U.S. Slow to Learn of Mexico Flu (Swine Flu)

U.S. public health officials did not know about a growing outbreak of swine flu in Mexico until nearly a week after that country started invoking protective measures, and didn’t learn that the deaths were caused by a rare strain of the influenza until after Canadian officials did.

The delayed communication occurred as epidemiologists in Southern California were investigating milder cases of the illness that turned out to be caused by the same strain of swine flu as the one in Mexico.

In the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks, the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and the more recent emergence of H5N1 bird flu in Asia, national and local health authorities have done extensive planning for disease outbreaks that could lead to global epidemics, or pandemics. Open and frequent communication between countries and agencies has been a hallmark of that work.

Whether delayed communication among the countries has had a practical consequence is unknown. However, it seems that U.S. public health officials are still largely in the dark about what’s happening in Mexico two weeks after the outbreak was recognized.

Asked at a news conference yesterday whether the number of swine flu cases found daily in Mexico is increasing — a key determinant in understanding whether an epidemic is spreading — Anne Schuchat, an interim deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said, “I do not know the answer to those questions.”

As of yesterday, U.S. officials had reported 11 domestic cases, none fatal. Last night, Mexican health officials reported more than 1,300 suspected cases and 81 deaths “probably linked to the virus.”

The earliest case found in Mexico was a 39-year-old woman who died April 12 of severe viral pneumonia in San Luis Potosi, a city of about 700,000 in central Mexico.

“That attracted the attention of the epidemiologist there,” said Mauricio Hernández, deputy minister for disease prevention and health promotion in Mexico’s Federal Department of Health.

The national Health Department surveyed 33 hospitals and uncovered about 120 cases, five fatal, of respiratory illnesses that appeared unusual. Initially, the investigators thought they were seeing an unusually severe outbreak of seasonal flu. Authorities urged hospitals to make sure their workers were vaccinated with this year’s flu shot and advised physicians to treat flu cases with the antiviral drug oseltamivir.

On April 16 or 17, Mexico notified the Pan American Health Organization of the outbreak, Hernández said. The organization, based in Washington, is the Americas’ branch of the World Health Organization. Spokesmen for both groups were not able to say yesterday when the influenza or pandemic planning offices at WHO’s Geneva headquarters learned or were informed of the Mexico outbreak.

In recent years, Mexico has done extensive pandemic planning with Canada and developed a close relationship with the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. Tests on virus samples from the Mexican patients suggested the strain was different from this year’s flu. So on Monday, Mexican officials sent lung and throat swabs to Canada to be characterized.

The CDC, in Atlanta, is one of WHO’s four “reference laboratories” for flu. It routinely gets samples from Mexico and many other countries, and processes them with great urgency, Nancy J. Cox, the head of the flu lab, said last night. It, too, eventually received the Mexican samples.

“The only reason the samples went first to Winnipeg is because the paperwork is easier. We were in a rush,” Hernández said.

The samples arrived in Canada on Wednesday. Six hours later, Mexican authorities were told that 16 of 17 had tested positive for swine flu and that it was the same strain just isolated by the CDC from the very different cases in California.

The next day, Mexican health authorities contacted the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services and said their country’s outbreak and the U.S. cases appeared to be two parts of the same event. That same day, the Mexican samples arrived in Atlanta. They were tested in four hours, and Mexico was informed that they pointed to swine flu.

(source: washingtonpost.com)

Ah Beng !!!

One day in a language school in Australia.

Teacher : “All right, now I’d like you to make a sentence using the words GREEN, PINK and YELLOW. Who’d like to try?”

A student raised his hand. It was Kukoya from Japan. Kukoya : “Early this morning, I looked out the window, I saw the GREEN grass and PINK roses in the garden. I went outside and I feel the warm YELLOW sunlight around me”

Teacher : “Not bad. Okay, who’s next?”

Another student raised his hand. It was Ah Beng from Singapore.

Ah Beng : “I try! I try. Can aaah?”

Teacher : “No, no, not you”

Ah Beng : “Aaaiiyaaa… let me try lah… I can do lah… you think I’m stupid meeh..?”

Teacher : “Okay.. go ahead”

Ah Beng : “This morning I heard the phone GREEEEEN… GREEEEEN… I PINK up and I said YELOOOOW?”

Teacher : ??

============ ========= ========= =========
Ah Beng bought a new mobile.
He sent a message to everyone from his Phone Book & said: “My Mobile Number.
Has changed. Earlier it was Nokia 3310. Now it is 6610″

============ ========= ========= =========

Teacher: “I killed a person” convert this sentence into future tense
Ah Beng : The future tense is “u will go to jail”

============ ========= ========= =========

Ah Beng : If I die, will u remarry?
Wife: No! I’ll stay with my sister. But if I die will u remarry?
Ah Beng : No, I’ll also stay with your sister.

============ ========= ========= =========

Ah Beng told his servant: “Go and water the plants!”
Servant: “It’s already raining.”
Ah Beng : “So what? Take an umbrella and go.”

