MANILA – Facebook users beware. Psychologists are now probing a new kind of addiction called Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD).

Psychologist Dr. Michael Fenichel, who has published numerous writings on FAD online, describes it as a situation in which Facebook usage “overtakes” daily activities like waking up, getting dressed, using the telephone, or checking e-mail.

“The amazing thing is that, like cellphones, nobody seems to notice the vast amount of time and energy – at work, at home, and now while on the move – people are devoting to Facebook. It has become a given,” Fenichel writes in an online post titled “Facebook Addiction Disorder- A New Challenge?”  Read more... (190 words, estimated 46 secs reading time)

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MANILA, Philippines – The first of two of the largest high-energy food shipments from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) arrived in the country yesterday for victims of storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng.”

Stephen Anderson, WFP country director, said the first 100-metric-ton shipment of nutritious biscuits was loaded from Turkey and flown to the Philippines on TNT’s Boeing 747-400 extended range freighter for immediate distribution to various evacuation centers in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Anderson said another 100 tons of biscuits will arrive on Oct. 24, in a continuing effort to provide food assistance to flood victims.  Read more... (218 words, estimated 52 secs reading time)

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MANILA, Philippines – Health officials warned the public yesterday of an increase in cases of leptospirosis and other water-borne diseases in calamity areas that are still flooded after Luzon was ravaged by tropical storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng” in the past two weeks.

From Sept. 29 to Oct. 12, the Department of Health (DOH) recorded 181 leptospirosis cases, with 152 of the patients reported in Metro Manila.

Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease caused by exposure to water contaminated with the urine of infected animals, particularly rats. This can happen by swallowing contaminated food or water or through skin contact, especially broken skin, or through the eyes or nose.  Read more... (159 words, estimated 38 secs reading time)

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BANGKOK (AFP) – – An experimental AIDS vaccine has for the first time cut the risk of infection in humans in what scientists Thursday called a “breakthrough” in the quarter-century fight against the epidemic.

The vaccine reduced the chance of being infected by a third, researchers announced after the world’s largest trial of 16,000 volunteers, carried out by the US Army and Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health.

The surprising result comes after years of fruitless attempts by the medical world to find an HIV vaccine, including one trial jab that apparently boosted infection rates.  Read more... (202 words, estimated 48 secs reading time)

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Several days after being charged by critics with siding with drug companies, Malacañang acknowledged on Friday that it prefers a voluntary reduction of medicine prices, sharing the position of the drug industry.

Asserting that the President is not required by law to impose a price ceiling on drugs, deputy presidential spokesperson Gary Olivar said the Palace would like to see voluntary action from the industry to comply with a new law cutting by half the prices of essential medicines. Drug prices in the Philippines are among the highest in Asia.  Read more... (345 words, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)

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WASHINGTON (AFP) – – Global use of cocaine, heroine and cannabis fell last year while production of stimulants rose, the UN drugs chief said Wednesday as he presented the United Nations’ annual report on drugs.

“The embedded story in this report is that the markets for the three main drugs — cocaine, heroin and cannabis — are on a downward trend,” UN Office on Drugs and Crime executive director Antonio Maria Costa told reporters in Washington.

But production of man-made amphetamine-type stimulants — including methamphetamines and ecstasy, which is harder to track — was up, the report showed.  Read more... (165 words, estimated 40 secs reading time)

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Popular anti-viral drug Tamiflu now sells at P150.50 per capsule. – APMANILA, Philippines – Prices of flu drugs and vaccine have surged up to three times their normal prices, aggravating the Philippines’ Influenza A(H1N1) crisis as demand from health-conscious buyers is making the product scarce and increasingly expensive.

The Philippines, which is lagging behind other countries in the race for securing ample supplies of anti-swine flu vaccine, has listed 604 confirmed cases and one A(H1N1)-related fatality so far. It is now under pressure to take decisive steps in reducing mortality related to the novel virus.  Read more... (200 words, estimated 48 secs reading time)

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GENEVA – Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG said yesterday it has successfully produced a first batch of swine flu vaccine weeks ahead of expectations.

The vaccine was made in cells, rather than grown in eggs as is usually the case with vaccines, the company said.

The announcement comes a day after the World Health Organization declared swine flu a pandemic. WHO says drugmakers will likely have vaccines approved and ready for sale after September.

Swine flu, also known as Influenza A(H1N1), is now formally a pandemic – a declaration by UN health officials that is expected to speed vaccine production and spur government spending to combat the first global flu epidemic in 41 years.  Read more... (216 words, estimated 52 secs reading time)

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GENEVA (AFP) – – The swine flu has escalated into the world’s first influenza pandemic in 40 years, the World Health Organization declared, after infecting tens of thousands of people in 74 countries.

WHO Director General Margaret Chan said the declaration of a “moderate” pandemic should not spark panic and did not mean the death toll from A(H1N1), which currently stands at 144, would rise sharply.

The UN body said it was not recommending the closure of borders nor restrictions in movement of people, goods and services. But it warned the virus was spreading beyond the Americas where it was first detected in April.  Read more... (253 words, estimated 1:01 mins reading time)

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HONG KONG (AFP) – Hong Kong officials have found traces of cocaine in cans of Red Bull, a few days after Taiwanese authorities confiscated close to 18,000 cases of the popular energy drink.

Officials at the Centre for Food Safety said a laboratory analysis found tiny amounts of the illegal drug in samples of “Red Bull Cola”, “Red Bull Sugar-free” and “Red Bull Energy Drink”, a spokesman said.

The drink has now been taken off the shelves of major supermarkets, the spokesman said in a statement issued late Monday. He added the amount of cocaine found in the drinks posed little health danger.  Read more... (125 words, estimated 30 secs reading time)

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