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Between a general and a president Dwight Eisenhower was the four-star general of the United States army who went on to become the 34th president of the country after a blazing military career that saw him take charge of the Allied Forces during World War 2. His time as the supreme commander of the expeditionary forces in Western Europe oversaw the successful allied attack on the shore of Normandy a year before the end of the global conflict. Under Eisenhower, Western Europe was freed from the grip of the Nazis. Later, this American soldier fondly called Ike, took his place in history as he accepted Germany’s surrender and moved on to command the US occupation zone in Germany. But, according to a BBC profile, Ike wasn’t done with mere military triumphs. BBC writes: “In 1952, the popularity which Eisenhower had gained during the war helped him win the Republican nomination for presidency and then the presidency itself. His time in office was dominated by the Cold War. In July 1953, he agreed to an armistice to end the fighting in Korea… Eisenhower was re-elected in November 1956.’’ The historian H. A. Davies in his book, An Outline History of the World, adds more of the outstanding feats of the Eisenhower presidency: it expanded the American nation by admitting Alaska and Hawaii into the Union to bring the number of America’s states to 50. At a critical point when race relations got to a boiling stage, Ike sent fully kitted paratroopers to enforce a Supreme Court ruling on desegregation in a school in one of the states. But although Eisenhower’s flight to fame found its cradle in the military, Americans and observers of contemporary history have shrouded him in ‘presidential’ robes, hardly in military drill. For, they believe, as Ike himself did when, after a victorious military campaign, he chose to go into politics; that you serve your people best on the platform of their summons through the ballot box. So all through his two-term presidency that ended in 1961 and paved the way for JF Kennedy, Ike was never referred to as General Eisenhower. It was President Eisenhower. To be sure, he struck great feats as a soldier. But his martial accomplishments couldn’t take him where the presidency took him. The presidency took him to the abode of the gods on Mount Olympus, whereas his generalship held him to the ground. Eisenhower himself never sought a look into that past. For it would remind him of a discarded past, a yesterday that reminded him of a period he thirsted for fulfillment. Who would wish for a baneful past in a pleasant present? If then, the media or citizenry should take it upon themselves to dress Eisenhower in his old military garment, it would amount to driving him from the present to yesterday. It would be penalty for perceived breach of a sacred duty. That is the bold point The PUNCH newspaper group was making when it announced that its titles were no longer obligated to address Muhammadu Buhari as president in view of his government’s ‘’assaults on the courts, disobedience of court orders and arbitrary detention of citizens .’’ The newspaper declared in its famous editorial with the title, Buhari’s lawlessness: Our stand:’’ As a symbolic demonstration of our protest against autocracy and military-style repression, PUNCH (all our print newspapers, The PUNCH, Saturday PUNCH, Sunday PUNCH, PUNCH Sports Extra, digital platforms, most especially Punchng.com) will henceforth prefix Buhari’s name with his rank as a military dictator in the 80s, Major General, and refer to his administration as a regime, until they purge themselves of their insufferable contempt for the rule of law.’’ Buhari’s media gaffers and all the others rising to lambast the newspaper understand what it translates into to disconnect an old soldier from his new-found presidential love and return him to his ancient habits. It’s real term demotion. It does greatly matter, contrary to what one of the media aides says. There’s something in a name in this case. A name announces who you are. It also announces who you are not, which is more important, if you ask me. If you are an elected president, donning presidential apparel but your gait, outlook, vision and conversation are incongruent with presidential appurtenances, you are a pretender. I should be worried that I am not dealing with the real man. The hood doesn’t make the monk. The hood and monk must come together to make the monk. The hood without the monk is a pretense, a profanity, a pariah. A man and his presidency must abide in the same boat. They can’t be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Those hitting The PUNCH hard understand what is at play. The newspaper understands too. It is the reason it has decided to take such a strong position. It is a fulfillment of the media’s solemn pledge to protect the people when the other bulwarks of preservation of the land crumble or are cowed into acquiescence. There must be voices to stand up in defence of society. One of such voices has been Wole Soyinka, who himself has lately been recuperating from a blistering shock at Buhari’s ‘lackluster performance’. The Nobel Laureate was among the main characters that created Buhari. That’s where it pains, that what you labour to bring into being turns at you to destroy you and your community. So days before PUNCH, Soyinka began the psychological war that employs titles and prefixes to challenge leaders. Knowing how madly we adore titles, Soyinka, exasperated with the way the Omoyele Sowore has been handled by the Buhari regime, addressed the Nigerian leader thus: President-General Buhari. Did we notice what Soyinka was up to? He refused the president his full regalia to protest his ‘desecration’ of the judiciary when operatives of the executive were running rings around court rulings. So he, Wole Soyinka, master of literary language, also drew a circle of words around our beloved president: President-General Buhari. Pray, what does it mean? Splitting one man into two: a general and a president! I wonder why those at The Presidency didn’t notice it to summon Soyinka to the Villa for questioning. Or did they?

https://thenationonlineng.net/between-a-general-and-a-president/

Politics

PHOTO: Getty Images As COVID-19 tests become more widely available across the US, scientists have warned about a growing concern: Many people with negative results might actually have the virus. That could have devastating implications as a global recession looms and governments wrangle with the question of when to reopen economies shuttered as billions of people were ordered to stay home in an effort to break transmission of the deadly disease. The majority of tests around the world use a technology called PCR, which detects pieces of the coronavirus in mucus samples. But “there are a lot of things that impact whether or not the test actually picks up the virus,” Priya Sampathkumar, an infectious diseases specialist at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, told AFP. “It depends on how much virus the person is shedding (through sneezing, coughing and other bodily functions), how the test was collected and whether it was done appropriately by someone used to collecting these swabs, and then how long it sat in transport,” she said. The virus has only been spreading among humans for four months and therefore studies about test reliability are still considered preliminary. Early reports from China suggest its sensitivity, meaning how well it is able to return positive results when the virus is present, is somewhere around 60 to 70 percent. Different companies around the world are now producing slightly different tests, so it’s hard to have a precise overall figure. But even if it were possible to increase the sensitivity to 90 percent, the magnitude of risk remains substantial as the number of people tested grows, Sampathkumar argued in a paper published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. “In California, estimates say the rate of COVID-19 infection may exceed 50 percent by mid-May 2020,” she said. With 40 million people, “even if only one percent of the population was tested, 20,000 false-negative results would be expected.” This makes it critical for clinicians to base their diagnosis on more than just the test: they must also examine a patient’s symptoms, their potential exposure history, imaging and other lab work. – Timing is everything – Part of the problem lies in locating the virus as its area of highest concentration shifts within the body. The main nasal swab tests examine the nasopharynx, where the back of the nose meets the top of the throat. This requires a trained hand to perform and some portion of the false negatives arises from improper procedure. But even if done correctly, the swab may produce a false negative. That’s because as the disease progresses, the virus passes from the upper to the lower respiratory system. In these cases, the patient may be asked to try to cough up sputum — mucus from the lower lungs — or doctors may need to take a sample more invasively, when a patient is under sedation. Daniel Brenner, an emergency physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, described to AFP taking a test after performing a procedure called a bronchoalveolar lavage. This was done on a patient whose nasal swab returned negative three times, but who showed all the signs of COVID-19. Eventually, the patient’s medical team placed a camera down his windpipe to examine the lungs, then sprayed fluid in and sucked out the secretions, which were then tested, resulting in a positive. – No perfect test – Uncertainty in clinical diagnoses is not new, and clinicians are well aware that no type of test for any condition can be considered perfect. What makes COVID-19 different is its newness, said Sampathkumar. “Most of the time when you have tests, you have test characteristics outlined carefully and warnings about tests interpretation,” she said. “We had no test for so long, and when we got the test, we started using it widely and sort of forgot the basics.” After being slow to start mass testing, the US has ramped up production and has tested almost 2.5 million people, with pharmacists now authorized to carry out the procedure. But “the real fear of that is people who are given a false negative test and then decide that they’re safe to go around their daily life and go out and expose people,” said Brenner. Much hope is placed on newly available serological tests which look for antibodies produced by a person’s body in response to the virus and can tell whether a person was infected, long after they recovered. They could also be used to help diagnose a person who is currently infected but whose PCR test results showed a false negative, by waiting a week or so for the body to produce its immune response. “We are excited about the serologic test, but we don’t know how well it will work and we are starting to study it,” said Sampathkumar. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/04/how-false-negatives-are-complicating-covid-19-testing/

Health

Africans have been fighting slavery since early ADs. Lourenço da Silva Mendouça, the First world Abolitionist, was a Prince from the royal family of Ndongo Kingdom in Angola. He had successfully convinced authorities to end slavery in Europe. What Nafafé discovered is that in 1684, Mendonça went to the Vatican, where he accused the nations involved in the trans Atlantic slave trade of crimes against humanity. It was not just a petition, it became court cases, undertaken by Black Africans and supported through highly organized international solidarity. Why the Vatican? It was Pope VI who had issued Papal Bull that authorized Spain and Portugal to colonize and enslave Africa, America and the Natives in 1493 AD. Muhammed Ali was on Mike Douglas Show with Sly of The Family Stone as co-host when he complained about Slavery. One of the guests, Rep. Wayne L. Hays, claimed the African Chiefs were paid. What he did not say is that the slave raiders went back, captured the Chiefs and sold them into the plantations as the other slaves. Nafafé explained that “It has never been previously established by historians that Mendonça was an African, which is really incredible – that in the 1600s you had this African man who traveled all over Europe to mobilize an activist movement for the liberation not only of Black Africans, but also of Indigenous people in the Americas ... People always think that the legal abolitionist movement started in Britain, in the late 18th century, but Mendonça really forces us to review our positions on this.” https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/3/10/how-portugal-sil enced-centuries-of-violence-and-trauma Well before 300 AD, Africans had been fighting the Muslim Caliphate from Ghana to Songhai Empires. The Zanj fought and conquered the Abbāsid caliphal empire. Their fight for Freedom and Rebellions led to the Zanj superior power in Mesopotamia that ruled Basra in Iraq into Iran from 869 to 883 AD. It took all combined forces of Arab states before Arabs were later able to overcome them. Bookman, another captured African leader of Maroon and Vodou Houngan, fought for Freedom in Haiti for Independence from France. The wrong notion that freedom for people only exists within the Western Activists is astounding. It is well known in the Diaspora that the Chiefs that sold African slaves were later captured by the same raiders and sold in countries other slaves were. Researchers and genes tracers confirmed many of the slaves in the Americas came from the lines of Kings and Chiefs that sold slaves and were sold into slavery themselves. Many African Americans like the Zanj conqueror of Basra, are aware and proud of their royal blood from Africa. Yet some blame new African immigrants not the raided Chiefs, for selling them out; knowing pretty well that their sellers were also captured about the same time after they were. The African Chiefs that sold Africans into the Diaspora suffered the same fate when the slave raiders brought them into the Diaspora. Stop blaming all Africans at home, many rebeled against slave trade sacrificing their lives like Bookman, at home and abroad. When the African sellers arrived at the plantations, their subjects and fellow African slaves that got there earlier recognized them. Some ridiculed the new arrivals and others welcomed them with hostility. The hostility remained today within African American communities, disrespecting one another and hostile to recent African immigrants. Some African Americans still blame the captured and free Africans that escaped slavery, rebelled and fought against slavery. Muhamed Ali was right, when Sly Stone tried to distract him while answering Rep. Wayne Hays questions, he said: Black people spend so much time attacking one another, some of us become a distraction from the real goal of keeping our energy on the Prize. As the inhumanity of man to man became more vicious, free Africans at home rebelled and ran away as those on the slave ships and in the Diaspora. Indeed, France got reverse reparation from Haiti. Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka was at Cambridge Library Colloquium with Prof. Louis Gate of Harvard University talking about Black on Blacks angers from Nigeria/Ghana to South Africa/other Africans. Prof. Gates raised the issue of recent Africans immigrants. More than forty years after Mohamed Ali and Wayne Hays tangled on the Mike Douglas Show. Prof. Gates, like some African Americans, still thinks the African immigrants that sold them, follow them to America to share their quota. It was embarrassing for all Africans at home and in the Diaspora that the issue is still alive at Harvard of all places. Quota is dead in America. It was threatened by American white students in courts, not recent African immigrants. Indeed, the United States Supreme Court finally nailed it. Though replaced by Affirmative Action, that was also replaced by Diversity for all ethnic groups. The diversity is being threatened by Asians in Court suing that they were cheated in Admission to Harvard; not by the African students. No other ethnic group in America attacks their own from old countries. The Irish created special admission for their recent Irish immigrants just as the Italians, Polish, Ukrainians Americans welcome their recent immigrants. Africans must find better ways to reconcile their differences at home and in the Diaspora. Black on Black crimes must decrease below the level of White on White, Asians on Asians or Natives on Native crimes. People victimize their own at a greater proportion than they victimize others. But Africans have suffered in the hands of others more than any other continent. It is true that the Chiefs sold their own for guns and mirrors to capture more slaves, it does not justify liberty of worst mean spirited habits by individuals to lynch, slash and burn slaves for any or no reason. Indeed, Yoruba tradition cautions that the way a child was born, so was a slave. Bi a se bi Omo ni a se bi Eru. The cry for reparations must be understood as making amends for past injustices, not to displace or favor anyone. Those that have gained from past injustices against Africans and continue to exploit the people and the Continent must look for humane ways to make their profit and pay Africans reparations appropriately to those that are due. Unlike France that demanded and got reparations from its colonies from Haiti to Africa. Despite all the wars Africans fought against the Muslims and Christians coming as explorers and missionaries, sent into the Dark Continent for 500 years, the only miracle is that Africans have not been eliminated from the surface of the Earth. They are strong and resilient. We do not need anymore enemies within. Today we are lured, not forced into slave ships anymore. Most of the new Africans use life savings to buy tickets on Boeing 707 like the looters and their families. The most anguishing part is that Africa, Haiti, and other historically hugely humanly explored parts of the world remain so devoid of prosperity, of tolerance towards minorities, of Justice.

https://www.modernghana.com/news/1183912/slaves-their-seller-chiefs-were-raided-by-arabs.html?_gl=1

Culture

Our sexuality and gender can form a big part of our identity and those who don’t fit society’s heteronormative ideal can come up against more challenges. Those who identify as LGBTQ+ can be seen as ‘different’ by some, facing discrimination, bullying and a lack of understanding which can lead to mental health concerns. While things in society are slowly moving forward in terms of acceptance, we still have a long way to go. Incredibly, the World Health Organisation only removed ‘homosexuality’ as a formal psychiatric diagnosis in 1992. The fact is, being LGBTQ+ does not lead to mental health problems - dealing with other people’s adverse reactions does. Because of this, those who don’t identify as heterosexual are more likely to experience mental health problems. Here we’ll explore sexuality and mental health in more detail, where to find support and coming out concerns. Sex and relationship therapist Beck Harrison explains how an LGBTQ+ therapist can help with a range of issues, and what to look for when searching for an LGBTQ+ therapist. Sexuality and mental health LGBTQ+ people can be at a greater risk of developing a mental health condition than those in the wider population. According to the Mental Health Foundation, a survey carried out by Stonewall found that half of LGBTQ+ people experience depression and three in five experience anxiety. The reasons for this are complex and not entirely understood, however, most mental health problems experienced can be linked to discrimination, bullying, homophobia, biphobia or transphobia. If you identify as LGBTQ+ and you’re struggling with your mental health, know that you’re not alone. You may be particularly prone to: - Depression - when you experience a low mood for a long period of time. - Anxiety - when you feel especially anxious or worried for long periods of time or at a high intensity. - Self-harm - when you hurt yourself on purpose to cope with difficult emotions. - Suicidal thoughts - when you feel very low and as if there is no way out. You may experience rejection from those around you, including friends, family and work colleagues. Other factors may also complicate things, for example where you live, your ethnicity and religious background. Understandably, this can all have a big impact on your sense of self-worth and your confidence. You may feel the need to hide this part of yourself from others, and this can be damaging in itself. Some people may find they turn to alcohol and drugs to help them cope with difficult emotions. If you’re worried about the way you’re using alcohol or drugs, your doctor, a counsellor or an addiction helpline can offer support. There are hidden covert messages in the media about what it means to be 'normal' which in some way reinforces the message that being different is not acceptable. The notion of 'fitting in' not just in the wider community but within LGBT communities can and does come with its own pressures. - Read more on LGBT mental health. Speaking to a counsellor can help with some of the difficulties you’re facing, such as: - finding it hard to accept your sexuality - coping with other people’s reactions - low self-esteem and low self-confidence - fear of violence or abuse in public places - effects of bullying and discrimination - feeling as if your body does not reflect your true gender (gender dysphoria) If you develop a mental health condition, talking therapies can help you find new ways of coping and either overcome or manage your condition. What’s important is for you to find a counsellor who you trust and feel able to talk to openly about your experiences. For this reason, it can be helpful to check your counsellor has experience working with LGBTQ+ people and/or has had appropriate training. If at any point you feel uncomfortable with your counsellor, remember you have every right to stop your sessions and find a more suitable counsellor for you. I find that people come to me either because they want to discuss their sexuality or gender identity, or because they want that to be understood as something that is a part of them, but it’s not what they’re seeking therapy for. A cisgender, heterosexual therapist will often be able to offer that, but not always. - Jennifer Tomkinson, MBACP (Accred), PGDip, shares tips for finding a therapist if you identify as LGBTQ+ Other forms of support Aside from talking therapy and counselling, many LGBTQ+ people find it helpful to connect with others in the community. You may want to join a support group online or connect with campaigners. There are a number of organisations and charities that support and campaign for LGBTQ+ people, Mind has an excellent list of resources. Discrimination - what’s the law? Attitudes in the UK towards the LGBTQ+ community do slowly seem to be improving, however, there are still some people who discriminate against others based on their gender and/or sexuality. There is a law against this at work and in wider society - The Equality Act 2010. This protects gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans people and anyone who experiences discrimination because they associate with LGBTQ+ people. You can find out more about what the Equality Act 2010 covers and includes on the gov.uk website. The term ‘coming out’ is often used to describe when you tell people about your sexual orientation and/or your gender identity. For some, it can take a long time to feel comfortable to do this. It’s important to know that you don’t need to come out at a certain time, you simply need to do what feels good and right for you. Having these conversations can be difficult. You may experience unpleasant reactions and even rejection in some cases. This can make coming out an emotionally trying time. And sadly, for many, coming out isn’t a one-time thing. Every time you meet someone new or start a new job, for example, you may need to consider when or how much of your identity as an LGBTQ+ person you want to share. Despite what may sound like negative repercussions of coming out, this doesn’t happen to everyone. Many people are supported and understood by those they’re coming out to. Hiding who you are, however, can be an incredibly difficult thing to do and can be damaging to your mental health and well-being. I had a realisation that I was gay and that it wasn’t a good thing to be. I began a nine-year battle with hiding the deepest part of who I was. This was one of the heaviest masks I wore. - Read Chris Dudley's experience of OCD and depression. Everyone will ‘come out’ in different ways. For many, it’s a series of conversations that take place between the LGBTQ+ person and the people in their life they want to tell. It’s important for you to come out in a way that feels right for you and your circumstances. Telling someone you trust and believe will be supportive first can be a good idea. They can then provide you with some support as you tell others in your life. Picking a time when you can talk through any concerns and worries is also recommended. Try to keep in mind that although this is likely something you have known about yourself for a long time, for others, it may be a surprise. Initial reactions may be laced with shock, and they may change over time. Creating a support network, whether that includes friends, family members, online communities or professional support (or all of these!) can be incredibly helpful when taking this step. Above all, please remember you are not alone. With greater understanding, kindness and representation hopefully making its way through society - we can only push for progress. - London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard: 020 7837 7324 - Online safety guide for LGBTQ+ community Trust our content We are a PIF TICK 'trusted information creator'. This means you can be assured that what you are reading is evidence-based, understandable, jargon-free, up-to-date and produced to the best possible standard. All content was accurate when published.

