CARESP Annual Convention
June 24, 2007
The Cardiac Rehabilitation Society of the Philippines will be holding its annual convention on July 26-27, 2007. The 2-day event will be held at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium of RCBC Plaza. Read more
The new ‘plastic’ blood
June 24, 2007
Scientists continue to find ways to deliver better health care to patients; one new innovation is the availability of artificial blood, so called because it is made up of plastic molecules that have an iron atom at their core, like hemoglobin, that can carry oxygen through the body. This new discovery could help to substitute for blood, which is not always readily available in cases of emergencies, especially pointed out was its huge advantage in war zones.
Besides its storage advantage; it is light to carry, does not need to be kept cool, it can be sterilized, and can be kept for longer, the new artificial blood has its advantages over human blood as pointed out in this WikiPedia article.
Vision
June 19, 2007
I’m sure you experience having a vision during your silent moments. It happens to me a lot of times too, specially I’m typically quiet, and tends to be swallowed in my own world.
While riding the fx on my way home the other day, I had a vision about one of my big ambitions. It’s still rather vague so I guess the universe still has a difficulty helping create an easy path for me. The good thing is it that my vision is not merely thinking of wanting to change the world one person at a time (come to think of it, this has been one of my mantras, my driving force why I’m pursuing my current career). Read more
Politics in Medicine
June 13, 2007
One part of my work I hate is being caught between clashing rocks: a private hospital wary about admitting indigent patients and cautioning their doctors from doing so, instructing them to direct these patients to government hospitals as much as possible, and patients and their relatives who’d stubbornly insist on being admitted/treated in an expensive, private hospital despite being warned about the estimated cost, being obviously with financial constraints. Being put in the middle of this often ferocious haggling (since nobody would want to give in) just puts unnecessary stress on the doctor involved whose main job ought to be just the active management of the patient. After all, he’s just the doctor and not the hospital administrator.
Such an occurrence again happened to my 24-hour duty last Sunday.
At around 9 PM, we, at the ER, heard some shouting outside the hospital lobby doors. Minutes after, the security guard saw four seemingly drunk males walking the length of the driveway leading up to the emergency room. When the strangers got close to the ER doors, we saw they were all apparently victims of stabbing, clutching their abdomens. Two were almost collapsing on one another and one half-carried, half-dragged his companion. We quickly pulled out the stretchers.
Tom (not his real name), the one half-carried and half-dragged, was dead on arrival. His guts were spilling out from the 3- to 4-inch wide stab wound in his abdomen, just above the umbilicus. CPR was attempted but soon he was pronounced dead.
Acupuncture To Lower Blood Pressure?
June 9, 2007
Fancy having needles on your arm? Perhaps you will, if you’re hypertensive and you don’t like popping pills.
A study published in the Circulation, an American Heart Association Journal, was billed the first rigorous, randomized trial in the west to test acupuncture against a sham needle technique to treat hypertension. It suggested that, if performed properly, acupuncture may lower blood pressure change as much as what monotherapy does in mild to moderate hypertension.
In the study, 160 patients (age ranging from 50-66 years old; 78 were men) with uncomplicated arterial hypertension were randomized in single-blind fashion to a 6-week course of active acupuncture or sham acupuncture. Seventy-eight percent were receiving antihypertensive medications. Of the 160 patients, 140 finished the treatment course. For the acupuncture group, there was a 6.4 mmHg difference from the baseline while there was a 3.7 mmHg difference for the sham acupuncture. However, the mean systolic and diastolic pressures of those in the active acupuncture group returned to pretreatment levels (baseline) after 3 and 6 months.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Good news perhaps for those who are in favor or are fond of acupuncture treatments.
But do realize that, as was said in the study, the effect of 6-week course of continuous acupuncture treatments will only last 3-6 months. So, in order to reap the full benefits, one must continue the acupuncture treatments for a longer period in time. Also, for people who can’t even put to mind popping one or two pills in a day, going for acupuncture treatments daily would be more demanding of time.
