Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

Transposition of the Great Arteries

What is it?
In d-transposition of the great arteries (also known as dextro-transposition of the great arteries), the most common type of transposition, the aorta and pulmonary artery are reversed. The aorta receives the oxygen-poor blood from the right ventricle, but it`s carried back to the body without receiving more oxygen. Likewise, the pulmonary artery receives the oxygen-rich blood from the left ventricle but carries it back to the lungs.

What causes it?

Countries move toward more sustainable ways to roll back malaria

| GENEVA/NAIROBI/WASHINGTON DC -- The United Nations Environment Programme and the World Health Organization, in partnership with the Global Environment Facility, today announced a rejuvenated international effort to combat malaria with an incremental reduction of reliance on the synthetic pesticide DDT.

Ten projects, all part of the global programme Demonstrating and Scaling-up of sustainable Alternatives to DDT in Vector Management , involving some 40 countries in Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and Central Asia are set to test non-chemical methods ranging from eliminating potential mosquito breeding sites and securing homes with mesh screens to deploying mosquito-repellent trees and fish that eat mosquito larvae.

To Samadi ,

Equipment:
Medium Sized Sauce pot
Pestle & Mortar

Ingredients
500g Onions, chopped
4 Cloves of Garlic, crushed
3 Green Chillies, deseeded & finely chopped
40g Fresh Ginger, peeled & finely diced

300g Tofu

6 Cardamom Pods
3cm Piece of Cinnamon
6 Cloves
1 tsp Coriander Seeds
1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/2 tsp Fennel Seeds
1/2 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Turmeric

Juice of 1 Large Lemon
100g Creamed Coconut

For better governance and Democracy ?

This protest message decries the killing of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands and includes a series of photographs that graphically depict this bloody slaughter. The message calls on Denmark, of which the Faroe Islands is a part, to stop the slaughter and urges recipients to pass on the message in order to raise awareness of the issue.

The claims in the email are true. Such whale hunts do indeed occur in the Faroe Islands, usually during the summer months. The Faroe Islands are made up of a number of small inhabited islands. Every year, hundreds of Long-finned Pilot Whales are killed in such slaughters. The hunts are non-commercial and anyone in the island communities can join in at will. When a school of whales is spotted close to shore, messengers are dispatched to inform local inhabitants of the particular island involved. A formation of small boats is then used to drive the whales ashore, where they beach themselves in the shallow water and are killed by waiting islanders. A special whaling knife is used to sever the animal`s spine near the dorsal fin. Information on a Faroe Islands website about whaling in the province describes the killing process:

Overview



Advertising Disclaimer
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), also called benign prostatic hypertrophy, is not simply a case of too many prostate cells. Prostate growth involves hormones, occurs in different types of tissue (e.g., muscular, glandular), and affects men differently. As a result of these differences, treatment varies in each case. There is no cure for BPH and once prostate growth starts, it often continues, unless medical therapy is started.

The prostate grows in two different ways. In one type of growth, cells multiply around the urethra and squeeze it, much like you can squeeze a straw. The second type of growth is middle-lobe prostate growth in which cells grow into the urethra and the bladder outlet area. This type of prostate growth typically requires surgery.

Dysmenorrhea
What is dysmenorrhea?
Dysmenorrhea is a menstrual condition characterized by severe and frequent menstrual cramps and pain associated with menstruation. Dysmenorrhea may be classified as primary or secondary.

* primary dysmenorrhea - from the beginning and usually lifelong severe and frequent menstrual cramping caused by severe and abnormal uterine contractions.

* secondary dysmenorrhea - due to some physical cause and usually of later onset painful menstrual periods caused by another medical condition present in the body (i.e., pelvic inflammatory disease, endometriosis).

What is a headache?

Headache is defined as pain in the head or upper neck. It is one of the most common locations of pain in the body and has many causes.

How are headaches classified?

