HUMAN DISEASES (Part 5 of 7)

Non-infectious Nerve Disorders

Neuritis, disease of the nerves causing pain, abnormal circulation, and reflex action; differs from neuralgia because of inflammation; treatment includes heat, proper nutrition, physical therapy, and medication.

Neuritis is the degeneration of one or more nerves. It is often marked by a pins-and-needles feeling, a burning sensation, or a stabbing pain. Neuritis can result from infection, especially of the facial nerve, hard body blows, or bone fracture causing nerve injury.

Everyday hard grasping of tools and activities requiring cramped body positions can also trigger neuritis.

Neuralgia, severe, stabbing pain along course of nerve; not associated with nerve damage; attacks often triggered by infection, malnutrition, chilling, or fatigue; sometimes is symptom of organic disease; trigeminal neuralgia, popularly called tic douloureux, affects main sensory nerve of face and is treated by local anaesthetic or cutting of nerve roots.

Neuralgia is often confused with neuritis but is a distinct problem. Neuralgia is characterized by sudden, sharp bursts of pain along any of the sensory nerves near the body surface.

Sciatica is severe leg pain resulting from an inflamed sciatic nerve or its branches. A ruptured, or "slipped," disk one of the pads between the vertebra of the spine often causes sciatica.

Tics are usually habitual muscle twitches in the face or neck that seem to serve no purpose. A tic is generally intensified by an emotional situation or by fatigue.

Vertigo, a severe form of dizziness resulting from the inability of the body to adapt to abrupt or unexpected motion.

Vertigo is a dizziness or disorientation that occurs when something is wrong with the body's balancing system, part of which is located in the inner ear. The sufferer feels as though he is falling through space.

Parkinson's disease (or paralysis agitans, or Parkinsonism), chronic disorder of nervous system, manifest by tremors and muscle weakness, accompanied by changes in pigmented cells of brain stem; strikes in middle or late life; treated with drugs and sometimes by brain surgery; named for James Parkinson (1755-1824), British physician who identified it in 1817.

Parkinsonism, or Parkinson's disease, is thought to stem from changes in brain chemistry. Victims of the disorder walk with a slow, shuffling gait, have a wide-eyed, unblinking facial look, and experience muscle tremors, or shakes. They also have trouble speaking and swallowing. Parkinsonism can be treated with a drug called levodopa, or L-dopa.

Multiple sclerosis (MS), chronic disease of the nervous system; cause unknown; leads to disturbances of vision, speech, coordination, and bodily functions.

Multiple sclerosis is a slow-developing disease that eventually involves the entire brain and spinal cord. Its cause is not yet known, but the disease eats away the fatty myelin sheath around many nerves. As a result, it interferes with proper nerve-signal transmission to muscles and organs. Muscle control, vision, mental abilities, and many other body functions are eventually impaired. Physical therapy is often required because the limbs of victims become weak and they are easily tired doing ordinary tasks.

Stroke

Stroke (or cardiovascular accident), common term for cerebral thrombosis (a blood clot that interrupts the blood supply of the brain) and for cerebral haemorrhage (a rupture in a blood vessel that allows blood to escape into the brain tissue); both can cause brain damage with resulting paralysis or death.

A stroke, or cardiovascular accident, occurs when blood can no longer nourish brain tissue and key nerve cells are thereby destroyed. A blood clot in one of the brain's blood vessels, haemorrhage from a broken blood vessel there, or hardening of a brain artery can cause a stroke.

Depending upon the brain area affected, a stroke can culminate in loss of limb use particularly the arms speech difficulties, and partial blindness. In time, victims of relatively non severe strokes often regain most or all of the impaired body functions. In more severe cases, extensive physical or speech therapy is needed for partial rehabilitation of the stroke victim.

Epilepsy

Epilepsy, disease of the nervous system, frequently from subtle brain damage, less often from injury; characterized by sudden, recurrent seizures with loss of consciousness and severe convulsions (grand mal), or in mild form by brief blackouts and fainting spells (petit mal).

Epilepsy is a brain disorder in which nerve signals "fire" abnormally and cause convulsive seizures, or alternating muscle contractions and relaxations. Scar tissue in the brain can provoke some seizures. In many cases, however, doctors cannot pinpoint the reason for an epileptic attack. Someone might have a seizure once and never again. If someone has more than one seizure, the second and any that may follow are officially called epileptic attacks.

Doctors generally recognize several types of epilepsy, including grand mal, petit mal, and infantile spasms. A grand mal attack is usually marked by rigidly contracted muscles, loss of consciousness, and collapse. The attack may last from two to five minutes, followed by deep sleep.

A petit mal attack usually comes as a lapse of awareness for less than a minute. The victim then resumes whatever activity he was engaged in before the attack without realizing anything out of the ordinary took place. Infants under the age of three sometimes have infantile spasms during which sharp muscle contractions force the body to jackknife for a few seconds. Anti convulsive drugs are used to treat and prevent all such attacks.

