Breakthroughs Today

THE irony of abortion had been captured by the often funny late US president Ronald Reagan who said: “Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.” What he did not explicitly say was that those who have not been born will never advocate abortion. But here in the Philippines, despite the criminal ban, women can get away with it in droves. The New York-based human rights group, Center for Reproductive Rights, noted that an estimated 560,000 of induced abortions took place in 2008 alone. And from this mothers who chose to intentionally terminate pregnancy, 90,000 (or 16 percent) sought treatment for complications; while a thousand women died. Despite its proponents’ assertion that abortion is relatively safe when performed in clinics, once the criminal ban is lifted, it remains foolish to presume that it is. Not only because scientific trials that back up the drugs used in abortion can only assure a probability for safety, it is common sense that... [ Read more.

YOU might find it weird to talk about fasting during the Yuletide Season. But there is such a thing as the Nativity Fast. Fasting is common in the Old Testament times. But when Jesus came to establish the ancient Christian Church, he insisted on having the right intentions with fasting. Not for appearances, but for private spiritual discipline (Matthew 6:16). In this Christian tradition, fasting is required from ages 18 to 59 on certain days. Food intake was reduced to [ Read more. ] This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 22 December 2010.

NOT ALL things written must be understood literally. Many times meanings between the lines can be more fruitful than literalism. That, too, is true with red tide. A natural phenomenon known as “harmful algal bloom” (HAB), red tide does not necessarily show redness, or even any discoloration, in the affected seawater. Red tide results from... [ Read more. ]  This article appears in SunStar Cebu on 15 December 2010.

CHARLES Darwin, in his famous work On the Origin of Species (1859), wrote: “Each slight variation [of a trait], if useful, is preserved.” Seen in a different perspective, this principle tells us that a useful variation, even so slight, is preserved in a specific organism, and becomes its edge for survival. This active principle in nature works in more complex organisms such as humans as it does in those of simplest forms: bacteria. Good or bad, the most adaptive organisms survive to see another day. Scientists are convinced more than ever that antibiotic resistance evolved through... [ Read more ]  This article appears in SunStar Cebu on 8 December 2010.

Leslie Ann del Barrio and colleagues at the Philippine Carabao Center confirmed the water buffalo, popularly known in the country as carabao , descended from swamp buffalos native in China. Through a molecular analysis of gene-carrier mitrochondrial DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), Del Barrio sample carabaos from Cagayan (Luzon), Batangas (Luzon), Bohol (Visayas), and Bukidnon (Mindanao), and their genetic sequences are much the same as the maternal swamp buffalos of China. ( Read more . )

If arsenic can be toxic to humans, the new strain of Halomonadaceae strives, and indeed grew, with arsenic as food. And interestingly the more arsenic scientists put up with with them, the more they grew. The GFAJ-1 strain of Halomonadaceae, a family of water-loving Gram-negative bacteria, has been isolated, and grown (cultured), from the sediments collected along the shore of Mono Lake, near Yosemite National Park, in eastern California. It thrives on arsenic or phosophorus.  What is doubly interesting here is that GFAJ-1 does not only consume arsenic, it directly incorporate the toxic element into their genetic material (DNA). "We know some microbes can 'breathe' arsenic. But what we've found is a microbe doing something new--building parts of itself out of arsenic," said Felisa Wolfe-Simon of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, who headed the research team. (Read more .) (photo by Wikimedia) 

FRANKLY I have serious reservations with the idea of outlawing plastic bags in grocery stores. First reusable bags cost around P35 each. Second, paying P3 for a free plastic bag simply rubs the poor the wrong way, and adds more income to the retailers. In a poor country like ours, a cost of P105 for reusable bags can bring around three kilos of rice on a poor man’s table. Instead of keeping this money with poor, the idea adds more income to the rich retailers. Another thing... [ Read more. ] This apprears in Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on 01 December 2010.

