Public Health

Public health is «the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting human health through organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals». Analyzing the health of a population and the threats is the basis for public health. The «public» in question can be as small as a handful of people, an entire village or it can be as large as several continents, in the case of a pandemic.

«Health» takes into account physical, mental and social well-being. It is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, according to the World Health Organization. Public health is interdisciplinary. For example, epidemiology, biostatistics and health services are all relevant. Environmental health, community health, behavioral health, health economics, public policy, mental health and occupational safety, gender issues in health, sexual and reproductive health are other important subfields.

Public health aims to improve the quality of life through prevention and treatment of disease, including mental health. This is done through the surveillance of cases and health indicators, and through the promotion of healthy behaviors. Common public health initiatives include promoting handwashing and breastfeeding, delivery of vaccinations, suicide prevention and distribution of condoms to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Modern public health practice requires multidisciplinary teams of public health workers and professionals. Teams might include epidemiologists, biostatisticians, medical assistants, public health nurses, midwives or medical microbiologists. Depending on the need environmental health officers or public health inspectors, bioethicists, and even veterinarians, Gender experts, Sexual and reproductive health specialists might be called on. Access to health care and public health initiatives are difficult challenges in developing countries. Public health infrastructures are still forming in those countries.

The focus of a public health interventionis to prevent and manage diseases, injuries and other health conditions through surveillance of cases and the promotion of healthy behaviors, communities and environments. Many diseases are preventable through simple, nonmedical methods. For example, research has shown that the simple act of handwashing with soap can preventthe spread of many contagious diseases. In other cases, treating a disease or controlling apthogen can be vital to preventing its spread to others, either during and outbreak of infectious disease or through contamination of food or water supplies.

Public health communications programs, vaccination programs and distribution of contoms are examples of common preventive public health measures. Measures such as these have contributed greatly to the health of populations and increases in life expectancy. Public health plays an important role in disease prevention efforts in both the developing world and in developed countries through local health systems and non-governmental organizations.

Functional Food

A functional food is a food given an additonal function (often one related to health-promotion or disease prevention) by adding new ingredients or more of existing ingredients. The term may also apply to traits purposely bred into existing edible plants, such as purple or gold potatoes having enriched anthocyanin or carotenoid contents, respectively. 

Functional foods may be "designed to have physiological benefits and/or reduce the risk of chronic disease beyond basic nutritional functions, and may be similar in appearance to conventional food and consumed as part or a regular diet". The term was first used in Japan in the 80s where there is a government approval process for functional foods called Foods for Specified Health Use (FOSHU).

The functional food industry, consisting of food, beverage and supplement sectors, is one of the several areas of the food industry that is experiencing fast growth in recent years. It is extimated that the global market of functional food industry will reach 176.7 billion in 2013 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4%. 

Specifically, the functional food sector will experience 6.9% CAGR, the supplement sector will rise by 3.8% and the functional beverage sector will be the fastest growing segment with 10.8% CAGR. This kind of growth is fueled not only by industrial innovation and development of new products that satisfy the demand of health conscious consumers, but also by health claims covering a wide range of health issues.

Yet, consumer skepticism persists mainly because benefits associated with consuming the products may be difficult to detect. Strict examination of some of the functional food claims may discourage some companies from launching their products. 

Gazpacho and health

Andalusian gazpacho or Gabacho is a cold soup made of raw blended vegetables. A classic of Spanish cuisine, it originated in the southern region of Andalusia. Gazpacho is widely eaten in Spain and Portugal, particularly during the hot summers, as it is refreshing and cool. There are other recipes called gabacho, such as gazpacho manchego, which is very different from Andalusian gazpacho. 

There are also a number of dishes that are closely related to Andalusian gazpacho and often considered variants thereof, such as ajoblanco, salmorejo, pipirrana, porra antequerana (closer to a bread soup), cojondongo and Portuguese gaspacho. Gazpacho has ancient roots. There are a number of theories of its origin, including as a soup ofbread, olive oil, water and garlic that arrived in Spain and Portugal with the Romans and also with the addition of vinegar.

