SWINE FLUE

Swine flu (swine influenza) is a disease of pigs. It is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by one of many Influenza A viruses. Approximately 1% to 4% of pigs that get swine flu die from it. It is spread among pigs by direct and indirect contact, aerosols, and from pigs that are infected but do not have symptoms. In many parts of the world pigs are vaccinated against swine flu.

Most commonly, swine flu is of the H1N1 influenza subtype. However, they can sometimes come from the other types, such as H1N2, H3N1, and H3N2.

The current outbreak of swine flu that has infected humans is of the H1N1 type - this type is not as dangerous as some others.
Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) can also infect pigs
Avian flu and human seasonal flu viruses can infect pigs, as well as swine influenza. The H3N2 influenza virus subtype, a virulent one, is thought to have come from pigs - it went on to infect humans.

It is possible for pigs to be infected with more than one flu virus subtype simultaneously. When this happens the genes of the viruses have the opportunity to mingle. When different flu subtypes mix they can create a new virus which contains the genes from several sources - a reassortant virusAlthough swine influenza tends to just infect pigs, they can, and sometimes do, jump the species barrier and infect humans.
What is the risk for human health?
Outbreaks of human infection from a virus which came from pigs (swine influenza) do happen and are sometimes reported. Symptoms will generally be similar to seasonal human influenzas - this can range from mild or no symptoms at all, to severe and possibly fatal pneumonia.

As swine flu symptoms are similar to typical human seasonal flu symptoms, and other upper respiratory tract infections, detection of swine flu in humans often does not happen, and when it does it is usually purely by chance through seasonal influenza surveillance. If symptoms are mild it is extremely unlikely that any connection to swine influenza is found - even if it is there. In other words, unless the doctors and experts are specifically looking for swine flu, it is rarely detected. Because of this, we really do not know what the true human infection rate is.
Examples of known swine flu infecting humans
Since the World Health Organization's (WHO's) implementation of IHR (2005) in 2007, they have been notified of swine influenza cases from the USA and Spain In March/April 2009 human cases of influenza A swine fever (H1N1) were first reported in California and Texas. Later other states also reported cases. A significant number of human cases during the same period have also been reported in Mexico - starting just in Mexico City, but now throughout various parts of the country. More cases are being reported in Canada, Europe, and New Zealand - mainly from people who have been in Mexico.
How does a human catch swine influenza?
From contact with infected pigs (most common way)
From contact with infected humans (much less common way)
In cases when humans have infected other humans close contact was necessary with the infected person, and they nearly always occurred in closed groups of people.
Can I eat pork meat and pork products?
If the pork meat and pork food products have been handled properly transmission of swine influenza to humans is not possible. Cooking pork meats to a temperature of 70C (160F) kills the virus. So the answer is YES, pork meat and pork food products are safe to eat.
Where have pigs been infected?
As swine influenza infection among pigs is not an internationally notifiable disease we cannot be completely sure. Swine influenza infection among pigs is known to be endemic in the USA. Outbreaks have also occurred in other parts of North America, South American, Europe, Africa, China, Japan, and other parts of Asia.
Is there a pandemic risk?
People who are not in close contact with pigs generally have no immunity to the swine influenza viruses - they are less likely to be able to prevent a virus infection. If the virus infects enough people in a given area, the risk of an influenza pandemic is significantly greater. Experts say it is very hard to predict what impact a flu pandemic caused by a swine influenza virus would have on the global human population. This would depend on how virulent the virus is, what existing immunity among humans there already is, plus several other factors.
Do we have a specific swine flu vaccine?
No - not for humans.
Will current human flu vaccines help protect people from swine influenza infection?
We really don't know. Influenza viruses are adapting and changing all the time. If a vaccine was made, it would have to be specifically for a current strain that is circulating for it to be effective. The WHO says it needs access to as many viruses as possible so that it can isolate the most appropriate candidate vaccine.
What are the signs and symptoms of swine influenza in humans?
They are similar to those of regular flu, and include:
Body aches
Chills
Cough
Diarrhea (less common)
Headache
Sore throat
Temperature (fever)
Tiredness (fatigue)
Vomiting (less common)

Hydrometer

A hydrometer is an instrument used to measure the specific gravity of a liquid solution and, therefore, its strength. A simple (and common) hydrometer consists of a weighted glass bulb with a graduated stem, looking similar to a large glass thermometer. It is placed in the solution, spun (to remove air bubbles that might cause it to float higher), then the column is read at the waterline to give a number that can be compared to a chart of known values for the particular solution being measured.

