Showing posts with label Readings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Readings. Show all posts

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Updating Drivers

For most people out there, they have absolutely no idea of what a driver is. Nope I'm not talking about a person that operates a car or any vehicle (or even animal) for that matter. I'm talking about device drivers, the computer programs that works together with the operating system so that the operating system can find and control the hardware (be it a keyboard, mouse, graphic cards, etc).

If you still don't get it and need a little bit more explaining, let's just say that the operating system (OS) is a person, the driver is the person's senses, and the hardware is a guitar. The person wants to play the guitar. But in order for the person to use the guitar, one must see the guitar, one must feel and touch the guitar, and hear what the sound the guitar is making. In other words without the person's senses, the guitar would be useless.

Sometimes you would experience some problems with your computer or you want your computer system up to date, this is why updating drivers is very important. But the thing is your computer have several hundreds of drivers and not every one of them is from the same manufacturer so does this mean that you have to go to each manufacturer's website to download an updated driver?

Wrong! Because you can actually get your drivers regularly checked and the needed drivers are automatically downloaded with a driver update management software! You can get a free driver scan with Uniblue. And if you like the driver scanner so much by Uniblue you can purchase it for a discounted price of $29.95 so that you can have the peace of mind that your computer won't slow down or crash because of updated drivers.


Paid To Go To School?!

I was watching the news on TV when I almost fell of my seat when I heard the plan that children here in Canada (especially children of the First Nation) will be paid to go to school! Like what? What an absolute rubbish idea. But this is not the first time this crazy idea was thought of, bribing kids to go to school was already discussed during the not so far past.

Paying kids to go to school here in Canada is such a stupid idea. Rather than making students develop some sense of responsibility and independence, the government is putting up the wrong image that the government will provide EVERYTHING for them! This is why there are already so many bums out there who just sit doing nothing and then expect to get help from the government for welfare.

The thing is students here in Canada are given FREE and of GOOD QUALITY education. Other students in third world countries would kill to get an opportunity to go to school and the students here are just taking that for granted.

Rather than using money (which could be used for other better cause) to encourage students to go back to school, why not show them the harsh reality and FACT that if they don't go to school their lives would be miserable and hard because they won't get a better future because they are uneducated.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Male Breast Reduction

Yup you heard me right! Male breast reduction! Now why would any male in their right mind would want a surgical procedure that would reduce the size of their breasts when males have not much of a breast to remove in the first place?

Well you're partly wrong and right. All though males don't have big breasts like women do but when you're fat or obese you tend to have fat build up under your breasts thus having the impression that you have man boobs. The enlargement of the breasts is medically called gynecomastia and gaining a few weight is not the only cause for breasts to implode like that especially in the case of males.

Excessive weight training can cause the hypertrophy or excessive enlargement of the pectoralis muscles (chest muscles) or it could also be caused by hormonal imbalances, especially if a man has more female sex hormones in his system than male sex hormones.

But what ever the cause maybe male breast reduction is really needed as man boobs are not good to look at and this could greatly cause psychological problems for men.

So my dear students have you learned anything from my topic? If not well you can go directly to the source of this info. And if you need any surgical procedures of any nature and you want to know why you have to have such a procedure onlinesurgery.com is a great source of information.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Teen Pregnancy Pact

I don't know what teenage girls were thinking at a local high school in Massachusetts, USA that they made a pact with each other that they should all be pregnant! Like why?! Don't they know that being a parent entails great responsibility?'

Is it because of Hollywood that makes being a teenage pregnant mother seem so glamorous? And to think that some of the babies of the teenage girls have the same father: a 24 year old homeless guy!

Parents should really have a talk with their teenage children and open them to the real world. Teenager should be thoughts about the future and to make them aware that the present and the now is not the only world that they will have.

There is the future. If all they seek is unconditional love and attention, sure a baby companion can give you that but how about the baby? Doesn't the baby need love and attention too? Do you think that the baby would have a great future if your a teenage jobless mom?



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Story taken from CBC.ca

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

David Vetter - The Boy in the Bubble

This is David Vetter and he is well known as The Boy in the Bubble. You would see here in this picture his innocence and his youth... but all of that is slowly going to fade away...

You see David was born with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) meaning he has no immune system. The common cold could kill him and therefore he must continue to live in a sterile germ-free environment, a bubble free of germs.

David was a happy and kind boy but as he matured and grew his emotions became more mature for a young boy. He wasn't a teenager yet but he was already becoming to have these dark moods and he wanted to be alone because he felt that he had no where else to go... he was going to die... there was no need to continue on living...