http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/sexuality.html

Politics

Other forms: terrorists Someone who uses violence, mayhem, and destruction — or the threat of those things — to coerce people or countries into taking a certain action is a terrorist. A terrorist may be motivated by religious fervor, politics, or just plain old-fashioned greed. Terrorist has at its root the word "terror," which comes from the Latin word terrorem, meaning great fear. Great fear is exactly what terrorists hope to create so they can manipulate the situation to their benefit. The label terrorist is a subjective one. To the British, the American colonists who destroyed shiploads of tea in Boston Harbor in 1773 were terrorists. To colonists, they were patriots and heroes.

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/terrorist

Politics

By Chioma Obinna A new study released by the Lancet has shown that in 2022, more than 1 billion people in the world are now living with obesity. It showed that worldwide, obesity among adults has more than doubled since 1990, and has quadrupled among children and adolescents (5 to 19 years of age). The data also showed that 43 per cent of adults were overweight in 2022. The study further showed that even though the rates of under-nutrition have dropped, it is still a public health challenge in many places, particularly in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Among countries with the highest combined rates of underweight and obesity in 2022 were island nations in the Pacific and the Caribbean and those in the Middle East and North Africa. Malnutrition, in all its forms, includes under-nutrition (wasting, stunting, and underweight), inadequate vitamins or minerals, overweight and obesity. Under-nutrition is responsible for half of the deaths of children under 5 and obesity can cause noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and some cancers. WHO has contributed to the data collection and analysis of this study. Speaking on the study, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the new study highlights the importance of preventing and managing obesity from early life to adulthood, through diet, physical activity, and adequate care, as needed. Ghebreyesus said: “Getting back on track to meet the global targets for curbing obesity will take the work of governments and communities, supported by evidence-based policies from the WHO and national public health agencies. Importantly, it requires the cooperation of the private sector, which must be accountable for the health impacts of their products.” READ ALSO: Obasanjo, Peter Obi hail Chief Imam of Egbaland at 90 He explained that obesity is a complex chronic disease and that the causes are well understood, as are the interventions needed to contain the crisis, which are backed by strong evidence. “However, they are not implemented. At the World Health Assembly in 2022 Member States adopted the WHO Acceleration Plan to Stop Obesity, which supports country-level action through 2030. To date, 31 governments are now leading the way to curb the obesity epidemic by implementing the plan. He listed the actions to support healthy practices from day 1, including breastfeeding promotion, protection and support; regulations on the harmful marketing of food and beverages to children; school food and nutrition policies, including initiatives to regulate the sales of products high in fats, sugars and salt in the proximity of schools; fiscal and pricing policies to promote healthy diets; nutrition labelling policies; public education and awareness campaigns for healthy diets and exercise; standards for physical activity in schools; and integration of obesity prevention and management services into primary health care. Speaking, Director of WHO’s Nutrition and Food Safety Department and one of the co-authors of the study, Dr Francesco Branca, said: “There are significant challenges in implementing policies aimed at ensuring affordable access to healthy diets for all and creating environments that promote physical activity and overall healthy lifestyles for everyone. Countries should also ensure that health systems integrate the prevention and management of obesity into the basic package of services.” Branca said addressing under-nutrition requires multisectoral action in agriculture, social protection and health, to reduce food insecurity, improve access to clean water and sanitation and ensure universal access to essential nutrition interventions. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2024/03/over-1-billion-people-worldwide-suffer-from-obesity-study

Health

By Sola Ogundipe Happy new year! At times like this, it is usual to make resolutions. A common New Year resolution is to live healthier than last year. Part of living healthier is eating healthier. Consumption of fruits, vegetables, seeds and beans are all essential parts of a well-balanced and healthy diet, but beware that your food id either edible or poisonous and detrimental to health. While most of us don’t think about the way we consume everyday foods, there are reasons behind why we are trained to eat only certain parts of their anatomy. Even during food processing, there are several procedures that strip foods of their poisons to make them human-friendly. People infected with food-borne organisms may be symptom-free or may have symptoms ranging from mild intestinal discomfort to severe dehydration and bloody diarrhoea. Depending on the type of infection, people can even die as a result of food poisoning. More than 250 different diseases can cause food poisoning. Some of the most common diseases are infections caused by bacteria, such as Campylobacter,Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli O157:H7, Listeria, botulism and norovirus. Here are some foods to be wary of this year. Avoid eating Red or Blood Clams, regardless if they’re a delicacy. Known to cause hepatitis A & E, typhoid and dysentery, these red clams have been banned in many countries, but could be encountered as sushi. You can be assured of its safety – as long as you have proof that they were safely cultivated! Illegal imports of clams are common in most Chinatown settlements, so be forewarned! Elderberries, delightful as marmalade, wine and pancake syrup, have a dark secret hidden in its branches: cyanide. While it is a beautiful plant, don’t be fooled! This plant, often used in medicinal syrups, sodas and liquors can cause a severely upset stomach if consumed incorrectly. The flowers are the part of the plant used to make all things elderberry. The stems and various other parts of the plant, when consumed, can cause severe stomach issues. Take caution when drinking herbal teas made of elderberry leaves, and don’t even think about eating the unripe fruits and flowers that contain a toxic alkaloid. There are mushrooms called toadstools, some of which are known for being incredibly poisonous. Some poisonous mushrooms can kill; however, some choice edible species are brightly colored, while most poisonous species are brown or white. An important rule is not to consume mushrooms unless you are 100 per cent sure of what they are. Good rules that apply for avoiding poisonous mushrooms include avoiding mushrooms with white gills, a skirt or ring on the stem and a bulbous or sack like base and mushrooms with red on the cap or stem. Always stick to mushrooms you can buy at a supermarket. They should have a flat cap with no bumps, and the gills within the mushroom should either be grey or have a pink hue. Castor oil comes from the castor bean plant also called African Coffee Tree. Castor seeds are poisonous and lethal dose of castor seeds for adults is about four to eight seeds. Castor oil is produced by pressing ripe seeds that have had their outer covering (hull) removed. The hull contains a deadly poison called ricin, a water-soluble toxin. Ricin is extremely toxic. Castor oil does not contain ricin and is perfectly safe, but poisoning from eating the seed itself is rare but possible. One single castor bean can drop a human to his or her knees. Four can potentially kill a horse. Carefully handle and prepare castor oil. Castor beans undergo strict safety guidelines which must be met in order to be placed on shelves. Bitter almonds, when served raw, are full of cyanide. Although the almonds bought at the grocery store contain a small amount of cyanide, it’s not enough to poison you. However, eating too many bitter almonds, may not be so good for your health and may lead to cyanide poisoning. In order to remove the toxins, they must go through a specialized heat treatment. However the risk is great and even though a delectable treat is best avoided. Bitter almonds that have been processed and heated may however be safe for be consumed. Often enjoyed raw, in pies or in other popular treats, cherries are hazardous. Be wary and cautious of their seeds, which contain hydrogen cyanide. Your body can detoxify small quantities of cyanide compounds. If you accidentally eat a cherry pit in a pie or swallow an apple seed or two, you’ll be fine. Actually, if you swallow several seeds whole, you would absorb a minimal amount of the toxic compounds. However, ingesting just one or two freshly crushed pits can lead to death. Cherry seeds that are crushed, chewed or even slightly injured can be a potential threat. Don’t chew on the seeds. Apples and pears An apple a day will keep the doctor away. That is, unless you eat too many of the popular fruit’s seeds. Apples and pears both have seeds that contain compounds capable of turning into lethal cyanide when ingested. Luckily you’d have to really mash those seeds before the cyanide-making compounds can take effect. The seeds within one apple are not enough to become dangerous. Be aware of your apple consumption, and be sure to pluck the seeds as you go. Apples are a delicious and healthy snack when prepared properly. When we think rhubarb, pies and pudding come to mind. Underrated and easy to grow at home, this plant can be great. However, its leaves contain a double-threat: corrosive acid and oxalic acid, a chemical that’s also used in household bleach and anti-rust products. Eating the leaves can cause burning sensations in the mouth and throat, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, and even death. Even cooking the leaves won’t get rid of the acid. Avoid the leaves and look to the stalk. Make sure they are washed very carefully, and never use frost-bitten stalks. Known for their many beneficiary properties, such as Lycopene, tomatoes also contain the poison Glycoalkaloid in their leaves. Glycoalkaloid is known to cause upset stomach and cause severe cramping and nervousness. Avoid the leaves and stems of the tomato plant. They may be used to enhance flavour when preparing dishes, but must be removed before consuming. Potatoes are another vegetable with poisonous stems and leaves. Depending on how they’re handled, potatoes can produce solanine, a natural pesticide that’s toxic to humans. The compound is particularly concentrated in potatoes that have started to turn green, and especially when they’ve begun to sprout. Vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes cardiac arrest are usual suspects The good thing is that aside from looking kind of unappetizing and tasting slightly bitter, you’d have to eat an excessive amount of green potatoes to actually get solanine poisoning. Potato poisoning rarely occurs, but most fatalities have been attributed to eating green potatoes or drinking potato leaf tea. Avoid eating the stem or leaves. Rice often contains arsenic, a toxin that can cause vomiting, abdominal pain, and vertigo when consumed in large quantities. The highest levels are found in brown rice, the lowest in instant rice. Despite the toxin’s presence, it would be incredibly difficult to poison yourself by eating too much rice in one day. That’s not to say nothing bad will happen; consistent exposure to even low doses of arsenic over time can lead to heart diseases and bladder cancer. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

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Health

Many people ask why the God of the Bible, who is supposed to be loving and kind, would permit slavery to exist in ancient times. Why didn’t God stop slavery? If he is all-powerful, shouldn’t he have then used his sovereign control of all things to eliminate that which is oppressive? Critics of the Bible will often cite the fact that slavery was part of the Old and New Testament societies and then condemn God for not removing it. So, why did God permit slavery? Moral Standard Anyone? First of all, condemning slavery, among other injustices, implies that its abolition is what ought to be done. It is then a moral issue. But to raise the issue of abolition based on moral reasoning is to imply that there is a universal truth that we can appeal to in order to condemn it. But, where does this universal moral standard come from, and how is it justified? I could make the case that apart from the Christian worldview, such an objective, a non-subjective universal moral standard cannot exist – not in atheism, agnosticism, or humanism, non, of which, can justify universal moral principles. Why? Because principles are abstractions and abstractions require a mind. But, to say slavery is universally wrong (in all times and places) is to appeal to a universal principle. This implies a universal mind: God. Christianity best provides the necessary preconditions for a universal moral base. But, I digress, and the issue remains: Why didn’t God stop slavery in the Bible? Made in God’s image Basically, God permitted slavery to exist and still does, because of the rebellion and sinful actions of fallen people. God allows various things to occur in the world that he does not approve of, such as murder, lying, rape, and theft. In theology, we call God’s moral revelation his prescriptive will. It consists of such things as “you shall not murder,” and “you shall not lie.” However, in what we call his permissive will, he allows people to murder and to lie. Biblically speaking, we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28). And because we are made in His image, we are responsible for our actions and our choices. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God. They exercised their free will and disobeyed him, and sin became a reality along with slavery. But we have to ask, where do we draw the line on what we consider the proper starting point where God ought to intervene and prevent evil. Where we draw the moral line? We know for a fact that murder is wrong. So, should God stop all murder? If we say yes, then what about the thoughts of murder? Should God stop that as well? Or, is it okay to contemplate murdering someone as long as you don’t do it? But is not even the contemplation of murder a morally wrong thing to do? Of course, it is. So, then ought God stop even the contemplation of such evil? Remember, most sins occur because we first think of them before we carry them out. So, ought God control someone’s thinking and stop people from considering doing something wrong in order to prevent it from happening? Or should it be that God allows people to think all kinds of evil are loaded onto them? If so, why is that the right thing to do? The point I’m trying to make is that when people ask why did God permit slavery or stop slavery, then they are asking a moral question about what ought to exist and what not ought to exist. God permits evil in the world, slavery included, because that is the nature of the fallen world that is coupled with our freedom. God gave the garden to Adam and Eve, and it was good. But in their rebellion, sin entered the world (Romans 5:12), and with it came the effect of sin, which has brought pain, suffering, rebellion, death, and damnation. Slavery exists because of the sinful and rebellious freedom of man. The Lord has allowed us to do with their freedom as we desire. And, we ought not to blame God for allowing what we in our sinfulness, as a human race, have permitted. Return to Slavery Page

