What is Aromatherapy? by Rocío Alonso.

Aromatherapy, also referred to as Essential Oil therapy, can be defined as the art and science of utilizing naturally extracted aromatic essences from plants to balance, harmonize and promote the health of body, mind and spirit.  It is a caring, hands-on therapy which seeks to induce relaxation, to increase energy, to reduce the effects of stress and to restore the lost balance. 

What are essential oils?

Essential oils are concentrated extracts taken from the roots, leaves, seeds, or blossoms of plants. Each contains its own mix of active ingredients, and this mix determines what the oil is used for. Some oils are used to promote physical healing -- for example, to treat swelling or fungal infections. Others are used for their emotional value -- they may enhance relaxation or make a room smell pleasant. Orange blossom oil, for example, contains a large amount of an active ingredient that is thought to be calming.

What is the history of aromatherapy?

Essential oils have been used for therapeutic purposes for nearly 6,000 years. The ancient Chinese, Indians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans used them in cosmetics, perfumes, and drugs. Essential oils were also commonly used for spiritual, therapeutic, hygienic, and ritualistic purposes.

More recently, René-Maurice Gattefossé, a French chemist, discovered the healing properties of lavender oil when he applied it to a burn on his hand caused by an explosion in his laboratory. He then started to analyze the chemical properties of essential oils and how they were used to treat burns, skin infections, gangrene, and wounds in soldiers during World War I. In 1928, Gattefossé founded the science of aromatherapy. By the 1950s massage therapists, beauticians, nurses, physiotherapists, doctors, and other health care providers began using aromatherapy.

Aromatherapy did not become popular in the United States until the 1980s. Today, many lotions, candles, and beauty products are sold as "aromatherapy." However, many of these products contain synthetic fragrances that do not have the same properties as essential oils.

How does aromatherapy work?

Researchers are not entirely clear how aromatherapy may work. Some experts believe our sense of smell may play a role. The "smell" receptors in your nose communicate with parts of your brain (the amygdala and hippocampus) that serve as storehouses for emotions and memories. When you breathe in essential oil molecules, some researchers believe they stimulate these parts of your brain and influence physical, emotional, and mental health. For example, scientists believe lavender stimulates the activity of brain cells in the amygdala similar to the way some sedative medications work. Other researchers think that molecules from essential oils may interact in the blood with hormones or enzymes.

Aromatherapy massage is a popular way of using essential oils because it works in several ways at the same time. Your skin absorbs essential oils and you also breathe them in. Plus, you experience the physical therapy of the massage itself.

What happens during an aromatherapy session?

Professional aromatherapists, nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists, and massage therapists can provide topical or inhaled aromatherapy treatment. Only specially trained professionals can provide treatment that involves taking essential oils by mouth.

At an aromatherapy session, the practitioner will ask about your medical history and symptoms, as well any scents you may like. You may be directed to breathe in essential oils directly from a piece of cloth or indirectly through steam inhalations, vaporizers, or sprays. The practitioner may also apply diluted essential oils to your skin during a massage. In most cases, the practitioner will tell you how to use aromatherapy at home, by mixing essential oils into your bath, for example.

What is aromatherapy good for?

Aromatherapy is used in a wide range of settings -- from health spas to hospitals -- to treat a variety of conditions. In general, it seems to relieve pain, improve mood, and promote a sense of relaxation. In fact, several essential oils -- including lavender, rose, orange, bergamot, lemon, sandalwood, and others -- have been shown to relieve anxiety, stress, and depression.

Several clinical studies suggest that when essential oils (particularly rose, lavender, and frankincense) were used by qualified midwives, pregnant women felt less anxiety and fear, had a stronger sense of well being, and had less need for pain medications during delivery. Many women also report that peppermint oil relieves nausea and vomiting during labor.

Massage therapy with essential oils (combined with medications or therapy) may benefit people with depression. The scents are thought by some to stimulate positive emotions in the area of the brain responsible for memories and emotions, but the benefits seem to be related to relaxation caused by the scents and the massage. A person’s belief that the treatment will help also influences whether it works.

In one study, Neroli oil helped reduce blood pressure and preprocedure anxiety among people undergoing a colonoscopy.