METABOLIC AND DEFICIENCY DISEASES

Disease can sometimes follow from alterations in normal body metabolism caused by deficiencies in diet, hormones, and vitamins. It can also stem from malfunctions in the body's immunity system.

Malnutrition and Vitamin Deficiencies

Malnutrition can be either over nutrition or under nutrition Obesity resulting from overeating can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. Under eating can stifle the development of body and mind.

Marasmus is the condition that results when a child's diet lacks both total calories and protein. A child with marasmus is always hungry and wastes away. Kwashiorkor is a protein deficiency that saps a child's strength even though his diet contains enough calories. A child with kwashiorkor lacks an appetite and is sullen. Both conditions occur in underdeveloped nations.

Vitamin deficiencies are uncommon among people in the world's richer nations, except in the cases of pregnant women and those who breast-feed their babies. Since ample vitamins are in the general diet in those lands, there is no medical justification for daily doses of multivitamins to stimulate vigour or prevent colds or infections.

Iron, silver-grey, hard, brittle, fusible element that is the cheapest and most used of all metals. In pure form it is very reactive chemically and rapidly corrodes in moist air and warm temperatures. Iron is often alloyed with other metals to make it tough yet malleable. Pig iron is used to produce steel. The use of iron is prehistoric

Properties of Iron

Symbol Fe

Atomic number 26

Atomic weight 55.8

Group in periodic table VIII

Boiling point 4,982 F (2,750 C)

Melting point 2,795 F (1,535 C)

Specific gravity 7.874

Mineral deficiencies can also produce body disorders. Iron is indispensable for the prevention of anaemia Magnesium is a cofactor in many enzymes. Deficiency of it causes dizziness, weakness, and convulsions. Iodine is a major part of the thyroid hormones.

Without it a person can develop a goitre Fluorine is not considered essential, but it plays a great part in minimizing dental caries, or cavities. Trace elements, such as chromium, cobalt, and manganese are also needed for a healthy body.

Hormone Deficiencies

The body's endocrine system produces a variety of hormones. When the endocrine glands are not working properly, certain disease processes can begin.

Abnormal output of growth hormone from the pituitary gland early in life can result in one of two disorders dwarfism if there is too little or gigantism if there is too much. Abnormal output of certain hormones from the adrenal glands causes irregular regulation of the body's water balance and disturbs the normal retention and excretion of salts. Malfunction in sex hormone production can stem sexual activity, as well as produce excessive hair growth and distribution. Malfunction of the thyroid gland affects the rate at which food is burned for energy, causing the metabolic rate to run too fast or too slow for everyday needs. When part of the pancreas breaks down, diabetes develops.

1921: Insulin found to treat diabetes. In 1921, at the University of Toronto, Frederick Grant Banting and Charles H. Best conducted experiments that successfully isolated the hormone insulin. This hormone is used to control the disease diabetes. The name of the hormone is derived from the Latin word for island, insula, because the hormone is produced in the part of the pancreas called the Islets of Langerhans.

Although it had been known for some time that the pancreas made the enzymes responsible for digesting proteins, it had not been possible to isolate insulin. Insulin is a protein and is digested by the enzymes. Banting and Best used animal experiments to extract insulin and demonstrated that it stopped symptoms of diabetes. Commercial production of insulin uses pigs, oxen, and sheep as sources for the hormone.

Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus, a fairly common disease, is caused by lack of biologically active insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas. Without insulin the body cannot use sugars and starches in the food. It must then rely upon its stored fat for energy. This storehouse is soon exhausted, however, because without insulin the body can no longer make and store fat. In addition, protein is no longer manufactured and the muscle mass of the body dwindles. The effect of growth hormone is reduced too. All this adds up to a rise in the level of blood sugar and increased urination, which, in turn, dehydrates the body and makes the diabetic thirsty. The sufferer loses weight, experiences muscle cramps, and has an itchy skin. If diabetes is not treated, sodium and potassium are lost in the urine and the products of fat breakdown, called ketones, build up in dangerous proportions in the blood.

The blood also becomes increasingly acid and body dehydration reaches a dangerous level.

Finally, the untreated diabetic goes into a potentially fatal coma.

Diabetes is treated by limiting the patient's diet and injecting him with insulin derived from cattle or hog pancreases. This treatment was pioneered by the Canadian physicians Frederick G. Banting and Charles H. Best in the 1920s.

Recently, an oral medication has proved capable of lowering the blood sugar of diabetics who develop a mild form of the disease after they reach adulthood. These tablets do not contain insulin but are helpful as long as the pancreas of the diabetic still produces some insulin.

Long-term diabetes is often associated with blood vessel degeneration. When this complication occurs, the diabetic can suffer heart disease, stroke, eye haemorrhage and blindness, kidney failure, gangrene of the feet, and serious neuritis.

