Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Human Obesity is not Caused Merely by a Weak Will Essay

Human Obesity is not Caused Merely by a Weak Will - Essay Example The UK government in its Foresight programme (2007) recorded a rapid rise in the number of overweight and obese people in Britain, and at an average estimate predicted that by 2050 more than 50% of the UK adult population would become overweight or obese (Foresight, 2007, 5). The recent spurt in global obesity has led to the derivation of a number of factors related to environmental determinants of this epidemic, amongst which eating habits driven by food marketing and reduction in physical activities due to technological advancement, are considered the two major causes (the ‘Big Two’). Despite the popularity amongst of these two factors, it is necessary that other causal factors of obesity are also identified, since an overall understanding of all probable factors are necessary, in order to control this global health hazard.   Discussion Mechanisms that control human appetite or regulates feeding pattern For appropriate regulation of body weight, there must be a good coordination between intake of food and energy output. The current global epidemic of overweight and obesity is owing to the fact that energy requirements of a human are very near to his/her BMI, thus, allowing it to be easily crossed, making it necessary to focus on appetite control. This function of controlling feeding or appetite is performed by hypothalamus, located between pituitary and thalamus in the brain (Legg and Booth, 1994). Neuron clusters are present within the hypothalamus and one such cluster (arcuate nucleus), forms to be the appetite centre. The arcuate nucleus controls the hormones and metabolites through the vagus nerve, while regulating metabolism through the coordination of adipose tissue, intestines, kidneys, and liver activities. Hypothalamus, which controls feeding while coordinating it with appropriate amount of energy expenditure by the body is, therefore, indirectly responsible for maintaining body weight, by balancing physical activities with the amount the food to be eaten (Logue, 2004). Appetite centre is comprised of primary neurons (that control hormonal and metabolite levels), and secondary neurons that after receiving information from the primary neurons, regulate body functions. The primary neurons have cells that can stimulate hunger via production of agouti-related peptide or AgRP and neuropeptide or NPY. It is also comprised of cells that can supress hunger by production of proopiomelanocortin or POMC. Therefore, either activation of AgRP or NPY or stopping the production of POMC can bring about a feeling of hunger (Smith, 1998). Various hormones play major roles in control feeding via the appetite centre. One such hormone is ghrelin, which activates NPY/AgRP and stimulates hunger. The arcuate nucleus also reacts to the hormones leptin and insulin, and here it is seen that insulin suppresses appetite by stopping AgRP or NPY producing neurons and by activating POMC producing neurons. Leptin levels respond to the levels of body fat, and observations reveal that there is an increase in circulating levels of leptin within obese individuals (Schwartz and Morton, 2002). Leptin may suppress appetite by activating inhibitory neurons; however, the arcuate nucleus may also become leptin-resistant. Individuals who are overweight or obese are often seen to possess high levels of leptin, but arcuate nucleus often fails to respond to such high levels. Aberration in the

