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Women more likely than men to have ongoing memory problems after concussion

Medical News Today
Date: 29 April 2015

A new study led by researchers from Taiwan finds the effects of concussion

Brain scans of working memory in men and women -- As shown in these brain scans, women showed less working memory activity than men more than 2 months after concussion. Image credit: Radiological Society of North America

Brain scans of working memory in men and women — As shown in these brain scans, women showed less working memory activity than men more than 2 months after concussion. Image credit: Radiological Society of North America

may differ between men and women, with women experiencing more persistent working memory impairment.

Concussion, also referred to as mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), is defined as a temporary loss of normal brain function as a result of a head injury. Symptoms can include headache, sleep impairment, fatigue, poor coordination, loss of memory, poor concentration and changes in mood.     [FULL  STORY]

Luo mulls release of some prisoners

Taipei Times
Date: May 01, 2015
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) yesterday confirmed that the ministry and the Executive Yuan are assessing the prospect of a general sentence reduction for prisoners, but opposition legislators and other commentators said the idea was a mistake.

Luo said that the Executive Yuan has asked the ministry to examine the possibility of cutting jail time for prisoners, while minimizing the impact on society.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan urges Japan to apologize over comfort women issue

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/30
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, April 30 (CNA) Japan should apologize for its military’s abuse of 201504300027t0001“comfort women” who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II, a Taiwanese official said Thursday, one day after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paid homage to Americans killed in the war but offered no apology for Japan’s wartime atrocities.

“Our stance on the comfort women issue has been consistent, which is that Japan should apologize to the victims and offer compensation,” said Lo Koon-tsan (羅坤燦), secretary-general of the Association of East Asian Relations, which handles Taiwan’s ties with Japan in the absence of formal diplomatic relations.     [FULL  STORY]

Tighter border controls needed over food imports: official

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/29
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) Agriculture Minister Chen Bao-ji (陳保基) urged stricter

Chen Bao-ji (陳保基), center.

Chen Bao-ji (陳保基), center.

border controls over food imports Wednesday in the wake of a recent scandal in which illegal food products have been released onto the market, allegedly with support from government officials.

Clear rules need to be established and followed concerning border controls, especially when food products are involved, Chen said.

A Taipei Customs Administration official and Taoyuan City Department of Public Health inspector are alleged to have been shielding smugglers of tainted food products, the Agency Against Corruption (AAC) said the previous day.     [FULL  STORY]

Groups demand proposed oversight bill be retracted

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 30, 2015
By: Lii Wen  /  Staff reporter

Representatives from civic groups yesterday urged the government to withdraw its proposed version of an oversight mechanism to monitor future cross-strait agreements.

Although a public hearing on the act was originally scheduled for yesterday, it was later replaced by an unofficial conference after Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) lawmakers on Tuesday launched a prolonged campaign to prevent the bill from reaching the Internal Administration Committee.

Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said the government’s version of the oversight bill lacked teeth, calling it nearly identical to a “four-stage communications and counseling mechanism” suggested by former premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) in March last year.     [FULL  STORY]

Jiangxi city of Ji’an a magnet for Taiwanese electronics makers

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-29
By: Yang Chia-hsin and Staff Reporter

It has been a trend for Taiwan’s labor-intensive electronics manufacuring

Workers turn out calculators at a factory in Zhangzhou, Henan province, March 28, 2012. (Photo/Xinhua)

Workers turn out calculators at a factory in Zhangzhou, Henan province, March 28, 2012. (Photo/Xinhua)

industry in China to relocate westward, reports our Chinese-language sister paper China Times.

In the exodus, Taiwanese investors mostly choose Jiangxi province as it is not too far inland from the coastal provinces of Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu where they have primarily operated up to now.

Wang Shaoxuan, mayor of the Jiangxi city of Ji’an, said Taiwanese entrepreneurs account for 40% of the local electronics industry.

A Taiwanese businessperson in Ji’an said most Taiwanese companies there are in the electronics sector.     [FULL  STORY]

Five Taiwanese still unaccounted for in wake of Nepal quake (update)

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/29
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) The number of Taiwanese nationals known to have been 201504290027t0001in Nepal when a magnitude-7.8 earthquake devastated large areas of the Himalayan kingdom last weekend had increased to 284 as of 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, 279 of whom were confirmed as being safe, according to the latest update provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The information was obtained by the ministry’s outposts at the request of the travelers’ family members and travel agencies or through their travel registrations, said ministry spokeswoman Anna Kao (高安), noting that there are still five people with whom the ministry has yet to make contact.

Some of the Taiwanese travelers confirmed safe have already returned to Taiwan, while others have left Nepal, she added.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei willing to compromise on Dome’s future

SAVED BY THE SHELL?The Department of Rapid Transportation Systems said that a ‘shell’ around the rail system had prevented damage due to work on the Dome

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 30, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

The Taipei City Government is willing to consider compromises to avoid demolishing buildings on the Taipei Dome site as long as safety is guaranteed, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.

“We are willing to consider any compromise proposal as long as the safety of city residents is guaranteed,” Ko said.

He said that emptying the first level of a shopping mall adjacent to the facility or other adjustments to the “volume,” “hardware” or “software” of the site were all options, citing as an example that it was improbable for the site’s underground parking lot to be left entirely unused.     [FULL  STORY]

Philippine ex-rebel soldier to make ‘patriotic’ voyage to S. China Sea

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/28
By: Emerson Lim and Evelyn Kao

Manila, April 28 (CNA) A former captain in the Philippine Marines implicated in 201504280022t0001two attempts to topple former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced Tuesday that he will embark on a “patriotic” voyage to islets along the Reed Bank (禮樂灘) in the disputed South China Sea to protest against China’s infringement on Philippine sovereignty.

Nicanor Faeldon, who gained national and international attention for decrying the alleged corruption under the Arroyo government, will start the voyage April 30 from Batanes (巴丹群島), the Philippines’ northernmost island province, and is scheduled to arrive in October near the western island of Palawan (巴拉旺), near the disputed Spratly Islands.     [FULL  STORY]

Pingtung to sanction nuclear power plant for alleged safety breach

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-28
By: CNA

Authorities in southern Taiwan’s Pingtung county will take legal action against

Huang Chien-chia, right, speaks at a press conference at Pingtung's county hall, April 27. (Photo/CNA)

Huang Chien-chia, right, speaks at a press conference at Pingtung’s county hall, April 27. (Photo/CNA)

Taiwan’s third nuclear power plant for failing to report an accident in the plant that could have harmed public safety, a spokesperson for the county government said Monday.

Huang Chien-chia said the plant failed to voluntarily report a fire in an outdoor transformer outside its No. 2 reactor as soon as it happened late Sunday night and then lied that it did. “It is obvious negligence of the value of human life,” the spokesperson said.

The nuclear power plant, located at the southern tip of Pingtung county on the Hengchun peninsula, has faced eight public safety incidents since 2001, none of which were reported to the local government, Huang said.     [FULL  STORY]