Lori and George Schappell (born as Lori and Dori Schappell, September 18, 1961, in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania) are conjoined twins. George has performed as a country singer. In 2007, George, who was at that time known as Reba Schappell, stated that although born female, he identifies as male and changed his name to George.

Based on statistics, the twins were given a 20% chance of survival at birth . At birth at B.C. Women's Hospital & Health Centre, they were described as "wriggly, vigorous and very vocal." They weighed twelve and a half pounds, not six and a half pounds as reported by some media outlets, when they were born by caesarean section.

Krista and Tatiana Hogan (born October 25, 2006) are Canadians who are conjoined craniopagus twins. They are joined at the head (the top, back, and sides). They were born in Vancouver, British Columbia and are the only unseparated ones of that type currently alive in Canada. They live with their mother, Felicia Simms, in Vernon, British Columbia and often travel to Vancouver for care at BC Children's Hospital and Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children.

In Chinese alchemy, elixir poisoning refers to the toxic effects from elixirs of immortality that contained metals and minerals such as mercury and arsenic. The official "Twenty-Four Histories" record numerous Chinese emperors, nobles, and officials who ironically died from taking elixirs in order to prolong their lifespans. The first emperor to die from elixir poisoning was likely Qin Shi Huang (d. 210 BCE) and the last was Yongzheng (d. 1735). Despite common knowledge that immortality potions could be deadly, fangshi and Daoist alchemists continued the elixir-making practice for two millennia.

"'Conjoined twins" are identical twins joined in utero. An extremely rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 49,000 births to 1 in 189,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in Southeast Asia and Africa. Approximately half are stillborn, and an additional one-third die within 24 hours. Most live births are female, with a ratio of 3:1.

Two contradicting theories exist to explain the origins of conjoined twins. The more generally accepted theory is "fission", in which the fertilized egg splits partially. The other theory, no longer believed to be the basis of conjoined twinning, is fusion, in which a fertilized egg completely separates, but stem cells (which search for similar cells) find like-stem cells on the other twin and fuse the twins together. Conjoined twins share a single common chorion, placenta, and amniotic sac, although these characteristics are not exclusive to conjoined twins as there are some monozygotic but non-conjoined twins who also share these structures in utero.

The most famous pair of conjoined twins was Chang and Eng Bunker (Thai: อิน-จัน, In-Chan) (1811–1874), Thai brothers born in Siam, now Thailand. They traveled with P.T. Barnum's circus for many years and were labeled as the Siamese twins. Chang and Eng were joined at the torso by a band of flesh, cartilage, and their fused livers. In modern times, they could have been easily separated. Due to the brothers' fame and the rarity of the condition, the term "Siamese twins" came to be used as a synonym for conjoined twins.

Islamophobia is an intense fear or hatred of, or prejudice against, the Islamic religion or Muslims, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or the source of terrorism.

The term was first used in the early 20th century and it emerged as a neologism in the 1970s, then it became increasingly salient during the 1980s and 1990s, and it reached public policy prominence with the report by the Runnymede Trust's Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia (CBMI) entitled "Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All" (1997). The introduction of the term was justified by the report's assessment that "anti-Muslim prejudice has grown so considerably and so rapidly in recent years that a new item in the vocabulary is needed".

The causes and characteristics of Islamophobia are still debated. Some commentators have posited an increase in Islamophobia resulting from the September 11 attacks, some from multiple terror attacks in Europe and the United States, while others have associated it with the increased presence of Muslims in the United States and in the European Union. Some people also question the validity of the term. The academics S. Sayyid and Abdoolkarim Vakil maintain that Islamophobia is a response to the emergence of a distinct Muslim public identity globally, the presence of Muslims is in itself not an indicator of the degree of Islamophobia in a society. Sayyid and Vakil maintain that there are societies where virtually no Muslims live but many institutionalized forms of Islamophobia still exist in them.

Embryo splitting in which zygote divide asexually,

to produce identical children, is blocked by mitosis inhibitor.

The etymology of English elixir derives from Medieval Latin "", from Arabic ("al-ʾiksīr"), probably from Ancient Greek ("xḗrion" "a desiccative powder for wounds"). "Elixir" originated in medieval European alchemy meaning "A preparation by the use of which it was sought to change metals into gold" (elixir stone or philosopher's stone) or "A supposed drug or essence with the property of indefinitely prolonging life" (elixir of life). The word was figuratively extended to mean "A sovereign remedy for disease. Hence adopted as a name for quack medicines" (e.g., Daffy's Elixir) and "The quintessence or soul of a thing; its kernel or secret principle". In modern usage, "elixir" is a pharmaceutical term for "A sweetened aromatic solution of alcohol and water, serving as a vehicle for medicine" ("Oxford English Dictionary", 2nd ed., 2009). Outside of Chinese cultural contexts, English "elixir poisoning" usually refers to accidental contamination, such as the 1937 Elixir sulfanilamide mass poisoning in the United States.

