michael

I wonder if we don't all operate on myths?

Some of our own making some shared by our group 'memberships' some shared by our society.

A scientific hypothesis or a political belief system could be myths?

Myths are just ways we try to make meaning out of an incredibly complex universe

Was it Arthur Clarke who said "The world is not only stranger than we imagine, it's stranger than we can imagine."

and Shakespeare has Hamlet say "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

The types of individual myths and the purpose of mythology

Broadly speaking myths and mythologies seek to rationalize and explain the universe and all that is in it.

Thus, they have a similar function to science, theology, religion and history in modern societies.

Systems of myths have provided a cosmological and historical framework for societies that have lacked the more sophisticated knowledge provided by modern science and historical investigation.

 

Creation myths provide an explanation of the origin of the universe in all its complexity.

They are an important part of most mythological systems.

Creation myths often invoke primal gods and animals, titanic struggles between opposing forces or the death and/or dismemberment of these gods or animals as the means whereby the universe and its components were created.

Theophylline is a medication for asthma btw...

You might find this list interesting?

Theobroma cacao L. -- Cacao Seed 3,254-4,739 ppm

Paullinia cupana KUNTH ex H.B.K. -- Guarana Seed 570 ppm

Ilex paraguariensis ST. HIL. -- Mate, Paraguay Tea, South American Holly Leaf 500 ppm

Theobroma bicolor HBK. -- Nicaraguan Cacao, Pataste Fruit 453-522 ppm

Theobroma cacao L. -- Cacao 130-257 ppm

Theobroma bicolor HBK. -- Nicaraguan Cacao, Pataste Seed 210-211 ppm

Theobroma cacao L. -- Cacao Petiole 58-188 ppm

Theobroma angustifolium -- Castarica, Emerald Cacao 113-116 ppm

Seed 84-96 ppm

Petiole 47-52 ppm

Camellia sinensis (L.) KUNTZE -- Tea Leaf 4 ppm

Sun Oct 21 11:29:53 EDT 2007

Interesting, but which chlorinated hydrocarbons are you refering to? 2 most commonly used ones, methylene chloride (aka dichloromethane) and chloroform, are denser than water so they do not "float".....they sink.

DDT, DDE, Chlordane, Dielldrin toxophene & other alpahabet soups names

Caffeine jags the adrenals into releasing sugar & adrenalin? into the system

I would not recommend continual use of the pills.

(BTW they are often prescribed for migraine sufferers)

Some research has suggested that caffeine increases stress levels.

Taking a coffee break at work can boost your stress not relieve it, say U.K. researchers. But men and women react to caffeine in different ways.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2004/1046946.htm

also

A gene that controls how fast your body breaks down caffeine might explain why some people can get away with drinking lots of coffee and others can't, new research suggests.

If you are female and likely to fall pregnant, watch caffeine intake

the New England Journal of Medicine has found that women who drink the equivalent of more than five cups of coffee a day are more than twice as likely to miscarry as non or low coffee drinkers.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/1999/69046.htm?health

Caffeine may also affect fertility

Caffeine may affect fertility

Men and women undergoing infertility treatment should re-think their coffee habit, recent evidence suggests.

Don't let me put you off Coffee it has a lot of positive health properties too.

It is extremely complex chemically(Partly due to the roasting process). This is the reason flavour chemists have never come up with a good coffee flavour despite years of trying.

You might like to test your knowledge of caffeine here at this Quiz:-

http://www.abc.net.au/science/quizzes/caffeine/

Green tea is probably the healthiest way of getting caffeine into you.

Toss the pills; enjoy the herb.

It would work if he were a robot.

 

 

 

1. Chondroitin-glucosamine or just glucosamine. Take it every day. You won't see results for 2 or 3 months.

 

2. Move to Arizona.

 

I did both. They worked. I walk 25 miles a week and can type -- well, like I'm typing now.

 

Dangerous Bill

Many types of arthritis (Eesp.in joints) are caused by a build up of uric acid crystals in the joints.

Getting it out is a problem

Glucosamine many find this helpful

Arizona (heat) and warm baths (for an hour or so a day) would help.(put some rosemary juniper in the bath)

Daily massage with helps. Keep using and exercising the joint

If you rub rosemary oil into the joint it promotes blood supply to the joint, so too winetergreen. The theory is the blood picks up some of the Uric acid and takes it to the kidneys and is excreted.

