Self examination of testes and breasts June 16, 2007

Breast and testicular cancer can be a deadly condition but if detected early has higher chances of treating them and getting better. There are many risk factors associated with developing breast cancer. It has been identified that if you stay nalliparous or conceive your first child after 35 years (all to do with hormonal levels and changes), increases your chances of developing breast cancer. For men, some causes that can lead to testicular cancer that has been identified of which are cryptorchidism, HIV infection, abnormal testicular development, klinefelter’s syndrome and family history.

Boy lovers June 14, 2007

If there are any religious freaks who might get offended, i advise not to go beyond this. You might need to zoom in to read this stuff. It sure is scary. Some people who read this blog is asking me why i post such controversial stuff and where i stand on certain issues. Even from the beginning i have said that one of the aim of this blog is to bring out the “untalked” and taboo subjects and in doing so i hope that i am creating awareness. These posts about pedophilia is a lead up to the post i am writing on female circumcision.

Among the Siwans (Siwa Valley, North Africa), “All men and boys engage in anal intercourse. Males are singled out as peculiar if they did not do so. Prominent Siwan men lend their sons to each other for this purpose” (pp. 131–132). Among the Aranda aborigines (Central Australia), “Pederasty is a recognized custom. . . . Commonly a man, who is fully initiated but not yet married, takes a boy ten or twelve years old, who lives with him as his wife for several years, until the older man marries..

More from here.

You also might be interested in reading this.

Islam Promotes Homosexual Child Abuse! 

But do you know the REAL STORY about the Muslim religion? Do you know that ‘pedophilia’ was accepted and practiced within this religion? Do you know that the real reason for ‘female mutilation’ was due to rampant lesbianism?

One characteristic of a pedophile June 13, 2007

They like child like activities and always display to others that they enjoy the company of children.

Do not forget this very fact as it can be very costly.

How to end Hunger strikes June 11, 2007

We should force feed the prisoners to end the hunger strike? We need not look far. Management of the Recent Guantanamo Bay prison hunger strike is a “classic” example of doing it. Well not entirely classical according to my beliefs, but I will leave it to the readers to fathom it all.

American guards have used harsh new tactics to break a major hunger strike by terrorist suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba.

The new methods included strapping detainees into “restraint chairs” during force feeding, apparently to prevent the practice of deliberately regurgitating meals.

Other strikers were placed in very cold air-conditioned cells, had “comfort” items like blankets removed and were placed in solitary confinement.

more from the Telegraph.

 

An ICRC post on their website talks about the ethical and medical aspects of hunger strikes in custody.

 

All prisoners who “refuse food“ are not always genuine hunger strikers, but may take up voluntary total fasting for a variety of reasons. In countries where prisoners’ rights are not fully respected, hunger strikes may be a last resort for prisoners wanting to protest against their situation The World Medical Association (WMA) has established Guidelines for doctors involved in hunger strikes. The WMA 1975 Declaration of Tokyo and the WMA 1991 Declaration of Malta both prohibit the use of force-feeding. Although these declarations may apply to different situations, they share the obvious common denominator of being concerned with the patient’s welfare. It is essential for doctors working with prisoners to establish a relationship of trust with any hunger striking patients, so as to be able to act in their best interest. If a prisoner has clearly stated that he refuses to be force-fed, then the doctor must use his clinical and moral judgement to do his best for the patient without resorting to any form of coercion. Heeding the informed consent of a hunger striker, confirmed within the trust of the doctor-patient relationship, and respecting the intrinsic dignity of the fasting prisoner is certainly part of the doctor’s duty in looking after the patient’s welfare.

 Read more of from ICRC website.

 

 

Time to decriminalise drug addicts? June 10, 2007

Again the pictures from Jail says it all.

A mere target. A victim. An injustice. But certainly not an offence to send to jail. June 9, 2007

I need not say more. The picture says it all. My heart goes to the poor girl. Many other male celebrities were caught doing much worse things involving drugs. Oh yes.. Paris is a female..

Adam and Eve and dinosaurs June 8, 2007

Something that have always baffled me. Was Adam and Eve sent to this earth(?) after the extinction of dinosaurs or did they live  the dinosaur age?

