Special Christmas Edition! Το Δεκέμβριο του 2013 εκδόθηκε στα Αγγλικά το μαθητικό περιοδικό ποικίλης ύλης το οποίο περιέχει άρθρα των μαθητών πάνω σε θέματα τεχνολογίας, υγείας, ομορφιάς, ψυχολογίας και άλλα. Αξίζει τον κόπο να το επισκεφτείτε και να το διαβάσετε!
Υπεύθυνη Καθηγήτρια: Κουγιουμτζή Μελίνα
Special Christmas Edition! Το Δεκέμβριο του 2013 εκδόθηκε στα Αγγλικά το μαθητικό περιοδικό ποικίλης ύλης το οποίο περιέχει άρθρα των μαθητών πάνω σε θέματα τεχνολογίας, υγείας, ομορφιάς, ψυχολογίας και άλλα. Αξίζει τον κόπο να το επισκεφτείτε και να το διαβάσετε!
Υπεύθυνη Καθηγήτρια: Κουγιουμτζή Μελίνα
Special Christmas Edition! Το Δεκέμβριο του 2013 εκδόθηκε στα Αγγλικά το μαθητικό περιοδικό ποικίλης ύλης το οποίο περιέχει άρθρα των μαθητών πάνω σε θέματα τεχνολογίας, υγείας, ομορφιάς, ψυχολογίας και άλλα. Αξίζει τον κόπο να το επισκεφτείτε και να το διαβάσετε!
Υπεύθυνη Καθηγήτρια: Κουγιουμτζή Μελίνα
Special Christmas Edition! Το Δεκέμβριο του 2013 εκδόθηκε στα Αγγλικά το μαθητικό περιοδικό ποικίλης ύλης το οποίο περιέχει άρθρα των μαθητών πάνω σε θέματα τεχνολογίας, υγείας, ομορφιάς, ψυχολογίας και άλλα. Αξίζει τον κόπο να το επισκεφτείτε και να το διαβάσετε!
Υπεύθυνη Καθηγήτρια: Κουγιουμτζή Μελίνα
Entering the Academia Gallery in Florence the tourists have the opportunity to admire the greatest master piece of Italian Renaissance, David. The 5.17metre page 7 t When Music... meets Cinema The Music of the Cinema keeps in memory the picture, interprets it, while simultaneously paints desires and memories and our personal empathy with the aspects of a dream of 35 milliseconds said the famous Greek page 6 t Aristophanes (born c. 450 bcdied c. 388 bc) Little is known about the life of Aristophanes, and most of the known facts are derived from references in his own plays. . He is thought to have written about 40 page 6 t PARASITES Tsakona Despina G4 A parasite is an organism that lives on or in a host and gets its food from or at the expense of its host. Parasites can cause disease in hu mans. Some parasitic diseases are easily treated and some are not. The burden of these diseases often rests on communities in the tropics and page 5 t A few things you did not know about potatos In the era of information, it is not often that we pause our hectic lifestyle, in order to take appreciation of the little things, especially when it comes to our nutrition. In fact, it is estimated that a large per centage of American children dont even know that French fries are made of potatoes. So here are a few facts about the worlds fourth largest crop1. page 5 t Music Therapy: an alternative medicine By Lathouraki Eva, Papaevangelou Spiridoula & Savvidou Dimitra What is Music Therapy? Research has shown that music has a profound effect on our body and soul. In page 9 t Healthy hair for a beautiful girl Why is healthy hair important? Like your skin, your hair needs nutrition from the inside out. If your diet is deficient in hair friendly foods, or your digestion is not efficient, all the expensive sham page 8 t Fast Food: All about by Frageios Vasileios Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly, first popularized in the 1950s in the United States. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to page 7 t Steroids There are a lot of misconceptions about what steroids are, how steroids work, and why steroids are danger ous. If you are curious about the subject of steroids, lets eliminate certain misconceptions that surround page 10 t Sleeping By Panagiotis Kokovinis, Ioannis Kiriakidis, Fotios Pappas Who is Hypnos? Sleep is one of the most fundamental needs of a human being. From ancient times people im page 11 t Biography of Friedrich Nietzsche : 1) German philosopher born in a family of pastors. After having given up the career of pastor, Friedrich Nietzsche studies philology and is interested in Arthur Schopenhauer. He becomes professor of philosophy in 1869 at the University of Basle, but he must stop teaching in 1879 for health reasons. Nietzsche binds friendship with Richard Wagner with page 2 t Constantine P. Cavafy By Detsikas Konstantinos & Vargiemitzidis Konstantinos Constantine P. Cavafy was a Greek poet who lived in Alexandria and worked as a journalist and civil servant. He published 154 poems; dozens more remained incom plete or in sketch form. His most important poetry was written after his fortieth birthday. page 2 t MARIA CALLAS: A short story behing her name By Anastasia Axari THE START OF HER BIG CAREER.. In 1932 Maria is given her fist paino lessons. Later in life she is able to study all her roles at the piano without the help of a repeti teur. In 1939 Maria makes her stage debut as Santuzza in a student page 3 t Trick or treat ? By Dimitra Manavi Achilleas Gousiopoulos Most high school, college, amateur and professional athletes participate in sports for the opportunity to pit their abilities against those of their peers and to expe page 3 t F1 Be the one Formula 1, the greatest competition. Cars, designs and engines created by the brightest minds. Driven to the edge of beyond by the chosen few. Teams rise and fall, drivers come and go, but echoes of the past always remain. Competing in arenas that stood the test of time, when glory and failure are separated by fractions. When victory is rescued from defeat. This is where history is made. This is Formula 1. page 4 t Playing the videogames Any people have prejudiced notions that video games make us violent, anti social, and fat (since most games dont require a lot of physical movement). While gaming is not necessarily considered the healthiest hobby but there are actually many health benefits that come from video games. page 4 t TO EA T O R N O T TO EA T? By Dodopoulou Dafni, Ioannidou Alexandra, Karaglani Evelina N ow adays m ore and m ore young w om en are dealing w ith the serious consequences of anorexia.M any of them dont believe its a life page 12 t Blame the Game? By Vasileiou Christ, Tetepoulides John As video gaming spreads, the debate about its so cial impact intensifies. Ga ming has gone from a minority activity a few years ago into a mass en tertainment industry. No netheless, what exactly is page 12 t 2 whom he will fall out a few years later. The Nietzsches philosophical thought is carried by passion, with the risk sometimes to wander from the point. The German philosopher does not hamper with proven theories or systems. The principle of the Nietzsches philosophy is the enthusiasm of life and his morals is a criticism of the Christian ideas as pity and resignation. For him, the Christian morals of slaves places man in a state of inferiority, and makes a virtue of it; this morals has to give way to the morals of the Masters (Beyond Good and Evil, 1886). By declaring God is dead in Thus spoke Zarathustra (1883), Nietzsche regards religion as an alibi facing the human weakness and misfortune. He castigates the ascetic morals of the Churches and rejects God that man has invented to constrain mankind to resignation. However, God being dead, the alienated man releases himself from the burden of the divine transcen dence and from its moral and metaphysical requirements. Never theless, Nietzsche notes that man, who has killed God, did not draw all the conclusions from this, being satisfied to transform Christianity into humanism or turning to a religious atheism. The works of Nietzsche is a fight for the protection of man confronted in the Western culture with the danger of weakness and nihilism, produced by Christianity that destroys life by want ing to save it. The permanent effort to overcome pessimism had to transform man into superman, exceptional being, free of any constraint and who will be able to assume his finite. Because of the shrewdness of his psychological analysises, Nietzsche may be regarded as a precursor of Freud. From1879, Nietzsche lives alone and wanders about Italy and the Alps where he finds inspiration for his last works. He sinks into insanity in 1890. After his death, his words, in particular in Will to Power, have been misrepresented by his sister, who would like to reveal there, wrongly, genesis of nazism. 2)The Italics are : The Antichrist (1895) Beyond Good and Evil (1886) The Birth of Tragedy (1872) The Case of Wagner (1888) The Dawn (1881) Ecce Homo (1900) The Gay Science (1882) Human, All Too Human (1878) My Sister and I (1889) On the Genealogy of Morality (1887) Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks (1873) Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883 and 1885) Twilight of the Idols (1888) Untimely Meditations (1873) The Will to Power (1889) The most important maxims: 1 Idleness is the beginning of all psychology. What? Is psy chology a vice? 2 Even the most courageous among us only rarely has the courage to face what he already knows. 3 To live alone one must be a beast or a god, says Aristotle. Leaving out the third case: one must be both a philoso pher. 4 All truth is simple. Is that not a double lie? 5 I want, once and for all, not to know many things. Wisdom requires moderation in knowledge as in other things. 6 In our own wild nature we find the best recreation fromour unnature, from our spirituality. 7 What? Is man merely a mistake of Gods? Or God merely a mistake of mans? 8 Out of lifes school of war: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger. 9 Help yourself, then everyone will help you. Principle of bro therly love. 10 Not to perpetrate cowardice against ones own acts! Not to leave themin the lurch afterward! The bite of conscience is indecent. 11 Can an ass be tragic? To perish under a burden one can nei ther bear nor throw off? The case of the philosopher. 12 If we have our own why in life, we shall get along with al most any how. Man does not strive for pleasure; only the Englishman does. 13 Man has created woman out of what? Out of a rib of his god of his ideal. 14 What? You search? You would multiply yourself by ten, by a hundred? You seek followers? Seek zeros! 15 Posthumous men I, for example are understood worse than timely ones, but heard better. More precisely: we are never understood hence our authority. 16 Among women: Truth? Oh, you dont know truth! Is it not an attempt to kill our modesty? 17 That is the kind of artist I love, modest in his needs: he really wants only two things, his bread and his art panem et Circen [bread and Circe]. 18 Whoever does not know how to lay his will into things, at least lays some meaning into them: that means, he has the faith that they already obey a will. (Principle of faith.) 19 What? You chose virtue and took pride in your virtue, and yet you leer enviously at the advantages of those without scruples? But virtue involves renouncing advantages. (In scription for an antiSemites door.) 20 The perfect woman indulges in literature just as she in dulges in a small sin: as an experiment, in passing, looking around to see if anybody notices it and to make sure that somebody does. 3)Ecce Homo: HowOne Becomes What One Is (German: Ecce homo: Wie man wird, was man ist) is the last original book written by philosopherFriedrich Nietzsche before his final years of insan ity that lasted until his death in 1900. It was written in 1888 and was not published until 1908. According to one of Nietzsches most prominent English translators, Walter Kaufmann, the book offers Nietzsches own interpretation of his development, his works, and his signifi cance. [1] The book contains several chapters with worldhistor ically ironic, supposedly selflaudatory titles, such as Why I Am So Wise, Why I Am So Clever, Why I Write Such Good Books and Why I Am a Destiny. In a paradoxical way, Ecce Homo is the quintessential reflection of Nietzsches humility as a philosopher, writer and thinker. Walter Kaufmann, in his biography Nietzsche Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist noticed the internal paral lels, in form and language, to Platos Apology which docu mented the trial of Socrates. In effect, Nietzsche was putting himself on trial with this work, and his sardonic judgments and chapter headings are mordant, mocking, selfdeprecating, sly, and they turn this trial against his future accusers, distorters, and superficial judges. Within this work, Nietzsche is selfconsciously striving to present a new image of the philosopher and of himself, for ex ample, a philosopher who is not an Alexandrian academic nor an Apollonian sage, but Dionysian. [2] On these grounds, Kauf mann considers Ecce Homo a literary work comparable in its artistry to Vincent van Goghs paintings. Just as Socrates was pre sented in Platos Apology as the wisest of men precisely because he freely admitted to his own ignorance, Nietzsche argues that he himself is a great philosopher because of his withering assess ment of the pious fraud of the entirety of Philosophy which he considered as a retreat from honesty when most necessary, and a cowardly failure to pursue its stated aim to its reasonable end. Nietzsche insists that his suffering is not noble but the expected result of hard inquiry into the deepest recesses of human selfde ception, and that by overcoming ones agonies a person achieves more than any relaxation or accommodation to intellectual diffi culties or literal threats. He proclaims the ultimate value of every thing that has happened to him (including his fathers early death and his nearblindness an example of love of Fate or amor fati). In this regard, the wording of his title was not meant to draw par allels with Jesus, but suggest a contrast, that Nietzsche truly is a man. Nietzsches point is that to be a man alone is to be more than a Christ. One of the main purposes of Ecce Homo was to offer Niet zsches own perspective on his work as a philosopher and human being. He wrote: Under these circumstances I have a duty against which my habits, even more the pride of my instincts, re volt at bottom namely, to say: Hear me! For I am such and such a person. Above all, do not mistake me for someone else! Through out the course of the book, he expounds in the characteristi cally hyperbolic style found in his later period (18861888) upon his life as a child, his tastes as an individual, and his vision for humanity. Him books are: The Birth of Tragedy, The Untimely Meditations, Human, All Too Human, The Dawn, The Gay Science, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Ge nealogy of Morality, Twilight of the Idols and The Case of Wagner. The last chapter of Ecce Homo, entitled Why I Am a Destiny, is primarily concerned with reiterating Nietzsches thoughts on Christianity, corroborating Christianitys decadence and his ideas as to uncovering Christian morality. He signs the book Dionysus versus the Crucified. Sources: http://atheisme.free.fr/Biographies/Nietzsche_e.