Feuerwehr und Rettungsdienst im Landkreis Weilheim-Schongau einsatzbereit Hier finden Sie alle Meldungen aus dem Mai 2025 dazu.","url":"https://www.merkur.de/lokales/schongau/schongau-ort29421/blaulicht-ticker-fuer-die-region-weilheim-schongau-im-mai-2025-93709400.html"};c&&a.navigator.canShare(d)&&(c.style.display="",c.addEventListener("click",b=>{b.preventDefault(),a.setTimeout(function(){a.navigator.share(d)},0)}))}})(window,document); Hier finden Sie alle Meldungen aus dem Mai 2025 dazu Habach – Beschädigungen an Grundschule in zwei aufeinanderfolgenden Nächten: An der Grundschule in Habach ist es zwischen 30 7.30 Uhr zur Beschädigung diverser Gegenstände gekommen Auf dem dortigen Pausenhof wurde unter anderem eine Tischtennisplatte zerkratzt ein Holzzaun und eine Beetbegrenzung aus dem Boden gerissen Zudem wurde mutmaßlich mit einem Hammer auf die Rutsche eingeschlagen und die Treppe durch einen Steinwurf beschädigt Mai wurden durch den örtlichen Bauhof einige Schäden behoben allerdings kam es in der Nacht darauf erneut zu Vandalismus an derselben Örtlichkeit Die Verursacher blieben bis dato unerkannt Über die Höhe des Sachschadens konnten bei Aufnahme noch keine genauen Angaben gemacht werden die zum Geschehen oder zu Tatverdächtigen Angaben machen können Iffeldorf - Fahrt unter Alkoholeinfluss: Ein 38-jähriger aus Penzberg wurde am Abend des 2 Mais gegen 20.30 Uhr in Iffeldorf einer Verkehrskontrolle unterzogen Ein Vortest bestätigte den Verdacht der Polizeibeamten aus Penzberg Nachdem der festgestellte Wert im Bereich der Ordnungswidrigkeiten (0,5-Promille-Grenze) anzusiedeln war wurde im Anschluss ein gerichtsverwertbarer Test auf der Dienststelle durchgeführt Gegen den Mann wurde ein Bußgeldverfahren eingeleitet Staatsstraße 2057 / Wessobrunn – Gefährliches Überholmanöver: Am Sonntag kam es gegen 17.40 Uhr zu einem gefährlichen Überholmanöver auf der Staatsstraße 2057 nach Wessobrunn in Fahrtrichtung Weilheim Aus einer Kolonne von drei Fahrzeugen überholte der letzte Pkw die beiden vorausfahrenden Fahrzeuge trotz Gegenverkehr Die 36-jährige BMW-Fahrerin im Gegenverkehr musste massiv abbremsen und nach rechts ins Kiesbett ausweichen Zu einem Zusammenstoß zwischen den beiden Fahrzeugen kam es zum Glück nicht die diesbezüglich Beobachtungen gemacht haben bzw sich bei der Polizei Weilheim unter 0881 / 6400 zu melden Etting – Ortsschilder vertauscht: Wie jetzt bei der Polizei Weilheim bekannt wurde Offensichtlich wurden die beiden Ortsschilder der Gemeinden Etting (Landkreis Weilheim-Schongau und Stadt Ingolstadt) vertauscht befindet sich nun das Ortschild „Etting“ der Stadt Ingolstadt hingegen in dem Ortsteil von Ingolstadt das Ortsschild der Gemeinde Etting des Landkreises Weilheim-Schongau Ob es sich hierbei um ein Versehen oder einen „Streich“ aus der Freinacht handelt konnte abschließend noch nicht geklärt werden Schongau - Scheibe eines Friseurladens beschädigt: In Zeitraum vom 25 Mai wurde die Schaufensterscheibe eines Friseurladens in der Christophstraße durch einen unbekannten Täter beschädigt Der Täter warf einen Gegenstand gegen die Glasscheibe sodass ein Sachschaden in Höhe von circa 4.000 Euro entstand Hinweise bitte an die Polizeiinspektion Schongau Mai um 18.30 Uhr wurde in der Raiffeisenstraße ein 65-jähriger Mann aus dem Altlandkreis im Rahmen einer Verkehrskontrolle angehalten Bei der Kontrolle konnte bei dem Fahrzeugführer deutlicher Alkoholgeruch wahrgenommen werden Ein Alkotest ergab einen Wert von 0,5 Promille Den 65-Jährigen erwartet nun ein Bußgeld in Höhe von 500 Euro und ein Monat Fahrverbot MaiPeißenberg – Betrunkener Radfahrer stürzt über eine Böschung: Am Samstag um 20.30 Uhr erhielt die Polizei in Weilheim die Mitteilung dass ein Radfahrer in der Scheithaufstraße eine kleine Böschung hinabgekippt sei dass die Unfallursache einmal mehr im Alkoholkonsum zu finden war der 49-jährige Peißenberger hatte nämlich etwas mehr als 1,1o Promille Aus diesem Grunde musste er sich einer Blutentnahme unterziehen verletzt wurde er immerhin nicht und es kam auch zu keinem Sachschaden Burggen - Fahrradfahrer stürzt und wird schwer verletzt: Am Freitag um 20 Uhr kam es in Burggen zu einem alleinbeteiligten Fahrradsturz eines 44-jährigen aus Roßhaupten Während der Behandlung konnte starker Alkoholgeruch wahrgenommen werden Der Mann wurde schwer verletzt mit dem Helikopter ins Krankenhaus nach Murnau transportiert Altenstadt - Randalierender Mann: Mehrere Mitteilungen gab es am Samstag gegen 15 Uhr über einen stark alkoholisierten randalierenden Bewohner der Asylunterkunft in Altenstadt Ein 41-jähriger Somalier ging Mitarbeiter des dortigen Sicherheitsdienstes an Der Bewohner konnte durch die Polizei festgestellt werden und wurde auf die Dienststelle transportiert und in Gewahrsam genommen Altenstadt - Hecke in Brand gesetzt: In Altenstadt wollte ein 84-Jähriger am Samstag Unkraut mittels Bunsenbrenner entfernen Dabei geriet die Gartenhecke des Grundstücks in Brand Das Feuer konnte durch die Feuerwehr Altenstadt gelöscht werden gegen 15.15 Uhr kam es beim V-Markt in Schongau zu einem Ladendiebstahl Ein 15-jähriges Mädchen aus Steingaden entwendete geringwertige Waren (1,99 Euro) und konnte durch den Ladendetektiv dabei beobachtet werden Sie wurde nach der Anzeigenaufnahme ihren Eltern übergeben Schongau - Alkoholisierte Frau in Gewahrsam genommen: Am Samstag um 19.50 Uhr wurde die Polizei über eine stark alkoholisierte Dame in der Tannenberger Straße in Schongau informiert Nachdem die 70-jährige Schongauerin durch den Rettungsdienst untersucht wurde wurde sie aufgrund der Alkoholisierung zur Polizeiinspektion Schongau verbracht und in Gewahrsam genommen Hohenfurch - Alkoholisiert mit Fahrrad gestürzt und schwer verletzt: Am Sonntag um 3.50 Uhr kam es in Hohenfurch auf dem Fahrradweg parallel zur B 17 zu einem alleinbeteiligten Fahrradsturz Ein 35-jähriger Hohenfurcher wollte mit seinem Fahrrad vom Maifeuer nach Hause fahren stürzte er und wurde schwer am Kopf verletzt Vor Ort konnte eine starke Alkoholisierung bei dem Geschädigten festgestellt werden Er wurde mit dem Rettungshubschrauber ins Klinikum Großhadern verbracht hatte ein 53-jähriger Böbinger seinen Pkw zwischen 17 und 19 Uhr am Bahnhof in Peißenberg abgestellt Während seiner Abwesenheit fuhr ihm ein unbekanntes Fahrzeug dem Schadensbild nach womöglich ein Radfahrer gegen die linke hintere Seite des Pkw und kümmerte sich im Anschluss nicht um den Sachschaden in Höhe von ca Hinweise zu diesem Vorfall nimmt die PI Weilheim unter der 0881/640-0 entgegen Weilheim – Ladendiebstahl: Am Samstag um ca.11 Uhr betrat eine 67-jährige Frau aus dem Raum Herrsching ein Bekleidungsgeschäft in der Schmiedstraße in Weilheim Dort steckte sie sich eine Hose im Wert von 90 Euro in die Tasche und verblieb im Anschluss noch im Geschäft wurde sie vom Personal angehalten und die Polizei wurde hinzugerufen Weilheim - Mit gestohlenem E-Scooter unterwegs: Eine Streife kontrollierte am Freitagabend einen 16-jährigen Weilheimer auf einem E-Scooter Bei der Überprüfung stellten die Beamten fest dass der Roller als gestohlen ausgeschrieben ist Der Roller wurde sichergestellt und eine Anzeige gefertigt Peißenberg - Reifen an Pkw zerstochen: Im Zeitraum von Mittwoch wurden zwei Reifen eines 59-jährigen Mannes in Peißenberg/Ammerhöfe mit Nägeln zerstochen Es entstand ein Sachschaden in Höhe von knapp 500 Euro welche sachdienlichen Angaben zum Sachverhalt machen können Penzberg – Betrunkenen Autofahrer kontrolliert: Am 2 wurde ein 39-jähriger Penzberger mit seinem Pkw einer allgemeinen Verkehrskontrolle unterzogen Hierbei konnte bei einem durchgeführten Atemalkoholtest ein Wert von über 0,8 Promille festgestellt werden Der Fahrer wurde daraufhin zur weiteren Bearbeitung auf die Dienststelle verbracht und die Weiterfahrt unterbunden Ihn erwartet nun ein einmonatiges Fahrverbot sowie eine Geldbuße Seeshaupt - Beim Überholen Radfahrer touchiert und zu Sturz gebracht: Ein 32-jähriger Rennradfahrer vom Tegernsee befuhr mit einer weiteren Rennradfahrerin am 1 Mai gegen 16 Uhr die Tutzinger Straße in Seeshaupt von Seeseiten kommend in Richtung Seeshaupt An der Unfallörtlichkeit überholten der 32-jährige Rennradfahrer mit seiner Begleiterin eine weitere Gruppe Rennradfahrer Als die Rennradfahrer auf gleicher Höhe waren überholte eine 76-jährige Penzbergerin die Rennradgruppe und touchierte mit dem rechten Außenspiegel ihres grauen Sharans den linken Ellenbogen des 32-jährigen Rennradfahrers Dieser kam aufgrund der Berührung zu Sturz und zog sich Prellungen und Kratzer zu Am Pkw konnten keine sichtbaren Schäden festgestellt werden Gegen die Fahrerin des Sharan wird nun ein Strafverfahren wegen fahrlässiger Körperverletzung eingeleitet Penzberg - Unfall wegen Sekundenschlafs: Ein 70-jähriger Penzberger befuhr am 1 Mai gegen 15.45 Uhr mit seinem schwarzen Mercedes V-Klasse die St2063 von Bichl kommend in Richtung Penzberg Kurz nach der Loisachbrücke kam er aufgrund Sekundenschlafs nach rechts von der Fahrbahn ab 100 Metern fuhr er mehrere Verkehrszeichen und Leitpfosten um die Fahrzeugfront des Mercedes wurde stark beschädigt Das Fahrzeug war nicht mehr fahrbereit und musste abgeschleppt werden Gegen den Fahrer wird nun ein Strafverfahren wegen Gefährdung des Straßenverkehrs eingeleitet Iffeldorf/Antdorf - Alkoholisiert von Straße abgekommen: Am 1 Mai gegen 20 Uhr kam es auf der Staatsstraße 2038 zwischen Iffeldorf und Antdorf zu einem Verkehrsunfall Ein 51-jähriger Mann aus Eschenlohe fuhr mit seiner Ehefrau in einem schwarzen Hyundai Tucson von Iffeldorf nach Antdorf aber aufgrund seiner starken Alkoholisierung kam der Fahrer nach rechts von der Straße ab überschlug sich und kam auf der Fahrerseite liegend zum Stehen Aufgrund der Lage des Fahrzeugs waren Fahrer und Beifahrerin eingeklemmt und konnten sich nicht selbst befreien Zum Glück kamen weitere Personen zur Unfallörtlichkeit und leisteten Erste Hilfe Fahrer und Beifahrer konnten durch die Freiwillige Feuerwehr Antdorf geborgen werden Da bei dem Fahrer starker Alkoholgeruch wahrgenommen wurde wurde bei ihm ein Atemalkoholtest durchgeführt Beide Insassen hatten einen Schutzengel und verletzten sich nur leicht An dem Fahrzeug entstand ein Sachschaden in Höhe von ca Front/- und Heckschürze wurden eingerissen die gesamte Fahrerseite wurde verkratzt und beschädigt und die Frontscheibe ist gebrochen Den Fahrer erwartet nun ein Strafverfahren wegen Gefährdung des Straßenverkehrs infolge Alkohol Peiting - Von Fahrbahn abgekommen und überschlagen: Am 1 Mai gegen 13.35 Uhr fuhr ein 19-jähriger Ostallgäuer mit seinem Pkw auf der Staatstraße 2014 in Richtung Birkland Vermutlich aufgrund nicht angepasster Geschwindigkeit kam er in einer Rechtskurve alleinbeteiligt nach links von der Fahrbahn ab Dabei überschlug sich der Pkw und blieb anschließend im Straßengraben liegen Der Sachschaden am Fahrzeug beläuft sich auf circa 5.000 Euro Peiting - Handtasche aus Cabrio entwendet: Am 1 Mai zwischen 18.10 und 19.15 Uhr wurde aus einem Cabrio Hinweise hierzu bitte an die Polizeiinspektion Schongau Mai gegen 22 Uhr wurde eine 56-jährige Peißenbergerin mit ihrem Pkw in der Schongauer Straße kontrolliert Dabei wurde leichter Alkoholgeruch bei ihr festgestellt Ein Alkotest ergab einen Wert von über 2,0 Promille zuvor eine größere Menge Wodka getrunken zu haben Daraufhin wurde die Weiterfahrt unterbunden und bei der 56-Jährigen eine Blutentnahme durchgeführt Der Führerschein der Peißenbergerin wurde sichergestellt Mai gegen 17.15 Uhr fuhren zwei Motorradfahrer auf der Peitinger Straße in Richtung Schongau An der Ampel zur Einmündung Dießener Straße bremste ein 58-jähriger Mindelheimer aufgrund Rotlicht sein Motorrad ab Dies übersah offensichtlich ein 59-jähriger Mindelheimer der daraufhin auf das vorausfahrende Motorrad auffuhr Der 58-Jährige wurde mit Verdacht auf eine Schlüsselbeinfraktur in ein Krankenhaus eingeliefert Der Gesamtschaden an den Fahrzeugen beläuft sich auf circa 1.500 Euro Peiting - Auffahrunfall mit leichtverletzter Person: Am 1 Mai gegen 11.15 Uhr wollte ein 44-jähriger Augsburger von der B472 kommend nach rechts in die B23 einbiegen Verkehrsbedingt musste er an der Einmündung anhalten Das übersah offensichtlich eine nachfolgende 29-jährige Augsburgerin Sie prallte mit ihrem Pkw in das Heck des stehenden Fahrzeuges Durch den Aufprall wurde der 44-Jährige leicht verletzt Der Sachschaden an den Fahrzeugen beläuft sich auf circa 1.500 Euro Peißenberg – Einbruchsversuch in Optikergeschäft: Am Donnerstag gegen 2.40 Uhr konnte ein Zeuge einen Einbruchsversuch in das Optikergeschäft im Marie-Juchacz-Weg beobachten Durch den Täter wurde mit einem Stein eine Scheibe des Geschäftes eingeworfen und versucht das Fenster aufzuhebeln Noch vor Eintreffen der verständigten Polizei konnte sich der Täter vom Tatort unerkannt entfernen die diesbezüglich Beobachtungen gemacht haben Peißenberg – Kennzeichen falsch angebracht: Gestern Nachmittag gegen 15 Uhr wurde ein 34-jähriger Peißenberger mit seinem Motorrad in der Schongauer Straße angehalten und kontrolliert Da das Kennzeichen am Motorrad in einem zu flachen Winkel angebracht war wurde die Weiterfahrt des Peißenbergers unterbunden und ein Strafverfahren wegen Kennzeichenmissbrauch gegen den Mann eingeleitet Peißenberg – Zwei Fahrten unter Drogeneinfluss festgestellt: Am Donnerstagmorgen gegen 9.30 Uhr sollte ein Pkw-Fahrer in der Südendstraße angehalten und kontrolliert werden Blaulicht und Martinshorn blieb der 23-jährige Peißenberger erst nach einigen Kilometern mit seinem Fahrzeug stehen Da sich während der Kontrolle typische Ausfallerscheinungen zeigten wurde bei dem jungen Mann eine Blutentnahme veranlasst und die Weiterfahrt unterbunden Kurz vor Mitternacht wurde am Guggenberg ein 21-Jähriger aus Peißenberg mit seinem Pkw einer Verkehrskontrolle unterzogen Da sich auch hier drogentypische Auffälligkeiten zeigten wurde bei dem 21-Jährigen ebenfalls die Weiterfahrt unterbunden und eine Blutentnahme veranlasst Gegen beide junge Männer wurden jeweils Bußgeldverfahren eingeleitet Eglfing – Mülltonne brennt: Vermutlich aufgrund Einfüllen von heißer Asche geriet gestern gegen 13.10 Uhr eine Restmülltonne im Moosbrunnen in Brand Durch die Feuerwehr Eglfing konnte der Brand sofort abgelöscht werden Insgesamt entstand ein Sachschaden an zwei Mülltonnen und der angrenzenden Garagenwand in Höhe von ca Schongau – Container am Lido mit Graffiti beschmiert: In der Nacht von Freitag wurden die Sanitärcontainer an der Badestelle Lido in Schongau mit Graffiti beschmiert Die Polizeiinspektion Schongau bittet um Hinweise Schongau – Enkeltrickbetrug noch rechtzeitig gestoppt: Am Mittwochnachmittag kam es in Schongau zu einem sogenannten Schockanruf bei dem die Opfer um ihre Ersparnisse gebracht werden Ein 96-jähriger Schongauer erhielt einen anonymen Anruf der angeblichen Polizei und Staatsanwaltschaft dass seine Enkeltochter einen Verkehrsunfall mit tödlichen Folgen verursacht hat und nun Kaution zur Freilassung aufgebracht werden muss Dem 96-Jährigen erschien dies zunächst alles glaubhaft woraufhin er eine sechsstellige Summe für die Betrüger parat hielt Diese sollte von der angeblichen Staatsanwältin bei ihm Zuhause abgeholt werden erschien schließlich später an der Wohnanschrift Nur durch Zufall erschien der Sohn des 96-Jährigen bei ihm Zuhause erkannte den Betrugsversuch und konnte so die Übergabe noch rechtzeitig verhindern Eine sofort eingeleitete Fahndung nach der Abholerin verlief bisher negativ Die Polizei warnt erneut vor solchen Betrugsversuchen Schongau – E-Scooter-Fahrerin nach Sturz mittelschwer verletzt: Eine 27-jährige E-Scooter-Fahrerin stürzte am Mittwoch bei dem Versuch einen Passanten auf dem Gehsteig zu überholen Hierbei erlitt die Fahrerin eine Knieverletzung und kam mit dem Rettungsdienst ins Krankenhaus Weilheim Peiting – Auto angefahren und geflüchtet: Zwischen 9 und 9.15 Uhr wurde am 29 der auf dem Parkplatz einer Metzgerei an der Peitinger Müllerstraße abgestellt war Das geparkte Fahrzeug wurde dabei an der linken Fahrzeugseite beschädigt Der Sachschaden beläuft sich auf circa 1000 Euro Hinweise zu dem flüchtigen Fahrzeug bitte an die Polizeiinspektion Schongau Peiting – Zwei Verletzte nach Unfall an Ausfahrt zur B 23: Immer wieder kracht es an der Ausfahrt der B472 zur B23 bei Peiting April) kam es dort erneut zu einem Verkehrsunfall Ein 70-jähriger Fahrer aus Schwangau nahm laut Polizei einer 23-jährigen Rottenbucherin die Vorfahrt die von Peiting aus kommend Richtung Rottenbuch unterwegs war Laut der Polizei Schongau wurde der Unfallverursacher durch den Aufprall schwerer verletzt und in das Krankenhaus Weilheim gebracht Die junge Frau wurde nur leicht verletzt und kam nach Schongau ins Krankenhaus zur Behandlung An den Fahrzeugen entstand jeweils Totalschaden Die Polizei schätzt den Schaden am Hyundai auf 20 000 Euro Beide Fahrzeuge waren nicht mehr fahrbereit und mussten abgeschleppt werden Die Straßenmeisterei und die Feuerwehr Peiting wurde hinzugezogen Sie regelte den Verkehr und säuberte die Fahrbahn Altenstadt – Roller auf Supermarktparkplatz umgeworfen: Am 29 April um 16.30 Uhr stellte ein Schongauer seinen Motorroller auf dem Parkplatz eines Supermarktes in der Schongauer Straße in Altenstadt ab Dabei wurde die linke Seite des Rollers beschädigt Der Sachschaden beläuft sich auf circa 300 Euro Schongau – Radfahrerin (9) bei Unfall leicht verletzt: Am 29 April um 18.45 Uhr wollte eine 70-jährige Schongauerin mit ihrem Pkw aus dem Parkplatz beim Münztor auf die Münzstraße einfahren Dabei übersah sie offensichtlich ein neunjähriges Mädchen welche