Happy New Year!!!!

Stolen from Google... but I liked it anyway!

2011 is here. I wish everyone a happy, joyous, prosperous and successful new year! Let’s make it an even better one than last year :D

As a side note, I had a flashback one of my earlier classes (year 7/8) at Brooksbank School. My school was having an extension built and a whole new school block was being added. The school staff thought it would be a nice idea to produce a time capsule that could be buried in the foundations of the new building. The capsule was to be filed with memorabilia and keepsakes of the current year and in addition to this we could produce letters and drawings of what we think life will be like in the future. From what I remember, it was 1997 and I was 11/12 years old at the time. In one of our English lessons, we got to work and put on our thinking/ creative caps of what life would like in 2010, or was it 2020? I can’t remember properly, sorry!

Anyway there are a couple of things that make me laugh about this memory; firstly, why did the teachers think 2010/ 2020 would change our lives so significantly? I mean clearly we would be older, hopefully in settled careers and the rest of things that adult life brings with it. Yet by giving us a specific year to think about, our teachers gave us the notion that we would be by 2010 or 2020 that we would enter some kind of space age. As a result of this, in amongst other aspects of this new space age life, I think I may have suggested hovercraft / flying cars as our main mode of transport in the future, lol. Oh god, I hope I didn’t sign that piece of paper :-/ Imagine if we had put 2010 down, then how bloody disappointed would you be right now? However if we had put down 2020… well there might be a chance.

Secondly, I clearly remember being told by the teacher that the time capsule would be placed in the foundations of the new building and they would be dug up in 2010/ 2020 so that future generations could see how we had changed. At the time we all believed it (What? We were gullible!) but I mean really? Who on earth would rip up a new building in 20 odd years to dig up a time capsule that is clearly factually incorrect. #;’;, and that includes the building trade, it would be economically unfeasible to rebuild a perfectly good building.

So there you go, a childhood memory that I wanted to share.

Anyway, Happy New Year once again. Have a good one people! :D

Aishi

You are never forgotten,

Forever in our thoughts,

Not a single day goes by,

that we do not feel your loss.

We dearly love you Aishi... always have, always will.

Bilal’s first day

Today is my baby brother’s first day at his new school. I say baby but he is actually 11 years old and is starting high school. Dad dropped him off for his first day, as he didn’t have enough time to have a trial run of his bus route, since we returned from our holidays. He looked so smart in his little blazer and also a little nervous as many of his friends had gone to different schools depending on their location and if they had any older siblings in their chosen school. Easier school runs for the parents I guess. Bilal unfortunately didn’t get his first choice of school which was Dixon’s Academy and I think that knocked his confidence a little bit. His second choice was Bradford Academy, which he did get a place at and from the reports and other parent reviews it seems like a great school and much better than some of the other choices. His third choice was Grange Technology College and I’m glad we didn’t have to consider them as (knowing what I now know of the school in my short time there) I don’t think he would have coped very well. He is just not an ‘innit’ boy (thankfully), lol!

A nervous looking Bilal off to school with dad. Bless!

Picking him up after his first day at the new school. Looking a lot happier than he did this morning :)

Pictures taken a few days later, when I picked him up from school again and had a few errands to run. I know I just can't help myself. Family members will notice that Billy's layers of clothing seem to be decreasing as the photo's go on. It's a issue I know! ;)

So Bilal’s back at school, dad’s back to work, mum’s unpacking and rearranging the house and my classes don’t start still the last week of September/ beginning of October. I am currently revising as I have exams to do as soon as semester starts!!!

Story time

I have fond memories of visiting my nana when we were young and her telling Aisha and I stories like the one below...

An elderly woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water, at the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house." The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?" "That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them. And I guess that's the message in Ramzan too - try to look for the good in everyone :)

The conservatory

We're having a conservatory built but seen as I’m feeling too lazy to write (seriously I have written ridiculous amounts this past few months!), here is the progress on our conservatory in pictures…

Heavy lifting! Before any digging could be done, I helped dad relay the garden path so it was all nice and even. This was my only contribution... and then the builders took over. Thankfully :)

The foundations were dug out, levelled, cemented and finally the brick wall made its appearance.

The beams for the floor go in and the brick wall gets its first layer of cement.

The frames go up and the roof goes on.

The windows and doors are installed, electrics are sorted out and the flooring is laid down.

