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Homosexuality Is A Way of Thinking

See A Medical View of Homosexuality for the latest research findings. No matter how you look at it, homosexuality--gay or lesbian--is only a way of thinking reinforced by many years of behavioral preferences. There is no one born gay or lesbian. But there are many who have no good role models of health masculinity or feminity. The role models could either be passive masculines and demanding feminines or oppressive masculines and manipulative feminines or other unknown combinations of certain unhealthy sexuality characteristics. In the same way that a suicidal person is not born depressed as she is raised in a home of depressive atmosphere people with depressed or suicidal role models, homosexuals came to be so because of failure in healthy modelling. With that in mind, homosexuality is essentially a mental problem and not an existential condition. Studies and observation furnish us a lot of faulty thoughts that bring a person to develop homosexual behaviors, thus changing its "se

Change of Format Starting October 2009

Breakthroughs Today will change its format from a simple blog into a review blog which incorporates the latest in physical and mental sciences for our readers to react with and share their views. Starting October 7, this will be so. Being a reviewer, it will discuss certain issues brought up in the Breakthroughs articles published in Sun.Star Cebu. However, our content will not limit to that printed updates. Thereafter this blog will be reviewing also recent breakthroughs found in the news even if it has not been covered in the regular Breakthroughs column.

PSA Test Oversold Diagnoses

One great danger about the renowned prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is its established history of overdiagnosing prostate cancer, a recent study found out. A study conducted by H. Gilbert Welch, professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy, revealed that of the 3.7 million diagnoses of prostate cancer in the US alone from 1986 to 2005, 1.3 million were overdiagnosed. The sad fact is, one million of that 1.3 million have been recommended for radiotherapy or surgery to remove the prostate when that should not have been necessary as the growths it detects are not harmful at all. In fact, according to Welch, the test cannot discriminate the smally minority of cancers that spreads rapidly from the large, slow-growing ones that are not harmful. Click here for details.

Closing the Swine Flu Monitor

We have decided to conclude our worldwide monitoring of the swine flu cases as it has become a matter fact right now that A(H1N1) has already invaded Cebu and certain provinces in the Philippines. It is now up to the Department of Health (DOH) to ensure that no casualty of life would follow our first and apparently only death due to what is now called the "novel H1N1" virus. As of 6 July 2009, a total of 94,512 confirmed cases have been reported with 429 deaths worldwide. Countries largely hit (more than 1,000 confirmed cases) include: Argentina (2,485), Australia (5,298), Canada (7,983), Chile (7,376), China (2,040), Japan (1,790), Mexico (10,262), New Zealand (1,059), Philippines (1,709), Singapore (1,055), Thailand (2,076), United Kingdom (7,447), and the United States of America (33,902). Those with the most casualties (more than 10 deaths) include: Argentina (60), Australia (10), Canada (25), Chile (14), Mexico (119), and the United States of America (170).

First Philippine Death from Swine Flu

Exactly one month (31 days) after the Philippines reported its first H1N1 confirmed case on May 22, one Filipino citizen died from the flu. The Department of Health (DOH) announced on June 22 the death of Philippines' first victim of the worldwide pandemic swine flu virus H1N1. The victim was a 49-year-old female, resident of Sta. Rosa, Laguna, and a worker at the House of Representatives in Quezon City. She attended the seminar of the committee affairs department from June 15 to 16 in an unreported venue, and fell ill the following day. Her companion in the seminar also fell ill. Other attendees of that seminar can be reasonably considered infected too. She has also travelled to Kalinga together with officemates. She died on June 19 due to acute myocardial infarction, which is characterized by sudden chest pain, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, palpatations, and sweating. She displayed flu-like symptoms on June 17, two days before her death. Considering the incubation of aro

Philippine Swine Flu Cases

With our first case of swine flu infection in on May 18 in a 10-year-old girl and a report today on a confirmed 30-year-old infected woman who traveled in the Philippines for five days, and DOH unable to detect her infection, this lapse is a cause for serious concern as it raises the question--how many of these people came in and out of the country with their infections remain undetected. Worse, her three accompanying relatives has been confirmed by Taiwan's Center for Disease Control (CDC) as H1N1 virus-infected. Shih Wen-yi , CDC spokesperson, confirmed that the woman felt sick in Manila, and has consulted a doctor when she developed fever. Starting today, Breakthroughs Today will start keeping tabs on H1N1 virus infection in the country for your reference. As of Date Infection Cases Deaths Source 22May2009 1 0 23May2009 1 0 Philstar.com 24May2009 2 0 Associated Press 27May2009 6 o SunStar-Cebu 28May2009 10 0 SunStar-Cebu 29May2009 14 0 SunStar-Cebu 03Jun2009 22