mit ihrem Fahrrad auf dem Gehweg unterwegs war Es kam zu einer Kollision zwischen dem Pkw und dem Fahrrad wodurch die Neunjährige von ihrem Fahrrad fiel An den Fahrzeugen entstand nur leichter Sachschaden Weilheim – Mann ohne Führerschein ertappt: Am Dienstagnachmittag erschien ein 47-jähriger Spanier mit Wohnsitz im Landkreis Weilheim bei der Polizeiinspektion Weilheim dass an seinem Fahrzeug beanstandete Mängel behoben wurden Bei einer Überprüfung der Unterlagen wurde allerdings festgestellt dass die Fahrerlaubnis des Mannes seit einem Jahr abgelaufen ist Ohne Fahrzeugschlüssel und mit einem Strafverfahren wegen Fahren ohne Fahrerlaubnis verließ der 47-Jährige in Anschluss die Polizei wieder Weilheim – E-Scooter ohne Versicherungskennzeichen aus Verkehr gezogen: Am 29 April gegen 16.20 Uhr wurde ein 38-jähriger Weilheimer in der Münchener Straße mit seinem E-Scooter aufgehalten und kontrolliert Da an dem E-Scooter das notwendige Versicherungskennzeichen fehlte wurde die Weiterfahrt des Weilheimers unterbunden und ein Strafverfahren wegen eines Vergehens nach dem Pflichtversicherungsgesetz eingeleitet Peißenberg – E-Scooter gestohlen: In der Nacht von Sonntag wurde in der Holzerstraße in Peißenberg ein abgesperrter blauer E-Scooter der Marke „Segway“ entwendet B2/Wielenbach – Zusammenstoß zweier Autos – 35 000 Euro Schaden: Dienstagabend gegen 18.15 Uhr war ein 42-jähriger Weilheimer mit seinem Mercedes auf der Staatsstraße 2066 von Diemendorf kommend in Richtung Weilheim unterwegs An der Einmündung zur B2 wollte der Weilheimer nach links einbiegen und übersah dabei den von rechts kommenden Pkw Im Einmündungsbereich kam es zum Zusammenstoß zwischen den beiden Fahrzeugen Zum Glück blieben die beiden Weilheimer unverletzt die von der Unfallstelle abgeschleppt werden mussten entstand ein Sachschaden in Höhe von insgesamt 35 000 Euro Penzberg – Betrunken und ohne Führerschein am Steuer erwischt: Ein Zeuge teilte am 30 April um 18.20 Uhr der Polizei Penzberg einen Pkw mit der in Schlangenlinien unterwegs war und immer wieder stark abbremste Die in der Nähe befindliche Streife der Polizeiinspektion konnte den Pkw auf Höhe Schönmühl feststellen und anhalten ein 53-jähriger Handwerker aus Schweitenkirchen Ein Alkotest ergab einen Wert von knapp unter 2 Promille gleichgelagerter Vorfälle gar keinen Führerschein mehr hatte Die Weiterfahrt mit dem Pkw wurde unterbunden und eine Blutentnahme durchgeführt Ihn erwartet nun ein Strafverfahren wegen Trunkenheit im Verkehr und Fahren ohne Fahrerlaubnis Liebe Leserinnen und Leser,wir bitten um Verständnis dass es im Unterschied zu vielen anderen Artikeln auf unserem Portal unter diesem Artikel keine Kommentarfunktion gibt Bei einzelnen Themen behält sich die Redaktion vor die Kommentarmöglichkeiten einzuschränken.Die Redaktion Dieser Inhalt"+t(a)+"kann aufgrund Ihrer Datenschutz-Einstellungen nicht geladen werden The dates displayed for an article provide information on when various publication milestones were reached at the journal that has published the article activities on preceding journals at which the article was previously under consideration are not shown (for instance submission All content on this site: Copyright © 2025 Elsevier B.V. We have the address for the funeral home & the family on file If you're not happy with your card we'll send a replacement or refund your money The family of Astrid "Sonja" Marchant created this Life Tributes page to make it easy to share your memories Made with love by funeralOne Volume 15 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.654381 This article is part of the Research TopicAdvanced Neuroimaging Methods in Brain DisordersView all 20 articles The presence of iron is an important factor for normal brain functions whereas excessive deposition of iron may impair normal cognitive function in the brain and lead to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) MRI has been widely applied to characterize brain structural and functional changes caused by AD the effectiveness of using susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) for the analysis of brain iron deposition is still unclear especially within the context of early AD diagnosis we aim to explore the relationship between brain iron deposition measured by SWI with the progression of AD using various feature selection and classification methods The proposed model was evaluated on a 69-subject SWI imaging dataset consisting of 24 AD patients The identified AD progression-related regions were then compared with the regions reported from previous genetic association studies and we observed considerable overlap between these two we have identified a new potential AD-related gene (MEF2C) closely related to the interaction between iron deposition and AD progression in the brain there is little work on using machine learning methods to analyze iron deposition in the brain and facilitate automatic AD/MCI detection by SWI we used feature selection techniques and classification algorithms to analyze SWI image data acquired from a group of 69 subjects iron deposition characteristics were extracted from SWI images based on different brain atlases We then investigated the prediction power of different feature selection methods/atlas/classifier combinations The best set of brain regions selected by the feature selection procedure were analyzed and compared to neuroscientific findings We also obtained human gene expression data from the public Allen Human Brain Atlas Microarray dataset to investigate the relationship between iron deposition This integrated analysis framework could lead us to answer the questions of (1) whether iron deposition as characterized by SWI images can be used to differentiate the three groups of subjects (healthy control (2) which brain regions are involved in the differentiation and (3) whether those brain regions have common genetic factors The organization of the rest of this paper is as follows: in the Materials and Methods section as well as the feature selection and classification methods used in this work The Result section will showcase and discuss the classification performance and discriminative brain regions identified by the feature selection method The identified brain regions are then combined with gene expression data to analyze their underlying relationship and discover new AD-related genes The clinical diagnosis of MCI was made according to Petersen’s MCI criteria with the MMSE score of no less than 24 All the healthy controls had no history of neurological or psychiatric disorders and subjective cognitive complaints or objectively abnormal cognitive assessment Other inclusion criteria were as follows: age ≥55 years and primary school education (≥6 years) Exclusion criteria were as follows: current or previous neuropsychiatric diseases and head injury with loss of consciousness that could affect cognition or psychiatric behavior This study was approved by the ethics committee of Peking University Institute of Mental Health (Sixth Hospital) All participants were fully informed regarding the study protocol and provided written informed consent Participants were scanned on a 3-Tesla MR system (Siemens Magnetom Trio Germany) using a standard 8-channel head coil at Peking University Third Hospital T1-weighted magnetization-prepared rapidly acquired gradient-echo (MPRAGE) sequence was used to acquire high-resolution 3D MR anatomical images using the following parameters: repetition time (TR)/echo time (TE) = 2,530 ms/3.44 ms; time inversion (TI) = 1,100 ms; slice number = 192; slice thickness = 1.0 mm; gap = 0 mm; matrix = 256 × 256; field of view (FOV) = 256 mm × 256 mm; flip angle = 7° SWI images were acquired using the following parameters: repetition time (TR)/echo time (TE) = 27 ms/20 ms; flip angle = 15°; slice thickness = 1.5 mm; voxel resolution = 0.8984 mm × 0.8984 mm × 1.5 mm The Institutional Review Board of Peking University Sixth Hospital approved this study Similar to our previous genetic data studies on Allen Mouse Brain Atlas (AMBA) dataset (Li et al., 2017a, b), in this work, we used the Human Brain Atlas Microarray1 data (Shen et al., 2012) to search the anatomical brain regions associated with a specific gene The microarray data provided by Human Brain Atlas Microarray includes the expression value (normalized Z-score) on each brain region from each subject (donor) where we would average these Z-scores across different subjects In case there were multiple probes used to detect the same gene Z-scores across different probes would also be averaged After calculating the averaged Z-scores of the target gene we applied a threshold of 0.3 to determine whether that gene is considered highly expressed in each brain region we would obtain a list of “highly expressed” brain regions associated with it for each target gene which could be further matched to the regions in SWI data Susceptibility-weighted imaging data were normalized into the MNI space based on transformation parameters derived from aligning T1 images to the MNI standard template using diffeomorphic anatomical registration through the exponentiated lie algebra (DARTEL) method (Ashburner, 2007) using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM12:2) then resampled to 1.5-mm isotropic voxels followed by spatially smoothing with a 6-mm full width at half maximum Gaussian kernel We then applied three types of brain atlas: AAL (anatomical automatic labeling 116 regions with 90 cerebral cortex and 26 cerebellar cortex regions) 180 regions) to extract iron deposition information in the corresponding brain regions from SWI images each brain region (defined by one type of atlas) in the registered SWI images were characterized by the collection of voxels: where T is the number of subjects in the dataset (69 in this study) S consists of the R number of regions in the atlas S = 1,…,S1,S1 + 1,…,S2,…,SR Sk denotes the number of voxels in the k-th region iron content) of the i-th subject in the k-th region by The final iron content vector for the i-th subject in the k-th region is then where value in X varies from −π to π To identify the most discriminative brain regions toward classification of AD we explored the commonly used supervised feature selection methods of Lasso and Adaptive Lasso for the analysis (1) Lasso: for dataset D = (x1,y1),(x2,y2),…,(xm,ym) in this work x denotes the iron content vector and y denotes the patient label (AD/MCI/NC) we consider the simple linear regression model with the squared error as a loss function: When there are much more features than samples the above equation is prone to be overfitting the Lasso (Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator) algorithm is with the regularization parameter λ>0 (2) Adaptive Lasso: by adding weights to the penalty term in the original Lasso the Adaptive Lasso can counteract the possible biased estimate in LASSO Both Lasso and Adaptive Lasso can identify a subset of all regions (termed “regional feature”) in a given atlas by the non-zero weights found in regression Iron content information from the selected regional features were then used to train various classifiers to perform a three-class (healthy control/MCI/AD) classification We set the basic classifier of AdaBoost algorithm to cycle 100 times with a learning rate of 0.1 we used the tree model with maximum depth of five and softmax as activation function Sample SWI image (A) and three types of brain atlases used: (B) AAL atlas Classification accuracy of different classifiers (listed in each row) on different atlases (listed in each column) based on the regional feature selected by Lasso or Adaptive Lasso Highest classification accuracies achieved for Lasso and Adaptive Lasso are marked by bold Figure 2. (A) Names of 8 brain regions reported in Tao et al. (2014) and their visualizations as colored brain surface areas, according to the color bar to the left. (B) Names of the selected brain regions by Lasso algorithm in this study. The brain regions were visualized using the BrainNet Viewer (Xia et al., 2013) List of regions identified by our method as predicative to AD (first column) Higher value of presence frequency indicates that the target gene in overall is more frequently expressed in regions that are predictive to AD thus could be potentially more associated with AD Calculated gene presence frequency (in column “Frequency”) from the 21 preselected genes as listed in each row In this study of analyzing the association between the development AD and iron deposition as characterized by SWI images we used Lasso family algorithms for supervised dimensionality reduction to identify important regions that are discriminative to AD to overcome the challenge of small sample size and large feature number We then applied different classification methods to investigate the diagnostic capability of SWI towards MCI and AD Ten-fold cross-validation experiment results show that >70% accuracy can be achieved for this three-class classification task Further investigation into the identified AD-related regions revealed that they are consistent with previous literature reports The regions identified in this work cover all the eight regions previously reported We then co-analyzed the SWI-derived imaging features with the genetic data provided by Allen’s brain atlas. We found that the regions identified by the feature selection method are identical with the regions rich in gene expression associated with protein precipitation and the blood–brain barrier, as measured by the microarray data (Shen et al., 2012) the iron levels increase at the hippocampus might be linked to an injury to the hippocampus which implies its potential role in the memory degradation of AD patients There are several limitations of the current study both on the method design and the data used the current feature selection and classification scheme are relatively simple due to the limited sample size we can try more advanced data analytics methods such as deep learning to better map imaging features and disease development We also recognized that the regional features identified in the current study are limited because the AAL atlas is relatively coarse for the detailed spatial analysis we will try more fine-grained parcellation of the brain or performing voxel-level analysis Our conclusions on the effectiveness of using SWI for AD diagnosis need to be validated by external datasets we have only collected susceptibility-weighted images as one single dataset We have implemented the complete feature selection and classification pipeline into an integrated framework We will publish the code onto a public repository so that external researchers can use the same regional features to test their prediction power and compare the classification performance The possible role of the MEF2C gene also needs to be validated both by testing the consistency of its expression in the MCI/AD population on another dataset other than the Allen brain atlas and by exploring the biological pathway of the MEF2C’s expression using bioinformatics tools The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Institutional Review Board of Peking University Sixth Hospital The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study PY was responsible for the model implementation XL was responsible for the experiment design ZW was responsible for the data curation and image processing of this work and QL were responsible for the funding acquisition All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version BD is supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) grant no and Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (BAAI) The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest Alzheimer’s Association 2011 Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar A fast diffeomorphic image registration algorithm PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Common Alzheimer’s disease risk variant within the CLU gene affects white 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Volume 11 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2021.782065 This article is part of the Research TopicNovel Small-Molecule Agents in Overcoming Multidrug Resistance in CancersView all 21 articles Internal tandem duplications (ITD) mutation within FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) the most frequent mutation happens in almost 20% acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients As a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor sorafenib is clinically used for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with its preclinical and clinical activity demonstrated in the treatment of Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3-internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD) mutant AML Even though it shows a rosy future in the AML treatment the short response duration remains a vital problem that leads to treatment failure Rapid onset of drug resistance is still a thorny problem that we cannot overlook Although the mechanisms of drug resistance have been studied extensively in the past years there is still no consensus on the exact reason for resistance and without effective therapeutic regimens established clinically My previous work reported that sorafenib-resistant FLT3-ITD mutant AML cells displayed mitochondria dysfunction which rendered cells depending on glycolysis for energy supply we further illustrated that losing the target protein FLT3 and the continuously activated