With the building work completed, all it needed was a lick of paint (inside and out), some furniture and some blinds installed. What actually followed was a bit of a lag phase :P Feel free to take guesses on how long it took, lol. But the point is it finally completed and here is the finished result :)

Next stop; the garden!

My Dad

All my life I have watched my dad work hard in order to provide for his family and not just for his immediate family i.e. his wife and children, but also his brothers and sisters to help them get established and stand on their own two feet.

The start of our relationship is best described by a story that mum tells me of the moment I was born. Dad was outside the ward, waiting for the news (he’s a bit of a wimp what with hospitals and all) and was overjoyed when he learnt that his first child was a little girl. After seeing my mother and I, he went out and shared mitaai out to all his friends and family to celebrate my birth. His chosen sweet was ladoo’s and upon receiving the sweets, his friends congratulated him on the birth of his son. When my dad corrected them and informed them that in fact he had a little daughter, most of them were taken aback and asked why he was so happy, it was only a girl after all. To which my dad replied, regardless of whether he had a boy or girl, his offspring would make him proud and he didn’t care if he had a boy or not. That the great thing about my dad, he sticks up for me when I least expect it.

Prior to my birth, Dad had chosen Shakil for a boy and was undecided on a girl’s name. Mum suggested Maria as she liked the sound of that (Guys!!! I could have been a Maria!!!) but dad pulled a face and was adamant that it should begin with an S to match his name and he wanted people to know he was proud. He looked at me and said ‘Saima’ and it clicked. When Aisha was born, again mitaai was shared and again people asked why he was so happy. Man, stereotypical asian people! Can I just point this out this quote...

“Whoever takes care of two girls until they reach adulthood - he and I will come (together) on the Day of Resurrection - and he interlaced his fingers (meaning in Paradise).” (Reported by Muslim)

"He who raises two daughters until their puberty will be with me in Paradise like this", and he symbolized the proximity by showing two of his fingers with a slight gap between them." (Muslim)

Our childhood was a happy one. We were number one in dad’s world and he would always make time for us. He always took us out and about with him but he would also make at least one special trip each year – sort of like an annual family outing. Now that we’re older, times and circumstances have changed and in the same way our relationship has also matured.

Some funny things about my dad... My father reckons he was a bit of heart throb in his younger years and to some extent still thinks he is one. Whenever we receive an invitation to a close family member’s wedding, without fail dad will always ask whether there is a suitable lady in the new family that is willing to get married to him. Of course we all know he’s having a laugh but when we were children, my sister and I always used to get into an argument with dad ordering him to never leave mum and make him promise and double promise, lol. My Dad still tries to flirt when he’s given the chance (often to the embarrassment of his children) and says people love it and flirt back with him (of which I have never seen any evidence). With regards to dress sense, my dad tends to stick to his usual colours and doesn’t like deviating from them. However this has now changed a little since I now usually accompany dad when he goes clothes shopping and get to have more of say in what he buys for himself. This brings me to one of my dad’s funny quirks. Every so often, my dad actually takes my advice but doesn’t like to acknowledge it outright. Sometimes the advice is taken on face value and sometimes it is eventually heeded but in a roundabout way. But the important point is that I’m treated like an equal by my dad and that is a major thing for both of us.

My father loves to sing as loud as he can and make up random rhymes in amongst the singing. Often these do not make any sense but I don’t think he cares to be honest, I think he just likes making himself heard. Also Aisha totally loves it when dad sings and I have no idea why, lol! From time to time dad uses me as a sounding board to discuss things that he doesn’t want to share with mum or anyone else straight away. This initially felt a bit strange but I do like that when my dad needs someone to confide, I am considered a suitable candidate... and this makes me feel good. It’s strange that even as we grow up, we still look towards our parents for approval and validation. My relationship with my dad… it has its ups and downs but at the end of the day he is my father and he helped bring me into this world and I love him dearly. You’re probably wondering why I am telling you all this? Well, today was my dad’s birthday and despite our ups and downs, I do indeed love my father dearly and pray that he leads a long life in which he is happy and healthy always (iA). Love you daddy :)

