A Dengue Predictive Test

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.

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POST-PRESS: Narcissistic Disorder, Ground for Annulment

On 20 May 2011 (Friday), the First Division of the Philippine Court of Appeals dismissed the plea that Julie Balarbar, wife of 15 years of House Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III, filed questioning the November 25, 2010 decision of the Makati Regional Court declaring the marriage null and void on the ground that Balarbar had been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Pyschiatric evaluation show a diagnosis of NPD with anti-social features, from her involvement in a shoplifting incident, her closeness to and trips abroad with her male students, and a kissing incident with a co-professor. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder Fourth Edition (DSM IV-TR) enumerated nine indicators of NPD, with only five of them needed for the diagnosis. It is not clear however which indicators have been found in the case of the Tañada annulment case. The Archdiocese of Manila also declared their canonical marriage void ab initio (void from the start) due to "gra...

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