WHY CORNER

Do you know why outdoor activity protects children from myopia?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 05:10:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness on: Do you know why outdoor activity protects children from myopia?

We all know that the more children are allowed to play outdoor sports, the better it is for their health in the growing days. But a recent study found that time spent outdoors even protects children against myopia.

The study has suggested that time spent in the open appears to protect children from near-sightedness, adding a new factor for a common condition that has long been blamed on extensive reading or genes.

Researchers at the University of Sydney, Australia, believe the intensity of outdoor light may be an important, but till now unrecognized, factor that influences the development of myopia, which usually begins during school years.

“Increasing outdoor activity may be a way to counter factors that might be contributing to myopia,” said Kathryn Rose, an ophthalmologist who led the study that involved more than 4,000 schoolchildren in Australia. It was published last week in the journal Ophthalmology.

The researchers found that 12-year-olds with the highest outdoor activity had the lowest rates of myopia, independent of the amount of reading or other near work they did. Myopia was most common in children with low levels of outdoor activity and high near work.

Long hours of indoor playtime or sports had no effect on myopia levels. “It appears to be the effect of intense light,” Rose said.

Myopic eyes are mildly elongated, front to back. The scientists believe that in response to light, the retina releases a chemical called dopamine and prevents eye elongation. The pupils also constrict in intense light, increasing the distance at which objects can be seen.

Near-sightedness has long been attributed to genetics. Children with parents who have myopia are at risk. “But we still can’t say whether it’s the effect of genes or whether the parents create an environment that promotes myopia,” Rose said.

“What has held out over the years is that children with strong scholastic achievements tend to have myopia. Our new study shows that children who do a lot of schoolwork and spend time outdoors appear protected.”

Independent studies in the US and Singapore appear to support these findings, she said.

The researchers have recommended more studies to try and establish the connection more firmly, and explore the mechanism of how exposure to daylight by means of outdoor activity, can prevent myopia.

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Do you know why women love men with self-deprecating humor?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 4 Aug 2008 06:37:00 -0700

Miss Finder –The Journo, tries to find answers for your general knowledge and awareness on: Do you know why women love men with self-deprecating humor?

Hey guys, you would simply love this, because I’m going to give you yet another clue to win your woman’s heart. Well, being a woman myself, I always like honest men with good sense of humor. And, I’m not alone – confirms the latest study! So, what's the most effective way of winning a woman's heart? Well, it is by running yourself down! Yes, you read it right – women, in general, just love men with self-deprecating humor!

I’m sure you guys would find it hard to digest, but guys, this is now a proven fact. Researchers have carried out the two-year study which revealed that taking the mickey out of one's self, works better than just clever jokes which might be seen as boastful and put women off.

Lead researcher Gil Greengross said, “Many studies show that a sense of humor is sexually attractive, especially to women. But we've found that self-deprecating humor is the most attractive of all. It is a risky form of humor because it can draw attention to one's real faults thereby diminishing the self-deprecator's status in the eyes of others. But based on the idea that verbal humor evolved to function as a fitness indicator, self-deprecating humor can be an especially reliable indicator, not only of general intelligence and verbal creativity, but also moral virtues such as humility.”

In fact, in the study into the role of humor in seduction, the researchers have found that the type of humor used by Hugh Grant in the film Notting Hill, in which he attempts to charm Julia Roberts with the poor contents of his fridge - works the best.

But beware guys, before taking the plunge because the London researchers have also warned that the technique should not be attempted by those who are already unpopular as it could make “low-status individuals” appear “more pathetic” than they did before.

The study is to be published in the upcoming edition of the Journal of Evolutionary Psychology.

So, it’s not the smartest of the men with the most intelligent sense of humor that attract this present age women, instead, men with self-deprecating humor, make their way into their hearts. Are you listening, guys?

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Do you know why banking online is unsafe?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:32:00 -0700

Techie, the whiz kid, guides you through technology on: Do you know why banking online is unsafe?

Banking online may prove out to be time-saving and hassle-free, but have you ever thought about how unsafe it is? Many of you may argue to differ! But, actually banking online is riskier than assumed! Even a recent study by University of Michigan researchers confirmed this. The researchers found design flaws in 76 percent of the 214 U.S. financial institution websites that include top banks.

In fact, many banks make their online customers take risks with their passwords and other sensitive account information, leaving them open to internet frauds. The result is that even the most security-conscious Web surfers could also find themselves as victims of identity theft because they have been made habituated to ignore potential clues about whether the banking site they are visiting is real or a fake site served up by hackers.

Also, there are many banks that redirect users to third-party sites, where pop-ups like ‘secure login’ boxes crop up on insecure Web pages.

Moreover, the banks improperly use Social Security numbers or e-mail addresses — which an outsider that is an efficient hacker can figure out as default ‘user names’.

All of these banking practices put online banking customers at serious risk.

But actually, there are no basic problems with the bank websites' coding that could allow hackers to break in. Instead, it’s the design flaws of the bank sites that guide online banking customers to bad surfing habits.

One of the biggest problems is that even if the login boxes on banks' pages are properly secured (meaning they send and receive encrypted data through a technology known as Secure Sockets Layer or in short, SSL), the full page itself, in some cases, is usually not protected with the same technology — so it becomes more difficult to tell whether the site is real or fake. [SSL-equipped sites show a padlock icon in the address bar which ensure the secured encryption technology and assure that the site's owner is legitimate.]

Again, when users are not notified that they are being taken to another site (when a bank uses a partner site for online bill payments) — then it becomes hard to determine if the new site is trustworthy, because the online registration certificate carries a different company's name.

So even the most tech savvy of the online banking customers could fall victim to ‘phishing’ scams because they are supposed to enter personal information into the site that is not their bank's — and has not been clearly certified by the bank.

Here, the hackers could easily take advantage by sending them fake pages, dressed up like the bank's website. That site would then redirect to another site under the hacker's control, and users might not question the redirection.

Thus it is nearly quite impossible for the online banking customers to play safe. However, whatever little they can do is not click on the links sent in e-mails. At least, this way they can reduce the risks to an extent, if not completely avoid the hacking possibilities when doing online banking transactions.

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Do you know why bees lose their buzz?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:29:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness on: Do you know why bees lose their buzz?

Like humans, the insect world also experiences problem in performing their routine jobs, when sick. Bumblebees lose a bit of their buzz when ill, and like humans, have a tougher time doing daily tasks until they recover, according to British researchers who reported their findings in the Royal Society's journal, Biology Letters, last week.

Evolutionary biologist Eamonn Mallon of the University of Leicester, who believes his findings can boost the efforts in saving dwindling bee colonies, said Honeybees with activated immune systems also have memory problems. He said that bees live on their memory. And, "If even a minor infection hurts its memory that is a major cost."

Like humans, bees can get sick and recover in days from infections after the immune system kicks into action to fight off viruses or parasites, Mallon said.

