What is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Don't we wonder why working for long hours on computer give us numb or painful wrists. Same thing happens when we play video games for a long time. The reason our wrists undergo severe pain, numbness or a tingling sensation at times is due to a certain condition called Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, commonly called CTS is a condition which occurs when the tunnel of bones and wrist's ligaments become narrow. This narrowed tunnel is responsible for the tingling sensation or numbness in our hand, as the narrowed tunnel pinches the nerve. This numbness and tingling sensation caused by the carpal tunnel syndrome can be felt on an individual's hand, especially around the thumb and first three fingers.

What Causes Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

The tunnel that gets affected due to the carpal tunnel syndrome is located under the skin of our wrist and is known as the carpal tunnel. The bottom and insides of the tunnel are formed by the wrist bones. The top of the carpal tunnel is covered with ligament. Nine tendons, that join a muscle with some other part of the body, and one median nerve passes through this carpal tunnel from our forearm to the hand. These tendons connect muscles to our bones  and thus help our hand to efficient maneuvering of the fingers and thumb. The median nerve passes through the tunnel and reaches the hand. There is very little space for the nine tendons and the median nerve to pass through. Repetitive movement such as typing or continuous movement of the wrist may result in swelling of wrist. This swelling pinches the nerve resulting in numbness or tingling sensation. One may even experience severe pain. This is the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Thus the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome include numbness, severe pain and tingling sensation in your wrist.

How is Bone Marrow Formed

Bone marow

Bone marrow is a flexible, spongy tissue located within the bone interiors. This semi-solid tissue is in a jelly form and helps to produce blood cells and also protect the innermost core of the bone. The average weight of bone marrow is 4% of the individual's body weight. This gelatinous tissue fills the cavity of the bone. The bone marrow is found in the spine, hip and the shoulder bones of an adult.The richest source of bone marrow cell can be found in spine as well as hip of an individual.

Bone marrow consists of two type of cells - the Hematopoietic stem cells, which produce the blood cells and the Stromal stem cells, which can produce the cartilage, fat and the bone. Hemopoiesis is the process in which the the blood cell is produced. There are two types of bone marrow, one is the red marrow which contains the hematopoietic stem cells. The red blood cells, platelets as well as most of the white blood cells arise in red bone marrow. The red marrow mainly exists in flat bones of an individual's body such as hip bone, skull, ribs, vertebrae  and also in shoulder blades. Similarly the other type of bone marrow is the yellow marrow which houses the stroma stem cells.The presence of higher amount of fat cells give the yellow marrow it's colour. Some of the white blood cells are also developed in yellow marrow.

The formation of bone marrow in an individual takes place even before his birth. It's formation is similar to that of the formation of other organ's or tissue in one's body. Usually during birth the bone marrow is red which gets converted into yellow as one ages. Bone marrow is considered as an life saving agent for patients with severe blood loss, because the body has the tendency to convert the yellow marrow into red marrow in order to increase the blood cell production. 

What is an eBook

An eBook is an electronic version of a printed book.The eBook is a any printed book in a digital form which may include text and images.  In today's era of digitization, eBook is the most crucial want of the day. With everything made available at the touch of your finger, traditional reading has been switched into an 'e-mode'; where we get to read any printed book as a eBook on a computer or a tablet, mobile phone or even best, e-reader.  Nowadays thousands and thousands of title could be read with eBook, that had once been printed on paper. Be it fiction, non-fiction, history, recipes, stories, study material, reference books or even classics - everything can be read with an eBook.

How is an eBook Produced?

To produce an eBook, usually one needs an existing published paper book or hard copies. Robotic book scanners are used to scan these paper books without damaging the original print edition. These robotic book scanners can scan book quickly and efficiently. These scanners help produce set of image files which can then be converted into text format by Optical Character Recognition Programme (OCR). This programme thus helps the mechanical or electronic conversion of these scanned images into a computer readable text. And thus forms an eBook which exactly looks exactly like book only in digital form.

Advantage of eBook over Paper Books

An eBook has a superiority over paper books. This is so because while printing paperbacks or hardcovers of a particular book, huge amount of paper needs to be produced, for which innumerable trees are cut down. It is said that to make just one ton of paper, over 24 trees need to be cut. Then in case, a book that is printed contain printing errors, the books are destroyed before reaching the shelves. That is a huge wastage of paper. Many printed books that do not make a good sale are usually destroyed or recycled. It also takes about seven gallons of water to produce one printed book, while it takes only two cups of water to produce a digital book. Hence not just trees but water is also wasted while producing paper books.

eBooks have a great advantage over the paper books, as

- eBooks save the transportation costs for shipping books.

- eBooks can help preserve books.

- eBooks help saving trees and thus avoid deforestation.

- eBooks are portable and can help one carry an entire library along with him.

- eBooks are much cheaper to produce as compared to paper books.

- eBooks offer free downloads of few books or if chargeable are much cheaper than the paperback or hardcover editions.

- eBooks promises convenient reading with its varied features such as change of fonts, in-built light, change of style, bookmarking, highlighting and more, thus offering a personalized reading experience.

- eBooks help in conversion of languages with such features made available.

- eBooks such as Kindle offer assistance with word-wise enabled features to understand meanings of words.

- With immense storage space, eBooks allows us to store as many books as possible.

- eBooks allows readers to rate a book and suggest other readers if the book is a good read.

Environmental Footprint of an eBook

Environmental footprint is the impact any activity or a product or a person has on the earth's environment system. This includes e-waste. As per research a paper book can create 7.5 kg of carbon dioxide whereas an iPad or Kindle can create nearly 130 kg 168 kg of carbon dioxide respectively. Once a Kindle is bought by a reader, he or she would start downloading as many books as possible in order to make up for the carbon dioxide during it's use. Use of electricity for charging the e-devices also needs to be taken under consideration. 

Fascinating Facts about Dwarka City

Dwarka is a Hindu Pilgrimage city located in the state of Gujarat in India. Dwarka includes herself in the Char Dham Pilgrimage which is a highly sacred pilgrimage for Hindus and help them attain moksha. The other four cities, part of the Char Dham Pilgrimage include Badrinath, Puri and Rameshwaram. Dwarka is also one of the Sapta Puris. Sapta Puri means the seven holy cities of India, every Hindu must visit. The seven cities in Sapta Puri include Ayudhya, Mathura, Varanasi, Kanchipuram, Ujjain, Haridwar and Dwarka. Dwarka literally means 'gateway to heaven'. This city was build by Lord Krishna. It was considered to be his capital city. Lord Krishna along with the other Yadavas are said to have spent most of his time in Dwarka.

City of Dwarka

The Existence of Dwarka City

According to the Hindu Mythology, the city of Dwarka submerged in the Arabian Sea, not once but six times. The present city of Dwarka is considered to be the seventh such city built in the same area. The Marine Archaeology Unit of the National Institute of Oceanography has been engaged in the offshore excavation and exploration of the legendary Dwarka City since 1983. The boulders on which the city walls were erected, were found in this excavation which proved that the land indeed was reclaimed by the sea. Dwarka finds it's mention in various ancient texts, especially in Mahabharata. In Mahabharata, Dwarka has been mentioned as a well-fortified and prosperous city, which again proved it's existence.

Fascinating Facts About Dwarka City

1. It is believed that worshiping Lord Krishna in Dwarka can help you get rid of your sins and help you attain moksha.

2. Because it is believed that Lord Krishna lived in Dwarka as a Prince, the city of Dwarka worships him in the same mood. The idol of Krishna, also referred as the Dwarkadhish is dressed in extravagance.

3. The Dwarkadhish deity holds conch, club, disc and lotus flower in his four hands and each of these are covered in silver.