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Books_by_Friedrich_Nietzsche http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_Homo_%28book%29 Cavafy drew his themes from personal experience, along with a deep and wide knowledge of history, especially of the Hellenistic era. Many of his poems are pseudohistorical, or seemingly historical, or ac curately, but quirkily, historical.Almost all of Cavafys work was in Greek; yet, his poetry remained unrec ognized in Greece until after the publication of his first anthology in 1935. He is known for his prosaic use of metaphors, his brilliant use of historical im agery, and his aesthetic perfectionism. These attrib utes, amongst others,have assured him an enduring place in the literary pantheon of the Western World. Besides his subjects, unconventional for the time, his poems also exhibit a skilled and versatile craftsman ship, which is almost completely lost in translation .Cavafy was a perfectionist, obsessively refining every single line of his poetry. His mature style was a free iambic form, free in the sense that verses rarely rhyme and are usually from 10 to 17 syllables. In his poems, the presence of rhyme usually implies irony. TYPE OF POEMS Historical poems These poems are mainly inspired by the Hellenistic era with Alexandria at primary focus. Other poems originate from Hellenoromaic antiquity and the Byzantine era. Mythological references are also pres ent. The periods chosen are mostly of decline and decadence (e.g. Trojans); his heroes facing the final end. Sensual poems The sensual poems are filled with the lyricism and emotion of samesex love; inspired by recollection and remembrance. The past and former actions, sometimes along with the vision for the future un derlie the muse of Cavafy in writing these poems. Philosophical poems Also called instructive poems they are divided into poems with consultations to poets and poems that deal with other situations such as closure (for exam ple, The walls), debt (for example, Thermopy lae), and human dignity (for example, The God Abandons Antony). Cavafy s most famous poems Thermopiles 1903 The City 1909 Ithaka 1910 The Satrapy1910 The God forsakes Antony1910 Philhellene 1912 As Much As You Can 1913 Noesis 1918 Melancholy of Jason, Son of Cleander: Poet in Com magene: 595 A.D. 1918 In Alexandria, 31 B.C. 1924Theme and Symbolism in Cavafys Ithaka In his poem Ithaca(1910) Constantine Cavafy uses the familiar story of the Odyssey as a metaphor for the journey of life. Cavafy wrote his poetry in Greek (Constantine P. Cavafy) Although some of the lyri cism and rhyme of the original is probably lost in translation, it is still a powerful piece that speaks to the reader in any language. The major theme of the poem is to take your time on your journey through life, stopping to obtain wis dom, pleasure and experience. Some people always find the straight and easy way through life, proceed ing linearly and avoiding distractions and detours. When they reach the end, what do they have to show for it? Cavafy seems to be saying that the things that really matter in the end are experiences and memories. You can not get many of these on the straight and narrow path. Odysseus ten year voyage home from the Trojan war, with its many turnings and adventures, is a metaphor for a fulfilling life. One unusual feature of the work is that it is written in the second person imperative. It tells the reader, the metaphorical Odysseus, what to do. While this point of view is almost never workable in a narrative work, it is effective in a short lyrical poem like this. Ithaka uses several strong symbols, loosely drawn from the Odyssey. In the first stanza, for instance, refers to the Laistrygonians, the Cyclops, and Angry Poseidon. These were among the most terrifying of Oddyseus enemies. The Laistrygonians and the Cy clops were gigantic cannibals who ate most of his followers. Poseidon was a vengeful god who perse cuted him for years. Cavafy chooses these enemies to symbolize conflict, particularly conflict with peo ple or powers that are much bigger and more pow erful than the reader. Luckily, the reader need not fear these external conflicts: you wont meet them / unless you carry the in your soul. A person without internal strife is less likely to encounter ex ternal strife. Another symbol the idea of coming into new har bors. The harbors are happy times and places in the life of the reader where pleasure, knowledge and ex perience are gained. Cavafy mentions two main types, Phoenician trading stations, and Egyptian cities. In the Phoenician stations, one is to buy fine things and sensual perfumes. Cavafy is not telling the reader to amass treasure. The message is to enjoy luxury and beauty when the chance arises. One should appreciate the fine things that come into ones path for the sake of the experience. The Phoenician trading stations symbolize times in life when one is exposed to art and beauty and culture. The Egyptian cities, on the other hand, symbolize times of knowledge and education. This could be a time of formal education such as going to college. It could just as easily by an informal educational expe rience. Either way, Cavafy enjoins the reader to visit many of these Egyptian Cities. Education is not something that is sought once in life. Rather, should occur in a series of episodes throughout a lifetime. When he wrote this reference to Egyptian cities, Costantine Cavafy was undoubtedly thinking of Alexandria, where he spent most of his life. Alexan dria has always been a great center of learning and a confluence of cultures and ideas. It was the sight of the largest library of the ancient world. It would not, however, have existed at the time the events in the historical Odyssey took place. Cavafy is thus ei ther creating a deliberate anachronism or referring to other older Egyptian cities. The symbolism is still effective either way. The final, and perhaps most important, symbol in Ithaka is Ithaka itself. Ithaka, Odysseus island king dom, represents both the starting and ending place. Everyone comes from somewhere. There was a time and place them shaped them and made them they are. As they reached adulthood they left home. Some went far indeed, even as this poem recom mends. Ironically, the farther people get from home (physically, temporally, and ideologically) the more they want to return. The great risk, however, is of idealizing your own personal Ithaka. In the penulti mate stanza Cavafy warns against expecting too much: Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you would not have set out. She has nothing left to give you now. The point of life is the journey and the experiences along the way. If you go long enough you will even tually get back to where you began. As natural as this is, this starting and ending point is simply that: a starting and ending point. It is the path in between that makes life worth living. Cavafy is justifiably referred to as the father of Greek modernist poetry, and Ithaka is widely regarded as one of his finest poems. In it he develops elements of a familiar story, The Odyssey, into powerful sym bols to support his theme. References: www.wikipedia.org www.cavafy.com www.poetryfoundation.org www.poets.org BIOGRAPHY OF FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE t CONSTANTINE P. CAVAFY t Just a note When one of my students suggested the idea of a magazine, I thought that I couldnt have asked for a better chance to embrace the students interest in re- search and trigger their skills in writing. Soon after, I was captivated by their eagerness and enthusiasm. We all sat down, pen in hand, and began to conceptualize something that was barely there. The students swift response coming up with topics and resources at their fingertips, made us all see how the mission of a high-school project was turning into the vision of creating a magazine and having our work published. Needless to say that the whole endeavor would not have been carried out had it not been for Ms Founta, who warmly welcomed the idea from the begin- ning and generously offered her support throughout the process. We would like to believe that while youre reading the magazine you will all find out things you didnt know about, or things you knew about differently. What is important is to bear in mind that the students took the initiative to take a step further and present a piece of their work, which is, however, only a piece of what they are really capable of. Besides, practice makes one perfect, so we believe that the best is yet to come. Enjoy! Melina Kougioumtzi (Project Advisor) 3rd Junior High-school Frageios Vassileios Tsakona Despoina Ezat Alexander Omar 2nd Senior High-school (B2) Axari Anastasia Apostolidou Sophia Vergemitzidis Konstantinos Detsikas Konstantinos Zlatinski Rodi Karakousi Theresia Karasavvidou Maria Katzika Anna Kosmas Petros Lazaridou Georgia Michailidou Danai Morogianni Danai Pavlidou Christina Tsolakidou Symela Hatzianastasiou Ilianna 2nd Senior High-school (B3) Arvanitidis Dimitrios Vasileiou Christos Gesios Georgios Gola Chrysi Gousiopoulos Achilleas Grammenos Petros Dardamani Alexandra Dodopoulou Daphne Ioannidou Alexandra Kamperis Nikolaos-Raphael Karaglani Evdokia-Eleni Kenanoglou Emmanouil Kokovinis Panagiotis Komnino Simona Kountouretis Kyriakos Kyriakidis Ioannis Lathouraki Evanthia Manavi Dimitra Biliouri Kyriaki NIkolis Georgios Orphanidou Eleni Papaevaggelou Spyridoula Pappas Fotios Savvidou Dimitra Stavridou Despoina Tetepoulidis Ioannis Tsatsoulas Chrysostomos Farmaki Niki-Maria Fotiadis Serafeim-Nikiforos Christinidis Dimitrios Written and compiled by: 3 production of Cavalleria Rusticana and wins the Conservatoires prize. Elvira de Hidalgo becomes Marias teacher at the Conservatoire and concentrates on col oratura training. Then she made her profes sional operatic debut as Beatrice in Boccaccio at the Palas Cinema with the Lyric Theatre company with whom she will sing in Tosca, Tiefland, Cavalleria Rus ticana, Fidelio, and Der Bettelstudent during the next four years. In 1942 she sang Tosca for the first time in Greek at an open air performance at the Park Summer Theatre Kaftmonos Square. In 1946 she tried unsuc cessfully to find work, but she continued strenuous vocal pratice to perfect her tech nique. Then she met Eddie Bagarozy. She ac cepted engagement to sing in Turandot in Chicago in January 1947 with a cast of cele brated European singers in a new company to be founded by Bagarozy and Ottavio Scotto, an Italian impresario. MARIA CALLAS IS BECOMING MORE AND MORE FAMOUS.. After three years of training, Maria made her professional stage debut in November of 1940 at the National Lyric Theatre in Athens in Supps operetta, Boccaccio. Her first suc cess came in 1942 when she was asked to per form in Tosca at the Athens Opera. Soon after, she performed Fidelio, Tiefland, and Cavalleria Rusticana in Athens and re turned to her birthplace, New York, in the hopes of starting a successful career in opera. Her auditions had not been going well until she was asked to audition for Edward Johnson, the General Manager of the Metro politan Opera. Johnson heard her and imme diately offered her the leading roles in two productions of the 1946/7 season: Beethovens Fidelio and Puccinis Madama Butterfly. Maria, to Johnsons surprise, turned the roles down. She didnt want to sing Fide lio in English and she felt that she was too heavy to portray the young, fragile Butterfly. This story may just be a myth, though, since the Met maintains Callas audition was not a success and that she was never offered a con tract. Maria was, however, able to find work. After an engagement in La Gioconda in Verona, she traveled to Venice to sing Brnnhilde in Die Walkre for the 1948/9 sea son with Tullio Serafin conducting. After the first Puritani on January 19, 1949, Maria be came the talk of Italy. It was a huge success, even though she had made some small mis takes, one of them being that instead of singing son vergin vezzosa (I am a charm ing virgin), she sang son vergin viziosa (I am a vicious virgin). Three months after her suc cess, she married Giovanni Battista Menegh ini, a man almost 30 years older than Maria, on 21 April 1949, in the Chiesa dei Filippini in Verona, Italy. Maria had become a major opera celebrity in Italy but had still not been offered a role at La Scala in Milan. Finally, Maria was offered the lead role in Verdis Ada after Renata Tebaldi (who had been cast in the role) be came unavailable. Maria and Meneghini ex pected a huge triumph, but when Ada opened on April 12, 1950, she re ceived a polite reception and lukewarm re views. It wasnt until 7 December 1950 that La Scala surrendered to Maria Callas. She had opened the 1950/1 season with I Vespri Sicil iani and was greeted with thunderous ap plause and enthusiastic reviews. In July of 1952, Maria signed an exclusive recording contract with Walter Legge, direc tor of EMI. A few days after the contract was signed, Legge and his wife, the great German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, went to see Maria in La Traviata at the Arena in Verona, Italy. Following the performance, Schwarzkopf offered Maria one of the most moving tributes she had ever received: Elisa beth would never sing La Traviata again. When asked to explain her decision, Schwarzkopf replied, What is the sense in doing a part that another contemporary artist can do to perfection? Maria finally made her debut at the Met ropolitan Opera on 28 October 1956 as Norma in Bellinis Norma. Unfortunately for Maria, Time magazine had done an interview with Marias mother, the woman Maria blamed for robbing her of her childhood. Maria had last seen her mother in Mexico in 1950 and had vowed that she would never meet or speak with her again (a promise she took with her to her death). The Time article portrayed Maria as an ungrateful daughter and the New York public reacted coldly when Marias Met debut came. In fact, the legendary soprano Zinka Milanov received more applause when she took her seat than Maria did when she made her entrance. By the end of the final act, though, the New York public surrendered and Maria received 16 curtain calls. The next time Maria made headlines was when she was scheduled to sing in a gala per formance of Norma at the Rome Opera House on 2 January 1958. The performance was to be attended by Italys president, Giovanni Gronchi and his wife. Unfortunately, Maria had seen in the New Year by drinking cham pagne and staying up very late at the fashion able Rome nightclub, Circolo degli Sacchi. When Maria awoke, less than thirtysix hours before curtainup, her voice had gone. She couldnt even whisper, let alone sing. The Opera House was informed that a replace ment would be needed. There was no under study and a cancellation would have been disastrous. What happened instead was worse than a disaster. Maria, against the or ders of her doctors, went on stage but it was clear from her first note that her voice was in ruins. At the end of the first act, half the audi ence jeered while the other half sat in shocked silence. Maria escaped through a back exit and an announcement had to be made that the performance simply could not go on. The public was furious but Maria was relieved to receive a phone call from Signora Gronchi assuring her that neither she nor her husband had been offended. On 3 September 1959, Maria announced that she would be parting from her husband. She began a 9 year love affair with Aristotle Onassis. The couple was expected to marry but in the end, Aristotle married Jackie Kennedy, John F. Kennedys widow, on 20 Oc tober 1968. His death on 15 March 1975, is considered to be one of the major factors be hind Marias death. In May of 1965, Marias voice once again became the subject of dispute. She was per forming Norma at the Paris Opera with Fiorenza Cossotto as Adalgisa. Cossotto knew that Maria was exhausted and her voice was weak so Cossotto intentionally held on to notes longer than Maria could. On the night of the final Norma on 29 May, Maria was at her weakest. To make things worse, Cossotto treated their big duet like a duel. At the end, when the curtain came down, Maria col lapsed and was carried unconscious to her dressing room. In June 1969, Maria began work on a film of Medea (not Cherubinis opera or Euripides tragedy but the myth of Medea) with Pier Paolo Pasolini. She hardly sang but still worked very hard. So hard that one day she fainted after running on a dry riverbed in the sun for a particular shot. Unfortunately for Maria, the film was not a success. By 1970, Marias singing career had come to a quick halt. On May 25, she was rushed to the hospital and it was announced that she had tried to commit suicide by taking an over dose of barbiturates. It seems unlikely that she actually attempted suicide, though by this time she was known to take more sleeping tablets to find sleep and more barbiturates to find peace. In 1973, she began a comeback tour with Giuseppe di Stefano. For the first time in eight years, Maria Callas was singing in public. It was clear from the first concert in Hamburg on 25 October that the tour would be an artis tic disaster. Callas and di Stefano had as an ac companist, Ivor Newton, who was well into his eighties. During the tour, Newton began having dizzy spells in the street and fantasiz ing about his death. He once said to Robert Sutherland, who was turning the pages for Newton, If I have a heart attack while Maria is singing a high note, you are to push me off my stool and take over as though nothing had happened. Maria refused to fire Newton, fearing that doing so would probably kill him. Sutherland eventually took over as accompa nist when the tour travelled to the U.S. The final concert took place on November 11, 1974, in the city of Sapporo in northern Japan. That was the last place on earth that would hear Maria sing. WHEN MARIA CALLAS DIED.. On 16 September 1977, Maria woke up late in her home in Paris. She had breakfast in bed, then got up and started towards the bath room. There was a piercing pain in her left side and she collapsed. She was put back into bed and drank some strong coffee. After fail ing to get a hold of any medical help, they called Marias butlers doctor who started out immediately for Marias residence. She was dead before he arrived. Her funeral was held on September 20th. She was cremated and her remains kept at the cemetery of Pre Lachaise in Paris. In the spring of 1979, the ashes were taken to Greece and were scat tered in the Aegean. References: http://www.callas.it/english/cronologia.html http://sopranos.freeservers.com/callas.