January 26, 2010

British comedian John Cleese tackles the brain and gives a tour of the organ’s major anatomical landmarks in this short video from 2008.

It’s a tour de force of descriptive neuroanatomy and even the most experienced neuroscientist is likely to encounter much that is new and interesting.

It also finished on a short but important piece of advice that is worth bearing in mind in all lab situations.

Link to John Cleese on the brain (via @brainshow).

Source:  http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2010/01/john_cleese_on_neuro.html

 

ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2010) — Reading and retaining information. That’s the challenge faced by the one in five children who have some form of dyslexia.

Overcoming that challenge could soon become easier for educators and children thanks to pioneering design research from the University of Cincinnati’s internationally ranked College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP).

Renee Seward, UC assistant professor of digital design, will present her innovative electronic project, titled “Reading by Design: Visualizing Phonemic Sound for Dyslexic Readers 9-11 Years Old,” at the Southwest International Reading Association Regional Conference in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Feb. 5, 2010.

She will likewise present her research project during the March 2010 International Technology, Education and Development Conference in Valencia, Spain. (In Spain, Seward is scheduled to be a virtual presenter.)

In developing this toolkit to help educators more effectively assist children with dyslexia, Seward has developed an online tool that creatively employs sight, sound and physical movement to increase the reading and retention abilities of children aged 9 to 11 who have dyslexia. (A separate portion of the project employs physical tools and employs touch to aid educators and children.)

The project was inspired by the struggles of a friend’s child to read.

How ‘Reading by Design’ Works

“In my work,” said Seward, “I want to deemphasize the 26 letters of the alphabet and emphasize the 44 common sounds of the English language. I do so by helping educators employ children’s senses, from the visual to the kinesthetic.”

The key, she added, is knowing that dyslexia is not rooted in problems with visual perception. It’s rooted in memory. Individuals with dyslexia have difficulty recalling and making a quick connection between a sound and the letter representing that sound.

“The child is able to read the letter ‘b.’ He or she is unable to quickly recall that we associate that symbol with the sound, ‘buh.’ That’s dyslexia in a nutshell.”

So, in the toolkit she is developing, Seward begins with the smallest units of sound and helps children associate them with letter forms. With the touch of a mouse, a teacher working with a child can scroll over the letter “p,” and the “p” will then morph to display common items associated with the “puh” sound: (peach, peppermint, pie, pea and piano).

The “Reading by Design” toolkit has a number of other activities:

• Sound elements and creative visuals working in concert to reinforce reading retention and recall.
• Common sounds — like the “ooohing” of a crowd following a great basketball play (along with the visual of a basketball player making that play) — depict and reinforce the connections between visual vowel combinations like “oo” and “ew” and their appropriate phonemic sound.
• Horizontal lengthening of words with long vowels to denote that vowel and the silent “e” (in words like “note”). The child can experience the lengthening word with a sweep of the mouse to the right, thus integrating movement into memory.
• Also, when moving the mouse over long vowels, the cursor will not move up or down, only in a horizontal lengthening of the vowel to the right – in order to visualize the phonemic value of that vowel. Again, the rightward sweep of the mouse also incorporates the child’s arm movement into memory formation and retention.
• Silent letters appropriately take on a shadow form or repel the mouse.
• A cursor that moves just like a finger following the text (common to how most children read during their early years).

Testing the Toolkit

Seward likens her project to a parent holding a child’s bike as the child learns to ride. Little by little, the parent is able to forego providing complete support and moves to an occasional steadying hand until, ultimately, the child is riding under his or her own power.

She explained, “This electronic toolkit is a scaffold that can be built upon and then taken away.”

Seward continues developing the project and is in the process of writing a grant application in cooperation with Allison Breit-Smith, UC assistant professor of teacher education, and Beth O’Brien, assistant professor of educational studies, in order to begin user testing.

In developing the project, Seward has worked with the following specialists in order to obtain feedback:

• Susan Colberg, associate professor of visual communication design, University of Alberta.
• Educational psychologist Nilda Cosco, education specialist, North Carolina State University.
• Educational researcher Peggy Coyne, research scientist at the Center for Applied Technology, Boston, Mass.
• Joy Sykes Leonard, doctoral student, Carnegie Mellon University.
• Fletcher Academy, private school in Fletcher, N.C., specializing in teaching dyslexic children and those with ADHD.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126141638.htm

 

First Published January 24, 11:11 PM

Minneapolis Mental Health ExaminerTina Elliott

There seems to be a huge assumption that adults with autistic disabilities generally are not parents or should ever have a family.  Why is this so?  Why does so much stigma and ignorance exist?  Well, maybe its best to be wise and properly look into the facts rather than stigmatized beliefs.

