I like the articleGeneralities Hedera algeriensis
This plant in the spring, summer, autumn, winter assumes a greenwhite colouring; it is medium in size and can reach 2,5 m high. It doesn't keep its leaves in the winter. The Hedera algeriensis has a climber deportment. These plants are shrubs. Fertilization Hedera algeriensis
Climber plants have a quick and vigorous development, letís enrich the soil, towards the end of the winter or in autumn, with manure or slow release fertilizer; during the spring, once a month, we can add a fertilizer for green or flowering plants, rich in nitrogen and potassium to the irrigating water . Exposure Hedera algeriensis
These plants don't fear the cold weather and therefore can be grown in the garden during any time of year. Plant which need at least a few hours a day of solar light.To develop to their best, climber plants need grates, or they can be placed near a wall, which functions as a support. Watering Hedera algeriensis
Letís avoid watering the the Hedera algeriensis excessively, always leaving the soil dry for a few days between one watering and the other, therefore letís irrigate the substratum deeply every 2-3 weeks with 1-2 buckets of water . This plant has a climber development, at times very vigorous; therefore it is good to remember that the more developed plants need more water compared to the more limited specimens. Treatments Hedera algeriensis
As the day-time temperatures rise at the beginning of the spring, it is agreeable to practice a preventive treatment, with a wide-range insecticide, which should be applied when there arenít flowerings in the garden. Before the buds become too large, it is advisable to also treat them with a wide-range fungicide, to prevent the development of fungal diseases which spread easily when there is an elevated environmental moisture. Soil Hedera algeriensis
These plants need a substratum with an excellent drainage.
Notes Hedera algeriensis
There aren't any notes. The indications given in this article are related to a medium size plant.


This is a very welcome book, in spite of the fact that there must be hundreds of others dealing with Bordeaux wines. It is printed handsomely, on durable paper (it is noted that it is printed on alkaline paper), has a cloth book marker, and the last 20 or so pages are devoted to the classification of wines determined at various times in the past as well as to an evaluation of vintages since 1982.
The text falls into two parts. Part I (pp. 6–54) consists of five brief chapters con- taining general discussions of (1) history and culture, (2) climate, soil, and grape varieties, (3) viticulture, (4) winemaking and terroir, and, finally (5) classification of wine and regulations. Part II, comprising the bulk of the book, is devoted to a case- by-case description of individual wines, listed by subregion of Bordeaux. Before we lose sight of one of the best features of the book, let me say that every chapter and each discussion of individual wines is accompanied by handsome photographs of vineyards, châteaux, and appurtenant structures, as well as maps, and in many cases of the current owners of the various vineyards.
The history of Bordeaux goes back to its medieval beginnings, when the region belonged to England, as discussed in Chapter 1. Originally, Graves was the principal wine-growing region, and the author quotes Samuel Pepys who said in 1663, “I drank a sort of French wine, called Ho Bryan [sic], that hath a good and most par- ticular taste I ever met with.” Wine making expanded in the eighteenth century, Médoc developed, the Rothschild family arrived in the nineteenth century, and finally American interests started to buy vineyards in the twentieth century, to wit, the Dillon family, which acquired Château Haut Brion in 1934. The brief historical overview is informative and useful. Chapter 2 deals with climate, climate change, and climate hazards as well as soil. A brief discussion of permitted varieties of grapes and their characteristics concludes the chapter.
Chapter 3 covers matters that may be unfamiliar to many, specifically soil manage- ment and, equally important, canopy management, diseases of grapes, and a discus- sion of the all-important question of when to harvest. Chapter 4 goes on to discuss the all-important questions of fermentation techniques, barrel aging, and blending, and has brief section on dry white wines and sauternes. Chapter 5 begins with the 1855 classification and also discusses changes or additions to the original classifi- cation, the nature of the wine market, the role of the negociants, of en primeur, and much more.
The rest of the book is a detailed analysis of individual vineyards, with a brief (one-page) description of the vineyard itself, followed by a discussion of the individ- ual wines, that is, the “first” wine of the vineyard and any “second” wines that it may have. All of this is extremely sensible, and readers will find all three parts of this handsome book very useful indeed.


