Experts say more than 600 species of bacteria live in the human mouth, on the tongue, lining the teeth, and cheeks, while some float freely in the saliva ready to be transferred through an intimate kiss.

Then, a 10-second kiss transfers about 80 million bacteria. Should you still kiss after reading this?

We have answers here: http://zemellive.com/germs-transfer-should-you-still-kiss-after-reading-this/

Campinas, Brazil—Still wearing his nightclothes, he was writhing in pain when the doctor reached his bedside that morning. He didn’t even wait for the doctor to display bedside manners when he blurted: “Please stop this horrible pain. I am bleeding too,” with a grimace. The doctor, slightly greying at the temples, came even closer—a soothing smile on his face and asked how it happened. This time pain overarched shyness; he told him all about last night’s steamy session. Diagnosis became easy; the doctor figured out the classic triad of an audible “cracking” sound, followed by immediate detumescence—which is sudden disappearance of the erection and severe, excruciating pain in the fairly long narrative—all indicative of a penis fracture.

Fractures of this kind – where there are no bones involved – happen almost exclusively to the penis. However, you can easily grasp how it happens when you look at it from the first principle—which in this context means beginning from what makes up your erection. According to Jacob Rajfer, M.D., professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, your penis consists of three cylindrical tubes. The two larger tubes are called the corpus cavernosa —think of them as “balloons”—that fill up with blood when you become hard. The third, smaller tube—located on the underside of your penis—is your urethra, from which you urinate.

Now the “skin” of these balloons is called the tunica albuginea, a tissue that expands both length- and width-wise during an erection. “When you get aroused, blood rushes into those two larger tubes, and the pressure grows. That makes your penis rigid and hard to bend. So if it experiences some kind of force—like if you accidentally hit your partner’s pubic bone during sex while thrusting, or she moves it too much when grinding on top—it can lead to pressure overload. The surrounding tissue that’s holding the pressure inside can’t withstand it anymore, and that’s when the rupture occurs” says Dr. Rajfer.

Granted, the rupture of the tunica albuginea of the corpora cavernosa defines penile fracture that occurs with the organ in an erectile position, but certain mechanisms predisposes penile fracture as well as the rate of long-term penile deformity and erectile and voiding functions. Scientists from three Brazilian Universities in Campinas, Leonardo O. Reis, 2014, and five others, in their study involving 44 men who attended three hospitals in the city of Campinas, Brazil, with a suspected fractured penis over a thirteen year period, found that “Woman on top” was the potentially riskiest sexual position followed by “doggy style.” The woman-on-top position was held responsible for half of all penile fractures sustained during intercourse in cases recorded at three hospitals, according to researchers in Brazil.

Find out the reason woman on top is dangerous, treatment and lots more on this link below:
http://zemellive.com/penile-fracture-avoid-dangerous-sexual-positions/

The loud wail of the female guest in one of the suites drew his attention. This has to be a distress call, he thought as ran up the flight of stairs. When he got there, he saw clear signs of romance gone awry. Lying crookedly on the bed, au naturel, was a middle-aged man; but his midriff was covered with bedclothes. The grief-stricken woman was pacing up and down the room—distraught; a piece of cloth draped over her body. He didn’t see any sign of struggle; apart from the five used condoms and an empty pack of performance enhancing drug that littered the floor, the room was in pristine condition. Yet, there was nothing anyone could do for him now. Too much of a good thing is bad.

Undoubtedly, sex is good for you. Beyond the unparalleled pleasure you could get having it, it’s got lots of health benefits to boot. Studies have shown that sex boosts immune system, engenders better sleep, reduces likelihood of prostate cancer in men, increases libido, improves bladder control in women, lowers blood pressure and risk of heart disease in men—men who have sex at least twice in a week can almost halve their risk of heart disease according to a study, and reduces stress.

But do not get carried away with the fun and benefits just yet; experts have revealed the naked truth about sex—the sad reality is that it has its underside too. Below are the things that would happen if you get "too much of a good thing," or push things beyond the limits of human wisdom.

Damage to skin of the penis and vagina

Beginning with excoriation of sex organs, Jonthan D. Schiff, M.D—an assistant clinical professor of urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, says an “extremely high frequency of sexual intercourse may damage the skin of the penis and vagina, which can lead to disease transmissions through open cuts or wounds and increase your chances of certain illnesses”.

Dehydration
Some experts say that 30 minutes of vigorous sex is comparable to 15 minutes on a treadmill or walking up two flights of stairs, and burns between 360 and 835 kilojoules. You could see sex as strenuous exercise and having high frequency of sex without adequate hydration could easily lead to dehydration. The U.K National Health service recommends drinking plenty of water after sex to avoid dehydration and emptying the bladder after sex to prevent urinary tract infections.

Exhaustion

According to New Health Advisor, “indulging in sex several times a day will drain your energy and leave you exhausted most of the time. During sexual activity, the body releases norepinephrine, epinephrine and cortisol which increase the heart rate and trigger the release of glucose into the blood. This process could be physiologically exerting especially when done frequently”. You might want to soft pedal on the sexy side of life.

Muscle Fatigue and strains

“When people ejaculate eight to ten times over the weekend, it’s going to cause some pain and discomfort,” Dr. Schiff says. Like any other physical activity, sexual intercourse can cause muscle strains. This could result in pain and even immobility says the New Health Advisor.

Heart Attack

While this is rare, the estimates of this happening are about one in a million. Yet there are situations when people suffer from a fatal heart attack during sexual intercourse. This is how the New Health Advisor puts it: “while sex can be good for your heart as it is a cardiovascular activity like some others, you should do it with caution if you have a history of heart problems.”
You might want to read the full text on the link below:
http://zemellive.com

Delusional—that in my opinion, best describes the hold popular culture have on men; it portrays them as the stronger sex when men, in fact, depicts weakness from conception to death. Let’s face it; cultural conditioning achieved one aim—kept men in fool’s paradise lulled by unwritten rules which ensures that, in the words of Marianne Legato MD, men would: “suck up the pain, not be a wimp, show no weakness, and "man up." The sad reality is that men die first—“they are genetically and biologically fragile to start with and societal norms that encourage and even demand risky behavior by men put them at risk”, and women outlives men in every age group.