When Discriminating Patients Become Insulting
May 29, 2007
In today’s times when the average person is often bombarded by images and news of “bad” hospitals “detaining” patients who cannot pay for hospital bills and “evil” doctors who are money-hungry or out to “kill” patients, people have begun developing a general mistrust of doctors. It is as if every doctor they’d encounter will give them haphazardly done medical service and then squeeze out all the money from their pockets. And this growing mistrust of doctors is hindering our efforts to improve our country’s provision of health care.
I never thought that I’d be seeing such overly-suspicious and stubborn patients until one 24-hour duty in a hospital emergency room, I encountered one. Well, actually, she’s the patient’s “mother”. Being in the Philippines, we have come to “accept” the fact that Filipinos have developed the bad habit of going to the emergency room seeking outpatient clinic services (follow-up consult after treatment of urinary tract infections, requesting lab referrals for pre-employment physical exams because they don’t have the “time” during the weekdays, which is rather unbelievable because it’s a pre-employment medical exam and it means they’re jobless so they have all the time available, etcetera).
In this case, the overly-suspicious and stubborn person (which I will call “Mara”) brought her 4-year old “son” because of some coughing, cold, and a low-grade fever. After some tests, it turned out that the kid has only a mild respiratory tract infection. I prescribed a 7-day course of Amoxicillin 250 mg/5mL syrup 5 mL every 8 hours and a paracetamol for fever. Mara argued that the dose I prescribed was not enough. I asked her why she thought so.
People Power for Nichi
May 26, 2007
We’ve been riding a couple of trains lately, technorati & alexa, and now here’s another one. It’s not just a train though. It’s People Power and Prayer Power that we really need on this one. We hope that this time we can have as much (if not more) support from all of you. Please feel free take time to copy/paste this post at your blogs. There are no rules on this train. Just copy/paste the text and that’s it 
Linking back to where you saw this post might be a good gesture but it’s not required 
Kindly contact Tye (battik) directly if you have concerns/questions about Nichi:
Be one of the 6,200 people to pledge Php 500 for this 12-year-old boy
PEOPLE POWER FOR NICHI is an optimistic attempt to raise the Php 3.1M needed for myTye’s brother’s bone marrow transplant alone (exclusive of the pre and post transplant care). Be part of the 6,200 people who’ll help free Nichi from his Leukemia. Your Php 500 can make a big difference in his life.
You can email
meTye through battik14@yahoo.com for other ways of sending your help. Please place “People Power for Nichi†at the subject line so thatITye will not consider your message as spam mail by mistake.
Click here for back story and past articles about Nichi.
There you go. It’s that simple. It’s that easy to start helping Nichi!
God bless!
Â
There’s More To Spider-Man Than The Sexy Outfit
April 16, 2007
A study conducted at an Israeli hospital, and involving the black widow and two other species, seeks to find the possibility of using venom to treat erectile dysfunction after finding out that patients bit by spiders are experiencing prolonged erections, too.
This should be interesting. Although not a novel idea, it could give Viagra, Cialis and the like, a run for the money, if the substance gets identified, subjected to pharmacologic testing, and verified to be relatively safer, if not as potent than current treatments.
A question remains, though. Will treated patients wield web slinging abilities, too? 
The Bonjing and His Pop
March 26, 2007
I had one of the most toxic duties yesterday, not because of the difficulty of the cases but because of the volume of patients seen and the degree of which each patient demanded attention.
A person I recall the fastest is actually a patient’s father. His quirkiness arrived late in the morning with his 27-year old, able-bodied son. He spoke with a slurred authoritative tone.
“Nagsimba ka na ba ha (Did you hear mass already)?” He asked me and the entire ER staff.
Junior UK Doctors Found Themselves Jobless And In Debt
March 3, 2007
Good thing I didn’t apply for a specialty training in the United Kingdom. Poor fellas. This can really be shattering to one’s budding career, considering that each and everyone must have invested thousands of dollars just to be able to be medical practitioners.
Here’s a snippet of the article:
Thousands of young doctors have been left without jobs because a new NHS training system has gone “disastrously wrong”, it was disclosed yesterday.