The researchers divided bees into two groups and injected half with a substance that stimulated the immune system. They then offered the bees the choice of blue and yellow flowers but only one color contained sugar water.

Eventually all the bees spent their time feeding from the correct flower but it took the stimulated bees 10 percent longer to reach this point, showing that an active immune response when ill affects memory, the researchers said.

In the past 50 years different kind of bee species and their population have become sparse day by day throughout the world and several are under threat. Scientists believe, apart from the farming methods that have deprived bumblebees of many traditional flowering plant food sources, diseases may help explain the decline.

Well, this can lead to serious concern about both the decline in wild bumblebee species and the effects of disease on the honeybee industry, of course if you care to give your ears!

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Do you know why delayed fatherhood can cause miscarriage?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:27:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness on: Do you know why delayed fatherhood can cause miscarriage?

Couples who want to start a family, better plan it early in your life because the more you delay, the stronger becomes the risk of a miscarriage, say the scientists. And this applies to both men and women. Contrary to the older belief that men remain fertile even at old age, this new research points out that delayed fatherhood can also cause miscarriage like late motherhood.

Delayed fatherhood for men is a cause of concern for a healthy pregnancy and the baby as well, doctors warn, after a recent research found that male fertility begins to decline when they reach their mid-30s. Doctors said men who wait until their 40s before starting a family face a greater chance of their partner having a miscarriage, because of the poorer quality of their sperm.

The researchers studied the records of more than 12,000 couples treated for infertility at the fertility clinic, Eylau Centre for Assisted Reproduction in Paris between January 2002 and December 2006; and separated out the influence of male and female ages on the couples' chances of having a baby. They found that women whose partners were 35 or older had more miscarriages than those who were with younger men, regardless of their own age. The men's ages also affected pregnancy rates, which were lower in the over-40s.

The study looked at pregnancies and miscarriages recorded for couples having IUI treatment at the clinic. It found the risk of miscarriage was on average 16.7% when men were aged 30-34. That rate rose to 19.5% when men were 35-39 and 33% in men aged 40 or over.

The findings are a concern, researchers say, because of the trend for men to delay fatherhood. Stéphanie Belloc, lead author of the study, said that until now, gynecologists only focused on maternal age, and the message was to get pregnant before the age of 35 or 38 because afterwards it would be difficult. But now the gynecologists must also focus on paternal age and give this information to the couple.

Yves Ménézo, an embryologist at the Eylau Centre for Assisted Reproduction, said older men become less fertile because genetic defects build up in their sperm. In younger men, the damage is minor and can be repaired inside the fertilized egg. But in older men the amount of DNA damage can overwhelm the body's natural repair mechanisms. "We think there's a critical threshold of DNA damage and above that, the damage can no longer be repaired. When that happens, genetic mistakes get through to the embryo and you get an increase in miscarriages," Ménézo said.

Jacques de Mouzon, a co-author at the French National Institute for Medical Research, said: "People say men are fertile into old age, 90 even. That may be true sometimes, but the product is different and there are more semen abnormalities as age advances. There is a decrease [in male fertility] and an increase in the spontaneous abortion rate after the age of 40 and especially after 45. It is necessary for men to try to have children before the ages of 40 to 45."

Previous research has pointed to a slight increase in birth defects in babies born to older men. A 2005 study of 70,000 couples by epidemiologist Jorn Olsen at the University of California, Los Angeles, found a fourfold rise in Down's syndrome among babies born to men aged 50 and older. They were also more likely to have limb deformities.

Dr Allan Pacey, a fertility expert at Sheffield University and secretary of the British Fertility Society, said: "There is growing evidence from a number of studies to show that men are not totally immune from reproductive ageing. "Previous studies of couples trying to conceive naturally or undergoing IVF have shown that men over the age of about 40 are less fertile than younger men. Moreover, if they do achieve a pregnancy their partners are more likely to miscarry. This study reinforces the message that men aren't excused from reproductive ageing."

Normally, men don't typically worry about reproductive ageing, but perhaps they should if the study is to be believed, as now, delayed fatherhood is also being linked to miscarriages, and birth deformities.

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Do you know why women are more attracted to men with stubble?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 06:58:00 -0700

Miss Finder –The Journo, tries to find answers for your general knowledge and awareness on: Do you know why women are more attracted to men with stubble?

All young men, do you know what it takes to get into a woman’s heart? Well, stubble is the way to win a woman’s heart, so says a study. Researchers found that women are more attracted to men with stubble than those with clean-shaven faces or full beards.

The findings of the experiment, carried out on British women aged 18 to 44, could explain the appeal of actors such as George Clooney and Brad Pitt who cultivate their unshaven look.

Women who participated in the research rated men with stubble as tough, mature, aggressive, dominant and masculine — and as the best romantic partners, either for a fling or a long-term relationship.

To justify this preference of women, the experts in human evolution have given a weird explanation, that facial hair may be a signal of aggression because it boosts the apparent size of the lower jaw, emphasizing the teeth as weapons. An unusual and funny reasoning, if you ask me — isn’t it?

Well, psychologists at Northumbria University, who actually carried out the new study, explain differently. They believe that stubbly men may offer women the best worlds — not too strongly masculine, but mature and with the potential to grow a full beard.

The researchers carried out the study using computer technology to alter pictures of 15 men’s faces so that they displayed different degrees of hairiness. Five levels were used — clean-shaven, light stubble, heavy stubble, light beard and full beard.

The pictures were shown to 76 women who were asked to rate them for masculinity, aggression, dominance, attractiveness, age, and social maturity.

Pictures of men with full beards were judged to be the most masculine, aggressive and socially mature. But they were rated the least attractive and the worst choice for a short-term relationship.

Men with light beards were considered the most dominant. Those with light stubble were rated the most attractive and as the ideal romantic partner for the short or long term. Clean-shaven men finished bottom for masculinity, dominance, aggression, and social maturity.

Well, gone are the days, when women used to like her man to be elegant with clean-shaven look. The 21^st century women are more attracted to the rough macho look instead, that signifies more masculinity in men with stubble. And if you ask me, I simply find stubbly men, hot — yes, that’s the word! So get ready guys — now you know the way to a woman’s heart!

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Do you know why Google’s Gmail is perfectly customizable?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:42:00 -0700

Techie, the whiz kid, guides you through technology on: Do you know why Google’s Gmail is perfectly customizable?

Google’s Gmail is one of the best free email available in today’s date. Although at times you may encounter some minor hiccups in the newer version, Gmail can be customized according to your needs. And Google is dedicatedly working for further improvements even when most of you are oblivious of its fantastic features. You can actually make Google’s Gmail perfectly customizable.

Now why do I say Gmail is perfectly customizable? Because Gmail has wonderful flexible features that can be exploited to suit different needs. Let’s check out some of these outstanding but little-known features to see how you can perfectly customize Google’s Gmail.