The Department of Health (DOH) announced on 25 November 2010 that new HIV infections reached 1,305 cases from January to October this year. Sex between men, according to an Agence France-Presse report, accounted for nearly 80 percent of all cases mentioned. More than half of those infected aged between 20 and 29. Eleven percent got transmitted through needle-sharing among drug users. One percent came through mother-to-child transmission in pregnancy. Among all countries in Asia, country coordinator of UNAIDS Teresita Marie Bagasao was quoted saying, only the Philippines and Bangladesh had cases increasing as others stayed stable or decreasing. [ Report ]

THE definition of “food” nowadays can pose some difficulty when almost anything can be put into the mouth and ingested. Our age has already defined food beyond the staples, the fruits, the vegetables, or the meats of old. Even the term “food supplement” adds to the confusion since fruits and vegetables provide the vita-minerals they contain. Supplements, too, are presented as “processed” foods. So the demarcation has faded. A piece of mango can be presented as “food supplement” as the capsule popped into your mouth. What is food then? We have to go back to basics. Food must be anything you can eat or drink, and must provide nutritional support to your body without any therapeutic effects. Even this definition has problems. It is a fact of medical science that... [ Read more. ] This article is available in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 24 November 2010.

CLAIMS of healing become suspect when the cure cannot stand the scrutiny on its ability to heal. That makes any therapeutic claim in the labels of food supplements (not drugs) questionable, unless otherwise proven scientifically. In the end, taking a food supplement on faith, and not on hard evidence, can only show the outcome of faith and not because the cure was effective. Even with the famous antioxidant vitamins—such as beta-carotene, vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and vitamin E—few studies involving food supplements have been found with relevant information, as opposed to studies on food sources and their effect on serious conditions such as cancer. What research literature extensively provided was extensive experimental evidence that antioxidants reduce oxidative stress but not that they directly lower the risk for uterine cancer (cancer of the uterus). [ Read more. ] This article appear in SunStar Cebu on 17 November 2010.

ITS literal translation is “supreme ultimate fist,” but despite its aggressive-sounding translation, tai chi chuan (TCC) is a mind and body martial arts system that the Chinese practice for both its self-defense techniques and its health benefits. Tai chi or taiji is the fusion, or rather the balance of the hard (yang) and the soft (yin), making TCC a hard and soft martial art style. Yang is fast, solid and fiery. Yin is slow, yielding and tranquil. In the East, TCC has been around for centuries as a system for health and fitness. Today, it has gained increasing popularity in the West. As a fitness exercise, TCC has been known to improve... [ Read more. ] This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 10 November 2010 as "Tai chi chuan in meg-review." (Photo by Northern Shaolin Academy)

“BACK in the days when men were hunters and chest beaters, and women spent their whole lives worrying about pregnancy or dying in childbirth,” sexually-frank novelist Erica Jong (Fear of Flying, 1973) observed, “they often had to be taken against their will. Men complained that women were cold, unresponsive, frigid. They wanted their women wanton. They wanted their women wild. Now women were finally learning to be wanton and wild—and what happened? The men wilted.” It might be this assumption on women’s “coldness” that made our current research literature thin on female sexual dysfunctions (FSD). And recent interest in FSD may signal a change in that area. With the few studies available, statistics tells us that 40 percent of women in America have FSD. And as women age... [ Read more. ] This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 3 November 2010 as "Growing interest in sexual satisfaction."

THE Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), a New York-based human rights group, released on July 14 a study entitled “Forsaken Lives: The Harmful Impact of the Philippine Criminal Abortion Ban” to provide an argument on their call to have abortion legalized in the country. The study mentioned the more frequently used unsafe abortion methods such "as hilot (abdominal massage), use of a catheter, and intake of a labor-inducing drug.” It argues that our anti-abortion laws “violate international law and major political commitments” in protecting women’s health and rights... ( Read more. ) This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 27 October 2010.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) acts as an intergovernmental agency that forms part of the World Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations (UN). It has its main offices in Lyon, France, and conducts and coordinates research into the causes of cancer. IARC Classification IARC categorizes various substances and mixtures thereof into five categories based on its cancer-producing capability as far as available scientific studies indicate. Group 1 Agents are scientifically confirmed carcinogenic to humans. Group 2A Agents are probably carcinogenic to humans based on available studies. Group 2B Agents are possibly carcinogenic to humans. Group 3 Agents are probably not carcinogenic to humans. So far there is only one substance placed in this category--caprolactam. Credibility Critics of IARC have claimed that it has become susceptible to industry influence and suffers from lack of transparency. In 2003, Lorenzo Tomatis (IARC director, 1982-1993) was barr

