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Describe how legislation, policies and procedures promote the safety of individuals in a health or social care setting.

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Unit 3 - Health, safety and security Task 3 P2- Outline how legislation polices and procedures relating to health, safety and security influence health and social care settings. M1- Describe how legislation, policies and procedures promote the safety of individuals in a health or social care setting. Health, safety and security issues are extremely important in health and social care sectors in order to protect patients, service users and also those working within the sectors. The country is governed by legislation and regulations to ensure that guidelines are followed to enforce safety and security within an organisation. Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body. Before a piece of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to as legislation while it remains under consideration to distinguish it from other business. Legislation can have many purposes: to regulate, to authorize, to proscribe, to provide (funds), to sanction, to grant, to declare or to restrict. The Data Protection Act 1998 is an example of a piece of legislation, the purpose of the 1998 Act is to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of living individuals, and in particular their right to privacy with respect to the processing of their personal data. It puts in place duties on employers/employees to ensure confidential and appropriate handling of 'sensitive personal data', sensitive personal data includes information such as a person's name, date of birth, address, marital status, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment plan and medication. ...read more.

The term is not normally used to denote what is actually done; this is normally referred to as a procedure. Policies can be different within different working environments and organisations although all policies will relate to legislation, for example polices may be in place within a health and care environment for the correct disposal of medicines/needles, whereas a building working environment may have policies in place for dealing with the disposal of asbestos. An example of a policy relating to health and social care could be a health and safety policy. All organisations employing five or more people must have a written Health and Safety Policy statement. The policy should cover all aspects of the organisation and be relevant to all employees. A Health and Safety Policy demonstrates how seriously an organisation takes its health and safety responsibilities. A good policy will show how the organisation protects those who could be affected by its activities. The policy should be of an appropriate length and relevance to the activities and size of the organisation. The policy should include a statement section (often a single page) detailing how safety will be managed and that demonstrates the organisation's commitment to health and safety, an organisation section that details where responsibilities are allocated and how employees fit into the overall safety management system and an arrangements section that contains details of how specific activities and functions are managed. ...read more.

Legislation, policies and procedures are all essential to have and to follow within an organisation, especially in the healthcare sectors, as it promotes the health, safety and security of all individuals involved within the organisation. They help to make the workplace and environment safer and prevent risks to health as they provide; adequate first aid facilities, information about any potential hazards involved within the workplace, how to store and use chemicals and other substances used by the firm, set up emergency plans, make sure that ventilation, temperature, lighting, and toilet, washing and rest facilities all meet health, safety and welfare requirements, check that the right work equipment is provided and is properly used and regularly maintained, prevent or control exposure to substances that may damage people's health, take precautions against the risks caused by flammable or explosive hazards, electrical equipment, noise and radiation, avoid potentially dangerous work involving manual handling and if it can't be avoided, take precautions to reduce the risk of injury as they provide protective clothing or equipment free of charge, if risks can't be removed or adequately controlled by any other means ensure that the right warning signs are provided, that reports of certain accidents, injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences are documented and that all required information, instructions, training and supervision is provided. All of these laws, rules and guidelines contribute to the promotion of health, safety and security and ensure that the environment is not only safe but also a pleasant environment. ...read more.

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Pesticide Exposure, Head Injuries Triple the Risk of Parkinson’s Disease

Trauma makes the brain more vulnerable to weed killers, new study says

According to a new study published in today's print issue of the journal Neurology, people who live close to agricultural lands and suffer from head traumas are thrice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease.

Apparently, specialists have long been aware of the fact that either one of these two conditions (i.e. pesticide exposure and head injuries) can up the risks for developing Parkinson’s as an individual ages.

However, it was only now that researchers looked into how the brain reacts to a combination of these two factors, the American Academy of Neurology explains.

Prior to developing their theory concerning the link between pesticides exposure, head trauma and Parkinson’s disease, the specialists analyzed the medical history of 357 people suffering with said medical condition.

Thus, they found that 12% of them had sustained head injuries, and that 47% had been exposed to a common pesticide known as paraquat.