As much as £2 billion has been spent on the training of up to 8,000 doctors who find themselves without a new job under a Government initiative. Such is the fury at the scheme, called Modernising Medical Careers (MMC), that doctors have renamed it “Massive Medical Cull”.
Vitamin Supplements Can Harm You
March 2, 2007
What’s your vitamin cocktail?
Most patients would come to me to the clinic asking which vitamin supplements are best for them. Try as I might to explain that these supplements aren’t really as important as having adequate nutrition and exercise, they’re still stubborn as to taking these drugs. I just realized that most people wanted to have healthier lives the easy way: Pop this vitamin and wham! You’re on your way to a healthy life (sounds like a commercial, doesn’t it?)! They’d rather spend that much on vitamins than spend it on gym membership or to buying healthier foods.
Perhaps this is one study that can help my patients see that there are only specific indications for using these vitamin supplements:
Consumption Of Garlic Does Not Lower Cholesterol
February 28, 2007
Garlic (Allium sativum) has long been used as a cholesterol-lowering agent and used together with statins and other lipid-lowering medications for patients with hypercholesterolemia. Crushing garlic induces formation of allicin through action of alliinase enzymes of alliin. Allicin inhibits cholesterol synthesis in vitro. Thus, many scientists believe that consumption of garlic will help humans reduce their blood cholesterol levels.
However in a recent study done by Gardner and his associates, consumption of a specified amount of raw garlic, powdered garlic supplement, and aged garlic supplement did not produce clinically or statistically significant decrease of high density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride levels, or total cholesterol-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio.
The study, in a parallel design trial, involved 192 adults, aged 30-65 years old, with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels between 130-190 mg/dL (3.36-4.91 mmol/L), triglyceride levels less than 250 mg/dL (here.
I think the study isn’t enough to refute age-old claims of benefits from the good ol’ garlic, whether it be taken raw or in capsules. What should be taken into consideration though is that consumption of garlic alone and without other lipid-lowering medications will not lower the blood cholesterols in patients with dyslipidemia. Furthermore, the population used in this study (aged 39-65 years old) were probably those who’ve had not observed proper nutrition since their earlier adult years.
Also, one cannot discount evidence that suggest garlic may be of help in preventing formation of blood clots in clogged arteries, leading to prevention of atherosclerotic heart diseases.
More studies with bigger sample population should perhaps be done to verify the results of this study.
Get your Health Magazine for FREE
February 24, 2007
You can subscribe to these great magazines for FREE. These contain valuable information about the new treatment modalities, new discoveries, diseases and more.
1. Heart Health Magazine of the British Heart Foundation
Heart Health is your FREE quarterly magazine from the British Heart Foundation. It is full of information on the latest treatment, medication and patient services. There are lots of bright ideas too, with great recipes, healthy living top tips, real life stories and special reader offers.2. Johns Hopkins Public Health
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health publishes Johns Hopkins Public Health magazine twice each year. Topic range from women’s health to global health or any health topic of your interest.
Read moreLady In The Bus “Knocked” Awake
February 14, 2007
The poor little old lady didn’t even know what hit her.
She may look like someone’s grandma peacefully sleeping in the hospital ward now. But the 11 stitches on her head tells that she may be sleeping a dreamless sleep of the ill-fated. Thanks to a bunch of reckless, troubled souls who find hurling rocks at innocent, unsuspecting travellers amusing.
The 55-year old lady was seated comfortably sleeping on a bus bound to Cabanatuan. She was with her children and her grandchildren, who were resting too. It was the time of the day when people sleep their deepest. Little did this lady know she’d be literally knocked awake.
Induced Abortion in the Philippines
January 31, 2007
During my three-day duty at the OB-GYNE outpatient department, I was overwhelmed by the number of abortion cases. We had an average of five cases a day. At least one-third of these mothers had induced abortion, which means that they resorted to mechanical or chemical means to terminate their pregnancy. Usually they seek for consult because of fever and chills, and other associated symptoms of septic abortion.
Our city is just a small portion of the Philippines, yet there are already numerous induced abortion cases encountered. It made me think (or not like to think) of the rampancy of the case nationwide. Prolife.org say that every year, as many as 750,000 women undergo induced abortion in illegal “clinics” all over the Philippines. That’s how prevalent induced abortion is. It’s quite a frustrating number.
