Kombucha tea: What are the health benefits?

Answer

Long popular in other countries, kombucha tea is now gaining popularity in the United States. Although frequently referred to as a mushroom, kombucha is not a mushroom — it's a symbiosis of bacteria and yeast. When sugar and black or green tea are added to kombucha, a fermentation process results in the "tea" — a liquid containing vinegar, B vitamins and a number of other chemical compounds. Kombucha is most commonly prepared by taking a starter sample from an existing culture and growing a new colony in a fresh jar.

As with any dietary supplement or natural product, it's critical to do your homework before considering using kombucha tea on a regular basis. First, determine the level of evidence that exists to substantiate the health claims for the product. In the case of kombucha, there isn't a single human trial that has been reported in the peer-reviewed literature. This doesn't mean that kombucha tea can't possibly have health benefits, it just means that at this time, except for some lab and animal studies, there's no direct evidence that kombucha tea actually provides any of the health benefits it's reported to have.

The second "homework" question for any dietary supplement centers on safety. Have there been any credible reports of harm or illness caused by the product? In the case of kombucha tea, there are a number of cautionary reports. The home-brewing process can lead to contamination, with several cases of cutaneous anthrax developing in one community where a tainted batch was widely shared. Aspergillus is a fungus that has been found in kombucha tea and can be potentially dangerous, especially to people with weakened immune systems.

Other adverse effects that have been reported include allergic reactions, jaundice, nausea and vomiting, and one suspected death. Lead poisoning also has been reported when a ceramic pot was used to brew the preparation. It's theorized that the acids in the tea leached lead out of the ceramic glaze, resulting in lead poisoning after several months of consumption.

In short, there's no proof that kombucha tea is effective for any of its myriad health claims. At the same time, several cases of harm or injury have been reported. Unless definitive studies are reported that can quantify more accurately the potential risks and benefits of kombucha tea, it's best to avoid it.

source site : http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/kombucha-tea/AN01658
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Time For Tea

You've heard about green tea's health benefits. Read the details here, reprinted from an article in Tea Magazine.

ACCORDING TO A SEATTLE market-research firm, the Sage Group, in the five years between 1990 and 1995, tea sales in America quadrupled to four billion dollars a year. Tea is a drink whose time has come — again.

In the American colonies, tea was the most popular beverage until England's efforts to monopolize the tea trade, undercut American tradesmen, and capitalize on tea taxes turned the colonists against it. Besides throwing British tea into the Boston Harbor, the Americans expressed their rebellion by switching to a thicker, more bitter source of caffeine: coffee. But the Tea Tax no longer exists, and there are good reasons to switch back — not political this time, but scientific.

For years, studies in China and Japan have shown that the folklore about tea does contain some truth — it does promote longer life. In lung-cancer experiments with rats, the rats drinking green tea had only half the cancer rate as the non-tea-drinking rats. In other animal experiments, green tea was found to protect against colon cancer, skin cancer, stomach cancer, and breast cancer.

Japanese smokers have only half the lung cancer rate as American smokers. In areas of Japan where the most tea is drunk, the rate of stomach cancer (a big killer in Japan) is the lowest. In a study of 6000 Japanese women, those who drank five cups or more of green tea per day cut their risk of strokes by 50%.


GREEN EAST VERSUS BLACK WEST

In the West, we've been slow to study tea because, even with the increase in the popularity of tea, merchants still sell four times as much coffee. In addition, the studies emanating from Asia are about green tea, and Westerners customarily drink black tea.

Does black tea have the same health-promoting effect? Zhi-Yuan Wang of Rutgers University wanted to find out. He gave mice some carcinogens that normally cause skin tumors. A fourth of his mice were given green tea, a fourth got black tea, another fourth got decaffeinated black, and the last fourth got plain water. Sure enough, the green-tea-drinking mice developed 70% fewer tumors than the water drinkers. SEVENTY PERCENT FEWER! These are the kinds of findings that have awakened so much interest in tea. The numbers are big.

There are a lot of things people can do to improve their health, but usually the effect of any one of them is relatively small. Tea is different. For something so easy and pleasant to do, it is startling how great a difference it can make. The good news for us black tea lovers is the the black-tea-drinking mice also had 70% fewer tumors than the water drinkers. The decaf-tea drinkers had 60% fewer tumors — still a good showing.


RESEARCH ACCELERATION

Many studies are now being done in the West. Not only does tea reduce the rate of the cancers already mentioned, but it lowers the incidence of esophageal and liver cancers, too — also by dramatic amounts. And there is even more good news: tea lowers the risk of heart disease.

The two deadliest diseases for Americans are cancer and heart disease, and here is one substance — a substance that is easily available, inexpensive, and contains no calories — that lowers the incidence of both, and by a large margin!

A fifteen-year study in the Netherlands on 552 Dutch men aged 50-69 found that those who drank more than two cups of (in this case, black) tea daily were 50% less likely to have a fatal heart attack. The same study found that those who drank five cups of tea a day were 69% less likely to suffer a stroke than those men who only drank half as much tea.

In a study at the University of Southern California School of Medicine, elderly people who drank more than two cups of tea per day and had done so for a long time had a 63% lower risk of pancreatic cancer than people who had drunk less than a cup per day. The Norwegian government did a large-scale study (20,000 people) and found that the overall death rate was lower for those who drank at least one cup of tea per day.