“While each of these two factors is associated with an increased risk of Parkinson’s on their own, the combination is associated with greater risk than just adding the two factors together,” explained specialist and study author Beate Ritz.

According to this researcher, serious head injuries which translate into an individual's losing consciousness for more than five minutes up the brain cells' vulnerability to the effects of pesticides such as paraquat, and this, in turn, allows for Parkinson’s disease manifesting itself earlier and more easily.

On the other hand, it is very well possible that pesticides exposure weakens the human brain, causing it to react worse to any potential traumas is may sustain.

As Beate Ritz puts it, “This study suggests that the physiological process that is triggered by a head injury may increase brain cells' vulnerability to attacks from pesticides that can be toxic to the brain or the other way around, for example, chronic low dose exposure to pesticides may increase the risk of Parkinson’s after a head injury.”

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  COST OF LIVINGOcean Shores, WashingtonUnited States
  Overall  105100
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Alternative title: oil

Lipid, stearic acid: structure and properties [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]stearic acid: structure and propertiesEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.any of a diverse group of organic compounds including fats, oils, hormones, and certain components of membranes that are grouped together because they do not interact appreciably with water. One type of lipid, the triglycerides, is sequestered as fat in adipose cells, which serve as the energy-storage depot for organisms and also provide thermal insulation. Some lipids such as steroid hormones serve as chemical messengers between cells, tissues, and organs, and others communicate signals between biochemical systems within a single cell. The membranes of cells and organelles (structures within cells) are microscopically thin structures formed from two layers of phospholipid molecules. Membranes function to separate individual cells from their environments and to compartmentalize the cell interior into structures that carry out special functions. So important is this compartmentalizing function that membranes, and the lipids that form them, must have been essential to the origin of life itself.

Water is the biological milieu—the substance that makes life possible—and almost all the molecular components of living cells, whether they be found in animals, plants, or microorganisms, are soluble in water. Molecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates have an affinity for water and are called hydrophilic (“water-loving”). Lipids, however, are hydrophobic (“water-fearing”). Some lipids are amphipathic—part of their structure is hydrophilic and another part, usually a larger section, is hydrophobic. Amphipathic lipids exhibit a unique behaviour in water: they spontaneously form ordered molecular aggregates, with their hydrophilic ends on the outside, in contact with the water, and their hydrophobic parts on the inside, shielded from the water. This property is key to their role as the fundamental components of cellular and organelle membranes.

Although biological lipids are not large macromolecular polymers (e.g., proteins, nucleic acids, and polysaccharides), many are formed by the chemical linking of several small constituent molecules. Many of these molecular building blocks are similar, or homologous, in structure. The homologies allow lipids to be classified into a few major groups: fatty acids, fatty acid derivatives, cholesterol and its derivatives, and lipoproteins. This article covers the major groups and explains how these molecules function as energy-storage molecules, chemical messengers, and structural components of cells.

Fatty acids

Fatty acids rarely occur as free molecules in nature but are usually found as components of many complex lipid molecules such as fats (energy-storage compounds) and phospholipids (the primary lipid components of cellular membranes). This section describes the structure and physical and chemical properties of fatty acids. It also explains how living organisms obtain fatty acids, both from their diets and through metabolic breakdown of stored fats.

stearic acid [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]stearic acidEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Biological fatty acids, members of the class of compounds known as carboxylic acids, are composed of a hydrocarbon chain with one terminal carboxyl group (COOH). The fragment of a carboxylic acid not including the hydroxyl (OH) group is called an acyl group. Under physiological conditions in water, this acidic group usually has lost a hydrogen ion (H+) to form a negatively charged carboxylate group (COO). Most biological fatty acids contain an even number of carbon atoms because the biosynthetic pathway common to all organisms involves chemically linking two-carbon units together (although relatively small amounts of odd-number fatty acids do occur in some organisms). Although the molecule as a whole is water-insoluble by virtue of its hydrophobic hydrocarbon chain, the negatively charged carboxylate is hydrophilic. This common form for biological lipids—one that contains well-separated hydrophobic and hydrophilic parts—is called amphipathic.

