Owh Me Owh My...Health.

Owh why....why do they have to come out with all these superfoods, super this and super that almost on a yearly basis. Like an Academy Awards for for foods and other healthy things.
Honestly, I was at a per centum of 60% must-try-any-healthy-things introduced, and which I can get my hands on, but luckily I managed to overcome my (unhealthy) indulgence and realised that these, all these super everything are just cheap-trills.

Yup. Cheap trills for those health junkies.
And for those who created it, or coincidently bumped into it, even though it has been in existence for centuries by certain cultures around the globe -- it's mere hype seekers.

I got this in one of my 'healthy-emails' -- yup, must admit-- I'd never unsubscribe from those despite not following any of their repetitive suggestions.

Please ask yourself which of them that you've never know exist.


Coconut Flour, yes, coconut flour, not your (my) normal coconut milk, Kombucha, Ghee (yup Ghee),
Bone Broth and Kefir (first time hearing it myself) hail to the supposedly to be the 2015 superfood.

Human Bats, no?

For your good hanging.

No doubt, when health and wellness are having its crowning years now -- be it for purely health reasons or merely for wanting a bod looking like J-Lo's -- it is good.
It's easy for people to get health food, healthy meal takeouts, healthy mix smoothies or veg juices...you name it.

And what about those Western hyped up diets such as paleo, vegan, raw, macrobiotic. And gluten -free almost everything that I for once had been one of the Ooo-I-should-be-glutenfree person and had been quite conscious in giving gluten-free whatsoever to my kids.
But, in reality, trying to really stick on to a real gluten-free diet is like a 600lbs trying to wear size 10 in three months' time. And it gets even harder when almost what you see are not gluten-free.

Here are five basic warning signs to look for if you don't realise whether you're living a healthy life or an unhealthy one:

1. You often feel guilty about food choices.

If you eat something you consider "unhealthy" that isn't the norm in your diet, that is A-OK. You shouldn't become so consumed with guilt that you plan how you will correct your "cheating" through diet restrictions or exercise.

Unfortunately, this is a behavior that becomes a habit for many people, revealing that they may have taken "healthy eating" to an unhealthy extent. Having certain foods in moderation is actually good for you, even if these foods may be culturally-demonized as "unhealthy" or not in the scope of "clean eating." In fact, allowing yourself variety in your diet will allow you to stay on track with being healthy.

2. You eliminate food groups.

Eliminating entire food groups may deprive your body of important nutrients it needs and make your body crave the eliminated food, thus often resulting in binge eating. When you are striving to become healthier, it can be effective to limit certain categories like deep-fried foods, foods with a lot of sugar or highly processed, packaged snacks. But you shouldn't eliminate an entire food group without talking to your doctor first.

3. You're controlled by food.

You shouldn't have to spend hours of time, or inordinate amounts of mental energy (often involving anxiety) determining what to eat or how to prepare your food.

Also: make sure to enjoy social interactions, which often include eating and drinking in some form. You shouldn't miss social engagements because you're worried about the food they will serve or because it will mean you'll miss going to the gym.

4. You're critical of the way other people eat (or at least hyper-conscious of it).

When you're out to dinner, maybe you find yourself being judgmental of what your friend is ordering for his/her meal, or perhaps just find yourself distractingly focused on it.

The truth is that you can't control what anyone else puts in their body. Not everyone is going to eat healthy, or in the same way as you do. And that's OK. You shouldn't become critical or feel superior to those that don't eat only pure or healthy foods, or generally feel distressed if someone chooses to eat different foods than you generally. It's important to maintain healthy relationships with others even if they don't share the same thinking around eating that you do.

5. You're exhibiting depressive behaviors.

Many people do not realize that eating disorders are mental health disorders that require treatment. 50% of those that suffer from an eating disorder also have depression. If you've been sleeping too much or too little, can't concentrate, feel hopeless, have lost your appetite or can't stop eating, or have lost interest in daily activities, it's time to seek help for depression.

You need to find what works best for your own body to stay healthy, which includes listening to your body and understanding if you are turning to food because you are hungry or because of the way you are feeling.

Cooking Tomatoes Boosts Disease-Fighting Power

Cooking Tomatoes Boosts Disease-Fighting Power

Cooking tomatoes -- such as in spaghetti sauce -- makes the fruit heart-healthier and boosts its cancer-fighting ability. All this, despite a loss of vitamin C during the cooking process, say Cornell food scientists. The reason: cooking substantially raises the levels of beneficial compounds called phytochemicals, says  one Cornell assistant professor of food science.

The research dispels the popular notion that processed fruits and vegetables have lower nutritional value than fresh produce."
Tomato samples were heated to 88 degrees Celsius (190.4 degrees Fahrenheit) for two minutes, a quarter-hour and a half-hour.
 Consistent with previous studies, vitamin C content decreased by 10, 15 and 29 percent, respectively, when compared to raw, uncooked tomatoes.

However, the research revealed that the beneficial trans-lycopene content of the cooked tomatoes increased by 54, 171 and 164 percent, respectively. Levels of cis -lycopene (which the body easily absorbs) rose by 6, 17 and 35 percent, respectively; and antioxidant levels in the heated tomatoes increased by 28, 34 and 62 percent, respectively. Antioxidants protect the human body from cell and tissue damage, which occurs when harmful molecules called free radicals, released as oxygen, are metabolized by the body.

Lycopene, a carotenoid responsible for the red color in tomatoes and other fruits, has long been known as a powerful antioxidant that decreases cancer and heart-disease risk. Carotenoids, along with phenolic acids and flavonoids, are all phytochemicals, the nutritionally beneficial active compounds found in every fruit and vegetable.

While the antioxidant activity in tomatoes is enhanced during the cooking process, vitamin C loss occurs when the food's ascorbic acid is oxidized to dehydroascorbic acid and other forms of nutritionally inactive components.Lycopene is the most-efficient single oxygen quencher, and devours more than 10 times more oxygenated free radicals than vitamin E. This makes lycopene's presence in the diet important.

While these findings go against the notion that processed fruits and vegetables have lower nutritional value, this may create a new image for processed fruits and vegetables," says Liu. "Ultimately, this could increase consumers' intake of fruits and vegetables and could possibly reduce a person's risk of chronic disease.

Wealthier and Healthier.

Interesting article by Clare Bambra on Why are the wealthier healthier.