My Birthday

Have you heard about how the human body can replace itself in its entirety over your lifetime. Basically everything that you were born with will not be the original article when you die. For some things this is expected, for example red blood cells have a lifecycle of 120 days and so they are continually replaced, in order to keep up with the body’s demand. The skin (upper epidermis) is replaced every 2 weeks or so as the dead skin cells are sloughed off and replaced by the newer ones pushing through from the bottom. The liver takes about 300 to 500 days to renew itself and in fact the entire human skeleton is completely replaced every 10 years... which sounds great except that the replacements are aged versions rather than brand new ones – sort of like second hand bones so to speak lol. Weirdly there are over 500 different bacterial cells (some are good, some are bad) compared to human cells; that’s approximately10x more than human cells. For some reason, that last fact about bacterial cells reminds me of parasites, as in the kind of people that leach off you over your lifetime. Ok, I am aware of how harsh and random that sounds, lol. Anyway the point is the human body is a funny old thing isn’t it?

All this biological change makes me wonder if I have changed. I know have aged biologically, but have I changed on the inside as well? Is there certain period in our lives where we shed our old self and develop a new you. I often think of it like those Russian dolls, where each layer is removed to reveal a different version of the doll… a different version of you. As we grow older, we shed those layers over time. Some get recycled and reused whilst others get discarded as they are not longer any use to us.

I always find it weird, how many of the dolls don't exactly have the most cheerful expressions on their faces... these blue dolls being the exception of course.

In my mind, I know that change is inevitable, but I’d like to think that my core is still intact and hopefully something that will not change. My core layer is linked to the beliefs, morals and values that my parents have instilled in me. The next layer up is where I retain the good qualities and discard the not so good ones i.e. anger, hate etc. Sometimes this particular layer may go unchecked and build up to such an extent that the core layer gets a bit diluted. Yet I’m still optimistic that in an ideal world, the core will hopefully manage to pull through and remain strong. The outer layers are linked to everyday occurrences and experiences that colour my moods and daily outlook in the short term. These outer layers wax and wane as time goes on and the years get added on.

As I approach the completion of the quarter of my life next year (this is me assuming I’ll live to 100 years old!), I often find myself reflecting on my birthdays. With my weird OCD kicking in, I find myself making lists of what I’d like to achieve by a certain age. Currently I’m making my ‘things-I’d-like-to-do-before-I’m-25’ list. Some things I’ve done, some I’m doing, some are in the works and close to the horizon and some I feel like are nowhere as close as they should be. At times I think I’m exactly where I want to be and other times I feel a bit disillusioned and wonder where I’m heading. I wonder if you guys ever have doubts like me or are you totally control of everything. Do have different layers or are you the same through and through – sort of like a stick of rock, lol.

Anyway the point of this post… 25th February; my birthday!!! (Yes I still get excited by it... well a little bit). Also I discovered I share my birthday with Shahid Kapoor (I’m 5 years his junior!)... and the 12 yr old me just fainted! :P

I love how the different online services wish me happy birthday every year... in rather unique ways. Just when you think they’re wondering off their usual agenda , they get back to the ‘Oh and have you tired our latest product/service?’ lol

My baby brother can be really sweet at times. Though I’m pretty sure that my mum has chose half of the gifts… hmmm.

How beautifully wrapped is that? I snuck a picture when Saba wasn't looking :P

Dr Who box set – this is one of the many reasons why I love my cousins Saba and Sara! They love fuelling my obsessions. And no, I haven’t opened it yet, as I’m waiting till I get the bulk of my work done and watch it when I’m a bit more relaxed.

I can safely say none of the other packages has this name on them. Thank you Imran bhai ;)

My birthday was excellent! I had a lot of fun and thank you to everyone for their lovely messages and presents :) The birthday party is sort of delayed at the moment, due to other family stuff going on and what not, but I’m pretty sure there will be some sort of family get together at some point in the future – it’s not like we need much of an excuse :)

Tweetclouds

What can I say? I was procrastinating (!) but I did find my tweetclouds quite interesting to analyse. Hospital, Family, Bilal and Saba seem to my favourite words – not necessarily in that order.

I hardly ever tweet during the morning and this may be because I am hardly able to function normally let alone tweet at this time of day. Midday is by far my preferred time to start tweeting as I have usually done the bulk of my training/ patient list/ lectures by then. After I hit lunchtime (if I’m lucky to have a lunch!) I get a little bored heading home so I tweet then and then study again! Quite a boring post to be honest but I felt like sharing it anyway.