Nasheed on “druggies”, the antisocial and all the brouhaha from me (Part 2) June 8, 2007

…….This is the (part 2) of Nasheed on “druggies”, the antisocial and all the brouhaha from me (part 1)…….

 

An integrative model of the origins and development of antisocial behaviour during childhood and adolescence strongly shows that antisocial behaviour cannot be understood without taking individual differences into account, even though situational influences on antisocial behaviour can be powerful. Defiance of parental authority is related to some but not all forms of antisocial behaviour. The development of antisocial behaviour is very much related to oppositional behaviour. There is evidence on youths with earlier onset of ASPD on being likely of having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or Oppositional Defiant Disorder. However, it has to be noted that several longitudinal studies revealing children who engage in high levels of conduct problems during childhood staying away from antisocial behaviours as they grow older. Although it is like this, some children without any conduct problems later in adolescence develop antisocial behaviours. Growing in an environment which provides low reward is a key indicator to pre disposal to ASPD. Youths who engage in high levels of antisocial behaviour are much more likely than other youths to have a biological parent who engages in chronic antisocial behaviour and parental use of corporal punishment may play a causal role in the development of antisocial behaviour.

Punishment is usually associated with irresponsible behaviour, as it is understood by the society. How does children perceive responsibility ? According to socialisation theory, children’s concept on responsibility is learnt by example. This theory suggests that children are “socialised into morally responsible attitudes and actions and are dependent upon their parents for moral guidance”.

Therefore, the moral values and ethics that need to be stipulated in the children can be lost if the parents become too aggressive in their disciplining of their children. This in turn may predispose the child or adolescent in disregarding the moral and ethical values that society appreciates. Persons in the community who have experienced childhood abuse or neglect are considerably more likely than those who are not abused or neglected to have personality disorders in general.

Higher levels of parental supervision during childhood cause less antisocial behaviour during adolescence and children with earlier ages of onset of antisocial behaviour tend to have fewer well behaved friends than other youths, but they have friendships with other aggressive children. Antisocial children with earlier ages of onset teach one another new antisocial behaviours, and belonging to a gang increases in severity of antisocial behaviour. The influence of delinquent peers on later-onset antisocial behaviour appears to be much stronger. Delinquent peer influence plays a causal role in the development of antisocial behaviour and the strength of its influence increases with the age of onset of antisocial behaviour. The primary reason that lax parental supervision is associated with antisocial behaviour in youths is that less parental supervision allows youths to spend more time with delinquent peers. Improving parental supervision could be an important way to reduce the effects of delinquent peer influence. There is a strong link or association between ASPD with low socio-economic status in families as well. It can be argued that across gender and ethnicity, much of the inverse relation between family income and antisocial behaviour is accounted for by less parental monitoring at lower levels of socio-economic status.

On a different note, it is note worthy mentioning that some research has suggested an increase in risk of antisocial behaviour with intellectual disability. People having intellectual disabilities are still labelled in today’s society. I can recall that in some studies it has been noted that rather than being associated with increased rates of anti-social behaviour, adolescents with intellectual disability may be more likely to experience risk factors like lower socio-economic status and mental health problems and that these risk factors are known to be associated with them showing antisocial behaviour. By addressing issues associated with low socio-economic status and child mental health could be important in reducing the rate of anti-social behaviour among children. The issue of labelling goes hand in hand with bullying which is also another factor that can predisposes children to ASPD. Those who bully others are also displaying an antisocial behaviour through the act of bullying.

All this brings us to one final thing. That is we need a better , more functional and efficient mental health care system that can abolish the traditional labellings and injustice and look at individuals as human beings and everyone equally. We need a mental health care system urgently. We need a system which cares and people who sincerely cares.

Nasheed on “druggies”, the antisocial and all the brouhaha from me (Part 1) June 7, 2007

Nasheed, in his blog mentioned the importance of an integrated approach when looking at substance abuse. My comments in brackets below.

Root cause of many issues is inevitably being linked to substance abuse (i think not..this is just another lame attempt by some one to make a vulnerable group from society being labelled as the “BEAST”). It is dawning on us all that enforcement alone is not working (that is right :)). A wholesome and integrated approach including rehabilitation, penalty, reintegration, community support, policy decisions, enforcement techniques, monitoring and supervision mechanisms, control of borders and tackling anti social behavior in a big way would all need to be included in our approach to fight this deadly (i think this word is too graphic to use here) reality.

