New pill can deliver insulin

Oral Doses of Insulin

A drug capsule has been established by an MIT headed research group which could be utilised to supply oral doses of insulin. This could possibly be a replacing injection that patients with type 1 diabetes are administered daily.

The capsule which is the size of a blueberry comprises of a miniature needle of compressed insulin that is injected when the capsule is said to reach the stomach. Researchers on conducting test on animals have portrayed that they can deliver adequate insulin to lower blood sugar levels in comparison to the product created through injections on skin.

Moreover they have also verified that the device could be adjusted to delivery other protein drugs also. A member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and one of the senior authors of the study, Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor, had commented that `they are hopeful that this new kind of capsule could someday help diabetic patients and anyone needing therapies could now be given through injection or infusion.

Innovative Capsule 

An assistant professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and a visiting scientist in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, where he is beginning as a faculty member in 2019, is Giovanni Traverso. Treverso is also a senior author of the research. The first author of the paper which had appeared in the issue of Science on Feb 7 is said to be a MIT graduate student, Alex Abramson.

The research team comprises of scientists from the pharmaceutical company – Novo Nordisk. Traverso Langer together with his colleagues had developed a pill with several tiny needles, some years ago.

These could be utilised to inject drugs in the lining of the stomach or the small intestine. The researchers had altered the design in the case of the innovative capsule, by having a single needle enabling them to avoid injecting drugs in the stomach. Here they could be fragmented down by the acids in the stomach prior to any effect.

Compressed Freeze-Dried Insulin

The tip of the needle is said to be made of almost 100% compressed freeze-dried insulin, utilising the same procedure to form tablets of medicine. The shaft of the needle that does not enter the stomach is said to be made from biodegradable substance. The needle within the capsule is linked to a compressed spring which is held in position by a sugary disc.

When the capsule is consumed, water in the stomach tends to dissolve the sugar disk releasing the spring, thereby injecting the needle in the wall of the stomach. The researchers are of the belief that since the stomach wall does not tend to have pain receptors, the patients would be incapable of feeling the injection.

To warrant that the drug is injected in the stomach, they designed this system ensuring that however the capsule reaches the stomach, it could orient itself and enable the needle to remain in contact with the stomach’s lining. . Traveso had commented that `as soon as the patient takes it, he would want the system to self-right so that he could ensure contact with the tissue’.

Traverso has also mentioned that his motivation is to ensure to make it easy for the patients in taking medication, especially those which would need an injection. The classic one being insulin, though there are several others on the list.

Mosquito Repellent that comes from Bacteria?

Anyone who’s been bitten by a mosquito knows how irritating they can be. The itch can last for days and can really disturb you from your sleep. So you decide to get rid of them using various methods including spraying your room full of mosquito repellent or applying generous amounts of a cream to prevent mosquito bites. Most of the time these don’t work or raise health concerns, so the alternative? A mosquito repellent made from Bacteria. Yes you read right.Bacteria.

A Mosquito Repellent made form Bacteria:

The mosquito repellent is in the form of a compound extracted from a particular form of bacteria. This so called new type of mosquito repellent is capable of preventing a mosquito bite at low doses as compared to other effective brands such as DEET and picaridin. This mosquito repellent extracted from bacteria is found to protect an individual from mosquitos that are known to carry the Zika virus, West Nile, Chikungunya, malaria and other diseases that effects millions of people across the globe.

The natural chemical so extracted form bacteria is called fabclavines and is still not tested suitable for humans. But according to researchers just knowing that there is a compound out there that could repel mosquitoes is enough to merit further exploration into the idea.

The Experiment to Find a New Kind of Mosquito Repellent: 

Researchers found out that these extracts from the bacteria did not kill mosquitos. But when sprayed on their food, they refused to eat it. A new experiment was thought of to test the bacteria compound’s potential.

Researchers used a skin like membrane that contained something to mimic blood as well as a number of cloth coverings to sit atop the skin like membrane. These cloth coverings would be coated with the repellents being tested out.