For the pain use Chilli. Either eaten, rubbed on or as Zostrix ointment. Do this a few times a day it takes a few days to kick in. Marijuana can also be helpful for the pain. probably best cooked into cookies (biscuits)

Anti inflamatories can also help; but don't let the doc talk you into long term cortisone use. Use it only for emergency/severe problems.

Herbalists recommend "kidney tonics" like juniper berry. You can put the oil on your skin or drink gin. Don't use it if you have kidney disease.

Discuss other kidney tonics with a registered hebalist.

Pharmacogenetics (sic) or Pharmacogenomics has the potential to save thousands of lives.

Also to save billions in health care costs.

People all react differently to drugs. Part of this is due to genetic difference

The concept of "race" probably just confuses the issue.

"Race" is a word with a lot of emotive baggage.

It is probably better just to say some people die if given Warfarin other people get better if given Warfarin.

Tests are being developed to help predict the euphemistically called, "Adverse Drug Reactions" (ADRs) one of the most common reasons for people to see a doctor or die.

What is Pharmacogenomics (PGx)?(from Healthscope's advertising brocure to Oz GPs)

 

Pharmacogenomics (PGx) is the science of how a person’s genetic make-up influences the way we respond (either positively or negatively) to drugs.

 

We all know examples where some people treated with medication either respond well, while others do not respond at all, while others experience some serious adverse reaction to the medication.

The current paradigm for treating patients with medication is “one size fits all” or as in some cases, medication is based on ’trial and error’.

 

Variable inter-individual responses to certain drugs can be influenced by a number of factors, eg age, sex, pathology, life style or co-medication.However, it is becoming more evident that genetics plays a central role.

In some instances genetics accounts for up to 60% of the patient variation in responses to drugs.

 

Pharmacogenomics identifies individuals who are at high risk of experiencing adverse drug reactions or those who may not respond to certain medications.

 

Pharmacogenomics is the first step toward ’personalised medication’.

What is PGx Testing?

 

PGx DNA tests look for changes in genes that play a major role in either:

 

1. Drug Clearance

 

Depending upon ethnicity, between 10-25% of the population are genetically known as “poor metabolisers”, that is they do not have the enzymes within their livers to clear specific drugs from their bodies.

As such, they are at increased risk of adverse drug reaction when blood concentrations of drugs increase to toxic level.These individuals require either alternate medication or much lower doses of the drug.

 

On the other hand, between 5-25% of the population are genetically known as “ultra metabolisers”, that is they have multiple copies of genes that code for drug clearing enzymes.Here, these individuals clear the drug so fast that they usually have no effect, therefore require much higher doses than normal.

 

2. Drug Transport & Action

 

Other genes code for either the drug transporter or drug receptor.

Here individuals with genetic variants may not be able to respond to medication since the level of receptor has changed or it is no longer functioning.

 

Why Is PGx Important Today?

 

Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR):

 

USA

 

* 2.2 million adverse drug reactions per year.

* 4th – 6th leading cause of death.

* Cost of drug related morbidity and mortality $170 billion.

* ADR’s account for 5% of all hospital admissions.

* Overall incidence of serious ADR’s is 7%.

 

UK

 

* 250,000 people per year admitted to hospital with an ADR.

* 6.5% of new hospital admissions

* Estimated healthcare burden of ADRs, over £450 million.

 

Australia

* 140,000 ADR’s reported each year.

* One in ten GP consultations are patients who have suffered anADR.

 

 

CYP2C19metabolises 15% of all prescribed drugs.

It is absent in 20-30% of Asians and 13% of Caucasians.

 

A bit (but not a lot) more info here:

Healthscope Molecular News

Healthscope is a firm that is setting itself up to do the genetic tests required to reduce or eliminate ADRs

One possible "wedge" is the production of charcoal from waste by pyrolysis and the widespread use of this charcoal as a soil amendment.

see the web on "terra preta".

This has the potential to dramatically slow or even stop rising atmospheric/ocean CO2 levels if taken up in a large enough way.

Basically, carbon-offset companies want to pump tons of fertilizer into the oceans in to encourage algael blooms. . ..

The only way to get it sequestered in the century range is to sink it to the bottom of the ocean, and only about 5% of the algae makes it there.

 

Is it worth it?

That's not quite right; what they want to do is just add iron. This causes rapid phytoplankton growth.

Still much experimenting needs to be done.

Unless the plankton sinks, it may not be worth while as a CO2 sink.

However I think it is worth some major trials.

It is certainly a better idea than putting an umbrella in space.

We are already interfering with phytoplankton. The same currents that accumulate all the plastic that Yanks dump into the sea also accumulates phtoplankton.

