INSAF

What Causes Hearing Loss By JANE E. BRODY Noise, not age is the leading cause of hearing loss. Unless you take steps now to protect to your ears, sooner or later many of you — and your children — will have difficulty understanding even ordinary speech. Tens of millions of Americans, including 12 percent to 15 percent of school-age children, already have permanent hearing loss caused by the everyday noise that we take for granted as a fact of life. “The sad truth is that many of us are responsible for our own hearing loss,” writes Katherine Bouton in her new book, “Shouting Won’t Help: Why I — and 50 Million Other Americans — Can’t Hear You.” The cause, she explains, is “the noise we blithely subject ourselves to day after day.” While there are myriad regulations to protect people who work in noisy environments, there are relatively few governing repeated exposure to noise outside the workplace: portable music devices, rock concerts, hair dryers, sirens, lawn mowers, leaf blowers

Meet the lady who rode against violent storms and dared to make her dreams come true. Venkatalakshmi gives a ride to her struggling journey from being an autorikshaw driver to a lawyer We should be like grass. Even if you are crushed under rock, you hold your nerves to find out the way.” The above holds true in Ms Venkatalakshmi journey of life, as the 37 year old female auto rickshaw driver fought against all odds and triumphed as a Lawyer. A decade ago, she had everything to lead a decent middle-class life in Bangalore: a two floor house, a car, an auto rickshaw and a small business. But, destiny had other plans stored for her. Fate was not kind enough to her. A greedy politician, his henchmen along with a land mafia together conspired and made her lose everything, except the auto rickshaw. “They forced me to sell my house worth 11 lakhs at throwaway prices. They insisted upon me to become the 4th wife of that crim

While at the funeral, make every effort to be respectful. United States Having recently returned from the funeral of a beloved family member, the subject of funeral etiquette is on my mind. This is a subject we tend to avoid unless faced with it, yet it is so important to know how one should conduct oneself during this inevitable and unavoidable occasion. Prior to the funeral, close friends of the family may visit the family’s home to express sympathy and offer assistance; this social call is referred to as a condolence visit. When you do this, it is thoughtful to bring food as a gift. The grieving family will welcome this gesture since it will be one less thing to attend to. If you are bringing a main or side dish, keep it vegetarian. Fruit is also a good choice. When offering your sympathy, avoid dwelling on negative aspects, such as hardships or adversity the deceased may have experienced, or o

  Story # 1 It's a fine sunny day in the forest and a lion is sitting outside his cave, lying lazily in the sun. Along comes a fox, out on a walk.  Fox: "Do you know the time, because my watch is broken" Lion: "Oh, I can easily fix the watch for you" Fox: "Hmm... But it's a very complicated mechanism, and your big claws will only destroy it even more." Lion: "Oh no, give it to me, and it will be fixed" Fox: "That's ridiculous! Any fool knows that lazy lions with great claws cannot fix complicated watches" Lion: "Sure they do, give it to me and it will be fixed"  The lion disappears into his cave, and after a while he comes back with the watch which is running perfectly. The fox is impressed, and the lion continues to lie lazily in the sun, looking very pleased with himself. Soon a wolf comes along and stops to watch the lazy lion in the sun.  Wolf: "Can I come and watch TV tonight with you, bec

            A short story with a great message. One rich man, in his last will and testament, had written that upon his death, half the horses he owned should go to his only son; one fourth to the village temple and one fifth to the faithful servant . At the time of his death, he  owned 19 horses when he died. The village elders could not stop scratching their heads.  How can they give half of the 19 horses to the son?  You cannot cut up a horse. They puzzled over this dilemma for more than two weeks and then decided to send for a wise man who was living in a neighboring village. . The wise man came riding on his horse and asked the villagers if he can be of any help to them. The village elders told him about the rich man's

GOD DOES E XIST. The Tea Shop A group of fifteen soldiers led by their Major Sahib were on their way to the post in Himalayas where they would be deployed for next three months.  Another batch, which will be relieved, would be waiting anxiously for their arrival so that they could fall back to safer confines of their parent unit.  Some would proceed on leave and meet their