Other conditions for which aromatherapy may be helpful include:

• Alopecia areata (hair loss)
• Agitation, possibly including agitation related to dementia
• Anxiety
• Constipation (with abdominal massage using aromatherapy)
• Insomnia
• Pain: Studies have found that people with rheumatoid arthritis, cancer (using topical chamomile), and headaches (using topical peppermint) require fewer pain medications when they use aromatherapy
• Itching, a common side effect for those receiving dialysis
• Psoriasis

Should anyone avoid aromatherapy?

Pregnant women, people with severe asthma, and people with a history of allergies should only use essential oils under the guidance of a trained professional and with full knowledge of your physician. People receiving chemotherapy should talk to their doctor before trying aromatherapy.

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How to Make Compost

Gardener's gold: That's one of the many positive descriptions for compost. It allows you to return nutrients to the soil, to promote the growth of your plants, and to keep your flowerbeds healthy and thriving. 

There is a lot to know about compost, starting with the different types of compost. You can buy compost, of course, but it's also easier than you might think to make your own. Start with a simple compost bin that turns your yard and kitchen waste into a nutrient-rich addition for your soil. Or you can review our ideas for making composters and choose the one that best fits your yard and your gardening style. 
If you don't want to look at your compost bin, you can make a simple screen to hide it from view. Once you've made compost, how do you use it to best benefit your plants?
Learn how to make your own compost -- as well as get tips on the best type of compost bin so you can enjoy the benefits of "black gold" in your garden. 
Create your own compost
It's easy to cook up your own compost. Just layer organic materials -- garden clippings, dry leaves, kitchen vegetable scraps, shredded paper -- and a dash of soil to create a concoction that turns into humus, the best soil builder

around. 

Before you start piling on, recognize that there are two types of composting: cold and hot. Cold composting is as simple as collecting yard waste or taking out the organic materials in your trash (such as fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grounds and filters, and eggshells) and then corralling them in a pile or bin. Over the course of a year or so, the material will decompose. 

Hot composting is for the more serious gardener, and you get compost in one to three months during warm weather. Four ingredients are required for fast-cooking hot compost: nitrogen, carbon, air, and water. Together, these items feed microorganisms, which speed up the process of decay. 
How to Create and Use Hot Compost 

• To create your own organic hot-compost heap, wait until you have enough materials to make a pile at least 3 feet deep. Then, to ensure an even composition of materials, create alternating 4- to 8-inch-deep layers of green materials (kitchen scraps, fresh leaves, coffee grounds) and brown materials (dried leaves, shredded paper, untreated sawdust). 
• Sprinkle water over the pile regularly so it has the consistency of a damp sponge. Don't add too much water --
  otherwise the microorganisms in your pile will become waterlogged and drown. If this happens, your pile will rot instead of compost.
• Check to see if your pile is decomposing by monitoring temperature. Check the temperature of the pile with a thermometer, or simply reach into the middle of the pile with your hand. 
• During the growing season, you should provide the pile with oxygen by turning it once a
  week with a garden fork. The best time to turn the compost is when the center of the pile feels warm or the thermometer reads between 130 and 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Stirring
  up the pile helps it cook faster and prevents material from becoming matted down and developing a bad odor. At this point, the layers have served their purpose of creating equal amounts of green and brown materials throughout the pile, so stir thoroughly. 
• When the compost no longer gives off heat and becomes dry, brown, and crumbly, it's fully cooked and ready to feed to the garden. 

Good Green Materials 
1.Fruit scraps 
2.Vegetable scraps 
3.Eggshells 
4.Coffee grounds 
5.Grass and plant clippings 

Good Brown Materials 
1.Dry leaves 
2.Finely chopped wood and bark chips 
3.Shredded newspaper 
4.Straw 
5.Sawdust from untreated wood 

Don't Compost With: 
1.Anything containing meat, oil, fat, or grease 
2.Diseased plant materials 
3.Sawdust or chips from pressure-treated wood 
4.Dog or cat feces 
5.Weeds that go to seed 
6.Dairy products 

Build your own bin 
A bin helps contain your compost pile and makes it more attractive. While you can buy a commercial plastic container from a garden center, it's easy to build your own. A simple round or square structure can be made from fencing wire. The bin should be at least 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep to provide enough space for materials to heat up. Use untreated wood or metal fence posts for the corners, and wrap wire fencing around them. The fence mesh should be small enough that materials won't fall out. When the compost is ready, unwind the wire and scoop the compost from the bottom of the pile. Then re-pile the not-yet-decomposed materials and wrap the wire back around the heap. 
Permanent Bins 

More permanent bins can be constructed of wood or masonry blocks.Here, boards are added to the bin's front as the pile grows taller. 

