Breakthroughs Today

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.