Sadly, the positive side of parents with autism and their children is often neglected.  There is a great need to stop discrimination against current and potential parents with autistic disorders.  A website that is trying to help demystify the needs of autistic parents and their abilities is called C.A.P., celebrating autistic parents.  For the Saint Cloud area we have our Aspergers Support Network that meets every Thursday night at the Great River Regional Library.  Just by attending one of our meetings, it can and has helped many understand the world of adults with autistic disorders.  One would be very surprised to see how many adults with autistic disorders that have families of their own in the St. Cloud area.  But sadly, due to a lack of advocacy in our area and other places throughout the U.S., many parents with these disabilities are being taken advantage of, abused, and ignored in family court systems without even taken a glance at the problems and lack of supports to help an autistic parent be a successful parent.  Many parents with autistic disorders are pushed around by those that hold strong beliefs about autistic disorders no matter how many proven facts that are out there to disprove such ignorance.

Now it is true that no parent is absolutely perfect and that being autistic does not mean non-abusive any more than other non-autistic person could be.  This is why it is extremely important to focus on the positive aspects of autistic parents just like any other non-autistic parent.  There are just too many negative stigmas and beliefs against parents with autistic disorders that many neuro-typical parents do not generally have a clue on how difficult these problems can be.

One tremendously important aspect that should be noted is the quote I love to go by…”What’s better to know one, is to be one” in referring to my own autism as a parent and being able to identify autistic traits in others that so called ‘normal’ people tend to fail to see and understand.  Because of this, autistic parents tend to be a great thing for most children that may have an autistic disorder.

Source:  http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-25452-Minneapolis-Mental-Health-Examiner~y2010m1d24-Adults-with-autistic-disorders-are-parents-too-Part-1

Autistic Adults are Parents Too (Part 2)

January 26, 9:58 PMMinneapolis Mental Health ExaminerTina Elliott

Why are autistic parents usually a great thing for their children with autistic disorders?  Autistic parents can identify, understand and work with an autistic child more effectively on their level than most neuro-typicals (normal people) usually can.  Parents with autistic disorders may know how to help the child identify various coping skills that may or may not work per child much more easily because usually they have moments of ‘been there, done that”.  It is also comforting for the child to know they have someone that will understand them on their level much more easily when others may not. 

Even more importantly when things in life seem to get overly political or savvy for those with autistic disabilities, which can be a challenge to many autistic parents, is the advantage of their significant other if they are a neuro-typical.  The combination of both worlds from their parents help to balance and ground the child on all levels more effectively.  Truthfully understanding how those with autistic disabilities see and understand their world is a huge key to success.

But there can be exceptions to this rule when an ex-partner or uneducated family members are involved.  They usually are neuro-typical and refuse to understand the rules or even the actual or possible diagnoses of those with autistic disabilities.  This kind of problem can cause a great deal of distress to the child and adult with an autistic disorder.  Such ignorance, whether its due to a lack of education or unwavering beliefs, can be extremely damaging and judgmental.  Especially to the child with an autistic disorder that is just trying to find their place in this strange world.  Sadly there is a huge misconception when people hear the word autistic and many automatically assume it is the end of the world or even act like their loved may be dying, dead or just plain refuse to accept what these disorders entail.  Those with autistic disorders just see and interact with the world in a much more different way. It really is not that hard to understand.

Being a known fact that autistic disorders are extremely variable, thus called a spectrum, we need to spread the word on what these disorders really are about.  Many parents with autistic disorders are very high functioning and have normal to above average IQ levels.  Doing our part in the St. Cloud area by helping to educate ourselves and others, and look for ways to provide more supportive resources.  We can continually constitute understanding, acceptance and the respect the autistic populace deserves.

Come visit the “Aspergers Support Network” website.  Meetings held at the St. Cloud public library, Thursday nights for adults with Aspergers/High Functioning Autism.

Source:  http://www.examiner.com/x-25452-Minneapolis-Mental-Health-Examiner~y2010m1d26-Adults-with-autistic-disorders-are-parents-too-Part-2?cid=channel-rss-Health

By Therese J. Borchard

After trying 23 medication combinations, 7 psychiatrists, two hospitalization programs, and every form of alternative therapy available–from homeopathic remedies to yoga, I assumed I was one of those unfortunate statistics with treatment-resistant depression, a Humpty-Dumpty type that would never recover from the fall of a nervous breakdown.

There was no magic that happened between then and now, the month my book about my recovery hits the shelves. I just kept on getting out of bed. Even on the days where my thoughts were cemented in the black stuff, in negativity and toxic emotions, I tried to pick up one foot and place it in front on the next.

Here are the tools I picked up along the way, the basic lessons that help me in my mission to stay Beyond Blue, or at least out of black for as long as possible.

1. Laugh.

From my 12 years of therapy I have learned at least one thing: I use sarcasm as a defense mechanism. But I’m keeping the jokes and the acerbic tone because Abe Lincoln and Art Buchwald, two of my mental health heroes, said wit was essential to sanity, that comedy can keep a person out of the psych ward (not really). And if you’re laughing, you’re not crying … even though the two look similar from 10 feet away.