The normal blood-sugar level ranges between 60 and 100 milligrams per 100 cubic centimetres of blood. It rises slightly higher after a meal. When the level falls below normal, a person has hypoglycaemia and may develop headache, irritability, sweatiness, and other symptoms. Later, the patient has trouble keeping balance, speaks incoherently, and may even become violent or act listless and withdrawn. Finally, the hypoglycaemic person falls into a coma and may have convulsions.

A diabetic may experience hypoglycaemia when he gets an excessive dose of insulin or oral medication. Hypoglycaemia can also result from diseases of the adrenal, pituitary, and pancreas glands, as well as from starvation, liver damage, and alcohol intake. Moreover, some otherwise healthy persons, especially those under too much stress, can suffer mild hypoglycaemia In an emergency, a health care provider may administer sugar, either orally or by intravenous injection. Glucagon, a pancreatic hormone that raises the blood-sugar level, can also be injected. Long-range treatment involves correcting the disorder engendering the low blood sugar. People suffering from hypoglycaemia often respond very favourably to a change in diet that balances sugar and other nutrients.

HUMAN DISEASES (Part 6 of 7)

Other Metabolic Diseases

Gout is faulty metabolism of purine, an amino acid, resulting in the accumulation of uric acid in the blood and urate salts in the tissues, especially the joints where they cause painful arthritis. It may stem from an inborn error of metabolism or from other diseases. It usually strikes middle-aged men. The joint at the base of the big toe is the typical site of a sudden acute attack of gout. The affected joint becomes red, hot, swollen, and painful.

Fever accompanies the attack. Joints of other limbs might become similarly affected.

Attacks of gout recur, but the sufferer enjoys complete relief in between them. Some patients develop chronic arthritis from gout. Gout is treated with low-purine foods and such drugs as allopurinol that lower the uric acid level of the blood.

Cystic fibrosis, an inherited disease in which the pancreas fails to provide secretions necessary for normal digestion of food; commonly associated with chronic lung disease.

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder involving the pancreas and the lungs. It appears during the first 10 years of life, although sometimes it is not discovered until later. Certain glands of the pancreas become plugged by thick mucus, which bottles important digestive enzymes. Intestinal troubles result.

Furthermore, the lungs suffer scarring, infection, and eventual emphysema. Cystic fibrosis is treated with substitute pancreatic enzymes, vitamins, and a high-calorie diet. Antibiotics are given to fight the lung troubles.

Other metabolic disorders include phenylketonuria (PKU) and galactosemia. PKU is an inherited inability to metabolize phenylalanine, an amino acid. Galactosemia is an inherited inability to change galactose, one type of sugar, into sucrose, another, because a necessary enzyme is missing. Both diseases can result in mental retardation of children if not corrected in time.

Arthritis and Lupus

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), chronic disease of the connective tissue, causing painful sensations in joints and muscles.

When the body fails to recognize itself, it makes antibodies against its own tissues.

Rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus are two among a rising number of such autoimmune diseases.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic crippling disease that deforms bone joints and their adjacent tissues. It can strike nearly anyone. Although arthritis is not especially prevalent in damp climates, its symptoms are more bothersome there. It is marked by inflammation of an entire joint, including its synovial lining. Tendon coverings and bursas, or fluid-filled cushions, can become inflamed too. Cartilage in the joint and adjacent bone are destroyed, causing painful stiffness and eventual ankylosis, or "freezing," of the joint. Skin over the joint is taut, shiny, and clammy. Arthritics often suffer aches and pains. The rheumatoid factor, a large protein molecule, is present in the blood of so many adult patients that it aids in the diagnosis of the disease. Rheumatoid arthritis is usually treated with rest, physical therapy, and aspirin and other salicylates.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), or lupus, is a serious degenerative disease that can strike one or many body systems over a period of years. The blood serum of afflicted persons contains a number of peculiar proteins, including the so-called L.E. factor, the antibody characteristic of the disease. Symptoms of SLE resemble other diseases, including cancer and tuberculosis, but lesions around the nail beds and fingertips that destroy the skin in those areas earmark lupus. In addition, the spleen and lymph glands of the neck and armpits may enlarge. The pericardium and heart valves are affected too. The kidneys and portions of the central nervous system may also become damaged. Although anyone may be affected, females between the ages of 20 and 40 years most often develop this incurable disease.

Osteoarthritis is a painfully disabling disease of the spine and other weight-bearing joints. Cartilage in the joint is destroyed, followed by overgrowth of nearby bone. The incurable but non deforming disease develops with advancing age.

Ankylosing spondylitis is a disabling and deforming disease of the spine, sacroiliac joints, and sometimes the shoulders, hips, and knees. The synovial lining of the affected joint becomes inflamed, the bone is weakened by loss of calcium, and the spine is bent forward.

Eventually, the spinal vertebrae fuse and the spine becomes locked in the deformed position.

KIDNEY AND GENITAL DISEASES

Disease can affect any of the parts of the closely related urinary and genital systems. Both can be infected or malfunction because of a shortcoming in development.

