Marine pollotion in central New South Wales estuaries in australia Essay

Marine pollotion in central New South Wales estuaries in australia - Essay Example Preventive measures should be enacted to prevent pollution of the New South Wales estuaries as discussed in the essay. Marine pollution in Australia specifically in New South Wales estuaries An estuary is an enclosed water body having different streams flowing into it. It has an open connection to the sea. They are the most productive natural habitats in the world. This is because the inflow of both fresh water and seawater provides a high concentration of nutrients hence supporting marine life (Levinton, 2006:12). Estuaries are classified according to the water circulation patterns. Because of this, estuaries have different names that are inlets, harbors, bays, and lagoons (Wolanski & Mclusky, 2011:107). Many people live along the banks of the estuaries this has resulted to estuaries suffering pollution especially metals which greatly affect sea creatures. Other effects are soil erosion, overfishing, poor farming practices and excessive nutrients that are from sewage and animals was te. Estuaries of New South Wales are the places of transition. They are enclosed with an open connection to the sea. They vary in size and shape. It is an ecosystem to support different species (Wolanski & Mclusky, 2011:111). Estuaries are very important natural habitats. Research shows that 80% of the state’s population lives in areas surrounding estuaries (Mcclintock, 2003: 4). This has resulted to the pollution of the estuaries. They are relied as sources of tourism, commercial, recreation, and cultural areas. Due to the high population in New South Wales living in catchment surrounding estuaries, estuaries are subject to pressure because of the human activities. Apart from the human activities, natural events such as floods and storms accelerate the rate of sedimentation (Wolanski & Mclusky, 2011:127). Other effects include increased in nutrients due to the sewerage disposal, loss of habitat for the marine world life and biodiversity. Biodiversity is an ecosystem, which s upports a variety of plants and animals (Mcclintock, 2003: 23). The contamination rate in New South Wales is because of the increase in urbanization and industrialization. Industrialization activities realize harmful substances which pollute the ecosystem. In the 20th century estuaries, receive threat due to pollution and overfishing. The pollution is because of the high population living along the estuaries. Most of the pollutants are pesticides, plastics, and heavy metals (Mcclintock, 2003: 41). Due to the agricultural activities, land run-off greatly affects estuaries. The fertilizers used in agriculture pollute the estuaries thus affecting the sea creatures. Pollution results to depletion of oxygen due to the growth of algae (Wolanski & Mclusky, 2011:141). Depletion of oxygen results to creation of dead zones, which causes reduction of sea creatures. Marine pollution in Australia specifically in New South Wales is because of the urban and industrial activities. Industrialization pollutes estuaries greatly due to the waste materials that are channeled to the estuaries. The organic chemicals results to change in natural conditions in the water this is temperature, salinity, and levels of oxygen (Mcclintock, 2003: 67). The change in the natural condition of estuaries results to change in composition of the species. Some species of sea creatures cannot survive in high saline ecosystem. However, some have adaptation to support their survival in a saline

A Life Journey of Mao Zedong Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

A Life Journey of Mao Zedong - Essay Example Mao was born when the Qing Dynasty was on the course of the breakdown of its powers over the ruling of China. For two hundred fifty years, Qing Dynasty ruled China with strictness. But they were in a quandary as to how to hold on to their authority. The rulers were in a difficulty over the peoples’ unrest. For over thirty years the Qing rulers had been trying to reorganize their land and naval forces and to equip them with modern Western weapons but Japan easily won in the war of 1894. (1) Foreign nations colonized the different parts of China. Powerful nations like Japan, France, Germany and Great Britain were interested in dominating China. Rebels tried to fight to regain Beijing in 1900, killing foreigners and Christian Chinese. This brought about more foreign invasions. Authorities in the other parts of China beheaded rioters and rebels. Qing Dynasty crushed down in October 1911 by the uprising of militant rebels. Though Spence briefly skimmed historical events during the early years of Mao’s life, significant dates, events, and persons were included. The book is a brief but close up portrait of Mao Zedong from his childhood years to the time when he ruled China. Spence combined history and storytelling on Mao’s climb to power. From a common villager without extraordinary talents to a learned man, Spence connected the series of events that led Mao to the peak of his rule. An interesting biography to read and understand this man with a great vision of China’s social and economic change.

