Vaccination has been one of modern medicine’s most significant achievements, with early success marked by the eradication of smallpox. The Philippines has historically been proactive in vaccine introduction and reducing childhood mortality. However, recent years have seen challenges including declining immunization rates, vaccine hesitancy, and supply limitations.

To examine the legal and ethical foundations of conscientious objection among physicians, highlighting its constitutional protection, practical implications in clinical practice, and the balance required between a doctor’s moral integrity and the duty to ensure patient welfare without causing harm or abandonment.
 

Hypertension in adult Filipinos is a significant concern for its increasing number (overall prevalence: 22.3). Percentage of thyroid function abnormalities is 8.53% with the greatest proportion of volunteers having subclinical thyroid disease. To our knowledge, there is no available Filipino-based study on hypertension and subclinical hyperthyroidism. The study aims to determine the prevalence of subclinical hyperthyroidism in adults with hypertension. It also aims to determine the difference among age groups and gender with subclinical hyperthyroidism and hypertension.

Tetanus remains a public health threat in developing countries and is associated with a high morbidity and mortality rate. There is paucity of published data regarding the management of tetanus in the Philippines, hence, the study was conducted to determine the demographic, clinical profile, and prognostic factors that are associated with mortality among adult tetanus patients admitted in Cagayan Valley Medical Center (CVMC).
 

In 2017, the American Thyroid Association (ATA) revised their guidelines that when trimester and assay specific TSH reference intervals is unavailable, a TSH cut-off of 4.0 mIU/L replacing the previously recommended 2.5-3.0 mIU/L may be used to define maternal hypothyroidism. It states that levothyroxine treatment is considered if anti-TPO levels are elevated and TSH is between 2.5 mIU/L and the trimester-specific upper limit. These recommendations are a major departure from our current practice because the local TSH trimester-specific reference interval is not applicable due to a different assay used and the anti-TPO result is not readily available. In this population-based study, we aimed to determine and compare the maternal and perinatal outcomes of pregnant women who are euthyroid (TSH 0.3-2.4 mIU/L) versus those with subclinical hypothyroidism at different TSH cut-off levels (TSH 2.5-4.0 mIU/L, TSH 4.0-10.0 mIU/L) treated with levothyroxine.

Tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) is a therapy-related complication resulting from the rapid lysis of malignant cells post-treatment. The control of serum uric acid level plays a key role in its prevention, thus, allopurinol is used. Febuxostat is a novel xanthine oxidase inhibitor and there are currently no recommendations for using such in the prevention of TLS, hence, this study was conducted. This study aims to determine the efficacy of febuxostat in the prevention of TLS.

Rising prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) suggests its correlation with liver failure worldwide. To date, there is no proven pharmacologic therapy for NAFLD. Pentoxifylline (PTX) with its anti-tumor necrosis factor properties has shown improvement of histological parameters, reductions in transaminase levels and serum cytokines among patients with NAFLD. The main objective is to determine the effectiveness of PTX in the reduction of progression of NAFLD in terms of reducing levels of aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT), improving liver histology parameters and in decreasing TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8.

Ruptured mycotic aortic aneurysm is a rare and life-threatening condition. An early and proper initiation of antibiotics aside from aneurysmal repair is of paramount importance. The typhidot IgG and IgM may help with this dilemma, especially when the blood culture is negative and during the waiting period for the the aortic sample result. This is a case of a 47-year-old male Filipino with type 2 diabetes mellitus presented with severe back pain for one month and intermittent fever for three weeks.

Severe keratoderma blenorrhagicum (KB) is a rare cutaneous manifestation of reactive arthritis (ReA) which can be indistinguishable from psoriasis, making the diagnosis challenging. This is a case of reactive arthritis in a 33-year-old female presenting with disabling, painful oligoarthritis which was accompanied by generalized pustular and scaly rashes simulating psoriasis.

Ortner’s syndrome encompasses any intra-thoracic process resulting to stretching of the recurrent laryngeal nerve. The stress to this nerve weakens the intrinsic muscles of the larynx and manifests as vocal hoarseness. This is a case of a 46-year-old female was admitted due to progressive hoarseness. She tolerated this for six months until the onset of other symptoms like orthopnea, bipedal edema, and chest pain.

Cryptococcus neoformans (C. neoformans) is a fungus which infects the lungs, meninges, skin and the nervous system. In tropical countries prevalent with tuberculosis (TB), initial clinical presentations of a C. neoformans infection can normally be mistaken as a TB infection. The C. neoformans infection shall then form part of the differential diagnosis. Exposure to C. neoformans does not usually manifest as an infection however, in immunocompromised patients this results to cryptococcosis. This is a case of a 33-year-old male who was admitted due to febrile seizures. He was suspected to be in an immunocompromised state due to multiple sexual partners.