Kidney Inflammations

Kidney disease, commonly result of inflammation or damage to blood vessels of kidneys; severe forms lead to breakdown of normal elimination of waste products.

Glomerulonephritis is a serious inflammatory disease of the kidneys. It usually is triggered by a prior infection, often by streptococcal bacteria, which inflames the glomeruli, the tiny tufts through which blood is filtered. The inflammation may go away after a few weeks or may slowly destroy all the glomeruli. In the early stages, the inflammation may reduce filtration enough to cause blood to retain some excess fluid, salts, and wastes. Blood pressure might also rise. If the inflammation persists, the glomeruli are destroyed, blood pressure soars, and urine formation may stop. Mechanical means must be taken to cleanse the blood.

Pyelonephritis, bacterial infection of the inner portions of the kidneys and the urine.

Pyelonephritis is a bacterial infection of the inner portions of the kidneys and the urine. If quickly treated, the infection can be cured. If untreated, however, the infection may scar and eventually destroy kidney tubules, resulting in a need for mechanical cleansing of the blood. Once damaged by a bout of pyelonephritis, the kidneys are easily reinfected.

Toxaemia of pregnancy is a disorder stemming from other kidney problems experienced by some women in the last half of pregnancy. During a pregnancy, the kidneys must work more than usual. However, a woman entering pregnancy with a kidney disease such as Glomerulonephritis may not be able to step up kidney function enough to meet the new demands. In severe cases of toxaemia, the foetus may die or have to be aborted to save the mother's life. In lesser cases, however, medical treatment poses little risk to either life. Once a woman develops toxaemia, she is likely to develop it again in later pregnancies.

Calculi and Other Urinary Disorders

Calculus disease, condition that occurs when certain substances in urine crystallize into compact stones.

Calculus disease occurs when certain substances in urine crystallize into compact stones called calculi. A stone may be formed within a kidney and become swept by urine into the ureters and the bladder. It may cause pain, obstruct urine flow, or grow large enough to damage the kidney or bladder. Small calculi may be passed in urine, and large ones can be pulverized without surgery by means of energetic sound waves. Calculi can consist of calcium, urates, cystine, or other crystals. The tendency to form kidney stones sometimes runs in families.

Polycystic disease, an inherited failure of normal kidney development, strikes infants as well as adults. Many fluid-filled cysts spring up throughout the kidneys and cause them to malfunction. Polycystic disease sufferers eventually become uraemic

Uraemia means "urine in blood." It describes the condition in which the kidneys almost totally fail to operate. The blood then retains the nitrogenous products of protein metabolism instead of having them removed by the kidneys. Also, the concentration of many of the electrolytes, or salts, in the blood rises too high. The breath or perspiration of affected persons smells of urine. Each of the previously mentioned kidney ailments could cause uraemia Artificial kidneys have been developed to cleanse the blood of uraemic patients. In some cases, patients with destroyed kidneys can receive a human kidney transplant.

Genital Disorders

Sometimes portions of the genital system fail to develop normally. In some rare cases, the gonads male testes and female ovaries or other sex structures fail to develop at all. Without gonads, a person neither achieves puberty nor develops secondary sexual characteristics, such as breasts and uterus growth in females and penis growth and muscle development in males.

Infections such as gonorrhoea can cause sterility by blocking the oviducts, or egg passages, of females or the vas deferens, or sperm passages, of males. In males, gonorrhoea may also interfere with urination.

The prostate gland at the neck of the bladder in males enlarges slowly with age. It eventually may hamper urination and need surgical correction.

REHABILITATION

Rehabilitation is a fairly new medical speciality, although the notion of helping someone cope with a disabling disease or disorder is an old one. As an increasing number of people become disabled by stroke, paraplegia (paralysis of the lower body), limb losses, and many chronic nervous system and other physical disorders, it has been shown that medical rehabilitation can help many of them live a reasonably normal life. This is true even when the handicapping problem is not medically correctable.

Rehabilitation means getting utmost use from the limbs, senses, or other body systems that remain in operation after a chronic disability. Its goal is to help the patient become as independently active as possible. The disabling condition might result from a disease, birth defect, or severe accident. Sometimes rehabilitation involves fitting an amputee with an artificial limb, fitting a lame person with a brace, or teaching a paraplegic how to manoeuvre a wheelchair. Sometimes it only involves counselling and other psychological techniques for persons who are mentally disabled.

In its early days medical rehabilitation concentrated on helping people who had walking and other movement problems. The advances made in rehabilitating them sparked efforts to aid people who were stricken by stroke, chronic arthritis, and spinal cord disease and other chronic nervous system disorders. Afterwards, it was learned that rehabilitation could also help patients with heart disease, chronic lung disease, and a variety of conditions that slowed recovery from surgery. Bio engineers have been successful in devising artificial limbs and other life support structures that function so much like natural ones that recipients no longer suffer a disabling handicap.

