The Scourge Called Antibiotic Resistance

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.

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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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