In 1842, the English social reformer Edwin Chadwick documented a 30-year discrepancy between the life expectancy of men in the poorest social classes and that of the gentry. Today, people in the most affluent areas of the United Kingdom, such as Kensington and Chelsea, can expect to live 14 years longer than those in the poorest cities, such as Glasgow.

Such inequalities exist, to varying degrees, in all developed countries. Poorer groups fare particularly badly in the neo-liberal system of the United States; gaps in life expectancy in some US cities, such as New Orleans, are as large as 25 years.

Understanding and reducing these health inequalities remains a major public-policy challenge worldwide. It is not only a moral issue; health inequalities carry significant economic costs. But the causes of such inequalities are complex and contested, and the solutions are elusive.

The prevailing explanation for health inequalities is rooted in the social determinants of health - that is, the environments in which people work and live. Affluent people have better access to health-promoting environments, such as well-maintained schools that offer a good education, high-quality housing, and stable jobs in secure, safe settings. The poorer you are, the more exposed you are likely to be to health-damaging environments.

Various theories draw on this basic framework - and each competing explanation suggests different strategies for reducing health inequalities. For example, the "cultural-behavioural" approach explains health inequalities in terms of differences in individual behaviours, asserting that poorer people have worse health outcomes, owing to a higher propensity to smoke, drink alcohol and eat less healthy foods. This view naturally underpins interventions like targeted smoking-cessation services or health-education initiatives.

The "materialist" approach takes a broader view, arguing that people with more money can essentially purchase better health through superior education, health care and social services. Accordingly, countries can reduce health inequalities by introducing higher minimum incomes for their poorest citizens and guaranteeing universal access to public services.

The "life course" approach combines multiple theories to contend that the unequal accumulation of social, psychological, and biological advantages or disadvantages over time, beginning in utero, produces health inequalities. It demands early intervention to put children on a positive health path, together with an adequate social safety net throughout citizens' lives.

The most encompassing view is that of the "political-economy" school, which argues that health inequalities are determined by capitalist economies' hierarchical structure and the associated political choices about resource distribution. This analysis calls for the most radical action: to develop an economic and social system in which resources, particularly wealth and power, are more evenly distributed.

Given that all of these theories can, to some extent, be supported by scientific evidence, politics can matter more than science in determining which strategies policymakers pursue to reduce health inequalities. After all, some potential solutions are politically easier to implement within existing systems than others.

For example, interventions aimed at changing individual behaviour are far less challenging to prevailing power structures than those that demand extensive social investment or revitalisation of the entire system. Thus, governments interested in closing the health gap - such as the British Labour government in 1997-2010 - usually end up pursuing such relatively painless "downstream" interventions.

But this approach has proved to be only partly successful in reducing health inequalities, leaving little doubt that more comprehensive measures are needed. Indeed, most of the health gains over the 19th and 20th centuries were brought about by far-reaching economic, political and social reforms.

Ultimately, more equal societies have better health outcomes. While even the most egalitarian developed countries have health inequalities, all of their citizens are better off and live longer. The poorest and most vulnerable groups in social-democratic countries like Sweden and Norway are far healthier and live longer than their counterparts in neo-liberal countries such as the UK or the US. These more egalitarian countries have also achieved comparatively stable, inclusive economic growth and a high standard of living. So, if assessed from a neutral standpoint, social democracy is clearly the better choice for all.

Clare Bambra, Professor of Public Health Policy and Director of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing at Durham University, United Kingdom, is the author of Work, Worklessness, and the Political Economy of Health.

Eggs + Urine = Chinese

DONGYANG, China (Reuters) - It's the end of a school day in the eastern Chinese city of Dongyang, and eager parents collect their children after a hectic day of primary school.

But that's just the start of busy times for dozens of egg vendors across the city, deep in coastal Zhejiang province, who ready themselves to cook up a unique springtime snack favored by local residents.
Basins and buckets of boys' urine are collected from primary school toilets. It is the key ingredient in "virgin boy eggs", a local tradition of soaking and cooking eggs in the urine of young boys, preferably below the age of 10.

There is no good explanation for why it has to be boys' urine, just that it has been so for centuries.

The scent of these eggs being cooked in pots of urine is unmistakable as people pass the many street vendors in Dongyang who sell it, claiming it has remarkable health properties.

"If you eat this, you will not get heat stroke. These eggs cooked in urine are fragrant," said Ge Yaohua, 51, who owns one of the more popular "virgin boy eggs" stalls.

"They are good for your health. Our family has them for every meal. In Dongyang, every family likes eating them."

It takes nearly an entire day to make these unique eggs, starting off by soaking and then boiling raw eggs in a pot of urine. After that, the shells of the hard-boiled eggs are cracked and they continue to simmer in urine for hours.

Vendors have to keep pouring urine into the pot and controlling the fire to keep the eggs from being overheated and overcooked.

Ge said he has been making the snack, popular due to its fresh and salty taste, for more than 20 years. Each egg goes for 1.50 yuan ($0.24), a little more than twice the price of the regular eggs he also sells.

Many Dongyang residents, young and old, said they believed in the tradition passed on by their ancestors that the eggs decrease body heat, promote better blood circulation and just generally reinvigorate the body.

"By eating these eggs, we will not have any pain in our waists, legs and joints. Also, you will have more energy when you work," said Li Yangzhen, 59, who bought 20 eggs from Ge.

The eggs are not bought only at street stalls. Local residents are also known to personally collect boys' urine from nearby schools to cook the delicacy in their homes.

The popularity of the treat has led the local government to list the "virgin boy eggs" as an intangible cultural heritage.
But not everyone is a fan. Chinese medical experts gave mixed reviews about the health benefits of the practice, with some warning about sanitary issues surrounding the use of urine to cook the eggs.

Some Dongyang residents also said they hated the eggs.

"We have this tradition in Dongyang that these eggs are good for our health and that it would help prevent things like getting a cold," said Wang Junxing, 38. "I don't believe in all this, so I do not eat them."

(Editing by Elaine Lies and Paul Casciato)

***************************************************************************

These Chinese will eat almost everything, no, correction, not almost everything -it's everything- moving on earth and under water, and like not enough of that, they savour human flesh, live monkey brains, drinking blood and urine. It wont be too much to say that Chinese are the most filthiest human race on earth and amazingly they got all the reason behind eating and drinking all the rubbish. It's for health purposes.
All you know they also might be consuming their own stool to stay perpetually young....dduuhhh.