Researchers used DEET, picardin and plain water to test the efficacy of each in preventing a mosquito bite. Researchers then allowed the mosquitoes to feed for 30 mins by which time they would then freeze them and check for red substance that was used to mimic blood and those mosquitoes that remained unfed. The results showed that those mosquitoes that were around a repellent coated cloth did not eat anything. Proving DEET and picardin to be effective in warding off mosquito bites.
Researchers then tested the compound from bacteria and found that mosquitoes too did not feed when the cloth was covered with the bacteria compound. Then researchers compared the efficacy of DEET and picardin with the compound from bacteria in keeping away mosquitoes and found that the compound from the bacteria required 8 times and three times less compound than DEET and picardin in protecting one from a mosquito bite. Using less doses in the mosquito repellent means that the repellent will be much cheaper to make and consequently cheaper to buy.

Researchers are still not sure how this bacteria is a successful mosquito repellent. It may be just that the bacteria compound makes the food taste bad for mosquitoes.

Alternative medicine -1

Traditional medicine is largely mechanistic treating the body as a machine with separate parts to be treated separately. Alternative, or complementary, medicine treats the body holistically, dealing with the whole body in its environment.  In the past alternative methods, many of them ancient have been ignored by physicians. Today, however certain types of alternative medicine are used increasingly to complement traditional methods.

Acupressure: ancient Chinese and Japanese healing massage using fingertips pressure on pain relieving points around the body.  These pressure points lie along the meridians used in Acupuncture. Acupressure balances the flow of Qi or Chi, the energy flowing through the meridians.

Acupuncture: Treatment of illness by sticking special needles into one or more of 2000 specific points that lie along invisible channels called meridians. This ancient Chinese therapy is believed to control the flow of Qi, the energy flowing along the meridians. Used in the treatment of arthritis, allergy, back pain and many other disorders.

Alexander technique: A method used to retain the body’s movements, positions and posture during all activities including sitting or reading. The method, which must be learned from qualified teachers, is believed to encourage good mental and physical health, and resistance to stress, by promoting harmony between mind and body.

Aromatherapy:  Use of concentrated plant oils such as bergamot, eucalyptus or rosemary to treat conditions including stress, headaches and arthritis. Extracts, or essential oils, are massaged into the skin by aroma therapists; they can also be inhaled or added to baths.

Art therapy: Use of drawing and painting to encourage patients to explore and resolve deep seated fears and emotions that they find difficult to express in words. Used to treat addiction, alcoholism, anorexia and other conditions.

Immunization

While immunity is being acquired a person develops symptoms of the disease. But some infections can be prevented b allowing the body to acquire active immunity artificially. This is achieved by the introduction into the body of a vaccine made from dead or weakened micro organisms that are no longer capable of causing the disease itself. When injected into the skin or blood stream9 Or, as in the case of polio vaccine, swallowed) they stimulate B-lymphocytes to produce antibodies but no significant disease symptoms. And if, or when, the body encounters the real disease causing micro organism, it is already protected against infection because the memory cells immediately produce antibodies. Booster shots may be needed at later dates to ensure the active immunity is still effective. Vaccines are available against many formerly dangerous diseases including polio, measles and diphtheria. Immunization programmes for children have virtually eliminated most common childhood diseases, and confer immunity into adult life. But vaccination is advisable for travelers to countries where they may contract potentially fatal diseases not previously encountered.


Sometimes antibodies themselves, from external sources, are injected into the body to provide protection without stimulating the immune system. This is called artificial passive immunity and is useful in providing instant protection where a disease might kill the person before their active immune system has time to come into operation. Examples include gamma globulin, given against hepatitis A infection; am antitoxin to treat tetanus; and anti rabies injection.

Master of health administration online

The economy that is connected with health is actually increasing instead of decreasing like many other business sectors. With the huge Baby Boomer populace hitting senior citizen status, there are plenty of opportunities for people who need quality work with a good paycheck. Also, the health system is the only job in which you increase your own quality of life by directly increasing the quality of life of others, which is highly satisfying to many people.

Everybody is constantly in search of a great position to create a little more income as well as a better lifestyle for themselves and for their families. However, opportunities are scarce in an economy that is still being rocked by the aftermath of the dual banking and housing scandals of 2008. Most people are stuck at a living wage that is certainly decreasing all the time thanks to inflation.

On the other hand, this is not the life that you have to accept. Together with your hard work and the Master of Health Administration online Web programs which could give you your health government diploma, you have a chance to increase your lifestyle without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. With your expanded set of skills and a few hours spent on a computer daily, you now have an employment resume and educational background that many medical facilities around the world are looking for in a very active way.

