Breakthroughs Today

There are health conditions that can be horrible and unnerving as well as helplessly incurable at this time. And Tourette Syndrome is one of them. STARTING May 15, the world will be celebrating Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month. Breakthroughs supports this move with a special discussion of this inherited neuropsychiatric disorder.  Tourette usually starts to manifest in childhood (mostly between ages five and seven) with its characteristic multiple physical tics and at least one vocal tic.  Tics, according to the Leckman study published in Advanced Neurology (2006), are sudden, repetitive, non-rhythmic movements (e.g. throat clearing, eye blinking, and shoulder shrug) and utterances (e.g. involuntary shouting) that involve discrete muscles.  Although considered before as rare, studies through the years noted a prevalence of 0.4 percent to 3.8 percent usually among children ageing five to 18. Most patients experience peak symptoms before their mid-teen years, wit

In addition to its popular use as a mildly acidic juice, passion fruit has been found useful in providing both soluble and insoluble fibers to the body, a proven diet that brings down bad cholesterol from the body and consequently protects the person from circulatory diseases later on.  AT TIMES passion is a fruit of love. Although the same is true the other way around.  What I love about passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) though is the sweet citrus taste that is milder compared to regular orange or calamansi. Eating it, however, is another story.  I tried extracting the juice directly in my mouth the way I usually eat poncan oranges, pulp and all except for the seeds.  Yet passion fruit can be unwieldy that way. I ended up feeling less satisfied in relation to the effort I put in getting the juice into my mouth. Thus I decided to proceed the usual way: place sufficient amount of scraped juice-filled seed-sacs into a glass of water, add a small amount of water and s

The statistics are unmistakably clear. One out of two adult person you meet along the way has suffered from the itchy affliction, a 2012 study published at the International Journal of Cosmetic Science  found so.  A POPULAR Visayan song may have lyrics like this when it comes to flakes: “Dili tanang hup-ak kan-on; dili tanang kan-on hup-ak” (literally translated as “not all flakes you eat; not all you eat are flakes). Some carbohydrate-laden finger foods are flakes, like the traditional banana or cassava flakes (or chips) we know from childhood. Some so-called “junk foods” have also hit the store shelves as flakes, such as corn flakes. There are certain flakes though that you will not dream of eating, so gross to some even to imagine touching their lips. These flakes are often the itchy ones we call “dandruff.” Dandruff flakes or scales are actually dead skin cells that the scalp sheds off regularly and they stay cohesive with each other. Shedding is a normal daily proce

Through years of research, I came to appreciate the infinite complexity of the human body, its systems, and the varied interactions it performs with substances in nature even those the support its health and survival, including food supplements. And not understanding such interaction can be dangerous to your health. ELEMENTAL copper abounds in nature. Our regular diet may provide 5 mg per day, of which only 20-50 percent gets absorbed into the body, according to the Halfdanarson study in 2008 (published in the European Journal of Haematology).  Dietary copper can be found in whole grain cereals, legumes, oysters, organ meats (particularly liver), cherries, dark chocolate, fruits, green leafy vegetables, nuts, poultry, prunes, and soybeans. This abundance, and its low daily requirement level (copper is only a trace element), make acquired copper deficiency very rare indeed.  Copper is an essential cofactor in many enzymatic reactions vital to the normal function of the bl

There is much in advertising today that consumers must be wary about. Advertising can be seriously deceptive. And certain advertising outfits will not care on the truth of the message if the pay-off is great. Smoking cessation products today can be as dangerous as advertised. These ads can have believable messages... but with a dangerous twist. “THERE is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact,” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in his short fiction, The Boscombe Valley Mystery .  Apparently, only one of four emerging tobacco products now available in the American market had reached the Philippines. That product is popular as the “e-cigarette.”  An E-cigarette is actually an electronic nicotine delivery system (Ends), a category of products that deliver a vapor of nicotine and flavoring on inhalation. Flavors include a variety of tobacco, fruit and food (e.g. chocolate) flavors. Companies market it as a smoking cessation device and an alternative to cessation. Of those

Smoking is one habit that is very hard to break. In fact, it is more than a habit; it is an addiction. And all addictions do not lead to something healthy. Here are some updates on the advances in science and technology at helping smokers stop smoking. THE World No Tobacco Day was held on May 31. The Philippine National No-Smoking Month ended on June 30. However, in the implementation side of Republic Act 9211, otherwise known as the Tobacco Act of 2003, falls on the month of July and has a very special place to remember.  It was on July 1 that the warnings on cigarette packages were placed. It must be located on the bottom portion of one front panel of every tobacco product package, as we see it today. It was also when all cinema and outdoor advertisings were banned as well as all forms of tobacco advertising in mass media. It was also on a July 1 when sponsorship events and activities of tobacco companies were banned.  On the research side, two long-standing therapeut

There's a "balloon" in us that may exist without us knowing it does. And the outcome can be deadly. ACTRESS Kim Chiu’s mother was laid to rest on June 29 at age 50. Her death though brought to the public’s attention the deadly handiwork of aneurysm.  Aneurism is a localized, blood-filled bulge (balloon-like) in the wall of a blood vessel that usually carries oxygenated blood, called an artery.  What makes it deadly is its location. It commonly occurs in arteries at... [ READ MORE ] This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 10 July 2013.