'Tired but wired' syndrome

'Tired but wired' - applies to so many people I know, including myself.

Sorry for cutting and pasting this article, I seem to be running short on time lately, lol. I thought I'd copy this article before I forget or the link disappears. Apologies once again!!!

ARTICLE:

Is sleep deprivation affecting your health?

We speak to sleep and energy coach Dr Nerina Ramlakhan about the growing number of 'tired and wired' twenty-somethings and get the lowdown on her top sleeping tips. Sleep is one of life's most simple pleasures and is vital for maintaining a healthy mind and body. Leading a hectic non-stop lifestyle endlessly juggling work, family and social commitments can easily take its toll when it is time for lights out. And with so much going on, the mind races excitedly from one thought to another ensuring a restless night's sleep prevails.

Our bodies are remarkably well-equipped to cope with the odd night of bad sleep but for those suffering from chronic insomnia and a nightly deprivation; the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual effects can have a devastating impact on health. Despite preconceptions that sleep deprivation is an older person's health condition, a growing number of high-flying fast-living twenty-somethings are finding that success in work and life can equate with problems sleeping.

Dr Nerina Ramlakhan is a sleep and energy coach, who suffered extensively from sleep deprivation in her twenties due to being 'tired but wired' - feeling well but not sleeping well. This typically affects those who are climbing the career ladder and putting immense pressure on themselves to prove their worth in their profession. Nerina set up her consultancy Equilibrium Solutions almost a decade ago and now works alongside the Capio Nightingale Hospital providing a light at the end of the tunnel for those with chronic sleep problems.

Nerina's clients also include celebrities, musicians, Premier League footballers and stressed-out mums driven to distraction by their new bundle of joy and the sudden long-lasting impact on sleep.

"I was experiencing what I now call 'tired but wired' which typifies many of my twenty-something clients' symptoms," says Nerina. "I was going to bed with so much noise in my head, just not being able to switch off and wind down. I couldn't get to sleep and at times I couldn't stay asleep. It seemed to be the busier I got in my career, the more it seemed to have an impact on my sleep. My high-flying clients strive to push themselves harder and struggle to switch off at home. What I am seeing more of now is technology being abused and just how badly this is impacting on sleep. We have lost the art of boundaries and are just unable to switch off and relax."

Miranda*, 25, sought Nerina's help with a torrid sleep pattern she had developed due to waking one night to find her flat in flames. Two years ago, Miranda had woken to blaring smoke alarms ringing at 3 am, and though unhurt, the shock of waking so traumatically that night was deeply affecting her wellbeing. "After the fire I had difficulty sleeping over a period of 18 months. I had trouble getting to sleep, and would wake at 3 am every morning and be unable to get back to sleep. I felt constantly exhausted and unable to switch my brain off when I tried to sleep. I relied on caffeine to keep me going," says Miranda.

Though the traumatic event deeply affected Miranda and her ability to sleep, Nerina noticed a destructive pattern that had developed - technology had an immeasurable impact on Miranda's sleep. Miranda regularly worked on her laptop in bed at night and her ever faithful BlackBerry was constantly switched on at her side. When Miranda tried to sleep she relied on having the TV playing in the background to help her drift off which in turn meant she woke to switch it off. As Miranda struggled to sleep, she continuously checked the clock every time she woke while worrying about how she would cope the next day in her busy role in advertising.

Among the methods introduced to help Miranda overcome her sleep deprivation problems, a 15-minute power napping technique which Miranda incorporated into her working day helped to re-energise and attune her body to rest. Anything work-related was removed from the bedroom while watching TV was replaced with reading a light, uplifting book. Relaxation, setting boundaries and regaining control of the work/life balance resulted in Miranda successfully sleeping restfully and feeling well again.

Dr Nerina Ramlakhan has some quickfire tips for getting a good night's sleep:
1. Ensure you get the right nutrition

Eat regularly and healthily; do not skip breakfast. You should always eat breakfast within 30-45 minutes of getting up as there is a biochemical link back to your sleep.

2. Cut down on caffeine

You should not be drinking any caffeine after 2pm if you have a problem with sleep. Drink no more than two cups of tea or coffee per day and stay off the energy drinks.

3. Hydrate and keep hydrated

Being dehydrated causes sleep problems.