You can customize Gmail inbox with Labels: This is a great way to filter your incoming messages. Click on Settings and then on Filter. At the bottom you will find ‘Create a new Filter’. Say, you want all your ‘myspace’ messages to be organized outside your Inbox. So, under ‘From’ put in ‘myspace’ and go to the next step. Tick ‘Skip the Inbox (Archive it)’. Next, tick ‘Apply Label’ and create a new label called ‘myspace’. Finally, click on ‘Create Filter’ and apply it to all the previous emails you have received from ‘myspace’. The next time you open your inbox, you will find all your messages from ‘myspace’ under Labels.

‘Labels’ is a very useful way to quickly get to mails that you regularly receive from certain friends or networks. You can find the ‘Labels’ tab under Settings.

You can customize Gmail to manage multiple email accounts: Did you know you could use Gmail to send messages from your other email addresses? You do not have to leave Gmail and go to Yahoo mail, for instance, to send a message from there. You can do it from Gmail itself. This feature makes it easier to manage multiple accounts from the Gmail interface.

Click Settings along the top of any page, and open the ‘Accounts’ tab. Under ‘Send mail as’, click ‘Add another email address’. In the ‘Name’ field, enter your full name. In the ‘Email address’ field, enter the mail address you would like to send from.

When someone replies to your message using a custom ‘From:’ address, the reply will be delivered to the ‘From:’ address rather than your Gmail address. If you want replies to be delivered to Gmail or a third account, you will need to enter a ‘reply-to’ address. To do this, click ‘Specify a different reply-to address’ and enter the desired email address.

Click Next Step and then click Send Verification. Gmail will send a verification message to your other email address to confirm that you own it.

Open your other account and either click the link in the message Gmail sent you or enter the confirmation code in the Accounts section of your Gmail settings.

You can customize Gmail to setup POP3: To be able to receive your mails from Gmail in Outlook or Outlook Express, you will have to enable this by going to Settings and clicking on ‘Forwarding POP/IMAP’. Enable the relevant parts. You will find the Outlook and Outlook Express configuration instructions on this page too.

You can customize Gmail with new features from Lab: What is in the Lab? When you log in to your Gmail account, you can find a blue icon. Click on it. Among the new features introduced are:

A quick-link tool that lets you bookmark specific Gmail messages. It adds a box to the left column that gives you one-click access to anything that you have bookmarked in Gmail. You can also use it for saving searches and important messages.
You could always put a star on a mail, but now you can insert Superstars, by successive clicks of the mouse.
The ‘e-mail addict’ tool that lets you lock yourself out of your email account for 15 minutes.
A fixed-width font option view adds a dropdown menu that lets you view a message in a fixed width font.
Mouse gestures that let you take actions based on mouse movements. However, this works best in Windows. Don’t try it on a Mac.
A ‘Signature tweak’ and a ‘Quoted signature’. The first lets you put a signature above the quoted reply and the second puts quotations at random. However, you cannot use both at the same time
The option to upload your picture so that people can see who they are chatting with.

Now, do you know why I say Google’s Gmail is perfectly customizable? But as Gmail is still in its Beta, you may come across some ‘errors’ at times, if you are using the ‘New version’. When you face any problems like this, you can always switch over to ‘Older version’ (on the top right corner), which is flawless.

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Do you know why chimpanzees hug and kiss?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:27:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness on: Do you know why chimpanzees hug and kiss?

In humans, a nice hug and some sympathy can normally help a bit after we get pushed around. Now, it’s known that chimpanzees also use hugs and kisses the same way. And it works! Researchers studying human's closest genetic relatives, the chimpanzees, found that stress was reduced in chimpanzees who were victims of aggression if a third chimpanzee stepped in to offer consolation.

The findings were reported recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research was done by Dr. Orlaith N. Fraser of the Research Center in Evolutionary Anthropology and Paleoecology at Liverpool John Moores University in England; and colleagues. They studied chimpanzees at the Chester Zoo in England from January 2005 to September 2006, recording instances of aggression such as a bite, hit, rush, trample, chase or threat.

Dr. Fraser said that the research showed, "consolation usually took the form of a kiss or embrace", which is particularly interesting because this behavior is rarely seen other than after a conflict. "If a kiss was used, the consoler would press his or her open mouth against the recipient's body, usually on the top of the head or their back. An embrace consisted of the consoler wrapping one or both arms around the recipient."

The result was a reduction of stress behavior among the chimpanzees, such as scratching or self-grooming by the victim of aggression, reported Dr. Fraser and colleagues.

Dr. Frans de Waal of the Yerkes Primate Center at Emory University in Atlanta, who was not part of Fraser's research team, said, the study is important because it shows the relationship between consolation and stress reduction in the chimpanzees.

"This study removes doubt that consolation really does what the term suggests: provide relief to distressed parties after conflict. The evidence is compelling and makes it likely that consolation behavior is an expression of empathy," Dr. Waal said.

Dr. Waal suggested that this evidence of empathy in chimpanzees is "perhaps equivalent to what in human children is called 'sympathetic concern.'"

That behavior in children includes touching and hugging of distressed family members and "is in fact identical to that of apes, and so the comparison is not far-fetched," he said. But, while chimpanzees show this empathy, monkeys do not, he added.

Previous research on conflict among chimpanzees concentrated on cases where there were reconciliation between victim and aggressor, with little attention to intervention by a third party.

The latest research result shows that chimpanzees calm distressed recipients of aggression by consoling them with a friendly gesture. But, consolation is most likely to occur, that is by hugs and kisses, between chimpanzees who already have valuable relationships, concludes chief researcher Dr. Orlaith N. Fraser.

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Do you know why children are at risk from passive smoking?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:19:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness on why children are at risk from passive smoking:

Babies, infants and children on the whole don’t smoke or so do we think! But, the reality says something different. In fact, infants and children belonging to smoker parents are forced to smoke because of ignorance by the latter – yes, I’m talking about passive smoking! But do you know about the consequences?

Well, children who are exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke that is passive smoking, early in life are at greater risk of being hospitalized for infections than those brought up in a smoke-free environment, researchers from Hong Kong reported, recently.

The risk of being hospitalized was greatest among babies 6 months old and younger, but the increased risk persisted up until the children were 8 years old, Dr. M. K. Kwok of the University of Hong Kong and colleagues found in their research. Children who were premature or had low birth weight were particularly vulnerable.

The findings suggest that passive smoking exposure may not only be harmful to children's respiratory tracts, but to their immune systems as well, the researchers Kwok and colleagues noted in their report in the journal Tobacco Control.

Even if smoking is banned in public places, babies and children may still be exposed to passive smoking at home. So, the risks remain.

While the danger that passive smoking poses, to children's developing respiratory systems is well understood, less is known about its effects on overall infection risks. To investigate, the researchers looked at a group of 7,402 children born in 1997 who were followed up until age 8. At the study's outset, nearly 42% were exposed to passive smoking at home.