Analysis of Jewish Messianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis of Jewish Messianism - Essay Example The messianic concept of the Christians believed Jesus to be a messiah or the Son of God. In Christianity, Daniel prophesied that a messiah would come to rebuild the Promised Land and bring peace to Israel by defeating the wicked. The Messiah would be the Son of Man and a descendant of King David and he would redeem the Holy Land from the Philistines. The hope of such a messiah can be traced in the history of the people of Israel. The main difference in the messianic concepts of Judaism and Christianity lies in the fact that in Christianity, Jesus, the Messiah, suffers for the sins of man and has to die to redeem humanity and reconcile it to God’s righteousness. In Jewish messianic beliefs, the Messiah is the upholder of God’s justice and His supremacy. The other point of difference is that unlike Christianity, Judaism does not believe in the resurrection. The traditional belief amongst the Christians that the Messiah must suffer and die for the cause of humanity is not resonated in the Jewish faith. Also, the spread of Christianity and the retaliation reeked by the Romans led the Jews to be skeptical of messiahs. The arrival of the Messiah is a belief that Jews hold very dear and await God’s benediction by following a path of intense piety and puritanical rules. To the Jews, the anointed messiah would bring the world back to God’s ways, restore the religious courts of justice, gather all the exiled under the fold of the holy land, restore the line of David, and so on. When Jesus was unable to realize all these expectations, the concept of Messianism in Christianity changed from being another Jewish messianic sect to a completely new religion.  Ã‚  

White Collar and Corporate Crime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

White Collar and Corporate Crime - Essay Example Concealment of misconduct usually involves falsifying records or documents to disguise discrepancies. The higher the degree of effort to conceal a corporate misconduct the more difficult detection will be for unsuspecting management, the public, investors, directors, auditors, and the government. Crime was defined only by traditional "street crimes" during the 30-year period between 1940 and 1970, and there was minimal public concern with the issue of corporate criminal conduct. Since the early 1970s, however, "crime in the suites" has emerged as an important political, social, and economic problem. The extent and seriousness of criminal behavior by corporations, corporate officials, and employees led to the development of organized crime as a separate type of white-collar crime and, more importantly, an increased recognition of the need for criminal statutes that address corporate misconduct and more severe criminal corporate sanctions (Clinard, Marshall, and Peter Yeager. 1980, 132). Sutherland defined white-collar crime as "crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation," and used the term to refer primarily to "business managers and executives." (Edwin Sutherland, 1961, p. 19) His studies and conclusions indicate, however, that white-collar c... Organized crimes were initially defined as "the offenses committed by corporate officials for their corporation and the offenses of the corporation itself" and occupational crimes were the "offenses committed by individuals for themselves in the course of their occupations and the offenses of employees against their employers." (Marshall B. Clinard and Richard Quinney, 1973, p. 188). Occupational crimes are committed by lawyers, doctors, businessmen, and politicians, for example, and may include crimes like income tax evasion, embezzlement, and check kiting. Corporate crimes are organizational crimes and can only occur in the context of the complicated relationships among executives, corporate officers, managers, and corporate agents on the one hand, and among parent corporations, corporate divisions, and subsidiaries on the other hand. Nevertheless, a distinctive feature of organized crime is that the crime is committed primarily for the benefit of an ongoing legitimate business enterprise rather than for the individual who actually carries out the offense. Thus, organized crime is a specific type or form of white-collar crime and includes criminal conduct, intended to benefit the corporation, by corporations and by individual corporate employees, officials, or agents. In the late 1980s and early 1990s has served to bring potentially dangerous corporate activities to the general attention of the public and has inspired the academic legal community to pay greater consideration to several very basic questions concerning the potential use of the criminal law in this area. (Fisse, B And Braithwaite, J, 1993, 134) The criminal statistics show unequivocally that crime, as

National governments and international institutions in relation to Essay