Over a hundred years ago (1875) Richard Temple, Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, made an interesting proposal which ran as follows: the system of education in the English language and Law, introduced in India following the famous Macaulay Minute (1835), had not been entirely successful in producing in the Indian mind the sense of inferiority originally intended. Somehow, the Indians still tended to display a sense of equality with British Learning. As an alternative approach, Indians should be exposed to an education in the "practical sciences", which were an exclusive preserve of Western culture. These disciplines, with their "Exact Methods" might overwhelm the Indian Mind and thus help induce the requisite sense of inferiority vis-a-vis the British who were the masters of this kind of learning*.
This proposal for a benign, bloodless conquest of the Indian Mind was rather well founded, in theory at least. William Wilberforce, father of the Victorian Era in England, had articulated such a scheme of subjugation of the Indian Mind in religious terms in a celebrated parliamentary speech in 1813.
In the middle of the nineteenth century there was talk of the 'Triumph of the Mind" as a package of specific theories and practices that dealt with the subjugation and extermination of the "alien races". Concrete expressions of such an ideology could be found in the Republican Ideology of the USA, which held that it is the Virtuous Person who must rule. The Virtuous Person was one who tamed his "boisterous passions" (Jefferson) with his mind and thus rose above other men who were incapable of exercising such subtle control, continuing to identify themselves with "base instincts". Such peoples or whole races composed of such peoples needed to be ruled over by the Virtuous Persons or their Race, as dominion over them (and their resources) had been granted to the Virtuous. Taming of bodily forces by the mind was held to be forces". Thus, one of the most potent expressions of Virtuousness or "moral temper" was 'Technology" which was the capacity to tame and array the forces with the purpose of reaching subtler goals The technologists,1 or "the mechanicians" as they were termed in the editorials of Scientific American were repeatedly called upon to liberate suffering millions the world over, with the help of their machines and mechanisms that tamed forces hitherto held beyond control. Thus when "the other people" were thought of as possessing primitive technology, one without the guidance of a Method, it was derivative of the doctrine that "Mind" should exercise control over all systems, certainly that of transformation of earth's resources for production and distribution*.
When "the practical sciences" were sought to be imposed on India, the suggestion thus had grounding in a theory just as powerful as theology and whose practice had been tested against various peoples. 'Technology" as it was called, was to be one more means of scoring a victory in a battle, perhaps not quite as bloody. Technological superiority was identified with the demonstration of a superior Mind that produced it and entitled it to an almost Divine Right to exercise greater dominion over resources.
Around the time when proposals like these were being put forward, a somewhat different set of proposals were being developed in Britain by the Neglect of Science Committee. This Committee was an informal association of scientists who were alarmed at the rise of a new kind of technological power in Germany in the form of the synthetic dye industry. Starting with the synthesis of aniline dye on an industrial scale, German companies such as Badische Aniline und Soda Fabrek (BASF) and Hoechst invaded the European scene with new synthetic dye-products in succession, alizarin followed by indigo. The formidable alliance of university-based "chemists" with craftsmen and mechanics resulted in rapid changes in the character of industrial products, which Britain found difficult to cope with. Britain till then had enjoyed supremacy in terms of 'Triumph of Mind" with the harnessing "of steam power for production and with steel manufacture and coal mining but Germany had started Britain by developing an altogether different set of production processes1.' This challenge at the "technological" level was also a challenge to the Right of Dominion that Britain possessed by virtue of the 'Triumph of Mind" ideology. This sense of surprise was compounded by the fact that aniline synthesis was based on a reaction discovered by an English Chemist, Perkins.
Neglect of Science Committee had been formed in this context, to warn the government of the following problem: Britain had undoubted superiority in producing great ideas in "pure" science, while their "application" to industry was lacking. Germany could challenge Britain technologically, only because an alliance had been forged between university scientists and industry by way of new organizational linkages. The Committee therefore urged the British government to take up measures to support "applied research" to counter the German challenge, by creating new organizations for research. This sort of lobbying resulted in setting up of a permanently funded laboratory, the National Physical Laboratory in London in 1900 and in the creation of a Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in 1916 during the War II.
This is the context of the origin of the dichotomy between "pure" and "applied" science. The problem was: given an "idea", how does one get it transformed into a "product"; how does tame a "force of nature" so as to constitute it as an array of forces to reach a specific goal; what are the linkages or mechanisms that will direct such transformations on appropriate occasions and at an appropriate pace. These are issues that are overtly mobilization in character and have, in fact, been considered as such in some recent writings on the "sociology of science" 3. They call for the creation and development of an ability to establish or dismantle idea-formations and organizational linkages/mechanisms at a rate faster than "an enemy" could sense and all this is to take place through the Mind, rather than with the aid of arms and strategists as it would be in a battlefield. In such a context, "the ideas" or the organizational forms and arrays are themselves subject to drastic changes that may result in radical alterations in them. The essential concern, however, is to set the pace and character of the changes in linkages or formations. Thus, what may be "pure" or "applied" science is fundamentally dependent upon the particular context of a campaign and the course of changes in them may remain as uncertain as the course of the campaign itself.
This was the broad context when the Indian Mind was sought to be directed to the "more practical sciences" as part of a campaign for its subjugation. Not that there was no work going on in India on the British sciences earlier: elaborate taxonomic, classificatory exercises in zoology, botany, meteorology and geology were being carried out by various British officers in India since the late 18th century. But when Mahendr Lai Sircar founded the Indian Association for Cultivation of Sciences (IACS) in 1876 in Calcutta, it was the first time that Indians got together to carry out scientific research "on their own". The IACS was founded on the vision of Mahendr Lai Sircar whose eclectic belief in the "scientific method" led him to call upon Indians to save it from the West that was deviating from its Christian ideals. But Sircar soon ran into trouble over the debate on the purpose of research in IACS: should it be "pure" aiding the "advancement of knowledge", nothing more nothing less, or should it be oriented to providing popular technical education. A believer in the purity of scientific research over its mere purposefulness, Sircar claimed, in exasperation quoting Thomas Huxley, that the term "applied science" had never been invented. Thus, as soon as "scientific research" started in India, it was beset by a "pure" versus "applied" science controversy.
The Swadeshi Movement (1905) brought in its wake a number of industries into India, stressing the theme of "self-reliance". One of the major demands of the Swadeshi Nationalists had to do with the promotion of technical education in India that would sustain and propel industrialization for self-reliance. The government then came up with its strategy of forming an Indian Industrial Commission,) thought by many to have been formed due to the exigencies of World War I, to deal with the entire spectrum of issues ranging from technical education to large scale industrialization*. This commission, headed by certain Thomas Henry Holland had three Indians (Pandit Malaviya and Dorabji Tata notable among them) on it. The Commission cross-examined many prominent Swadeshi spokesmen and industrialists and compiled the evidence into a massive report. This report does not seem to have been taken seriously, nor its recommendations implemented. The entire approach of the commission as found in the 7-volume report was colored by the attitude of the British officers that technological incompetence was a reflection of moral temper".
As a systematic effort to recast Indian society into an "industrial mould" as it was understood then, the Commission proposed a scheme that would view (and develop) India as a series of organizations of "scientific services". Apart from this, the most important contribution of the Commission was to inflict upon the Swadeshi industrialists a sense of utter incompetence in technical matters. (Implicit in the Commission's report was the recognition of the need to impose upon India newer forms of scientific organization and, as such, it appears to have paid little attention to the other, "pure" type of research.
But these issues of "pure" versus "applied" science were brought to the surface in the 'thirties through the writings of Meghnad Saha (1893-1956) in his journal Science and Culture. Saha was a physicist of moderate standing in the 1920s .who made contributions to the body of "international" physics and was an ardent believer in the capacity and right of scientists to rule the World. As is the case with such visionaries always, Saha felt it his duty to espouse his cause by exposing the Gandhian "anti-industrialism" and by promoting a view of industrialization of India through study arid monitoring of "key" sectors in the West. Saha expressed unreserved admiration for the model of the-USSR, where he claimed the Academy of Sciences provided crucial inputs to the National Planning Commission.
In the prevailing atmosphere of naiveté and confusion among Indian leaders in their comprehension of Western institutions and organizations, Saha put forth his theories as to how scientists should rule, how eugenics should be employed (!) in demographic redistribution etc., without being contested. As a result, Saha today is taken by academic "sociologists of science" or "science-policy studies" specialists to have articulated a policy-making programme for India. All that he and his cohorts of the Science and Culture group achieved was to produce a series of disjunctions between "pure" and "applied" science, without the slightest hope of ever being able to grasp the nature of the "innovative" industrialization of the West.
While Sana's much-vaunted march towards industrialization guided by "pure" or "applied" science or engineering was being articulated, the colonial government came out with a new scheme for promoting "innovative" scientific research, by creating the Board of Scientific and Industrial Research (1940) which shortly thereafter became CSIR. Saha's Science and Culture group which had been advocating a muddled vision of scientifically-guided industry could not produce a single worthwhile scheme for organizing it; at best, the British DSIR was cited as an organizational model. The body (BSIR) appointed several committees under Indian chairmen to assess the viability of a physics laboratory in India along the lines of the British NPL but it was A.V. Hill, President of the Royal Society, who produced an organizational format for industrial research. Hill, a Nobel Laureate, visited India in the closing phase of the World War II, met a number of scientists and claimed that his own scheme of industrial research was patterned after his acquaintance with the structure, of science in India.
The Hill Plan advocated strong centralization of research bifurcation of "research" department under government from "user" departments and was largely accepted and implemented. (The S & C group of course demanded that it be implemented). It was essentially patterned after the then existing British models which even Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, Director of CSIR, subsequently considered unsatisfactory in providing the link between 'idea' and ‘product’. As on several occasions earlier, the British succeeded in thrusting on India an organizational network whose interlinks and mechanisms were too obfuscated for Indians to grasp and control. One of the key strategies of the British in India was the emphasis on creation and maintenance of extremely confused networks in an organization which would prevent "others" from acquiring control. Thus, in the aftermath of 1857, Ellen borough, then the British Cabinet Minister for administrator of India produced a plan for reorganization of the British armies in India, which suggested working out confusing linkages and command-chains, which, in course of time, would be incomprehensible to anybody barring a few, thus preventing sudden changes in the controlling unit or chain of command. NPL in Delhi was fundamentally a unit in this kind of a scheme.
The false dichotomy between "pure" and "applied" research and the kind of disaster it wrought is perhaps best illustrated in the rise and fall of NPL4. NPL had been conceived with much fanfare and the S & C group worked out their own vision of it. However, CSIR under the stranglehold of Hill's Leviathan worked out its own version of it. Perhaps as a model of scientifically active India intended as a show-piece to visiting dignitaries, NPL was chosen to be located in Delhi, much to the consternation of the S & C group which had been pressing for its location in Calcutta, to preserve the latter as the "scientific capital of India". Bhatnagar dealt a further blow to them by engineering the selection of K.S. Krishnan as the first director of NPL. Krishnan was considered by many colleagues and contemporaries as the archetypal "pure" scientist and under his stewardship NPL brought out papers, rather than products or processes, which could pass for second rate contributions to the body of "international physics". When asked by Jawaharlal Nehru as to what was the use of it all to the country, all that Krishnan could do was to get some scientists to build a solar-cooker which died unsung quickly. But during his tenure (that lasted till his death the expectation that somehow NPL would deliver the goods as an "industrial research laboratory" ran high and the CSIR Review Committees appointed in that period did not have "recommendations" on NPL.
But soon after his death, questions began to be raised about the relevance of NPL's work to the nation. Characteristically, Nehru asked P.M.S. Blackett, President of Royal Society (who became influential in Harold Wilson's Government) to look into NPL's activities and make suggestions he thought appropriate (1963). Should one ask for better evidence of the appropriateness of the Temple proposal of 1875?
Patrick Blackett, for his part came out with a scheme that would dissect NPL into a "pure" or "advanced physics" division and into an "applied" division. He suggested getting rid of the former by merging it with the university. His chief criticism was that NPL was like a university shirking its teaching responsibility and the problems handled in NPL were dull and more oriented towards obtaining Ph. Ds. His view of NPL as an industrial research laboratory consisted in each division contributing "pilot-plants". Though the Blackett report was not accepted formally, ultimately, in about ten years time this is what appears to have happened, NPL giving up the attention being paid to "pure" physics.
The applied/industrial aspect of physics research in NPL was a different kind of failure. Considered by many, including Blackett, as a viable, perhaps the only viable, division of research in NPL, the Ratio Components Unit (RCU) headed by T.V. Ramamurthy attempted design and manufacture of components for the electronics industry. While successes were achieved in terms of setting up a mini-plant the buyers of the technology, BEL, backed out at the opportune time. In another attempt, the government was inclined to favor technology of a multinational company rather than that of NPL. Yet whatever limited successes RCU brought about (including formation of a company. Central Electronics Limited, under the Ministry of Science and Technology) appear to have been more due to the influential network of friendships operated by Ramamurthy. Saying this is not to downgrade whatever were the achievements of RCU, but to observe that perhaps this is how, centering around individuals rather than institutions, that an "innovative chain" from idea to product could be developed.
In the present continuing phase of bloodless conquest by the West, "technology" has become a fundamental issue. In the present day, supremacy of a system is granted on the basis of its engineering capabilities. The ability to dominate and hegemonies is identical with the ability to innovate, to fast-produce many "latest’s". The classical "Triumph of the Mind" ideology is rephrased now in terms of getting outdated or keeping up-to-date with certain processes called innovation.
The underlying nature of innovation as it is broadly understood now, is scientific research conducted in an organized fashion. Innovative research is supposed to start from certain scientific principles and proceed along chains of processes, to lead ultimately to a product or a process. Attempts to describe these processes tend more often to obfuscate rather than illuminate the path from an idea to a product, in the process, producing a whole series of disjunctions between "fundamental research" and "applied or industrial research"; or between "technology" and "science1; or between "pilot scale" and "industrial scale" researchers). Some of the CSIR Committees have out-maneuvered all other attempts at this naming game; observe for example, what a certain Parliamentary Estimates Committee (1966) suggested as necessary classification for "management and control of R & D" (a) "pure basic" research (b) "objective basic" (c) "applied project" (d) "applied operational" (e) "development". This is after a similar classifications exercise carried out by the Third CSIR Review Committee (1964), which improved upon the older distinction of "pure" versus "applied" by propounding (i) "pure basic" (ii) "applied or technological" (iii)"objective basic" as the categories of research.
To cap it all, sociologists and economists come up with variety of formidable forces taken out of their books they may be "market forces" or anything else, but the social scientists would like to ensure that their contribution to spreading the malaise of disjunctive phrase-mongering is substantial.
Leaving all this aside, let us pose the question, how does an idea get transformed into a product. We observed earlier in this note that perhaps this entire process might be analogous to mobilization efforts. As firm believers in the ultra-rational consistency of the innovative process, we may find any concept of scientific innovation repugnant. But some observers do describe this process in the kind of terms we suggested. What follows is an example.
The mechanical time piece brought the Swiss precision instrument industry to its peak of refinement. The Swiss watch has been synonymous with excellence (and) is an undisputed symbol of social status... However, the timing mechanisms of contemporary clocks and watches are now manufactured by the microelectronics industry. The switch to a new technology came about in response to the demand for even greater precision in watches. Quartz watches first met this need, and they were first produced in Japan. The discovery that quartz was more accurate than conventional timing devices must have been made long ago. Theoretically, anyone could have marketed the idea. It seems strange that Switzerland, home of the mechanical watch did not.
The reasons for Switzerland's failure (lay) in the structure of its watch industry. Simply put, the famous Swiss watch makers were not really makers at all, but assemblers. The moving precision parts that make up the Swiss watch were actually made in the cantons by small family producers and artisans. Manufactured watch components were sent to Geneva, where they were carefully checked for quality and then distributed to urban specialists for final assembly. The elaborate subdivision of watch manufacturing encouraged a spirit of independence among artisans at every stage of production, and it proved ultimately impossible to integrate all of the various production processes into one efficient factory system. Here the subdivision of production actually resulted in resistance to further modernization of the industry. In Japan, the makers of watch parts were not especially independent minded, and it was not difficult to organize them under the factory system. In fact, they first came together to manufacture the quartz watch. Entrepreneurs had to mobilize not only makers of precision parts but specialists in-microelectronics and chemistry in order to achieve the high degree of accuracy required of these watches*.
This is an account of an innovation in the contemporary period, and the emphasis is on mobilization of men and talent in a system that is based on perceived inadequacies of another system to be conquered. Quite often we have heard analogous to whole descriptions about Indian society by Western observers, e.g. the "idyllic" village republics living in a world of their own etc. as a possible cause of defeat and decay. What is called "innovation" and is allegedly the nature of industrial research does not appear different from waging a warfare. One could almost say, paraphrasing Michel Foucault's inversion of politics and war, that technology /innovation is continuation of war by other means.
In the earlier sections we referred to the tactic of pushing the Indian mind into a morass of "pure skepticism" and institute-building, along lines laid down by foreign visionaries. We also referred to the sowing of further confusion by dilettantish groups such as those of Saha, who ardently advocated and believed in the myth of "planned development of science" or a science policy dictated by scientists and academics based entirely on foreign models. The disaster wrought by Hills and Blacketts and a whole host of British/American/German and Russian scientists on Indian innovation chiefly consists in the obfuscation or misrepresentation of the linkages that constitute innovation, that make up the entire process from idea to product.
Our own examples of Britain versus Germany in the earlier part of this century, or Japan against an established technological power in the contemporary period emphasize the need to develop a capacity to experiment with different organizational forms sometimes called "pure science" or "applied science" or "technology". We have noted that for the last hundred years or so, the Indian approach to face this threat of bloodless conquest has been quite deplorable, in that it has been stuck in organizational forms without being able to change them.
We now hear of talks ranging from "import substitution" "technological self-reliance" to a dream of unrestricted pursuit of excellence in limited areas' such as superconductivity. In the meanwhile, concepts of "mission-oriented" research and "technological missions" have also been floated around. All this is certainly an indication of developing some sort of maturity from the kind of naivete that characterised research in India in the fifties. Perhaps this is all that can be said of them. As we have pointed out, the task is one of coping with continuing conquest, of fighting a game of endless classifications that leads to proliferation of organizational forms. There is every need to study the nature of technological enterprises as war, in the sense we have talked about now, in the contexts of various Western countries. Equally important, rather than worry about sectoral concerns such as "self-reliance in electronics", attempts could be made to match "modern research" with traditional Indian forms of learning of crafts, to offer possibilities of new linkages. One hopes mat this aspect of the mobilization character of research, than the philistine "international", "pure knowledge" character will start receiving emphasis in the year of the 100th Anniversary of Jawahar-lal Nehru.
(1) Britain's supremacy in harnessing steam power for production was seen as a dimension of its political supremacy by Sadi Carnot, whose investigation on "the motive power of fire" was prompted by this perception. It is believed beyond doubt now that Carnofs research led to the formulation of the Second law of thermodynamics, enshrined as a "fundamental" law (See W. Clerk, Energy for Survival, New York, 1973 for details).
2) That the innovative power of German chemists at BASF or Hoechst or Bayer was as much due to the particular kind of organizational scheme adopted must have been evident to the other powers, notably Britain and the USA. To minimize competition and duplication in research, three leading chemical firms in Germany, including BASF and Hoechst came together to form the formidable Innergemeinschaft Farben (IG Farben), anticipating the "cartelization" of chemical industries into IO in Britain or du Font in the USA. In recent literature, IG Farben has often been charged with supply of "unusual" chemicals for mass extermination in Auschwitz and Treblinka. Alter the defeat of Germany, the allied powers dissolved IG Farben into various constituent units.
(3) Bruno Later in his writings (Laboratory Life, 1979; Science in Action, 1987, Pasteurization of France, 1988) has sought to bring out the "micro political" nature of scientific research. Most notable is his recent work on Pasteur (1988, see above) wherein he contends that the success of Pasteur's work lay in his capacity to be a "spokesman" for the mysterious microbes in the same way as a politician claims himself "spokesman ship" for the "masses", who are another mysterious force. Politics, Labor claims, is the art of taming and arraying of forces and science does so with "natural forces".
(4) Shiv Viswanathan (op.cit) has produced a rather elegant sociological study of NPL as an archetypal industrial research laboratory in India. His work is first of its kind, at least in India, but suffers some hat from an uncritical adoption of categories such as "industrial" or "applied" research and those of "invention", "innovation" and "development".