Children who had been within 3 meters (or about 9.8 feet) of a person smoking cigarettes at any point during their first 18 months of life were 14% more likely to be hospitalized for any type of infection by 8 years of age, the researchers found.

The greatest difference was seen among infants, with 1 in 3 exposed babies being hospitalized for an infection by the time they were one year old. Exposure during the first 3 months of life had the strongest effect.

Premature and low birth weight infants seemed to be more vulnerable to the effects of passive smoking and they were twice as likely to be hospitalized for an infection by age 8 than unexposed children.

The researchers concluded that passive smoking exposure in early infancy, instigates all infectious illnesses and not just respiratory and related infections. And again, this may even have a larger and more long-lasting impact in developmentally more vulnerable subgroups, such as premature or low birth weight infants.

So, if you fall among the ignorant smoker parent’s group, just do bother to keep your children away from passive smoking, at least from now on – that is of course, if you care! Gift your children a smoke-free home and not hospital!

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Do you know why women may have diminished libido?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 9 Jun 2008 05:51:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness on why women may have diminished libido:

Are you having problems in your sex life? Is your woman having diminished libido? Well, she may be suffering from pelvic floor disorder, which may impact women's sex life!

Incontinence and other disorders of the pelvic organs can take a toll on a woman's sex life, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that among 300 women aged 40 and above, those with symptoms of a pelvic floor disorder were more likely to have a diminished libido, pain during sex, or problems reaching orgasm.

Pelvic floor disorders refer to problems with a woman's pelvic organs - the uterus, bladder and rectum; and the muscles and connective tissue that support them. Among the most common of these are urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, where weakened muscles and supporting tissue allow one or more pelvic organs to drop down and protrude into the vagina.

Some symptoms of prolapse include pressure in the vagina, pain in the lower abdomen or lower back, and chronic constipation.

It has been estimated that one-third of U.S. women have at least one type of pelvic floor disorder, but studies have come to conflicting conclusions as to whether the conditions hinder women's sex lives.

The new findings, reported in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, suggest that many women with these disorders, do in fact, have problems with sexual function.

However, the risk of sexual dysfunction was not elevated among women who had mild prolapse that was not causing symptoms, said lead researcher Dr. Victoria Handa, an associate professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. This is important, she explained, because it indicates that women who have sexual complaints but no other potential symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse do not need to be evaluated for the disorder.

The findings are based on 301 patients recruited from gynecology offices affiliated with Johns Hopkins. Eighty women were seeking care for a pelvic floor disorder, including bladder control problems and pelvic organ prolapse. The rest of the women had other conditions or were getting a routine checkup. All of the women completed questionnaires on their overall health, pelvic symptoms and sexual function.

Overall, the researchers found, women with pelvic floor disorders were more likely to have symptoms of a diminished libido, pain during sex and infrequent orgasms - regardless of age and whether they had gone through menopause.

According to the findings of an earlier study by Dr. Handa and her colleagues, women's diminished libido and sexual function are often improved after having surgery to correct significant prolapse.

So, women with pelvic floor disorders should talk it out with their doctors about any sexual difficulties they have. That may only help, improve their diminished libido.

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Do you know why erectile dysfunction is an early sign of heart disease?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 2 Jun 2008 05:41:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness on why erectile dysfunction is an early sign of heart disease:

Erectile dysfunction and heart disease may seem to be two different problems, but recent findings from two studies of men with diabetes add to the evidence that erectile dysfunction can be a powerful early warning sign for serious heart disease.

A Hong Kong study of 2,306 men with diabetes but no signs of heart disease found that those with erectile dysfunction at the start were 58 percent more likely to have a heart attack or other major cardiac problems over the next four years than those with adequate sexual function.

And, Italian physicians who followed 291 men who had diabetes and early coronary heart disease for four years, reported similar numbers - those with erectile dysfunction were twice as likely as men without the problem to have major adverse events, including strokes.

There's a physical connection between male sexual failure and heart disease, involving the effect of diabetes on the nervous system and the blood vessels, said Dr. E. Scott Monrad, director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. "Neuropathy would interfere with the neurogenic responses feeding into proper erection," Monrad said. "And obstruction of blood flow into the arteries reduces the pressure needed to achieve erection."

It has been known that erectile dysfunction shares many risk factors with coronary heart disease, such as high blood pressure, smoking and diabetes, according to Dr. Robert A. Kloner, a professor of medicine at the University of Southern California. "What is new here is that erectile dysfunction remained a significant risk factor for developing heart disease after controlling for other cardiovascular risk factors," Kloner said in a statement.

"These reports add two things to what we already know," said Dr. R. Parker Ward, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, who led an earlier study linking erectile dysfunction with heart disease. "One is that they indicate the importance of erectile dysfunction in diabetic patients in terms of predicting future cardiovascular events. These studies suggest that the additional presence of erectile dysfunction places them at incrementally higher risk. Secondly, they show that even when considered in combination with traditional risk factors, erectile dysfunction offers incremental information about the risk of future cardiovascular events."

The researches indicate that acknowledgment of erectile dysfunction can prompt doctors to suggest more aggressive treatment at an early stage for risk factors such as high blood pressure and cholesterol that may lead to heart diseases.

So, if you are having erectile dysfunction, talk it out with your physicians, since this may prove to be a very sensitive marker for cardiovascular risk. Remember, an early and more sensitive measure may save you from future heart risks.

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Do you know why smokers quit smoking?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 26 May 2008 07:29:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness on why smokers quit smoking:

If you are a smoker, you may know that the urge to smoke is contagious, but did you know that quitting the puff is, too? Well, a team of researchers, recently, has found that contagious pattern with smoking cessation. They observed that a smoker is more likely to kick the habit of smoking if a spouse, friend, co-worker or sibling does so.

Moreover, the research showed that smokers tend to quit smoking in groups as those who don't stop puffing, increasingly find themselves pushed to the edge of their social circles.

"Your smoking behavior depends upon not just the smoking behavior of the people you know, but also the people who they know" and so on, said Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a medical sociologist at Harvard Medical School and lead author of the new report.

This latest study, by Christakis and his colleague James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, which appeared in New England Journal of Medicine and was funded by the National Institute on Aging, focused on people's smoking habits in the social network.

The findings back up previous studies showing that peer influence plays a key role in smoker's decision to stop smoking and provide evidence that the "buddy system" used by smoking cessation, weight loss and alcoholism programs to change addictive behavior, works.

The researchers examined the social lives of 12,067 people in the Framingham Heart Study, which has been tracking the health of residents of that Boston suburb from 1971 to 2003. They were able to reconstruct people's ties to one another since participants had to list contact information for their family, friends, co-workers and neighbors so researchers would not lose track of them over the years. The prevalence of smokers in the Framingham study over the years mirrored national trends.

Not surprisingly, the greatest influence was seen in close relationships. When a spouse stops smoking, the other partner is 67 percent less likely to smoke. Similarly, when a friend quits smoking, the chance of the other, continuing to smoke, drops by 36 percent. The odds are similar among co-workers and siblings, also.

