Each year in the United States, 60,000 new cases of Parkinson’s disease (PD) are diagnosed,

adding to the 1.5 million Americans who currently have this disease. PD is a progressive, neurodegenerative disease that has no age, race, sex, or socioeconomic boundaries, and is without a known cause. The main characteristic of PD is a lack of dopamine in the brain, forcing one to experience challenges with motor and non-motor skills. Typically, PD affects those above the age of 65; however, 15 percent of those diagnosed are under the age of 50.

CIFA is pleased to announce that strategic partnership has been formed with Ah Chung (亞虫).

Ah Chung has kindly consented to serve as advisor to the Working Group on Comics/Paintings to be formed with Mr. Ivan Tam, a member of the Promotion & Fund-raising Committee, as the convenor. Ah Chung will become our indigenous icon for using comic to convey messages on family in the Asian region.

“Diabetes” is actually a class of several chronic illnesses, including immune mediated diabetes mellitus (Type 1), insulin resistant diabetes mellitus (Type 2), and gestational diabetes mellitus. The common thread across all diabetes types is that patients’ bodies are not able to produce or use insulin properly. Insulin is a hormone that allows us to convert sugar from the food we eat into energy for our body’s cells.

Case example: Michael was driving home from work one day and was caught in traffic. He suddenly noticed that his heart was beginning to race. He then felt short of breath, and tightness in his chest. When he began to sweat, he became concerned and drove to the nearest emergency room where they could find nothing physically wrong with

him. Michael had just experienced his first panic attack. Over the next few weeks, the attacks became worse, and he started to avoid driving altogether.

CIFA, being a supporting organisation of the 2010 Joint Conference on Social Work and Social Development, takes the opportunity to publizise its work and appeal for participation at the coming Regional Symposium in Japan in November. The CIFA leaflet (3rd edition) has been distributed at counter. Participants from many countries in the region have indicated interest in the work of CIFA and CIFA members on duty answered enquiries to provide further information.

A stepfamily forms when one or both adults in a new couple bring children from a previous relationship. Although stepfamilies look like first-time families on the outside, they are very different on the inside.

The 3A Project has received very encouraging response from six sub-regions with keen competition among high quality entries. Having gone through the process of vetting these projects, 16 projects (2 with same scores) have been short-listed as below.

The submission of initial entry synopsis ended on 26th April 2010. The first round result announcement will be on 17th May 2010. We will inform the individual participant upon the completion of the first round adjudication.

In the last 30 years, there has been a significant increase in the number of grandparent-headed families. Census data indicate that in the United States there are approximately 2.4 million grandparents raising 4.5 million children.