Sex is a division of living organisms based upon their reproductive capabilities. This then leads to two main divisions: male and female. The term gender meaning sex is actually a colloquialism, sex is the correct term to use when referring to 'male' or 'female' organisms, gender being properly used when referring to classes of nouns and pronouns in grammar. In its widely understood slang form, sex refers to intimate physical contact between two animals. In most animals the purpose of sexual intimacy is for procreation, and to this end the male and females of the species are only attracted to one another at such time when the female is fertile. In the humananimal, however, sexual intimacy has a dual purpose. The primitive reproductive element still exists, but is very much secondary to the primary purpose of pair bonding, and this explains the elaborate and involved mechanisms of the human sexual intimacy which are not restricted to simple penetration, but encompass touching, kissing, licking and sucking. Because of the nature of the humananimal, in the natural state the female requires the services of her male partner long after the initial fertilisation. To retain the males attention, the couple embark on pair bonding and continue pair bonding throughout their relationship. Sexual intimacy in humans in essential in creating and strengthening this pair bond, hence the expression 'making love' and the belief in many cultures that if a woman swallows a man's semen that she will 'love him too much'. Far from being 'wrong' sexual intimacy and pleasure are essential to human pair bonding. Sex (whether solo - masturbation - or with others) also has major health benefits. It reduces stress, relaxes participants, aids sleep and stimulates and encourages the immune system. Research Sex
An amulet is an object employed to protect the wearer, from harmful influences or to attract good fortune, money and the like. Scientific knowledge would suggest that amulets are superstitious nonsense with no basis in fact. However, psychology may indicate that amulets do indeed function, though not quite by 'magic'. Psychologists have long established that that attitude and belief can affect a person. Salesmen chant mantras of success, and believe in their ability. This belief makes them confident and more effective at selling. Former cancer patients who believe they are free from the disease following operations are significantly less likely to redevelop the disease compared to those who believe the disease may come back. There is then a scientific basis for the functionality of amulets. If the wearer of an amulet believes in the power of the amulet, this belief will affect their behaviour, albeit unconsciously, and in turn will improve the immune system to protect against illness, or increase confidence to help attract a mate, or increase confidence and make perception
more positive to allow the wearer to realise 'good luck'. Classic amulets include the Utchat, or 'Eye of Horus'; Ankh; Scarab; The Tau; The Tet; Swastika; Crescent and Hand. Research Amulet
The adrenal glands are a pair of glands above the kidneys which secrete adrenaline and other hormones. Each adrenal gland consists of an inner part called the medulla and an outer part called the cortex. The adrenal medulla is the source of epinephrine, also called adrenaline, and norepinephrine, which affect a number of body functions; for example, they stimulate cardiac action, increase the blood pressure, and affect constriction and dilation of blood vessels and musculature. All these actions help the organism deal with acute emergencies more effectively and efficiently. The adrenal cortex elaborates a group of hormones known as glucocorticoids, which include cortisone and hydrocortisone, and the mineralocorticoids, which include aldosterone and other hormonal substances that are essential to the maintenance of life and to adaptation to stress. Adrenal secretions regulate the salt and water balance of the body, influence the blood pressure, affect lymphatic tissue, influence the mechanisms of the immune system, and regulate carbohydrate and protein metabolism. In addition to these functions, the adrenal glands also elaborate male and female hormones. Research Adrenal Glands
Aflatoxin is a toxin produced naturally by the mould Aspergillus flavus commonly found in peanuts, cottonseed, soybeans, wheat, barley, maize, sorghum and nuts such as pistachios, almonds and cacao. Symptoms of poisoning include weight loss, loss of co-ordination, convulsions and death. It also damages the liver and causes liver tumours when consumed at low levels for a long period of time. In the Gambia during the late 20th century, liver cancer attributed to daily consumption of aflatoxins in peanuts and rice, caused ten percent of deaths among men. Aflatoxin, when taken regularly, also damages the immune system causing susceptibility to infectious diseases such as pneumonia. Aflatoxins are found in the blood system of almost all inhabitants of rural Africa. Research Aflatoxin
Amyl nitrate is a powerful poison with a specific action on the heart and blood-vessels. It is inhaled in small doses in certain diseases of the heart and in asthma. Nowadays, Amyl nitrite is used as a narcotic and sold under the name 'poppers'. It is popular amongst club goers, and particularly the gay community because of it's supposed property of enhancing sexual pleasure, where it contributes to the high instances of AIDs by its adverse effect upon the immune system. Research Amyl Nitrate
Cholera is an acute, infectious, often fatal disease caused by the micro organism Vibrio cholerae. It is endemic in India and some other tropical countries and occasionally spreading to temperate climates. The symptoms of cholera are diarrhoea and the loss of water and salts in the stool.
In its more ordinary form it commences with sickness, vomiting, or perhaps two or three loose evacuations of the bowels; after which follow a sense of burning at the praecordia, an increased purging and vomiting of a white or colourless fluid, great prostration of strength, spasms at the extremities, which increase in violence with the vomiting and purging. Such cases may last from twelve to thirty- six hours; after this the patient generally sinks into a state of extreme collapse, and this stage in most cases passes by a gradualtransition into a febrile one, which in a majority of instances proves fatal. Sometimes the patient is suddenly stricken down and dies, collapsed within a few hours without diarrhoea or vomiting.
