LetLucia

                                                 It’s all fun and games till you meet a burn survivor. At Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, it was fire safety awareness week last week, and we had two burn survivors as guest speakers. They survived an arson fire that happened in their dorm in Seton Hall University, New Jersey, in the year 2000. Their names are Alvaro and Shawn, and they were two eighteen year old college freshmen who were one of the 58 people to get burned that fateful morning. By God’s grace, they pulled through and lived to tell the story. 3 students died as a result of the incident, and 4 out of the 58 students and fire fighters were severely burned, including Alvaro and Shawn. You can read more about the story here . I decided to write an article on fire safety based on what I learned from Alvaro and Shawn’s story. The...

thefruitdoctor.com Cancer is a something that has affected me personally on 2 occasions, taking away people that meant a lot to me. If I could take back the hands of time, I would probably have started this blog earlier, but even then, the internet was not as popular as it is now, and I was too young to fully understand what cancer really meant. The truth about cancer is that a variety of risk factors can be associated with one type of cancer. For example, smoking, a bad diet, genes, and alcohol intake are all risk factors just for breast cancer, and there is more. Before we even go on, let me define cancer just so we know what we are talking about. It is the uncontrolled growth of a cell. Like I said on an earlier post about ugly bananas , cells are supposed to continuously divide. When they can no longer do this and continue to grow, they become cancerous and can spread that inability to other cells in the body. To defeat cancer, early detection is crucial, and of course,...

Recyclepoints.com                                                           Yup, you can! Let us be honest, sometimes, doing things like recycling to keep the environment healthy and save the world could be a bit of a hassle and could be inconvenient, especially for people who have other things that they are passionate about. Am I kinda right? Sometimes, we do not see the need to do something if there isn’t an immediate reward and recycling could easily be one of those activities whose reward comes a little later than expected. Inconvenience is another huge downer when it comes to recycling. If the bin is too far away, it could really discourage a person. But do not listen to that voice! Don’t give up - Recycle Points is here to save the day! Yaay! So, there is a fantastic group currently running a venture in Lagos, Nigeria called Rec...

                                      Okay parents, now let’s get information *in Beyoncé’s voice*. The reason why this might just interest parents is because kids are the most vulnerable due to their cute small bodies, and because they are usually unable to explain what they are experiencing. Hence the job of the parents to be very vigilant after the child gets out of the pool. Now, don’t freak out! It is an extremely, extremely rare situation. They only cause about 2% of drowning. So, pump on the breaks a little. There is something called ‘ Dry drowning ’ and another thing called ‘ Secondary drowning ’ which typically occur up to 24 hours after a child has gotten out of a pool, and has probably even forgotten that they went swimming that day. Both situations occur when the child breathes in water when swimming. In the case of dry drowning, the water does not get to the lungs but ...

One of the safety signs at Laguna Beach, Orange County, California Sometime during the spring break, I visited California, and of course, I visited one of the beautiful beaches in the area, Laguna Beach to be precise. It was my first time on a beach in the US and I couldn’t help but notice the various safety signs and notifications around the beach. It was like I was in the CIA and taking mental notes of what was around me. I also noticed that lifeguards would come by in their vehicles at intervals to warn about the tide, especially when the sun began to go down and whenever they saw that you were going too far into the water. My best friend, whom I was visiting, told me to write about beach safety but I wasn’t sure what to write. I knew that there were a lot of safety concerns about the beach but I was just really blank. Sadly, I got news today that two ladies drowned at a beach back home in Nigeria and I felt terrible. The news pushed me to finally write an article on be...

You would sometimes hear people say things like ‘I function better at night’ or ‘I am a morning person’. This is as a result of their body’s ‘circadian rhythm’ which is the natural functional pattern following the normal 24 hours where it knows to sleep at night, wake up when it is bright and even when to eat…all in the brain. It is what the body has come to know over time, and when that rhythm is disturbed, people may start to feel like they are not functioning right. This also gives an explanation for what happens when you travel to a different time zone and you say you are ‘jet lagged’. It is because your circadian rhythm has been disturbed and your body needs time to adjust to the new situation. Like every other ‘disturbance’ to the body, working night shifts and depriving your body of sleep has an effect over time if not properly managed. I have friends who work night shifts and I find myself worrying about their health. The most common problem with workin...

Hi there! I know, I know, I have been MIA. I apologize. I have been trying to get this degree so that you  can trust the information that I render..LOL! In other words, I just graduated with a  Master’s in Public Health (Environmental and Occupational Health). Yaaay and thank you! Which brings  me to the reason for this post. So, there was this really cool idea by 3 really cool and extraordinary Engineers to promote STEM  (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) among young girls in Africa and they started an  NGO to help encourage women to be like Beyonce! (Just kidding)…But, yes, they decided to use the  platform to let girls know that they can be successful in the world of STEM and can use their knowledge  as equally as their male counterparts, who we appreciate and applaud.                                 So, as a lady in the STEM...

                                                            …Or any infection for that matter: DON’T SELF-MEDICATE! Yes! It is an instruction from the most concerned part of my heart. I want to talk about self-medicating especially with antibiotics. Antibiotics are really powerful medicines that kill bacteria. The problem with these drugs is that they can kill any bacteria, good or bad. Unfortunately, our bodies consists of both! Self-medicating on antibiotics could kill good bacteria , weaken the immune system and expose you to even more dangerous infections. It could also lead to allergic reactions, bacteria resistance to drugs causing you to be sick longer, and vaginal problems in women such as itching, burning sensation, smell, and discharge. Not every illness is caused by a bacteria. So taki...

                                                       Sorry for my silence. I had exams and then I went on Spring break and I had so much fun! Yaay! So, you remember during the Ebola season (or Flu seasons usually) how people wore facemasks around because they did not want to get infected? Well, the truth about those masks is that they protect other people from the contaminated air YOU have to offer! Just kidding. But yes, they are effective enough to keep things in but they are not as effective when you would like to keep contaminated air from other people out. The facemasks can protect you against large droplets or splashes released from coughing and sneezing, or blood; as is the case with doctors, and keep them from contaminating you but however, the smaller particles would find their way in through the not-so-tight openings around ...

http://www.cartoonsbysheila.com So, I got a question from a friend few days ago and she wanted to know what causes the skin to itch. There are quite a number of factors but the common ones are usually dry skin, allergies, or bites. Allergies are usually immediate, especially after the body's very first response to an allergen  (something that causes an allergic reaction); which is usually slow. The first response is referred to as  initial sensitization and ‘sensitization’ here means the response of the body to an allergen! Anything after that happens fast! I hope I’m not losing you. So, in response to an allergen, the body releases a chemical called histamine that triggers the itching. You can take antihistamines to help with allergic reactions. I’m allergic to pollen, so I can relate. The same goes for bites from insects and all those creepy things. The insect releases a chemical that triggers histamine production. So, stay away from bugs!!! Just kidd...