In Annunciation Style dating the new year started on 25 March, the feast of the Annunciation. This was used in many parts of Europe in the Middle Ages. The style was started by Dionysius Exiguus in AD 525. Annunciation Style was used in England until 1 January 1752, and in Scotland until 1 January 1600, when the kingdom of Scotland changed to Circumcision Style. England, the kingdom of Ireland, and the Thirteen Colonies changed to Circumcision Style on 1 January, after the United Kingdom of Great Britain changed from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar on 3/14 September 1752. This happened because the Parliament of Great Britain made an act of parliament, the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750.
Coagulation
A coagulation, also known as clot is a semi-solid substance that blood forms, especially when it is in air. When a person bleeds, the blood turns into a clot at the injury.
A blood clot is also called a "thrombus". The process is called "coagulation".
If a person gets a cut on their body, that person may bleed. To stop the bleeding, the human body does several things. First, the brain orders the liver to produce chemicals that will help the clot to form. When the chemicals released by the liver arrive at the injury, the coagulation begins. In the mean time, the brain also lessens the blood flow near the injury (by tightening the veins and arteries in that area), so that not as much blood is lost.
There is a limit to how quickly a clot can form. If the cut is very deep and the person bleeds too much, a clot may not be able to form and a lot of blood may be lost.
Coagulation begins almost instantly after an injury to the blood vessel has damaged the endothelium lining the vessel. When blood is exposed to proteins such as tissue factor it starts changes to blood platelets and the plasma protein fibrinogen, which is a clotting factor. Platelets immediately form a plug at the site of injury. Proteins in the blood plasma, called "coagulation factors" or "clotting factors", respond in a complex cascade to form fibrin strands. These strengthen the platelet plug.
Coagulation is highly conserved throughout biology; that means its genetics is almost the same in all mammal species. In all mammals, coagulation involves both a cellular (platelet) and a protein (coagulation factor) component. The system in humans has been the most extensively researched and is the best understood.
Fibrin is a white insoluble fibrous protein formed by the action of thrombin on fibrinogen when blood clots. it forms a network that traps red cells and platelets.
Vitamin K is an essential factor in blood clotting. Then, vitamin K is oxidized. Another enzyme, Vitamin K epoxide reductase, (VKORC) reduces vitamin K back to its active form. This reactivation is important as a target of anticoagulant drug warfarin. Vitamin K can be found in green vegetables, such as spinach, lettuce, broccoli or cabbage.
Wlazł kotek na płotek
Wlazł kotek na płotek (in English: "a kitten climbed a fence") is a popular Polish children's song.
Original [Polish]
Wlazł kotek na płotek i mruga,
ładna to piosenka niedługa.
Nie długa, nie krótka, lecz w sam raz.
Zaśpiewaj koteczku jeszcze raz.
[English]
A kitten sits on the fence and it blinks.
It’s a very pretty song, and it’s not a long one.
Not a long one, not a short one, but just right.
Come on, little kitten, sing again.
Asthma
Asthma (or Asthma bronchiale) is a disease that hurts the airways inside the lungs. It causes the tissue inside the airways to swell. Asthma also causes the bands of muscle around the airways to become narrow. This makes it hard for enough air to pass through and for the person to breathe normally. Asthma also causes mucus-making cells inside the airways to make more mucus than normal. This blocks the airways, which are already very narrow during an asthma attack, and makes it even more difficult to breathe.
A person having an asthma attack often makes wheezing sounds when trying to breathe. This is the sound of air trying to pass through the very narrow airway. They also have shortness of breath, which means they cannot take a full deep breath. Chest tightness may happen which feels like their chest is being squeezed. They may also cough a lot.
Asthma attacks can be a medical emergency because they can be "fatal" (cause a person to die). There is no cure for asthma. There are treatments such as different kinds of medicines to help people with asthma. There are also things that people with asthma can do to help themselves to keep their asthma from getting worse.
There are a lot of risk factors for getting asthma. The exact reasons for each is not yet clearly understood. Some of the factors are believed to come from genetics. A person inherits genetic mutations from one or both of their parents that may increase the chances of developing asthma. "Epigenetics", which are changes in the way a gene acts, may also increase their chances of getting asthma. These epigenetic changes may also be inherited. They may happen when a baby is still growing inside its mother, or during childhood.
"Socioeconomic status" (SES) is also believed to play a part in developing asthma. A person's socioeconomic status is based on such things as how much money their family makes, where they live, and their education level. Race and ethnicity also may play a part. It also is related to access to medical care, personal beliefs, and dietary habits. People of lower socioeconomic status suffer higher rates of asthma, have worse outcomes, and also have higher asthma-related death rates than people of higher economic status.
The exact cause of asthma is not yet known. It is believed that it may be because of a of many different reasons:
"Genetics": When changes happen in a person's genes (called "mutations") these changes are passed on to their children. One or both parents may have these changes or "mutations" in their genes, and some or all of their children may be born with them, which means they "inherited" them. These mutations, once they happen, run in families from one generation to the next and are permanent mutations, they change the gene in the "DNA". These changes can make a person more likely to get certain diseases like asthma. In some diseases it may be only one change in one gene that may make a person get that disease, in asthma it may be changes in many different genes that may make a person more likely to get asthma.
"Epigenetics changes" or "modifications" cause different kind of changes that affect how a person's genes work or 'express themselves' in three different ways (called "epigenetic mechanisms"), but do not change the gene in the DNA. These epigenetic changes may be inherited, or they may happen "in utero" which is when a baby is still inside its mother. They may also happen in childhood, because of different reasons, like a respiratory infection, being exposed to chemicals or drugs, diet etc. These changes can be passed from one generation to the next but are not permanent and might only be passed down one or two generations. Even though epigenetic changes affect how a person's genes work they do not permanently change a person's genes. It is believed epigenetic changes may also make a person more likely to get certain diseases like asthma.
"Environmental factors" are things that affect a person; which can be either healthy or unhealthy. Unhealthy environmental factors are things like living in an area where there is a lot of air pollution, or living somewhere where there are lots of bugs in the house, or being around cigarette smoke.
If a person who has genetic or epigentic changes in their genes that makes them have a bigger chance of getting asthma ("genetic predisposition"), also has unhealthy environmental factors in their life, like living in a home that has a lot of "dust mites", then it is more likely that they will get asthma.
Atopy