Today’s program will be
presented in Chinese,
with subtitles in Arabic,
Aulacese (Vietnamese),
Chinese, English,
French, German,
Indonesian, Japanese,
Korean, Malay,
Persian, Portuguese,
Russian, Spanish
and Thai.
Everywhere in the world,
we can observe
and be touched
by acts of kindness.
People from all walks of
life, faiths, and cultures
extend themselves
beyond the call of duty
to help others
unconditionally.
Through their noble deeds,
humanity as a whole
is elevated.
To commend
virtuous actions and
encourage more people
to be inspired
by their examples,
Supreme Master
Ching Hai
has lovingly created
a series of awards,
including the Shining
World Leadership
Award, Shining World
Compassion Award,
Shining World Hero and
Heroine Awards, Shining
World Honesty Award,
Shining World Protection
Award, Shining World
Intelligence Award,
and Shining World
Inventor Award,
to recognize some
of the most exemplary,
generous, caring,
and courageous people
who walk amongst us.
A long lasting cough,
painful and sometimes
producing blood, fever,
weight loss, night sweats,
and chest pain.
These are all symptoms
of tuberculosis, or TB,
a bacterial disease
which spreads by air.
According to
World Health Organization,
one third of the world
population,
which equals at least
two billion people,
are carriers
of tuberculosis bacilli.
One out of ten carriers
may eventually develop
and suffer from
tuberculosis disease.
If not treated properly,
tuberculosis can be fatal.
Indeed, approximately
one to two million people
lose their lives to this
difficult-to-treat disease.
Treatment usually
involves long courses
of multiple antibiotics.
Many people are infected
with this kind of disease.
Most TB cases are found
in developing countries.
In underdeveloped
countries, the situation
is even worse.
In fact, more than 90%
of tuberculosis patients
live in very poor countries.
To prevent unnecessary
suffering and death,
it is important
to diagnose tuberculosis
at an early stage
and give proper treatment
to patients.
Unfortunately,
all current methods of
diagnosing tuberculosis
have some drawbacks;
they are either
time-consuming,
expensive, or nonspecific,
which are especially
detrimental to the people
in poorer countries.
This motivated
Dr. Lai Hsin-Chih,
Chair of the Department
of Medical
Biotechnology and
Laboratory Science
at the Chang Gung
University
in Formosa (Taiwan),
to develop a more
efficient and affordable
TB test method.
His invention is called
the TB Test Strip.
Currently, the chest X-ray
is widely used for TB testing
in clinical practice.
The chest X-ray is used
to discern cavitation.
When someone is suspected
to have tuberculosis,
the clinician will order
a physical examination
and the first thing
to be examined
will be the patient’s sputum.
If the sputum contains
tuberculosis bacteria,
it will show up
in a dyed sample.
Its accuracy is
only about 40%.
Another tranditional
TB test method
is sputum culture.
If there are TB bacteria
in the sputum sample,
after being cultured,
they will grow
and become visible.
After about 6 to 8 weeks,
or two months,
they will grow and
show their morphology.
Then it will take
another two to three weeks
to identify them.
In the last five years,
molecular diagnostics,
or DNA diagnosis,
has become very popular.
This technology
has been practiced by
several biotech companies
abroad.
It’s very accurate
and takes a short time.
But the problem is
that the cost is very high!
So, the test methods
commonly used in
hospitals, medical centers,
or testing labs
are either too inaccurate,
inefficient or expensive.
That’s what motivated us
to improve the method.
Through years of research,
Dr. Lai Hsin-Chih
and his outstanding team
developed
a TB test method which
cleverly combined
two technologies:
polymerase chain reaction
(PCR),
and a pregnancy test strip
that can detect
protein levels.
We adopted the features
of these two techniques.
The PCR technique is
aimed at the nucleic acid
or DNA,
while the pregnancy test
can detect the
hormone-related protein.
On the surface,
there seems to be
no obvious commonality
between DNA and protein,
but in our development,
we used a primer
as a marker
of the protein during
the amplifying process of
the corresponding DNA.
So when the DNA
is amplified, we will have
the corresponding protein.
The amplified DNA
will become a protein
and can be detected
the same way
as the pregnancy testing.
Now, let us take a look at
Dr. Lai’s TB Test Strip,
and see how it works.
When we amplify
DNA sequences,
we normally use
these testing solutions.
These eppendorf tubes
contain different kinds
of testing solutions
for amplifying
DNA sequences.
The amplification process
will be done in
this kind of plastic plate
with 96 wells
We extract the TB DNA
from patients’ sputum
and put them in the wells
Then we will add
testing solutions, which
takes less than 10 minutes,
and move them to
an equipment to do PCR.
After an hour, we can
extract a small portion
of the amplified DNA
and we drip it
on an instrument like this.
Then after
about five minutes,
we will see one line
or two lines appear.
Two lines indicate
TB positive and one line
means TB negative.
We can make the call
in less than five minutes.
It’s very affordable.
This is made of plastic.
Let’s open it.
It’s similar
to the pregnancy test strip
that’s been used
for many years.
They are almost identical,
except for
a few modifications.
We added some
nano-gold particles inside.
This testing solution
is highly sensitive,
professional, and accurate.
It’s 98-99% accurate.
In comparison to
other countries’
expensive equipment
utilizing fluorescence
in testings,
our method gives
a more accurate result.
We can read the result
with our bare eyes.
So it’s affordable,
accurate, and easy to use.
These are the features
that we are very proud of!
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.