Compost Condos 

While one compost pile is good, many hard-core gardeners feel three is better. By building a trio of bins, you can compost in stages: one bin will be ready, one will be brewing, and one will just be starting. A triple bin is best for a more active composting system. Turn the pile into the next bin when it reaches peak internal heat. 
Compost Tumblers 

Tumbler-style composters come in several configurations. The most common is the horizontal drum mounted on wheels or axles to allow mixing of materials.

EL GLIFOSATO EN LA ARGENTINA

iF YOU SHOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHERE OUR NEXT CANCER IS GOING OR MAY BE COMING FROM, YOU MIGHT READ http://www.diariosanrafael.com.ar/actualidad/36013-glifosato-herbicida-cancerigeno-que-se-usa-en-el-agro PATRICIA GREY

SELF HELP BOOKS HOW MUCH CAN THEY HELP ?

The Pros and Cons of Self-Help BooksBy Ben Martin, Psy.D. ■“Codependent No More” ■“How to Survive the Loss of a Love” ■“You Can Heal Your Life” ■“Never Be Tired Again!” ■“Don’t Panic” ■“Getting Control” ■“How to Quit Drinking Without AA” ■“Change Your Mind, Change Your Life” About 2,000 new titles a year move on and off bookstore shelves — books that promise to help you stop grieving, to take away your pain, and to bring you hope if you feel hopeless. Are these books really helpful or are they only hype? Clinical psychologist Joseph C. Kobos, who chairs the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Board of Professional Affairs, says, if a particular book has made the top 10 lists, it’s probably got some substance.” Kobos notes that M. Scott Peck’s book, “The Road Less Traveled,” has been on the best-seller list for 10 years. “I think people must be getting some value out of it to keep it there.” The APA has no guidelines for the production of self-help books or on how to use them with patients, Kobos says. The association’s ethical standards urge psychologists who produce materials for the public to “present the material fairly and accurately, avoiding misrepresentation through sensationalism, exaggeration or superficiality. ” Responsible Marketing? But some say that psychologists largely have failed to develop and market their self-help books responsibly, says Gerald M. Rosen, Ph.D., a clinical associate professor in the departments of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Washington. “What I’m against is psychologists making exaggerated and untested claims,” he says. Rosen, himself the author of “Don’t Be Afraid,” a self-help book on reducing fear, is the first to say that the promotional blurb on the jacket of his book is “exaggerated.” It reads: “In as little as six to eight weeks, without the expense of professional counseling, and in the privacy of your own home, you can learn to master those situations that now make you nervous or afraid.” Rosen complains it doesn’t mention that research findings “suggest that only 50 percent of people succeed at self-administered treatment.” It’s difficult to test self-help approaches because they are hard to define. Does minimal contact with a therapist, such as weekly phone calls, take the “self’ out of “self-administered?” Does it matter that self-administered materials often are used to treat such limited problems as addictive behaviors? How often do self-help therapies that don’t work get written about? For some self-help areas anyway, the outcome appears to be the same as those of treatments conducted by a therapist, according to “Psychological Science”. Another study found that most self-help consumers are satisfied with the results they receive from their reading. But for every study that appears to support the effectiveness of self-administered treatment, there’s another that denies it. Books for Transitions Self-help books that guide you through a life transition, such as pregnancy or divorce, may be particularly helpful, says Alan B. Siegel, Ph.D “Transition books provide a kind of map of developmental transition,” he says. “Transitions have somewhat expectable stages, and there are different emotional reactions and developmental tasks associated with them. And they frequently are not known to people in general, and they may not be known to the therapist either.” Siegel, author of the book, “Dreams that Can Change your Life: Navigating Life’s Passages through Turning Point Dreams” (Berkley Books, 1992), says transition books can help the therapist help you identify issues that wouldn’t have come up otherwise. Self-help books may in fact be helpful, but don’t expect them to work magic. Books also may be helpful in combination with therapy. One approach may be to think of them as homework to be discussed with your therapist. Ask your therapist for suggestions of what books are best for you.

