Breakthroughs Today

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

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

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

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. )

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 .

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

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. )