On the Web programs tend to be convenient in that they do not require the students to expend gas going to a classroom. There is also no fighting for the attention of the teacher. Classes online additionally usually do not restrict the standard lifestyle of today's modern working individual. In case you have a day job that you have to hold on in order to keep the car note and the mortgage paid in full, then you can definitely accomplish your goal of a higher education without losing money through an online program. You can complete the class assignments on your own time and allow yourself all of the time that you need in order to truly understand the material.

Allergies and Cancer

Allergies

Sometimes the immune system overreacts to a particular substance called an allergen, producing an allergy. This may result from eating certain foods, inhaling particles or exposure of the skin to chemicals. Common allergies include asthma, hay fever, urticaria, farmer’s lung, food allergies and contact dermatitis. Treatments include avoiding allergens and antihistamine drugs. In some cases anaphylactic shock the body reacts so violently to an allergen, such as a wasp sting, that without treatment the patient may die.

Cancer

The body’s tissue cells constantly divide and replace themselves. Some times “rouge” cells divide out of control to produce an abnormal tissue growth or malignant tumor. Diseases involving these tumors are called cancers. If untreated, cancer cells spread from the tumour via the blood stream to other parts of the body where they produce secondary tumours. Eventually, cancer cells overwhelm the body and the patient dies. The risk of developing a cancer may be inherited, or it may be increased by smoking, drinking alcohol or exposure to chemicals. Cancer affects around 25 percent of people in the western world at some point in their lives and is the second most common cause of death after heart disease. Different types of cancers do not occur with the same frequency worldwide. This uneven distribution points to the involvement of environmental factors- such as food intake, smoking or exposure to ultra violet light- as causes of cancer. For example, stomach cancer in Japan and Chile is believed to be related to diets high in salted and pickled food.

Infectious And Non Infectious Diseases

 
Infectious Diseases

 Infections arise when disease causing micro organisms penetrate the body’s physical defenses such as the skin and entire bloodstream and tissues near their route of entry can be by infection of infected droplets, ingestion of contaminated food or water, entry through broken skin, skin to skin contact, injection by needle or other sharp object, sexual contact, insect bites, or by transmission from mother to fetus. In most of the case the body immune system acts to destroy the invading micro organism before it can do harm. Most disease signs and symptoms such as spots in measles- are indicators of the battle between the micro organism and the body’s immune system. In rare cases, the infection may be so virulent that kills the patient before the immune system has time to fight back. Before the 20th century infectious diseases were a major cause of deaths in the world. In developed countries today, deaths from infectious disease have been dramatically reduced, and non infectious diseases such as cancers and heart disease have taken over as major killers. This reduction has been achieved by better public health and sanitation; the use of antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs; and the use of vaccines.

However there is no room for complacency since old diseases such as TB, malaria are again on the increase, some bacteria are now resistant to drugs; many viral conditions are untreatable and new diseases such as AIDS are appearing. Disease causing organisms include viruses, with are non living infectious agents; single celled organisms including bacteria, chlamydiae, rickettsiae, fungi and protists, and multicellular organisms such as parasitic worms. Viruses consist of genetic material surrounded by a protein coat, and cause diseases such as measles, mumps and rabies. Viruses have to invade host cells to reproduce. They lose their outer protein coat and use the host cell’s DNA to replicate their genetic materials. A protein coat is constructed around the rebuilt genetic material and newly formed viruses burst out of the host cell or exit in an envelope and invade other host cells to multiply further.

Non Infectious Diseases 

Non infectious diseases are now the major cause of death in the developed world. The reason for this is that many infectious diseases are now treatable with drugs. Also the incidence of non infectious diseases increases with age, and averaged life expectancy is increasing. Non infectious diseases include circulatory diseases including heart attacks and strokes, in which the blood vessels to the heart or brain becomes blocked; cancers diabetes mellitus, which is the body’s inability to control blood sugar levels; nervous system diseases such as motor neuron disease; respiratory system diseases digestive system diseases ; kidney diseases and allergies. On average, infectious diseases are responsible for just five deaths per 100000 of the population per year in the developed world, as compared with nearly 1000 deaths per 100000 caused by major non infectious diseases.