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Callas rience the satisfaction that cames from playing to their potential. Others do so to satisfy a desire for recognition and fame.Unfortunately, that creates some athletes who are determined to win at any cost. They may use that de termination to justify the use of anabolic steroids, de spite evidence that these drugs can inflict irreversible physical harm and have significant side effects. The number of athletes who abuse anabolic steroids is unknown. Believing that anabolic steroids can im prove competitiveness and performance, uniformed or misguided athletes, sometimes encouraged by coaches or parents, abuse these drugs to build lean muscle mass, promote aggressiveness and increase body weight. Moreover, people suffering from the behavioral syndrome called muscle dysmorphia tend to use these drugs. This syndrome causes them to have a distorted image of their bodies. Finally, some adolescents abuse steroids as part of a pattern of highrisk behaviors. These adolescents also take risks such as drinking and driv ing, driving a motorcycle without helmet and abusing other illicit drugs. Con ditions such as muscle dysmorphia, history of sexual or physical abuse, or a history engaging in a high risk behaviours have all been associated with an in creased risk of initiating or continuing steroid abuse. Some athletes believe that different drugs will produce greater strength or muscle size than by using just one drug. What they dont know or choose to ignore is the damage to the body that abuse of these drugs can cause. When improperly used, anabolic steroids can cause serious health problems such as high blood pressure and heart disease, liver damage and cancers,stroke and blood clots. Other side effect of steroids include : nausea and vomiting, in creased risk of ligament and tendon injuries,headaches,aching joints, muscle cramps,diarrhea,sleep problems and severe acne. Although,while the total im pact of anabolic steroid abuse is not known, health care providers have ob served some problems regarding the blood, heart, liver, skeleton, skin, immune system and psychologi cal (such as mood swings, aggressive violent behav ior, depression, psychotic episodes and addiction).Prolonged abuse of anabolic steroids very often results in physical addiction. Abusers must un dergo a strict medically supervised with drawl pro gram. All things considered, the abuse of anabolic steroids by high school, college and other amateur athletes is a dangerous practice. Participants in amateur sports must be made aware of the physical and emotional dangers associated with steroid abuse. The win at any cost attitude embraced by some athletes must be redirected and replaced by personal dedication to the sport, a thorough knowledge of the sports physical demands and requirements, maintenance of a healthy lifestyle and the appreciation of fair game. References: () . 132-133, . , www.ifet.gr/doping www.tovima.gr/sports www.pemptousia.gr www.medlook.net/kids/steroids www.stivoz.com www.fit-blaster.com www.fitnesspulse.gr www.azap.gr MARIA CALLAS t TRICK OR TREAT ? t 4 F1History Formula 1 is a rally, which started to grow fast in the 30s, swept away by the whirlwind of World War II, like any sport in the old continent. Europe was then the dominant force in motorsports, as it is nowadays. On 1 September 1946 the first Formula 1 test match took place in Turin, under the name Valentino Grand Prix, won by Italian Akile Vartsi, driving an Alfa Romeo 158 Alpheus. The cars that took part in the race did not differ much from those of the prewar era. Vartsis car was built in the 30s. In the next few decades, Formula 1 cars, underwent many changes, associated with the distance or hours of a race, the cars cubism and mostly the engines. Those changes were put into force from the victori ous Formula 1 teams of the past years. Someone could have said that those clever conversions, gave the league to any team which applied them. . The first decade of the 21st century belongs to Michael Schu macher and Ferrari. In the 90s the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola (1994) marked forever the world of Formula 1. He had man aged to win three world championships and unfortu nately no one will ever know where they could go. Both the death of the Brazilian ace and a number of fatal accidents forced the to take strict measures for the races safety. Since 2010 began the dynasty of an other German, Sebastian Vettel, who won four straight titles until 2013 and at the age of just 26 years, threatens many records in Formula 1. He had assistance, in this effort, from the reliable Red Bull team of wealthy Austrian distiller Dietrich Matesits, which in turn won an equal number of titles in the constructors championship. The Formula 1 is now a highly profitable show busi ness, which attracts thousands of spectators to the slopes and billions of viewers. But above all, remains a testing ground for the development and safety of motoring. How to become a F1 driver Chance to become a Formula 1 Driver is very rare and very expensive because it needs a lot of finance just to get to the GP2 series. F1 teams only select top driv ers who finish GP2 in Europe. All time and money that they invested will not be paid properly up. To become a champion a combination of yourself, with your team, car, strategy, is required to succeed. Of course, it also needs luck and support from your country both you and Motor sport. If your own country has no F1 team and no F1 race track, no rich sponsors then it is more difficult to become a F1 Driver. However, there is a chance and an oppor tunity to become a successful Touring or Rally Driver who is also highly paid by their teams and sponsors. It is recommended that while trying to become a racer you must try simultaneously to get a college or university degree as a backup for your future and sur vival in case you are not successful in your racing ca reer. If it is only a hobby without any target then you can go ahead for as long as you can afford. To sum up, if someone wanted to describe Formula 1 with a few worlds, he would say that it is a very diffi cult sport, in which you can take part as a driver, due to the financial obstacles. Although, once you make it to top of the sport you will be thrilled by the emo tions that this Motor sport can cause, because of the importance of its history and its breakthrough in en gineering. F1StatisticsTeam position Red Bull RacingRenault 553 Mercedes 348 Ferrari 333 LotusRenault 315 McLarenMercedes 102 Force IndiaMercedes 77 Sauber Ferrari 53 STRFerrari 32 WilliamsRenault 5 MarussiaCosworth 0 CaterhamRenault 0 F1Driver Position Sebastian Vettel 372 Fernando Alonso 227 Lewis Hamilton 187 Kimi Rikknen 183 Mark Webber 181 Nico Rosberg 161 Romain Grosjean 132 Felipe Massa 106 Jenson Button 61 Paul di Resta 48 Nico Hulkenberg 47 Sergio Perez 41 Adrian Sutil 29 Daniel Ricciardo 19 JeanEric Vergne 13 Esteban Gutierrez 6 Valtteri Bottas 4 Pastor Maldonado 1 Jules Bianchi 0 Charles Pic 0 Giedo van der Garde 0 Max Chilton 0 Heikki Kovalainen 0 By Nikos Kamberis & Raphael Gesios References: F1 2013 game, www.sansimera.gr, www.4mula1.ro, www.siberhegindo.com Benefits of playing VideoGames 1. Stress and Depression Relief In a study conducted by the 2009 Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine, it was found that gamers who suffered from mental stress or depression were able to use video games to vent out their frustra tions. This in turn helped them relax and gamers showed much improve ment. In another study by PopCap Games it was shown that 88% of people play video games for stress relief. Games like Plants vs Zombies are effective examples. 2. Pain Relief As crazy as it sounds, video games can also help relieve physical pain. The way that this works is by distracting the player from their pain by putting them into the virtual reality setting of a video game. The Univer sity of Washingtons psychologists developed a game for military hospi tals called Snow World. This game helped relieve soldiers who were suffering from battle wounds. The objective of the game was to put play ers into a winter wonderland where they could throw snowballs at var ious targets like snowmen and penguins. Patients who played this game had an easier time recuperating and required less pain medication and their pain tolerance increased by up to 65%. 3. Faster Reflexes A study in the journal of Current Directions in Psychological Science, showed that people who played video games had faster reflexes than people who did not. However, this study was conducted under circum stances that did not involve actual games. Another study by Deakin Uni versity studied 53 preschool children and showed that children who played interactive games had better reflexes. 4. Improved Eyesight The University of Rochester conducted a study by checking the vision of a group of people who played action video games for a few hours a day for a month. It was found that their vision actually improved by about 20% on a standard eye chart. This is a very surprising discovery because many people believed that sitting in front of the television would do the complete opposite for your eyes. The reason for this is because action games, like first person shooters, require a lot of attention and our eye sight is led to view things more sharply. 5. Greater Dexterity According to the Archives of Surgery Laparoscopic surgeons people who played videogames were able to operate faster and with fewer errors. They could operate about 24% faster and with 32% fewer errors than sur geons who did not play video games. This study was conducted using a simulated surgery course. Your parents may have tried to kick you off your Super Nintendo just about every time you sat down in front of it because they were con cerned about how it might affect your longterm health. Plenty of stud ies have shown that games that dont require a lot of physical movement can have an adverse effect on children as they grow older. But perhaps counterintuitively, there have also been several studies touting the health benefits of gaming. 6. Video games are therapeutic for children with chronic illnesses The University of Utah released a study last year that examined the ef fects of regular gaming on children diagnosed with illnesses like autism, depression, and Parkinsons disease. Kids who played certain games, in cluding one designed just for the study, showed signs of improvement in resilience, empowerment, and a fighting spirit. Researchers believe the games ability to act on neuronal mechanisms that activate positive emotions and the reward system helped improve kids demeanors as they faced the daily challenges of their illnesses. 7. Video games improve preschoolers motor skills Letting a 4yearold sit in front of a TV with a game controller might not seem like the most productive use of her time. But researchers from Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, would disagree. Their study examined the development of 53 preschoolaged children, and found that those who played interactive games had better object control motor skills than those who didnt. Its not clear, though, whether children with betterthanaverage motor skills tend to gravitate toward video games in the first place. 8. Video games improve your decisionmaking skills Most video games require fast reactions and splitsecond decisions that can mean the difference between virtual life and virtual death. Cognitive neuroscientists at the University of Rochester in New York found these games give players brains plenty of practice for making decisions in the real world. Researchers suggest that actionoriented games act as a sim ulator for the decisionmaking process by giving players several chances to infer information from their surroundings and forcing them to react accordingly. 9. Video games keep you happy in old age and have help relationships Researchers from North Carolina State University looked closely at our aging population to see if there was a link between playing video games and mental wellbeing i.e. happiness. They found that senior citi zens who said they played video games even occasionally reported higher levels of happiness, or wellbeing, says Rick Nauert at Psych Central. Those who did not play video games reported more negative emotions and were more likely to be depressed. Its unclear what ex actly is behind this link or if the relationship is even causal. Last but not least 10. Education The federation of American Scientists revealed that students remember up to 90% of info when taught using simulations compared with 10% via reading. Disadvantages of Playing VideoGames Video gamerelated health problems can induce repetitive strain in juries, skin disorders or other health issues. Other problems include video gameprovoked seizures in patients with epilepsy. In rare and extreme cases, deaths have resulted from excessive video game playing. There may or may not be an accompanying video game addiction. Video games have also been linked in some studies to aggressive behavior and violence or fearful behavior by its players in the short term although other studies have not supported this link. Studies have mainly reported health problems in children, mainly boys. Several specific names have been given to videogame related health problems, for example PlayStation thumb, Nintendinitis and acute Wii itis; however, the literature does not seem to support these as truly sep arate disease entities.[5] Video game consoles linked to medical problems include the PlayStation and the Nintendo Wii, although it is un known whether certain types are more connected to these problems than others. Physical signs linked to excessive video game playing include black rings in the skin under the eyes and muscular stiffness in the shoulders, pos sibly caused by a tense posture or sleep deprivation. Existing literature on gaming is inconsistent, and studies occasionally produce contradictory results. Some studies show strong correlations between gaming and psychological issues like increased aggression in males, and increased depression in females Whilst another study claims that girls who gamed were less likely to experience depression but were more likely to get into fights. In 2009, during a speech to American Medical Association, Obama named video games as a health concern, stating that video games are a key factor in unhealthy sedentary lifestyles. 