PI3K/Akt signaling pathway may be the reason for drug resistance with sustained activation of PI3K/AKT signaling responsible for the highly glycolytic activity and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) generation further inhibit glycolysis to disturb ATP production This finding would pave the way to remedy the FLT3-ITD mutant AML patients who failed with FLT3 targeted therapy Both European LeukemiaNet and National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines recommend FLT3 genetic testing to predict the prognosis and evaluate the targeted therapy when the disease is diagnosed and relapsed there is still no consensus on the precise mechanisms of drug resistance and more efforts should be taken in clarifying the mechanisms and exploring new strategies to reverse this resistance In my previous paper, we established two sorafenib-resistant cell lines and compared the metabolic differences between the resistant cells and their corresponding parental cells. We found the resistant cells were with mitochondria dysfunction and active aerobic glycolysis (30) we will further elucidate the relationship between PI3K/Akt signaling and glycolysis and investigate the possibility of overcoming this resistance by interfering PI3K/Akt signaling pathway Human FLT3-ITD mutant cell line: MV4-11 was ordered from ATCC. BaF3-ITD cell line was established as described previously from mouse hematopoietic progenitor BaF3 cell line (33) All parental cells were cultured in RPMI 1640 with 2.05 mM L-Glutamine (Hyclone USA) in the incubator with 5% CO2 at 37°C we co-cultured the BaF3-ITD and MV4-11 cells with sorafenib with the initial concentration of 1 nM When the cells could survive in the present concentration for 3-5 days the concentration of sorafenib would be improved to a higher dose MV4-11-R and BaF3-ITD-R cell lines could grow in a medium containing 0.5µM sorafenib The sorafenib-resistant cells were continuously cultured in the RPMI 1640 medium with 0.5 µM sorafenib All small molecule inhibitors were obtained from Selleck Chemicals (Houston these inhibitors include: Sorafenib tosylate (#S1040) Alpelisib (#S2814) and Akt inhibitors MK2206 (#S1078) All chemicals formulated by their suppliers’ recommendations anti–PARP (#9542) were obtained from Cell Signaling Technologies (Beverly USA); Antibodies of anti–PDK1 (#ab11025) goat anti-Rabbit secondary HRP-conjugated antibody (#ab6721) and goat anti-Mouse secondary HRP-conjugated antibody (#ab6789) were supplied by Abcam (Cambridge Cell viability assay was performed using CellTiter 96 AQueous One Solution Reagent (Promega USA) according to the manufacturer’s recommendations cells were plated in 96-well microplates in triplicate at a density of 3×105cells/ml and treated as indicated for 72 hrs Then 20 μl of a tetrazolium compound (MTS) was added to each well for 4 h at 37°C the absorbance was read at a wave length of 490 nm cell viability is reported as percentage of control (untreated) cells with the data representing three independent experiments Error bars represent the standard error of the mean for each data point Protein was extracted by RIPA lysis buffer supplemented with protease inhibitor cocktail set I and phosphatase inhibitor cocktail set II (Calbiochem Equal amounts of protein extracts were resolved in 4%-12% standard SDS-PAGE and transferred to polyvinylidenedifluoride (PVDF) membranes Membranes were probed with primary antibody overnight at 4°C and Horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated secondary antibody for 1 h at room temperature with the protein band visualized by chemiluminescent detection kit with ClarityTM Western ECL Substrate from Bio-Rad Laboratories (Richmond The images were captured using Bio-Rad ChemiDoc Imaging System Table 1 Specific primer sequences used in this paper (5′-3′) Apoptosis detection kit containing Annexin-V-FITC propidiumiodide (PI) and binding buffer were purchased from Keygen Biotech (Nanjing cells were seeded in a 6-well plate at the density of 3×105 cells/well and incubated with designated drugs for 48h The cells were collected and washed with cold phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) three times Each sample was suspended in 500 µl binding buffer containing 5 µl Annexin-V-FITC and incubated for 15 min in the dark at room temperature The cells were analyzed by CytoFlex flow cytometry (Becton Dickinson The results shown here represent three independent experiments To determine the cellular glucose uptake and lactate production cells were collected and seeded in triplicate at the density of 1~2×106 cells/well and treated with certain drugs for indicated times Culture mediums were removed to analyze glucose and lactate content with the fresh medium as control using a SBA-40C biosensor (Biology institute of Shandong academy of science Shandong province) according to the manufacturer’s instruction The statistical analyses were performed with SPSS version 18.0 software (SPSS Inc. Comparisons between groups were analyzed by the Student paired t test Multiple groups were compared using analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by post-hoc Fisher’s least significant difference (LSD) testing when appropriate The IC50 values of the two pairs of cells were evaluated We estimated the IC50 for resistant cell line MV4-11-R and BaF3-ITD-R is 2.43 μM and 1.52 μM which is significantly higher than 4.35 nM in MV4-11 and 4.85 nM in BaF3-ITD we confirmed the resistant cell lines were resistant to sorafenib treatment Figure 1 Comparison of the cell proliferation and apoptosis of the parental and sorafenib-resistant cell lines in the presence of sorafenib and parental BaF3-ITD and MV4-11 cells were incubated with increasing concentrations of sorafenib for 72 hours Data represent three independent experiments (B) Cells were exposed to sorafenib at the indicated concentrations for 48 hours The apoptotic cells were stained with Annexin-V and propidium iodide (PI) for 15 mins and detected by flow cytometry in one hour Furthermore, flow cytometry was used to evaluate apoptosis when cells were treated with sorafenib. As shown in Figure 1B we didn’t observe any cell apoptosis after incubation MV4-11-R and BaF3-ITD-R cells with 0.25 μM sorafenib for 48h after incubating the parental cells in 0.25 μM sorafenib for 48h significant cell apoptosis was observed in MV4-11 and BaF3-ITD cells (31.2% and 40.4% When the concentration was increased to 0.5 μM more apoptosis was detected in the parental cells and still no apoptosis was observed in the resistant cells we further confirmed the resistant cells kept their drug-resistance characteristics after long time of storing in liquid nitrogen indicating the lost target protein may be responsible for drug resistance to FLT3 inhibitors PI3K/Akt signaling’s sustained activation may provide survival advantages for the resistant cells Figure 2 FLT3 and PI3K/Akt signaling were detected (A) PCR product of FLT3 gene was applied to agarose gel electrophoresis β-actin was used as an internal control MV4-11-R cells were evaluated by immunoblotting with β-actin used as aloading control These results mean the resistant cells depended on glycolysis for survival and ATP production Figure 3 Sorafenib-resistant cells rely on glucose for proliferation and ATP generation (A) Real-time quantitative PCR was used to compare the gene expression of glycolytic enzymes (B) Western blot analysis of glycolytic enzyme HK2 β-actin was shown as a loading control D) Cell counts were compared for the two pairs of cells after incubating with the normal and glucose-free medium for indicated times (E) ATP production rate of the resistant cells was detected when treated with 10 µM Oxamate and 10 µM 2-DG we speculate activation of PI3K/Akt axis maybe the incentive factor for the highly glycolysis of the drug-resistant cells and the crucial pathway for cell survival and proliferation This leads us to investigate further whether blocking this pathway could be the potential therapeutic regimen to conquer drug-resistance Figure 4 Gene expression of glycolytic enzymes and ATP generation were diminished by LY294002 in the resistant cells (A) Incubating the MV4-11-R cells with 10 μM LY294002 for 48 hours and messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) level of HK2 were incubated with increasing concentrations of LY294002 for 24 hours PDK1 and PKM2 were evaluated by western blotting β-actin was used as a loading control (C) Glucose uptake and lactate production were evaluated when resistant cells were treated with 10µM LY294002 for 6 hours.*p < 0.05 we found the drug resistance cells showed resistant to all these inhibitors in different degrees This means that it’s not all the PI3K/Akt pathway inhibitors could overcome the drug resistance LY294002 has its special function and mechanism that deserve further investigation Figure 5 Drug-resistant cells are more sensitive to LY294002 (A) Comparison of the apoptotic effect induced by LY294002 in two pairs of cell lines Cells were exposed to LY294002 at the indicated concentrations for 24 hours and the apoptotic cells were stained with Annexin-V and PI for 15 mins and detected by flow cytometry in one hour (B) Cells were treated with LY294002 for increasing concentrations with PARP and cleaved PARP detected by western blotting Although various FLT3 inhibitors have been developed with several applied to clinical practices the development of drug resistance remains a major challenge The mechanisms of drug resistance have been extensively studied and efforts are underway to develop new strategies to overcome this resistance no effective treatment procedure is found and approved clinically That means the lost target protein FLT3 leads to ineffective of FLT3 inhibitors sustained activation of PI3K/Akt pathway resulted in cell proliferation and survival These together possibly explain the underlying mechanism for drug resistance we speculated the resistant cells with highly activated PI3K/Akt signaling may have more active glycolytic activity we found the resistant panels were over-expressed with PKM2 and HK2 when culturing cells in the medium deprived of glucose more significant growth inhibition were observed in the drug-resistant cells than the parental That means the resistant cells were more dependent on glucose for proliferation with 2-DG and oxamate could sharply shrink ATP production and cell survival To further illustrate the relationship between PI3K/Akt signaling and glycolysis The discovered suppression of glycolytic enzymes glucose uptake and lactate production represent the inhibition of the glycolytic pathway Cell apoptosis assay and PARP cleavage detected by western blotting further verified the cytotoxicity of LY294002 we established two pairs of drug-resistant cells The continuous activation of PI3K/Akt signaling led to highly glycolytic activity that provides ATP production and cell survival advantages As PI3K/Akt signaling is the initiator for metabolic changes and cell survival we hypothesized that blocking this pathway with PI3K inhibitors may selectively induce cell death and conquer drug resistance Further experiments confirmed this speculation and PI3K inhibitor LY294002 may provide a new therapeutic regimen to combat sorafenib-induced drug resistance the other PI3K and Akt inhibitors were tested for their drug sensitivities the result showed the BaF3-ITD-R cells were resistant to all these inhibitors This leads us to speculate that besides inhibiting PI3K LY294002 may have other mechanisms to interfere with the survival of resistant cells The underlying mechanisms need further investigations the anti-tumor effect of LY294002 should be investigated in animal experiments and possibly in clinical trials in future The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author AH was responsible for writing the manuscript This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.81900150) Medical Scientific Research Foundation of Guangdong Province The Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangzhou The reviewer LZ declared a shared parent affiliation with one of the authors All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher Donald Small for providing the BaF3-ITD cells Heping Li for the instruction on the research work The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fonc.2021.782065/full#supplementary-material Supplementary Figure 1 | Effect of the other PI3K and Akt inhibitor in the proliferation of BaF3-ITD and BaF3-ITD-R cells BaF3-ITD and BaF3-ITD-R cells were incubated with increasing concentrations of the other PI3K inhibitor: buparlisib Cell viability (%) was detected by MTS method Analysis of 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) *Correspondence: Amin Huang, aHVhbmdhbTNAbWFpbC5zeXN1LmVkdS5jbg== Volume 9 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2021.813079 This article is part of the Research TopicValue-Added Products from Agro-Industrial Residues by Biological ApproachesView all 14 articles A correction has been applied to this article in: and hydrolysate analysis of dextranase from Arthrobacter oxydans G6-4B Dextran has aroused increasingly more attention as the primary pollutant in sucrose production and storage Although enzymatic hydrolysis is more efficient and environmentally friendly than physical methods the utilization of dextranase in the sugar industry is restricted by the mismatch of reaction conditions and heterogeneity of hydrolysis products a dextranase from Arthrobacter oxydans G6-4B was purified and characterized dextranase was successfully purified up to 32.25-fold with a specific activity of 288.62 U/mg protein and a Mw of 71.12 kDa The optimum reaction conditions were 55°C and pH 7.5 and it remained relatively stable in the range of pH 7.0–9.0 and below 60°C while significantly inhibited by metal ions a distinction of previous studies was that the hydrolysates of dextran were basically isomalto-triose (more than 73%) without glucose and the type of hydrolysates tended to be relatively stable in 30 min; dextranase activity showed a great influence on hydrolysate given the superior thermal stability and simplicity of hydrolysates the dextranase in this study presented great potential in the sugar industry to remove dextran and obtain isomalto-triose it is a burning problem to explore the enzymatic properties and application suitable for sugar processing of dextranase However, previous research suggested that it was challenging to control the Mw of hydrolysates synthesized by dextranase (Huang et al., 2020) industrial utilization of dextranase has been constrained by the adaptation of reaction conditions to sugar processing it is an efficient idea to exploit suitable dextranase in decreasing the viscosity of sugar cane juice and obtain IMOs with prebiotic functions in this study In order to overcome the dextran in sugarcane juice and harvest prebiotic functional products the exploitation of dextranase with high thermal stability and hydrolysates of relatively concentrated Mw remained the objectives of the present work a marine bacterium producing dextranase was screened and the enzymatic characterization and protein structure were analyzed Different hydrolyzing strategies were implemented to observe the types and proportions of hydrolytic products The results provided new insights into the application of dextranase in the sugar industry and T70) and agarose (sepharose) used in this study were of analytical pure grade and purchased from GE Healthcare Oligosaccharide standard and Coomassie brilliant blue R250 and G250 were available from Sigma-Aldrich All other reagents were of analytical grade and obtained from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Corporation (Shanghai MEGA 6.0 software was used to make multiple comparisons with other strains of similar genetic relationships and neighbor-joining method was taken to build a phylogenetic tree The strain G6-4B was inoculated into the medium containing 5 g/L of peptone The fermentation supernatant was collected by centrifugation (Multifuge X3R Thermo Fisher) as crude enzyme liquid after 30 h cultivation at 30°C Ammonium sulfate was gradually (increasing by 10%) added to the crude enzyme solution and placed on a magnetic stirrer to ensure complete dissolution The dextranase activity and total protein content in both precipitation and supernatant with different concentrations of ammonium sulfate were measured to confirm the most suitable concentration Then the activity of dextranase in the precipitate was maximized for 8 h 4°C at the most suitable concentration Precipitated protein was obtained by centrifugation at 12,000 × g then dissolved and dialyzed in 10 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.5) Millipore Centrifugal Filter Units (4 ml 10 kD) were used for ultrafiltration of dextranase and centrifuged at 3,500 × g Then 200 μl of dextranase ultrafiltrated was loaded on Q Sepharose Fast Flow (1.6 cm × 10 cm and purification analysis was performed in AKTA pure L1 system (GE Healthcare The chromatography column was equilibrated by 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5) before loading Gradient elution was carried out with 1 M NaCl at a flow rate of 1 ml/min for 10 min and collected by an automatic fraction collector The dextranase activity and protein content in each collecting tube were determined then the separation enzyme was ultrafiltrated by Millipore Centrifugal Filter Units (4 ml All of the above were designed