FOOD CHAIN SONG

How smoking affects pregnancy?

Wowww!!!! Instead of a comment, Edbert leaves a question to the post "Passive Smoking"!

This is his question, "What happen if you smoking while pregnant?" (What happens if moms smoke during pregnancy?")

Well, Ed. Clarissa has the answer for you.

-. You will have higher risk of having a baby with LOW BIRTH WEIGHT.

-. Smoking in pregnancy increases the risk of SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME (SIDS),       also known as cot DEATH.

-. Smoking during pregnancy may effect your child's mental DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOR, leading to a short attention span and hyperactivity.

In addition to Clarissa's answer,

Smoking during pregnancy affects moms and the baby's health before, during, and after the baby is born. The nicotine (the addictive substance in cigarettes), carbon monoxide, and numerous other poisons mom inhales from a cigarette are carried through the bloodstream and go directly to the baby. Smoking while pregnant will:

• Lower the amount of oxygen available to mom and the growing baby.
• Increase the baby's heart rate.
• Increase the chances of miscarriage and stillbirth.
• Increase the risk that the baby is born prematurely and/or born with low birth weight.
• Increase your baby's risk of developing respiratory (lung) problems.

The more cigarettes a mom smokes per day, the greater the baby's chances of developing these and other health problems. There is no "safe" level of smoking while pregnant.

So, How Does Secondhand Smoke Affect Pregnancy?

Secondhand smoke (also called passive smoke or environmental tobacco smoke) is the combination of smoke from a burning cigarette and smoke exhaled by a smoker.

The smoke that burns off the end of a cigarette or cigar actually contains more harmful substances (tar, carbon monoxide, nicotine, and others) than the smoke inhaled by the smoker.

If moms are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke, moms increase their and their baby's risk of developing lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, allergies, asthma, and other health problems.

Babies exposed to secondhand smoke may also develop reduced lung capacity and are at higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Source : http://www.webmd.com/baby/smoking-during-pregnancy

Elang

Elang adalah hewan berdarah panas, mempunyai sayap dan tubuh diselubungi bulu pelepah sebagai burung. Elang memakan tikus, tupai, kadal, ikan, ular dan ayam. Elang juga memakan serangga. Elang bereproduksi dengan cara bertelur. Pertumbuhan elang adalah dari telur menjadi bayi elang dan menjadi elang yang dewasa. Elang dapat terbang 65 km per jam.

Oleh : Nathanael

Monokotil Vs Dikotil

Perbedaan ciri pada tumbuhan monokotil dan dikotil berdasarkan ciri fisik pembeda yang dimiliki :
1.Bentuk akar
- Monokotil : Memiliki sistem akar serabut
- Dikotil : Memiliki sistem akar tunggang
2. Bentuk sumsum atau pola tulang daun
- Monokotil : Melengkung atau sejajar
- Dikotil : Menyirip atau menjari
3. Kaliptrogen / tudung akar
- Monokotil : Ada tudung akar / kaliptra
- Dikotil : Tidak terdapat ada tudung akar
4. Jumlah keping biji atau kotiledon
- Monokotil : satu buah keping biji saja
- Dikotil : Ada dua buah keping biji
5. Kandungan akar dan batang
- Monokotil : Tidak terdapat kambium
- Dikotil : Ada kambium
6. Jumlah kelopak bunga
- Monokotil : Umumnya adalah kelipatan tiga
- Dikotil : Biasanya kelipatan empat atau lima
7. Pelindung akar dan batang lembaga
- Monokotil : Ditemukan batang lembaga / koleoptil dan akar lembaga / keleorhiza
- Dikotil : Tidak ada pelindung koleorhiza maupun koleoptil
8. Pertumbuhan akar dan batang
- Monokotil : Tidak bisa tumbuh berkembang menjadi membesar
- Dikotil : Bisa tumbuh berkembang menjadi membesar

Valerian practices badminton

     How much do you like sports? My students, boys and girls do like them so much. They are fond of playing football after school. Well, boys and girls play together (grin). Therefore, our school arranges sport clubs for our students to fulfill their passion in sports specifically in football and badminton which are done every Saturday. These clubs are also aimed to develop their talents and skills and to teach them sportsmanship. 

     Valerian is one of our talented students who has made a nice progress in badminton club. He absorbs the lessons and techniques taught by the coach very well. Indeed, his coach said that he has gained good skills.

       Well, I hardly know the skills in badminton (grin). You may directly check it out in this video.

So, what do you think?

ASTHMA

We have known that asthma becomes one of the long term health risks of smoking.

 

What is asthma?

Asthma is a common condition that affects your airways and causes difficulty with breathing. Most people with asthma who take the appropriate treatment can live normal lives, but left untreated, asthma can cause permanent damage to your airways. Very rarely, a severe asthma attack can be fatal.

If you have asthma, your airways become irritated and inflamed. As a result, they:

• become narrower
• produce extra mucus

This makes it more difficult for air to flow in and out of your lungs.

Symptoms of asthma

Asthma symptoms may be mild, moderate or severe. They may include:

• coughing
• wheezing
• shortness of breath
• tightness in your chest

These symptoms tend to be variable – not everyone gets all the symptoms and they may stop and start. They are often worse at night or in the early morning.

Causes of asthma

The causes of asthma are not always clear. However, there are often triggers that can result in a flare-up of symptoms. Common triggers include:

• respiratory infection – such as a cold or flu
• irritants – such as dust, cigarette smoke and fumes
• chemicals (and other substances) found in your workplace – this is called occupational asthma
• allergies to pollen, medicines, animals, house dust mites or certain foods
• exercise – especially in cold, dry air
• emotions – laughing or crying very hard can trigger symptoms, as can stress
• changes in the weather – especially changes in temperature
• medicines – certain medicines can trigger asthma. Most medicines are safe, but, if you have moderate to severe asthma, it’s best not to take the painkillers aspirin and ibuprofen. Beta-blockers, used to treat high blood pressure or angina, may make asthma worse

In children, asthma is more common in boys than in girls but in adults, women are more likely to have asthma. Asthma may run in families.
If you smoke during pregnancy, your baby is more likely to get asthma. If you smoke and have young children, they are more likely to get asthma. Premature or low birth weight babies are also more likely to develop asthma.

How an asthma attack occurs?

Watch the video below to see how an asthma attack occurs.

 Source : http://www.bupa.co.uk

PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Every cook needs ingredients to make a meal. Consider a simple sandwich: cheese, tomato, and all the ingredients that go into the bread: flour, water, salt and yeast. Oh, and don’t forget the pickle. But if you’re a plant, you’ll make your meal through photosynthesis—and all you’ll need is a little light, water, and carbon dioxide.

 

Animals (including us!) need energy to grow and thrive. We get that energy from eating food. Plants need energy, too, in order to grow and reproduce. But plants make their own food through a process called photosynthesis.
The word photosynthesis contains clues to its meaning: the prefix photo comes from a Greek word meaning “light.” The root synthesis comes from another Greek word meaning “to put together.”
Through photosynthesis, plants use the energy of light to put a meal together using water and carbon dioxide. To absorb the light, the plants use chlorophyll, the pigment that makes leaves green.
The diagrams beside show how photosynthesis works.

FOOD WEB

A food web consists of all the food chains in a single ecosystem. Each living thing in an ecosystem is part of multiple food chains. Each food chain is one possible path that energy and nutrients may take as they move through the ecosystem. All of the interconnected and overlapping food chains in an ecosystem make up a food web.

Trophic Levels

Organisms in food webs are grouped into categories called trophic levels. Roughly speaking, these levels are divided into producers (first trophic level), consumers, and decomposers (last trophic level).

Producers
Producers make up the first trophic level. Producers, also known as autotrophs, make their own food and do not depend on any other organism for nutrition. Most autotrophs use a process called photosynthesis to create food (a nutrient called glucose) from sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water.

Plants are the most familiar type of autotroph, but there are many other kinds. Algae, whose larger forms are known as seaweed, are autotrophic. Phytoplankton, tiny organisms that live in the ocean, are also autotrophs. Some types of bacteria are autotrophs. For example, bacteria living in active volcanoes use sulfur, not carbon dioxide, to produce their own food. This process is called chemosynthesis.

Consumers
The next trophic levels are made up of animals that eat producers. These organisms are called consumers.

Primary consumers are herbivores. Herbivores eat plants, algae, and other producers. They are at the second trophic level. In a grassland ecosystem, deer, mice, and even elephants are herbivores. They eat grasses, shrubs, and trees. In a desert ecosystem, a mouse that eats seeds and fruits is a primary consumer.
In an ocean ecosystem, many types of fish and turtles are herbivores that eat algae and seagrass. In kelp forests, seaweeds known as giant kelp provide shelter and food for an entire ecosystem. Sea urchins are powerful primary consumers in kelp forests. These small herbivores eat dozens of kilograms (pounds) of giant kelp every day.