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Religion

To achieve the best overall outcome in a lighting installation, it is important to avoid the tendency of rushing straight into luminaire selection before determining more broadly what is required from the system. The use of a structured design process helps to avoid this. The key steps in the design process are: - Identify the requirements - Determine the method of lighting - Select the lighting equipment - Calculate the lighting parameters and adjust the design as required - Determine the control system - Choice of luminaire - Inspect the installation upon completion (and if possible, a few months after occupation, to determine what worked and what didn’t. This is the only way to build up experience to apply to future designs) The five initial stages are considered in more detail in the following lines. This involves gaining a full understanding of what the lighting installation is intended to achieve. This includes the following: - Task Requirements ? - Mood of the space - Relation to shape of space - Things to be emphasised - Things to hide - Direction of light - Interaction of daylight At this stage, consideration is given to how the light is to be delivered, e.g. will it be recessed, surface mounted, direct or indirect, or will up-lighting be used, and its primary characteristics, e.g. will it be prismatic, low brightness or mellow light. Consideration should be given at this stage to the use of daylight to minimise the need for artificial light. Once the method of lighting has been selected, the most appropriate light source can then be chosen followed by the luminaire. The following attributes should be studied when choosing the light source: - Light output (lumens) - Total input wattage - Efficacy (lumens per Watt) - Physical size - Surface brightness / glare - Colour characteristics - Electrical characteristics - Requirement for control gear - Compatibility with existing electrical system - Suitability for the operating environment A number of factors also affect luminaire choice: - Characteristics of the light source and control gear - Luminaire efficiency (% lamp light output transmitted out of the fixture) - Light distribution - Glare control - Finish and appearance - Accessibility of components for maintenance - Ability to handle adverse operating conditions - Thermal management Lighting calculation methods fall into three broad categories: Photometric data for light sources and luminaires is commercially available to contribute to these calculations. There are a wide range of manual computation methods for the calculation of different lighting aspects. These include complex methods for calculating the illuminance from a wide variety of shapes of luminous objects. The majority of these have now been superseded by computer programs (check our free software). The Lumen Method was the mainstay for interior lighting and has remained in use as a quick and relatively accurate method of calculating interior illuminance. Inadequate attention to the assumptions will produce poor results. The basic assumptions are: - All the luminaires in the room are the same and have the same orientation - The luminaires do not have a directional distribution and are aimed directly to the floor - The luminaires are arranged in a uniform array on the ceiling and have the same mounting height - The luminaires are spaced less than the maximum spacing to mounting height ratio nominated in the coefficient of utilisation tables The average illuminance produced by a lighting installation, or the number of luminaires required to achieve a specific average illuminance, can be calculated by means of utilization factors (UF), a UF being the ratio of the total flux received by a particular surface to the total lamp flux of the installation. Lumen method formula // The average illuminance E(h) over a reference surface s can be calculated from the “lumen method” formula. - F – the initial bare lamp flux (lumens) - n – the number of lamps per luminaire - N – the number of luminaires - LLF – the total light loss factor - UF(s) – the utilization factor for the reference surface s of the chosen luminaire Utilization factors can be determined for any surface or layout of luminaires. The “UF” symbol is normally shown followed by an extra letter in brackets, to denote the surface, for example, UF(F) is the utilisation factor for the floor cavity and UF(W) is the utilisation factor for the walls. The lowest surface, the F surface (for floor Cavity), is a horizontal plane at normal working height (i.e. table height), which is often assumed to be 0.85 m above the floor. The middle surface, the W surface (for walls), consists of all the walls between the C and F planes. Although the lighting designer can calculate utilization factors, lighting companies publish utilization factors for standard conditions for their luminaires. The standard method of presentation is shown below. To use this table, it is only necessary to know the Room Index and the effective reflectance of the three standard surfaces (floor cavity, walls and ceiling cavity). Room Index // The Room Index is a measure of the angular size of the room, and is the ratio of the sum of the plan areas of the F and C surfaces to the area of the W surface. For rectangular rooms the room index is given by: - L – the length of the room - W – the width of the room - Hm – the height of the luminaire plane above the horizontal reference plane. If the room is re-entrant in shape, for example L shaped, then it must be divided into two or more non-re- entrant sections, which can be treated separately. Spacing to Mounting Height Ratio (SHR) The Spacing to Mounting Height Ratio (SHR) is the spacing between luminaires divided by their height above the horizontal reference plane. Although it was possible to calculate the luminance of all the surfaces in a room, the calculations were extremely laborious and could only be justified in the most special cases. However, the advent of computer modelling enabled a more flexible approach to lighting design and significantly increased the information available to the designer. - A mixture of luminaires can be used - The luminaires no longer have to be arranged in a regular array - Directional luminaires can be modelled - A large number of calculation points can be considered to give a meaningful uniformity calculation - The illuminance and luminance of all surfaces can be calculate This gives the lighting designer a much greater understanding of what is happening in the room. However there has been considerable research, experience and documentation over the past 80 years that has developed the current thinking in the adequacy of various illuminance levels for various tasks and functions. Although there is some general understanding of the need for appropriate luminance distribution in the vertical plane, there is little information, experience or understanding for many designers to determine: - What the luminance of surfaces should be in varying situations - What is an acceptable luminance uniformity - Whether there should there be a maximum luminance uniformity - What is the desired graduation in luminance - At what point is the luminance distribution of the wall unacceptable It is important in using a lighting calculation program that the output records the type of luminaire used, the location of the luminaires, the assumed lumen output of the lamp, the light loss factor and the aiming points. If this is not recorded you have a pretty picture of the installation and no way of making it a reality. These are programs that create a perspective rendering of the space in levels of detail that vary from a block representation of the space, to photographic quality renderings, depending on the sophistication of the program and the level of detail of the interior to be entered. The programs fall into two basic types: - Flux transfer or radiosity calculations - Ray tracing calculations A Lambertian surface is a perfect diffuser, where light is reflected in all directions, irrespective of the angle of incidence of the light such that irrespective of the viewing angle the surface has the same luminance. A specular surface is a mirror like surface, where the angle of reflection of the light is the same as the angle of incidence. A real life surface is a combination of both surfaces (semi-specular) and has both specular and diffuse characteristics. Some materials are more specular while others are more diffuse. A flux transfer or radiosity program treats all surfaces as diffuse or Lambertian surfaces, as a result their rendering tends to appear flat with soft shadow details. It will tend to overestimate the uniformity. Ray tracing traces the individual rays of light from the source to the eye as it reflects from surface to surface around the room. As a result ray tracing can allow for the specular component of the surfaces. Some programs calculate the entire lighting by ray tracing while others calculate the space on a flux transfer basis and have an overlay of ray tracing of specific areas to improve the quality of the rendering. When ray tracing is added, reflections are added in polished surfaces and shadows become sharper. The programs can show the designer how a specific design will perform but that they cannot reliably be used to assess the acceptability of a design. Irrespective of the form of the visualisation output, it is important that the program provides adequate information to enable the construction and verification of the lighting design. The output should include: - Installation information – the type and location of all luminaires and the aiming information. The lamp details should be included as well as the specific catalogue number of photometric file that has been used. - Light technical parameters – the illuminance, uniformity and other parameters that have been calculated to achieve the design. - Verification information – adequate details to enable the lighting calculation to be verified. This should include the luminaire type, the photometric file, surface reflectances that were assumed, light loss factors, lumen output of lamps and mounting and aiming locations. Go back to Lighting parameters ↑ | Go back to Index ↑ The effectiveness and efficiency of any lighting installation is affected as much by the control system as by the light sources and fixtures chosen. Give consideration to: - Providing multiple switches to control the number of lights that come on at any one time. Using one switch to turn on all the lights in a large room is very inefficient. - Placing switches at the exits from rooms and using two-way switching to encourage lights to be turned off when leaving the room. - Using ‘smart’ light switches and fittings which use movement sensors to turn lights on and off automatically. These are useful in rooms used infrequently where lights may be left on by mistake, or for the elderly and disabled.Make sure they have a built-in daylight sensor so that the light doesn’t turn on unnecessarily. Models which must be turned on manually and turn off automatically, but with a manual over-ride, are preferable in most situations. Be aware that the sensors use some power continuously, up to 5W or even 10W in some cases. - Using timers, daylight controls and motion sensors to switch outdoor security lights on and off automatically. controls are particularly useful for common areas, such as hallways, corridors and stairwells, in multi-unit housing. - Using solar powered lighting for garden and security lights. - Using dimmer controls for incandescent lights (including halogens). This can save energy and also increase bulb life. Most standard fluorescent lamps cannot be dimmed, but special dimmers and lamps are available. If lamps are to be dimmed it is important to ensure that the correct equipment is used, especially when retrofitting more energy efficient lamps. The performance of a luminaire should be considered just as carefully as its cost. In the long term a well designed, well constructed luminaire will be cheaper than a poor quality unit; and the salient features of a good quality luminaire are: - Sound mechanical and electrical construction and a durable finish - Adequate screening of high luminance lamps to minimise discomfort and glare - Adequate heat dissipation to prevent over-heating of the lamp, wiring and ancillary equipment - High light output ratio with the appropriate light distribution - Ease of installation, cleaning and maintenance Reference // The Basics of Efficient Lighting – A Reference Manual for Training in Efficient Lighting Principles – National Framework For Energy Efficiency The VAMC in Northport is looking for virtual training session (a basic overview) on Photometrics and using them, for our Engineering Department. Basically this article, minus the drawing program. Do you have anyone that is wiling to do this for us? It can be a virtual session, we just need to educate ourselves. We are at a VAMC in NY (Long Island) We would be open to scheduling a sales session separately. lighting adequacy study need n our petrochemical plant. pl suggest lorganisation You had mentioned 7 steps in the title but only listed six. Can you provide step 7 An architectural plan of a two floor public hospital with the electrical wiring design diagram as a teaching guide for my electrical engineering diploma class. Really useful since documents in this nature are rare Funny how usually such technical articles published on EE portals, but in real life, applications are dominated by architects or interior designers. Surprised that only Dialux was mentioned and not Relux and other lighting design packages. Perhaps you should do a comparison article ? Criteria for selection of Total Light Loss factor. Amazing article how I can save it? See the blue button ‘Get PDF’ on your left? That’s your answer, create the PDF out of this or any technical article and save it. um very happy to have this article. thank you a million. Amazing information, I need this article to be sent to my email. You can subscribe to full technical articles and you will receive complete technical articles on your email: The article on illumination is good. I have not studied earlier this type of article informative & valuable article, thanks You’re welcome, glad you like it. A very informative article. Concise and complete. Thank you Mark. Wow, this is an amazingly comprehensive article on a topic that is so relevant and so confusing! Hehe, thank you mate :)

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Education

What was Africa's greatest invention? The first evidence of both mathematics and astronomy are in Africa. The stone circles in South Africa known as Adam's calendar may be the oldest human-made structure. The use of tally sticks and bones show people doing math up to 44,000 years ago. What has Africa given to the world? The earliest human inventions such as the hand-axe and manipulating fire originated in Africa. People in Africa developed inventions used up to the modern day, including fish hooks, bows and arrows, and boats. The most important center of learning in the ancient world was the library of Alexandria in Egypt. Many of the most important Greek contributions to math, science, medicine, astronomy, and more were made in Alexandria. The origin of the human species was on the African continent, and so it should come as no surprise that ancient African inventions were the first in human history. Even the ancestors of Homo sapiens, Homo erectus, had developed wooden tools, stone tools, and the ability to use fire. Physically modern humans emerged in East Africa between 200,000-150,000 years ago. By around 100,000 years ago there is evidence to show that humans had fully developed modern brains and cognitive function. Once human language had developed with toolmaking and use people began to migrate both within and outside of Africa to other continents. Some of the earliest inventions and African technology include hand axes, fishing hooks, bows and arrows, and even boats. Many of the African inventions in history pre-date the use of the written word by tens of thousands of years. There is a long and rich tradition of both oral and institutional knowledge in Africa in medicine, math, and education. Many traditional medicinal practices involved using plants that have chemical compounds used in modern medications, such as salicylic acid, now used in aspirin and kaolin, used to treat diarrhea. In Egypt the ancient polymath Imhotep developed systems of medicine so popular and effective that he was deified in the Egyptian pantheon, and was also recognized as a divine figure by many Greeks and Romans. Also in Egypt, the library of Alexandria was perhaps the best and largest repository of knowledge in the ancient world. In the Middle Ages, Timbuktu, in the Kingdom of Mali, was an important center of learning. The university at Sankore especially thrived in the 14th century under the patronage of Malian king Mansa Musa. The oldest university that still educates students today was founded in the 9th century in Fez, Morocco. Using records from Timbuktu and even traditional games such as Mancala as evidence, scholars have shown that Africa had a rich and complex indigenous traditions of mathematics long before the arrival of the Arabs or later European colonizers. African Technology and Architecture One of the most iconic architectural feats in Africa are the pyramids in Egypt. Just to the south, the Nubian pyramids are smaller, but much steeper and more numerous in modern-day Sudan. Mozambique and Zimbabwe boast of impressive stone structures, the most notable being the complex of Great Zimbabwe. The main mosque in Timbuktu is a prime example of traditional mud brick techniques in parts of Africa. Unfortunately, because mud brick and some other building materials are sensitive to the elements and need constant maintenance, not all of the old structures have survived into the modern day. Egyptian medicine was highly developed through millennia of constant refining of techniques with medicines combined with beliefs in magic. The architect Imhotep was also an accomplished scientist and established the idea that diseases and illnesses had natural causes, and therefore could have natural treatments, as opposed to strictly supernatural ones. These ideas were flourishing in Egypt thousands of years before the works of Hippocrates. Egyptian practitioners of medicine required both education and training in their field. Contributions to Math The oldest evidence of people using mathematics is found with the Lebombo bone in Southern Africa. Radiocarbon dating places the bone between 43,000-44,000 years ago. The bone has notches that indicate a lunar month. Some scholars have even postulated that the first mathematicians in human history were African women tracking menstrual and lunar cycles. Games such as Mancala in West Africa and Gebet'a from Ethiopia date centuries before the Common Era and involve mathematical skill. Even the Yoruba language uses a system of counting that requires mathematical functions to express many numbers. During the trans-Atlantic slave trade, many African scholars were kidnapped from their civilizations and were renowned for their skills. These include the "Virginia Calculator," who was forcibly taken from his home at the age of 14 and re-named Thomas Fuller. Tragically, many of these skills were passed down orally between generations, and the slave trade wrecked many of these educational ties. The Calendar and Astronomy The oldest calendars and evidence of astronomy came from Africa. Scholars are still debating the exact date and meaning of stone circles found in South Africa, known as Adam's calendar. The oldest estimates are up to 75,000 years old, and the alignment of the stones and materials show strong evidence of a calendar based on celestial bodies. As part of institutionalized education in Egypt there was comprehensive observation and study of the heavens, including records of Sun and Moon cycles. The Egyptians were one of the first civilizations to develop a written calendar. The division of days of the year in the Egyptian calendar informed the Julian calendar developed centuries later by the Romans. The Gregorian calendar used in many parts of the world today is a correction of the Julian calendar, and therefor a descendent of Egyptian contributions. The Use of Metal Some of the earliest and most impressive works of technology in Africa involve metallurgy. In the early middle ages (and possibly before) African smiths were able to create ovens that burned hundreds of degrees hotter than their contemporaries. Archeology suggests African societies created high quality carbon steel 2,500 years before the rest of the world. Some of the metal products in Africa would not have a rival in quality until the industrial revolution. In addition to practical uses, metallurgy in Africa had also developed to produce stunning works of art such as the Benin Bronzes in the Middle Ages. While many traditions and education in Africa have been transmitted orally, there were also important institutions of education. The most impressive institutional centers of education was Alexandria, Egypt. A range of lasting contributions of Greek scholars such as Ptolemy, Pythagoras, Eratosthenes, Hypatia, and many more were made thanks to education in Alexandria. The library of Alexandria was the largest in the world and an important center of education for mathematicians, astronomers, doctors, and many other fields of study. The education and library in Alexandria enriched scholarly fields both in and beyond Africa. Human history began in Africa. Ancient African inventions are humanity's earliest technology. From the very earliest times African technology such as the use of fire and hand-axes helped humans to survive and thrive in their environment. Inventions became more complex and spread outside of Africa to other continents. The richness and diversity of inventions in Africa has been developed both through oral traditions and through institutional knowledge. The earliest examples of the use of mathematics can be found with tally sticks used to record quantities, such as the Lebombo and Ishango bones found in Swaziland and the Democratic Republic of Congo, respectively. Possibly the oldest human-made structure in the world is a series of stone circles known as Adam's calendar in South Africa. Metallurgical techniques developed in ancient Africa were of a higher quality than any contemporaries, and evidence suggests that in East Africa people had developed Carbon steel centuries ahead of the rest of the world. Before many civilizations had even adopted writing, ancient Egypt had begun formal training of students, and ongoing practices of astronomical observations and medicine. The library of Alexandria was unparalleled in quality and quantity of ancient knowledge. Many of the most well-renowned Greek scholars gained their best knowledge and training in Alexandria. Inventors in Ancient Africa The human species evolved on the continent of Africa. This means that Africa has been inhabited longer than any place on Earth, so it's not surprising to learn that some of the greatest inventors in human history were living on this continent. The history of African inventors dates back to before modern humans technically existed. It was our genetic ancestors like Homo erectus who invented stone tools and discovered how to make fire. As soon as anatomically modern humans appeared in Africa, they started creating things too. The fishing hook, bow and arrow, and even boats were first invented by Africans long before the advent of written history. Even as humans started migrating out of Africa, those remaining on the continent just kept on inventing. Let's talk about some of the great inventions that ancient Africans produced, starting with medicine. Human groups likely had some sort of medicine since the earliest days of the species, but what we're talking about here is the development of a systematic medicinal culture. The ancient Egyptians have one of the oldest institutionalized cultures of medicine in the world. Professional healers not only used routine treatments for a variety of ailments, but recorded their knowledge as well. This let them establish schools of medicine, with each generation building upon the accomplishments of the last. As a result, the ancient Egyptians could do some pretty advanced stuff. They were able to complete complex surgeries, mend broken bones, and deal with maladies of the digestive, nervous, and cardiovascular systems. These treatments required medical tools and healing herbs and minerals, as well as magical spells. Math & The Calendar Along with complex systems of medicine, ancient Africans also developed systems of mathematics. Ancient Egyptians institutionalized the learning of math, which resulted in monumental architecture like the pyramids. Further evidence of mathematics stemming from Africa is the finding of tally sticks, long segments of bone or wood incised with markings to denote quantities. These simple devices have been found around the world, but the oldest may be the Lebombo bone that was discovered in Swaziland of southern Africa. At roughly 43,000 years old, it represents the oldest indication that ancient humans were using organized systems of mathematics to account for various quantities. In this case, it's widely believed that the markings relate to the number of days in a lunar month. That brings us to another notable invention: the calendar. Ancient African societies had advanced knowledge of astronomy and had learned from very early dates how to present the movements of the Earth, Sun, moon, and stars into an organized system. The earliest evidence of this dates back to a mysterious structure in southern Africa made up of stone circles, called Adam's calendar. It's a large collection of stone structures, assembled into what appears to be an astronomical calendar. It's basically like Stonehenge, but much older. While this remains one of the most controversial sites in Africa, some scholars have proposed that it may be up to 75,000 years old. If this date is accurate, it would be the oldest human-made structure in the world. Metal is pretty useful. Ancient Africans seem to have realized this early on. While humans in other parts of the world did not start fully utilizing metal until much later, Africans were smelting iron nearly 2,500 years ago. Metal tools can be found across Africa where ancient societies began exploiting rich mineral deposits millennia ago. Some of the most impressive ancient metallurgists may have lived in what is now Tanzania 2,000 years ago. Archeological evidence from this region suggests that ancient peoples may have actually been able to make carbon steel by at least 500 CE, if not earlier. The secret was in the advanced furnaces created by African peoples of this region that burned hotter but used less fuel. In fact, the ancient Tanzanians seem to have been systematically producing steel of a quality that would not be matched until England's Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. The last major African contribution we're going to talk about is education. Again, we're not just talking about the passing on of information, humans have always done that. Instead, we're focusing on a systematic, institutional culture of education. The ancient Egyptians began recording knowledge and developed professional groups of academics who specialized in certain areas. Over time, certain regions in Egypt became noted as the centers of education in the ancient world and the first semblances of universities as we know them. The most famous of these was in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. The famous repository of written knowledge in the Mediterranean, the Library of Alexandria, was first constructed around 300 BCE. Even the ancient Greeks often traveled to Alexandria to study and learn. Many systems of geometry, astronomy, trigonometry, and medicine that we still use today were established in Alexandria by scholars like Euclid and Ptolemy, as well as dozens of African intellectuals. With educational centers like Alexandria, Africa remained one of the hotbeds of invention and innovation in all of the ancient world. Okay, let's now take a moment or two to review. As we learned in this lesson, Africa is the oldest inhabited continent on Earth, and home to some of humanity's greatest inventions. This list includes individual inventions that range from fishing hooks to boats to carbon steel, but also many of the first organized systems in the world. For example, ancient tally sticks, long segments of bone or wood incised with markings to denote quantities, suggest that Africans had developed consistent systems of mathematics millennia ago. These systems became advanced enough to allow for monumental structures to be built, sites like the African stone circles (called Adam's calendar) that suggest ancient systems of astronomy, while ancient furnaces were so efficient that they remained unmatched until the modern era. Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, ancient Africans established some of the oldest institutions of education and created systems that would redefine human societies and allow for many more inventions yet to come. Register to view this lesson Unlock Your Education See for yourself why 30 million people use Study.com Become a Study.com member and start learning now. Become a MemberAlready a member? Log In Resources created by teachers for teachers I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. It’s like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. I feel like it’s a lifeline.