In addition to straight-chain hydrocarbons, fatty acids may also contain pairs of carbons linked by one or more double bonds, methyl branches, or a three-carbon cyclopropane ring near the centre of the carbon chain.

Saturated fatty acids

Common saturated fatty acids
trivial name systematic name number of carbons in chain typical sources
lauric acid n-dodecanoic acid 12 palm kernel oil, nutmeg
myristic acid n-tetradecanoic acid 14 palm kernel oil, nutmeg
palmitic acid n-hexadecanoic acid 16 olive oil, animal lipids
stearic acid n-octadecanoic acid 18 cocoa butter, animal lipids
behenic acid n-docosanoic acid 22 brain tissue, radish oil
lignoceric acid n-tetracosanoic acid 24 brain tissue, carnauba wax

Unsaturated fatty acids

Common monounsaturated fatty acids
trivial name systematic name number of carbons in chain typical sources
erucic acid cis-13-docosenoic acid 22 rapeseed oil

Common polyunsaturated fatty acids
trivial name systematic name number of carbons in chain typical sources
5,8,11-eicosatrienoic acid
8,11,14-eicosatrienoic acid
7,10,13-docosatrienoic acid
8,11,14-docosatrienoic acid
animal tissues

brain tissue
arachidonic acid 5,8,11,14-eicosatetraenoic acid
4,7,10,13-docosatetraenoic acid
4,7,10,13,16,19-docosahexaenoic acid
liver, brain tissue
brain tissue
brain tissue

Substituent groups

In addition to the very common fatty acids with straight saturated or unsaturated acyl chains, many fatty acids are chemically modified by substituents on the hydrocarbon chain. For example, the preening gland of ducks secretes a fatty acid 10 carbons long with methyl (CH3) groups substituted for one of the hydrogens on carbons 2, 4, 6, and 8. Some bacteria produce fatty acids that have a methyl group on the carbon atom farthest from the acidic group or on the penultimate carbon. Other bacteria incorporate a cyclopropane ring near the centre of the acyl chain. The bacterium that causes tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) synthesizes a whole family of cyclopropane-containing fatty acids called α-mycolic acids. Similar fatty acids are found in related bacteria. A third common constituent is a hydroxyl group (OH). Monohydroxyl acids are found in both plants and animals in relatively small amounts, but they are more prevalent in bacteria.

Physical properties

Pure fatty acids form crystals that consist of stacked layers of molecules, with each layer the thickness of two extended molecules. The molecules in a layer are arranged so that the hydrophobic (water-fearing) hydrocarbon chains form the interior of the layer and the hydrophilic (water-loving) carboxylic acid groups form the two faces. For a specific fatty acid the details of the molecular packing may vary, giving rise to different crystal forms known as polymorphs.

The melting temperatures of saturated fatty acids of biological interest are above 27 °C (81 °F) and rise with increasing length of the hydrocarbon chain. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated molecules melt at substantially lower temperatures than do their saturated analogs, with the lowest melting temperatures occurring when the carbon-carbon double bonds are located near the centre of the hydrocarbon chain, as they are in most biological molecules. As a result, these molecules form viscous liquids at room temperature.

The hydrophobic character of the hydrocarbon chain of most biological fatty acids exceeds the hydrophilic nature of the carboxylic acid group, making the water solubility of these molecules very low. For example, at 25 °C (77 °F) the solubility in grams of fatty acid per gram of solution is 3 × 10−6. Water solubility decreases exponentially with the addition of each carbon atom to the hydrocarbon chain. This relationship reflects the energy required to transfer the molecule from a pure hydrocarbon solvent to water. With each CH2 group, for instance, more energy is required to order water molecules around the hydrocarbon chain of the fatty acid, which results in the hydrophobic effect.

