In the Philippines, sudden death of apparently healthy young men that occurs while they are asleep, is of great mystery especially to the families and friends that they have left behind. They would claim that spirits of the underworld have taken their souls. Others would attribute a heavy meal especially at dinner time and going to sleep immediately is the cause of their death. Drinking too much alcohol and eating more carbohydrates were also linked to the cause of this sudden death.
In medicine, experts are speaking otherwise. They have identified Brugada Syndrome, or unexplained sudden cardiac death syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes syncope or death in young people with no apparent cardiac history. Discovered in 1992 by Pedro and Joseph Brugada, it was characterized by a diagnostic triad consisting of:
a right bundle branch block (RBBB) pattern in the electrocardiogram (ECG)
transient or persistent ST-segment elevation in leads V1-V3; and
sudden cardiac death (SCD). These individuals had a structurally normal heart with no evidence of atherosclerotic. coronary artery disease.
As the adage says, "With age comes wisdom." Yet gerontophobia is haunting a lot of people, especially baby boomers reaching middle age, in terms of experiencing the many expected outcomes of getting old. One of these outcomes is forgetfulness. The good news is that sound nutritional research and clinical experience shows that being older and wiser can be achieved as we grow old.
We are introduced to the many products in the market promising to enhance mental function, improve memory, boost intelligence, and stablize mood. With different varieties of products to choose from, we may need more brain power just to help us discern which is best for us.
With this, I started to look for information that could enlighten us in this discussion. I came up with seven top nutrients which have been found to have a positive influence on the mind. They are particularly helpful for those who have difficulty in concentrating, lack of memory energy, and depression.
I was doing some research for my latest online writing job when I stumbled on this video posted on YouTube. I have seen movies and known acquaintances to have obsessive-compulsive disorders but this my first time to see the condition reach into gargantuan proportions in ruining a person's life in terms of losing his job and relationships.
This prompted me to write something about the disorder. The article stresses on self-assessment whether you have OCD or will likely to have OCD. Knowing that you might have the disorder, the soonest way possible, can be very helpful in finding ways to manage the ritualistic behaviors.
A new study linking smoking to Alzheimer's disease was published yesterday in the online edition of Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers said that the study has proved that those who smoke during their middle ages increases their risk to develop Alzheimer's by 157%.
The study was conducted over 21,123 ethnically diverse people, between the ages of 50 and 60 years old covering the years between 1978 and 1985. During an average follow-up of 23 years, the researchers found that 25.4 percent were diagnosed with dementia, including Alzheimer's (1,136 people) or vascular dementia (416 people). Most of the people who developed Alzheimer's were heavy smokers, i.e., smoking of more than two cigarette packs a day.
Since this was conducted through observation, the exact mechanism on how smoking may contribute to the development of Alzheimer's was not fully elaborated. Researchers believed that it is similar to stroke or the formation of clots wherein oxidative process takes place and oxygenation or tissue perfusion of the brain cells is compromised. In due time, the neurons, which are responsible for transmitting electrical impulses for neural communication, will be damaged.
Primarily, Alzheimer's is highly known to have genetic influence. This research will have a turnabout on how the public and health providers can prevent the onset of the disease among our seniors because of the modifiability factor of the behavior.
Alzheimer’s disease is likened to a thief at night – quietly sneaking inside our abode while we doze off to dreamland and robbing off our priced possessions without our knowledge.
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that has a gradual onset, mostly undetected at first since the condition is marked with memory loss that is linked from the so-called senior moments typical of normal aging. As the disease progress, it causes an increasing decline in functioning, including loss of speech, loss of motor function, and profound personality and behavioral changes. The person with Alzheimer’s has been observed to display paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, inattention to hygiene, and belligerence.
After its discovery more than a century ago, no cure has been discovered to stop this memory-robbing disease. There isn’t even a definitive test to identify the disease in its early stages. As a matter of fact, the only way to diagnose a person with Alzheimer’s is after performing an autopsy of brain tissue to examine its hallmark lesions – atrophy of cerebral neurons, senile plaque deposits, and enlargement of the third and fourth ventricles of the brain.
