HOW TO MEASURE BLOOD PRESSURE?

Blood pressure measurement

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Blood pressure is a measurement of the force applied to the walls of your arteries as your heart pumps blood through your body.
Your blood pressure can be measured at home, or at your health care provider's office, a fire station, pharmacies, and many other places.

How the Test is Performed

Your arm should be supported, with your upper arm at heart level, back supported, legs uncrossed, and feet on the floor. Your upper arm should be bare, with your sleeve comfortably rolled up.
You or your health care provider will wrap the blood pressure cuff snugly around your upper arm. The lower edge of the cuff should be 1 inch above the bend of your elbow.

• The cuff will be inflated quickly, either by pumping the squeeze bulb or pushing a button. You will feel tightness around your arm.
• Next, the valve of the cuff is opened slightly, allowing the pressure to slowly fall.
• As the pressure falls, the reading when the sound of blood pulsing is first heard is recorded. This is the systolic pressure.
• As the air continues to be let out, the sounds will disappear. The point at which the sound disappears is recorded. This is the diastolic pressure.

Inflating the cuff too slowly or not high enough may cause a false reading. If you loosen the valve too much, you won't be able to determine your blood pressure.
The procedure may be done two or more times.

How to Prepare for the Test

Measuring your blood pressure is best done after you rest for at least 5 minutes.
Do not take your blood pressure when you're under stress, have consumed caffeine or used a tobacco product in the past 30 minutes, or have recently exercised.
Take two or three readings at a sitting, 1 minute apart, while resting in a seated position. When measuring your blood pressure outside of a medical office, it is important to note the time of the readings.
Your doctor may suggest that you do your readings at certain times. A common recommendation is to take your blood pressure in the morning and at night for a week. That way, you will get at least 12 readings to help your doctor make decisions about your blood pressure treatment.

HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

OUR HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM IS MADE MAINLY FROM FIVE PARTS:

• BUCCAL CAVITY
• OESOPHAGUS
• STOMACH
• SMALL INTESTINE
• LARGE INTESTINE

FLEMING'S LEFT HAND RULE

Fleming's left hand rule

Fleming's left-hand rule (for motors), and Fleming'sright hand rule (for generators) are a pair of visual mnemonics. They were originated by John Ambrose Fleming, in the late 19th century, as a simple way of working out the direction of motion in an electric motor, or the direction of electric current in an electric generator .
When current flows in a wire, and an external magnetic field is applied across that flow, the wire experiences a force perpendicular both to that field and to the direction of the current flow. A left hand can be held, as shown in the illustration, so as to represent three mutually orthogonal axes on the thumb, first finger and middle finger. Each finger is then assigned to a quantity (electric current, magnetic field and mechanical force). The right and left hand are used for generators and motors respectively.

SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA.org/

Ammino acids

Amino acids having both the amine and carboxylic acid groups attached to the first (alpha-) carbon atom have particular importance in biochemistry. They are known as 2-, alpha-, or α-amino acids ;^[4] often the term "amino acid" is used to refer specifically to these. They include the 23 proteinogenic ("protein-building") amino acids which combine into peptide chains ("polypeptides") to form the building blocks of a vast array of proteins.^[5] These are all L-stereoisomers ("left-handed" isomers) although a few D-amino acids ("right-handed") occur in bacterial envelopes and some antibiotics.^[6][7] 20 of the 23 proteinogenic amino acids are encoded directly by triplet codons in the genetic code and are known as "standard" amino acids. The other three ("non-standard" or "non-canonical") are pyrrolysine , selenocysteine (present in many noneukaryotes as well as most eukaryotes), and N-Formylmethionine. For example, 25 human proteins include selenocysteine (Sec) in their primary structure,^[8] and the structurally characterized enzymes (selenoenzymes) employ Sec as the catalytic moiety in their active sites.^[9] Pyrrolysine and selenocysteine are encoded via variant codons; for example, selenocysteine is encoded by stop codon and SECIS element.Codon–tRNA combinations not found in nature can also be used to "expand" the genetic code and create novel proteins known as alloproteins incorporating non-proteinogenic amino acids
Many important proteinogenic and non-proteinogenic amino acids also play critical non-protein roles within the body.Essential amino acids may also differ between species.^[17]
Because of their biological significance, amino acids are important in nutrition and are commonly used in nutritional supplements, fertilizers, and food technology. Industrial uses include the production of drugs, biodegradable plastics and chiral catalysts.


Source::  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amino_acid‎

Why Are Flamingos Pink?

 

 

 

Have you ever wondered why flamingos are pink or orange? You've probably heard it has something to do with what flamingos eat, but do you know what exactly it is that produces the color?

Answer: Flamingos are pink or orange or white depending on what they eat. Flamingos eat algae and crustaceans that contain pigments called carotenoids. For the most part, these pigments are found in the brine shrimp and blue-green algae that the birds eat. Enzymes in the liver break down the carotenoids into the pink and orange pigment molecules deposited in the feathers, bill, and legs of the flamingos. Flamingos that eat mostly algae are more deeply colored than birds that eat the small animals that feed off of algae. Captive flamingos are feed a special diet that includes prawns (a pigmented crustacean) or additives such as beta-carotene or canthaxanthin, otherwise they would be white or pale pink. Young flamingos have gray plumage that changes color according to their diet.People eat foods containing carotenoids, too. Examples include beta-carotene in carrots and lycopene in watermelon, but most people do not eat enough of these compounds to affect their skin color.

WHY DO WE SNEEZE?

AHHH . . . CHOO!

If you just sneezed, something was probably irritating or tickling the inside of your nose. Sneezing, also called sternutation, is your body's way of removing an irritation from your nose.

When the inside of your nose gets a tickle, a message is sent to a special part of your brain called the sneeze center. The sneeze center then sends a message to all the muscles that have to work together to create the amazingly complicated process that we call the sneeze.

Some of the muscles involved are the abdominal (belly) muscles, the chest muscles, the diaphragm (the large muscle beneath your lungs that makes you breathe), the muscles that control your vocal cords, and muscles in the back of your throat.

Don't forget the eyelid muscles! Did you know that you always close your eyes when you sneeze?

It is the job of the sneeze center to make all these muscles work together, in just the right order, to send that irritation flying out of your nose. And fly it does — sneezing can send tiny particles speeding out of your nose at up to 100 miles per hour.

Why do we open our mouth to YAWN...

A yawn is a reflex of simultaneous inhalation of air and stretching of the eardrums, followed by exhalation of breath. Yawning is commonly associated with tiredness, stress, overwork, lack of stimulation and boredom, though recent studies show it may be linked to the cooling of the brain. In humans, yawning is often triggered by others yawning (e.g., seeing a person yawning, talking to someone on the phone who is yawning) and is a typical example of positive feedback This "infectious" yawning has also been observed in chimpanzees and dogs.
         The involuntary act of yawning usually includes opening the mouth very wide while slowly taking in a deep breath. This contortion of the mouth puts pressure on the salivary glands causing the eyes to sometimes tear-up, causes the throat to better open, and tightens the muscles around the mouth making sure the yawn is better accomplished.