4. Keep work out of the bedroom

Practice good time management, write lists so that when you get home at the end of the day you can leave work behind you and learn how to switch your technology off. Healthy boundaries are really important.

5. Relax

Practice relaxation techniques such as yoga, mindfulness, meditation or power napping. Learn how to live your life more restfully.

*Name changed to protect identity

Dr Nerina Ramlakhan will release a self-help guide to sleep deprivation 'Tired But Wired' in 2010. More information on Dr Ramlakhan can be found at www.equilibriumsolutions.com

Oooh the drama!!!

Oh my word! Why am I still surprised when stuff like this stuff happens to me?!

The start of the Christmas holidays and with the snow falling outside, I wasn’t too keen on going anywhere. I read some journals for uni (good intentions right?) and for a bit of a break, I decided to make a start on moving my posts across from Blogger to Wordpress (it is taking forever I know!). However me being the perfectionist that I am, I wanted to tweak everything so that it was just right etc. Seen as my usual family IT/computer-related help person was away for the hols, I enrolled an alternative helper (thank you helper person!). Basically at some stage, I did something wrong – what exactly, I’m still a little unclear – and just for future reference; 404 errors = bad news! With the wordpress stuff eventually corrected and I continued with other work. Except a new problem arose hence this post!

I decided to back up my data (luckily) a few days earlier as I remembered I hadn’t done a recent back up for a while and I wouldn’t have peace of mind until I had done so. And thank god I did because on the 2nd January my computer decided to have a fit! Urgh! But no worries because you know I backed up my data right? Phew! So I set about fixing my laptop, I tried data scanning for viruses – no good, recovery disc’s – no good and eventually after an hour of faffing around I though screw it, I’m going to wipe it clean and restore it back to factory settings. After informing my laptop of my intentions… but in a more threatening manner – yes, I was having a conversation my computer at this point. Peaceful reasoning had failed and drastic measures needed to be taken from here on in! So far I've spent the entire next day reinstalling all the various programs I needed, which was a tedious task. But I think what annoyed me the most was that the windows updates decided update themselves in huge chunk all at once. Prior to the meltdown, I used have a few updates every couple of weeks or something. This time I downloaded 113 updates over two days and I’m still counting!
Can I just say my one saving grace in all this drama has been my wonderful external hard drive! At least I was prepared, but what still confuses me is why my laptop had an attack in the first place? I even thought it might be dust build up and ended up taking the back cover off my laptop and giving the keyboard and ventilation a good clean with a soft brush. I’m amazed at the sheer amount of dust that could gather in such a small thing! Anyhow when trawling through various forums/ discussion boards of what/ how I should clean certain components(helpful hints can be found here) and I also came across this thing.

Cyber Clean - I think it’s pretty nifty and I want one!

The computer is all fine now thankfully! But some online stuff has also been a bit bizarre. For example Windows live alert tried to convince me that all these people has their birthdays on the 1st of January, which I know for certain is not true.Or the time when Wordpress wouldn’t let me sign out! What is up with techy stuff lately? Maybe it’s like a new version of the millennium bug?*

*(Remember all that hoo haa about the millennium bug back in the year 2000? Seems so funny now...)

Letter

Dear _ _ _ _,

It’s over. I spent a long time thinking hard about this decision but I feel it’s the right one to make. There have been times when you have promised to visit and then barely stay and it’s even worse when you don’t bother showing up at all. I can’t tell you how disappointing that is for everyone; waiting to catch a glimpse of you, only to have their hopes dashed.

Nevertheless it is not all bad as you sometimes show up unexpectedly, surprising everyone with your infectious good nature. But these moments of joy are only fleetingly and you end up outstaying your welcome. People become fed up with your constant presence, interfering in their everyday lives and disrupting the natural balance. I mean it is all fun and games at first and everyone is in good spirits, but then you just end up wearing us down and we can’t go on like this.

I am deeply sorry but I’m moving on, we are all moving on. I hope we can still remain friends and see each other from time to time as it would be impossible to completely cut you out of our lives. One last thing, please don’t be upset if you hear rumours about me with someone else. We will always have our memories together and some good ones at that, but I am moving on and I am looking forward to a fruitful new relationship. Please do not spoil it for me as I believe Spring and I will be very happy together.

Goodbye Snow. I wish you well :)

Kindest regards,

Saims

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW!!!