"Dān" 丹 "cinnabar; vermillion; elixir; alchemy" is the keyword for Chinese immortality elixirs. The red mineral cinnabar ("dānshā" 丹砂 lit. "cinnabar sand") was anciently used to produce the pigment vermilion ("zhūhóng" 朱紅) and the element mercury ("shuǐyín" 水銀 "watery silver" or "gǒng" 汞).

According to the "ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese", the etymology of Modern Standard Chinese "dān" from Old Chinese "*tān" (< *"tlan" ?) 丹 "red; vermillion; cinnabar", "gān" 矸 in "dāngān" 丹矸 from *"tân-kân" (< *"tlan-klan" ?) "cinnabar; vermillion ore", and "zhān" from *"tan" 旃 "a red flag" derive from Proto-Kam-Sui *"h-lan" "red" or Proto-Sino-Tibetan *"tja-n" or *"tya-n" "red". The *"t-" initial and *"t-" or *"k-" doublets indicate that Old Chinese borrowed this item. (Schuessler 2007: 204).

Although the word "dan" 丹 "cinnabar; red" frequently occurs in oracle script from the late Shang Dynasty (ca. 1600-1046 BCE) and bronzeware script and seal script from the Zhou Dynasty (1045-256 BCE), paleographers disagree about the graphic origins of the logograph 丹 and its ancient variants 𠁿 and 𠕑. Early scripts combine a 丶 dot or ⼀ stroke (depicting a piece of cinnabar) in the middle of a surrounding frame, which is said to represent:

- "jǐng" 井 "well" represents the mine from which the cinnabar is taken" ("Shuowen Jiezi")

- "the crucible of the Taoist alchemists" (Léon Wieger )

- "the contents of a square receptacle" (Bernhard Karlgren)

- "placed in a tray or palette to be used as red pigment" (Wang Hongyuan 王宏源)

- "mineral powder on a stretched filter-cloth" (Needham and Lu).

Many Chinese elixir names are compounds of "dan", such as "jīndān" 金丹 (with "gold") meaning "golden elixir; elixir of immortality; potable gold" and "xiāndān" 仙丹 (with "Daoist immortal") "elixir of immortality; panacea", and "shéndān" 神丹 (with "spirit; god") "divine elixir". "Bùsǐ zhī yào" 不死之藥 "drug of deathlessness" was another early name for the elixir of immortality. Chinese alchemists would "liàndān" 煉丹 (with "smelt; refine") "concoct pills of immortality" using a "dāndǐng" 丹鼎 (with "tripod cooking vessel; cauldron") "furnace for concocting pills of immortality". In addition, the ancient Chinese believed that other substances provided longevity and immortality, notably the "língzhī" 靈芝 ""Ganoderma" mushroom".

The transformation from chemistry-based "waidan" 外丹 "external elixir/alchemy" to physiology-based "neidan" 內丹 "internal elixir/alchemy" gave new analogous meanings to old terms. The human body metaphorically becomes a "ding" "cauldron" in which the adept forges the Three Treasures (essence, life-force, and spirit) within the "jindan" Golden Elixir within the "dāntián" 丹田 (with "field") "lower part of the abdomen".

In early China, alchemists and pharmacists were one in the same. Traditional Chinese Medicine also used less concentrated cinnabar and mercury preparations, and "dan" means "pill; medicine" in general, for example, "dānfāng" 丹方 semantically changed from "prescription for elixir of immortality" to "medical prescription". "Dan" was lexicalized into medical terms such as " dānjì" 丹劑 "pill preparation" and "dānyào" 丹藥 "pill medicine".

The Chinese names for immortality elixirs have parallels in other cultures and languages, for example, Indo-Iranian "soma" or "haoma", Sanskrit "amrita", and Greek "ambrosia".

Afro-textured hair is the natural hair texture of certain populations in Africa, the African diaspora, Australia and Asia, which has not been altered by hot combs, flat irons or chemicals (through perming, relaxation or other straightening methods). Each strand of this hair type grows in a tiny, spring-like helix shape. The overall effect is such that, compared to straight, wavy or curly hair, afro-textured hair appears denser.

The medical condition of being overweight or obesity is defined as "abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health". It is measured through the Body Mass Index (BMI), defined as a person's weight, in kilograms, divided by the square of the person's height, in meters. If an individual has a BMI of 25–29, he or she is overweight. Having a BMI of 30 or more means an individual is obese. The greater the BMI, the greater the risk of chronic diseases as a result of obesity. These diseases include cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders, cancer, and premature death.

