Facebook changes

San Francisco - Facebook on Thursday unveiled revamped profile pages into interactive digital scrap books that that let members of the world's leading online social network tell the stories of their lives.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the annual f8 developers conference in San Francisco by introducing "Timeline" pages that let people digitally map everything they've ever done.

"The heart of your Facebook experience, completely rethought from the ground up," Zuckerberg said. "Timeline is the story of your life."

He demonstrated by showing how his new profile page chronicled his experiences from meeting US President Barack Obama to baby photos.

"The biggest challenge was to tell the story of your life in a single page," Zuckerberg said.

"What Timeline does is show all the recent activity and then as you go back in time it starts summarizing the things you've done in your life."

'Open graph'

The latest changes at Facebook include a new class of "open graph" applications that will let people discover and share music, movies, books and other news as well as seemingly lightweight experiences like bicycle rides.

"I am excited about what the latest wave of music companies is doing with the open graph," Zuckerberg said.

Software apps made by more than a dozen developers, including Spotify, will let Facebook members share, discover and listen to music, he added.

"It's a big day for everyone who loves music," Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek said after joining Zuckerberg on stage.

Zuckerberg heralded the arrival of Facebook applications that let people automatically allow chosen friends see what they do or experience without needing to click "Like" or "Share" buttons.

The changes come just days after Google opened up its own social network, Google+, to a wider audience instead of just those with an invitation. The new service could pose a major challenge to market leader Facebook.

The significant overhaul to Facebook profile pages promised to transform them into interactive digital scrapbooks that memorialise people's lives online in real time.

Privacy

"We didn't want to just design a place for you to put all of your stories and apps," Zuckerberg said. "We wanted to make Timeline a place that you are proud to call your home."

People will need to install third party applications to share snippets in Timeline profile pages, which will feature privacy controls. Applications will also require people to set data sharing "permissions" before they are used.

Partners ready with "open graph" applications included online streaming video services Netflix and Hulu. Applications were also available to deliver and share news stories from sources including Yahoo and "The Daily".

Movie, music, and news applications enable Facebook users to see what their friends are reading, viewing, or listening to at any given moment and then, with a single click, tap into the same digital content.

Zuckerberg said open graph at Facebook will transform the way people discover news, films and more through their friends.

"Now, you don't just have to 'Like' a book, you can read it," he explained. "You can connect to anything you want; it's simple but it is really powerful."

Facebook launched a test version of Timeline, which will be rolled to all of the social network's more than 750 million members in coming weeks.

Backlash

"Facebook is positioning itself as not just your social graph online, but your life online," said Forrester analyst Sean Corcoran.

"These changes not only help trump rival Google, but will open up new opportunities for marketers with new kinds of customer experiences, long term engagement, advertising, and customer intelligence," he continued.

Facebook's transformation is likely to trigger backlash from ranks of notoriously change-averse users and to resurrect concerns over how effectively the social network protects people's privacy.

Facebook said it has worked with privacy groups while developing Timeline during the past year and that it has made it simple and clear to control what information gets shared with whom.

Facebook also planned to put out videos and other material explaining Timeline to users before switching profile pages to the dramatically different format.

"The world is moving quickly and we want to be innovative and keep rolling out new things," Zuckerberg said of balancing Facebook's evolution with the wishes of those that want the social network to stay the same.

Facebook users this week had taken to complaining about the barrage of recently released updates intended to make it easier to manage the torrents of updates from friends at the social network.

Facebook users are known for complaining fiercely about changes to the service but then adapting and sticking with the online community.

California-based Facebook hit a new milestone this month with a half-billion people using the social network in a single day, according to Zuckerberg.
by:http://www.news24.com/

Cough

Coughs Overview

A cough is an action your body takes to get rid of substances that are irritating to your air passages, which carry the air you breathe in from the nose and mouth to the lungs. A cough occurs when special cells along the air passages get irritated and trigger a chain of events. The result? Air in your lungs is forced out under high pressure. You can choose to cough (a voluntary process), or your body may cough on its own (an involuntary process).