to acquire approximately purified dextranase including 50 mM acetic acid-sodium acetate buffer (pH 4.0–5.5) 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 5.5–7.5) and 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5–9.0) The enzyme solution was mixed with a series of metal ions at 55°C and the final concentration of metal ions reached 1 Relative enzyme activity was determined by percentage conversion with the enzyme activity without metal ions as the control after 30 min In order to further identify the hydrolysates The liquid chromatography was Agilent 1100 Series LC Chem Station and analyzed by Zorbax SB-C18 (5 μm The mobile phase was 15 mM PTA acetonitrile solution (70% the column temperature was adjusted to 35°C and the injection volume was 2 µl JAPAN) high-resolution tandem resolution mass spectrometry was used for detection under the following conditions: in positive ion mode the spray voltage and current were 3.6 kV respectively; the ion source temperature was 200°C The strain G6-4B (Figure 1) illustrated the highest dextranase-producing ability according to the size of clear zone. Based on the sequence alignment of 16S rDNA and the construction of a phylogenetic tree (Figure 2) strain G6-4B was characterized as Arthrobacter oxydans (accession number OL377850) The 16S rDNA sequence was compared with other related species sequences by BLAST and the greatest similarity with Arthrobacter oxydans was revealed Transparent zone formed by G6-4B on the plate containing blue dextran (A) and scanning electron micrograph (B) Phylogenetic tree based on 16S rDNA gene sequences All structural characteristics above were favorable for combination with dextran and hydrolysis reaction Ammonium sulfate gradients increasing experiment displayed that 70% ammonium sulfate could precipitate the maximum dextranase proteins from fermentation supernatant. Compared with the crude enzyme solution, dextranase was purified 7.40-fold with a specific activity of 66.26 U/mg protein and a yield of 46.62% Table 1 The optimal concentration of ammonium sulfate and enzyme activity precipitated are discrepants closely linked to the source of dextranase The ultrafiltration of dextranase was treated with Millipore Centrifugal Filter Units (10 kD) to remove other low-Mw interfering proteins about 7.47% of dextranase activity was lost and specific enzyme activity was enhanced to 153.04 U/mg of protein In line with the isoelectric point of dextranase, anion exchange chromatography was adopted in order to optimize the purification. Dextranase was successfully purified up to 32.25-fold with a specific activity of 288.62 U/mg of protein and retained 10.88%. Finally, it was issued as a single band of an estimated Mw of 70 kDa in SDS-PAGE gel, which was supported by the results of the predicted SignalP-5.0 (Figure 3) Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of dextranase from G6-4B under acidic conditions (at pH 3.0–6.0) more than 50% of the enzyme activity was lost dextranases from strain G6-4B could maintain a relatively high level in neutral to alkalescent environment Effects of temperature (A) and pH (B) on dextranase activity and stability (C) and (D) Future studies could fruitfully explore this issue further by genetic modification or other means to match the requirements of the sugar industry What is noteworthy in this study was that the types of end products of hydrolyzing different Mw dextrans (T20 and T70) were mainly isomalto-triose; the polymerization of hydrolysates did not affiliate with the reaction time markedly after 30 min dextranase activity had a great influence on the type of hydrolysates LC-MS results of hydrolysates by dextranase Hydrolysates of different hydrolysis systems by HPLC (C) Hydrolysates of 3% T20 after 30 min (D) Hydrolysates of 0.5%T20 by different dextranase activity (0.5 hydrolysis of dextran from T20 to T70 did not yield glucose or medium Mw dextran This characteristic of dextranase creates significant superiority in the production of oligosaccharides with a certain degree of polymerization Generally, the Mw of decomposition products decreased with the increase in incubation time following a gradual pattern (Abraham et al., 2019). Moreover, the proportion of hydrolysates varied with the extension of incubation time. Figure 5C shows the hydrolysates at different incubation times more than 70% of dextran was completely hydrolyzed to oligosaccharides (G3 accounted for more than 70% When the incubation time was extended from 30 min to 3 h the types of hydrolysates did not change significantly The results were summarized in Figure 5D reflecting that the increases in dextranase activity resulted in hydrolysates of different components gradually becoming simple (incubation for 30 min) indicating that the concentration of dextranase was the key factor determining hydrolysates and G3) remained coexisting at an activity of 0.5 U/ml When enzyme activity increased to 1 U/ml the content of residual dextran decreased gradually species of hydrolysates (principally G3 and G4) remained stable at 5 U/ml; increasing more activity did not affect hydrolysates Considering that the Mw of dextran synthesized by contaminant microorganisms kept a general concentration of 0.1%–0.5% (Abraham et al., 2019), the hydrolysates of 0.5% T20 for 30 min were selected for LC-MS. Table 3 reveals that the major hydrolysates were isomalto-triose and the rest were isomalto-tetraose (11.58%) the possibility of controlling the types of hydrolysates could be realized by regulating the activity level of dextranase in the light of the crystal structure of dextranase protein published in Protein Date Bank (PDB) 5AXG) was generally higher than that of GH49 (6NZS It was conjectured that the differences were attributed to various domain compositions of the two families the stability still needs to be further improved to better adapt to industrial applications Future studies could conduct an inquiry into the association between hydrolysates with dextranase and pay attention to more efficient development and utilization of dextranase The dextranase-producing strain Arthrobacter oxydans G6-4B was isolated and identified from Gaogong island The dextranase was successfully purified up to 32.25-fold with a specific activity of 288.62 U/mg protein A total of 640 amino acids encoded dextranase with a Mw of 71.12 kDa and belonging to the GH49 family The pH and temperature optima were around 7.5 and 55°C The types of products obtained by hydrolysis of dextran with different Mw (T20 and T70) were relatively consistent; isomalto-triose accounted for more than 73% Given its superior thermal stability and relative simplicity of hydrolysates the dextranase in this study presented great potential in the sugar industry to remove dextran and obtain iso-maltose with prebiotic effects Even if many unknown factors determine the hydrolysates of dextranase our research has bridged the gap between theory and application The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author This research was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20201028) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No: 32172154) This work was supported by the Research Start-up Fund of Jiangsu Ocean University and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions Systematic Study on the Enzymatic Decomposition of Various Dextran Fractions CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Dextranase Immobilization on Epoxy CIM Disk for the Production of Isomaltooligosaccharides From Dextran PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar and Characterization of Dextranase From Catenovulum Sp CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Purification and Characterization of a Recombinant Lipomyces Starkey Dextranase in Pichia pastoris PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Enhanced Microalgal Protein Extraction and Purification Using Sustainable Microwave-Assisted Multiphase Partitioning Technique CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Biochemical Characterization and Mode of Action of an Extracellular Endo-Dextranase From the Culture Filtrate of Penicillium Lilacinum CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Purification 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Accepted: 08 December 2021;Published: 10 February 2022 Copyright © 2022 Liu, Li, Dong, Lan, Xu, Wei and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use *Correspondence: Nannan Liu, bG5uMTkwM0AxNjMuY29t Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish TODAY journalist Wong Pei Ting (right) with her father after he suffered a stroke in March 2021 Adulthood is an invigorating stage of life as young people join the workforce take on more responsibilities and set their sights on the future But its many facets — from managing finances and buying a home to achieving work-life balance — can be overwhelming TODAY’s journalists help young Singaporeans navigate this stage of their lives and learn something themselves in the process SINGAPORE — I arrived at my parents’ home close to midnight on a Friday last month to the terrible sight of my father breaking out in cold sweat as he sat slumped in a chair barely able to fix his gaze on me even as I called out to him no one at home had identified that these were stroke symptoms until I rushed down from my marital home in Marine Parade to their place in Sengkang and called it an emergency I remember being flushed with anger as I stormed into my brother’s room seconds after assessing the situation to jolt him out of his bed so that we could take Dad to the hospital I almost snapped at my 62-year-old mother as well who I thought should have known that this was not just a cold that needed some sleeping off Mum had not told any of us that Dad had stopped taking his high blood pressure pills six months before and had suffered a transient ischemic attack I was also angry that she had not tried harder to reach me earlier that day she had called me only once — a call I missed as I was in the middle of a working lunch and I forgot to return the call as I got busy completing a work assignment It was only late at night when she called me again that I realised I needed to rush over to my parents’ All these things I mulled over as I sat in the waiting bay of Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s emergency department past 4am my anger turning into overwhelming guilt over how I had failed Dad in what turned out to be his first full-blown stroke episode I wrestled with the what-if scenarios that could have played out had I delayed my visit had suggested that I headed to their place the next morning instead I could not help but start contemplating the complexities of navigating filial piety in this modern age multi-generational living has become a rarity — even a luxury — with married children typically moving out to form separate family nucleuses of their own I myself moved out two years ago after I got married at the age of 29 my weekend visits to my parents have been irregular as I prioritised unwinding and recuperating from my demanding and stressful work weeks I felt I needed to spend time to break the ice with them all over again as their typical answers to my questions about what was going on in their lives were shallow remarks such as “Like that The only constant link between us became the allowance that I sent them via mobile bank transfer each month it felt like I had not been given a warning before being suddenly thrusted into a position of responsibility for my dad’s life and welfare I had little to worry about as he had been taking charge of his own life keeping busy as a self-employed hydraulic mechanic and keeping fit with his group of cycling buddies I was not the only one in for a rude shock overwhelmed by the fact that he suddenly could not talk What could I have done to be a better daughter These are questions I’ve put to experts and discussed with friends as I grapple with my new family situation and there following are some of the most important things I’ve gleaned from these conversations with you taking on responsibility for their care Especially with reserved Chinese parents like mine you have to fill in the blanks when they leave things unsaid said after his discharge from the hospital: “No need to come so often I reckon that what he really meant was: I long for your company But even if I learnt to read their minds and willed myself to be that annoying youngest child who imposes her presence on her parents’ lives the truth is that I cannot be with them all the time I was raised to believe that it would be absolutely appalling and ungrateful to send a parent to a nursing home but I caught myself entertaining that option if we ever get to the worst-case scenario where Dad can no longer take care of himself But just considering it threw me into a deep dilemma director of Singapore Management University’s Centre for Research on Successful Ageing why millennials like me are finding it harder to support our parents the same way that our parents’ generation supported theirs Dr Straughan said that the same challenges around caregiving existed in the past but children were raised to accept their roles and responsibilities unquestioningly it was expected that you would live with his parents and take care of his aged parents it is not uncommon for young people to retort with remarks such as “But I didn't ask to be born!” if they were asked to adhere to some traditional notions of filial piety “That’s why this (older) generation feels the pain their children have decided on a different pathway there is no longer a uniform model to follow,” she said This generational divide was all too apparent after TODAY’s last Adulting 101 piece in which senior journalist Janice Lim wrote about moving out of her parents’ home as an unmarried 32-year-old Older members of the online community felt that doing so was unfilial But Dr Straughan noted that norms must change with the times as families are smaller and everyone is living longer “The older generation doesn’t talk about it but practical realities tell us that (traditional frameworks of filial piety) is not possible,” she said “If an only child marries another only child then the two only children will have to care for four parents This means that it is not that uncommon to see 70-year-olds looking after their 90-year-old parents it won’t be a peaceful third age for them either,” she said Parents need to accept the younger generation’s new ways of expressing their love and respect a co-director of the Next Age Institute at the National University of Singapore saying that children’s roles are shifting from providing physical care to providing emotional care She said that this trend is also evident in other ageing societies such as Japan “It is not that you have to be there all the time but you can provide them with a sense of security that you will be there when they need to rely on you and know that you are always a phone call away,” she said I also asked experts and friends for practical guidance on how to manage my newfound responsibilities as a caregiver to an unwell parent Assoc Prof Thang said that it should not be left to one child to shoulder the burden of parental caregiving alone and that siblings should discuss how to divide responsibilities among themselves as I am worried that it will turn into more of a confrontation But I now recognise that this family talk is necessary if I want the best for Dad A friend who went through a similar family situation also advised me to “future-proof” the family When her late mother suffered a stroke a few years ago she ended up having to make big decisions about her mother’s long-term care including her living arrangements She also had to have tough conversations with her family about her mother’s end-of-life care She said that if she could do it all over again she would have made the care arrangements for her ageing parents well before her mother suffered the stroke so that the family could have taken more time to discuss and think over the decisions instead of dealing with them at the height of a stressful situation I have started taking some of the advice I’ve received my dad has been surprisingly candid in answering the tough questions I’ve asked him about his care needs and preferences He has also made it very clear that he wants to sell his house and live closer to his married children I’ve resolved to make a better effort to fulfil Dad’s number one wish: “See you then good already Wong Pei Ting is a senior journalist focusing on issues relating to transport Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app We know it's a hassle to switch browsers but we want your experience with CNA to be fast Upgraded but still having issues? Contact us #29293a);margin:auto;margin-top:32px;max-width:calc(640px + (2 * 12px));padding:0 12px;}@media screen and (min-width: 768px){.css-9uetne{margin-top:72px;}}.css-1lgqo8v{color:var(--sz-basic-text-color-primary 18:32 Uhr.css-rhp0z0{color:var(--sz-basic-border-color-secondary #c0c1c6);display:inline-block;margin:0 12px;}|.css-13l0r79{display:inline-block;}Lesezeit: 1 Min .css-y4bre2{display:block;height:auto;width:100%;}.js .css-y4bre2{cursor:pointer;}.css-1hdpxq{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;background-color:rgb(255 #fff);display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;height:inherit;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-transform:translateY(100%);-moz-transform:translateY(100%);-ms-transform:translateY(100%);transform:translateY(100%);-webkit-transition:-webkit-transform 