The server is in use by China Unicom’s Henan provincial branch. It marks the first practical application of the mimic security theory proposed by Chinese scientists, according to the Henan Communication Administration.

The mimic DNS server will not change the current network structure but can effectively prevent various known and unknown attacks targeting the system, it said.

“Mimic DNS server is just our first application. The mimic web server, mimic cloud, mimic data center and other network devices will be launched in the future,” said Wu Jiangxing, a Chinese Academy of Engineering academician and head of the research team.

Inspired by Mimic Octopus, the master of disguise in nature which can change appearance to adapt to the environment, Chinese scientists have proposed an idea of mimic computing in 2007 and produced the world’s first mimic computer prototype in 2013.

As strides in biotechnology propel the development of new therapeutics, big hospitals have become new hubs for R&D and clinical trial partners to aspiring drug developers, stepping up as important stakeholders in the biopharma business ecosystem.

Eyeing this integration, a South Korean medical doctor-entrepreneur with more than 20 years of hospital operations under his belt, has set out to capitalise on the hospital-pharma business ties and synergies to make new drug R&D a faster and more efficient endeavour.

“Right now, it takes immense time and money for a firm to develop a new drug substance, conduct clinical tests to guarantee efficacy and safety, and to commercialise the drug for use by real patients,” said Lee Wang-jun, chairman and CEO of Korea’s Myongji Hospital, in an interview with The Korea Herald.

“The time and costs involved in this process could be significantly cut when hospitals actively step into the ecosystem,” he said. “We envision a future where hospitals form the foundation of the local biopharma business ecosystem – the base camp for clinical research and trials.” Lee, a graduate of Seoul National University’s College of Medicine, has been operating for decades multiple general hospitals across Korea, including Myongji Hospital in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, and Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, the Incheon Sarang Hospital and two medical facilities for seniors. He is also the founder and head publisher of Korean Doctor’s Weekly, a Seoul-based medical newspaper formed in 1992.

According to the 54-year-old chairman, hospitals today are becoming more than mere health care service providers. They offer R&D resources, clinical trial support and more to drug developers working to develop and commercialize new drugs, taking an active role in the biopharma business chain.

Following US’ footsteps

Over the years, hospitals in the US have become more research-driven and more open to collaboration with biotech businesses. And Korea is also starting to follow in their footsteps, though it has yet to see many exemplary cases to date, Lee noted.

In light of this, the Myongji Hospital chairman said he wants to become among the first figures to successfully set this collaboration model in motion in Korea.

As part of the vision, Lee acquired the Kosdaq-listed molecular diagnostics firm MGMed – now renamed as Cancer Rop – from Korean genetic sequencing service firm Macrogen last October.

By leveraging the resources of Myongji Hospital as well as other Korean hospital networks, Cancer Rop expects to carry out its end-to-end drug R&D procedures in a speedier and more efficient manner compared to others, the chairman said.

As its name suggests, Cancer Rop will focus on developing next-generation drugs for cancer. It specifically wants to focus on developing new immunotherapies for cancer using peptide-related technologies.

To do this, the firm is looking into mergers and acquisitions. Cancer Rop wants to acquire biotech companies that possess new immune-oncology drugs and technologies, for which talks are currently ongoing, the chairman said.

Potential acquisition candidates could include UK-based Oxford Vacmedix, a biotech venture spun off from Oxford University in 2012, which is already engaged in a joint research partnership with Myongji Hospital.

Oxford Vacmedix develops immune-therapy agents for cancer by leveraging its proprietary recombinant overlapping peptide technology. The agents are designed to deliver immunotherapies – which activates the body’s immune system to directly attack cancerous tumors – more efficiently and economically.

Once Cancer Rop is able to secure a viable immune-oncology drug candidate, the company’s drug development procedures will be carried out with Myongji Hospital as a base, Lee said.

“Leveraging Myongji Hospital as well as an array of other hospital networks, we want to carry out the development and clinical testing procedures faster than others,” said the chairman.

Looking ahead, Cancer Rop hopes to get its pipeline ready to go this year, and begin initiating its phase 1 clinical trial process for its drug candidate by 2019, Lee said.

“Unlike many biotech venture founders whose goal is to develop a promising drug candidate, license out the substance, and make an exit, I have a more ambitious vision,” said the chairman.

“My hope and vision is to act as an overarching coordinator who can reshape and upgrade Korea’s biomedical ecosystem into a more collaborative model that merges the health care service business with the biopharma sector for the better.”

The platform, initiated by China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), enables the public to have access to the CETC intellectual property database, software tools and production line.

The platform welcomes other enterprises to submit their research results online to promote development in the field.

China has called for improvements in its chip development as its electronic information industry has long-depended on imported chips.

“Developing the technology and industry of integrated circuits and microsystems not only goes with the tide of information technology development, but also meets the needs of integrated and intellectual development,” said Xiong Qunli, CETC president.

Liu Liehong, general manager of the CETC, said the corporation was able to provide professional services for the industry of integrated circuits and microsystems with solid research basis.

The scientists from Lahore (Pakistan), London (UK) and Lille (France) discovered flaws (or variants) in a new gene called ADCY3 causing severe obesity early in life. This discovery opens up new therapeutic possibilities to tackle obesity.

The new study, published recently in Nature Genetics, is part of the scientists’ continuing efforts to identify new genes leading to obesity in children in Pakistan. The experts said obesity due to single defect (mutation) in a gene is rare and has so for been identified in three per cent to 5pc of severely obese cases.

Scientists from three countries discover new form of obesity in Pakistan

They said previous investigations on such children by the same group of scientists had led to the identification of genetic basis of severe obesity in 30 per cent of children in Pakistan.