One thing for sure, should there be one time when food are not available to the human race, they will definitely be one race that will survive the earth -- eating everything. 

Most polluted nations.

Emerging nations around the world are often heralded for their fast growth but we don't often hear about the downsides of that rapid development.


The World Health Organization (WHO) recently released a report on air quality in countries around the globe, on which we based a list of the ten most polluted countries. Almost all the worst offenders are either major oil and gas producers, or emerging economies that are growing rapidly.....

Now, should I be feeling relief because the state that Im currently residing is not on the list.
I remember one doctor's advice on being too much in the open air here because of the polluted air.
It especially scary to imagine every breath me and my family breathing when the plants burning its gas...They undoubtedly  look exactly like Lord of The Rings fire towers....

Know your eggs...

Four myths about eggs
By Lori Bongiorno (enviromental journalist)

Choosing eggs is not nearly as simple as it should be. After all, the average egg weighs about 2 ounces. How many decisions can you possibly have to make for something so small and seemingly simple? Well, let’s see: Brown or white? Large or small? Organic or not?

And those decisions are just the tip of the iceberg. Egg cartons can be stamped with any number of labels, some meaningful, others not so much.

It's not always easy to separate fact from fiction when it comes to eggs. Below are some of the most common misperceptions.

Myth: Brown eggs are different than white.
Fact: The only difference between a brown and white egg is the color of the shell, which is merely a reflection of the breed of the hen. In general, but not always, hens with white feathers and earlobes lay white eggs and those with dark feathers and red earlobes lay brown eggs.

One isn’t healthier, more “natural,” or more eco-friendly than the other. There aren’t any differences in nutritional quality, flavor, or cooking characteristics.

Myth: Free-range eggs come from hens that roam freely outdoors.
Fact: The claims are not regulated for eggs, according to Consumer Reports. So there is no guarantee that the hen that laid the eggs ever saw the light of day. Of course, it may have spent time outdoors, but the “free range” label doesn’t mean anything. The following labels are also meaningless when it comes to eggs: “free roaming,” “hormone free,” and “raised without antibiotics.”

Myth: Organic eggs are healthier.
Fact: They certainly can be, but it all depends on the chicken’s diet. Organic eggs come from hens that are fed a 100-percent organic diet. However, what really matters when it comes to nutrition is whether the hens were raised on pasture. Studies, such as those conducted at Penn State University and by Mother Earth News, found that eggs from chickens that ate grass and insects contained higher levels of omega-3 fat, and vitamins E, A, and in some cases D.

If you want eggs from hens that are raised on pasture or spend a lot of time outdoors, then you’ll have to find a farmer you trust at your local farmers’ market.

Myth: Egg substitutes are simply eggs (or egg whites) without the shells.
Fact: Most products have added stabilizers, thickeners, vitamins, carotenes, and, sometimes, spices, according to Marion Nestle, author of What to Eat. She also points out that they cost about twice as much as real eggs. (A pound of egg substitutes weighs slightly less than a dozen small eggs.)

Of course, if you can’t eat egg yolks for health reasons or have no use for them, egg substitutes are a good option, and most products only have a tiny percentage of additives. Just read the labels before buying.

Fat or not fat...

I was brought to write on this matter after reading my beloved youngest sister's facebook status on her feeling /being fat.
I reckoned the state that she is in right now, might be quite troubling for her because she is the type that would hardly felt troubled by such things in life or be ignited by simple stupidity created by her surrounding.

I do not know whether she'll be reading my blog or not, and whether she'll kill me for jotting her concern about being fat here today (I hope you won't ....hehehehe), but I do hope she and lot of women out there who share the same concern of being in that 'fat zone' would take my writing on the positive side.

One thing about my sister, she is a very lovely and sweet girl who is more 'girlie' than me, and enjoys good food, something that all of us in the family shared. We will hunt for good food, be it via reading food comments, or just by word of mouth. The only difference between her and me is our physical size and her warm heart. I'm a hard-headed petite girl with a very unorthodox point of view in life ~ well most of it.

So, coming back to sweet sister of mine, with her being in that state (which I can say, it is not that bad and have yet to reach the obese scale count, im pretty sure of that!), I know one thing that she and perhaps some women out there share in common ~ the tendency of buying more new cloths to fit in to the ever 'growing' body changes.

No denying on this. We all do that occasionally.
She, for one thing, loves to buy (not shopoholic yet!) and that includes clothings.

See, all of us need someone or something as a benchmark to what we want and intend to achieve in life.
This includes having a sort of measuring tape for our desired comfortable figure.
Of course, we have to take into consideration of the our age (those above 30s tend to accumulate fats faster and at places one never had in the 20s), whether having babies before or otherwise, genetics and lifestyle.

But I'm only going to touch on the clothings and non of the rest.

When someone realises that they are gaining some weight, which will later shows obviously by the tight waistline and being unable to fit in the pants that we've not been wearing three months ago ~ that is an indication having our weight and fats increased or accumulated.
Thus, when exasperation sips into the head, most people and that includes me, will start buy a larger size pants or skirts. And that goes the same to blouses and shirts.

Imagine that to go on months after months and year after year.
We take things for granted.
We thought, it's okay ~ it's just a bit, but still continue the lazy lifestyle.
Only one day, when we sit down and realised that we've succeeded to reach from size 8 to 11 or size 10 to 16, it'll be too hard and too comfy to start do anything at all.
Honestly, it will be much easier when women are at 25 and below to shed some weight away, but it'll get tougher when we reached our prime age of 30s and above.
Thus, making sure we won't be blown into some figure that won't fit comfortably in a Mini Cooper ~ we should always have a checkpoint on our weight and health overall.

I have my own measuring item. Nope, it is not a measuring tape but one piece of nice straight cut Levi's that I have been using for almost 10 years. This particular jeans is my benchmark.
I wasn't that taken aback when I can't fit in to it after the delivery my first child because I have read and known and accepted the condition that I'll be in post delivery.
But after six months, when I was about to throw it away (of course after having a replacement and with one size higher and with different cut), I gave it a last try.

Viola!!

Now, I'm still using it although it does give that bulge on the tummy and love handles, But I put myself into self-agreement that I'll do some floor exercise for those areas, and it will definetely be my ultimate weight and fats watcher.

It goes the same to blouses and all of our clothings. Once we have the freedom of allowing ourselves into getting a size bigger, we will continue do that until one day, when we realised it, we are on the semi-obese scale count and it'll be harder to get rid of all the unnecessary.