Once in Spain, it became a part of Andalusian cuisine, particularly Córdoba, Seville and Granada, using stale bread, garlic, olive oil, salt, and vinegar, similar to ajoblanco. During the 19th century, the red gazpacho evolved when tomatoes were added among the ingredients. This version was spread internationally. There are many modern variations of gazpacho, often in different colors and omitting the tomatoes and bread in favor of avocados, cucumbers, parsley, watermelon, grapes, meat stock, seafood, and other ingredients.

In Andalusia, most gazpacho recipes typically include stale bread, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, onion and garlic, olive oil, wine, vinegar, water, and salt. 

The turnip

The turnip or whipe turnip (Brassica rapa subsp. rapa) is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, bulbous taproot. The word turnip is a compound of tur- as in turned-rounded on a lathe and neep, derived from Latin napus, the word for the plant. Small, tender varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties are grown as feed for livestock.

In the north of England, Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall and eastern Canada (Newfoundland), turnip (or neep) often refers to rutabaga, a larger, yellow root vegetable in the same genus (Brassica) also known as swede (from "Swedish turnip"). The most common type of turnip is mostly white-skinned apart from the upper 1-6 centimetres, which protrude above the ground and are purple or red or greenish where the sun has hit. 

This above-ground part develops from stem tissue, but is fused with the root. The interior flesh is entirely white. The root is roughly globular; from 5-20 centimetres in diameter, and lacks side roots. Underneath, the taproot (the normal root below the swollen storage root) is thin and 10 centimetres (3,9 in) or more in length; it is trimmed off before the vegetables is sold. 

The leaves grow directly from the above-ground shoulder of the root, with little or no visible crown or neck (as found in rutabagas). Turnip leaves are sometimes eaten as "turnip greens" ("turnip tops" in the UK), and they resemble mustard greens (to which they are closely related) in flavor. Turnip greens are a common side dish in southeastern US cooking, primarily during late fall and winter.

Smaller leaves are preferred, but the bitter taste of larger leaves can be reduced by pouring off the water from the initial boiling and replacing it with fresh water. Varieties of turnip grown specifically for their leaves resemble mustard greens and have small or no storage roots. These include rapini (broccoli rabe), bok choy, and Chinese cabbage. Similar to raw cabbage or radish, turnip leaves and roots have a pungent flavor that becomes milder after cooking.

Turnip roots weigh up to 1 kilogram (2.2 lb), although they are usually harvested when smaller. Size is partly a function of variety and partly a function of the length of time the turnip has grown. Most very small turnips (also called baby turnips) are specialty varieties. These are only available when freshly harvested and do not keep well. Most baby turnips can be eaten whole, including their leaves.

Baby turnips are sold in yellow, orange, and red-fleshed varieties, as well as white-fleshed. Their flavor is mild, so the can be eaten raw in salads like radishes and other vegetables. The benefits derived from turnip husbandry are of great magnitude; light soils are cultivated with profit and facility; abundance of food is provided for man and beast; the earth is turned to the uses for which it is physically calculated, and by being suitably cleaned with this preparatory crop, a bed is provided for grass seeds, wherein they flourish and prosper with greater vigor than after any other preparation.

The first ploughing is given immediately after harvest, or as soon as the wheat seed is finished, either in length or across the field, as circumstances may seem to require. In this state the ground remains till the oat seed is finished, when a second ploughing is given to it, usually in a contrary direction to the first. It is then repeatedly harrowed, often rolled between the harrowings and every particle of root-weeds carefully picked off with the hand; a third ploughing is then bestowed, and the other operations are repeated.

In this stage, if the ground has not been very foul, the seed process. The next part of the process is the sowing of the seed; this may be performed by drilling machines of different sizes and constructions, through all acting on the same principle. A machine drawn by a horse in a pair of shafts, sows two drills at a time and answers extremely well, where the ground is flat, and the drills properly made up.

Politics of the United States

The United States is a federal republic in which the president, Congress, and federal courts share powers reserved to the national government according to its Constitution. The federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments. The executive branch is headed by the President and is formally independent of both the legislature and the judiciary.

The cabinet serves as a set of advisers to the President. They include the Vice President and heads of the executive departments. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The judicial branch (or judiciary), composed of the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, exercises judicial power.

The judiciary's function is to interpret the United States Constitution and federal laws and regulations. This includes resolving disputes between the executive and legislative branches. The federal government's structure is codified in the Constitution. Two political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, have dominated American politics since the American Civil War, although smaller parties exist such as the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, and the Constitution Party. 