============ ========= ========= =========

A man asked Ah Beng why Ahmad Badawi goes walking in the Evening and
Not in the morning
Ah Beng replied Ahmad Badawi is PM not AM

============ ========= ========= =========

Ah Beng : I am a Proud, coz my son is in Medical College.
Friend: Really, what is he studying.
Ah Beng: No, he is not studying, they are Studying him.

============ ========= ========= ========= ===

Ah Beng : Doctor, in my dreams, I play football every night.
DR: Take this tablet, you will be ok.
Ah Beng : Can I take tomorrow, tonight is final game.

============ ========= ========= =========

Ah Beng : People consider me as a “GOD”
Wife: How do you know??
Ah Beng : When I went to the Park today, everybody said, Oh GOD! U
Have come again.

============ ========= ========= =========

Ah Beng complained to the police: “Sir, all items are missing,
Except the TV in my house.”
Police: “How the thief did not take TV?”
Ah Beng : “I was watching TV news…”

============ ========= ========= ========= ==

Ah Beng comes back 2 his car & find a note saying “Parking Fine”
He Writes a note and sticks it to a pole “Thanks for compliment.”

============ ========= ========= =========

How do you recognize Ah Beng in School?
“He is the one who erases the notes from the book when the teacher erases
the board”
Gubrag…. *&^%!@

============ ========= ========= =========

Once Ah Beng was walking he had a glove on one hand and not on other.
The man :”Why U do that?”.
Ah Beng : “The weather forecast announced that on one hand it would be cold
and on the other hand it would be hot.”
The man: ..*!&@^%#$

============ ========= ========= =========

Ah Beng in a bar and his cellular phone rings.
He picks it up and Says “Hello, how did you know I was here?”

============ ========= ========= =========

Ah Beng : Why are all these people running?
Man – This is a race, the winner will get the cup
Ah Beng – If only the winner will get the cup, why others running?

———— ——— ——— ——

(source: next door milist)

Interview Success

The interview focuses on “what you say” and “how you say it”. In this step, we focus on “what to say”.

As you know, there are many different types of interviews and interview questions. You can review the different. Let’s keep it simple. You’re going to be asked about:

• What you know – about your work experience, education, training, goals, character, personal qualities, the job that you’re seeking, the company that you’re interviewing for, and the knowledges required to perform the job that you’re seeking.
• Identify a problem or issue – given a situation, find the problem or issue. The question may focus on a situation that you’ve handled in the past or how you would handle a hypothetical situation.
• Identify a solution – given the problem or issue, how do you proceed? The question may focus on a problem or issue that you’ve handled in the past or how you would proceed in a hypothetical situation.

Interview Day Preparation

• If you’ve followed the Interview Success Plan, you should be ready by the day before the interview. For most people, we recommend completing your preparation the day before the interview.
• Get your rest.
• Don’t get distracted or excited by little things, don’t schedule meetings over controversial issues, or do anything that might break your concentration.
• Taking into account the time of your interview and traffic, go early to find parking and make sure that you have money for parking meters.
• Dress appropriately. If you’re applying for a job where you haven’t worked before, visit the offices of facilities. See what other employees in positions similar to the one that you’re seeking are wearing. Dress at least at that level or higher. Don’t visit on a Friday, you may find yourself dressing for casual Friday.
• Be early. If the interviewers are ahead of schedule, they’ll appreciate the opportunity to get an early start.

(source: www.job-interview.net)

Meals Guidelines for Diabetes Mellitus Patient

It’s not different need between diabetes patient and non diabetes; the food should support physical and psychological activity, also keep the ideal weight. The only different is diabetes patient should control between food and insulin or oral drugs, and blood glucose.

To plan the food pattern, patient should think about;

1. Food quantity requirement

2. Meals schedule

3. Kind of food

Good planning could help to control blood glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, which could reduce stroke and heart attack possibility.

Food quantity

Food quantities depend on;

1. Age

2. Sex

3. Height and Weight

4. Activity

5. Condition (Pregnant, illness, etc)

Nutrition need could determine by doctor or nutrition expert. Composition could match with food pyramid like figure above.

1. Fat, glucose, salt

2. Protein (milk, cheese, yogurt)

3. Protein (chicken, meat, fish, tofu/soybean, nut)

4. Vitamins and minerals (vegetables)

5. Vitamins and minerals (fruits)

6. Carbohydrate (rice, corn, noodle, bread, biscuit, etc)

Meals schedule

Best schedule is implementing well, small quantities but often. Schedule should match with:

1. Activity

2. Behavior

3. Insulin/ drugs schedule

Ex: 3 times meals, 3 times snack

Kind of Food

Patient should choose some food which could bring down diabetes risk.