Being fat has it's consequences.
Besides implications such as uncomfortable inner-tight brushing against each other, joint pains especially on the legs resulted from carrying overweighted body, the most affected would be the one that is quite hard to guess ~ on our self-esteem.
Although being just at the normal weight or figure would not guarantee a healthy inside, it does allow us to be happy with ourselves ~ the most important factor in life.
Being angry and frowning would only make us a depressed person.

I understand some people would say that being fat is only on the outside. Being fat is okay. Your inside (heart and soul) is the most important of all. On the inside you're still a very nice person, a happy woman, this and that. But honestly, I feel that is mere lip service for people who doesn't have the courage to tell their family or friend that they think that person is fat or a 'little big bigger'.
Ask a lady who think that she is fat ~ whether is she happy with her weight and welcome open-heartedly on how people look at them and they do not envy normal-sized lady?
Ask whether would they be comfortable when looking at themselves into the mirror butt naked?
Would they feel attractive when their husbands look at them behind the four walls?
Ask yourself honestly...

I am not indicating fat (women or men) are ugly, but I would like to know ~ would those who consider themselves fat have a notion come visiting them once in a while and wish that they are not as fat or swear that they would have kept that slimmer bods while having them many years ago.

So for you who thought that you're fat, here are some ideas I want to share;

1. Stop buying new cloths

2. Get one dress that you love so much but can't fit into it now AND start wearing it or hang it out for your daily viewing and encourage yourself to fit into it in 3 months time.

3. Although genes and hormones do take control of us women, we can still manage our brain. So start thinking of being at that desired weight and figure, the rest will follow suit.

4. Try eating at the same time for every meal. Skipping meal doesn't make you skinnier.

5. Eat moderately of everything. We do need some carbo and protein and fats to burn our energy.

6. Snacking is heavenly if it's on Cheezels or Lays, but do it once a while or else munch fresh sweet carrots or celery sticks, or nuts.

7. I've indulged myself into a large glass of hot lemon squeeze on an alternate day those days and it proves to help reduced my fatty count in the BMI calculations of body fats. Im doing it once a week now ....(im actually reminding myself too now. Im very lazy i.e).

8. Floor exercise is better than gym. I've gone for the latter and stick to the former. Avoid cycling machine. It only helps you make your thighs bigger and flabbier if you stop.

9. I think Pilates work better because it stretches all of our limbs. (reminding myself too...i've stooped for ages already especially when it is almost unknown here in this country)

10. For cardio work out ~ go walking or running doing house work instead of sleeping in the afternoons. Running proves bad for our internal part of our body. Not good for our heart.

So start trying one.

Mind problems.

No denying that the world today is infested with more and more implausible diseases and the one that is taking a good footing of it all is the disease of human's mind.
There are a lot of human mind problems.
Some of them were those that had already been from the early age of humankind (the case of Adam's son who felt jealous when the brother married his sister who is more beautiful than the other sister which he was supposed to marry).
Such is jealousy and envy.

There are also those which are not noticeable and very hard to identified such as character-problem called Split-personality disorder.
This disorder is not easy to recognised maybe because there aren't many disclosures on people with that mental sickness around, or maybe we've been mixing with only 'one' of the personality and are oblivious about the other one. How was that?

Anyway, I've been exposed to Split-personality disorders but that are restricted to only those on tv's psychological thriller movies. Hahaha.....
There's this movie I remember, about a guy suffering from Split-personality disorder starring Robert De Niro and Dakota Fanning in Hide & Seek . It is interestingly mind stimulating watching such movie which will undoubtedly make us think of the existence of such behaviour.

On a more serious note, I know few people with mental disorder, and one of them is from the inside. Why I call it mental disorder?
Well, take time and read to judge.
This person, whom has been responsible to create chaos within many times before, will without any show of remorse back stab in order to get things done the way this person wants it. Creating slanderous stories for own benefits and in order to gain support from others. Make believe non-existence incidences besides blaming own family to constantly taking advantage and never failed to bring to being uncalled for situations with those who is on on wanted list.

After exceedingly achieve creating massive havoc, this person whom continually send forth hurtful words or statements, together with thoughtless actions, will unfailingly, in the quickess span of 5 hours deny any hurtful remarks uttered and instead blame on something for the uncalled for behaviour....which evidently to be caused by other people or situations.
Massive.
Really an achiver.

And interestingly, the ultimate repetitive behaviour which is very significant to those who know this person; is the ability to behave, pretend and deny things ever happen. And it's like the sky is always blue.
Conversation and behaviour takes on naturally without any show of regret or self-reproach.

Obviously this person is slacking something somewhere, and evidently have no friends.
More than that, this is one strong indication of mental illness which needed treatment.
I have witness and be involved more than enough incidences and it has been going on for more than a decade.

Yes, it may be easy to label someone with having character problems or mental sickness, but because that person is not responsible enough to get any kind of help or treatment, and the others who are not responsible enough to encourage, this lot of people will be roaming our streets and get on by as normal people.
And hey, who would want to admit that they're sick in the head anyway?

Moreover, we tend to assume that those irresponsible bad behaviour were the result of stressful work, or life or whatever. And we are not taking time listening and evaluating those behaviour.

As todays' society supposedly believe in the 'respect of human rights and one's privacy', we choose to ignore these behaviour unless it effected us directly. And we also chose not to be judgemental.
Besides that there are also some of us who'd subscribe to the 'i-don't-care' attitude thus making us an individual oblivious of our surrounding.
Do we honestly think it is at the better end?
What if the person that we know now, one day will be the one who would run amok on us?

Another of my experience was during my first semester doing Art & Design.
I remember this girl who I shared the room with in the hostel.
She was a jovial and fun girl who is also a chatter-box.
As the two of us shared the room, along with another two more girls, we quickly developed a close bond together.

Well, what I and the other girls found out later from this persona, is a very different character. The friendly façade was later tainted by some incidences. Her stories is getting more and more out of sense when me and the rest of the girls conduct our own little diagnosis.
One of her stories which I remember well was her about being a swimmer representing her school while she studied in one High school in the United States.

This is just too easy to notice because, we know it was impossible when we started to plus and minus her age and her stories just doesn't fit in. Fact will be fact and numbers can never be uncomputed.

Nevertheless, she didn't stay on long due to failure in the first semester exam, thus lifting certain burden off our shoulders.