For so many years, the attempts to curtail its tracks had left scientists in frustration and despair. In 2002, a promising vaccine was tested, but instead of protecting the brain from the deleterious effect of Alzheimer’s, it even caused dangerous inflammation in the brain and spinal column and had to be abandoned after years of research. Last August of this year, a highly anticipated drug worsened rather than improved cognitive symptoms.
So, are we losing the fight against this much feared condition among our senior citizens? Has medical science surrendered in finding the cure or even protecting those at risk to develop Alzheimer’s? Time magazine has described that research on finding the drug to cure Alzheimer’s is the cold fusion of medical research: everyone agrees it would be great, and everyone who tries it fails.
Wanted: Amyloid, ApoE4, and Tau
To fully understand how this condition can easily wipe out stored precious memories created over a lifetime, it is better to identify the main players, or so to speak, the thieves behind the crime.
Just like other degenerative disorders, Alzheimer’s has a genetic component. Research has shown linkages to chromosomes 21, 14, and 19 (APA, 2000). The disease is caused by buildup of protein-based plaques in the brain identified as amyloid. What triggered the research community to know more about these protein-plaques is that amyloid in living patients does not necessarily indicate the disease. Is there more to this than meets the eye?
Investigators are working very hard to identify additional sources of the plaque formation. They came up with apolipoprotein E (ApoE), which in certain forms can promote the formation of amyloid. In addition to this, a neural protein known as tau, which stabilizes axons, was also implicated to the process of amyloid build-up.
Putting all of these components together, researchers have traced how neurons gradually die among Alzheimer’s patients:
·Amyloid initially forms as amyloid precursor protein (APP)
Enzymes break APP into short fragments.
The fragments clump together, forming plaques.
Once plaques form, tau, may start to break down.
When tau no longer stabilizes the axons, the neuron shrivels and dies, leaving behind its tangled carcass.
As the neural debris accumulates, the immune system’s inflammatory response is then activated to remove it. In time, this will develop to neural connection shutdown that leads to a drop in cognitive function.
Setting up the Alarm
One way to catch a thief is to set up a security alarm. But this is not a piece of cake for the medical researchers in stopping Alzheimer’s from snuffing out the essence of the affected person. Drugs that were designed to target amyloid plaques affect other processes in the body too, including those that regulate how cells communicate as well as the development of heart, pancreas, and immune system cells. In addition, when scientists examined the autopsied brains of patients in the failed vaccine, they noted that the subjects had fewer plaques than before they received the vaccine but still had shown no improvement on tests of mental function.
With these futile steps, the old adage “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure” may have lost its significance in dealing with persons at risk to develop Alzheimer’s. Nevertheless, a glimmer of hope is still on the horizon. In 2004, the U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA) partnered with pharmaceutical companies to create the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, a $60 million project tasked to identify between Alzheimer’s patients and unaffected individuals. Once identified, the persons at risk may be tested with drugs whose brains are just beginning to accumulate amyloid.
Lessons Learned
Optimism to treat the disease is still present. From the mistakes committed in the past, experts are now holding two essential lessons that empower the future of Alzheimer’s research:
Timing. It is crucial to treat Alzheimer’s patients as early as possible, perhaps even before they show signs of memory loss or cognitive decline, rather than attempt to improve a brain already scourged by the disease.
Scope of medical assault. Adopting a multipronged approach that address as many of the disease’s complex abnormalities as possible may improve the chances that new therapies used early on will not only delay symptoms but also reverse them.
I came across this article from Time.com that introduces the new rules in performing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). Medical professionals were taught and trained to do CPR in the order of ABC, i.e., Airway, Breathing, and Circulation. First make sure that the airway of the client is free of any obstructions that can hamper in any way the giving of breathes after chest compressions are started. Ensuring that oxygen is now delivered to the brain through breathing and chest compressions, circulation of blood through other parts of the body particularly to the major body organs is now established. This is how CPR was practiced for almost 51 years (CPR was first introduced in 1960).
