Wednesday, August 22, 2012

When Were Vaccinations Invented ?


Most historians document the first vaccination to be around 1796 when English doctor Edward Jenner observed that people working in close proximity to cows were completely immune to the smallpox virus.
For those that don’t know much about the virus or its severity then imagine chicken pox or the measles but much worse. The picture above is of a young Bangladeshi girl taken in 1973 and demonstrates how severe the outbreak on the body was.
Not something you’d want to pick up, and with death from infection being as high as 80% in children it wasn’t a surprise why this virus was so feared.

The Cowpox Connection

Going back to Dr Jenner’s original observations he quickly came to the conclusion that some how the workers were picking up the less dangerous cowpox virus which in turn left them completely immune to the far more dangerous smallpox.
After some experimentation he injected an 8 year old boy with a small amount of cowpox and confirmed his original hypothesis.

Smallpox Eradicated

Within 3 years 100,000 British people were vaccinated and saved from the potentially fatal virus. By 1979 the World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared smallpox to be the first infectious disease to have been eradicated from the face of the earth.
Now a days this killer virus exists only in a few select laboratories throughout the world!

Via : Science-facts

Friday, June 15, 2012

Ancient cave art could be Neanderthal's


Researchers have found cave paintings in Spain that are up to 40,000 years old, suggesting they might have been created by Neanderthals.

Dr Alistair Pike, of the University of Bristol, and colleagues, publish their research in the journal Science.

The practice of art is considered an important stage in the development of human cognition, along with the use of symbols, and possibly language.

But determining the age of cave art has often been difficult, especially using radiocarbon dating.

Pike and colleagues instead used a technique called uranium-thorium dating to find out the minimum age of calcite deposits overlying art in 11 different caves in northern Spain.

Among the 50 paintings studied, the researchers found a 40,800-year-old disc, a 37,000-year-old hand stencil and a 35,600-year-old club-shaped symbol.

As well as giving insight into how painting styles changed over time, the findings suggest cave painting in Europe started 5000 to 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.

This is at the same time that modern humans were arriving in Europe and Neanderthals were dying out.

Pike says either modern humans arrived already painting or they developed the skill once they arrived - as part of cultural innovation triggered by competition with Neanderthals.

"Alternatively, cave painting started before the arrival of modern humans, and was done by Neanderthals," says Pike.

"That would be a fantastic find as it would mean the hand stencils on the walls of the caves are outlines of Neanderthals' hands, but we will need to date more examples to see if this is the case."

The artwork was found in an area that includes the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Altamira, El Castillo and Tito Bustillo.

"Useful contribution"
Australian archaeologist Dr Iain Davidson who has also dated cave art in Spain welcomes the new research.

"It's a really useful contribution," says Davidson, an emeritus professor at the University of New England.

He points to two other findings since this paper was accepted for publication that push back the date for art in caves in Europe.

Earlier this year publications reported the engraving of female genitalia dated at around 37,000 years and the discovery of flutes made from bone and ivory dated at around 40,000 years.

"We now have dates of around 40,000 in three parts of Europe for things that would be called 'art' in general," says Davidson.

He says the lack of good skeletal remains from around that time in Europe mean it is difficult to know who is actually responsible for the artwork found there.

But, Davidson says the latest evidence calls for a rethink of the traditional view that Neanderthals could not possibly have had the cognitive abilities of modern humans - a view that he himself has held for a long time.

"I think I was wrong," says Davidson.

"There does seem to be tenuous evidence that Neanderthals were experimenting with pigment. There is slightly plausible evidence that they were creating objects out of bone. All of this suggests they had something like the abilities that modern humans have."

Davidson says the question of whether Neanderthals had similar cognitive abilities raises the difficult question of how that came about.

Genetic evidence suggests the ancestors of modern humans and Neanderthals diverged 400,000 years ago and didn't interbreed, he says.

So, how would Neanderthals and modern humans both have developed the same cognitive abilities?

Either they evolved independently the same abilities under different selective pressures, says Davidson, or they did in fact interbred with each other to transfer genetically-determined traits.

- Facebook -

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Fitness is simple..! Total Body Blitz Workout!

Fitness is simple..it really is.  Most trainers, websites, exercise DVD makers, etc, want to make it seem like there’s some exact, and hard to comprehend, scientific formula to getting in shape.  They all claim to have figured it out, and purport that THEIR method is the best, and likely, only way to get in shape.  The whole game is designed to confuse you, so you become reliant on them for their advice and/or workouts.  The game is up; this simply isn’t the way fitness works.