I guess her behavioural attributes must be due to some kind of 'wants' or 'dream' that she wished she had or listen or saw someone near of having it.
I read somewhere that we are WHO and WHAT we want US to be.
Our attitude, behaviour and our way to react to any given situation was based on the type of group we were into; in other words ; who we mix with.

Hmmm...that sounds like all of us have some kind of minor split personalities too, no?
See, if our behaviour and actions are based on our environment and people that we mix with, then it is not at all wrong to say that 'every one of us are having split personalities' problems too.

Im sure we behave differently while we're with family members and become another when person with our friends.
If anyone dare to deny, I'd say you're a liar.

So, it is a decent behaviour that we must obtain while with different group. Than doesn't that sounds like Split-personality disorder. Maybe on the minor side?

I feel, no matter who we are, and who we mingled around whether young or old; we are being influenced to behave accordingly to the 'needs' of that particular group we in at that moment.

Je ne sais pas....

All I know, there are numbers of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Although there's a lot of term and definition for every each of personalities, it only single to one; mental illness; which will result in more people with peculiar personality walking among us, affecting ours and their own thoughts. Feeling and emotions both.
The only way of knowing one is by keeping a close watch and evaluate their behaviour on a neutral ground.

Of course the term 'It needs one to know one' cannot be implemented here.... or could it?

Trouble Sleeping?

Just Breathe....
By Brad Kearns

If your mind is racing and you are having difficulty falling asleep, a few minutes of simple but effective breathing exercises can help calm your nervous system on a chemical level and lead to greater success in hitting the sack.
The awareness and control of breath has been a central component of yoga, martial arts and Taoism for thousands of years. There are dozens of different methods and exercises you can explore through a good teacher or book.
The practice of breath control in yoga is called pranayama. I'll detail a simple pranayama exercise here that is particularly effective for falling asleep called alternate nostril breathing (that's "nadi shodana" for the Sanskrit posse out there).

Alternate nostril breathing is a great way to clear obstructed nostrils, balance the yin and yang energy of the body and focusing the busy mind on the present for a deliberate and calming exercise.
When our nostrils are unobstructed, we involuntarily alternate breathing through one or the other about every two hours. Breathing through your right nostril stimulates the left side of the brain (intellectual, analytical, rational thought) and prepares the body for physical action (yang energy).

Breathing through your left nostril stimulates the right side of the brain (creative, emotional thought) and prepares the body for passive mental activity (yin energy). If both nostrils are not clear, breathing will become imbalanced and so will the energy in your body.

When you are feeling restless at bedtime, head outside (weather permitting obviously, but even in wintertime, you can certainly spend a couple minutes on a balcony or porch in brisk air), sit in a comfortable chair and begin the exercise. You will likely have a really hard time focusing your mind on only the breathing exercise. Establish a rule that whenever your mind wanders away from the breathing exercise to other random thoughts, you have to start over. With practice, you'll develop the esteemed ability to relax and center -- not just to calm the mind for bed but any time the stresses of life are closing in.

Alternate nostril breathing is performed as follows: Take one hand up to your face for blocking nostrils. For example, your right thumb will close off your right nostril while your right index or middle finger will close off your left nostril. Block off the right nostril and inhale fully (notice how your inhale and exhale will be slower since you are only using one nostril).

Pause at the completion of your inhale and switch nostrils by using your finger to block the left nostril and releasing your thumb from the right nostril. Exhale through the right nostril, inhale through the right nostril, then pause and switch to exhale through the left nostril. Thus, you switch nostrils in the middle of the breath cycle.
To complete a cycle of 10 breaths, count each inhale/exhale as one. After your complete your breathing session, you can return to bed with a calm brain and hopefully induce a good night's sleep.

For more information on How to Sleep Better, visit LIVESTRONG.COM.


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One that will add up to many other remedies i have up my sleeves.
This, of course i will definitely try soon to counter my everlasting sleeping problems that had been with me ever since I'm a teenager.

What i know is -- i felt utterly envious of my SO who can just doze off easily once he put his head on the pillow thus he can't comprehend why can't i just sleep although i had been running up and about or after a very tiring day.

All i know is -- it's not my body or due to high metabolic rate that I'm having.
It is more of my head is running a marathon on some nights and a cross country on others. Yes, i do have nights where i can sleep easily -- hmmmm...for example, after a long flight, or the earliest like 12 am ( i can count with my fingers...) and ....and....after i didn't sleep the whole night and day!!..
Do that count?

It is an exasperating situation.
It is not doing good to my body.
It is not doing good to my skin no matter how many types of creams from low to high end that i use.
It is not doing good to the eyes....oh gosh.....The eyes! The eye-bags, the raccoon or panda eyes....

Whatever it is, I'm longing for the beauty sleep....and hope it will come to visit me soon...just for couple of days, in which i will be so appreciative cause i know it wont last that long anyway.

Black To White

Do you think that Michael Jakson's song Black or White might have some sort of connection to a disease called Vitiligo, which the late King of Pop suffered himself?
Think again....

I saw a report on this matter earlier and this chronic disorder of this skin depigmentation as in patches of skin happened to more or less 3% of population in the US and that it is more noticeable with darker skin complexion.

It is said that this disease is hereditary and easily affecting those susceptible to viral disease and diabetic people. The sufferer tend to blister more and sun burnt easily.

One young lady, who had totally changed to fair or white skin told of her predicament during younger years having to braved all of people's labelling, besides children making fun of her skin conditions which she contracted during the early age of 5 years old.

This disease, for those who are not well verse with it -- is not contagious or life threatening although it will effect them socially.

Vitiligo occurs when the melanocytes, the cells responsible for skin pigmentation which are derived from the neural crest, die or are unable to function, although the precise cause of it is complex and not yet fully understood. There is some evidence suggesting it is caused by a combination of autoimmune, genetic, and environmental factors. It is also common in people with thyroid disorders.

This skin conditions will hurt those people contracted by it and will leave an evident impact on one's appearance. Although Michael Jackson's conditions later resulted in a plus point to him because he eventually became totally white all over, some will just be left with the patches which will be obvious surrounding the face, neck and hand area.
Nevertheless, for those who suffered permanent patches, skin camouflage is the most readily available answer to it.

NST Online

NST Online

Another death.
And it was said that this type of mask will not totally devoid you of the virus....

Another killer.

I came across this article and it's just what we all need at this time.
Please read on.