The causes of childhood obesity can be based on both a combination of individual choices and socio-environmental adaptions with genetic factors playing an important role also.

The MONICA Project, sponsored by the World Health Organization, discovered that 30% of the population in the Arab World is overweight or obese, including adolescents and adults. This percentage is smaller for North African countries than oil-producing countries, but is still a prevalent trend. The spread of the Western lifestyle, defined as "the intake of attractive energy dense food with undesirable composition, increased consumption of animal fats and sugars and reduced consumption of dietary fiber, along with a lack of sufficient physical activity", is one of the leading causes. Specifically in the Arabian Peninsula, "physical activity of the population has significantly diminished with the availability of housemaids, private cars, television, and sophisticated household appliances. In addition, the types of food and fat intake have changed...".

Other common factors, besides a sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy food choices, across the Arab world include urbanization, technology, and a cultural appreciation of female plumpness and the practice of "leblouh" ("fattening").

Genetics, according to the Australian Health Survey plays a primary role in determining obesity. In 2011/2012 it was recorded that 90% of the Australian population had inherited their obese tendencies due to the epigenetic modifications of their mothers during pregnancy. Interchanging closely with the genetic factor, the environment and individual temptations are also highlighted as contributing causes to the worldwide epidemic. The genetic configuration influences the tendencies to become overweight, and diet and physical activity determines to what extent those tendencies are elaborated.

Clarence (2012) suggests that afro-textured hair may have initially evolved because of an adaptive need amongst humans' early hominid ancestors for protection against the intense UV radiation of the sun in Africa. With regard to the hypothesized recent African origin of modern humans, the author argues that afro-textured hair was the original hair texture of all modern humans prior to the "Out-of-Africa" migration that populated the rest of the globe. According to Clarence (2012), afro-textured hair may have been adaptive for the earliest modern humans in Africa because the relatively sparse density of such hair, combined with its elastic helix shape, results in an airy effect. The resulting increased circulation of cool air onto the scalp may have thus served to facilitate the body-temperature-regulation system of hominids while they lived on the open savannah. Afro-hair requires more moisture than straight hair and tends to shrink when dry. Instead of sticking to the neck and scalp when damp (as do straighter textures), unless completely drenched it tends to retain its basic springiness. The trait may have been retained and/or preferred among many anatomically modern populations in equatorial areas, such as Polynesians, Micronesians, Melanesians, Australoids and the Negrito, because of its contribution to enhanced comfort levels under tropical climate conditions.

The Dorian Gray syndrome (DGS) denotes a cultural and societal phenomenon characterized by a man's extreme pride in his personal appearance and the fitness of his physique, which is accompanied by difficulties in coping with the requirements of psychological maturation and with the aging of his body.

The DGS is characterized by a triad of symptoms that overlap, and so combine diagnostic signs of dysmorphophobia, narcissistic character traits, and the immaturity of arrested development, which often are found in paraphilias.

To preserve ephemeral youth, the man afflicted with DGS tends to consume cosmetic products and services, hair-restoration procedures, anti-impotence drugs, and cosmetic surgery; hence, he might resist the psychosomatic and psychodynamic explanations of the syndrome. The term "Dorian Gray syndrome" refers to the protagonist of the novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1891), an exceptionally handsome man whose hedonism and excessive self-love proved detrimental to the personal, social, and emotional aspects of his life, and who sought to escape the ravages of time and his own decadent lifestyle by having a supernatural portrait of himself age in his place.

One reason that poverty produces such high rates of fistula cases is the malnutrition that exists in such areas. Lack of money and access to proper nutrition, as well as vulnerability to diseases that exist in impoverished areas because of limited basic health care and disease prevention methods, cause inhabitants of these regions to experience stunted growth. Sub-Saharan Africa is one such environment where the shortest women have on average lighter babies and more difficulties during birth when compared with full-grown women. This stunted growth causes expectant mothers to have skeletons unequipped for proper birth, such as an underdeveloped pelvis. This weak and underdeveloped bone structure increases the chances that the baby will get stuck in the pelvis during birth, cutting off circulation and leading to tissue necrosis. Because of the correlation between malnutrition, stunted growth, and birthing difficulties, maternal height can at times be used as a measure for expected labor difficulties.

