GenInv – Health and Wellness

TUESDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) — A DNA region linked to depression has been identified by two different groups of scientists.

The studies by teams at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and King’s College London in the United Kingdom pinpointed a region on chromosome 3 that contains up to 90 genes.

The Washington University group analyzed data from 91 families in Australia and 25 families in Finland, while the King’s College London researchers looked at more than 800 U.KTUESDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) — A DNA region linked to depression has been identified by two different groups of scientists.

The studies by teams at Washington University School of Medicine in

St. Louis and King’s College London in the United Kingdom pinpointed a region on chromosome 3 that contains up to 90 genes.

The Washington University group analyzed data from 91 families in Australia and 25 families in Finland, while the King’s College London researchers looked at more than 800 U.Kcant.’”

Both studies appear May 16 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

A number of previous studies have suggested that depression risk is influenced by genetics. It’s likely that many genes are involved in depression, Madden said in a news release.

These new findings don’t offer any immediate benefit for people with depression, but are an important step in improving understanding about what may be occurring at the genetic and molecular levels in patients with

depression, Madden said.

Major depression affects about 20 percent of people at some point in their lives.

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In the world of medicine there are, as you know, medical specialists. Some doctors specialize in treating heart disease, others are cancer specialists. For every treatable disease, there are those who focus their research, care, and careers to helping people afflicted with that particular disease. I am a proud member of American Society of Addiction Medicine.

A commo

n problem faced by medical specialists working in the field of addiction is the gap between what we, as doctors, know for a fact, and what the layman often believes. Many people do not believe that addiction is a physical disease, but that is only because they don’t understand the meaning of disease, and the current definition of addiction.

People often confuse addiction with physical dependence in the context of medical treatment.  Drugs that we often associate with abuse, such as opiates o

r central nervous system stimulants, are, in the proper context, beneficial medications.  Addiction is also not synonymous with recreational or social use of mood altering agents, including alcohol. Once we clear up this misunderstanding, everyone understands why addiction is a true medical illness and why addiction is classified as a disease by every medical organization in the world, including the American Medical Association, The World Health Organization, and the American Psychiatric Associ

ation. Obviously, if addiction were not a medical condition meeting the clear definition of disease, our area of specialization wouldn’t exist.

First of all, let’s learn the meaning of disease.  According to the World Health Organization, disease is “illness caused by biological, chemical or radio-nuclear sources.” Genetics, of course, comes under the biological heading. We all know that exposure to  certain chemical substances such as mercury, arsenic, and asbestos can cause a variety of diseases such as cancer, lung ailments, liver disease, brain dysfunction, and many others.

The smoking of tobacco, commercially marketed as cigarettes, fills the smoker’s lungs with all manner of chemicals, in addition to Nicotine, and is known to cause chronic bronchitis, emphysema, gastritis and lung cancer. Not everyone who smokes gets lung cancer, but it is an absolute fact that your risk of lung cancer, or heart disease, increases if you smoke.

Not everyone who drinks alcohol has cirrhosis of the liver, but heavy drinking absolutely assures you of that possibility, along with a marked propensity towards diabetes, heart disease and many other diseases and conditions, none of which are pleasant or enjoyable.

Addiction is a chronic disease characterized by anatomical and/or functionality changes in the human brain. The anatomical changes can be clearly seen and studied with brain imaging technology such as a standard MRI and CP scans. The functional abnormalities can be seen, studied and evaluated by a PET scan, or use of the Functional MRI.  These changes are in the brain’s reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry.  Some of these changes are repairable, while others are, so far, not reversible. For more infomation, visit malibu horizon drug alcohol rehab center

Whether you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, it is important that you should learn certain symptoms and health tips to care your baby inside you.  During pregnancy, you might also experience various health related concerns. To understand them in a better way you should be aware of the pregnancy symptoms week by week.

Pregnancy symptoms week by week provides a better insight to the baby’s development phase and makes it easier for a mother to take care easily of her baby. Fo

r a better understanding of pregnancy symptoms week by week, pregnancy duration is divided into 3 (three) trimesters. The 1st (first) trimester includes 13 weeks. In the initial stage, you might not realise that you are pregnant but might experience certain symptoms such as fatigue, spotting, feeling tender, missed period etc. For a healthy baby and to remain fit, a pregnant woman should maintain a healthy lifestyle and include food that is rich in vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, calcium, ir

on and more. Drinking lot of water is definitely beneficial for health. Moreover, at this stage a woman might find a metallic taste in her mouth which experts believe the reason might be change in hormone level.  In the 1st trimester, a pregnant woman might also experience vomiting or nausea which might remain all day long. The skin colour becomes bright or possesses a healthy colour.

