Dengue on the rise again in Manila

If health indices are indicators of public sanitation, the Philippines must exert more effort consistently.

The country's health department announced yesterday that dengue cases are nearing 20,000 this year.

A total of 17,228 dengue cases have been reported to the National Epidemiology Center between 1 January and 2 April, the Philippine Star said.

Proper waste disposal in Manila intensified again

The Philippine government has intensified its waste segregation campaign by issuing 5,000 copies of easy-to-understand information and education campaign materials particularly now that children are on two-month school vacation.

Secretary Ramon Paje of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources appealed to parents yesterday that because kids are taught by their teachers throughout the year, now is the best time that they educate their children on the proper segregation of household waste, the Manila Bulletin said.

China in another food scandal

I love Chinese foods. In fact, in all the 12 countries that I have visited including three in Europe, there are many delicious Chinese restaurants. However, scandals about food safety issues in the world’s largest population have caused public concern that has brought illness to people who have consumed their products in the mainland and abroad.

In a new development, Chongqing city authorities confiscated 26 tons of melamine-tainted milk powder, said the Global Times in a report by the AFP.

Elevated radiation levels detected in a US nuclear reactor

After the recent Fukushima accident and the Chernobyl incident that happened 25 years ago, many people have been concerned on the spread of radioactive substances in the environment.

An investigation is being conducted by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) after a nuclear reactor in Ohio recorded an unspecified high level of radiation.

Chernobyl accident marks 25th anniversary

Ukrainians observed the silver anniversary of the Soviet-era Chernobyl nuclear power plant Tuesday with candles and a bell that rang 25 times since the disaster erupted on 26 April 1986—what the world considers as the worst nuclear accident on record.

"The world had not known a catastrophe in peaceful times that could be compared to what happened in Chernobyl," said Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill.

High levels of mercury detected in the air of Manila

Environmentalists in the Philippine capital and several other international non-governmental organizations have urged the proper disposal of toxic waste after they detected high levels of mercury smoke in the harbor area of Tondo district.

An investigation conducted on 19 April at the Pier 18 Garbage Transfer Station showed 117.2 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) in 14 used mercury-containing compact fluorescent lamps in two separate disposal areas in Manila's district, which is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. One lamp registered mercury vapor at 502.4 µg/m3, the PDI reported.

Jordan, Thailand to send medical teams to Japan

Jordan and Thailand will deploy medical teams to the calamity affected areas in northeastern Japan, said the Foreign Ministry on Friday.

During their three-week stay that will start on Monday, Jordan’s four-member medical team that includes vascular surgeons and ultrasound engineers will stay at temporary centers in the heavily-hit Fukushima Prefecture to examine patients if they have developed blood clots, Deutsche Presse Agentur reported.

Doctor says nuclear workers are in danger of overwork death

Japan's nuclear workers who are battling the crisis at the crippled power plant are at risk of depression, poor diet and sanitation and stress, said Dr. Takeshi Tanigawa.

They are not only exposed to the dangers of the radioactive substances of Fukushima Dai-Ichi reactors but are also working in severe conditions, according to Dr. Tanigawa, an industrial physician in two of Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) plants, who examined them on Wednesday, The Japan Times reported.

Surgeon operates on the wrong eye of a boy

A Washington couple is considering a malpractice suit when an Oregon doctor performed surgery to their 4-year-old son Jesse Matlock on the wrong eye.

Tasha Gaul, the boy's mother said of his surgeon after last week's operation, "She said, 'Frankly, I lost sense of direction and didn't realize I had operated on the wrong eye until I was done operating on the eye,'" in a report by the AP.

Donors pledge $788-M to seal Chernobyl

A three-day international conference was held in Kiev, Ukraine on Tuesday that raised $788 million of pledges to help build a temporary encasement at the site of the Soviet-era Chernobyl nuclear power plant that exploded 25 years ago.

Falling short of the $1 billion target, the project that will seal the plant from releasing radioactive materials during the dismantling of the sarcophagus was delayed for three years due to budgetary constraints, said Al Jazeera.

American College of Surgeons head resigns over unsavory commentary

The president-elect of the American College of Surgeons, resigned on Sunday over his regrettable editorial in Surgey News where he was also the editor in chief.

In his controversial February commentary, the 78-year-old Dr. Lazar Greenfield made reference to the sexual behaviors of lower forms of animals such as flies going up to humans surrounding Valentine's Day, in a report by the New York Times.

US iRobots make their way in Japan

A few weeks ago, it was reported that four US-made iRobots were sent to Japan to assist nuclear plant workers in areas that are too risky for humans to go inside the radiation-emitting Fukushima power plant.