THE Cebu City Health Department reported in August an increase in the half-year (January to July) cases of dengue fever (DF) by 35.3 percent compared to last year’s. For 2010, DF infection reached a rate of one for every 1,000 Cebu City residents. It is good to know that the viral infection claimed only six lives for the same period compared to 13 in 2009. But as of Sept. 7, 11 children already died, with ages running between three and nine. The Cebu City Epidemiology Statistics and Surveillance Unit already recorded 1,175 DF cases this year, up 66 cases from last year. And the National Nutrition Council for Region 7 blamed it on malnourishment of city children, which weakened them against invading dengue viruses. A recent genomic study on dengue shock syndrome (DSS), the severe and life-threatening stage of dengue fever, indicated that DF influenced the expressive variations of 2,959 genes in the blood. The researchers found that individual genes strongly associated with DSS influ

IN THIS year’s Pink October, it is good to look back in history to understand how October came to be “colored” pink. In 1985, AstraZeneca, the makers of breast cancer drugs Arimidex and Tamoxifen, founded the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in an effort to promote mammography, believed as the most effective weapon in the fight against cancer, in the spirit of Henry de Bracton’s classic adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Eight years later, senior corporate vice president of the Estee Lauder Companies, Evelyn Lauder, founded The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and established the Pink Ribbon as its symbol. In the fall of 1991, the Susan G. Komen Foundation handed out pink ribbons to participants in its New York City race for breast cancer survivors. And the rest is history. Each October, accepted internationally as the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, people raise money for donation to breast cancer care or research programs. In fact, some famous landmarks

The National Epidemiological Center (NEC) of the Department of Health (DOH) announced that dengue fever cases in the Philippines went up 135.14 percent only for a period running from January through September 25 this year. Last year, there were only 42,075 dengue cases nationwide. At present, the cases have reached 98,934 and apparently still counting with the remaining three months to go before 2010 ends. NEC warned that areas with more rains must brace for a possible second of dengue among them.

AS DENGUE fever cases and deaths increase nationwide, clinical research worldwide continues search to find the ultimate predictor of impending dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). It is like anticipating where the road leads so that a detour can be made (hopefully it does not end in perdition like that movie The Road To Perdition). Well, not all dengue fevers are deadly. That’s a big comfort to know, but “neglecting caution” remains lethal in this disease. Classic dengue fever (CDF), as the World Health Organization defines it, needs only measures to support the weakened body of the patient. This allows the patient to get through as the disease takes its natural course, just like a kettle losing its steam when the burner is turned off. But, apart from neglecting to seek medical help on time, some patients tend to deteriorate. What initially appears as CDF worsens into the blood-losing... ( Read more . )  This article appears in Sun-Star Cebu newspaper on 6 September 2010.

Daniel J. DeNoon of WebMD Health News reported on 30 September 2010 that a new gold standard in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) chemotherapy has been established. The new standard added Rituxan to the old standard chemotherapy, and so far raises three-year survival to 65 percent. "Nobody expected Rituxan to have such a dramatic effect in CLL," De Noon wrote. CLL is the most common form of leukemia afflicting adults. Five out of 100,000 people get hit with it each year, mostly the middle-agers and elderly. About 8 percent of those with CLL, the high-risk group, lost the p53 marker in their cancer cells. This marker fortunately becomes CLL's Achilles heel that standard chemotherapy exploits. Rituxan however does not work through p53, and cannot be used when p53 exists. Rituxan is a chimeric monoclonal antibody that attacks protein CD20, which is primarily found on the surface of B cells. It can destroy B cells in the process. Chemically, it contains 6416 Carbon molecu