Certainly, there are some elements of any successful workout program that must be followed.  We aren’t saying you can just go out, casually lift some weights, run a few miles a week, and develop a killer bod.  It’s not quite that simple.  Problem with so many exercise programs out there today is they take bits and pieces of the three basic elements of a great workout.  P90x, for example, is great at utilizing muscle confusion techniques…but only for a limited period of time.  These workouts aren’t geared for a lifelong body transformation..rather, a 90 day change, at which point, your body has gotten so used to the workout cycle, it stops making progress.

I’ve been in the exercise biz many a year now, and have created Share It Fitness to bring top quality exercise programming to the masses.  I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t.  I know women don’t want to look like men, they simply want to develop that lean, mean, athletic look.  Being fit and sexy isn’t about being deathly skinny and starving yourself.  It’s about having a lean, toned upper body, a strong core, and a powerful and explosive lower body.  Developing this is very simple.  All it takes is self-discipline and a well-crafted plan.  If you stick to the plan below, to a T, I guarantee you will discover the body you’ve always wanted (provided you are eating a healthy diet as well).

It’s time to stop messing around with trends and fads, and start training to change your body and life, permanently.

For each week, each bullet point corresponds to one day.  It is best to do these in order (first bullet point = Monday, second bullet point = Tuesday, etc.) as the routine has been carefully designed to allow your muscles to rest effectively.

Week 1

    Monday – 60 minutes HIIT cycling (30 seconds 100% intensity, 1:30 60% intensity, repeat for an hour)
    Tuesday – 5 sets of 8: squats, barbell deadlifts, sumo squats, walking lunges, reverse lunges. 100 box jumps.
    Wednesday – 30 minutes HIIT jump rope (45 seconds jump, 30 seconds rest. repeat for half-hour)/15 minutes row machine
    Thursday – 5 sets of 8: bench press, military press, barbell curls, skull crushers, snatch, lat pulldowns. 250 ab reps ( you pick the type of exercises)
    Friday – 60 minute jog

Tips: Try to complete this Mon-Fri, allowing yourself a full two days off on the weekend.  On weight days, make sure the weight is heavy enough that the 7th and 8th rep are VERY tough to complete.  Training heavy at the beginning of this program is key for establishing  your base.

Week 2:

    Monday – 5 sets of 8: deadlifts, bulgarian squats, lunges. 5 sets of 50: squat jumps,  calve raises.  Plank for 3 minutes, 60 reverse crunches, 60 hanging knee raises.
    Tuesday – 60 minutes HIIT cycling (:30/1:30 format)
    Wednesday – 5 sets of 8: incline bench press, clean and press, overhead tricep extension, bent over barbell row, concentration curls, upright row.
    Thursday – 60 minutes HIIT running (sprint for 30 seconds/jog for 1:30 minutes)
    Friday – 5 sets of 8: deadlifts, bulgarian squats, lunges. 50 squat jumps, 50 calve raises.  Plank for 3 minutes, 60 reverse crunches, 60 hanging knee raises

Tips: When there aren’t any sets listed for squat jumps, calve raises, planks, and any ab exercises, complete the number of reps/time in as few sets as possible. i.e. 50 squats as fast as possible, before moving on to the 50 calve raises.  Continue to go heavy on the weight during resistance training.

Week 3:

    Monday – Super Sets: jump rope 45 seconds/12 box jumps/rest 1 minute.  Repeat 20 times.
    Tuesday – 5 sets of 8: close grip lat pulldowns, single arm dumbbell rows, dumbbell bench press, dumbbell flys, incline dumbbell curls, standing barbell curls, lat pulldown burnout (100 reps on light weight).
    Wednesday – Super Sets: jump rope 45 seconds/12 box jumps/rest 1 minute.  Repeat 20 times.
    Thursday – 100 body weight squats, 60 crunches, 100 alternating lunges, 60 bicycle crunches, 100 knee tucks, 100 flutter kicks, 3 minutes plank.
    Friday – 30 minutes HIIT cycling (:20/1:00 format), 30 minutes HIIT running (sprint every other .2 miles, i.e. 0-.2 jog, .2-.4 sprint, .4-.6 jog, .6-.8 sprint, .8-1 mile sprint)

Tips: Super sets involve no rest between exercises; only rest when indicated.  Last week of heavy resistance, go hard and heavy.  Make sure you’ve increased the weight on each exercise from Week 1, if only slightly.

