Womb cancer on the rise!

It has been recorded that a great number of women are being diagnosed with womb cancer because they are having fewer children or none at all and because of this their hormone is effected which puts them more at risk. The rates of womb cancer are on the rise and it is the fourth most common form of cancers in women. This is proved by the fact that rates of this disease have increased by almost 50 percent in the past 30 years. Having fewer children is not only the reason for womb cancer because doctors have credited the rise to increased obesity too. It can double the chances for tumor too.

The occurrence of this cancer is usually after menopause and between the age of 60 and 69. Though 50% of all womb cancers are caused due to obesity but doctors do not present any such figures for the number of tumors they believe are caused by having fewer children. Jessica Harris, health information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "Women are more exposed to womb cancer when there are higher levels of the hormone oestrogen in their blood”. So because of this the menstrual cycle changes obviously and it will also decrease when women are pregnant. Nowadays women do not plan to have children or they avoid till the time they are 40 something and this has been proved by official statistics too. So there are smaller families, with one in ten women having more than four children, compared with one in five 20 years ago. So by all this I conclude by saying that women are doing wrong by not having children at an early age as it creates more than one problem. We might say that career women have a sensible explanation for it but you see the long term disastrous effects which ends your life soon.

Today's career women.

Arab business women and aspiring leaders attending the Women in Leadership forum stressed that the key challenge facing professional women is maintaining a balance between their personal and professional life. “Women globally face the problem of balancing their private and professional life, for this we need support from our families, our society and from support groups because we are not superwomen” said Fatima, who was voted by Forbes Arabia as the seventh most influential women in the Arab world in 2008.

Christine Legarde, the French minister of economy, industry and employment said that it was important that women that had climbed the corporate ladder should support the sisterhood in business because she believes that there is a special place in Hell for those women who do not help other women. Hence we must support each other. During the opening panel session it was discussed by the other experts that a lot more needs to be done in spite of the policy and regulatory changes have been made by the government to further increase the participation of women in leadership roles.

The women council in the UAE is constantly on the go for developing policies and procedures to help support women. In order to support women in the workplace the Dubai Women Establishment is formulating policies to handle the issue of nurseries. This is a great effort that is being made to maintain women equality. Women in Leadership forum was basically designed to encourage the next generation of influential women to succeed not only as individuals but also as team leaders and organizational visionaries so that it might help the future generation as well. Therefore, identifying and enhancing skills are essential in order to be successful at workplace.

Pakistan: Islamic banking robust.

The State Bank of Pakistan believes that Islamic banks are on the edge of combining their market position in the banking industry only if the key hurdles faced by these institutions are highlighted in a appropriate manner. The Islamic banks have shown flexibility in the middle of the global financial crisis which is surrounding the local banking industry and in addition to that the State Bank is confident of the share of the banks increasing up to 12% of the market in the coming 2 or 3 years.

Basically Islamic banking was introduced in this country in 2001 when the government decided to promote the Shariah system and the Islamic way has shown marvelous development by gaining more than 6% of the market share in June of this year. Plus the number of Islamic banks have increased to 19 in the country. The assets of SBP’s have grown by 31 percent along with the financing and investment portfolio showing that the performance have improved as compared to last year, though there have been some problems faced which could decrease their progress such as lack of awareness amongst the business community regarding the genuineness of Islamic banking. The biggest is the controversies among the religious scholars about the interpretation of Shariah banking practices. This further adds to the confusion of general public.

So SBP has started an awareness campaign to remove all misconceptions about Islamic banking and to start the promotion of the basics on which it operates. As part of the campaign, the field offices of SBP are now more accessible to the public and the business community as well which would in turn improve awareness about Islamic banking.

Teens: over-texting and over-networking!

Nowadays it’s very difficult to imagine a teenager without a cell phone and a laptop. Now researchers have found that poor health habits such as drinking and smoking are mostly caused by excessive text messaging and online networking. A study by the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine has given evidence that excessive texting and online networking have increased the unsuspected health risks for teenagers. Before this when United States surveyed students from public high schools in the state of Ohio highlighting their use of communication technologies and lifestyle.

They found that teens who send more than 120 texts in a day or spend 3 hours on social networking sites such as facebook in a day are on an increased risk of getting involoved in unhealthy behaviors; such as 40% are more likely to have tried cigarettes, 43% are more likely to be binge drinkers, 41% are more likely to have used illegal drugs and 55% are more likely to been engaged in a physical fight. They also reported that hyper-networking is associated with more stress, depression, sleep deprivation and poor academic performance.