People who were connected to others by up to three degrees of separation were also influenced. If one person quits smoking, the chance of a person two degrees apart, stopping the smoking habit is 29 percent. In a three-degree separation, the chances are 11 percent.

"One person in the group gets the motivation to quit and it starts to cascade and ripple through the group," said Fowler.

Jill Palmer, 28, was a one-pack-a-day smoker until she checked into a cessation program last year at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where she works. She took nicotine gum and worked with a counselor to set a “quit date”. Several days after Palmer went smoke-free, her husband also threw away his last pack. "It was spurred by my timing. He didn't want to be a smoker anymore," said Palmer, who credits her nonsmoking co-workers with persuading her to enroll in the cessation program.

The researchers found, by analyzing random samples of smoking clusters, that whole groups became nonsmokers over time because people who remained smokers found themselves moving to the fringe of their social circles.

So, that says it all, why smokers quit smoking? –They are actually forced to!

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Do you know why exercise may protect girls from future breast cancer?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 19 May 2008 07:13:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness on why exercise may protect girls from future breast cancer:

We are all aware of the fact that exercise is good for health. And middle-aged women have long been advised to get active to lower their risk of breast cancer after menopause. But, starting young, pays off, too. A new research shows, exercise during the teen years — starting as young as age 12 — can help protect girls from breast cancer when they're grown.

Dr. Graham Colditz of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the study's lead author, points out that the benefit of sustained physical activity from adolescence through the adult years, gets the maximum benefit.

Researchers tracked nearly 65,000 nurses, ages ranging from 24 to 42 who enrolled in a major health study. They answered detailed questionnaires about their physical activity dating back to age 12. Within six years of enrolling, 550 were diagnosed with breast cancer before menopause. A quarter of all breast cancer is diagnosed at these younger ages, when it's typically more aggressive.

Women who were physically active as teens and young adults were 23 percent less likely to develop premenopausal breast cancer than women who grew up sedentary, researchers reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The biggest impact was regular exercise from ages 12 to 22.

The women at lowest risk of breast cancer, reported doing 3 hours and 15 minutes of running or other vigorous activity a week — or, for the less athletic, 13 hours a week of walking. Typically, the teens reported more strenuous exercise while during adulthood, walking was most common.

But, why exercise may protect girls from future breast cancer? How exactly, would it help? A big point of exercise in middle age and beyond is to keep off the pounds. After menopause, fat tissue is a chief source of estrogen.

In youth, however, the theory is that physical activity itself lowers estrogen levels. Studies of teen athletes show that very intense exercise can delay onset of menstrual cycles and cause irregular periods.

While the study examined only premenopausal breast cancer, "it's certainly likely and possible" that the protection from youthful exercise will last long enough to affect more common postmenopausal breast cancer, too, Colditz added.

Dr. Alpa Patel, a cancer prevention specialist at the American Cancer Society, who praised the new research, said that though the moderate exercise reported in this study of breast cancer was nowhere near enough for those big changes, but it probably was enough to cause slight yet still helpful hormone changes.

Dr. Patel believes that even if someone was a bookworm as a teen, it's not too late, because other researches on the middle-age benefits of exercise show, mom should join her daughters for that bike ride or game of tennis or at least a daily walk around the block.

There are quite a few breast cancer risks that a woman can't change, like:

How early she starts menstruating
How late menopause hits
Family history of the disease

But, physical activity and body weight are such factors that women can control. Women who engage in physical activity not only during adolescence but also during adulthood, lower their risks of breast cancer, said Dr. Patel.

So, what are you still waiting for? If your young daughter is a bookworm or simply a TV buff, just simply get her off the couch.

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Do you know why global warming is the greatest threat to tropical species?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 12 May 2008 06:51:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness on why global warming is the greatest threat to tropical species:

Global warming is the ultimate concern in today’s world, if you care! Nearly every other day, news headlines are flooded with the topic of global warming, although most of us are probably ignorant about the consequences that global warming can actually cause to living beings.

The latest research on global warming says that while global warming is expected to be strongest at the poles, it may be an even greater threat to species living in the tropics.

Tropical species are accustomed to living in a small temperature range and thus may be unable to cope with changes of even a few degrees, according to an analysis in the last week’s edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The research was led by Tewksbury, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Washington and Curtis A. Deutsch, an assistant professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"There's a strong relationship between your physiology and the climate you live in. In the tropics many species appear to be living at or near their thermal optimum, a temperature that lets them thrive. But once temperature gets above the thermal optimum, fitness levels most likely decline quickly and there may not be much they can do about it," Joshua J. Tewksbury said in a statement.

Concern over global warming has largely focused on arctic species like the polar bear. But such animals may be accustomed to living in a wide range of temperatures, while there tends to be little change in the tropics, so there has been no need for species there to adapt.

"The direct effects of climate change on the organisms we studied appear to depend a lot more on the organisms' flexibility than on the amount of warming predicted for where they live," Tewksbury said. "The tropical species in our data were mostly thermal specialists, meaning that their current climate is nearly ideal and any temperature increases will spell trouble for them."

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Do you know why women can’t be medically fit when fat?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 5 May 2008 06:37:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness:

The popular belief that supports the 'fit but fat' theory, has recently got a setback. New research challenges the notion that you can be fat and medically fit at the same time, finding that being active can lower but not eliminate medical risks like heart attacks and other complications, faced by heavy women.

Previous research has gone back and forth on whether exercise or weight has a greater influence on heart disease risks.

The new study involving nearly 39,000 women helps sort out the combined effects of physical activity and body mass on women's chances of developing heart disease.

The study by Harvard-affiliated researchers appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Participants were women aged 54 on average who filled out a questionnaire at the study's start, detailing their height, weight and amount of weekly physical activity in the past year, including walking, jogging, bicycling and swimming. They were then tracked for about 11 years. Overall 948 women developed heart disease.

In the study, women were considered active if they followed recommended guidelines and got at least 30 minutes of moderate activity most days of the week, including brisk walking or jogging. Women who got less exercise than that were considered inactive.

Weight was evaluated by body mass index: A BMI between 25 and 29 is considered overweight, while obese is 30 and higher.

It was found that compared with normal-weight active women, the risk for developing heart disease was 54 percent higher in overweight active women and 87 percent higher in obese active women. By contrast, it was 88 percent higher in overweight inactive women; and 2.5 times greater in obese inactive women.

Women over 50, who eventually develop heart attacks or other cardiovascular problems, excess weight can raise those odds in many ways, by increasing blood pressure and risks for diabetes, and by worsening cholesterol. But exercise counteracts all three to some extent – it was observed.

"It is reassuring to see that physical activity really does make an impact," said lead author Dr. Amy Weinstein of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. However, she added, "If you're overweight or obese, you can't really get back to that lower risk entirely with just physical activity alone."

