A disease is the functional or physically change from a noraml state that affects the health of a person by causing disability or discomfort.The following are the conditions that could lead to the development of disease in an individual.
→ Infection caused by disease-causing microbes.
→ Lack of balanced diet.
→ poor lifestyle and unhealthy habits.
→ Malfunctioning of one or more body parts or organs.
The prevention and treatment of diseases ca be considered in two groups for their better understanding. They are communicable and non- communicable disease.

Communicable Disease

Communicable diseases are those diseases that spread from one person to another.Healthy persons must be protected from people with communicable diseases.Diseases spread through contaminated air, water,food or vectors (insects and other animals).

a) Diseases caused by Bacteria

Communicable diseases like tuberculosis,Cholera and typhoid,are caused by bacteria.These diseases spread through air, water and some other organisms.

1. Tuberculosis

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Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculae and spreads from one person to another through air, spitting, prolonged contact and sharing materials of the patient.The symptoms are fever, weight loss,chronic cough, bloody spitting and difficulty in breathing.

Prevention and treatment

> BCG Vaccination
> Giving special attention to the patient
> Regular medication like DOT.

2.Chloera

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Prevention and treatment

> Good hygenic practices like washing hands before eating.
> Avoid eating uncovered food from street vendors.
> Drinking boiled water
> Getting vaccinated against Chloera

3.Typhoid

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Typhoid is caused by salmonella typhi and spreads by contaminated food and water.The symptoms are anorexia, headache,rashes on abdomen, dysentery and high fever up to 104°F

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Prevention and treatment

> Drinking boiled clean water
> Proper disposal of sewage
> Vaccination

b. Diseases caused by Virus

Viral diseases are extremely widespread infections caused by many type of viruses.Some diseases caused by viruses are hepatitis chickenpox and radies.

1. Hepatitis

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Hepatitis is one of the most dangerous and fatal diseases caused by Hepatitis virus A,B,C,D,E.Its mode of transmission is contaminated water, sharing of needles and blood transfusion.The symptoms of hepatitis is loss of appetite (anorexia), vomiting,eyes and urine turning to yellow colour.

Prevention and treatment

> Drinking boiled water
> proper cleaning of hands

2.Chickenpox

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Chickenpox also known as varicella is a highly contagious infection caused by the varicella zoaster virus.This disease spreads through air and contact with an infected person.Its symptoms are appearance of rashes on the whole body,fever, headache and tiredness .

Prevention and treatment

> The chickenpox (varicella) vaccine is the best way to prevent chickenpox
> special attention should be given to the infected persons.

3.Rabies

Rabies is a fatal disease which is transmitted by the bite of the infected dog, rabbit, monkey,cat,etc.The virus present in the saliva of dog enters the brain via neurons.The symptoms of rabies are hydrophobia (extreme fear for water),fever for 2-12 weeks and exaggerations in behaviour.

Prevention and treatment

> In early stages rabies is very difficult to defect.
> After an animal is bitten it usually takes two to twelve weeks to show any symptoms and it may take as long as two years also.
>Fatality can be prevented by timely vaccination before the onset of symptoms.

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Non-communicable diseases

Non-communicable diseases do not spread from person to person.They are caused by other factors.Therefore ,it is important to know which diseases are communicable and which are not.They are never caused by germs, bacteria,or other living organisms that infect the body.Antibiotics or medicines that fight against germs do not help to cure non-communicable diseases.Some of the non-communicable diseases are explained below.

a. Wearing our of body parts

Rheumatism,heart attack, epileptic seizures,stroke, migraine headache, cataract and cancer.

b. External harmful agents entering the body

Allergies, asthma, poisons, snakebite, cough from smoking, stomach ulcer, alcoholism.

c. Lack of trace elements in the body

Anemia,pellagra,night blindness and xerophthamia,goiter and hypothyroidism.

d. Malnutrition

Nutritious food is needed for a person to grow well,work hard, and stay healthy.Many common sickness are caused by malnutrition.

By Satyansh Pathak | 13 July, 2021

The worldwide destruction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has helped the earth to cure and refine itself. The worldwide LOCKDOWN has resulted in the fall of  pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
While the people are not able to breathe properly as they could before the lockdown, nature is able to breathe more easily.
The closure of factories which  deteriorated the quality of air and water seems to be a true blessing to nature. Since dirty brown pollution belts and toxic effluents doesn’t exist anymore.
Dozens of other countries are now experiencing temporary falls in Carbon dioxide and Nitrogen dioxide emissions.
China was the first nation to experience lockdown due to massive spread of COVID-19. The Satellite images clearly depicts  the emissions of poisonous gases fading away  over China.
Significant falls in emissions and toxic gases can be observed in India, USA and France. Satellite images show Nitrogen dioxide emissions fading away over northern Italy. Scientists in Europe have noted that overall 2020 may still see a drop in global emissions of 0.3%.
With less human activities, the planet is able to beautify itself more and more. People can hear bird’s chirping, the quality of air has greatly ameliorated, the water bodies are now cleaner than ever and seismologists report “lower vibrations” from “cultural noise” than before the pandemic.
Indian Head Scientist Mr. Unnikrishnan said, “It is a reflection of what the earth might look like without fossil fuels”.
CLIMATE CHANGE is a major problem existing in the world. It can lead to gigantic demolition if the people all over the world didn’t handle it seriously.
Greta Thunberg has urged for “digital activism” to take the place of physical protests due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Since the earth is healing, there are several pages on social media encouraging the youth to take care of mother earth.
We shouldn’t go back to normal because normal was the problem. It is a bitter truth that we spend billions of dollars to find life on other planets…. And trillions of dollars killing the life on this one (EARTH).