The 2nd trimester of pregnancy symptoms week by week refers to the time span of 14-26 weeks. At this stage,

you will feel better compared to the first trimester for the change that occurs in the hormone HCG which will reduce the awkward feeling of nausea. This stage might give you a unique feeling or joy as you will experience the first movement of the baby. But at this stage, the sugar level will decline and you might suffer from dizzy spells.  So, experts advise to take meals in proportion more frequently than usual. The other symptom that you might experience is swelling in your legs that would make you feel uncomfortable if you stand for long duration.

The pregnancy symptoms week by week in the 3rd trimester are heartburn, weakness and fatigue. Moreover, at this stage the baby starts to grow and gain weight. The lungs and respiration system of the baby start developing in this phase. Many pregnant women start realizing the similar discomfort symptoms that they experienced in the 1st trimester.

Whatsoever, if you need further health tips and advice pertaining to pregnancy symptoms week by week or experience any health problem then it is highly advised to consult an expert.

Summary: Pregnancy symptoms week by week helps a pregnant woman to understand her pregnancy stage, health and baby’s development in a better way. By knowing the symptoms she can take better care of her baby and avert certain risk.

You must face one absolute cold hard fact before you ever need to worry about the tips that follow.

You must admit to yourself that you have an addiction!
No matter how many good intentions you have, no matter your strength or willpower.  This one fact MUST BE ABSOLUTE and until it is you can not begin.  If you have not decided that you are addicted then the following information is useless.  So before you read on say this out loud:  “I have an addiction!  Addiction is not curable b

ut can be controlled.”  If you have said that and believe that, then you are ready to take the first steps to recovery.

The first 90 days are critical! You have not begun the path to recovery until you have gone past the first 90.  So don’t kid yourself about your 28 day treatment, the work is just starting. Never underestimate your addiction. Your disease will lie to you, cheat you and kill you if you let it.  Lives are destroyed and people die with this disease.  It is as simple as tha

t. Open up to others in the program. Group therapy and community time during rehab and after is an outstanding way to remove the isolation caused by drug addiction and experience real breakthroughs. You are almost certainly cross addicted to another substance even if you don’t know it yet, so don’t start thinking you can do something else in its place.  It wont work.

Don’t get discouraged. Relapse is a common occurrence among those attempting to overcome substance abuse issues. And while i

t can be discouraging, it is important to stay healthy and get back into a drug rehab program as soon as possible for another attempt.  Any delay will just put off the inevitable and will very likely kill you.

Postpartum depression is a form of acute depression, which can affect women, and less frequently men, after childbirth.

Postpartum depression is suggested to be caused with hormonal changes in the woman’s body soon after blessed event. The fact is that fathers may also experience the postpartum depression. This form of depression may be as foudroyant so lengthy. It may last from a few hours to several days, sometimes weeks and gain momentum with lifestyle changes and a discomfort coming

from it.

The problem with some descriptions can be called the maternity blues, but it is not so, that is not the same thing as postpartum depression. When the maternity blues is a mild case of the problem, the postpartum depression is suggested to be a kind of psychosis. As a rule, the postpartum depression lasts from some hours to 21 days and declines with getting adequate amounts of sleep.

Symptoms of this depression can come into being anytime in the first year, not only right after the c

hildbirth. The symptoms of frequent occurrence are:
- tearfulness;
- hopelessness;
- irritability;
- hypochondriasis;
- sleeplessness;
- guilt;
- impairment of concentration;
- sleep and eating disturbances;
- feeling of total discomfort;
- headache;
- exhaustion;
- blank;
- anhedonia;
- being inadequate in taking care of the baby;
- sexual activity lowering. There are some risk factors for postnatal depression, those increase 2-folds the problem probability:
- artificial feeding

;
- childcare stress; prenatal or depression;
- other stresses;
- instable marital relationship or unwed mother;
- unwanted pregnancy;
- baby’s health problems (gripes, for example);
- sleep time deficiency.

In point of fact, special attention should be given to women whose families have a history of mental illnesses and disorders such as bipolar, schizophrenia and autism, and the above-average rates of drug addiction or alcoholism. Risk of postpartum depression developing is rather more for them.

If the postpartum depression symptoms occur, the woman should be treated with the specialist. Diet and necessary supplementation may help to improve the situation. The following things are important as to treat so to prevent the depression:
- omega-3 fatty acids,
- necessary protein dosage,
- hydration,
- vitamin supplement (especially B vitamins).

From the other side, partners, friends and elder children may lend effective help to postpartum mother being attentive and warm-hearted. Knowing that the depression is treatable with a variety of methods is important on its own account.