He was trapped in a cage as he saw his childhood friends and family members growing up and leaving him to explore the world and live their own lives. David was actually built a space suit so that he could explore the world around him. But he was always terrified to leave his bubble because if he was exposed even a tiny bit with a leak in his space suit he could die.

My heart was totally crushed as this young boy faced so much hardship but he remained strong and made it up to the age of 12. But sadly even though his doctors tried to save him, he still died after a bone marrow transplantation. The operation was a success but they weren't able to detect that the bone marrow harbored inactive viruses that caused a tumor which in turn caused massive hemorrhaging in David's intestines...

Seeing David suffer for so long emotionally for so long was heart wrenching... I am thankful that with our technology today 90% of newborns with SCID are successfully treated and doesn't have to live a life in isolation.

When David died, it was the first and last time that his mother was able to touch him...

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Slave: The Cat Star Chronicles Review

Finally, after waiting for just a few days, I received my own copy of Cheryl Brook's very first supernatural-romantic novel, Slave: The Cat Star Chronicles.

I thank Danielle, Ms. Brook's lead publicist, for sending me a copy of Slave and I apologize that it took me a while before I could make my review. But here it goes.

I received my copy just before the day that I was scheduled to go to Manila and I have to say that it was great timing indeed because I now know that I have a great book to read whenever I'm bored or have nothing else to do.

Slave is nothing like the books that I have read before and this is very true indeed. Sure I am fond of reading supernatural stories but I have never encountered a work such as Slave that is very descriptive that I could actually see, feel, taste, smell, and hear what the protagonist of the novel, Jacinth, is experiencing!

The words used in this novel are so stimulating and so descriptive that it actually keeps you up all night and you are addicted to it and I find it hard to drop and leave the book because the urgency to know what happens next is so strong!

I also showed my friend the book and just by looking at the cover she knew immediately that the content is hot and spicy but as the saying goes, "Don't judge a book by it's cover!" She just read the first line and she was already hooked to it! No kidding! She has my book right now because she practically loved it and thanked me for lending it to her.

The novel is romantic in nature but I loved the way Ms. Brook's incorporated witty jokes into it. The plot is very easy to understand and follow and Ms. Brooks makes it a point to discuss how things in the story came to be.

I am looking forward to reading the next installment of the Cat Star Chronicles: Warrior which I heard is going to be released this October 2008.

If you want to know more about Ms. Cheryl Brooks please check out my entry about her: A few Minutes with Cheryl Brooks.


Monday, May 12, 2008

Midnight Snacks Won't Pack Fat

Ok I have been guilty of sneaking into the kitchen to grab a midnight snack (but only once, I'm so defensive hehehe). What can I do? I was going to bed and my stomach was begging me to eat something. So I did grab something from the refrigerator a Del Monte made recipe "Pizzarap (coined from the words pizza and masarap (yummy)". It was really yummy, it was made from cheese and ham rolled into a pan de sal (a type of bread) but it was more of a taco looking than a sandwhich... I actually had two slices...

Anyway I was guilty and all saying that I'm trying to loose weight but all I do is eat and eat and I ate at midnight when my metabolism is lower. But! Hear me out peepz! I have a scientific research to back me up!

According to Daniel J. Denoon, Midnight Snacks Won't Pack Fat! Activity and not meal timing is the key to weight control. You see they did these experiments with monkeys (since they are very similar to us) and they compared if nighttime meals made the monkeys heavier as compared to monkeys who have midday snacks.

Guess what? No change at all. Both monkeys still became fat. But some stayed lean because they were more active (monkey exercise, Lol!). And for those who believes that eating late at night makes you fat, that is a myth!

"If it were true that nighttime eating made you fat, everyone in Spain would be obese -- because they don't eat dinner until 10 p.m." as said by Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD
So hurray for me! A scientific study saved me from my "lapse of judgement" hehehe. Anyway I still have to look at what I eat though... I just hope there's an easier way to loose weight.

Update: Anyway, although you can have that midnight snack, please do try to sit awhile and don't go to bed directly as you might have another problem and it's not gaining weight... it's gastric reflux. It's when what you ate goes back to your esophagus because gastric acid (which is stronger when there is food) burns the esophageal sphincters which then leads to our heartburn. Also try sleeping lying at your left side so that the normal anatomical position of the stomach would help prevent the sphincter from being burned.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

CPR: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Lately what I feared the most had happened. I was sitting in front of my computer happily blogging when all of the sudden I thought, "How do you do CPR again?" And that's when it hits me, my being out of the clinical area for one month has weakened my thinking ability and I now forgot how to do Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. And to think I even had a Basic Life Support training that I had from Red Cross.

