MALARIA

What is malaria?
Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by any one of four different blood parasites, called Plasmodia. The disease is transmitted to people by the Anopheles is a leading cause of debilitating illness, with over 200 million cases each year from around mosquito. This diseasethe world. Almost all of the cases reported in New York State each year are acquired in foreign countries. However, a few locally acquired cases have occurred on Long Island and in Queens.
Who gets malaria?
Any person residing in or traveling to a country where malaria is prevalent is at risk for contracting the disease. Malaria is currently a problem in tropical or subtropical areas of Asia, Africa and Central and South America. Most black Africans show a natural resistance to some species of malaria. Otherwise, susceptibility to malaria is universal.
How is malaria spread?
Malaria is spread by the bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito. With certain malaria species, dormant forms can be produced which may cause relapses of malaria months to years later. Malaria may also be transmitted by transfusion of blood from infected people or by the use of contaminated needles or syringes.
What are the symptoms of malaria?
Symptoms include fever, chills, sweats and headache, and in some instances may progress to jaundice, blood coagulation defects, shock, kidney or liver failure, central nervous system disorders and coma. Cycles of chills, fever and sweating occurring every one, two or three days is a good indicator of malaria in a person recently returning from a tropical area.
How soon do symptoms occur?
The time between the infective mosquito bite and the development of malaria symptoms can range from 12 to 30 days depending on the type of Plasmodia involved. One strain of Plasmodium, called P. vivax, may have a prolonged incubation period of eight to 10 months. When infection occurs by blood transfusion, the incubation period depends on the number of parasites transferred but is usually less than two months.
When and for how long is a person able to spread malaria?
Untreated or inadequately treated cases may be a source of mosquito infection for one to three years depending on the strain of Plasmodium. Direct person-to-person transmission does not occur. Stored blood products can remain infective for 16 days.
What is the treatment for malaria?
Due to the changing pattern of drug-resistant strains, current recommendations can be obtained from your local, county or state health department.
What can be done to prevent the spread of malaria?
Since malaria is not native to the United States, exposure to American citizens occurs most frequently during foreign travel to malarious areas. It is very important to contact health officials to determine the proper preventive drug therapy. The liberal and frequent use of mosquito repellents as well as using a bed net can be very effective in preventing mosquito bites.

ps3

Sony officially unveiled the PlayStation 3 to the public on May 16, 2005, during the E3 2005 conference.[18] A functional version of the system was not present there,[19] nor at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2005,[20] although demonstrations (such as Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots[19]) were held at both events on devkits and comparable PC hardware.[19][20] Video footage based on the predicted PlayStation 3 specifications was also shown (notably a Final Fantasy VII tech demo).[21]
The initial prototype shown in May 2005 featured two HDMI ports, three Ethernet ports and six USB ports;[22] however, when the system was shown again a year later at E3 2006, these were reduced to one HDMI port, one ethernet port and four USB ports, presumably to cut costs.[15][23] Two hardware configurations were also announced for the console: a 20 GB model and a 60 GB model, priced at $499 (€499) and $599 (€599), respectively.[15] The 60 GB model would be the only configuration to feature an HDMI port, Wi-Fi internet, flash card readers and a chrome trim with the logo in silver.[15] Both models were announced for a simultaneous worldwide release: November 11 for Japan, and November 17 for North America and Europe.[24]
On September 6, 2006, Sony announced that the PAL region (Europe and Oceania) PlayStation 3 launch would be delayed until March 2007, due to a shortage of materials used in the Blu-ray Disc drive.[25]
At the Tokyo Game Show on September 22, 2006, Sony announced that it would include an HDMI port on the 20 GB system, but a chrome trim, flash card readers, silver logo, and Wi-Fi would not be included.[26] Also, the launch price of the Japanese 20 GB model was reduced by over 20%,[27] and the 60 GB model was announced for an open pricing scheme in Japan.[27] During the event, Sony showed 27 playable PS3 games running on final hardware.[28]