Causes of Coughs

The list of possible causes of cough is long and highly varied. Doctors classify coughs into 2 categories, acute and chronic. Many doctors define an acute cough as one that been present for less than 3 weeks. Chronic coughs are those present for more than 3 weeks.

* Acute coughs can be divided into infectious (caused by an infection) and noninfectious causes.

* Infectious causes of acute cough include viral upper respiratory infections (the common cold), sinus infections, pneumonia, and whooping cough.

* Noninfectious causes of cough include flare-ups of the following chronic conditions: chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, and environmental allergies.

* The easiest way to simplify the causes of chronic cough is to divide them into their locations with respect to the lungs. The categories are environmental irritants, conditions within the lungs, conditions along the passages that transmit air from the lungs to the environment, conditions within the chest cavity but outside of the lungs, and digestive causes.

* Any environmental substance that irritates the air passages or the lungs is capable of producing a chronic cough with continued exposure. Cigarette smoke is the most common cause of chronic cough. Other cough-producing irritants include dusts, pollens, pet dander, particulate matter, industrial chemicals and pollution, cigar and pipe smoke, and low environmental humidity.

* Within the lungs both common and uncommon conditions cause chronic cough. Common causes include asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. Less common causes of lung-induced chronic cough include cancer, sarcoidosis, diseases of the lung tissue, and congestive heart failure with chronic fluid build-up in the lungs.

* The passages that connect the lungs to the external environment are known as the upper respiratory tract. Chronic sinus infections, chronic postnasal drip, diseases of the external ear, infections of the throat, and use of ACE inhibitors for high blood pressure have all been implicated in chronic cough.

* In addition to disease processes within the lung and air passages, diseases elsewhere within the chest cavity may also be responsible for chronic cough. Conditions within the chest known to cause chronic cough include cancer, unusual growth of a lymph node, and an abnormal enlargement of the aorta, which is the main blood vessel leaving the heart.

* An often-overlooked cause of the chronic cough is gastroesophageal reflux (GERD). GERD occurs when acid from the stomach travels up the esophagus. This abnormal condition can cause irritation of the esophagus and larynx resulting in the reflex production of a cough.

Cough Symptoms

Although the signs of a cough are self-explanatory, what differentiates the cause of a cough are the associated signs and symptoms. Another important factor in determining the cause of the cough is whether it is acute or chronic.

* Acute coughs have been divided into infectious and noninfectious causes.

o Signs and symptoms that point to an infection include fever, chills, body aches, sore throat, nausea, vomiting, headache, sinus pressure, runny nose, night sweats, and postnasal drip. Sputum, or phlegm, sometimes indicates an infection is present, but it is also seen in noninfectious causes.

o Signs and symptoms that point to a noninfectious cause include coughs that occur when you are exposed to certain chemicals or irritants in the environment, coughs with wheezing, coughs that routinely worsen when you go to certain locations or do certain activities, or coughs that improve with inhalers or allergy medications.

* The signs and symptoms of the chronic cough can be hard for doctors to assess, because many causes of the chronic cough have overlapping signs and symptoms.

o If your cough is related to environmental irritants, it will worsen when exposed to the offending agent. If you have an environmental allergy, your cough may improve when using allergy medications. If you have a smoker's cough, it may improve if you stop smoking and worsen with increased smoking.

o If you have a chronic lung disease such as asthma, emphysema, or chronic bronchitis, you may have a persistent cough or a cough that worsens with certain locations or activities. You may or may not have sputum with your cough and often have improvement in your cough with the use of inhaled or oral steroids, or other inhaled medications.

o If your cough is caused by chronic sinus infections, chronic runny nose, or chronic postnasal drip, you will often have the signs and symptoms associated with these conditions. You may also notice that your cough worsens when your problem worsens, and often your cough will improve when the underlying problem is treated.