Monday, October 28, 2019

Invictus and The Alchemist Response Essay Example for Free

Invictus and The Alchemist Response Essay The poem Invictus written by William Ernest Henley is a poem written about courage in the face of death and holding on to ones own dignity despite the indignities life places before us. In the first stanza the poems speaker prays in the dark to whatever gods may be a prayer of thanks for his unconquerable soul. Several things are apparent from the outset: First, the speaker is in some sort of metaphorical darkness, perhaps the darkness of despair. Second, he does not pray for strength, but gives thanks for the strength that he already has. Third, he seems rather flippant about who he is or is not praying to; it is almost a prayer to himself at this point, but not quite. Henley also bring this up in the second stanza where he talks about Gods will or even fate; instead he speaks of the fell clutch of circumstance and insists that he has overcome these bravely and without complaint.The third stanza is about death and what a trifle it seems to the speaker of the poem. This place of wrath and tears, this life, it seems, is not full enough of pain and horror to frighten the poems speaker. And death, the Horror of the shade, could not possibly worry him, being an end to wrath and tears. Notice here that he is not concerned in any way about an afterlife. Death is merely an end to suffering for our speaker. Nothing of any concern seems to lie beyond for him until. This poem is an inspiration to it readers depending on the way you read it. This poem like mentioned before has been written for those suffering from an incurable disease or just going thru a tough time in their life, to give that person some hope and strength. I Can relate to this poem because growing up i’ve been threw lots of illnesses it all started when i was diagnosed with Meningococcal Meningitis when i was just a baby. Than at the age of 16 i was diagnosed with Hereditary Breast Cancer. Going thru this i felt so alone and like my life hit a point of no return i lost hope and faith. I felt helpless and i also felt bad for my family making them so worried about me. Nevertheless i have not let this bring me down or think twice about anything that i set my mind to do. I have enlisted in the Marines and hoping to leave to boot camp in september. Going threw everything i’ve been threw in my life has definitely taught me that everything in life comes in threes , but at the end of the day if you fall down seven times you must get up eight , because you cant let life struggles get in the way of your Personal legend. This Poem is also related to the Alchemist. Santiago hits a point in his journey where he feel’s like he’s losing himself .The alchemist prepares to move on with Santiago to the pyramids, but Santiago complains that he doesn’t want to leave Fatima. The alchemist says Fatima understands that Santiago needs to complete his Personal Legend. at this point Santiago gets frustrated with the alchemist because he doesnt want to leave fatima behind. Another point where santiago loses faith in his journey is towards the end where He feels frustrated that the alchemist didn’t teach him anything, but the alchemist says Santiago should have learned through actions. Santiago asks him why he is an alchemist, and the alchemist explains he learned the practice from his grandfather, when alchemy was simpler. He says men complicated alchemy by writing books about it. Previously, alchemists only needed the Emerald Tablet. Santiago asks what the tablet says, and the alchemist replies that one can’t understand it through reason since it provides a passage to the Soul of the World. The alchemist encourages Santiago to immerse himself in the desert and listen to his heart so he can also gain an understanding of the Soul of the World but at the end of the book santiago continues his journey and finds his treasure than makes his way back to fatima. This relates to the poem because it talks about where a person’s life goes threw so many obstacles but at the end still overcomes those hard times.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Adolescent Eating Disorders Essay -- Health Weight Obesity Anorexia Es

Adolescent Eating Disorders With children as early as age 7 showing dissatisfaction with their body, and as young as 9 starting dieting, eating disorders are a serious issue in our society. Taking a look at perceptions, behaviors, and medical issues associated with the disorders of anorexia and bulimia, scholars have tried to categorize and find answers to the problems which certain adolescents suffer. In this paper I focused on the two major eating disorders of anorexia and bulimia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1978, Brunch called anorexia nervosa a 'new disease' and noted that the condition seemed to overtake ?the daughters of the well-to-do, educated and successful families.? Today it is acknowledged and accepted that anorexia affects more than just one gender or socio-economic class; however, much of the current research is focused on the female gender. ?Anorexia nervosa is characterized by extreme dieting, intense fear of gaining weight, and obsessive exercising. The weight loss eventually produces a variety of physical symptoms associated with starvation: sleep disturbance, cessation of menstruation, insensitivity to pain, loss of hair on the head, low blood pressure, a variety of cardiovascular problems and reduced body temperature. Between 10% and 15% of anorexics literally starve themselves to death; others die because of some type of cardiovascular dysfunction (Bee and Boyd, 2001).?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bulimia nervosa is a slightly less serious version of anorexia, but can lead to some of the same horrible results. Bulimia involves an intense concern about weight (which is generally inaccurate) combined with frequent cycles of binge eating followed by purging, through self-induced vomiting, unwarranted use of laxatives, or excessive exercising. Most bulimics are of normal body weight, but they are preoccupied with their weight, feel extreme shame about their abnormal behavior, and often experience significant depression. The occurrence of bulimia has increased in many Western countries over the past few decades. Numbers are difficult to establish due to the shame of reporting incidences to health care providers (Bee and Boyd, 2001).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many scholars have employed a variety of research methodology to try and answer the questions of: Why do some adolescents resort to extreme measures to resolve their problems? What can be done to improve the current state of the situ... ... changes of puberty, which may be interpreted as ?getting fat.? Encourage an active lifestyle. This needn?t involve organized athletics necessarily, but rather any movement ? walking, dancing, biking ? that is pleasurable enough to do everyday. References Bee, H. and Boyd, D. (2001). Physical and cognitive development in adolescence. Lifespan Development. 3ed., 292-293. Brunch, H. (1978). The Golden Cage. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Elkins, W. L., Cohen, D. A., Koralewicz, L. M. and Taylor, S. N. (2004). After school activities, overweight, and obesity amoung inner city youth. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 181-189. Fouts, G. and Vaughan, K. (2002). Locus of control, television viewing, and eating disorder symptomatology in young females. Journal of Adolescence, 25, 307-311. Gross, S. and Cinelli, B. (2004). Coordinated school health program and Dietetics professionals: Partners in promoting healthful eating. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 793-798. Muise, A. M., Stein, D. G., and Arbess, G. (2003). Eating disorders in adolescent boys: A review of the adolescent and young adult literature. Journal of adolescent Health, 33, 427-435.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Impact of Trade Liberalization of Bangladesh Essay