It took sometime before the Japanese learned how to use the robots.

Teen yawns but her mouth won't close

Be careful when you yawn. Your mouth could lock open.

Holly Thompson of Northampton, UK was attending a lecture on politics. And then she yawned.

The 17-year-old resident of Kingsthorpe could not close her mouth. Yikes!

Japan's first child organ transplant donor

This news is not for the weak at heart.

A boy less than 15 years old was confirmed to be brain dead in an unidentified hospital in the Kanto-Koshinetsu region of Japan at 7:37 Tuesday after he figured from a vehicular accident, in a report from the Yomiuri Shimbun.

The first brain death diagnosis was made at 20:25 Monday.

With his family's consent, he will become the nation's first child to become a multiple-organ donor.

Cancer medicine-denying mom found guilty

The Massachusetts mom who was charged of attempted murder of her 9-year-old autistic son for withholding his chemotherapy medications for Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a chest tumor, was found guilty.

The 39-year-old Kristen LaBrie was also found guilty of assault and battery for not administering home medications for at least five months and reckless endangerment of Jeremy Fraser who was battling cancer until his demise in 2009, CBS said.

Science can predict large earthquakes

Many were surprised by the sudden occurrence of the powerful earthquake that hit Japan on 11 March.

People were surprised because many believe—or were led to believe—that huge earthquakes at magnitude 9.0 capable of generating 10-meter tsunami waves cannot be predicted by modern science. Well, at least one person does not think so.

Mom on trial for denying her son cancer medicine

Testifying for the attempted murder of her 9-year-old son for withholding cancer medications, Kristen LaBrie told the Essex Superior Court "I was really scared he had had it. I was scared he couldn't go through any more chemotherapy. I felt it could out-villain-ize the disease."

The 39-year-old Massachusetts mother of an autistic son who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma—a tumor in the chest—denied Jeremy Fraser the medications for five months that could have increased the chances of his survival.

Study shows New Delhi's water positive for superbug

Water samples taken from India's capital is positive for New Delhi metallo-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) "superbug" based on a study published in The Lancet on 7 April.

How did they find out?

Researchers from the UK's University of Cardiff collected water samples (creeks, drainage and public tap water) from various locations within a 12-kilometer radius of central New Delhi between 26 September and 10 October last year. They brought the samples to London to test for the presence of the superbug gene called blaNDM-1.

Japan sprays nitrogen into reactors to avoid explosion

Reading the latest developments of the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant makes me feel like going back to my high school days. Why? Because I am overwhelmed with the parade of the chemical elements that the news say.

From hydrogen, to nitrogen, to silicon and zirconium. I feel like I am reviewing the Periodic Table in my Chemistry class. Not to mention iodine and cesium, which have become relatively common words since the troubled plant started leaking radioactive materials into the air, sea, and spreading into the food, milk and drinking water.

First US patient to receive stem cell treatment identified

In October last year, US scientists said they injected a drug derived from human embryonic stem cells into the spine of a patient who became partially paralyzed after he figured from a vehicular accident.

The treatment is the first of its kind that was performed in the country and the name of the patient was made a top secret.

Zeolite: A remedy for radiation exposure?

Much has been said about potassium iodide to guard against the harmful effects of radioactive materials leaked from Japan's nuclear power plants after it was knocked down by the most powerful earthquake ever to hit the country and the giant tsunami waves last month.

A US company called Clean Age Minerals, Inc., a subsidiary of Daleco Resources Corporation, proposed today the use of Clinoptilolite zeolite and its synthesized forms as solution to decontaminate the water and soil exposed to radiation from the damaged power plants.

Study says 20% of US moms have kids from many dads

An interesting study was presented on Friday at the Population Association of America that says 20 percent of all US women have children from multiple men.

Looking closer, children from moms with two or more babies were sired from at least two dads in 28 percent.

Study shows touch-free faucets are not disease-free

Can't touch this.

A study at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine revealed that hands-free faucets contain higher numbers of disease-causing microorganisms than the manual faucets.

India's population up by 181 million in the last 10 years

India's population increased by 181 million in the past decade and now stands at 1.21 billion according to the initial 2011 census report released yesterday.

The provisional population report makes India trail closely behind China's 1.34 billion (est. Dec 2010).

Curtain falls for Fukushima nuke plant, Emperor visits calamity victims

The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) announced on Wednesday that it will decommission Reactors Nos. 1-4 of one of its damaged plants, the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, and will never be used again.

TEPCO Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata made the announcement on behalf of the hospitalized company President Masataka Shimizu, and said, "I deeply apologize for causing a great deal of worry to so many people," the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.