No one can truly tell what happens when a probe from NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft is made to collide with the comet Tempel 1 in the early morning hours of July 4. But if anyone can picture the spacecraft's journey from its Cape Canaveral launch in January to its possibly brilliant demise, it is Cornell University alumnus Dan Maas '02.
Space Ref reports.
Kidney stones
Higher potassium intakes may be beneficial in preventing kidney stones formation. Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers in Northern California have found that giving potassium-magnesium citrate to kidney stone sufferers reduces the risk of them developing further stones. The stones were of the calcium oxalate type. In the double-blind study reported in the Journal of Urology, 64 patients were given either a placebo or the potassium-magnesium citrate compound for up to three years. New kidney stones occurred in 63.6 percent of the patients taking placebo, but in only 12.9 percent of those taking the potassium-magnesium citrate compound.
Full article at : Potassium Prevents Kidney Stones
Kidney Stones treatment using Kidney Beans
Kidney beans, also known as dried French beans or Rajmah, are regarded as a very effective home remedy for kidney problems, including kidney stones. The method prescribed to prepare the medicine is to remove the beans from inside the pods, then slice the pods and put about sixty grams in four litre of hot water, boiling them slowly for six hours. This liquid should be strained through fine muslin and then allowed to cool for about eight hours. Thereafter the fluid should be poured through another piece of muslin without stirring.A glass of this decoction should be given to the patient every two hours throughout the day for one day and, thereafter, it may be taken several times a week. This decoction would not work if it was more than twenty-four hours old. The pods could be kept for longer periods but once they were boiled, the therapeutic factor would disappear after one day.
Kidney Stones treatment using Basil
Basil has a strengthening effect on the kidneys.In case of kidney stones, one teaspoon each of basil juice and honey should be taken daily for six months. It has been found that stones can be expelled from the urinary tract by this treatment.
Kidney Stones treatment using Celery
Celery is a valuable food for those who are prone to getting stones in the kidneys or gall-bladder. Its regular intake prevents future stone formation.
Kidney Stones treatment using Apple
Apples are useful in kidney stones. In countries where the natural unsweetened cider is a common beverage, cases of stones or calculus are practically absent. The ripe fresh fruit is, however, more valuable.
Kidney Stones treatment using Grapes
Grapes have a highly exceptional diuretic value on account of their high contents of water and potassium salt. The value of this fruit in kidney troubles is enhanced by its low albumin and sodium chloride content. It is an excellent cure for kidney stones.
Kidney Stones treatment using Pomegranate
The seeds of both sour and sweet pomegranates are useful medicine for kidney stones. A tablespoon of the seeds, ground into a fine paste, can be given along with a cup of horse gram (kulthi) soup to dissolve gravel in kidneys. Two tablespoons of horse gram should be used for preparing the cup of soup.
Kidney Stones treatment using Watermelon
Watermelon contains the highest concentration of water amongst all fruits. It is also rich in potassium salts. It is one of the safest and best diuretics which can be used with beneficial result in kidney stones.
Kidney Stones treatment using Vitamin B 6
Research has shown the remarkable therapeutic success of vitamin B6 or pyridoxine in the treatment of kidney Stones. A daily therapeutic does of 100 to 150 mg of vitamin B6, preferably, combined with other B complex vitamins, should be continued for several months for getting a permanent cure.
Diet for kidney stones
Avoid foods like alcoholic beverages; condiments and pickles; certain vegetables like cucumber, radish.
A patient with kidney stones should avoid foods, which irritate the kidneys, to control acidity or alkalinity of the urine. He should also ensure adequate intake of fluids to prevent the urine from becoming concentrated. The foods considered irritants to the kidneys are alcoholic beverages; condiments and pickles; certain vegetables like cucumber, radish, tomato, spinach, rhubarb; those with a strong aroma such as asparagus, onion, beans, cabbage, and cauliflower; meat and gravies; and carbonated waters.