Island nations could be forgiven for feeling slighted. They already face the brunt of the effects of climate change: Rising sea levels, dwindling resources, threats to infrastructure and economic foundations. But to add insult to injury, thousands of these islands are too small to be accounted for in the global climate models (GCMs) used by scientists to measure the effects of climate change.
Read more at EurekAlert
Watch a night time temporal loop of India from the Earth Observation Group. Act Now


- Whales & Dolphins
- Out Island Eco Tours
- Kiteboarding instructions
- The Basics
- Getting Wet
- Water Play
- Kite RENTAL Equipment- Taxable
- DOWNWINDERS / SAFARIS
- Wind & Conditions
- Wind Chart
- WHAT TO BRING & WEAR
- Instructors, Guides and Team Riders
- Stand Up Paddle Boarding
- Private Charters
The Humpbacks follow a timeless track between their five primary summer feeding grounds in the North: the Gulf of Maine, Eastern Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Norway and their two breeding grounds in the South; Cape Verde Islands and the Caribbean (primarily, Turks and Caicos Islands, North East Dominican Republic and North West Puerto Rico).
As the bounty of food, essentially krill, plankton and small fish diminishes (whales can eat up to 3000 lbs. per day) throughout the summer, whales will leave in the Fall having built up significant fat reserves (blubber) and swim toward their tropical winter calving grounds covering distances of up to 3000+ miles in as little as under 40 days! Humpbacks then congregate and engage in mating activities. Surface displays of breaching, tail lobbing, fin and chin slapping are often coupled with complex male songs that can last up to 20-40 minutes or more and are often superb soundtracks on our scuba and snorkel trips.
Calves are born here after 11 months of gestation or on route and weigh as much as 2000 lbs., small in comparison to their mother’s 25-40 tons! Females are larger than males and while none of the whales eat in the South, calves grow rapidly from their mothers’ highly nutritious milk (so viscous, it binds together in the water). Weaning occurs 6-10 months later with breeding every two/three years.
Mothers are highly protective of their calves, forming close bonds and often provide us with some of our best encounters as they become more relaxed during the season.


In-Scope Electrical Equipment
The EESS aims to increase consumer safety through regulating household electrical equipment. The term “in-scope” is defined in law and means electrical equipment that is:
- rated at a voltage greater than 50 V AC RMS or 120V ripple-free DC; and
- rated at a voltage less than 1000V AC RMS or 1500V ripple-free DC; and
- is designed or marketed as suitable for household, personal or similar use.
It is immaterial whether the equipment is designed or marketed for commercial or industrial purposes as well as for household use. If Regulatory Authorities (RAs) claim that an item is in-scope , it will be taken that way unless the Responsible Supplier can prove otherwise.
Risk Levels – Definition
A feature of the EESS is the provision of a more proactive risk based approach to regulating electrical equipment. The EESS provides for in-scope electrical equipment to be classified into three levels:
Risk Level 1 – electrical equipment that is classified low risk or unknown risk and is any in-scope electrical equipment not classified as Risk Level 3 or Risk Level 2.
There are proportionate requirements for each risk level, depending upon the potential risk currently identified for the item. The EESS creates a process for Regulatory Authorities to add new equipment types to the list of in-scope equipment more quickly, move equipment types up and down risk levels as necessary, and applies a sliding scale of regulatory requirements depending on Risk Level classification.