1. Eat more Varian and small size

2. Full of nutrition

3. Fresh, a lot of fiber and vitamins

4. Favorite food, but think about controlling blood glucose, cholesterol, etc

Carbohydrate

1. Food with a lot of fiber ( rice, corn, bread, etc)

2. Whole wheat or oats

3. Brown bread (wheat) better than white one

Vitamins

1. Fresh fruits/vegetables, without chili, salt, or sugar

2. Consume brighter vegetables (green, yellow dark, etc)

3. Consume fruit directly better than juice

Protein

1. Better to consume fish or chicken

2. Do not consume chicken skin

3. Do not consume meat fat

4. Vegetables protein (tofu, nut, soybean, etc)

5. Cook the food without oil

Fat

1. Less oil for cooking

2. Less consume fried food

3. Less cheese, butter, chocolate, mayonnaise, cream, milk, etc.

4. Consume low fat products

5. Calorie 1 spoon oil = 4 spoon rice

Others

1. Less/ do not consume glucose

2. Used glucose only for cooking

3. 1 spoon glucose = 2 spoon rice ( high calorie)

4. Less/ do not eat food with salt Ex: Cornet, meat ball, chips, etc.

Note

1. Diabetes patient could enjoy the meals with family

2. Every one had advance from diabetes menu’s

Indonesian New Hope

Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with his democrat party has lead 20 % in election, much more from 2004 with only 7.5 %. Mr. President had implemented a lot of plan, reduce the poverty, respect others, good management, consistent on corruption problem, good fuel price policy, etc. Those things has bring a lot of citizen choose democrat party, which is mean Mr. Susilo has the power from citizen to retain his position.

After election, each political party put their brain to conclude the best coalition, to arrange a great strategy for winning next president and vice president. First step of course to choose figures as candidates. Based on some observer, it’s not difficult to Mr. Susilo to choose his vice president, but there are a lot of names. Hidayat Nur Wahid from PKS will be one of them, and same abserver also said that Hidayat had the same style (Calm, thinker, can’t take decision immediately), “Mr. Susilo should find some one with different style, just like Jusuf Kalla”, Sutrisno Bakhir from PAN also has capacity.

In the other hand, Megawaty from PDI-P, Jusuf Kalla from Golkar, Prabowo from Gerindra, Wiranto from Hanura could become great contenders. Every thing still can be happen in July.

In Aceh, Democrat Party has a great competitor from local party (Especially from PA /Aceh Party) which can bring Democrat down. This is a moment when Acehnese believe their local party to lead their Province again. As we know that Mr. Irwandi (Acehnese Governor) came from PA, so if in Jakarta we will see Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono became President, will we meet Irwandi as Mr. governor again??

“Say No To Mega “??

I read “Say No to Mega” for the first time a few days a go, on my facebook, there was a group. I do not know who the creator was, but based on detik.com, Mulyana (he was a member of election commission) said that the group is illegal and do not respect to Mega as one of President Candidate. This political temperature is increased lately and anything could be the reason to send someone to jail.

Ok, let’s talk about Mega now. Megawaty Soekarnoputri is a daughter of Indonesian 1st president, Mr. Soekarno. Mega is the leader of PDI-P (Political Party) and she was Indonesian 5th president. Her party tag line is to fight for lowest people. I think it’s so hard for her to implement the blue print.

When she was a president, she only manages her party. She makes promise that not a drop of blood would fall in Aceh, but she keep sent more troops to Aceh. Her sale INDOSAT (Indonesian Satellite Company) to Temasek Singapore, I do not know what was in her mind. It’s totally unbelievable. Sales a great company which contain a lot of Indonesian Top secret to Singapore. She also sale Pertamina Ship, Basically….she sale the country.

So, do you agree if same one said “Say No to Mega”??

Warren Buffe’s Advice for 2010

We begin this New Year with dampened enthusiasm and dented optimism. Our happiness is diluted and our peace is threatened by the financial illness that has infected our families, organizations and nations. Everyone is desperate to find a remedy that will cure their financial illness and help them recover their financial health.

They expect the financial experts to provide them with remedies, forgetting the fact that is these experts who created this financial mess.

Every new year, I adopt a couple of old maxims as my beacons to guide my future. This is self-prescribed therapy has ensured that with each passing year, I grow wiser and not older.

This year, I invite you to tap into the financial wisdom of our elders along with me, and become financially wiser.

Hard work: All hard work bring profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty

Laziness: A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current

Earnings: Never depend on a single source of income. (At least make your investments get you second earning)

Spending: If you buy things you don’t need, you’ll soon sell things you need

Savings: Don’t save what is left after spending. Spend what is left after saving

Borrowings: The borrower becomes the lender’s slave

Accounting: Beware of little expenses; a small leak can sink a large ship

Risk-taking: Never test the depth of the river with both feet (Have an alternate plan ready)

Investment: Don’t pull all your eggs in one basket

I’m certain that those who have already been practicing these principles remain financially healthy. I’m equally confident that those who resolve to start practicing these principles will quickly regain the financial health.

Let us become wiser and lead a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful life