Regular consumption of alcohol either in low concentration (beer, wine, etc.) or in high concentration (brandy, whisky, rum, gin, Vodka, etc.) causes dependency on alcohol which is called alcoholism. The person who has become a habitual drinker is called an alcoholic.
Ethyl alcohol is consumed as fermented beverages with low content of alcohol (beer, wine, toddy) and as distilled beverages with a relatively high alcohol percentage (brandy, rum, whisky, gin, vodka). This alcohol is rapidly absorbed from the wall of stomach and enters the blood stream within minutes of ingestion. In the liver alcohol is converted into a more toxic substance - acetaldehyde.
The organ which is most affected by alcohol, is Liver.
Intoxication begins from the first sip of drink containing alcohol but early signs are not visible. With the increase in its dose the body loses its control and, gradually, the individual loses his consciousness and in extreme cases death may occur. People who get into the habit of drinking begin with a small dose, but soon many of them become addicted and they start consuming alcohol frequently and in large quantities. When they come to realize that they have become the victims of the hazards of alcohol, then it is too late for them to give up the habit.
Research studies have revealed that the people who resort to drinking offer one or more of the following reasons: (1) Social pressure, (2) Feeling of independence, (3) Liking of the taste, (4) Desire of excitement, (5) Desire to escape from such realities of life as disappointments and failures, and (6) hardships and monotony of everyday life.
When a person drinks alcohol, it passes to the stomach. Some amount of alcohol is also carried to the small intestine. Alcohol is quickly absorbed in the stomach and upper part of small intestine and is transferred to the blood. This blood carries alcohol to the liver. Liver synthesises fat from alcohol. The excess fat reduces the formation of glycogen, enzymes and structural proteins. The liver is an important centre of carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism. But due to excess of fat in the liver makes the liver only a store house of fat. From the liver alcohol follows the following route through blood. Liver\[\to \]heart\[\to \]lungs\[\to \]heart\[\to \]various body parts (tissues). Its oxidation starts so that a some amount of energy is produced which gives false impression of warmth in the skin.
Many people think that alcohol is a stimulant. But alcohol is not a stimulant. Actually alcohol acts as sedative (lessens functional activity), analgesic (relieves pain) and anaesthetic (causes loss of sensation).
Effects of Alcohol : It has been proved that the intake of alcohol affects individual health, family life and ultimately creates several community and social problems.
(1) Effects on Individual Health
(i) Effect on Nervous System : Many people drink alcohol for some “stimulation”, but in reality it depresses the nervous system, thus acting as a sedative, analgesic and anaesthetic agent. It reduces the efficiency of every tissue more...
The individual is a part of community. Community health depends on active participation of its members you have just read how a person can be helped by the community to stay away from addictions. The mental health of an individual also depends to a large extent on the way he adjusts himself to the community and the way the community helps him adjust to stresses ad strains. The community plays a major role in the prevention and control of infectious diseases also.
Health centres
For community development and community health, the country has been divided (1st April, 1958) into 5000 blocks. On june 30, 1996, the rural areas of the country has 2424 Community Health Centres (each catering a population of 80,000 -120,000 having \[45\] doctors, 30 bed hospital with laboratory and X-ray facility), 21854 Primary Health Centres (each catering a population 20000 - 30000, having a medical officer, one multipurpose female worker, one health educator, and supporting staff) and 132730 subcentres (one for 3000 - 5000 population, having one male and one female multipurpose workers). These health centres are operating under state governments.
A number of other health organisations are also providing basic health services like Central Government Health services (C.G.H.S.) dispensaries, Employees State Insurance (E.S.I.) hospitals, Indian Council of Medical Research (I.C.M.R.) Programmes, National Institute of communicable Diseases (N.I.C.D.) and a number of other national programmes/thrust areas like National Malaria Eradication Programme (N.M.E.P. started 1953 as part of 1st five year plan), National Filaria Control programme (N.F.C.P.), National Leprosy Control programme (N.L.C.P.), National Cholera Control (N.S.E.P. already achieved), national programmes for control of blindness/trachoma, cancer, AIDS, V.D., tuberculosis, etc.
W.H.O. (World Health Organization) also provides assistance and expertise for certain programmes.
Role of Health Centres
(1) Medical care (i) Giving first aid to all emergencies. (ii) Providing curative medical services to both outdoor and indoor patients. (iii) Refering patients requiring specialised treatment to proper hospitals.
(2) Prevention and control of Communicable Diseases. (i) Mass vaccination against various communicable disease like whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus polio, tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid, etc. (ii) Coordinating with state and national agencies for programmes of malaria eradication, filaria, tuberculosis eradication, cholera control, leprosy control, V.D. control, trachoma control, AIDS control, etc. (iii) Taking special gatherings, exhibitions etc. (iii) Taking special precautionary measures during fairs, religious and political gatherings, exhibitions etc. (iv) Notification of the spread of epidemic diseases and measures to prevent the same, (v) Killing of mosquitoes, flies rats, strays dogs, etc, (vi) Filling or covering of mosquito breeding places (vii) Inoculation of larger water bodies with larvicidal fishes, plants bacteria and cynaobacteria. (viii) Isolation of patients with highly infectious diseases. (ix) Supervision of eating places, food and milk trades for preventing spread of communicable disease.
(3) Data Collection Vital Statistics : Community health workers collect and cross data about (i) Spread of infectious diseases. (ii) Prevalence of deficiency disorders. (iii) Progress of national / regional health schemes. (iv) Public resistance, hesitation or appathy to new programmes. (v) Sanitation. (vi) Pollution (vii) Sate more...
Symptoms and Control
(1) Drugs : Drugs are normally used for the treatment of diseases. The prolonged use of drugs may lead to the dependence of the body on them. This is drug addiction. Some people without any medical advice, start taking drugs and soon become drug addicts. Certain drugs form habit, but some make the body completely dependent upon them.
(2) Addiction : Some persons are unable to bear tensions or think themselves unable to solve the problems of life or due to certain other curious factors start drinking, smoking and taking certain narcotic drugs and feel relief and peace. Gradually this becomes their habit and they are addicted to these things.
Thus addiction can be defined as a physical and mental dependence on any of the above mentioned factors and get temporary relief and feel pleasure.
The common factors are :
(3) Drug Addiction : The compounds used for the cure of the diseases are known as drugs. Certain drugs of specific category are nerve stimulants and depressants. Some of the drugs function as sedative and others act as hallucinogens.
The regular use of such drugs causes the drug addiction in human and they become habitual of these drugs. Drugs such as aspirin and antihistamines when taken with alcohol may have dangerous effects. Including death.
Types of Drugs : These are a large number of drugs on which people become dependent. On the basis of their mode of action on the brain, these drugs are of four types : Sedatives and Tranquillisers, Opiate Narcotics, stimulants and hallucinogens.
(1) Sedatives and Tranquillisers : These drugs depress the activities of the central nervous system. They give a feeling of calmness, relaxation or drowsiness in the body. Their higher doses induce sleep. Tranquillisers lower tension and anxiety without inducing sleep. Examples : barbiturates and benzodiazephines (e.g., Valium).
Barbiturates are synthetic drugs derived from barbituric acid and are called sleeping pills.
(2) Opiate Narcotics : These drugs suppress brain activity and relieve pain. They are called pain killers. Examples opium and its derivatives and some synthetic drugs (e.g., pethidine and methadone).
Opium and its Derivatives : Opium is the extract from the unripe capsules of the poppy plant (Papaver somniferum). It has bitter taste. The opium addict loses weight fertility and interest in work. Its derivatives are morphine, codeine and heroin. Opium derivatives immediately reduce respiratory and cardiovascular activity, constricts the pupils of the eye, reduce the visual activity and cause nausea and vomiting. An overdose leads to respiratory arrest and death. If the supply of the drug is not available, the addicts exhibit terrible “with-drawal symptoms” in the form of muscle cramps, running nose, vomiting and epilepsy.
(1) Morphine and Codeine : These are derived from opium. Morphine is a most valuable analgesic but it causes addiction. Codeine is a mild analgesic but causes no addiction so codeine is commonly used in many medicines and cough syrups.
(2) Heroin (Diacetylmorphine or Diamorphine) : Heroin is formed from morphine by acetylation. It more...
There is a general feeling that if you are and not ill you are healthy. A truly healthy person is the one who has a sound body, lives in harmony with others, has the ability to face stresses and strains and holds certain moral and spiritual values. Body and mind are intimately related. Any disturbance in one has its effect on the other. Like the body, mind too can be come ill.
It is estimated that 1 percent of the world population suffers from serious mental illness and 10 percent from mild mental disorders. In India, there are \[67\] million people with incapacitating mental disorders.
Characters of Mentally Healthy Person
If potential conflicting instinctive drives. A mentally healthy person has (1) Self respect. (2) Knowledge of one's capabilities and limits. (3) Independent personality but comfortably placed in hierarchy in work, family and society. (4) Feeling of friendship and trust for others. (5) A purposeful life with reasonable goals to achieve. (6) Potential to perform all the daily chores and not dependent on any other person. (7) No tendency in decision making to get swayed away by emotions, fear, anger, love or guilt. (viii) Ability to meet all the demands of life, solving problems as they arise. A mentally sick.
Mental illness
It is a state of mind in which a person is not able to think, behave and interact with others normally. On set of mental illness is exhibited by (1) Changes in behaviour and personality due to abnormality of thoughts, memory, feelings, perception and judgement. (2) Difficulty in adjustment with family members and colleagues. (3) Inability to carry on daily business, with signs of tension, trembling, depression, aggressive behaviour, fear, phobia, etc. There is thus social and vocational dysfunctioning.
Characters of Mentally Sick Person
(1) Inability to concentrate. (2) Absence of sound sleep. (3) Worrisome behaviour. (4) Short temper. (5) Unhappiness. (6) Mood fluctuations from depression to elation. (7) Tendency to get upset by a change in routine. (8) Apprehensive nature. (9) Bitterness. (10) Dislike of others. (11) Considering others to be wrong. (12) Children getting on nerves. (13) Feeling of pains / aches in different body parts without any actual ones.
Types of Mental illness
Mental illness can be grouped under three broad categories – psychosis, neurosis and mental disorders.
(1) Psychosis / Insanity / Madness : It is a serious type of mental illness in which the patient loses touch with reality. Psychosis may be caused by disease of central nervous system. In some cases it is associated with diabetes, hypertension and tuberculosis. The patient in not aware of illness and refuses to take the treatment.
(2) Neurosis : It is less severe form of mental illness where the patient is aware of the problem and tries to seek help. There is abnormal anxiety, fear, sadness, vague aches and pains. Neurosis develops due to stress and anxiety in patient's environment. The patient shows excessive / prolonged reaction to a given stress, e.g., anxiety neurosis, hysteria, obsessional neurosis, more...
Smoking of tobacco dried and cured leaves of plant ‘Nicotiana tobacum’ and N. rustica in the form of cigars, cigarettes, bides etc. is very toxic to the body. Smoke of tobacco contains about 300 compounds. The main compounds are nicotine, \[CO,\text{ }HCN,\] polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, certain other stimulating products etc. Nicotine in the blood stimulates the nervous system, relax the muscles, release adrenalin hormone and increase the rate of heart beats. In pregnant ladies growth of foetus decreases and loss of weight may takes place.
Tobacco : The tobacco was first smoked by Red Indians in America. It then spread to European countries in the early 1600’s, and today a large part of the world population smoke tobacco, while some others chew it.
Effect of Nicotine : Smoking was reported to produce a feeling of tranquility (calmness) and in some cases made people alert and active. Since in its early days the use of tobacco was socially accepted and no harmful effects were obvious, the addiction became widespread. But scientific research indicates that use of tobacco is harmful. Nicotine is the major stimulatory component of tobacco products including cigarettes. It is highly poisonous. The amount present in one cigar can be fatal, if it is injected intravenously into a person. When smoked, about 10 percent of the smoke is inhaled. Nicotine has a number of effects on the human body. It stimulates passage of nerve impulses, causes muscles to relax and causes the release of adrenaline, increasing both blood pressure and heart beat rate. The increased blood pressure caused by smoking leads to increased risk of heart diseases. In pregnant women nicotine causes retardation of the growth of the foetus.
Other Harmful Components of Tobacco Smoke : Besides the nicotine the tobacco smoke contains carbon monoxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and tar.
Diseases Caused by Smoking : Smoking causes the following diseases.
(1) Cancer : Benzpyrene present in tobacco smoke is carcinogenic. About 95% victims of lung cancer are due to smoking. Reverse smoking causes oral cancer. In reverse smoking the burning end of the cigar is kept in the mouth. Reverse smoking is common in the villages of Andhra Pradesh. Bidi smoking causes cancer of tongue, pharynx (throat), larynx, tonsils and oesophagus. Lip cancer is caused by cigar and pipes. Tobacco chewing leads to oral cancer.
(2) Cardio-vascular Diseases : Tobacco smoking causes increase of adrenalin secretion which increases blood pressure, heart beat rate by constricting the arteries. High blood pressure increases the chances of heart diseases. Nicotine damages the bicuspid valve (mitral valve) of the heart.
(3) Emphysema : Tobacco smoke may break down the walls of alveoli of the lungs, decreasing the surface area for gas exchange, causing emphysema.
(4) Coughing and Bronchitis : Tobacco smoking irritates the mucous membrane of the pharynx (throat) and bronchi causing coughing and bronchitis.
(5) Pulmonary Tuberculosis : Smoking can spread bacteria of pulmonary tuberculosis from infected person to healthy persons.
(6) Gastric and Duodenal Ulcers : Smoking increases the secretion of more...
Three types of medical devices used nowadays are implants, disposables and external prosthesis.
(1) Implants
Implants are devices used for replacng a diseased organ or tissue within the body.
Implants must be non-toxic and biocompatible and are used for replacing joint, arteries, heart valves, etc., and occasionally helpful in cosmetic surgery.
Artificial Heart Valve
(i) Artificial heart valves may be either mechanical or made of human or animal tissues.
(ii) Mechanical valves are made from special biocompatible plastics, metal alloys and ceramics.
(iii) Tissue valves are taken from cadavers of pigs or made from the pericardium of animals.
(iv) Mechanical valves develop tendency of clotting of blood, so the patient must have regular medication of anticoagulants.
(v) Tissue valves do not require anticoagulants, but they tend to calcify, particularly in young.
(2) Disposables
(i) Oxygenator
(a) The first open heart surgery was performed by Walton Lillehel (USA) in 1953 by meant of a procedure, called heart-lung bypass.
(b) Oxygenator is used in open-heart surgery to oxygenate the blood passing through the heart-lung machine.
(c) Oxygenator can be called as an artificial lung. Two common types of oxygenators currently used are bubble oxygenator and membrane oxygenator.
(d) Bubble oxygenators are used for shorter operation whereas membrane oxygenators are more suitable for longer operations and for operation of infants.
Landmarks in Medicine : Diagnosis and Surgery
The energy obtained from biological sources is called bioenergy. Bioenergy is the use of biomass (organic matter) to produce electricity, transportation fuels or chemicals. Bioenergy sources include agriculture and forestry residues and the organic components of municipal and industrial wastes. Fossil fuels (coal, petroleum and natural gas) is not included under bioenergy.
Only 0.2% of solar radiations reaching the earth is converted into biomass. This amount is about-10 times the energy produced from nonbiomass sources. Being a tropical country, India receives more solar radiations and therefore has high potential for biomass synthesis to meet the requirement of energy.
Bioenergy is obtained from following types of biological sources:
Animal energy : Animal energy is basically of two forms :
(1) Human muscle power (HMP) : It is the form of animal energy, which is used throughout the world in the form of physical work by human race like farmers in the field, women in house work and non agricultural labourers like artisans in wood work, gardeners, etc. A major part of the energy utilized today belongs to this type and it constitutes about 1/5th of the total generated electricity in India. Thus, it constitutes the significant part of energy used.
(2) Draught animal power (DAP) : Animals are domesticated not only for providing us with food, hides and bones but they are also used in agriculture and transport. These animals play an important role in villages. India has about 84 million of work animals; 70 million bullocks; 8 million buffaloes and one million each to horses and camels. In addition mules, donkeys, elephants and yaks are also used. 50 percent of the Indian farmers have holdings less than two acres each, as a result they cannot use tractors. More than 15 million animal-drawn carts are use in India. Carts have the advantage that they can be used on all types of roads in all terrains. The energy potential of DAP is enormous. Suppose if each animal generates 0.5 horse power then the installed capacity of animals comes about 42 million horse power or 30,500 MW. This value is almost equal to total electric power generation in India. Because of poor quality of animals and outmoded designs of carts and agricultural machinery, full potential of DAP has not been realised in India. Methods recommended to achieve this are :
(i) Improved breeds of draught animals.