Hydrometers come in a variety of themes - the most simple consisting of a long glass tube into which is sealed a specific mass of a weight, and a strip of paper that is a graduated metric (looks like a ruler). The device is dropped into a liquid, usually water in this case, and the device will partially float, with the weighted end under water, and the rest of the device above the water line. At the point of the water line, one can see the strip of paper, and read from the paper, the metric. The metric will usually provide the specific gravity of the water, meaning, it will describe the weight of dissolved materials in the water.


The hydrometer is used in beer and wine making to determine when the solution has reached the desired concentration of alcohol. It is also used to determine the strength of acids and bases, of automobile fluids, and many other liquid solutions.

Hygrometer

A device used to measure the relative humidity in the air. There are several different types of hygrometers available, includings ones marketed specifically for use in terrariums.
Hygrometers are quite delicate and need to be calibrated for accurate measuring. They are also not instant devices - it can take up to two hours to get an accurate reading or to record changes in the relative humidity.

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Digestive System

The digestive system is a series of hollow organs joined in a long, twisting tube from the mouth to the anus. Inside this tube is a lining called the mucosa. In the mouth, stomach, and small intestine, the mucosa contains tiny glands that produce juices to help digest food. There are also two solid digestive organs, the liver and the pancreas, which produce juices that reach the intestine through small tubes. In addition, parts of other organ systems (for instance, nerves and blood) play a major role in the digestive system.
Why Is Digestion Important?
When we eat such things as bread, meat, and vegetables, they are not in a form that the body can use as nourishment. Our food and drink must be changed into smaller molecules of nutrients before they can be absorbed into the blood and carried to cells throughout the body. Digestion is the process by which food and drink are broken down into their smallest parts so that the body can use them to build and nourish cells and to provide energy.

How Is Food Digested?
Digestion involves the mixing of food, its movement through the digestive tract, and chemical breakdown of the large molecules of food into smaller molecules. Digestion begins in the mouth, when we chew and swallow, and is completed in the small intestine. The chemical process varies somewhat for different kinds of food.

The large, hollow organs of the digestive system contain muscle that enables their walls to move. The movement of organ walls can propel food and liquid and also can mix the contents within each organ. Typical movement of the esophagus, stomach, and intestine is called peristalsis. The action of peristalsis looks like an ocean wave moving through the muscle. The muscle of the organ produces a narrowing and then propels the narrowed portion slowly down the length of the organ. These waves of narrowing push the food and fluid in front of them through each hollow organ.

The first major muscle movement occurs when food or liquid is swallowed. Although we are able to start swallowing by choice, once the swallow begins, it becomes involuntary and proceeds under the control of the nerves.

The esophagus is the organ into which the swallowed food is pushed. It connects the throat above with the stomach below. At the junction of the esophagus and stomach, there is a ringlike valve closing the passage between the two organs. However, as the food approaches the closed ring, the surrounding muscles relax and allow the food to pass.

The food then enters the stomach, which has three mechanical tasks to do. First, the stomach must store the swallowed food and liquid. This requires the muscle of the upper part of the stomach to relax and accept large volumes of swallowed material. The second job is to mix up the food, liquid, and digestive juice produced by the stomach. The lower part of the stomach mixes these materials by its muscle action. The third task of the stomach is to empty its contents slowly into the small intestine.