Monsanto / glifosato What some scientists say: http://naturalsociety.com/17-scientists-speak-out-monsantos-roundup-is-causing-cancer/ What happened later:http://naturalsociety.com/monsanto-asks-world-health-organization-to-retract-cancer-link/

consummerism and global warming by alicia braga

HOW GLOBAL WARMING IS A FFECTED BY CONSUMMERISM

 How is consummerism effecting global warming?
Also, if you have any links to good websites, that’ll be great!
 Consumerism is the unabated purchase of products and produce whether or not it is useful to us in the long run. In North America only 1% of the products are used after 6 months after purchase. Which means 99% of the goods which have been produced are going to landfills (or languishing in the garage going a waste) and also a huge amount of pollution has been created to produce those 99% of products (which includes C02). And CO2 in atmosphere increases the temperature. So consumerism has a direct role to play in Global Warming problem.
 See the video on http://www.storyofstuff.com/ for a very elaborate description of this problem.
 Also it is important to distinguish consumerism and capitalism. Capitalism refers to free market economy. Capitalism is not bad if it takes into account the cost of pollution. But unfortunately polluters do not pay any price today and individuals do not lose money by polluting more. So pollution has not been taken into account at all. We should add this cost into our economy very soon (for example carbon cap and trade system).
Capitalism is the best way to go, but occasional corrections need to be made (in this case accounting for the cost of pollution)

FOR INTERPRETERS ON MEDICAL TRANSLATION

The Many Issues in Medical Translation Posted on June 15, 2015 Leave a Comment Image Copyright: kentoh / 123RF Stock Photo Medical translation requires great skills, because it needs to be precise and very accurate. However, medical translation has terminologies that are unique to this field, and appears in different spellings based on the target language. Added to this is the fact that abbreviations could mean different things. The main obstacles a medical translator is likely to face are medical terminology and medical knowledge. Medical terminology can present problems different and separate from other types of translation. Localization and globalization Health products and research undergo wider expansion due to the popularity of medical technology. Medical devices and products are being manufactured in different countries around the world and are made more available today to a wider consumer base. Thus there is an increase in pharmaceutical translation and medical translation, which ranges from research materials, packaging inserts, product information, brochures and user guides. Each year there is an increase in the number of scientific ideas and medical terms and it is obvious that translating and localizing scientific and medical content is more complex now than it was a few years back. Language proficiency Language proficiency as well as specialized scientific knowledge play key roles in successfully doing medical translation. It is a highly technical undertaking because of the number of specialized terms that are difficult or even not suitable to be translated into various languages. Thus only skillful and professional translators knowledgeable on the subject matter should be doing medical translations. Identifying the target audience Determination of the target audience is one of the first things that a medical translator should do. This is because this will determine if the translation should be done in medical terms or in a lay person’s (patient’s) terms, or probably both. For example, the medical term Varicella (English) or Varicelle (French) means “chicken pox.” If the translation is intended for medical practitioners, then the medical term should be used. If the translation is for patients, then the translator must use the layman’s term. The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated an International Nonproprietary Name (INN) to several substances in pharmaceutical products. The INN is the official non-proprietary and generic name for specific pharmaceutical drugs such that a unique standard name is given for each active ingredient for easier communication and to avoid errors when making prescriptions. For example “Salbutamol” is an INN for a prescription-only medicine for the treatment of asthma. One of its English trade names in “Ventolin” or “Ventoline” in French. The United States Adopted Name (USAN) for salbutamol is “albuterol.” Since there are several companies that produce one drug, adding a generic name means that it is easier to understand the drug’s chemical function in various languages. British and American English spellings differ as well, so for consistency, this should be considered. At times, the meaning of a term could be different, too. In the United States, “surgery” means an operation whereas in the UK, it could mean the doctor’s office or the opening hours of a doctor’s office. Cultural knowledge should also be taken into consideration so a translator must be able to discern when to use euphemisms and metaphors to replace unpleasant topics. This is not by any means an exhaustive list of problems related to medical translation. The fact remains that a medical translator must have sufficient background knowledge, great research skills and reliable medical journals and websites to consult when doing medical translation. Do you know of other challenges that people may face when it comes to medical translation? Join the discussion and share with us your thoughts through the comment section below. Posted by Day Translations Filed Under: Translation