Read more from the author’s blog.
Hand Washing 101: Plain water and soap combination is still a good way
January 18, 2007
Hand washing is undoubtedly the best way to prevent spread of infectious diseases. Soap manufacturers always come up with innovative products that “enhance” this preventive techniques. We see ads on TV about how effectively hand sanitizers and antibacterial soaps prevent germs which almost always convince the consumers. Recent studies however say that washing hands with ordinary soap and water for 15 seconds reduces bacterial counts by about 90%. But even people who are conscientious about washing their hands often make the mistake of not drying them properly. Wet hands are more likely to spread germs than dry ones. Harvard Health Letter
Soap manufacturers found a good way to convince consumer more in buying their products through antibacterials additives. But experts fear that antibiotic resistance, which is now one of the major health concerns, might result from use of these antibacterial soaps. Further, research shows that these additives don’t add much on hand hygiene. Thus, this serves as a useful reminder that antibacterial soaps aren’t the all-purpose germ fighters that many people think they are.
Read moreHow to survive community medicine?
January 18, 2007
I feel lucky that I chose to enroll in a school, which gives emphasis on the health of the less fortunate fellowmen, with its community-based curriculum. During the 2nd semester of our freshmen year, we were assigned to 2-3 families per student in the community. At the first meetings, some of the families were resistant as expected. Some families were even locking up when they saw us approaching. We had experienced being chased by drug addicts. One classmate has witnessed a stabbing incident. Yeah, that’s how terrifying our experiences in our community were. It really felt like “survival of the fittest”. Despite these untoward circumstances, we are surviving community medicine.
1. We go to the community in groups or in pairs. This is especially for girls for security purposes.
2. We smile at and greet everyone in the community. This was our topmost strategy to gain the acceptance of the residents.
Read moreDid You Know: The Best to Do with Hot Leftovers
January 11, 2007
Did you know that refrigerating hot leftovers is the best way to avoid spoilage and invasion of bacteria, in contrast to what previously claimed?
It was always thought that leftovers, especially the hot ones, should be cooled at room temperature before storing it in the refrigerator. Accordingly, allowing food to cool at a slower rate reduces the likelihood that it will spoil. Another theory suggests that hot food can somehow interfere with the circulation of cold air in the refrigerator.
Read more at the author’s blog
11 Simple Ways to Minimize Eye-Strain
December 23, 2006
Eyestrain is defined as an eye discomfort that can occur when the eyes tire after a prolonged visual task. Eyestrain can be manifested by headache or discomfort around the eyes.
These symptoms are never present when you wake, never accompanied by ultra-sensitivity to light, but is made worse by visual tasks like reading. Most often you may need a new pair of glasses or contact lenses, or the muscles that align the eyes are strained and needs a break. Health 24
Sitting several hours in front of your computers can be eye-straining. If you work at a computer for more then three hours a day you are likely to have symptoms of eye strain. This can be prevented however with these tips provided by Health 24:
1. Ensure that any close-up work or computer screen is not too close to your eyes. As a general rule, view material from as great a distance as possible, provided it can still be read easily.
2. Take frequent vision breaks (at least every hour) to relax your eye muscles. Try closing your eyes and relaxing for one minute. Other useful exercises may include rolling or blinking your eyes, or closing them tightly for a few seconds.
Read moreDid you know: A Law for Compulsory Immunization
December 16, 2006
Did you know that in the Philippine Constitution, there’s actually a law that compels all the people to an immunization procedure?
Presidential Decree No. 996, Sec. 2 provides for compulsory basic immunization for infants and children below eight years of age. The basic immunization services shall include: (a) BCG Vaccination against tuberculosis; (b) Inoculation against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis; (c) Oral poliomyelitis immunization; (d) Protection against measles; (e) Immunization against rubella; and (f) such other basic immunization services for infants and children below eight yeas of age which the Council for the Welfare of Children may recommend to the Secretary of Health. - Medical Jurisprudence, Solis.
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