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Do you know why masturbation reduces the risk of cancer?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:53:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness:

People have always linked masturbation with adult topics of discussions as because the first thought that comes with the word masturbation, is sex and lust. The society is normally hesitant and feels awkward to discuss on the subject of masturbation, openly and freely. Well, that is fine! But do the elders know the benefit of masturbation? I bet, not! A recent research-study has discovered an amazing fact about masturbation that may change the outlook of the society on the whole.

Researchers have found out that men who masturbate regularly are at a reduced risk of developing prostate cancer.

Yes, you read it right! In the study, Australian researchers concluded that frequent masturbation may help men cut their risk of contracting prostate cancer. It is believed that carcinogens may build up in the prostate if men do not ejaculate regularly, reported BBC News.

The researchers surveyed more than 1,000 men who had developed prostate cancer, and 1,250 men who had not. They found that men who had ejaculated the most between the ages of 20 and 50 were the least likely to get cancer. Men who ejaculated more than five times each week were a third less likely to develop prostate cancer.

Sexual intercourse may not have the same effect because of the higher risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease, which could in turn raise the risk of cancer. "Had we been able to remove ejaculations associated with sexual intercourse, there should have been an even stronger protective effect of ejaculations", Graham Giles of the Cancer Council Victoria, who led the researchers, said in the article.

The prostate produces a fluid that is incorporated into ejaculation, which activates sperm and prevents them from sticking together. Studies on animals have shown that carcinogens like 3-methylchloranthrene can be harbored in the prostate. Frequent ejaculation encourages the cancer-inducing fluids to flush out.

So, do I still need to say, “Carry on men” or you have already got the message?

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Do you know why pollution keeps away bees from pollinating?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:51:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness:

Have you noticed lately that insects like bees and butterflies are gradually fading away in your neighborhoods? In a recent study, scientists found out why these wild populations of some pollinators, mainly bees, which need nectar for food, are fading in several areas of the world.

Researchers at the University of Virginia have shown that air pollution from power plants and automobiles is wiping out the fragrance of flowers and thus hampering the ability of bees and other pollinating insects to track scent trails to their source.

"The scent molecules produced by flowers in a less polluted environment, such as in the 1800s, could travel for roughly 1,000 to 1,200 meters; but in today's polluted environment downwind of major cites, they may travel only 200 to 300 meters," said Jose D. Fuentes, a professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia and a co-author of the study. "This makes it increasingly difficult for pollinators to locate the flowers," he added.

The result, potentially, is grave as bees and other pollinating insects like butterflies struggle to find sufficient food to keep up their populations and the flowering plants also do not get pollinated sufficiently to proliferate and diversify.

Other studies, as well as the actual experience of farmers, have shown that populations of bees, particularly bumblebees, and butterflies have declined greatly in recent years.

Researchers believe that air pollution, especially during the peak period of summer, may be a factor. To investigate this, they created a mathematical model of how the scents of flowers travel with the wind. They found the scent molecules, produced by flowers very volatile that quickly bond with pollutants such as ozone, hydroxyl and nitrate radicals, which destroy the aromas they produce.

This means that instead of traveling intact for long distances with the wind, the scents are chemically altered and the flowers, in a sense, no longer smell like flowers. This forces pollinators to search farther and longer and possibly to rely more on sight and less on smell.

From the research study, it became evident that air pollution destroys the aroma of flowers, by as much as 90 percent from periods before automobiles and heavy industries came into existence, And the more air pollution there is in a region, the greater the destruction of the flower scents, and the less pollinating insects like bees to balance the ecosystem.

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Do you know why English and Chinese languages affect dyslexia differently?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:27:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness:

Millions of children worldwide are affected by dyslexia, a language-based learning disability that can include problems in reading, spelling, writing and pronouncing words. According to the International Dyslexia Association, approximately 8 to 15 percent of the students worldwide (if not more) suffer from this problem.

But very recently an interesting finding, reported in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, opened up a new angle to look at the problem on the whole - Dyslexia affects different parts of children's brains depending on whether they are raised reading English or Chinese.

"This finding was very surprising to us. We had not ever thought that dyslexics' brains are different for children who read in English and Chinese," said lead author Li-Hai Tan, a professor of linguistics and brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Hong Kong. "Our finding yields neurobiological clues to the cause of dyslexia."

Reading an alphabetic language like English requires different skills than reading Chinese, which relies less on sound representation, using symbols to represent words.

Past studies have suggested that the brain may use different networks of neurons in different languages, but none has suggested a difference in the structural parts of the brain involved.

Tan's research group studied the brains of students raised reading Chinese, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. They then compared those findings with similar studies of the brains of students raised reading English.

The research speculates that different genes may be involved in dyslexia in Chinese and English readers. The new findings suggest that treating Chinese speakers with dyslexia may use working memory tasks and tests relating to sensor-motor skills, while current treatments of English dyslexia focus on letter-sound conversions and sound awareness.

In their paper, the researchers noted that imaging studies of the brains of dyslexic children using alphabetic languages like English have identified unusual function and structure in the left temporo-parietal areas, thought to be involved in letter-to-sound conversions in reading; left middle-superior temporal cortex, thought to be involved in speech sound analysis, and the left inferior temporo-occipital gyrus, which may function as a quick word-form recognition system. When they performed similar imaging studies on dyslexic Chinese youngsters, on the other hand, they found disruption in a different area, the left middle frontal gyrus region.

If anything, this new research finding will help treating this learning disability, more scientifically and the therapists may now seek different methods of assisting dyslexic children from different cultures.

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Do you know why men are dumb dates?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 7 Apr 2008 06:11:00 -0700

Miss Finder –The Journo, tries to find answers:

Men usually think they are the smarter sex. But when it comes to flirting they often prove out to be real dumb or boring dates, should I say? Just don’t overreact, all you men! A recent study claims that you just can’t read signals coming from the fairer sex. So, men those who consider flirting to be your traditional domain, think again!

To put it straight - men just don’t understand the attitude and advances of women. The flutter of eyelashes, the smile across the dance floor and the giggle after a lame joke - every woman knows the time-honored ways to get a man. But, men stand dumb to these subtle seduction techniques of the opposite sex, when dating. So, short of pouncing on the object of her lust, a woman’s non-verbal signals of sexual interest often prove sadly lost in the young male brain.

According to the study by the researchers at Indiana University, rather than going through life thinking “she wants me”, men often find themselves trying to navigate a foreign world of social signals without a phrasebook.

Kathy Lette, a best-selling author, says that the research is further evidence of women’s superiority. “Women are fluent in body language; men just have the gift of the ‘grab’. It is really confusing for women. The average bloke either doesn’t realize that we fancy them until we are giving birth to their children in the labor ward; or he presumes all women fancy him all the time. God was playing some kind of prank when he developed two sexes.” - Are you men listening?