Something tells me that people are beginning to get a bit fed up of the snow now. It’s been snowing since the 17th December and it hasn’t let up yet.

This image from Orbyn.co.uk I think explains it perfectly, lol.

I’ll be honest, it is getting a bit tiresome now and I have played in the snow till my heart’s content. I mean we haven’t has snow like this since I was at primary school and according to the news, the last time we had heavy snowfall was about 30 years ago. Or as my dad put it, 30 years ago when he was young, not married and there was definitely no sign of Aishi or I on the horizon – um, I think he was having a flashback to his single days, lol.

Well it certainly has been fun especially for Bilal as he’s only ever seen the slushy ice stuff we usually get every year. We shouldn’t complain however as some places have it worse that we do as pointed out by my cousin Sana. Some seriously amazing pictures!

Some great snow sculptures as well and I have even had a snowman following me on Twitter. Random!

Christmas Holidays

It’s the holidays and it has been a little over week since my graduation. It’s still snowing ‘proper’ snow, which is fine because I have nowhere I really need to be and it is nice just to be able to sit back, relax and watch the snow fall. I hired out my gown for an extra week so that we could take some family pictures in a studio but I soon realised that with the run up to Christmas, most people had hired studios to take family portraits and so our choice of studies was limited. Luckily my uncle (nasir chachu) has a photo studio and thankfully he was available which is great as I running out of time to return my gown.

Advantages of using services provided by family members. You feel much more at ease and in the case of photo’s we took quite a few because a) I blinked quite a lot at the wrong times apparently and b) Dad and Bilal are such posers who were only further encouraged by Nasir chachu, lol. Saeed mamoo and auntie Naseem were also out and about in Leeds shopping and popped in to see how we were getting on. The only disadvantage for using family I would say, are that they don’t let you pay and therefore I feel even worse for taking up so much of their time!

The photo’s that chachu took came out really well (mA) and even my official single portrait from Manchester University was good… well looking at the proofs, I still have to order the real thing. All in all, the day went well and I enjoyed being with my family. The hols were spent at home with my family, watching stuff on TV until the post office opened up again allowing me to post my gown back to the company and breathe a sigh of relief that everything went well.

Returning my gown - I particularly like the tag where it orders me to not to leave the country with the gown. Um... ok, I'll try not to :P

Unfortunately we didn’t have a big family Christmas dinner this year as the Ali family were in Pakistan and as soon as they get back, Auntie Naseem is jetting off to Pakistan for two weeks. It feels a bit like a relay race to and from Pakistan at the moment, lol. Therefore not an ideal time to have a graduation party and I’m afraid my cousin Sara will have to wait a little bit longer. Bilal’s birthday is soon approaching so hopefully we’ll have a combined party then when everyone is back from their holidays and free from exams and what not.

In other news, I am still LOVING the snow! Snowman building has been rife in our area and even my mum couldn’t resist having a go, lol. Pictures of a couple of our attempts are shown below. There is something about fresh snow and Christmas that goes so well together and we haven’t had much of it these past few years. Definitely a welcome change and we’ll enjoy it as long as we can :)

Exhibit A is mum's attempt and exhibit B is Bilal's attempt :)

Unfortunately we think mum's snowman has been going out secretly partying at night. We found him the next morning a little worse for wear, legless shall we say? ;) Legless, geddit? No? Ok, well I found it funny!

Bilal felt it was right to read a janazah for mum's snowman. Talk about getting easily attached!

The last login

The last time I will ever log into my Manchester University account. I don't why I felt the need to share this, but I just did :)

Besides I think I left just in time. They've changed the portal colours from a nice blue to shocking pink. Not my colour really to be honest, more Sara or Iram's thing really ;)

Phew! I have no outstanding loans/fines or books borrowed. No more modules that require me to enrol and my exam timetable cheerfully announces that all exams are now finished :D

Stem cells; from the beginning – yes? (Part 2)

Stem cells are unique in that they are unspecialised (blank cells if you like) and are able to proliferate which simply means that they can multiply and make exact copies of themselves. Stem cells are also pluripotent meaning that they have the potential to become any type of adult cell and this process of specialisation is known as differentiation. Stem cells can differentiate into one of three types which are collectively known as the germ layers. The three types are as follows;

Ectoderm – The outer layer. Gives rise to the epidermis (skin), hair, pigment cells, central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), sensory neurons and facial bones/tissues.