6 tips for debriefing EMS simulation scenarios
You can use the Gather-Analyze-Summarize model to facilitate scenario debriefing and maximize learning
The growth of simulation in EMS education has brought high fidelity mannequins, realistic patient care environments and even virtual reality into classrooms. But whether sophisticated equipment or peer-actors and task trainers are used, most learning from simulation takes place during debriefing after the scenario [1,2].
Debriefing should be a discussion about performance in a scenario, not a one-sided critique about what was good and bad. The Gather-Analyze-Summarize debriefing model is a tool to guide scenario participants to reflect on what they did, why they did it and how the experience can be applied in the future. The GAS model can be applied to any scenario, scaled to any group size, and can be used during or after scenarios .
Here are six tips for using the GAS model for debriefing:
1. Plan the debriefing when planning the scenario
Planning what to discuss during debriefing is just as important as planning the events during the scenario. When developing scenarios, start by identifying learning objectives and determine what acceptable performance is. Plan to take notes, use a checklist or review video to track critical points and actions in the scenario, and to focus on performance gaps during debriefing.
Decide whether the participants will be prompted during the scenario if a mistake is made or critical intervention is not performed, or if the scenario will continue regardless of what takes place until a predetermined stop point. Pausing scenarios for reflection and feedback is appropriate for formative scenarios, which are designed for teaching a new module or protocol to correct mistakes and prevent development of bad habits .
Summative scenarios, where participants are assessed on how well they can apply concepts and work through problems, are best run without interruption. The simulated patient would decline if critical interventions are not performed or if an error is made, and debriefing about the events only takes place after the scenario is complete.
Budgeting time for debriefing is another critical part of scenario planning. Depending on the complexity of the scenario, debriefing may take longer than running the scenario . In the GAS model, plan to spend 25 percent of debriefing time in the gather phase, 50 percent for analysis and 25 percent in the summarize phase .
2. Set up a safe container with a pre-brief
Simulation is intimidating for participants who may feel uncomfortable performing in front of their peers, lack confidence in the topic area or fear harsh criticism [2,4]. Scenario participants who feel threatened are also more likely get defensive about their performance during debriefing, but those who feel an alliance with instructor are more likely to share thought processes behind actions and learn more from the experience .
Pre-briefing before the scenario allows facilitators to learn about scenario participants and for the participants to understand expectations. Start by asking participants to share about their experience as an EMS provider or student, their comfort level with the topic area of the scenario, and their experience with simulation in the past.
Set ground rules that create an environment where participants are open to learning, such as:
- The goal of simulation is not perfection, but for participants to be challenged, to make mistakes and to learn from mistakes
- Whether feedback will be given during the scenario or only afterwards
- Whether any outside resources are available during the scenario, such as calling medical control
- Whether or not the scenario will be recorded and who will see the recording
- With whom the scenario outcome will be shared
- Obtaining agreement that participants will not gossip about what happened [2, 4]
Think of facilitating a scenario as coaching a sports team during a scrimmage game. You want team members to push past their comfort levels, experiment and take risks in a setting that won’t harm patients, and the goal is for everyone to perform better on their next call. Participants will take more away from the scenario if that is communicated before you begin.
3. Gather Phase: Encourage participants to share observations and feelings
Simulation can be an emotional experience, and participants need an opportunity to release those emotions before they are able to learn from events in the scenario .
Start debriefing by asking participants about their initial reaction to the scenario, then guide the discussion by pointing out behaviors you observed at key points during the scenario, such as “I noticed you raised your voice when you saw that the oxygen was not turned on,” or “I noticed everyone stopped talking when the patient did not respond to naloxone,” followed by “What were you thinking when that happened?” or “Did everyone observe that event?” Use open-ended questions and active listening – ask for clarification, repeat what participants share in your own words and ask participants if they have been in a similar situation in the past .
After emotions have been defused, ask the team leader to review the main points in the case and seek input from team members about what happened. This allows participants with different roles in the scenario to understand the overall goals of the scenario before connecting events to learning objectives .
4. Analysis Phase: learn why events happened before giving feedback
After discussing feelings about what happened in the scenario, guide participants to reflect more deeply about why they acted in the way they did during the scenario, and then give feedback to compare their performance with the standard [1,2].
Facilitators need to understand what participants were thinking when they made decisions in order to give appropriate feedback. Point out observable behaviors, such as, “the patient was found in respiratory arrest and received oxygen via non-rebreather mask. What were you thinking when you chose how to deliver oxygen?”
The participant may have not have recognized that the patient was not breathing, may not have known the correct treatment for a patient in respiratory arrest, or may have misinterpreted something covered in class. Provide feedback connecting the reason for that action to the learning objectives. Point out positive events too, such as, “you promptly started CPR and defibrillated within 30 seconds of the patient losing a pulse.”
Assume that participants are making the best decisions they can based on their knowledge and experience, and ask questions about events out of curiosity, not for interrogation. Do not put scenario participants on the spot and ask them to recall facts or explain diseases, and avoid long lectures about events in the scenario; this ruins any alliance between facilitators and participants.
Limit the analysis to three to five objectives to discuss, even if there were more issues. Covering more points comes with a risk that participants will not remember any.
5. Summarize Phase: have participants share what they took away from the scenario
Wrap up the debrief by reviewing the lessons covered in the scenario and ask participants how they will apply the experience to their practice. Ask about what they felt went well during the scenario and what they would change in the future. Verify that participants understand the intended objectives, and ask participants if they have any final questions or comments .
6. Microdebrief during formative scenarios
The GAS model can be also be applied during formative scenarios. Direct the participant’s attention to that item, such as, “I noticed that no one is doing chest compressions right now,” or “I noticed that no one applied a capnography circuit to the ET tube.”
Then ask what participants are thinking or feeling at the moment before the pause (gather), guide them to figure out what needs to be done to improve the performance (analyze), and ask them how that will change during the rest of the scenario (summarize). Focus on a specific action and resume the scenario as quickly as possible.
Effective debriefing is essential for sustained learning from simulation scenarios. The Gather-Analyze-Summarize method is a valuable tool for guided reflection and feedback about events during simulation, and how that experience can be applied to future practice .
1. Phrapus PE, O’Donnell JM. Debriefing using a structured and supportive approach. In Levine, AI et al (eds.),The Comprehensive Textbook of Healthcare Simulation. 2013; New York: Springer Science + Business Media. DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-5993-4_6
2. Szyld D, Rudolph JW. Debriefing with good judgment. In Levine, AI et al (eds.),The Comprehensive Textbook of Healthcare Simulation. 2013; New York: Springer Science + Business Media. DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-5993-4_6
3. Eppich WJ, Hunt E, Duval-Arnould JM, Siddall VJ, Cheng A. Structuring feedback and debriefing to achieve mastery learning goals. Academic Medicine. 2015;90, 1501-1508. doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000000934
4. Rudolph J, Roemer D, Simon R. Establishing a safe container for learning in simulation: The role of presimulation briefing. Simulation in Healthcare. 2014; 9:339 - 349.