National governments and international institutions in relation to policy on international trade - Essay Example These relations depend on the country a particular business person is importing from or exporting to (Carbaugh, 2004). Countries such as the United States of America are known to enforce some of these policies on imports and exports. Their primary aim is to favor the business people. The same case applies to the United Kingdom. Their import duty rates are reduced to almost nil courtesy of the implemented government policies (Fujita, 1999). The procedure of importing and exporting of goods was also made less complicated. There is known to be high-level trade between countries. Hence, trading tariffs are significantly reduced. Most global business people and corporations feel highly considered since they can sell internationally without any transaction issues. Several national governments have provided open-border options to ease trade across countries that share borders. This policy involves allowing people from neighboring countries to go across borders without having to produce the usual strictly scrutinized legal papers that allow them into other countries. This case of international business growth can be seen in the East African Community (Grimwade, 2000). This regional community is one that allows a business to take place across borders of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The kind of trade that takes place between these three nations involves the sale or agricultural produce and raw materials. Fresh vegetables and grain are usually sold at standardized prices across these borders, making it one of the most successful interactions in these region in terms of business. Mineral are also traded across these borders. The kind of business that is promoted by this policy is not that of overseas shipping of goods. It is rather a simple way of easing transactions taking place between business people of different countries without many hindrances. The elimination of the borders in terms of

The Crucible by Arthur Miller Essay Example for Free

The Crucible by Arthur Miller Essay The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is set in 1692, on the Salem witch trials and compared with McCarthyism in 1950s, the time it was written. The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in American history surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century, yet it is as much a product of the time in which Miller wrote it, the early 1950s, as it is a description of a Puritan society. I will be describing my ideas on the performance and the production of the asides in act one of The Crucible. One of the main motives of asides is to explain the similarities in 1690s and1950s. The Crucible is a story with an underlying meaning as well as the literal one. Although 1690s and 1950s are very different, Miller has portrayed the same allegory. Miller is trying to prove that history repeats itself. He does this by proving that people were stupid to believe in witches in the seventeenth century, just like people believed in McCarthyism in America in the 1950s. Today we are repeating similar mistakes, as we consider war as the solution to the Iraq crisis. Getting the message across to audience is very hard as it is no longer 1950s nor do people know much about McCarthyism. During the 1690s Puritans also repressed in England and power then was held by Church, theocracy, those who were landowners held a lot of power. Cromwell had taken power by junta. At that time Salem was in a state of unrest because the old laws were no longer as necessary. Witch-hunting was also causing unrest in Salem. The crisis, of witchcraft, began to increase and doubts began to develop concerning the vitality of the charge. Just like in America the educated people of the colony began efforts to end the witch-hunting hysteria that had surrounded Salem. To explain this complicated allegory successfully, asides are used. 1950s was a decade of unrest in America as there were a lot of economical depressions following world war two, democracy and capitalism problems. More over McCarthy was troubling people by misusing his powers. The hunting down and prosecuting of any Americans who were thought to have taken part in anti-capitalism. The accusations became hysterical and many people were asked to name names of people in meeting held many years previously. By 1962 many people started going against McCarthy. Miller uses the Salem witch-hunt to present his views on McCarthyism, The prosecuting of any Americans who were thought to have taken part in anti-capitalism, is similar to the hunting down of suspects of witchcraft. The asides are a very effective way of telling long story in short. The narrator may explain the situations, introduce new characters or even give his own opinion to get the message across to the audience. The narrator is particularly needed for Act 1, as the setting and different characters need to be introduced to audience. Another reason why asides are important to be narrated is, the allegory in the story for which the audience needs to follow the story right from the beginning. Therefore it is vital that the narrator of the aside is someone, who the audience is