Week 4

    Monday – 3 sets of 20: leg press machine, squats, deadlifts, calve raises, hamstring curl machine, box jumps
    Tuesday – 20 minutes HIIT cycling (:20/1 min), 20 minutes HIIT rowing (:20/1 min), 20 minutes HIIT jump rope (:30 jump/:30 rest)
    Wednesday – 3 sets of 20: lat pulldowns, bench press, incline bench press, tricep pushdown, concentration curls, upright rows, bicycle crunches, decline sit ups, hanging leg raises
    Thursday – 60 minutes casual jog
    Friday – 3 sets of 20: leg press machine, squats, deadlifts, calve raises, hamstring curl machine, box jumps

Tips: Use light weight on resistance training days.  Do these exercises slow.  Count to a full 4 seconds on the lift, and a full 2 seconds on the lower.

The above routine is part one, of a 12-week total body makeover.  You should already be seeing results after only 4 weeks of training.  As we previewed in week 4, part 2 focuses on increasing total time under tension (TUT) resistance training, which is a departure from the high sets/low rep heavy training that made up weeks 1-3.  Cardio training begins to include more cross-training principles and explosive movements to really develop your lower body while maximizing fat loss at the same time.  Part 3 will introduce complex lift formats such as step sets, drop sets, etc. while combining short, intense bouts of cardio to give you a couple more extreme workouts each week.

Part II of this workout found here.

After 12-weeks, we break down how to continue to push your body over the remaining 40 weeks of the year, to  ensure you are continually making progress and avoiding burnout.  Stay connected to the Share It Fitness launch and ensure a free membership by signing up here, and be sure to subscribe to our blog so you don’t miss the rest of this Total Body Blitz workout.

Source : shareitfitness.com

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

1:3 Girls and 1:8 Boys will be Sexually abused! (+facts)


  • One out of every three girls and one out of every eight boys will be sexually abused by age 18.
  • Eighty to ninety percent of offenders are family members or someone close to the family.
  • When sexual abuse occurs within a family, it is likely to continue for a period of time, even years, until it is discovered and stopped.
  • Both males and females sexually offend, however males represent a higher percentage of known sex offenders.
  • The media reports information on the highest risk offenders; however the majority of sex offenders are unknown to the general public either because information isn’t publicized or because they haven’t been caught yet.
  • While most other criminals decrease their criminal activity as they age, sex offenders typically do not. Most sex offenders continue to offend until they are physically incapable. Successful completion of sex offender treatment can interrupt this behavior; however extreme caution around children will continue to be necessary.
  • Child sexual abuse usually begins with a sex offender gaining both the parent’s and the child’s trust and friendship. Once a relationship has been established, the offender will begin to test the child’s knowledge and ability to protect themselves. Sexual jokes, back rubs, “accidental” sexual touching, and hugging, often done in the presence of the parent, are utilized to “test the waters”. If the offender isn’t given the message that these behaviors are inappropriate he/she will increase the amount and type of sexual exposure. To adjust the child to sexual activity, offenders commonly utilize casual or “accidental” exposure to pornography. This entire process is known as grooming.
  • Children who are well informed and empowered to act, and who have someone who will listen to them can, in many cases, prevent or stop sexual abuse. Offenders do not usually choose victims who are likely to resist or tell.
  • Sexual abuse can cause long-lasting problems well into adulthood. It is important to get your child into counseling after abuse has been disclosed. It is also often necessary and healthy for adult survivors of child sexual abuse to re-enter counseling at various periods of their life to assist in working through issues that resurface.
-MultiCare-

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

your name is Mary? if it is illegal to be a prostitute! (+24facts!)


1. 80% of the 50 million people around the world who are affected by violent conflicts, civil wars, disasters, and displacement are women and children

2. In 2004, 48.8% of the seats held in parliament in Rwanda were held by women. Contrast that to Cuba where 36% of the seats were held by women, and the USA, where 14.3 % of the seats were held by women. Saudi Arabia and the Solomon Islands are just two countries where there are no women in parliament (UNDP, Human Development Report 2004)

3. In 76 countries, less than half the eligible girls are enrolled in secondary school

4. Women own only 1% of the world’s land

5. Approximately three million women in the USA sport tattoos

6. A Saudi Arabian woman can get a divorce if her husband doesn’t give her coffee

7. 43% of Australian marriages end in divorce. of those who remarry, 65% of them will divorce again. By the time you try for marriage number 3, your chance of getting divorced is about 75%