WHAT I know is that people who provide massage services have been called masseur (if male) and masseuse (if female). But lately, particularly here in Cebu, personnel providing these spa services have been renamed as “massage therapists” or “spa therapists.” Well, if we have to be correct with the word “therapy,” we must know that it is meant to effect a “cure.” A physician cannot treat an unknown disease. Yet Europe has been prescribing spa therapy for knee osteoarthritis. In 2007 alone, 403,381 French patients received spa therapy for rheumatism, without recommendation from the European League Against Rheumatism. Well, seven French scientists sought to find out if spa therapy really works. Will spa therapy improve the effects of standard treatment on osteoarthritis? ( Read more. ) This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 29 September 2010.

SOMETIMES I cannot believe what medical science and technology have reached today. But surprises are many, perhaps too many to count, or to seek in order to appreciate the exact number. One of these medical surprises is aspirin. Yes, aspirin, or what we know chemically as acetylsalicylic acid. It is originally used as a pain-reliever, a fever-reducer, and an anti-inflammatory. But many decades ago, it came to be used in certain cardiovascular conditions, such as heart attacks, strokes, and blood clotting disorders, because of its anti-platelet effect. It produces a substance called thromboxane, which under normal conditions binds platelet molecules together, making it unavailable to create blood clots that can cause recurrence of heart attack, for instance. Just recently, in its July 23 issue, the Journal of the American Medical Association (Jama), published a study involving three researchers—Andrew Chan, Shuji Ogino, and Charles Fuchs. Chan is a gastroenterologist at the Massachuse

IN THE more than 30 years of cancer research, there have been serious efforts in determining the connection between cancer development and calorie intake. But most of those years were spent in laboratory experiments using animal models. We still have to look for a human trial to support their findings. So much, however, has been learned since then. And the stage is set for a Phase 0 Clinical Trial to follow. Phase 0 is a recent addition in the process, designed for first-in-human trials in microdosing (intake in minute doses), and conducted in accordance with the United States Food and Drug Administration’s 2006 Guidance on Exploratory Investigational New Drug Studies. These three decades of research found out that... ( Read more. ) This article appears in Sun-Star Cebu on 15 September 2010. 

SLEEP that knits up the raveled sleave of care The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast. William Shakespeare’s lines from Macbeth hold the common opinion that sleep is very important for recuperation, stress management, and a better condition of life. A multidisciplinary study involving eight researchers in the field of medicine, public health, medical technology, and psychology found that sleep deprivation reduces working memory capacity (WMC), and results to increased math, accuracy and speed errors. Previous studies found no serious impact on fine manual skills (e.g. surgery) an acute fatigue due to a 24 or 30 work-hour day without sleep in a four-day cycle. Of the increased errors observed, those in math... ( Read more . ) This article is published in Sun-Star Cebu newspaper on 8 September 2010.  

IF YOU happen to believe that chance-happenings take place only to those who are more religious than scientific, then you need to read more into the lives of scientists and inventors. Mark Twain, the father of American literature, believed that the greatest of all inventors is “accident.” Wordsmiths call it “serendipity.” Still, look at anything around you—the bouncy silly putty, the sticky superglue, the transparent cellophane, the antibiotic penicillin—you name it, they all came from happy accidents. Even Viagra came out from an accident... ( Read more .)  This article appears in Sun-Star Cebu newspaper on 1 September 2010.

Using more than 200 samples collected from 17 deepwater sites between May 25 and June 2, scientists led by Terry Hazen reported on 24 August 2010 that they found a dominant microbe in the oil plume which turned out to be a new species, closely related to members of Oceanospirillales . It thrives in cold water, with temperatures in the deep recorded at 5 degrees Celsius (41 Fahrenheit). Scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory noticed this suddenly flourishing bacteria at the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Although still unknown and unnamed, the microbe consumed oil droplets found underwater without significantly depleting oxygen in the water. Oxygen saturation outside the oil plume was 67 percent, while that within the plume was still 59 percent. Oil-eating microbes that consume large amounts of oxygen in the water can potentially create a "dead zone," an area where no oxygen was available, which is dangerous to other life underwater. (Photo by Associated