Rehabilitation is a team effort. It requires the work and dedication of physicians, physical therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, social workers, and vocational counsellors The doctor and the physical and occupational therapists work to restore those body functions impaired by the disability. The psychologist, social workers, and vocational counsellor help the patient get a mental grip on himself to better deal with the emotional and social problems brought on by the disability. Members of a coordinated rehabilitative team can do wonders in restoring a handicapped person to a functional life.

In addition, the rehabilitative team works with a disabled person to prevent the physical deterioration that takes place when muscles are not used. Furthermore, the team aims at getting the maximum output from the patient's remaining body functions. Exercises and other means are used to develop fully the remaining physical reserves because disabled persons expend more energy and need more stamina to do ordinary things than do non disabled persons.

Teaching new tasks to the disabled is an integral part of physical rehabilitation. For example, a crippled person may be trained to use a wheelchair or other motive device well enough to manage into the driver's seat of an auto mobile and thus achieve a measure of independence, the important goal of the entire rehabilitative process.

A chronically disabled person often suffers mental depression. The rehabilitation team tries to restore that person's confidence so that he can take an optimistic view on resuming daily activities. Positive attitudes of patient, friends, and family toward any disability are important factors in the success of rehabilitation. During rehabilitation the patient is encouraged to find meaning in life, overcome feelings of being a "permanent patient," and resume his place as an active member of society. Counselling is also important in rehabilitating alcoholics and the mentally ill.

Treatment for the disabled is given at special rehabilitation centres or in the rehabilitation departments of some hospitals. Rehabilitation units are designed so that patients can do many things by themselves; the quarters are built to simulate conditions the patients will encounter when discharged. As a consequence, patients get practice in dealing with such problems as opening and closing doors, going up and down stairs, and a host of other environmental situations that they will face when the rehabilitation program is over.

HUMAN DISEASES (Part 7 of 7)

RESEARCH AGAINST DISEASE

Although medical science has made great strides to eradicate disease, a number of ailments remain to be conquered. Medical scientists have not yet discovered what causes muscular dystrophy, an inherited disorder that strikes nerve tissue and cripples its victim. Nor do they know what causes sudden death syndrome, or crib death, a disease that fatally strikes infants less than a year old. Nevertheless, research is under way against these and other baffling diseases in the hope that someday they will be wiped out or at least made manageable.

Medical scientists perform many kinds of experiments when they are on a research adventure. They may grow tiny cells in test tubes, infect them with the germs or chemicals they think might cause the disease, and watch the after effects Or they might infect a laboratory animal with a disease and observe how its body fights off or succumbs to the ailment. At other times medical scientists test the effects of a drug, a pathological environment, or a possible disease organism on human volunteers. However, before human experimentation ethically can be permitted, the volunteers must give their informed consent to any unconventional treatment. That is, they must be fully aware of the harmful as well as helpful consequences possible before taking part in the research. Also, prior experiments should have been made on laboratory animals to establish some idea of the project's safety.

Medical research is an ongoing endeavour at many laboratories and scientific institutions throughout the world. Medical schools and major hospitals maintain research programs for the benefit of their patients with unchecked or rare diseases. Research programs are also undertaken at many universities where scientists divide their time between teaching and laboratory study. Government agencies such as the National Institutes of Health also engage in research against disease.

Research programs are delving into the problems of ageing As more and more is learned about the biochemical changes that go on in the body as it grows older, scientists may someday be able to modify those changes to ensure better health for the aged. The biochemical basis of certain forms of mental illness are being explored, too, as are the causes and possible remedies of drug abuse.

Some physical disorders still require surgery for correction. As a result, there has been research into improving surgical techniques and into devising artificial parts for the body.

Surgeons, for example, have been trying to improve their ability to rejoin severed limbs. Bio engineers have designed heart pacemakers, sensory aids for the blind, and many other spare parts for the body.

The very foundations of life are being explored in genetic engineering. This recent endeavour is an attempt to alter the genetic make-up of developing embryos in the hope that inborn errors of metabolism can be corrected.

Although some scientists doubt that genetic engineering will ever be practical, if it became so, the ability to alter mistaken genes in unborn children would open a remarkable medical frontier. In the meantime, doctors have encouraged genetic counselling, in which couples planning marriage can learn of the possible consequences of childbearing when they are the carriers of certain inherited disorders, such as Down's syndrome, also called mongolism, or sickle-cell anaemia

Assisted by Theodore R. Van Dellen, M.S., M.D., late Associate Professor of Medicine, Northwestern University, and syndicated medical columnist; Thomas Killip, M.D., Chief of Cardiology and Attending Physician, The New York Hospital; Albert M. Kligman, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Dermatology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; William C. Thomas, Jr., M.D., Professor of Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine; Bernard S. Leibel, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto; and Daniel J. Feldman, M.D., former Adjunct Professor, College of Medicine, University of California at Irvine.

BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR DISEASE

Berger, Melvin. Germs Make Me Sick! (Harper Junior, 1987).

Berkow, Robert, ed. Merck Manual: General Medicine (Merck, 1987).

Brown, Fern. Hereditary Disease (Watts, 1987).

Eagles, Douglas. Nutritional Diseases (Watts, 1987).

Hansherr, Rosmarie. Children and the AIDS Virus (Ticknor and Fields, 1989).

Hughes, Barbara. Drug Related Diseases (Watts, 1987).

McKeown, Thomas. The Origins of Human Disease (Basil Blackwell, 1988).

Metos, T.H. Communicable Diseases (Watts, 1987).

Zinsser, Hans. Rats, Lice, and History (Little, 1984).

HUMAN RIGHTS (Part 1 of 2)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

(Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, Dec. 10, 1948)

Preamble

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, therefore,

The General Assembly

Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person.

Article 4

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair, and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11

1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

2. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.

2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14

1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15

1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.

2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16

1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17

1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21

1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25

1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26

1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29

1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

HUMAN RIGHTS (Part 2 of 2)

March 12, 1994: China rejects human-rights demands. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, on a visit to China, was told by government officials that they rejected the American insistence on tying improvements in human rights to the issue of trade. The United States government had stated that it would revoke most-favoured-nation status in trade if China did not alter its human-rights policies.

China's prime minister, Li Peng, stated that "China will never accept the United States human-rights concept." To emphasize his point, Chinese authorities cracked down on political dissidents during Christopher's visit. Li added that the Americans had much to lose if they were cut out of the huge and fast-growing Chinese market. He also noted that China was virtually self-sufficient and could easily do without trade from the United States. This trade issue came at a difficult time for the Clinton Administration, which needed China as an ally in dealing with North Korea's nuclear threat.

A right may be defined as something to which an individual has a just claim. The American Declaration of Independence states that "all men . . . are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." This is a brief statement about human rights in contrast to civil rights.

Human rights are those that individuals have by virtue of their existence as human beings. The right to life itself and the basic necessities of food and clothing may be considered fundamental human rights.

Civil, or legal, rights are those granted by a government. The right to vote at age 18 is a civil right, not a human right. In the course of the 19th and 20th centuries there was a broadening of the concept of human rights to include many rights formerly regarded as civil.

Historical Background

The term human rights came into common use only after World War II. It was made current by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, published in 1948.

As a term human rights replaced natural rights, a very old concept, and the related phrase rights of man, which did not necessarily include the rights of women.

Most scholars trace the origin of the concept of natural rights to ancient Greek and Roman thought. In the literature and philosophy of both Greece and Rome there are abundant statements acknowledging laws of the gods and of nature, and such laws were understood to take precedence over laws made by the state.

The human-rights concept, however, can actually be traced to an earlier period. The Hebrew Bible (called the Old Testament by Christians) relates the story of ancient Israel, and in it are abundant inferences about human rights. There is no well-developed statement on the issue, but there are significant scattered passages that give clear evidence of a point of view at least as advanced as Greek and Roman philosophy. The Ten Commandments, by the prohibition of murder and theft, give implicit recognition of the right to life and property. This recognition is considerably broadened by later elaboration of the laws and by the passionate discourses on justice by such prophets as Amos.

Statism, supremacy of the state in all matters pertaining to its subjects.

If the concept of human rights is very old, the general recognition of their validity is not. Throughout most of history governments failed to accept the notion that people have rights independent of the state. This is called statism, and it implies the supremacy of the state in all matters pertaining to the lives of subjects. Statism is still a potent concept in the 20th century. Germany under Adolf Hitler and the Soviet Union during the rule of Joseph Stalin are prime examples, and there are other equally valid instances that still exist.

The modern development of the human-rights concept began during the late Middle Ages in the period called the Renaissance, when resistance to political and economic tyranny began to surface in Europe. It was during the 17th and 18th centuries, a period called the Enlightenment, that specific attention was drawn by scientific discoveries to the workings of natural law. This, in turn, seemed to imply the existence of natural rights with which the state should not be allowed to interfere.

By the time of the American and French revolutions, a complete turnaround had taken place in the relationship of governments to human rights. The point of view elaborated by the American Founding Fathers, as well as by the French revolutionaries, is that government's purpose is to protect and defend rights, not to dispense or exploit them.

James Madison went so far as to assert that "as a man is said to have a right to his property, he may equally be said to have a property in his rights." And further, "Government is instituted to protect property of every sort." The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (France, 1789) states that, "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights," and "The aim of every political association is the preservation of the natural and inprescriptible rights of man."