Several factors affect emptying of the stomach, including the nature of the food (mainly its fat and protein content) and the degree of muscle action of the emptying stomach and the next organ to receive the stomach contents (the small intestine). As the food is digested in the small intestine and dissolved into the juices from the pancreas, liver, and intestine, the contents of the intestine are mixed and pushed forward to allow further digestion.

Finally, all of the digested nutrients are absorbed through the intestinal walls. The waste products of this process include undigested parts of the food, known as fiber, and older cells that have been shed from the mucosa. These materials are propelled into the colon, where they remain, usually for a day or two, until the feces are expelled by a bowel movement.

The glands that act first are in the mouth--the salivary glands. Saliva produced by these glands contains an enzyme that begins to digest the starch from food into smaller molecules.

The next set of digestive glands is in the stomach lining. They produce stomach acid and an enzyme that digests protein. One of the unsolved puzzles of the digestive system is why the acid juice of the stomach does not dissolve the tissue of the stomach itself. In most people, the stomach mucosa is able to resist the juice, although food and other tissues of the body cannot.

After the stomach empties the food and its juice into the small intestine, the juices of two other digestive organs mix with the food to continue the process of digestion. One of these organs is the pancreas. It produces a juice that contains a wide array of enzymes to break down the carbohydrates, fat, and protein in our food. Other enzymes that are active in the process come from glands in the wall of the intestine or even a part of that wall.

The liver produces yet another digestive juice--bile. The bile is stored between meals in the gallbladder. At mealtime, it is squeezed out of the gallbladder into the bile ducts to reach the intestine and mix with the fat in our food. The bile acids dissolve the fat into the watery contents of the intestine, much like detergents that dissolve grease from a frying pan. After the fat is dissolved, it is digested by enzymes from the pancreas and the lining of the intestine.

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Gamma radiation, also known as gamma rays, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency (very short wavelength). They are produced by sub-atomic particle interactions such as electron-positron annihilation, neutral pion decay, fusion, fission or inverse Compton scattering in astrophysical processes. Because gamma rays are a form of ionizing radiation, they pose a health hazard.

A classical gamma ray source is a type of radioactive decay called gamma decay where an excited nucleus emits a gamma ray almost immediately on formation. However, gamma decay may also describe isomeric transition which involves an inhibited gamma decay with a relatively much longer half life.

Gamma rays have frequencies above 10 exahertz (1018 Hz), and therefore have energies above 100 keV and wavelength less than 10 picometers, less than the diameter of an atom. Gamma rays from radioactive decay commonly have energies of a few hundred keV, and almost always less than 10 MeV. There is effectively no lower limit to gamma energy derived from radioactive decay. Energies from astronomical sources can be much higher, ranging over 10 TeV (this is far too large to result from radioactive decay).

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Ultraviolet

Ultraviolet (UV) light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3eV to 124 eV. It is so named because the spectrum consists of electromagnetic waves with frequencies higher than those that humans identify as the color violet.

Although ultraviolet is invisible to the human eye, most people are aware of the effects of UV through the painful condition of sunburn, but the UV spectrum has many other effects, both beneficial and damaging, to human health.

UV light is found in sunlight and is emitted by electric arcs and specialized lights such as black lights. It can cause chemical reactions, and causes many substances to glow or fluoresce. Most ultraviolet is classified as non-ionizing radiation. The higher energies of the ultraviolet spectrum from about 150 nm ('vacuum' ultraviolet) are ionizing, but this type of ultraviolet is not very penetrating and is blocked by air
The discovery of UV radiation was intimately associated with the observation that silver salts darken when exposed to sunlight. In 1801, the German physicist Johann Wilhelm Ritter made the hallmark observation that invisible rays just beyond the violet end of the visible spectrum were especially effective at lightening silver chloride-soaked paper. He called them "oxidizing rays" to emphasize chemical reactivity and to distinguish them from "heat rays" at the other end of the invisible spectrum. The simpler term "chemical rays" was adopted shortly thereafter, and it remained popular throughout the 19th century. The terms chemical and heat rays were eventually dropped in favour of ultraviolet and infrared radiation, respectively.