WILBUR Lincoln Scoville may not be your normal hot guy with his keen interest in chemistry. (Still I haven’t met someone who loved chemistry other than those who are passionate about it. Like mathematics, chemistry is a love it or hate it thing. Few like it in high school and fewer still goes for it in college.) But in the quest for defining minute characteristics of chemicals that means something to ordinary human beings like most of us, Scoville certainly blazes the road he set for future generations. And providing a measure of hotness in chili was only one of many. Well, in 1912, while working for Parke-Davis pharmaceutical company, he devised the test and scale to measure piquancy (hotness) of chili peppers. But for this and his other achievements, he won the 1922 Ebert prize, the 1929 Remington Honor Medal, and an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Columbia University in the same year. The test bore Scoville’s name, and he called it then the Scoville Organoleptic Test. Late

I WATCHED Ninja Assassin lately, and I am impressed with the discipline against physical pain that this film talks about. That makes me understand the wisdom in Japanese poet Kenji Miyazawa’s words: “We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.” The approaches between these two schools of thought, however, differ. The ninjas (in the movie) believe in the stoic way of killing the pain, so the will can gain full control of the body. Miyazawa proposed the opposite—embrace pain and let it become an intense fuel to propel one’s life. Well, in healthcare both physical and mental, pain has its important role, too. Primarily pain warns a person about... ( Read more . )   This article appears in Sun-Star Cebu newspaper on 18 August 2010.

A RECENT study on macrophages (i.e. defensive cells in our body that engulf threatening substances inside our body) introduced me to a lethal, genetic disease that targets the male population. This disease is called Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), named after the French neurologist Guillaume Benjamin Amand Duchenne, who described it in 1861. While it has an incidence of one in 3,500 newborn males, health experts consider this as the most common lethal disease of childhood around the world. Mutation in the male (X) chromosome [dystrophin gene, locus Xp21] causes a rapid degeneration of the muscles, leading into an eventual loss of walking ability and then death. While females do not exhibit symptoms, they can be carriers of these defective genes, especially if the father had this condition or the mother is also a carrier. Symptoms usually appear before age five; at times visible in early infancy. These symptoms involve... ( Read more .)  This article appears in Sun-Star Cebu n

LIMITED options often lead to risky choices. Parents of children with Duchene muscular dystrophy (DMD) face the same difficult choices when looking for cure of what experts consider as the most common, lethal disease of childhood. As there is no cure yet for DMD, many parents seek natural food supplements (NFS) and hope for miracles to happen. One of the mainstay nutrients found in NFS is arginine, a natural amino acid first extracted from a lupin seedling in 1886 by... ( Read more. ) This article appears in Sun-Star Cebu newspaper on 4 August 2010.

IRISH poet William Butler Yeats wrote: “The tragedy of sexual intercourse is the perpetual virginity of the soul.” If sexual abandon is dangerous to the “virginity of the soul,” then the Roman Catholic Church may be right in opposing the use of oral contraception (OC). A recent study published in this year’s issue of BMC Women’s Health noted that the use of OCs had been associated with greater sexual interest across all phases of ... ( Read more . ) This article appears in Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on 28 July 2010.

SOMETIME in 1988 I came to know a person in Zamboanga City whose way of showing feelings defied my understanding of emotions. Male and married, he spoke softly and showed no sign of roughness or aggression—even at times when my own aggression meter rose. I learned from his wife that his way of speaking came from his family. Even when pissed off, only those who closely knew him could detect... ( Read more. )  This article appears in Sun-Star Cebu newspaper on 21 July 2010.

IF YOU love probiotic food products, you may have eaten already any of the non-harmful species of Lactobacillus bacteria. One popular species is the L. casei, its Shirota strain being found in the milk-like product Yakult. They are used in fermenting ingredients in yogurt production and cheese, pickles, beer, wine, cider, and kimchi as well. Lactobacilli are normal flora in the vagina and the gastrointestinal tract, including the throat. Their sheer number... ( Read more . ) This article appears in Sun-Star Cebu newspaper on 14 July 2010.

