Latter Half ....1

What is Life (expectancy)? ...... 1

Must read for some one, approaching/ crossed 40.

Simple Questions pop up all of sudden?

Well, we cannot just comprehend the origin, scene, rational for such range of these questions.

They begin simply with ... What is Life? What is its expectancy? What is its expectation?

·         About companions: Why should you live? Whom should you live with? Why should be that?

·         About the approach: What is the path chosen? Why should be that? Are we doing justice to the chose path? If not fully, what is the extent that you are able to justify the approach and the action there of? Whether the chosen path, approach, actions there of remain glued to each other? If not what is the extent of deviation?

·         About the origins:     Though you cannot fathom an answer quickly - Why were you born? Especially to this set of parents? Were you brought up justly? If so, are you doing justice to the role of a good son/ daughter? (If not the case, who all are getting the blame for the perceived problem).

·         About prevention: If you believe that your upbringing had defects, are you able to do a better job as a parent/ guardian?

·        About the Ratio: What is the ratio/ percentage of time ; each activity, consumed in your life till date? Personal Care (Including health), Education, Entertainment, Profession, Charity/ Service?

·         About Benefits: How many people are benefitting your existence on this date? How many are benefitted by your existence in this world?

·         About Betterment: How many souls were associated with you? Are they better off, with your association? Have you bettered your standards by that association? If not, what is preventing from getting better? Affliction/ Affection/ Bondage/ Pure Lethargy? Or lack of motivation/ Conviction??

·         About Family: How many siblings were you? What was the count of siblings your father/ mother had? Is the number dwindling? Was/ Is it better to reduce/ increase/ maintain the number? How many see you as the supporter? How many view yourself as a dependent? How far, the mutual coexistence helping? (Remember that Dependency/ Support should not be confined to finance alone)

·         About Dependency: What is the level of dependency in your life? For personal works? For food needs? For simple daily purchases/ procurement? For routine health maintenance? For medical emergency? For entertainment? For cleaning the surroundings? For finance?

·         About Priorities: What were the priorities in life? What are now? What are the future plans? (Please write this on a wall/ board/ diary, you see daily.)

·         About Life Expectancy: How long do we aspire to live? How do we justify that? Are we satisfied till date with the path and style followed? What is the action plan for the rest of life, if any? What are the signs of progress??

·         After this birth: (This is a hard question to think about) How do you want that to be shaped up?

Completion of 40 years, is an important juncture in life.  You have almost completed half the journey or much more than that, in the current circumstances. You have an option to waste or redeem a chance called life.

One introspection will be called for, as narrated by Brahma Valli (Upanishad of Yajurveda).

किमहं साधुनाकरवम्? किमहं पापमकरवम्?

This pondering by a bemused, bamboozled, bewildered soul, would continue till you attain the equilibrium called Sthita Prajnataa.

Better to get the answer right, for your conscience? If not, latter half could be drowned by unanswered questions and unattended quagmires called Uncertainty.

... to be continued

Fast Food - Deleterious Effects

Eating fast food thrice a week or more elevates the risk of asthma and eczema, while eating fruit with the same frequency provides a protective effect, says a study.

The findings of the research led by professor Innes Asher and Philippa Ellwood from the University of Auckland's department of paediatrics could have huge implications for public health.

Data was collected on more than 319,000 teenagers (13-14 years of age) from 107 centres in 51 countries, and more than 181,000 children (6-7 year-olds) from 64 centres in 31 countries, the respiratory journal Thorax reports.

All the participants were involved in the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC), a collaborative research project which has been led by Auckland for more than 20 years and now involves more than 100 countries and nearly two million children, making it the largest study of its kind, according to an Auckland statement.

The teenagers and their parents were quizzed about the prevalence of symptoms of asthma (wheeze), rhinoconjunctivitis (runny or blocked nose accompanied by itchy and watery eyes) and eczema, and about their weekly diet.