Now why do men, on average, die first?

The Womb is more perilous to fetal males

Male weakness starts right from the womb; fetal boys die more often than fetal girls. Baby boys die more often than baby girls. According to Marianne Legato—a specialist in gender-specific medicine at Columbia University, baby boys are 1.5-2 times more likely to die at birth than girls. Fetal boys have a “weaker immune system, a tendency for immature lung development, inadequate blood flow to male fetuses, and high vulnerability to maternal stresses seem to be the culprits.”

Males have a natural genetic deficit

Genetically, every cell in a woman's body has two large X chromosomes, while men have one X and one smaller Y chromosome. Now if a defect manifests on the men’s only X chromosome, there is no "spare" X chromosomes to fall back on. According to neurologist Hagberg, “two X chromosomes beat an X and a Y most of the time”—the reason why boys born with a problem on X chromosome typically don’t survive”. Moreover, Legato notes that “mutations are 3-6 times more likely in a Y chromosome than an X chromosome” and that “genetic deficit could be part of the reason why miscarriages, infections, birth defects, cancers, and many other health problems strike males especially hard”.

Males are bigger risk takers

Here is the outcome; a 2004 data from National Safety Council statistics, “males were involved in 82 percent of accidental deaths associated with firearms, 87 percent of bicycle-related fatalities, nearly double the number of poisoning deaths, and almost four times as many homicides”. Could this be their biological destiny? Robert Shmerling gives an insight; “the frontal lobe of the brain — the part that controls judgment and consideration of an action’s consequences — develops more slowly in boys and young men than in their female counterparts.” This tendency toward lack of judgment and consideration of consequences contributes to the fact that far more boys and men die in accidents or due to violence than girls and women.

There are many other reasons and longevity tips on the website below:
http://zemellive.com/why-men-on-average-die-first-male-weakness/

If you were to participate in a survey to determine the most important sense organ, which one would prick up your ears? Recently, my attention was drawn to one such survey where participants answered this question: of the five senses, which one are you most afraid of losing? The sense of sight, however, got the highest number of votes and here is the reason adduced—people lose independence when they lose the ability to see more than when they lose any other sense organ.

I do not really intend to join in this debate; regardless of what the most important sense is, hearing, in my opinion, runs it a close second. Living with hearing loss is a life shorn of some of the trappings as well. Most folks believe this fact and really want to take good care of their ears; but good intentions to keep ears clean may, sadly, be risking the ability to hear.

Now hearing loss, according to U.K National Health Service—N.H.S, results when sound signals fail to reach the brain. In their opinion, there are two main types of hearing loss, depending on where the problem lies. The first is sensorineural hearing loss—which is “caused by damage to the sensitive hair cells inside the inner ear or damage to the auditory nerve and it occurs naturally with age or as a result of injury.” The second type is the conductive hearing loss which occurs “when sounds are unable to pass from your outer ear to your inner ear, often because of a blockage such as ear wax, glue ear or a build-up of fluid from an ear infection, or because of a perforated ear drum or disorder of the hearing bones.”

At this point, let’s zero in on one of the commonest causes of hearing loss—ear wax. Medically referred to as cerumen and produced in the outer one-third of your ear canal, wax blockage, according to the American Academy of Otolaryngology—that is specialists in ear, nose and throat ENT, is one of the most common causes of hearing loss. Wax blockage, also known as cerumen impaction, is often caused by attempts to clean the ear with cotton buds—a cotton-tipped applicator. Most cleaning attempts merely push the wax deeper into the ear canal, where it can harden and cause pain and hearing problems. Earwax can also block your ear if you frequently insert objects into your ear canal, such as ear plugs or hearing aids.

The ENT experts advise that the ear is a delicate and intricate area, including the skin of the ear canal and the eardrum. It therefore requires special care and this excludes probing the ear with sharp objects which can puncture your eardrum and damage the small bones—that is the hammer, anvil and stirrup—the smallest bones in the body, inside your ear. Most importantly, experts add that “earwax is not formed in the deep part of the ear canal near the eardrum; when a patient has wax blockage against the eardrum, it is often because he or she has been probing the ear with such things as cotton-tipped applicators, bobby pins, or twisted napkin corners. These objects only push the wax in deeper”.

But why do the ear make wax when it could increase risk of hearing loss?
Earwax may not be pleasant to look at, but it’s there for a purpose. Now hear this: the Chicago-based American Hearing Research Foundation, 2008, says that apart from providing lubrication, it protects ears from infection as it has antimicrobial activity, stops dust, dirt, bugs, and other crud from getting into your ear canal. It would interest you to know that there are two distinct types of earwax; but genetics determine the type your ear would make. According to Overfield, Theresa (1985), Africans and Europeans are more likely to have the wet type (honey-brown to dark-brown and moist), which is dominant, while Asians and Native Americans are more likely to have the dry type of cerumen (gray and flaky). On the other hand, the absence of earwax may result in dry, itchy ears says the American Academy of Otolaryngology.

How often should you clean your ear?
Interestingly, otolaryngologists—experts in ear, nose and throat says “under ideal circumstances, the ear canals should never have to be cleaned.” This is because the ear canal is structured in such a way that it cleans itself. Here is how it does it: “there is a slow and orderly migration of earwax and skin cells from the eardrum to the ear opening”. Every time you chew or move your jaw, you’re helping move old earwax from your ear canal to your ear opening where the wax dries and then falls out.
Hear the full story from the link below:
http://zemellive.com/listen-cotton-bud-ear-plugs-increase-risk-of-hearing-loss/

If you were to participate in a survey to determine the most important sense organ, which one would prick up your ears? Recently, my attention was drawn to one such survey where participants answered this question: of the five senses, which one are you most afraid of losing? The sense of sight, however, got the highest number of votes and here is the reason adduced—people lose independence when they lose the ability to see more than when they lose any other sense organ.