4. The compound of the Dwarkadhish Temple include many small shrines, namely Lakshmi Temple, Radhika Temple, Balarama Temple, Pradyumna Temple, Anirrudha Temple, Satyabhama Temple and Purshottama Vishnu Temple.

5. The present Dwarkadhish Temple was built in the sixteenth century.

6. The original temple of Dwarka was said to be built by Vajranabha, the grandson of Lord Krishna.

7. The temple of Dwarkadhish is built using soft limestone. The temple consists of a sanctum, vestibule and a big rectangular hall with porches on three sides.

8. The Dwarkadhish Temple has two entry points, known to be the Swarga Dwar or heaven gateways. There is one exit point for the pilgrims which is known as the Moksha Dwar.

9. The amazing discoveries and explorations by marine archaeologists over the four decades pointed to the fact that the remains of the city found over the years dated back to the Mahabharat Era.

10. Thousands of devotees and pilgrims from all over the world gather at the Dwarka City to celebrate Janmashtami in full swing every year.

Acceptance Poem By Robert Frost

Acceptance is a sonnet by Robert Frost. This beautiful poem implies about accepting facts of life, whether its an event or a threat to one's existence... what is important is to accept it as part and parcel of life and just live hoping to be safe and sound to see the next day.

Acceptance

                     - By Robert Frost

When the spent sun throws up its rays on cloud

And goes down burning into the gulf below,

No voice in nature is heard to cry aloud

At what has happened. Birds, at least must know

It is the change to darkness in the sky.

Murmuring something quiet in her breast,

One bird begins to close a faded eye;

Or overtaken too far from his nest,

Hurrying low above the grove, some waif

Swoops just in time to his remembered tree.

At most he thinks or twitters softly, ''Safe!

Now let the night be dark for all of me.

Let the night be too dark for me to see

Into the future. Let what will be, be.''

How Are Valleys Formed?

Valleys are the low lying areas present between two hills or two mountains. Valleys are usually formed near water bodies such as rivers and hence they are dense with vegetation and have great soil fertility. When water bodies such as rivers flow through mountains or hills they wear out the rock and the soil thus creating grooves within. These grooves over a period of time get deeper and deeper causing big dents within the mountain. These grooves are usually V-shaped or U-shaped and the curve deepens over a period of time to form valleys.

U-shaped Valley

The formation of valleys usually depend upon the speed of the flow of the water. Faster the flow, deeper and wider the valley. When glaciers form valleys they are called glacial valleys. The shape of glacial valley is U-shape. However when a valley is formed due to soil erosion it is usually V-shaped and these valleys are know as rift valleys. Due to it's rich soil fertility and dense vegetation, valleys can cater to civilizations. The valleys also tend to offer a favorable climate for living. And hence many such civilizations had known to flourish in the valleys. One such known civilization of valley is the Indus Valley Civilization on the Indus River. The world's deepest valley is the Kali Gandaki River in Nepal. It is known to lie between two Himalayan Peaks namely, Dhaulagiri and Annapurna which are 8000 meter high respectively.

Why Do We Have Different Skin Color?

We often wonder why we and all around us differ so much when it comes to skin color. The color of the human skin varies almost from light translucent to almost black. All these wide varied colors that we human being have come from a particular pigment known as melanin. The type and amount of melanin present in an individual's body defines his or her color.

The color of every individual is more or less affected by the presence of four pigments in the body - melanin, oxygenated hemoglobin, reduced hemoglobin and carotene. However melanin stands out as the most powerful of all and gives us the color that we have. Melanin pigment are produced by special cells known as melanocytes which are found in the epidermis of our skin. Genes control the production of melanin cells in an individual body. The melanin producing cells in every adult ranges from 60,000 in each square inch of the skin. Few melanocytes mean less pigment which means lighter skin. Hence we have different skin color depending upon the production of melanin.

Besides melanin one more factor that affects one's skin color is haemoglobin. Haemoglobin combines with oxygen to produce the rosy complexion which is often referred as a sign of good health. Reduced haemoglobin causes anemia which makes a person appear pale.