8. The women of the Tiwi tribe in the South Pacific are married at birth

9. It is illegal to be a prostitute in Siena, Italy, if your name is Mary

10. In parts of Malaya, the women keep harems of men

11. The two highest IQ’s ever recorded (on a standard test) both belong to women

12. In Kenya where 38% of the farms are run by women, those women manage to harvest the same amount per hectare (2.47 acres) as men, despite men having greater access to loans, advice, fertilizers, hybrid seeds, insecticides. And when women were given the same level of help, they were found to be more efficient than men, and produced bigger harvests

13. Over half a million women die in childbirth every year in Africa and Asia

14. Nearly 1/2 of all Indonesian women have had their first child by the time they are 17

15. In the USA, unintended pregnancies account for almost half of all pregnancies

16. According to The World Health Org., 40 per cent of girls aged 17 or under in South Africa are reported to have been the victim of rape or attempted rape

17. In Sweden, 76% of mothers work, the highest percentage in the developed world

18. Australia, New Zealand and the US are among a handful of governments that do not require women to be paid some form of maternity leave. In countries as diverse as Russia, Colombia, Laos and Morocco, the government foots the entire bill for three to six months of maternity leave

19. By age 55, 95% of all U.S. women have married

20. In 2007 the world’s richest self-made woman was Ms Zhang Yin, a Chinese paper recycling entrepreneur

21. Only 5% of Hollywood feature films are directed by women

22. Today, Japan leads the world in condom use. Like cosmetics, they’re sold door to door, by women

23. Seventy percent of women would rather have chocolate than sex (Poll taken in a 1995 women’s magazine)

24. Australian women have sex on the first date more than women the same age in the USA and Canada

25. China is considered the next big marketing opportunity for the tobacco industry because only 3.8% of Chinese women smoke, compared with 63 % of adult males

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Interesting Facts about Boys!


• 17 weeks into a pregnancy, baby boys can have erections.
• When boys are 8 or 9 years old, their testicles begin to make sperm for practice.
• Males have several erections while they are asleep.
• The epididymis is a coiled tube that is 6 metres long (tube that stores sperm)
• Ejaculate is only one spoonful of fluid.
• Between the ages of twelve and fourteen the scrotum grows bigger and turns a darkish red and the
testicles start to produce testosterone, the male sex hormone, which makes the penis grow.
• Once puberty starts, testicles produce one million sperm per minute, 24 hours/day.
• Testicles are kept 4-5 degrees cooler than body temperature.
• The scrotum is made of special skin that is stretchable and shrinkable.
• Average size penis is about two inches long when it’s limp and six inches long when erect.
• Many boys develop breasts during puberty. They need to know that this is normal and that, when their
rib cage grows to adult size, those little breasts will spread out and not be so noticeable.
• It takes boys about three years after the onset of puberty to grow their testicles to adult size.
• It takes eight to ten years after the onset of puberty to grow their penises to adult size.
• When an erection occurs, a valve at the mouth of the bladder closes off so no urine can escape.
• Adam’s apple – growth of the larynx.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Interesting Facts about Girls !!


• The vagina is only as deep as your middle finger.
• The vagina keeps itself clean and healthy by constantly producing mucus which turns white when it’s
exposed to the air.Discharge also prevents the vagina from drying out. Discharge will begin to appear
some time before your first period begins.
• Females can ovulate before they have their period.
• Cramps and painful periods may be caused by low calcium and magnesium levels.
• The usual amount of blood lost during a period is between one and six tablespoons. (120 ml blood and
tissue)
• Menstrual fluid is mostly made up of water.
• A lot of girls’ hymen are broken through using a tampon or during active sports such as horse back
riding or cycling. Masturbation, too, can break the hymen. There is an opening in the hymen that lets
menstrual fluid flow out.
• The fallopian tubes are about 10 cm long. The egg travels from the ovary to the uterus along these
tubes.  
• Girls are born with about 300,000 eggs.
• Ovary is about the size of a walnut/olive. The uterus is about the size of a pear/clenched fist.
• The average woman has about 500 periods in her lifetime.
• If a tampon has absorbed as much as it can and has to be changed within 4 hours, try a tampon with a
higher absorbency. If a tampon still has lots of white patches showing when you take it out after about
four hours, try a tampon with lower absorbency. Change your tampon every 4-8 hours.
• PMS symptoms: breast tenderness, feeling swollen or bloated, change in appetite, headaches, acne or
skin rash, constipation or diarrhea, abdominal cramps, feeling sad/tired/irritable or clumsy.
• You get cramps when your uterus contracts (squeezes) slightly to help get rid of most of its lining.
• If you are taking the birth control pill these five drugs may interfere with its effectiveness:
antihistamines, alcohol, analgesics, antacids, antibiotics.
• A pregnancy test only works 2 weeks after a suspected conception.