But there's no need in crying over spilled milk, I have to review and reacquire that skill which I believed I was already good at. So how do you perform CPR? Here is a graphic illustration of the steps in CPR which I guess summarizes everything I need to remember:
Here are some facts and tips that I have remembered:
  • the brain is damaged after 3 minutes of no air and dies after 4-5 minutes without oxygen
  • always add "1000" after every number when counting from 1 to 30. Adding a "1000" word will make the pace of chest compressions regular and mimic the normal beat of the heart.
  • If you are in a scene of an accident always look around and check if the scene is safe, you do not want to become one of the victims
  • Always remember the ABC... Airway (check for obstruction and tilt head and chin back to open airway), Breathing (check if the person is breathing), Circulation (check for a pulse).
  • Do not bend your elbows when doing chest compressions, doing so will deliver a weak and ineffective chest compression
For more information on CPR you might want to visit health.howstuffworks.com.


Student Nurse to Doctor Relationships

Before you think that this is some post about a love interest between a student nurse and a doctor I might just as well inform you beforehand that this is not what you're thinking. Besides the student nurse me and the doctor is a guy so definitely no. this is an experience that I would want to share with you guys.

I always get jittery whenever doctors are around, but being on duty at the operating room even made things worst and I was very jumpy. The doctors in the operating room were very nice and I was a bit at ease but I was also nervous because it was my first time to scrub-in in an actual operation. The surgical procedure was only a minor case, just an excision of a fibroadenoma at the left breast. A fibroadenoma is a non-cancerous benign lump that is found in breast tissue. When felt under the skin, the lump may feel rubbery and easily moveable within the breast tissue. Fibroadenomas are commonly found in young women during their reproductive years (New York Times). It's caused by normal estrogenic fluctuations (Wikipedia) and it could be removed with out any worries.

The tumor looked like this when removed. The surgeon was very skillful! Even with lacking instruments (the operation wasn't held in the main hospital mind) he was able to make use of his fingers and got that tumor our perfectly! What even made this doctor, Dr. Perez, even more amazing is that he took nursing as his pre-med course! Wow that is really amazing! I even learned a lot from him and he was so nice and showed me a cosmetic style of suturing so that scarring could be put to a minimum. What did I tell you? Amazing!

Well I was very lucky that I was around very understanding doctors because I was stuttering (oh I hate myself) and I was being jumpy! Imagine? I called the doctor Ma'am! And the doctor was a guy! Oh oh... good thing the conversation was about a female clinical instructor at Xavier University. Ooh I am so dead!

Thinking of the things I did that they makes me want to kill myself. The doctor was talking to my colleague and I interrupted their conversation because I needed more suture (I was the scrub nurse so I was sterile). Oops, sorry doc! I did not notice that you guys had a conversation (why didn't I ask my other colleagues instead?).

Ooh I am such a mess! But at least the operation was a success and it was all thanks to Dr. Perez! hehehe.

But a thought comes into my mind. Why do doctors want to be called Doctor and not sir? Isn't sir a sign of respect? But maybe it's because the word "sir" is equated to nurses and patients. Oh now I get it hehehe. ^_^

Losing Sight After Drinking Water

(Click Picture to Read Article)

As the very old cliche goes, "Too much of something is bad for you". And this includes substances that are supposed to be good for the health, but when these substances are abused then these become bad for the body; toxic even.

This article is really extraordinary. Imagine drinking 7 liters of water everyday, one would really bloat. Chronic water intoxication leads to hyponatremia as the sodium found in the blood is diluted. As sodium is diluted there is less pressure that retains the water in the blood vessel. If we recall, water will always follow sodium. But since there is no more sodium in the blood vessel then the water seeps into the interstitial tissues and outside the blood vessel.

It's ironic too that the woman drank water to lower her blood pressure not realizing that hypervolemia (an increase in body fluids) would lead to hypertension. And it is this hypertension plus the swelling of the brain cells from all the water lead to occipital bleeding that also lead to the woman being blind.

This is a classic example of a tragic story of health conscious people overdoing their so called health regimens that aren't approved by most health practitioners. Remember people that the recommended water intake per day is only 8-10 glasses per day and not 7 liters per day.