Many men out there might get miffed, but the fact is that the male species fall flat on its face when it comes to gauging the female psyche in the initial dating period. “Men find it difficult to tell the difference between women who are being friendly and women who are interested in something more,” claims Coreen Farris, the lead researcher of the university’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

Well, doing my own survey, interviewing a few men in my reach, I found out that there are some men out there who admit that they tend to go haywire while reading signals from the fairer sex and just go off-track while trying to read the expressions or body language of their womenfolk.

To conclude on the topic from my findings, I would say, men usually tend to err in their judgment of feminine ways because they probably believe in clichés. Their minds are not properly attuned to understand the delicate signals given by modern women. And, they normally stick to their preconceived notions about women and read what they want to.

But the few witty and intelligent of the male species may find some solace in Coreen Ferris, who believes “these are average differences. Some men are very skilled in reading clues.”

So, the time hasn’t yet arrived for women to ditch the lipstick at once because not all flirting gets lost in translation after all!

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Do you know why Mac is better than a Windows PC?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:15:00 -0700

Techie, the whiz kid, guides you through technology:

Have you switched from your Windows PC to a Mac yet, or still a bit hesitant to the bargain? I assure you that you will have a glide, if you make the switch — be it an iMac, MacBook or even a Mac Mini.

I have nothing against Windows, especially if it is running XP. But if it is Vista — you will have to upgrade your memory, graphics card, hard disk and what not! Or you will have to buy a brand new expensive computer. Then, you have to decide on which version of Vista — Enterprise, Business, Home Basic, Home Premium or Ultimate. If you decide to have the best — Ultimate, to run all your games and applications, it’s going to be an expensive affair!

So what’s so compelling about a Mac? If you compare between the Mac’s Operating System OS 10.5.1 (also called Leopard), Windows XP, Windows Vista and Ubuntu, you will understand the difference. In fact, the all Leopard version 10.5.2 is even better.

Installation: I rank Mac as the leader, next is XP and at the bottom, come Vista and Ubuntu.

Interface: Leopard gets full points. It is easy to use. Just drag and drop. The best part is the way you can preview your documents, photos and movies without even opening the player.

Bundled Software: The Mac comes with all the software you need. There is iPhoto to keep your photos and iTunes for your music and movies. This is what you use to sync your iPod. GarageBand makes music, audition instruments and even makes your own band. iMovie edits your movies in minutes, not hours as in Windows. With iDVD, you can make slide shows and movies and write it to a DVD in a jiffy. All this comes bundled under a package called iLife. If you want something better than PowerPoint and Excel you should go in for iWork which has Keynote, the equivalent of PowerPoint. The effects you can put into your presentation are awesome and without even knowing Flash or Photoshop. If you have worked on Excel then Numbers on a Mac is surely going to floor you.

Drivers and Hardware: Just about everything works with a Mac, even the stuff you used with your old PC. A Mac has USB drivers for printers, external drives, digital cameras, input devices, iPod and more. It can see Bluetooth cell phones and headsets, as well as FireWire cameras. No rebooting is needed and is hassle-free. And, no need to hunt for drivers all over the web, painstakingly.

Home or Office Network: Networking is a breeze with Leopard version 10.5.2. Windows systems link up with Macs, seamlessly. With Screen sharing you can control any PC on the network and drag and drop files with ease.

Virus, spyware and malware: There are approximately 115,000 viruses and more than one is being written every day. A Mac is not plagued by never-ending security dialog boxes from Internet Security Suites or Vista. You can safely go about your work or play, without interruption.

So, what are you waiting for? It’s high time that you stop fiddling with the idea about making the switch from a Windows PC to a power-packed Mac. Just dive for it, with your eyes closed!

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Do you know why women are attracted to men with darker skin?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:14:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness:

Have you ever wondered why women are attracted to men with darker skin, while men prefer fair-complexioned females? Well, the attraction is driven by preferences based on moral assumptions, says a study.

Researchers from the University of Toronto, who conducted the study, said that women are predominantly attracted to men with darker skin because of latent thoughts about sex, mystery and danger. The findings suggested that, women would be naturally drawn to George Clooney over fellow actor and fairer-skinned, Daniel Craig.

On the other hand, men prefer fair-complexioned women. In fact, more men would instinctively prefer Keira Knightley than her Spanish counterpart Penelope Cruz. Researchers observed that lighter-skinned women in all races are seen as the ideal because of a subconscious association with innocence, purity, modesty, virginity, vulnerability and goodness.

The study was conducted on the basis of 2,000 advertising photographs of men and women, as models were considered the most attractive people of their races and genders.

“What the research shows is that our aesthetic preferences operate to reflect moral preferences. Within our cultures, we have a set of ideals about how women should look and behave. Lightness and darkness have particular meanings attached to them and we subconsciously relate those moral preferences to women and men” - said the study’s lead author Dr Shyon Baumann, a sociologist at the Toronto University.

According to the researchers, many judgments about beauty are made at a conscious level - such as about leg length, height, weight and the shape of the nose as well as the mouth. But, other physical attractiveness ideals, including complexion, are made at the subconscious level.

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Do you know why men should chuck smoking and drinking for offspring?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 06:01:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness:

We all learned people know that too much of smoking or drinking is injurious to our health as science has long been clear that smoking or heavy alcohol consumption causes cancer. But, a new study has found that babies could inherit genetic damage from a father who puffs or drinks heavily.

A team of international researchers has found that smoking or drinking alcohol can cause chemical changes in the semen in men and the alterations could be potentially inherited by their offspring and their future generations.

The researchers came to the conclusion after they analyzed the effects of smoking and heavy drinking — both toxic in nature — on a group of mice. They gave pregnant female mice daily injections of pesticide vinclozolin during the period when the sex of embryos is determined. Male offspring had abnormalities, including prostate and sperm development problems, and genetic changes that the researchers found were passed on through four generations when the males were mated with healthy females.

The researchers have also identified specific genes involved in the production of sperm that were permanently altered by the exposure to the pesticide. "In addition to the spermatogenic and prostate abnormalities, trans-generational effects on numerous disease states were observed including tumour development and kidney disease”, said Matthew Anway of the University of Idaho.

Anway said the doses used, far exceeded the levels that humans could expect to be exposed to, but the study was designed to demonstrate how toxins lead to inheritable abnormalities.

"Studies have shown significant associations between male toxic exposures and increased rates of infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth and childhood health problems to open our eyes and look at the evidence" and "when you harm the male reproductive system you can see multi-generational harm transmitted through the male gamete (sperm). This research has human implications as it suggests an avenue of harm and a model of trans-generational effects”, said co-researcher Dr Cynthia Daniels of the Rutgers University.

Before it becomes too late, one thought-provoking question to the men of these bad habits, who are yet father a child - you might justify the privilege of living your own life on your preferred terms, but do you sincerely have the right to snatch away a desired healthy life from your offspring?

