How Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 Helped Me as a Student

My Microsoft 2007's OneNote is installed in both my laptop computers -- the Neo and Asus laptops and during my masteral studies, it was an indispensable tool for me.  Before, all I know about MS Office is Powerpoint, Excel and Word.

Working from my computer desk at the boarding house, I often search the net a lot for my assigned oral and written reports as well as research proposal. The internet and OneNote go hand in hand.

When I find nice pictures or drawings I like in the net that were available in the public domain, instead of copying the pictures and pasting in Powerpoint, I use the "Clip"  button of OneNote and then paste them in Powerpoint, without worrying about acquiring a big picture or graphic file that could slow down a computer or a powerpoint presentation.

When I find notable phrases, I either copy and Paste to OneNote the phrase of interest and automatically OneNote pastes also the link of the source of the phrase. I can look at the sentences or phrases pasted in my OneNote later for reference. I do not need to manually write the url in a paper or index card.

One thing also nice about OneNote is you don't need to press save file. You can also conveniently use it for taking notes and share a printed copy with classmates after by saving it as a Word file or pdf.

Elements in the OneNote page can be rearranged and you can place or make checklists of things to do.

During meetings for our research group, I can make meeting notes that are organized.

So you see, you may not be realizing that your Microsoft Office has a very useful application in the form of OneNote. Press the start button and look under All Programs and Microsoft Office, you may have OneNote installed which may be lying around idle.

Go on explore and use it. It is a gem that needs to be tapped.

New Schoolyear: A Preview of Things to Come

As we start the new school year for medical and related fields, allow me to welcome you and show you as well a preview of things to come...

Starting is fun. There will be lots of clowning around as one adjusts to the new environment and meet new friends...

As lessons start, more time will be spent on reading. You will read and read and read, falling asleep in the process... Biochemistry...Anatomy...Physiology...Microbiology...Parasitology...Nutrition...Hematology, etc.

There will be laboratory sessions which are exciting because you get to see "new" things!

But here come the exams and there will be ups and downs in the scores. There will be times you want to sleep the results off, trying to forget a bad score in one exam.

Of course, research is part now of education. You will have to defend your paper in the future. There will be intense grilling by a panel.

But in the end, do not lose sight of your goals. I tell you, in no time, you will finish your course and graduate...

And finally achieve your dreams!

and then start learning all over again.

Life is after all, a continuous learning process.

Welcome students!

Tragedy in Balamban

This was the sad headline that was the front page of Cebu papers this Monday morning. A day of mourning for relatives of those who passed away when a tourist bus booked by a group of 50 Iranian nationals reported to be mostly medical students who had an outing for sight seeing and relaxation fell instead into a deep ravine while traversing the Trans Central Highway in Balamban town Cebu at around 10 AM Sunday Philippine time.

It was supposed to be a day of fun and relaxation. But midway to the day, tragedy struck which left 20 people dead including the Filipino driver. As one can see from the photos of the accident site, the bus bearing the plate GWZ-666 was turned upside down.

Not all of the victims were students. Some of the reported injured were nurses, doctors including an ophthalmologist and a nanny.

Our condolences to the Iranians and the relatives of the other passengers in this accident. I had a classmate in my masteral studies before who was Iranian who was an alumni of one of the medical schools where some of these students were said to have enrolled. I hope he had no relatives among those who died in that tragic accident.

This tragedy brings into mind also the last time when medical and allied medical studies from outside the Philippines as a community mourned the death of their loved ones. It was December 1999 when a ferry sank leaving several Nepalese students enrolled in Cebu schools dead and missing as they were about to enjoy the holidays as a group. A good friend of mine Sujan Shrestha was among the dead.

Here is the link to the story on this recent Balamban tragedy.

Gram Staining Reaction of Organisms Explained

Many students with microbiology subjects often ask me about what happens to organisms during gram staining and what makes an organism gram-positive or negative. As I scan the net for nice resources, I stumbled upon this You Tube video answering the aforementioned questions. I do not know who exactly made this but he did a good job. It gives a nice explanation of gram staining which students can grasp better.



Part 2 is below.



I hope these videos will give students a clearer picture of gram-staining.

Rise in Enrollment in Medical Schools and Medical Technology schools

Some colleges offering medical and allied medical courses have started their classes and many students can be seen rushing to their respective colleges.

One noticeable trend in local schools is the rise of medical school and medical technology enrollment. This may be due to the decrease in opportunities for nursing jobs abroad.


One college offering medical technology for example went from having single-digit number of sections to about 15 sections.

Meanwhile medical schools are also experiencing a resurgence in enrollment. There are even a few international medical students. Are more nursing graduates deciding also to enter medical school since they can hardly get a job opening abroad?

One thing's for sure. It will be a busy year for teachers of these schools.

Welcome freshmen!

Which Statistical Test to Use

In the course of doing research, one difficult decision to make is knowing which statistical test to use and at the start of the research, what is the sample size required.

There are several internet resources for those who are not trained as statisticians and for those without statistical sofware like SPSS or Stata.

One nice website is the Decision Tree for Statistics. It helps in selecting which statistical test are appropriate for the purpose or condition of a particular study or analysis.

I will also recommend this page which collects links to webpages that perform statistical calculations at statpages.org.

Here is also a link to one sample size calculator for medical related studies.

Hope these links will help you.