Such advanced views of human rights were not without their critics. From the end of the 18th century through the third decade of the 20th, outspoken and influential theorists attacked the human-rights concept. Edmund Burke in England denounced what he called "the monstrous fiction" of human equality. Philosopher Jeremy Bentham stated that only imaginary rights can be derived from a law of nature. These thinkers were joined, in the course of 100 years, by Bentham's disciple John Stuart Mill, the French political theorist Joseph de Meistre, the German jurist Friedrich Karl von Svaigny, the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, and others. By 1894 the British writer F.H. Bradley could exalt the concept of statism by saying: "The rights of the individual today are not worth consideration. . . . The welfare of the community is the end and is the ultimate standard."

The critics, however, were going against the tide of history. In the United States and many parts of Europe, there was distinct progress in the development of human rights. These instances might not have been sufficient without the laboratory of human rights abuse that Nazi Germany provided for all the world to see. The appalling crimes against humanity, most evident in the extermination of millions of people in concentration camps, horrified the civilized world and helped bring human rights to their present level of acceptance.

Definitions of Rights

The general acceptance of human rights led to a widespread agreement on certain fundamental assumptions about them: (1) If a right is affirmed as a human right rather than a civil right, it is understood to be universal, something that applies to all human beings everywhere. (2) Rights are understood to represent individual and group demands for the sharing of political and economic power. (3) It is agreed that human rights are not always absolute: they may be limited or restrained for the sake of the common good or to secure the rights of others. (4) Human rights is not an umbrella term to cover all personal desires.

(5) The concept of rights often implies related obligations. Thomas Jefferson noted that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Therefore, if individuals would maintain their freedom, their duty is to guard against political, religious, and social activities that may restrict their rights and the rights of others.

Acceptance of fundamental assumptions has not lessened disagreement on which rights can be classified as human rights. Historically the debate has been carried on about three categories: individual, social, and collective. Individual rights refers to the basic rights to life and liberty mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. Social rights broadens this concept to include economic, social, and cultural rights. Collective, or solidarity, rights has come into prominence since the end of World War II, the collapse of old colonial empires, and the emergence of many new nation-states. These particular forms of rights are best described by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Individual rights. These rights were best described by the 17th- and 18th-century political theorists such men as John Locke in England, Montesquieu in France, and Jefferson and others in the United States. They are the rights to life, liberty, privacy, the security of the individual, freedom of speech and press, freedom of worship, the right to own property, freedom from slavery, freedom from torture and unusual punishment, and similar rights as spelled out in the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution.

Basic to individual rights is the concept of government as a shield against encroachment upon the person. Little is demanded from government but the right to be left alone.

Government is not asked for anything except vigilance in safeguarding the rights of its citizens.

Social rights. This concept of rights grew out of the socialist and Communist criticisms of capitalism and its perceived economic injustices: low wages, long working hours, unsafe working conditions, and child labour, among others. Social rights make demands on government for such things as quality education, jobs, adequate medical care, social-insurance programs, housing, and other benefits. Basically they call for a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of the individual and the family.

Collective rights. The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Dec. 10, 1948. It urged the right to political, economic, social, and cultural self-determination; the right to peace; the right to live in a healthful and balanced environment; and the right to share in the Earth's resources. It also pledged the rights of life, liberty, and security of person the basic human rights.

VIETNAMESE PHOTOS

Trying something new. A break from the norm.  

Let me know what you think.

FLOWERS (Part 1 of 2)

DEFINITION: 1 a) the seed-producing structure of an angiosperm, consisting of a shortened stem usually bearing four layers of organs, with the leaf like sepals, colourful petals, and pollen-bearing stamens unfolding around the pistils b) a blossom; bloom c) the reproductive structure of any plant 2 a plant cultivated for its blossoms; flowering plant 3 the best or finest part or example [the flower of a country's youth] 4 the best period of a person or thing; time of flourishing 5 something decorative; esp., a figure of speech 6 [pl. ] Chem. a substance in powder form, made from condensed vapours [flowers of sulphur].

Most plants pass on life to future plant generations by seeds. It is the work of a flower to make seed. All its beauty serves this one purpose. Colour and perfume attract insects and hummingbirds to aid in the flower's pollination. Some flowers are so formed that they admit certain insects and no others. The chief seed-making parts are the stamens, pistil, and ovary. Many interesting flower shapes have developed that protect these parts.

The Chief Parts of a Flower

Bracts, small, sometimes scale like, leaves in a flower cluster; develops into large leaves.

A flower's beauty and perfection of form may be enjoyed more fully if one understands its structure and how each part helps in the work of seed making. A typical flower has four sets of organs. From the outside to the centre, they are: sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils.

The leaf like sepals make up the calyx, or "cup." The petals form the corolla, or "little crown." The calyx and the corolla together form the perianth. When present, the bract is a small leaf below the flower. Awns are stiff bristles that terminate some flower parts.

The flower rises from the axil of the bract; that is, the angle between the bract and the stem. Bracts are sometimes the most conspicuous feature of a flower and may be mistaken for petals. This is true of dogwood, poinsettia, and Indian paintbrush. Sometimes one great bract forms a hood, called a spathe, as in the jack-in-the-pulpit, the calla lilly, and the skunk cabbage. The top of the stem, to which the parts are attached, is the receptacle. The stem is also called a pedicel.