Dr Sadia Saeed, a scientist at the University of Lille, France, who first identified the deleterious mutations in this new gene, said: “A high degree of consanguinity in Pakistan has led to identification of this high percentage of mutations in the genes that are expressed only if both copies (alleles), one coming from each parent, are flawed or mutated.”

Consequently, parents of the affected child who have only a single copy of the mutated gene are of normal body weight.

Dr M Arsalan, a professor at the University of Lahore and Forman Christian College, who led the Pakistani team of scientists, commented: “Finding of this new gene linked to obesity has opened up a new era in identification of innovative treatment options for subjects suffering from obesity – by improving their appetite, hence body weight.”

The same group of scientists has identified almost 50 children suffering from congenital leptin deficiency due to defective lepton gene that causes severe obesity in children from infancy. This is the only type of obesity that can be reversed completely through treatment with the leptin hormone.

Dr Jaida Manzoor, associate professor of paediatric endocrinology and diabetes at Children’s Hospital Lahore, looks much perturbed with respect to provision of medicine to children in Pakistan.

She said the prevalence of obesity was increasing rapidly worldwide, affecting not only the developed countries, but also creeping into underdeveloped countries such as Pakistan where malnutrition and stunting were already major issues.

“Obesity is largely attributed to the consumption of energy-dense food and a decrease in energy expenditure,” she added.

Obesity, however, has both environmental and genetic predisposition accounting for 40 to 70 per cent risk. Still most of the genes involved are not known.

Interestingly, she said, majority of such and other genetic causes of monogenic obesity were reported from cohort of Pakistani origin – identifying genetic basis of severe obesity in children from consanguineous population.

“We are lucky in getting successful treatment of our three leptin-deficient severe obese patients in collaboration with Paediatric Endocrine Obesity Unit of Ulm, Germany, Prof Dr Martin Wabitsch and Dr Julia Schnurbein.”

Unfortunately, recombinant leptin is still an orphan drug, is very costly with no arrangements so far been made to deliver it to severely obese patients in Pakistan where majority of cases are found, she lamented.

The agency will enforce measures to improve Coincheck’s business operations based on the revised law on payment services. The sources said the agency may impose an order to suspend some operations of the company, which is based in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police Department will launch an investigation into the suspected violation of the Law on Prohibition of Unauthorised Computer Access, viewing the incident as an external hack.

The FSA was to issue an order to Coincheck to report the incident to the agency, and the company’s executives were to report on Sunday about the extent of the damages and how they were dealing with the problem.

The agency will decide on the regulatory measures against the company after carefully examining the report.

However, the agency has attached great significance to the fact that the company had yet to take sufficient measures to ensure the security of its systems.

As a result, virtual currency was allegedly withdrawn illegally in the largest-ever heist of a cryptocurrency.

Inadequate security measures

According to industry sources, it is common for virtual currency exchanges to manage data by blocking outside networks to prevent unauthorised access. However, Coincheck’s security measures may have been inadequate, as it stored NEM in a way that could be accessible from the outside via the internet.

The sources said the agency is considering suspending some of the company’s business because it had expressed concern over the company’s management of its customers’ assets before the incident.

Under the revised law on payment services that took effect in April 2017, a registration system was introduced for cryptocurrency exchange operators.

The agency is still examining Coincheck’s application under the registration system, and the company is doing business as a quasi-operator that is legally subject to the same regulations as registered operators.

In a press conference late Friday evening, Coincheck President Koichiro Wada was asked about compensation for customers. Wada repeatedly said, “We’ll prioritise protecting customers’ assets.”

Early on Sunday morning, the company posted on its website a plan to return money in Japanese yen to about 260,000 NEM holders.

The sources said the MPD will analyse such data as communication records of the company’s computers to identify where the unauthorised access originally came from.

The police will seek cooperation from overseas investigation agencies if the hacking was orchestrated outside of Japan.

There have been a series of incidents involving virtual currencies, including a 2014 case in which bitcoin disappeared from a Tokyo-based major bitcoin exchange called Mt Gox.

The latest incident is believed to be the largest so far in terms of value.

The artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled stethoscope system was announced as a disruptive digital medical device made for the global market.

It is the first device in the world that evolved from the traditional stethoscope which has not been updated in the last 200 years, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. Disruptive technology refers to any enhanced or completely new technology that disrupts and replaces an existing technology.

Dr Noor Hisham said a group of medical practitioners and clinical researchers at the ministry’s Clinical Research Centre in Perak is currently involved in the evaluation of the Stethee Pro stethoscope.

“It will disrupt how we listen to the heart and lungs with detailed and accurate analysis.

“This cutting-edge and innovative stethoscope will also empower remote and rural healthcare through simple but precise surveillance and detection of heart and lung diseases,” he said on his official website yesterday.

The product was a strategic partnership between the ministry, Malaysian Investment Development Authority, Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science and Technology (Crest) and M3DICINE, which was facilitated by the Telemedicine Development Group (TDG).

TDG is co-chaired by Dr Noor Hisham and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission chairman Tan Sri Dr Halim Shafie.

The Stethee system includes core products – the Stethee Pro, Stethee Vet and Stethee Edu.

The Stethee Pro has received clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration for use by medical and healthcare professionals, said Dr Noor Hisham.

It is designed to work as easily as a traditional stethoscope, allowing users to listen to heart and lung sounds with sophisticated amplification and filtering technology, he said.

He said the recordings can then be transmitted to a smart device such as a smartphone or a tablet via Bluetooth technology, and analysed to build a personal biometric signature for each patient, and detect |the presence of heart or lung diseases.

Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics (Aida), the technology platform behind the Stethee AI engine, also automatically tags geo-location and aggregate environmental data for analysis by healthcare professionals.

Aida analyses this data (which is encrypted and anonymised) and is able to provide doctors, vets and healthcare professionals with quantitative clinically actionable data.