I do not really intend to join in this debate; regardless of what the most important sense is, hearing, in my opinion, runs it a close second. Living with hearing loss is a life shorn of some of the trappings as well. Most folks believe this fact and really want to take good care of their ears; but good intentions to keep ears clean may, sadly, be risking the ability to hear.

Now hearing loss, according to U.K National Health Service—N.H.S, results when sound signals fail to reach the brain. In their opinion, there are two main types of hearing loss, depending on where the problem lies. The first is sensorineural hearing loss—which is “caused by damage to the sensitive hair cells inside the inner ear or damage to the auditory nerve and it occurs naturally with age or as a result of injury.” The second type is the conductive hearing loss which occurs “when sounds are unable to pass from your outer ear to your inner ear, often because of a blockage such as ear wax, glue ear or a build-up of fluid from an ear infection, or because of a perforated ear drum or disorder of the hearing bones.”

At this point, let’s zero in on one of the commonest causes of hearing loss—ear wax. Medically referred to as cerumen and produced in the outer one-third of your ear canal, wax blockage, according to the American Academy of Otolaryngology—that is specialists in ear, nose and throat ENT, is one of the most common causes of hearing loss. Wax blockage, also known as cerumen impaction, is often caused by attempts to clean the ear with cotton buds—a cotton-tipped applicator. Most cleaning attempts merely push the wax deeper into the ear canal, where it can harden and cause pain and hearing problems. Earwax can also block your ear if you frequently insert objects into your ear canal, such as ear plugs or hearing aids.

The ENT experts advise that the ear is a delicate and intricate area, including the skin of the ear canal and the eardrum. It therefore requires special care and this excludes probing the ear with sharp objects which can puncture your eardrum and damage the small bones—that is the hammer, anvil and stirrup—the smallest bones in the body, inside your ear. Most importantly, experts add that “earwax is not formed in the deep part of the ear canal near the eardrum; when a patient has wax blockage against the eardrum, it is often because he or she has been probing the ear with such things as cotton-tipped applicators, bobby pins, or twisted napkin corners. These objects only push the wax in deeper”.

But why do the ear make wax when it could increase risk of hearing loss?
Earwax may not be pleasant to look at, but it’s there for a purpose. Now hear this: the Chicago-based American Hearing Research Foundation, 2008, says that apart from providing lubrication, it protects ears from infection as it has antimicrobial activity, stops dust, dirt, bugs, and other crud from getting into your ear canal. It would interest you to know that there are two distinct types of earwax; but genetics determine the type your ear would make. According to Overfield, Theresa (1985), Africans and Europeans are more likely to have the wet type (honey-brown to dark-brown and moist), which is dominant, while Asians and Native Americans are more likely to have the dry type of cerumen (gray and flaky). On the other hand, the absence of earwax may result in dry, itchy ears says the American Academy of Otolaryngology.

How often should you clean your ear?
Interestingly, otolaryngologists—experts in ear, nose and throat says “under ideal circumstances, the ear canals should never have to be cleaned.” This is because the ear canal is structured in such a way that it cleans itself. Here is how it does it: “there is a slow and orderly migration of earwax and skin cells from the eardrum to the ear opening”. Every time you chew or move your jaw, you’re helping move old earwax from your ear canal to your ear opening where the wax dries and then falls out.
Hear the full story from the link below:
http://zemellive.com/listen-cotton-bud-ear-plugs-increase-risk-of-hearing-loss/

Since it was discovered a couple of decades ago, the human immunodeficiency virus (H.I.V) has been a grievous health concern. The global scourge is characterized by impaired immune system, devoid of a cure and had infected millions of people. Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) published at the end of 2014, says about “36.9 million people are living with HIV globally. Moreover, some 2 million people became newly infected, and 1.2 million died of HIV-related causes.” This is not in favor of women—more than half of the population infected are women living in sub-Saharan Africa.

However, in the absence of a cure, experts have developed antiretroviral (ART) drugs that can slow the progression of HIV in the body with good and continued adherence. It is also important to note that three earlier H.I.V. prevention studies in African women failed, largely because participants did not consistently use the methods offered, which included antiviral pills and microbicidal vaginal gels.
Undaunted by previous failed attempts and drawing financial inspiration from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), two studies named the ASPIRE study and the Ring Study, were conducted in a bid to, in the words of Dr. Jared M. Baeten, from the University of Washington, who led one of the studies, “find something that could be usable enough by women that would provide H.I.V. protection.”

In the studies, a flexible $5 ring, 2.5 inches in diameter and made of silicone—a heat-resistant silicon-based synthetic substance which the study participants chose to describe with the phrase “set it and forget it” is inserted into the vagina, where it slowly releases an antiviral drug—dapivirine, and helped protect African women against contracting H.I.V from their sexual partners according a report published on Monday 22/02/16 in The New England Journal of Medicine.
One reason previous clinical trials among African women were not effective in the past was low adherence. Experts believe that effectiveness is rooted in the use of a longer-acting methods of delivery—an aim the vaginal ring is designed to achieve via simplification of ARV use and prevention of HIV type 1 (HIV-1).

The vaginal ring is easy to use—a woman can insert the ring herself, does not need to be refrigerated and has a shelf life of five years. It also releases the drug dapivirine—a non-nucleoside HIV-1 reverse-transcriptase inhibitor that has activity against a broad range of HIV-1 subtypes. Part of its appeal and its effectiveness is that women do not have to ask for their partners’ permission to use it. Upon insertion, it is left in the vagina for a month and then replaced. During the period of use, neither she nor her partner can feel it and she does not even have to tell him about it.