In pure water the carboxylate group can dissociate a positively charged hydrogen ion to only a very small degree thus: R−COOH → RCOO + H+.

micelle [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]micelleEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Here R represents the hydrocarbon chain. The carboxylate ion, bearing a negative charge, is more polar than the undissociated acid. RCOOH can be converted completely to the ion RCOO by adding an equal number of molecules of a base such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH). This effectively replaces the H+ with Na+ to give the salt of the fatty acid, which is a soap. The very useful detergent property of soaps stems from the fact that the RCOO anions in water spontaneously form stable, spherical aggregates called micelles. The interior of these structures, formed by the hydrocarbon chains, is an excellent solvent in which grease and hydrophobic dirt of all sorts can be sequestered. The diameter of each micelle is roughly twice the length of the extended fatty acid. Dispersions of micelles in water can be made quite concentrated and exhibit great cleansing power. These dispersions are stable and generally look very much like pure water. Bubbles and foams on the surface of soap dispersions are the result of the spontaneous adsorption of RCOO ions at the interface between the aqueous dispersion and air, with the result that the air-water interfaces are energetically stabilized and can therefore be mechanically expanded.

Chemical properties

The most chemically reactive portion of fatty acids is the acidic carboxyl group (COOH). It reacts with alcohols (R′OH) to form products known as esters (RCOOR′) and releases water in the process. This ester bond is the principal covalent bond linking fatty acid moieties to other groups in the more-complex lipids discussed in other sections of this article. A second chemical bond, occurring much less frequently in biological lipids involving fatty acids, is the ether bond (R′−O−R). Ether bonds are chemically more stable than ester bonds.

The hydrocarbon part of a fatty acid molecule is quite resistant to chemical attack unless carbon-carbon double bonds are present. A number of different kinds of molecules react with such a double bond. For example, when a catalyst such as platinum is present, hydrogen gas adds to the double bond to give a saturated fatty acid. Halogens (chlorine, bromine, and iodine) and their derivatives such as hydroiodic acid (HI) also react with the double bond to form saturated fatty acids, but in these cases one or two atoms of the halogen replace one or two of the hydrogens normally found in the saturated acyl chain. Carbon-carbon double bonds can also react with oxygen in either nonenzymatic processes or enzymatically catalyzed oxidation reactions. This process generates a variety of products, some of which contribute to the rancid smell in spoiled meat and vegetable products. In general, the more highly unsaturated the fatty acid, the more easily it is oxidized.

Biological sources

Fatty acids are found in biological systems either as free molecules or as components of more-complex lipids. They are derived from dietary sources or produced by metabolism, as described below.

Digestion of dietary fatty acids

The main source of fatty acids in the diet is triglycerides, generically called fats. In humans, fat constitutes an important part of the diet, and in some countries it can contribute as much as 45 percent of energy intake. Triglycerides consist of three fatty acid molecules, each linked by an ester bond to one of the three OH groups of a glycerol molecule. After ingested triglycerides pass through the stomach and into the small intestine, detergents called bile salts are secreted by the liver via the gall bladder and disperse the fat as micelles. Pancreatic enzymes called lipases then hydrolyze the dispersed fats to give monoglycerides and free fatty acids. These products are absorbed into the cells lining the small intestine, where they are resynthesized into triglycerides. The triglycerides, together with other types of lipids, are then secreted by these cells in lipoproteins, large molecular complexes that are transported in the lymph and blood to recipient organs. In detail, the process of triglyceride or fat absorption from dietary sources is quite complex and differs somewhat depending upon the animal species.

After transport through the circulation, triglycerides are hydrolyzed yet again to fatty acids in the adipose tissue. There they are transported into adipose cells, where once again they are resynthesized into triglycerides and stored as droplets. Fat or adipose tissue essentially consists of cells, whereby the interior of each cell is largely occupied by a fat droplet. The triglyceride in these droplets is available to the body on demand as communicated to adipose tissue by hormone messengers.

Various animals store triglycerides in different ways. In sharks, for example, fat is stored in the liver, but in bony fish it is deposited in and around muscle fibres. Insects store fat in a special organ called the fat body. The development of true adipose tissue is found only in higher animals.