Mesoderm – The middle layer. Gives rise to the circulatory system (heart, blood and vessels), kidneys, gonads (ovaries/testes), muscle, bone and connective tissue.
Endoderm – The inner layer. Gives rise to lungs, thyroid and digestive organs i.e. stomach, liver, intestines, pancreas etc.

The diagram below illustrates the process of how stem cells are produced.

The maturation of stem cells

After conception, a tiny cluster of cells is formed which is called a blastocyst aka outer layer trophoblast. Stem cells can be derived from one of the following four origins.

Embryonic – cells are taken from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst.
Fetal – the embryo changes into a fetus and cells are extracted at the fetus stage.

Cord Blood – Cells are taken from the umbilical cord and placenta after birth.

Adult – cells are taken from adult tissues and are found in a variety of locations such as; brain, eyes, liver, skin, muscle, bone marrow and blood (see diagram below). Research into other possible sources of adult stem cells is still ongoing.

On second thoughts, the stages of maturation may be a more appropriate description of where/how stem cells can be derived. And herein lies the crux of problem; the reason why stem cells cause so much uproar in the media…

The main focus of protestors is the use of embryonic stem cells. In order to obtain embryonic stem cells, the human embryo has to be destroyed. As the embryo is classed as a human being, the destruction of the embryo amounts to murder, which is morally wrong. Furthermore manipulation of embryos could lead to reproductive cloning which in turn would to human life being devalued.

The utilitarian argument is that it is not fair to assume that embryo’s have an equal value as human life as they cannot survive independently outside the womb. In the natural female cycle, a lot of zygotes do not get implanted in the womb and are lost due to natural causes. Therefore rationally it is fair to say that a lot more embryos are lost naturally as opposed to the number of embryo’s that are used in research. Also as the embryos have no distinguishable organs, this means that they are no more human than a skin cell and should not be treated any differently. So there you have both sides of the argument, but where does that leave us in practical terms?

Please note that reproductive cloning is a different issue compared to therapeutic cloning i.e. developing therapies for diseases – think Dolly the sheep.

• Therapeutic cloning – adult cells for use in medicine and is an active area of research (see diagram below)
• Reproductive cloning – Involves making cloned humans
• Replacement cloning – theoretical possibility; combines therapeutic and reproductive cloning. It would entail the replacement of an extensively damaged and failing body via cloning followed by whole or partial brain transplant.

Embryo research in Britain is controlled by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Agency (HFEA). Although there are no laws at present to stop human cloning, the manipulation of embryos does require a licence that has to be issued by the HFEA and the UK government are also looking into bringing in legislation to make human cloning illegal for reproductive purposes.

State of affairs to date in the UK

Quoted from Wikipedia:

On 14 January 2001 the British government passed the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Research Purposes) Regulations 2001 to amend the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 by extending allowable reasons for embryo research to permit research around stem cells and cell nuclear replacement, thus allowing therapeutic cloning. However, on 15 November 2001, a pro-life group won a High Court legal challenge, which struck down the regulation and effectively left all forms of cloning unregulated in the UK. Their hope was that Parliament would fill this gap by passing prohibitive legislation. Parliament was quick to pass Human Reproductive Cloning Act 2001 which explicitly prohibited reproductive cloning. The remaining gap with regard to therapeutic cloning was closed when the appeals courts reversed the previous decision of the High Court.

The first licence was granted on August 11, 2004 to researchers at the University of Newcastle to allow them to investigate treatments for diabetes, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, a major review of fertility legislation, repealed the 2001 Cloning Act by making amendments of similar effect to the 1990 Act. The 2008 Act also allows experiments on hybrid human-animal embryos.

 Places where cloning is illegal:

• In Germany, for example, all embryo research is banned. Any attempt to clone a human would therefore be outlawed.

• Legislation is already in place that would prevent human cloning in Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and most of Europe and Australia.

• Guidelines are in place in Argentina, Canada, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Singapore and Korea.

• In the United States, there is no federal law specifically banning human cloning but some states, such as Michigan, have civil controls.

So which countries completely outlaw human cloning at this moment in time. Well it is a little confusing but I would think the answer quiet simply is none of them and what we really need is for all the countries to get together and produce an international set of rules that are applicable to all countries.