I cant agree more on an integrated approach. Unavoidably and explicitly, the words “anti-social” began ringing several bells in my head. I will try to tell a little on what i know about anti-social behaviours. Please allow me.

In short antisocial means “against the society”. No arguing about that. Unacceptable social behaviour or antisocial behaviour among children, adolescents and adults is a much talked about subject. History proves that during different times, different labels had been given to this category of people who showed a certain type of trait or behaviours. When talking about antisocial behaviour, morals and responsibility come in to the picture and thats where this whole subject gets messy. Hold on. I am getting there. Or at least i will try.

The first description of antisocial behavior was known to be mentioned during 1853. In 1853 it was possibly then known as “moral insanity”. It is known that in 1843, what is known as the M’Naghten rule, ruled out a person from getting punishment if the person is not aware of the crime. In 1887, a person was found not responsible for a crime if the person lost the power to choose between right and wrong. In 1941 a person displaying antisocial aspects was depicted as “the mask of sanity”. Like the M’Naghten rule, in 1954 a Durham rule stated that a person was not responsible if the act was a product of mental disease or mental defect and in 1978 the rule of diminished capacity came in to being, giving the mentally disordered criminal guilty to a lesser extent.

There is a reason for me in mentioning all that.

1. Antisocial behaviour is on the rise in our country.

2. Majority of population is young.

3. How many of those “anti-socials” will fit in to the category of a psychiatric illness or disorder?

4. How many does fit in to the antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) type as categorised in the DSM IV.

I know the religious fanatics and some others will be going crazy by now, if they are reading this. They will be saying to themselves that morality and responsibility is a religious issue. Well, let them say what ever they want. Maldiveshealth is dedicated to the special ones in the society for the year of 2007 and where ever, and however i can, i would like to create awareness on the injustice being brought to the vulnerable groups in our society.

DSM IV describes ASPD as “a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood”. This pattern has also been referred to as psychopathy, sociopathy or dissocial personality disorder. To fit in to the DSM IV criteria, the individual with ASPD has to be over 18 years of age. They display aggression towards animals and people, destruction of property, deceitfulness or theft and involves in serious violation of rules. They also repeatedly performs these acts with disregard to feelings of others, they are manipulative in order to profit personal pleasures (obtain money, sex, power). They make decisions on the moment without forethought and without consideration for the consequences to self or others. People having ASPD are irritable and aggressive, involves in physical fights , spouse beatings, child beatings, which are common practices. Furthermore, the DSM IV describes them as extremely irresponsible, who fail to make amendments or compensate for their behaviours, have a lack of empathy, callous, cynical and contemptuous of the feelings of others. ASPD is more common in Males (3%) than females (1%). ASPD can occur together with other personality disorders like narcissistic PD, Histrionic PD, Borderline PD, Paranoid PD . The highest prevalence age category recognized as having ASPD is among the adolescent age group. Understanding adolescent delinquency requires understanding adolescents themselves. In doing so we can’t neglect the environment and biology of the adolescent youth in understanding delinquency and antisocial behaviour among this age group.

There is much debate regarding the predisposing factors to ASPD. One of the strong influences comes from geneticist gurus supporting a relationship between genes and ASPD. One such view states that a “disinhibition-disorder gene carried by a parent could result in marital chaos and separation and that it is this inherited gene and not the fact that the parents separated that causes antisocial personality in the child” (I know ..i know.. the religious freaks will be going even more crazier now. Just hold on and tolerate this post will ya). Identifying the responsible gene hence is much more economically viable and could identify high risk individuals and thus treat them before things got out of hand. The geneticist gurus dispute the social causations totally, and solely base their assumptions on genetics. Some studies done in Denmark, Sweden and the US on ASPD and criminality shows only moderate genetics being influential as measured by characteristics of biological parents. Some may argue saying that it is too early to link antisocial behaviour, illegitimacy, or intelligence with genetics as it is only the beginning of the Genome Project. I think it may give a very justifiable and viable answer to a very big problem.