Now, the American Heart Association is changing the procedure and encouraging everybody to start with chest compressions first before initiating to breathe to the client. This is the result of the studies they have conducted that:
victims of cardiac arrest survive from the CPR performed by bystanders who are untrained as well as those who were trained to initiate breathes first, then chest compression after.
social and biologic factors like the panic effect and the confidence level of the aider, usually bystanders, contributes to the total effect on how the CPR is performed to the victim. Though most of the times, the manner on how these are performed are technically not met, the outcomes of victims treated did as well as those who are trained in CPR.
most of the people who called 911 for help and instructions to perform CPR were most likely to follow chest compressions first and the survival rate is the same.
The medical rationale was also explained on why pumping the heart is the first thing to do. The heart needs to beat continuously and the moment the chest compressions are started, the more chances of the victim to survive is ensured. If the heart stops beating, the oxygen delivery to the brain is then compromised.
As to the issue of brain anoxia (that is the reason why we need to breathe first before compressions), authorities said that the body cells have sufficient oxygen supply from the victim's last breath before the attack to maintain itself. The rescuer is only delaying the intake of oxygen for 20 seconds (it will take 4 minutes of oxygen deprivation before brain cells starts to die). That is why, chest compression should be started first to promote continuous heart pumping thus adequate tissue perfusion.
Though this new rule is beneficial to those who suffer from cardiac arrest and for all ages, the principle does not apply to drowning victims who are at the same unresponsive. For them, the ABC method is still applied.
On a personal note, this is something to be taught again to medical professionals and students who are beginning to learn about CPR. I would like to comment also about the hygienic factor of performing CPR. Breathing into mouths of the victims (specially strangers) is not too commendable considering that certain contagious diseases are transmitted via direct contact. With this new study, this can promote reassurance and empower more people to save lives.
Yesterday I wrote about my thoughts on teenage suicides and enumerated the possible causes of the act. From the known factors like family problems, substance abuse, depression, and peer acceptance, cyberbullying is recently taking a place in the statistics of teenage suicides.
Cyberbullying is a recent prevalence of online harassment that occurs via the Internet. But because its a new occurrence and the manner of conducting the act always changes, there is no clear-cut definition of the word. Bill Belsey, an authority on cyberbullying and who has conceived and created several help groups for teenagers who are victims of online harassment has defined cyberbullying as the use of "information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others."
The advent of the World Wide Web has opened the doors to infinite information and easy accessibility of every person. And as online communication evolves in chatrooms, social networking, and instant messaging, the chances for bullying to happen are becoming more central to young people's lives and more public.
The harmful effect of cyberbullying is taking its toll. Because of its sheer relentlessness, the victim has no chance to defend and stop the attacks. In the movies or even in real life, we have witnessed how physical bullying happens to a kid in school. The bully punches the kid, utters shameful and derogatory remarks, but it only last for sometime. With cyberbullying, there's no escape as the information is generated and accessed by anybody 24/7, 365 days a year. Another harmful effect of cyberbullying is on how the perpetrator creates a maddening experience to the victim, giving him paranoid thoughts to who might be behind these attacks. The anonymity of the person is incapacitating the victim psychologically. The vulnerability of the person, low self-esteem, and lack of inner strength adds up to the possibility of ending one's life.
Here in the Philippines, cyberbullying has not yet reached to an alarming state where a life is taken because of the shame that it has created to the person (not that I'm aware of). But there are isolated and unreported cases that are happening in the social networks as we speak. Just yesterday, I came across an album of young girls tagged as mistresses of politicians and prominent businessmen is circulating on Facebook.
Our government has no specific policies and measures to prevent cyberbullying and punish perpetrators. Several countries abroad are very serious about this and as a matter of fact, several laws were already created to stop cyberbullying in schools and the workplace.
It does not hurt to give this subject a special attention by our lawmakers. Do we still need to pay a life before a law is made to protect and safeguard our children?
The recent rumor that Kim Anderson attempted suicide post-Gerald Anderson relationship caught my attention, not because I'm a fan of them, but because of the escalating cases of suicide attempts and suicide incidents among our teenagers.