Researches show that teenage girls suffer from various social and personal difficulties. Anxiety, depression, obsession, phobias, negative thoughts and poor self esteem is observed in them .Hypertension, lower genital tract infections, pre-mature delivery, caesarian section, iron deficiency and low birth babies are observed more in teen mothers ( PRAMS, 2002 ; Gupta, 1994). Teenage mothers are seen to be initiating breast feed late ( Yi Kung Park, 2003 ). They smile less, make poor eye cont

act, physical contact with infant than adult mother (Culp, 1988).  The present research aims to study whether similar problems are observed in the culture where teenage pregnancy is socially encouraged . Tools – To conduct the present study two standardized tools were used. The first one was Indian adoption of Goldberg’s General Health Questionnaire by Dr. Shiv Gautam, Madan Nizhawan and Preet Kamal (1987) and second one was Mental Health Inventory  by Dr. Jagdish and , Dr. A.K . Shrivastav .

The main components of the tool were Positive Evaluation,  Perception of Reality,  Integration of Personality,  Autonomy ,Group oriented attitudes and  Environmental mastery .

Locale of study- The sample was selected from the Malsisar and Ghav villages of Hanumangarh districts of Rajasthan.

Sample selection-Purposive random sampling method was used to select 50 adolescent mothers who had infants below 1year of age .The age of mothers was from 14-18 years out of which 25 belonged to grou

p A where the age of mother was between 14 to 16 years while rest 25 belonged to group B where the age of mother was 16 to 18 years.  The data was collected by door to door visit in search of relevant  sample.

Statistical analysis- The gathered data was coded, analyzed and the mean, SD, coefficient of correlation and  t-values were computed.

Hypothesis-

1. There would be significant difference between the general health of the adolescent mothers of the two groups i.e. group  A (14-16 years) and group B (16-18 years).

2. There would be difference between the mental health of the mother of the two groups i.e. group A  (14-16 years) and group B (16-18 years).

3. There would be significant correlation between the two variables i.e. General health and Mental health .

Results

Result shows that the mean value of general health  of  adolescent  mothers between 14 to 16 years is 39.40 and those of adolescent  mothers between 16 to 18 years is 38.12 which is significant at 0.05 level which proves that the hypothesis  is approved as supported by the study  of  Mankison (1995) which states that under developed  pelvis can lead to difficulty  in child birth but appropriate   medical care, psychological care  may lead to safe child birth at the age of 14 .Obstructed labor can lead to eclampsia, obstetric fistula, infant mortality and maternal death .For mothers in their late teenage, age itself is not a risk factor. Poor out come are associated more with socio economic status rather than biology.

It also highlights the comparison between the two group A (14-16 years)and group B (16-18 years) regarding the mental health and its dimensions on the basis of mean, SD and t-values.

Results show that mean of over all mental health of adolescent mother (14 to 16 years) is 121.28 and those of (16 -18 years ) is 126.80. The difference between the two groups is significant with the t-value of 2.256 at 0.05 level.

When six dimensions of mental health  i.e. Self evaluation, Perception of reality, Integration of personality, Autonomy,  Group oriented Attitude and  Environmental mastery are compared between the two groups  it was found  that although the overall mental health of the two groups was found to be different at 0.05 level of significance only the second dimension i.e. Perception to reality was found to be significantly different at 0.01 level of significance.

There was no correlation found between the general and mental health and its dimensions  but perception of reality and integration of personality are positively correlated where correlation coefficient is 0.479*, which is significant at 0.05 level. Similarly Group oriented attitude  and Perception of reality are negatively correlated wherecorrelation coefficient is 0.490**, which is significant at 0.01 level.

A positive correlation was found between general health and mental health where correlation was 0.538** which is significant at 0.01 level of significa

When you are suffering from depression, it can seem impossible to break from those feelings of despair or hopelessness. However, it’s anything but impossible to turn your life around and begin living a happy and healthy life.

One of the keys to dealing with depression is being able to maintain a close-knit support group of family and friends. These will be the people you are comfortable discussing your problems with. Being as social as possible meeting with these friends, joining a new g

roup or class, etc. is another essential way to live and deal with depression.

There is nothing wrong with seeking help for your depression; in fact, that is one of the best things you can do to help yourself. Talk with a therapist or get help from a national mental health organization; mental health professionals will help you develop a variety of strategies that will help aid in your recovery process.
Read this true story to see how one can benefit from seeking help in living with depression:

Joseph was removed from his biological family at age 5 after claims of abuse against him were substantiated. Joseph was adopted a short time later but suffered the loss of his adoptive mother at age 11. Life continued to be difficult for Joseph as he had many behavioral issues as a child and even ended up in trouble with the law.