Considering the fact that HIV infection has made life miserable for some 37 million people globally speaking; the researchers would have loved a higher efficacy outcome. But that’s not exactly the case; the New York Times publication says “the protection was not complete: Overall infection rates were reduced by only 27 percent and 31 percent, though women who were over 21 fared better”. However, researchers believe that the device was still a major advance and that the results were the most promising to date in H.I.V prevention for African women. The leader of the Aspire Study was quoted as saying “It (the study result) gives me tremendous optimism.”
You might want to read the full article-the link is below:
http://zemellive.com/h-i-v-prevention-a-ring-of-hope/

From Greek mythology, here is the story of Narcissus—a hunter popular for his exceptional beauty. He was the son of a river god and nymph—a minor goddess often referred to as a beautiful young woman, was his mother. But he was proud and treated all the ladies who loved him with disdain; his beauty didn’t make up for his character flaw. However, he was to get his comeuppance for his demeanor in the hands of Nemesis—the goddess of retribution. It happened that Nemesis attracted Narcissus to a pool where he saw his own reflection and fell in love with it inordinately. Charmed by the beauty of his image, he could no longer leave the pool; he starved to death while staring at his reflection, and was turned into a flower.

Starting from the first adopters of self-marriage in history, Linda Baker was the first person to marry herself back in December 1993. While the world was still wondering why she took that decision in perversion of God ordained marriage as an institution between man and woman, some other women joined the band wagon of same-self marriage.

In what appeared as “stoking the fire of self marriage” before it dies out, Sara Sharpe replicated Baker’s example elsewhere. It is safe to say Sara Sharpe took perversion one notch higher by documenting her “achievement” in what she called “A Dress, A Ring, Promises to Self”.

That is not all; Nadine Schweigert, a thirty-six-year-old-woman from Fargo, North Dakota, also got married to herself, or better still, to what she referred to as the “inner groom,” in front of some forty of her closest friends. For the sake of details, here is the wedding vow that she made to herself “I, Nadine, promise to enjoy inhabiting my own life and to relish a lifelong love affair with my beautiful self.”

Apart from the tern of Linda Baker, Sara Sharpe and Nadine, there are other people who got married to their beautiful selves. In 2003, a Dutch woman—Jennifer Hoes, ignored overtures from any man that may have been in her life and the benefits inherent in complementarity, to get married to herself. “When Jennifer Hoes”, writes aeon.co, “married herself at a ceremony in Haarlem in The Netherlands in 2003, she became a minor tabloid sensation, portrayed by media outlets as, by turns, lonely, self-centered, and a laughing stock”.

But Jennifer refused to see self marriage through the lens of the media; instead, she perceived it as “a powerful expression of individuality, and an invitation for others to set their own path.” When she made a video of her marriage; Marrying Me, directed by Chloe White, Jennifer “reflects on her decision, including how her father’s death when he was 30, influenced her, while arguing that people too often live according to arbitrary societal rules”.

Taking a cue from Jennifer, Sophie Tanner, 36, decided to set her on own path as well. She also married herself in what style.co.uk called a “spiritual ceremony” in Brighton in May 2014. But how spiritual could the ceremony be when it was officiated by Sophie’s friend? Here is how she puts it: “I’d hired my friend James a cardinal outfit and he was waiting for us at the Unitarian Church stage, looking resplendent in his red robes. My Dad gave me away in traditional style, then James delivered the ceremony with fantastic aplomb and more and more people gathered to see what was going on, gasping in fascination when they heard it was a self-wedding.” Tanner believes it is possible to live a fulfilled life on your own terms, without a partner to “complete you”. Interestingly, Tanner’s “love for herself grew since she got married to herself” she told Style magazine.

You might want to read the full article on:
http://zemellive.com/same-self-marriage-the-new-marriage-perversion-trend/

He was having lunch when she walked into the restaurant dressed in a red T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans trouser. She was tall, curvaceous too, with long curly hairs resting graciously on her shoulders. But what really held him spellbound was not the whiff of her fragrance as she walked past him; it was the dreamy eyes and a very pretty face. Stealing a glance at her made his heart skip a beat, then started racing as his palms grew clammy. After a long gaze, he worked up a different kind of appetite—an unusual urge to walk up to her just to transmit his feelings—an urge that he was to find irresistible. In the heat of the moment, he made what he thought was a crazy decision; but as it turns out, it was his lucky day.

Now when you feel an instant, extreme, and ultimately long-lasting romantic attraction for a stranger on the first sight of them, you are experiencing what is referred to as love at first sight. The fact that you may not have experienced it does not mean that love at first sight does not exist. The Wall Street Journal, for instance, published a 2014 survey where 41% of men and 29% of women who participated in the study say they have experienced it. Love at first sight is the only thing that could make anyone walk up to a total stranger, and like Leigh Fallon, say “I know this is going to sound crazy, but... from the moment I first set eyes on you I haven't been able to stop thinking about you.” They just cannot hold back their feelings.

But how do we differentiate love at first sight from lust at first sight? The answer to this question comes from a study called “Love is in the Gaze” conducted in one of the countries of the world that has the highest population of happy people—Switzerland. A study conducted in the University of Geneva, Switzerland “states that when we fall in love we tend to focus on the face of the other person, rather than the body.”
This means that when people fall in lust, the vital statistics of the other person—for instance, in the case of a man in lust with a woman, the curvaceousness or how well rounded the derriere is would be critical in making decisions. However, do not forget that exceptions exist to every rule; some folks are good in the art of make belief so there is need for some other forms of checks before you could draw conclusions. On the other hand, experts say "Love at first sight" is, however, not the only mode of entering into passionate relationships; at times the passion could occur after the initial meeting or could precede the first glimpse.

But here is what I find most interesting in the scientific study of love at first sight. In fact, studies show that there are two bases for love at first sight. Wikipedia documents the first basis: “the attractiveness of a person can be very quickly determined, with the average time in one study being 0.13 seconds.” A related study conducted by Dr. Stephanie Ortigue, a Syracuse University professor says that “feelings of love can occur as early as 0.2 seconds after first establishing visual contact with someone”. The second basis underscores the fact that the first few minutes—not the first moment, of a relationship have shown to be predictive of the relationship's future success, more so than what two people have in common or whether they like each other, according to Health & Science Publication 2009: “Love at first Sight may not be as implausible as it seems.”