***
I got this e-mail from my mom. She always has interesting health related e-mails that she sends me.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

The Attack of Missy the Doggie

This is one of my best writing so far that I have done in my blogging life that is related to health. ^_^ Just thought that I would share it again with everyone.

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I have a cute doggie called Missy and she's very hyperactive! But there are times that she's calm and just lays around sleeping. Sometimes I think that she might have Bipolar I disorder but again how would I know? A Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) for dogs doesn't exist... yet hahaha!


As I was saying, Missy has these manic times and it's quite alarming! She runs back and forth and then she jumps on you! Good thing she's not that big. One thing that is quite alarming is she loves to bite as her sign of affection. Ouch that's a painful way to say you like someone.

It's a good thing though that we have already vaccinated Missy with Anti-Rabies. Rabies (Latin: rabies, "madness, rage, fury") by the way is a viral zoonotic neuroinvasive disease that causes acute encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) in mammals (Wikipedia).

The first symptoms of rabies may be nonspecific flu-like signs — malaise, fever, or headache, which may last for days. There may be discomfort or paresthesia at the site of exposure (bite), progressing within days to symptoms of cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, confusion, agitation, progressing to delirium, abnormal behavior, hallucinations, and insomnia. The acute period of disease typically ends after 2 to 10 days (6). Once clinical signs of rabies appear, the disease is nearly always fatal, and treatment is typically supportive (CDC).

The virus is spread through the saliva so if your pet is infected and your pet licks you and you have breaks in your skin, you could be infected! You don't have to be bitten to be infected! It could also be spread through aerosol (or saliva droplets when your dog barks) or when you touch contaminated items.



Anti-rabies vaccines are always available at health centers for free so if you are bitten by any animal always consider that animal rabid! Wash the wound, apply antiseptics, and rush to the nearest health center or hospital. Don't wait until the symptoms progress and it's too late!

And also, be responsible pet owners! Have your pets vaccinated and don't allow them to stray outside (they can get rabies from stray dogs).

Monday, April 28, 2008

What Causes Liver Damage?

I received this e-mail from my mom. She always sends me e-mails about anything that relates to good health.

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The main causes of liver damage are:


1. Sleeping too late and waking up too late are main cause.
2. Not urinating in the morning.
3. Too much eating.
4. Skipping breakfast.
5. Consuming too much medication.
6. Consuming too much preservatives, additives, food coloring, and artificial sweetener.
7. Consuming unhealthy cooking oil. As much as possible reduce cooking oil use when frying, which includes even the best cooking oils like olive oil. Do not consume fried foods when you are tired, except if the body is very fit.
8. Consuming raw (overly done) foods also add to the burden of liver. Veggies should be eaten raw or cooked 3-5 parts. Fried veggies should be finished in one sitting, do not store.

We should prevent this without necessarily spending more. We just have to adopt a good daily lifestyle and eating habits. Maintaining good eating habits and time condition are very important for our bodies to absorb and get rid of unnecessary chemicals according to "schedule."

Because:

Evening at 9 - 11 pm: is the time for eliminating unnecessary/toxic chemicals (detoxification) from the antibody system (lymph nodes).This time duration should be spent by relaxing or listening to music. If during this time a housewife is still in an unrelaxed state such as washing the dishes or monitoring children doing their homework, this will have a negative impact on health.

Evening at 11pm - 1 am: is the detoxification process in the liver, and ideally should be done in a deep sleep state.

Early morning 1 - 3 am: detoxification process in the gall, also ideally done in a deep sleep state.

Early morning 3 - 5 am:
detoxification in the lungs. Therefore there will sometimes be a severe cough for cough sufferers during this time. Since the detoxification process had reached the respiratory tract, there is no need to take cough medicine so as not to interfere with toxin removal process.

Morning 5 - 7 am:
detoxification in the colon, you should empty your bowel.

Morning 7 - 9 am: absorption of nutrients in the small intestine, you should be having breakfast at this time. Breakfast should be earlier, before 6:30am, for those who are sick. Breakfast before 7:30am is very beneficial to those wanting to stay fit. Those who always skip breakfast, they should change their habits, and it is still better to eat breakfast late until 9 - 10am rather than no meal at all.

Sleeping so late and waking up too late will disrupt the process of removing unnecessary chemicals. Aside from that, midnight to 4:00 am is the time when the bone marrow produces blood. Therefore, have a good sleep and don't sleep late.

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My Thoughts: I'm guilty of sleeping late and waking up late! I better do something about this if I don't want my liver to be damaged.