The term “Victorian” is applied to England during Queen Victoria’s reign to describe the self-righteous, repressive and authoritarian culture of the middle classes who prided themselves on the wealth and position the nation achieved through the industrial revolution and on Britain’s leading position in the world as the major industrial power, major sea and colonial power. Thomas Babington Macauley (1800-59) was a politician and historian. His History of England on the 17th century is a proud narration of the nation’s progress, which is seen in terms of its wealth and technology, whose perpetuity he confidently predicts. The price paid for this progress by the many is not the theme. He spent some years in India in an official position, where he set up a system of education designed to make Indians useful civil servants. His programmatic Minute on Education of 1835 is imbued with a blind faith in the supremacy of British culture and contempt for the Indian; it became the blueprint of colonial education.

Cracks began to appear in the intellectual temple of Victorianism. Matthew Arnold (1822-88) poet, educationalist and clergyman, spent his life contending in rather solemn and humourless writing against the philistinism of the nation. He saw middle class religiosity as narrow and hollow conventionalism and deplored the shallowness of prevailing literary taste. John Stuart Mill (1806-73) worked for the East India Company; he wrote on political economy, on logic, on positivism and in 1869 an essay against The Subjection of Women.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) was a brilliantly original Scottish writer greatly influenced by German Literature and philosophy. he denounced the destructive profiteering of the rich, the dominance of money in modern society, and held up the medieval world with its fixed structures and stability as an organic and healthier form of community. He was highly skeptical about democracy, believing that history is made by heroic individuals, by great men of vision such as Cromwell, Napoleon and Frederick II, who may rule despotically but do so in the interest of the people, whereas elected politicians manipulate their ignorant voters and rule to safeguard their selfish interests, thus, condoning injustice and putting the nation at risk of serious social conflict.

John Ruskin(1819-1900), an influential art critic, believed that the arts were the most powerful remedy against the fetish on money. William Morris(1834-96) was a critic of the shoddiness of mass produced goods and the founder of a style of new simplicity and art in everyday life. He designed everything from houses to wallpaper, and his name became synonymous for elegant handcrafted products which differed pleasantly from the bombast of cluttered Victorian interiors with their heavy furniture, triple curtains and grand pianos draped with plush lest the legs should give rise to improper associations.

The painters of the Pre-Raphaelite school rejected classical art as their model; they turned to the artist living before Raphael, as he did the corresponding German school, the Nazarene, and sought to emulate the piety, craftsmanship and simplicity of the medieval painters of the Holy Family. Dante Gabriel Rosetti(1828-82), the son of an Italian professor, founded the school in London in 1848. John Evret Millais (1829-96), Edward Burne-Jones(1833-98) paid meticulous attention to historical accuracy of costume and scene; the craftsmanship is remarkable; a strange combination of sentimentality, sensuality and morbidity is typical of their work. This was to influence continental art nouveau or Jugendstil. These artists were faced with a very difficult task: to represent spirituality in a King Midas situation, where everything the English middle class touched seemed to turn into gold. Their solution was to turn their backs on that reality. The result was that movement degenerated into ornamental style, fulfilling a purely decorative function, painting life in glowing colours to gloss over the coldness and harshness of the world.

By Satyansh Pathak | 13 July, 2021

Modern life is full of stress, expectations and so on. For many people stress and depression is so common that it has become a way of life. But the consequences can be hazardous. It can be life threatening and serious. Whenever our condition worsens then we ask doctors to help us and bring us back to normal. The same way when we are mentally unhealthy we visit a psychologist. Psychology is a vast subject and it has several opportunities to offer. Until and unless we are interested and looking for opportunities it doesn’t knock our door.
Since psychology is the study of human mind and behavior, it has numerous applications in all walks of life — work, family, relationships, sports, industries and in organizational spaces. We all should always choose a field as well as a career which interests us, make us feel confident and delighted. Psychology has numerous career opportunities. The following are – :
COUNSELLING (Counselling psychologists helps clients deal with personal and interpersonal problems that they face in daily life), SCHOOL and HEALTH COUNSELLORS help individuals in their
respective field, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY (This field deals with the diagnosis, understanding and treatment of psychological disorders), INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGISTS apply their knowledge and skills on workplace, DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY (a field dedicated to the study of how human beings develop over the course of their lifetime), FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY (a field which deals with sensitive issues and legal proceedings) and SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY (impacts the performance of athletes and sports teams by motivating them which eventually enhances their performance).