https://study.com/academy/lesson/ancient-african-inventions.html

Education

WASHINGTON – An experimental drug treatment can help monkeys survive an otherwise deadly infection with a tropical virus called Marburg, which is similar to Ebola, researchers said Wednesday. The findings in the journal Science Translational Medicine could speed efforts to bring to market a drug treatment against Ebola, a deadly hemorrhagic virus that is sweeping across West Africa in the largest outbreak to date. There is no available drug or vaccine for Ebola, which has killed 1,350 people and infected 2,473 since March in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Guinea and Liberia. Marburg is from the same family as the Ebola virus and also causes severe bleeding, fever, vomiting and diarrhea. Fatality rates range from 25 percent to 80 percent, and like Ebola, it is transmitted via contact with bodily fluids. The study tested a Marburg virus drug, made by Canada’s Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, on 16 monkeys. One group was given the treatment 30-45 minutes after exposure to a lethal dose of the Angola strain of Marburg virus. Other groups were treated one, two and three days following the infection. “All treated animals in all four studies survived,” said lead author Thomas Geisbert, professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. – FDA Fast-track – The control group included monkeys that were sickened with Marburg virus but were not given the treatment. They all died, beginning one week after they were infected. The discovery that the treatment worked even three days into the monkeys’ infections shows “real world utility of this technology,” Geisbert told reporters. Experts are hopeful that such a treatment could be useful because symptoms of Marburg virus begin showing themselves around that time. Ebola, too, usually becomes symptomatic within two to 10 days of infection, though the incubation period can last as long as 21 days. “The significance of delaying treatment until three days after infection, which is the earliest time at which diagnosis by viral RNA can be detected and those infected show the first clinical signs of disease, is a critical step in triggering clinical interventions,” said Ian MacLachlan, executive vice president and chief technical officer of Tekmira Pharmaceuticals. The researchers published a study in The Lancet in 2010 that showed the same technology could be used to create a treatment that would completely protect rhesus monkeys against Ebola, Geisbert said. For it to be deployed for “compassionate use during this outbreak” in people, there would have to be “a situation where a country or someone would request that from the company,” he told reporters. He added that there were “no problems” in terms of side effects with the doses given in the monkey tests. Tekmira has begun phase one trials to test safety in people, and in March the company said it was granted a Fast-Track designation by the US Food and Drug Administration to develop its drug, TKM-Ebola. The drug works by interfering with how Ebolas grows once it penetrates the cells of the body. Another experimental Ebola drug, ZMapp, works differently, by delivering the body a cocktail of antibodies that target different parts of the Ebola virus. ZMapp has been given to a handful of people who were sickened in the latest outbreak, including to American missionaries, but it is difficult to make in large amounts. Geisbert said the Tekmira product could be replicated “relatively quickly,” given the proper funding. Experts say that getting enough money to pay for trials and development has been a key challenge for drug makers, due the history of sporadic outbreaks in Africa. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/drug-blocks-ebola-like-virus-monkey-tests/

Health

An experimental Ebola vaccine appears safe and triggered signs of immune protection in the first 20 volunteers to test it, U.S. researchers reported Wednesday. The vaccine is designed to spur the immune system's production of anti-Ebola antibodies, and people developed them within four weeks of getting the shots at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Half of the test group received a higher-dose shot, and those people produced more antibodies, said the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Some people also developed a different set of virus-fighting immune cells, named T cells, the study found. That may be important in fending off Ebola, as prior research found that monkeys protected by the vaccine also had that combination response. Stimulating both types of immune response is "a promising factor," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose employees led the work. The researchers reported no serious side effects. But two people who received the higher-dose vaccine briefly spiked fevers, one above 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39 Celsius), which disappeared within a day. Earlier this month, Fauci told Congress this first-stage testing was promising enough that the U.S. planned much larger studies in west Africa, starting in Liberia in early January, to try to prove whether the vaccine really works. Scientists are racing to develop ways to prevent or treat the virus that has killed more than 5,600 people in West Africa, most of them in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Wednesday's publication offered scientific details about the initial testing of the vaccine candidate furthest along, one being developed by NIH and GlaxoSmithKline. Additional safety studies are underway here and abroad. A different Canadian-made vaccine also has begun small safety studies. Many questions remain as larger studies are being designed, including the best dose and how soon protection may begin, cautioned Dr. Daniel Bausch, a Tulane University Ebola specialist who wasn't involved in the study. Plus, monkey research suggests a booster shot will be needed for long-term protection. Ebola update: Africans migrating cities United Nations to miss Sierra Leone target Remains of suspected Ebola case test negative

http://m.news24.com/nigeria/Lifestyle/Ebola-vaccine-seems-safe-in-first-stage-testing-20141127-3

Politics

One continent, many nations From Algerian to Zimbabwean, New Zealand’s African-born people form a kaleidoscope of cultures, languages and ethnicities. They represent over 40 countries in Africa, and include Europeans, Asians, Indians and Arabic people, as well as numerous black tribes. Most of New Zealand’s African-born people are white. Some came from Africa’s British colonies in the 1870s, but the majority arrived from South Africa in the 1990s. Pre-1990s: black Africans Black people who arrived in colonial times were probably African-Americans. In the 1960s, study programmes brought some black students to New Zealand. But before the 1990s very few blacks arrived, partly because of New Zealand’s restrictive immigration rules. 1991 onwards: refugees Across Africa, wars and brutal political regimes have driven thousands from their homes. In 1991 New Zealand increased the number of refugees it would accept. Often arriving with few possessions and horrific memories, people came from Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia, Zimbabwe and other countries in crisis. Starting a new life Refugees face huge obstacles. They may have endured imprisonment and violence, loss of family members, and detention in camps. They have to learn English and adapt to an alien culture. Many are poorly educated, and even qualified immigrants struggle to find jobs. A Somali woman commented that most of her friends were either unemployed or doing cleaning or supermarket work. African immigrants live mostly in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. In 2013 the five largest groups by birthplace were Zimbabweans (8,100), Kenyans (1,650), Zambians (1,416), Ethiopians (1,143) and Somalis (1,104). Through the family reunification scheme, some long-lost relatives continue to arrive and swell these communities. Groups such as the Pan-African clubs offer support, and many religions are followed, including Islam, Catholicism and Coptic Christianity. Playing soccer, performing African drumming and dance, braiding hair in traditional styles – these and other cultural activities connect Kiwis and Africans, and help the new immigrants put down roots in a strange land.

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/africans/page-1Who

Travel

Once, experts feared that young children exposed to more than one language would suffer “language confusion,” which might delay their speech development. Today, parents often are urged to capitalize on that early knack for acquiring language. Upscale schools market themselves with promises of deep immersion in Spanish — or Mandarin — for everyone, starting in kindergarten or even before. Yet while many parents recognize the utility of a second language, families bringing up children in non-English-speaking households, or trying to juggle two languages at home, are often desperate for information. And while the study of bilingual development has refuted those early fears about confusion and delay, there aren’t many research-based guidelines about the very early years and the best strategies for producing a happily bilingual child. But there is more and more research to draw on, reaching back to infancy and even to the womb. As the relatively new science of bilingualism pushes back to the origins of speech and language, scientists are teasing out the earliest differences between brains exposed to one language and brains exposed to two. Researchers have found ways to analyze infant behavior — where babies turn their gazes, how long they pay attention — to help figure out infant perceptions of sounds and words and languages, of what is familiar and what is unfamiliar to them. Now, analyzing the neurologic activity of babies’ brains as they hear language, and then comparing those early responses with the words that those children learn as they get older, is helping explain not just how the early brain listens to language, but how listening shapes the early brain. Recently, researchers at the University of Washington used measures of electrical brain responses to compare so-called monolingual infants, from homes in which one language was spoken, to bilingual infants exposed to two languages. Of course, since the subjects of the study, adorable in their infant-size EEG caps, ranged from 6 months to 12 months of age, they weren’t producing many words in any language. Still, the researchers found that at 6 months, the monolingual infants could discriminate between phonetic sounds, whether they were uttered in the language they were used to hearing or in another language not spoken in their homes. By 10 to 12 months, however, monolingual babies were no longer detecting sounds in the second language, only in the language they usually heard.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/health/views/11klass.html?ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=print

Family

Africans & Americans Are Not The Only Ones Stuck On Efficacy Of Chloroquine Most high school science students are familiar with the functions of red and white blood cells. The white cells help fight off infections and other foreign invaders of our bodies. But sometimes, white cell cells overdo it, killing its own cells before infections spread to other organs. This is the advanced study of Cytokines. Chloroquine is not the super drug against the activities of cytokine storms. Other drugs and steroids cortisone have been administered. At the same time, Cytokine storms can cause organ failure: lung failure, Acute Respiratory Distress syndrome (ARDS), kidney failure and cardiovascular collapse or shock. In cases where Chloroquine is already effective in treating malaria, lupus, juvenile arthritis and others, if influenza flu or corona viruses hit, it may be the early drug of choice. But not in later stages of Preexisting conditions: hypertension, diabetes and obesity where drug interactions may make the situation worse. This may be one of the reasons for the strenuous objection to Chloroquine for the treatment of covid-19. Cytokines are small secreted proteins released by cells with some specific effect on the interactions and communications between cells. Therefore, cell immediate response to foreign bodies is to eliminate or kill themselves as a protective mechanism so the disease doesn’t spread to other cells. Certain kinds of cytokines trigger cell death. When you have many cells doing this at the same time, a lot of tissue can die. In COVID-19, that tissue is mostly in the lung. As the tissue breaks down, the walls of the lungs’ tiny air sacs become leaky and filled with fluid, causing pneumonia and starving the blood of oxygen. Some patients recovered after receiving infusions of the rheumatoid arthritis drug Actemra, which blocks the cytokine Interleukin (IL-6) receptor, as one of several that soar in the COVID-19 cytokine storm. When the lung becomes greatly damaged, respiratory distress syndrome follows. Then other organs start to fail. COVID-19 patients die from other problems too, like heart arrhythmias but Preexisting conditions make situations worse. An exaggerated immune response to a new virus, bacteria, or another substance that is foreign to the body is, most of the times the cause. The symptoms of a cytokine storm are high fever, swelling and redness, extreme fatigue and nausea. At the same time, there can be organ failure like lung failure, Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome, kidney failure, cardiovascular collapse or shock. Before anti cytokine storms, studies indicated it may be possible to head off the storm altogether by blocking some of the chemicals that can trigger its release, which are called catecholamines. Catecholamines help the body respond to stress or fright and prepare the body for "fight-or-flight" reactions. The adrenal glands make large amounts of catecholamines as a reaction to stress. The main catecholamines are epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and dopamine. Aldosterone affects the body's ability to regulate blood pressure. It sends the signal to organs, like the kidney and colon, that can increase the amount of sodium the body sends into the bloodstream or the amount of potassium released in the urine. While some medical researchers label it a genetic predisposition, others have blamed the hostile environment against Africans in Diaspora as the cause of higher stress than others. But such blame does not explain the susceptibility to the same fatal diseases in Africa. Anyway, most scientists would first prefer good nutrition before treatment. Luckily, most African foods are "organic food" closer to the farms. But the acquired exotic tastes of processed foods from foreign countries makes it worse. Ironically, "organic foods" are expensive overseas. Patients who were taking medications that block the release of catecholamines -- as some kinds of blood pressure drugs do, early before their diagnosis, were about 20% less likely to need to be placed on a ventilator after their diagnosis, compared to others, an effect that was statistically significant. Therefore, finding the effective prophylactic or therapeutic agents would help to control a pandemic of avian influenza (in A H5N1) viruses. Previous reports have demonstrated that the high mortality in humans infected with avian influenza A H5N1 is partly due to acute lung injury or the result of severe condition: Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). There are few treatment choices for ARDS, aside from mechanical supporting equipment and experimental treatments. The use of cortisones is controversial. Even histamine inhibits the release of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF), in a dose-dependent manner by stimulating the synthesis and release of IL-10. Chloroquine acts to raise the lysosomal pH, leading to the inhibition of both the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes and lysosomal protein degradation. However, most government-sponsored clinical trials have shown insufficient prophylactic effects against influenza infection, which is consistent with other studies. To test this, they have focused efforts on chloroquine (CQ), as CQ is the only oral clinical drug that is known to be an autophagy inhibitor7. Currently, CQ and its hydroxyl form, HCQ, are used as anti-inflammatory agents for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus and amoebic hepatitis. If Chloroquine could be effective for some people in the earliest stages of Covid-19, what about those with Preexisting conditions already in the later stages? Fatal diseases or flu like Covid-19 take more African Lives in Europe and America with high casualties in Africa as seen in Ebola. Though, Nigeria found that Madagascar “CVO reduced cough frequency with the maximum dose tested, producing an effect equivalent to that produced by the centrally acting cough-suppressant, dihydrocodeine,” .https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/nigeria-madagascars-herbal-drink-cannot-cure-covid-19/1915948 Anyway, Russia has approved the first World Immunization by skipping stage Three Trial for wide testing. It has to be confirmed worldwide and the World Health Organization for its efficacy. Otherwise, it might turn out to be another Madagascar bubble before the USA November Election. Disclaimer: "The views expressed on this site are those of the contributors or columnists, and do not necessarily reflect TheNigerianVoice’s position. TheNigerianVoice will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements in the contributions or columns here."

https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/amp/news/290678/africans-americans-are-not-the-only-ones-stuck-on-efficacy.html

Health

Birds of a feather don’t breed together The fascinating phenomenon known as ‘ring species’ is sometimes quite incorrectly used to ‘prove’ evolution. The classic example is as follows. In Britain, the herring gull is clearly a different species from the lesser black-backed gull. Not only can they be easily told apart, but apparently they never interbreed, even though they may inhabit the same areas. By the usual biological definition, they are therefore technically different species. However, as you go westward around the top half of the globe to North America and study the herring gull population, an interesting fact emerges. The gulls become more like black-backed gulls, and less like herring gulls, even though they can still interbreed with herring gulls from Britain. Now go still further via Alaska and then into Siberia (see map). The further west you go, the more each successive population becomes less like a herring gull and more like the black-backed. At every step along the way, each population is able to interbreed with those you studied just before you moved further west. Therefore, you are never technically dealing with separate species. Until, that is, you continue your journey into Europe and back to Britain, where you find that the lesser black-backed gulls there ‘are actually the other end of a ring that started out as herring gulls. At every stage around the ring, the birds are sufficiently similar to their neighbours to interbreed with them.’1 Yet when the ends of the ring meet, the two do not interbreed and so are for all intents and purposes separate species. As you travel west via the route shown by the yellow band, each successive population of herring gull seems more like the black-backed gull. It is clear from such examples that species are not fixed and unchanging, and that two apparently different species may in fact be genetically related. New species (as man defines them) can form. The herring gull and the lesser black-backed gull could not have been initially created as two separate groups reproducing only after their kind, or else they would not be joined by a chain of interbreeding intermediates. There are also observations of other wild populations from which a reasonable person must infer that certain very similar species did indeed share the same ancestor, even though there is no complete ‘ring’. Many have been misled into thinking this is evidence for evolution and against biblical creation. However, some thought reveals otherwise. The key to understanding this is to consider the vast amounts of complex information in all living things, coding for functionally useful structures and processes. Creation as described in the book of Genesis implies that virtually all the genetic information in today’s world was present in the beginning, contained in separate populations (the original created kinds). This information would not be expected to increase, but could decrease with time—in other words, any genetic changes would be expected to be informationally downhill. Evolution (in the normal meaning of the word) implies on the other hand that a single cell has become people, pelicans and palm trees. If true, then this is an uphill process—involving a massive increase of information.2 Change—but what sort? The formation of new species actually fits the creation model very comfortably. The wolf, the dingo and the coyote are all regarded as separate species. However, they (perhaps along with several other species) almost certainly ‘split off’ from an original pair on the Ark—a species representing the surviving information of one created kind. Is there evidence that this can happen, and that it can happen without adding new information, that is, within the limits of the information already present at creation? A ‘mongrel’ dog population can be ‘split’ into separate sub-groups, the varieties of domestic dog (breeders can isolate portions of the total information into populations which do not contain some other portions of that information). This sort of variation does not add any new information. On the contrary, it is genetically downhill. It involves a reduction of the information in each of the descendant populations compared to the ancestral one. Thus, a population of pampered lap-dogs has less genetic information/variability, from which nature or man can select further changes, than the more ‘wild’ population before evolution selection took place. But is it conceivable that such change (which is obviously limited by the amount of information already present in the original kind) can extend to full, complete formation of separate species without any new information arising, without any new genes? (In other words, since evolution means lots of new, useful genes arising with time, can you have new species without any real evolution?) Richard Lewontin is Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology at Harvard. In his book The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change he says there are instances in which ‘speciation and divergence of new full species’ have obviously occurred using ‘the available repertoire of genetic variants’,3 without requiring any ‘novelties by new mutation’. In other words, an ancestral species can split into other species within the limits of the information already present in that kind—just as creationists maintain must have happened.4 In the example we looked at, there is no reason to believe that the differences between the two gull species are the result of any new, more complex, functional genetic information not already present in an ancestral, interbreeding gull population. Because there is no evidence of any such information-adding change, it is misleading to say this gives evidence of evolution, of even a little bit of the sort of change required to eventually turn a fish into a philosopher. Ring species and similar examples actually highlight the great variety and rich information which must have been present in the original created kinds.5 They can be said to demonstrate evolution only to the gullible (pun intended). References and footnotes - New Scientist, 5th June 1993, p. 37. Return to text. - See C. Wieland, ‘Variation, Information and the Created Kind’, Journal of creation 5(1):42–47, April 1991. The usual mechanism proposed is the cumulative selection of ‘uphill’ copying mistakes. However, the observational evidence for such information-adding mutations (as opposed to the occasional loss/defect giving survival value—e.g. eyeless fish in caves) does not appear to exist. On information-theoretical grounds one would expect them to be vanishingly rare if not non-existent. Return to text. - Columbia University Press, 1974, p. 186. Lewontin refers to ‘new mutations’, as he believes that all existing variation came about by copying accidents (‘old mutations’) in the first place. However, that is belief, not observation. Note that a ‘downhill’ mutation can theoretically cause a reproductive barrier (and speciation) without adding any new, functional information. Return to text. - For evidence that this can happen very rapidly, see ‘Darwin’s finches—evidence of rapid post-Flood migration’, Creation 14(3):22–23, June–August 1992. Return to text. - It requires enormous amounts of variation to be already present for selection to result in ‘new’ types. A farmer cannot select for bigger eggs from his hens unless the information for this is already in the genes of some of them. Note that the common ancestor of these two gull species was likely already split off from (and genetically depleted compared to) the original kind. Return to text. Comments are automatically closed 14 days after publication.