High levels of poverty also lead to low levels of education among impoverished women concerning maternal health. This lack of information in combination with obstacles preventing rural women to easily travel to and from hospitals lead many to arrive at the birthing process without prenatal care. This can cause a development of unplanned complications that may arise during home births, in which traditional techniques are used. These techniques often fail in the event of unplanned emergencies, leading women to go to hospital for care too late, desperately ill, and therefore vulnerable to the risks of anesthesia and surgery that must be used on them. In a study of women who had prenatal care and those who had unbooked emergency births, “the death rate in the booked-healthy group was as good as that in many developed countries, [but] the death rate in the unbooked emergencies was the same as the death rate in England in the 16th and 17th centuries.” In this study, 62 unbooked emergency women were diagnosed with obstetric fistulae out of 7,707 studied, in comparison to three diagnosed booked mothers out of 15,020 studied. In addition, studies find that education is associated with lower desired family size, greater use of contraceptives, and increased use of professional medical services. Educated families are also more likely to be able to afford health care, especially maternal healthcare.

The diagnostic criteria for Dorian Gray syndrome are:

- Signs of dysmorphophobia

- Arrested development (inability to mature)

- Using at least two different medical-lifestyle products and services:

- Hair-growth restoration (e.g. finasteride)

- Antiadiposita to lose weight (e.g. orlistat)

- Anti-impotence drugs (e.g. sildenafil)

- Anti-depressant drugs (e.g. fluoxetine)

- Cosmetic dermatology (e.g. laser resurfacing)

- Cosmetic surgery (e.g. a face-lift, liposuction)

Poverty and disease are tied closely together, with each factor aiding the other. Many diseases that primarily affect the poor serve to also deepen poverty and worsen conditions. Poverty also significantly reduces people's capabilities making it more difficult to avoid poverty related diseases.

The majority of diseases and related mortality in poor countries is due to preventable, treatable diseases for which medicines and treatment regimes are readily available. Poverty is in many cases the single dominating factor in higher rates of prevalence of these diseases. Poor hygiene, ignorance in health-related education, non-availability of safe drinking water, inadequate nutrition and indoor pollution are factors exacerbated by poverty.

Just the big three PRDs — TB, AIDS/HIV and Malaria — account for 18% of diseases in poor countries. The disease burden of treatable childhood diseases in high-mortality, poor countries is 5.2% in terms of disability-adjusted life years but just 0.2% in the case of advanced countries.

In addition, infant mortality and maternal mortality are far more prevalent among the poor. For example, 98% of the 11,600 daily maternal and neonatal deaths occur in developing countries.

Born as Lori and Dori Schappell, they are craniopagus conjoined twins joined at the head, but having very different personalities and living—insofar as possible—individual lives. As a mark of individuality, and disliking the fact that their names rhymed, Dori first chose to go by the name Reba, after his favorite singer Reba McEntire. By 2007 he preferred to be publicly known as George.

Lori and George spent the first 24 years of their lives living in an institution in Hamburg, Pennsylvania in which the majority of patients were suffering from severe intellectual disabilities. Although neither is intellectually disabled, George's physical condition required special care. A court decision was made that their parents would be unable to care for them properly and they were removed and institutionalized. In the 1960s there were few hospital institutions for people who had special needs that were particularly unusual. In order that they might be placed in the institution, they were diagnosed as suffering from intellectual disability. When they reached adulthood, George, with the help of Ginny Thornburgh, wife of former Pennsylvania Governor Richard Thornburgh, fought to have this diagnosis overturned and they were able to go to college.

While Lori is able-bodied, George has spina bifida, which has caused growth restriction of his lower body and severe mobility impairment. They are therefore of very different heights with her being 5' 1" and him 4'4". There was no wheelchair that suited his unique condition, because to move around, he must be raised to her height, to avoid undue strain upon his neck and back. The only thing on wheels that was the right height was a bar stool. Using this as the foundation, he designed the wheelchair that he currently uses.

Lori and George live in a two-bedroom apartment, each maintaining their own private space. He has several pets. She is a trophy-winning bowler. They respect each other’s privacy in terms of work time, recreation and relationships. She has had several boyfriends and was engaged, but lost her fiance in a motor-vehicle accident.

In 2006, George was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Reading. Lori did not join, but has been supportive of his decision. In 2007, he decided to openly acknowledge that he was transgender, having self-identified as male from a young age.

There is most likely a link between children's linear growth and household sanitation practices. The ingestion of high quantities of fecal bacteria by young children through putting soiled fingers or household items in the mouth leads to intestinal infections. This affect children's nutritional status by diminishing appetite, reducing nutrient absorption, and increasing nutrient losses.