These included meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, pulses, cereals, bread and pasta, rice, butter, margarine, nuts, potatoes, milk, eggs, and fast food/burgers. 

Participants were asked to assign their consumption of each of these foods to one of the following categories: never; occasionally; once or twice a week; three or more times a week.

After taking account of factors likely to influence results, the analysis showed that fast food was the only food type to show the same associations across both age groups, prompting the authors to suggest that "such consistency adds some weight to the possible causality of the relationship".

Brain Power Diminishing?

Whatever we do not use, gets rusted, outdated and ultimately gets lost. This is applicable to appliances in our homes, parts of body.

Humans are losing intellectual and emotional capabilities because we no longer need intelligence to survive, a new study has claimed. Researchers from Stanford University claim the intricate web of genes which endows us with our brain power is particularly vulnerable to mutations - and these mutations are not being selected against our modern society because we no longer need intelligence to survive.

However, we shouldn't lose any sleep over our diminishing brain power - as by the time it becomes a real problem - technology will have found a solution making natural selection obsolete, the 'Daily mail' reported.

"The development of our intellectual abilities and the optimisation of thousands of intelligence genes probably occurred in relatively non-verbal, dispersed groups of peoples before our ancestors emerged from Africa," said Gerald Crabtree, lead author.

In this environment, intelligence was critical for survival, and there was likely to be immense selective pressure acting on the genes required for intellectual development, leading to a peak in human intelligence.

It was downhill from there on in as, from that point, it's likely that we began to slowly lose ground, researchers claim. According to researchers, with the development of agriculture, came urbanisation, which may have weakened the power of selection to weed out mutations leading to intellectual disabilities.

Based on calculations of the frequency with which deleterious mutations appear in the human genome and the assumption that 2,000 to 5,000 genes are required for intellectual ability, Crabtree estimates that within 3,000 years - about 120 generations - we have all sustained two or more mutations harmful to our intellectual or emotional stability.

Prevent and Avoid FLU

We all get affected from FLU (influenza in full). 

How to avoid the spread and prevent from getting contracted??

Let us learn from the advice of a senior physician ... David Scheiner

Milk Chocolate Consumption beneficial ... ?

Milk Products and Chocolate Consumption will boost brain power

Countries that consume large quantities of milk and its products also tend to have a lot of Nobel laureates among their populations, according to new research. A previous study published in the New England Journal of Medicine had reported a strong association between a nation's chocolate consumption and Nobel laureate prowess, speculating that the Flavonoid content of chocolate was behind the boost in brain power.This got the authors of the new research thinking.

As chocolate is often combined with milk, could it be the amount of milk/milk products consumed per head that fuels Nobel Prize success?In a paper published in journal Practical Neurology, they looked at the 2007 data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation on per capita milk consumption in 22 countries as well as the information provided by the author of the chocolate theory, and found a significant association.Sweden has the most Nobel laureates per 10 million of its population (33). 

Although, it hosts the Nobel committee, which some might argue could introduce an element of bias; it also consumes the most milk per head of the population, getting through 340 kg every year.And Switzerland, which knocks back 300 kg of the white stuff every year, has a Nobel haul of similar proportions (32).

At the other end of the scale, China has the lowest number of Nobel laureates in its population. But it also has the lowest milk consumption of the countries studied - at around 25 kg a year.There does seem to be a ceiling effect, however, noted the authors, with no discernible impact beyond an annual per capita consumption of 350 kg, as Finland's Nobel haul seems to attest.

"Is milk consumption therefore simply a reflection of a strong educational system, or do Nobel Prize winners celebrate by drinking it?" the authors queried.But there is a plausible biological explanation for the link: milk is rich in vitamin D, and this may boost brain power, the evidence suggested."So to improve your chances of winning Nobel prizes you should not only eat more chocolate but perhaps drink milk too: or strive for synergy with hot chocolate," they concluded.