Judy Trunnell, First American Swine-Flu Victim

Every deadly disease has its own unfortunate victims. And Judy Trunnell of Harlingen, Texas became the first American resident to die of swine flu. Trunnell, age 33 at the time of her death, lived at Cameron County, about 63,000 miles near the U.S.-Mexico border. She taught in the Mercedes Independent School District (MISD) at Mercedes, Texas about 15 miles west. She taught disabled children at MISD. She mothered a four-year-old, and was eight-month pregnant. On 14 April 2009, she had her checked up. Five days later, she went to the hospital, complaining of difficulty breathing. She tested negative for H1N1 by the local hospital but the Center for Disease Control later confirmed she was positive. She slipped into a coma and had to be hospitalized five days later and placed on life support thereafter. Her healthy baby girl had to be delivered by Cesarean section. The area was declared in epidemic for Type A influenza, of which swine flue is one variety (H1N1). She had "chronic unde

Stars with Buzz Cut

Some actors love to enjoy the lightness and pampering experience of the buzz cut. Will Smith wore this short hairstyle in his movie I Am Legend (2007). Some also celebrates this pure baldness in their own movies. Jeff Bridges sported it in Iron Man (2008). Patrick Stewart looks great with it as Professor X in the X-Men trilogy and Star Treks' Jean-Luc Picard. Bruce Willis too have an on-and-off affair with it. You also have Vin Diesel (XXX ) , The Rock, Michael Chiklis (The Shield ) , Samuel L. Jackson, and Bill Zane. Even Sigourney Weaver, Grace Jones had their own past romance with very short hairs or what was left of it after a good clean shave. "Proponents of the look," wrote Stacey Smith of Netscape Celebrity, "insist that baldness bespeaks power, confidence, machismo, even a compelling hint of danger." ( Click here to read this article. )

The Accursed Scent

ZOSIMO T. LITERATUS, RMT The word "halitosis" first came out in 1874 from a Latin root word halitus (breath). The prefix -osis means "diseased" or "sick." Halitosis literally means "sick breath." Scientific studies since 2002 noted that halitosis starts in the mouth itself. Researcher Morris Rosenberg wrote in his article "The Science of Bad Breath" in the April 2002 issue of the Scientific American that "85 to 90%" of halitosis came from the mouth itself. And this is mostly seated in the tongue. For more information about halitosis and how to stop it, check The Bad Breath Bible written by Dr. Harold Kayz, dentist and founder of The California Breath Clinics. He is a recognized expert in the fields of bad breath, sour/bitter taste and dry mouth. To get a copy, click here .

Defaced Femininity

ZOSIMO T. LITERATUS, RMT Harvard obstetrician-gynecologist Nawal Nour reported to the Reviews in Obstetrics & Gynecology (2008 issue): “The origins of FGC are a mystery.” The World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) jointly issued in 1997 a statement defining female genital cutting (FGC) or female circumcision as “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons.” [1] Amnesty International estimated in October 1997 that more than 130 million women worldwide had FGC, with over 2 million procedures being performed each year. According to a UNICEF report [2] in 2005, 80% or more women in Africa had FGC including such countries as at the top: Guinea (99%), Egypt (97%), Mali (92%), Sudan north (90%), Eritrea (89%), and Ethiopia (80%). Ranked below Ethiopia in FGC prevalence are B

Gates Unleashed Mosquitoes on Elite Audience

Microsoft Corporation founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates released, during his keynote address at the Technology, Entertainment, and Design Conference in Long Beach, California, a swarm of "malaria-carrying" mosquitoes before an elite group of technology tycoons, politicians and Hollywood stars in an attempt to send a wake up call for the rich to take an active role in help irradicate malaria around the world, especially among impoverished countries. He shortly informed the panic-stricken audience that the mosquitoes are malaria-free. ( Click here for more detail. )

Drug-Resistant Flu Hits U.S.

By Daniel J. DeNoon WebMD Health News Published as "CDC Warns of Drug-Resistant Flu Bug Tamiflu-Resistant Flu Bug Spreading in U.S." A flu strain now spreading in the U.S. is resistant to the flu drug Tamiflu, the CDC today warned in an official health advisory to doctors. Flu is a dangerous and sometimes deadly disease. But the Tamiflu-resistant strain isn't any more or less dangerous than other flu strains. The Tamiflu-resistant virus is the flu bug most commonly seen so far this year. It's been detected in 12 states so far, mostly in Hawaii and Texas. Tamiflu resistance wasn't unexpected. What was surprising was the rapid rise of Tamiflu resistance in this particular flu bug. Last year, about 11% of type A H1N1 flu bugs were resistant. So far this year, 49 out of 50 H1N1 viruses have been resistant. Even so, it's still very early in the flu season. There's no way to know whether the Tamiflu-resistant flu bug will be this year's predominant cause o