The diseases recurrent diarrhoea and intestinal worm infections (helminthiasis) which are both linked to poor sanitation have been shown to contribute to child stunting. The evidence that a condition called environmental enteropathy also stunts children is not conclusively available yet, although the link is plausible and several studies are underway on this topic. Environmental enteropathy is a syndrome causing changes in the small intestine of persons and can be brought on due to lacking basic sanitary facilities and being exposed to faecal contamination on a long-term basis.

Research on a global level has found that the proportion of stunting that could be attributed to five or more episodes of diarrhoea before two years of age was 25%. Since diarrhoea is closely linked with water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), this is a good indicator for the connection between WASH and stunted growth. To what extent improvements in drinking water safety, toilet use and good handwashing practices contribute to reduce stunting depends on the how bad these practices were prior to interventions.

In summary, key policy interventions for the prevention of stunting are:

- Improvement in nutrition surveillance activities to identify rates and trends of stunting and other forms of malnutrition within countries. This should be done with an equity perspective, as it is likely that stunting rates will vary greatly between different population groups. The most vulnerable should be prioritized. The same should be done for risk factors such as anemia, maternal under-nutrition, food insecurity, low birth-weight, breastfeeding practices etc. By collecting more detailed information, it is easier to ensure that policy interventions really address the root causes of stunting.

- Political will to develop and implement national targets and strategies in line with evidence-based international guidelines as well as contextual factors.

- Designing and implementing policies promoting nutritional and health well-being of mothers and women of reproductive age. The main focus should be on the 1000 days of pregnancy and first two years of life, but the pre-conception period should not be neglected as it can play a significant role in ensuring the fetus and baby's nutrition.

- Designing and implementing policies promoting proper breastfeeding and complementary feeding practice (focusing on diet diversity for both macro and micronutrients). This can ensure optimal infant nutrition as well as protection from infections that can weaken the child's body. Labor policy ensuring mothers have the chance to breastfeed should be considered where necessary.

- Introducing interventions addressing social and other health determinants of stunting, such as poor sanitation and access to drinking water, early marriages, intestinal parasite infections, malaria and other childhood preventable disease (referred to as “nutrition-sensitive interventions”), as well as the country's food security landscape. Interventions to keep adolescent girls in school can be effective at delaying marriage with subsequent nutritional benefits for both women and babies. Regulating milk substitutes is also very important to ensure that as many mothers as possible breastfeed their babies, unless a clear contraindication is present.

- Broadly speaking, effective policies to reduce stunting require multisectoral approaches, strong political commitment, community involvement and integrated service delivery.

Though heart disease is not exclusive to the poor, there are aspects of a life of poverty that contribute to its development. This category includes coronary heart disease, stroke and heart attack. Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and there are disparities of morbidity between the rich and poor. Studies from around the world link heart disease to poverty. Low neighborhood income and education were associated with higher risk factors. Poor diet, lack of exercise and limited (or no) access to a specialist were all factors related to poverty, though to contribute to heart disease.

Both low income and low education were predictors of coronary heart disease, a subset of cardiovascular disease. Of those admitted to hospital in the United States for heart failure, women and African Americans were more likely to reside in lower income neighborhoods. In the developing world, there is a 10 fold increase in cardiac events in the black and urban populations.

Heat-related illnesses from occupational heat stress have several risk factors. Some of these factors include high temperatures, humidity, radiant heat sources, limited air movement, metabolic heat from physical exertion of energy, not drinking enough fluids, personal protective equipment and clothing, physical condition and health problems, medications, pregnancy, lack of acclimatization, advanced age, having a previous heat-related illness and others.

There are a number of other possible terms which are also used in order to refer to negative feelings and attitudes towards Islam and Muslims, such as anti-Muslimism, intolerance against Muslims, anti-Muslim prejudice, anti-Muslim bigotry, hatred of Muslims, anti-Islamism, Muslimophobia, demonisation of Islam, or demonisation of Muslims. In German, "Islamophobie" (fear) and "Islamfeindlichkeit" (hostility) are used. The Scandinavian term "Muslimhat" literally means "hatred of Muslims".

When discrimination towards Muslims has placed an emphasis on their religious affiliation and adherence, it has been termed Muslimphobia, the alternative form of Muslimophobia, Islamophobism, antimuslimness and antimuslimism. Individuals who discriminate against Muslims in general have been termed "Islamophobes", "Islamophobists", "anti-Muslimists", "antimuslimists", "islamophobiacs", "anti-Muhammadan", "Muslimphobes" or its alternative spelling of "Muslimophobes", while individuals motivated by a specific anti-Muslim agenda or bigotry have been described as being "anti-mosque", "anti-Shiites". (or "Shiaphobes"), "anti-Sufism" (or "Sufi-phobia") and "anti-Sunni" (or "Sunniphobes").