Before we take a look at the role of the brain in the release of love-related chemicals, how about finding out whether “infatuation” would give love or lust at first sight a new meaning? The good news is that infatuation (synonymous with the word “crush”)—an intense but short-lived and irrational passion for somebody, stands alone and not to be confused with love at first sight. Hillman and Phillips described it as “a desire to express the libidinal attraction of addictive love inspired with an intense but short-lived passion or admiration for someone.” The key word here is “libidinal” which owes its origin to the word “libido”—a big word for sex drive. This is another way of saying that infatuation has a sexual undertone. You might want to be cautious the next time someone tells you he’s got a crush on you.
You might want to see the full text on:
http://zemellive.com/love-at-first-sight-myth-or-reality/

In every business, profit is important and it is the result of marketing, innovation and productivity (Peter Drucker, 1954). It is also the test of validity of business decisions and the only source of risk premium. Drucker added that the problem of business is not profit maximization but making enough profit to cover the risks of economic activity and to avoid loss. But it appears that certain organizations have other ideas about maintaining their margin; “in the face of competition”, observes James Clifton of The Gallup Organization, “they are on the path of continuous margin erosion”.

The Economist in their December 2001 publication tracked the profits made by all nonfinancial companies in the United States for a fifty-year period from 1950-2000. The high point of the graph was what Clifton called a “relentless fifty-year force gradually squashing profits out of American companies”. Reason? Organizations could make profits easily in the absence of competition but are unable to maintain margins from normal operation when faced with extreme competition. The reason for this is a customer relationship based wholly on price. When all you have that differentiates you is your price, your product becomes commoditized says Clifton.

The solution to the problem of margin erosion is rooted in the fact that organizations are not built of bricks and mortar; they are built of people. People in this context, refers to the customers and the employees. There is therefore the need to have a relationship with customers that supersedes price-that is, harnessing the power of human nature or go broke and suffer similar fate as dinosaurs. Clifton summarizes the solution in “running an organization that can maintain and expand its customer base without slashing prices or reducing its fiscal integrity.”

We could see the solution from another viewpoint; as a function of how employees connect with the organization and then the customers. This is one secret great organizations have used to their advantage; achieving growth and profits by maximizing innate abilities of their employees to connect with customers on an emotional level. Consequently, customers return because of how they feel. In “Follow This Path” by Curt Coffman and Gabriel Gonzalez-Molina, 2002, they stated that the response from return customers “has been so phenomenal that these organizations refers to them as being emotionally engaged customers.” But that is not all; great organizations also create environments that would bring out the best in employees such that they become very effective at responding to the needs of customers. Consequently, profits and growth flourish. Curt and Gabriel refers to them as emotionally engaged employees. Here is their final submission: “when engaged employees put their talents to use, they provide an instant competitive edge and build a new value-emotionally driven connection between employees and customers.”

But emotionally engaged employees are in short supply; in a massive study by The Gallup Organization involving over 10 million customers, 3 million employees and 200,000 managers, employees were classified into three categories: the engaged, the not-engaged and the actively disengaged in the U.S economy. According to the study, “only 30% of the workforce is engaged, 54% are not engaged, while approximately 16% is actively disengaged.” Now take a cursory look at the percentage of engaged employees in other climes: Canada-24%, Germany-16%, Britain-9% and France-9%.

Now, is there a chance that more recent studies would show significantly improved engagement data? In a 2014 Gallup global survey published in New York Times on 28/08/15 by Barry Schwartzaug, it found that almost 90 percent of workers were either “not engaged” with or “actively disengaged” from their jobs. Imagine that nine out of 10 workers spend half their waking lives doing things they don’t really want to do in places they don’t particularly want to be. It clearly shows that this sad trend has been sustained over time. Sadly, employee disengagement costs money; Gallup estimated that the cost to the U.S economy of actively disengaged employees is in the range of $254-$363 billion annually. The fact that global economies thrive with a paltry fraction of engaged workers doesn’t mean the ugly trend should be allowed to continue. Imagine how much it could grow by doubling the number of this category of workers!
The full text is on:
http://zemellive.com/how-to-grow-your-margin-in-the-face-of-competition-the-emotional-economy/

Watching courtship displays of roosters is fascinating. But you cannot get an eyeful due to its fleetingness. First, in the presence of a hen, the rooster lowers a wing and performs the characteristic rooster dance around the hen. When necessary, it repeats the process this time lowering the other wing. An unimpressed hen typically beats a hasty retreat with the rooster in tow. But if receptive, the hen lowers her guard, the rooster mounts and consolidates his position by grabbing the feathers at the back of her neck with his beak, moves his tail alongside the hen’s tail, and their cloacas meet. It’s over in a matter of seconds.

This kind of ephemeral union is undoubtedly acceptable in the avian world; but why should any man replicate the rooster example? Whenever you breast the tape when you should ideally be on the starting block with her, do you not notice the glazed expression on her face the next time you wanted to do it with her? From Freudian perspective, premature ejaculation (PE) is perceived as a form of hostility towards women; the man satisfies himself but leaves the woman frustratingly unfulfilled. However, believe that whatever is the biggest single cause of low self- concept in men, premature ejaculation runs it a close second. But the good news is that every man could learn how not to let go of his juices too soon.

It would interest you to know that lots of studies have been conducted on PE-that is ejaculation during sexual intercourse shortly before or after penetration usually beyond the man’s control. However, we shall adopt the definition of premature ejaculation coined by the International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM). According to Sharlip, I. D., Hellstrom, W. J., & Broderick, G. A. (2008) of ISSM, “premature ejaculation occurs prior to or within about one minute." The greatest problem associated with PE is that it does not take the interest of women into consideration; it takes much longer than a minute for women to get to their sexual destination. In fact, most women, except in cases of sex with skillful men who lasts long enough, do not reach orgasm through penile penetration; female orgasm happens during pre-intimacy, passionate kisses, or stimulation of erogenous zones such as clitoris, breasts or earlobes.

