General Health

Food poisoning or acute gastroenteritis is a food-borne illness caused by consumption of contaminated food. While the symptoms vary depending on type of microorganisms causing the illness, most cases would involve nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal cramps and occasionally fever.[1] Adults who are otherwise healthy will experience mild, self-limiting symptoms (recovers in a few hours to days). In fact, antibiotic treatment is not warranted in most cases as long as the…

Being the frugal that I am, I refused to discard a block of expensive gourmet cheese (which I consume little at a time just so that I don’t finish it too soon) despite it looking a little ‘odd’ and smelling a little ‘funny’ after few weeks. No prizes for guessing that I ended up with a good bout of food poisoning. Well, that’s what you get when you eat contaminated…

Mr. Y, a public servant from a small town in Sabah used to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day and finally decides that he wants to quit. Unfortunately, he failed the first time round, even with the help of a quit smoking program. He tried quitting again, with the help of the quit smoking program, prayers from his family and his own determination to stop, he finally succeeded! He…

Recently, I had a conversation with a friend regarding the situation of pharmacists practicing in public hospitals. “Since the number of pharmacists practicing in a public hospital increased tremendously in the past few years, is the workload more manageable now?” I enquired. “Manageable? While it is true that the number of pharmacists have increase, our work efficiency has reduced because the workflow has become more complicated. So, it’s currently worse…

While waiting for my flight to take off, I noticed an obese gentleman painstakingly passing through the aisle and sat right next to me. As my nose is sensitive to dust and smoke, I immediately noticed a strong scent of tobacco smoke from my newfound neighbour’s clothes.   Nevertheless, I offered him a smile of courtesy and observed that he was out of breath while frantically ransacking his bag for…

Sleep is an important component of good health. Obtaining sufficient good quality sleep every night is critical for proper mental and physical functions as well as general well-being. The definition of sufficient sleep differs according to age group. Find out how long of a sleep is considered sufficient.

  BAC Calculator (Blood Alcohol Content) BAC Calculator (Blood Alcohol Content) by Omni

Most of us are aware that the effectiveness or strength of a sunscreen product depends (partly) on its sun protection factor (SPF) value however, what does all the other information on the bottle mean? Lack of proper understanding of these symbols may lead to the selection of an inadequate sunscreen and possibly sunburns. Firstly, labeling requirements of sunscreen products vary depending on the country it is made and marketed in, so…

  Q: When do babies start teething? What are the symptoms? A: On average, children begin teething around 4 to 7 months. The common symptoms include mild irritability, fever, drooling, and an urge to chew. Q: What is the FDA warning about? A: FDA warns the use of teething gel contains Benzocaine. Benzocaine is a local anesthetic which may cause a life threatening condition called methemoglobinemia (reduce of oxygen carried…