600ms cubic-bezier(0.23 1);transition:transform 600ms cubic-bezier(0.23 #fff);padding:8px 12px 0;color:var(--sz-basic-text-color-primary #29293a);font-family:'SZSansDigital','Neue Helvetica','Helvetica',sans-serif;font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.5;}.css-1vyk908 p{display:inline;}.css-1vyk908 small{color:var(--sz-basic-text-color-secondary #71737f);}.css-1vyk908 small{display:block;}.css-1vyk908 a{border-bottom:1px solid var(--sz-basic-text-color-primary #29293a);color:var(--sz-basic-text-color-primary #29293a);padding-bottom:2px;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;-webkit-transition:border-bottom 150ms ease-in-out;transition:border-bottom 150ms ease-in-out;}.css-1vyk908 a:focus,.css-1vyk908 a:hover{border-bottom-color:transparent;}Neugierig: Eigentlich ist Kuh Irene eine ganz brave deshalb sprang Kuh Irene kurzerhand auf das Dach des Sperber-Hofs aber nur lustig war die Aktion des 800-Kilo-Tiers nicht Als Christine Pröbstl die Kuh entdeckt, ist sie gerade damit beschäftigt, die anderen zehn Kühe einzufangen, die durch die offene Stalltür abgehauen waren. "Da sag ich zum Bub: Da steht eine Kuh auf dem Dach. Und er: ja, wie? Das darf nicht wahr sein." So erzählt es Christine Pröbstl, die immer noch ziemlich staunt über ihre Kuh. "Die ist seelenruhig da oben gestanden", aber nur lustig sei das nicht gewesen. "Sie war ja mit den vorderen Füßen schon über den First drüber", diese 800-Kilo-Kuh, das hätte böse ausgehen können. Aber Irene ist zum Glück nicht ganz drüber über den First, "so viel Verstand hat sie dann doch gehabt". Ihr Sohn sei dann aufs Dach gestiegen und habe die Irene zurück nach unten gelotst, sagt Pröbstl. Ganz einfach sei das gewesen, der Sohn habe Irene nur "ein bisschen angetupft". Zuvor habe sie noch Fotos von der Kuh auf dem Dach gemacht, "das ist ja einmalig, das glaubt einem sonst niemand". Dass Irene etliche Dachplatten ruiniert hat, findet die Bäuerin halb so schlimm. Sie und ihre Familie seien "froh, dass die Kuh wieder unten ist". Ob der Höhenrausch die Irene irgendwie verändert hat? "Gar nicht", sagt Christine Pröbstl. Die Irene sei "wie immer: die ist brav, die ist ruhig". Gockel Gandalf Steve kommt bei seinen Mitbewohnern gut an. Doch sein lautes Krähen gefällt den Nachbarn nicht. In anspruchsvollen Berufsfeldern im Stellenmarkt der SZ. .css-5x0u19{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Gutscheine.css-pcxqtt{border:0;clip:rect(0 0 0 0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;white-space:nowrap;width:1px;}: senior journalist Wong Pei Ting reflected on the lessons she has learnt by staying with one employer for nearly seven years SINGAPORE — As I entered the working world at TODAY at age 23 I gave myself five years on the job to make a mark in one company before I would consider a career move Two years to push my limits as I get on top of the daily grind Another two years to ride my own wave and have some achievements to call my own I felt pretty lonely being among the few fresh graduate hires within the company who were handed a long service award for staying at least five years Most of my peers had left their jobs in search of greener pastures as conventional wisdom today suggests that job hopping is the straightforward guarantee to a better job title — one that no longer makes you sound like a minion — and a fatter take-home salary They sure made me feel like I was missing out especially when I was going through a particularly tough time with motivating myself when friends would try to appeal to my better senses to leave and find another place that “values you better” But my earlier convictions kept me in check and it was only recently — almost seven years in — that I felt that it was time to move on for the sake of personal growth In the lead-up to finally bidding goodbye on Friday (Oct 22) to this newsroom where I have been for six years and 10 months a TODAY editor asked if I could share what I had learnt from staying on in one job for so long in an era where people tend to quit after two or three years As I thought through the lessons that I had gleaned I also started pondering over what I had missed out by taking the approach that I did and whether there is such a thing as “overstaying” in one job I posed some of these questions to a few career advisers Here are three things I wished I had known as a fresh graduate entering the workforce I came bearing romantic notions about life as an intrepid journalist and was eager to make an impression that I was worthy of chasing the “important stories” desk-bound role as a digital reporter that was the exact opposite of what I imagined I would be doing I also made many mistakes while at it and was told on a daily basis about the many aspects of my work that needed improvement I worked under a strict boss who imposed high standards even for the simplest tasks Getting a scolding from her truly felt like the end of me and my career But I have come to realise that it was more important that I had found in her a tough mentor than to have had a boss who would go easy on me in my initial years but from whom I would learn nothing (note: tough doesn’t mean toxic I would even advise my younger self to apply the startup growth hack mantra to “fail fast and fail often” within the first six to 12 months of my career before the stakes are too high to fail further into your career it could mean embracing what that tough boss had to offer me in terms of practical tips and advice rather than holding her at a distance to avoid illuminating all of my flaws and getting my ego stabbed any further It might help to not take the criticism too personally Good bosses won’t hold your initial shortcomings against you and might even expect them Address them with an attitude that shows a willingness to learn and adapt it is definitely not worth it to let one criticism crush your dreams or lead you to think that you should quit to avoid being a liability to the team or that you would never be good enough I gained some perspective from speaking to Ms Sandra Quelle founder of career consultancy firm The Happy Monday Co who said that an employer should expect to take anything between six and 18 months to get a new employee fully up to speed the new hire should also give themselves a similar timeframe to settle down adding that it will usually take another one or two years to have some achievements to show #2: It will take patience to achieve your goals in an organisation  Back to my quandary of doing ungratifying backend work while desiring to be in the thick of the action Even as I strove to do the work that was required of me with excellence I was constantly worried that I would forever be relegated to those duller tasks I leapt at every opportunity to head out and do some shoe-leather reporting within my role then and eventually asked to make an internal transfer from the digital desk to the main news desk where I could do more of that it did not take much for the bosses to say yes I ended up being happier and more motivated on the job staying on till now as I found many opportunities to grow with my personal goals and interests aligned I almost did not make it to this point where I put in the request though In what is perhaps a very Asian thought process I felt like it might be easier to look elsewhere for a job that I might like better and leave without kicking up a fuss But Ms Quelle said leaving would be costly to both the employee and the company and it was wise for me to be proactive about seeking out opportunities for myself although a balance should be struck between making requests and being closed-minded or “too eager to move on” “Often we want everything that I am wanting now and that is creating a bit of an interesting dynamic in the marketplace where companies are struggling to retain talent and on the flip side “People have to understand that going to that level takes time and you have to develop the skills and it cannot be done overnight.” Today she finds herself working with executives who rose too fast to then realise that they don’t know enough to be in that position those who still feel that their skills are not being utilised should at some point be honest with their bosses and vocalise what they want “I think I can support you in this activity” or “I am very interested in going in this direction Can you get me onto any projects where I'm getting exposure?” Ms Quelle said that employees can keep track of their achievements within the company to remind the boss when building a case for a pay raise and she knows of people getting as much as 12 per cent in this manner especially when the individual had gotten an expanded job scope “It can be painful to constantly ask for a salary raise but it shows that you value yourself… If the initial answer is 'no' ask when you can have this conversation again put a note in your calendar and ask again.” but Ms Quelle begged to differ: “Expecting people to give you things or to recognise you is a little bit unrealistic It has a higher chance if you are responsible and you voice it out they don’t rely just on creating a great product They go into marketing and they do it for a reason #3: Stagnation is not a good place to be in My best friend entered the workforce a full year before I did she passed a remark that never left me: “I wake up every day feeling excited about my job When the day comes when I no longer feel excited I will know that that is the time to leave.” there came a day when I no longer felt as engaged in my work and the days evolved to months I found myself choosing to stay for reasons of comfort and the fear of going after something new The career consultants I spoke to all agree that there is such a thing as “overstaying” in one job and I was showing some classic signs of that Life and business coach Erlina Sidik said that especially when people are in the early stages of their career it is important to get as much exposure and experience as possible in order to gain clarity about their strengths how they contribute to the world impactfully “Overstaying in a role limits one’s potential,” she said If the response is “no” to most of these questions then the employee should consider if it is time to make a change as self growth and alignment are key for a fulfilling career and life recommended that a fresh graduate stick with their first job for at least three years for their experience at the first company to mean something to the next company “Make sure there is no more room for growth before you move and get to know more about the next company first,” he said Ms Quelle said that identifying the right time to move forward is about balancing the states of being patient and being agile Sensing that fresh graduates here need to hear the message about being patient more so than the importance of being agile and adaptable “Maybe my advice to all fresh graduates is to buy a plant and you grow at the same pace as the plant.” Wong Pei Ting has just finished her term as a senior journalist at TODAY where she covered community and social affairs PYONGYANG — It certainly did not help to dispel my preconceptions about North Korea when I was handed a 10-page document soon after my arrival telling me that I would be sent for “reform through labour” for at least five years if I committed acts of propaganda senior officer in the department of South-east Asia in the Korea Committee for the Promotion of International Trade and TODAY journalist Wong Pei Ting have a funny photo taken on Sept 21 Or that my mobile phone and passport were temporarily seized at the airport leaving me alone and aghast as I hastily gathered my ransacked luggage in order to track down the North Korean official who took off with them I found myself wandering down the aisle with nary a belonging (I was not allowed to wheel my luggage freely around the airport) and having my privacy violated as I had to unlock my phone so that a security personnel could sift through its contents in a mood so foul that I let out an expletive under my breath — naively thinking that the Koreans wouldn’t understand it — as I reorganised all my scattered belongings once again on the airport floor I looked up to find a smartly-dressed Korean woman towering over me And I could not have felt more embarrassed after she introduced herself — in impeccable English and Mandarin — as Ms Kim Jong-a secretary-general of the Korea-Singapore Friendship Society (a subdivision of the North Korea’s Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries) Ms Kim probably heard me cursing but she kept smiling She had spent three months in Singapore in 2015 as he hosted South Korean President Moon Jae-in when he was in Pyongyang on Sept 19 she handed me a blue armband declaring to her countrymen my status as a “press man” in bold Korean letters But despite the off-putting measures and protocols a refreshing sense of openness which I had not seen captured in the various reportage on the hermit kingdom I found myself in a karaoke bar guffawing at the goofy dancing of one of our North Korean hosts Korea Committee for the Promotion of International Trade desk officer Kim Yong-sok, who initially would only greet us with a stern look He was trying to get the Singaporean businessmen I was travelling with — as part of a business mission — to loosen up and have a good time And we thought the North Koreans were the stiff and rigid ones They had Vengaboys’ Sha La La La La and Wakin Chau’s Peng You (Friends) in their arsenal of favourites and the North Koreans seemed to love funky disco lights so much that we were bathed in them at every dinner reception The Singaporeans looked relatively out of place as they grappled with Wi-Fi withdrawal symptoms (Internet was sold at US$2 for 10 minutes but only during office hours at the hotel’s reception area) and reconciled themselves with the fact that the sight before them was a familiar scene out of the 80s or 90s and women with their hair pulled back with barrettes to complete the set Our North Korean hosts were also comfortable enough to move our conversations beyond mere pleasantries one of them said: “US and the Western media are always talking about human rights here everything is provided for by the government – the very basic essentials for the lives of people here When I commented that reports on North Korea could be one-sided because reporters simply couldn’t get access the North Korean who declined to be named said: “Nowadays it is not that the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is not open to the international community The international community is not open (to us) because of the sanctions Daily necessities… Milk powder and prams for babies Because they are made of stainless steel and could be used for rocket production They also commented freely on the summit between Mr Kim and US President Donald Trump that was held in Singapore three months ago One of them said it was a “trust-building exercise” and “good start” to reduce the many misunderstandings that exist between the two countries and that progress will be based on “simultaneous actions” according to what was stated in the declaration There were also more light-hearted takeaways from the historic Singapore summit said she now wishes to visit Marina Bay Sands a landmark that is now synonymous with Singapore in the minds of many North Koreans as Mr Kim had spoken well about the integrated resort Ms Kang was also not secretive about her personal life She told me that her father is an architect and her mother is an interior designer and she let me handle her Arirang-brand Android touchscreen smartphone or take a walk with her mother on the days she is not working and grew up watching a number of English cartoons but our country is very safe,” Ms Kang told me over lunch There are a lot of security guards protecting us the social education and family education level is very high We are very stable in our psychological status.” The Singaporean delegation of eight businessmen also had a chance to meet a senior government official — Deputy Minister of External Economic Relations Ri Myong-san — who received us at the Ministry of Foreign Trade building located at the famed Kim Il-sung Square where massive military parades are held Mr Ri turned to me and said: “I know that the role of a journalist is very important” as he expressed his wish that I based my reporting on the “principle of justice and objectivity” which was led by former academic Dr Michael Heng Mr Ri said North Korea is “open to developing friendly cooperative relationships with all the countries which respect our country’s dignity and treat our country fairly” Despite Singapore’s suspension of trade relations with North Korea last November which are in line with tightened United Nations sanctions over its weapons programme tell your Singapore people that in every Korean people’s hearts you are friends,” Mr Ri said just before he ended the 40-minute courtesy call I could sense he was sincere when he told Dr Heng: “You can suggest your opinions – anything you feel unsatisfactory about The exceptional friendliness and goodwill shown to us served as a contrast to the treatment I initially received when I first got here But I do not think our North Korean hosts were simply putting on an act they are just like any ordinary citizens around the world The best takeaway from my trip to North Korea A photo of me making a funny face with a North Korean man – a symbol of our friendship Todayonline.com and Today Online domains and apps are now part of 'Channelnewsasia.com' domain We know it's a hassle to switch browsers but we want your experience with TODAY to be fast SINGAPORE — American scientist Subra Suresh who was picked to head the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2010 will take over as Nanyang Technological University (NTU) president from Jan 1 next year President of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) for the past four years Professor Suresh has had numerous high-level interactions with Singapore for 25 years including serving as a consultant to the National Science and Technology Board and sitting on the advisory boards or councils of A*Star institutes and Government agencies He will succeed Professor Bertil Andersson as the fourth president of NTU as the latter is retiring from the role he has held for six years since 2011 said NTU in a press release on Thursday (July 13) Announcing Prof Suresh’s appointment in an email to NTU faculty said the search for Prof Andersson’s replacement started last year An eight-member committee chaired by Mr Koh unanimously selected Prof Suresh for the role and his appointment has been strongly endorsed by all members of the university’s Board of Trustees a thorough understanding of the environment in which it operates and the larger international backdrop that the university and Singapore fit into Prof Suresh more than matches all these criteria.” officially stepped down as CMU president — a role he took on from 2013 — on June 30 where he oversaw an annual budget of US$7 billion (S$9.6 billion) supporting fundamental research and innovation in all fields of science and engineering and related education.  