Weight Control

If you are overweight, you are not alone. Sixty-six percent of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese. Achieving a healthy weight can help you control your cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar. It might also help you prevent weight-related diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and some cancers.
Eating too much or not being physically active enough will make you overweight. To maintain your weight, the calories you eat must equal the energy you burn. To lose weight, you must use more calories than you eat. A weight-control strategy might include
* Choosing low-fat, low-calorie foods
* Eating smaller portions
* Drinking water instead of sugary drinks
* Being physically active

Wounds

Wounds include cuts, scrapes, scratches and punctured skin. They often occur as a result of an accident or injury, but surgical incisions, sutures, and stitches also cause wounds. Minor wounds usually aren't serious, but even cuts and scrapes require care. To avoid infection and aid healing

* Apply pressure with a clean cloth to stop bleeding
* Clean the wound with water
* Use an antibiotic ointment to prevent infection
* Bandage the wound if it's in an area that might get dirty
* Watch for swelling and redness
* Get a tetanus booster if you are due for one
Serious and infected wounds require medical attention. You should also seek attention if the wound is deep, if you cannot close it yourself, if you cannot stop the bleeding or get the dirt out, or if it does not heal.

Winter Weather Emergencies

Severe winter weather can lead to health and safety challenges. You may have to cope with

• Cold related health problems, including frostbite and hypothermia
• Household fires and carbon monoxide poisoning from space heaters and fireplaces
• Unsafe driving conditions from icy roads
• Power failures
• Floods after snow and ice melt

Although there are no guarantees of safety during winter weather emergencies, you can take actions to protect yourself. You should have a disaster plan. Being prepared can help reduce fear, anxiety and losses.

West Nile Virus

West Nile virus (WNV) is an infectious disease that first appeared in the United States in 1999. Infected mosquitoes spread the virus that causes it. People who contract WNV usually have no symptoms or mild symptoms. Those with symptoms may have a fever, headache, body aches, skin rash or swollen lymph glands.

If West Nile virus enters the brain, however, it can be deadly. It may cause inflammation of the brain, called encephalitis, or inflammation of the tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, called meningitis.

Older people are most at risk. There are no specific vaccines or treatments for human WNV disease. The easiest and best way to avoid WNV is to prevent mosquito bites:

* Use insect repellent
* Get rid of mosquito breeding sites by emptying standing water from flower pots, buckets or barrels
* Stay indoors between dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes are most active
* Use screens on windows to keep mosquitoes out

Drinking Water

Every living creature needs clean and safe drinking water. How much do you need? It depends - your size, activity level and the weather all make a difference.

The water you drink is a combination of surface water and groundwater. Surface water includes rivers, lakes and reservoirs. Groundwater comes from underground. The United States has one of the safest water supplies in the world, but drinking water quality can vary from place to place. It depends on the condition of the source water and the treatment it receives. Treatment may include adding fluoride to prevent cavities and chlorine to kill germs.

Your water supplier must give you annual reports on drinking water. The reports include where your water came from and what contaminants are in it.

Wilson Disease

Wilson disease is a rare innate disorder that causes your body to keep copper. Normally, your liver release copper it doesn't need into bile, a digestive fluid. With Wilson disease, this does not occur. Copper builds up in your liver and injures liver hankie. Over time, the harm causes your liver to free the copper straight into your bloodstream. The blood carries copper all over your body. Too much copper can harm your kidneys, liver, brain and eye.

Usually the build-up of copper start after delivery. Symptoms usually start amid ages 6 and 20, but can begin as late as age 40. The most trait sign is a rusty brown ring about the cornea of the eye.

If you have Wilson illness, you will have to take drug and follow a low-copper diet for the rest of your life. With early detection and proper action, a person with Wilson disease can enjoy usual health.

Wilms' Tumor

Wilms' tumor is a rare kind of kidney cancer that affects children. It causes a tumor on one or both kidneys. Having certain inherited conditions or birth defects can add to the risk of developing Wilms' tumor. Children who are at risk must be screened for Wilms' tumor every three months awaiting they turn eight.