How ever, there are other predicaments which may arise from genetic labelling such as the controversy and dilemma parents has to face if they found out that their child is having an extra Y chromosome. There might be unalterable implications for children of the stigma the children might have to face with genetic labelling. It is also questionable whether violent television, violent cartoons, violent movies and ready access to guns (in US), ready access to heroin (in Maldives) are having any impact on a child becoming aggressive and later on in showing antisocial behavior. Does these social factors outweigh the possible genetic factors? There is more support toward the environmental and upbringing aspects of children and the link between ASPD in adolescents. With the decline of genetic influences, environmental factors become more influential.

……………………..(Part two coming soon)….

The pictures that changed the world June 6, 2007

How many of you have seen the famous Che Guevara on death bed? More of that in a while. Today I will tell you a little bit about myself. I have always been fascinated by nature and a fan of good  photos and artwork ( i wish i was creative . I stop and admire the beauty of ancient sculptures and always wondered what it would have been like in those times. I admired and wondered the beauty, the message and the story behind each picture, sculpture and artwork. I am a huge fan of the Maldivian Flickr - ers if they are reading this. Zahids photos has a uniqueness to it that when ever i see one of his work my mouth would go “wow”. There are others too who make me go wow with their photographic skills.

Today i thought i will share with you all a set of photos that seems to be known as having changed the world. Some of you must have seen some of these photos like the famous Che Guevara t-shirt printed ones but never seen the real picture from which the print is taken from. Or the grown up version of the famous naked running Vietnam girl. The website will be found at the end. My favorite is the migrant mothers one. Enjoy.

An experimental – and controversial – procedure for treating a crippling birth defect in the womb offered Trish and Mike Switzer the only chance that their daughter would walk like other children. But the fetal surgery posed a fatal dilemma: Their baby could die before she was born.

Photographer Max Aguilera saiud about this photo: “During a spina bifida corrective procedure at twenty-one weeks in utero, Samuel thrusts his tiny hand out of the surgical opening of his mother’s uterus. As the doctor lifts his hand, Samuel reacts to the touch and squeezes the doctor’s finger. As if testing for strength, the doctor shakes the tiny fist. Samuel held firm. At that moment, I took this “Fetal Hand Grasp” photo.

As a photojournalist, my job is to tell stories through pictures. The experience of taking this photograph has had a profound effect on me, and I’m proud to share this moment with you”

I’m not really sure about this but from what i remember, after this picture abortions were banned in UK.

The girl in the picture is Phan Thị Kim Phúc also known as Kim Phuc (born in 1963), a nine-year old running naked and severely burned on her back by a napalm atack.

Photographer Huynh Cong Ut, known by his colleagues as Nick, was working there as a photo journalist for Associated Press at the time and took a number of photographs of the villagers trying to escape the napalm. This one, epitomising the savagery and tragedy of the conflict, won him the coveted Pulitzer Prize and became one of the most published photos of the Vietnam war.

The boy is her older brother Tam who survived the attack but lost an eye. Ut (the photographer) poured water onto the young girl and took her and some of the other children to a hospital near Saigon where she spent fourteen months recovering from the horrific burns to her skin.

Later, the girl studied medicine and now she; a UNESCO member living in Canada.

Below is a picture of her.

After capturing and executing Che in 1967, before bury him in a secret tomb, the executioners made a group photo with the body, to demonstrate the people that In Grande Che is dead. The picture actually made him a legend, his admirers said he had a forgiving look on his face and compared him with Jesus.

Famous photograph of Che Guevara was taken on March 5, 1960 by Alberto Korda at a funeral service for victims of the La Coubre explosion, it was published seven years later. Che Guevara was 31 at the time of the photo.

For many, this picture of Florence Owens Thompson (age 32) represents the Great Depression. She was the mother of 7 and she struggled to survive with her kids catching birds and picking fruits. Dorothea Lange took the picture after Florence sold her tent to buy food for her children. She made the first page of major newspapers all over the country and changed people’s conception about migrants.

Actually this is the earliest surviving photograph, c. 1826. It required an eight-hour exposure, which resulted in sunlight on both sides of the buildings.

Source: Worldfamousphotos