Joseph spent several years living in mental treatment homes. Eventually he began making great strides to improve his behavior and his relationship with his father. J

oseph remained in the treatment home until he completed high school. Joseph received several awards at his high school graduation, including Student of the Year, the Citizenship award and Most Improved Academics.

Although Joseph has suffered some set-backs, he is currently managing his depression successfully. The team has been able to advocate for monthly check-ins at an area mental health clinic to ensure that Joseph’s medication is appropriate and effective and plans include his transition from the treatment home to an Independent Living Program.

Joseph is currently attending Lincoln Tech where he is learning the skills to become an auto mechanic. He continues to maintain positive relationships with his father and treatment home parents.

Joseph’s is just one of the many success stories that come as a result of seeking professional help in dealing with depression. A national mental health organization can help you find the ideal place to find help, but it all starts with you wanting to seek out that help.

As the influence of these organizations continues to grow, so too will the number of people who will see their lives improved from seeking this kind of help. If you are living with depression, it is not something that you should have to deal with on your own. Find help and learn how to reduce stress, eat a healthier diet, maintain a more positive outlook, and more. Living with depression doesn’t have to ruin your life find help and improve it today.

What must we do to bring positive change and healing to the planet?  What prevents us living in a Utopia where we can be free from hunger and fear? What drives out peace on earth? In the past few decades we have made huge technological advances and our standard of living has risen dramatically.  How strange it is that we still suffer the most appalling atrocities?  We experience an e,normous amount of violence, particularly in the inner city areas.  Terrorism is seen as a huge planetary

threat.  Wars rage around the globe.  Millions of people live in dire poverty.  Rape is a common occurrence.  The more cynically minded amongst us, describes this behaviour as ‘innate’, drawing conclusions from so called observations of the natural world.  ‘Life is naturally a struggle for resources.’ ‘It is survival of the fittest’. ‘Dog eats dog.’

How strange to discover that actually it is only humans that torture, maim and kill their own species.  Animals routinely kill

and eat animals of other species. They also exhibit aggressive behaviour in mating or in feeding.  However, they do not generally kill members of their own species. They have behaviours that aid them to assert dominance in territorial disputes, but to prevent actually killing each other.  They may lock horns, or butt heads, or display their plumage in sexual conflicts. The end of a conflict is often signalled in ritualistic or submissive behaviour, such as a dog rolling on it’s back to expose

a vulnerable belly.

What then is it about humans that cause us to behave in ways that brings death and destruction on our own species? What causes us even to damage the environment in which we live; to destroy the very fabric of life. To break the web of our interconnectedness?  Is it our intelligence?  Our neo cortex?   The answer is a resounding ‘YES’.

The complexity of the human brain makes us very vulnerable to being traumatized, whilst animals do not seem to be afflicted in this way.  Both humans and animals have a part of the brain which has been developed specifically to deal with protecting the organism against life threatening situations.  This is known as the reptilian brain.  When triggered by a perceived threat, it immediately sends a cascade of neuro-transmitters to the body causing it to fight or flee, and if that doesn’t work, the second line of response is to freeze.  The first behaviour may mean that the animal escapes the threat. The second response may also cause the animal to survive or if it is captured, it will probably be numb or unconscious to the pain of death.  If the animal survives the threat, it will shake the intense energies of the experience out of its nervous system by shaking vigorously for a period of time. Thus also clearing the peptides from the system

The human brain is much more complex.  The Neo Cortex, or rational thinking brain means that even though the Reptilian Brain is triggered by the perceived threat, its’ protective response is interfered with by the Neo Cortex.  This may be because humans have been both prey and predator in their evolutionary development. The brain becomes confused as to which mode of behaviour is most appropriate to the situation.  The Neo Cortex gets drawn into ‘thinking’ about it, either during the experience or immediately after the experience.  We also interfere with each other.  For instance, when the natural reaction may be to begin to cry or shake, we may be told to ‘pull ourselves together’. The consequence of the interference by either our own Neo Cortex, or that of another human being involved in the situation, is that the energies of the event become frozen in our bodies.  Peter Levine is his seminal book, ‘Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma’, talks of frozen trauma energies being locked in our bodies.  Animals very rapidly discharge these energies.  Humans get them trapped in the body.  It is not the initial event that causes the trauma, but our inability, due to the Neo Cortex, of ridding our body of these immensely powerful energies.

It has been little understood by the orthodox medical establishment, that trauma is a huge problem amongst humanity and is often the underlying cause to many inexplicable, apparently untreatable symptoms, including mental illness. Trauma can be caused either by a specific life threatening or perceived life threatening event, or to a series of events over a period of time, which produces a ‘tippin