The plastic is breaking down into minute bits and entering the food chain via the plankton. Just as chlorinated hydrocarbons do- as was pointed out by Rachel Carson some time ago. No one seems to know what this will mean to the marine environment.

Some studies are also suggesting that chlorinated hydrocarbons, which float on the top micron of the sea are interfering with phytoplankton's ability to reproduce.(BTW, CHs are not universally banned as most seem to think).

This is dangerous territory indeed, if the plankton goes, so do we.

An interesting point about more iron going into the oceans in ancient times. I was not aware of that.

OK

Thanks

you would think that the DNA, RNA, protein expression etc could have worked out a better pelvis by now!

In my view, gene is a contributor (can be a sufficient factor in some cases), but not a necessary factor to schizophrenia.

 

Everyone can have schizophrenia if under an extreme enviourment condition.

 

The hallucination in schizophrenia is, in fact, nothing but waking dreams.

Looks like you could be right

I just Googled "Gene for schizophrenia" and got all this:-

NIMH: Schizophrenia Gene Variant Linked to Risk Traits

Glutamate is a key neurotransmitter long thought to play a role in schizophrenia. The gene identified in this study makes the glutamate receptor (GRM3), ...

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/press/prschizgene.cfm - 15k - Cached - Similar pages

Nogo Gene Related to Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia gene - nogo. ... First risk gene for schizophrenia found in the general population. -------------------------------------------------- ...

http://www.mental-health-today.com/sphra/gene.htm - 17k - Cached - Similar pages

Schizophrenia Daily News Blog: Single Gene Cause Schizophrenia?

Single Gene Cause Schizophrenia? Read more... Schizophrenia Causes, Risk Factors & Prevention. Could schizophrenia arise from a single gene defect? ...

http://www.schizophrenia.com/sznews/archives/001424.html - 15k - Cached - Similar pages

ScienceDaily: Brain Scans Reveal How Gene May Boost Schizophrenia Risk

Increased activity in the front of the brain predicts increases in the neurotransmitter dopamine in the middle of the brain in subjects with a suspected ...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/04/050421094637.htm - 101k - Cached - Similar pages

ScienceDaily: U Of T Researcher Links Schizophrenia, Gene Mutations

The supersensitivity to dopamine that is characteristic of schizophrenia can be caused by mutations to a wide variety of genes, rather than alterations to ...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050218133040.htm - 98k - Cached - Similar pages

BBC NEWS | Health | Gene link to schizophrenia found

A variant of a gene is linked to a risk of developing psychosis, scientists find.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6084950.stm - 42k - Cached - Similar pages

Only diseases will modify the genes.

The environment will effect the expression of genetic material

Ahh yes, I see what your saying. But perhaps I was not clear enough on the intent of what mean't by stagnation. I mean't genetic stagnation,

I guess you have heard of the Guy who died of PMT??

His wife shot him:-)

There have been a number of genetic changes in H. sapiens in the last 10,000 years

So we cant make the assumption that we descended from a handful of individuals.

Not true. The Neanderthal genes have been traced back to 1-2 individuals.

We can trace human evolution from Africa from about 100, 000 years ago

There is a genetic link, and interestingly it is the gene to brain size.

Is this why we have so much trouble giving birth?

Squeezing a huge neanderthal brain trough a H. sapiens pelvis??

rightio, ive done my research and written the essay. When i get it back, ill post it up if anyone's interested.

Yes please

What did you get (You don't have to answer that question)

Not genetic, but very hard to avoid.

Obesity Secret Ignored!! Wow I Couldn't Believe This

 

By Dr. Russell Blaylock

 

I am convinced that one of the leading causes of obesity is being totally ignored by both by public officials and the media, despite the fact that there is tremendous scientific evidence confirming its role.

 

In 1969, neuroscientist Dr. John Olney discovered that feeding newborn rats MSG (monosodium glutamate) caused them to become grossly obese.

 

Each time he repeated the experiment, he saw the same thing. Subsequent studies have shown that this phenomenon occurred in most animal species, indicating that it wasn't something peculiar to the rat.

http://mgmsupplement.blogspot.com/2006/12/shaklee-distributor-obesity-secret.html

This is an amazing breakthrough for a heartbreaking condition.

Now we need to know what environmental factors makes this gene express.

Dr. Pat Levitt and colleagues at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, studied 743 families in which 1,200 family members were affected by autism spectrum disorders, which range from fully disabling autism to Asperger's syndrome.