Secondary consumers eat herbivores. They are at the third trophic level. In a desert ecosystem, a secondary consumer may be a snake that eats a mouse. In the kelp forest, sea otters are secondary consumers that hunt sea urchins as prey.

Tertiary consumers eat the secondary consumers. They are at the fourth trophic level. In the desert ecosystem, an owl or eagle may prey on the snake.

There may be more levels of consumers before a chain finally reaches its top predator. Top predators, also called apex predators, eat other consumers. They may be at the fourth or fifth trophic level. They have no natural enemies except people. Lions are apex predators in the grassland ecosystem. In the ocean, fish such as the great white shark are apex predators. In the desert, bobcats and mountain lions are top predators.

Consumers can be carnivores (animals that eat other animals) or omnivores (animals that eat both plants and animals). Omnivores, like people, consume many types of foods. People eat plants, such as vegetables and fruits. We also eat animals and animal products, such as meat, milk, and eggs. We eat fungi, such as mushrooms. We also eat algae, in edible seaweeds like nori (used to wrap sushi rolls) and sea lettuce (used in salads). Bears are omnivores, too. They eat berries and mushrooms, as well as animals such as salmon and deer.

Detritivores and Decomposers
Detritivores and decomposers make up the last part of food chains. Detritivores are organisms that eat nonliving plant and animal remains. For example, scavengers such as vultures eat dead animals. Dung beetles eat animal feces.

Decomposers, like fungi and bacteria, complete the food chain. Decomposers turn organic wastes, such as decaying plants, into inorganic materials, such as nutrient-rich soil. They complete the cycle of life, returning nutrients to the soil or oceans for use by autotrophs. This starts a whole new series of food chains.

Food Chains

Food webs connect many different food chains, and many different trophic levels. Food webs can support food chains that are long and complicated, or very short.

For example, grass in a forest clearing produces its own food through photosynthesis. A rabbit eats the grass. A fox eats the rabbit. When the fox dies, decomposers such as worms and mushrooms break down its body, returning it to the soil where it provides nutrients for plants like grass.

This short food chain is one part of the forests food web. Another food chain in the same ecosystem might involve completely different organisms. A caterpillar may eat the leaves of a tree in the forest. A bird such as a sparrow may eat the caterpillar. A snake may then prey on the sparrow. An eagle, an apex predator, may prey on the snake. A hawk, another apex predator, may prey on the eagle. Yet another bird, a vulture, consumes the body of the dead hawk. Finally, bacteria in the soil decompose the remains.

In a desert ecosystem, an autotroph such as a cactus produces fruit. Herbivorous insects, such as flies, consume the cactus fruit. Birds such as the roadrunner consume these insects. Detritivores such as termites eat the roadrunner after it dies. Bacteria and fungi help decompose the remaining bones of the roadrunner. The carbon in the bones enriches the desert soil, helping plants like cactuses develop.

Algae and plankton are the main producers in marine ecosystems. Tiny shrimp called krill eat the microscopic plankton. The largest animal on Earth, the blue whale, preys on thousands of tons of krill every day. Apex predators such as orcas prey on blue whales. As the bodies of large animals such as whales sink to the seafloor, detritivores such as worms break down the material. The nutrients released by the decaying flesh provide chemicals for algae and plankton to start a new series of food chains.

Biomass

Food webs are defined by their biomass. Biomass is the energy in living organisms. Autotrophs, the producers in a food web, convert the suns energy into biomass. Biomass decreases with each trophic level. There is always more biomass in lower trophic levels than in higher ones.

Because biomass decreases with each trophic level, there are always more autotrophs than herbivores in a healthy food web. There are more herbivores than carnivores. An ecosystem cannot support a large number of omnivores without supporting an even larger number of herbivores, and an even larger number of autotrophs.

A healthy food web has an abundance of autotrophs, many herbivores, and few carnivores and omnivores. This balance helps the ecosystem maintain and recycle biomass.

FOOD CHAINS part 3 (GAMES)

Carnivore Herbivore Omnivore - Sorting Game  
In this interactive game, students will classify animals as a carnivore, a herbivore or an omnivore.
CLICK HERE 
CLICK HERE 

Help feed the animals by sorting them so they'll get the right food.

