Archive for September, 2006

Thank You Lord!

Friday, September 29th, 2006

Gosh! What a week it was! I’m sure many of you, in some way or another, experienced the devastation wrought by Milenyo. Let’s consider ourselves lucky because we managed to survive. Let’s all pray for our dear brethren in Cavite, Laguna and those areas heavily struck by the typhoon.

I consider myself very fortunate because, although I was sent out-of-town for the typhoon coverage, Candaba, Pampanga (where I was for three days) was spared from flooding.  Candaba, as you may have known, is the catch basin of rain water from the surrounding areas of Nueva Ecija, Bulacan and other adjacent towns.  The last time it was submerged in 20 feet of water was last July. Fortunately for its residents, Milenyo did not bring in much water to flood the town. It was a miracle of sorts because no matter where my team and I went, there was no standing water (sige na nga, meron kahit konti…hehe).   

Anyway,I hope everyone is okay. Let’s keep on praying that everyone will be up on their feet and will be able to recover soon.

Thank you Lord for sparing us. Amen.

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Journal Publication

Monday, September 4th, 2006

I recently found out from a friend/thesis partner that our group’s thesis (or part of it) was published in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in December 2000. In the scientific and medical world, being published in a journal means your work is recognized as valid, even as truth, though it can be reversed or debunked pending new research. Anyhow, binibili sya ng mga tao, yun lang yun hahaha.

Here’s the web excerpt.

Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Volume 15 Page H3  - December 2000
doi:10.1046/j.1440-1746.2000.000a8.x
Volume 15 Issue 12
POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION DETECTION OF Helicobacter pylori vacA GENOTYPES OBTAINED FROM DIFFERENT UPPER GASTROINTESTINAL DISEASES IN FILIPINO PATIENTS
Jose Maria M. Villarama II1, Jerly Anne Silvia R. Reyes1, Jose Sebastian Z. Manguiat1 Liza P. Faustino2, Francisco V. Narciso, M.D3, Blanquita B. De Guzman2, Ronald R. Matias1,2 Filipinas F. Natividad,1,2

Objective

The predominant vacA genotype among Filipino patients has yet to be determined. This study aims to determine these common vacA genotypes via Polymerase Chain Reaction detectin using specific primers for each possible genotypes.

Materials and methods

DNA was obtained from 48 paraffin embedded gastrointestinal tissues from 31 patients of St. Lukeîs Medical Center from 1998 to 1999. Twenty-three (23) patients were diagnosed with chronic active gastritis; 5 with chronic gastritis; one with chronic ulcer; and 2 with gasto-intestinal cancer.

Results

From the PCR results, the signal sequence allele having the highest number among the samples was s1b (35%) while m2 was the common midregion type (42%). Among 12 samples completely genotypes, s1bm2 was most prevalent (50%). One samples from a cancer patient had multiple genotypes (s1am1, s1am2,s1bm1, s1bm2)

Conclusion

The vacA genotypes s1bm2 is the common genotype detected among the gastric biopsy samples obtained from Filipino patients.

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