Blast From the Past: Plague Strikes China
Black Death Bacteria Can Spread From Human To Human

Over the weekend, news emerged that a variant of the same bacteria that caused the infamous" Black Death" or bubonic plague, in medieval Europe had claimed three lives in the Chinese province of Qinghai, prompting the government to quarantine the town of Ziketan, home to 10,000 people.

A rash of pneumonic plague in China has claimed at least three lives.
The bacteria responsible, Yersinia pestis, is the same bacteria that caused the bubonic plague, which wiped out, millions of people in Europe in the fourteenth century.

While this form of the disease, known as pneumonic plague, spreads from human to human, without needing rats or fleas for transmission, it is not the grave threat to humans it was in medieval times.

"In this form, the organism gets in the lung -- that allows it to be transmitted by coughing," explained Philip Alcabes, associate professor in the program in urban public health at Hunter College's School of Health Sciences and author of Dread: How Fear And Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics From The Black Death To Avian Flu. "The problem with that is that it allows it to be transmitted directly from person to person."

The Plague Surfaces in ChinaCDC downgrades Mexico travel warning God Bless You! Origins of Cold, Flu PhrasesFleas will spread the bubonic plague when they bite rats, injecting the bacteria into the animal's bloodstream, but will bite humans when a rat is not available. In some cases, those bacteria will find a way into the lung, turning bubonic plague into the more contagious pneumonic plague.


"If it's in the person's bloodstream, that's called bacteremia. That goes to the lungs, and it could potentially seed the lung tissue, and the bacteria could set up shop there," said Dr. Howard Markel, professor of the history of medicine and of pediatrics and communicable diseases at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, who noted that the disease could also become pneumonic if aerosolized bacteria are inhaled.

"Pneumonic is the kind where you really get scared," he said. "You can spread it even more quickly?breathing on people in close, crowded areas."


Quarantine: A Necessary Step?
While China quickly moved to quarantine the village, Markel and Alcabes questioned the appropriateness of that response.

--JOSEPH BROWNSTEIN
ABC News Medical Unit
Aug. 5, 2009


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What can you expect from China?
The country that has the most populated cities in the world, with the type of hygiene practice there, and the people who culture of spitting anywhere and everywhere publicly and the attitude of spitting unwanted food or bones on the table at restaurant; any germs would be happy to live in this environment.

Since the spread of any pandemics will originate from filth and dirty animal such as pigs, the practice of good hygiene would always be good for the human nations. The easiest thing is to wash hands with soap after a trip to the loo or perhaps, restaurants better provide anti-bacterial liquid instead of the cheap hard soap that is only god to wash dogs and cats.

The Best Fast-Food Meals Under 500 Calories

How serious can you be when you're talking to a clown?
Millions of us face that problem as we approach the drive-thru squawk box—ornamented with those wacky fast-food characters—and go all Goofy with our orders. No wonder so many of us weigh more than we want to.

Dustin Robinson had exactly that problem. He was a busy guy, so he hit the drive-thru five times a week. The drive-thru hit back, to the tune of 50 extra pounds that Dustin didn't need to be carrying. But when he reached 250 pounds, he used Eat This, Not That! and, armed with the information he needed, started talking to the clown--but this time without speaking nonsense.

Concentrating on delicious entrees like the ones you'll learn about below, he shed more than 10 pounds a month! Now he's down to 215, and well on his way to his goal of 200 pounds. And he's still eating at the restaurants he loves—he's just eating smarter. To help you do the same, here are some of the recommended Eat This! fast-food meals under 500 calories.

Less Than 500 Calories at Dunkin' DonutsHam, Egg & Cheese English Muffin Sandwich with English Breakfast Tea
350 calories
15 g fat (6 g saturated fat)
1,045 mg sodium

English muffins have a fraction of the carbohydrates of a bagel, and none of the trans fats of the donuts and croissants. The antioxidant-rich tea is also a great way to begin your day.

Less Than 500 Calories at Hardee's
BBQ Chicken Sandwich with a small side of Cole Slaw
490 calories
16 g fat (3g saturated fat)
1,340 mg sodium

Barbecue sauce and a reasonably-sized side dish keep this meal in the safe zone. Just opt for a water, rather than a Hardee's shake or malt, and you're good to go. And if you want to steer clear of the liquid disasters that can blow up your waistline without your knowing it, be sure to check out some of these other worst beverages in America.

Less Than 500 Calories at KFC3 Crispy Strips with Green Beans and 3" Corn on the Cob, and a Medium Diet Pepsi
475 calories
22.5 g fat (6 g saturated fat)
1,200 mg sodium

Order a side of green beans for a good source of vitamins K, A, and C—key players in maintaining strong bones and reducing cancer-causing free radicals. The corn on the cob will also help fill you up with minimal added calories. Just beware the dipping sauces—choosing BBQ over Ranch can save you over 100 calories.

Less Than 500 Calories at McDonald's
Premium Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich with a Side Salad with Newman's Own Low Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette, and a Medium Iced Tea
480 calories
13 g fat (2 g saturated fat)
1,945 mg sodium

Counting calories doesn't mean your meal is healthy. For example: The Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich matches the Quarter Pounder without cheese when it comes to caloric content—but the chicken has no trans fats, while the burger does. Choose the sandwich and side salad for a good combination of protein and veggies.

Less Than 500 Calories at Pizza Hut
Two Slices Thin ‘N Crispy Pizza (12") with Quartered Ham & Pineapple, and Medium Diet Coke
360 calories
12 g fat (5 g saturated fat)
1,110 mg sodium

Regardless of which pizza chain you favor, ham and pineapple is one of the most trusted combinations you can order. Ham adds extra protein to balance out the crust's carbohydrate load, while pineapple adds low-cal sweetness and a dose of antioxidants.

Less Than 500 Calories at Taco BellTwo Fresco Soft Beef Tacos with Mexican Rice, and a bottle of water
470 calories
17 g fat (6 g saturated fat)
1,760 mg sodium

Order almost any menu item "fresco" style and the Bell boys will replace cheese and sauces with a chunky tomato salsa, cutting calories and fat by at least 25 percent. Beyond being nutritious, salsa is also cheap—check out our list of the other healthiest cheap foods you can eat. Finally, the Mexican rice adds a tasty little side (just 110 extra calories) that'll help fill you up without filling you out.