CLICK HERE

FOOD CHAINS part 2

Animals and plants are linked by food chains

Animals get energy and nutrients by eating other animals or plants.
For example

• caterpillars eat leaves
• mice eat caterpillars
• owls eat mice

These links between animals and plants are called food chains.
The arrow means 'is eaten by'.
Nearly all food chains start with a green plant.
Most animals and plants are part of more than one food chain.

Changes to food chains

If one part of a food chain alters, the whole food chain is affected. For example, if a disease suddenly wiped out caterpillars, it would affect mice, owls and many other animals.

Source : CLICK HERE

FOOD CHAINS part 1

 All living things need food to survive.

A FOOD CHAIN shows how each living thing gets food, and how nutrients and energy are passed on from creature to creature. Below is a basic example of a food chain.

The SUN is usually seen as the beginning of most food chains.

Nearly all of the energy used by living things on earth to survive originally came from the sun.

PRODUCERS, which are plants, produce their own food from sun, water, air (carbon dioxide), and soil through a process of photosynthesis.

CONSUMERS , which are usually animals, consume other plants and animals. 

An HERBIVORE only eats plants. 

A CARNIVORE only eats meat. 

An OMNIVORE eats both plants and animals.

DECOMPOSERS , which include fungi, bacteria, and worms, eat decaying plants and animals, and decompose them back into soil. The soil can then be used by plants to grow.

Remember that many FOOD CHAINS make up a FOOD WEB.

Below is one example.

See how many different food chains can make up a food web?

Source : http://www.cserc.org/main/games/buildafoodchain/index.html

http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/ecosystems/food-chains.htm 

Passive Smoking

Passive smoking is when smoke is breathed in by someone other than the smoker. Passive smoking carries all the same health risks as smoking, and it’s particularly dangerous for children.

Why is it so dangerous?

Tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 harmful and addictive chemicals, including nicotine, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. Second-hand smoke (also known as environmental tobacco smoke) is smoke that comes from the burning cigarette (side-stream smoke) combined with the smoke breathed out by the smoker (mainstream smoke). Side-stream smoke makes up the majority of second-hand smoke and is more toxic than mainstream smoke.
If you smoke indoors, it’s not enough to just open a window. This is because the poisonous chemicals in smoke can stay in the air even after you have finished your cigarette. And don’t think that hanging out of the window will help – it won’t, and some research has shown that second-hand smoke lingers on clothes, carpets, furnishings and walls. This makes it almost impossible to keep second-hand smoke away from other people.

What effects can passive smoking have on non-smokers?

Short-term effects

Being exposed to second-hand smoke is generally pretty unpleasant – it may give you a headache, cough or sore throat. It can also irritate your eyes and make you feel sick or dizzy. If you have asthma, being in a smoky place may make your symptoms worse. And of course, although the smell of smoke on your clothes and hair may be less serious health-wise, it’s often more irritating.

Long-term effects

If you're regularly exposed to second-hand smoke, your risk of developing smoking-related diseases substantially increases. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that second-hand smoke increases your risk of heart disease and lung cancer by up to a third. Not only that, you’re more likely to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which causes problems with breathing.

Effects on children

Children who are exposed to second-hand smoke are at an increased risk of a number of serious conditions, including:

• bronchitis and pneumonia
  
• asthma
  
• coughing and wheezing
  
• middle ear infections

There is also some evidence to suggest that being exposed to second-hand smoke may make existing conditions worse, decrease children’s ability to smell and reduce mental development.
If you’re exposed to second-hand smoke while you’re pregnant, it can lead to your baby having a low birth weight and he or she may not develop properly before birth. Smoking during pregnancy also increases the risk of cot death, as does smoking near your baby after he or she is born. In addition, women who breathe in second-hand smoke during pregnancy may have an increased risk of still birth.
Your child is also three times more likely to start smoking if he or she is exposed to second-hand smoke as a result of you smoking at home.

Produced by Polly Kerr, Bupa Health Information Team, October 2012.

The long-term health risks of drinking alcohol

The short-term effects of drinking alcohol are usually obvious. However, if you regularly drink too much alcohol, you can be putting your long-term health at risk. There can be hidden harmful effects of drinking alcohol that may not become apparent until years later.