1. Musculoskeletal problems When questioned, children often admit to having physical complaints during video game playing, for example pain in the hands and wrists, back and neck. Ergonomic measures could improve postural problems associated with video game playing. A 2004 case report in The Lancet, authored by a 9yearold boy, mentions the Playstation thumb, which features numbness and a blister caused by friction between the thumb and the controller from rapid game play. Using dermoscopy, dermatologists found point like hemorrhages and onycholysis (letting go of the nail) in a patient who presented with hyperkeratosis. Nintendonitis has been used to describe tendon injuries (tendinosis) of the hands and wrists in Nintendo players. A 2010 case report in the New England Journal of Medicine reported a fracture of the base of the fifth metatarsal after using a Wii balance board, this was dubbed a Wii fracture. A further study involving musculoskeletal symptoms and computer use among Finnish adolescents affirmed the association between muscu loskeletal symptoms and computer usage. The study claims that daily computer use of 2 hours or more increases the risk for pain at most anatomic sites. Consistently long sessions of video game play also leads to an increased likelihood of lower back pain, according to a study conducted in a pop ulation of school children. Children who played video games for more than 2 hours a day were more inclined to have lower back pain, however the same could not be said for those who watched television instead. 2. Skin Problems Skin problems from excessive gaming may include stiffness, chaffed hands, warts on hands or on arms. Nintendinitis has been associated with skin ulceration. Palmer hidradenitis is a skin disorder induced by console gaming. Painful lesions on the palms and fingers are the main features. It differs from re current palmoplantar hidradenitis in that it affects only the hands. Those experiencing atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome, may experi ence a heightened allergic response due to video game play. However video game play does not seem to have an effect on normal subject or those with allergic rhinitis. 3. Vision Problems Video game playing may be associated with vision problems. Extensive viewing of the screen can cause eye strain, as the cornea, pupil, and iris are not intended for mass viewing sessions of electronic devices. Using video games for too long may also cause headaches, dizziness, and chances of vomiting from focusing on a screen for too long. However, certain studies have shown that video games can be used to improve various eye conditions. An investigation into the effect of action gaming on spatial distribution of attention was conducted and revealed that gamers exhibited an enhancement with attentional resources com pared to nongamers, not only in the periphery but also in central vision. Further studies in 2011, concluded that a combination of video game ther apy alongside occlusion therapy, would greatly improve the recovery of visual acuity in those experiencing Amblyopia. 4. Psychological Problems Some studies claim that excessive video game playing may lead to sev eral adverse psychological affects. One such study claimed that exces sive interaction with violent video games may lead to an increase in aggressive behavior and decreases prosocial behavior. A different study involving a mixture of male and female undergraduate students sup ports the previous fact and also claims that the effect is larger for men than for women. On the other hand, studies have also revealed that par ticipation in prosocial video games increases prosocial cognitions and helpful behaviors. Sessions of prosocial video games are associated with reduced hostility and increased positive state affect; Violent video games proved to have the opposite effects. Studies have concerning video game play and cerebral blood flow, con cluded that after a session of violent video game play, the player would show a significant decrease in cerebral blood flow in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, temporal cortex, anterior cingulated cortex and fusiform gyrus. The decreased cerebral blood flow thus shows reduced or abnormal prefrontal cortex functions after video game playing. Violent video games also contribute to stress levels. A recent study states that violent video game players had lower cardiac coherence lev els and higher aggression levels compared to nonviolent game players. The study claims that it is quite possible that violent games increase ag gression by inducing stress, however more studies are required to fully confirm this fact. A study in 2009 showed greater depression amongst female video game players, and overall poorer health when compared to females who did not play video games. The same study concluded that the only deter minant common to female and male videogame players was a greater reliance on the internet for social support. Those who experience video game dependency are accompanied by in creased levels of psychological and social stress. They tend to have lower academic achievements, increased truancy and reduced sleep time. 5. Gaming obesity Video game play has been constantly associated with obesity. Many studies have been conducted on the link between television & video games and increased BMI (Body Mass Index). Due to video games re placing physical activities, there appears to be a clear association be tween time spent playing video games and increased BMI in young children. One such study produced data that indicated that boys who spend less than 1.5 hours on the television and playing video games, were 75.4% less likely to be overweight than those who spend more than 1.5 hours. A study conducted in 2011 formalized the association of video game play and an increase in food intake in teens. A single session of video game play resulted in an increase in food intake, regardless of appetite. The recent trend of active video games revolving around the Wii and Xbox Kinect might be a way to help combat the aforementioned problem however this finding still needs confirmation from other studies. Fur thermore a study conducted in Baylor College of Medicine revolving around children claims that there is no evidence which supports the be lief that acquiring an active video game under naturalistic circumstance would result in a beneficial outcome toward children. The study pro duced no results showing an increased amount of physical activity within the children receiving the active video games. It has been estimated that children in the United States are spending 25 percent of their waking hours watching television and playing videogames. Statistically the chil dren who watch the most hours of television or play video games have the highest incidence of obesity we can see. I hope I influenced your opinion about gaming. Ezat Alexandros Omar F1 - BE THE ONE t PLAYING THE VIDEO-GAMES t 5 subtropics, but parasitic infections also affect people in developed countries. http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/ Parasites are organisms that derive nourishment and protection from other living organisms known as hosts. Many of these orga nisms can be transmitted by water, soil, or persontoperson con tact.Parasites range in size from tiny, singlecelled organisms to worms visible to the naked eye. In the United States, the most common foodborne parasites are protozoa, roundworms, and tapeworms. The foodborne parasite that causes the most hospitalizations and deaths in this country is Toxoplasma gondii, which causes toxoplasmosis. Parasitic Diseases (NIH MedlinePlus) Trusted health information on causes, symptoms, treatment, and prevention. Parasites: Food (CDC) General information on parasitic diseases plus a directory of specific diseases. Parasites and Foodborne Illness (USDA) Symptoms, risk factors, and prevention information for 6 parasites that cause diseases such as giardiasis, toxoplasmosis, and trichino sis. Bad Bug Book (FDA) Basic facts regarding foodborne pathogenic microorganisms and natural toxins, including parasites. Foodborne Illnesses Table: Parasitic Agents (PDF 217 KB) (AMA) Table provides incubation period, symptoms, associated foods, and treatments for 8 parasites that cause foodborne illness. http://www.foodsafety.gov/poisoning/causes/parasites/ When found in food, they can cause diseases in humans. In the Eu ropean Union (EU), over 2,500 human cases of foodborne parasitic infections are reported each year. To protect consumers from this public health threat, the EU has ado pted an integrated approach to food safety from the farm to the fork. The approach consists of both risk assessment and risk mana gement measures involving all key actors: EU Member States, Eu ropean Commission, European Parliament, EFSA and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The approach is supported by timely and effective risk communication activities. EFSA plays an important role in protecting consumers from this pu blic health threat by providing independent scientific support and advice on the human health and food safetyrelated aspects of pa rasites in food. Some parasites, such as Trichinella, Toxoplasma and Giardia can be directly or indirectly transmitted between animals and humans th rough the consumption of contaminated food or drinking water. Health effects of foodborne parasitic infections vary greatly depen ding on the type of parasite ranging from mild discomfort to debi litating illness and possibly death. Parasites can also be transmitted to humans or other animals through other means such as by vec tors. Safe handling of food and good kitchen hygiene can prevent or reduce the risk posed by contaminated foodstuffs. http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/parasitesinfood.htm Organic farming Organic farming works in harmony with nature rather than against it. This involves using techniques to achieve good crop yields with out harming the natural environment or the people who live and work in it. http://www.infonetbiovision.org/res/res/files/488.OrgFarm.pdf The philosophy of organic food production maintains certain prin ciples: biodiversity, ecological balance, sustainability, natural plant fertilization, natural pest management, and soil integrity. Since farms vary in product and practice, there is also a wide variety in how these principles are applied.3 However, generally, organic food products: Traditionally, organic food production has certain characteristics, including: Are grown or raised by a producer who uses practices in balance with the natural environment, using methods and materials that mi nimize negative impact on the environment. The organic farmer is committed to replicating the ecology of the natural environment by maintaining biodiversity G and fostering healthy soil and gro wing conditions. Are produced on land that has been free of known and perceived toxic and persistent chemical pesticides and fertilizers for at least three years prior to certification, and synthetic fertilizers and pesti cides are not used in production. Are planted on a rotating basis within the farm system. Crops are rotated from field to field, rather than growing the same crop in the same place year after year. Cover crops such as clover are planted to add nutrients to the soil and prevent weeds. Organic meat, poultry and egg products come from farms that use organic feed, do not administer added hormones to promote gro wth or any antibiotics G and they allow animals the space and fre edom to behave naturally. Organic farming generally falls within the accepted definition of su stainable agriculture. However, it is important to distinguish bet ween the two, since organic products can be (unsustainably) produced on large industrial farms, and farms that are not certified organic can produce food using methods that will sustain the farms productivity for generations. Some organic dairy farms, for exam ple, raise cows in large confinement facilities but are able to meet the bare minimum requirements for organic certification, while a nonorganic certified small farm could use organic guidelines and be selfsufficient by recycling all the farms waste to meet its fertility needs. http://www.sustainabletable.org/253/organicagriculture Organic Foods In addition to not using synthetics during the production process, organic foods are not genetically modified and do not contain any chemical food additives or solvents. Many industrialized countries including the United States require special certification for produ cers to list foods as organic. Therefore, organic food is distinct from private gardening or natural foods. Organic refers to both the food itself and the food production process used to produce the finished food product. In the United States, the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 in combination with Title 7, Part 205 of the Code of Fe deral Regulations list the specific site requirements and standards required for producers to sell foods as organic. Pros There are several commonly associated benefits associated with or ganic foods. First, the organic farming process is good for the ove rall environment. Synthetic pesticides commonly used in the food production process can harm local wildlife. Additionally, organic farms typically produce less waste and use less energy. Consumers also benefit from organic foods by limiting exposure to potentially harmful synthetics. Further, several studies show that organic foods contain more nutrients than nonorganic foods. Cons The primary argument against the consumption of organic foods relates to food safety. While many individuals believe consuming organic foods is safer than consuming nonorganic foods, a lack of scientific evidence exists supporting this hypothesis. Further, the Food and Drug Administration has concluded that the limited amo unt of pesticides found in nonorganic foods does not cause or con tribute to any health related issues. Additionally, organic food is generally more expensive than inorganic food items. This increased cost results from the increased production costs associated with producing organic foods. Inorganic Foods Inorganic Foods use synthetics during the production process. These synthetics commonly include chemical fertilizers and pestici des. Additionally, producers can also modify inorganic food items at a molecular or genetic level. This allows producers to crossbreed crops to produce hardier strains with higher quantities. In the Uni ted States, the Food and Drug Administration regulates inorganic food items and determines the acceptable levels of synthetics that finished food products can contain. Pros The synthetic materials used in the production of inorganic food items can help to control contamination with potentially dangerous mold toxins and bacteria. Therefore, some individuals argue that al though inorganic foods may contain trace amounts of pesticides, these synthetic substances pose less harm than the natural toxins potentially found in organic foods. Additionally, inorganic foods are cheaper than their organic counterparts, and the increased yields associated with inorganic food items can potentially help to feed the poor around the world more cost effectively. Further, the nu trient levels in organic foods can vary considerably, whereas inor ganic foods typically contain standardized levels of nutrients in the same food items. Proponents of inorganic foods, therefore, main tain that these food items safely use modern technology to produce more cost effective food products. Cons Many of the synthetic substances found in inorganic food items do not have long term studies available confirming the safety of these substances over time. Therefore, the longterm effects of many syn thetic substances are not known. Additionally, inorganic foods ty pically contain fewer nutrients than organic food items. Further, some evidence exists that the synthetic substances used to produce inorganic food items may cause longterm damage to the land, ul timately making the land less fertile or nonfertile. http://www.bigoven.com/organicvsinorganicfoods Pesticides Pesticides are substances meant for preventing, destroying or mi tigating any pest.They are a class of biocide. The most common use of pesticides is as plant protection products (also known as crop protection products), which in general protect plants from dama ging influences such as weeds, diseases or insects. This use of pe sticides is so common that the term pesticide is often treated as synonymous with plant protection product, although it is in fact a broader term, as pesticides are also used for nonagricultural pur poses. A pesticide is generally a chemical or biological agent (such as a virus, bacterium, antimicrobial or disinfectant) that through its ef fect deters, incapacitates, kills or otherwise discourages pests. Tar get pests can include insects, plant pathogens, weeds, mollusks, birds, mammals, fish, nematodes (roundworms), and microbes that destroy property, cause nuisance, spread disease or are vectors for disease. Although there are benefits to the use of pesticides, some also have drawbacks, such as potential toxicity to humans and other animals. According to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Or ganic Pollutants, 9 of the 12 most dangerous and persistent organic chemicals are pesticides. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticide A pesticide is any substance used to kill, repel, or control certain forms of plant or animal life that are considered to be pests. Pesti cides include herbicides for destroying weeds and other unwanted vegetation, insecticides for controlling a wide variety of insects, fun gicides used to prevent the growth of molds and mildew, disinfec tants for preventing the spread of bacteria, and compounds used to control mice and rats. Because of the widespread use of agricul tural chemicals in food production, people are exposed to low levels of pesticide residues through their diets. Scientists do not yet have a clear understanding of the health effects of these pesticide resi dues. Results from the Agricultural Health Study, an ongoing study of pesticide exposures in farm families, show that farmers who used agricultural insecticides experienced an increase in headaches, fa tigue, insomnia, dizziness, hand tremors, and other neurological symptoms. Evidence suggests that children are particularly susce ptible to adverse effects from exposure to pesticides, including ne urodevelopmental effects. People may also be exposed to pesticides used in a variety of settings including homes, schools, ho spitals, and workplaces. http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/pesticides/ With the latest news that ADHD in children is linked to common pe sticides used on fruits and vegetables, it is more important than ever to be aware of what we are putting on our plates. Of the 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides used annually in the US, less than .01% actually reach their intended targetsthe bugs! Obviously they are completely contaminating our food, and the consequences are di sastrous, with numerous national and international government agencies acknowledging the connection to various health pro blemsnervous system toxicity, cancer, hormone system effects, and irritation of skin, eyes, and lungs among them. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/20/pesticidesinfood whatt_n_581937.html The cultivated potato as we know it today origins back to Andean and Chilean landraces developed by preColombian cultivators2. The Inca Indi ans in Peru were the first to cultivate potatoes around 8,000 BC to 5,000 B.C. In 1536 Spanish Conquistadors conquered Peru, got to know the flavors of the potato, and carried them to Europe. Within decades it spread throughout entire Europe, thanks to its tastefulness and nutritional value. However, in the 1840s a major plant disease, potato blight broke out, leav ing Ireland, whose working class lived largely on potatoes, devastated. Nearly a million died of malnutrition or disease, whereas nearly another mil lion Irish citizens migrated to Canada or the United States3. Of course, the Irish working class was up to something. Potatoes are a great source of potassiumeven more than bananas, as well as vitamin C (45% of the DV), which is more vitamin C than one medium tomato (40% DV) or sweet potato (30% DV). Furthermore, potatoes are rich in vitamin B6 with one medium potato providing 10% of the recommended daily value, whilst one medium potato provides 6% of the recommended daily value of iron. In other words, potato consumption may help lower blood pressure and cholesterol, fight cellular damage by stabilizing free radicals and aiding in collagen production, support the bodys immune system and benefit us in so many other ways. Yet, eating it is not the only way to exploit this spectacular vegetable. It is known that Incas used potatoes in ways other than dinner as well. They used to: carry potatoes in their pockets, as a means of relieving toothache and pre venting rheumatism, measure time by correlating units of how long it took potatoes to cook, treat facial blemishes through daily washing of their face with cool potato juice, place raw slices on broken bones to aid healing, and so on4. All in all, remarkable things are all around us and potatoes are definitely one of them. From Irish history to preventing iron deficiency they are def initely worth pondering on next time you stumble upon one of them. Stavridou Elina, Grammenos Petros, Dardamani Alexandra, Arvanitidis Dimitris 1, 3, 4: Potato History | The History of Potatoes | Potato Fun Facts http://www.potatogoodness.com/all-about-potatoes/potato-fun-facts-history/ 2: A single domestication for potato based on multilocus amplified fragment length polymorphism genotyp- ing http://www.pnas.org/content/102/41/14694 PARASITES t A FEW THINGS YOU DID NOT KNOW ABOUT POTATOES t 6 composer Manos Hatzidakis. There is no denying that music is an integral part of a movie that en hances its success. The following 14 songs not only contribute to the success of their movies but they made their own success. The Bodyguard I will always love you Whitney Houston sang this song in 1992 for the movie The Bodyguard. That was a second version because the first was by Dolly Parton in 1973. Her record company believed that the a cappella per formance will not be successful. However, both Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner insisted. The track managed to be inextricably linked to the movie and more than 12 million copies have been sold worldwide. Never on SundayThe children of Piraeus Manos Hantzidakis composed this song and Melina Merkouri sang it for the movie Never on Sunday. The track won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, the first given to a song from a Foreign Lan guage film. Titanic My heart will go on The romantic song climbed up to number 1 all over the world. It was sung by Celine Dion and originally released in 1997 on the Titanic soundtrack album. My Heart Will Go On is Cline Dions biggest hit. Also, it has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide and won the Oscar for Best Original Song. Daredevil Bring me to life The song that had made Evanescence famous all over the world, has become a commercial hit top ping the charts in many countries. Thats the song of the movie Daredevil (2003) with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner as headliners. The band won in the category for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 46th Grammy Awards where the song was also nominated for Best Rock Song. Armageddon I dont wanna miss a thing U2 were nominated to sing this song at first but they refused and Aerosmith replaced them and it became their biggest hit. It was nom inated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Bruce Wills and the daughter of Aerosmiths singer, Steven Tyler, Liv Tyler, head lined at the movie. Dangerous Minds Gangsta s Paradise The song was released on the Coolio album Gangstas Paradise, as well as the Dangerous Minds soundtrack in 1995. The single reached number one in many countries and was awarded a Grammy, making it Coolios most successful single. Cruel Intentions Bitter Sweet Symphony The film Cruel Intentions is an adaptation of the novel The Dangerous Liaisons. The Bitter Sweet Symphony by the Verve was one of the many great songs that have been listened at the movie. This track is distinguished, though, because it frames up the last scene of the film, to wit Catherines outing. Gladiator Now we are free This song is included in the soundtrack of the film Gladiator. Its composers are Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard. The music of the movie was nominated for Oscar, Bafta and it has been awarded a Golden Globe. 8 Mile Lose Yourself That Eminems performance at the movie 8 Mile was his first at cinema. Also, he is the composer of the film s song Lose Yourself which is one of the most famous hiphop songs and has been awarded an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Slumdog Millionaire Jai Ho Jai Ho means be winner and is the title of the big success of 2008, Slumdog Millionaire. The song has been awarded an Oscar for Best Original Song and has been sung by Mahalakshmi Iyer, Tanvi Shah and Sukhwinder Singh. Then it was adapted in English by Pussycat Dolls. Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves (Everything I do) I do it for you Bryan Adams sang this song for the movie Robin Hood (1992) with Kevin Costner. It was nominated for Academy Award and it remains until today one of the most famous and lovely Globeads. Pretty Woman It must have been love The Roxette composed the song of the 1990s big success Pretty Woman with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. The track was Roxettes first success in United States. Top Gun Take my breath away A song by Berlin from the movie Top Gun with Tom Cruise . It has been awarded an Oscar for Best Original Song and a Golden Globe. It is inextricably linked to the movie because when someone lis tens to it, scenes of sky, planes and pilots come to his mind. Skyfall Skyfall Skyfall is written by Adele and the producer Paul Epworth. The song quickly went to the top of the iTunes chart. Also, Skyfall is the first Bond theme to win at the Golden Globes, the Brit Awards and the Academy Awards. References: Websites: www.wikipedia.com - www.flowmagazine.gr Books: Music school textbook for the 3rd class of Secondary School plays in all. A large part of his work is concerned with the social, literary, and philosophical life of Athens itself and with themes provoked by the great Peloponnesian War (431404 bc). This war was essentially a conflict bet ween imperialist Athens and conservative Sparta and so was long the dominant issue in Athenian politics. Aristo phanes was naturally an opponent of the more or less bel licose statesmen who controlled the government of Athens throughout the better part of his maturity. Aristo phanes lived to see the revival of Athens after its defeat by Sparta. He died in about 388 bc. His plays have been frequently produced on the 20th century stage in numerous translations, which manage with varying degrees of success to convey the flavour of Aristophanes puns, witticisms, and topical allusions. But it is not easy to say why his comedies still appeal to an au dience almost 2,500 years after they were written. In the matter of plot construction Aristophanes comedies are often loosely put together, are full of strangely inconse quential episodes, and often degenerate at their end into a series of disconnected and boisterous episodes. Thesmophoriazusae Plot Thesmophoriazusae was performed in Athens in 411 BCE, most likely at the City Dionysia, and is among the most brilliant of Aristophanes eleven surviving comedies. It is the story of the crucial moment in a quarrel between the tragic playwright Euripides and Athens women, who ac cuse him of slandering them in his plays and are holding a meeting at one of their secret festivals to set a penalty for his crimes. Thesmophoriazusae is a brilliantly inventive comedy, full of wild slapstick humor and devastating lite rary parody, and is a basic source for questions of gender and sexuality in late 5thcentury Athens and for the po pular reception of Euripidean tragedy. Analysis about the play and stereotypes The play is notable for its reversal of sexual stereotypes, where men dress as women and the women appear to be the equal of men, particularly in their imitation of the ec clesia or democratic assembly. The play points out how both tragic and comic poets in classical Athens tend to reinforce sexual stereotyping, even when they appear to demonstrate empathy with the female condition, and how women in classical literature are typically considered as irrational creatures in need of protection from them selves and from others. The sexual rolereversals can also be understood to have a broader political significance, th ough. The comparison of the warrior ethos of older ge nerations versus the effete intellectualism of the younger generation is a debate that recurs in various forms. In ad dition to the usual political targets of Aristophanes wit, various literary traditions, fashions and poets are particu larly subject to comment and parody in Thesmophoriazu sae. His theatrical rivalEuripides is clearly the main target, but several other contemporaries also receive derogatory mentions, including Agathon, Phrynicus, Ibycus, Ana creon, Alcaeus, Philocles, Xenocles and Theognis. The plays The Acharnians 425 BC The Knights 424 BC The Clouds original 423 BC, uncompleted revised version from 419 BC 416 BC survives The Wasps 422 BC Peace first version, 421 BC The Birds 414 BC Lysistrata 411 BC Thesmophoriazusae or The Women Celebrating the The smophoria. First version c.411 BC The Frogs 405 BC Ecclesiazusae or The Assemblywomen 392 BC Wealth second version, 388 BC References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesmophoriazusae http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/34467/Aristophanes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristophanes http://www.ancient-literature.com/greece_aristophanes_thesmophoriazusae.html http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0041 http://classics.mit.edu/Aristophanes/thesmoph.html http://ashleybegin.hubpages.com/hub/The-Depiction-of-Women-in-Thesmophoriazusae WHEN MUSIC... MEETS CINEMA t ARISTOPHANES t 7 statue stands exactly in the centre of the large hall. It represents the young Is raeli just before his brave fight against the giant Goliath. This amazing master piece, created by Michelangelo, glorifies human will along with Gods power. His majesty creates only one question to the observer. How a young man at the age of 26 was able to achieve such an amazing result? The history of the statue starts years before Michelangelos work. The Overseers of the Office of Works of Florence Cathedral were planning to construct and place 12 large statues in the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Among those plans was a representation of David. A huge block of marble was provided from northern Tuscany for this reason. The block was given to many artists but all of them quitted due to the large size of the marble and a flaw near the chest area. However, it was young Michelangelo who stepped up and shouldered the re sponsibility to complete the statue. His work was not easy at all, as he had to give a new shape to the already damaged enormous marble. He started carving it in August 1501 and he would continue working on the massive biblical hero for three years. In order to achieve a convincing result he studied human corps and anatomy. Three years later, when his work was almost completed, Floren tine authorities realized that itd be difficult to raise the statue on the roof of the cathedral. To solve this problem, a council of 30 Florentine citizens was con vened, including Sandro Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci. Finally, in June 1504, the committee decided to install David at the entrance of Palazzo Vecchio. The statue was removed from the piazza in 1873 and was displayed in Academia, where its its current place. Michelangelos David depicts the Israeli hero preparing to face the enemy of his people, Goliath. As he marches to battle, without any armour, a decisive look is pictured on his eyes, showing his deep concentration. The veins around his neck are intense and his tendons between his lips and his nose are tight as they rep resent a stiff posture. In his left hand, David holds a slingshot and in his right a rock, the tools he used to kill his enemy. His entire body is in a classical contra posto. The weight is clearly on the right leg, as the left leg is free, but the body is engaged in something