Immunization

While immunity is being acquired a person develops symptoms of the disease. But some infections can be prevented by allowing the body to acquire active immunity artificially. This is achieved by the introduction into the body of a vaccine made from dead or weakened microorganisms that are no longer capable of causing the disease itself. When injected into the skin or bloodstream (or as in the case of polio vaccine, swallowed) they stimulate B lymphocytes to produce antibodies but no significant disease symptoms. And if, or when, the body encounters the real disease causing microorganisms, it is already protected against infection because the memory cells immediately produce antibodies.

Booster shots may be needed at later dates to ensure that active immunity is still effective. Vaccines are available against many formerly dangerous diseases including polio, measles an d diphtheria. Immunization programmes for children have virtually eliminated most common childhood diseases, and confer immunity into adult life. But vaccination is advisable for travelers to countries where they may contract potentially fatal diseases not previously encountered. Sometimes antibodies themselves from external sources are injected into the body to provide protection without stimulating the immune system. This is called artificial passive immunity and is useful in providing instant protection where a disease might kill the person before their active immune system has time to come into operation. Examples include gamma globulin, given against hepatitis A infection; anti toxin to treat tetanus; and anti rabies injections.

Diets and Dieting!

The word diet is commonly used these days to describe an eating regime followed by someone in order for him or her to lose weight, even though in its correct usage the word simply describes what we eat each day. A diet designed for weight loss is better described as a slimming diet, and there are many of these to choose from. As the percentage over weight and obese children and adults in the western world steadily increases as a result of increased in activity and increased consumption of junk food – so new slimming diets, and books on slimming, become available in order to commercially exploit fatness. However, most of these diets are not effective because they fail to promote long term weight loss and in fact may well cause the slimmer to end up fatter and heavier than when they started the diet. Being overweight will of course affect an individual’s health and reducing body weight will help to reduce those health risks. But to be healthy, a diet designed to reduce body weight needs to be in tune with the body’s physiology.

 An effective diet should promote the loss of fatty or adipose tissue from the body so that its overall fat content is reduced. To do this successfully, the dieter should eat a well balanced high carbohydrate, high fiber low fat diet with energy content of between 1200 and 1500 calories per day, combining this with regular exercise. This should cause a weight loss of 0.45 to 0.95 KG per week, that weight loss being mainly in the form of fat. At the same time, exercise will build up muscle tissue which pound for pound consumes far more energy than fat does as well as increasing metabolic rate, the rate at which the body burns carbohydrates and fat to release energy. Once the desired weight has been reached – and the body fat content has been reduced to within safe limits- then the dieter can gradually increase his or her calorie consumption while maintain the same balance of foods in order to keep at the weight for life.

Other sliming diets put the body in a defensive stance. Because its calorie intake has been severely reduced the body reduces its metabolic rate to conserve its fat energy reserves and actually burns lean muscle tissues in order to provide energy. When the diet stops the body diverts as much spare food energy as possible to build up its fat reserves in case another calorie famine happens and in consequence the diet regains lost weight and ends with more fat than before

Bulimia nervosa and Food Poisoning

Bulimia nervosa

 Like anorexia, bulimia is an eating disorder found most commonly among younger women, often those who have had anorexia. Bulimics crave food but fear becoming fat. They indulge in binge eating by consuming vast amounts of food and then induce vomiting and use laxatives. This constant bingeing and vomiting can cause severe medical problems. Sufferers from bulimia require the same medical care as anorexics.

 Food poisoning

This refers to illnesses caused by eating food contaminated by certain micro organisms or the toxins, they produce. Worldwide, the incidence of food poisoning is on the increase. This is probably due to the growing use of convenience foods, such as cook chill meals, and the consumption of fast foods, which are easily subject to contamination by the people who make and serve them. Spores in raw rice, chicken beef, water or milk contaminated faeces are caused by Bacillus cerus and Campylobacter fetus. Botulism and Clostridium Perfinges are through food contaminated with bacterial toxin. Meat or vegetables contaminated by faeces. Amoebic dysentery can caused by food or water contaminated by faeces. Norwalk virus can infect through contaminated shell fishes and the rotavirus can introduced to our system by contaminated water or food. Undercooked poultry or egg can cause Salmonella. Food that contaminated by contact with wounds are the reason for the Staphylococcus.

