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Showing posts from February, 2014

Alcohol Consumption: UK Pregnant Women To Be Banned From Drinking

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 Drinking while pregnant Very soon pregnant women in Britain will be banned from consuming alcohol by law until the baby is born. Any pregnant woman who violates the law can be prosecuted for drinking while pregnant just in the same way that people are prosecuted for drunk driving. The justification for this proposed law is based on the findings that unborn babies can be harmed very seriously by alcohol consumed by their mothers. This proposed ban on alcohol consumption by pregnant women comes few weeks after another controversial law that will ban people from smoking inside a car with a child. It is difficult to establish the next group of people to be targeted by the government. Could it be the overweight and obese people? Should the government ban this group from eating fast foods? Having a blanket ban on alcohol consumption by all pregnant women will depict them as idiots who cannot make informed decisions about the health of their unborn baby. This will put all

Ulcerative Colitis: The Protective Effect Of Smoking

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 Smoking Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes ulcers, inflammation, and sores in the lining of the rectum and colon. This occurs when the cell linings in the colon are destroyed by inflammation, resulting in bleeding and pus formation. There are different types of ulcerative colitis, depending on the location of the inflammation: Ulcerative proctitis: Inflammation in the rectum and lower colon. Distal colitis: Inflammation on the left side of the colon. Ulcerative pancolitis: Inflammation affecting the entire colon. Symptoms of ulcerative colitis include abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, anemia, fatigue, weight loss, skin lesions, and loss of appetite. It is crucial to seek medical attention if you experience any of these symptoms. Research has shown that non-smokers have a higher risk of developing ulcerative colitis than smokers. Several studies, including one showing a 42% reduced risk for smokers, support this finding. Possible explanations

Ugandan Anti-gay Law: Should The West Punish The Country For It?

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 Anti-gay law protesters Uganda is the latest African Country to pass anti-gay law after Nigeria.   The new legislation prohibits homosexual acts and offenders will face prosecution and possibly a lengthy jail term.    Homosexuals in the country now have two options.   They should practice their homosexuality in secret or defy the law and risk prosecution and jail term.   The west are not happy over this law and have threatened to punish Uganda by withdrawing its financial aid to the country. Before justifying or criticising the west for its intention to punish Ugandan for its anti-gay law it is important to understand the issue of homosexuality in Africa.   Homosexuality is one of the few issues in Africa which tends to unite the vast majority of people on the continent regardless of their religiosity.     The Moslems, Christians, Hindus, and pagans all tend to support legislations against homosexuality.   For them, homosexuality is a western immoral act which should not be

Cycling: The Costs May Outweigh The Benefits

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Costs and benefits of cycling Cycling is good for you. Why? Inactivity is one of the major causes of heart diseases according to research.  Health campaigners tend to recommend some forms of exercise every week to overcome this problem.  The provision of bicycles for hire in the city of London is one of these schemes which is supported by both the mayor of London and Barclays Bank.  Should we all go cycling to gain these cycling benefits? There is no doubt that cycling for some minutes on regular basis is good for the body.  This is supported by the latest publication in the British Medical Journal showing a strong positive relationship between cycling and cardiovascular health. However, cycling has both physical and internal risks.  One of the physical risks of cycling is related to being knock down by a vehicle.  Last year up to 10 cyclists were knocked down and killed in London by vehicles.  Many more were injured and may never cycle again in their life.  Another physic

Alcohol Related Violence: The solution Could Not Be Increasing The Alcohol Price

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 Alcohol related violence Evidence suggests that alcohol abuse is related to large amount of violence in the UK. Road rage and street fights on Friday and Saturday nights are some of such crimes. Controlling alcohol abuse therefore can help reduce these crimes. Policy makers and lobbying groups in the UK are proposing increment in alcohol price as a way of tackling this alcohol problem. However, this proposal is unfair and may be counter-productive. The advocates of alcohol price increment are either high earners such as government ministers, doctors or teetotallers who do not drink alcohol. Any increment in alcohol price will not affect them. The people who will be affected by this alcohol price increment are not just alcohol manufacturing companies as claimed by advocates of alcohol price increment. They also include the vast majority of low paid citizens who consume alcohol sensibly. For these people, consuming alcohol is one of the coping mechanisms for dealing

South African Illegal Gold Miners Trapped Underground Refused Help: Should The Government Force-Rescued Them?

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 Illegal mining Illegal gold mining is one of the biggest problems facing South Africa. It is second only to armed robbery. It is estimated to cost the country about 5 billion pounds annually. This week two of the mining groups responsible for this costly illegal activity were involved in a serious dispute leading one of the groups to seal up the mining entrance and exit for the other group. The alarm about these trapped illegal miners was raised by passers-by who heard the miners scream for help. Rescue workers who responded to this incident have managed to rescue only a handful of the trapped illegal miners. The vast majority of the illegal miners, totally about 200 men, remained holed up inside the mine. They are refusing to come out for fear of arrest. As a result, all the rescue attempts have been suspended until the trapped miners request for assistance. Knowing that they face arrest on reaching the surface the trapped illegal miners might choose to die inside

Ban On Smoking Inside Cars With Children In UK: Is It A Violation Of Civil Liberties?