Several weeks ago, TV Patrol reported of a 13 year old boy who undauntedly took his life after his father scolded him in front of his friends. Overseas, several news about teenagers taking their lives because of cyber bullying is the center of debate among parents, schools, and the government on how to control such malicious online behavior (though I think the real issue here is who to blame?)
Suicide is the intentional killing of oneself. Reasons why teenagers easily kill themselves may have change through the years. Factors such as lack of parental presence and guidance, substance abuse and alcoholism, peer pressure and acceptance, poverty, depression and hopelessness from a recent loss or problems encountered by the adolescent were identified as the major contributors to suicide among teenagers. Recently, availability and accessibility to firearms and cyberbullying are added to the long list of causes.
From this point of view, the internet is the most cruel way of putting the teenager in a compromised position - to face the shame or end one's life.
Suicidal ideations, are also common among teenagers. This means thinking about killing oneself and should not be neglected. This is actually a prelim to what the person is capable of doing. Active suicidal ideation is when the person thinks about and finds way to commit suicide while passive suicidal ideation is when a person thinks about wanting to die or wishes he or she were dead but has no plans to cause his or her death. Of course, active ideations are more considered fatal and must be given close attention.
We may encounter persons expressing to end their lives, as a joke or with sense of hopelessness after a crisis situation. Either way, in the perspective of psychiatry, these are serious conditions. Men are more successful in committing the act and the methods they use are more graver than women. Statistics on women attempting suicide is higher compared to men, since women are naturally fickle-minded, so to speak.
Although the act is intentional, suicide involves ambivalence. Everybody thinks that there's no way to help a person who has plans of killing him or herself and that once a suicide risk, is always a suicide risk are actually myths that the public are constantly misinformed. The ambivalence that these individuals feel during their depressed moments often prompts the cries for help evident in overt and covert cues. This is the correct time to reach out to them and find help form situational supports, choose to live, learn new ways to cope, and move forward in life.
Teenage life is the most crucial phase of a person's growth and development. This is the crossroad where innocence and maturity are intertwined. With the changes in their physical appearance, the need to be identified and acknowledged in a group is a very significant milestone that needs to be achieved. The presence of a supportive parent, welcoming friends and other support help can help lessen the tendencies of teenagers in committing suicide.
Dean Deogracia Valderama speaking about The Pathway to Quality Education.
Mr. Jun Formosa, RN of UP-PGH discussing the Course Syllabus for Nursing Informatics.
Last June of this year, I attended a seminar on Nursing Informatics in UP Diliman. This is a NEW course in the NEW Nursing Curriculum. Prior to this "obligation", I was told by my Dean to make a prototype Course Syllabus of the said course a year before the implementation of the subject for the school year. She even gave me the book Essentials of Nursing Informatics as a gift during my Graduate Studies graduation (talking about conspiracy!).
Anyway, the seminar-workshop talked about incorporating information technology in the profession of Nursing. Since I am in the academe, this is very significant in the students' learning process. I can say that I have moderate knowledge in computers and my skills are well, quite tolerable (my students are even more techie than me). I use power point presentations in my lectures and utilize several applications and sites in the delivery of my lessons since students now a days are very visual. They learn much on seeing things, much more on moving objects, than reading a very lengthy discussion on subject matters that sometimes takes away their enthusiasm.
Lately, I learned to make online tests and encouraged my students to participate on this as their review for the Finals examination. Another techie achievement for me is I opened a website for my classes - my virtual classroom. I started constructing this last September but due to some other tasks, I have not updated it much. Last night, I really took time to enhance and make it student-friendly for my students. I am hoping that this will be more functional by the opening of the Second Semester.
Technology can sometimes be scary because every thing changes in just a matter of days. But the only way to handle this change is to adapt and learn the essentials.
It's been raining today..The weather seems to empathize with my emotions right now. For my family, this week is like a ticking time bomb. As I write, my countdown timer is reading at 5 days 1 hour 35 minutes left before the separation begins.
Starting next week, we are going to face another chapter of our lives without my Didi around. Everybody is in somber mood as we prepare for this change of family life. He's new job is a blessing since it is not easy to get a working position these days. But his absence in our daily lives is overwhelming, especially to our two daughters.