 

They found a single mutation in a gene called MET, which is known to be involved in brain development, regulation of the immune system and repair of the gastrointestinal system.

All of these systems can be affected in children with autism.

 

"This is a vulnerability gene," Levitt said in a telephone interview. "There are not genes that actually cause autism. It raises the risk."

 

People with two copies of the mutated gene have 2 to 2.5 times the normal risk of autism and people with one mutated copy have 1.7 times the risk, he said.

 

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offer a way to start looking for the actual causes of autism, Levitt said.

I am quite libertarian and even I don't have a nice thing to say about corporate USA. I don't think corporations were what our founding fathers envisioned when they drafted this experiment.

Thanks for your thoughts.

It is a world wide problem. Not just the USA.

Certainly Constitutions and Bills of Rights didn't envisage corporations bigger and more powerful than countries. Even if they did corporations can move assets etc off shore in a blink. You wonder who (or if) they pay tax to.

Very Large Corporations seem to have no ethics or morality to guide them.

They tend to be structured like the Roman Legions or the Catholic Church with all power at the top, like a pyramid. This leads to fear and conformity in staff. Corruption is often overlooked as "Whistle Blowers" are all but destroyed if they act. There is very little creativity, inventiveness, spontaneity and joy. People seem expendable and replaceable. Loyalty is expected but not given in return. Clones and conformity are the norm. There is no place for personalities. Spin Doctors produce The Message; even to the extent of preparing Video news segments that the media can just slot into their "News" programmes.

I used to be involved with Training and Organisational Development and only found real human values, morality and respect for people in companies with less than 100 people employed. I become very alarmed at how bigger corporations were using the psychology I was teaching them. Now psychology is enshrined in MBAs and in "Staff Development" Shudder

We have recently had a corruption case here with the Australian Wheat Board giving kick-backs to Sadam.The execs. just lied though their teeth and the government protected its own arse.

I was recently at the wonderful (exuberant, creative)Cirque de Soleil and the Corporate Tent had clones in grey suits drinking champagne. They all were about the same age, size and dress. It looked like a convention of religious fundamentalists. It turned out to be an IBM corporate function. I guess they were there to bond and learn about creativity?

The Australian Government has just given one of the richest corporations in the world-Chevron- 60m to help them with their pollution problems on the new enormous gas field they are developing in Western Australia. You have to ask "Why?"

Call me a masochist but I have just got another John Grisham out of the library!

This new drug breakthough might help us all:-)

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/46032

Wonder Drug Inspires Deep, Unwavering Love Of Pharmaceutical Companies

NEW YORK—The Food and Drug Administration today approved the sale of the drug PharmAmorin, a prescription tablet developed by Pfizer to treat chronic distrust of large prescription-drug manufacturers.

 

Pfizer executives characterized the FDA's approval as a "godsend" for sufferers of independent-thinking-related mental-health disorders.

 

PharmAmorin, now relieving distrust of large pharmaceutical conglomerates in pharmacies nationwide.

 

"Many individuals today lack the deep, abiding affection for drug makers that is found in healthy people,

But yea I agree Oliver Sacks books are facisnating.

Both those books are great.

I noticed, when I looked up what he has written, that he is very prolific.

While he is just telling his stories and not doing "Double Blind Clinical Trials"

He gives you more insight into psychiatric disease than almost anyone I know.

These links may be of interest.

Schizophrenia is a dreadful, destructive disease, far to common. We need to put more resources into discovering a cure. I don't know if we are even asking the right questions at the moment.

Google "Borna Virus" and schizophrenia

&

Pellagra produces very similar symptoms to schizophrenia.

A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries: Pellagra shown to be ...

Pellagra had been a low-level problem throughout the South for years, ... The pellagra symptoms disappeared when the volunteers were given meat, ...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dm15pa.html - 5k

also

Summary: ... Another blank on schizophrenia gene Monday, 29 April 2002 New map of ... http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/archives/ScienceNewsArchive2002_April2002.htm - 19k - [ html ] - Cached - 27 Nov 2006

and

News in Science - Whale brains are part human - 28/11/2006

Summary: ... Complex social patterns The researches found spindle neurones in the same location in toothed whales with the largest brains, which the researchers say suggests the cells may be related to brain size. ... Spindle cells may be affected by Alzheimer's disease and other debilitating brain disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. ... http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2006/1798885.htm?ancient - 22k - [ html ] - Cached - 28 Nov 2006

Join the club

Although my immune system is too good (allergies)

Itried your URL but only got

404 Error "Page not Found"

Could you please check the address of the article please?