Launch
Main article: PlayStation 3 launch
The PlayStation 3 was first released in Japan on November 11, 2006 at 07:00.[11] According to Media Create, 81,639 PS3 systems were sold within 24 hours of its introduction in Japan.[29]
Soon after its release in Japan, the PS3 was released in North America on November 17, 2006.[12] Reports of violence surrounding the release of the PS3 include a customer shot,[30] campers robbed at gunpoint,[31] customers shot in a drive-by shooting with BB guns,[32] and 60 campers fighting over 10 systems.[33]
On January 24, 2007, Sony announced that the PlayStation 3 would go on sale on March 23, 2007 in Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Africa and New Zealand.[13][14] The system sold about 600,000 units in its first two days.[34] On March 7, 2007, the 60 GB PlayStation 3 launched in Singapore with a price of S$799.[35] The console was launched in South Korea on June 16, 2007 in a single version equipped with an 80 GB hard drive and IPTV.[36]

In addition to all of the features of the 20 GB model, the 60 GB model has internal IEEE 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, multiple flash card readers (SD/MultiMedia Card, CompactFlash Type I/Type II, Microdrive,[58] Memory Stick/PRO/Duo), and a chrome colored trim.[47] In terms of hardware, the 80 GB model released in South Korea is identical to the 60 GB model released in the PAL regions, except for the difference in hard drive size.[59]
Like the South Korean and European models, the North American 80 GB model also excludes the PlayStation 2 "Emotion Engine" CPU chip.[44] However, it still keeps the "Graphics Synthesizer" GPU.[60] Due to the elimination of the "Emotion Engine", the level of compatibility was reduced[44] The 40 GB, 80 GB (2008), and 160 GB models have two USB ports instead of the four USB ports on other models, and do not include multiple flash card readers, SACD support, or any backwards compatibility with PlayStation 2 games.[17][44] This was due to the removal of "Graphics Synthesizer" GPU, which stripped the units of all PlayStation 2 based hardware.[49][53]
No official Wi-Fi or flash memory card readers have yet been released by Sony for the 20 GB system, although plans for such add-ons are in place.[61] Nevertheless, as the model features four USB 2.0 ports, wireless networking and flash memory card support can already be obtained through the use of widely available external USB adapters.[44]
It was rumored that the Cell processors in the third-generation PS3s (40 GB) would move from a 90 nm process to the newer 65 nm process,[62] which SCEI CEO Kaz Hirai later confirmed,[63] and later to 45 nm. This change lowers the power consumption of the console and makes it less expensive to produce.[64]