In mammals, fatty acids are synthesized in adipose and liver cells from glucose via a fairly complex pathway. In essence, the six carbons of a glucose molecule are oxidized to a pair of two-carbon carboxylic acid fragments called acetate. The starting point for biosynthesis is an acetate group chemically linked to a molecule of CoA (coenzyme A). The process of building up the acyl chain of a fatty acid then begins, basically through the sequential chemical addition of two-carbon fragments from CoA-acetate to generate, for example, the 16-carbon saturated fatty acid palmitate. This process is catalyzed by a complex enzyme known as fatty acid synthase. Elongation of the palmitate carbon chain and the introduction of carbon-carbon double bonds are carried out subsequently by other enzyme systems. The overall process is basically the same in organisms ranging from bacteria to humans.

Fatty acid derivatives

tristearin [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]tristearinEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Triglycerides (chemical name triacylglycerol), the principal means of storing fatty acids in biological systems, are a class of compounds that consist of glycerol (a three-carbon trihydroxy alcohol) with a fatty acid linked to each of the three OH groups by an ester bond. An example of a typical triglyceride is tristearin. Because this molecule contains only one type of fatty acid, it is referred to as a simple triglyceride. Almost all naturally occurring triglyceride molecules, however, contain more than one type of fatty acid; when two or more in a given molecule are different, it is called a mixed triglyceride. For any specific combination of three fatty acids, three different molecules are possible, depending upon which of the three fatty acids is bonded to the central carbon of glycerol. Considering the numbers of common saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, it is evident that there are a great many different triglycerides.

Physical properties

Triglycerides are hydrophobic substances that are soluble only in some organic solvents. Unlike many other types of complex lipids, they possess no electric charges and are therefore referred to as neutral lipids. The molecular structure of a few triglycerides that have been studied in crystals indicates that the acyl chains on the 1 and 2 carbons of glycerol, together with the 1 and 2 carbons of glycerol itself, form a straight line. Carbon 3 projects at right angles to this line, but the acyl chain on its glycerol folds over at the carboxyl carbon to lie alongside the acyl chain on carbon 1. Triglyceride molecules look much like a tuning fork and, when packed together, produce layered crystals.

The melting temperatures of mixed triglycerides are roughly an average of the melting temperatures of their constituent fatty acids. In simple triglycerides, melting temperatures rise with increasing acyl chain length but drop with increasing number of double bonds. Melted triglycerides are generally quite viscous oils. From the physiological standpoint, it is important that most stored triglycerides be fluid at body temperature in order to permit their rapid mobilization as an energy source. Liquidity is also important since subcutaneous stored fats perform an insulating function that must not interfere with the mobility of the organism and its parts.

A second group of neutral lipids that are of physiological importance, though they are a minor component of biological systems, are waxes. Essentially, waxes consist of a long-chain fatty acid linked through an ester oxygen to a long-chain alcohol. These molecules are completely water-insoluble and generally solid at biological temperatures. Their strongly hydrophobic nature allows them to function as water repellents on the leaves of some plants, on feathers, and on the cuticles of certain insects. Waxes also serve as energy-storage substances in plankton (microscopic aquatic plants and animals) and in higher members of the aquatic food chain. Plankton apparently use the biosynthesis of waxes to adjust their buoyant density and thus their depth in the ocean. It has been suggested that a major source of petroleum found in deep-sea sediments originates from the deposition of wax-rich dead plankton over vast periods of time. Whales and many fishes also store large quantities of waxes.