o If your cough is associated with medications, such as angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, the cough will begin after starting the medication in question. The cough is often dry and improves when the medication is stopped.

o A cough associated with GERD is often associated with a sensation of heartburn. This type of cough worsens during the day or when you lie flat on your back. Furthermore, a sizable minority of people with a cough caused by GERD will note no symptoms of reflux, but most people will report improvement in their cough when GERD is treated properly.

o If your cough is a warning sign of an underlying cancer, you may have a group of symptoms. If lung cancer or a cancer of the air passages is present, you may cough up blood. Other signs and symptoms that may warn of a cancer include worsening fatigue, loss of appetite, unexplained loss of weight, or decreased ability to swallow solid or liquid foods.
by:http://www.emedicinehealth.com/

stoma

A stoma is a surgical bypass of a natural conduit, a kind of "short circuit". It is practiced when the natural channel can no longer fulfill its role, as a result of trauma, disease or an ablation. Most common, feces or urine are collected in a pocket or bag. The stomas may be digestive, urinary ...

Stoma types

• Colostomy refers to the process of connecting the colon to the abdomen so that the fecal matter is diverted through the incision usually performed on the stomach. Colostomy can be performed on any segment of the colon. On this hole called artificial stoma, the patient hangs a bag for single use to receive fecal matter.
• Ileostomy - similar to the colostomy but the ileum is connected to the abdomen. The feces collected are much more liquid and coros for colostomy.
• Tracheostomy - an opening in the trachea (front of the neck)
• Urostomy - means connecting ureters with a segment of ileum to the abdominal wall, urine is collected in a pocket instead of the bladder.
• Vasovasostomy - the reverse of vasectomy

Stoma care

How to take care of your stoma? ... read more here: Stoma care

• Try to choose an outfit that will not affect the collection bag, or the stoma.
• You do not need a special diet, just be careful at some foods.
• Follow the basic rules of hygiene.
• Life with stoma is not hard if you are well informed and know how to take care of the stoma.
• If you encounter difficulties, do not be afraid to seek advice from people more informed than you, nurse, doctor...
• Nothing should prevent you from finding a normal family life.
• Recreation with stoma must be as normal as possible.
• Once you feel better, we can only encourage you to resume a social life comparable to what it was before surgery.
• You can travel as much as you want , just pack some stoma care tools that must be always in close reach.
• Whether by car, plane or other means of transport, you can move without any restriction on destination, your stoma will not affect this ...
• You can swim in the sea or the pool after a few months after the stoma surgery.
• You can make the toilet of your stoma when you change outfit.
• Sometimes the stoma may bleed easily so a learning period is necessary to acquire the skills to care for your stoma.
• Baths and showers are no problem, the devices are waterproof.
• Stoma or not, you must keep your style. You can adjust the bag to suit your daily activities (sports, travel, work...).
• Eating at regular hours, calmly and slowly is recommended.
• Drink a lot and regularly during the day (at least 1.5 to 2 liters per day).
• Eat a balanced diet. Learn to recognize foods that give you gas, accelerate or slow down your transit.
• In case of constipation or diarrhea, drink plenty of fluids.
• Sport is compatible with a stoma and very recommended.
• Avoid combat sports like boxing, karate, wrestling because this can easily damage the stoma.

Stoma picures

Stoma care - I heard the following help :

1. Ispaghula husk - help in constipation.
2. Magnesium hydroxide - also helps in constipation.
3. Loperamide - helps in diarrhea.
4. Kaolin and morphine - help in diarrhea.
5. Codeine phosphate - increases the amount of water absorbed resulting in more solid feces.

Many people live now a healthy worry-free life after recovering from this disease and you can too. You can fully recover from this!!! Just learn a few about your problem and be an optimistic and courageous spirit. I wish you success!

by:http://stomastomata.com/