Water Pollution

Air Pollution

Nature

Nature is the world around us, except for human-made phenomena. As humans are the only animal species that consciously, powerfully manipulates the environment, we think of ourselves as exalted, as special. We acknowledge that in an objective view we are merely one of many organisms, and that we are not able to survive outside of our natural world of air, earth, water and life. But we tend to be poor leaders in the "hierarchy" of animal life. Despite our greatness, too often we waste, we fight, we breed heedlessly, and are too self-centered and short-sighted. I take note of the increasing awareness of ecology, at least in Western culture, and am heartened. We may still change our weapons of war into tools of peace, and our habits of despoilation into nuturing.
Earth is so large, that even if humans destroy ourselves, plus most other life forms, there will still be nature. The soil, oceans, atmosphere and weather would still interact with solar power to allow some life to exist. Earth cannot be a barren place like the moon. Humans can, then, reduce our planetary paradise into a hell of sorts, but cannot, I believe, destroy the planet itself.
This thought, sober and gloomy, is a modern one; in earlier ages it is unlikely that people contemplated ourselves wiping-out most life on earth. I don't know why I brought it to the forefront of my nature essay. It does offer a perspective.
Nature's life forces, as well as its winds, eruptions, quakes, avalanches, freezes, etc., is immensely powerful. I recall being allowed to study revegetation on the freshly-erupted Mt. St. Helens. It was more than 10 years ago, so my memory has retained only a few observations: life was strongest near water sources, and the weediest plants were most successful in revegetating the barren gray ash. Mosses tolerant of Seattle's freeway cracks grew on the loose sand and ash. Fireweed, which thrives after forest fires, clear-cuts and bombed sites, was abundant. If memory serves, scientists in general expressed pleased surprise at the rapidity of revegetation.
Even in this age of high-technology, where many people who live in cities and work full-time with computers see but little nature intimately -- at least we all are still aware of the weather and the seasons. We all know that a short, rainy winter day is less pleasant than a warm sunny June day. Most of us are cheered at the return of spring, and we mostly have certain pleasant or striking memories we associate with each season.
My awareness of nature was at this relatively normal level until high school. I recall as an 8th grade student, that nature was wholly unappealing to me. I liked sports, music, comic books, stamp collecting, and whatnot. Trees were trees, grass was grass, flowers were flowers and weeds were weeds. But by the time I was in 10th grade, and especially 11th grade, I had been affected profoundly by nature awareness. I went from a normal worldview to one wherein the value of being aware of and appreciative of nature was a centerpiece. In retrospect, this was the pivotal transformation of my life.
In high school I went from just another one of the guys into a person whose passion and livelihood became nature. The process was begun, I think, by my having read Thoreau's Walden. I did this because I was exhorted to do so by an influential 8th grade teacher, George Hofbauer. Walden affected me, as I was at that ripe, receptive, impressionable age. In turn I read other authors: Emerson, Goethe, Voltaire, Carlyle, Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Schopenhauer, Pascal, Montaigne, etc. A common theme in all the writings was the importance of nature, of calmly reflecting, and of thinking for oneself. Goethe wrote:
The thoughtful man's greatest comfort
is to have explored what can be known
and to worship the unfathomable quietly.
I began meditating under trees, listening to birds, tasting wild berries, and finding joy and excitement, meaning and inspiration. My self-confidence boomed, my sense of being an individual blossomed. I began designing a custom meal for myself from the menu of life.
The awareness of natural beauty was like a revelation. I looked at, and experienced, all manner of organisms, and light. Rainfall or windstorms became celebratory. At the time I had boundless ambition and wanted to learn the names and attributes of all the birds, butterflies, spiders, insects, seashells, plants, stars and constellations -- etc. It was a kind of euphoria. I saw the utility of such knowledge, too. How to raise vegetables and berries, and which plants in the wild were edible, appealed greatly to me. I began gardening. At the time I thought I'd grow up, move to the country, and be self-sufficient. I kept a journal in which I recorded plant flowering dates, and all my natural history observations. I gave up my hobbies of basketball, stamp collecting and the like. By and by my love of plants outgrew my interest in other aspects of natural history.
I learned a whale of a lot about plant life in Seattle. I learned in an intimate way, from keen curiosity, combined with lengthy hours spent outdoors. I became an expert without even trying, by just pursuing my inclinations. The principles of life, previously mere broad abstractions to me, became plainly clear. I saw firsthand how environment and genetics, together, affect life. I saw nature's pace -- before I'd only considered humanity's.
When these and many other observations crystallized in my mind, the result was my sense of having a coherent, logical philosophy. I felt grounded. From nature study, then, I developed my critical faculties, I gained practical information, derived inspiration and joy, and welded my personal worldview. Nature, plus the wise words I'd read from writers of the past, were my sources. My schooling was typical; all that really sets me apart is owed to what I did on my own.
This in not an unmitigated plus. When one has an odd perspective, and so sees things in a rare way, communicating with others of more traditional or conventional outlook can be difficult. For example, if I believe the soil is sacred, and yet the prevailing assumption is that it is dirt -- we're worlds apart from compromise.
Some people, Buddhists example, revere all life and will go to considerable lengths to end none. So they won't swat mosquitoes, don't eat meat, etc. Again, I look at the whole realm of living nature as one big biological web or food chain, with herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. As such, I have no philosophic qualms about taking life: I might eat a catfish for lunch; a lion might eat me for dinner. I do earnestly respect life, and agree to not wantonly destroy it. But to not squish mosquitoes or step on slugs is going too far for my sense of practical living.
I would prefer that people based their philosophies more on nature study and reflection, rather than nearly wholly on what their parents or influential peers tell them. But the weight of tradition is on the side of relatively uncritical acceptance of whatever one's mainstream society believes in.
The thought processes, and inspiration brought about by nature, are available to humans who study the wild, or tame nature. Just having a pet goldfish and some houseplants is better than no experience at all. And one can have a small garden, not need a wilderness experience, to be fed physically and mentally. I would go so far as to say humans have an instinctive need for nature, since we evolved under its influences. So to live, say, in a cave, with only artificial light, and only human-made objects, would be a severe strain. Along this line, the sterility of hospital rooms is frightful -- I am glad about the emergence of "horticultural therapy" and the like.
One of my motives in sharing what I've learned from nature study is to help empower others. Even if a person doesn't find nature effective for inspiration or education, it is good to "strike it off the list of possibilities" and go on to sample something else, such as religion, art, work, etc. Find your love in life and pursue it passionately.