HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  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

ONE THEORY ON THE MECHANISM OF DISEASE In recent years scientists have focused their attention on a disease that some attribute to an abnormal form of a protein called a PRION. The theory is that disease results when defective prions bind to normal prion proteins, causing the normal protein to misfold. The result is “a chain reaction that propagates the disease and generates new infectious material” says the journal Scientific American. What may have been an instance of prion-based disease first came to public attention in the 1950’s in Papua New Guinea. Certain isolated tribes engaged in a form of cannibalism for religious reasons, and this led to a disease called KURU, with symptoms similar to those of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Once the afflicted tribes gave up this religious ritual, the incidence of KURU rapidly declined, and it is now virtually unknown.                                                          AMAZING DESIGN! Happily, though, proteins are usually folded correctly a

      Genetically modified crops are banned in most European and North America countries and are not grown in these areas. But in Africa the opposite is what is happening, genetically modified crops are found everywhere in Africa. What are the dangers in genetically modified crops? What can be done about it?    Biotechnology has moved at such a dizzying pace that neither the law nor regulating agencies can keep up with it. Research can scarcely begin to prevent unforeseen consequences from arising. A growing chorus of critics warn of unintended results, ranging from severe economic dislocation for the world’s farmers to environmental destruction and threats to human health. Researchers warn that there are no long-term, large-scale tests to prove the safety of genetically modified [GM] food. They point to a number of potential dangers.    If a gene producing a protein that causes allergic responses ended up in corn, for instance, people who suffer from food allergies could be exposed to

Like barnacles, marine mussels attach themselves to rocks, wood, or ship hulls. However, unlike barnacles, which fasten themselves tightly to a surface, marine mussels dangle by a network of thin filaments called BYSSUS THREADS. While this method increases the mussel’s flexibility for feeding and migration, the threads seem too flimsy to withstand the impact of ocean waves. How does the byssus allow the mussel to hang on and not be swept out to sea? Byssus threads are stiff on one end, yet soft and stretchy on the other. Researchers have found that the precise ratio used by mussel- 80 percent stiff material to 20 percent soft –is critical for providing the strongest attachment. Hence, the byssus can handle the force of dramatic pulling and pushing by marine waters. Professor Guy Genin calls the results of this research stunning, adding that the magic of this organism lies in the structurally clever integration of this compliant region. Scientists believe that the design of the byssus t