Biological membrane lipids

The three principal classes of lipids that form the bilayer matrix of biological membranes are glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, and sterols (principally cholesterol). The most important characteristic of molecules in the first two groups is their amphipathic structure—well separated hydrophilic (polar) and hydrophobic (nonpolar) regions. Generally, their shape is elongated, with a hydrophilic end or head attached to a hydrophobic moiety by a short intervening region of intermediate polarity. Because of the segregation of polarity and nonpolarity, amphipathic molecules in any solvent will spontaneously form aggregates that minimize energetically unfavourable contacts (by keeping unlike regions of molecules apart) and maximize favourable contacts with the solvent (by keeping similar regions of molecules together). The molecular arrangement of the aggregate depends upon the solvent and the details of the amphipathic structure of the lipid.

lipid bilayer [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]lipid bilayerEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.In water, micelles formed by soaps (the sodium or potassium salts of fatty acids) are one such aggregate. The polar or hydrophilic portion of the soap molecules forms the surface of the micelle, while the hydrocarbon chains form its interior and are thus completely protected from the energetically unfavourable contact with water, as described in the section Fatty acids: Physical properties. Biological membrane lipids, however, do not form spherical micelles in water but instead form topologically closed lamellar (layered) structures. The polar heads of the component molecules form the two faces of the lamella, while the hydrophobic moieties form its interior. Each lamella is thus two molecules in thickness, with the long axis of the component molecules perpendicular to the plane of the bilayer.

liposome [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]liposomeEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Other types of aggregates are also formed in water by certain amphipathic lipids. For example, liposomes are artificial collections of lipids arranged in a bilayer, having an inside and an outside surface. The lipid bilayers form a sphere that can trap a molecule inside. The liposome structure can be useful for protecting sensitive molecules that are to be delivered orally.

glycerophospholipid [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]glycerophospholipidEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Lipids of this class are the most abundant in biological membranes. In glycerophospholipids, fatty acids are linked through an ester oxygen to carbons 1 and 2 of glycerol, the backbone of the molecule. Phosphate is ester-linked to carbon 3, while any one of several possible substituents is also linked to the phosphate moiety. Glycerophospholipids are amphipathic—glycerol and phosphate form the polar end of the molecule, while hydrocarbon chains form the nonpolar end. Although the fatty acids can be any of those common in biological systems, usually those attached to carbon 1 are saturated and those attached to carbon 2 are unsaturated. The various combinations of two fatty acids give rise to many different molecules bearing the same substituent group. Since this is true for each head group, there are altogether about a thousand possible types of glycerophospholipids. The great majority are found in biological membranes.

From the standpoint of physical properties, the greatest difference among various molecules lies in the particular substituent. This is due in part to the different sizes of the various types and in part to differences in their electric charges. The phosphatidylcholines and phosphatidylethanolamines are zwitterionic, meaning they have one negative and one positive charge on the substituent group. Phosphatidic acid, phosphatidylserine, and phosphatidylinositol have a net negative charge. Differences in fatty acid composition also contribute to differences in physical properties of a series of molecules with the same substituent. In the presence of an excess of water, the molecules form aggregates with a variety of geometries, the most common of which is the bilayer.

In bilayers many glycerophospholipids as well as sphingomyelin (discussed below) can be in either one of two states, gel or liquid-crystalline. In the solidlike gel state, the lipid molecules in each half of the bilayer are arranged in a two-dimensional lattice, with their two acyl chains in the extended form. With the application of heat, the gel converts into the liquid-crystalline state at some temperature characteristic of the lipid mixture. In this state the molecules in each half of the bilayer remain in a fairly regular two-dimensional lattice but are free to rotate about their long axes and slide laterally through the layer. Their acyl chains now undergo considerable motion, leading to transiently kinked conformations. These motions give the bilayer a quasi-liquid behaviour that is characteristic of the bilayers in all biological membranes.

sphingolipid [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]sphingolipidEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.A second major class of lipids usually associated with the membranes surrounding cells is sphingolipids. Sphingolipids are based on an 18-carbon amine alcohol, sphingosine, and to a much lesser extent on a 20-carbon analog, phytosphingosine. All but one generic member of this class have a simple or complex sugar linked to the alcohol on carbon 1. The single deviant member is sphingomyelin, a molecule with a phosphorylcholine group (the same polar head group as in phosphatidylcholine) instead of the sugar moiety, making it an analog of phosphatidylcholine. All sphingolipids have, in addition to the sugar, a fatty acid attached to the amino group of sphingosine. Among the sphingolipids, only sphingomyelin, a phospholipid, is a major component of biological membranes.