The discovery of the ultraviolet radiation below 200 nm, named vacuum ultraviolet because it is strongly absorbed by air, was made in 1893 by the German physicist Victor Schumann

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INFRARED RAYS

These rays were discovered in 1800 by William Herschel, a British musician and astronomer, when he observed that a thermometer placed just outside the visible spectrum of sunlight shows a greater increase in temperature than one placed in the red region.

The Infrared region of the spectrum lies beyond the red end of the visible range, with wavelengths between 0.01 to 7.5x10-5 cm.

Instruments for detecting infrared radiation include heat-sensitive devices such as thermocouple detectors, bolometers, photovoltaic cells, and photoconductors.

Infrared radiation is absorbed and emitted by the movement (rotations and vibrations) of chemically bonded atoms or groups of atoms of many materials. Some of the materials that absorb infrared radiation are window glass, water and also our atmosphere. Although invisible to the eye, longer infrared radiation can be detected as warmth by the skin. It forms nearly 50% of the Sun's radiant energy, with major portion of the rest being in the visible region.

One of the major uses of infrared rays is Infrared photography. Infrared rays are also reflected off objects, just as visible light. Special films or sensors which have the property to 'see in the dark' are used to observe these rays, which enhance different areas according to their heat emission. For e.g., in an infrared photograph, blue sky and water appear nearly black, whereas unexposed skin shows up brightly.

Infrared photography is used to detect pathological tissue growths (thermography) and defects in electronic systems and circuits (due to their increased emission of heat). They can also be used to detect heat leaks in houses and forest fires. Shorter infrared rays are used in remote controls.

Physiotherapists use infrared radiation to warm damaged muscles and so speed up healing. Infrared light can also be sent down optical fibres for cable television and phone links.

Atmospheric haze and certain pollutants that scatter visible light are nearly transparent to parts of the infrared spectrum (scattering efficiency increases with the fourth power of the frequency). Infrared photography of distant objects from the air takes advantage of this phenomenon, to observe cosmic objects through large clouds of interstellar dust. However, since water vapour, O3 and CO2 in the atmosphere absorb large parts of the infrared spectrum, most infrared astronomical observations are carried out at high altitudes, with the help of balloons, rockets and space-crafts.

The infrared absorption and emission characteristics of materials yield important information about the size, shape, and chemical bonding of molecules, atoms and ions present in them. Infrared spectroscopy is a powerful tool for determining the internal structure of molecules and for identifying the amounts of known species in a given sample. Infrared rays emitted by a given substance indicate the difference of some of the internal energy states, which depend on atomic weight and other atomic properties.

Hence, besides for identification, infrared rays can also be used to determine the amount of a known material in a given substance. Infrared spectroscopy is also used to examine archaeological specimens and for detecting forgeries of art and other objects, which, under visible light, resemble the original.

Infrared radiation plays an important role in heat transfer and is integral to the greenhouse effect.

Powerful infrared radiations can be artificially prepared, by using gases like Carbon dioxide and Carbon mono-oxide, and can be used in light radar systems and to modify chemical reactions.

Virtually every object at the Earth's surface emits electromagnetic radiation primarily in the infrared region of the spectrum. Man-made sources of infrared radiation include, besides hot objects, infrared light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and lasers, which are used in some fibre-optic communication systems and light radar systems respectively.

Other applications of infrared light include its use in remote controls, automatic self-focusing cameras, security alarm systems, and night-vision optical instruments

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Igneous Rocks

At the most general level, rocks fall into three great categories, and they're pretty simple to tell apart. You won't even need a rock hammer or hand lens, though those are fun to have.
Igneous rocks are the first great class.

Origin of Igneous Rocks
Igneous rocks begin as hot, fluid material, and the word "igneous" comes from the Latin for fire. This material may have been lava erupted at the Earth's surface, or magma (unerupted lava) at shallow depths, or magma in deep bodies (plutons). Rock formed of lava is called extrusive, rock from shallow magma is called intrusive and rock from deep magma is called plutonic.