Introduction: There exists a wide range of theoretical and empirical literature on the relationship between foreign trade and economic growth in both developed and developing countries. The early literature focused mostly on the role of export in economic growth. The spectacular success of the outward oriented policies in the East Asian countries provided a basis for the adoption of such polices in developing countries like Bangladesh. Accordingly, the literature tried to support or reject the logic of universal application of export led growth policy in developing countries. The dynamic linkages between export and import or import and income did not receive much attention in this literature. But experience shows that in many countries export is highly dependent on import of capital goods and intermediate inputs as well as raw materials giving a case of bivariate causality between trade (export-import) and economic growth. The relationship between foreign trade and economic growth has long been discussed by different school of thought. The theoretical standpoints can be summarized in terms of technological know how, market expansion, resource allocation, ease of balance of payments, employment generation and income creation. (Hossain & Salim 2009). Karl Marx focuses on the role of exchange in economic growth. In his opinion, the expansion of production needs a growing market which will promote production continuously (Chen 2009). The classical school treats the foreign trade as a means of optimal distribution of resources and increasing productivity that stimulate economic growth. In similar vein is Alfred Marshall and his other neoclassical followers and they dictum that trade enhances growth because of the benefits of comparative advantage, full capacity utilization, greater economies of scale and increasing rate of investment and technological change (Krueger, 1978; Kavoussi, 1984). This school identifies five different ways in which foreign trade affects macroeconomics performance of a country: the revenue effect, capital accumulation effect, substitution effect, income distribution effect and the effect of the weighted elements. All these effects together imply that trade strengthens economic growth over time as an economy develops (Chen, 2009). The structuralist school led by Sir William Arthur Lewis (1915-1991) holds that in the dual economy model if the modern industrial sector produces export goods and the traditional agricultural sector produces import substitutes, then foreign trade would expand the market and lead to increase in production. The new growth theories which consider increasing returns to capital put more focus on trade as an argument of growth. According to these theories, international trade leads to technological diffusion that affects the medium and long term output growth of the developing countries by improving productivity. The new trade school (led by Paul Krugman) emphasizes the role of trade in economic growth through economies of scale and improving the optimal allocation of resources. It is claimed that international trade enables countries to specialize in goods and services by stimulating competition and promoting technological change based on â€Å"comparative and competitive advantage†. As a result, consumers would be able to consume more products of better quality at cheaper prices and therefore human welfare would be increased (Gupta at al. , 1997, World Bank, 2002). Economic growth is mainly depend on physical and human capital, technological progress, high rate of savings, macroeconomic stability, capital mobility, trade liberalization and so on. Trade plays important role on economic growth. There is a growing volume of empirical literature on the relationship between foreign trade and economic growth. In the 1970s and 1980s a number of studies examined the relationship between export and growth. Many such studies (see for example, Balassa, 1978; Feder, 1983; Heller & Porter, 1978; Kavoussi, 1984; Michaely, 1977; Ram, 1985; Tyler, 1981) supported the view that export growth promoted overall economic growth. Thus, there is a general question arises in mind: What are the impacts trade liberalization (from inwardness to the outward orientation) on economic growth? What are the dynamics and causality among export, imports and income? Bangladesh is striving hard to boost up its exports in order to meet the import payments, foreign debts, internal expenditure, maximize domestic welfare and also to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign aid grants. Therefore, since independence Bangladesh has experienced different policy regimes to enhance its foreign exchange earnings and rapid economic growth. Bangladesh has pursued a proactive policy of trade liberalization, characterized by removal of Quantitative Restrictions (QR), rationalization of tariff rates, a flexible exchange rate policy and active incentive structure for promoting the export sector and enhancing export sector performance. The objective of this paper is to examine the trade policy (from Inwardness to Openness), structural changes and performance of foreign trade and also examine the causality among export, imports and growth in Bangladesh. After analyzing these issues, some policy suggestions have been put forward to boost up the foreign trade sector so as to enhance foreign exchange earnings. 2. An Overview of Foreign Trade Polices of Bangladesh: From Inwardness to Openness/Trade Liberalization: In the current era of globalization, trade liberalization emerges as one of the most effective policy concerns for governments all over the world, especially for developing countries. Trade liberalization is believed to enhance economic growth and development through specialization and technological advances. In the post-war period, in line with the mainstream thinking, many developing countries adopted in inward-looking strategy of development. This strategy, particularly when it went beyond the easy first stage, led to distorted incentive and misallocation of resources. It favored import-substitution (advocates replacing imports with domestic production) at the cost of export. It also involved undue governmental intervention in the working of the market. Because of the widespread â€Å"government failure† to ensure adequate growth, and because of the successful example of export-led growth in South-East Asia, pendulum began to shift to trade liberalization and greater openness since the late 1970s and early 1980s. According to the World Development Report 1987, an outward-oriented strategy is defined as one in which the incentive structure is neutral between import-substitution and export production. Thus, an export-led growth strategy does not require a favored treatment for exports in the form of subsidies or other incentives; only a eutral policy regime which does not discriminate between domestic and export production. In a nutshell, the main requirements of this strategy would be moderate tariffs (preferable a uniform rate of tariff), dismantling of quantitative restrictions such as import licensing or quotas, a market-oriented exchange rate regime (as overvalued exchange rate would discriminate against exports and favor imports) and market-friendly laws and rules rather than discretionary controls. After independence in 1971, Bangladesh like her neighbors in South Asia pursued an inward-looking import-substitution strategy of growth. This was mainly characterized by the nationalization of all heavy industries and financial institutions. Import substitution policy (a trade and economic policy that advocates replacing imports with domestic production. It is based on the premise that a country should attempt to reduce its foreign dependency through the local production of industrialized products) was the basic premise of such state intruded and controlled development strategy where the role of the private sector was shriveled. The result of such a strategy was so painful that Bangladesh faced balance of payments (BOP) disequilibrium, foreign exchange shortage, and relatively low growth rate of national income and micro inefficiencies like inefficient import competing enterprises producing low quality products. Furthermore, the debt crisis in the early 1980 provided an important argument for trade reform. Consequently, since 1982 on being advised by the developed countries, along with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB), Bangladesh has started to shift its trade strategy to a strong outward looking one as part of market oriented economic reforms (structural adjustment packages) particularly after the year of 1985.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

