LG Electronics has developed batteries that are specifically designed for Centrino based laptops and tablets,” said Choi.
“These batteries allow for extended periods of operation giving users the opportunity to work through extended meetings, whilst travelling, or in offsite situations with full confidence.” Portability is synonymous with connectivity and the LG Tablet features three USB 2.0 ports, a PC Card Type II slot as well as microphone and headphone sockets. The stylish new LG Tablet is on display at LG Electronics GITEX stand, in Hall 3 Stand P3-1.(keralamonitor.com)