UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Travelling is a great way to seek new sights, tastes, experiences and insights. Thus, the itch is always there, tugging at your heartstrings to look for the novel, strange, fascinating and beautiful. Hence, along with two veteran travelers, I tagged along hoping for such. It...
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Recently, a friend sent me a news item in which a doctor was referred to as a “public health expert,” which sent him into a paroxysm of anger. He pointed out that the guy was not one, and he was right. Indeed, some local media practitioners are guilty of lack of...
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Last Monday, March 25, 2024, was the launching of the PeerLinc Knowledge Hub, (Peer-to-peer Learning for Innovative Cures for TB), a project of the TB Alliance which has identified the Tropical Disease Foundation (TDF) to host the project in the Philippines. Attending as...
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE As of today, there are reports of multiple outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases in different areas of the country. In Pasig City, two of 17 children with pertussis (known as whooping cough because of the sound produced by coughing in affected persons) died of the...
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Cervical Cancer is the second most frequent cancer (after breast cancer) and the most common cause of death from cancer in Filipino women. In 2020, the Philippines recorded almost 8,000 new cervical cancer cases and more than 4,000 deaths alone. It is of high public health...
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Glutathione hit the front pages and trended on social media for the wrong reasons. The wife of a first-time senator posted that nothing can stop her from having her glutathione intravenous (IV) drip, even while she’s in the senator’s office. Naturally, netizens came down...
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE The Senate just approved a bill that will finally (if enacted into law) allow absolute divorce in the Philippines. Known as Senate Bill No. 2443, or “Dissolution of Marriage Act,” it was signed by no less than nine senators and provides grounds for divorce....
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE As a heath professional, I recognize the importance of face masks in health care, which was most evident during the pandemic. But the pandemic is over. Presently, Covid-19 is treated as an endemic disease, with low rates of hospitalization and death similar to the flu. The...
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Genetic genealogy is the use of DNA tests in combination with traditional genealogical methods to infer genetic relationships between individuals. Being in the DNA testing field for many years, I’ve been asked many times about the tests for ancestry offered online by the...
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Finally, I took the plunge. I’ve been waiting for a while for more pure electric vehicles (EVs) to come into the Philippine market and felt it was time to make a decision. We all have a responsibility to make a difference in combating climate change. Each of us has choices to...
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Last week, the Department of Health released a statement stating that dengue cases had dropped 24.4 percent in the first two weeks of 2024 (2,024 cases versus 7,274 cases from Dec. 17-31, 2023, and 8,629 from Dec. 3-16, 2023), At least two major newspapers picked up this...
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Last weekend, I had the privilege of judging at the Philippine International Circuit at the Araneta Coliseum. I was on a panel of 16 judges from various countries around the world, from the USA, South America, Europe and Asia, all well-known in the dog world. It was a great...
