Jose Florencio Fabella Lapena Jr.

Publications (95) View all

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  Available from: Jose Florencio Fabella Lapena Jr.

  Article: Editorial independence and the editor-owner relationship: good editors never die, they just cross the line.

  J F Lapeña
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  ABSTRACT: The concept of editorial freedom or independence is examined in the light of the editor-owner relationship. Like individual and national freedom or independence, it is a rhetorical concept whose realisation flows from internal achievement as much as it depends on external validation. This freedom entails roles and responsibilities embodied in specific codes of practice for editors, such as the guidelines espoused by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and the World Association of Medical Editors. The calling to embody these guidelines makes editing a vocation that demands isolation and distancing, separation and solitude. It involves bracketing one's biases, prejudgments and preconceptions. With such detachment comes real freedom; one that requires a moral fibre and trustworthiness that uphold truth and right, whether in full view of public scrutiny, or in the aloneness of private secrecy. The stereotypical tension between academic and commercial concerns highlights the editor-owner relationship, and bears directly on editorial independence. In practice, journal owners overstep their prerogatives. The absence of clear contracts defining editorial independence and the lack of established mechanisms governing the editor-owner relationship affect many small- to medium-sized journals in developing countries. Even large journals in developed and democratic nations or totalitarian states and societies are not spared. At the end of the day, editorial freedom exists only insofar as it is tolerated, or until editors cross the line.
  Singapore medical journal 12/2009; 50(12):1120-2. · 0.73 Impact Factor
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  Available from: Jose Florencio Fabella Lapena Jr.

  Article: Embryonated duck ("balut") eggshell aspiration in a one-year-old boy.

  J F Lapeña
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  ABSTRACT: A one-year-old boy with two months' chronic cough and dysphonia, unresponsive to therapy for pneumonia, had a radiopaque, wedge-shaped tracheal foreign body noted on anteroposterior, but not lateral radiographs, and he eventually became aphonic. Laryngoscopy yielded a subglottic embryonated duck eggshell. Foreign body aspiration should be considered in the presence of chronic cough. Radiopaque airway foreign bodies may be metallic or calcific. The patient was fond of sucking soup from a partially-shelled embryonated duck egg. The last occasion occurred immediately before the onset of cough. The hard egg white of the same delicacy is a commonly-ingested oesophageal foreign body in the Philippines, but the preceding slurping of the amniotic fluid predisposes one to unusual eggshell aspiration. With the continuing global migration of overseas workers and their families, healthcare providers with Asian and Southeast Asian clients should consider such cultural practices in assessing symptoms suggestive of aerodigestive foreign bodies.
  Singapore medical journal 06/2009; 50(5):e170-1. · 0.73 Impact Factor
• Article: Neuromuscular disorders presenting as congenital bilateral vocal cord paralysis.

  J F Lapeña, R G Berkowitz
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  ABSTRACT: Congenital bilateral vocal cord paralysis (BVCP) can be associated with an underlying neuromuscular disorder, and may present before other features of the neuromuscular disorder become apparent. All infants less than 12 months of age presenting with BVCP between July 1987 and July 1999 at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, in whom a neuromuscular disorder was subsequently diagnosed were followed. Three children in whom BVCP was diagnosed soon after birth and before recognition of an underlying neuromuscular disorder were identified. All presented with upper airway obstructive symptoms at birth, had a diagnosis of bilateral abductor vocal cord paralysis made at awake flexible laryngoscopy, and had no underlying structural laryngeal abnormality on microlaryngoscopy and bronchoscopy. Two children required a tracheostomy, and 1 child was weaned from nasopharyngeal continuous positive airway pressure after 3 weeks. Subsequent neuromuscular symptoms were recognized between 4 months and 7 years later, leading to diagnoses of facioscapulohumeral myopathy, spinal muscular atrophy, and congenital myasthenia gravis. In each case, the prognosis for recovery from symptoms related to BVCP reflected that of the underlying neuromuscular disorder. This experience suggests that congenital BVCP may be a feature of an unrecognized neuromuscular condition. This possibility should be considered particularly in the presence of associated neurodevelopmental or neuromuscular dysfunction, or in cases in which BVCP is progressive.
  The Annals of otology, rhinology, and laryngology 11/2001; 110(10):952-5. · 1.05 Impact Factor
• Article: Airway problems in children of deaf parents: two case reports.

  J F Lapeña, R G Berkowitz
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  ABSTRACT: Airway problems in children usually present with audible symptoms, making them potentially unrecognizable when both parents are deaf. Other hearing observers may not be available to appreciate audible symptoms and polysomnography is inappropriate as a screening tool. We present two cases that highlight the need for additional vigilance and a greater index of suspicion for the presence of significant upper airway obstruction in dealing with the children of hearing-impaired parents.
  International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 02/2001; 57(1):77-8. · 1.17 Impact Factor
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  Available from: Jose Florencio Fabella Lapena Jr.

  Article: Precautions for the prevention of plagiarism.

  Murat Enoz, José Florencio Lapeña
  Revista medica de Chile 12/2007; 135(11):1494-5. · 0.33 Impact Factor