When we return,
we will learn more about
the TB Test Strip
with Dr. Lai Hsin-Chih,
and share his glory
as a recipient
of the Shining World
Inventor Award from
Supreme Master
Ching Hai.
Welcome back to today’s
program featuring
the Shining World
Inventor laureate,
Dr. Lai Hsin-Chih.
He invented
the TB Test Strip,
a new TB test method
that is quick, accurate,
and affordable, thus a key
to saving many lives
from tuberculosis.
In recognition
of Dr. Lai Hsin-Chih’s
beneficial invention,
Supreme Master Ching Hai
honored him
with the Shining World
Inventor Award.
In an award
presentation ceremony
attended by
leading medical experts,
Dr. Lai’s colleagues
in the lab,
and distinguished guests
from various fields,
Dr. Lai Hsin-Chih
was presented
the Shining World
Inventor Award,
along with a letter
of appreciation from
Supreme Master Ching Hai.
“Tuberculosis is,
these days, primarily
an illness of the poor.
Now your great mind has
discovered an inexpensive,
quick diagnostic tool
by testing
unique nucleic acids
in the various strains
of mycobacterium
responsible for this illness
- giving results
in less than 5 minutes.
This is a great boon
to the poor, and will help
uplift the general health
of countless people and
provide the opportunity
for them to
avail themselves
of treatment while
still in the early stages
of this disease.
This being so, you will
have saved such people
a great deal of suffering.
…For compassionately
striving to ease
the physical burden
of humanity,
for assisting the poor
to greater health,
for creating an inexpensive
and reliable medical test
for a serious illness, and
for the dedication you show
in your noble research,
we hereby applaud
and celebrate
the inventive deeds of
Professor Lai Hsin-Chih
and the Department
of Medical Biotechnology
and Laboratory Science.
With Great Honour,
Love and Blessings,
Supreme Master
Ching Hai”
Dr. Lai was also presented
with gifts, including
the book, “Celestial Art,”
a compilation of
Supreme Master
Ching Hai’s
diverse art creations
with excerpts from
her spiritual discourses.
Gifts were also
distributed to
Dr. Lai’s team members
as well.
Thank you!
Thank you!
Upon receiving the honor,
Dr. Lai expressed
his thankfulness to
Supreme Master
Ching Hai.
I am very grateful
for the Supreme Master
for giving us such
a big encouragement for
such a small achievement.
I can see that
my colleagues in the lab
are very excited!
We will continue to
work hard in our research
and continue
to contribute our efforts.
Thank you!
Dr. Lai went on
to humbly attribute
the invention’s success
to his associates.
Conducting research
takes teamwork.
I’m only receiving
the award on behalf of
all the team members who
have been working hard
in the past five or six years.
It was a team effort
of many years.
The colleagues
who worked with me
during the early years,
such as Dr. Soo Po-chi,
Dr. Horng Yu-tze,
as well as my student
Huang Chien-Chung, etc.,
are now working
in different places.
We continued
with the work.
Our laboratory colleagues
are continuing to work
in the field of
tuberculosis research.
In addition to
the small achievement
we have now, we hope
to further our research
and solve
some difficult problems in
diagnosing tuberculosis.
I would like to thank
the laboratory colleagues
who have devoted
a long time in the lab
quietly to contribute
their wisdom and strength
to bring such a result!
Thank you!
The TB Test Strip
may look simple,
but its invention required
much in the way of
manpower, effort,
and sleepless nights.
In addition, translating
such an innovation
from the lab to the market
can be another challenge.
Fortunately, Dr. Lai found
the support they needed.
At first, we had a hard time
to find a company who
could spray nano-gold
on the strips,
but later we were lucky to
find Formosa Biomedical
Technology Corporation.
After testing
for about three months,
they liked the result.
So they decided to go ahead
and mass produce it.
But we still need to
go through procedures
like inspection
and registration, etc.
It may take about a year
to go through
all the procedures.
Meanwhile, Dr. Lai
and his team members
are already pursuing
new projects,
in the hope to eradicate
the contagious disease
of tuberculosis.
About 5% of the people
who carry TB bacteria
don’t show any symptoms.
And we can’t find
TB bacteria in the sputum
of these latent patients.
However, we have found
more and more cases
who have TB bacteria
in places where TB bacteria
should not be found,
such as
their bones, muscles,
cerebrospinal fluid,
and pleural
and peritoneal fluid.
So right now, our lab is
actively developing methods
for diagnosing latent TB
and extrapulmonary TB.
We are also studying
other lung diseases,
such as lung inflammation.
We are also interested
in studying cancer cells,
because they are closely
related to inflammation.
We want to find
better dignosis methods
and even a cure for it.
Bravo, Dr. Lai Hsin-Chih,
for your ingenious
and promising invention,
which will be
saving many lives
and preventing suffering
in the near future.
May Heaven bless you
and your team
with continued success,
health, and happiness.
Smart viewers, thank you
for your presence
on today’s program.
Please keep your dial
tuned to Supreme Master
Television
for Words of Wisdom,
up next after
Noteworthy News.
May your days
be filled with inner peace
and God’s love.
Come visit the Museum
of Palestinian
Folk Heritage,
founded in 1977 by the
In’ash Al-Usra Society,
showcasing items of
Palestinian traditional
daily life.
There was no breaking
into people houses,
there was an abundance
of politeness,
good manners, and love.
Find out more about
Palestinian traditional
culture starting
Friday, August 20,
on Supreme Master
Television’s
Enlightening Entertainment.