Ebola virus

Ebola virus (EBOV, formerly designated Zaire ebolavirus) is the sole member of the Zaire ebolavirus species, and the most dangerous of the five known viruses within the genus Ebolavirus. Four of the five known ebolaviruses cause a severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans and other mammals, known as Ebola virus disease. The virus and its species were both originally named for Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), the country where it was first described, and was at first suspected to be a new "strain" of the closely related Marburg virus; the virus (but not its species) was renamed to "Ebola virus" in 2010 to avoid confusion.

The EBOV genome is approximately 19.000 base pairs long. It encodes seven structural proteins: nucleoprotein (NP), polymerse cofactor (VP35), (VP40), GP, transcription activator (VP30), VP24, and RNA polymerase (L). It is difficult to study due to the virulent nature of the virus. Ebola virus is one of the four ebolaviruses known to cause disease in humans. It has the higest case-fatality rate of these ebolaviruses, averaging 83% since first described in 1976, although fatality rates up to 90% have been recorded in one epidemic (2002-03).

Amsterdam to Wacken 2014

Wacken Open Air (W.O.A) is a summer open air metal music festival. It takes place annually in the small village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany. With 80.000 festival visitors, and including personnel a total of roughly 86.000 attendees in 2011, it attracts all kinds of metal music fans, such as fans of black, death, power, trash, gothic, folk, metalcore, nu and hard rock from around the world.

The festival was first held in 1990 as a small event for local German bands. W.O.A. is usually held at the beginning of August and lasts three days. Since 2002, the Wacken Firefighters, the local volunteer fire department band, opens the festival. This year the confirmed bands Death Angel and Iced Earth canceled their summer shows including Wacken Open Air.

Double Main Stage, Thursday 31st July:

- Letz-Zep

- Skyline

- Bülent

- Ceylan

- Hammerfall

- Steel Panther

- Saxon

- Accept

- Masterplan

Friday, 1st August:

- Chthonic

- Skid Row

- Endstille

- Five Finger Death Punch

- Bring me the horizon

- Heaven shall burn

- Children of Bodom

- Apocalyptica

- Motörhead

- Slayer

- King Diamond

- WASP

Saturday, 2nd August:

- Arch Enemy
- Sodom
- Behemonth
- Devin Townsend Project
- Emperor
- Amon Amarth
- Megadeth
- Avantasia
- Kreator
- Van Canto

This journey was amazing and my favourite place was Alkmaar, it´s a municipaly and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of Noord Holland. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it´s a popular cultural destination.

Thanks to: Victor Van Canto, Hector Our Destiny, Lu of the North, Melanie the Croatian, Alfa Romeo Mito,  Joacim Cans, Oscar Dronjak, Michael Starr, Biff Byford, Mark Tornillo, Roland Grapow, Jorn Lande, Ivan Moody, Alexi Lahilo, Eicca Toppinen, Lemmy Kilmister, Johan Hegg, Dave Mustaine, Tobias Sammet, Michael Kiske, Amanda Somerville, Stefan and Ross "Rakkataka", Holland and Germany for putting up with us. Someday we will come back to another adventure.

Long live to Rock and may the force be with you...only time will tell.

Mental health

Mental health or behavioral health is a level of psychological well-being, or an absence of a mental disorder; it is the "psychological state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment". From the perspective of positive psychology or holism, mental health may include an individual´s ability to enjoy life, and create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) mental health includes "subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and self-actualization of one´s intellectual and emotional potencial, among others." WHO further states that the well-being of an individual is encompassed in the realization of their abilities, coping with normal stresses of life, productive work and contribution to their community.

Hygiene and Health

Hygiene is a set of practices performed for the preservation of health. While in modern medical sciences there is a set of standards of hygiene recommended for different situations, what is considered hygienic or not can vary between different cultures, genders and etarian groups.

Some regular hygienic practices may be considered good habits by a society while the neglect of hygiene can be considered disgusting, disrespecful or even threatening. Sanitation involves the hygienic disposal and treatment by the civic authority of potentially unhealthy human waste, such as sewerage and drainage.

Medical hygiene pertains to the hygiene practices related to the administration of, and medical care, that prevents or minimizes disease and the spreading of disease.

Medical hygiene practices include:

- Isolation or quarantine of infectious persons or materials to prevent spread of infection.

- Sterilization or instruments used in surgical procedures.

- Use of protective clothing and barriers, such as masks, gowns, caps, eyewear and gloves.

- Proper bandaging and dressing of injuries.

- Safe disposal of medical waste.

- Disinfection of reusables (i.e. linen, pads, uniforms).

-Scrubbing up, had-washing, especially in a operating room, but in more general health-care setting as well, where diseases can be transmitted.

Most of these practices were developed in the 19th century and were well established by the mid-20th century. Some procedures (such as disposal of medical waste) were refined in response to late-20th century disease outbreaks, notably AIDS and Ebola.