In severe cholera, the patient develops violent diarrhoea with characteristic 'rice-water stools,' vomiting, thirst, muscle cramps, and sometimes circulatory collapse. Death can occur as quickly as a few hours after the onset of symptoms. The mortality rate is more than 50 percent in untreated cases, but falls to less than 1 percent with proper treatment. Treatment consists mainly of intravenous or oral replacement of fluids and salts. Packets for dilution containing the correct mixture of sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, and glucose have been made widely available by the WHO. Most patients recover in three to six days. Antibiotics such as tetracyclines, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole can shorten the duration of the disease, but have their own long term risks in damage to the immune system.
Cholera first appeared (in recognised form) in Europe in 1829, and reached Britain in 1831, spreading thence to America. Western Europe was again visited by it in 1847, 1853, 1865, 1873, 1875, and in 1885. In 1892 Russia and Western Europe suffered severely.
By 1905 it was ascertained that the primary and essential element in the production of cholera was a constituent of the excreta of cholera patients. At the time it wasn't known what the agent was, but that it is an organism capable of propagating itself when it is taken into the alimentarycanal in food, impure water, or the like, was beyond a doubt. Dr. Koch asserted that the essential cause was a bacillus, having the form of a curved rod, hence then called the comma bacillus, and that the disease was caused by the multiplication of this organism in the small intestines.
A method of protective inoculation against cholera was tried in India, with some success around 1900. At the same time it was established that the contagion of cholera is not so likely to be conveyed by personal intercourse as by residence in an infected district. Sanitary measures proved to be the only efficacious means of arresting an epidemic; insanitary conditions decidedly favour it - quite obvious as the disease is spread through contact with infected faeces.
What is called British cholera is a bilious disease, long known in most countries, and is characterized by copious vomiting and purging, with violent griping, cramps of the muscles of the abdomen and lower extremities, and great depression of strength. It is most prevalent at the end of summer or the beginning of autumn. Cholera infantum (infants' cholera) is the name sometimes given to a severe and dangerous diarrhoea to which infants are liable in hot climates or in the hot season. Research Cholera
Herpes simplex is a very common viral infection often manifesting itself as a 'cold sore'. Once infected a patient can suffer repeat crops of blisters at any time, usually when the immune system is low. Herpes simplex also occurs around the genitals and can be transmitted sexually. Research Herpes Simplex
Influenza is a common illness caused by one of numerous different viral infections, including 'Bird Flu', and is primarily an infection of the respiratory tracts. Influenza in itself is rarely very dangerous, but it can weaken the immune system enhancing the dangers if a secondary bacterial infection, such as pneumonia is contracted. It was through secondary pneumonia infections that most of the deaths of the great fluepidemic of 1918-1919 occurred. Work in Australian hospitals during the 1980s proved that infection with an influenza virus will trigger an HIV test to return positive, having a patient then marked as 'HIV positive'. Research Influenza
The human body is continually exposed to disease producing organisms, called pathogens, and other harmful substances in the environment. The immune system is the body's defense against these harmful invaders. The body's ability to counteract the effects of pathogens and other harmful agents is called resistance and it is dependent on a variety of defense mechanisms.
The immune system is made up of billions of special cells called white blood cells, lymphocytes, unique proteins called antibodies, chemicals that mediate immune response, and special organs that replenish and integrate the whole immune process. All of these defense mechanism must act together and are designed to react rapidly to provide protection against disease-producing organisms and their toxins. There are two aspects of the immune system's response to disease: innate and acquired. Natural, or innate, immunity is present from birth and is the first line of defense against the vast majority of infectious agents. Innate immunity involves barriers that keep harmful material from entering the body. The skin provides an impenetrable barrier. The eyes use fluids, such as tears, and the presence of enzymes, such as lysozyme, that destroy bacteria. The respiratory system utilizes cilia, mucus, and coughing to get rid of foreign materials. If infection-causing organisms gets past these defenses, the body produces fever, inflammation, and other reactions designed to conquer the unwelcome invader.
Inflammation causes an increase in the local blood supply so that large numbers of white blood cells can be brought to the area to fight the infection. Some of these white blood cells are phagocytes and macrophages that literally eat the invading microorganism. In most cases of minor infection, these cells solve the problem. If the pathogen succeeds in passing this barrier, a more complex process, involving other cells of the immune system, is necessary. When a virus enters the body an immune response begins automatically. A scavenger macrophage will eat the virus and display the viral antigen on its surface. Anything that can trigger an immune response is called an antigen. An antigen can be a germ such as a virus, or even a part of a virus. Other white blood cells in your body called 'helper T-cells' will see the viral antigen and produce toxins that will destroy it. The helper T- cells then send chemical messages that activate lymphocytes called B-cells which make antibodies that recognize the viral antigen. These cells ' remember' the specific disease organism and divide into many more cells. The resulting 'clone' of identical cells starts producing very large numbers of antibodies that bind to all the organisms of that disease and destroy them. This process is called acquired immunity. It is a learning process of the immune system that develops either through exposure to microorganisms. It is estimated that the body has more than 100 million different kinds of antibodies, each one custom-built to identify a particular pathogen. If the body is exposed a second time, no symptoms occur because the organism is destroyed quickly - the bofy is immune to that particular pathogen. Research The Immune System
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is used by animal bodies for the production of the immune system, and maintenance of the skin and other cells. Vitamin C occurs almost exclusively in vegetable matter, and is destroyed by heat. Research Vitamin C
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Sex