Intake of calcium and phosphates should be restricted
For controlling the formation of calcium phosphate stones, the intake of calcium and phosphates should be restricted. Foods which should be avoided are wholewheat flour, Bengal gram, peas, soyabean, beet, spinach, cauliflower, turnips, carrots, almonds, and coconuts. When stones are composed of calcium, magnesium phosphates, and carbonates, the diet should be so regulated as to maintain an acidic urine. On the other hand, the urine should be kept alkaline if oxalate and uric acid stones are being formed. In the latter case, fruits and vegetables should be liberally used, and acid-forming foods should be kept to the minimum necessary for satisfactory nutrition. In case of uric stones, foods with a high purine content such as sweet breads, liver, and kidney should be avoided.
Take a low-protein diet and have liberal intake of water
The patient should take a low-protein diet, restricting protein to one gram per kilogram of food. A liberal intake of fluid upto three litres or more daily is essential to prevent the precipitation of salt into the form of stones.
Other Kidney Stones treatment
Give warm enemafollowed by a hot bath
The patient should be given a large warm enema, followed by a hot bath with a temperature of 37.8oC, gradually increased to 44.5°C. During the bath, the head should be wrapped in a cold towel. Hot fomentation applied across the back in the region of the kidneys will relieve the pain.
Yogasanas are also helpful
Certain yogasanas such as pavanmuktasana, uttanpadasana, bhujangasana, dhanurasana, and halasana are also beneficial as they activate the kidneys.
Full article at : Home remedy for Kidney Stones Problem
Common Causes of Kidney stones
·Urinary tract infection (UTI)
·Overdoses of Vitamin D
·Mineral imbalance
·Kidney disease
·Dehydration
·Gout
·Diet
Full article at : Most Common Causes Of Kidney Stones
1. Maximize fluid intake : Drink a lot of fruit and vegetable juices. Orange, grape and carrot juices are high in citrates which inhibit both a build up of uric acid and also stop calcium salts from forming.
2. Control urine pH : Acidic urine helps prevent urinary tract infections, dissolves all phosphate and struvite stones, and will prevent development of oxalate stones.
3. Eat a lot of Vegetables : Dietary oxalate is generally not a significant factor in stone formation. I would go easy on rhubarb and spinach.
4. Most kidney stones are compounds of calcium and most Americans are calcium deficient. Instead of lowering calcium intake, reduce excess dietary phosphorous by avoiding carbonated soft drinks, especially colas. Soft drinks do contain excessive quantities of phosphorous as phosphoric acid. This is the same acid that has been used by dentists to etch tooth enamel before applying sealant.
Remember that Humans get only about 500 mg of dietary calcium on an average daily, and the RDA is 800 to 1200 mg/day. Any nutritionist, doctor or text suggesting calcium reduction is in serious error.
5. Take a magnesium supplement of AT LEAST the US RDA of 300-350 mg/day (more may be desirable in order to maintain an ideal 1:2 balance of magnesium to calcium)
6. Make sure to take a good B-complex vitamin supplement daily, which contains pyridoxine (Vitamin B-6). B-6 deficiency produces kidney stones in experimental animals. Remember:
* B-6 deficiency is very common in humans
* B-1 (thiamine) deficiency also is associated with stones (Hagler and Herman, "Oxalate Metabolism, II" American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 26:8, 882-889, August, 1973)
7. Additionally, low calcium may itself CAUSE calcium stones (L. H. Smith, et al, "Medical Evaluation of Urolithiasis" Urological Clinics of North America 1:2, 241-260, June 1974)
8. For uric acid/purine stones (gout), STOP EATING MEAT! Nutrition tables and textbooks indicate meats as the major dietary purine source. Naturopathic treatment adds juice fasts and eating sour cherries. Increased Vitamin C consumption helps by improving the urinary excretion of uric acid. (Cheraskin, et al, 1983). Use buffered ascorbate "C".
