‘Construction of life’, I would put it as making such a structure out of the parameters of time such that we do justice to the ultimate creation of nature ‘Human Beings’. But how are we supposed to construct our life? Where is the design? Where are the materials? And of course where is the plot? The beer had worked and like always, the neurons that carried philosophical thoughts were running in my mind. I have always loved this connection between alcohol and our body. Damn, how does it trigger every hidden part of us? Not in an attempt to get lost but to search answers to my questions I walked into the darkness. However hard I try, I just can’t live life without trying to figure it out. Probably it is inside my system to think, to reason and at least try to understand things around me. Things that have already occurred to me or perhaps things that are occurring right now, or may be things that is yet to occur. Understanding all these things might help me to find answers to my questions. “Twenty years” my age or a span of time that describes my existence or probably an account number where I have deposited some wonderful memories, experiences and above all some amazing relationships. Whatever it might be, this measure of time holds in it everything that makes me, the person I am today. Everything I think, each decision I make, every person I love, each one I hate is the consequence of my experiences and the lessons I have learned from life. This philosophy makes me believe that a portray of a person cannot be made on the basis of his look, religion or his financial situation. The distance of time that each of us have travelled ultimately carves out our personality, our identity. Hence in the quest to discover mine I close my eyes to travel that distance in the form of memories. I remember my childhood, the warmth of my mother’s lap, that utmost feeling of security on my father’s arm and obviously the incredible view from his shoulder. Our fundamental perception gives the title of god to our parents .It is not just because they made our existence possible but also because it was they who decorated our innocence and shaped our behaviours, preparing us for the mysterious world ahead. Today I realise that the warmth of my mother’s lap wanted to teach me a lesson that this universe flows in a river of love, friendship and a bond of affection starting it’s course right from there. My father’s arm wanted to teach me the lesson of faith and his shoulder wanted me to vision things ahead, it taught me to dream. The wheels of time revolved making me to enter teenage. My world changed from the shadow of my parents to the unknown darkness; the darkness that was in the form of bad company, a shit like environment, confusions, carelessness, misunderstandings, stubbornness etc. But sometimes later I could see the dawn. I met friends, I fell in love (or was probably just a crush), I started dreaming, visioning, analysing and hence forth believing that there will be sunshine. I often wonder why each one of us has to face that darkness. I guess I now have the answer. It’s like you cannot drive a car if you are not allowed to touch the steering and when you are allowed, you cannot drive safely unless you learn all the tricks. It may happen to you that while learning you make mistakes, break rules and end up with accident. A teenager is similar to that amateur driver who is just allowed to touch the steering of a vehicle called ‘life’. He makes mistakes because no one is perfect enough to learn anything overnight. He makes mistakes because he is confused about the road. He breaks the rule because he doesn’t realise how worse the consequences can be. But he never gives up and tries his best because he is passionate about speeding up. I think at this period of time nobody does injustice to their life by making mistakes and breaking rules. They are just the price to learn the most important chapter of life, “Conscience” “Morality”. Having just crossed my teenage here I stand from where, if everything goes well, in a couple of year I will possibly have one of the finest degrees in the world “Bachelor of Technology” so called Engineering. That alcohol triggering my mind makes me ask a question “Do I deserve it? Am I worth a profession on which mankind relies so much?” Frankly speaking I don’t know but I absolutely know that it was my choice and my conscience tells me that I should believe in what I want to do. I remember the lesson of ‘faith’ learned from my father’s arm. And also thanks to that incredible view from his shoulder, i don’t hesitate to dream. Well future certainly is unknown and always unfolds with the command of time. But we do can anticipate it to be better rather than living in a despair thinking how worse it can be. After ending my journey to the past and the future I slowly open my eyes. Gradually seeing things around me I feel as if I have got the answers. I find myself in the place which actually is everything; a hero in the story of time ‘The present’. When we vision things ahead in the future, we are actually designing life ahead. When we look back into the past, we find ourselves gathering materials in the form of knowledge, lessons. Having made the design and having gathered the materials, we start doing the utmost job called ‘The Construction of Life’ in the land called present. Yes the plot for the construction of life is this running time ‘present’ and the materials required are knowledge, lesson of conscience which we get from past. The design is that goal of future, it is in that vision, it is in that dream. Therefore, to construct a heart throbbing structure of life we need to work hard on present with the track of past and the vision of future. If we fulfil all these parameters of time with extreme effort, we then only will do justice to that extraordinary event of universe called ‘Life’.
Female genital mutilation
Key facts
- Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
- The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women.
- Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later, potential childbirth complications and newborn deaths.
- An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of FGM.
- It is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15 years.
- In Africa an estimated 92 million girls from 10 years of age and above have undergone FGM.
