HEALTH
Darkening indicates diabetes
Overweight people with abnormal thickening and darkening of their skin creases should be on alert for diabetes, a doctor at Taipei’s Shuang Ho Hospital said. Most patients assume that dark, thick patches in skin folds are the result of lack of personal hygiene, but in fact, they are common symptoms of diabetes, said Liou Tsan-hong (劉燦宏), chief the hospital’s medical rehabilitation department. Acanthosis nigricans, the medical name for the skin disorder, is characterized by excessive melanin deposits in skin folds such as in the armpit, groin and neck, Liou said. Overweight people with insulin resistance have excessive insulin that tends to thicken and darken skin, and can sometimes even lead to small lumps, he said.
SOCIETY
Zoo collects panda sperm
The Taipei Zoo yesterday collected sperm from its male panda for future artificial insemination after its female panda went into heat, but failed to attract her mate this week, zoo officials said. The zoo collected sperm from Tuan Tuan (團團), one of the two pandas that China gave to the zoo in 2008 to signify warming relations with Taiwan, because he did not seem interested in mating with Yuan Yuan (圓圓), zoo director Jason Yeh (葉傑生) said. Yuan Yuan, who showed signs of estrus a few days earlier, lost her appetite and kept walking around and trying to cool down by soaking in her pool, Yeh said. Tuan Tuan, however, did not appear as passionate as Yuan Yuan, and the six-and-a-half-year-old panda was interested only in feeding and sleeping, Yeh said. Because of the lukewarm interaction between the pandas, the zoo collected Tuan Tuan’s sperm in case the animals fail to mate during the female’s estrus, Yeh said.
AGRICULTURE
Farms suffer losses
The agricultural and fisheries sector reported losses of NT$84.46 million (US$2.9 million) last month as a series of cold fronts damaged crops and fish farms in several areas, the Council of Agriculture said. As of Tuesday, financial losses from crop damage reached NT$21.58 million, with a total of 455 hectares affected, the council said. The heaviest damage was to high-stem grafted pears in Greater Taichung, with losses reaching NT$10.96 million, followed by wax apples and Hai-li tangors (a type of citrus fruit), the council said. In the fishery industry, total losses reached NT$62.88 million, the council said. Penghu County — the worst-hit area — suffered losses of NT$24.86 million, followed by Greater -Kaohsiung with NT$16.43 million and Greater Tainan with NT$16.1 million, it said. The council said it had approved plans to compensate tangor farmers for their losses and would decide on subsidies for Penghu County’s fishery industry after an inspection of the affected areas.
TOURISM
Kinmen to invite DFS bids
The Kinmen County Government said yesterday it would invite tenders to build duty-free shops at Kinmen airport later this year as part of the county’s plan to develop the island into a duty-free zone. Kinmen County Commissioner Li Wo-shi (李沃士) made the announcement during an inspection of the planned location for the airport duty-free shops. “[Management] will invite tenders for the duty-free shops, and the winning bidders will start operations in four months’ time,” he said. The first duty-free shops in Kinmen opened in 2005 at Suitou Wharf, which serves boats that provide direct transportation between Kinmen and Xiamen in Fujian Province, China. Several duty-free shops also opened in the county’s downtown area in December.
ENVIRONMENT
New reservoir approved
Taiwan will construct a new reservoir in the south after the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) gave its final approval to the project yesterday, a move that drew criticism from local environmentalists. The Water Resources Agency plans to use the Hushan Reservoir to solve the problem of overuse of groundwater in Yunlin County and said it would only be for residents’ use and would not provide water for several major industrial development projects in the area. Construction of the reservoir is to be completed in three years. The government passed an original environmental impact assessment on the reservoir in 2000, and an EPA committee gave its nod to a proposed change of plans on how to channel water to the reservoir. The change became necessary to address the issue of several major typhoons that have hit Taiwan in recent years. Critics, including some members of the committee itself, expressed concern that such a change may pose risks in the event of earthquakes.
CULTURE
Fusion concerts planned
Some of the nation’s best concertmasters will come together to perform at two fusion concerts on Saturday and Sunday at the National Concert Hall. Wu Ting-yu (吳庭毓), concertmaster of National Symphony Orchestra; Roger Chiang (姜智譯), principal violin player with Taipei Symphony Orchestra; Evergreen Symphony Orchestra’s principal violinist Kuo Wei-pin; and Jimmy Hsueh (薛志璋), former first violinist with National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, have been invited to perform at the concert titled “Ultimate Beauty, Crazy Love.”
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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