he was dean of engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Prof Suresh was the principal faculty coordinator from MIT for the formation of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (Smart) centre Prof Suresh said he shared “a very special affinity for Singapore and numerous interactions with colleagues here in academia With the future leadership of NTU in safe hands Prof Andersson said he looks forward to working with Prof Suresh and the NTU Board of Trustees to ensure a smooth transition.  was its first provost before being appointed president.  Prof Andersson spearheaded the establishment of NTU’s joint medical school with Imperial College whose first batch of medical students will graduate in July next year NTU jumped from 74th position in 2010 to an all-time high of No 11 globally to be the highest-placed Asian university in this year’s QS World University Rankings.  NTU was named the world’s best young university for the fourth straight year In Quacquarelli Symonds’ (QS) latest rankings of the world’s top 50 universities founded less than five decades ago followed by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung welcomed Prof Suresh’s appointment He also thanked Prof Andersson for his contributions and wished him all the best in his next chapter along with the affirmation culture that social media platforms have created is in the spotlight following Instagram’s recent announcement that it would be expanding its test to hide “like” counts on posts This is a snapshot of a day in the life of 21-year-old full-time model Lukas Koshy who has been losing sleep since he got sucked into the latest social media craze a video-sharing app filled with 15-second lip-syncing videos and all things amusing to a Generation Z’er like him Five hours of sleep is all that he is mostly getting these days but he doesn’t see a need to change his ways Mr Koshy feels gainfully occupied when thinking up the next viral post and putting out at least one to two TikTok posts a day He has over 13,600 followers and a “like” count of more than 95,000 “It is validation for the content I put out.” there is Primary 5 pupil Aina Sofia Sirajuddin who confessed to being previously “addicted” to TikTok to a point of publishing as many as 15 posts a day when she first got started on the platform in the middle of last year “I just couldn’t stop doing it,” the 11-year-old said of the TikTok fad in school which had her friends performing trendy dance moves such as “Hit the woah” which made me feel like I was getting popular,” she added Although she has learnt that it is meaningless to tie her self-worth to a number on a platform such as TikTok she would be lying if she said that her "like" count (which numbers around 6,000) and her more than 270 followers mean nothing to her Adding that more than half her class is on TikTok she said that if she could have it her way she wants one million “likes” because “a lot of people have been getting millions and millions” so I just do it to increase my ‘likes’,” Sofia said along with the affirmation culture that social media platforms such as TikTok have created In explaining the move — which began in Canada and will now be expanded to six other countries — Mr Adam Mosseri said: “We don’t want Instagram to feel like a competition We want people to worry a little bit less about how many ‘likes’ they’re getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people they care about.”  many have questioned if the Facebook-owned platform’s attempt to undo the culture where users become concern or even obsessed about what others think of them is a case of too little an Instagram spokesperson said: "We want Instagram to be a place where people feel comfortable expressing themselves That includes helping people to focus on the photos and videos they share Instagram's trial is being conducted in New Zealand "We chose these markets to get a better sense of how the experience resonates with Instagram’s global community We don't have any specific timing to share right now about other countries,” the spokesperson added While Singapore is not one of the countries picked for Instagram’s trial many social media users here are also not immune from the “likes” chase with even children as young as eight years old jumping on the bandwagon Zave Phua is already an active citizen of the social media world — a self-professed YouTuber and livestreamer with more than 50 subscribers across YouTube and Twitch I think of how many subscribers I am getting now and also how much homework I have now,” the boy said every “like” is a sign of affirmation that online users have “either enjoyed my content or my personality” “It makes me strive to be better,” he told TODAY Facebook is absent from his world because it is “irrelevant” and “for old people” Nobody pays attention to what children post on Facebook His first YouTube videos showed him folding paper boomerangs and ninja stars which “did not really work out” in attracting an audience He then moved on to levitating using a camera trick and reacting to eating really spicy food “which gave me a lot of views and gave me the courage to keep continuing” Among his exploits was a clickbait video which he titled “Porn at its finest XD” and contains only shots of the ceiling and his face with the video drawing 100 views in a short time It prompted him to make a reaction video out of it Zave is now into live-streaming his game plays on the wildly popular Fortnite Battle Royale during which a sign will be hung on his bedroom door to keep away family members He would also record his game plays and cut them up to make video compilations for the YouTube platform Zave now depends on these “better quality content” to build a proper viewer base “My first milestone will be 100 YouTube subs (subscriptions) and 100 Twitch followers,” he said “My second milestone will be 1,000 on both Twitch and YouTube And it would just be going on from there.” Generation Z (those born between 1995 and 2015) co-exist with the general population and some of their ways bewilder even millennials in the slightly older age bracket millennials interviewed by TODAY said that they mostly treat their Instagram profile as a visual diary but Generation Z members tend to heavily curate their profiles as an extension of their identity said that this could be seen by how younger users post statuses such as youth coordinator at Tabernacle of Joy church observed that some young people are keeping at least two Instagram accounts — a “main” account and a “private” account The main account usually comprises a well-curated series of photos and is made public while the private account is a “controversial” space where “no parent or teacher” could exist and only trusted individuals are let in where they dump random posts of things that might not be the prettiest but caught their attention keeping separate Instagram accounts is — among other objectives — a way of managing their public profiles by putting their best self forward the youth tend to reveal their true feelings or states of mind in their private accounts or Instagram stories which disappear after 24 hours Ms Ili recalled how she discovered two of her friends were struggling with depression: “It’s always the ‘Insta story’ You always have to watch ‘Insta story’ to find out what is wrong.” young people learn to pose in a certain way — looking down at a certain angle for instance — or create specific types of content that would give them the “likes” that they are seeking she used to head outside to take pictures which she will post on Instagram just to show that she “has a life” She also followed Instagram trends such as adding white borders or drawing white lines on the photos using third-party apps “I was hypersensitive in the first two years (of using Instagram),” Ms Soh said noting how the feeds of her and her friends would turn out similar she is more relaxed about what she puts up on Instagram Ms Soh is now a fashion communications and promotion undergraduate at the Norwich University of the Arts in the United Kingdom she uses her Instagram account as an extension of her portfolio which she believes would be taken into consideration by prospective employers in her industry Sociologist Tan Ern Ser from the National University of Singapore (NUS) said that for many young people who grew up with social media life online “can constitute a big part of their social environment” He added: “I reckon some of these kids imagine themselves to be social media sensations.”  some parents told TODAY that they knew of cases where children as young as four were starting to speak with a “YouTube slang” caught her five-year-old daughter pretending to be a “vlogger” in front of the mirror by saying: “Click here to subscribe the Primary 5 student who used to be addicted to Tik Tok recalled how she taught herself singing via YouTube she started performing song covers and uploading the videos on YouTube With the praises she started getting for her singing she felt encouraged to put herself out on social media even more an associate professor in sociology at NUS said that social media’s “liking culture” latches on young people’s desires for affirmation — especially from friends — and popularity Any young person would want to be “cool” and popular growing up Dr Chua said: “When all of life is mediated by a screen and marked by portrayals of the idealised self we learn to see others for their appearance and not for their substance And the youth — and all of us — must learn to tell the difference.” Experts interviewed reiterated that even if Instagram were to eventually hide its “like” count for all users around the world people can still turn to other social media platforms to satisfy their need for affirmation Mr Chong Ee Jay from Focus on the Family Singapore a non-profit group that works to strengthen family ties said that the social media landscape has evolved to such an extent that mobile applications are going all out to capture the limited pool of users and attention span Assoc Prof Tan from NUS said: “Feeding people’s ego is good for business and banning ('likes’) is not an effective tool… If people are addicted to affirmation they would likely look for other alternatives these platforms could “produce a generation inclined to instant gratification perpetually experiencing a satisfaction gap and treating others in a rather superficial and instrumental way” Mr Koshy noted that users are already drawn by how they can gain followers faster on TikTok compared with Instagram he agreed that TikTok is “a messed-up place” with trolls and bullies liking posts of people who are disabled or not good-looking as a way to mock them and help their posts go viral There are also concerns that such platforms could be exploited by paedophiles as tools for sexual grooming Users are known to leave suggestive comments on posts put up by children TikTok’s user and content operations manager Doreen Tan noted that its growing popularity “lies in the fact that it is a global platform that champions positive Ms Tan stressed that TikTok is “absolutely committed to promoting a positive in-app environment" and ensures that "the community remains positive by fully empowering TikTok users to filter out negativity in their comments through the app” She added: “We also have built-in features like restricted viewing mode and our moderation team removes inappropriate content and terminates accounts that violate our terms of service.” There are also policies and tools such as its community guidelines to “help people understand how to use the platform in a positive and appropriate way” MORE YOUTH STRUGGLING WITH SELF-ESTEEM ISSUES Youth counselling centres and clinics told TODAY that they are seeing more cases of youths struggling with self-esteem issues due to their exposure to social media previously known as the Association of Muslim Professionals cited as an example a 13-year-old boy who enjoyed the attention from posting videos of himself dancing on Instagram so much that he put up a video of himself dancing half-naked — and this later went viral on another platform and caused him much distress Psychologist Joel Yang from Mind What Matters clinic said that among the cases which he has seen was a 16-year-old student from an all-girls school and will delete posts that do not reach a minimum number of “likes” after half a day they start to compare themselves to impossible social media standards and this further enhances their sense of hopelessness,” Dr Yang added The youngest person who had consulted him was a nine-year-old who was grappling with social media comparison and cyber-bullying issues society needs to encourage them to limit their social media time and educate them about how social media can be used as a way to stay connected socially and “not as a means of social mobility” a clinical psychologist with Promises Healthcare pointed out that although social media is “second nature” to teens they need to be reminded that it can bring increased exposure to harm When it comes to exposing young children to social media parents interviewed by TODAY appear to have contrasting approaches some parents prohibit their children from using social media until they enter secondary school some parents are eager to expose their children early on when they are more receptive to parental advice and guidance had asked for access to Facebook and Instagram when he was in Primary 4 because most of his classmates had their own mobile phones But the 35-year-old technician wants his boy to wait until he completes primary school said that she would let her son — who is eight years old — have “limited” access to social media only when he enters Primary 5 said that she now allows her girls aged seven and 10 to play pre-downloaded mobile games and watch music videos on YouTube “There are too many things on social media that are fake,” she said She added that instead of spending time on social media her girls occupy themselves with activities such as playing dress-up an adjunct associate professor at NUS who is also a mindfulness trainer to go on social media when they were just eight years old She added: “I’d rather teach them young — at an age when they’re willing to learn from parents She pointed out that social media is a new fact of life through which many life lessons could be gleaned — even when a child could start off looking to social media as a way to gain popularity “How do we stop (children from craving to be popular) It’s like how can you stop a kid from talking?” she said ‘I’d keep them at home because they should not be socialising with anybody at this age.’ You cannot isolate them It has become part and parcel of our world today If parents are “too strict” about their children’s use of social media Sofia’s mother sees it the same way: Madam Amisah Bahrom said that parents should allow their children to do as they wish on social media “as long as they know the limits” finds his sister’s TikTok obsession “annoying” but normal “Children today play through technology and their social networks,” he said “I know she can defend herself (against online bullies) she knows that her family will always give her the best advice who used to be shy about expressing herself had also plucked up the courage to join her school’s speech and drama club chief executive officer of a spa and beauty salon said that it is good for children to dream referring to his son’s ambition to be a YouTuber with many subscribers As long as he is not overdoing it (by neglecting his studies or family time) I don’t mind (Zave being on it) because everybody is doing it You must keep up with the times or be left out,” he added a senior clinical psychologist in the Department of Developmental Psychiatry at the Institute of Mental Health reiterated that it is impossible to eradicate the use of social media among youth “(Parents) can prepare them for stressful situations by solving problems together and rehearsing how to handle specific situations like cyber-bullying.” he said which offers counselling and psychotherapy services Internet experts and governments — should also play their part in recognising and mitigating the dangers it is only recently that the effects (of social media) are catching (society’s) attention,” she said Educational institutions and governments need to join hands to “ensure there are appropriate laws and guidelines for adults children’s safety and privacy protection online” chief executive officer of the AirAsia Group TODAY’s journalists meet the people behind the headlines senior journalist Wong Pei Ting speaks to Mr Tony Fernandes the chief executive officer of AirAsia Group which in March launched a food delivery service in Singapore as part of ambitions to become Asia’s next “super app” to rival Grab and Gojek the Malaysian budget airline made a call for interested fresh produce and grocery merchants to join the platform as it also wants to go into grocery delivery These moves generated curiosity as many airlines dealing with the impact of grounded flights during the Covid-19 crisis have taken temporary measures to cut losses Why did this airline imagine it could break into the delivery sector has just unveiled plans to sell products other than air tickets to its customers Speaking to TODAY over video conferencing platform Zoom from his office at Wisma Tune in Kuala Lumpur talks about why he is not daunted by the challenge and how he managed to convince his board that it would work Excerpts of the interview are edited for length and clarity Pei Ting: How have you been coping with the ups and downs of managing the airline business in the last year and a half We haven't got a big benefactor like Temasek (Holdings the parent company of Singapore Airlines) or people like that we know that the end is in sight — in a matter of months we are going to start seeing travel resume We've been able to spend more quality time at home Pei Ting: What did you do differently this season I have a little bit of a disease — OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) Pei Ting: No wonder your bookshelf is so neat (read: empty) just not books — and I watched more documentaries than I’d ever had before and I'm more learned as a person Pei Ting: Let’s talk about the new territory that AirAsia is moving into An airline going into food delivery is unheard of.. Tony: I always thought we were more than an airline that AirAsia Group is no more just an airline We have a restaurant and food group called Santan We have three digital companies: AirAsia super app; a fantastic logistics business called Teleport I’ve just named our new tagline as “A way of life” Pei Ting: Can you tell us more about how the idea came about and how it gained steam Tony: The roots of this idea is in my first or second job AirAsia was actually going to be called Tune Air And Tune was gonna be my brand builder — Tune Hotel The biggest decision I had to make was naming the airline AirAsia Now AirAsia is such a big brand that I'm dropping Tune we’re the first super app that’s underpinned by travel I was really ahead of the game if I can praise myself one second We were the first digital company in reality online commerce The genesis of this has been in my mind for a long time and now Covid has allowed us to really focus then you begin to think and move your strategy faster Pei Ting: Can you give us a sneak peek into the boardroom conversations announced workforce cuts and struggled as planes were grounded which is our data and our brand to go build these other businesses I think your question is how did you persuade the board to make these investment decisions when cash was limited But if you have businesses that have potential to be bigger than the airline It's not easy to persuade a board to do that but I'm lucky that I have a visionary board Pei Ting: What made you believe that an airline would be able to succeed in this endeavour I read about your “rich database” of 60 million customers but we're more lovable than any of those digital brands that don't understand humans And we have the beautiful position of not having to build anything so we save a lot of money by emulating all of them We don’t have to spend the hundreds of millions that they took to develop all of this And I dare say we have better data than all of them because when you fly on a plane Our rewards programme is hence slightly different There’s a slightly different data profile there Pei Ting: Is the goal for the superapp to be a long-term strategy for AirAsia or is it a stopgap measure to tide over the pandemic This isn’t something just because the airline business is down It was always in my plan that we were more than an airline Expedia and Agoda have given us confidence to go and do that Pei Ting: So is AirAsia going into ride-hailing as well Can we compete with Booking.com and Expedia Three is financial services – serving the underserved – giving you decent loans Four is health – integrating online health solutions We've been educating our staff all these years We're training cabin crew to become data scientists now Pei Ting: I wonder how sustainable is unlimited free delivery and one-cent meal promotions Ask Amazon how sustainable Amazon Prime is The business cost would have to go somewhere come to my Harvard Business School lectures for a small fee and Singapore Airlines will become an Amazon super app was Singapore picked as the next stop for AirAsia Food outside of Klang Valley It took me eight years (to start flying from Singapore) it is because if we can succeed in Singapore You’re the most developed of any Asean country from a technological standpoint You're never happy because you've been spoiled Everything is provided for you on a platter You want the best and you don’t want to pay for it Anything that happens in Singapore gets reported around the world It's the United Kingdom for Europe — a story in the UK is going to be more syndicated worldwide than a story in Germany So what we do in Singapore gets replicated everywhere Pei Ting: It has been close to four months since AirAsia Food’s foray into Singapore and more than a year since its entry into Kuala Lumpur We have hundreds and hundreds of restaurants signing up with us Pei Ting: If the commission you charge is far lower than the dominant players – GrabFood Foodpanda and Deliveroo – why haven’t more merchants come on board Tony: We don’t want thousands of merchants Why don’t I have six girlfriends or just one wife So let me get the right number of restaurants that deliver good quality to them I’d rather go to one restaurant and pick up 20 orders than take one order from 35 restaurants I know very clearly that the model is an AirAsia model: Less is more what is your prognosis for the industry in the next year or two What else can airlines do to stem losses and prepare for the eventual return of air travel I am already in a much better position than a full service airline that relies on business traffic Business traffic is going to be changed forever I don't think it will recover to the levels they had Package holidays are going to change forever Do you want to be on a bus with 50 strangers I think there will be much fewer conventions I think you are more likely to go to Phuket than you are to Los Angeles I think private jets are going to grow dramatically There will be a new category of above first class travel – 20 in a smaller jet flying So I think airlines that rely on business traffic and airlines that rely on long haul travel will struggle for a while Rostock defeats the TecArt Black Dragons and moves into the playoffs / Verelst becomes Duisburg's pre-playoff hero with a last-minute equalizer and overtime goal / Dates for the round of 16 matches announced After the main round of the Oberliga Nord On March 3 the pre-playoff matches took place last weekend and on Tuesday evening The Rostock Piranhas met the TecArt Black Dragons and EXA Icefighters Leipzig played against the Füchse Duisburg for the last playoff ticket the Rostock Piranhas secured their series lead with a 6:2 home win but this was equalized on Sunday by the TecArt Black Dragons with a 5:4 win In the decisive third game on Tuesday evening the Rostock Piranhas finally won 2-1 and thus secured the playoff ticket The Piranhas' opponent in the major league playoffs is now EV Landshut (Second in the championship round of the Oberliga Süd) The second duel of the pre-playoffs turned into a thriller The EXA Icefighters Leipzig and the Füchse Duisburg secured victory in their respective home games (Leipzig 2:1 / Duisburg 5:1) they fought back Füchse Duisburg on Tuesday evening in the final period and scored the equalizer 40 seconds before the end through Sam Verelst the Belgian finally became the pre-playoff hero Füchse Duisburg: In the 75th minute the 27-year-old scored the winning goal and shot the Füchse into the league playoffs the first place in the championship round Oberliga Süd At the nuclear Oberliga Süd The last two matchdays of the championship round took place at the weekend The first place in the championship round was taken by EC Peiting Weiden and Lindau also made it into the Oberliga playoffs For the Höchstadter EC and the ERC Bulls Sonthofen The Oberliga playoffs start with the round of 15 matches on March 2019 The qualified teams play according to their main round placement (Oberliga Nord) and the results of the pre-playoffs or championship round placement (Oberliga Süd) crosswise This results in the following constellation: All playoff rounds will be played in best-of-5 mode Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper functioning of the website Statistics Acquire cookies information anonymously This information helps us to understand how our visitors use our website Content from video sharing platforms and social media platforms is blocked by default access to these contents no longer requires manual consent This year’s exercise is particularly competitive as it involves the SG50 cohort starting Primary 1 next year — the bumper crop of 33,725 citizen births in 2015 SINGAPORE: When six-year-old Kate Ong recently secured a spot in Anderson Primary School during this year’s Primary 1 registration exercise had spent close to 80 hours last year coding an e-open house website and an art gallery microsite for the school on top of providing technical know-how to support the live streaming of the school’s National Day celebrations that year But even this opportunity to help out at the school did not come easy had earlier been rejected by three different schools when he tried to join their parent volunteering programmes in order to secure a place for his daughter reflects the experience of many parents in Singapore as they seek to give their children the best start in their formal schooling years — by snagging a coveted spot in the school of their choice This year’s annual registration exercise is particularly competitive as it involves the SG50 cohort starting Primary 1 next year —  the bumper crop of 33,725 citizen births in 2015 which was the highest in the 13 years preceding it helped by the feel-good factor of the enhanced parental perks handed out in conjunction with Singapore’s jubilee celebrations the registration system has morphed into a complicated scheme comprising seven phases and a multitude of rules it is a major source of stress and consternation for parents with some already making preparations and plotting a strategy when their child is yet to be born he started his research on prospective schools when Kate was just around three years old located just outside the 1km radius from his home in Yishun he tried to get a spot at Northland Primary School he was not among the 20 applicants – out of a total of 80 – who were selected It was only when he was rejected the third time – this time by Anderson Primary located in Yio Chu Kang that he called and emailed the school to appeal saying that he could do much more than serving as a traffic warden And that was how he finally got accepted as a parent volunteer as the school assessed that it could use his technical expertise in dealing with the disruptions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic Under this year’s Primary 1 registration exercise most children by now would have secured a spot except for those who had been unsuccessful in the balloting and underwent supplementary registration last week The latter group would be notified of the outcome on Aug 31 Mr Ong noted that apart from the time he spent volunteering with Anderson Primary he also expended many hours reading up about the registration system His frustration over the lack of digestible information publicly available eventually prompted him to start a website SGSchooling.com in 2019 that collates all the information and analysis that a parent might need including every school’s balloting history The perennial issues surrounding Primary 1 registration — including whether the system is fair and simple enough for parents with limited means — got a renewed airing in Parliament in March when Members of Parliament (MPs) called for a review during the debate on the budget of the Ministry of Education (MOE) then Education Minister Lawrence Wong acknowledged that the competition for spaces in more popular schools has intensified in recent years and so some children do not get to attend a school near their home even with the spots set aside under Phase 2C 20 places are reserved for children with no prior connection to the school in Phase 2C — the fifth of the seven phases in the annual registration exercise Mr Wong announced that MOE was reviewing how the number of spots under Phase 2C can be increased even as he pointed out that any increase may make the earlier phases of the registration process even more competitive than they already were an MOE spokesperson said that the ministry regularly reviews the Primary 1 registration framework taking into account public feedback from various sources including appeals forum letters and the outcomes of each year’s exercise Stressing the importance of keeping schools open to students from all backgrounds the spokesperson said the latest review was undertaken amid intensifying competition for places in more schools applicants who are citizens living within 1km were subjected to a ballot although they already belong to the group living closest to the school Such was the situation in 64 schools in this year’s exercise While the review aims to let more children attend a school near where they live the spokesperson stressed that MOE is “mindful that any change to the framework will need to carefully balance the interests of different groups of stakeholders as parents and families have diverse needs and circumstances” “We are therefore undertaking this review very carefully,” she added There are currently at least nine ways by which parents can seek priority entry to a school if their child doesn’t already have siblings who are schooling there or had studied there Former students can either join the alumni association of their primary school (Phase 2A1) – which may involve paying a registration fee of up to S$1,000 – or simply state that they are an alumni member (Phase 2A2) Parents can also become a member of the school’s advisory or management committee (Phase 2A1) or a member endorsed by the church or clan directly connected to the school (Phase 2B) Parents with no prior ties with the school can enrol their child in an MOE kindergarten under the purview of serve as a parent volunteer for at least 40 hours (Phase 2B) or serve as an “active community leader” in a grassroots group (Phase 2B) Home-school distance would be considered when the number of applications exceeds the number of vacancies available in any phase: Citizens living under a 1km radius will be accepted first followed by citizens living 1km to 2km away until a ballot is triggered when there are not enough places for everyone in the category Rather than sitting back and waiting for the luck of the draw that is Phase 2C some parents would plan early to come up with a strategy that would help their child to get into the school of their choice He could name at least five of his son’s preschool friends who had moved to new houses in the past year which he believes is related to the cohort’s Pri 1 registration exercise next year He had also jumped on the bandwagon and was recently accepted to serve as a parent volunteer at a school 600m away from his home which happens to be a traditionally oversubscribed Special Assistance Plan (SAP) school he had listed in the application form all his skill sets first aid and experience in running sporting events He also offered to teach financial literacy if the school needs it Some parents even send in their curriculum vitae (CV) when she was still pregnant with a boy in 2012 she and her husband paid S$100 to join the alumni association of his school a well-known boys’ school in Bishan which she declined to name And when preparing for her six-year-old daughter’s Phase 2B admission she had sent in both her and her husband’s CVs to two girls’ schools “We don’t want to be caught in a situation where we wanted to join a phase but missed out because of a cut-off