Managing fire in the middle ages:
With timber-framed houses, roofed by thatch, lit by candles, and heated by open fires, the risk of a house-fire was an ever-present threat in medieval and Tudor towns.
Prior to the 17th century, the only means of fighting fires were
- dowsing the fire by throwing water on the fire from leather buckets filled with water,
- using a brass "squirt" gun full of water (like an over -sized syringe),
- pulling the thatch off the roof with long fire-hooks,
- pulling down a burning house, or
- blowing up neighbouring buildings to prevent the fire spreading.
The Great Fire of Hungerford:
In 1566 Hungerford suffered a serious fire. "Hungerforda igne sed immodico pene perusta est" (Hungerford was almost completely destroyed by a vast conflagration).
The fire started near the Queen's Mill at the northern end of the town (now Mill Hatch, Bridge Street), and it rapidly spread south along the main street as far as the market place destroying many properties. For much more about this disaster, see Great Fire of Hungerford.
- Drawing of c1598 showing fire-hooks and buckets in use
- Fire hooks
- Central portion of Francis' 1794 map showing the pond in the middle of the main street
- Hungerford's two 18th century manual fire pumps. The pump on the right is now restored, and stands in the entrance to the Town Hall and Corn Exchange.
(This picture was developed from a glass plate found after Albert Parsons closed his photographic shop in the High Street.)
- Hungerford's two 18th century manual fire pumps. The pump on the right is now restored, and stands in the entrance to the Town Hall and Corn Exchange. On the photo one can see it is marked as "Repaired 1831 by Geo Earle, Constable".
- This 18th century manual fire pump is thought to be the one bought in 1737 (ie Hungerford's 2nd fire engine), and is probably by Newsham (see other examples below), or Bristows.
- An early Newsham at Bray
- Another Newsham manual fire-pump said to date from 1737. (At Bray) Note the pivoting front wheels. There are many similarities between this and one of Hungerford's pumps.
- Hungerford's remaining 18th century fire pump, standing in the entrance hall of the Town Hall. This was probaly Hungerford's 3rd fire engine. It is not yet known by whom or when it was made, but it might have been made by Adam Nuttall or Samuel Phillips. (See text for more information)
- This Croft Castle manual fire pump is very similar to the restored Hungerford one. The pumping handles are placed at the ends. The mechanism is simpler and less efficient than that used by Newsham. This is painted with a date 1843 (but this is perhaps the date of restoration or acquisition). [Kindly provided by Maureen Shettle]
- Athelstan Museum's fire pump - remarkably similar to Hungerford's restored pump. It was built by Samuel Phillips for Malmesbury, and dates from 1760 or later. Adam Nuttall pumps were similar, but started in 1751. Adam Nuttall's wife was probably related to John Fowke, an earlier manufacturer of fire pumps.
- Looking inside the Hungerford fire engine
- Hungerford's remaining 18th century fire pump, with the two panels removed for better investigation, 20 Feb 2013. (See text for more information)
The Great Fire of London in 1666 devastated one third of the city, and reduced to ruins over 13,000 houses and 89 churches. It was soon realised that there was a need for the provision of compensation on a greater scale than simply a collection at the local church.
The earliest fire insurance was provided by The Phenix fire office in 1680, but it ceased business in 1712. Other insurance companies developed, and it was necessary to identify those properties for which premiums had been paid. The fire mark was created to mark these buildings with the identification of the insurance company. The first examples were made of lead, and some hundred years later followed by copper, tinned iron, zinc, brass and ceramic. This practice carried on for two hundred and fifty years.
There were approximately two hundred insurance companies that issued over nine hundred fire marks, some only one and others as many as forty-odd different variants. There are many fire-marks in Hungerford, two from the Sun Fire Office.
See also: Fire-marks, for much more about the many fire-marks still displayed on Hungerford buildings.
The development of fire pumps:
Fire buckets and fire-hooks continued to be used through the the 16th century, but following the Great Fire of London in 1666, serious efforts were made to improve the design and efficiency of water pumps to fight fires. There was a surge in the development of fire pumps.
Shortly after, in 1708, the House of Commons passed the Parish Pump Act ordering that every parish (in London) must keep a water pump and designated men to help extinguish fires.
Several people began to design fire pumps.
In 1712 the English inventor Richard Newsham (originally a pearl button-maker in London) came up with an effective design for a fire-fighting water pump.
Early Newsham fire pumps were little more than hand-powered pumps on wheels, but it is estimated that they could squirt 400 litres of water per minute, at flames over 40 metres away. They were a great advance on leather buckets!
His pump consisted of an open trough on wheels. The trough was filled with water using buckets. Inside the trough were two pistons attached to two large handles. Pumping the handles up and down squeezed the pistons and pushed the water out of a swivelling copper spout on top of the pump. The key element of Newsham's design was a 'gimble' - a chain mechanism that allowed the pistons to remain vertical while pumping. This made the pump far more powerful than other designs.
In 1720 a manual pump was constructed by Richard Newsham that could pump 110 gallons per minute in a continuous stream up to 40 yards. This formed the basis for pump design for many years to come.
In 1725 and 1735 he took out patents for improved fire engines.
Hungerford's first fire-pump:
Hungerford was very early in obtaining a fire pump.
The first mention of a fire pump to help extinguish fires was in the Constable's Accounts of 1702, which record that £17 was paid for a "dobell fared engen for the tound yous". This first fire pump was obtained six years before the 1708 Parish Pump Act.
It seems that this 1702 pump has not survived. It is not the restored pump now standing in the entrance lobby of the Town Hall.
There are many more references to the fire pump and the ongoing work maintaining it, in the Constables Accounts.
Follow this for much more on 18th century fire pumps.
The Town Pond:
Hungerford High Street runs uphill from the river at its north end, and in order to make the task of fire-fighting easier, a town pond was made about two-thirds of the way up the High Street.
It is described as having rails around it and some lime trees were planted in 1718, but as they failed to thrive they were replaced by firs. There are many references to its repair and maintenance in the Constables' Accounts. The pond was eventually filled up in 1805. Follow this link for much more on the town pond.
Hungerford's second and third manual fire-pumps:
We know (from The Sun Fire Assurance Records kindly sent by Maureen Shettle in Jan 2013) that a new fire pump was purchased in Hungerford in 1737.
- On 6 May 1737 Mr Willis, thought to be the local agent for the Sun Fire Insurance Company working out of Andover, applied on behalf of the town to the Sun Country Committee for an "Allowance towards a New Engine for the Town of Hungerford, the same is referr'd to the consideration of the Committee of Management. [Sun Country Committee Ms 11935/2]".
- On 12 May 1737 the Sun Committee of Management agreed "That thre Guineas be given to the Town of Hungerford towards the expence of an Engine.". [Sun Committee of Management Ms 11932/3]
The Constable's Accounts of early 1739 record that Mr Thomas Liddiard was paid £12 2s 4d "the remainder of the money due to him from the Borough for a Fire Engine".
The question is... "is the fire pump standing in the entrance to the Corn Exchange and Town Hall this second pump from 1737?"
Much research was carried out in 2012-2013:
- The restored fire pump is very similar to the one at Bray (see Photo Gallery), which is said to be a Newsham pump dating from 1737.
- It is also similar to the Samuel Phillips pumps made for Malmesbury (and on display in the Athelstan Museum, see Photo Gallery), but Samuel Phillips, of New Surrey Street, Blackfriars, London, did not start making fire engines until 1760.
- Adam Nuttall, who made pumps very similar to Phillips pumps, started his business in 1751. Phillips and Nuttall pumps were very similar, and often can only be distinguished by a makers plaque.
In an attempt to verify the manufacturer of the surviving Hungerford pump, the Constable Greg Furr and Hugh Pihlens removed the two panels in the pump on 20 Feb 2013. Unfortunately, there is no surviving evidence of a makers plaque or inscription. Maureen Shettle also visited to examine the pump. She felt that the surviving Hungerford fire pump was by Adam Nuttall or Samuel Phillips, and so it must date from later than 1737 (as these manufacturers did not start until 1751 and 1760).
The 1737-39 engine was probably the Newsham design discussed above, and was Hungerford's second fire pump.
The surviving pump may have been Hungerford's third fire pump, and probably dates from later in the 18th century.
It remains a mystery to be solved!
The Hungerford fire pump was found in very poor condition in a shed at the back of the Corn Exchange in 1953. For many years it was used on special festive occasions such as when the local firemen "blacked up" their faces to take part in Pewsey Carnival as "The Dark Town Fire Brigade"!
In Oct 1977 it was photographed by the Newbury Weekly News after its restoration.
It was beautifully restored in 1998 by Robin Tubb.
For more on early fire pumps see 18th century fire pumps.
Further Sun Fire Insurance records:
24 Aug 1758: To Mr Lucas of Hungerford £5.5.0 to distribute amongst the People who assisted in extinguishing the Fire at Hayward Farm. [Sun Committee of Management Ms 11932/6]
19 Oct 1769: That two dozen of Buckets be given to the Town of Hungerford in the County of Berks. [Sun Committee of Management Ms 11932/8]
30 Sep 1784: To William Budd, Agent at Newbury £10.3s.6d for Expences attending the late fire at Hungerford New Town. [Sun Committee of Management Ms 11932/13]
Significant fires in Hungerford during 19th century:
The Hungerford manual fire-pump was used for a number of important local fires, including:
- 1867 The railway station up-line buildings were destroyed by fire, later to be replaced by new stone buildings.
- 1867 At Wooldridge's builders yard on the canal wharf, the carpenters' shop was destroyed. At the time, they were busy making the pews for the newly built St Saviour's Church in Eddington. All the pews were destroyed.
- 1868 The was a big fire at the farm in Church Street (now the site of St Lawrence Square).
- 1875 On Tuesday 14 June 1875 there was a major fire in Eddington. Seven cottages were destroyed - and only one was insured.
However, contemporary reports describe the fire engine, known locally as the "Spitter", as inadequate.
By the 1870s, the town's manual fire pump had given sterling service to the town, but there were increasingly frequent complaints about the inadequacy of the machine. The town was soon to obtain a spanking new fire pump. See Fire Service 1890-1910.
- Parish Magazines, esp Jul 1875, Jan 1893.


