Apple Unveils Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and Messages App

It looks like OS X Lion will have a short time to stand as the newest update for OS X. Mountain Lion is coming this summer for all Mac users and it’s bringing more iOS features with it to the Mac, including Twitter integration, more iCloud integration, Game Center, Notification Center, Notes, Reminder, etc…

For a full list of what features OS X Mountain Lion is bringing, go to this link. Or you can check out the following:

This is OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

This is notification center

The new Notes app

Game center integration... awesome, no?

This is reminders

Apple has also introduced a new feature called Gatekeeper helping users to specify from which sources apps may be installed on their computers. For a hands-on experience of Mac OS X Mountain Lion, you can check out Engadget or Macworld.

And as promised, Apple has unveiled a new messaging app for the Mac. This new app, called Messages, will replace iChat in function. It will allow unlimited messaging to any iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch running iOS 5.0 or higher. It will also integrate Facetime, whilst supporting normal chatting services such as Gmail, AOL, etc…

This is Messages

The good news? You won’t have to wait long to get Messages. A public beta is already available for you to download (click here). Messages requires OS X 10.7.3.

All in all, a great time to be a Mac user, isn’t it?

Emergency Contraception in Lebanon: The Morning-After Pill – The Scientific Reality

The picture making the social media rounds

This is a guest-post by Christian Sawma, a pharmacy student at the Lebanese American University, in reply to the Nasawiya post on the matter.

We need to start by differentiating between monthly contraception and emergency contraception. The monthly regimen consists of taking one pill per day, regardless of sexual encounters, in order to suppress the normal monthly period and ovulation; this regimen is used for sexually active women who are not wishing to get pregnant. On the other hand, the emergency contraception is used after an unprotected sexual intercourse in order to prevent pregnancy from happening.

The best choice of emergency contraception is a progestin only pill that increases the cervical mucus production and thickness; hence, inhibiting the sperm passage to the fallopian tubes. It is available as OTC (over-the-counter) in the United States and of course in Lebanon under the brand name of Norlevo (levonorgestrel 1.5 mg) – commonly known as the morning-after pill. The latter drug has no purpose other than emergency contraception; it cannot be used as normal monthly contraception.

Pills containing a combination of low concentration of estrogen and progesterone in one pill are used to suppress the ovulation and normal female cycle, therefore, they are used as a monthly contraceptive technique and prescribed as a once per day pill, taken at the same time every day for this purpose.

In contrast, before discovering the effectiveness of Norlevo (levonorgesrtrel 1.5 mg) as an emergency contraception technique, the regimen used was called Yuzpe (named after its founder Dr. Albert Yuzpe). It consisted of giving the combination of those low concentration estrogen and progesterone pills, discussed above, to inhibit pregnancy (before it happens) after an unprotected sexual intercourse, but they are given as multiple pills per day for the emergency contraception purpose. Now that Norlevo hasn’t been available on the Lebanese market since October 2011, the Yuzpe regimen can be used instead.

Estrogen is highly emetic (induces nausea and vomiting), and that is one of the main problems of this regimen: It consists of giving 2 or 4 tablets, of the monthly contraceptive pills, as soon as possible and repeat the same dose after 12 hours. The number of tablets to take is chosen according to the estrogen concentration in the tablets. For the 30 mcg ethinyl estradiol (EE), 4 tabs should be taken, and for the 50mcg EE, 2 tabs are advised. It is important to mention that the tablets of each dose should be taken all together and not separated.

This is a table that clarifies the aforementioned point:

Yuzpe (Microgynon 30) is effective in 75% of the cases, which is not a good statistical number, making it not a very good alternative to Norlevo. In addition, this regimen shouldn’t be followed without referring to your physician or a pharmacist and if vomiting occurs in less than 2 hours post dose, the dose should be repeated.

On the Lebanese market, a lot of brands containing 30 and 35 mcg EE are available. The one that contains levonorgestrel (Norlevo’s active ingredient) in an acceptable concentration for emergency contraception is Microgynon 30, and it is the best choice in Lebanon for a Yuzpe regimen. According to my knowledge, no 50 mcg EE is available in Lebanon for contraception.

In the case of Norlevo or combined oral contraceptive, the effectiveness is not studied beyond the 3 days period. Although the Yuzpe regimen can be given up to 5 days post intercourse, no safety and effectiveness has been proven. In addition, some studies have confirmed that beyond the initial 3 days, it’s neither safe nor effective to use Norlevo or Yuzpe (Microgynon 30).

Always refer to your physician or pharmacist before using a new drug especially if taking other drugs with it or if using it for its unlabeled use (such as in this case). In case of emergency contraception, it is important to refer to them in any case of bleeding or pregnancy post a dose of a progestin only pill, Yuzpe regimen or Ella pill, a new experimental FDA-approved drug that is not yet available in Lebanon.

Adele Dominating The Music Charts

It comes as no surprise at all that Adele is currently reshaping the music sales scene almost by herself. Her second album, 21, which recently won album of the year at the Grammy’s, has sold more than 6.6 million copies in less than a year. Adele has also won 5 other Grammy’s on Sunday, becoming the second female artist to do so in one night, the first one being Beyonce. It’s more impressive to consider that Adele’s Grammy wins come after it was decided to cut down the number of awards.

In a time when musicians are struggling to sell a million copies of an album with a release frame of 2 years per album, she has sold 6 times that much in less than half the time. And get this, almost a year later, 21 is set to have its best sales week ever with estimates of about 600,000 copies sold this week in the United States alone, bringing Adele’s tally to more than 7 million copies sold in a single week.

Astonishing.

Not only that but Adele became the only artist in history to have a number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Hot 200 simultaneously 3 times. Rolling in the Deep was #1 when 21 was #1 back in June, likewise with Someone Like You  (December) and Set Fire To The Rain (January).

21 has been #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 20 weeks, going on even more as no other new releases are getting close to dethroning Adele. There’s even an online game called: “Knock Adele off the charts and win!” In fact, 21 will soon become among the few albums that spent their entire year in the Billboard Hot 200’s top 10. It spent only one week outside the top 5, actually. And with an upcoming release of Rumour Has It, Adele will keep selling and selling.

Her success goes to show that making great music will get you places, regardless of how radio-friendly those songs may be or how “weight-appropriate” the artist is.

Beirut River Turns Red

People in Lebanon’s capital woke up to the following scene of the river that runs at the edge of the city:

Since we’re very close to lent, some people have gotten a new feel for religion and called this a miracle, à la Jesus turning water into wine.

Greenpeace, however, has decided to investigate the matter and has taken water samples from the water. Or it could be a consequence of snow melting, soil erosion, dust or any other natural consequence of the current weather.

Either way, I still have no clue why people call this a river.

AUB Greenpeace Club Unveils AUB Carpooling

As a former AUB student whose life was turned a living hell because of the transportation to and from uni, I have decided to throw my full support behind this idea, hoping it will be very helpful to someone who’s suffering today like I was a couple of years ago.

To make their plan successful, they will need our help in spreading the word. So go to this link and help them out. Share this post, share the link. Do what you have to do.

You need an AUB email to be able to login and register.

Not only will you be helping fellow students who are not “lucky” enough to have their own car, but you will also be helping in your own way in lessening the traffic around Beirut and that horrible parking situation at AUB’s lower campus.

What I hope this becomes is a national initiative of carpooling. God knows we need it. Good job AUB students. Again.