Studies in both Norway and Israel have found that tea drinkers have lower blood cholesterol. This partially explains the reduced risk of heart disease and stroke, but it's even better than that: studies have shown that LDL, the "bad" cholesterol, only clogs arteries when it is damaged by oxidation. Tea is full of phytochemicals (chemicals found in plants) which act as powerful antioxidants. In a test-tube study of 39 food-derived antioxidants, the phytochemicals in tea were the most potent inhibitors of LDL oxidation. In fact, one compound in tea was found to be 20 times stronger than the potent antioxidant vitamin C.

One of the antioxidants in green tea is epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG); when you brew a cup and then let the water evaporate, half of what you have left is EGCG. Fifty percent of the solid matter of a cup of tea is a potent antioxidant.

We've all heard that a glass of red wine per day is good for us, primarily because of its antioxidants, one of the most potent being catechins. Let's compare tea with wine: a glass of red wine contains 300 milligrams of catechins; a cup of black tea, 210 milligrams. That's quite good; but the winner is green tea, with a whopping 375 milligrams per cup, and you can drive home afterwards.

A Dutch study of some 800 men found that those who had the most flavonoids (another kind of phytochemical) in their diet were 66% less likely to develop heart disease than those who consumed the least. For those who got the most flavonoids, their main source was black tea.

Research is exploding to the point where previous studies are being re-examined. The famous "Seven Countries Study" done in the 1960s has been re-analyzed in light of what we now know about tea. This study achieved fame because it was the first to show that the amount of fat in the diet affects heart disease. Re-analyzed, it seems that a high intake of antioxidants, mainly from tea, explains the lower incidence of heart disease in the tea-drinking countries.

An assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, Wei Zheng, MD, PhD, studied the tea-drinking habits of 35,369 postmenopausal women. Over an eight-year period, the women who drank at least two cups of tea per day had 32% fewer cancers of the digestive tract (including colon and esophagus) than women who only drank tea occasionally or never. They were also 60% less at risk from cancers of the bladder and kidneys. The women who drank at least four cups of tea had even fewer of these cancers.


ANTIOXIDANTS AND BEYOND

The ways in which tea produces its healthy effects go on and on. Women's livers metabolize estrogen and then send it through the gall bladder into the bile to be eliminated. Certain kinds of bacteria in the intestines change that estrogen into a potent cancer-producing hormone, which is then reabsorbed by the intestines, contributing to the development of breast cancer. Studies show that tea stops those bacteria from changing the estrogen into something dangerous, according to Herb Piersen, PhD, former director of the National Cancer Institute's Designer Foods Program.

Another way tea creates a healthy effect is by neutralizing nitrosamines (from cured meats) and heterocyclic amines (from cooked meats). "Drinking tea with meals in Japan and China," says a cancer researcher at the University of British Columbia, "is thought to be a major reason for the low cancer rates in these countries."

Tea also helps prevent tooth decay in several ways. It contains a solid dose of fluoride, and according to researchers at the Tokyo Dental College, it fights the kinds of bacteria in the mouth that cause gum disease and the eventual loss of the teeth. It worked better, in fact, than the antibiotic tetracycline. It also kills Streptococcus mutans, the greatest cavity-causing bacteria in the mouth.

Substances in green tea also lower hypertension in mice. The findings go on and on. In the test-tube, tea inhibits the proliferation of viruses, including influenza.

There is a downside to tea: it increases the passage of B and C vitamins and calcium through the body, although not very much. If you take a vitamin-mineral supplement, you're probably getting enough extra B and C vitamins to neutralize this effect.

One of the paradoxically valuable things about tea is that it contains caffeine. Caffeine is addicting. Once you start drinking tea, you tend to do so regularly, and this turns out to be a good thing. It keeps an uninterrupted flow of antioxidants going through your cells, cleaning up the damaging oxygen, killing dangerous bacteria, neutralizing carcinogens, lowering your cholesterol, preventing cancer, and keeping your veins from clogging.

Americans turned away from tea as a rebellion against oppression. Now we're switching back. Times are changing, and so are we — for the better, for our health. We have a new slogan: Drink your TEA. It does a body good.


Editor's note: Iced tea works as well as hot tea in bestowing healthy benefits, as long as it is brewed and not instant iced tea. Iced tea is an American invention and very rare in the rest of the world, but 80% of the tea Americans drink is iced.

This article originally appeared in TEA a magazine in the June/July 1997 issue.

Source Site : http://www.youmeworks.com/timefortea.html

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Definition of Love [ Cinta ]

Mr. Wiki Pedia says :

Love represents a range of human emotions and experiences related to the senses of affection and sexual attraction.[1] The word love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure to intense interpersonal attraction. This diversity of meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states.

As an abstract concept love usually refers to a strong, ineffable feeling towards another person. Even this limited conception of love, however, encompasses a wealth of different feelings, from the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love to the nonsexual. Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the creative arts.


DEFINITION :

The English word love can have a variety of related but distinct meanings in different contexts. Often, other languages use multiple words to express some of the different concepts which English relies mainly on love to encapsulate; one example is the plurality of Greek words for "love". Cultural differences in conceptualizing love thus make it doubly difficult to establish any universal definition.[2]American psychologist Zick Rubin try to define love by the psychometrics. His work states that three factors consititute love: attachment, caring and intimacy.[3][4]

Although the nature or essence of love is a subject of frequent debate, different aspects of the word can be clarified by determining what isn't "love". As a general expression of positive sentiment (a stronger form of like), love is commonly contrasted with hate (or neutral apathy); as a less sexual and more emotionally intimate form of romantic attachment, love is commonly contrasted with lust; and as an interpersonal relationship with romantic overtones, love is commonly contrasted with friendship, though other definitions of the word love may be applied to close friendships in certain contexts. When discussed in the abstract, love usually refers to interpersonal love, an experience felt by a person for another person. Love often involves caring for or identifying with a person or thing, including oneself (cf. narcissism).