Scott Frank, a leading researcher of the study said. “The startling results of this study suggest that when left unchecked, texting and other widely popular methods of staying connected can have dangerous health effects on teenagers”. Hence I believe that this should be a wake up call for the parents to help their children to stay safe by discouraging excessive use of the cell phone and social websites too because in my opinion it is the same thing as letting our children go out and socialize for long hours on a school night. If we are stopping our children from spending long hours outside then we should not let them use the cell phone in such an excess or social networking sites because both the situations have the same effect in the long run.

Eid al-Adha Tidbits.

Celebrated annually on the 10^th day of the month of Hajj, Eid-ul-Azha or the Festival of Sacrfice is an important religious holiday to commemorate the gesture of Hazrat Ibrahim sacrificing his son in submission to Gods will. Each Muslim family is intended to slaughter a slaughter a domestic animal and the meat is to be divided into 3 portions; the family itself, the relatives and the needy.

The true value behind celebrating this festival is to help the needy and brings the Muslim societies together. I believe that this year on this festival something different should be done. For example we should select a charitable institution and donate a certain portion of our money; it is a way to serve the humanity, secondly we should take out time to remember the people who have passed away in the flood disaster in Pakistan, the earthquakes in Indonesia and other disasters which have taken place in the world.

 We all should educate our children about the true sanctity and true essence of this festival, along with the celebrations and splendid gifts, try and understand the deeper reason behind this holy day. In Pakistan Eid-ul-Azha is celebrated the most basic traditional way as every year. Men of the house go for salat-al-Eid, slaughtering then distribution of meat, while women cook delicious foods and children enjoy the lovely gifts!.

World's first biodegradable paper watch.

Geneva’s  based watch maker Altanus came up with world’s first biodegradable paper watch after four years of widespread research. Patch watches are completely biodegradable and are created from a special paper that is resistant to wear and tear. The aim of such a thing is to prevent it from disintegrating on someone’s wrist while wearing it. Plus this watch is said to be water proof and the average life span of this delicate looking watch is between a few days to even a maximum of two weeks – depending solely on the type of usage. This watch has been named Patch by Altanus and it is said that this super idea for a watch was adopted in the annual Carnival festival in Viareggio, Tuscandy.

To tell you more about its features, this watch weighs a mere 11 grams and for some special occasions, it is available in ten bright hues as well as in a couple of seasonal prints which are said to be very attractive. Altanus has priced these Patch watches for a mere USD 33.52, which is more than 50% less compared to the price of average watches sold by this company although Altanus is known for creating expensive watches. And so I believe that this is one more striking element which is fixated to this unique invention.

Basically Altanus’s aim is to attract more and more common folks as their customers by keeping the prices so low. But only time will tell that when do people of the Middle East actually get their hands on this new amazing gizmo. Whenever this invention arrives, it is definitely  going to make Mother Nature proud with joy.

Kashmir for natural goods :)

Away from high rise buildings, dazzling city lights, speeding cars there are people who still depend on mother- nature for keeping their small businesses running. A small town called Shopian, forty miles away from Srinagar, produces world’s best known varieties of apple including Red Delicious and American Apirogue. On the other hand, people who trade in locally produced apples and cherries remain largely cut off from the real world. Surrounded by a huge mountain range; Pir Panjal these people live lethargic lives, totally different from the fast changing world around them.

People are still dependent on small and simple tools. Everything is done using conventional methods of farming as they do not use any machines at all in their day to day lives. They do not make themselves dependent on machines. It is good in a way because firstly machines are expensive and most importantly using a lot of machines creates unemployment as high skills are required and most of the workers do not possess those skills. “Nature has bestowed us immensely. We do not want to contaminate our lives with modern machines?” says Mr. Abdul Majid Wani, a third generation farmer who owns large apple orchids outside Shopian town.
Apart from delicious apples this town is also blessed with pears, almond trees and walnut. In addition this place is also famous for Bigarreau Napolean variety cherry which is mostly exported to America and Middle Eastern countries and hence these cherries are a great source of income for these people of Shopian. If one gets to know of the fact that this place is so bleesed with such natural bounties, they wil not believe that this place is so cut off from the rest of the world. But still people of Kashmir are happy with their lifestyle, a simple one and life moves at its own pace in Kashmir as the people enjoy the gifts of nature and they feel lucky to be living in such a blessed country.