more spe cific: much of the body is still relaxed. His right hand is just beginning to tense and his eyes have darted to left. In the same time, his corps seems to follow the movement of the hand, so it creates the sense that David has just caught side of Goliath. Its impossible not to notice the remarkable way that Michelangelo presents the human body, by pointing out every little de tail in this ideally beautiful figure. However it was his colossal size that impressed Michelangelos contempo raries. The famous artist Giorgio Vasari was referring to this statue as the largest and the grandest statue he had ever seen. In addition, his symbolism is interesting too. The story of David had come to be alive with the story of Florence. It was a symbol of the public of Florence in opposition to the threads of its rivals. Florence was a city well known for its independence as a citystate and it was also highly connected to Renaissance. So, the giantslayer represents the defence of civil liberties against tyranny. Michelangelos David consists one of the greatest masterpieces on the history of art. After that many other successes were about to follow for the young artist. But it was this particular statue that gave the opportunity to a very tal ented and promising boy to reveal his abilities, and later got him the nickname Il Divino (The Divine One). References: KHANACADEMY, Wikipedia, Journal of the Royalty Society of Medicine food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or pre cooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a pack aged form for takeout/takeaway. Due to the relatively cheap prices of it and the convenience of fastfood restau rants, in our times fastfood is loved by the masses, who seem to prefer it to any other form of food. Fastfood is a king of money, all around the world. Mc Donalds, Burger King, Wendys, KFC, Pizza Hut and Dominos Pizza are some of the most famous fast food chains all over the continent. In Greece, the biggest chain is Goodys with more than 150 restaurants in the country. However, such kind of food is extremely high in ingredi ents like salt, fat, sugar and calories. A study conducted around 2008 at the Scripps Research Institute proved that fast food is as addictive as a drug. Subsequently, the fact that they are so addictive stroke many as odd and led them to further research. They discovered that most fast food restaurants are of bad quality and that their prod ucts are highly processed items. This is the primary reason, why fastfood is also known as junkfood. It may sound sad, but the curiosity of many people to find out more about what they really consume led to some shocking news. It is claimed that fastfood products con tain more unhealthy fat, than allowed, that they are too high in sodium and that they have a tremendously large number of calories. For example, high blood pressure, obesity, osteoporosis and even cancer which are all of great danger are mainly caused by fastfood. An average adult must consume about 1200 mg sodium per day to be healthy. Yet, a regular sandwich of fastfood chains, such as Mc Donalds and KFC can amount to more than 2000 mg sodium and cause great problems to its consumers. If we just realize than 1 out of 4 Americans visits a fastfood restaurant every day, we will come to the conclusion that the fastfood lovers will end up less healthy than people who survived radioactive wars. The thing is, that children tend to eat at fastfood restau rants very frequently, because of the low prices and the toys given with meals. They may feel excited at the begin ning, but what is going to happen next will mark them for the rest of their lives. The dangers that were referred pre viously are mainly what can happen to children: SUGAR One 2011 study published in Circulation found the con sumption of added sugars was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease among adolescents. This is of no surprise, since a large chocolate milkshake at any fastfood chain usually rises up to the amazing number of 120 grams of sugar! Such amounts of sugar, can easily lead to hyperactivity. BAD FATS The American Heart Association found that elevated cho lesterol levels can lead to atherosclerosis the buildup of plaque in the arteries in early childhood and may eventually lead to coronary heart disease, which is the No. 1 cause of death among Americans. This is the expected thing to happen, if we think that just a side of large fries has 22 grams of fat, including 4 grams of saturated fat, which both can raise blood cholesterol and begin to cause serious health problems for children. SODIUM Sodium is an additive that enhances flavor. Kids need sodium, but under a normal rate. A large bacon cheese burger contains an enormous 1,440 milligrams of sodium, which is 100% of the daily intake of sodium recommended by the Institute of Medicine. High blood pressure which is caused by over excessive sodium consumption is a lead ing risk factor for heart disease. PROCESSED INGREDIENTS Just one fastfood meal can include hundreds of chemical additives, which are extremely hazardous, on the contrary with unprocessed foods, like vegetables and fruit, which promote good health and wellbeing. DIABETES It is the number 1 epidemic in the US. It is now confirmed that fast food cannot cause diabetes to children in most likelihood, but it is a fact that it can affect their health in the long run. The high sugar levels used on fast food meals can cause some small trouble to children, yet it is not that harmful, regarding diabetes. However, a research at 2004, in London made it clear that fast food can super size you. As an effect, getting fat increases the possibil ities of having diabetes type 2. This was considered to be an illness of older people, but nowadays, everything looks changed and different on that subject, since the US is suf fering from diabetes. 33% of the population faces such problems and especially children. Diabetes can lead to heart problems, high blood pressure and strokes, so it is consulted that fast food is consumed once a week and not too much. It may not be the primary reason why chil dren and in general many people have diabetes, but it can increase the chances of that happening, because of the ingredients used in fast food. MARKETING A kid is more prone to wanting desperately something shown on the TV. Approximately, a child is a victim of at least 10 food commercials a day and 4,000 a year! Most ones, also show toys, given with meals, which impress the youngsters and make them feel like they are something essential, that cannot be missed. As a result, parents with out a second thought let their children visit fast food restaurants and buy what they want from there. Fast food companies are frequently accused of using children as tar gets to sell their products. After all, they use 2 billion dol lars every year to kidcommercials. Kids who saw adver tisements, related to food ate 45% more than kids who didnt. So, it is sure that the food industry takes advantage of the pure and innocent minds of younger ones, who have no idea of how harmful some products may be and blindly follow the instructions of advertisements, choos ing to consume such products with no fear at all. The firstlady of the United States, Michelle Obama stated that fast food has become a habit of the American culture and expressed her worries. 1 on 3 children of the US are obese and Obama, who has admitted that Frenchfries are her favorite treat, believes that fast food should be con sumed, but on a regular rate. She specifically said : The issue is on us and praised the parents who give nutritious and healthy food to their children. Fast food chains were critical of her words and characterized her too strict and disapproving. The disclosure, that, from 50 to 98 percent of a fast food meal is anything but meat, shocked most people. Caramel coloring, sodium nitrite, MSG and sand are just some of the ingredients of fast food meals which are unbelievably harmful to a persons health. The bright side is that there are fast food chains which ac tually promote a healthy way of living. Subway is cur rently the biggest fast food chain in the world and serves fresh sandwiches and salads. It rose to fame, when a reg ular client, Jared Fogle (who now is the chains poster) lost 245 pounds in a year, after eating 2 subway sand wiches and walking every day. People loved Subway from the very first moment and due to popular demand, got it to the number 1 at the Forbes magazine list of the most successful fast food chains all over the world. It is expected. After all, Mc Donalds the last number 1, ad mitted having used pig fat and colon bacillus on its meals, which are extremely harmful and may lead to serious health problems. Other chains, such as KFC were found to use mutated chicken on their food, which can lead to very severe situations, such as cancer. : Obesity-info.com, Livestrong.com, howstuffworks.com, preventioninstitute.com, agglikapastras.com, daystarbooks.com DAVID BY THE DIVINE ONE t FAST FOOD: ALL ABOUT IT t 8 poos and hair treatments in the world will not be ef fective in maintaining the color and longevity of your hair. So if you want a healthy crown, glossy hair, start taking a hard look at what you eat, when you eat and how you eat. The way we eat our welfare and reflected effects on the health of our hair. Like the rest of the body, hair healthy, shiny depends on a good diet to ensure it provides all the nutrients necessary for sustained growth and health. Yes that is correct but I went with a simpler answer. Is brushing your hair healthy for your hair? Brushing is a daily routine that we should all do. It gets rid of tangles and smooth out the hair follicles. However, brushing when hair is wet is no good as hair when wet is more likely to break as it is fragile. Also, brushing too much can cause hair to break as well, you want to start off by buying a brush that is suitable for your hair type. And only brushing with at least 20 strokes a day. Types of brushes for hair: If you have thin, straight long hair, youll want to use a brush with bristles all around it, as this gives vol ume. If you have curly thin hair, a comb is the solution, as it just detangles your hair without leaving it frizzy. The straight truth about Diet for healthy hair Eating certain nutrient rich foods in your diet for healthy hair can make a difference in the quality of your hair. Although it may take a few months in order to see a noticeable difference in your hair, it will definitely show when youve changed your diet to include these hairhealthy foods. Although there are many factors that determine the quality of your hair, changing your diet is one of the easier things you can do. Diet for Healthy Hair FOODS WITH OMEGA 3 FATTY ACIDS Foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids are extremely ben eficial for your hair. Fatty acids are something that our bodies cant produce, yet we desperately need them in order to grow hair. The oils on our scalp and the skin cells that make up the scalp need them in order to stay hydrated. Fish is a great way to get omega 3 fatty acids in your diet. Salmon, halibut, shrimp, mackerel, herring, trout and scallops are all great choices. Fish also contain protein and vitamin D which make the hair stronger. Other foods that contain these necessary fatty acids are walnuts, ground flax seeds, soybeans and tofu. Diet for Healthy Hair FOODS THAT CONTAIN IRON Iron is very important to the hair follicles in that it carries oxygen to them in order for them to stay healthy and continue to grow hair. Someone with anemia, which is the lack of enough iron in the diet, may experience hair loss, especially in women. Eggs are a great source of iron. Foods that contain a healthy amount of iron are chicken, turkey, pork, red meat and fish. Lentils, beans, soybeans and chick peas are all great iron rich super foods as well. They also contain other great vitamins and minerals such as biotin, protein and zinc. Spinach and leafy greens are a great source of iron, too. Spinach also brings other great health benefits with is such as vitamin C and foliate. Other foods that are rich in iron are dried fruits such as raisins and prunes, artichokes, liver and grains. How can you keep your hair healthy when you straighten it Use lots of conditioner and keep it in for five min utes. Also, you can use products like certain serums that help your hair not to fry while straightening it. They are usually sold at hair salons. Is it healthy to wash your hair every day? To answer this question, no its not healthy to wash your hair every day. The natural oils that your head excretes helps to coat your hair and sinks in through the many layers of your hair strands to keep it healthy and strong. However, this doesnt mean that you should stop washing it altogether! Washing it every other day is good for people with fine hair. However if you have thick full hair you can go two or even three days between washings. A couple of suggestions in trying to promote healthy hair. Lets just say that this would be your normal week for washing and taking care of your hair: On day one you would wash your hair and style however you like. Day two you would probably put part of it in a clip or ponytail of some kind. Day three, by now you probably need to pull all of it back into a pony tail. Just make sure that at the begin ning and ending of each day without washing you brush gently from root to ends of your hair to help the oils coat well. On day four you can go ahead and wash and start the cycle over again. I only suggest this cycle for people with nice full thick hair and for those of you with this nice full thick hair that dont sweat too much. As for those that have finer thinner hair, its ok to go ahead and wash every other day. Just be sure to use a shampoo and conditioner that are made to moisturize your hair. Healthy oils for hair Castor oil Olive oil Coconut oil Tips for healthy hair Eat healthy food Drink lots of water every day Get regular trims Dont dye it Dont blow it dry a lot Top 10 Foods for Healthy Hair 1. Salmon Besides being rich in protein and vitamin D (both are key to strong hair) the omega3 fatty acids found in this tasty coldwater fish are the true superstar. Your body cant make those fatty acids, which your body needs to grow hair. About 3% of the hair shaft is make up of these fatty acids. Omega3s are also found in cell membranes in the skin of your scalp, and in the natural oils that keep your scalp and hair hydrated. Other options: If salmon doesnt thrill you, you can also get essential fatty acids from fish like herring, sardines, trout, and mackerel, as well as avocado, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts (see below for more wonderful things about walnuts.) 2. Walnuts These are the only type of nut that have a significant amount of omega3 fatty acids. Theyre also rich in biotin and vitamin E, which helps protect your cells from DNA damage. Since your hair rarely gets much shielding from the sun, this is especially great. Too little biotin can lead to hair loss. Walnuts also have copper, a mineral that helps keep your natural hair color rich and lustrous, Fishman says. Other options: Try using walnut oil in your salad dressing or stirfry instead of canola or safflower, Fishman says. 3. Oysters Oysters are rich in zinc, a lack of which can lead to hair loss (even in your eyelashes), as well as a dry, flaky scalp. Three ounces has a whopping 493% of your daily value. You can get some zinc through for tified cereals and whole grain breads, but oysters can boast a good level of protein too. Remember, hair is about 97% protein. Without enough protein, your body cant replace the hairs that you naturally shed every day and what you do make can be dry, brittle, or weak. Other options: Get your fill of zinc with nuts, beef, and eggs. 4. Sweet Potatoes Sweet potatoes are a great source of the antioxi dant beta carotene, which your body turns into vi tamin A. Basically, every cell of the body cannot function without enough A, Fishman says. It also helps protect and produce the oils that sustain your scalp, and being low on vitamin A can even leave you with itchy, irksome dandruff. Other options: Carrots, cantaloupe, mangoes, pumpkin, and apricots are all good sources of beta carotene. 