Thus we can say that PSYCHOLOGY HAS A BRIGHT CAREER in INDIA, a country of billion people. In the coming few years India as a nation would need a number of psychologists and mental health professionals to help people deal with
mental illnesses. The FUTURE has GREAT OPPORTUNITIES  for those who are willing to pursue PSYCHOLOGY as a subject.

An ecosystem is a community, where all living organisms live and interact with one another and also with their non-living environment such as land, soil, air, water etc. Ecosystems range in size from the smallest units (Eg: bark of a tree) that can sustain life to the global ecosystem or ecosphere. (Eg: Cropland, Pond ecosystem, Forest ecosystem, Desert ecosystem etc.). Biosphere harbours all ecosystems on the earth and sustains life forms including mankind.

Components of Ecosystem

An ecosystem consists of three basic components, namely
✓Abiotic components
✓Biotic components
✓Energy components

Abiotic Components

Abiotic components include the non-living, inorganic, physical and chemical factors in the environment. Eg. Land, Air, Water, Calcium, Iron etc.

Biotic Components

Biotic components include plants, animals and micro organism. Biotic components can be classified into three categories

Producers

Producers are self nourishing components of the ecosystem. Hence they are called Autotrophs. They are found both on land and water. Eg. Plants, Algae, Bacteria etc.

Consumers

Consumers are those that depend on producers, directly or indirectly. Hence they are called Heterotrophs.

The common category of consumers are:

Primary Consumers

Primary consumers depend on producers for their food. They are exclusively herbivores. Eg. Zebra, goat etc.

Secondary Consumers

Secondary consumers are small carnivores i.e., they consume herbivores. Eg. Lion, Snake etc.

Tertiary Consumers

Tertiary consumers are top carnivores that prey on both herbivores and carnivores. Eg. Owl, Crocodile etc.

Decomposers

Decomposers are some organisms that are incapable of preparing its own food. They live on dead and decaying plants and animals. Hence they are called Saprotrophs. Eg. Fungus, Mushrooms etc.

Energy Components

All organisms in the biosphere use energy to work and convert one form of energy into another. The Sun is the ultimate source of energy for the biosphere as a whole. The solar energy gets transformed into other forms of energy through the various components in the ecosystem. The producers, consumers and the decomposers contribute a lot to the energy flow in an ecosystem.

Functions of an ecosystem

The living organisms form an interacting set of flora and fauna which are organized into trophic levels, food chains and food webs. The functioning of an ecosystem depends on the pattern of the energy flow, as it helps in the distribution and circulation of the organic and inorganic matter within an ecosystem. Energy flow generally takes place in a hierarchical order in an ecosystem through various levels. These levels are called trophic levels.

Some vitamins are more stable than others. Water soluble vitamins are more unstable than fat soluble vitamins during food processing and storage.

The most unstable vitamins include:

The most stable vitamins include:

PROCESS AFFECTING FOOD NUTRIENT CONTENT:

A variety of things can happen during the growing, harvesting, storage and preparing of food that can affect its nutritional content. Process that expose foods to high levels of heat, light or oxygen cause the greatest nutrient loss.

FERTILIZERS: Most plant crops are produced with the aid of fertilized soils. High use of nitrogen fertilizers tends to reduce Vitamin C content in many fruit and vegetable crops. It does not seem to make any difference to the plant’s nutrient value whether the fertilizer is organic or not

BLANCHING: Before the food is canned or frozen, it is usually heated very quickly with steam or water. The water soluble vitamins, including vitamin C and B complex, are sensitive and easily destroyed by blanching.

CANNING: Food is heated inside the can to kill any dangerous micro-organisms and extend the food’s shelf life. Some type of micro-organisms require severe heat treatment and this may affect the taste and texture of the food. Making it less appealing. Preservatives are generally not needed or used in canned foods. Water soluble vitamins are particularly sensitive to high temperature. Many people believe that canned foods are not as nutritious as their fresh counterparts, but this is not always the case, as fresh food often deteriorates more rapidly than canned foods.

FREEZING: The nutrient value of a food is retained when it is frozen. Any nutrient losses are due to the processing prior to freezing and the cooking once the frozen food is thawed.

DEHYDRATING: Drying out foods such as fruits can reduce the amount of Vitamin C they’re eating, but it can also concentrate other nutrients, particularly fiber in plant foods. Dehydrating food also makes food products more energy dense, which may contribute to weight gain. If a dehydrated food is reconstituted and cooked with water, further nutrients are leached out of the food and lost in the cooking water.

MILLING: Cereals such as wheat can be ground to remove the fibrous husks. The husks contain most of the plant’s dietary fiber, B-Group vitamins, phytochemicals and some minerals. That is why products such as white bread are less nutritious than whole meal varieties, even if they have been artificially fortified with some of the nutrients that were lost after milling.