(ii) Use of better carts.
(iii) Proper management of grazing lands and pastures.
(iv) Supply of nutritious fodder.
Biofuels and Biomass : They are fuels of biological origin. Biofuels are major source of energy. They are renewable and if used properly and efficiently they can solve the energy problems of developing countries.
Biomass is the term applied to all materials whose origin can be traced to photosynthesis. Biomass can be used to generate producer gas, to run water pumps for irrigation, to obtain alcohol, to replace petrol, to generate biogas for cooking and lighting and to generate electricity.
Ways of utilising biomass as fuel
Wild animal means any non-domesticated animal found wild in nature. It includes both vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) and invertebrates (bees, butterflies, moths, crustaceans, etc.) the term “wild life” includes animals as well as plants, which from part of any habitat in nature. Some wild animals are so characteristic that they become symbols of their home countries. Thus, tiger is associated with India, white bear with Russia, Giant Panda with China, kangaroo with Australia, kiwi with New Zealand and springbok with South Africa.
(1) Importance (Values) of Wild Life : Wild life is a source of danger to human life. It is a nuisance to a farmer because it often destroys his crops. The domestic livestock is denied grazing ground in sanctuaries and reserves for wild life. Similarly, the hunters are denied recreation by shooting wild life. Even then conservation of wild life becomes necessary and of great importance due to its many values to mankind.
(i) Ecological value : For a millennium, man and wild animals have evolved together on this planet, called Earth. All life on earth is one and all living things are inextricably interlinked (food chains) forming ecosystems. Destruction of wild life may cause upset in the ecological balance or equilibrium resulting in severe consequences. Thus, protection of every animal species is of great importance to the quality of life and to the survival of man himself. By rendering the planet uninhabitable for animals, we will not be able to avoid extinction ourselves.
(ii) Commercial value : Wild life forms an important natural resource. Unlike coal or petroleum which is nonrenewable, wild life is a renewable resource. With proper care and management, it can yield good dividends and even earn foreign exchange. The commercial value of wild life is best seen in the world’s marine fisheries, with an annual output of about 100 million tons of sea food worth billions of rupees.
Freshwater fish and other aquatic creatures also provide large amount of food for people. Wild life of dry land mainly contributes to the food of the so-called primitive people of the world. An entire industry, the fur trade is supported by fur-bearing animals. Trade in live as well as dead animals supports thousands of people and also earns foreign exchange.
For example, an Indian rhino may fetch equivalent of Rs. 1,25,000 in the world market. Similarly, the ivory of elephants, the horns of rhinoceros, the glands of must deer, the antlers of deer etc., all command high prices. Wild life of a country may even attract people from abroad and earn foreign exchange. Thus, the tourist industry of Kenya (East Afria), based on its wild life, ranks third after coffee and sisal.
(iii) Game value : Wild life has its worth as game also. In several European and American countries, millions of people hunt or fish for recreation, spending billions of dollars on these sports.
(iv) Scientific value : Scientific studies of many of the wild life species are of direct value more...
The term 'biodiversity' refers to 'the variety and variability among living organisms and the ecological complexes in which they occur'. If you observe a patch of forest, you may find a wide variety of plant and animal life. The plant life may range form a small herb to a large tree, and animal life may vary from a tiny insect to a large mammal. Apart from plants and animals, numerous microorganisms, which cannot be seen with naked eyes also occur in the soil. This shows biological diversity or biodiversity of a forest patch. Thus, biodiversity can be defined as 'the totality of genes, species and ecosystem of a region'
Biodiversity differs from place to place as each habitat has its distinct biota. However, many biologically rich and unique habitats are being destroyed, degraded and fragmented.
The major factors that tend to decrease biodiversity are increasing human population, higher resource consumption and pollution. Loss of biodiversity reduces gene pool of species, number of interactions in the biota and ability of species to adapt themselves to changes in the environment. It not only checks evolutionary advancements but also put the surviving species to dangers of extinction.