In addition to crosscultural differences in understanding love, ideas about love have also changed greatly over time. Some historians date modern conceptions of romantic love to courtly Europe during or after the Middle Ages, though the prior existence of romantic attachments is attested by ancient love poetry.[5] Because of the complex and abstract nature of love, discourse on love is commonly reduced to a thought-terminating cliché, and there are a number of common proverbs regarding love, from Virgil's "Love conquers all" to The Beatles' "All you need is love". Bertrand Russell describes love as a condition of "absolute value", as opposed to relative value. Theologian Thomas Jay Oord said that to love is to "act intentionally, in sympathetic response to others, to promote overall well-being".[6]

In the Holy Bible1 Corinthians 13 Love is defined as:

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.


A person can be said to love a country, principle, or goal if they value it greatly and are deeply committed to it. Similarly, compassionate outreach and volunteer workers' "love" of their cause may sometimes be borne not of interpersonal love, but impersonal love coupled with altruism and strong political convictions. People can also "love" material objects, animals, or activities if they invest themselves in bonding or otherwise identifying with that item. If sexual passion is also involved, this condition is called paraphilia.[7]


INTERPERSONAL LOVE :

Interpersonal love refers to love between human beings. It is a more potent sentiment than a simple liking for another. Unrequited love refers to those feelings of love which are not reciprocated. Interpersonal love is most closely associated with interpersonal relationships. Such love might exist between family members, friends, and couples. There are also a number of psychological disorders related to love, such as erotomania


SCIENTIFIC VIEWS :

Throughout history, philosophy and religion have done the most speculation on the phenomenon of love. In the last century, the science of psychology has written a great deal on the subject. In recent years, the sciences of evolutionary psychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, neuroscience, and biology have added to the understanding of the nature and function of love.

Chemistry

Biological models of sex tend to view love as a mammalian drive, much like hunger or thirst.[8] Helen Fisher, a leading expert in the topic of love, divides the experience of love into three partly-overlapping stages: lust, attraction, and attachment. Lust exposes people to others, romantic attraction encourages people to focus their energy on mating, and attachment involves tolerating the spouse long enough to rear a child into infancy.

Lust is the initial passionate sexual desire that promotes mating, and involves the increased release of chemicals such as testosterone and estrogen. These effects rarely last more than a few weeks or months. Attraction is the more individualized and romantic desire for a specific candidate for mating, which develops out of lust as commitment to an individual mate forms. Recent studies in neuroscience have indicated that as people fall in love, the brain consistently releases a certain set of chemicals, including pheromones, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, which act similar to amphetamines, stimulating the brain's pleasure center and leading to side-effects such as an increased heart rate, loss of appetite and sleep, and an intense feeling of excitement. Research has indicated that this stage generally lasts from one and a half to three years.[9]

Since the lust and attraction stages are both considered temporary, a third stage is needed to account for long-term relationships. Attachment is the bonding which promotes relationships that last for many years, and even decades. Attachment is generally based on commitments such as marriage and children, or on mutual friendship based on things like shared interests. It has been linked to higher levels of the chemicals oxytocin and vasopressin than short-term relationships have.[9] In 2005, Italian scientists at Pavia University found that a protein molecule known as the nerve growth factor (NGF) has high levels when people first fall in love, but these levels return to as they were after one year. Specifically, four neurotrophin levels, i.e. NGF, BDNF, NT-3, and NT-4, of 58 subjects who had recently fallen in love were compared with levels in a control group who were either single or already engaged in a long-term relationship. The results showed that NGF levels were significantly higher in the subjects in love than as compared to either of the control groups.[10]

Psychology

Further information: Human bonding

Psychology depicts love as a cognitive and social phenomenon. Psychologist Robert Sternberg formulated a triangular theory of love and argued that love has three different components: intimacy, commitment, and passion. Intimacy is a form in which two people share confidences and various details of their personal lives. Intimacy is usually shown in friendships and romantic love affairs. Commitment, on the other hand, is the expectation that the relationship is permanent. The last and most common form of love is sexual attraction and passion. Passionate love is shown in infatuation as well as romantic love. All forms of love are viewed as varying combinations of these three components.

Following developments in electrical theories, such as Coulomb's law, which showed that positive and negative charges attract, analogs in human life were developed, such as "opposites attract". Over the last century, research on the nature of human mating has generally found this not to be true when it comes to character and personality; people tend to like people similar to themselves. However, in a few unusual and specific domains, such as immune systems, it seems that humans prefer others who are unlike themselves (e.g. with an orthogonal immune system), since this will lead to a baby which has the best of both worlds.[11] In recent years, various human bonding theories have been developed described in terms of attachments, ties, bonds, and affinities.

Some Western authorities disaggregate into two main components, the altruistic and the narcissistic. This view is represented in the works of Scott Peck, whose works in the field of applied psychology explored the definitions of love and evil. Peck maintains that love is a combination of the "concern for the spiritual growth of another", and simple narcissism.[12] In combination, love is an activity, not simply a feeling.