THOSE who have had bouts with gastric ulcer most likely have heard of the bacterium (singular form of bacteria) known scientifically as Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). H. pylori has a long story to tell. It first belonged to a group of corkscrew-looking bacteria called Campylobacter, created in 1963 as a class. But with the advent of electron microscopy, scientists observed that this bacterium possesses a helical body instead. Thus in 1989...  ( Read on ) This article appears in Sun-Star Cebu newspaper on 7 July 2010.

IN MY previous column (“Joy, temperance and repose”), I mentioned the highest and lowest antioxidant-containing products among the 3,100 products tested in the Carlson Food Antioxidant Review. But I purposefully left out the results of their tests on herbs and medicinal plants because of the limitations of our space here. What they found out... ( Read more )   This article appears in Sun-Star Cebu newspaper on 30 June 2010.

If you think depression just comes to adolescents without reason at all, think about. Any reason might do. Read on to find out. BRITISH rowing athlete Penelope Sweet once said: “Depression is nourished by a lifetime of ungrieved and unforgiven hurts.” At times, though, the hurts do not have last a lifetime. Among adolescents, depression comes as a natural part of growing up. That’s what Colleen Conley and Karen Rudolph found out in their recent study, published in Developmental Psychopathology and available online on Jan. 1. Conley teaches at the Loyola University Chicago Department of Psychology while Rudolph at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Campaign). Adolescence comes as a period of multiple... ( Read more. ) This article appears in Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on 23 June 2010.

Like any social destination, the bar can attract patrons based on motives that generally reflects how it is generally perceived by consumers. Find out what motives are these. ERNEST Hemingway wrote in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940): “An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.” Each different man or woman has his or her own reason for visiting, even patronizing, a bar or two. Recently, though, eight different focus groups, consisting of 82 individual each including bar patrons and bartenders, identified four clusters of motivations that people have in frequenting bars. ( Read more. ) This article appears in Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on 16 June 2010.

If you think that obesity is only in the genes, think again when you see that it is in the family with genetics out of the consideration. Television writer Gene Perret once said: “Like good wine, marriage gets better with age.” A recent study adds, though, marriage gets the couple obese together. But even unmarried cohabiting partners, too, have not been spared, noted lead researcher and nutritionist Natalie The, on what we may as well call “cohabitational obesity.” ( Read more. ) This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 09 June 2010.

“I RECKON being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill and is not obliged to work till one is better,” wrote Samuel Butler in The Way of All Flesh (1903). The term “antioxidant” was originally used in the 18th century to refer to a chemical that prevents the consumption of oxygen in laboratory experiments. However, in the late 19th and early 20th century, extensive study exploded... ( Read more ) This article appeared in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 02 June 2010.

Breakthroughs , the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper column which brings breaking news in health research every Wednesday, took its existence in the local community of Cebu in the month of May some five years ago today. It started from a dream of bringing the hard technical language of medical research to the common people who considered technical terms in medical science and technology as archaic as well as strange and often unfathomable even while using the ordinary English dictionary. Our fifth year testifies that goal may have been achieved through the years, and its readers may have obtained some form of benefits after reading each article each week since then. And yet any child cannot claim existence without the mother who gave birth to it. And for Breakthroughs , no other mother can rightly assume that matriarchal honor than my retired Live section editor, Pura Kintanar, whose perception may have seen ahead of time the years that Breakthroughs will be serving the local community of Ceb

"THE reward for work well done," wrote researcher and virologist Jonas Salk, "is the opportunity to do more." And the reward for doing more, and longer hours of work, let me add, will impact on your health in ways you may not desire. Philippine working hours are considered worldwide as long working hours compared to the standard 40 hours per week [in other countries]. Even without overtime, Filipino workers regularly log excess hours each week. But that is also common worldwide. Studies found associations between long working hours and many risk factors such as... ( Read more. ) (This article appears in Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on 26 May 2010.)