date,” Mrs Ho said and her lawyer husband attended a Zoom interview so that they could join the alumni association of Nanyang Primary School to prepare for the primary school admission of their son they would have to pay a one-time S$1,000 payment for a lifetime membership with the alumni association attend a “values talk” and two sessions of volunteer work as a traffic warden But the alumni route doesn’t mean that the registration journey will be smooth sailing either The competition has become so intense that balloting took place even at Phase 2A1 at five schools this year: Catholic High was one of the 102 parents vying for 81 spots at Rosyth under the priority phase “I didn’t expect to be stressed about it at Phase 2A1,” she said adding that she paid S$350 to join the school’s alumni association in 2019 there are parents like marketing executive Evelyn (not her real name) who decided to relocate so that her six-year-old son would stand a better chance at the ballot under Phase 2C after failing to find a way to do parent volunteering It is logistically taxing as it meant renting out her family home to live in a rented apartment within 1km from St Andrew’s Junior School since November last year but still having to send her son to his kindergarten in their old neighbourhood and she is now waiting for confirmation that her son has gotten into Montfort Junior School through Phase 2C Supplementary Evelyn has resolved to do everything she could to ensure that her daughter enters a girls’ school through her alumni affiliation “If the education system is set up to allow people to game the system you can’t expect people to not game it,” she said adding: “It is easy to caricature people … as ‘damn freaking kiasu’ but if your forward planning can alleviate stress down the road The jostling for entry into more desirable primary schools is by no means a new development then Minister of State for Education Lee Chiaw Meng remarked in Parliament that long queues at some schools registering children for Pri 1 classes was “the most perplexing phenomenon” parents queued for “many days” to sign their children up at Raffles Girls’ while there were hardly any queues at all at other “established schools” Mr Lee also said that MOE was considering alternatives such as registration by balloting or limiting registration only to children living in the vicinity of the schools The need to curb excessive demand for places in popular schools led to the birth of the inaugural version of the national Primary 1 registration system in 1972 as policymakers sought to make the process transparent and orderly Despite the acceleration of changes in recent years – at least five tweaks were made in the past decade alone – an academic paper published in May this year criticised the system for being “not transparent” and too convoluted for it to be fair by Yale-NUS assistant professor of social sciences (psychology) Cheung Hoi Shan and Yale sociology lecturer Mira Debs had analysed posts on popular online parenting forum KiasuParents from 2015 and news articles from 2010 to 2020 They found that even savvier parents who could access the portal were confused and anxious needing to make a series of complex calculations to exercise preferences such as proximity to school and ease of entry before they were able to narrow down “safer” choices As a testament to how ballot history has become an essential tool for parents in strategising how to get into their preferred schools more websites that offer a collation of such data have emerged in recent years Other than the ones hosted by KiasuParents and SGSchooling.com there are also elite.com.sg and snowballdata.com Mr Ong said that his SGSchooling website drew 78,000 unique visitors over the past two months when the Pri 1 registration process was ongoing the highest he has gotten since he started the website two years ago Contrary to the portrayal of parents being “kiasu” or scared to lose and competing among themselves Asst Prof Cheung and Dr Debs said that they in fact seek to help one another with the process even parents who set out not wanting to be caught up in the game said that they could not resist poring over the various schools’ ballot history just so they could pick the closest school with the highest likelihood of a vacancy whose son started attending Primary 1 at Tanjong Katong Primary School this year said: “We did a quick back-of-the-napkin kind of calculation just to get a sense of roughly how difficult it might be and what might be the worst-case scenario.” she felt like she was making a decision in a vacuum due to the many unknowns such as how many children in her area are applying it kind of feels a little bit like a lucky draw,” said the communications executive in her 30s In building a fairer and less overwhelming registration system Asst Prof Cheung and Dr Debs said the number of preference categories would have to be limited and parents should be given a smaller set of schools from which to choose It would also help parents if they could submit a ranked list of primary schools as they do in the secondary school registration process if vacancies in their first-choice school are completely filled they do not have to start all over again with the registration They added that education research has shown that even if everyone’s ballot is given equal weight there will still be inequalities in how parents with varying resources navigate a complicated school choice system some districts in the United States have set aside a certain number of seats for disadvantaged children such as those from low income households Noting that MOE already has a kindergarten programme which sets aside places for students from low-income families Asst Prof Cheung and Dr Debs said that expanding such programmes in some of the popular primary schools would be an important way to ensure that the student composition in these schools are more socio-economically diverse who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education has a simple wish: For more places to be allocated to those living nearby He said he had encountered many residents who were given a place in a school much further away because the one just downstairs was already heavily subscribed or had its slots taken up in initial phases Mr Tan Kar Hui and wife Katie Lin are among those who had raised the issue with their MP after failing to secure a place for their girl at Kong Hwa School located about 500m away from their home in Mountbatten it looks like we have a lot of choices to fall back on pointing out that this is the first time that the next three schools in their consideration – Geylang Methodist Tanjong Katong and Haig Girls’ – were filled up by Phase 2C “Even balloting historical records did not prepare us for this.” They ended up signing their girl for Marymount Convent 10km away which had quite a high number of places up for grabs as MOE’s update on Wednesday (Aug 25) said that citizens living outside a 2km radius of Marymount Convent will need to undergo balloting for 74 spaces as it had received 92 applications by the end of the exercise Ms Lin said she had already tried to assess the situation more accurately by calling the school for an update She then called MOE but did not get what she asked for “It doesn’t allow us to make good decisions based on facts I know that the Government is always looking at ways to improve the system but they should have stepped in this year when it concerned the SG50 batch of babies.” She added: “The Government should give extra support for full-time working adults They place such heavy emphasis on the alumni and the volunteer work which makes it challenging for the working-class people who may not have the flexibility to do so.” a working mum in her 30s who juggles caring for three children under the age of seven while working from home said: “Those with ample time to volunteer have ample help at home too Of course they can afford the 40 or 80 hours an associate professor in National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Department of Sociology said it is hard to come up with an ideal Primary 1 registration system given the multiplicity of groups especially where solving one problem introduces another while allocations based on home-to-school proximity and siblings solve the “practical problem of everyday logistics for parents” it also reproduces advantages for wealthy families in top school areas where the “whole family” gets to go to the same school increasing the number of Phase 2C slots might help but it still doesn't eliminate the uneven playing field To reduce competition for top schools in the long term the only way would be to “make every school a good school” by putting more resources to the other schools so that the schools are more equally desirable It is important to solve this issue as the “whole point of schooling is to narrow the variation between families,” he said the first four phases in the Primary 1 registration system are “network-based” making it “potentially divisive” as it entrenches a dynamic of “social reproduction” favouring the well-connected and wealthy the Primary 1 registration system can evolve into a system of opportunity hoarding,” Dr Chua said “It widens the gap between elites and non-elites that impact upon social cohesion.” Singapore Management University law professor Eugene Tan said that while maintaining alumni relations is desirable it is crucial for schools to not become “closed circles” he would rather see the number of vacancies available after Phase 1 be equally divided among Phases 2A (the sub-phases combined) only 40 places are set aside: 20 for Phase 2B and 20 for Phase 2C A no-holds barred review of eligibility for each phase is also due including a reconsideration of whether a member of the primary school’s school advisory committee should be given priority He added that the parent volunteer scheme should be discontinued as the process of who gets selected to be a parent volunteer becomes “controversial” when demand often outstrips supply of volunteering opportunities featuring CVs or even tacit appeals for donations to the school NUS sociologist Tan Ern Ser said that the fairest way may well be to put everyone through a ballot where every application has statistically a more or less equal chance of being selected I’d argue that very few people would be for it,” said the academic any alternative system would still end up with some form of preference which would inevitably favour some people more than others “How is it different from the current system?” he asked “What we have could well be the least worst of the systems.” But he said the mantra of “every school is a good school” needs to be backed up “You might need to differentiate them a bit more or else they are just neighbourhood schools .. They need to be seen as really good schools that parents want to send their children to The fact that Primary 1 registration has become a high-stakes exercise is a manifestation of the larger societal concerns and anxieties “We are all in this prisoners’ dilemma together We end up with more mental stress for parents expending more energy on this internal ‘winner takes all’ contest which only differentiates in minute ways that are ultimately completely unimportant to one's purpose in life,” he said Some parents have already decided to stay out of the game despite having secured a place for her daughter at Rosyth under Phase 2A1 in July made the unpopular decision to enrol her child at Marymount Convent instead one of the most competitive schools to get in was a “natural choice” as they live within 1km of it and she was an alumni There was also the pressure from family and friends who gushed about how it is a good school and that she would be “foolish to give it up” But Ms Ang ultimately withdrew with her child’s interest in mind She described her child as a bright and perfectionist girl who had not reacted well to a highly academic environment in preschool Marymount Convent would be a better fit for her I want an environment where she is not going to focus on one benchmark to measure herself by,” said Ms Ang For more news like this, visit todayonline.com SINGAPORE — A power fault caused services on both the Sengkang and Punggol LRT lines to be suspended for over two hours on Wednesday evening (June 1). SINGAPORE — A power fault caused services on both the Sengkang and Punggol LRT lines to be suspended for two hours on Wednesday evening (June 1). SBS Transit first tweeted about the incident at 7.12pm. Free bus rides and bridging buses were available at designated stops, the transport operator said.  Ms Nina Nurliyana, 32, was in a train that had just left Sengkang LRT station when it suddenly stopped and the lights went out. Although the lights quickly came on again, there was no ventilation. "The train was crowded and it was quite stuffy," said Ms Liyana who was heading back home from work. Ms Nurliyana said it took 15 to 30 minutes before someone from the station came to open the emergency door of the train. When commuters on her trains finally let out, they walked about 200m back to Sengkang LRT station amidst a light drizzle. Several members of the public have posted about the breakdown on social media, including Ms Liyana, who posted selfies on her Instagram account. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nina Nurliyana (@lilyballerina) Ms Liyana said that while they were stuck in the carriage most people stared at their phones to while away the time However, she decided to strike up a conversation with the person next to her "I was initially on the phone too but I decided to talk to the person next to me to try to stay positive," she said "We are sorry for the inconvenience caused," the transport operator added According to an initial assessment by SBS Transit, a cable fault is suspected to be the cause of the service disruption the transport operator is still investigating the cause of the fault Mannargudi (Tamil Nadu) — As Singapore celebrates its 50th birthday this weekend a small village in Tamil Nadu of about 3,000 households called Ullikkottai will also be celebrating SG50 It’s the same village that held a funeral procession for our late founding prime minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew About two of three households here have members who had toiled in the underbelly of modern Singapore as construction workers mud houses with thatched dome-shaped roofs and coconut fronds sprawled the largely agricultural Mannargudi area that contains some 50 villages two-storey concrete homes have cropped up amid paddy fields — some casting an uncanny resemblance to bungalows seen around Singapore Speaking of his hometown’s change as a “Singapore craze” Rameshkumar said the connection to Singapore had started much earlier He recalled a time in his teen years when he had encountered some people in the streets of Ullikkottai greeting each other in Malay he asked about it and was told they were labourers who had just returned from Singapore They had gone to Singapore to find work in the 1940s and continued to use Malay greetings as it was their way of expressing a shared experience “They were the only ones with concrete houses then That sparked the craze for Singapore,” he said of his first impression of Singapore Mr Rameshkumar said he too “found a path for himself” when he worked in Singapore as a junior glassblower It’s been almost a year since Mr Rameshkumar left Singapore for home in the Mannargudi town The 32-year-old now runs his own glassware business supplying intricate apparatuses Among his clients are Singapore businesses He attributes his success to a “Chinese man” He said: “(Mr Lee) inspired me to set up my own company… He believes in truth The allure of concrete houses and the thought of a better life in Singapore is too great for many sold his last plot of land he could use to harvest rice in the early 1990s to afford a 15,000 rupee (S$325) air ticket and some living expenses for his eldest son to work in Singapore five of his children are Singapore residents His eldest son is now the co-founder of a software engineering company located in Henderson Industrial Park Rajendran worked as a construction worker in Singapore in 1985 He said: “Mr Lee is welcoming of us to do something for the country overstayed his visa in 2006 after his work permit expired is that he can no longer re-enter Singapore Ullikkottai has grown from a rural sparse village to one with its own shops 24-hour hospitals and ATMs and has become self-sufficient for the most part Land prices in the village have elevated to a level comparable to a neighbouring residents attribute to the late Mr Lee and having had the opportunity to work in Singapore some 300 people gathered for a silent 2km procession at Ullikkottai A board had the words: “The great man who showed us the way to lead a wealthy life.” Mr Sivanandam has also donated land to build a memorial hall in Mr Lee’s name which will serve as an community venue and an “interception point of six villages” which will also contain a library with books on Singapore’s history and its pioneers August 9 was chosen for the groundbreaking ceremony for the memorial hall as it coincides with Singapore’s National Day the village will gather for the ceremony and to celebrate what Singapore means to them Singapore’s development and achievement over the last 50 years is symbolic to their own personal achievements for which As Mr Sivanandam said: “My house used to be a mud house.”