- FGM is internationally recognized as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
The practice is mostly carried out by traditional circumcisers, who often play other central roles in communities, such as attending childbirths. Increasingly, however, FGM is being performed by health care providers.
FGM is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. It is nearly always carried out on minors and is a violation of the rights of children. The practice also violates a person's rights to health, security and physicalintegrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death.
Procedures
Female genital mutilation is classified into four major types.
- Clitoridectomy: partial or total removal of the clitoris (a small, sensitive and erectile part of the female genitals) and, in very rare cases, only the prepuce (the fold of skin surrounding the clitoris).
- Excision: partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora (the labia are "the lips" that surround the vagina).
- Infibulation: narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the inner, or outer, labia, with or without removal of the clitoris.
- Other: all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, e.g. pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing the genital area.
No health benefits, only harm
FGM has no health benefits, and it harms girls and women in many ways. It involves removing and damaging healthy and normal female genital tissue, and interferes with the natural functions of girls' and women's bodies.
Immediate complications can include severe pain, shock, haemorrhage (bleeding), tetanus or sepsis (bacterial infection), urine retention, open sores in the genital region and injury to nearby genital tissue.
Long-term consequences can include:
- recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections;
- cysts;
- infertility;
- an increased risk of childbirth complications and newborn deaths;
- the need for later surgeries. For example, the FGM procedure that seals or narrows a vaginal opening (type 3 above) needs to be cut open later to allow for sexual intercourse and childbirth. Sometimes it is stitched again several times, including after childbirth, hence the woman goes through repeated opening and closing procedures, further increasing and repeated both immediate and long-term risks.
Who is at risk?
Procedures are mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15, andoccasionally on adult women. In Africa, about three million girls are at risk for FGM annually.Between 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are living with the consequences of FGM. In Africa, about 92 million girls age 10 years and above are estimated to have undergone FGM.
The practice is most common in the western, eastern, and north-eastern regions of Africa, in some countries in Asia and the Middle East, and among certain immigrant communities in North America and Europe.Cultural, religious and social causes
The causes of female genital mutilation include a mix of cultural, religious and social factors within families and communities.
- Where FGM is a social convention, the social pressure to conform to what others do and have been doing is a strong motivation to perpetuate the practice.
- FGM is often considered a necessary part of raising a girl properly, and a way to prepare her for adulthood and marriage.
- FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behaviour, linking procedures to premarital virginity and marital fidelity. FGM is in many communities believed to reduce a woman's libido, and thereby is further believed to help her resist "illicit" sexual acts. When a vaginal opening is covered or narrowed (type 3 above), the fear of pain of opening it, and the fear that this will be found out, is expected to further discourage "illicit" sexual intercourse among women with this type of FGM.
- FGM is associated with cultural ideals of femininity and modesty, which include the notion that girls are “clean” and "beautiful" after removal of body parts that are considered "male" or "unclean".
- Though no religious scripts prescribe the practice, practitioners often believe the practice has religious support.
- Religious leaders take varying positions with regard to FGM: some promote it, some consider it irrelevant to religion, and others contribute to its elimination.
- Local structures of power and authority, such as community leaders, religious leaders, circumcisers, and even some medical personnel can contribute to upholding the practice.
- In most societies, FGM is considered a cultural tradition, which is often used as an argument for its continuation.
- In some societies, recent adoption of the practice is linked to copying the traditions of neighbouring groups. Sometimes it has started as part of a wider religious or traditional revival movement.
- In some societies, FGM is being practised by new groups when they move into areas where the local population practice FGM.
International response
In 1997, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a joint statement with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) against the practice of FGM. A new statement, with wider United Nations support, was then issued in February 2008 to support increased advocacy for the abandonment of FGM.
The 2008 statement documents new evidence collected over the past decade about the practice. It highlights the increased recognition of the human rights and legal dimensions of the problem and provides current data on the frequency and scope of FGM. It also summarizes research about why FGM continues, how to stop it, and its damaging effects on the health of women, girls and newborn babies.
Since 1997, great efforts have been made to counteract FGM, through research, work within communities, and changes in public policy. Progress at both international and local levels includes:
- wider international involvement to stop FGM;
- the development of international monitoring bodies and resolutions that condemn the practice;
- revised legal frameworks and growing political support to end FGM; and
- in some countries, decreasing practice of FGM, and an increasing number of women and men in practising communities who declare their support to end it.
Research shows that, if practising communities themselves decide to abandon FGM, the practice can be eliminated very rapidly.
WHO response
In 2008, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution (WHA61.16) on the elimination of FGM, emphasizing the need for concerted action in all sectors - health, education, finance, justice and women's affairs.