https://creation.com/birds-of-a-feather-don-t-breed-together

Religion

World Water Day: Six side effects of not drinking enough water Drinking water often helps to maintain a healthy balance. Mild dehydration can decrease one’s energy level and mental functioning and increase stress on the body while severe dehydration can have far more damaging effects. To avoid dehydration drink at least eight glasses of water every day as an adult. The importance of water to the mechanics of the human body cannot be overemphasized. It serves as a lubricant to the digestive system and all other body processes. The water in our saliva helps facilitate swallowing, ensuring that food slides easily down the esophagus. It also lubricates and allows edibles to move more freely. The body cells and organs depend on water for their functioning. Without water, living things, including humans will die in a few days. So, when you don’t drink enough water, the underlisted side effects happen. · Low Energy When dehydrated, your energy levels drop, and you might feel too tired to continue on with work. · Higher Risk of Stroke According to study in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders, not drinking enough water and being dehydrated can raise the risk of strokes and prolong recovery time. · Slower Metabolism Your metabolism naturally slows down when you’re thirsty and dehydrated. Since your brain needs water, when it’s lacking it can lead to headaches and fatigue. · Poor Skin Skin needs to stay hydrated from water to look dewy and young. Not drinking enough can increase the effects of aging and make the skin look dry. With insufficient water, collagen can crack, leading to fine lines and wrinkles. · Weight Gain Drinking water can even help you lose weight and lower water retention. So not drinking water can make you add a little weight.

https://thenationonlineng.net/six-side-effects-of-not-drinking-enough-water/

Health

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the proportion of children under five years of age “chronically infected with hepatitis B (HBV)” dropped to just under one per cent in 2019. WHO in a statement on Monday, said this was down from around five per cent in the pre-vaccine era, between the 1980s and the early 2000s. It noted that the reduction marked the achievement of one of the milestone targets to eliminate viral hepatitis in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The statement comes a day ahead of this year’s World Hepatitis Day commemorated annually on July 28 to enhance global awareness of viral hepatitis. The disease is characterised by an inflammation of the liver that causes a range of health problems, including liver cancer. This year’s theme is “Hepatitis-free future,” with a strong focus on preventing hepatitis B among mothers and newborns. To build on the achievement, the global health body is calling for “united and stepped-up action” through intensified efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission. It is advocating enhanced testing of pregnant women, provision of antiviral prophylaxis to those who need it, and maintenance and expansion of access to hepatitis B immunisation and birth dose vaccine. “No infant should grow up only to die of hepatitis B because they were not vaccinated,” the statement quoted the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus as saying. “Today’s milestone means that we have dramatically reduced the number of cases of liver damage and liver cancer in future generations. “Preventing mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B is the most important strategy for controlling the disease and saving lives. “Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must ensure that mothers and newborns have access to life-saving services including hepatitis B vaccinations,” Ghebreyesus said. Globally, more than 250 million people are living with chronic HBV infection, according to the organisation. It says infants are especially vulnerable, with 90 per cent of children infected with HBV in their first year of life becoming chronic HBV carriers. “HBV attacks the liver and claims the lives of nearly 900,000 people each year,’’ WHO added. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/12/faan-begins-palliative-repair-enugu-runway/Chronic

Politics

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says more than 300,000 women die annually during pregnancy and childbirth. Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Executive Director, disclosed this at the occasion of International Day of the Midwife, which honoured midwives as family ‘partners for life’. He urged governments and development partners to expand midwifery programmes and promote an environment where midwives can effectively serve the needs of women and their families. “Midwives save lives, support and promote healthy families, and empower women and couples to choose whether, when and how often to have children. “They also help avert sexually transmitted infections and prevent disabilities like obstetric fistula, mother-to-child transmission of HIV and female genital mutilation. “Each year, more than 300,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth. “The UN also estimates that some three million babies do not survive the first month of life, and another 2.5 million are stillborn. “Most of them could have been saved by the care of well-trained midwives within the framework of strong health systems,” Osotimehin said. This year’s theme for the Day is ‘Midwives, Mothers and Families: Partners for Life!’ Osotimehin said the Day underscored the important roles that “these women and girls have in preventing maternal and newborn deaths and empowering women to make informed, healthy choices”. “These are critical aspects of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which seek to alleviate poverty and assist the planet, by the 2030 deadline,” the UNFPA chief said. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also reiterated the importance of midwives washing their hands and maintaining hygienic standards. Fran McConville, Midwifery Adviser of WHO, on the occasion of the Midwifery Day, tasked midwives on hygiene, particularly handwashing. McConville said that “handwashing and lack of water and sanitation is a fundamental constraint to quality of care. “As midwives we must work in partnership to improve access to water, sanitation and electricity for all women and babies everywhere. “Worldwide, 30,000 women and 400,000 babies die every year from infections, such as puerperal sepsis, often caused by lack of water, sanitation and poor hand-washing practices,” the WHO official said. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/05/unfpa-says-300000-women-die-annually-pregnancy-childbirth/

Health

When we hear the statement “Things fall apart”, what comes to mind? Right! we all know it’s Chinua Achebe’s book. The book “Things fall apart”, is one of the first recognised novel, which was written by an African writer. Achebe wrote the book from an absolute African perspective, though there are elements of British colonialism and the activities of the missionaries to convert African people, Achebe focused his theme basically on the end of the traditional Igbo way of life. He portrayed the patriarchy lifestyle of the Igbo folks where women cannot own lands and take up leadership roles, the Igbo culture also supports a meritocracy, promoting people on worth rather than class or status. He also wanted to portray Africans as he knew them and as a contrast to the image given by Conrad Joseph in his book titled “Heart of Darkness”. The Igbo people (and other Africans) were not savages. They had a well-established way of life that the Europeans could not understand and, as a result, had no respect for. Things really did “fall apart” by the end as it became clear to the main character (Okonkwo) that his people will never be able to return to life as it was before the “Scramble for Africa” began. The book has a simple but powerful story with strong characters, great set of event, paced narration and a wonderful spirit for self-identity and self-respect. The book helps in understanding an integral part of the African culture and history. The book has been widely read across the African continent and beyond. If you are looking for a new read by Chinua Achebe, “Arrow of God” is another masterpiece.

https://olatorera.com/chinua-achebes-greatest-book-of-all-time/

Literature

SCIENTISTS say they have found how the lethal Ebola virus blocks and disables the body’s ability to battle infections in a discovery that should help the search for potential cures and vaccines. A group of scientists in the United States found that Ebola carries a protein called VP24 that interferes with a molecule called interferon, which is vital to the immune response. “One of the key reasons that Ebola virus is so deadly is because it disrupts the body’s immune response to the infection,” said Chris Basler of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, who worked on the study. “Figuring out how VP24 promotes this disruption will suggest new ways to defeat the virus.” The team, lead by Gaya Amarasinghe from Washington University School of Medicine, found that VP24 works by stopping something called “transcription factor STAT1” – which carries interferon’s antiviral message – from entering the nucleus of a cell and initiating an immune response. “This study shows just how nefarious the Ebola virus can be,” said Ben Neuman, a virologist at Britain’s university of Reading who was not directly involved in this study. “Ebola virus carries a small tool that intercepts the cell’s distress signals, and when this happens, it disables some of the most useful machinery that our bodies have for fighting Ebola. That leaves the body with only crude defences that are less effective at stopping the virus, and end up causing much of the damage that can eventually lead to death.” Ebola is one of the most deadly diseases known in humans and has a case fatality rate of up to 90 percent. In the current epidemic in West Africa, the virus has infected more than 1,800 people. So far, 1,013 of these have died the vast majority in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/scientists-discover-ebola-virus-disables-immune-response/#sthash.ru5HhPBG.dpuf

Health

What is Emotional Intelligence? Emotions are present in everything you think, do, and say each day on the job, in your career, and throughout your life. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is how you handle yourself and others. Your EQ taps into a fundamental element of human behavior that is distinct from your intellect and personality. It affects how you manage your behavior, navigate social complexities, and make personal decisions that achieve positive results. People who develop their emotional intelligence communicate more effectively, handle stress and conflict productively, are better team players, are able to navigate change, and also perform at a higher level. The Power of Emotional Intelligence: How EQ Can Transform Your Life We often hear about Emotional Intelligence, but what exactly is it? Can it really impact our success? The answer is, yes! Unlike personality or IQ, emotional intelligence is a skill that one can develop, and it is absolutely essential for personal growth and development as well as social awareness and relational competence. There are four key components: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Self-awareness is your ability to accurately perceive your emotions in the moment and understand your tendencies across situations. In times when you are pushed to your breaking point, are you aware of it? When the sudden moment that frustration or anger peaks or the slow, dull build-up of tension and stress culminates—are you aware of how those emotions are impacting your reactions and behavior? How do those emotions feel physically? Does your heart race or your shoulders tense? The first step in strong emotional intelligence is being cognizant of and quickly making sense of your emotions as they are happening. Then, in those crucial moments, can you effectively manage yourself to control the impulses and immediate reactions of that emotion? Self-management is your ability to use your awareness of your emotions to stay flexible and direct your behavior positively. What if those emotions might be detrimental to the situation or the interaction? Can you pause and reflect before that emotion dictates your reaction? This self-management skill is essential in how you interact with the world around you. Once you have mastered your own self emotional intelligence, social awareness helps you learn about and appreciate other people. Social awareness is about listening and observing people to better perceive emotions and understand what’s really going on with them. Do you have the capacity to recognize, acknowledge and empathize with the person across from you? Are you aware of the “emotions in the room?” Can you see the moment the energy shifts? If you can recognize the emotions of the people around you, you are one step closer to being able to impact that situation. The final component of EQ is relationship management. The ability to be aware of the social factors that are influencing the dynamics in the room are half of the equation. The most challenging element that truly separates highly emotionally intelligence individuals from the pack is the ability to manage social situations successfully. Can you pivot and redirect a conversation in the moment? Can you adjust and shift your behavior to change the course of events? This is the power of emotional intelligence.

http://www.talentsmart.com/about/emotional-intelligence.php

Education

In recent weeks, one of the hottest questions about the coronavirus has been focused around, quite literally, temperature. President Trump has suggested that the coronavirus outbreak will be gone by April because “the heat generally speaking kills this kind of virus,” as reported by USA Today. He has appointed Vice President Pence to take charge of the U.S. response to the disease. But, will the coronavirus be responsive to seasonal changes similar to the flu? In short, there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that the spread of the disease will abate with warmer weather. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) notes that “at this time, it is not known whether the spread of COVID-19 will decrease when weather becomes warmer.” COVID-19 is different from the virus strains that cause the flu even though it can lead to similar symptoms of respiratory problems. So, to glean some insights, we need to look backwards to comparable outbreaks. The SARS epidemic, which spread in 2002 across Asia, started in November and continued into July. The outbreak was contained comparatively quickly — only 8,000 people worldwide were infected. MERS began in September 2012 in Saudi Arabia, a country with relatively higher temperatures. “We don’t see too much evidence of seasonality in MERS,” Stuart Weston, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, told National Geographic. The CDC says it is is simply too soon to know how COVID-19 will react when it first encounters warmer springtime temperatures. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/485052-trump-says-coronavirus-will-die-off-in-warmer

Health

By Sola Ogundipe Lassa virus is a member of the arenavirus family. The disease was first described in the 1950s, and the virus was identified in 1969, when two missionary nurses died from it in the town of Lassa in Nigeria. During 2012 and 2013, more than 2900 cases were reported in widespread outbreaks that occurred across many states. Reports of the outbreak of Lassa Fever in at least 10 states including the FCT leaving 43 dead and at least 100 hospitalized, has necessitated the need for public enlightenment and appropriate information as to protect lives. Lassa fever is caused by infection with the Lassa virus which is spread by wild multimammate rats (Mastomys species), which shed the virus in their urine and droppings. These are common in rural areas of tropical Africa, and often live in or around homes. Once infected, rodents shed virus throughout their life. They carry the virus in their urine and faeces and live in homes and areas where food is stored. The disease can be contacted by ingestion of foods and drinks contaminated by the saliva, urine and faeces of infected rats. Others include catching and preparing infected rats as food, inhaling tiny particles in the air contaminated with infected rat urine or droppings, and direct contact with a sick person’s blood or body fluids, through mucous membranes, like eyes, nose, or mouth. Persons at risk Those most at risk include health workers, families and friends of an infected person in the course of feeding, holding and caring for them. Within three weeks of coming in contact with the virus, symptoms include fever, headache, chills, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, backache, and joint pains. Late symptoms include bleeding from the eyes, ears and nose, bleeding from the mouth and rectum, eye swelling, swelling of the genitals and rashes all over the body that often contain blood. It could progress to coma, shock and death. Lassa fever is suspected in persons who present with above symptoms with a positive history of being in contact with a suspected or infected person or health worker who had treated either suspected or confirmed infected person. Antiviral drugs can successfully treat Lassa fever. The earlier a person presents, the better the outcome of treatment. Prevention and control The general public is advised to take note of the following: * Avoid contact between rats and human beings. * Observe good personal hygiene including hand washing with soap and running water regularly * Dispose of your waste properly and clean the environment so that rats are not attracted * Store foods in rat proof containers and cook all foods thoroughly before eating. * Discourage rodents from entering the house by blocking all possible entry points * Food manufacturers and handlers should not spread food where rats can have access to it. * Report any cases of above symptoms or persistent high fever not responding to standard treatment for malaria and typhoid fever to the nearest health centre. * All fluids from an infected person are extremely dangerous. Health workers are also advised to be at alert, wear personal protective equipment, observe universal basic precautions, nurse suspected cases in isolation and report same to the LGA or Ministry of Health immediately. For more information,contact the Directorate of Disease Control, Lagos State Ministry of Health on 08037170614, 08023169485. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/what-you-should-know-about-lassa-fever/

Health

The blue light from digital devices like smartphones could accelerate blindness, researchers found. According to a research by the University of Toledo in the U.S., exposure to blue light continuously might cause poisonous molecules to be generated in the eye’s light-sensitive cells and lead to macular degeneration. Reaserachers said as one of the leading causes of blindness in the U.S., macular degeneration does not lead to total blindness, but can make daily activities difficult. “It’s no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye’s retina. “Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop,” said Dr Ajith Karunarathne, an assistant professor in the university’s department of chemistry and biochemistry. Macular degeneration is caused by the death of photoreceptors, a kind of light-sensitive cells. Photoreceptor cells need molecules called retinal to sense light and trigger signalling to the brain, enabling us to see. “If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signalling molecule on the membrane dissolves,” said Kasun Ratnayake, a PhD student at the University of Toledo who was involved in the study. “Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they’re dead, they’re dead for good,” To protect eyes from blue light, researchers advise people to wear sunglasses which filter both UV and blue light outside and avoid using smartphones or tablets in the dark.

https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2018/08/13/blue-light-from-smartphones-could-accelerate-blindness-study/

Phones

More than one and a half centuries after the trans-Atlantic slave trade ended, a new study shows how the brutal treatment of enslaved people has shaped the DNA of their descendants. The report, which included more than 50,000 people, 30,000 of them with African ancestry, agrees with the historical record about where people were taken from in Africa, and where they were enslaved in the Americas. But it also found some surprises. For example, the DNA of participants from the United States showed a significant amount of Nigerian ancestry — far more than expected based on the historical records of ships carrying enslaved people directly to the United States from Nigeria. At first, historians working with the researchers “couldn’t believe the amount of Nigerian ancestry in the U.S.,” said Steven Micheletti, a population geneticist at 23andMe who led the study. After consulting another historian, the researchers learned that enslaved people were sent from Nigeria to the British Caribbean, and then were further traded into the United States, which could explain the genetic findings, he said. The study illuminates one of the darkest chapters of world history, in which 12.5 million people were forcibly taken from their homelands in tens of thousands of European ships. It also shows that the historical and genetic records together tell a more layered and intimate story than either could alone.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/science/23andme-african-ancestry.html

Culture

Scientists in California yesterday reported a major discovery that supports the emerging theory that life on earth began in clay rather than the sea. The discovery, announced at a symposium, showed that ordinary clay contains two basic properties essential to life: the capacities to store and transfer energy. With such energy, coming from radioactive decay and other sources, the early clays could have acted as ''chemical factories'' for processing inorganic raw materials into the more complex molecules from which the first life arose some four billion years ago. In their analysis of common ceramic clay, the scientists said they had found evidence that ''mistakes'' made normally and repeatedly in the formation of clay crystals presumably create the conditions by which the material traps energy and holds it for perhaps thousands of years. Such defects in the clay microstructure could also be sites for storing information necessary to direct the chemical reactions and organize the eventual proto-organisms. Biblical Account Recalled So, if the theory can be confirmed, it would seem that an accumulation of chemical mistakes led to life on earth. The theory is also evocative of the biblical account of the Creation. In Genesis, it is written, ''And the Lord God formed man of dust of the ground,'' and in common usage this primordial dust is called clay. The chemists and biologists who made the discovery, however, emphasized that their findings did not prove the clay-life theory but did make it a more reasonable explanation worthy of further research. The research was conducted by a team of scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center in Mountainview, Calif., where studies of the origin of life have been under way for years in part to learn how to search for life on other worlds. The leader was Dr. Lelia Coyne, a research associate at Ames and also at San Jose State University. She described the findings, the result of research begun in the 1970's, at a symposium held at Ames and in a telephone interview.