Possible signs of a kidney tumor contain a lump in the abdomen and blood in the urine. The tumor is usually diagnosed and detached in surgery. Other treatments take in chemotherapy, radiation, biologic therapy or a mixture. Biologic therapy, or immunotherapy, boosts your body's own aptitude to fight cancer. Most children through Wilms' tumor can be cure.

Fires

Whether a fire happens in your home or in the wild, it can be very hazardous. Fire spreads quickly. There is no time to gather loot or make a phone call. In just two minutes, a fire can become serious. In five minutes, a home can be engulfing in blaze.

Heat and smoke from fire can be more unsafe than the flames. Inhaling the super-hot air can burn your lungs. Fire produces toxic gases that make you disoriented and drowsy. Instead of being awakened by a fire, you may fall keen on a deeper sleep. You can suffocate or be burn.

Preventing fires is a significant part of fire safety. Although there is no guarantee of safety during a fire, you can take actions to defend yourself. You should have a disaster plan. Being ready can help reduce fear, anxiety and dead.

Whooping Cough

Whooping cough is an communicable bacterial disease that causes out of control coughing. The name comes from the noise you make when you take a gasp after you cough. You may have choking spells or may cough so hard that you heave.

Anyone can get whooping cough, but it is more general in infants and children. It's especially dangerous in infants. The coughing spells can be so bad that it is hard for infant to eat, drink or breathe.

Before there was a vaccine, whooping cough was one of the most ordinary childhood disease and a major cause of childhood deaths in the U.S. There are fewer luggage today because there are both pertussis-only vaccines and mixture vaccines for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis. If you have whooping cough, action with antibiotics may help if given early.

Neck Injuries and Disorders

Got a pain in the neck? Any division of your neck - muscles, bones, joints, tendons, ligaments or worry - can cause it. Pain may also come from your shoulder, jaw, head or greater arms.

Muscle strain or stress often causes neck pain. The trouble is usually overuse, such as from sitting at a computer for too long. Sometimes you can pull your neck muscles from sleeping in an awkward position or elaboration it during exercise. Falls or accidents, including car accident, are another ordinary cause of neck pain. Whiplash, a soft tissue wound to the neck, is also called neck sprain or strain.

Treatment depends on the cause, but may contain applying ice, taking pain relievers, getting physical therapy or tiring a cervical collar. You rarely need operation.

Mobility Aids

Mobility aids assist you walk or move from position to place if you are disabling or have an injury. They take in crutches, canes, walkers, wheelchairs and powered scooters. You may require a walker or cane if you are at risk of declining. If you require keeping your body weight off your foot, ankle or knee, you may require crutches. You may require a wheelchair or a scooter if an injury or illness has left you powerless to walk.

Choosing these plans takes time and research. You should be fixed for crutches, canes and walkers. If they fit, these plans give you support, but if they don't fit, they can be painful and unsafe.

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous crop of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae. It is one of the most broadly cultivated tree fruits. The tree is small and deciduous, reaching 5 to 12 metres tall, with a broad, often tightly twiggy crown. The leaves are alternately agreed simple ovals 5 to 12 cm long and 3–6 centimetres broad on a 2 to 5 centimetres petiole with an acute tip, notched margin and a slightly downy bottom. Flowers are shaped in spring simultaneously with the promising of the leaves. The flowers are white with a pink tinge that repeatedly fades, five petaled, and 2.5 to 3.5 centimetres in diameter. The fruit mature in autumn, and is typically 5 to 9 centimetres diameter. The centre of the fruit contain five carpels set in a five-point star, each carpel contain one to three seeds.

The tree originates from Central Asia, where its natural ancestor is still creating today. There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples resultant in range of preferred characteristics. Cultivars vary in their yield and the definitive size of the tree, even when mature on the same rootstock.

At least 55 million tones of apples were grown universal in 2005, with a value of about $10 billion. China shaped about 35% of this total. The United States is the next leading producer, with more than 7.5% of the world invention. Turkey, France, Italy and Iran are among the important apple exporters.