SCIENCE AND HEALTH FACTS

The human brain is one of the most complex organ in the body of an organism! It is the center of the nervous system where all instructions emanate from. We humans cannot comprehend the complexity of the human brain.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 It is made up of more than 100 billion nerves that communicate in trillions of connections called synapses. The brain is enclosed in the cranium and this protects it against injuries. It has specialized areas that work together and these include: - The outermost layer is the cortex. This coordinates thinking and voluntary movements. -The brain stem is between the spinal cord and the rest of the brain and it is responsible for basic functions like breathing and sleep.  -The bas

TREATMENT OF MALARIA Malaria can be treated with a variety of drugs. However, certain drugs may not be effective to some people. This may be due to their genetic make up and or due to the fact that the malaria parasite must have developed a resistance to that particular drug. Some of the drugs used for malaria treatment include: 1. Chloroquine based drugs 2. Fansidar 3. Artesunate and its derivatives 4. Lumefanthrine 5. Quinine combinations 6. Pyrimethamine and Sulphadoxine 7. Artemether combinations, etc These drugs come in a variety of names and presentations which is due to brand names by different manufacturers. Chloroquine is the drug choice in chemoprophylaxis and in the treatment for all forms of malaria except for infections due to resistant strains of P. falciparum and P. vivax. However, for P. vavax and P. ovale infectons, primaquine are needed to eradicate the persistent liver phase and thus prevent relapse. Most of the drugs are administered orally and orally, ch

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HOW TO AVOID MALARIA  Can malaria ever be avoided? The answer is YES! This is because one can take a number of steps to see to it that the malaria parasite is kept from breeding or transmission. The following steps may be helpful: 1. Avoid mosquitoes You can avoid mosquitoes. How is this possible? By sleeping where there are no mosquitoes or under an insecticide-treated mosquito net. For babies, they can also be made to sleep under insecticide-treated nets. 2. Cooperate with health workers Health workers from time to time, go around villages and towns trying to get information as well as getting blood samples for tests. You need to cooperate with them by telling them if anyone in the household has had fevers. 3. Get treatment If you or anyone ever suspects malaria, get treatment immediately from qualified medical personnel. Avoid self treatment or patronizing road-side drug vendors. 4. Destroy mosquito breeding grounds Mosquitoes breed in stagnant water like ponds, pi

DO YOU KNOW? Do you know that your brain can be made to be smart and it can also be made to be dull? Wow. This sounds like someone making up a story!! Well the truth is, you can actually make your brain to be super- active by following a few steps. To keep your brain sharp, you have to do the following: 1. Exercise yourself   By this, it means you have to engage in an exercise which is beneficial. It does not mean you should run 10 miles or do a task that will leave you exhausted at the end. Exercise here can be a brisk walking for  say, 30 minutes or any other exercise which you are capable of doing. Be mindful of your health status when exercising. 2. Protect your head This simply means to watch what you are doing and avoid hitting your head on any hard object. 3. Drink enough water When you are dehydrated, your brain also suffers. Drink a lot of water because if your brain does not have enough water, it cannot breath. 4.Get enough rest You need to get enough rest each

MALARIA Malaria is one of the most common sicknesses suffered by people. Why is this so? The answer is not far-fetched. It is because malaria itself starts normally from fever and fever is a symptom for a whole lot of sicknesses! Malaria is a mosquito-borne infection of the blood caused by a parasite called plasmodium and it causes chills and high fever. The mosquito sucks up the blood of an infected person and injects them into the blood of another person as it goes to suck the blood. The most common and important infections are from plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax. P. falciparum causes more severe symptoms because it destroys the red blood cells so quickly that they block the blood vessels in major organs, such as the kidney, etc. Symptoms A person infected with malaria goes through a series of signs (symptoms): 1. It begins with shivering or chills. 2. This is followed by high fever, often 40 o C and above. The person becomes weak and delirious. The fever can last for h

