Zapping away viruses

A new germ-zapping robot manufactured by Xenex in the U.S. could emerge as a saviour against deadly viruses like Ebola. It uses pulses of high-intensity, high-energy ultra-violet rays to crack bacterial cell walls and kill virus-afflicting pathogens. It has been successfully tested on 22 different microorganisms – destroying viruses similar to Ebola.

Standing at 5 feet and bearing the nickname “Saul”, the ultra-violet rays it emits are 25,000 times brighter than fluorescent lights and can kill pathogens that are generally missed by the naked eye. A few surgical teams in the United States have been trained to use this technology on Ebola patients.

According to research, hospitals with access to this technology have been able to bring down general infection rates by 60%. It is already being used in 250 hospitals.

Can such technology breakthroughs arrest global pandemics in the 21st century?

https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/zapping-away-viruses/

Comments

Nursing homes for the elderly in Korea

As an elderly person, living alone in Korea is difficult. What options do senior citizens have for nursing home facilities? Dr. Justin Lee, Managing Director of Spire Research and Consulting, South Korea shared his thoughts on Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo news portal. Korea now has 3,316 nursing homes and 1,500 specialized elderly hospitals nation-wide. The need for specialised elderly care in Korea is on a gradual rise, as those with health complications cannot live independently. At present, senior citizens with grade ratings of 1 or 2 for long term care under the Long-Term Care Insurance scheme are entitled to use these public nursing home facilities. Dr. Lee opined that paying more does not necessarily mean a better nursing home. Costs in public nursing homes are not consistently higher than those in private ones. Within the public nursing homes, the cost variation is minimal regardless of their management quality as public nursing homes need to abide by set government gui...

Spire Client Entertainment Night December 2019

Spire Singapore hosted its third client entertainment event of the year. Business associates, partners and clients joined the Spire team for the dinner reception followed by the movie screening of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Episode IX)”- the much awaited last movie in the Star Wars saga. The final installment in the Star Wars saga revolved around the epic battle between Jedi and Sith. The movie featured most of the key characters from the earlier Episodes 4 to 6. The highly awaited Star Wars final chapter, delectable food and even better company made for a great evening. Read more: https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/events/spire-client-entertainment-night-december-2019/

Japan’s appetite for mergers and acquisitions abroad

The overall Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) activity of Japanese firms continues to grow and overseas M&A deals are in the spotlight. In 2016, Japan’s outbound M&A activity exceeded USD100 billion, the second highest historic level and a 15% increase over 2015. Will Japan continue to tap into international markets in search of growth and sustainability? Growing M&A activity A low economic growth rate and a shrinking population shocked Japan’s business leaders into changing their outlook, prioritizing growth through overseas market development. And M&A was seen as the fastest way to achieve that. Significant cross-border M&A activity is a relatively recent phenomenon in Japan. Japanese M&A volume was robust in 2016, amounting to USD198 billion in total transaction value. Cross-border M&A did well, accounting for 57 per cent of total M&A deals in 2016, up from 45 per cent in 2011. Beginning in 2006, Japan’s cross-border M&A vo...

Innovation in agriculture - meeting global food security needs

Humankind’s future ability to feed itself is in jeopardy due to the concurrent degradation of land, water, climate and biodiversity on a global scale. The human population is set to reach 10 billion people by 2050, increasing the global demand for agricultural products by 70 per cent. By 2022, India will surpass China as the most populous country in the world. Will innovation in agriculture be able to feed the global population? The origins of agriculture Agriculture is derived from the late-Latin word Agricultura with ‘agri’ depicting land and ‘cultura’ meaning cultivation. Starting out as hunter-gatherers, humans have gradually learned to settle in fertile places for farming and later, started domesticating animals. The Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, which we now refer to as Egypt, Turkey, Israel and Iraq, is known as the earliest site of farming. While it is not without its detractors, the agricultural revolution has delivered benefits in term...

Game markets: Asia and China

In recent years, the Asia Pacific gaming industry has attracted the attention of investors, developers and analysts. Within Asia, Japan, South Korea and China are the leading markets. The Asia Pacific remains the largest games market and is expected to reach USD71.4 billion in revenue, with a spectacular 39 per cent growth in 2018. By 2021, domestic market revenue in China is poised to increase from USD27 billion to USD35 billion. Asia’s gaming market is being transformed by Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technology as well as gaming on social media platforms. Above all, Esports looks set to transform the industry. These were the findings from a study conducted by Spire Research and Consulting in Q3 2018. Gaming market in Asia Pacific (APAC) The Asia-Pacific region has been leading the global electronic game market. In 2017, total revenue from the gaming market reached USD51.2 billion, almost twice the revenue of the second-ranked North American region. ...

The Knowledge to Decide

Search This Blog