The Immune System: The Backbone of Life.

The immune system is essential for our survival. However, some situations may arise where this system does not function well. Immune system disorders may be the starting point of many diseases. Sometimes, the immune system is too weak and unable to efficiently fight infections: this is the case of immunodeficiency. In some people, the immune system is too aggressive  and attacks harmless elements of the environment: this the case of allergies.

Some deficiencies of the immune system are congenital; their signs appear shortly after birth. Others are acquired, such as the Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Some children have congenital and contract serious and repeated infections. To avoid infections, they are placed immediately after birth in a sterile cabinet, while waiting for a bone marrow graft to save their life.

The diet pregnant women follow during pregnancy is of great importance; because it affects the embryo's life, thus pregnant mothers should be aware of not smoking, drinking alcohol, and eat a balanced and healthy diet.

If you do not want to see your child through a bubble glass, take care of your health!

Pray, Donate, Cooperate!

Whenever I switch the television on, all I hear is bad news. The crisis in Syria is intolerable, and aching indeed. We watch the news, feel depressed, and pray for a moment, and in a moment we forget everything; well it is fair not to affect us because it is not our children and parents getting killed in a terrific way. Instead of just praying, we could start performing some actions that would bring some real benefit to those poor and unfortunate people. There are over twenty organizations we could register in to help. These organizations consist of collecting money to help improve immigrant Syrian people lives. If each one of us donates 20 $ per month, we are not going to be broke or in debt, we can help with the little we have, which actually means a lot to them. Another reasonable solution would be to teach Syrian children for free; since their parents cannot afford their education.

Now is our chance to be, feel and act human; let us not waste this opportunity!

Eradicate the Toxic Vibes!

Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die -Carrie Fisher.

We have all gone through disappointments in life that have turned us into bitter, judgmental and resentful people without feeling conscious about it. But the truth is that we are wasting our time and accelerating the process of aging, because when we don't forgive people, we are actually hurting ourselves. We should learn how to overcome such circumstances no matter how hard they get, learn which ones are trustworthy and those who are not, and choose wisely who we tell our secrets and sorrows to; because most people's purpose is not listening to help us, but to have a topic to gossip about.

From my self experience, I have learned that we can benefit a lot from those who hurt us, actually we can learn what it feels like to get betrayed and disappointed, and avoid making the same mistake with others, which will consequently lead to the loss of our beloved ones.

This quote is very meaningful; thinking that by developing bad feelings could affect those around us, when honestly such feelings destroy us instead.

Webinar - Legal Issues Facing New Teachers

A webinar under the title " Legal Issues Facing New Teachers" was discussed.

The webinar talked about new teachers and the unexpected situations they might confront during the classroom. First of all, teachers should follow certain rules and also teach them to their students, but the majority of them ignore those rules and do not use them. Some teachers believe that the only way to control their classroom is by being aggressive and rude to students without taking into account the consequences of these actions. Whereas, other type of teachers might be afraid to follow the rules, because they don't want to get in trouble with their parents or the school itself, thus they prefer to ignore those students who break the rules and move along with their job which is to " explain the lesson. "

Every single move and action the teacher makes will eventually and totally affect students' motivation and attitudes. New teachers gather with old teachers at school and might hear rumors about some students, which will consequently give them characteristics of those students without even knowing them. Therefore, teachers should be aware not to be judgmental and not treat them according to what they have heard, because this will create a negative feedback between the students and the teacher.

Any verbal and non-verbal action can destroy the relationship between a teacher and a student, thus teachers are allowed to stop any unwanted and unacceptable behavior from a student, however within limits. For instance, teachers should not hurt students physically and emotionally. There is always a way where a teacher and a student can communicate without hurting each other, and this is only achieved by respect and patience.

Cloud Computing

From the mid 1970's well into the 2000's, floppy disk which is a disk storage medium was used to store data. However, its drawbacks were that it did not have enough memory to save data and information. Later on, with the development of technology, computer scientists invented USB flash drives, portable external hard disk drives, optical disks, memory cards and computer networks with much greater capacity.

Moreover, if some of us were typing a certain information in order to send it to someone else, and the electricity went off, all the typed information would be erased and lost. However, with the arise of cloud computing such problems no longer exist.

Cloud computing is the use of computer software and data which is processed and stored by a remote computer. 

Advantages of cloud computing are:

• Slow computer will become a fast expensive one using the cloud.
• We can access from multiple devices.
• Auto-saving; people do not have to worry about losing their data, because cloud will automatically save any data.
• No viruses anymore.

Disadvantages of cloud computing are:

• Google administrators have access to your data.
• Unpredictable costs.
• Contracts and Lock-Ins. 

Learning What Not to Eat!

I am sure that we have all at one time or another vowed never to eat a particular food (or more likely take a particular drink) again because it made us sick. This ability that we have to very quickly, and strongly, develop an aversion to a particular food is a common property of a very wide range of animal species, and one that is generally described as a conditioned taste aversion (CTA).

CTA is of course a form of classical conditioning, and a conditioned aversion can be generated if an animal is presented with food that has been related with a sickness-inducing agent. It then associates the food with the sickness that it subsequently experiences.

Scientists took advantage of this useful technique to reduce the activity of a specific predator on a specific prey population. Here the aim is not to condition the subject to avoid a taste that it associates with the food, but to condition it not to attempt to eat the food at all.

Such technique reduced the death of various animals needed to protect and clean the environment as well as the ecosystem. For instance, amphibians (such as frogs) are needed to clean the environment from cockroaches and spiders; if the population of amphibians decreases, we will have to accept the fact that cockroaches and spiders will have to live with us, just like any other member of the family.

The Vitamins

Vitamins are organic compounds vital to life and indispensable to body functions, needed in minute amounts. They are involved in many biochemical reactions, its shortage leads to deterioration of health. Most vitamins are not synthesized in body except: Vit. D, K, Biotin, B12, Vit. A, niacin.

Vitamins are classified into two categories: Fat-Soluble and Water-Soluble.

Fat-Soluble vitamins are:

• Vitamin A
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin E
• Vitamin K

Water-Soluble vitamins are:

• B vitamins:

1. Thiamin (B1)
2. Riboflavin (B2)
3. Niacin (B3)
4. Folate (B9)
5. Vitamin (B12)
6. Vitamin (B6)
7. Biotin (B7)
8. Pantothenic acid (B5)

• Vitamin C

Fat-Soluble vitamins are absorbed into the lymph, since they are not soluble in water; they are present in fat, thus can be stored in adipose tissue. Some can build up to toxic concentrations. The deficiency symptoms are slow to develop and they are not absolutely necessary in every day diet. Moreover, fat-soluble vitamins are not lost in cooking water. However, if any deficiency occurs such as mutation, many malfunctions in vision, immune defenses, maintenance of body linings and skin, bone body growth, normal cell development and reproduction would appear. 

Water-Soluble vitamins are absorbed directly into blood stream, most are not stored to any great extent, the excess is excreted in urine. There is lower risk of toxicity than fat-soluble vitamins because extremely high doses are needed for toxicity. Deficiency symptoms often develop rapidly. They must be supplied in diet everyday. Easily dissolved and lost in cooking water.