SCIENTIFIC MODELS :

Biological models of love tend to see it as a mammalian drive, similar to hunger or thirst.[citation needed] Psychology sees love as more of a social and cultural phenomenon. There are probably elements of truth in both views — certainly love is influenced by hormones (such as oxytocin), neurotrophins (such as NGF), and pheromones, and how people think and behave in love is influenced by their conceptions of love. The conventional view in biology is that there are two major drives in love — sexual attraction and attachment. Attachment between adults is presumed to work on the same principles that lead an infant to become attached to its mother. The traditional psychological view sees love as being a combination of companionate love and passionate love. Passionate love is intense longing, and is often accompanied by physiological arousal (shortness of breath, rapid heart rate). Companionate love is affection and a feeling of intimacy not accompanied by physiological arousal.

Studies have shown that brain scans of those infatuated by love display a resemblance to those with a mental illness. Love creates activity in the same area of the brain that hunger, thirst, and drug cravings create activity in. New love, therefore, could possibly be more physical than emotional. Over time, this reaction to love mellows, and different areas of the brain are activated, primarily ones involving long-term commitments. Dr. Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist, suggests that this reaction to love is so similar to that of drugs because without love, humanity would die out.

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The language of adoption

The language used in adoption is changing and evolving, and it has become a controversial issue. The controversy arises over the use of terms which, while designed to be more appealing or less offensive to some persons affected by adoption, may simultaneously cause offense or insult to others. This controversy illustrates the problematic nature of adoption, as well as the fact that coining new words and phrases to describe ancient social practices does not alter the feelings and experiences of those affected by them.

The two contrasting sets of terms are commonly referred to as "Positive (or Respectful) Adoption Language" and "Honest Adoption Language."

Positive Adoptive Language (PAL)

It is believed that social workers in the field of adoption, most notably Marietta Spencer, created and began the promotion of what they termed "Positive Adoption Language" around the mid 1970s.^[74]. The terms contained in ""Positive Adoption Language" include the terms "birth mother" (to replace the terms "natural mother" and "first mother"), "placing" (to replace the terms "relinquishment" or "surrender"), and restricting the terms "mother" and "father" to refer solely to the parents who had adopted. It reflects the point of view that (1) all relationships and connections between the adopted child and his/her previous family have been permanently and completely severed once the legal adoption has taken place, and that (2) "placing" a child for adoption is invariably a non-coerced "decision" the mother makes, free of coercion or pressure from external circumstances or agents.

The reasons for its use: In many cultures, adoptive families face adoptism. Adoptism is made evident in English speaking cultures by the prominent use of negative or inaccurate language describing adoption. To combat adoptism, many adoptive families encourage positive adoption language. The reasons against its use: Many natural parents see "positive adoption language" as terminology which glosses over painful facts they face as they go into the indefinite post-adoption period of their lives. They feel PAL has become a way to present adoption in the friendliest light possible, in order to obtain even more infants for adoption; ie, a marketing tool. These people refer to PAL as "Adoption Friendly Language" or AFL.

Honest Adoption Language (HAL)

"Honest Adoption Language", on the other hand, refers to a set of terms that reflect the point of view that: (1) family relationships (social, emotional, psychological or physical) that existed prior to the legal adoption often continue past this point or endure in some form despite long periods of separation, and that (2) mothers who have "voluntarily surrendered" children to adoption (as opposed to involuntary terminations through court-authorized child-welfare proceedings) seldom view it as a choice that was freely made, but instead describe scenarios of powerlessness, lack of resources, and overall lack of choice.^[75][76] It also reflects the point of view that the term "birth mother" is derogatory in implying that the woman has ceased being a mother after the physical act of giving birth. Proponents of HAL liken this to the mother being treated as a "breeder" or incubator".^[77]. Terms included in HAL include the original terms that were used before PAL, including "natural mother," "first mother," and "surrendered for adoption."

The reasons for its use: In most cultures, the adoption of a child does not change the identities of its mother and father: they continue to be referred to as such. Those who adopted a child were thereafter termed its "guardians," "foster," or "adoptive" parents. Most people use "Honest Adoption Language" (HAL) because it is the original and most widely-used terminology. Many of those directly affected by adoption loss believe these terms more accurately reflect important but hidden and/or ignored realities of adoption. It also has the advantage of not excluding further contacts, sometimes even allowed since the beginning and never totally severed. The reasons against its use: The term "Honest" implies that all other language used in adoption is dishonest.

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Publishing; What is?

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information – the activity of making information available for public view. In some cases authors may be their own publishers.

Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution of printed works such as books (the "book trade") and newspapers. With the advent of digital information systems and the Internet, the scope of publishing has expanded to include electronic resources, such as the electronic versions of books and periodicals, as well as websites, blogs, games and the like.

Publishing includes the stages of the development, acquisition, copyediting, graphic design, production – printing (and its electronic equivalents), and marketing and distribution of newspapers, magazines, books, literary works, musical works, software and other works dealing with information, including the electronic media.

Publication is also important as a legal concept: (1) as the process of giving formal notice to the world of a significant intention, for example, to marry or enter bankruptcy; (2) as the essential precondition of being able to claim defamation; that is, the alleged libel must have been published, and (3) for copyright purposes, where there is a difference in the protection of published and unpublished works.

Submission by author or agent

Book and magazine publishers spend a lot of their time buying or commissioning copy. At a small press, it is possible to survive by relying entirely on commissioned material. But as activity increases, the need for works may outstrip the publisher's established circle of writers.

Writers often first submit a query letter or proposal. The majority of unsolicited submissions come from previously unpublished authors. When such manuscripts are unsolicited, they must go through the slush pile, in which acquisitions editors sift through to identify manuscripts of sufficient quality or revenue potential to be referred to the editorial staff. Established authors are often represented by a literary agent to market their work to publishers and negotiate contracts.

Acceptance and negotiation

Once a work is accepted, commissioning editors negotiate the purchase of intellectual property rights and agree on royalty rates.

