Drug Issue: Chloramphenicol and Other Antibiotic Dangers

Chloramphenicol is one of the most widely abused antibiotic in the Philippines. It is popular with the trade names Biomycetin, Chloromycetin, C – Phenicol, Clocef, Harvox, Kemicetine and  Pediachlor.

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Chloramphenicol is seldom indicated for urinary tract infection. It has been known as a drug of choice for typhoid fever and meningitis. However, as a broad spectrum antibiotic, Chloramphenicol is being abused as a cure for colds and fever. Sadly, this medicine can cause fatal blood dyscrasias and gray syndrome for babies.

Read more about other Antibiotic Dangers here

How to Bathe a Siamese Cat

Cats seem to dislike water.  They usually panic with the sound of it, especially when the source is near them. Unfortunately, cats particularly those having thick or long coatings, need to take a bath occasionally when their furs become oily. Short- haired cats are required to take a bath too when they become really dirty and in cases of wounds. While bathing help cats in keeping themselves sanitary, those with wounds or skin diseases can be prevented from having infections.

In my part, I give my short-haired Siamese cat a bath once a week to keep his fur clean and smelling nice. Bathing may sound disagreeable and I had my share of scary thoughts that my cat will bite and fight his way out of it, but there are techniques in bathing a cat.

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Siamese cats are the gentlest breed of cats. While two people are usually recommended to wash a cat Siamese cats can only be bathed by one individual.

My steps are really simple and enjoyable.

Necessities:

• Lukewarm water in a basin
• Plastic cup
• Cat shampoo or soap
• Moist cloth
• Towel

The best place to wash your cat is in the bathroom.  Just make sure that everything is in place and accessible. The warm water should be ready that there is no need for additional water. The soap, moist cloth and towel should be available for use. The idea here is to do things gently yet fast.

Read more here

Facts about the Philippine Scops Owl - Handling and Diet

On handling a Philippine Scops Owl

Being an owlet, as young as 1 month is the most tamable period for a Philippine Scops owl. While, uncultivated Philippine Scops owls are better kept locked in cages or best left alone in the wild, tamed types can be held in a perch even without a ring for support.  Cultivated Philippines Scops owls can be even hand fed. Owners wear gloves until their pet owls become accustomed to the process. Philippine Scops owls can also be as loyal and intelligent. They can acknowledge an owner through a master’s call or whistle.

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While a baby owl or owlet can be kept for awhile in a dark and big box, like most owls, a Philippine Scops owl is best held in a confined place where he can move freely. Whether you will keep an owl in an aviary or inside your house, just make sure that there aren’t any cats and other hostile animals in the area.

Philippine Scops owls can be messy and destructive though. They can push and drop things onto floors from cabinets or spots they chose to land. Like other types, they tend leave feathers and defecate all the time and anywhere. If left alone for a long time ‘owl droppings’ tend to hardened like cement that his place area or your house should be inspected and cleaned all the time.

A Philippine Scops owl can be kept in a cage. However, cages should be big enough for exercise. And most owls confined to cages are apt to become aggressive than those left alone in perches.

For health and diet read more here

Facts and Myths: Woman Natural Hair Color Issues

Brunettes and dark-haired women are not likely to smoke

But they are apt to be dependent on cigarettes. The melanin which gives hair its brown or dark color also slows the liver’s ability to metabolize nicotine. With this, nicotine stays in the system longer, making a dark haired or brunette female to become dependent on cigarettes.

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Are women with brown hair prone to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL)?

In a study made involving Scandinavian women in 2010, women with brown hair had been cited as the increased risk of NHL compared to the other females with dark, red or blond hair. Interestingly, the results have been claimed no support between the association between the UV radiation and NHL.

Read more here

Mucus Diagnosis: Conditions, Causes and Treatment

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Mucus pertains to the slippery secretions produced by the mucous membrane. The primary role of mucus is to protect the body against infectious causes. In the human, mucus serves to defend the respiratory, gastrointestinal, urogenital, visual, and auditory systems. Mucus traps microbes then expel these from the body through coughing, sneezing or by defecating. If the mucus is ingested, digestive juices kill the germs.

The mucus is usually secreted by the cervix, the intestines, the mouth, the paranasal tissue (nose) and the stomach.

Excessive phlegm secretion in the lungs, greenish jelly like mucus in the feces and foul smelling, odd like discharge in a woman’s genitalia are some symptoms of infection. While medical experts are accustomed to mucus symptoms in coughs, in vaginal infections, in eye or ear infections, mucus in stools are examined by medical technologist or pathologist through fecalysis – a stool analysis. Phlegm on the other hand is analyzed through sputum examination and swab test.

Mucus symptoms have many conditions. The following are some mucus conditions, the usual underlying diseases and treatment.

Read more here

When Child Labor is Accepted as a Chore

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The two boys are Carlo and Cesar (not their real names). They are twins both eight years old and I usually see them with their improvised cart as they sell sandok- a kitchen utensil made of wood and some bamboo alkansya- a coin chest.

I sympathize with these types of children and who wouldn’t? The two boys should be in school- studying and playing. They should be enjoying the benefits of being a child, not on the street- basking under the heat of the sun while asking everyone to buy their merchandize.

As an initial reaction, like most people would have, I thought of the boys’ parents as irresponsible. Then again, there are acceptable reasons like the two boys could already be orphans or that their parents are incapable for work.

My boss had taken interest in buying some sandok, so I took the liberty of making some inquiries.