Of the Influence and Authority of the general Rules of Morality, and that they are justly regarded as the Laws of the Deity
The regard to those general rules of conduct, is what is properly called a sense of duty, a principle of the greatest consequence in human life, and the only principle by which the bulk of mankind are capable of directing their actions. Many men behave very decently, and through the whole of their lives avoid any considerable degree of blame, who yet, perhaps, never felt the sentiment upon the propriety of which we found our approbation of their conduct, but acted merely from a regard to what they saw were the established rules of behaviour. The man who has received great benefits from another person, may, by the natural coldness of his temper, feel but a very small degree of the sentiment of gratitude. If he has been virtuously educated, however, he will often have been made to observe how odious those actions appear which denote a want of this sentiment, and how amiable the contrary. Though his heart therefore is not warmed with any grateful affection, he will strive to act as if it was, and will endeavour to pay all those regards and attentions to his patron which the liveliest gratitude could suggest. He will visit him regularly. he will behave to him respectfully; he will never talk of him but with expressions of the highest esteem, and of the many obligations which he owes to him. And what is more, he will carefully embrace every opportunity of making a proper return for past services. He may do all this too without any hypocrisy or blamable dissimulation, without any selfish intention of obtaining new favours, and without any design of imposing either upon his benefactor or the public. The motive of his actions may be no other than a reverence for the established rule of duty, a serious and earnest desire of acting, in every respect, according to the law of gratitude. A wife, in the same manner, may sometimes not feel that tender regard for her husband which is suitable to the relation that subsists between them. If she has been virtuously educated, however, she will endeavour to act as if she felt it, to be careful, officious, faithful, and sincere, and to be deficient in none of those attentions which the sentiment of conjugal affection could have prompted her to perform. Such a friend, and such a wife, are neither of them, undoubtedly, the very best of their kinds; and though both of them may have the most serious and earnest desire to fulfil every part of their duty, yet they will fail in many nice and delicate regards, they will miss many opportunities of obliging, which they could never have overlooked if they had possessed the sentiment that is proper to their situation. Though not the very first of their kinds, however, they are perhaps the second; and if the regard to the general rules of conduct has been very strongly impressed upon them, neither of them will fail in any very essential part of their duty. None but those of the happiest mould are capable of suiting, with exact justness, their sentiments and behaviour to the smallest difference of situation, and of acting upon all occasions with the most delicate and accurate propriety. The coarse clay of which the bulk of mankind are formed, cannot be wrought up to such perfection. There is scarce any man, however, who by discipline, education, and example, may not be so impressed with a regard to general rules, as to act upon almost every occasion with tolerable decency, and through the whole of his life to avoid any considerable degree of blame.
Without this sacred regard to general rules, there is no man whose conduct can be much depended upon. It is this which constitutes the most essential difference between a man of principle and honour and a worthless fellow. The one adheres, on all occasions, steadily and resolutely to his maxims, and preserves through the whole of his life one even tenour of conduct. The other, acts variously and accidentally, as humour, inclination, or interest chance to be uppermost. Nay, such are the inequalities of humour to which all men are subject, that without this principle, the man who, in all his cool hours, had the most delicate sensibility to the propriety of conduct, might often be led to act absurdly upon the most frivolous occasions, and when it was scarce possible to assign any serious motive for his behaving in this manner. Your friend makes you a visit when you happen to be in a humour which makes it disagreeable to receive him: in your present mood his civility is very apt to appear an impertinent intrusion; and if you were to give way to the views of things which at this time occur, though civil in your temper, you would behave to him with coldness and contempt. What renders you incapable of such a rudeness, is nothing but a regard to the general rules of civility and hospitality, which prohibit it. That habitual reverence which your former experience has taught you for these, enables you to act, upon all such occasions, with nearly equal propriety, and hinders those inequalities of temper, to which all men are subject, from influencing your conduct in any very sensible degree. But if without regard to these general rules, even the duties of politeness, which are so easily observed, and which one can scarce have any serious motive to violate, would yet be so frequently violated, what would become of the duties of justice, of truth, of chastity, of fidelity, which it is often so difficult to observe, and which there may be so many strong motives to violate? But upon the tolerable observance of these duties, depends the very existence of human society, which would crumble into nothing if mankind were not generally impressed with a reverence for those important rules of conduct.
This reverence is still further enhanced by an opinion which is first impressed by nature, and afterwards confirmed by reasoning and philosophy, that those important rules of morality are the commands and laws of the Deity, who will finally reward the obedient, and punish the transgressors of their duty.
This opinion or apprehension, I say, seems first to be impressed by nature. Men are naturally led to ascribe to those mysterious beings, whatever they are, which happen, in any country, to be the objects of religious fear, all their own sentiments and passions. They have no other, they can conceive no other to ascribe to them. Those unknown intelligences which they imagine but see not, must necessarily be formed with some sort of resemblance to those intelligences of which they have experience. During the ignorance and darkness of pagan superstition, mankind seem to have formed the ideas of their divinities with so little delicacy, that they ascribed to them, indiscriminately, all the passions of human nature, those not excepted which do the least honour to our species, such as lust, hunger, avarice, envy, revenge. They could not fail, therefore, to ascribe to those beings, for the excellence of whose nature they still conceived the highest admiration, those sentiments and qualities which are the great ornaments of humanity, and which seem to raise it to a resemblance of divine perfection, the love of virtue and beneficence, and the abhorrence of vice and injustice. The man who was injured, called upon Jupiter to be witness of the wrong that was done to him, and could not doubt, but that divine being would behold it with the same indignation which would animate the meanest of mankind, who looked on when injustice was committed. The man who did the injury, felt himself to be the proper object of the detestation and resentment of mankind; and his natural fears led him to impute the same sentiments to those awful beings, whose presence he could not avoid, and whose power he could not resist. These natural hopes and fears, and suspicions, were propagated by sympathy, and confirmed by education; and the gods were universally represented and believed to be the rewarders of humanity and mercy, and the avengers of perfidy and injustice. And thus religion, even in its rudest form, gave a sanction to the rules of morality, long before the age of artificial reasoning and philosophy. That the terrors of religion should thus enforce the natural sense of duty, was of too much importance to the happiness of mankind, for nature to leave it dependent upon the slowness and uncertainty of philosophical researches.
These researches, however, when they came to take place, confirmed those original anticipations of nature. Upon whatever we suppose that our moral faculties are founded, whether upon a certain modification of reason, upon an original instinct, called a moral sense, or upon some other principle of our nature, it cannot be doubted, that they were given us for the direction of our conduct in this life. They carry along with them the most evident badges of this authority, which denote that they were set up within us to be the supreme arbiters of all our actions, to superintend all our senses, passions, and appetites, and to judge how far each of them was either to be indulged or restrained. Our moral faculties are by no means, as some have pretended, upon a level in this respect with the other faculties and appetites of our nature, endowed with no more right to restrain these last, than these last are to restrain them. No other faculty or principle of action judges of any other. Love does not judge of resentment, nor resentment of love. Those two passions may be opposite to one another, but cannot, with any propriety, be said to approve or disapprove of one another. But it is the peculiar office of those faculties now under our consideration to judge, to bestow censure or applause upon all the other principles of our nature. They may be considered as a sort of senses of which those principles are the objects. Every sense is supreme over its own objects. There is no appeal from the eye with regard to the beauty of colours, nor from the ear with regard to the harmony of sounds, nor from the taste with regard to the agreeableness of flavours. Each of those senses judges in the last resort of its own objects. Whatever gratifies the taste is sweet, whatever pleases the eye is beautiful, whatever soothes the ear is harmonious. The very essence of each of those qualities consists in its being fitted to please the sense to which it is addressed. It belongs to our moral faculties, in the same manner to determine when the ear ought to be soothed, when the eye ought to be indulged, when the taste ought to be gratified, when and how far every other principle of our nature ought either to be indulged or restrained. What is agreeable to our moral faculties, is fit, and right, and proper to be done; the contrary wrong, unfit, and improper. The sentiments which they approve of, are graceful and becoming: the contrary, ungraceful and unbecoming. The very words, right, wrong, fit, improper, graceful, unbecoming, mean only what pleases or displeases those faculties.
Since these, therefore, were plainly intended to be the governing principles of human nature, the rules which they prescribe are to be regarded as the commands and laws of the Deity, promulgated by those vice-gerents which he has thus set up within us. All general rules are commonly denominated laws: thus the general rules which bodies observe in the communication of motion, are called the laws of motion. But those general rules which our moral faculties observe in approving or condemning whatever sentiment or action is subjected to their examination, may much more justly be denominated such. They have a much greater resemblance to what are properly called laws, those general rules which the sovereign lays down to direct the conduct of his subjects. Like them they are rules to direct the free actions of men: they are prescribed most surely by a lawful superior, and are attended too with the sanction of rewards and punishments. Those vice-gerents of God within us, never fail to punish the violation of them, by the torments of inward shame, and self-condemnation; and on the contrary, always reward obedience with tranquillity of mind, with contentment, and self-satisfaction.
There are innumerable other considerations which serve to confirm the same conclusion. The happiness of mankind, as well as of all other rational creatures, seems to have been the original purpose intended by the Author of nature, when he brought them into existence. No other end seems worthy of that supreme wisdom and divine benignity which we necessarily ascribe to him; and this opinion, which we are led to by the abstract consideration of his infinite perfections, is still more confirmed by the examination of the works of nature, which seem all intended to promote happiness, and to guard against misery. But by acting according to the dictates of our moral faculties, we necessarily pursue the most effectual means for promoting the happiness of mankind, and may therefore be said, in some sense, to co-operate with the Deity, and to advance as far as in our power the plan of Providence. By acting other ways, on the contrary, we seem to obstruct, in some measure, the scheme which the Author of nature has established for the happiness and perfection of the world, and to declare ourselves, if I may say so, in some measure the enemies of God. Hence we are naturally encouraged to hope for his extraordinary favour and reward in the one case, and to dread his vengeance and punishment in the other.
There are besides many other reasons, and many other natural principles, which all tend to confirm and inculcate the same salutary doctrine. If we consider the general rules by which external prosperity and adversity are commonly distributed in this life, we shall find, that notwithstanding the disorder in which all things appear to be in this world, yet even here every virtue naturally meets with its proper reward, with the recompense which is most fit to encourage and promote it; and this too so surely, that it requires a very extraordinary concurrence of circumstances entirely to disappoint it. What is the reward most proper for encouraging industry, prudence, and circumspection? Success in every sort of business. And is it possible that in the whole of life these virtues should fail of attaining it? Wealth and external honours are their proper recompense, and the recompense which they can seldom fail of acquiring. What reward is most proper for promoting the practice of truth, justice, and humanity? The confidence, the esteem, and love of those we live with. Humanity does not desire to be great, but to be beloved. It is not in being rich that truth and justice would rejoice, but in being trusted and believed, recompenses which those virtues must almost always acquire. By some very extraordinary and unlucky circumstance, a good man may come to be suspected of a crime of which he was altogether incapable, and upon that account be most unjustly exposed for the remaining part of his life to the horror and aversion of mankind. By an accident of this kind he may be said to lose his all, notwithstanding his integrity and justice; in the same manner as a cautious man, notwithstanding his utmost circumspection, may be ruined by an earthquake or an inundation. Accidents of the first kind, however, are perhaps still more rare, and still more contrary to the common course of things than those of the second; and it still remains true, that the practice of truth, justice, and humanity is a certain and almost infallible method of acquiring what those virtues chiefly aim at, the confidence and love of those we live with. A person may be very easily misrepresented with regard to a particular action; but it is scarce possible that he should be so with regard to the general tenor of his conduct. An innocent man may be believed to have done wrong: this, however, will rarely happen. On the contrary, the established opinion of the innocence of his manners, will often lead us to absolve him where he has really been in the fault, notwithstanding very strong presumptions. A knave, in the same manner, may escape censure, or even meet with applause, for a particular knavery, in which his conduct is not understood. But no man was ever habitually such, without being almost universally known to be so, and without being even frequently suspected of guilt, when he was in reality perfectly innocent. And so far as vice and virtue can be either punished or rewarded by the sentiments and opinions of mankind, they both, according to the common course of things, meet even here with something more than exact and impartial justice.
But though the general rules by which prosperity and adversity are commonly distributed, when considered in this cool and philosophical light, appear to be perfectly suited to the situation of mankind in this life, yet they are by no means suited to some of our natural sentiments. Our natural love and admiration for some virtues is such, that we should wish to bestow on them all sorts of honours and rewards, even those which we must acknowledge to be the proper recompenses of other qualities, with which those virtues are not always accompanied. Our detestation, on the contrary, for some vices is such, that we should desire to heap upon them every sort of disgrace and disaster, those not excepted which are the natural consequences of very different qualities. Magnanimity, generosity, and justice, command so high a degree of admiration, that we desire to see them crowned with wealth, and power, and honours of every kind, the natural consequences of prudence, industry, and application; qualities with which those virtues are not inseparably connected. Fraud, falsehood, brutality, and violence, on the other hand, excite in every human breast such scorn and abhorrence, that our indignation rouses to see them possess those advantages which they may in some sense be said to have merited, by the diligence and industry with which they are sometimes attended. The industrious knave cultivates the soil; the indolent good man leaves it uncultivated. Who ought to reap the harvest? who starve, and who live in plenty? The natural course of things decides it in favour of the knave: the natural sentiments of mankind in favour of the man of virtue. Man judges, that the good qualities of the one are greatly over-recompensed by those advantages which they tend to procure him, and that the omissions of the other are by far too severely punished by the distress which they naturally bring upon him; and human laws, the consequences of human sentiments, forfeit the life and the estate of the industrious and cautious traitor, and reward, by extraordinary recompenses, the fidelity and public spirit of the improvident and careless good citizen. Thus man is by Nature directed to correct, in some measure, that distribution of things which she herself would otherwise have made. The rules which for this purpose she prompts him to follow, are different from those which she herself observes. She bestows upon every virtue, and upon every vice, that precise reward or punishment which is best fitted to encourage the one, or to restrain the other. She is directed by this sole consideration, and pays little regard to the different degrees of merit and demerit, which they may seem to possess in the sentiments and passions of man. Man, on the contrary, pays regard to this only, and would endeavour to render the state of every virtue precisely proportioned to that degree of love and esteem, and of every vice to that degree of contempt and abhorrence, which he himself conceives for it. The rules which she follows are fit for her, those which he follows for him: but both are calculated to promote the same great end, the order of the world, and the perfection and happiness of human nature.
But though man is thus employed to alter that distribution of things which natural events would make, if left to themselves; though, like the gods of the poets, he is perpetually interposing, by extraordinary means, in favour of virtue, and in opposition to vice, and, like them, endeavours to turn away the arrow that is aimed at the head of the righteous, but to accelerate the sword of destruction that is lifted up against the wicked; yet he is by no means able to render the fortune of either quite suitable to his own sentiments and wishes. The natural course of things cannot be entirely controlled by the impotent endeavours of man: the current is too rapid and too strong for him to stop it; and though the rules which direct it appear to have been established for the wisest and best purposes, they sometimes produce effects which shock all his natural sentiments. That a great combination of men should prevail over a small one; that those who engage in an enterprise with forethought and all necessary preparation, should prevail over such as oppose them without any; and that every end should be acquired by those means only which Nature has established for acquiring it, seems to be a rule not only necessary and unavoidable in itself, but even useful and proper for rousing the industry and attention of mankind. Yet, when, in consequence of this rule, violence and artifice prevail over sincerity and justice, what indignation does it not excite in the breast of every human spectator? What sorrow and compassion for the sufferings of the innocent, and what furious resentment against the success of the oppressor? We are equally grieved and enraged at the wrong that is done, but often find it altogether out of our power to redress it. When we thus despair of finding any force upon earth which can check the triumph of injustice, we naturally appeal to heaven, and hope, that the great Author of our nature will himself execute hereafter, what all the principles which he has given us for the direction of our conduct, prompt us to attempt even here; that he will complete the plan which he himself has thus taught us to begin; and will, in a life to come, render to every one according to the works which he has performed in this world. And thus we are led to the belief of a future state, not only by the weaknesses, by the hopes and fears of human nature, but by the noblest and best principles which belong to it, by the love of virtue, and by the abhorrence of vice and injustice.
‘Does it suit the greatness of God,’ says the eloquent and philosophical bishop of Clermont, with that passionate and exaggerating force of imagination, which seems sometimes to exceed the bounds of decorum; ‘does it suit the greatness of God, to leave the world which he has created in so universal a disorder? To see the wicked prevail almost always over the just; the innocent dethroned by the usurper; the father become the victim of the ambition of an unnatural son; the husband expiring under the stroke of a barbarous and faithless wife? From the height of his greatness ought God to behold those melancholy events as a fantastical amusement, without taking any share in them? Because he is great, should he be weak, or unjust, or barbarous? Because men are little, ought they to be allowed either to be dissolute without punishment, or virtuous without reward? O God! if this is the character of your Supreme Being; if it is you whom we adore under such dreadful ideas; I can no longer acknowledge you for my father, for my protector, for the comforter of my sorrow, the support of my weakness, the rewarder of my fidelity. You would then be no more than an indolent and fantastical tyrant, who sacrifices mankind to his insolent vanity, and who has brought them out of nothing, only to make them serve for the sport of his leisure and of his caprice.’
When the general rules which determine the merit and demerit of actions, come thus to be regarded as the laws of an All-powerful Being, who watches over our conduct, and who, in a life to come, will reward the observance, and punish the breach of them; they necessarily acquire a new sacredness from this consideration. That our regard to the will of the Deity ought to be the supreme rule of our conduct, can be doubted of by nobody who believes his existence. The very thought of disobedience appears to involve in it the most shocking impropriety. How vain, how absurd would it be for man, either to oppose or to neglect the commands that were laid upon him by Infinite Wisdom, and Infinite Power! How unnatural, how impiously ungrateful not to reverence the precepts that were prescribed to him by the infinite goodness of his Creator, even though no punishment was to follow their violation. The sense of propriety too is here well supported by the strongest motives of self-interest. The idea that, however we may escape the observation of man, or be placed above the reach of human punishment, yet we are always acting under the eye, and exposed to the punishment of God, the great avenger of injustice, is a motive capable of restraining the most headstrong passions, with those at least who, by constant reflection, have rendered it familiar to them.
It is in this manner that religion enforces the natural sense of duty: and hence it is, that mankind are generally disposed to place great confidence in the probity of those who seem deeply impressed with religious sentiments. Such persons, they imagine, act under an additional tie, besides those which regulate the conduct of other men. The regard to the propriety of action, as well as to reputation, the regard to the applause of his own breast, as well as to that of others, are motives which they suppose have the same influence over the religious man, as over the man of the world. But the former lies under another restraint, and never acts deliberately but as in the presence of that Great Superior who is finally to recompense him according to his deeds. A greater trust is reposed, upon this account, in the regularity and exactness of his conduct. And wherever the natural principles of religion are not corrupted by the factious and party zeal of some worthless cabal; wherever the first duty which it requires, is to fulfil all the obligations of morality; wherever men are not taught to regard frivolous observances, as more immediate duties of religion, than acts of justice and beneficence; and to imagine, that by sacrifices, and ceremonies, and vain supplications, they can bargain with the Deity for fraud, and perfidy, and violence, the world undoubtedly judges right in this respect, and justly places a double confidence in the rectitude of the religious man’s behaviour.