WHO efforts to eliminate female genital mutilation focus on:
- advocacy: developing publications and advocacy tools for international, regional and local efforts to end FGM within a generation;
- research: generating knowledge about the causes and consequences of the practice, how to eliminate it, and how to care for those who have experienced FGM;
- guidance for health systems: developing training materials and guidelines for health professionals to help them treat and counsel women who have undergone procedures.
WHO is particularly concerned about the increasing trend for medically trained personnel to perform FGM. WHO strongly urges health professionals not to perform such procedures.
Courtesy: WHO
Facts About The Human Body
1. A human being loses an average of 40 to 100 strands of hair a day.
How to use 100% of your brain
It's easier than you think. You are already doin Contrary to the popular myth that human beings use only a small percentage of their brain, let's say 10%, the truth is all of the human brain is used at one time or another. If you came here to learn how to harness the power of the 90 percent of your brain that you are probably not using, you must be really disappointed right now. Don't fret. I have pretty interesting things to say about the human brain. Know your brain! For one thing, a recent paper by Peter Lennie of the New York University Center for Neural Science suggests that the brain should have a maximum of 3% of its neurons firing at any one time, otherwise the energy required to reset each neuron after it goes inactive becomes simply too much for your brain to handle. The central nervous system of a human being is made up of the brain and the spinal cord. It consists of two types of cells: glia and neurons. Neurons are used for processing information. They are receiving input and sending output between one another all the time. Input checks in through the branch-like dendrites of the neuron, output checks out through the cable-like axons. Surprisingly, each neuron has up to 10,000 dendrites, and only a single axon. This axon is usually thousands of times longer than the neuron's microscopic cell body. The biggest axon in a giraffe is about 15 ft long. The junctions between axons and dendrites are called synapses. These are the places where electrical impulses are transformed into chemical signals. Synapses are like tiny switches, connecting neurons to one another and turning the brain into a huge network. Glial cells constitute the structural framework of the brain; they manage the neurons and keep the house clean by removing debris after neurons die. Glial cells are fifty times more numerous than neurons in the brain. A single human brain is made up of about 3 million miles of axons, 1 quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) synapses, and as much as 200 billion neurons. The neurons spread out side by side would cover the size of 4 football fields. 
g it.
The make-up of the Central Nervous System (CNS)Neurons
Dendrites and Axons
Synapses
Glia or Glial cells
Brain Network
- Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC): used to weigh options and make decisions. It’s responsible for worrying, and is bigger in women than in men.
- Prefrontal Cortex (PFC): rules feelings and emotions and keeps them at bay. PFC puts the brakes on the instinctual amygdala and is bigger in women than in men. It also matures faster in teen girls than in boys by one to two years.
- Insula: used to process gut feelings. Insula is larger and more active in females.
- Hypothalamus: conducts the production and distribution of hormones. It starts pumping earlier at puberty in women.
- Amygdala: our instinctual center - the beast within. Larger in men and is tamed only by the Prefrontal Cortex.
- Pituitary Gland: responsible for the production of fertility hormones, milk and nurturing behavior. The center for turning on the mommy brain.
- Hippocampus: the elephant that never forgets a romantic encounter, a tender moment or a fight, for that matter. Bigger and more active in females.
What color is the brain?
As long as we are alive, our brain is pink with its color coming from the blood vessels. When the brain is dead, it appears gray.
Around 40% of the living brain is made of gray matter and 60% of white matter, but these are not descriptions of the colors of different areas.
What are gray and white matter used for?
Gray matter uses almost 95% of the oxygen consumption of the brain, as this is the area where the actual information processing is done.
White matter is made of a fatty protein called myelin. It sheathes and insulates the highways of communication inside the brain. It links different parts of the gray matter together.
Venus vs. Mars in terms of brain differences?
Recent studies at the Universities of California and New Mexico showed that men had 6 1/2 times more gray matter than women, while women had 10 times more white matter than men.
The women were found to have white matter in a high concentration in the frontal lobes (center for emotion control and judgment), wherein the men had none.
Men’s and women’s brains are very differently wired, but the output of intelligence is the same.
Contrary to popular belief, alcohol consumption does not kill brain cells. It makes new cells grow more slowly.
The temperance campaigners of the early 19th century wanted
all alcoholic beverages banned, so they made up a scientific fact: alcohol kills brain cells.
How does alcohol affect brain cells?
A recent research found that samples from alcoholics and non-alcoholics showed little to no difference in the overall number or the density of neurons between the two groups. A study in Sweden even disclosed that more brain cells are grown in mice that are given moderate amounts of alcohol.