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/03/us/new-finding-backs-idea-that-life-started-in-clay-rather-than-sea.html

Religion

In recent years, the fashion industry has faced increasing scrutiny due to its negative environmental and social impacts. However, a new movement has emerged, championing eco-friendly and ethical fashion practices. Sustainable fashion aims to create clothing and accessories that have a reduced carbon footprint, are made from sustainable materials, utilize recycling, and adhere to fair trade principles. This essay will explore the rise of sustainable fashion and highlight its significance in promoting a more conscious and responsible industry. One of the pillars of sustainable fashion is the use of environmentally friendly materials. Conventional textile production relies heavily on non-renewable resources, such as petroleum-based synthetic fibers. In contrast, sustainable fashion focuses on utilizing organic and natural materials, such as organic cotton, hemp, and bamboo. These materials have a lower environmental impact as they require less water, energy, and chemicals during cultivation and processing. Additionally, sustainable fashion embraces innovative alternatives like recycled fibers, such as recycled polyester made from plastic bottles, or regenerated fibers like Tencel made from sustainably sourced wood pulp. These materials reduce waste and minimize the consumption of virgin resources. Recycling and Upcycling Another vital aspect of sustainable fashion is recycling and upcycling. The fashion industry is notorious for its throwaway culture, with vast amounts of clothing ending up in landfills each year. To combat this, sustainable fashion encourages recycling and upcycling practices. Recycling involves the transformation of discarded garments or textiles into new materials, which can be used to create new products. This process reduces waste and conserves resources. Upcycling, on the other hand, involves transforming old or unwanted garments into higher-quality items. By reimagining and repurposing materials, upcycling adds value and extends the lifespan of clothing, reducing the demand for new products. Fashion Brands Embracing Sustainability The rise of sustainable fashion has been fueled by numerous brands and designers committed to ethical and eco-friendly practices. Industry leaders like Patagonia, Eileen Fisher, and Stella McCartney have integrated sustainability into their core values and business models. These brands prioritize transparency, fair labor practices, and environmental stewardship. They often work directly with suppliers and manufacturers to ensure sustainable sourcing, fair wages, and safe working conditions. Additionally, they implement innovative strategies to reduce waste, such as zero-waste pattern-cutting techniques or utilizing deadstock fabrics. Through their efforts, these brands demonstrate that sustainability can coexist with style and profitability. Consumer Awareness and Education The growing demand for sustainable fashion can be attributed to the increasing awareness and education among consumers. People are becoming more conscious of the environmental and social implications of their clothing choices. The rise of social media and online platforms has played a significant role in spreading awareness about sustainable fashion. Influencers, bloggers, and organizations have used their platforms to promote ethical and eco-friendly brands, share information about sustainable materials, and encourage conscious consumerism. Moreover, educational initiatives and events, such as Fashion Revolution Week, have sparked conversations and encouraged consumers to ask questions about the origins of their garments and demand greater transparency from fashion companies. The Role of Technology Technology has also played a crucial role in the rise of sustainable fashion. Innovations like 3D printing and digital design have the potential to revolutionize the industry by reducing waste and improving efficiency. 3D printing allows for precise and customized production, eliminating excess materials and minimizing the need for transportation. Digital design tools enable designers to create virtual prototypes, reducing the need for physical samples and minimizing textile waste. Furthermore, blockchain technology has emerged as a tool to enhance transparency and traceability within the fashion supply chain. By recording and verifying transactions, blockchain ensures that ethical and sustainable practices are upheld, from raw material sourcing to the final product. Fair Trade and Ethical Practices Sustainable fashion encompasses fair trade principles, advocating for workers' fair treatment and compensation of workers throughout the supply chain. Traditional fashion production often exploits garment workers in developing countries, subjecting them to low wages, unsafe working conditions, and long hours. Fairtrade initiatives ensure that workers receive fair wages, have access to safe working conditions, and are provided with opportunities for growth and development. By supporting fair trade fashion brands, consumers can contribute to the empowerment and well-being of workers, promoting social justice within the industry. The rise of sustainable fashion signifies a significant shift in the fashion industry, where environmental and social considerations are gaining prominence. Through the use of sustainable materials, recycling and upcycling, ethical practices, and fair trade principles, sustainable fashion aims to create a more responsible and conscious industry. Fashion brands, consumers, and technological advancements have all contributed to the growth of this movement. As awareness continues to spread and sustainable practices become the norm, the fashion industry has the potential to redefine itself, embracing sustainability as a core value and paving the way for a more sustainable future. There are no comments for this story Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

https://vocal.media/styled/sustainable-fashion-exploring-the-rise-of-eco-friendly-and-ethical-fashion-practices

Fashion

By Sola Ogundipe Who is stronger, a man or a woman? If you say a man is stronger you are correct. If you say a woman is stronger, you are also correct. Both answers are right, depending, of course on the perspective of your reasoning. Being a man symbolises authority, firmness and toughness. The presence of a man evokes an enhanced sense of security and safety. You can’t argue with any of these. Traditionally, men are tasked with the role of providing security and protecting women and children, not vice versa. Physically, men are averagely bigger, taller, heavier, and are more muscular than women. A man’s bones are stronger and denser and his body is structurally better built to take more physical abuse and trauma than a woman. Men can jump farther and higher, run faster and further than women. Men can lift and carry heavier weights or throw things farther, and can swim faster over longer distances. Men are more aggressive and better endowed to complete more arduous tasks. Overall, men are generally bolder and superior in the endurance tasks, but in the medical aspects, it’s a completely different story. Health wise, the more fragile-boned and softer bodied women turn the tables and come out better off than men. It sounds surprising, but the facts are there. Women, even with the comparative disadvantage of their reproductive life cycle, tend to live longer and healthier lives than men. With changing lifestyles and growing emphasis on healthier diets and regular exercise, life expectancy is also changing, rising slowly but steadily year after year. But one thing that has not changed is the gender gap. Men and women are living longer, but decade after decade; women continue to live longer than men. In fact, the gender gap is wider now than it was a century ago. When taken together, the longevity gap is quite significant. Everywhere you look; there are more older women than men, more widows than widowers. For instance, in America and to a large extent in Europe, more than half of all women older than 65 are widows and widows outnumber widowers by at least three to one. At age 65, for every 100 American women, there are only 77 men. At age 85, the disparity is even greater, with women outnumbering men by 2.6 to 1. And the longevity gap persists even into very old age, long after hormones have passed their peak; among centenarians, there are four females for every male. This gender gap is not unique to America. In fact, every country with reliable health statistics reports that women live longer than men. The longevity gap is present both in industrialised societies and in developing countries. It’s a universal observation that suggests a basic difference between the health of men and women. Not only do men die at a faster rate than women, men die younger. Men are more burdened by lifetime illness than women. On the average, a man falls ill at a younger age and has more chronic illnesses than a woman. The indirect translation of this is that women live longer and healthier lives than men. For instance, the average overall mortality rate is 41 percent higher for men than for women, and it’s also higher for men for eight of the 10 leading causes of death. In addition, American men are 2.1 times more likely to die from liver disease, 2.7 times more likely to die from HIV/AIDS, 4.1 times more likely to commit suicide, and 3.8 times more likely to be murder victims than women. Further, men are nearly 10 times more likely to get inguinal hernias than women, and five times more likely to have aortic aneurysms. Men are about as likely to contract HIV and AIDS as women, but are more prone to gout and three times more likely than women to develop kidney stones, to become alcoholics, or to have bladder cancer. Men are about twice as likely to suffer from emphysema or a duodenal ulcer. Although women see the doctor more often, the medical care cost is much higher for men beyond age 65. The gender gap in health and longevity A man and a woman each have 22 identical pairs of chromosomes. The 23rd set of chromosomes separates the sexes. This final pair contains the sex chromosomes. In women, the pair are X chromosomes, while in men one is an X and the other a Y. The Y chromosome is smaller and contains fewer genes that may be linked to diseases that contribute to the excess male mortality throughout life. In addition, if a woman has a disease-producing gene on one of her X chromosomes, it may be counterbalanced by a normal gene on the other X, but if a man has the same bad gene on his X chromosome; he lacks the potential protection of a matching gene. Advantage: Women. This is also key to the health gap between men and women. For instance, the number of new prostate and breast cancers are closely matched, but women are about 45 percent more likely to die from their disease. If malignant and benign diseases of the uterus and the perils of pregnancy and childbirth are factored in, one would expect that women are the more fragile sex. But they are not. An explanation is the hormonal influence which, however, don’t account for the lion’s share of the gender gap, but they play a role. For instance, oestrogen raises High Density Lipoprotein, HDL or good cholesterol levels, perhaps explaining why heart disease typically begins about 10 years later in women than men. Research shows that in physiologic doses, testosterone may help some men with heart disease. Women who take oestrogen well beyond menopause, when their natural levels plummet, experience an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots. On the other hand, testosterone may contribute to the risk-taking and aggressive behaviour that causes problems for many young men. And testosterone also fuels diseases of the prostate, both benign and malignant. Even so, the testosterone-prostate connection can’t account for the longevity gap, since there are more deaths from breast cancer than prostate cancer. Both sex hormones keep bones strong, but here, men have the edge. As men age, testosterone levels decline slowly, about 1 percent a year, but oestrogen levels drop abruptly at menopause, boosting the risk of osteoporosis. Verdict: Draw Males and females have similar Low Density Lipoproteins, LDL or “bad” cholesterol levels, but women have substantially higher levels of “good” cholesterol (60.3 milligrams per decilitre, or mg/dL, versus 48.5 mg/dL on average). HDL cholesterol protects against heart disease, but triglycerides may increase risk. Diabetes is a major problem and metabolic risk factor for both sexes and its prevalence is increasing in both. But it affects a somewhat higher percentage in men. Obesity is rapidly increasing. The prevalence of obesity is slightly higher in women than men; although excess weight is more of a problem for males. Women tend to carry excess weight on their hips and thighs (pear shape), while men add the excess weight to their waistlines (apple shape or beer belly). Excess body fat is never a good thing, but abdominal obesity is much riskier than lower body obesity, sharply increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. Women tend to be shaped well than men. Although obesity is often classified as a metabolic problem, it usually results from unwise health behaviours, another major misfortune for males. Advantage: Women. Work stress can increase the risk of hypertension, heart attack, and stroke. Stress, hostility, and anger have all been implicated as heart disease risk factors, and these traits tend to have a higher prevalence in men than women. Work-related stress and heart-breaking personality factors may contribute to male vulnerability. But as more women enter the workplace and add financial obligations to their traditional roles at home, they are gradually closing the gender gap by moving in the wrong direction. Advantage: Women. Social, spiritual networks Women tend to have much larger and more reliable social networks than men. A study by the New England Research Institute found that 28 percent of women but only 9 percent of men report they can rely on friends for support, and men were 2.5 times more likely than women to lack social support. In general, women are more in touch with their feelings and with other women, and they have a remarkable ability to express their thoughts and emotions. This strong relationships and good communication seem to help explain why women live longer on Earth. Advantage: Women From boyhood on, males take more risks than females, and they often pay the price in terms of trauma, injury, and death. Simple precautions like seat belts and bike helmets can help, but more complex measures involving education about alcohol, drugs, firearms, and safe sex are also essential. Advantage: Women Aggression and violence These are extreme forms of risky behaviour, and they all have many of the same root causes. A man who takes risks places himself in harm’s way, but his unwise choices may not endanger others. Violent behaviour, though, directly threatens the health and well-being of others, both male and female. A man is nearly four times more likely to die from homicide or suicide than a woman, but women are much more likely to be victims of domestic violence. Men need more self-control and anger management if they are to close this portion of the gender gap. Advantage: Women. Smoking This is the riskiest of all health habits. In the old days, men smoked but women didn’t. Times have changed, now women smoke in large numbers and are catching up with men in heart disease, lung cancer, and emphysema. Both sexes are trying to break the habit, but more men (24 percent) than women (18 percent) are hooked on cigarettes. Tobacco smoking is likely to continue fuelling the gender gap for years to come. Advantage: Women Alcohol and substance abuse Like smoking, drinking and drug abuse are self-destructive habits that are traditionally male problems increasingly threatening to women as well. Small to modest amounts of alcohol appear to protect a man’s health, reducing his risk of heart attack and the most common type of stroke. But larger amounts shorten life by increasing the likelihood of hypertension, heart failure, liver disease, various cancers, accidents, and traumatic death. Men are twice as likely as women to be binge drinkers and to become dependent on alcohol. Illicit drugs claim thousands of lives a year and it’s a tragedy for both sexes, but males are 80 percent more likely to abuse drugs than females. Advantage: Women Meat is bad, veggies are good. It’s an oversimplification, but it may help explain why women are generally healthier than men: in most cases, they eat better. Women are about 50 percent more likely than men to meet the goal of eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Advantage: Women Men and women used to get plenty of exercise from their routine, but as men moved behind desks, women who continued to haul shopping bags, climb stairs, scrub floors, and wash mountains of clothes, continued to get the many health benefits of physical activity. But as modern appliances replace muscles at home and women join men in sedentary jobs, women are falling slightly behind in exercise. But most men still don’t come close to getting the exercise they need for optimal health. Verdict: Draw. In the developed world, women are likely to think and do more about health. Women are more likely than men to have health insurance and a regular source of health care. But the reverse is the case in developing countries. A major survey by the Commonwealth Fund, shows that three times as many men as women had not seen a doctor in the previous year; more than half of all men had not had a physical exam or cholesterol test in the previous year; among men over 50 years of age, 41 percent had not been screened for prostate cancer, and 60 percent had not been screened for colon cancer in the previous year; and 25 percent of men said they would handle worries about health by waiting as long as possible before seeking help. In general, men who have the most traditional, macho views about masculinity are likely to be the least healthy. Advantage: Women. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/im-stronger-man/