But the reasons many men let go too soon is not clearly defined. However, regardless of whether it is a case of primary premature ejaculation (refers to lifelong experience of the problem-since puberty), or secondary premature ejaculation (that is PE beginning later in life), causes range from psychological to both physical and physiological factors. According to WebMD, some psychological factors include stress, performance anxiety, guilt, depression, cultural influence or shame, and the fact that some men may have conditioned themselves to ejaculate quickly in their adolescence to avoid getting caught. Physical and physiological causes include hormonal problems, side effects of certain medications, diabetes, high blood pressure, thyroid problems and prostate disease, binge drinking, taking sexual positions that increases the way you enjoy the act, as well as multiple sclerosis which can result in nerve damage says dred.com.

According to Strassberg, D. S., & Perelman, M. A. (2009) from their study “Sexual dysfunctions,” men's typical ejaculatory latency is approximately 4–8 minutes. In a similar study involving 500 couples in the United Kingdom, the National Health Service recorded that the average length of sexual intercourse is five and a half minutes. But the sad reality is that almost every man suffer from PE at some point in their lives, especially in men dealing with new relationships or conflicts in the relationship. However, data from NHS indicates that 40% of men suffer from PE. What this NHS data means is that 40% of women (or more) are left stranded by their men as they would never get to their sexual destination or find sexual satisfaction. Prompted by this unhappy trend, some “sexperts” have suggested ways to solve this problem of PE to forestall negative effects it could have in many homes.

Now let’s start from the treatment that men could administer by themselves. One way to reduce performance anxiety is by taking a sexual position that reduces the way the sexual act is enjoyed. For instance, if you find rear entry mind-blowing, you might want to begin the act as a missionary and consummate it while she is in front of you.

Here is another way to stay longer. It is called the stop-go technique. All you need do is to take a break at well-timed interval before ejaculating. If this is well executed repeatedly, it helps to get the job done. It sounds simple; doesn’t it? But I am sure you would need to practice this technique for some time to get desired result.

The NHS in the U.K also advocated the distraction method. I called it distraction method because the man would deliberately take breaks during the act to think about any issue unrelated to sex that could temporarily take his mind off the sexual act and lowers penile sensation. This has been found to delay ejaculation.

There is one more do-it-yourself technique achieved by wearing thick condoms or doubling effort by wearing two condoms at a time. The aim in doing this is to reduce sensation of the male organ and delay the process of ejaculation. However, the only snag would be that friction generated from the use of two condoms could lead to tearing shifting emphasis from PE to unwanted pregnancies and STIs.
More lasting secrets would be unveiled. Just follow the link below for the full text:
http://zemellive.com/premature-ejaculation-the-lasting-secrets/

From a distance, he could hear the loud noise of people reveling—eating, drinking and dancing. But revelry in a quiet neighborhood on a Monday afternoon sounds unusual. Curious, the desire to unravel the mystery became overarching. But there was a problem; at the entrance were three well-built young men. They were not armed; but their bulging biceps and the numbers game were clearly not in his favor considering his willowy frame. So he stepped back just in time to notice that cultishly tattooed on the upper left arm—partly concealed, of both the sentries and every other person around, was a griffon. He beat a hasty retreat.
Different folks get tattooed for different reasons; while some tattoos serves the purpose of identification, some others are artistic or cosmetic—tattoos are sometimes used as lasting make-up as it is used as eye and lip liner, lipstick, blush, eyebrows, or even fake hair. Tattoos are also commonly used for making fashion statement or in honor of loved ones. Finally, people also get inked for medical reasons, for profit as some bear the logo of business organizations, and in some cultures, tattoos are believed to have magical abilities to protect the bearers.
But none of these reasons intrigued me more than the one I learned from the U.K based Independent newspaper publication. What some folks do when they are in love never ceases to amuse me—they could actually undergo the needle without recourse to what happens if the relationship goes awry. According to the report, “Alan Jenkins, a steelworker, recently revealed that he had undergone 20 hours at his local tattoo parlor and spent £870 on having a life-size portrait of his girlfriend's face etched into his back. However, soon after, Lisa Crooks left him for a colleague. But despite the pain and humiliation of both the tattoo and being dumped, Alan is refusing to have it removed by laser, the most popular method of erasing tattoos.”
Now most people would think Alan Jenkins should have learned his lesson and might not be in great haste next time to visit the tattoo parlor—but not Jenkins. Hear what he told the reporter: “I’ve got some room on my chest if I get hooked up with someone again." Clearly, we all do not see romance from the same perspective; or do we?
When I wanted to find out the process of tattooing, I visited a local tattoo parlor on a sight-seeing mission. It dawned on me that not many tattooists in Nigeria-and probably in many countries in Africa, operate in a hygienic environment or have operating license. Yet the process involves the use of use an electrically powered tattoo machine fitted with a needle that moves up and down many times per minute, and then punctures the skin and deposits ink with each puncture. The ink, according to experts, are actually deposited in the second layer of the skin called the dermis—the dermal cells are more stable and fading of ink is minimized so tattoos last longer.
Before you choose to get inked, know that regardless of the type, any tattoo involves health risks—especially amateur tattoos—where unsterilized tattoo equipment or contaminated ink could be used and permanent tattoos which involves puncturing the skin and having contact with blood and body fluids. According to MayoClinic, the very dangerous infections are HIV and hepatitis C, from unclean needles. Others are Staph infections such as MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) or impetigo or a deep skin infection called cellulitis.
That is not all; Suzanne Kilmer, writes (on emedicine.com) that histologists—experts on the microscopic study of tissues, have described tattoo inks as “nonreactive,” but that is when it’s pure. Sadly, impure ink that has mold or bacteria constitutes another danger leading to problems with the eyes, lungs, and other organs. There is more; though not in all cases, some people do manifest allergic reaction called metal allergy perhaps due to the presence of nickel in tattoo ink.
Yet, there is an extreme case of allergy from Scandinavia where color of ink used seems to make a whole lot of difference. Caution: colors such as red, purple, pink and orange have been shown to cause more problem than other colors. Some experts at a certain Danish TV program called "My body to the dismay of others," told the sad story of a young man who got tattooed at a young age “but experienced an infection years later originating in the red portions of the tattoos, resulting in his left leg being amputated piece by piece.” Danish experts advises that if any problem arises, then remove the red parts.
The full text is on:
http://zemellive.com/health-risks-allergies-should-you-get-a-tattoo/