Headaches have numerous causes, and in 2007 the International Headache Society agreed upon an updated classification system for headache. Because so many people suffer from headaches, and because treatment is sometimes difficult, the new classification system allows health care practitioners to understand a specific diagnosis more completely to provide better and more effective treatment regimens.

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy occurs when the heart muscle thickens abnormally. The thickening generally happens in the left ventricle, the heart`s main pumping chamber. This type of cardiomyopathy can affect people of any age.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can be obstructive or nonobstructive. In the obstructive type, the septum (the wall that divides the left and right sides of the heart) thickens and bulges into the left ventricle. This bulge blocks the flow of blood out of the ventricle. The ventricle must work much harder to pump blood past the blockage and out to the body. Symptoms can include chest pain, dizziness, shortness of breath, or fainting.

Introduction
Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle. The heart loses its ability to pump blood and, in some instances, heart rhythm is disturbed, leading to irregular heartbeats, or arrhythmias. Usually, the exact cause of the muscle damage is never found. Cardiomyopathy differs from many other heart disorders in a couple of ways. First, the types not related to coronary atherosclerosis are fairly uncommon. Cardiomyopathy affects about 50,000 Americans. However, the condition is a leading reason for heart transplantation.

Definition of Testicular feminization syndrome

Testicular feminization syndrome: Now more appropriately called the complete androgen insensitivity syndrome, this is a genetic disorder that makes XY fetuses insensitive (unresponsive) to androgens (male hormones). Instead, they are born looking externally like normal girls. Internally, there is a short blind-pouch vagina and no uterus, fallopian tubes or ovaries. There are testes in the abdomen or the inguinal canal.

The complete androgen insensitivity syndrome is usually detected at puberty when a girl should but does not begin to menstruate. Many of the girls with the syndrome have no pubic or axillary (armpit) hair. They have luxuriant scalp hair without temporal (male-pattern) balding. They are sterile and cannot bear children. They are at high risk for osteoporosis and so should take estrogen replacement therapy.

05 June 2009

Bonn, Germany: The theme of this year`s World Environment Day is `Your planet needs you! Unite to combat climate change`. This theme reflects the spirit of volunteerism contributing to a common goal out of free will and solidarity with our planet and our fellow human beings and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme fully subscribes to it.

Climate change impacts us all, but will hit the most vulnerable the hardest. Ensuring environmental sustainability and protecting the most vulnerable will require the ingenuity and solidarity of every citizen. But through voluntary action, all of us can take responsibility for this big challenge. Taken together, all our small actions can lead to big results.

Women are achieving better grades at university, study finds
Joanna Sugden

Women are outperforming men at university according to research by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI).

The study shows that female students of all ages and social and ethnic groups now outstrip male undergraduates in almost every subject including law and medicine. They are also more likely to go to leading universities and achieve better grades.

More than 49 per cent of women now go on to higher education compared to 37.8 per cent of men who study for degrees.

WHO report calls for new approach to save lives of mothers and children
10.6 million children die before age five, and half a million women die in childbirth
| GENEVA/NEW DELHI -- Hundreds of millions of women and children have no access to potentially life-saving care with often fatal results, the World Health Organization (WHO) says in a report published today. The report says the resulting death toll could be sharply reduced through wider use of key interventions and a `continuum of care` approach for mother and child that begins before pregnancy and extends through childbirth and into the baby`s childhood.

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (`Progeria`, or `HGPS`) is a rare, fatal genetic condition characterized by an appearance of accelerated aging in children. Its name is derived from the Greek and means `prematurely old.` While there are different forms of Progeria*, the classic type is Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome, which was named after the doctors who first described it in England in 1886 by Dr. Jonathan Hutchinson and in 1897 by Dr. Hastings Gilford.

HGPS is caused by a mutation in the gene called LMNA (pronounced, lamin - a). The LMNA gene produces the Lamin A protein, which is the structural scaffolding that holds the nucleus of a cell together. Researchers now believe that the defective Lamin A protein makes the nucleus unstable. That cellular instability appears to lead to the process of premature aging in Progeria.