Obesity and Anorexia Nervosa

Obesity:

 The condition in which the body has so much fat is called obesity. Someone is considered to be obese if their weight is 20 percent over their ideal maximum or if their BMI is greater than 30. Around 30 percent of people in western countries are overweight and around five percent of them are obese. Long term obesity is a serious threat to health. It increases significantly the chances of developing high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, stroke, adult onset diabetes mellitus, certain cancers, osteoarthritis, back pain and varicose veins. Obese patients are advised under medical supervision, to lose weight using a calorie reduced diets and increased aerobic exercise.

Anorexia Nervosa:

 Popularly, but incorrectly, known as the “slimmers’ disease”, anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder found mainly among teenage girls and young women, and only rarely increases. In fact, one in hundred of the women suffer from the condition and increasing to one in twenty in those categories of women, such as dancers actors especially concerned with their bodies. Anorexia may be a phobia about being fat or a symptom of mental illness. Whatever its cause, however anorexia is a serious illness in which the individual starves herself and may die. She not only loses her appetite but, more seriously, fails to have a normal perception of the size and shape of her body- she thinks she is fat even when she is way below her normal weight. The main features of anorexia are as follows; excessive weight loss, over activity, secretive and defensive behavior, being choosy about food, obsessive exercising, tiredness always feeling cold , induced vomiting, use of laxatives, thinning of hair on heat, appearance of Languo (Baby hair) on the body, dry skin and cessation of periods (amenorrhea). Anorexics require medical treatment and counseling.

Diet and Diseases

Fats in foods are divided into saturated fats found mainly in meat and dairy products and unsaturated fats- found in fish and vegetable oils. Research has established a link between the high level of consumption of saturated fats in northern Europe and USA and the incidence of coronary heart disease, leading to death from heart attacks. Coronary artery disease is caused by the buildup of obstructions called atheromas that contain cholesterol.

Studies have indicated a strong link between diet and the chances of developing certain cancers. Cancers of the colon, rectum and stomach may be up to 90 percent diet dependent and diet may be responsible for up to 35 percent of cancers in western countries. For example, there appears to be a close correlation between levels of fat consumption and incidence of breast cancer. In Japan fat provides 22 percent of energy requirements in the diet and the death rate from breast cancer is four per 100,000 people, in USA, fat provides 40 percent of energy requirements and the death rate is 24 per 100,000. Dietary components linked to cancers include:

Excessive alcohol- cancers of the bowel, liver, mouth, oesophagus, stomach and throat, especially in smokers;

 Fatty and low fiber foods – breast and bowel cancers;

 Pickled foods- stomach cancer;

Salt- cured meat and fish, nitrate- cured meat- throat and stomach cancers.

 Dietary recommendations to reduce cancer risk:

 Eat foods rich in fiber daily.

 Eat fresh vegetables only.

 Eat less fat.

 Consume alcohol in moderation.

 Eat fewer smoked and salted foods.

 Keep weight at recommended level.

A Healthy Diet

The food that we eat provides us with the energy to power all our body activities, the materials for the growth and repair of body tissues, and the vital chemicals essential for the metabolic reactions that take place in all cells. To be healthy, a diet should:

Consist of a wide variety of natural foods that provide a balance of carbohydrates, fats,, proteins, vitamins, minerals and fibre.

 Supply the body with sufficient energy to meets its needs;

Include only low levels of foods, such as those containing saturated fats, that increase the risk of developing diet related diseases, for instance coronary artery disease.

 Each person has a certain requirement for energy, depending on their age and the amount of activity (or other forms of energy consumption, such as breastfeeding) involved in their daily life. Energy is derived from energy rich foods such as carbohydrates and, to lesser extent, fat. A diet that results in taking in more energy than the body requires in those conditions leads to obesity, while insufficient energy intakes leads to weight loss.

Vitamins and Minerals

     Vitamins and minerals are substances required in small amounts, that essential for the normal, healthy functioning of the body normal growth and development, energy productions, body maintenance, and general well being and vitality.