Currently, experts have not agreed on the exact number of muscles in the human body, but it is safe to say that there are about 650-850, regardless of whether it’s skeletal, smooth or cardiac muscle, according to enotes.com. Here is the thing: if you were a judge in “the hardest working muscle” contest, which muscle would win your heart? For people who have read the book “Clinical Oral Science” published by Reed Educational and Professional Publishing, 1998, the muscle that takes the grand prize for delivering the greatest amount of pressure is the masseter muscle which powers the jaw to deliver tremendous bite force. However, don’t make up your mind yet until you have read the next paragraph.
When cardiac muscles contracts, writes enotes.com, “it pumps about 2 ounces (59 milliliters) of blood, pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood every single day, beats about 100,000 times per day and about 40 million times a year, and is constantly working over a lifetime”. Except you know any other muscle that posts a more impressive performance and works round the clock, you would have to acknowledge this: the heart is the hardest working muscle.

Yet, regardless of how hard working the heart is, not everybody takes good care of it. For those who do not, the consequences are dire. For starters, Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a media briefing last September, that “three out of four American adults have a heart that’s “older” than their years.” Here is the initial implication of that observation; since the concept of heart age was developed to communicate a person’s risk of dying from the two leading causes of death, disability and health care expenditures- heart attack or stroke; having a heart that is “older” than you raises the risk for deadly duet.

Now let us take a numerical approach to heart age-which is based on a risk profile that includes blood pressure, smoking history, diabetes and body mass index. “Half of U.S. men and nearly half of U.S. women have a heart age that’s five or more years older than their chronological age,” says Dr. Tom Frieden. For instance, a 55 year old woman may find out that her heart age is 74 “because she smokes and has untreated high blood pressure” he added. If this kind of heartbreaking data could be generated in a developed country, a similar study conducted in a developing country with poor basic health facilities would likely generate a heart rending data.

Interestingly, this isn’t a gloom and doom article; behind the dark cloud of the rapidly aging heart, lies this silver lining: If you take the right steps, it is possible to reduce your heart age and consequently live longer and healthier life, free from heart disease and stroke, noted Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Next, let’s find out ways to boost heart health.


1.The first heart-friendly step to take is to kick the smoking habit. Smoking increases the risk for heart diseases. Chemicals in cigarette smoke get into the bloodstream and damage the inner lining of the arteries, says cardiologist Donald Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
You might want to learn others ways of pampering your ticker on:
http://zemellive.com/is-your-heart-older-than-you/

Life on the Serengeti National Park is precarious especially for herbivores. The sad reality is that the death of a gazelle, for instance, gives life to a carnivore. As they grazed, the herd of gazelle were oblivious of the fact that hidden in the tall grasses was a stealth predator. Sensing the possibility of a meal, it crouched and inched surreptitiously towards its prey- the black spotted yellowish brown coat blending perfectly with the tawny background. As it came within attack range, its gaze fixated as it broke cover and pounced pinning it to the ground. The gazelle struggled to get up but it was too late; the leopard twisted its neck backward as the long canine teeth clamped on its neck crushing its windpipe. Death came quickly by asphyxiation-a text book exhibition by a silent killer.

Now it appears that humans and the gazelle have something in common; a stealth predator with a fatal attack strategy to boot. The only difference would be that unlike gazelles that fall prey to the big cats, humans also suffer a similar fate in “the hands” of high blood pressure. According to a recent Harvard Health publication, an alarming one in three American adults has high blood pressure. Known medically as hypertension, many people don’t even know they have it, because high blood pressure has no symptoms or warning signs. But when elevated blood pressure is accompanied by abnormal cholesterol and blood sugar levels, the damage to your arteries, kidneys, and heart accelerates exponentially. Fortunately, high blood pressure is easy to detect and treat. Sometimes people can keep blood pressure in a healthy range simply by making lifestyle changes, such as losing weight, increasing activity, and eating more healthfully.

Yet, from a recent bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO), “Nigeria is one of many developing countries where the health services have focused on treating infectious diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis, but in recent years, non-communicable conditions have become an increasing problem. One of the most prevalent non-communicable conditions worldwide, hypertension is responsible for an estimated 45% of deaths due to heart disease and 51% of deaths due to stroke globally.”

Sadly, when it comes to preventing and treating high blood pressure, one often-overlooked strategy is managing stress. For this reason, this article is aimed at identifying stress as one of the causes of high blood pressure and how effective stress management could help remedy it. Stress in this context, conforms to the terminology of Hans Selye 1950, and is referred to as “distress” -the type of stress that produces numerous physical and mental symptoms according to individual’s situational factors. Note that “eustress” otherwise known as good stress have helpful consequences. Generally speaking, stress management is one of the keys to a happy and successful life in today’s world. However, certain techniques and psychotherapy have been known to help people control stress levels to enhance healthy living-this is what stress management is all about.

Now here are some tested stress management techniques that I hope you would find useful:

In the first instance, we know that 100 years ago, there were twenty four hours in one day. There would still be twenty fours per day in the next century to come as long as the earth remains. Time lost can never be regained. This simply means that there is nothing we could do as mortals to increase the number of hours in a day-time is an inelastic resource. We could at best manage ourselves for time as there is no way to manage a unique and inelastic resource such as time. One way we could manage stress is by effectively managing ourselves for time.
There are many more stress management techniques on:
http://zemellive.com/the-silent-killer-high-blood-pressure/