PROLIFIC historical novelist Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet of Scotland, wrote: “A rusty nail placed near a faithful compass will sway it from the truth, and wreck the argosy.” In cancer medicine, a toenail rich in selenium, a purplish-gray element, may make an important difference in protecting us from bladder cancer... (Read more ) This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 19 May 2010.

FARMER and writer Ethan Allen wrote: “In those parts of the world where learning and science have prevailed, miracles have ceased; but in those parts of it as are barbarous and ignorant, miracles are still in vogue.” In medicine, syndromes are still in vogue. There is another clinical vogue coming up... ( Read more . ) This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 12 May 2010.

26 May 2010 The Long Hours Through Midlife 19 May 2010 Selenium Toenail Effect 12 May 2010 The Frailty of Age 5 May 2010 Uric Prelude to Obesity

"It's hard enough to go through puberty," Charmed witch Alyssa Milano once said. It could be harder later on, I may say, should insulin resistance syndrome (IRS) begins right here. IRS has been referred to as metabolic syndrom, a rather popular subject for research among health scientists lately, and we have partly covered in another research in a previous article. And researchers found out that uric acid level can be an indicator of this... Read more. This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 5 May 2010.

“A lifestyle is what you pay for,” wrote Thomas Leonard, founder of Coach University in 1992 and a major contributor to the development of personal coaching. And there are many health costs paid in unhealthy lifestyle. These costs include what clinicians call the “metabolic syndrome” (MS). The National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III defined MS as a collection of...  Read more.     This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 28 Apri 2010.

The first time I saw the word “oniomania,” I thought it referred to a compulsive disorder of excessively eating onions. With the advances in psychiatric science and the curious way head conditions are getting their names, who was to know that onion-eating would get named after a disorder? Oniomania, alright, is a psychological disorder. But it means a compulsive desire to buy or shop; that is, a continuous urge to buy things—any thing. It is the dream of retailers; the frustration of ... ( read more )

The hotter and earlier-onset El Niño phenomenon this year 2010 poses a threat to the Filipino lives. How much life it took? See incidence that reached the news. UPDATE  On 19 May 2010, candidate army soldier Ericson Pascua (22) came on his first day of training in Isabela when he collapsed after a series of strenous exercise. Although rushed to the hospital immediately, he died shortly afterwards (around 11 a.m.) due to heat stroke. That day Isabela peaked at 38.2 degrees Celsius. Sixteen others were rushed to the hospital for dehydration and heat exhaustion. (Check report ) On 28 April 2010, a veteran Cavite cop, PO3 Florencio Gamana Alivio (48),  succumbed to cardiac arrest as a result to heatstroke while having tae bo with his colleagues at the Cavite Police Provincial Office (CPPO) grounds in Camp General Pantaleon. He reached the Imus MEdical Center but pronounced dead at 5:15 PM. (Check report ) In Batangas, former governor Amando Sanchez (57)died on April 27 (Wednesday), a

28 April 2010 Paying for Metabolic Syndrome [posted simultaneous] 21 April 2010 Onion Buying, Or What? [posted on 20 April 2010] 14 April 2010 Negotiated Safety [posted 0n 13 April 2010] 07 April 2010 Music of the Night [posted on 6 April 2010]

Hypertention, or 'high blood pressure,' is known for its treachery in taking human life. But, being a lifestyle condition, anyone can control, even bring down, hypertension when certain changes are made and sustained. BODY WEIGHT A key area in controlling hypertension is the weight, measured in BMI (body mass index, a measurement of weight in relation to height). A BMI of 18.5-24.9 will give easy the pressure burden in your heart as well as the pressure in your blood circulation. FOOD Whole grains. Eat a minimum of 7-8 servings each day. Grains and grain products include breakfast cereal, whole grain bread, rice, pasta, etc.) Fruits and vegetables. Eat plenty of these great sources of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Have at least 8-10 servings each day. Dairy. Go only for low-fat or nonfat dairy foods. An intake of 2-3 servings daily can enhance weight loss as well as provide materials for building strong bones and teeth. Nuts, seeds and legumes. Get 4-5 ser