Fostering Skills for Sustainability – Lessons Learnt from Curriculum Design and Learning Outcomes
Keywords:sustainable development, curriculum design, learning outcomes, sustainability skills, quality education
Sustainability thinking plays a key role in business development and transformative approach for a safe, sustainable and prosperous future. Education is expected to take action to provide meaningful learning opportunities in different settings and contexts to foster critical thinking thereby understanding the importance of sustainable lifestyles, a climate-neutral economy and a fair society.
Given the increased responsibility of higher education providers for preparing students as future responsible change agents, the study analyzed the curriculum design to foster sustainability skills of students in the particular case of the educational project for cooperation in higher education, implemented from 2020 to 2022. A quantitative survey was conducted aiming at assessing the learners' satisfaction and the fulfillment of learning outcomes, drawing up findings and improvement gaps to facilitate further exploitation of results.
The findings suggested the improvements from one session to another and the positive changes induced through the aid of course objectives, specific learning outcomes, and the correlation between sustainability themes, SDGs topics, and subjects taught. These stimulated the acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes toward sustainability as well as hands-on opportunities to change the status quo, to improve teaching and learning, enabling a better alignment of curricula outcomes in the area of business engineering education.
Finally, the authors highlighted the curriculum content and methodological approach may be used and adjusted in different educational settings boosting synergies with other initiatives of a similar nature in other institutional and national contexts.
Keywords: sustainable development, curriculum design, learning outcomes, sustainability skills, quality education
How to Cite
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.