The World Economic Forum conducted an annual “Global Shapers Community Survey” in which more than 1,000 Millennials—a term used specifically for people born between 1977 and 1994, from 125 countries participated in a brainstorming session. Here is one of the main findings of the survey: “the higher your function, the more opportunities you have to make a difference in your community”. Of course since millennials are predominantly people in their 20s and 30s—uppermost in their priorities would be career advancement.
But here is the crux of the matter: what skills are needed to get you to the point where you function at a higher level and then have opportunities to make significant contributions? We have answers below:
People Skills and People Knowledge
The Stanford Research Institute, Harvard University and Carnegie Foundation in a one million dollars study spanning 5 years, proved that 85% of the reason you get a job, will keep that job, and move ahead in that job has to do with people skills and people knowledge. The other 15% is accounted for by technical skills and knowledge. Zig Ziglar intones, “Managing people--starting with yourself, becomes a high priority if we are to become successful.” Moreover, Zoltan Merszel of Occidental Petroleum argues that “people make business--technology is a distant second”.
Open up Options for Yourself with an Education
Peter Vanham, a Global Leadership Fellow at the World Economic Forum, interviewed Andrew Likierman, dean of London Business School, last year and he drew on his personal experience to provide useful insights. Likierman said he studied politics, philosophy and economics in college but that didn’t give him the flexibility he needed to rise to significance. There was a missing link and in the early 70s in Europe, Accounting was exactly what an MBA is today. He adds “Today I would recommend people to get an MBA. The fact that people that graduate from an MBA do so many different things, is an indication of that.”
Learn to Communicate Effectively
Likierman’s also highlighted the importance of effective communication skills as you ascend the rungs of the career ladder. In his opinion, “You can have brilliant ideas, but you cannot do anything with them unless you communicate them well. Early in my career as an accountant, I saw that certain people were really good, better than me, but because they couldn’t communicate well, they didn’t advance in their career.” The importance of effective communication cannot be overemphasized regardless of your profession.
Other skills could be found on:
http://zemellive.com/the-making-of-a-global-leader-in-a-time-of-rapid-change/

It was a very busy day; the first thing she did as soon as she settled down for the day’s work was to attend to the numerous emails. But she did not have the luxury of answering the first email before the desktop phone buzzed to life. It was her boss calling to find out if she had sent the Excel document. Yet, she was on the phone with the boss when a colleague rushed in; he needed her to sign a document–urgently. To drive the point home, the shrill tone of her cellphone hidden somewhere on her stuff-strewn desk added to the tasks demanding for attention.

More than ever before, firms recognize the need to be competitive. And to be competitive, firms must demand more from employees–to be more global, more customer-responsive, more flexible, more team-driven, more learning-oriented and more productive. But these demands, in most cases, outstrips the resources to meet them. Now in an economy where unemployment is rampant, employees have no choice but to perform at levels that may be impossible to sustain over time. Clearly, as Dave Ulrich-a human resource expert at the University of Michigan observed, the effects of these demands cannot be ignored.

Generally speaking, when people including most workers are faced with the need to do more in the same amount of time with often unexpected orders coming at them throughout the day, they tend to juggle several projects at the same time. Multitasking is the attempt to perform two or more tasks simultaneously and it can be found in almost every job environment now and in other spheres of life.
Folks who take pride in their multitasking ability feels they are getting more done in less time. But studies conducted by Margaret W. Matlin (2013) – “Cognition,” shows “that when multitasking, people make more mistakes or perform their tasks more slowly.” The reason for this is rooted in “the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether deemed subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information.” This is called “attention” and in the opinion of Andersen, John R. (2004), “it is the allocation of limited processing resources.” Do not forget, to perform a task, attention must be divided among all of the component tasks. This is one way of spreading yourself out so thin you deliver mediocre performances.

Here is the all-important question: Is the human brain structured to multitask-that is capable of focusing on several projects at the same time? A 2000 study by Naveh-Benjamin and colleagues based on “The effects of divided attention on encoding and retrieval processes,” arrived at the conclusion that “the brain cannot attend to two or more attention-rich stimuli at the same time.” For folks who did not get that; it is another way of saying that multitasking does not work.
Learn more on:
http://zemellive.com/multitasking-myth-or-reality/

Three months ago, when she entered the delivery room, she looked forward to having a healthy and lively baby. But sadly, Roziline Ferreira, a native of Recife– Brazil, did not quite leave the room cradling her bundle of joy in her arms; she put to bed a baby boy with an unusually small head—a condition described as microcephaly in medical parlance. Now she is saddled with this additional responsibility; having to cope with an incurable condition that can involve seizures, impaired cognitive development, delayed motor functions, problems with speech and dwarfism against the backdrop of overwhelming poverty.

But Roziline Ferreira is just one of the numerous unhappy mothers; the New York Times reports that “as many as 1.5 million people in Brazil are believed to have been infected, and the virus has spread to more than 20 Latin American countries” since 2014. In a related development, Reuters report from Colombia states that “health officials had found more than 2,100 pregnant women who are infected with the virus.” Yet before the epidemic, Brazil recorded only about 150 cases of microcephaly a year.

Based on available evidences, there seem to be a link between Zika virus and microcephaly in infants. But is this connection strong enough to conclude that Zika virus is one of the causes of microcephaly in infants? Recently, on Monday February 1, 2016, the World Health Organization rose from a meeting to declare the recent cluster of Zika virus- related microcephaly and other neurological abnormalities a public health emergency of international concern. Margaret Chan observed that though the link is strong and suspicious but it would be subjected to more scientific studies before conclusions could be reached.
Now according to experts, the Zika epidemic has spread much faster than science’s understanding of it. This would be because behind the Zika headlines, there are underlying drivers of disease risk that are not getting sufficient attention. For instance, the vector of Zika virus-a specie of the mosquito, Aedes aegypti, has been expanding its range over the past few decades. Jeremy Farrar, head of the U.K based Wellcome Trust told The Guardian that “it loves urban life and has spread across the entire tropical belt of the planet, and of course that belt is expanding as global warming takes effect”.

Global warming and El Nino apart, certain habits of the worrisome pests make it even harder to check its spread; mosquito thrives in trash-strewn, puddly cities, bites in daylight rendering the use of mosquito net as a preventive measure ineffective. Bearing the habit of the mosquito in mind, Mike Turner, head of infection and immuno-biology at the Wellcome Trust noted that “only extreme measures such as the use of DDT to eradicate Aedes aegypti as quickly as possible, are likely to contain the Zika threat”. Yet these aspects of the Zika virus-microcephaly equation are sadly, not getting enough attention.
Learn more on:
http://zemellive.com/zika-virus-prevention-kill-mosquitoes-and-use-a-condom/