5. Eggs A great source of protein, eggs are loaded with four key minerals: zinc, selenium, sulfur, and iron. Iron is especially important, because it helps cells carry oxy gen to the hair follicles, and too little iron (anemia) is a major cause of hair loss, particularly in women. Other options: You can also boost your iron stores with animal sources, including chicken, fish, pork, and beef. 6. Spinach The iron, beta carotene, foliate, and vitamin C in spinach help keep hair follicles healthy and scalp oils circulating. Other options: Try similarly nutrientrich dark, leafy vegetables such as broccoli, kale, and Swiss chard. 7. Lentils Tiny but mighty, these legumes are teeming with protein, iron, zinc, and biotin, says Fishman, making it a great staple for vegetarian, vegans, and meat eaters. Other options: Toss other beans such as soybeans (the young ones are called edamame) and kidney beans into your soup or salad. 8. Greek yogurt Cruise the dairy aisle for lowfat options such as Greek yogurt, which is high in hairfriendly protein, vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid an ingredient youll often see on hair care product labels), and vitamin D. Emerging research links vitamin D and hair follicle health, but exactly how that works isnt clear, Fish man says. Other options: Cottage cheese, lowfat cheese, and skim milk also fit the bill. 9. Blueberries Exotic super fruits may come and go but when it comes to vitamin C, Its hard to top this nutrient su perhero, Drayer says. C is critical for circulation to the scalp and supports the tiny blood vessels that feed the follicles. Too little C in your diet can lead to hair breakage. Other options: Kiwis, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and strawberries. 10. Poultry This everyday entree is extraordinary when it comes to protein, as well as hairhealthy zinc, iron, and B vi tamins to keep strands strong and plentiful. Because hair is nearly all protein, foods rich in protein are lit erally giving you the building blocks for hair, Drayer says. Other options: Lean cuts of beef are another good source of lean protein. References: http://menshair.answers.com/tips/the-straight-truth-about-diet-for-healthy-hair http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_brushing_your_hair_healthy_for_you http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_is_healthy_hair_important http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_can_you_keep_your_hair_healthy_when_you_straighten_it http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_it_healthy_to_wash_your_hair_everyday http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_oils_are_healthy_for_hair? http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_tips_for_healthy_hair#slide3 http://www.webmd.com/beauty/hair-styling/top-10-foods-for-healthy-hair HEALTHY HAIR FOR A BEAUTIFUL GIRL t 9 fact, there is a growing field of health care known as Music Therapy, which uses music as a healing process. More specifically, Music Therapy is an estab lished health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relation ship to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. After assessing the strengths and needs of each client, the qualified music therapist provides the indicated treatment including creating, singing, moving to, and/or listening to music. Music therapy interventions can be designed to serve many different pur poses. To begin with, they can alleviate pain for people coping with cancer. For instance, music therapy has been shown to reduce anxiety in patients re ceiving radiation therapy, as well as ease nausea and vomiting resulting from highdose chemotherapy. Secondly, it can relieve depression and enhance the ability of expression. Playing an instrument, allows depressed people to ex press themselves nonverbally when they cant easily talk about how they feel. Listening to soothing music helps others relax so theyre better able to let go of feelings that are troubling. Still others may find that sharing a musical ex perience with a therapistplaying or listeninghelps them feel more com fortable discussing their problems and feelings. The benefits of Music Therapy in practice For visually impaired children, music therapy works not only to strengthen the sense of sound and hearing but also to promote artistic expression in a child who otherwise misses out on artistic expression through visual display. Using music as a colorful palate, will provide the visually impaired child with a way in which to express themselves and share the world as they see it without vi sion. Specifically, children with visual impairment, often, will attach specific sounds to specific objects they can not see. High tones may represent the sound of birds and insects while low pitched tones may represent vehicles and trucks passing the distance. Furthermore, healing music protects the heart rate and breathing. Thats be cause the heart rate can be altered by the changes music can bring and may lead to slower heart rate and breathing. This is a primary reason why music can help counteract or prevent the damaging effects of chronic stress, greatly promoting relaxation. A study of 10 healthy adults in their midthirties showed that their blood flowed 26 percent more easily when they were listening to music they defined as joyful, an increase in blood flow similar to aerobic ac tivity. Of course, listening to music cant replace a workout, but appears to be good for the heart. The most severe diseases mostly concern neurological issues. Many neuro logical clinics use music as a therapy because of the importance of musics benefits. Specifically, Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) is a research based ap proach. NMT focuses on using music to help train functional skills and build pathways in the brain for better cognitive skills, communication and coordi nated motor movements. For example using a variety of musical instruments can train motor coordination as well as movement to music to help develop coordination and body awareness, can be a strong weapon against Alzheimer. Additionally using Therapeutic Singing techniques and Rhythmic Speech Cue ing can help maintain vocal quality to help clients speak more clearly and in an audible volume. That is useful for Parkinsons disease. Results have been shown to drastically improve clients everyday lives and functionality in soci ety. Cognitive skills training includes sustained attention, multitasking, decision making, planning and strategizing. Music therapy interventions are created to practice and train cognitive skills through interactive music making experi ences. In addition, when speech is lost due to brain damage, often the ability to sing is still present. Experts use techniques that can help clients regain short functional phrases through singing the phrases. Rhythmic Speech Cueing and adapted melodic intonation therapy can help clients initiate words and phrases that they cannot access otherwise. Down Syndrome & Music Music Therapy also has a positive effect on young people. Listening to music for enjoyment is very beneficial but active participation is even better. For chil dren and adolescents with cerebral palsy, playing music may be an effective way to stimulate speech development and communication skills, express emo tions, develop a sense of rhythm and provide opportunity for physical, cogni tive and motor development whilst creating an environment for socialisation and fun. So easy access to musical instruments may provide an outlet that en courages children to use music to deal with emotional issues, especially when they are unable to express them through speech. Where words fail, music may be a medium through which to explore ones inner world and experi ences. Often people with developmental delays and learning disabilities such as Downs syndrome will respond to music. Even Plato supported of music in tuition as he said.I would teach children music, physicals and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning. The easy, nonchallenging way in which pentatonic instruments can be played offers opportunities for response and expression to children and adults with such developmental delays. Music vs Alzheimer For people with Alzheimers disease and dementia, the bodys functions de generate as the brains functions deteriorate. Among the most affected are the five senses, but the sense of hearing is usually the first to go. Before hear ing finally shuts down, music therapy can be a valuable therapeutic tool to promote interactive communication. In addition, sound healing is assumed to be effective because it reduces agitation by altering how patients perceive noise. It can help patients with AD interpret his or her environment, which may lessen any fear or agitation. For example, the therapist can make noises seem familiar and buffer extraneous noises that frighten patients with AD. By this way it can provide a way for patients with AD to communicate and inter act with others. Although used as a therapeutic tool, interactive communica tion in this case through music therapy is sometimes possible. Improvement in speech fluency and content has also been noted. Music therapy for Alzheimers patients increases brain chemicals such as melatonin, which helps to control moods. Reduced aggression levels and better sleep patterns are added benefits of music therapy for Alzheimers. People with Alzheimers dis ease often show aggression. Music therapy can help eliminate the tendency to act out. Last but not least, it can reduce the desire of the patient to wan der. Conclusion With all these benefits that music can carry, it is no surprise that music therapy is growing in popularity. Many hospitals are using it for pain management and its promising results on patients are definitely encouraging its further devel opment and use. References: www.healthcommunities.com www.altmedicine.about.com www.stress.about/musictherapy www.musictherapy.org www.chop.edu/...therapy/goals- benefits www.voices.yahoo.com www.everydayhealth.com www.musicworkswonders.org/html www.cancer.org/treatment www.examiner.com/.../thetop5benefits www.pianowizardacademy.com www.parentgiving.com http://willowsongmusictherapy.com/sample-page/neurologic-music-therapy-nmt/ http://www.musictherapy.org/about/quotes/ https://normt.uib.no/index.php/voices/article/viewarticle/115/92 http://homepages.wmich.edu/~eroth/NMT%20Overview.pdf MUSIC THERAPY: AN ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE t 10 these drugs. I have never experimented with steroids and do not endorse their usage but this unbiased and researched report is intended to provide you with objective in formation of what these drugs are and what they can and cannot do. What are steroids? Steroids, sometimes referred to as roids or juice are the same as, or similar to, cer tain hormones in the body. The body produces steroids naturally to support such func tions as fighting stress and promoting growth and development. But some people use steroid pills, gels, creams, or injections because they think steroids can improve their sports performance or the way they look. There are two kinds of steroids, anabolic and corticosteroids. Anabolic steroids are a synthetic copy of the hormone testosterone. They have been the subject of much debate over the last few decades as well as misinformation. Ath letes, especially bodybuilders, may feel lured towards them as these drugs do increase muscle size, strength, and stamina. Corticosteroids are a class of chemicals that includes steroid hormones naturally pro duced in the adrenal cortex of vertebrates and analogues of these hormones that are synthesized in laboratories. They are involved in a wide range of physiological processes, including stress response, immune response, and regulation of inflamma tion, carbohydrate metabolism, protein catabolism, blood electrolyte levels, and be haviour. Why do doctors prescribe steroids? Doctors prescribe anabolic steroids to treat certain specific medical conditions. For ex ample, they may be used to treat the muscle wasting seen in AIDS. Steroids may also be used to treat delayed puberty or loss of testicular function. It is also vital to mention that doctors are not allowed to prescribe steroids to enhance a persons athletic per formance. What are the myths of Steroid Usage? TAKING ANY KIND OF STEROID WILL RESULT IN DEATH The first thing that we need to understand is that steroids are drugs. Even Tylenol and Aspirin can cause serious problems if you take them in large quantities. All drugs when misused and abused have the potential to kill; its not only steroids. However, since taking steroids is against the law, issues of product purity and authenticity as well as inaccurate information surrounding their usage add serious risks to steroid experimentation. STEROIDS ARE EASY TO GET Another misconception about steroids is that they are easily obtained. As far as ac cessibility, the truth is that they are illegal substances without a medical prescription, so your accessibility will be through the black market (good luck as far as quality). In addition, if you get caught in their possession without a prescription you may face up to 5 years in a federal prison. ALL STEROIDS ARE PILLS On the issue of variety, there are many different types of steroid out there. There are injectable steroids and oral steroids. The injectable kind are generally more an drogenic (provide male characteristics like hair growth and aggression) in nature and less damaging to organs like the liver. The oral versions are more anabolic in nature and cause more side effects than their injectable brothers as they have to be processed by the liver. Different steroids have different properties so there are some that have more tendencies to build muscle mass while others have a tendency to increase strength. As their properties vary, so do their side effects. Usually the stronger the steroid (especially if oral), the more side effects you can expect. Since people know the dangers of steroids, why do they keep using them? A lot of people tell themselves theyll only use steroids for a season or a school year. Unfortunately, steroids can be addictive, making it hard to stop taking them. And once users stop taking steroids, they can have withdrawal symptoms including loss of ap petite, fatigue, restlessness, insomnia, mood swings, and depression. But most of the times, people just dont want to quit using them. They adore their results on their out side appearance and cannot let go. Usually, when they realise their mistake they have gone too far, their organisation is in need of the drugs and they become unable (both physically and mentally) to separate themselves from them. What are the psychological effects of steroids? Based on the fact that steroids give you all of these good effects that bodybuilders con stantly look for, it is no surprise that they cause a psychological dependence. Think about it. If you have been taking them for the past 8 weeks, assuming good diet and training, chances are that you got very big and strong quick. You feel unstoppable after the 8 weeks of use. Suddenly you taper them off, up until you completely stop their use. A week later after cessation of use you notice that you are not getting good pumps, that your strength is diminishing regardless of your best effort and that your muscle mass is shrinking! Add to that the fact that for the first few weeks after cessation of use you will feel depressed due to low testosterone levels and it is no wonder that there are people out there that never get off from them. STEROIDS t What can actually happen: Men who take anabolic steroids may: Develop breasts Get painful erections Have their testicles shrink Have decreased sperm count Become infertile Become impotent Women who take anabolic steroids may: Grow excessive face and body hair Have their voices deepen Experience menstrual irregularities Have an enlarged clitoris Have reduced breast size Have a masculinized female fetus Both men and women who take anabolic steroids may: Get acne Have an oily scalp and skin Get yellowing of the skin (jaundice) Become bald Have tendon rupture Have heart attacks Have an enlarged heart Develop significant risk of liver disease and liver cancer Have high levels of bad cholesterol Have mood swings Fly into rages Suffer delusions Teens who take anabolic steroids may: Have short height due to arrested bone growth Girls may suffer longterm masculinisation Is there really a good side of steroids? Steroids do increase size and strength. In fact, they do so very signif icantly. In addition to gains in strength and muscle mass they also seem to provide you with more energy and aggressiveness, things that are conducive to good workouts (but not so in interpersonal re lationships). Depending on the steroid used, you may also get cell vo luminizing effects that promote a bigger pump. Aside from even just the legal risks of steroids, the good side comes at a high price. In conclusion, I personally believe that the drawbacks of steroids def initely outweigh whatever good side they have. Every person is dif ferent in order to maintain our diversity as a kind. If all people idolized someone and began trying to look like him, that would be prevarica tion to our nature. 