       Vitamins are a diverse group of organic substances that cannot be manufactured by the body – except for the vitamin D (which is produced in the skin when it is exposed to sunlight) and niacin (made in the body from the amino acid tryptophan) – and must, therefore, be obtained from food. Absence of one or more vitamins from the diet will, in time, lead to well defined deficiency diseases such as scurvy, beriberi or ostemalacia. The 13 major vitamins, each of which is found in many different foods, are divided into two groups. Fat soluble vitamins- A,D,E, and K – are found in fat or oil containing foods, and are stored in the liver, so that daily intake of these vitamins is not really essential. In fact, excessive consumption of fat soluble vitamins, usually by taking too many vitamins tablets, can be harmful. Deficiency of fat soluble vitamins is usually caused by disorders that stop the intestine absorbing fat efficiently. Water soluble vitamins- the B complex vitamins and vitamin C are not stored in the body (apart from vitamin B 12). To avoid deficiency, therefore, food containing water soluble vitamins should be eaten each day to keep supplies “topped up”. Because water soluble vitamins are destroyed by prolonged cooking, processing and storage, fresh or lightly cooked foods make the best sources.

     Minerals are simple chemical elements that cannot be made by the body but must be present in the diet o maintain good health. There are 20 minerals known to be essential in small amounts, in addition to carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, which are needed in large amounts to construct the body’s framework. Some, including calcium phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, sodium magnesium and chlorine and some traces of minerals such as iron cobalt copper zinc molybdenum iodine and selenium are also important for mammals.

Sleep and Sleep Disorders

    Sleep occupies around one third of a person’s life, although the hours we sleep decrease as we age. A one year child sleeps for about for about 14 hours each day, while a five year old needs around 12 hours. About 90 percent of adults sleep for six to nine hours per night, with most people sleeping 7.5 hours to 8 hours. Less than 6 hours sleep at night generally leads to daytime sleepiness. Elderly people tend to sleep less at night but doze during the day.

    Dreams are the result of mental activity during REM sleep. They are believed to represent the processing of all the thoughts and stimuli that have occurred to a person during the day. They may also form part of the process whereby short term memories are assimilated into long term memory storage. Many psychiatrists believe that dream analysis can reveal emotional conflicts.

      Sleep disorders can disrupt normal daytime functioning or cause sleepiness. Insomnia: Difficulty in falling, or staying, asleep. Around 30 percent of adults suffer from insomnia at some time in their lives. The main cause is stress, although causes include lack of exercise and misuse of drugs. Research indicates that insomniacs actually sleep more than they think but wake more often than normal. Remedies includes reducing stress levels; taking more exercise; developing a regular sleeping routine; and avoiding coffee late at night. Sleep inducing drugs are only prescribed if these remedies fail. Jet lag is a disruption of normal body rhythms caused by long distance flying across. Sleepwalking, sleep paralysis, Sleep deprivation, Sleep apnea, Night terror, Nightmares, Narcolepsy are some of the sleep disorders.

Sleep

What is sleep? Sleep is a state of altered consciousness and not a turning off of the brain. Although sleep appears to be the opposite of wakefulness, these two stages have a lot in common. Thinking and memory are active in both states, and a sleeping person is sensitive to their crying baby. Studies of sleeping deprivation have shown that sleep is a fundamental need that human cannot do without it. The brain needs periods of sleep in order to rest repair itself and process information received during the period of wakefulness.

The brain produces electrical impulses or brain waves which can be detected using electroencephalography (ECG). Studies using EEG from the 1950’s onwards showed from the patterns of brain waves that sleep can be divided into two distinct stages which alternate in cycles of around 90 minutes throughout the 8 hours sleep period. The chart below shows how a sleeper passes repeatedly through these two states, about every 90 minutes, during an 8 hours sleep period.
The first state is non rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) which takes up about 80 percent of the sleep period, during NREM sleep, the sleeper becomes relaxed and drifts into deeper and deeper sleep. The depth of NREM sleep is measured in four stages of progressively greater depth of sleep. Stage 4 is the deepest when body metabolism is lowest and brain activity least. Dreaming does not occur during NREM sleep.

After 60- 90 minutes, the second stage of sleep begins. The brain becomes more active with wave patterns resembling those of an awake person, temperature and blood flow increase, and the eyes move around beneath the closed eyelids, giving this sleeping state its name of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Dreaming takes place during REM state of sleep.
The first REM period lasts for about 5-10 minutes but as the chart shows, the length of REM periods increases as sleep continues. Deep NREM sleep is believed to be the time when the brain rests and repairs itself; REM sleep is when the brain analyzes the day’s events and sorts out emotional problems some researchers believe REM sleep not to be Sleep at all but a third state of existence in addition to sleep and wakefulness.