How Society and Culture Affect Friendship Essay

How society and Culture affect Friends and Social Activities The ‘social’ is an important concept to know to understand this topic. It is the totality of explanations describing how people interact and make meanings of their experiences. Culture, as should be known, is Shared, transmitted, learned, adaptive etc. Different cultures promote different relationships and can either hinder or encourage certain activities among its people. Friends that people make will differ based on their cultural views and belief. Example: Jamaica’s motto â€Å"Out of Many, One people† This implicates unity within our culture. Regardless of colour, religious belief or ethnicity people make friends and partake in the pretty much the same activities. Going to the movies, going to dances, parties, clubs, bars etc. While  In a country like Trinidad with segregated culture, you have people of different races separate and apart from each other. Religious backgrounds (whether Hindu or Christian) can form who you choose to be your friend and some activities are labelled generally white, or generally black, or generally Indian rather than having equilibrium between all races. Society – This is known sociologically as a group of people related to each other through persistent relations (usually sharing the same geographical location) Society has norms which is expected behaviour of each individual, thus it is an important factor in your activities and friend choice. It must be societally acceptable else you may be labelled deviant. Your general upbringing and status/class usually shapes who you make friends with. Example: People from ‘Uptown’ tend to make friends with those of a similar background, or financial status as them. Similarly people of limited means stick together and form friendships. However there are some exceptions, especially in more open society of today where there are friendships formed across classes due to similarity in personality or social activities. Society is more likely to expect that people from higher classes would partake in activities like theatre and go to exclusive parties. It is seen where today, especially in Jamaica, regardless of status, social activities are open to any and everyone.