Gabie and Mika are certified Tatay's girls. They are used to me being away every Summer because of my Affiliation obligations. This time, its going to be Tatay, who they always play around and share jokes with, being clowny most of the time, watch their favorite TV shows together, argues on what movie to watch, decides on what food to order during our dine outs...
These are just some of the activities that we do together..It's hard to accept change like this. For so many years that we are used to have our big man around, we'll surely miss and adjust ourselves day by day.
Despite of this, I am reassuring myself that this part of God's plan for us. I believe in the Divine Intervention and Divine Providence. We may have second thoughts on this life-altering decision, yet I know that this is only the beginning of the realizations that we have promised for our family.... FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE, IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH, TILL DEATH DO US PART. WE LOVE YOU, DIDI!!!
It's Final Week of the First Semester and I bet the students' catecholamines are way beyond normal levels!!!
If there's a way that I'll be measuring their perceptual fields, chances are, its down to moderate anxiety, severe, or much worse panic state.
Early this morning, as I opened my Google page, the Quote of the Day section caught my attention instantly. Its from Arthur Ashe (who's he? I asked myself), and he said "One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation."
I'm not interested on the person who said these lines but I think that this is very apt for what is going to transpire in the coming days. Anyway, I did research on Arthur Ashe later (just for curiosity sake) and he was the first African American player to compete in the international sport of tennis at the highest level of the game during 1960's. Not bad! Considering that during those times, apartheid among the whites and African Americans was the hype of the era.
Well, I'm not writing this article to talk about Arthur and his tennis achievements, am I?
So, going back to the quotation...
I decided to post it as my status over Facebook and feel that I have to give inspiration to my students who are about to embark on sleepless nights, gulping dozens of cups of coffee, transcribing every notes they had written during the very long and tiring lecture hours of their teachers. And I did not fail...Immediately, the post have accumulated several likes from the students.
But lo and behold! As I exited the faculty room this afternoon and passed by the photocopying area of the school, several students are waiting in line to take their turns in having the lecture slides, notebooks of classmates, textbooks, and who knows what else is there to be photocopied that is relevant to the Final exams. (I just hope not a cheat sheet.)
This scenario pisses me off (excuse me for the word). I'm saying this not because I'm a teacher, but basically this is what Arthur was trying to put at. What ever happened to "burning the midnight candle"? They do practice it, but on the week of the examination.
I remember that my parents would constantly nag me to study every night even if I have no assignments or projects to do. I'm glad that I followed them (though at times, I scorn at this!). Every school night, I would open all my textbooks and allowed 30 minutes to review or make notes. And believe it or not, on examination week, I would only study for 2 long hours and spend the rest of the night reading my favorite novels.
Students today lack the ability to extend their patience and perseverance in their studies. Ironically, they can extend their time on computer games and other stuffs that satisfy their whims..
There are 6 weeks in every examination period. Time management is a critical factor in studying. If you schedule 30 minutes to 1 hour of your time, all by yourself, block your senses from the external environment, read your textbook (I tell you, they are your best allies in your 4-years of College education), surely, there would be something that you can gain from this. Isn't it that a speck of ice can turn into a giant snow ball if you allow it to roll for a distance?
Preparation is a key to success..Arthur may not literally focus on this when he said those famous words, but from my point of view, for you to succeed in your undertakings, you need to prepare the battle ground. To add to this, preparation for examination takes a lot more time to build a solid foundation of KNOWLEDGE, COMPREHENSION, AND CRITICAL THINKING.. It does not happen in a week's time or overnight! (Get a grip, people!!!)
Face it, you cannot cram all the topics discussed in 6 weeks into the grey matters of your 3-pound brain in a week's time or much worse overnight! What are you? ET? Crap!
I just hope that students will eventually realize that learning does not entail miracles or magics...It needs to be absorbed and digested; honed and applied;
To those who are just about to light their midnight candles this week, GOOD LUCK..
To those who painstakingly stood by their midnight candles for several nights, CONGRATULATIONS...
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