1. Drinking as little as three units of alcohol a day increases your risk of developing many types of cancer, including cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus (the pipe that goes from your mouth to your stomach), liver, breast and bowel.
2. Regularly drinking too much alcohol damages your heart and increases your risk of developing heart disease and stroke.
3. Alcohol damages your liver. Your liver is the largest organ in your body and one of its many functions is to filter and clean your blood. It takes about one hour for your liver to break down one unit of alcohol. If you regularly drink too much alcohol, you are at risk of developing a range of alcoholic liver diseases including fatty liver disease, hepatitis and alcohol-induced cirrhosis (fibrosis or scarring of your liver). If you cut down or stop drinking in the early stages of liver disease, your liver may recover. However, continuing to drink when your liver is damaged can lead to complete liver failure.
4. Alcohol damages your pancreas. Your pancreas is an organ that lies behind your stomach and produces digestive enzymes which help to break down fatty food, as well as insulin, which helps control blood sugar. If you drink too much alcohol, it can lead to acute or chronic pancreatitis.
5. Regularly drinking more than the daily recommended amount is known to affect fertility in both men and women.
6. Regularly drinking more than the daily recommended amount is known to affect fertility in both men and women.
7. Regular heavy alcohol use can lead to nerve and brain damage, resulting in memory problems, dementia and damage to small nerve endings.

Produced by Natalie Heaton, Bupa Health Information Team, December 2012.

Interesting Facts About English

What do you know about English?

Well, I want to share some interesting facts about English with you.

in no particular order...

1. The most common letter in English is "e".
2. The most common vowel in English is "e", followed by "a".
3. The most common consonant in English is "r", followed by "t".
4. Every syllable in English must have a vowel (sound). Not all syllables have consonants.
5. Only two English words in current use end in "-gry". They are "angry" and "hungry".
6. The word "bookkeeper" (along with its associate "bookkeeping") is the only unhyphenated English word with three consecutive double letters. Other such words, like "sweet-toothed", require a hyphen to be readily readable.
7. The word "triskaidekaphobia" means "extreme fear of the number 13". This superstition is related to "paraskevidekatriaphobia", which means "fear of Friday the 13th".
8. More English words begin with the letter "s" than with any other letter.
9. A preposition is always followed by a noun (ie noun, proper noun, pronoun, noun group, gerund).
10. The word "uncopyrightable" is the longest English word in normal use that contains no letter more than once.
11. A sentence that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet is called a "pangram".
12. The following sentence contains all 26 letters of the alphabet: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." This sentence is often used to test typewriters or keyboards.
13. The only word in English that ends with the letters "-mt" is "dreamt" (which is a variant spelling of "dreamed") - as well of course as "undreamt" :)
14. A word formed by joining together parts of existing words is called a "blend" (or, less commonly, a "portmanteau word"). Many new words enter the English language in this way. Examples are "brunch" (breakfast + lunch); "motel" (motorcar + hotel); and "guesstimate" (guess + estimate). Note that blends are not the same as compounds or compound nouns, which form when two whole words join together, for example: website, blackboard, darkroom.
15. The word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha, bēta.
16. The dot over the letter "i" and the letter "j" is called a "superscript dot".
17. In normal usage, the # symbol has several names, for example: hash, pound sign, number sign.
18. In English, the @ symbol is usually called "the at sign" or "the at symbol".
19. If we place a comma before the word "and" at the end of a list, this is known as an "Oxford comma" or a "serial comma". For example: "I drink coffee, tea, and wine."
20. Some words exist only in plural form, for example: glasses (spectacles), binoculars, scissors, shears, tongs, gallows, trousers, jeans, pants, pyjamas (but note that clothing words often become singular when we use them as modifiers, as in "trouser pocket").
21. The shortest complete sentence in English is the following. "I am."
22. The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat" meaning "the king is helpless".
23. We pronounce the combination "ough" in 9 different ways, as in the following sentence which contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
    
24. The longest English word without a true vowel (a, e, i, o or u) is "rhythm".
25. The only planet not named after a god is our own, Earth. The others are, in order from the Sun, Mercury, Venus, [Earth,] Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
26. There are only 4 English words in common use ending in "-dous": hazardous, horrendous, stupendous, and tremendous.
27. We can find 10 words in the 7-letter word "therein" without rearranging any of its letters: the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
28. A sentence with a similar pattern, which may help to unravel the above, is:
    It is true, despite everything you say, that this word which this word refers to is not the same word which this word refers to.
    Or, if you insist on being really correct:
    It is true, despite everything you say, that this word to which this word refers is not the same word to which this word refers.
29. The "QWERTY keyboard" gains its name from the fact that its first 6 letter keys are Q, W, E, R, T and Y. On early typewriters the keys were arranged in such a way as to minimize the clashing of the mechanical rods that carried the letters.