Hello

 

I recall that the human body is designed to store fat, actually conversion of excess calories into fat.

 

Fat is also used, by the body, to inactivate and store pollutants that cannot be excreted any other way. Chemicals such as organochlorines accumulate in the fat of mammals.

It has been suggested that the body wraps organochlorines in fat and then stores them out of harm's way.

Interestingly (or unfortunately?) females can excrete organochlorines, via the fat in breast milk. I find this a little shocking.

It is strange that the current obesity crisis is world wide and even ocurrs in cultures where people do not have enough to eat. That must give us pause for some re-thinking about our cultural memes.

michael

I gave up teaching psychology about 25 years ago.

I thought, that with the pace of discovery, all my books would be soon out of date.

Now I am toying with the idea of going back to do some more study I am shocked at how little has changed.

Certainly our map of the brain has become more refined.

Refinement, of what we already knew, rather than new breakthroughs seem to be the norm in much of what I see.

Counselling Psychology I think is in a real hole.

Social psychology such as Zimbardo's Standford Prison Experiment are still being studied along with others of his like. We have learnt little of practical use from him. Witness Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay.

Group Psychology and Social Psychology , the Prima Donna area of study in my time seems to have stopped advancing.

Advances in Cognitive Psychology , I am told , have been made. Yet what I have read, in this area, sounds more like philosophy than psychology.

Psychiatric Treatment, in this country, has gone backwards.

It is in an appalling state.

We still don't have answers to Autism and schizophrenia and many other psychiatric illnesses. I thought we would have a pill for schizophrenia by now. Psychiatric treatment was much better resourced 35 years ago when I worked in Psychiatric Hospitals.

While priding ourselves on remarkable drug treatment for Clinical Depression, it still rages out of control with some of the drugs being counter-productive, especially with young people.

Of course I could be wrong I have been growing flowers for the past 25 years or so.

It remains to be seen, if I decide to go back to do more study,-just how hard or how boring will I find it?

In the meantime, I would recommend keeping the old books.

As far as I understand, certain visual areas of the cortex (i.e. sensory and association) develop rapidly from birth through thier constant stimulation.

 

Anyway, if this is true then what would be the result of surgically removing cataracts from a person who has been blinded from birth. Would these areas slowly redevelop or is there an almost cut off point with neurodevelopment, which would result in the person seeing but having no spatial awareness etc?

The psyciatrist Dr Oliver Sacks has a number of case studies of sight being restored to people blind from birth.

They have enourmous difficulty adjusting, some saying they would prefer to stay blind

He suggests that the 'sight' parts of the brain are laid down early in life and if this does not happen in infancy, adults find it very difficult, if not impossible,to adjust to having sight.

I recommend all his books to you, very readabale, facinating studies

Sorry I can't remember which of hs many books discuss this .

Thankyou.

I always thought it was to good to be true.

But don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Both 'alternative' (complimnetary?) and "real" doctors have strengths and weaknesses.

This is how real doctors use/used it

In the Middle Ages silver nitrate was used for the treatment of nervous system disorders such as epilepsy and tabes dorsalis.

After observing Dr. Halstead of Johns Hopkins University apply silver foil and gauze to wounds to prevent infection in 1897, Crede popularized the use of silver as an anti-infective measure [1].

In the pre-antibiotic era, silver was used in nose drops (Argyrol, a silver proteinate), in sinusitis and common-cold remedies, and for the treatment of syphilis (Neo-Silvol, a silver arsphenamine).

More recently silver arsphenamine has been used in topical astringent preparations.

Silver sulfadiazine (1 %) was formulated in 1967 by substituting a portion of the sulfonamide with an atom of silver; it is the most frequently used topical agent for burn treatment [2].

. . .

Inorganic silver compounds are germicidal and hence have been used extensively in the field of medicine.

These compounds denature proteins by binding to the reactive groups of proteins resulting in their precipitation.

They inactivate enzymes by reacting with the sulfhydryl groups to form hemisilver sulfides.

They also react with the amino-, carboxyl-, phosphate-, and imidazole-groups and diminish the activities of lactate dehydrogenase and glutathione peroxidase [5].

. . .

Argyria is a rare condition associated with chronic exposure to silver-containing products;

. . .

The official drug guidebooks (United States Pharmacopeia and National Formulary) have not listed colloidal silver products since 1975

http://dermatology.cdlib.org/111/case_reports/argyria/wadhera.html