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Singapore: Magnetic Muscle Therapy Reversing Ageing Trends

Image credit: news.nus.edu.sg

Digital innovation empowers ageing individuals by promoting better health management, social engagement, cognitive stimulation, safety, and access to resources, ultimately improving their overall quality of life.

While ageing is frequently accompanied by a deterioration in functional mobility, loss of muscle strength, and an increase in body fat, this trend could be reversed thanks to a novel magnetic muscle therapy developed by researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Weekly exposure to very low levels of proprietary pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) using the BIXEPS device invented by NUS researchers in 2019 is associated with significant improvements in mobility and body composition after 12 weeks, particularly in older people, according to a recent community study conducted in Singapore involving 101 participants aged 38 to 91 years old. After three months of magnetic muscle therapy, participants reported reduced pain perception.

Associate Professor Alfredo Franco-Obregón, who led the research team and is a Principal Investigator with NUS iHealthtech and co-founder of QuantumTX, says that the BIXEPS device uses a specific magnetic signature to target the muscles in a user’s leg and create metabolic activity in the cells, just like when a person exercises.

Studies from the past showed that when magnetic muscle treatment was used on one leg after knee surgery, the whole body’s metabolism improved. This was mostly seen as changes in the blood lipid profiles. That is, the effect went beyond just the leg that was treated and led to changes throughout the whole body.

After eight weeks of treatment, 72% of individuals reported improved skeletal muscle maintenance along with reductions in total and visceral fats, with 85% of subjects reporting improvements in functional mobility after 12 weeks, most notably among the elderly.

These encouraging findings suggest that this PEMF-based technology could be a beneficial adjunct to traditional geriatric therapies aimed at lowering the prevalence of frailty and metabolic diseases in the elderly population.

Importantly, visceral fat is an inflammatory fat that has been linked to a variety of metabolic diseases, including diabetes. Previous research has found that people in Southeast Asia retain visceral fat more persistently than persons in other regions of the world, despite exercise.

As a result, people in Southeast Asia get diabetes at a lower BMI than persons of other ethnicities. This has created a significant challenge for the Southeast Asian health business. Researchers finally have a solution to this local healthcare dilemma in the form of magnetic field therapy.

Based on the promising findings of the community study, the team has collaborated with research groups in the United States and Hong Kong to perform randomised controlled clinical studies to further validate the advantages of frailty across various ageing groups.

Since 2022, the team has also begun a senior-focused study with 200 elders across four Singapore community care centres to assess how the technology can improve function and ease chronic problems. This research is projected to be completed in 2023.

Real-world pilot data from current community programmes have also shown promise of improved HbA1c control – the most common measure for diabetes progression – after beginning weekly BIXEPS sessions.

The research team is currently collaborating with the Singapore General Hospital to perform a clinical trial to evaluate further the therapeutic potential of PEMF-based therapies for diabetes progression management.

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Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

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CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

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Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

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SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

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HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

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IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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