The authors of traditional printed materials sell exclusive territorial intellectual property rights that match the list of countries in which distribution is proposed (i.e. the rights match the legal systems under which copyright protections can be enforced). In the case of books, the publisher and writer must also agree on the intended formats of publication -— mass-market paperback, "trade" paperback and hardback are the most common options.

The situation is slightly more complex if electronic formatting is to be used. Where distribution is to be by CD-ROM or other physical media, there is no reason to treat this form differently from a paper format, and a national copyright is an acceptable approach. But the possibility of Internet download without the ability to restrict physical distribution within national boundaries presents legal problems that are usually solved by selling language or translation rights rather than national rights. Thus, Internet access across the European Union is relatively open because of the laws forbidding discrimination based on nationality, but the fact of publication in, say, France, limits the target market to those who read French.

Having agreed on the scope of the publication and the formats, the parties in a book agreement must then agree on royalty rates, the percentage of the gross retail price that will be paid to the author, and the advance payment. This is difficult because the publisher must estimate the potential sales in each market and balance projected revenue against production costs. Royalties usually range between 10-12% of recommended retail price. An advance is usually 1/3 of first print run total royalties. For example, if a book has a print run of 5000 copies and will be sold at $14.95 and the author receives 10% royalties, the total sum payable to the author if all copies are sold is $7475 (10% x $14.95 x 5000). The advance in this instance would roughly be $2490. Advances vary greatly between books, with established authors commanding large advances.

Editorial stage

Once the immediate commercial decisions are taken and the technical legal issues resolved, the author may be asked to improve the quality of the work through rewriting or smaller changes, and the staff will edit the work. Publishers may maintain a house style, and staff will copy edit to ensure that the work matches the style and grammatical requirements of each market. Editing may also involve structural changes and requests for more information. Some publishers employ fact checkers.

Prepress

When a final text is agreed upon, the next phase is design. This may include artwork being commissioned or confirmation of layout. In publishing, the word "art" also indicates photographs. This process prepares the work for printing through processes such as typesetting, dust jacket composition, specification of paper quality, binding method and casing, and proofreading.

The activities of typesetting, page layout, the production of negatives, plates from the negatives and, for hardbacks, the preparation of brasses for the spine legend and imprint are now all computerized. Prepress computerization evolved mainly in about the last twenty years of the 20th century. If the work is to be distributed electronically, the final files are saved as formats appropriate to the target operating systems of the hardware used for reading. These may include PDF files.

Publishing as a business

The publisher usually controls the advertising and other marketing tasks, but may subcontract various aspects of the process described above. In smaller companies, editing, proofreading and layout might be done by freelancers.

Dedicated in-house salespeople are rapidly being replaced by specialized companies who handle sales to bookshops, wholesalers and chain stores for a fee. This trend is accelerating as retail book chains and supermarkets have centralized their buying.

If the entire process up to the stage of printing is handled by an outside company or individuals, and then sold to the publishing company, it is known as book packaging. This is a common strategy between smaller publishers in different territorial markets where the company that first buys the intellectual property rights then sells a package to other publishers and gains an immediate return on capital invested. Indeed, the first publisher will often print sufficient copies for all markets and thereby get the maximum quantity efficiency on the print run for all.

Some businesses maximize their profit margins through vertical integration; book publishing is not one of them. Although newspaper and magazine companies still often own printing presses and binderies, book publishers rarely do. Similarly, the trade usually sells the finished products through a distributor who stores and distributes the publisher's wares for a percentage fee or sells on a sale or return basis.

The advent of the Internet has therefore posed an interesting question that challenges publishers, distributors and retailers. In 2005, Amazon.com announced its purchase of Booksurge and selfsanepublishing, a major print on demand operation. This is probably intended as a preliminary move towards establishing an Amazon imprint. One of the largest bookseller chains, Barnes & Noble, already runs its own successful imprint with both new titles and classics — hardback editions of out-of-print former best sellers. Similarly, Ingram Industries, parent company of Ingram Book Group (a leading US book wholesaler), now includes its own print-on-demand division called Lightning Source. Among publishers, Simon & Schuster recently announced that it will start selling its backlist titles directly to consumers through its website.

Book clubs are almost entirely direct-to-retail, and niche publishers pursue a mixed strategy to sell through all available outlets — their output is insignificant to the major booksellers, so lost revenue poses no threat to the traditional symbiotic relationships between the four activities of printing, publishing, distribution and retail.

Academic publishing

Main article: Academic publishing

The development of the printing press represented a revolution for communicating the latest hypotheses and research results to the academic community and supplemented what a scholar could do personally. But this improvement in the efficiency of communication created a challenge for libraries which have had to accommodate the weight and volume of literature.

To understand the scale of the problem it can be pointed that approximately two centuries ago the number of scientific papers published annually was doubling every fifteen years. Today, the number of published papers doubles about every ten years. Modern academics can now run electronic journals and distribute academic materials without the need for publishers. Not surprisingly, publishers perceive this emancipation as a serious threat to their business. In reality, the interests of scholars and publishers have long been in conflict.

Today, publishing academic journals and textbooks is a large part of an international industry. The shares of the major publishing companies are listed on national stock exchanges and management policies must satisfy the dividend expectations of international shareholders. Critics claim that these standardized accounting and profit-oriented policies have come to the fore and now constrain more altruistic leanings. In contrast to the commercial model, there is non-profit publishing, where the publishing organization is either organised specifically for the purpose of publishing, such as a university press, or is one of the functions of an organisation such as a medical charity, founded to achieve specific practical goals. An alternative approach to the corporate model is open access, the online distribution of individual articles and academic journals without charge to readers and libraries.