Less Than 500 Calories at Wendy's
Ultimate Chicken Grill Sandwich with Mandarin Orange Cup and small Nestea Sweetened Iced Tea
500 calories
7 g fat (1.5 g saturated fat)
983 mg sodium

This is the healthiest sandwich on the menu. Don't order your chicken spicy, though: That's their cue to fry, rather than grill, your bird, tacking on an extra 9.5 fat grams. Adding a small citrus fruit cup side is also a great, low-calorie way to add sweetness—and cold-fighting vitamin C—to your meal.


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Put the good info aside, i mean pratically, do people really have time to count the calories that they swallowed every meal?
Not me! Never did and never will.

Whiter smiles...

Ever on time for your dental check-ups?
I don't know about others but most of the people i know will never stick to the every six month visit to their dentist.
Same goes for me. Although an effort was being concerted for the twice a year check-ups but being human, i do take things for granted sometimes.
Its either I'd missed it by few months later or realised I'm in grave need for tooth brightening due to my excessive coffee intake and smoking, proud to say its on a-stick-a-day basis already.

Since my last visit to the dentist last Octobre for root canal due to ten years ago impact on my two front teeth when i fell on my face, I'm thinking of having my teeth bleached. I had done bleaching or whitening twice and the last one wasn't quite a good experience for me. For one, the procedures were quite uncomfortable, probably due to that particular dentist technique, and having my jaw wide open for that lenght of time was very tiring and painful.
The ultimate one that the dentist did was telling me if i ever want to have whiter teeth, i must not drink coffee or tea, eat curry, or turmeric based curries, and all sort of that nonsense; besides, that i hated him and his poker face ( he is the replacement of my usual dentist who migrated overseas).

Now I'm thinking to have it done here.
I don't know how these dentist will conduct their bleaching technique though.
While i wanted to try several products out in the market that claim can whiten the teeth, I wonder if they are safe to use? After all, we ingest much of what is on them by the mere fact that they are inside your mouth.
I have also used smokers tooth paste but stop after few years of using it when i read something unwanted about the chemicals in them.

Even that, come to think of it, the toothpaste that we put in our mouth twice daily, do we really know what kinds of health effects they can have.
Meantime, i do know after reading about natural ways to whiten the.
It is homemade and cheap.

1. Bicarbonate of soda - Brush your teeth with bicarbonate of soda just 5 minutes before brushing your teeth with normal toothpaste in the morning. You should see an improvement after several weeks.
(we do use this to wash our veges and fruits)

2. Baking soda and hydrogen peroxide - Mix these together to form a toothpaste and efficiently brush your teeth regularly with this paste. It should remove all stains in a month.
(i know hydrogen peroxide can discoloured the hair!!)

3. Orange Peel Rub the inside of an orange peel (the white part) against your teeth and this should help in you teeth whitening treatment.

4. Apple cider vinegar (ACV) - Brush your teeth every night with apple cider vinegar. This is known to be an effective home remedy for teeth whitening.
(i know my mom used to drink this when she was a young mom to help keep the body slim- i never try it though)

5. Ash - Brushing your teeth with hard wood ash is also beneficial as it contains a teeth whitener – potassium hydroxide. It may not be the most tasty but it’s effective.
(i know this from my mom's childhood stories)

6. Your diet matters - Certain foods you eat help your teeth stay nice and white: celery, apples and carrots clean your teeth naturally by way of chewing vigorously, and other foods like lettuce, strawberries, lemons, broccoli and spinach prevent staining by either creating a sort of film that protects your teeth from stains or cleans them well.

7. Brush! - To prevent discoloration and permanent staining of your teeth brush after every meal.
(i know one guy who does this- every meal! I mean its totally 'hard' but undoubtedly he got damn beautiful smile)

8. Lemon juice and salt - Mix the two to create a paste and apply to yellowing spots on teeth. It’s been reported that this is one of the most effective home remedies for teeth whitening.

9. Avoid excessive consumption of coffee, tea, red wine, carbonated drinks and smoking.

10. Lemon - Dip your toothbrush in lemon juice and brush your teeth well. This is also effective home remedy for teeth whitening. And refreshing, too!

Blue Blood Crab.

I came across a very interesting fact about this sea creature my dad used to brought home sometimes from his deep sea fishing those days when he was a lot younger.
This creature when i first saw was brought back home by my dad during my early teenage life which during that time seems to me rather yukky but kinda interesting.
According to my dad when i asked why he brought back this creature, he told me that it was for some medicinal purposes, which i do not know what exactly he meant by that and never bothered to ask anyway.

In my mother tongue it is called 'belangkas' or in English they call them Horseshoe Crab.
It must have been none of my interest or i have got nothing to do with any sort of medical research whatsoever, my knowing about this creature's beneficial trait to the pharmaceutical world impresses me very much.

I remember there was even a Malay proverbs mentioning about this creature.
Because of its frequent appearance, or mostly when found on shore sticking to each another tightly, the proverbs relates this action to couples in love who can't be separated, so to say.
I am also quite imaginative though.
I am very sure the movie Alien vs Predator creator got the idea of how the Predator should look like from the Horseshoe Crab.
Look at it carefully the next time you watch the movie.
It does look yukky when you really have a closer inspection at their stomach area, and with five pairs of book gills, located just behind their appendages, this creature can breathe underwater while also allowing them to breathe on land for short periods of time.

Although most arthropods (this is their scientific term) have mandibles, the horseshoe crab is jawless. The mouth is located in the middle of the underside of the cephalothorax, with chelicerae located at each side of the mouth. In the female, the four large legs are all alike, and end in pincers. In the male, the first of the four large legs is modified, with a bulbous claw that serves to lock the male to the female while she deposits the eggs and he waits to fertilize them.

But what amazes me more is that the Horseshoe Crab has blue blood.
It is amazing that when they strapped them for the 'bleeding' session the liquid that ozzes out is actually blue when it is exposed to the oxygen.
Hemocyanin is colourless when deoxygenated and dark blue when oxygenated. The blood in the circulation of these creatures, which generally live in cold environments with low oxygen tensions, is grey-white to pale yellow.

The blood of horseshoe crabs contains the copper-containing protein hemocyanin at concentrations of about 50 g per litre. These creatures do not have hemoglobin (iron-containing protein like us human and animals) which is the basis of oxygen transport in vertebrates. This is due to change in color of hemocyanin when it is oxygenated.Hemocyanin carries oxygen in extracellular fluid, which is in contrast to the intracellular oxygen transport in vertebrates by hemoglobin in red blood cells.