Dieting and Health

Dieting is often in combination with physical exercise to lose weight in those who are overweight or obese. Some people, however, follow a diet to gain weight (usually in the form of muscle). Diets can also be used to maintain a stable body weight.

Diets to promote weight loss are generally divided into four categories: low-fat, low-carbohydrate, low-calorie, and very low calorie. A meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials found no difference between the main diet types (low calorie, low carbohydrate, and low fat), with a 2-4 kilogram weight loss in all studies. At two years, all calorie-reduced diet types cause equal weight loss irrespective of the macronutrients emphasized.

The energy intake from food is limited by the efficiency of digestion and efficiency of utilization. The efficiency of digestion is largely dependent on the type of food being eaten, while efficiency of utilization is affected by a variety of factors, including age, gender, body weight, hormone levels, and many more.

European Parliament election 2014

Between 22 and 25 Mayo 2014 elections to the European Parliament will be held in all member states of the European Union (EU). The date was decided unanimously by the Council of the European Union. It will be the eighth Europe-wide election to the European Parliament since the first direct elections in 1979.

The 2014 elections will be held in late May instead or early June as had been the case with previous European Parlament elections. The elections were brought forward in order to provide more time for the election of a president of the European Commision, and because they would otherwise have coincided with the Pentecost weekend wich falls during school holidays in many member states.

The Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on 1 December 2009, provides that the European Parliament shall elect the president of the European Commision on the basis of a proposal made by the European Council, taking into account the European elections (article 17, paragraph 7 of the Treaty on European Union). This provision will apply for the first time for the 2014 elections.

Nevertheless, major EU politicians such as European Council president Herman Van Rompuy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and former Commission president Jacques Delors have questioned the aspiration of European political parties to link the presidency of the European Commission with the result of the European elections and insist that the future Commission president has to suit Member States expectations first.

No pan-European opinion polls are carried out, however several institutes have compiled predictions of the outcome of the elections based on national polls. Finally, the article 14 of the Treaty of Lisbon lays down that "The European Parliament shall be composed of representatives of the Union´s citizens. They shall not exceed serven hundred and fifty in number, plus the President. Representation of citizens shall be degressively proportional, with a minimun threshold of six members per Member State. No Member State shall be allocated more than ninety-six seats."

Ukranian conflict 2014

Russia-Ukraine relations were established in 1991 immediately upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union of which both were founding constituent republics. Russia has an embassy in Kiev and consulates in Kharkiv, Lviv, Odessa and Simferopol. Ukraine has an embassy in Moscow and consulates in Rostov-on Don, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen and Vladivostok.

Relations between the two country´s Governments are complex. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin allegedly declared at a NATO-Russia summit in 2008 that, if Ukraine were to join NATO, his country could contend to annex the Ukrainian East and Crimea. Some analysts believe that the current Russian leadership is determined to prevent an equivalent of the Ukrainian Orange Revolution in Russia. This perspective is supposed to explain not only Russian domestic policy but its sensitivity to events abroad.

Many Ukraine and beyond believe that Russia has periodically used its vast energy resources to bully its smaller, dependent neighbour, but the Russian Government argues insted that it was the internal squabbling amongst Ukraine´s political elite that is to blame for the deadlock. Since the election of Pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych as Ukrainian President in early 2010 the relations between the two nations had improved.

On may 14, 2013 an unknown veteran of unknown intelligence service (officially-Ukrainian, in reality-Soviet) Sergei Razumovsky, leader of the All-Ukrainian Association of Homeless Officers, who resides in Ukraine under the Ukrainian flag calls on creation of Ukrainian-Russian international volunteer brigades in support of the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria to fight rebels.

The 2014 Crimean crisis is unfolding in the autonomous region of Crimea, Ukraine, in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, in which the gobernment of President Victor Yanukovych was ousted. Protests were staged by groups of mainly ethnic Russians who opposed the events in Kiev and wanted close ties or integration with Russia, in addition to expanded autonomy or possible independence for Crimea.

Other groups, including Crimean Tartars, protested in support of the revolution. On 27 February, armed men wearing masks seized a number of important buildings in Crimea, including the parliament building and two airports. They destroyed almost all phone and internet service between Crimea and the rest of Ukraine. Under seige, the Supreme Council of Crimea dismissed the autonomous republic´s government and replaced chairman of the Council of Ministers of Crimea, Anatolii Mohyliov with Sergey Aksyonov. Kiev accused Russia of intervening in Ukraine´s internal affairs, while the Russian side officially denied such claims.  

On 1 March, the Russian parliament granted President Vladimir Putin the authority to use military force in Ukraine, following a plea for help from unofficial pro-Moscow leader, Sergey Aksyonov. On the same day, the acting president of Ukraine, Oleksandr Turchynov decreed the appointment of the Prime Minister of Crimea as unconstitutional. He said, "we consider the behavior of the Russian Federation to be direct aggression against the sovereignty of Ukraine."