The principal factor determining the physical properties of sphingolipids is the substituent group attached to carbon 1 of sphingosine. Minor variations in properties depend upon the particular fatty acid component. The glycosphingolipids, all containing a sugar attached to carbon 1 of sphingosine, have physical properties that depend primarily on the complexity and composition of this substituent. Two generic types of glycosphingolipids are recognized: neutral glycosphingolipids, which contain only neutral sugars, and gangliosides, which contain one or more sialic acid residues linked to the sugar. Many hundreds of different glycosphingolipids have been isolated, and many more unidentified types probably exist. Glycosphingolipids are found exclusively on the external surface of the cell membrane, where their sugar moieties often act as antigens and as receptors for hormones and other signaling molecules.

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restaurants and food by foodfever
Email Address:

Maxwell’s - Covent Garden

8 James Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 8BH

Opening Times:

Monday to Sunday: 11:30 - 24:00

Contact Details

Tel: 020 7395 5804

North American Restaurant

Maxwell's Covent Garden, London
Easygoing Maxwell’s is a vibrant restaurant set over two floors in the bustling atmosphere of Covent Garden. The menu aims to cater for every taste, with salads, prime cuts and fish featuring alongside the restaurant’s well-known grills. Late night dining makes it ideal for theatregoers, with a 50-strong cocktail list to wash it all down. Children’s menu available.

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Nuance's Dragon Dictation for iPhone raised some privacy concerns upon launch due to the server-side nature of its transcription and the apparent transmission of users' contact list to Nuance's servers. Addressing at least some of these concerns, Nuance has posted the following statement:

Even though there is no personally identifying information, we still treat all of this information with the highest privacy standards. All of our servers are located in the United States and meet the most stringent privacy and security standards. We conform to these high standards because we use the same data centers for other areas of our business where we are required to store personal information.

All of this is spelled out in our license agreement that comes with the Dragon Dictation for the iPhone application. Since most people only see that license agreement briefly when they are installing the software (and they usually can't wait to start using their software, so they don't spend 30 minutes reading a complex legal document...), we provided a link to that agreement here:

So the bottom line is that nothing scary is happening with your data and we only use a little bit of information from your phone to help make the dictation accuracy as high as possible. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to post them here.

Michael Thompson, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Nuance Mobile

Of course, Nuance is storing all your transcriptions on their servers, which while not dissimilar to Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, or Apple storing all your email, documents, location, etc. is an important factor for users to keep in mind so as to make informed decisions about services and the companies behind them.

Let us know what you think of the statement, and if it does indeed address your concerns (or not).


A World of Discovery

Drakensberg Mountains

Drakensberg Mountains Tours

About Drakensberg Mountains

The Drakensberg Mountains are the highest mountains in South Africa and located in the eastern part of it. They are running for some 1000 km generally southwest to northeast, with a northwesterly bend forming the northeastern border of Lesotho with South Africa. The highest peak is ranging up to 3,482 m and is the Natal Drakensberg which is one of South Africa’s most spectacular attractions.

Visitors will experience hundreds of kilometers of unspoiled escarpment, scenic beauty, crisp mountain air and clear waters. There is a lot to do: hiking, bird watching, game viewing, horse trails and safaris, guided tours, 4x4 trails, quad bikes, golfing, trout / fly fishing, white water rafting, rock climbing to mention just a few.

Furthermore you can visit the Ukahlamba or Drakensberg National Park, which was declared to a World Heritage Site by the Unesco in 2000. The most well known National Park in the Drakensberg is the Royal Natal National Park, with its Tugela Falls, the second highest waterfall on earth.

Drakensberg Mountains Tours

Here are some popular itineraries for a trip to Drakensberg Mountains

Drakensburg Mountains | South Africa | Africa

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Drakensberg Mountains Tailor made suggestions

Here are some of the recent tailor made itineraries we have created for our clients which include a visit to Drakensberg Mountains.

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