Published in Psychoneuroendocrinology, the researchers found that married individuals had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol than those who never married or were previously married. These findings support the belief that unmarried people face more psychological stress than married individuals. Prolonged stress is associated with increased levels of cortisol which can interfere with the body’s ability to regulate inflammation, which in turn promotes the development and progression of many diseases.
“It’s is exciting to discover a physiological pathway that may explain how relationships influence health and disease,” said Brian Chin, a Ph.D. student in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Department of Psychology.
Read more at Carnegie Mellon University


ASK A QUESTION Encantada de Conocerte
I use Rosetta Stone, and several times, I have run across the phrase "Encantada de Conecerte", or Encantado de conocerte", or "Encantado de Conocerlo." I understand these mean something to the English equivalant of "I'm glad to meet you", or "Nice to meet you." What I can't figure out is why these words are always changing! Sometimes it's "Encantado de conocerte", and sometimes it's "Encantada de Conecerte, and sometimes there's two or three more I run across! I'm guessing this has something to do with the gender, but I'm not sure what. Can anyone help me to understand why these are always changing?
Encantado is serving as an adjective here. It is a shortening of Estoy encontad@ de conocerte.
If you are male (the speaker; not whom is being spoken to)=encontado
if you're female=encontada (you are describing yourself, not the other person).
As Gekkosan points out the te, le, lo, la, las, les, los, os pronouns on the end of conocer are just different ways of saying "you" depending on gender, number, tone and region.
But isn't it just the same in English? Polite greetings are just for courtesy, and can take several different forms:
Pleased to meet you
Pleased to make you acquaintance
Nice to meet you
Delighted! (to meet you / to make your acquaintance)
Charmed (to meeto you)
Encantado/a literally means charmed, so it translates directly as "Charmed to meet you"
If you have been studying for a while you already know the difference between the formal and the informal forms in Spanish (Usted vs. tú), therefore the difference between "conocerte" and "conocerle" should not represent a big mystery.


Dental Sealants – Precautions in Tooth Decay
Worried about your teeth? Concerned about the different procedures? Don’t be afraid!
Dental sealants are a safe procedure to cover up the teeth. To be specific, dental sealants are plastic coatings that are mostly placed on the chewing surface of the permanent back teeth along the molars and premolars, to help protect them from decay.
Why are Dental Sealants Placed on Chewing Surfaces?
The chewing surfaces are the regions like molar and premolar teeth which have grooves that make them vulnerable to tooth decay. This area can be broad, and is difficult to clean. It can also be narrower than a single bristle of a toothbrush! If the chewing surfaces of these teeth are repaired with the sealant, it will help protect those teeth.
Benefit of Sealants
Sealants provide extra protection for the pitted areas by providing a smooth covering over the fissured area. Dental sealants are placed in adults, on deep grooves and fissures that do not already have fillings or dental sealants.
Except for an allergy that may exist, there are no known side effects from dental sealants.
Keep your teeth healthy and protected! For problems related to gum disease and Root Canal Techniques. Contact us at St. Catharines at Niagara Periodontics for more information!Appointment Request


What is Homeopathy?
The ancient Greeks first described basic homeopathic treatment. Samuel Hahnemann developed the scientific principles early in the 19th century and Homeopathy is now being rediscovered worldwide as an effective form of alternative therapy especially since it avoids the use of drugs with potentially harmful side effects.
Homeopathic treatment works well in both people and animals.
How does Veterinary Homeopathy work?
The body reacts to injury and disease by producing a variety of symptoms. Homeopathy recognizes that these symptoms represent the animal's attempt to heal itself and throw off the disease. Consequently, effective Veterinary Homeopathy does not suppress these symptoms but stimulates the natural healing processes to overcome the problem.
How does the Homeopathic Veterinarian decide which medicine to use?
The homeopathic veterinarian carries out a complete physical examination of the patient in order to identify all the disease symptoms. The owner will also be asked if there are any situations which make the symptoms better or worse. The veterinary homeopath may then consult a reference book (Materia Medica). This describes the particular symptoms which each medicine can be used to treat. He may also use a specialised computer software program to help him select the most suitable treatment.
It should be noted that animals with the same problem sometimes show different symptoms. For example, some lameness problems become worse with movement whereas others improve. Different homeopathic medicines will therefore be required for these different patients. The Homeopathic vet will identify which medicines may be needed during the consultation.
What types of medicines are used in Homeopathy?
All homeopathic medicines (remedies) are prepared from natural substances. These may be of animal, mineral or plant origin.
How are veterinary Homeopathic medicines prepared?
As with all Homeopathic medicines are prepared using a process called potentisation. This involves serial dilutions and vigorous shaking (or succussion) which energises the remedy. It is this energy which stimulates the natural healing process.
What types of diseases can Veterinary Homeopathy treat?
Most conditions can be successfully treated using veterinary Homeopathy. Improvement can be very quick in acute (sudden) conditions. Chronic (long standing conditions) may take longer to recover.
Many problems in animals which do not respond to conventional treatment can be treated successfully using veterinary Homeopathy.
Is a Homeopathic consultation different from a conventional one?
Yes. Homeopathic consultations generally last longer. This is because extra time is required to identify all the symptoms and to gather information on what makes these symptoms better or worse.
- Veterinary Homeopathy treats disease conditions by stimulating natural healing processes normally present within the animal.
- Veterinary Homeopathy recognises that animals may react differently when suffering from the same condition. Consequently, different medicines may be required for these animals.
- Homeopathy avoids the use of drugs with potentially harmful side effects.
Further information is available at the following websites
Page last edited: May 24th 2016


According to CDC’s statistics, in 2018 more than 7,000 women received an HIV diagnosis in the U.S. with 261,800 living with the disease. The good news is that these numbers have been declining. The risk factors for contracting HIV are vaginal sex, anal sex, and sharing needles, syringes, or other drug injection equipment. Condoms are a great way to reduce your risk of sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS if you are engaging in sex and don’t know the history of your partner. If you have been exposed, it is essential to be tested for proper diagnosis, so treatment can start.
It is so important to talk about this disease to remove the stigma and fear of discrimination associated with it. Black and Hispanic women are the most vulnerable populations and have accounted for the largest share of new diagnoses. 14% of transgender women have HIV and many go untreated. Poverty and medical mistrust play a large part in obtaining proper medical treatment as well. March 10th is a day to bring HIV to the forefront and combat this disease together.


In our many articles on Solar Water Heating we have frequently mentioned copper pipe, but never how to solder it to make water-tight connections. In this article we will show you how to solder copper pipe safely and reliably. It is actually very easy as long as you are careful and take your time.
Soldering Copper Pipe
In most solar collectors 10mm or 15mm annealed copper pipe is perfect. It is the pipe used most commonly in domestic plumbing and so it, and the related fittings are the most competitively priced.
In order to to make a joint between two pieces of copper pipe you need the following:
* Copper pipe (annealed).
* End feed joint.
* Wire wool or emery cloth – used to remove dirt and grease from the ends of the copper pipe.
* Rosin flux – a paste which stops the copper pipe from oxidising and helps the solder to flow.
* Solder (lead free) and a blow torch – typically propane fuelled.
The two ends of copper pipe to be joined must first be cleaned well with the wire wool. Any dirt or grease in the joint may cause it to fail and leak, so make a thorough job of it cleaning until all oxidation has been removed and the metal shines like a new penny.
Apply a little flux to the cleaned ends using a small brush and assemble the joint. Twist the pipe (or joint) backwards and forwards to help to spread the flux throughout the joint. Then, get everything perfectly lined up how you want the finished joint to be.
Unroll enough solder (at least 12 inches) so that you can hold the tip of the solder against the joint and heat it with a blowtorch without burning your hand. It is a good idea to bend the last few inches of the solder at a right angle to make it easier to apply it to the back and underside of the joints.
Apply heat to the whole joint with the blowtorch starting with the fitting and then moving the blowtorch flame backwards and forwards over the joints with the copper pipe. When the flux starts to bubble and smoke a little, remove the blowtorch and touch the solder at a few points all the way around the ends of each joint.
Solder will be drawn into the small gap between the pipe and the joint by capillarity. Keep applying solder until there is a perfect ring of solder around the mouth of the fitting. All ends of the joint must be made at the same time since if you do one end, let it cool, and move onto the second end, the first end joint will fail when the fitting is reheated.
To give a clean professional finish, quickly rub off any excess solder from the joints using a slightly damp cloth, but be careful as the joint will still be very hot.
UK Plumbing Suppliers
Ideally buy your copper pipe and fittings from your local plumbing merchant so you can get some good free practical advice at the same time, however, it is certainly possible to purchase everything you need online, and get it delivered to your doorstep at a great price.
There are some great offers on copper end feed fittings at eBay UK – click here to search now for end feed – but once you factor in the free delivery, placing an order for everything you need with Screwfix is usually more cost effective.


Zithromax’s Potential Side Effect is Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. Zithromax, a popular antibiotic approved in the early 1990s is manufactured by Pfizer and became quickly popular due to its short treatment regimen of only five days. Many other antibiotics must be taken for ten days. One potential side effect associated with Zithromax is Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), a life-threatening condition that affects the skin and mucous membranes. SJS and its more advanced condition, toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), are considered medical emergencies that require hospitalization.
SJS is an immune reaction that most often occurs following treatment with a medication. Patients may experience this condition from many other different drugs, not just Zithromax; however, the link between Zithromax and SJS appears to be more common than the links seen in other drugs.
In 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told Pfizer that the drug maker did not adequately warn about the risk of SJS associated with Zithromax. Although the label mentioned early warning signs such as skin rash and blisters, the company reportedly did not emphasize that the condition may be fatal.
National Center for Biotechnology Information Findings Involve the Link Between SJS and Zithromax
The National Center for Biotechnology Information published findings involving the link between SJS and Zithromax. The study included two case reports of SJS patients who took Azithromycin: one child and one 62-year-old female.
In patients diagnosed with SJS, the top layer of the skin eventually separates and dies, peeling off in large sheets. If the condition affects more than 30 percent of the body, it is referred to as TEN. In many instances, patients require skin grafts and are treated in the burn unit of a hospital. SJS may lead to blindness when scar tissue develops inside the eyelids. SJS may also lead to infection when the top layer of skin peels off and internal tissue becomes exposed to the environment.
Need Legal Help Regarding Antibiotic Zithromax and Johnson Syndrome (SJS)