HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  Cancer is overwhelmingly caused by where you are, what you do, and what happens to you in life, rather than by what you are that is your genetic makeup.  Environmental factors are more important than gene factors, smoking causes about 35 percent of cancer, while another 30 percent appear to be related to diet and another fraction caused by exposure to sunlight.  Genetic factors play a part in prostate, colorectal, and breast cancer, even if you have a family history of   cancer what you do with your life is much more important.  Vitamin D is needed for absorption of calcium so that the mineral can take its place in bone and shore up the skeleton against fractures. 90 percent of our vitamin D is made in our skin upon exposure to sunlight.  But excessive exposure can damage the skin thereby causing a type of skin cancer called melanoma. Mild exposure of the skin to the sun is good for the skin that is why morning sunlight is recommended, the time should be between 7am to 10am anytime m

THE VALUE OF BLOOD                     .   The conventional symbol of blood is red, and this generally signifies the danger that might follow the spilling of blood through accident or violence. The red flag of revolutionaries is purported to be symbolic of the blood spilled by heroes during popular uprisings.   Scientifically, blood is the agent that carries the vitalizing agent oxygen to all tissues of the body, and carries carbon dioxide from the tissues for excretion in the lungs. Blood is given to hospital patients in order that they may not die from excessive bleeding or from severe anemia.   Such is the value and importance of blood to all animal and human life that this list could continue indefinitely. Yet all such value and significance can be attributed mainly to tiny particles in blood –the red blood cells.   They are so minute that they cannot be seen by the naked eye and yet no

  The limbic system’s ability to determine “this is it –this is truth,” is vital to creation of our mental realities. As “guardian at the inner threshold” it opens the heart to new understanding and facilitates the process of recollection and learning. In the human mind, perceptions presented by the FIVE SENSES are compared to memory perceptions. Through its instrument, the limbic system, the faculty of imagination harmonizes inner and outer perceptions. The images created by imagination then become material for the intellect. Thus, imagination is the intermediary between perception, memory, and thought. Indeed, thought and learning are made possible by the image making part of the soul. The sixth sense; in primitive species, the only function of the limbic system is the regulation of the sense of smell. As the brain becomes more complex, the limbic system diversifies to regulate aspects of behavior, such as emotional expression, while retaining its tie to the olfactory system. It is i

  Queen Elizabeth 1 of England ordered that the royal table be supplied with a condiment made of it. Charles VI of France sat on cushions stuffed with it. What was the object of this royal ardor? A fragment shrub known as lavender. Anyone who has ever stood amid the purple haze of a lavender field will understand why so many people are captivated by this aromatic plant.       There are over 30 species of lavender. This hardy herb thrives in diverse climates, from the cool air of the French Alps to the dry heat of the Middle East. The plant’s botanical name Lavandula comes from the Latin lavare, meaning “to wash.” It is derived from a custom of the ancient Romans, who perfumed their baths with lavender oil.                                            MEDICINAL VALUE          The medicinal use of lavender dates back nearly 2000 years. During the middle ages, it was a main ingredient in a concoction known as four thieves vinegar, which was used to combat the plague. The vinegar likely deri

  Dolly the sheep was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. Scientists implanted the nucleus of a cell from the mammary gland of an adult sheep into an enucleated egg cell.              According to a report prepared by the National Institutes of Health in the United States, stem cells may hold the key to replacing cells lost in many devastating diseases. These include, Parkinson’s disease, end-stage kidney disease, liver failure, and cancer, to name just a few. Stem cells can also give rise to blood, and they may even make blood banks obsolete, it is claimed. In fact, doctors have been using stem cells for many years to treat certain blood disorders. These treatments have usually involved transplantation of bone marrow, which is rich in blood-forming stem cells, but now doctors prefers to harvest stem cells taken from circulating blood. Because stem-cell therapies hold promise of regenerating healthy new tissues, they come under the general designation “regenerative medicine.” 

  The word “prosthesis” refers to an artificial substitute that replaces a lost limb or body part. Prosthetics is the field of knowledge relating to prostheses. A   prosthetist   is a person skilled in prosthetics and practicing its application.           The first step in manufacturing an artificial limb is fitting a sleeve to patient’s healed  stump . A plaster cast is then made, from which an exact duplicate of the stump can be formed. The model is then used to build a socket into which the new limb is fitted. So begins the journey on the road to producing a fully functional limb to replace the one lost. A newer, more efficient fitting technique is the use of  CAD/CAM  programs to measure the stump. Then a machine carves out an exact replica of the person’s remnant limb.        The  hydraulic knee joint  fitted to a thermoplastic socket that can be heat-molded and reshaped for the patient’s comfort. Comprehensive illustrated catalogs of such items are available from a variety of sou

  The sun; a giant, glowing ball of gas some   850,000 miles in diameter . The temperature at its surface is   over 11,000 F ., hot enough to vaporize any material known to man. Deep within the sun, the temperature rises to over twenty million degrees, a heat we cannot begin to imagine or comprehend.             The sun dominates our solar system, containing more than  99%  of the system’s matter. The sun is a thousand times as massive as Jupiter, the largest planet, and  335 , 000   times  as massive as the earth. And if the sun were hollow,  1,300,000 earths  could be fitted inside!            In short, the sun is immense; it is the unquestioned center of the solar system.            And yet, when compared with other stars, the sun is nothing more than average. There are stars a dozen times as massive as the sun, and others but a tenth as large. There are stars that outshine our sun 50,000 times over, and others just a hundredth as bright.            In fact, the sun is a very middli

  We have touched upon the philosophical notion of aesthetics. Actually, the various other philosophical views are principally a different reciting of the same or similar ideas. We will now consider a scientific conception of aesthetics and beauty. It is contended that we approach art through the needs, skills, and capacities of human organism. More specifically, what we need creates a desire on our part. Whatever satisfies that desire has a quality of beauty to us. In other words, whatever is pleasurable is a kind of beauty, if by beauty we mean that which is harmonious. A sound may be beautiful. A color or from may be beautiful. Even a taste or feeling can be beautiful from the pleasurable point of view. Psychology pursued further the question of whether beauty is totally subjective, that is, indwelling, or partly related to the physical properties within the object we call beautiful. In one scientific study, 4556 university students were subjected to a test. Their preferences in col

Vitiligo, also known as LEUKODERMA is triggered by the loss of pigment-producing cells in the skin. This results in the formation of white spots and patches on the skin. Sometimes Sarah speaks of humorously of her skin condition. She says with a smile, “I was born black, became white, and now I’m just confused.” She has VITILIGO. With some patients the condition never progresses beyond the appearance of one patch. With others, however, it spreads over the body quickly. Still others may suffer a slower form of vitiligo that continues to spread over many years. Vitiligo is neither physically painful nor contagious. Not all cases of vitiligo may be as obvious as Sarah’s because it is most noticeable on dark-skinned people. But there are many people afflicted to one degree or another. Statistics show that between 1 and 2 percent of the population is affected. Vitiligo knows no racial boundaries and affects men and women equally. Its cause is still unknown. While there is no sure cure for v