Insightful, Hopeful - science

India's PC Recycling Centers

noreply@blogspirit.com (Ner Ris) — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 19:09:31 +0200

Being the IT hub that it is, India now has recycling centers for used computers. "E-wastes", as they are called, could be hazardous to health when certain parts of a computer are taken out through unsafe means like burning or boiling.

Though the Philippines is not as nearly e-polluted as India, I hope we too could adapt something like this.

Full story at the BBC Technology section: "India's poor tackle toxic e-waste"

Migraine causes and the DOH

noreply@blogspirit.com (Ner Ris) — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 12:48:25 +0200

Last Monday, I got a mild migraine attack again, and it was very hard for me to concentrate on what I was doing. It was like my reflexes were numb, and I everything was in slow motion. I wanted to know if this was normal so I tried searching in the migraines newsgroup.

Interestingly, I found this link to a booklet written by a dentist, explaining the root cause of most migraines. The title of the booklet is Splitting the Headache.

Most of it actually makes sense. Dr. Jim Boyd, the booklet's author, said that too much teeth clenching while you're asleep is the culprit. He is selling a device that would help prevent the clenching. But too bad it is not available locally.

Speaking of health sites, I am pleased that the Deparment of Health website is updated. The main page has links to information about Bird flu and other important information. It even has a News Monitoring page where you can download health-related news in pdf format. My only comment is that the pdf contents were not scanned symmetrically, thus the pages are not of the same size.
The site is at least a sign that the government (specifically DOH) do care for the people's well-being by providing relevant information. Before I used to be quite envious of health sites produced by the government of other countries like the US MedlinePlus and Australia's Better Health Channel. I hope next time the DOH site would also include information on common diseases in the Philippines and the local medicines suitable for each.

Ouch!

noreply@blogspirit.com (Ner Ris) — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 16:15:00 +0200

I mentioned that I was not feeling well last week. I went to the doctor last Friday, and she told me I had migraines :(

Perhaps I was just stressed, having to go hope quite late because of an activity I had to attend to. I surfed the internet about headaches and found out that there were organizations solely concerning headaches. These are the International Headache Society and the World Headache Alliance.

There is a newsgroup on migraines too.

As for me, I have to take Mefenamic Acid to ease the pain.