Igneous rocks form in three main places: where lithospheric plates pull apart at mid-ocean ridges, where plates come together at subduction zones and where continental crust is pushed together, making it thicker and allowing it to heat to melting.

People commonly think of lava and magma as a liquid, like molten metal, but geologists find that magma is usually a mush — a liquid carrying a load of mineral crystals. Magma crystallizes into a collection of minerals, and some crystallize sooner than others. Not just that, but when they crystallize, they leave the remaining liquid with a changed chemical composition. Thus a body of magma, as it cools, evolves, and as it moves through the crust, interacting with other rocks, it evolves further. This makes igneous petrology a very complex field, and this article is only the barest outline.

Igneous Rock Textures
Tell the three types of igneous rocks apart by their texture, starting with the size of the mineral grains. Extrusive rocks cool quickly (over periods of seconds to months) and have invisible or very small grains, or an aphanitic texture. Intrusive rocks cool more slowly (over thousands of years) and have small to medium-sized grains. Plutonic rocks cool over millions of years, deep underground, and can have grains as large as pebbles — even a meter across. Both intrusive and plutonic rocks have phaneritic texture.

Because they solidified from a fluid state, igneous rocks tend to have an equigranular texture, a uniform fabric without layers, and the mineral grains are packed together tightly. Think of the texture of a piece of bread as a similar example.

In many igneous rocks, large mineral crystals "float" in a fine-grained groundmass. The large grains are called phenocrysts, and a rock with phenocrysts is called a porphyry; that is, it has a porphyritic texture. Phenocrysts are minerals that solidified earlier than the rest of the rock, and they are important clues to the rock's history.

Some extrusive rocks have distinctive textures. Obsidian, formed when lava hardens quickly, has a glassy texture. Pumice and scoria are volcanic froth, puffed up by millions of gas bubbles giving them a vesicular texture. Tuff is a rock made entirely of volcanic ash, fallen from the air or avalanched down a volcano's sides. It has a pyroclastic texture. And pillow lava is a lumpy formation created by extruding lava underwater.

Igneous Rock Types: Basalt, Granite and More
Igneous rocks are classified by the minerals they contain. The main minerals in igneous rocks are hard, primary ones: feldspar, quartz, amphiboles and pyroxenes (together called "dark minerals" by geologists), and olivine along with the softer mineral mica.

The two best-known igneous rock types are basalt and granite, which differ in composition. Basalt is the dark, fine-grained stuff of many lava flows and magma intrusions. Its dark minerals are rich in magnesium (Mg) and iron (Fe), hence basalt is called a mafic rock. So basalt is mafic and either extrusive or intrusive. Granite is the light, coarse-grained rock formed at depth and exposed after deep erosion. It is rich in feldspar and quartz (silica) and hence is called a felsic rock. So granite is felsic and plutonic.

These two categories cover the great majority of igneous rocks. Ordinary people, even ordinary geologists, use the names freely. (Stone dealers call any plutonic rock at all "granite.") But igneous petrologists use many more names. They generally talk about basaltic and granitic or granitoid rocks among themselves and out in the field, because it takes lab work to determine an exact rock type according to the official classifications. True granite and true basalt are narrow subsets of these categories.

But a few of the less common igneous rock types can be recognized by non-specialists. For instance a dark-colored plutonic mafic rock, the deep version of basalt, is called gabbro. A light-colored intrusive or extrusive felsic rock, the shallow version of granite, is called felsite or rhyolite. And there is a suite of ultramafic rocks with even more dark minerals and even less silica than basalt. Peridotite is the foremost of those.

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1. Thermal Conduction

Thermal conduction is the transfer of heat energy through an object or from one object to an adjacent object. It is caused by the transfer and dissipation of kinetic energy from one atom to surrounding atoms when the atoms are in close proximity, such as in a solid or liquid. An example is putting a spoon in a cup of hot tea - the handle of the spoon becomes warm even though the handle itself is not in direct contact with the tea. Heat has been conducted from the tea into the scoop end of the spoon, and then though the spoon up to the handle.
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Conduction can occur between substances (as in from hot tea to a spoon) or within a single substance (as in dissipate down the length of the spoon).
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Iron (Fe) is an example of a good thermal conductor. Heat can transfer through an iron object quickly.


