Petronas Twin Towers

These few days the weather here in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) has been rather hot and dry. The days are hot and sunny and the nights are warm and clear, devoid of any breeze. This is in contrast to last week's when it rains almost every day, both sometimes in the early morning and occasionally in the afternoons as well.

At the moment I work in the medical centre situated on the fourth level of the shopping centre, Suria KLCC, that is annexed to the Twin Towers. Today, after a hard day's work I decided to take a break at the park and take some night shots of the Twin Towers, taking advantage of the clear weather which makes excellent pictures. The park is sprawled right in front of Suria KLCC. Here are the shots. Enjoy!

High Blood Pressure

Recently, I attended an evening talk hosted by Novartis, a renowned drug manufacturer, for some of our medical centre's doctors. Although meant for medical professionals, I, nevertheless, took this opportunity to learn more about this common physiological anomaly as it is so prevalent in our modern society. The facts I gathered was startling!

The main focus of the talk was centred around a program for people who are hypertensive (high blood pressure). Novartis is one of the supporters in Malaysia for this program called "Blood Pressure Success Zone (BPSZ) Program" - the other being Malaysian Corporate Health Advisory Forum (MCHAF).

Basically, this program is a patient's support program designed to encourage them to take their medication everyday. This may sound simple but you will be amazed that a lot of patients do not take their medications as prescribed by their doctor. My mother is an example - she just forgets to take her daily medications to control her blood pressure, although just one tablet per day!

According to a study¹ done by some local medical researchers, here are some facts revealed on patients' non-compliance problem:

1. Non-compliance rate was 56% among patients and non-compliance results in wastage of RM20,261 worth of unused medication per year.


2. Patients in the older age group.


3. Those taking two or more drugs.


4. Patients' forgetfulness.


5. Inability to read instructions on drug labels.

Many people are unable to control their blood pressure because they do not take their medication every day. Most stop after a few months because they feel fine without seeing much symptoms and do not know that they could be prone to a heart attack or stroke at any moment resulting from uncontrolled blood pressure. The program aims to implement preventive measures to reduce risk of complications of uncontrolled high blood pressure which may leads to strokes, heart attacks, blindness or renal (kidney) failure.

Although, initially patients might not feel any different when they start taking their prescribed medication, they will later actually be doing their heart a whole lot of good.

By joining the program, the patient will receive:

• Monthly short messaging services (SMS) on medication reminders and lifestyle advice.


• Educational mailers to remind patient to take their medication regularly and provide health information on blood pressure.


• Learn and improve awareness of hypertension and take appropriate steps to better care of health.

To join the program one needs to just contact your doctor or Novartis.

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¹ Reference: Aziz A.M. and Ibrahim M.I. "Medication non-compliance - a thriving problem" Medical Journal of Malaysia. (1999) 54(2): 192-9.

Portugese Grilled Fish

Grilled fish, or ikan bakar as it is called in Malay, is quite a popular hawker fare in this part of the world. It is really not confine to fish alone but can encompass other seafood like prawns, squids, bivalves (clams), stingray, etc. Before grilling, the seafood is usually marinated with curry powder and served with pounded chilli and sliced shallot sauce. Before eating one would squeezed two halves of a small fresh lime and let its juice drip over the grilled food for a tangy taste.

Recently, I came across this popular grilled fish stall in the foodcourt of a popular shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, done in the Portugese way. This is quite different from the usual style as the seafood is grilled in a aluminium foil folded like a small bag with a an underlay of banana leaf. It is then grilled together with some hot and spicy sauce that taste heavenly! I ordered a mix of ray fish and squids and you can see the red fiery chilli sauce spread across the dish with okra (lady's finger) as a garnishing. Its taste is simply delectable albeit a tad spicy.

Offline Ad

While driving back home this morning from the market, I saw this cab that has a website URL emblazoned across its boot. So much of offline advertising! That's one strategy to DRIVE traffic to your website...offline ads.

Alternative Search Engines

When we mention search engine, one would inadvertently think of Google or Yahoo! But do you know that there are alternative search engines that you can make use of. For a change check out these interesting engines to get a new and different perspective of the internet landscape! You will be surprised at the results as I do.....! Try them!

• www.snap.com



• www.quintura.com



• http://clusty.com



• www.chacha.com



• www.ask.com/w (This is actually Ask X.)