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The boys’ parents are still living and in good health. While the father is a farmer, the mother is normally at home, taking care of their little siblings. They are nine brothers and sisters in the family. Their eldest is about sixteen, already working in the field with the father.  The twins told me that the eldest is in his second year in high school but because of financial problems, their parents decided to stop his education for a while. Three of their sisters are also in high school; three of them (the twins included) are in elementary school. They have a toddler and the youngest is still two months old.

Child labor defined

We normally understand child labor as kids doing harsh job in unlikely places. We hear this harassment in news – children working in mines or those in factories manufacturing firecrackers, some unforgivable acts, especially when their health and their very lives had already been affected or worst, taken.

Household chores are exempted from child labor but when kids are involved in family business – their education and others privileges affected, this becomes child labor.

An act of survival

Over population and poverty are some challenges in every country. People tend to find other source of income just to survive. The sad thing about it is their children becoming involved and affected.

Cesar and Carlo are some of the kids who have seen peddling as a chore. Normally, children are given errands as washing the dishes, doing beds or watering plants but these two, they have to roam the street everyday to help their parents support the rest of the family. They are usually deprived of playtime and more alarmingly, they have lost interest in going to school.

Children are the future. Chores shape them into responsible people. But child labor is a different thing. It robs them of their youth and gives them a responsibility that they wouldn’t handle. Children are to take care of and they should live their life as they should. After all being a child is not forever, best that they enjoy it.

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However considering poverty and some different sad cases, children cannot have the said opportunities. The two boys are still lucky though. They have their parents love and we see worse cases of child labor everyday from all around the globe. I think involving kids with the family’s financial problem is a tough option for the parents. But as the mother of these two boys’ reasoned, ‘It’s just being practical! It is matter of survival- no toil, no food.’

The boys’ so called chore is not a choice.

Sources: 

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labou
2. http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_childlabour. 
3. htmlhttp://www.childprotection.org.ph/whatshappening/whtbits7_decjanfeb04.html 
4. http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/Advancing1/html/philippines.html

'Child Labor Seen As A Chore'

Original article published at Triond (August 8, 2010)

Facts About Anti-Emetics

One typical discomfort in traveling is motion-sickness.  Also known as kinetosis or travel sickness, motion sickness is characterized by symptoms of nausea, dizziness and fatigue. It is a condition when a disagreement exist between the eyes and the ears- the visually perceived movement and the vestibular system sense of movement. Travelers use inhalants or embrocations to relieve dizziness but taking an anti-emetic as a preventive measure is the most common practice.

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There are the usual drugs for motion sickness, but in cases of unavailability, medical professionals use other alternative drugs. The following are information about the commonly used anti-emetics and the substitute medicine for motion sickness relief.

Common Anti-Emetic Drugs

• Meclizine
  

Meclizine HCl is an effective anti-histamine or an anti-allergy drug but most widely used as an anti-emetic. Not only that it is indicated for the treatment of nausea, vomiting and dizziness associated with motion sickness, Meclizine is also used in nausea due to pregnancy (except for the first trimester) and vertigo associated with diseases affecting vestibular system. Since it is an over the counter drug, Meclizine is the most popular drug for motion- sickness.

Common brand names:Bonamine, Dizitab, Nodiz and Postadozine.

•  Dimenhydrinate
  

Being a prescription medicine, Dimenhydrinate falls second to Meclizine. It is also categorized as an anti-vertigo and can be used as a sleep-aid. Its sedation property is more powerful than Meclizine.

 Common brand names: Emes and Gravol.

• Cinnarizine
  

Cinnarizine is a prescription drug categorized as  antivertigo and as cerebral and peripheral dilators. It is used in prophylaxis and as a maintenance therapy for symptoms of cerebrovascular spasms and arteriosclerotic disorders due to aging, Meniere’s disease and labyrinthine disturbances.

Common brand names: Stugeron, Cinamin, Cinarin, Cinabloc, Vertisin.

Alternative Anti-Emetics

• Dipenhydramine

Diphenhydramine falls in the same group of dimenhydrinate as aminoalkyl esters. This drug is usually used for its anti- allergic effect for hay fever, utricaria and other skin allergies and also as an antitussive. It has an antispasmodic and a sedative property that this can also be used as an anti-emetic.

Common brand names: Allerin AH, Benadryl

• Hyoscine-N-Butylbromide

Hyoscine is an anti-spasmodic medicine, indicated for smooth muscle spasm in the GIT including biliary and renal colic. Parenterally or through injection, it is used as an aid in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures like  gastroduodenal endoscopy and radiology. Hyoscine is not normally used as an anti-emetic because of its other popular uses, but it can also be an effective remedy for motion-sickness.

Common brand names: Buscopan, Ascopen,Buscomed, Busopin.

• Domperidone

Domperidone is commonly used for its  prokinetic action in the gastro intestinal motility. It is considered as an anti-emetic but not suitable for chronic nausea and vomiting.

Common brand names: Motilium, Andiogan, Domphenyl, Domper, Gasidone, Gilax.

Notes:

• The drugs mentioned above should be taken  thirty minutes before departure.

• The common side-effect is drowsiness, therefore drugs like CNS depressant and alcohol should not be taken.

• There are the hazards of the adverse reactions like the thightening of chest in dimenhydrinate, hypersensitivity reactions in metoclopramide and hyoscine or the diarrhea in Domperidone. It is always best to consult a physician regarding with these medications.

Sources:

1. MIMS Online
2. Wilson and Gisvold Textbook of Inorganic Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry 9th edition

'On Motion-sickness Medication'

Original article published at Triond (July 19, 2010)