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Do you know why it does not pain cutting our nails?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:58:00 -0700

Prof. Know Why answers:

In medical dictionary, nail is defined as “the horny epidermal derivative covering the dorsal aspect of the terminal phalanx of each finger and toe”. Well, in common man’s language, by fingernails and toenails, we understand hard scaley transparent structures that grow at the tip of our fingers and toes. Nails are part of our body. But the amazing thing is that it does not hurt when we cut them short, although it does not happen with other body parts (except hair).

A nail consists of:

Eponychium or cuticle - the fold of skin at the proximal end of the nail.
Paronychium - the fold of skin on the sides of the nail.
Hyponychium - the attachment between the skin of the finger or toe and the distal end of the nail.
Nail plate - the hard and translucent portion composed of keratin.
Nail bed - the adherent connective tissue that underlies the nail.
Lunula - the crescent shaped whitish area of the nail bed.
Nail fold - a fold of hard skin overlapping the base and sides of a fingernail or toenail.

But, why it does not pain, cutting our nails? In common usage the word nail usually refers to the nail plate only. Nails are made of a tough protein called keratin and are produced from living skin cells in the fingers and toes. But they do not have nerve endings and pain receptors like the rest of our body. So the pain sensation does not reach our brain and we do not feel pain when they are cut.

But we do feel pain when a nail is plucked, because there are sensory nerves underlying the nail bed and pressure on it is transmitted to these nerves, which results in the sensation of pain. So as long as a nail is attached to the nail bed, harming or cutting it, creates pain. Actually it is the nail bed that causes the pain and not the nail. Thus, when we cut the tip of a nail, where it is detached from the nail bed, we are not hurt.

Usually, nails grow at an average rate of 0.03 centimeters a day (3 cm every 100 days). Fingernails require 3 to 6 months to re-grow completely. Toenails require 12 to 18 months. Precise growth rate of an individual is dependent on age, season, exercise level, and hereditary factors.

And, contrary to popular belief, nails do not continue to grow after death. Actually, the skin shrinks - giving the illusion that the nails grow.

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Do you know why we need to sleep?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 3 Mar 2008 07:06:00 -0800

Prof. Know Why answers:

There are conflicting theories about the “purpose of sleep” – that is, why do we need to sleep? But the fact that we spend about eight hours asleep of every 24 hours, suggests that there are powerful evolutionary reasons for its continuing existence. Most theories center on the beneficial effects that sleep has on the brain. This is because; there is little evidence of any direct physiological effects on the body. Some scientists believe that sleep is a time for the immune system to regenerate, while one theory suggests that sleep evolved as a way of coping with limited supplies of food.

The dominant theory is that sleep is a time for the brain to store memory. The idea is that during sleep the brain, in effect, goes offline to file the events of the day. Another theory is that the brain is a complex organ that needs the downtime provided by sleep to recover from the stresses of waking hours. “While we are awake, the higher centers of the brain are working flat out,” says Professor Jim Horne, who runs the sleep laboratory at Loughborough University. “Even when you are lying down, the brain is in a state of quiet readiness, ready to respond. The only time it can rest is during sleep.”

Neuroscientists argue that at least one vital function of sleep is bound up with learning and memory. A cascade of new findings, in animals and humans, suggest that sleep plays a critical role in flagging and storing important memories, both intellectual and physical, and perhaps in seeing subtle connections that were invisible during waking.

In a study which was published last year, the participants were given an exercise to study pairs of Easter eggs on a computer screen and memorize a day later, how the computer has arranged them. The researchers at Harvard and McGill Universities, who conducted the study, reported that participants who slept after playing this game scored significantly higher on a retest than those who did not sleep. While asleep they apparently figured out what they didn’t while awake - the structure of the simple hierarchy that linked the pairs.

“We think what’s happening during sleep is that you open the aperture of memory and are able to see this bigger picture,” said the study’s senior author, Matthew Walker, a neuroscientist who is now at the University of California, Berkeley. He added that many such insights occur “only when you enter this wonder-world of sleep”.

Researchers, who champion these brain theories, point to the fact that behavior changes significantly with sleeplessness. A person who is lacking sleep takes more risks, has slower mental processes and reacts to events with more emotion and less logic. One theory is that brain circuitry needs to be repaired and maintained regularly and that when this maintenance work is not carried out during sleep, the workings go awry, with communications slowing down or being wrongly routed, if you don’t get enough sleep.

So, how much sleep do you need? Some researches suggest that while seven to eight hours a night is healthy, under five hours or more than eight is unhealthy, and linked to disorders such as heart disease, depression, diabetes and high blood pressure.

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Do you know why the Great Wall of China was built?

noreply@blogger.com (netbobz) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:39:00 -0800

Prof. Know Why answers:

The Great Wall of China is probably the China's best-known monument and one of its most popular tourist destinations. In 1987 it was designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and in 2007 it was elected one of the New 7 Wonders of the world.

Wonder! –It certainly is, stretching so many miles. But, contrary to the popular belief, the Great Wall of China is not a single, continuous structure. Rather, it consists of a network of walls with watch-towers at intervals that leave the frontier open in places. Estimates of the total length of the monument vary, depending on which sections are included and how they are measured. According to conservative estimates, the Great Wall of China is about 2,400 km long. While, other estimates cite a length of 6,400 km or even longer. From Hebei Province on the gulf of Bo Hai (a gulf of the Yellow Sea) in the east, the Great Wall of China stretches to Jiayuguan in Gansu Province in the west. The top of the walls have space, designed for soldiers to march. The Wall, at its most impressive site around Beijing, measures at least 7.6 m in height and up to 9 m in width, tapering from the base to the top. However, these dimensions vary greatly at other points.

But why was the Great Wall of China built? The natural answer that passes our mind at the first thought is protection or safe-guard from invaders and enemies. Well, that’s true! The Great Wall of China was the greatest manmade military defense structure in ancient China. The Great Wall was built mainly to protect China’s northern border from the Mongolians and other invaders.

But the Great Wall of China was not built at one time. It took several dynasties to complete the work. Based on the technology available at different dynasties, the Great Wall was usually built with local materials, mostly earth and stones. Natural terrain such as mountain ridges was often taken advantage of to form part of the wall.

There were two major periods of construction of the Great Wall, one during the Qin dynasty, and the second during the Ming dynasty. The construction first started more than 3000 years ago during the Warring States period, before China was unified. In 221 B.C., under the first emperor of China, Qin Shihuangdi, sections of earlier fortifications were joined together to form a united defense system against invasions from the north. It was called the “Chang Cheng” (long wall) of Shihuangdi. From then on, all successive Chinese dynasties had a hand in repairing, re-building, lengthening, modifying and preserving the Great Wall. The construction continued up to the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), when the Great Wall became the world's largest military structure. Most of the Great Wall that we see today was built in the Ming Dynasty.

There is a long-standing myth about the Great Wall of China that it is visible from outer space. But, actually, it is not visible with the naked eye from outer space. The astronauts have confirmed this. However, some of the wall is recognizable in special radar images, taken by satellites.

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