likely to pay attention to. Ideally a literate person who can judge people correctly and has the power to catch the audiences attention with his voice. I think its a good idea if the narrator is one of the charters from the play. Having one of the characters to narrate the play is a very effective method of providing information to audience. He is likely to get more attention because the audience is familiar with the person. In A view from the Bridge Miller uses a lawyer to narrate the play, which I think works really well because he used someone who is very intelligent and respected. Similarly a positive character could be used in this play to talk to audience. I chose Reverend John Hale, from this play to read the aside in act one, as the audience will be more familiar with the character when he comes later on in the act and introduces himself. Miller is interested in people who do not allow them to be caught up in hysteria but think for themselves and stand up for their believes against all odds. Similarly Hale backs this point, towards the end where he learns how things are going wrong. Hale changes his opinions as he gets more knowledge about the things going around him. The narrators opinion about things needs to be the same as that of author, because a person with different views cannot talk about views, which he does not believe in. Miller believes that society is never an excuse for our failings, and that we are responsible for ourselves, such a person is John. John tries to save the lives of innocent people wrongly accused of witchcraft. He is the only Judge who tried to save Reverend Proctor. However human weakness and guilt sometimes drag him down but still his character is positive. As millers describes John He feels himself allied with the best minds of Europe Miller is trying to say how self-centred John is but at the same time he is telling us that John is intelligent. The audience is more likely to listen to such person because of his reputation. The key reason for having a character from the play as a narrator is that the audience is familiar with the person; therefore Hale should narrate the asides in his normal character clothes, speech and movement. A good way of introducing characters is to let the person perform their most common role in the background and the narrator standing in front talking about the person. For example when Reverend Parris is introduced, John Hale could be standing in the front saying, there is very little good to be said for him. while Parris is in meeting in Church talking, but has no one listening. Since the asides in this play are not only introduction, doing so will lose the consistency of the asides, and the audience will not be clear whether its an aside or part of the play. Therefore while he is standing motionless on the stage and reading the asides where the stage is dark and a spotlight on the character and deep voice with no background music. The shining of bright light on Hale while the stage is all black will give him almost a god like image. Its only him talking and, there is no other option but listen to him. The pause in music will make the audience concentrate on the aside by having nothing else but John to listen to. His voice should have extra bass added to it. Radio experiments show that if the voice of presenters have bass then the listeners are more likely to remember what they listen to. The stage is all difficult to obscure and there is only one glow in the theatre approaching from John Hale while he states about Parris in his deep tone his house stood in a town but we would hardly call it a village today. The best way to perform asides in this play is to have a character from the play narrate the asides while full attention is given to him. The most suitable character would be Hale because the way he thinks about matters and his intelligence make him exceptional.

Role of Dietary Intervention in Ameliorating Disability

Role of Dietary Intervention in Ameliorating Disability The Role of Dietary Intervention in Ameliorating Disability Experienced by Multiple Sclerosis Patients Mark M. Makar Hypothesis: Diet modification can significantly improve disability and quality of life in multiple sclerosis patients. Abstract (word count: 213) Hypothesis: Diet modification can significantly improve disability and quality of life in multiple sclerosis patients. Methods: The PubMed database was searched on January 18, 2017 to identify studies relevant to this review. The database search combined terms from three themes: 1) multiple sclerosis patients 2) diet and 3) diet modification. This search yielded 118 articles for screening, with no duplicates. With abstract screening and inclusion criteria, 10 articles were included in this final review. Results: Modifying the diet of multiple sclerosis patients can greatly reduce fatigue and moderately help decrease symptoms experienced during this disease. Replacing animal based protein and saturated fatty acids from the diet, with plant-based alternatives that are high in starch showed noticeable improvement in symptoms experienced by