Many people believe that the future of mankind is bleak because the planet can’t sustain its growing population. They fear we are running out of resources and that ageing populations and healthcare costs will bankrupt countries. George Mason professor Tyler Cowen says that America has consumed all the low-hanging fruits of land, labor, and technology and that we are at a technological plateau—“the trees are barer than we would like to think”. He talks of a “great stagnation”. Military planners in many countries are preparing for wars over diminishing natural resources. In my view, these pessimists are dead wrong. That is because this is the most innovative period in human history. Technologies in a range of fields are advancing exponentially and making it possible for entrepreneurs to do what only governments and big labs could do before: solve humanity’s grand challenges. My belief is that we will go from worrying about scarcity to debating how we share and distribu

Whether it’s climbing trees or the jungle gym, testing out a new bike or playing catch at the park – some tumbles and falls, bruises, cuts and scrapes are an inevitable part of outdoor fun. In this blog post, Palo Alto Medical Foundation Pediatrician Michaella Y. Okihara, M.D., answers parents’ commonly asked questions on how to soothe and care for these minor wounds – beyond a kiss and a cuddle – and to recognize when you should head to the doctor. What’s the best way to care for my child’s cuts and scrapes? For minor cuts or scrapes, the first thing to do is to clean the wounded area gently with water and a clean washcloth. Don’t scrub too hard as this can irritate the wound. Rinsing the area thoroughly under running water until it is clean is the best, and least painful, approach. If the wound is dirty, you can use a mild soap to get the dirt off. Keep in mind that soap in the wound can also be irritating. Check the injury every day and watch for signs of infection – for examp

How To Cut Down Your Fat Intake To                                   Freezing some low-fat whipped topping and adding it to the top of some fresh berries, can leave you feeling just as satisfied as you would if you had ice cream. When setting a weight-loss goal, divide it into long-term and short-term objectives. If your long-term objective is to lose a total of 20 pounds, then your short term objective should be to try to lose 1 pound per week. If you can reach your short term goal every week, it will help you to be positive about the long-term objective. Goal-setting techniques increase the chances of a successful weight-loss plan. Eating less fat may result in weight loss. On an average, Americans consume way too many grams of fat per day. We should only be consuming

Our quest for the fountain of youth is never ending. Although we can’t reverse aging, how can we slow down this process and maintain our energy, vitality and health as we approach our golden years? We all know that exercise and a healthy diet are key in preventing diseases and age-related complications, but in this blog post, I want to talk about a more specific chemical marker for aging known appropriately as “AGE.” AGE AGE stands for A dvanced G lycation E nd products. Glycation is the process by which sugar is added to proteins. So, in order to understand this interaction, you need to understand proteins first. Proteins are essential for life because the enzymes which drive important biochemical reactions in our body are made up of proteins. Proteins are also the building blocks for our muscles, blood vessels, organs, and also make up collagen which maintains our cartilage, bone and skin. When proteins start breaking down, we start looking older as our skin starts to wrinkl

Even if you are considered to be at low risk for stroke, having blocked heart arteries can mean you are more likely to have one, says new research published online this week in Stroke , a journal of the American Heart Association. The researchers suggest blocked arteries should be taken into account to the same extent as other known risk factors such as atrial fibrillation when assessing patients' stroke risk. Lead author Dirk M. Hermann is professor of vascular neurology and dementia at the University Hospital Essen in Germany. He says in a press statement their findings reveal "that stroke risk is tightly aligned with coronary atherosclerosis, showing the closely related nature of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease". He calls for more collaboration across different disciplines to better prevent and manage these diseases. For their study, Hermann and colleagues used a variation of the conventional CT scan to look at heart arteries in 4,180 male and female pati

Low Carb Ideas That May Help You Lose Those Unwanted Pounds By Dr. PJ Prakash Feb 28, 2013                                   The reason low-carb diets work is that your body normally uses carbs as a first fuel. United States While completely avoiding carbs and sugars is generally not very healthy for most people. However, decreasing these two items in your daily diet can really help you in your weight loss attempt. It will also make your progress move along much faster if you increase your protein intake simultaneously. You are likely to have greater success in your weight loss efforts if you drink milk more often. Milk is high in calcium and fortified with Vitamin D. Also, the protein, carbs and fat in milk are in the perfect ba