Sepals and Petals

The sepals are the lower, or outermost, part of the flower. They fold over the tender, closed bud and protect it from cold and other injuries while it is developing. Usually sepals are green. In many flowers, however, they are as colourful as the petals and increase the flower's attractiveness to insects. Tulips, irises, and the yellow pond lily, or spatter dock, are examples.

The petals attract insects and hummingbirds to help in the work of pollination. By their fragrance and colour they advertise their sweets the nectar in the heart of the flower. This is the reward the flower offers its helpers. Glands at the base of the petals secrete nectar.

Oil in the petals gives the flower its perfume.

Many flowers have petals of the same size and shape arranged in a circle. They are said to be regular. The wild rose is typical. The petals of the morning glory and petunia are joined, forming a funnel-shaped corolla. Each portion is regular in shape, but the petals are united.

Such flowers are sympetalous. Many irregular flowers are pollinated only by a certain kind of insect. The snapdragon can be sprung open only by the heavy bumblebee.

The simplest flowers have no sepals or petals at all. The small flowers of grasses consist commonly of three stamens surrounding a single pistil. They are said to be naked. Some flowers are apetalous; that is they have no petals.

Some flowers are tiny but grow in showy clusters. In the largest family of flowering plants, called Compositae, tiny florets are set so closely together in a solid head on a receptacle that one mistakes them for a single flower. A dandelion is a composite. In other composite flowers, such as the daisy and sunflower, perfect seed-producing flowers are found only in the centre The rim is made up of ray flowers. Garden flowers in this group are the aster, zinnia, dahlia, chrysanthemum, and marigold. The family includes many weeds, such as rag weeds and thistles.

Stamens and Pistils

Inside the ring of petals are the stamens. Each stamen has a stem, which is called the filament. At the top of the filament is the anther. The pollen grains form in sacs, usually two in number, inside the anther.

Ovary, in flowering plants, the receptacle in which fertilized seed germs develop.

Finally, inside the ring of stamens is the pistil. It is shaped like a vase, with a neck and oval base. The neck is known as the style. On top of the style is a stigma, which has a sticky surface. Its purpose is to catch and hold the pollen. The base of the pistil is the seed case, called the ovary. Inside the ovary are one or more eggs, the ovules, which become the embryo plant. Some flowers the lotus, buttercup, and strawberry, for example have many pistils. The pistils may be separate from one another or they may be closely united. A simple pistil, or one of the segments of a compound pistil, is called a carpel.

How Flowers Are Attached to the Base

The parts of a flower are attached to the receptacle, or base, in three different ways. If they are attached at the base of the ovary, the flower is hypogynous, meaning "growing on the lower side of the ovary." The tiger lily is an example of this type. In the second form the receptacle is cup-shaped and encloses the ovary. The sepals, petals, and stamens are attached to the rim, surrounding the pistil but free from it. The flower is said to be perigynous, meaning "around the ovary." The cherry blossom is perigynous. In a third type the ovary grows fast to the receptacle, and the parts grow from its top. The flower is epigynous, meaning "growing upon the ovary." An example is the apple blossom.

How Fertilization Takes Place

When ripe pollen from an anther of the same kind of flower catches on the stigma, each pollen grain sends out a tiny threadlike tube. The tube grows down through the style and pierces one of the ovules in the ovary. This process is called fertilization. Each ovule must receive the contents of the pollen tube before it can develop into a seed. It usually takes the tube from two to five days to reach the ovule, but the time may vary from a few hours to six months.

Insects Pollinate Flowers

A seed cannot grow until pollen is transferred from the stamen to the pistil. This transfer is called pollination. Since flowers cannot go after pollen, they depend upon some carrier to bring it to them. Flowers are pollinated by flies, moths, wasps, bees, and sometimes by hummingbirds. The flowers attract these helpers by their colour, fragrance, and nectar.

Some flowers open in the evening and invite night-flying insects to their banquet table.

Such flowers are usually white or pale yellow, the colours that show best at dusk.

To reach the nectar, insects must crawl over the pistils and anthers into the heart of the flower. Their bodies become covered with pollen dust. As they move from flower to flower, they transfer the pollen of one to the stigma of another. Flowers that require the help of insects are called entomophilous, meaning "insect-loving." Some flowers can be pollinated only by a single kind of insect. The fig, yucca, and red clover are examples.

Certain flowers depend upon the wind to bring pollen to them. They are called anemophilous, or "wind-loving." Most trees, the grasses, sedges, and many other plants depend upon wind pollination. Wind-pollinated flowers have no sepals or petals, for the wind has no need for nectar and fragrance. They are dull in colour They produce enormous quantities of pollen. The wind scatters pollen indiscriminately, so that only a small percentage falls on the stigmas of the same kind of flower.