Human Mind

The human mind is the totality of all conscious and unconscious mental processes that have been occurred or are occurring in the brain. Mind disorders, from mild emotional disorders to severe illness, are studied and treated in various ways. Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. Psychology involves research into feelings, intelligence, learning, memory perception, personality development, speech and thought. Psychologists may also diagnose and treat mental, behavioral or emotional problems through psychotherapy although since they lack medical qualification. Psychotherapy is the use of psychological methods to treat mental behavioral or emotional problems such as neuroses and personality disorders. Treatment is based on the relationship between sufferer and psychotherapist. Following the framework of the type of therapy used, they talk about symptoms and problems in an attempt to find a solution. Psychiatry is a branch of medicine concerned with research into, and the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. Psychiatry sees mental disorders as medical conditions. Psychiatrists are medically qualified and may use psychotherapeutic drugs to treat patients. Psycho therapeutic drugs used in the treatment of mental disorders, these can be very effective in the alleviation of symptoms both long and short term although some carry risk of dependence.

World conservation strategy

Plants and animals are unaware of Political boundaries conservation must be based on worldwide strategies. In 1980 the World Conservation Strategy was launched by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources), WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme). It said that conservation of three factors was needed: 1. Life support cycles, water, soil and air; 2. Species of plants and animals; 3. Genetic diversity. This document became the basis of conservation policies in over 50 countries.

In 1991 IUCN, WWF and UNEP launched caring for the Earth, an updated policy document setting targets and suggesting some methods of approach. IN 1992 the Earth Summit in Rio was attended by many heads of governments, who pledged to implement much of caring for the Earth, its strategies were largely embodied in the Biodiversity Convention ( Although it was not signed by USA). Many of those good intentions have since been watered down or bogged down, but the idea survives and a number are gradually being implemented with a world system of biosphere reserves and heritage sites.

Coral reefs and Mangrove Swamps

Coral reefs are found where the average annual temperature of the sea does not drop below 21.C. they are the richest of marine environments, estimated to contain one third of the world’s fish species and up to 500,000 animal species in all. Reef corals can only thrive in shallow water, so are often close to land, and therefore at special risk from human activities. Dangers include pollution; dredging and removal for construction purposes; damage by collection of coral and other invertebrates as tourist trophies; and collection of fish for the aquarist trade, which has already wiped out some species of colourful reef fish.

 Mangrove swamps occur in tropical regions where soft sediments are covered with sea water. In cooler areas salt marshes take their place. Both types of environment are rich in species. Mangrove swamps are the nurseries for many kinds of open water tropical fish; salt marshes are feeding grounds for the worlds migrating waders and water fowl. Yet both environments are regarded with disfavor by the majority of human kind and there has been greater destruction of mangrove swamps than of any other habitat type. Currently about 165, 000Km2 of mangrove forest remain, but almost all are under threat largely from pollution, which in some cases causes harmful mutations, and from expansion of farming.

Wetlands

The wetland ecosystem- rivers, streams, lakes, ponds and swamps- is under threat. Currently covering about 6 percent of the Earth’s surface, wetlands are shrinking rapidly. Destruction of wetlands may seem to bring nothing but benefit. Draining a marsh creates fertile land for cultivations and reduces breeding areas for insects such as mosquitoes. Damming a river provides a water supply, and may mean a source of power as well.
But many changes to water system carry seeds of disaster.
 The Aswan Dam on the upper Nile, completed in 1963 and fully effective by the 1970s, was meant to regulate the river’s flow and provide hydro electric power. However, the traditional fertility of the Nile valley was dependent on over 100 million tones of silt deposited annually as the river flooded. The silt is now silting up the artificial Lake Nasser, forcing farmers downstream to rely on fertilizers, and robbing local brick makers of raw materials; around 35 percent of Egypt’s cultivated land is suffering from salination. Deprived of nutrients, the fish stocks of the eastern Mediterranean are declining while the Nile delta is being eroded steadily. Schistosomiasis is a disease common in newly irrigated areas, has spread explosively, causing debilitation and death; in 1990 between five and six million people were affected.
Surviving wetlands are often badly damaged: by engineering schemes; by eutrophication, when nutrients flow off the land causing huge growths of weeds that over whelm other plant life; by pollution from sewage or toxic industrial waste; or by thermal pollution from water used for cooling.