multiple sclerosis patients. The plant based diet showed a decrease in inflammatory cells, damage of the blood brain barrier, demyelination, as well as axonal and oligodendrocyte injury. Conclusions: A variety of dietary modifications have been demonstrated to effectively improve quality of life and reduce disability in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis. More studies are needed to assess the efficacy of dietary intervention with respect to reducing episodes of disability experienced by multiple sclerosis patients and including diet modification into the current disease modifying therapies available. Key Words: multiple sclerosis, diet modification, review Ultramini Abstract: A search of the PubMed database yielded 10 articles for review. A variety of randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, case studies, cross sectional studies, and surveys regarding multiple sclerosis patients and diet modification to exclude animal protein from the diet and include only a plant based diet, can help to ameliorate disability. Introduction Multiple Sclerosis has an ongoing prevalence of 33% globally, with its incidence growing in North America and Europe (Evans C et al., 2013). Multiple sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. It is the number one cause of non-traumatic neurodegenerative disability in the young adult population, and is twice as common in women as men (Browne, P et al., 2014). The etiology of multiple sclerosis is still unknown; however, it is believed to have autoimmune origins. Patients tend to experience multiple sclerosis differently; the most common presenting symptoms include sensory (40%), motor (39%), fatigue (30%), and visual (30%), and urinary incontinence (17%) along with less common symptoms presenting as pain and cognitive decline (Evans C et al., 2013). The wide array of symptoms experienced in multiple sclerosis has sprung forth an influx of scholarly research on beneficial disease- modifying therapies (DMTs) and alternative non-traditional methods for treating multiple sclerosis. Many governments across the world subsidize the current platform therapies for multiple sclerosis across the world including interferon-beta and/ or glatiramer acetate (Browne, P et al., 2014). There is a considerable degree of variance between different levels of income groups in society with regards to accessibility of government-funded therapies for multiple sclerosis (Browne, P et al., 2014). Availability of government funded DMTs were accessible to 96% of high-income countries, 45% of lower to middle income countries, and none in the low-income countries (Browne, P et al., 2014). These surprising statistics have led to new research development, which focus on new treatment methods for multiple sclerosis that cannot only be efficacious, but also be economically accessible for all levels of socioeconomic statuses across the world. There is much speculation regarding cost effectiveness of current treatment regiments for multiple sclerosis with interferon-beta and/ or glatiramer ace tate. There is a common consensus that the current platform therapies are not cost effective for the long-term therapy of multiple sclerosis (Bogglid, M et al., 2009). Given the pathology of multiple sclerosis, it is believed that dietary factors play a key role in autoimmune degradation and can induce myelin breakdown in the central nervous system by molecular mimicry (Ashtari, F et al., 2015). Multiple sclerosis prevalence is believed to be high in regions furthest away from the equator, however recent research has found that these regions of the world also consume a greater amount of saturated fat and animal protein such as dairy (Swank, R et al., 1990). Diets high in animal protein saturated fatty acids tend to worsen progression of multiple sclerosis and increase relapse of symptoms (Hadgkiss, E et al., 2015).It has been proposed that dietary interventions such as low fat, plant-based diet may decrease autoimmune inflammation in the central nervous system and help maintain the protective integrity of the blood brain barrier (Riccio, P et al., 2016). Dietary modifications are thought to be both a cost effective and efficacious treatment option for mitigating symptoms experienced by multiple sclerosis patients such as loss of motor and or sensory function, as well as fatigue (Yadav, V et al., 2016). This paper aims to provide a practical overview of recent scholarly literature in order to answer the research question: Does diet modification significantly decrease the level of disability and improve the quality of life in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis? The review will be guided under the hypothesis: diet modification can significantly improve disability and quality of life in patients suffering with multiple sclerosis. Methods Articles about multiple sclerosis and diet modification were searched on January 19, 2017 using the databases Pub Med and Google Scholar. The database search combined terms from three themes: 1) multiple sclerosis patients (relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis OR primary progressive multiple sclerosis OR multiple sclerosis OR central nervous system demyelination OR autoimmune encephalomyopathy OR demyelinating disease 2) diet (food OR animal protein OR vegan diet OR plant based diet) and 3) diet modification (meal plan OR starch based diet). When searching for articles, screening settings were set to be within 10 years, English language, full text articles, review, meta-analysis, randomized control trials, and clinical trials. Boolean operators used were OR and AND; OR was used to extract specific terms from the three main themes. AND was used to connect the three themes used in this review. This search yielded 118 articles for screening, with no duplicates. With abstract screening and inclusion criteria, 10 articles were included in this final review. Inclusion Criteria All the articles used in this systemic review had to meet the following criteria: 1) English 2) patients with multiple sclerosis for at least 6 months 3) diet modification/ assesment or pharmacological treatment as intervention. The term multiple sclerosis was defined as patients showing symptoms for at least 6 months and diet modification was defined as any change in daily food intake. Exclusion Criteria Articles were excluded from the review if they were published prior to 2007 and/or were not written in the English language and/or if patients had any type of prior chronic disease other than multiple sclerosis. Results Randomized Controlled Studies In a randomized controlled study by Vijayshree Yadav et al, 61 patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis were monitored for a one-year period. The participants were randomly allocated into two groups: Diet group and control group. The diet group was placed on a strict starch plant based diet (potatoes, corn, beans, bread, sweet potato and rice), while the control group was allowed to continue with their usual diet (meat, eggs, dairy products, fish) throughout the study. Each participant was surveyed once every three months or the duration of the study during which disability, and fatigue levels were recorded (by the expanded disability status scale, EDSS and fatigue severity scale, FSS/ modified fatigue impact scale, MFIS respectively). Serum lipid levels and brain MRI were also recorded at the end of the twelve months. The results observed demonstrated a significant reduction (pFigure 1 shows a summary of fatigue improvement throughout the duration of the study. These fin dings suggest that intervention with a plant-based diet does indeed help reduce fatigue in multiple sclerosis patients. Figure 1: Graph of Fatigue Scores as Measured by FSS score (A) and MFIS score (B) over a 12 Month Time Span In a similar randomized control trial by Anja Mahler et al, 18 patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis were randomly divided into two groups. The intervention group was started on 600 mg green tea catechin capsule per day and the control group received a placebo capsule for 12 weeks. A 4-week period was allotted during crossover to assure a sufficient wash out period. The results observed determined there was a significant increase in efficiency of muscle work from 20 (SD= 3) in the placebo group to 25 (SD= 6) in the intervention group (p>0.004). This finding suggests that intervention with plant based green tea extract helps to decrease muscle fatigue in multiple sclerosis patients. Cohort and Cross Sectional Studies: Emily Hadgkiss et al surveyed 2087 patients with multiple sclerosis globally. The comprehensive online survey inquired about dietary habits, quality of life, disability, and relapse rate. Dietary habits were assessed using the Diet Habits Questionnaire (DHQ), baseline quality of life was calculated using the Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life scale (MSQOL-54), and disability was calculated by using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Results of this study demonstrated that patients who reported higher intake of fruits and vegetables and low intake of fats had significantly higher physical health scores (PHC) ranging from 54 to 68 (pFigure 2 and Figure 3 shows a brief summary of these results. Figure 2: Mean Physical Health Composite by Dietary Factors   Ã‚   Figure 3: Mean Mental Health Composite by Dietary Factors Another significant finding in this study showed that patients who consumed meat and dairy had much poorer disability scores 624 (pTable 1. The frequency ofmultiple sclerosis disease activity was also significantly increased in meat and dairy consumers, 309% and 271% respectively (p Table 1: Level of disability and disease activity by dietary subgroups Soodeh Jahromi et al surveyed the diets of 75 women with multiple sclerosis from Iran. Dietary patterns were assessed using a 168-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). This study found patients whos diet consisted mainly of animal fat (high in animal fats, potato, other meat products, sugars, hydrogenated fats and low in whole grains, spices, and poultry without skin) had higher incidence of multiple sclerosis (OR = 1.99; CI: 1.63-2.94; P = 0.04), and patients who had a vegetable based diet (high in green leafy vegetables, hydrogenated fats, tomato, yellow vegetables, fruit juices, onion, and other vegetables) had lower incidence of multiple sclerosis. (OR = 0.42; 95% CI = 0.19-0.90; P = 0.026). These findings suggest an inverse relationship between high amount of hydrogenated fats, green leafy vegetables, fruit juices, and other vegetables and risk of multiple sclerosis. A longitudinal retrospective analysis was conducted by Weinstock-Guttman et al, where lipid levels of 492 multiple sclerosis patients were assessed for one a year time period. The study deduced that increasing LDL (p Geeta Ramsaransing et al investigated the levels of 23 dietary nutrients in 80 patients with multiple sclerosis: 27 with benign course multiple sclerosis, 32 with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, and 21 with primary progressive multiple sclerosis. The secondary progressive group demonstrated significant decreases in magnesium intake (p In a cohort study by Mike Bogglid et al, 5583 multiple sclerosis patients in the UK were monitored from May 2002 to April 2005 in an effort to establish the long term cost effectiveness of current platform therapy (interferon-beta and/ or glatiramer acetate) for multiple sclerosis. Following the duration of the study, 49% of patients that were on platform therapy were found to have experienced progressive deterioration in EDSS 2.68 at baseline, 2.90 after one year, and 3.24 after two years (p Case Control Studies In a comparable study to Soodeh Jahromi et als work, a cross sectional analysis by Tatjana Pekmezomiv et al was conducted to investigate possible dietary trends in patients living with multiple sclerosis. The dietary habits of 110 multiple sclerosis patients were compared to 110 healthy controls. Results showed that meat intake such as chicken (OR=2.0, p=0.045), lamb (OR=2.1, p=0.013), and beef (OR=1.7, p=0.043) was significantly higher in multiple sclerosis patients as compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, the study found that multiple sclerosis patients consumed significantly higher levels of ice cream (OR=0.18, p=0.031) and butter (OR=1.7, p=0.056) in comparison to controls. Table 2 shows a brief summary of these results. These findings suggest that there is a significant association between dietary intake of meat products such as chicken, lamb, and beef, as well as ice cream and butter to the disease in question. This may suggest that removal or reduction of said food items may be beneficial in decreasing the incidence of multiple sclerosis. Table 2: Consumption frequency of different food groups and food items in MS patients and controls Fereshteh asharti et al conducted a case control study in order to evaluate cows milk allergy (CMA) in multiple sclerosis patients versus healthy individuals. The authors compared 48 multiple sclerosis patients with 48 healthy controls. After 16 weeks there were no differences in the frequency of CMA between the two groups. Contrary from the results of Emily Hadgkiss et als study, the study done by Vahid Shaygannejad et al, found that there was a higher frequency of dairy products consumed by healthy control individuals (67%, p=0.01) compared to multiple sclerosis patients. These findings suggest that there is no reliable association between milk consumption and risk of multiple sclerosis development. Discussion This review attempted to answer the question: Does diet modification significantly decrease the level of disability and improve the quality of life in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis? The general shared consensus of articles included in this review support the proposed hypothesis of diet modification can, indeed, significantly improve disability and quality of life in multiple sclerosis patients (Hadgkiss E et al., 2015; Jahromi S et al., 2012; Shaygannejad V et al., 2016; Yadav V et al., 2016; Ramsaransing G et al., 2009; Jahroomi S., 2012; Pekmezovic T et al., 2012). However, one article concluded that consumption of animal protein in the form of milk did not increase the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (Shaygannejad V et al., 2016). However, these findings should not be generalized to the general population as the sample size used was too small and did not represent a true spectrum of multiple sclerosis prevalence across the world. The remaining articles reviewed corroborated that removal of both animal based protein and saturated fatty acids from the diet, and their replacement, high starch, plant-based alternatives, provided improved disability and fatigue in patients suffering from this disease (Pekmezovic T et al., 2012; Yadav V et al., 2016). The plant based, high starch diet (potato and rice) was found not only be an efficacious treatment option for mitigating symptoms experienced by multiple sclerosis patients but is also economically accessible for all levels of society across the world. It is also evident that most clinicians involved in the articles reviewed, found enough evidence in