The blood of horseshoe crabs contains one type of blood cell, the amebocytes which plays a good role in the defense against pathogens. Amebocytes contain granules with a clotting factor known as coagulogen; this is released outside the cell when bacterial endotoxin is encountered. The resulting coagulation is thought to contain bacterial infections in the animal's semi-closed circulatory system.

How important has this creature contributed to our pharmaceutical industry? Their enzymes are used by astronauts in the International Space Station to test surfaces for unwanted bacteria and fungi.
They have been contributing to our healthcare as early as 1950s.

So, lets put this two together; "blue blooded" human and blue blooded crab;which one do you think will be better off as God's best created creature?

Dangerous travelling.

Woman's 'flu-like symptoms' divert plane to Boston

BOSTON – A flight from Germany has been diverted to Boston because a passenger complained of flu-like symptoms.

Airport spokesman Phil Orlandella says United Airlines Flight 903 landed in Boston early Friday afternoon after a 53-year-old female passenger reported her symptoms.

He says the woman was checked at Massachusetts General Hospital and the flight continued to Washington Dulles International Airport.

United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson says the pilot landed in Boston on the advice of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It isn't yet clear what caused the woman's symptoms or whether she might be suffering from swine flu.

Johnson says the flight had 245 passengers and 14 crew members.

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I have friends that will be travelling to these affected continents soon, and do hope that they will consider to postpone their schedule due to this 'yellow code' situation now.

Hopefully they wont mind losing something not as important as god given health and life....

Kill the swine.....

Swine flu fears prompt quarantine plans, pork bans


GENEVA – Countries planned quarantines, tightened rules on pork imports and tested airline passengers for fevers as global health officials tried Sunday to come up with uniform ways to battle a deadly strain of swine flu. Nations from New Zealand to France reported new suspected cases and some warned citizens against travel to North America.

World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan held teleconferences with staff and flu experts around the world but stopped short of recommending specific measures to halt the disease beyond urging governments to step up their surveillance of suspicious outbreaks.

Governments including China, Russia and Taiwan began planning to put anyone with symptoms of the deadly virus under quarantine.

Others were increasing their screening of pigs and pork imports from the Americas or banning them outright despite health officials' reassurances that it was safe to eat thoroughly cooked pork.

Some nations issued travel warnings for Mexico and the United States.

Chan called the outbreak a public health emergency of "pandemic potential" because the virus can pass from human to human.

Her agency was considering whether to issue nonbinding recommendations on travel and trade restrictions, and even border closures. It is up to governments to decide whether to follow the advice.

"Countries are encouraged to do anything that they feel would be a precautionary measure," WHO spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi said. "All countries need to enhance their monitoring."

New Zealand said that 10 students who took a school trip to Mexico "likely" had swine flu. Israel said a man who had recently visited Mexico had been hospitalized while authorities try to determine whether he had the disease. French Health Ministry officials said four possible cases of swine flu are currently under investigation, including a family of three in the northern Nord region and a woman in the Paris region. The four recently returned from Mexico. Tests on two separate cases of suspected swine flu proved negative, they said.

Spain's Health Ministry said three people who just returned from Mexico were under observation in hospitals in the northern Basque region, in southeastern Albacete and the Mediterranean port city of Valencia.

Mexico closed schools, museums, libraries and theaters in a bid to contain the outbreak after hundreds were sickened there. In the U.S., there have been at least 11 confirmed cases of swine flu in California, Texas and Kansas. Patients have ranged in age from 9 to over 50. At least two were hospitalized. All recovered or are recovering.

New York health officials said more than 100 students at the St. Francis Preparatory School, in Queens, recently began suffering a fever, sore throat and aches and pains. Some of their relatives also have been ill.

Some St. Francis students had recently traveled to Mexico, The New York Times and New York Post reported Sunday.

Preliminary tests of samples taken from sick students' noses and throats confirmed that at least eight had a non-human strain of influenza type A, indicating probable cases of swine flu, city health officials said. The exact subtypes were still unknown, and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was conducting further tests.

Hong Kong and Taiwan said visitors who came back from flu-affected areas with fevers would be quarantined. China said anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms within two weeks of arrival an affected area had to report to authorities. A Russian health agency said any passenger from North America running a fever would be quarantined until cause of the fever is determined.

Tokyo's Narita airport installed a device to test the temperatures of passengers arriving from Mexico.

Indonesia increased surveillance at all entry points for travelers with flu-like symptoms — using devices at airports that were put in place years ago to monitor for severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and bird flu. It said it was ready to quarantine suspected victims if necessary.

Hong Kong and South Korea warned against travel to the Mexican capital and three affected provinces. Italy, Poland and Venezuela also advised their citizens to postpone travel to affected areas of Mexico and the United States.

Symptoms of the flu-like illness include a fever of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius), body aches, coughing, a sore throat, respiratory congestion and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea.

At least 81 people have died from severe pneumonia caused by the disease in Mexico, according to the WHO.

The virus is usually contracted through direct contact with pigs, but Joseph Domenech, chief of animal health service at U.N. Food and Agriculture Agency in Rome, said all indications were that the virus is being spread through human-to-human transmission.

No vaccine specifically protects against swine flu, and it is unclear how much protection current human flu vaccines might offer.

Russia banned the import of meat products from Mexico, California, Texans and Kansas. South Korea said it would increase the number of its influenza virus checks on pork products from Mexico and the U.S.

Serbia on Saturday banned all imports of pork from North America, despite reassurances from the FAO that pigs appear not to be the immediate source of infection.

Italy's agriculture lobby, Coldiretti, warned against panic reaction, noting that farmers lost hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) because of consumers boycotts during the 2001 mad cow scare and the 2005 bird flu outbreak.

Japanese Agriculture Minister Shigeru Ishiba appeared on TV to calm consumers, saying it was safe to eat pork.

In Egypt, health authorities were examining about 350,000 pigs being raised in Cairo and other provinces for swine flu.

The WHO's pandemic alert level is currently at to phase 3. The organization said the level could be raised to phase 4 if the virus shows sustained ability to pass from human to human.

Phase 5 would be reached if the virus is found in at least two countries in the same region.

"The declaration of phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short," WHO said--AP

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Possibilities of grave health problems even when the world is getting more and more advanced both scientifically and technologically;

1. the un-stoppable evolution that causes insects such as mosquitoes to be more dangerous.

2. all these diseases are the work of drugs manufacturer so they can sell more.

3. its telling that pigs brought bad to human health.