A somewhat related development is open source publishing, which is participatory group editing, as exemplified by various wiki projects, such Wikipedia, Wikiversity, and Citizendium.

Tie-in publishing

Technically, radio, television, cinemas, VCDs and DVDs, music systems, games, computer hardware and mobile telephony publish information to their audiences. Indeed, the marketing of a major film often includes a novelization, a graphic novel or comic version, the soundtrack album, a game, model, toys and endless promotional publications.

Some of the major publishers have entire divisions devoted to a single franchise, e.g. Ballantine Del Rey Lucasbooks has the exclusive rights to Star Wars in the United States; Random House UK (Bertelsmann)/Century LucasBooks holds the same rights in the United Kingdom. The game industry self-publishes through BL Publishing/Black Library (Warhammer) and Wizards of the Coast (Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, etc). The BBC has its own publishing division which does very well with long-running series such as Doctor Who. These multimedia works are cross-marketed aggressively and sales frequently outperform the average stand-alone published work, making them a focus of corporate interest.[1]

Independent publishing alternatives

See also Alternative media

Writers in a specialized field or with a narrower appeal have found smaller alternatives to the mass market in the form of small presses and self-publishing. More recently, these options include print on demand and ebook format. These publishing alternatives provide an avenue for authors who believe that mainstream publishing will not meet their needs or who are in a position to make more money from direct sales than they could from bookstore sales, such as popular speakers who sell books after speeches. Authors are more readily published by this means due to the much lower costs involved.

References

* Epstein, Jason. Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future.
* Schiffrin, André (2000). The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read.
* Ugrešić, Dubravka (2003). Thank You for Not Reading.

source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishing

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How to Become a Writer

The exploration of oneself – thoughts, attitudes, motivations, values and goals – is the act and art of writing. However, there's more to becoming a writer than simply learning how to be a good writer--you must approach writing as a craft and as a profession in order to turn it into a career.

Steps

1. Consider all of the options. Not everyone can create a blockbuster novel. Anyone with passion might be able to earn a living from writing. Copywriting is probably the highest paid skill on the Internet. Article writing is in great demand for providing content for websites. Creative writers are in demand to bid for projects every day. So the first step in how to become a writer is to research all of the options.
2. Use logic and desire to create the vision you want.
3. Think about what you want to write, instead of what you want to get from writing. You won't get anywhere if all you're after is money.
4. Be prepared to work odd hours -- you'll need to write whenever ideas strike, even if it's the middle of the night. Completely immerse yourself in the world you create.
5. Find what works for you and stick with it. Even if you get dozens of rejection slips, if you feel comfortable working the way you do, you'll eventually have success.
6. Know that writer’s block is a real thing. Too much writing, and too deep concentration, can cause you to not be able to write a word. Your focus and concentration leave, and you can just sit and stare at the page or the computer or typewriter, and not have a thing come to mind to write.
7. Take a break to refresh your mind. Take a drive, or a walk, go to a movie, or just read a book. You may need a day, or a week to be able to once again concentrate. Be patient, your writers block will leave in due time.

Tips

• Carry a notebook with you everywhere. You never know when inspiration will hit. Be prepared to jot down ideas or any creative thoughts that come to you.
• Read great books. Pay attention to how and why great writing pulls you in and captivates your imagination.
• Join a writers group.Gather.com is great for writers and budding writers. People like you and me write, and read, and critique, and teach. It is free to join and a great place to learn.
• Learn how to use conversation in your writing. People talk, and you will have to learn how to make it look real. There is a knack to doing writing talking.
• There are many forms of writing, find one that you feel comfortable with, and use that style.
• Remember, that John Grisham had his first novel rejected. Later on it became a movie.
• Imagine you are sitting next to your reader , and write the way you would speak to them - if you imagine this then your writing will become warm.
• Read it all out loud and if you stumble when reading, then change the wording!

Warnings

• It may take many rejections until you get an acceptance.

source : http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Writer
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Stroke in Young Adults

Stroke in young adults is surprisingly common. The differential diagnosis for potential etiologies is broader than that for older adults. Elements of the initial workup, including neuroimaging, bloodwork, and other ancillary studies, are reviewed. Emphasis is placed on areas in which the diagnostic approach to stroke in young adults differs from that for older patients. Clinical manifestations and management are usually similar to, but prognosis is often better than, those in an older population.

Introduction. This article will emphasize aspects of a diagnostic approach to young adults (up to 45 years of age) with stroke as it differs from a standard approach for older adults, with emphasis on initial work-up.

Stroke in young adults is surprisingly common. The annual stroke incidence was estimated at 34/100000 in Swedish adults under 55 years of age, and 10/100000 in a Mayo Clinic study of women ages 15 to 29. Ischemic stroke is much more common than hemorrhagic, the latter comprising 12% of strokes in the Lausanne registry for patients 30 to 45 years old.1 The ubiquity of stroke in young adults and its potential for devastating consequences mean that healthcare providers must have a high index of suspicion for stroke. This is especially true when a patient’s clinical picture is not easily explained otherwise.

Etiologies. The range of potential etiologies for stroke in young adults is broader than that for older adults. (Table) Like in older adults, stroke in younger adults is typically categorized as primarily ischemic or hemorrhagic. Ischemic etiologies include cardioembolic, atherosclerotic disease, and nonatherosclerotic cerebral vasculopathies. Hemorrhagic strokes include subarachnoid and intraparenchymal types. Of particular note in young adults are stroke causes such as hematologic disorders, substance abuse, trauma, dissections, oral contraceptive use, pregnancy and postpartum states, and migraine.