their research to warrant providing advice to patients with multiple sclerosis about the importance of healthy diet modification in regards to their condition (Hadgkiss E et al., 2015; Jahromi S et al., 2012; Yadav V et al., 2016; Ramsaransing G et al., 2009;). Many of the articles reviewed used a survey platform to assess the diets of multiple sclerosis patients; this may have had some effect on the results due to the nature of the retrospective study design used, making way for possible recall bias, hence potential misreporting of dietary intake (Pekmezovic T et al., 2012; Hadgkiss, E et al., 2015;). As well, since many of the articles used a food frequency survey approach, it may have limited the interventions possible with regards to experimenting with different types of foods that may have improved or worsened multiple sclerosis outcomes. A common limitation in this review is that none of the articles inquired about portion sizes of their meals, just food items (Hadgkiss E et al., 2015; Jahromi S et al., 2012; Yadav V et al., 2016; Ramsaransing G et al., 2009; Jahroomi S., 2012;). Across all articles reviewed, mean age of the study population was between 30- 47 years; therefore the results of this review may not be true for younger or more elderly patients. Many of the researchers in this review found it difficult to recruit many subjects due to health concerns regarding a low protein diet (Hadgkiss E et al., 2015; Jahromi S et al., 2012; Yadav V et al., 2016; Ramsaransing G et al., 2009; Jahroomi S., 2012). It is possible that the results observed with regards to studying the diets of multiple sclerosis patients may have been due to associations with other confounding variables. It is also important to note that given the disabling nature of multiple sclerosis as a disease state, many of the patients may be relying on a caregiver or family member for their meals, which may influence their dietary intake. Limitations encountered in this review include only utilizing articles written within the past 10 years, articles collected from only two databases (PubMed and Google Scholar), and articles were only included only if they were published in the English language. Future research may consider standardizing meal portion sizes during experimentation as various parts of the world have varying standard portion sizes. Future studies should also consider accounting for possible supplementation use in the participants such as vitamin and mineral intake. This would help diminish possible confounding variable. Future research may also utilizing experimental analysis encompassing a larger age range. All together, these factors would help encompass a much broader spectrum of patients living with multiple sclerosis. Conclusion In conclusion, diet modification has been shown to be a viable option not only for effectively improving quality of life, and reducing disability in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, but also in lowering the risk of developing the disease. Evidence showed that removal of both animal based protein and saturated fatty acids from the diet, and replacing them with plant-based alternatives which are high in starch showed noticeable improvement in muscle weakens and fatigue levels. Unfortunately we do not have sufficient research that definitively demonstrates that diet modification can be used alone without traditional medication to prevent and/ or treat multiple sclerosis. Additional studies are needed to assess the efficacy of dietary intervention with respect to reducing episodes of disability experienced by multiple sclerosis patients and including diet modification into the current disease modifying therapies available. 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Journal of neuroinflammation 8, no. 1 (2011): 127.DOI: 10.1186/1742-2094-8-127 Yadav, Vijayshree., Marracci, Gaild., Kim, Edward., Spain, Rebecca., Cameron, Michelle., Overs, Shanon., Murchison, C. (2016). Low-fat, plant-based diet in multiple sclerosis: A randomized controlled trial. Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders, 9, 80-90. DOI: 10.1016/j.msard.2016.07.001. Appendix First Author Population Year of Publication Study Design Outcome Ashtari, F. 48 patients with Multiple Sclerosis and 48 healthy patients as control group, mean age 30.7 March 18, 2013 Case control Study Serum IgE levels against cows milk antigen was taken from both groups. Results were very similar between both groups and showed no statistical significance (30.7  ± 6.9 vs. 30.9  ± 6.3 respectively, P value = 0.83) Boggild, M. 5583 patients with multiple sclerosis monitored from May 2002 to April 2005 from neurology clinics across the UK August 5, 2009 Prospective Cohort Study Patients received Interferon Beta treatment to determine long term cost effectiveness. Results showed worse disability progression than in the untreated group (deviation score of 113%; increase in mean disability status scale 0.28) Hadgkiss, E. 2087 patients with multiple sclerosis, mean age 45.5 participated in a comprehensive online survey March 17, 2014 Cross Sectional Study