Generally, the Democratic Party is commonly known as the left-wing party within the United States, while the Republican Party is commonly known as the United States'right-wing party. There are a few major differences between the political system of the United States and that of most other developed democracies. These include greater power in the upper house of the legislature, a wider scope of power held by the Supreme Court, the separation of powers between the legislature and the executive, and the dominance of only two main parties.

Politics. The origin

Politics is the process of making decisions that apply to members of a group. It refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance - organized control over a human community, particularly a state. In modern nation states, people have formed political parties to represent their ideas. They agree to take the same position on many issues, and agree to support the same changes to law and the same leaders.

An election is usually a competition between different parties. Some examples of political parties are the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa, the Tories in Great Britain and the Indian National Congress. Politics is a multifaceted word. It has a set of fairly specific meanings that are descriptive and nonjudgmental (such as "the art or science of government" and "political principles"), but often does carry a connotation of dishonest malpractice. 

The negative connotation of politics, as seen in the phrase "play politics", for example, has been in use since at least 1.853, when abolitionist Wendell Phillips declared: "We do not play politics; anti-slavery is no half-jest with us". A variety of methods are deployed in politics, which include promoting one's own political views among people, negotiation with other political subjects, making laws, and exercising force, including warfare against adversaries.

Politics is exercised on a wide range of social levels, from clans and tribes of traditional societies, through modern local governments, companies and institutions up to sovereign states, to the international level. It is very often said that politics is about power. A political system is a frame work which defines acceptable political methods within a given society. History of political thoughtcan be traced back to early antiquity, with seminal works such as Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Politics and the works of Confucious.

Political system in Castile-La Mancha

Castilla-La Mancha, sometimes written in English as Castile-La Mancha, is a south-western European region that was part of the Kingdom of Castile and one of the seventeen autonomous communities of modern Spain. It is bordered by Castile and Lion, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia and Extremadura. It is one of the most sparsely populated of Spain's autonomous communities.

Albacete is the largest and most populous city. Its capital city is Toledo, and its judicial capital city is Albacete. Castile-La Mancha was formerly grouped with the province of Madrid into New Castile (Castilla La Nueva), but with the advent of the modern Spanish system of autonomous regions (Estado de las autonomías), it was separated due to great demographic disparity between the capital and remaining New-Castilian provinces.

Also, distinct from the former New Castile, Castile-La Mancha added the province of Albacete, which had been part of Murcia; adding Albacete placed all of the historic region of La Mancha within this single region. Article 8 of the Statute of Autonomy states that the powers of the region are exercised through the Junta of Communities of Castilla-La Mancha (JCCM). Organs of the Junta are the Cortes of Castilla-La Mancha, the President of the Junta and the Council of Government.

The Cortes of Castilla-La Mancha represent the popular will through 33 deputies elected by universal adult suffrage through the secret ballot. They are elected for a term of four years under a proportional system intended to guarantee representation to the various territorial zones of Castilla-La Mancha. The electoral constituency is at the level of each province, with provinces being assigned the following number of deputies as of 2009; Albacete 6, Ciudad Real 8, Cuenca, 5, Guadalajara 5 and Toledo 9.

Article 10 of the Statute of Autonomy states that elections will be convoked by the President of the Junta of Communities, following the general, following the General Electoral Regime (Régimen Electoral General), on the fourth Sunday in May every four years. This stands in contrast to the autonomous communities of the Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, Andalusia and the Valencian Community where the president has the power to the convoke elections at any time. (In the Valencian Community that power has never been exsercised. Elections there have, in practice, taken place on a four year cycle).

Since the Spanish regional elections of 2015, the Cortes of Castilla-La Mancha has consisted of 16 deputies from the conservative People's Party, 15 from the socialist PSOE and 2 from the left-wing Podemos. The Cortes sits in the former Franciscan convent in Toledo, the Edificio de San Gil. About the Council of Government we must say that it is the collegial executive organ of the region. It directs regional political and administrative action, excercises and executive function and regulatory powers under the Spanish Constitution of 1978, the Statute of Autonomy, and the laws of the nation and region. The Council of Government consist of the president, vice president (if any) and the Councilors.