Table . Differential diagnosis of stroke in young adults (adapted from references 1, 2) ISCHEMIC Cardiac disease (including congenital, rheumatic valve disease, mitral valve prolapse, patent foramen ovale, endocarditis, atrial myxoma, arrhythmias, cardiac surgery) Large vessel disease Premature atherosclerosis Dissection (spontaneous or traumatic) Inherited metabolic diseases (homocystinuria, Fabry’s, pseudoxanthoma elasticum, MELAS syndrome) Fibromuscular dysplasia Infection (bacterial, fungal, tuberculosis, syphilis, Lyme) Vasculitis (collagen vascular diseases — systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren’s syndrome, polyarteritis nodosa; Takayasu’s disease, Wegener’s syndrome, cryoglobulinemia, sarcoidosis, inflammatory bowel disease, isolated central nervous system angiitis) Moyamoya disease Radiation Toxic (illicit drugs — cocaine, heroin, phencyclidine; therapeutic drugs — L-asparaginase, cytosine arabinoside) Small vessel disease Vasculopathy (infectious, noninfectious, microangiopathy) Hematologic disease Sickle-cell disease Leukemia Hypercoagulable states (antiphospholipid antibody syndromes, deficiency of antithrombin III or protein S or C, resistance to activated protein C, increased factor VIII) Disseminated intravascular coagulation Thrombocytosis Polycythemia vera Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura Venous occlusion (dehydration, parameningeal infection, meningitis, neoplasm, polycythemia, leukemia, inflammatory bowel disease) Migraine HEMORRHAGIC Subarachnoid hemorrhage (cerebral aneurysm) Intraparenchymal hemorrhage Arteriovenous malformation Neoplasm (primary central nervous system, metastatic, leukemia) Hematologic (sickle-cell disease, neoplasm, thrombocytopenia) Moyamoya disease Drug use (warfarin, amphetamines, cocaine, phenypropanolamine) Iatrogenic (peri-procedural)

Clinical Manifestations. The clinical presentations for stroke in young adults are not unique to this age group. Sudden or subacute onset of neurologic symptoms referable to the brain should suggest stroke as a potential explanation. The presence of a given stroke risk factor does not assure that it is causative. Many young patients have multiple risk factors. Detailed history and examination, oriented toward common and uncommon etiologies, are especially important. Stroke mimics in the young adult population include multiple sclerosis and malignancy.

The physical exam should include neurologic, cardiovascular, ophthalmologic and dermatologic assessments. Relevant ocular findings include corneal arcus (hypercholesterolemia) or corneal opacity (Fabry’s disease); Lisch nodules, optic atrophy (neurofibromatosis); lens subluxation (Marfan’s syndrome, homocystinuria); and retinal perivasculitis (sickle-cell disease, syphilis, connective tissue diseases, inflammatory bowel disease), occlusions (emboli), angioma (cavernous malformation), or hamartoma (tuberous sclerosis). Among dermatologic associations are splinter hemorrhages or needle tracks (endocarditis); xanthoma (hyperlipidemia); café-au-lait spots, neurofibromas (neurofibromatosis); purpura (coagulopathy); and capillary angiomata (cavernous malformation).3

One-fifth to one-third of strokes in the young may be caused by cardioembolic phenomena. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is usually indicated. Causes include congenital heart disease, valvular disease (including endocarditis) and arrhythmias. Mitral valve prolapse and patent foramen ovale are common but are typically not causes of stroke when present. An atrial septal aneurysm is less likely to be associated with stroke when found in isolation than when it occurs with other cardiac abnormalities.

Premature atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease can be symptomatic in young adults, just as atherosclerosis can begin in childhood. The symptoms and signs are similar to those for older adults.

Cervicocephalic arterial dissections can involve the extracranial internal carotid, the vertebrobasilar system, or, less commonly, the intracranial carotid system. They are associated with major or minimal trauma, chiropractic manipulation, or can occur spontaneously. Other associations include fibromuscular dysplasia, Marfan syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type IV, moyamoya and sympathomimetic drug abuse. Symptoms and signs may include neck pain, transient or lasting ischemia of retina, cerebral hemispheres, or posterior fossa, Horner’s syndrome, hemicranial pain, or subarachnoid hemorrhage. Extracranial ultrasound or magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) may confirm the clinical impression. Often catheter angiography is required for diagnosis.

Cerebral vasculitis should be considered for cases of ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, recurrent strokes, stroke with encephalopathy, and stroke with fever, multifocal symptoms, skin abnormalities, or abnormal renal function or sedimentation rate. Infectious vasculitis (eg, with syphilis, tuberculosis, purulent meningitis), necrotizing vasculitis (eg, polyarteritis nodosa), vasculitis with collagen vascular disease (eg, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis), giant cell arteritis, and hypersensitivity vasculitis (eg, drug-induced) are seen much more often than primary central nervous system vasculitis.

Moyamoya is a noninflammatory vasculopathy associated with extensive collateral vasculature. It can present with transient ischemic attacks, headaches, hemiparesis, seizures, cerebral infarction, or hemorrhage. MRA screening is useful. Angiographic findings are distinctive and resemble in part a “puff of smoke”.4

Hypercoagulable states may be responsible for 2% to 7% of cases in young adults.4 Inherited (primary) thrombophilic disorders include entities that are recently described (hyperhomocysteinemia, factor V Leiden, prothrombin G20210A), well- established (deficiencies of antithrombin, protein S or protein C), and extremely rare (dysfibrinogenemia, thrombomodulin deficiency, heparin cofactor II deficiency).5 Acquired (secondary) causes include malignancy, pregnancy/postpartum states, oral contraceptive use and sickle-cell disease. Prior thromboembolic disease in a young patient or in family members should raise suspicion.4 Please refer to Dr. Trevarthen’s accompanying article for further information on this topic.