9. Persons with cystine stones (only 1% of all kidney stones) should follow a low methionine diet and use buffered C.
10. Kidney stones are associated with high sugar intake, so eat less (or no) added sugar (J. A. Thom, et al "The Influence of Refined Carbohydrate on Urinary Calcium Excretion," British Journal of Urology, 50:7, 459-464, December, 1978)
11. Infections can cause conditions that favor stone formation, such as overly concentrated urine (from fever sweating, vomiting or diarrhea). Practice good preventive health care, and it will pay you back with interest.
Full article at : How to reduce the risk of kidney stones
The very common calcium phosphate stone can only exist in a urinary tract that is not acidic.
Ascorbic acid (vitamin C's most common form) acidifies the urine, thereby dissolving phosphate stones and preventing their formation.
Acidic urine will also dissolve magnesium ammonium phosphate stones, which would otherwise require surgical removal.
These are the same struvite stones associated with urinary tract infections. Both the infection and the stone are easily cured with vitamin C in large doses.
BOTH are virtually 100% preventable with daily consumption of much-greater-than-RDA amounts of ascorbic acid. Think grams, not milligrams!
A gorilla gets about 4,000 mg of vitamin C a day in its natural diet. The US RDA for humans is only 60 mg. Someone is wrong, and I don't think it's the gorillas.
The common calcium oxalate stone can form in an acidic urine whether one takes vitamin C or not. However, if a person gets adequate quantities of B-complex vitamins and magnesium, this type of stone does not form.
Any common B-complex supplement twice daily, plus about 400 milligrams of magnesium, is usually adequate.
Ascorbate (the active ion in vitamin C) does increase the body's production of oxalate. Yet, in practice, vitamin C does not increase oxalate stone formation.
Drs. Emanuel Cheraskin, Marshall Ringsdorf, Jr. and Emily Sisley explain in The Vitamin C Connection (1983) that acidic urine or slightly acidic urine reduces the UNION of calcium and oxalate, reducing the possibility of stones. "Vitamin C in the urine tends to bind calcium and decrease its free form.
This means less chance of calcium's separating out as calcium oxalate (stones)." (page 213) Also, the diuretic effect of vitamin C reduces the static conditions necessary for stone formation in general. Fast moving rivers deposit little silt.
Furthermore, you can avoid excessive oxalates by not eating (much) rhubarb, spinach, or chocolate. If a doctor thinks that a person is especially prone to forming oxalate stones, that person should read the suggestions below before abandoning the benefits of vitamin C.
Full article at : Role of Vitamin C in Preventing and Dissolving Kidney Stones
There are five types of kidney stones:
1. Calcium phosphate stones - Common & easily dissolve in Vitamin C acidified urine.
2. Calcium oxalate stones - Common. Do not dissolve in acid urine.
3. Struvite stones - Magnesium ammonium phosphate - Less common. Often appear after an infection.Dissolve in vitamin C acidified urine.
4. Uric acid stones - Result from a problem metabolizing purines (the chemical base of adenine, xanthine, theobromine [in chocolate] and uric acid). They may form in a condition such as gout.
5. Cystine stones - Rare- Result from a hereditary inability to reabsorb cystine. Most children's stones are this type.
Full article at : Renal Calculi - Kidney Stones - Types of Kidney Stones
Operator Description
== Is equal to
=== Is identical to (is equal and is the same data type)
!= Is not equal to
!== Is not identical to
< Is less than
<= Is less than or equal to
> Is greater than
>= Is greater than or equal to
————————————————
Logical Operators in PHP
Operator Name Description
! a - NOT - True if a is not true
a && b AND - True if both a and b are true
a || b - OR - True if either a or b is true
a and b - AND - True if both a and b are true
a xor b - XOR - True if a or b is true, but not both
a or b - OR - True if either a or b is true
There are two different ways of performing a logical AND or OR in PHP. The difference between and and && (and between or and ||) is the precedence used to evaluate expressions.
Consider :
a or b and c
a || b and c
In the former condition, the and takes precedence and is evaluated first. The overall condition is true if a is true or if both b and c are true.
elseif Versus else if
In PHP you can also write elseif as two words: else if. The way PHP interprets this variation is slightly different, but its behavior is exactly the same.