Understanding The Meaning Of Pan: An Acronym Explained

The acronym PAN has a variety of meanings across different fields, including information technology, science, medicine, and culture. In the context of sexual orientation, pan is an abbreviation for pansexual, referring to individuals attracted to others regardless of their sex or gender identity. This definition is the focus of the topic what does pan stand for.

Pesticide Action Network

PAN International was founded in Malaysia, in response to transnational corporations endangering human health and devastating entire communities. The organisation has five independent, collaborating regional centres that implement its projects and campaigns.

PAN champions real solutions that support a transition away from hazardous pesticides, affirming agroecology as the foundation of a vibrant, healthy and just food system. For example, PAN celebrated when a federal court revoked the approval of dicamba, a notoriously volatile herbicide widely used on soybeans and cotton.

PAN also advocates for agroecology as a solution to the negative effects of chemical-intensive agriculture, which drives planetary issues. The organisation has released a list of banned pesticides and highly hazardous pesticides.

Additionally, PAN collects individual signatories from around the world to call on the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to end its alliance with CropLife, a pesticide industry lobby group.

Palo Alto Network (cybersecurity)

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is an American multinational cybersecurity company with headquarters in Santa Clara, California. The company was founded in 2005 by Nir Zuk, a former engineer from Check Point and NetScreen Technologies. Palo Alto Networks offers a platform that includes advanced firewalls and cloud-based offerings that extend those firewalls to cover other aspects of security.

The company serves over 70,000 organizations in more than 150 countries, including 85 of the Fortune 100 companies. It is a partner organization of the World Economic Forum and hosts the Ignite cybersecurity conference. Palo Alto Networks is also a member of the Cyber Threat Alliance, a not-for-profit organization that encourages collaboration among cybersecurity organizations by sharing cyber threat intelligence.

The company provides cybersecurity training and certifications, such as the Palo Alto Networks Certified Cybersecurity Entry-Level Technician (PCCET) exam. Their courses cover topics like networking, network security, cloud security, and security operations, with a focus on Palo Alto Networks technology and the broader cybersecurity industry.

Palo Alto Networks' security solutions are powered by Precision AI, which helps to detect and remediate security threats in real time. Their offerings include the Strata Network Security Platform, the Code to Cloud Platform, and the AI-Driven Security Operations Platform. These platforms aim to secure networks, protect applications, and simplify security operations.

In summary, Palo Alto Networks is a leading cybersecurity company that offers a range of products, services, and training to help organizations secure their digital infrastructure and protect against cyber threats.

Polyarteritis Nodosa (blood vessel disease)

Polyarteritis Nodosa (PAN) is a rare and serious systemic necrotizing inflammation of blood vessels (vasculitis) affecting medium-sized muscular arteries. PAN can also affect small-sized arteries. The inflammation causes sections of the middle and outer layers of a blood vessel to swell and become inflamed, eventually leading to tissue death. This typically occurs where a blood vessel branches into two or more vessels.

PAN mimics many diseases and may be similar to hypersensitivity angitis, Churg-Strauss syndrome, Cogan's syndrome, Kawasaki's disease, and complications associated with hepatitis B and C infections, HIV, and methamphetamine addiction, among others.

The cause of PAN is unknown, but it is clear that an attack may be triggered by certain drugs, vaccines, or bacterial/viral infections. Many researchers suspect that the disorder is due to disturbances of the body's immune system. PAN has been observed in drug abusers, particularly amphetamine users, and in patients with hepatitis B.

PAN chiefly affects the skin but can also involve other organs, including the kidneys, heart, intestine, nervous system, and skeletal muscles. The lungs are usually spared. The kidney is the most commonly affected organ.

Symptoms vary widely and can include fever, fatigue, weight loss, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, skin rashes, numbness, joint pain, and high blood pressure, among others. The disease may be acute, mild but fatal, or appear as a chronic, debilitating disease.

There is no definitive laboratory test for PAN. Diagnosis is mainly clinical and based on a physical examination, patient history, and laboratory studies to assess organ involvement and rule out other diseases. Treatment involves medications to suppress the immune system, including steroids such as prednisone, and cyclophosphamide. Antivirals are also used if hepatitis B or C is present. Surgery may be required in cases of bowel perforation, cholecystitis, and aneurysms.

The prognosis for PAN is poor without treatment, with a five-year survival rate of 13%. Death is often due to kidney failure, myocardial infarction, or stroke. However, with treatment, the five-year survival rate increases to 80%.

Personal Area Network

A PAN may be wireless or wired, with wireless PANs (WPANs) carried over low-powered, short-distance wireless network technologies such as Bluetooth, Zigbee, Wireless USB, NearLink, or Infrared Data Association (IrDA) protocol. WPANs can also be created using Bluetooth mesh networking, which extends the range and number of devices by relaying information from one device to another. The range of a WPAN varies from a few centimetres to a few meters, with Bluetooth connections typically reaching 10 metres, and up to 100 metres under ideal circumstances.

Wired PANs provide short connections between peripherals using wired technologies such as USB, FireWire, IEEE 1394, or Thunderbolt.

PANs are commonly used in the internet of things (IoT) to connect devices within an individual's immediate vicinity. They are also used in body area networks, where a person's smartphone and Bluetooth headphones, for example, are connected, and in wearable technology, where devices monitor daily activities and exchange digital information using the electrical conductivity of the human body as a data network.

The concept of a PAN was first developed by Thomas Zimmerman and other researchers at MIT's Media Lab.

Pansexual

Some people may use the words bisexual (attraction to more than one gender) and pansexual interchangeably. For some people, gender is not a defining characteristic of the attraction they feel towards others. However, for other pansexual people, gender is a significant part of their experience of attraction, liking masculine and feminine qualities for different reasons.

Like everyone else, pansexual people may be attracted to some people and not others, but the gender of the person does not matter. People of any gender identity can identify as pansexual.

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