November Blessings – Filipinos Floating & New Medicine Recommendations

What life has blessed me recently with.

Filipino

• Pixar’s touching animated short Float is one of the best new things on Disney+
  • Disney/Pixar’s first-ever all-Filipino CGI animated film is in Disney Plus Streaming Service app.
  • “The animated short film “Float” created, produced, and directed by Filipino American writer/producer Bobby Rubio, was part of the Pixar Sparkshorts experimental storytelling project that let Pixar personnel develop short films with their own stories.
  • Float is about the fear of not being able to protect someone you love and learning to let go.”
• Carlos Bulosan’s “America is in the Heart”
  • Published in 1946; This novel captured Carlos Bulosan’s life as a Filipino American then, but his words still resonate with the greater immigrant experience today.
  • “America is not a land of one race or one class of men. We are all Americans that have toiled and suffered and known oppression and defeat, from the first Indian that offered peace in Manhattan to the last Filipino pea pickers … America is in the hearts of men that died for freedom; it is also in the eyes of men that are building a new world.”
  • “If you want to know what we are, look at the men reading books, searching in the dark pages of history for the lost word, the key to the mystery of the living peace. We are factory hands, field hands, mill hands, searching, building and molding structures. We are doctors, scientists, chemists discovering and eliminating disease, hunger and antagonism. We are soldiers, Navy men, citizens, guarding the imperishable dreams of our fathers to live in freedom. We are the living dream of dead men. We are the living spirit of free men.” ― Carlos Bulosan
• Filipino American authors you should be reading
  • “Here are ten contemporary Filipino American authors, the tip of the iceberg of our writing community that has proliferated and flourished”
• 10 Filipino American books that made me feel more Filipino
  • Another list of some great Filipino-American books
• Maria Orosa & banana ketchup
  • “Maria Orosa was a scientist, an activist, a humanitarian, and a war hero who loved her country and dedicated her life to uplifting the Philippines through food innovation.
  • Banana ketchup, while probably the most beloved of Maria’s creations, is just a small part of her great and many contributions to food history.
  • Her creations were intended to bring forth self-sufficiency and empowerment for her nation—and yet, in this day and age, it’s hard not to see that Maria symbolizes so much more.”
  • As Chef Navarra says, “It’s amazing that she basically is the Filipina food hero. Ingenuity in a time of need which I think captures the Filipino spirit.”
• Pinay Migrants Gasp For Air In South Korea’s Closed Society
  • “The barometer for calling ourselves an advanced society is how we treat migrants–those who are invisible and who will settle for so little.”
• Filipino anime series adaptation of Carlo J. Caparas’ “Kamagong” Komiks champions Filipino arnis
  • A Filipino anime based on Filipino martial arts?! My heart!

Medicine

• American Thoracic Society: Diagnosis and Treatment of Adults with Community-acquired Pneumonia
  • Really good. Read it!
  • “Question 5: In Adults with CAP, Should Serum Procalcitonin plus Clinical Judgment versus Clinical Judgment Alone Be Used to Withhold Initiation of Antibiotic Treatment?
  • Recommendation: We recommend that empiric antibiotic therapy should be initiated in adults with clinically suspected and radiographically confirmed CAP regardless of initial serum procalcitonin level (strong recommendation)”
• Performing different kinds of physical exercise differentially attenuates the genetic effects on obesity measures: Evidence from 18,424 Taiwan Biobank participants
  • “Performing regular exercise was found to attenuate the genetic effects on 4 obesity measures, including BMI, BFP, WC, and HC. Among the 18 kinds of self-reported regular exercise, 6 mitigated the genetic effects on at least one obesity measure.
  • Regular jogging blunted the genetic effects on BMI, BFP, and HC. Mountain climbing, walking, exercise walking, international standard dancing, and a longer practice of yoga also attenuated the genetic effects on BMI”
• Patient-Centered Reduction or Discontinuation of Long-term Opioid Analgesics – HHS Guide
  • “Slower tapers (e.g., 10% per month or slower) are often better tolerated than more rapid tapers, especially following opioid use for more than a year.2 Longer intervals between dose reductions allow patients to adjust to a new dose before the next reduction.”
• Incomplete genetic reconstitution of B cell pools contributes to prolonged immunosuppression after measles
  • Measles infection can cause susceptibility to other infections months to years later. Get vaccinated!
  • “Measles results in both viremia and lymphopenia. Lymphocyte counts recover shortly after the disappearance of measles-associated rash, but immunosuppression can persist for months to years after infection, resulting in increased incidence of secondary infections”
• Membrane sweeping and prevention of post-term pregnancy in low-risk pregnancies: a randomised controlled trial.
  • I’v had a lot of success with membrane sweeping pregnant women at my clinic to help jump start labor. It’s nice to review the literature that supports that.
  • “Serial sweeping of the membranes at 41 weeks decreased the risk of post-term pregnancy (87/375 [23%] versus 149/367 [41%]; relative risk [RR] 0.57, 95% CI 0.46-0.71; number needed to treat [NNT] 6 [95% CI 4-9]). “
• World Relief – Change That Lasts
  • “Every community in which we work is different. Our first step is always to learn about the unique challenges each community faces, and the change they want to see.”
• Breastfeeding tips – Susan Yara
• Breastfeeding with inverted nipples – Friedia