The Anthem Philatelist

March 2023 marks the second year anniversary of the first postage stamp about the pandemic ever to be released.  Twenty one countries and the UN have between them released 68 postage stamps to mark the sacrifice of healthcare workers and patients during the covid-19 pandemic . Three of our esteemed colleagues and beloved mentors, Dr. Dennis Ramon Tudtud and wife Dr. Helen and my IM-pulmonologist mentor Dr. Ruben Escarda sacrificed their lives in the frontlines of the war against the vicious viral adversary. We honor you our beloved fallen heroes- your sacrifices were not in vain.   In the research led by Bertrand Lefrère of the Public Assistance Hospital of Paris, it was found that Iran was first country to post a design on March 2020 (pictured), but the rest of the world followed with stamps depicting healthcare workers, patients, and covid safe behaviours such as social distancing in French Polynesia. In the Philippines, PHLPost has printed 80,000 pieces of stamps i...

I've on occasion been asked, how do you remain fit? Now, I'm going to reveal my secret- Hormesis. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. This is the basic layman concept of hormesis.  Our body responds to transient, acute physiologic stress or discomfort by triggering the adaptive stress response pathways. This reaction makes  our cells - especially the mitochondria, (the powerhouse of the cell) work better, making our body more efficient machines. The stress should be acute; chronic stress leads to debility and disease. One of the most common hormetic activity is exercise.  We stress our heart and muscle  to a certain degree and our body responds by making our muscles stronger, bigger and more adaptive to stamina. As in life and hormesis, too much of anything, including exercise is bad. I ran too much in my 40's and I injured myself then. So now in my 50's, running has become an occasional activity. Fasting is another hormetic activity. I have always skipped bre...