Tag: July 15, 2009

HOW MANY lives can you save by simply giving 450 milliliters of your blood in one sitting?

When a person volunteers to donate his blood, he is subjected to a series of screenings to ensure that he is in good physical condition. This is determined by checking if he has the normal body weight (above 50 kilograms), pulse rate (60 to 100 beats per minute), and blood pressure, among many other criteria. Laboratory tests are also performed to ensure that the donor is free from blood-transmissible diseases such as malaria, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (Aids). Once declared to be in good health, the donor will be cleared to undergo the blood collection process known as “bleeding.”

After the bleeding process, the blood collected will be separated into its different components, which can then be transfused into patients.

“Nazi legislation and Hitler’s ideas are reemerging in Europe via Dutch euthanasia laws and the debate on how to kill ill children.” - Carlo Giovanardi, Italian Parliamentary Affairs minister, March 2006.

Witnessing death right in front of my very eyes is a reality not anymore shocking.

It’s not that I consider death as part of a daily routine. Rather, it is because I have already seen too many deaths even before I officially become a licensed member of a profession which requires the practitioner to revive the human heart by handing prepared doses of epinephrine.

MICHAEL Jackson’s life has always been an open book for the world to read.

We had seen him evolve from a talented child fated to superstardom into one troubled adult beset by intrigues. We had scrutinized the legendary pop icon from head to toe, seen his transformation from “black” to “white,” and watched his rise and fall.

But just as we thought we had finished leafing through the pages of Jackson’s life, the appearance of his 11-year-old daughter revealed a missing page of the Jackson almanac.

“I just wanted to say, ever since I was born Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. And I just wanted to say I love him so much,” said Paris Michael Katherine Jackson last July 7 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles before the estimated 21,000 “M.J.” fans in attendance during a memorial service.

WHEN calcium is not enough, joints begin to shiver.

Back in my elementary days, my mother used to ask me during breakfast to drink milk, instead of coffee or chocolate. She was so strict that even if my brother had Ovaltine on the table, she would put a cup of liquid in front of me and when I look at it, it’s pure white.

It was understandable for a mother to take care of a son who was often teased by his classmates for being lampa back then. Sometimes, this scenario gets me thinking. What if the opposite happened, and I am the one taking care of my mother when she becomes a member of the exclusive club of “senior citizens?” Milk, after all, is not only for babies, it is also for the aging.

BRIGHT and captivating—these are the words that best describe the color yellow. But for former President Corazon “Cory” Aquino, yellow holds a deeper meaning—it symbolizes peace, democracy, and liberty. And hope.

Cory became the last flicker of hope for the Filipino people after her husband Ninoy was killed by agents of the Marcos dictatorship. What followed was a peaceful revolution leading to the historic installation of the first woman president of the Republic of the Philippines, following the overthrow of the iron-fisted Marcos regime in 1986.

Cory’s presidency was hailed as the golden age of Philippine democracy, when all civil liberties were returned, and when the voice of the people was again heard through a plebiscite that put the 1987 Constitution in effect up to this day.

THE DREAM was big—a hassle-free enrollment online for some 30,000 students—but the birth pains were palpable.

The ambitious project was pilot-tested in five colleges from May 23 to June 2 with only 483 enrollees signing up at the online portal. And of the number, only 106 students completed the process.

Fr. Winston Cabading, O.P., director of the Santo Tomas e-Services Providers (Steps), said the program was intended to decongest on-campus enrollment by maximizing the Internet technology.

Online enrollment was initially opened to the Faculties of Medicine and Surgery and Pharmacy, and the Colleges of Nursing, Rehabilitation Sciences, and Architecture.

FINALLY, a sports complex fit for champs.

Construction has begun for the nearly P800-million UST Sports Complex after the Vatican gave its “blessing” to the project, which the University aims to complete in time for its quadricentennial celebration.

University officials sought the Holy See’s approval early this year apparently to avoid a repeat of the 2007 cancellation of the P3-billion project to redevelop the UST Hospital, which the Dominican hierarchy had found to be in violation of ecclesiastical law. UST is a Pontifical university, directly under the supervision of the Pope.

But in a letter dated April 20, Undersecretary Fr. Sebastiano Paciolla, O.P. of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life under the Holy See said there was actually no need for Vatican clearance since the amount required to build the four-story gym -- P788,676,000 -- was below the ceiling set by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

“The cost of [investment for the gym] is met from the internal resources of the University, and thus does not adversely affect its patrimonial situation,” Paciolla stated. “Neither does the project involve any mortgage, lien, loan, renting or leasing in the sense of ‘alienation.’”

THE FACULTY of Medicine and Surgery, one of the country’s leading medical schools, has gained recognition from Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU) for the first time.

A letter from PAASCU dated May 25 confirmed Medicine’s Level 1 accreditation.

Medicine Dean Ma. Graciela Gonzaga said the faculty “re-applied” for accreditation after a preliminary visit held last 2005 went nowhere because of the lack of some requirements. She declined to elaborate.

Gonzaga said Medicine needed PAASCU accreditation to be recognized by the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges, where Gonzaga is president. The faculty also has to reach Level 3 accreditation to be recognized by the Commission on Higher Education.

Accreditation is a means of self-regulation supposed to improve the quality of education among schools.

THE NUMBER of influenza A(H1N1) cases in the University has reached 20 even as the first four infected students have already recovered and are “back in school,” UST Health Service director Dr. Maria Salve Olalia said.

Students in two merged classes at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and another section in the College of Science reported flu symptoms after two students became the latest cases of A(H1N1) on campus. The Health Service declined to give details on the third of the newest flu cases.

Three other classes were placed under quarantine due to a suspected transmission of the virus, Olalia said.

On July 4, the Health Service said 10 individuals tested positive for the virus in laboratory tests.

THE FACULTY of Arts and Letters has launched a five-year plan culminating with the spinoff of its journalism and communication programs into a separate institute, while the College of Fine Arts and Design has implemented a new curriculum, triggering the latest wave of academic improvements in the University.

From 2009 to 2014, Artlets will work toward a curriculum revamp, starting with the reduction of the semestral load of students to 20 or 21 units from 24 units starting next school year.

Under the plan, political dynamics, a prerequisite subject for all courses in Artlets, will only be offered to legal management and political science majors, while introductory computer subjects will be reduced to three from six units.