The serious damage caused by alcohol abuse, including damage to the brain, does not stem from the death of brain cells, it is more probable that alcohol abuse doesn't agree with the information processing of the brain.
What is the cause of hangover?
Hangover is caused by the shrinking of the brain due to dehydration. Dehydration causes the brain to tug on its covering membrane, and the membrane becomes sore. The brain has no pain receptors, so it feels nothing, even if you stick a knife in it.
Does alien alcohol exist?
According to a recent astronomical discovery, there is a decent amount of alcohol in our region of the Milky Way. This giant cloud of methanol has a diameter of about 300 billion miles.
Methanol is not ethyl alcohol, therefore it is not consumable by humans. This fact and the cloud's existence suggest that it's for the consumption of some other life-form. This, in turn, suggests that we are not alone.
There are more ways to exchange information in the human brain than the number of atoms in the whole universe. This is the potential that we carry, so whatever percentage of our brains we actually use and however we do it, there is clearly room for improvement.
Plan Your Diet And Be Fit
To be fit you need to have the good diet. Nowadays everyone wants to be smart and look smart and so, many teenager are worried about how they look. Some of them they carryout the light gym classes to be fit. Below are the Science based Facts that will be useful for all age to be fit according to the diet.
1. The growth hormone hGH has for a while been considered a possible potent antidote to aging. The growth hormone replacement therapies substantially increase lean body mass and decrease fat mass in both sexes. Of course this kind of therapy is not widely available and even if it were, it is associated with quite a few adverse effects like heightened glucose intolerance, joint pain, swelling and carpal tunnel syndrome, especially in men. The good news is that fitness exercise, rest, and proper diet and nutrition stimulate hGH secretion. Most of the hormone is released by our body while we are sleeping, during stages three and four of our sleep which are the stages that exercise improves. Intense exercise actually acutely increases growth hormone (it gets released above the anaerobic threshold.
2. Morning exercisers that worked out at least 3.5 to 4 hours per week have easier time falling asleep. Those who exercise aerobically in the evening have more trouble falling asleep than those who exercise in the morning.
3. According to scientific fitness research, resistance training develops greater muscle mass and improves insulin sensitivity and could be helpful in controlling type II diabetes more effectively than just the aerobic exercise.
4. Eating citrus fruits reduces the risk of larynx, stomach, and mouth cancers by up to 50%. This is due to their antioxidant properties which have strengthening effect on the immune system, inhibiting on tumor growth and normalizing effect on the tumor cells.
5. Cheap pedometers (measuring the number of steps we take) may be fun but they are not particularly accurate (read extremely inaccurate). Of course being that placebo effect works well with exercise as long as you believe that it works, you will feel the benefits.
6. We tend to over-focus on our intake of saturated and trans fats. If you happen to love French fries, ice cream or in my case cheese and spinach stuffed pizzas (just thinking about it makes me want it), you need a way to balance things out. Luckily, there is more than one way “to skin the cat”. According to medical science, sonsuming the articles listed below will keep your heart happy:
7. Whole grain: brown rice, breads, pasta, cereals (whole grain), buckwheat, millet, bulgur, oatmeal are all super great for health.
8. Nuts help in lowering down LDL cholesterol levels and prevent heart disease risk. Don't overdo it because of high caloric index (200g/week of walnuts (highest in omega 3s), almonds, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts and pecans should do it).
9. Omega 3s supplements, soy products, flax seed, fish, and krills that are very rich in Omega 3s help in lowering down triglycerides, work as anti-inflammatories, anti-depressants, enhancers of concentration and cognitive function and mood stabilizers.
Start eating fresh water fish at least two times a week but stay away from sea water fish and krills in times of Tsunami’s and nuclear radiation like happened in Japan and if you hear any other problems that comprise the quality of sea water fishes. Also as a general scientific rule, stay away from bottom feeders and large fish as they are high in mercury, supplement with 1-3g or omega3s.
10. Plant Sterols and Stanols help in blocking the absorption of cholesterol. Hard to get through regular diet although they are found in fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables, legumes, and veggie oils. Also, they tends to be added to butter substitutes or you can take it in capsule form (need about 2-3g for maximum effect).
11. Chocolate (me and my family’s favorite) are rich in flavonoid antioxidants that dilate blood vessels and prevent clotting. Of course there is a catch. The goodness hides in nonfat cocoa solids meaning natural cocoa powder is the best, followed by unsweetened baking chocolate, dark chocolate and then milk chocolate and chocolate syrup.
12. Soy and Garlic - the jury is still out on their ability to lower cholesterol. Garlic certainly can’t hurt (except for the killer breath it gives you) but soy can mess with thyroid function so you should not overdo it.
Courtesy:- HubPages
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