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Smoking Smoking is costly to the UK government. Thousands of people for example contract smoking related diseases including lung and throat cancer annually in the UK. The cost of treating these people often runs into millions of pounds, and is borne by the government. The government has tried to reduce this burden by banning smoking in all public places including pubs. It wants to take this step further by proposing to ban smoking inside a car with a child. Many drivers however consider this latest move by the government to ban smoking inside a car with a child as an infringement of their civil liberties. These people consider their car as their private property and not property of the state. Like other personal belongings, they want to do whatever they like inside their car including smoking. However, it is not everything that car owners like to do inside their private cars that they are allowed to do by the state. Car owners for example cannot drive while over t

RAT Spyware – A Programme That Monitors Every Aspect Of Your Life.

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 Cyber Criminal For many of us who use it, the computer is an invaluable asset to us. We use it to do a wide range of online activities ranging from shopping to banking to booking a holiday flight. Criminals are aware of this great importance of the computer to us. As a result, they have devised a programme called RAT to harm us while we are enjoying the computer. The acronym “RAT” refers to Remote Access Trojan. RAT is one of the latest spyware programmes used by cyber criminals to commit different types of crimes online. Cyber criminals for example can use RAT to control a web cam from a remote location even though the web cam has been switched off by its owner. RAT is also used for more sinister activities such as stealing bank account details stored on the computer. RAT is usually downloaded and installed on the victim’s computer when the victim is downloading what he or she thinks is innocuous or harmless programme. Once installed, RAT works in the background a

The Right To Privacy: We Give It Away By Accessing Offline And Online Services

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The revelation of a massive surveillance program by the US government last year raised a lot of anger and condemnation from millions of people around the world against the U.S. Mr Edward Snowden who let this cat out of the bag claims that this surveillance programme was massive. It involved the collection of phone calls, emails, and other internet activities of millions of people around the world. People were angry over this spying programme because they felt that their right to privacy was breached by the US. Why should people be angry and upset over the revelation of a massive US spying programme? Do we have any right to privacy? Most of us will answer yes to these questions. We will claim that we have the right to policy and will want everything we do in private to remain private providing it does not break any applicable law. This can include things such as conversations we have in private with partners, friends, colleagues or employers. We also want our personal info

Type 2 Diabetes: Confusion Over How Regular Consumption Of Yogurt Can Reduce The Risk

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 Insulin Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body cannot produce enough insulin again to function properly. It can be a lifelong condition requiring progressive treatments. When left untreated type 2 diabetes can result in very serious health conditions including damage to blood nerves, vessels and organs. Early stages of type 2 diabetes is treated with tablets but the progressive form of the condition is often treated using insulin injections often administered several times a day. If everything goes according to plan, type 2 diabetic patients and people at risk of the disease may not go through these painful treatments again in the future. Recent research suggests that eating yogurt regularly can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes by 28 %. However, there are some important questions regarding these findings which researchers did not answer. Researchers did not state how regular people can consume yogurt to reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes. Is it once daily? Twice

The Ugly Side Of Customer Reviews And Recommendations

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Customer rating stars Customer reviews and recommendations are found on many business websites and leaflets. They often contain customers experience about the businesses displaying the reviews or recommendations. Potential customers tend to rely heavily on this experience when making their buying decisions. If you are one of these people , there is a surprise for you regarding customer reviews and recommendations below. A disproportionate number of customer reviews or recommendations being displayed on business websites are positive experience. They often show satisfied customers talking good about their transactions. Some of these customers will state how satisfied they are with the transactions and their intention to revisit the business. Others will say how they intend to recommend the business to potential customers including colleagues, friends and family members. It is rare to find businesses displaying negative customer reviews or recommendations about them

Child euthanasia: Are Children Capable of Making Life And Death Decisions?

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Euthanasia refers to the painless killing of a person suffering an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. Before it is carried out, the patient concerned must state that he or she has permitted other people to assist him or her in dying. This consent or right to die is recognised by the legal systems of Belgium and Switzerland but only for adults who intend to terminate their own life. Now there is a debate whether the same process of euthanasia can be extended to children suffering terrible and incurable ailments. Aside from the pain and anguish experienced by children with the incurable condition, the sufferings of family members of children with terminal illnesses can be enormous. The main carers of such sick children, for example, may dedicate their entire life to care for the sick children. This can involve sacrificing activities such as work or socialisation. There is also the tendency of the sick children parents to neglect or abandon their res