2. Electrical Conduction

Electrical conduction is the flow of free electrons through a substance with very low impedance (resistance) to the movement of those electrons. The uniform flow of electrons gives rise to the movement of electric charge, creating an electric current. In electrical conduction, free electrons pass through the conducting material without changing the ionic balance (the charge) of the conducting substance's atoms and/or molecules.
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Copper (Cu) is an example of an electrical conductor, that allows free electrons to pass through a copper cable with minimal impedance. (TO make simp for little people. conduction heat transfer within a material or between material's that are touching

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Barometer

A barometer is a scientific instrument used in meteorology to measure atmospheric pressure. It can measure the pressure exerted by the atmosphere by using water, air, or mercury. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather. Numerous measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis to help find surface troughs, high pressure systems, and frontal boundaries


Pedometer
A pedometer or step counter is a device, usually portable and electronic or electromechanical, that counts each step a person takes by detecting the motion of the person's hips. Because the distance of each person's step varies, an informal calibration performed by the user is required if a standardized distance (such as in kilometres or miles) is desired.

Used originally by sports and physical fitness enthusiasts, pedometers are now becoming popular as an everyday exercise measurer and motivator. Often worn on the belt and kept on all day, it can record how many steps the wearer has walked that day, and thus the kilometres or miles (distance = number of steps × step length). Some pedometers will also erroneously record movements other than walking, such as bending to tie one's shoes, or road bumps incurred while riding a vehicle, though the most advanced devices record fewer of these 'false steps'. Step counters can give encouragement to compete with oneself in getting fit and losing weight. A total of 10,000 steps per day, equivalent to 5 miles (8.0 km), is recommended by some to be the benchmark for an active lifestyle, although this point is debated among experts. Step counters are being integrated into an increasing number of portable consumer electronic devices such as music players and mobile phones

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Malaria

Malaria is the most important tropical disease, remaining widespread throughout the tropics, but also occurring in many temperate regions. It exacts a heavy toll of illness and death - especially amongst children and pregnant women. It also poses a risk to travelers and immigrants, with imported cases increasing in non-endemic areas. Treatment and control have become more difficult with the spread of drug-resistant strains of parasites and insecticide-resistant strains of mosquito vectors. Health education, better case management, better control tools and concerted action are needed to limit the burden of the disease.

Malaria has become a global problem. It is endemic in 105 countries and is responsible for over 300 to 500 million clinical cases and more than a million deaths each year. During the 1950s and 1960s a vigorous campaign to eradicate malaria was waged through out the world with great success. The disease was in the process of being eliminated in some regions. But over the past few decades, resurgence is being witnessed. The dream of the global eradication of malaria is beginning to fade with the growing number of cases, rapid spread of drug resistance in people and increasing insecticide resistance in mosquitoes.

Four species of protozoan parasite of the plasmodium genus - P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae - cause malaria in humans. Though malaria bought on by P.vivax is the most common, it is, however, malaria caused by P. falciparum that is most lethal.

There are more than 2,500 known species of mosquitoes worldwide. Out of that, only around 50 to 60 species of Anophelis mosquitoes are capable of transmitting the infection.

Numerous epidemiologic and ecologic factors play a vital role in determining the effect of malaria on human health and in the intensity of disease transmission. The immunological status of a person also has a bearing on the severity of the disease.

The clinical features of malaria vary. The classic symptoms include persistant fever, shivering, joint pains, and headaches and repeated vomiting. Severe and complicated malaria causing renal failure, hypoglycemia, anemia, pulmonary edema, shock and coma can have fatal consequences, leading to death. Malaria can be cured if promptly diagnosed and adequately treated.

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