(1) Magnitude of biodiversity : Biologists are enganged in the identification and naming of species for the last 250 years. Still, they are able to name and describe for less number of species than the actual number present. Presently, the known and described number of species of all organisms on the earth is between 1.7 and 1.8 million, which is fewer than 15% of the actual number. It is predicted that the number of total species varies from 5 to 50 million. Approximately 61% of the known species are insects. About 2,70,000 species of plants and only 4650 species of mammals are known to science. Only fragmentary information is available about bacteria, viruses, protists and Archaea. The major area where numerous species are believed to be unknown to science are tropics and coral reefs.
Presently, efforts are being made to discover and describe new species more rapidly. The projects like 'Global Biodiversity Information Facility and the Species 2000’, are attempting to discover new species faster than ever before.
(2) Levels of biodiversity : The biological diversity include three interrelated hierarchical levels, viz. Genetic diversity, Species diversity and Community and ecosystem diversity.
(i) Genetic diversity : It is the diversity in the number and types of genes as well as chromosomes present in different species and the variations in the genes and their alleles in the same species. For instance, the number of genes is about 450-700 in Mycoplasma, 4000 in Escherichia coli, 13000 in Drosophila melanogaster, 32000-50000 in Oryza sativa and 35000 to 45000 in Homo sapiens sapiens.
'The genetic variation existing within a species is called genetic diversity’. The genetic variation may be in alleles (different variants of same genes), in entire genes (the traits determining particular characteristies) or in chromosomal structures.
Genetic diversity is useful in adaptation to changes in environmental conditions. It helps more...
It may be defined as the most efficient and most beneficial utilization of the natural resources. Conservation is also defined as the rational use of the environment to provide a high quality of living for the mankind.
Aim of conservation : The true aim of conservation, thus, includes.
(1) To insure the preservation of a quality environment that considers aesthetic, recreational as well as product needs.
(2) To insure a continuous yield of useful plants, animals and materials by establishing a balanced cycle of harvest and renewal.
Living resource conservation has three specific objectives
(1) To maintain the essential ecological processes and the life support system : This system has five elements (air, water, land, flora and fauna) which are interconnected, interrelated and interdependent; deterioration in one inevitably affects the other four elements.
(2) To preserve the biological diversity : It includes two related concepts genetic diversity and ecological diversity. The genetic diversity is the amount of the genetic variability among individuals of a single species (intraspecific genetic variability) as also between species (interspecific genetic variability). The ecological diversity means the species richness. It is the number of species of the flora and fauna found in a region (for example, India has about 45,000 species of plants and about 65,000 species of animals).
(3) To ensure that any utilization of the species and ecosystems is sustainable : In fact, natural resources may be conserved by efficient utilization which requires a proper balance between the supply and demand. Sustainable utilization means planned utilization so that a continuous yield of the useful plants, animals and materials may be obtained.
The conservation of the following resources is necessary
(1) Minerals : Minerals are largely nonrenewable inorganic resources that are presently mined from lithosphere. Availability/distribution is quite unequal Malayasia and Indonesia are rich in tin, tungsten and manganese but deficient in molybdenum. North America has abundant molybdenum but little tin, tungsten and manganese. South Africa has rich deposits of gold, platinum and uranium but little iron and silver. India has abundant iron, manganese, dolomite, chromite and mica but is deficient in lead, potassium, phosphorus, nickel, copper, silver and gold. Phosphate rocks have recently been discovered in Jawar Kota in Rajasthan. Mineral resources of scarce elements (e.g., silver, copper, mercury, tungsten) are liable to be exhausted within next 20-100 years. With continued use even plentiful minerals will become scarce and hence expensive, e.g., iron, aluminium.
(i) Degradation of environment : Every step of mineral extraction, processing, refinement and disposal causes degradation of environment.
(a) Mineral processing releases a number of pollutants into air. It also produces a number of wastes which bring about water and soil pollution.
(b) Mining not only damages the land, it also pollutes soil water and air.
(c) Mine dust destroys nearby vegetation and makes the soil barren. It is called mine spoil.
(ii) Conservation of minerals
(a) Reuse : An article can be reused several times, e.g., 16-17 times a glass bottle. Life of a machine/article can be prolonged with more...
