Due to a great number of cases of H1N1 infected people, my friend became not so worried since she knows that there are still no reported deaths on swine flu here in RP. But now, we have the very first Swine Flu death. Now everyone must open their eyes and still worry. Everyone could be a victim. Although the cause of death of patient is congestive heart failure secondary to acute myocardial infarction aggravated by severe pneumonia – either bacterial, viral or both, I could say that her, having H1N1, trigger the body to weaken and not able to fight the diseases present. Here is the article that I have read from yahoo.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) reported yesterday the country’s first death from Influenza A(H1N1), a 49-year-old mother who was known to have other pre-existing illnesses.

The latest total count of infected cases nationwide soared to 445 after 17 more were recorded yesterday. The good news, however, is that out of the total cases, 374 have fully recovered.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that based on the autopsy report, the viral infection was not the primary cause of the death, but rather “congestive heart failure secondary to acute myocardial infarction aggravated by severe pneumonia – either bacterial, viral or both.”

“This one is a very interesting case. It embodies several high-risk and pre-disposing factors that accelerated the death (of the patient). It is in line with what we have been saying for several weeks, that complicated cases will be encountered,” Duque noted at a press conference.

Aside from congestive heart disease, the patient was found to have tuberculosis, enlarged liver, kidney and spleen, tumor in the uterus and tyromegaly or goiter.

The patient was not even in the DOH’s records of suspected and confirmed A(H1N1) cases and had no history of travel to countries that have the virus.

According to Duque, the patient came home from work with a cough last June 17 and developed fever, cold and chills the following day so she did not report for work.

On June 19, the patient was no longer able to take her breakfast and suddenly experienced difficulty in breathing. She died even before the doctor called by her family arrived.

The next day, the brother notified Duque about the incident and throat swab samples were collected from the patient.

The specimens tested positive for A(H1N1).

Read More Here

Are you living an healthy lifestyle, doing plenty of exercise, eating fresh vegetables and fruits ? Never on coke, fries, snacks, pizza and burgers ? Then you are probably what we can call a healthy person : nice skin, looking young, fresh, sporty. No ? you’re not ?

Indeed, sometimes an healthy lifestyle is not enough in order to lose weight or just stay in good shape and avoid health issues. This is why dietary supplements can help you find your way to a brighter future, far away from the stress session when you put your feet on the balance.

In fact, if you’ve just some pounds to get rid of, diet/weight loss pills are the perfect, natural diet supplements you should consider.

More and more people turn to these diet pills when they want to look slimmer and sexier, especially before the summer.  They are the perfect supplements you should take with or before each meal if you want to avoid fat absorption or burn fat the quick and easy way. Another way to lose weight would be to carefully select appetite suppressant pills, hoodia based diet pills made of the purest P57 ingredient. Thanks to hoodia, this famous South African plant, thousands of people can control their appetite and avoid excess food consumption.

• I was browsing the net and found the news about DOH confirming 4 more Pinoys with H1N1 flu.
  

This is an article from yahoo about the recent news about H1N1 Flu in Philippines.

WASHINGTON – If you're looking for a little help shedding extra pounds after the holidays, the government is warning you to stay away from nearly 30 weight-loss products that contain unlisted and possibly dangerous ingredients.

The pills are advertised as "natural" fat busters and have intriguing names like Imelda Perfect Slim and Zhen de Shou. Some are touted as new versions of "ancient remedies" from Asia.

They may promise an easy fix to weight problems, but the Food and Drug Administration on Monday said the concoctions contain unlisted ingredients, including high doses of a powerful anti-obesity drug, as well as a suspected carcinogen.

"When consumers are buying these products online, we're telling them that if it sounds too good to be true, it is likely to be too good to be true," said Michael Levy, an FDA lawyer who works on enforcement issues.

FDA lab testing found 28 dietary supplements that could land unsuspecting users in the emergency room. Most of the diet pills appear to be coming from China. They are mainly sold on the Internet.

Nearly all of the pills contain sibutramine, a powerful appetite suppressant that's a chemical cousin of amphetamines. It can cause heart attacks, strokes and heart palpitations, especially in people with a history of high blood pressure or heart problems.

Sibutramine is also the chemical ingredient in the prescription drug Meridia, which is used to treat obesity. But FDA testing found that some of the diet pills contain nearly three times the recommended daily dose.

Several of the pills contain phenolphthalein, a chemical long used as a laxative, but which is now being withdrawn from the market because of cancer risks.

None of the supplements lists the dangerous ingredients on the label. "Consumers have no way of knowing that these products contain powerful drugs that can cause serious health consequences," said Dr. Janet Woodcock, head of the FDA's drug evaluation center.

The FDA is considering criminal charges against some of the companies, because they have not responded to requests for recalls.

The products are:

Fatloss Slimming, 2 Day Diet, 3x Slimming Power, 5x Imelda Perfect Slimming, 3 Day Diet Japan Lingzhi, 24 Hours Diet, 7 Diet Day/Night Formula, 7 Day Herbal Slim, 8 Factor Diet, 999 Fitness Essence, Extrim Plus and GMP.

Also:

Imelda Perfect Slim, Lida DaiDaihua, Miaozi Slim Capsules, Perfect Slim, Perfect Slim 5x, Phyto Shape, ProSlim Plus, Royal Slimming Formula, Slim 3 in 1, Slim Express 360, Slimtech, Somotrin, Superslim, TripleSlim, Zhen de Shou, Venom Hyperdrive 3.0

___

On the Net:

FDA warning: http://tinyurl.com/8oufor

Did you know?

* This year, more than 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.
* Almost 10,000 women will develop cervical cancer.
* All women are at risk for breast and cervical cancer, even those who have no family history of the disease.
* Survival rates are high for women who detect breast and cervical cancers in the early stages, when the cancer is small and has not spread.



What can you do?

* Get regular mammograms, clinical breast exams performed by your doctor and Pap tests. *
* Do breast self-exams monthly, beginning at age 20.

Other things you can do to reduce your risk of cancer include eating a variety of healthy foods with an emphasis on plant sources, adopt a physically active lifestyle, maintain a healthy weight, stop smoking and limit your alcohol intake.

* Refer to your individual plan for benefit coverage and information about age and frequency for these screenings.

Other things you can do to reduce your risk of cancer include eating a variety of healthy foods with an emphasis on plant sources, adopt a physically active lifestyle, maintain a healthy weight, stop smoking and limit your alcohol intake.


Source: American Cancer Society

A one-year-old Argentine baby boy apparently had the same fate as wild child Mowgli in Disney's film The Jungle Book, when he was found being kept alive by cats on the streets.

Police officers who found the tiny lad were surprised to see how the cats snuggled up to keep him warm during freezing nights, which would otherwise have claimed his life.

The animals licked the baby boy as he ate scraps foraged by them.

They even hissed when a female cop approached the boy in Misiones, Argentina.

The tot was rushed to hospital, where doctors uggested that he was kept alive by the care he received from the animals.

Policewoman Alicia Lorena Lindgvist found the baby by a canal in the Christ King district on Wednesday.

"I was walking and noticed a gang of cats sitting very close together. It is unusual to see so many like that so I went for a closer look and that's where I saw him. The boy was lying at the bottom of a gutter. There were all these cats on top of him, licking him because he was really dirty," the Sun quoted her as saying.

"When I walked over they became really protective and spat at me. They were keeping the boy warm while he slept," she added.

Alicia also revealed scraps of food were lying by the kid.

"I picked him up and took him to the nearest police station. He was still really dirty and he was then taken to the hospital. The doctor who examined him said he should have perished in the cold," she said.

"The cats knew he was fragile and needed protecting," she added.

The police have found the baby's father, who himself is a homeless man.

The tot's father has admitted that he had lost him several days ago while collecting cardboard to sell.

He even revealed that his son had always received good care from cats.

Explaining how the boy could have survived due to the cats' behaviour, a spokesman for Thames Valley Animal Welfare, which deals with feral cats and strays in Berkshire, said: "They would have viewed the baby like a big hot water bottle. Cats will cuddle up to anything to keep warm, even dogs."

He added: "In our experience of cat colonies, when a mother has a litter, all the other cats will go and fetch food. The baby could have been feeding off the scraps they brought. Cats in Argentina stay in large packs to survive - much more than cats over here."

Source-ANI
SRM

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Brittle bones are a known consequence of alcoholism, and now new findings suggest that even young men are at risk of developing low bone mass. Surprisingly, a similar risk was not seen in their female counterparts.

In a study of 57 alcoholic adults between the ages of 27 and 50, researchers found that one quarter of the men had lower than normal bone mass. Just 1 of the 20 women the researchers examined had a deficit in bone mass.

The latter finding, the researchers speculate, might be explained by the women's relatively high estrogen levels that, for the time being, may have protected their bone mass.

In contrast, men had no such hormonal protection and, like their female counterparts, showed high deficiency rates of vitamin D, which is important in maintaining bone mass.

The findings suggest that even young alcoholic patients should have their bone mass and bone metabolism screened, the researchers report in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

"The fact that even relatively healthy young male alcoholics -- without any kind of liver disease -- show low bone mineral density is an important finding," lead researcher Dr. Peter Malik, of the Medical University Innsbruck, told Reuters Health.

It's thought that alcoholism leads to bone thinning, in part, because of toxic effects on the body's bone-forming cells. However, indirect effects may be at work as well; alcoholics often have poor diets and little exercise, both of which can drain bone density.

Malik pointed out that in this study, bone density was not related to the duration of patients' alcohol dependency or to the amount of alcohol they had consumed before going into treatment.

This finding suggests that alcoholic patients' lifestyle habits may indeed contribute to waning bone density.

It's not clear whether bone density improves if the alcoholics are able to stop drinking, Malik said, as few studies have followed young recovering alcoholics' bone health over time. He and his colleagues now plan to study that question.

SOURCE: Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, February 2009.