11 personated sleep with a god. In Greek mythology, Hypnos was the person ification of sleep; the Roman equivalent was known as Somnus. Hypnos lives in a cave, whose mansion does not see the rising, nor the setting sun, nor does it see the lightsome noon. At the entrance were a number of poppies and other hypnotic plants. His dwelling had no door or gate so that he might not be awakened by the creaking of hinges. The river, Lethe, in the underworld, is known as the river of forgetfulness and it flows through his cave. Hypnos lived next to his twin brother, Thnatos in the underworld. Hypnos mother was Nyx (, night), the deity of Night, and his fa ther was Erebus, the deity of Darkness. Nyx was a dreadful goddess and even Zeus feared entering her realm.His wife, Pasithea, was one of the youngest of the Graces and was promised to him by Hera, who is the god dess of marriage and birth. Pasithea is the deity of hallucination or relax ation. Hypnos three sons known as the Oneiroi, which is Greek for dreams. Morpheus is the Winged God of Dreams and can take human form in dreams. Phobetor is the personification of nightmares and created scary dreams, he could take the shape of any animal such as bears or tigers. Phan tasus was known for creating fake dreams and dreams full of illusion. Mor pheus, Phobetor and Phantasos appeared in the dreams of kings. The Oneiroi lived at the shores of the Ocean in the West, in a cave. They had two gates with which to send people dreams. One was made of ivory and the other was made from buckhorn. However, before they could do their work and send out the dreams, first their father, Hypnos, had to put the people to sleep. Hypnos appears in numerous works of art, most of which are vases. An example of one vase that Hypnos is featured on is called Ari adne Abandoned by Theseus, which is part of the Museum of Fine Arts in Bostons collection. In this vase, Hypnos is shown as a winged god dripping Lethean water upon the head of Ariadne as shesleeps.One of the most fa mous works of art featuring Hypnos is a bronze head of Hypnos himself. This bronze head has wings sprouting from his temples and the hair is elab orately arranged, some tying in knots and some hanging freely from his head. Additionally the English word hypnosis is derived from his name, referring to the fact that when hypnotized, a person is put into a sleeplike state (hypnos sleep + osis condition). Why do we need sleep? It is well known that when you sleep a lot you can perform better in day time. Scientists are making researches about this subject till nowadays and the results are always the same. More specifically, when a person sleeps, the body functions minimize their activity, metabolism slows down the muscular system minimizes movements while reducing and communicating with the environmental stimuli. The brain operating in a loosening pace and that helps the person to learn and remember more things during the day. In contrast with people who sleep well at night, those who have lack of sleep, feature mind prob lems and they cant focus well on what they do. Furthermore, a good night sleep can extend the life expectancy of a per son. On the other hand, lack of sleep could cause serious health problems. For example, women that sleep less than six hours a day have 62% more possibilities to develop breast cancer. Also, children who sleep for many hours per day tend to be taller than those that dont get enough sleep.
So, its easy to understand that giving ourselves enough sleep is very im portant in order to be healthy .But how many hours of sleep are enough for good health? How much sleep do we need? Individuals vary greatly in their need for sleep; there are no established criteria to determine exactly how much sleep a person needs. Eight hours or more may be necessary for some people, while others may consider this to be too much sleep. Scientists suggest that the most average adults need about seven to nine hours of sleep per night. New born babies, by contrast, sleep from sixteen to eighteen hours a day, while preschool aged children usually sleep between ten to twelve hours each night. Older, school aged children and adolescents need at least nine hours of sleep every night. But sleeping time is not only affected by age. Women in the first trimester of pregnancy for example have been observed to need a few more hours of sleep than usual. Another factor apart from quantity is sleeping quality. If sleep is fre quently interrupted or cut short, sleep is not quality at all. So, although some people claim to need more hours of sleeping, they actually need a quality and calm sleep, as the quality of sleep directly affects the quality of ones life when awake. References: http://psi-gr.tripod.com http://skalistiri-humanity.blogspot.gr http://el.wikipedia.org http://clubs.pathfinder.gr http://www.advancehealth.gr http://www.sigmalive.com http://www.happyparenting.gr http://www.mayoclinic.com http://www.sleepfoundation.com SLEEPING t 12 threatening condition and although they may be already showing symp toms of the disease they dont know it or wont admit it.Research done in numerous universities in the Unites States has shown that young women between the ages of 15 to 24 are at bigger risk developing an eating disorder . The saddest conclusion of the research is that the mortality rates that relates to Anorexia victims are 12 times higher than all other life threaten ing diseases.Promoting the slogan Starve for perfection, the media and many internet sites advise young women to eat less, consume a lot of cof fee, smoke and use diet supplements in order to fulfill their dream of a perfect body. Can we say that this is modernity that girls at such a tender age, influ enced so much by the opinion of others concerning their image, put their lives at risk without full knowledge of the seriousness of their condition? The reasons of developing Anorexia nervosa are far too complicated ,while the disorder is affected by biological, genetic, personality, family, and economy related factors.Individuals with Anorexia dont have full knowledge of the seriousness of their condition. They usually dont realize that they are facing a psychological problem, and almost always believe they are overweight. That is why they never ask for help.This makes it very crucial that the immediate family should be informed of the symptoms so they can recognize it in the early stages, in order to seek help from specialists on this field. The 5 signs that ring a bell for a possible eating disorder are the following: The young person aims thoroughly at weight loss The young person expresses intense criticism on her/his body shape and weight status The person shows signs of social isolation and depression symptoms. The women develop problems or show complete loss of their men strual flow. The person force vomits ,uses laxatives or excess workout in order to burn calories of the food consumed. On the other hand there are many forms of the disease that dont meet the standard criteria for example a person can show the three first symptoms,mentioned above without the menstrual abnormalities, or the person could show all the symptoms but her weight would still meet the normal levels although trying anxiously to lose more. In every case all individuals whether they are diagnosed with anorexia or not ,are dealing with the same amount of psychological stress.The es tablished cases of teenagers suffering from eating disorders reach a per centage of 0.51 % ,but researches believe that the real amount of adolescents suffering could reach an estimate of 80%, a frightening num ber. In conclusion the early diagnose of this modern disorder is very im portant for the person involved since fighting the disease in the early stages allows a much better prognosis for the patient. So if you notice a close friend or member of family that might show signs of anorexia you must seek help immediately by getting more infor mation from therapists, dieticians or other specialists who can diagnose and suggest treatment . References: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/anorexia_signs_symptoms_causes_treatment.htm http://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%9D%CE%B5%CF%85%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE_%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%B5%CE%BE%CE%AF% CE%B1 http://www.newsbomb.gr/tags/itemlist/tag/%CE%9D%CE%95%CE%A5%CE%A1%CE%99%CE%9A%CE%97%20%CE%91%CE%9D%CE%9F%CE%A1%CE%9 5%CE%9E%CE%99%CE%91 a video game and which are its effects? Good or Bad? Is it a new environment on a par with music and fitness, a valuable educational tool, a form of harmless fun or a digital menace that turns children into cruel and tardy zombies. Well, video gaming is apparently all these things, depending on whom you ask. Just getting by in a foreign land without some grasp of the local language is difficult, says Mark Prensky. Older people have had to learn to use technologies such as the Internet and mobile phones. Yet, relatively few of them have embra ced video games. Its just a generational divide, says Gerhard Florin, the Euro pean boss of Electronic Arts, the worlds biggest games publisher. Its people not knowing what they are talking about, because they have never played a game, accusing millions of gamers of being zombies or violent. However, arent critics right to worry that gaming might make people violent and that it has negative effects on the health of the player? Hardly a week goes by in which a game is not blamed for inspiring someone to commit a violent crime and more and more clinics for addicted people or gamers with health pro blems are being established all over the world. Undoubtedly, video gaming has a lot of negative effects on the players health. More than half the number of active gamers have shown pain in the hands, wrists, back or neck, have mentioned vision problems and repetitive strain injuries. Even worse, psychological problems, stiffness, chaffed hands, sleep deprivation and increased phenomena of obesity are occurring all over the planet, triggering the Global concern and provoking prevention and treatment programs. On the other hand, unexpectedly, surveys of studies into games and violence have produced inconclusive results, notes Dmitri Williams, who specializes in stu dying the social impact of media at the University of Illinois. And, in a paper on the subject published in June in Communication Monographs, he notes that such research has serious shortcomings. Another problem, says Mr. Williams, is that it is meaningless to generalize about game play when there are thousands of games in dozens of genres. In his paper, Mr. Williams describes the first study, which he carried out with Marko Skoric of the University of Michigan. The study concentrated on a mas sively multiplayer online roleplaying game called Asherons Call 2.It is sub stantially more violent than the average video game and should have more effect, given the highly repetitive nature of the violence, the researchers noted. Two groups of subjects were recruited, none of whom had played roleplaying games before. One group then played the game for a month, for an average of two hours per day. Consequently, game players, it turned out, were no more ag gressive than the controlled group. Whether the participants had played games before, the number of hours spent on gaming, and whether they liked violent movies or not, made no difference. The researchers noted, however, that more research is still needed to assess the impact of other genres, such as shootem ups or the urban violence of Grand Theft Auto. All games are different, and only when more detailed studies have been carried out will it be possible to generalize about the impact of gaming. To get things from a different perspective, games are becoming quite popular in many fields of business and life, including corporate training. In Got Game, a book published by Harvard Business School Press, John Beck and Mitchell Wade, two management consultants, argue that gaming provides excellent trai ning for a career in business. Gamers, they write, are skilled at multitasking, good at making decisions and evaluating risks, flexible in the face of change and inclined to treat setbacks as chances to try again. Firms that understand and ex ploit this, they argue, can gain a competitive advantage. Besides, even games with no educational intent, require players to learn a great deal. Games are complex, adaptive and force players to make a huge num ber of decisions. Gamers ought to construct hypotheses about the ingame world, learn its rules through trial and error, solve problems and puzzles, develop strategies and get help from other players via Internet when they get stuck. The problemsolving mechanic that underlies most games is like the 90% of an ice berg below the waterline invisible to nongamers. It is the pleasure of this pro blemsolving, not the superficial violence which often accompanies it, that can make gaming such a satisfying experience. So, games are considered Good or Bad? Actually they are neither, like books, films, the Internet or any other medium. All can be used to depict sex and vio lence, or to educate and inform. Indeed the inclusion of violent and sexual con tent in games is arguably a sign of the maturity of the media, as games become more like films. In a manner similar to Rock & Roll outbreak during the 1950s, now its the era of video gaming outbreak, until something new comes up and gaming is regarded as just another medium. References: Obama names video games as health concern in speech to A.M.A. Gamepolitics.com 15 June 2009. Browne KD Hamilton Giachritsis 2005 The influence of violent media on children and adolescents: a public health approach. Chaput JP, Visby T, Nyby S, Klingenberg B, Gregersen NT, Tremblay A, Astrup A, Sjodin A June 2011 Video Gaming increases food intake in adolescents: a randomized crossover study. Desai RA, Krishnan-Sarin S, Cavallo D, Potenza MN December 2010 Video Gaming among high school students: Health correlates, gender differences and problematic gaming. Cochran Lee Teens say: Video Game made them do it ABC News 15-08-2009. Rebecca Leung Can a Video Game Lead to Murder? CBS News 19-06-2005. Do Video Games influence Violent Behavior? by Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center 24-08-2011. Craig A. Anderson October 2003 Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts and Unanswered Questions. Effects of Video Games on Aggression. Thomas A. Kooijmans - Rochester Institute of Technology. Dmitri Williams , Marko Skoric research on Asherons Call 2 Video Game Internet Fantasy Violence: A Test of Aggression in an Online Game. John C. Beck , Mitchell Wade Got Game: How the Gamer Generation is Resharping Business Forever book. TO EAT OR NOT TO EAT ? t BLAME THE GAME ? t