PROTECTING YOUR HEALTH Do you know that sitting too close to your computer monitor can have effects on your health? Well, it may interest you to know that sitting too close to your computer monitor exposes you to unhealthy doses of electromagnetic radiation which is harmful to your health! This exposure can trigger behavioral changes, memory loss and diseases like cancer. How can you protect yourself then? There are several ways to protect yourself and these include using a laptop computer with a liquid crystal display (L.C.D.) screen. You can also use a radiation filter on your computer screen or monitor. Another way of protecting yourself is to sit or position yourself at least 75 centimeters from the front and 100 centimeters from the back and sides of your monitor. Another computer accessory that is harmful is the laser printer and photocopier. These emit ozone - a gas that can cause eye, nose and throat irritation and headaches and impair your ability concentrate. Hence, y

THE UNIQUENESS OF THE SUN 2 The sun has a bright surface called the photosphere - photo, meaning light.   This is the lowest layer of the sun's atmosphere that emits the light we see. It is about 500 km in thickness, although most of the light comes from its lowest third. This layer or surface has a temperature of 6,000 degrees Celsius. It appears darker near the edge of the sun's disk due to greater absorption of light by the sun's atmosphere - a process known as limb darkening. Understand that the sun also has its atmosphere, just like the earth. Other layers (atmospheres) of the sun include the chromosphere and the corona, beyond which we have the solar wind. They are the outer layers. The chromosphere is hotter with a temperature up to 19,725 degrees Celsius, and is apparently made up entirely of spiky structures known as spicules typically some 1,000 km across and up to 10,000 km. The corona is above  and sheds most of its light as ultraviolet rays. At the

LIFE PROLONGING SUPPLEMENTS There is no person on earth who does not want to live long, though only few will agree to that! You can help yourself live long with the right diet. Top experts in health are of this opinion and I think some, if not all of us will agree to that. Certain food supplements in addition to a well-balanced diet can help prevent age-related diseases like diabetes (type 2), stroke, cancer, Alzheimer's disease.   1. Vitamin C: This vitamin has a lot to offer when it comes to our health. It is an antioxidant that has the ability to fight common cold. As a matter of fact, vitamin C is an antioxidant defense capabilities. Its regular intake can lead to flexibility of the arteries and this helps dilation of arteries which subsequently enables regular blood flow. Recent studies have shown that vitamin C may help prevent cancer in men and prevent against stroke. Good sources of vitamin C include fruits like paw paw, oranges, lemons, pineapples, etc. 2. Vitamin B

PROTECT YOUR HEALTH Protecting one's health is a task which requires continuous practice and utmost care. It goes beyond merely saying it. We need to protect our health in so many ways and maintaining good hygiene is one of them. We practice good hygiene by keeping ourselves clean. This involves washing our hands because this is particularly important to our health and that of others. It helps in preventing the spread of infections or diseases. Research has it that about 80% of infections are spread or passed through unclean hands.  So, wash your hands regularly especially before eating, preparing or serving food. Hand washing should also be done before dressing or touching a wound and also after touching an animal, using the toilet, sneezing, coughing or blowing the nose as well as changing a baby's diaper. Washing hands with soap and water proves more effective than using sanitizers. We can wash our hands by wetting them in clean running water and soap, rubbing them toget

IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH Most often, people regard enjoying good health as a matter of chance or something they cannot control. This notion holds a lot of people back from improving their health as well as leading a more productive life. Also, a lot of us have failed to realize the link between our habits and our health. Whether rich or poor, our habits most often than not, has an influence on our health! In the real sense, each and everyone of us can take necessary steps to improve our health and that of our friends and or family.  A. EAT WISELY As a first step, we need to be mindful of what we eat. This simply means what goes into our mouth. The need to eat good food cannot be over emphasized. One should concentrate on eating fresh foods rather than modern processed foods where the natural ingredients that were supposed to be beneficial to the body has been depleted. When cooking, we should try steaming, baking or broiling food instead of frying. The amount of salt should be cut down