Romance

The food we eat is at the heart of many cancers. In fact, up to 70% of cancers are thought to be preventable through diet. The other 30% has to do with genetics and environmental factors that you can’t control. Here is a list of foods you must avoid to steer clear of cancer as shared by www.nutritionexp.com Canned food tends to contain really high levels of salt and/or sugar, but that’s not the main reason it is bad for you. It’s actually the cans that contain the food. They are often lined with the dangerous chemical BPA, which is a known hormone disrupter that has also been linked to cancer. BPA will leech into whatever food comes in contact with it, especially things that are naturally acidic, such as tomatoes. Eat your produce fresh or frozen instead, or only buy canned products that are labeled as BPA-free. Soda drinks are really bad for you. Sugar is necessary in small amounts, but is also cancer cells’ favourite food and sodas contain enough to choke a horse. It also has no redeeming nutritional value and puts you at greater risk of cancer due to the artificial chemicals and colourings that are added. If it’s a caffeine energy boost you need, a much healthier option is lightly sweetened tea or coffee, both of which have anti-cancer properties. To get the bubbles in soda without the negative health consequences, buy carbonated water and add a touch of citrus juice for flavour. Chips aren’t healthy because they contain a lot of salt and saturated fat which is overwhelming to your body’s digestive system. The reason they increase your cancer risk is something called acrylamide, a carcinogenic chemical that occurs anytime food is cooked to a high temperature. Frying potatoes produces a lot of it, but it’s also the reason why health experts advise against charring your meat during cooking. Acrylamide is also found in cigarettes and is part of the reason they are so deadly. Smoked or processed meat Red meat, in general, should be limited due to its high-fat content, but any meat that has been processed is best avoided almost entirely. That won’t be easy because a lot of tasty products are on the list, including bacon, lunch meat, sausage, jerky, and smoked barbecue. A lot of these foods are preserved using nitrates and nitrites, which are linked to cancer. And even though smoking is an age-old technique for preserving food, it causes meat to take on tar in the process. It’s bad in cigarettes and just as dangerous in food. You may be wondering what is left that you can eat, especially in terms of protein, but rest assured that fish can still be a very healthy choice. Naturally lean, it contains high levels of the healthy omega-3 fatty acids that your body really needs. Unfortunately, farmed salmon live an overcrowded, high-stress life and are fed an unnatural diet full of antibiotics and cancer-causing chemicals. As a result, their meat is high in PCBs, dioxins, and mercury – all dangerous stuff for humans to consume. However, wild sockeye salmon is a whole different story, and a great meal choice if you can find it at the grocery store. Much like canned foods, the problem with microwave popcorn is the way it is stored. Most microwave bags are lined with a product called PFOA, which has been linked to the occurrence of pancreas, kidney, liver, bladder, and testicular cancer. When you pop the corn in the microwave, PFOA coats the finished product right along with the artificial trans fat “butter”. Popcorn itself can be a healthy snack, however, if you use an air popper and then toss it with a little bit of garlic-infused olive oil or a flavorful dried herb mix. Whole grains are very healthy, but the processing that creates refined white flour completely strips away the value. White flour is also given its colour by a blast of chlorine gas, not something you want to be eating. Besides being nutritionally void, white flour has an extremely high glycemic index, which means that it breaks down into sugar in the body, spiking blood glucose and insulin levels along with it. This state in the body is thought to feed cancer cells. Try to stick to baked goods that use whole grain flours. High Fructose corn syrup High fructose corn syrup is dangerous because, even though it comes from natural corn, the sweetness is highly concentrated. Foods that contain it are likely to put your blood sugar through the roof and create the perfect environment for cancer cells to thrive. It is not thought to cause cancer directly, but it’s dangerous to create conditions in your body that are ideal for cancer to grow. Avoiding packaged foods and cooking at home is the best way to avoid high fructose corn syrup all together. Excess alcohol consumption is bad for you for lots of reasons. Drinking to excess makes your liver and kidneys work extra hard, not to mention triggers a whole host of bad decisions from your stupefied brain. Studies also indicate that consuming too much alcohol puts you at greater risk for cancer of the mouth, oesophagus, liver, colon, and rectum. How much is too much? In general, one drink per day for women and two for men is considered safe, but there’s no real health benefit to drinking at all. Red wine does contain some heart-healthy resveratrol, but so do red grapes. Pickling is another form of processing that adds nitrates or nitrites, salt, and artificial colouring to food. In much the same way that too much alcohol can cause cancer in the parts of the body it touches directly, pickled foods are linked to cancer of the digestive tract, especially the stomach and colon. If you really love pickles, take the time to make them at home so that you can control the level of salt and avoid artificial pickling solutions. You might think that oil from vegetables ought to be healthy, but this is another case where the processing of natural products makes them dangerous. Oil cannot be extracted from whole vegetables naturally, so they undergo a chemical extraction process. Then, the oil is coloured and the natural scent is removed to make the finished product look appealing. This chemical process is what makes the oil hydrogenated. It is found in many processed foods, added for texture and to preserve them, but hydrogenated oils affect the cells’ structure and flexibility, upping the chance for cancer to develop.

https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/10/15/awo-the-best-president-nigeria-never-had-ojukwu/http://www.nigeriamasterweb.com/OjukwuConfirmed.htmlhttp://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/05/anambra-2017-ojukwu-left-biafra-apga-ndigbo/Read

Politics

Off the main road in this unassuming town, a footpath that snakes through the thick bush and trees of the Nigerian rain forest leads to the remains of what is certainly one of the largest monuments in sub-Saharan Africa: a 100-mile-long wall and moat whose construction began a millennium ago. The monument, called Sungbo's Eredo, was erected around a kingdom of the Yoruba -- one of the three main ethnic groups in present-day Nigeria -- and surrounds several towns and villages. Here, the Eredo's earthen bank rises 70 feet in the air from the bottom of a wide ditch, its reddish, vertical wall glistening with patches of moss. Few Nigerians have heard of the Eredo; fewer still have visited it. Much of the Eredo lies in ruin, or hidden in the nearly impenetrable rain forest, ignored by locals and Government officials alike. Over the last five years, however, a team of Nigerian and British archeologists and preservationists have succeeded in mapping the structure after the work of an earlier archeologist piqued the curiosity of Patrick Darling, an archeologist at Bournemouth University in Britain. A carbon analysis of parts of the rampart showed that it dates from the 10th century and suggested that a highly organized kingdom existed in the rain forest at least three centuries earlier than previously believed. Because many ethnic groups and cultures have inhabited Nigeria's territory over the centuries and because the country has drawn relatively few archeologists compared with its neighbors here in West Africa, Nigeria is considered a potential treasure trove.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/20/world/eredo-journal-a-wall-a-moat-behold-a-lost-yoruba-kingdom.html

Culture

STUDIES confirm Nigeria as one of the world’s poorest countries. Nigeria has one-fifth of Africa’s population, more than 80 million Nigerians live on less than $1 per day, the standard international bar for poverty. The intensity of poverty in Nigeria was reported in a 2005 study, which states, “80 to 90 million Nigerians live in poverty; only India and China have more poor people.” India and China each has a population of over 1 billion. Nigeria has about 150 million people. Every Nigerian government in the past 25 years or so has promoted one anti-poverty programmes or the other. These programmes, in their originators’ efforts to be seen as different, result in outright cancellation of earlier programmes or are contradictory. Poverty is growing with devastating consequences for both rural and urban populations. Politicians gloss over the issue. They are too wealthy to notice how others are struggling to live. How can politicians, who contribute to policies that neglect the people be concerned about poverty? Poverty’s growth is deep, pervasive, with the combined factors of poor health care systems, corruption and uncaring governments sustaining it. More people are unemployed and unable to meet basic daily needs of food, medication, and even drinking water. Incidents of suicide are being reported more regularly in the urban centres as economic opportunities evaporate. Governments’ commitment to spend funds from debt relief on poverty reduction has no visible effect on millions of Nigerians who never have a decent meal, and cannot plan for their children, who will not be educated and have already joined the poverty queue. “Over the period 1980 – 1996, the proportion of poor peoples rose from 28.1 per cent in 1980 to 65.6 per cent in 1996. This translated to 17.7 million poor people in 1980 and 67.1 million people in 1996. With government’s on-going reform programmes and poverty reduction strategies, the proportion of poor people is still very high about 66 per cent of the population, which translates to about 90 million poor people. By 2015, it is expected that the economic reform programmes will begin to bear fruits and the population of poor people will reduce to about 40 million people,” African Foundation for Population and Development, noted in a paper. The expectations are too optimistic. Execution of projects that would ensure more electricity supply, water, roads and security, to enhance more investments in industrial and commercial activities, which will in turn create jobs and poverty reduction opportunities, are largely ignored. There are no plans or funds for these projects. If the resources were available, some of them cannot be executed in the next four years. Governments’ preference is to tackle poverty eradication in boring speeches at workshops and seminars. Statistics on impact of poverty are deceptive. They fail to note the devastating consequences of poverty, among them crimes, communal clashes, unstable political institutions, and Nigeria’s uncompetitiveness. Nigeria cannot develop with its high levels of poverty. Anyone who envisions a secured future for Nigeria must deal with poverty, which enervates its development. Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/03/wanted-a-president-for-nigerias-poor/

Politics

Yams were first domesticated by African farmers 7,000 years ago. Today, 48.1 million tons of yams are produced annually across 4.4 million hectares of land in West Africa’s “Yam Belt”—which extends from Cote D’Ivoire to Nigeria, representing over 90 percent of the global production. Yam provides the most important source of dietary calories in Nigeria and Ghana. And for many people in the region, it is ranked third above meat as a source of protein. Many believe that it is important for food security as mainstay of for at least 60 million people and income generation.

https://www.channelstv.com/2020/05/04/covid-19-mysterious-deaths-rock-jigawa-local-council/Things

Health

The Jehovah’s Witnesses frequently insert the name “Jehovah” into the New Testament in places that the Greek manuscripts contain the word “kurios” (which actually means “master” or “Lord”). They justify this practice by claiming that the original New Testament contained the Hebrew name YHWH (which they translate as Jehovah) but that the early scribes changed this name to “kurios” when they were copying it. Due to the many early Greek manuscripts and translations of the New Testament that all use “Lord” instead of Jehovah, as well as many quotes from the New Testament in other early writings that agree with the manuscripts, the Jehovah’s Witness theory is all but impossible to support historically. They have, however, found one ancient source that they believe backs up their claim: a Jewish legal code known as the Tosefta. “The Tosefta, a written collection of oral laws that was completed by about 300 C.E., says with regard to Christian writings that were burned on the Sabbath: ‘The books of the Evangelists and the books of the minim [thought to be Jewish Christians] they do not save from a fire. But they are allowed to burn where they are, they and the references to the Divine Name which are in them.'”1 The Tosefta is similar to the Mishna, though the Tosefta was written about a century later. It is a collection of Rabbinic interpretations and applications of Old Testament laws and ritual practices. As is often the case, the Jehovah’s Witness publication does not give a specific citation where one could easily look up their source and examine it in context. Their translation is also somewhat interpretive, slanted to make the reference sound clearer than it is. The passage they are referencing is found in the Tosefta in Shabbat 13:5. It is also preserved in the Babylonian Talmud at Shabbat 116A and in the Jerusalem Talmud at Shabbat 15C. “Shabbat” means “Sabbath,” and as one might expect, it is part of a collection of regulations on what could and what could not be done on the Sabbath. The specific context of this passage is the proper handling and disposing of manuscripts on the Sabbath. Some interesting questions come up. Can one rescue a scroll from a fire on the Sabbath, or is that “work” and thus forbidden? What if it’s a scroll of the Torah (the Law of Moses)? What if it’s an old and unreadable Torah scroll that no one uses anymore? What if it’s a foreign translation? Many possibilities are discussed and weighed out. In this context, the writings of the “minim” are also addressed. Should they be rescued from the fire out of regard for the divine name, or should they burn because they are sectarian? Generally speaking, the word “minim” refers to sectarians of any kind. Sadducees could be called “minim,” as could Samaritans who were not Jews but who worshiped YHWH and used a modified version of the Torah. Christians who maintained a Jewish identity would be labeled “minim,” as would Jewish pseudo-Christian heretical groups like the Ebionites. Thus, scholars interpret this passage in a variety of ways. Are the books of the minim sectarian versions of the Torah? Are they writings that quote from the Torah? Are they apocryphal scriptures that use the divine name? Scholars do not agree. Who are the Minim themselves? Sectarians in general? Samaritans? Jewish Christians? Ebionites? Some otherwise unknown sect of the day? Again, scholars do not agree. This passage is clear that there were “minim” that possessed books that used the Divine Name, but the passage does not define the details of these sects or their books. It is popular, however, to interpret them to be some kind of Jewish Christian group, so let’s assume this for a moment. What does it prove? Properly translated and read in context, absolutely nothing in this passage would suggest that copies of the Greek New Testament are in view. Old Testament manuscripts, sectarian writings, interpretive Hebrew translations of Greek Christian texts, or even the many Hebrew and Aramaic apocryphal gospels that early Church writers frequently mention are all far more likely in this context than Greek New Testament manuscripts. This passage does nothing to overthrow the vast early testimony that the New Testament writers used the word “Lord” rather than the name “YHWH” in their writings, which would not be uncommon for Jewish writers of their day. Even more, our earliest manuscripts of the Shabbat tractate in the Tosefta or the Talmud are not until the middle ages, a thousand years after it was written. The Mishna, which contains the earliest form of the Shabbat tractate (and also has the earliest manuscripts) does not include this passage. Now, don’t get me wrong here. I think the passage is almost certainly ancient and part of the original Tosefta, but think about what that means. If one is going to accept that this passage has been properly preserved on that kind of manuscript evidence, it would be absurd to assume that the New Testament documents have been so radically altered when they possess far earlier, more numerous, and diverse witnesses! The Shabbat tractate in the Tosefta and the Talmud certainly is a valuable testimony to the Jews’ sacred view of the Divine Name and their attitude toward those they perceived as sectarians. It may well even point to the fact that some early Jewish Christian groups still used the Divine Name in their writings. This would not be at all surprising. In fact, many Christian hymns through the ages have used name Jehovah, and many Christian Bibles have translated YWHW in the Old Testament as “Jehovah” or as “Yahweh.” Christians do not flee from using and revering God’s name, but we do seek to honor God’s word by translating it as He chose to reveal it rather than altering it to suit the imbalance of our own traditions. God inspired the New Testament writings without using the name YHWH. Any agenda that requires us to add into the Bible what God Himself left out so as to “restore the truth” is unbiblical and is not Christian.

http://ow.ly/HRlG50MjEU2

Religion

Either for hobby or as a real opportunity to find a job, with countless resources on the internet (most of them free), learning a new programming language has never been as easy as it is today. But even with the overwhelming information that’s out there, choosing a programming language to learn can be a daunting task. Especially if it’s the first language that someone is learning. A good programming language to start with should be one that teaches best practices and common paradigms and designs that can be found on all other languages. Some people may prefer a language that has a clearer syntax, like Python for example others may prefer a language that is more verbose but that teaches a lot on what is happening “under the hood” like C. Languages that have an easier syntax especially have a lot more tutorials and resources to learn for beginners than languages that may be a little more complex as syntax goes.

http://www.slant.co/topics/25/~what-is-the-best-programming-language-to-learn-first