Cerebral venous thrombosis can cause ischemic or hemorrhagic strokes. Septic thrombosis usually occurs at the cavernous sinus as a complication of facial infection. Signs include proptosis, chemosis, and gaze palsies. Aseptic thromboses are seen disproportionately in women during pregnancy or postpartum periods, or while taking oral contraceptives. Presenting symptoms include headache, emesis, lethargy, and seizures. Papilledema may accompany focal signs.4, 6

Strokes induced by migraines are rare, considering that perhaps 20% of US adults may suffer migraines. Symptoms include persistent visual, motor, sensory or aphasic deficits, which began in the course of a typical migraine attack, where other causes are excluded. Mitochondrial encephalomyopathy with lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) syndrome and cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) are inherited causes of stroke which can include migraine as part of the clinical presentation.1, 4

Up to 45% of strokes in young adults are due to spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.4 Approximately half are lobar; one-quarter are in basal ganglia or internal capsule.7 Vascular malformations, aneurysms, hypertension, and illicit drug use are the main causes.4, 7

Investigations. The initial work-up should be as expeditious as possible to allow consideration of acute therapies, such as tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA).8 Brain computed tomography (CT) is usually the initial imaging study of choice as it is readily available and is highly sensitive for acute hemorrhage. Blood work should include a complete blood count with differential and platelet count, prothrombin time (international normalized ratio), activated partial thromboplastin time, glucose, chemistries, electrolytes, serology for syphilis, and an erythrocyte sedimentation rate.

A more detailed coagulation profile (anticardiolipin antibodies, lupus anticoagulants, protein S, protein C, activated protein C resistance, antithrombin III) is requested in patients without a firmly identified cause of stroke or if the patient or family members have a history of thromboses. It is advantageous to send such a profile prior to initiating anticoagulation, as heparin can alter interpretation of some of those assays. Therefore, consider ordering these assays at the beginning of the work-up.

Most patients should have high-quality brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and often MRA.4, 9 Where available, MRI with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and perfusion imaging (PI) is becoming standard. DWI-PI has the potential to distinguish irreversibly injured tissue from that which may be salvageable.10

Additional studies in initial screening include pregnancy testing, a chest roentgenogram, and an electrocardiogram. An echocardiogram (consider transesophageal), and extracranial (carotid-vertebral) Doppler ultrasound are routinely obtained, although often after initial antiplatelet or anticoagulation therapy is started.

Keep in mind the limitations of studies performed. CT will miss a minority of acute bleeds. MRI with DWI, quite sensitive for acute stroke, has an occasional false negative result (17 out of 782 patients in a recent study).11 Also, MRA’s resolution is not yet on par with conventional angiography.

Consider conventional angiography of cerebral and neck vessels for patients in whom dissection is suspected or in whom no other cause is found. Transcranial Doppler ultrasound can be helpful. Please see Dr. Ricci’s article in this issue for more information on neuroimaging.

Toxicologic studies are often productive, even when drug use is not acknowledged.

Other blood tests may include homocysteine, fibrinogen, antinuclear antibody, lipid panel, lipoprotein (a), serum protein electrophoresis, hemoglobin electrophoresis, and sickle-cell assay. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis is indicated for cases suspicious for infectious, vasculitic, or occult hemorrhage origins. Telemetry monitoring for arrhythmias is occasionally revealing.4

Prothrombin mutation G20210A testing is of uncertain utility in cerebrovascular disease, but may be appropriate for patients with a personal history of thromboembolic disease or family history of thrombophilia.5

A patient with one or more risk factors, such as migraine or diabetes, should be thoroughly investigated for other possibilities. The cause of stroke in young patients may remain undetermined in 20% to 30% of cases, even after a detailed work-up.4

Management. General management of ischemic8, 12, 13 and hemorrhagic14 strokes is similar to that for older adults and is beyond the scope of this article. Additional specific measures are oriented toward any underlying etiology found.4, 15 Primary16 and secondary17 preventive measures have recently been reviewed.

Prognosis. The outcome of stroke in young adults is better than that for older adults. In a recent study of 330 patients with first stroke or transient ischemic attack, followed for an average of 96 months, 8% died, 3% had another stroke, and 3% had a myocardial infarction. Approximately 16% were dependent, but 56% had returned to work. Unfortunately, only a minority of those who smoked at the time of their stroke subsequently stopped using tobacco.18 The overall annual recurrence rate is less than 1%.1 Prognosis is often closely associated with the underlying cause. A relatively good outcome may be found after many cases of arterial dissection. Risk of stroke recurrence is low (2% over 5 years) in women whose first stroke occurred in pregnancy.19

Conclusion. Strokes in young adults make up a significant proportion of strokes in general. A thorough investigation is recommended, looking into a broad array of potential etiologies, common and uncommon. Management is similar overall to that for older adults, with some aspects of treatment dictated by specific causes found. Health care providers must stress prevention with all of their young adult patients, especially those with identifiable risk factors. The potential for devastation is great in any case of stroke but prognosis in this population is better than that for older adults.

Source : http://www.thecni.org/reviews/11-2-p03-marcoux.htm
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