Programming

Can grow up to 4ft long! Glass Lizard Scientific Classification - Scientific Name Read our Complete Guide to Classification of Animals. Glass Lizard Conservation Status Glass Lizard Facts “The glass lizard has no legs but is not a snake, making it a unique and interesting member of the reptile kingdom.” The glass lizard is a legless reptile that’s native to North America. This intelligent lizard dwells everywhere between the rocky beaches of Florida to the grassy expanses of the Midwest. Hidden in these places, the Ophisaurus waits patiently for its prey: insects, spiders, and other small creatures that crawl in the damp spaces underground. These lizards are known for having long tails that comprise most of their bodies. Although it’s possible for one of these tails to regrow if it gets broken off, the truth is that the new tail will have neither the same markings nor reach the same length as the original. Because of this, responsible handlers take great care to avoid harming any glass lizards they meet. These lizards are not known to bite humans if approached with a friendly attitude. Luckily, Ophisaurus is a resourceful species that has managed to successfully spread across America’s warm and moderate climates. You can tell that you’re looking at a glass lizard if its eyes can open and close; this is something that a snake simply cannot do. Incredible Glass Lizard Facts! - Glass lizards have eyes that can open and close; that’s how you know they’re lizards and not snakes. - Glass lizards are shy and squirmy, but they don’t usually bite humans, even when they’re picked up. - Although glass lizards are legless, some of them have a small pair of legs located near their rear vents. - Glass lizards’ tails break off as a survival mechanism when they are caught by a predator. The tail keeps squirming while the lizard gets away; later, the lizard’s tail will regrow. The scientific name of these lizards is Ophisaurus. This name is a combination of two Greek words: ophio, which means snake, and sauros, which means lizard. There are several different varieties of glass lizard scattered across the world, including: - Ophisaurus ventralis: the eastern glass lizard - Ophisaurus compressus: the island glass lizard - Ophisaurus mimicus: the mimic glass lizard - Ophisaurus attenuatus: the slender glass lizard Ophisaurus attenuatus also contains the subspecies Ophisaurus attenuatus longicaudus, which are the longest and most slender glass lizards of all. It’s worth noting that the term “glass lizard” can also be used to refer to members of the genera Dopasia, Hyalosaurus, and Pseudopus, which can be found in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Although these creatures are technically legless lizards, they are not actually related to members of the Ophisaurus genus. Glass lizards can not trace their lineage back to one ancestor from which they evolved. Instead, there are species of glass lizard all over the world that evolved leglessness independently of each other – convergent evolution. Over millions of years, these creatures developed smaller and smaller limbs until they just vanished. Some glass lizards still have vestigial back limbs next to their vents. Snakes actually evolved from burrowing or aquatic lizards during the Jurassic period, so glass lizards may be animals that never evolved into snakes but remained in a stage of development that suited their environments. The oldest fossil of a true snake has dated 167 – 143 million years ago. Glass lizards are long, thin reptiles that come in a variety of colors and patterns. Most glass lizards have brown or gray scales with light speckles and a yellow or cream-colored belly. Many of these lizards also have long, dark stripes on their sides that reach from head to tail. Ophisaurus patterns are regional and often help the lizard maintain camouflage in the local environment. These lizards can grow anywhere between 2 to 4 feet (60 to 121 cm) long. Almost two-thirds of this length consists of the tail, which grows longer as the glass lizard gets older. In addition to the head, body, and tail, some glass lizards may have a nearly unnoticeable pair of legs near their rear vents. Other key identifying features of these lizards include the two longitudinal grooves that run down either side of their body. These grooves allow the lizard’s internal organs to expand, permitting easy breathing and digestion. Aside from these grooves, glass lizards are rather stiff and fragile. The name “glass lizard” comes from the fact that these creatures can be easily broken if they are improperly handled. When this lizard’s tail is caught, it may snap off completely. Ophisaurus tails can continue to wriggle and move for several moments after they are detached. This typically confuses the predator, allowing the lizard to make a quick escape. In the months and years that follow, the tail will regrow, although it is usually much shorter and typically lacks the decorative markings of the original. Glass Lizard vs. Snake If you catch a glimpse of this lizard in the wild, you’ll probably assume that you just saw a snake slither by. Glass lizards are long, thin, legless creatures covered with scales – but this is where their similarity to snakes ends. Unlike snakes, these lizards have moveable eyelids and round pupils that can dilate in the sun. Snake eyes are covered in a thin layer of skin; if the reptile you’re looking at can close its eyes, it’s probably a lizard instead. Similarly, glass lizards have external ear openings on either side of their head, meaning they can rely on sound instead of the ground and wind vibrations that help snakes get around. Finally, the body of a snake is typically far more flexible than the body of a lizard. This is because snakes have compressed organs, stretchy skin, and other features that allow their unique movement. Glass lizards can’t move like snakes, and attempting to flex them in such a way will invariably cause an injury. These lizards are diurnal creatures that are typically active during moderate temperatures. In the spring and fall, they may be around at all times of the day. In the summer, they tend to be active during the morning and evening. The lizards hibernate during the winter months; don’t expect to see one between October and May. Although they hibernate, glass lizards don’t actually dig their own burrows. Instead, they find abandoned burrows left behind by other animals. It’s unclear whether these lizards prefer to live alone or in groups, as these creatures are very good at fleeing when under observation. Glass lizards are shy creatures but are not violent and may allow a human to approach them. The lizards do not bite when they feel threatened; instead, they try to escape. Like other lizards, members of the Ophisaurus family enjoy basking in the sun and may be found on large rocks or even sidewalks during the warmest part of the day. These lizards are endemic to North America and are primarily found in warm to moderate regions, including the midwestern and southeastern parts of the country. Eastern glass lizards are widespread in Florida, Georgia, and the surrounding regions. They tend to prefer wetlands, sandy areas, and similar habitats. Meanwhile, the slender glass lizard prefers to live in the midwest and can be found in woodlands, grassy plains, and other areas with moderate temperatures and good cover. These lizards are carnivores that primarily eat insects like crickets and beetles. However, they also hunt other small creatures, including spiders, rodents, snakes, and even other lizards. They primarily hunt underground but may also look for food in dark, damp areas on the surface. One of the main differences between these lizards and snakes is that glass lizards cannot unhinge their jaws. This means that the lizard cannot eat anything larger than the size of its head. Even the biggest lizards never weigh more than 21 ounces, which makes mice some of their largest possible prey. Predators and Threats The lizard’s natural predators vary based on the region. In general, they avoid raccoons, opossums, hawks, and other carnivorous mammals and birds of prey. Some types of snakes have also been known to feed on these lizards, including copperheads and king snakes. One of the greatest threats to their survival is habitat disruption caused by humans. Deforestation and paving are the biggest concerns; however, insecticides also pose a substantial threat. If these lizards consume a bug that has ingested pesticides, the lizard may also fall victim to the poison. Reproduction, Babies, and Lifespan These lizards are egg-laying creatures that mate on a yearly or bi-yearly basis. The Ophisaurus mating season typically occurs in May, although this may vary based on the speed at which warm weather arrives. After mating, female lizards carry their eggs for one to two months; the clutch of eggs is usually laid in late June or early July. An Ophisaurus clutch typically contains anywhere from 5 to 15 eggs. The mother lizard usually chooses a safe location underneath a covered object like a log or a rock. Ophisaurus eggs will hatch after roughly 50 days. Female lizards stay with their eggs for this entire time period, a feature that is uncommon among most species of lizard. Freshly hatched lizards are only a few inches long and may need help feeding themselves until they are larger. These lizards are sexually mature at 3 to 4 years of age. The average lifespan of a glass lizard is 10 years, but some have been known to survive for as long as 30 years. It is rare for this lizard to go its entire life without needing to regrow its tail, which is why there are no recorded instances of the lizard getting more than 4 feet long. These lizards are not an endangered species. In fact, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified Ophisaurus as a least concern species because they have no immediate threats. With that said, these lizards are still threatened by the encroachment of human populations on their existing habitats. The lizard populations have been dropping across the Midwest, and they are even considered endangered in the state of Wyoming In the Zoo These lizards are common enough to be featured in zoos around the world. From small zoos like the one at Chehaw Park to more prominent locations like Florida’s Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, Ophisaurus can be found in nearly any well-established reptile house. View all 213 animals that start with GGlass Lizard FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) What do glass lizards eat? Glass lizards primarily eat insects, spiders, and other small creatures. A glass lizard can’t eat anything larger than its head, which is why you won’t see one eating birds or larger rodents. However, you might see a glass lizard eating a snake or even another kind of lizard. Are glass lizards carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores? Glass lizards are carnivores. They hunt for bugs and other prey underground or in places where there is plenty of cover. Where do glass lizards live? Glass lizards live in moderate climate regions across North America. Eastern glass lizards are commonly found in Florida, and slender glass lizards are usually found in the Midwest. Are glass lizards venomous? Glass lizards are not venomous or poisonous. They aren’t known for biting, and their jaws are not powerful enough to break human skin. Do glass lizards make good pets? Glass lizards are shy but even-tempered creatures, and they can make good pets if they are treated well. Remember that an Ophisaurus is fragile; if you handle it incorrectly, you could break its tail. How big do glass lizards get? Glass lizards have been known to grow to lengths of up to 4 feet. Most of this length is tail; if the tail breaks off during a fight, it will eventually regrow. Why is a glass lizard not a snake? An Ophisaurus is a legless lizard that looks a lot like a snake. However, if you check their faces, you’ll immediately notice that glass lizards have eyes that can open and close. They also have ear holes and stiff bodies – both features that snakes do not have. Finally, some glass lizards actually have small legs near their rear vents. What Kingdom do Glass Lizards belong to? Glass Lizards belong to the Kingdom Animalia. What phylum to Glass Lizards belong to? Glass Lizards belong to the phylum Chordata. What family do Glass Lizards belong to? Glass Lizards belong to the family Anguidae. What order do Glass Lizards belong to? Glass Lizards belong to the order Squamata. What genus do Glass Lizards belong to? Glass Lizards belong to the genus Ophisaurus. What type of covering do Glass Lizards have? Glass Lizards are covered in Scales. What are some predators of Glass Lizards? Predators of Glass Lizards include birds, mammals, and snakes. What are some distinguishing features of Glass Lizards? Glass Lizards have forked tongues and detachable tails. How many eggs do Glass Lizards lay? Glass Lizards typically lay 6 eggs. What is an interesting fact about Glass Lizards? Glass Lizards can grow up to 4ft long! What is the scientific name for the Glass Lizard? The scientific name for the Glass Lizard is Ophisaurus. What is the lifespan of a Glass Lizard? Glass Lizards can live for 10 to 30 years. How fast is a Glass Lizard? A Glass Lizard can travel at speeds of up to 6 miles per hour. Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us? Contact the AZ Animals editorial team. - David Burnie, Dorling Kindersley (2011) Animal, The Definitive Visual Guide To The World's Wildlife / Accessed July 5, 2010 - Tom Jackson, Lorenz Books (2007) The World Encyclopedia Of Animals / Accessed July 5, 2010 - David Burnie, Kingfisher (2011) The Kingfisher Animal Encyclopedia / Accessed July 5, 2010 - Richard Mackay, University of California Press (2009) The Atlas Of Endangered Species / Accessed July 5, 2010 - David Burnie, Dorling Kindersley (2008) Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Animals / Accessed July 5, 2010 - Dorling Kindersley (2006) Dorling Kindersley Encyclopedia Of Animals / Accessed July 5, 2010 - Snakes Are Long / Accessed November 13, 2020 - Virginia Herpetological Society / Accessed November 13, 2020 - Britannica / Accessed November 13, 2020

https://a-z-animals.com/animals/glass-lizard/

Religion

Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world, preserved until now. It is this state that helped to establish Islam by adopting its territory and providing protection to the first Muslims who resettled there because of the oppression of the pagans of Mecca. How is Islam in Ethiopia today? Its story reflected tensions between the institution of imperial power and various power structures, on the one hand, and between the diversity of ethnic, linguistic and regional identities, on the other. This tension, between the tendencies towards centralization and decentralization, has been and remains the main axis of the history of Ethiopia. “Thus, briefly reviewing the history of Ethiopian Islam,” Edward Ullendorf, one of the leading and well-known Ethiopians, wrote in 1960, “this is possible because Islam was no more than an element of secondary importance in understanding the essence of Ethiopia” However, since then science has reached a deeper understanding of the problem, and historians have gained a wider angle of view. He who tries to study the history of Ethiopia only in the aspect of leading Christian culture is content with an incomplete picture. “Islam and Ethiopia,” should deepen and balance our understanding of the problems of Ethiopian history. Islam and its carriers - Muslims played a full and sometimes even decisive role in the history of Ethiopia. Their share in it is constantly increasing. Islam in the Middle East, from the beginning of its appearance in the early medieval era to the present day, was for Ethiopia more than a neighbor, a powerful religion and a great empire, constantly challenging it. In the Middle Ages, Muslims turned into Ethiopia into an internal factor, part of the country's life. Since the beginning of the New Age, the number of Muslims in Ethiopia has steadily increased, and at the beginning of the 20th century, it was equal to the number of Christians. For many generations, the Muslim communities of Ethiopia did not seek to shake the hegemony of Christianity as the state religion and the basis of the official culture of the country, but they achieved great success in the struggle for their own survival in the Christian environment, for incorporating into important areas of Ethiopian life and made an invaluable contribution to the economic development of the country. Islam in Ethiopia seems to have reached unprecedented prosperity and perhaps even rises for the first time to a level that allows it to compete with the claim of Christianity to be exceptional as a culture of the Ethiopian elite. The Ethiopian Muslim historian of our time, Professor Hussein Ahmed, responded to the above statement. In any case, for centuries, the history of Ethiopian Islam revolved around the axis of dialogue between an organized state and the dominant culture and diversity of communities representing Ethiopian minorities. Christianity, beginning with its first steps in antiquity and until the revolution of 1974, consistently realized itself as a religion of the state imperial order, a religion representing a culture based on the ownership of land, agricultural and military spheres. Islam was adopted in the Horn of Africa by those who wanted, as far as possible, not to be absorbed by a system based on the aforementioned values, and to take them as the basis of their existence. By accepting Islam in this corner of the world, various tribes, representatives of certain language groups, nomads, traders, shepherds, certain ethnic groups, etc. The members of these groups or their part defined themselves as Muslims in order to consolidate their own identity, and sometimes even build their own political structures based on the value system of Islam. As a result, Islamic communities were separated not only from Christian culture but also from each other. The Muslim communities of the Horn of Africa were distinguished by a variety of languages, lifestyles, occupations and geographic conditions, and only occasionally overcome the differences and unite. Islam, born in the neighboring Middle East as a religion that harmoniously united religious and political spheres, did not realize itself in this form in the Horn of Africa. Islam in the East flourished as a victorious ideology of a single state, organized urban culture, a system of worship, education and the rule of law, using the Arabic language and writing. In the Middle East, it has become a “religion and state”, a system of imperial institutions and values. In the Horn of Africa, Ethiopian Christianity took over this function, creating the imperial political system, and Islam spread mainly as an auxiliary tool for preserving, and even for political conservation, such phenomena as tribalism, fragmentation, and ethnolinguistic isolation. In the political sense, the Muslims of the Horn of Africa defined themselves according to the ethnic-lingual criterion - as Somalis, Sidama, Oromo, Afar, etc., that is, in separate groups. Usually, it was only in such small groups — in which, by the way, not all members became Muslims — did Islam help create a local government, dynasty, or princely authority. Muslims among them carried out their religious life, for the most part, in the absence of Arabic-speaking institutions of education that are classical for a Muslim society, as well as a political expression for the concept of the “nation of Islam” (Ummah ), as a structure uniting all "faithful". Islam existed mainly as a spiritual framework of disparate communities, as a form of organizing local groups grouped around mosques and structures of the Islamic court, as the basis of primary education, social institutions, local government and religious hierarchy operating in the languages mentioned. And among the native speakers of the Amharic language and the Tigrinya - as can be seen, quite noticeable quantitatively Muslim communities appeared already in the first century of the existence of Islam. Most of these Muslims were engaged in trade and craft, and this, as it were, filled a niche in the functioning of a Christian society engaged in agriculture and military affairs. If we were to headline this section “Islam in Ethiopia,” we would have to concentrate on the history of a private phenomenon, the history of the Christian state, and Muslims as one of its constituent parts. However, such a picture would be incomplete. The history of Ethiopian Islam did not take place on a distant island, on which two religions have retired (and also, by the way, others). It took place in close proximity to the countries that formed the core of the Islamic world, the Middle East of our days, the region of birth and development for many generations of Islam, as a victorious symbiosis of religion and politics. In order to try to cover the entire complexity of this historical phenomenon, both in its internal relations and its strong orientation to the Islamic world around, and “Islam and Ethiopia," in the period of unprecedented flourishing of Islam, an onslaught that heralds the beginning of revolutionary changes in relations between the two main religions of Ethiopia.

https://www.modernghana.com/news/895800/how-islam-gain-roots-in-ethiopia-the-historical-symbol-of.html

Religion

Scientists have long known what causes sickle-cell disease and its devastating effects: a single mutation in one errant gene. But for decades, there has been only modest progress against an inherited condition that mainly afflicts people of African descent. With advances in gene therapy, that is quickly changing — so much so that scientists have begun to talk of a cure. In a half-dozen clinical trials planned or underway, researchers are testing strategies for correcting the problem at the genetic level. Already a handful of the enrolled patients, who have endured an illness that causes excruciating bouts of pain, strokes and early death, no longer show signs of the disease. Among them is Brandon Williams, 21, who lives with his mother in Chicago. Because of his sickle-cell disease, he had suffered four strokes by age 18. The damage makes it hard for him to speak. His older sister died of the disease. Following an experimental gene therapy, his symptoms have vanished. Life has taken a sharp turn for the better: no more transfusions, no more pain, no more fear. “He said, ‘Mom, I think I want to get me a job,’” said his mother, Leuteresa Roberts. It is still early in the course of these experimental treatments, and it is likely to be at least three years before one is approved. Although researchers hope the effects will last, they cannot be certain.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/27/health/sickle-cell-gene-therapy.html?emc=edit_na_20190127&nl=breaking-news&nlid=54795170ing-news&ref=cta

Health

Don’t fall for the bait and switch Sloppy language leads to sloppy thinking YES and NO We observe variation, mutation and natural selection in living things. Evolutionists call this ‘evolution’, and this is why they claim that evolution is true. We see how the environment affects the survival of these different animals. We even see new species arising as a result of these processes. These phenomena are observed and documented scientifically. Creationists agree with all these observations. In fact, these sorts of changes happen very quickly. Speciation can occur within a few generations.1 But, dogs remain dogs, frogs remain frogs, and horses remain horses. We don’t see fish changing into frogs, or lizards into birds. What we see is consistent with the biblical account of a recent creation. God created different kinds of animals at the beginning. These different kinds were capable of adapting to different environments. Creationists prefer not to call this variation within a kind ‘evolution’ (not even ‘micro-evolution’2). We call these changes ‘adaptation’. It doesn’t really matter what word you use, but it is important to know what you are talking about. Creationists reserve the word evolution for something entirely different from what we see here. We have heard of the idea that single-celled animals changed by mutation and natural selection into reptiles, birds, mammals and people, over millions of years. This is what creationists call evolution and they distinguish it from adaptation. Evolutionists call this evolution too, the same word they use for adaptation. That is why there is so much confusion on this issue. Evolutionists use the same word for two entirely different things (called equivocation), and so you don’t really know what they are talking about. If small random mutations are to produce new genetic information for these amazing changes in animals, then millions of such genetic errors would be needed over millions of generations.3 That is why evolutionists need billions of years for the idea to be plausible. However, these sorts of changes have never been observed. Variation and natural selection do not produce new genetic information; they only rearrange or remove the existing information. Mutations do not generate new genetic information; they destroy some of the existing information. Furthermore, the fossils are not consistent with the idea of evolution; the innumerable transitional forms expected are missing. This molecules-to-man concept of evolution is just a hypothetical philosophy without observational scientific support. This concept of evolution is used to justify the assertion that the living world can be explained without God. It is contrary to the teaching of the biblical account. It looks scientific, but as we have seen it is not. It is a bit of a trick played by using sloppy language. Evolutionists use adaptation, which is observed, to support evolution, which is an entirely different process. It is an example of bait and switch. They get away with it because people do not realize they are using the same word to mean two entirely different things. Next time someone says that evolution is an observed scientific fact make sure you get them to clearly define what they are talking about. They will almost certainly be referring to adaptation but want you to believe they have proved evolution. Don’t be fooled. Sloppy language leads to sloppy thinking. You wouldn’t want to make the wrong decision about the reliability of the Bible, where you came from and why you are here because you fell for the bait and switch trick. References and notes - Catchpoole, D. and Wieland, C., Speedy species surprise, Creation 23(2):13–15, 2001. Return to text. - The term ‘micro-evolution’ is misleading because the changes are in the wrong direction. Return to text. - The size of the change is not the problem, rather the change is going the wrong way; see Wieland, C., The evolution train’s a comin’, Creation 24(2):16–19, 2002. Return to text. Comments are automatically closed 14 days after publication.

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