2. Sweat.

As a recovering addict, I love any buzz I can get. Working out–any exercise that gets my heart rate over 140 beats per minute (into the cardiovascular zone) does the job. And in a safe way, so I don’t have to cheat on my sobriety. I’m probably as addicted to exercise as I was to booze, but this is one mood-altering activity that doesn’t deteriorate my marriage and my other relationships.

The right kind of exercise actually acts like an antidepressant: increasing the activity of serotonin and/or norepinephrine in your brain and releasing those coveted endorphins and other hormones that reduce pain, induce euphoria, have a calming effect, and combat stress.

3. Eat the right stuff.

The more I investigate–both through research and nonscientific experiments with body–the more I realize how my diet affects my mood.

Here are the bad boys: nicotine, caffeine (it’s a drug, which is why I’m addicted to it), alcohol, white flour and processed food (what you live on when you have kids who won’t touch tofu and spinach); and sugar … that’s a whole other blog post.

Here are the good guys: protein (eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt, meat, fish, chicken, seeds, nuts); complex starches (whole grains, beans, potatoes); vegetables (broccoli, spinach, squash); vitamins (vitamin B-complex, vitamins E and C, and a multivitamin); minerals (magnesium, calcium, and zinc); and omega-3 fatty acids.

4. Sleep!

Sleep is crucial to sanity. Let me repeat: Sleep is crucial to sanity.

Because sleep disturbances can contribute to, aggravate, and even cause mood disorders and a host of other illnesses. You see, if you’re not sleeping, your brain doesn’t have an opportunity to do all the stuff it needs to do without the constant interruption of your thoughts. The brain works night shifts. And when it doesn’t get all the work it needs to do done … well, it gets a tad irritable, like you do when you can’t get your work done. And it takes it out on you.

According to one recent study, sleep deprivation can cause a decline in cognitive performance similar to the intoxicated brain. That’s right! Drunks can reason and judge better than you if you’ve gone too long without getting some zzzzs.

5. Light up.

Have you ever noticed all the crabby behavior in November and December?

Changes in the amounts of daylight a person gets alters circadian rhythms, the internal biological clock which governs fluctuation in body temperature and the secretion of several hormones, including the evil one, Cortisol. When a person gets less daylight than she needs, her circadian rhythm starts to act like a high-maintenance houseguest – getting all flustered over small stuff (i.e. the wrong kind of soap). That’s why light treatment is so effective for fragile human beings like me. If I can’t get outside for at least a half hour a day, I try to sit under my mammoth HappyLite, a lamp with 10,000 lux, and think happy thoughts.

6. Rely on friends.

I used to be a loyal support-group kind of girl. But since I’ve had kids, getting to meetings is much more difficult. So I’ve found my support in other ways–in phone calls and e-mails and visits to friends and relatives who also suffer from depression or bipolar disorder. That lifeline kept me alive during my suicidal days, and continues to empower me every single day.

During the darker days of my depression, I walked around with six phone numbers in my pocket. Because I didn’t want to wear out any one friend or relative, I’d call two people a day, and rotate the numbers. I spent hours on the phone and writing e-mails and visiting friends because I needed constant support.

Click here for six more steps…

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/01/25/6-steps-toward-freedom-from-depression/

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on January 26, 2010

An new online treatment system will provide real-time care by combining patient-provider communication with physiological biofeedback to assist patients suffering with panic disorder and anxiety problems.

Vincent Tseng and Bai-En Shie of the National Cheng Kung University are working with psychiatrist Fong-Lin Jang of the Chi-Mei Medical Center, in Tainan, Taiwan, to develop the system they say will have a “pivotal impact” on the health care industry. The research is published in the International Journal of Business Intelligence and Data Mining.

The increasing pace of life, the industrialization of society, and the advent of digital technology are all thought to underlie the growing prevalence of mental illness. Disorders, such as anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression are now diagnosed more frequently than ever before.

Panic disorders are not easily diagnosed but do represent chronic illness for countless patients and lead to hospitalization with increasing frequency.

Patients can become acutely fearful and uncomfortable and suffer dizziness, chest pain, difficulty breathing, a racing pulse, and even palpitations, all of which increase the sense of panic and mimic the symptoms of a heart attack or asthma episode, hence the emergency room admissions.

Sufferers often restrict their day to day activities to avoid inducing anxiety and if the problem persists it can lead to substance abuse and depression. Victims of panic disorder often have a poor quality of life overall.

The team has coupled a wireless-enabled finger-ring device that measures skin temperature with a web-enabled system. The system provides a convenient channel for communication between patients and health care workers as well as allowing hospital staff to allow patients to ask questions and download pertinent information.

The key to the system is that patients can also upload physiological data and their self-assessment to the database. The “emotion ring” continuously monitors and records the patient’s finger skin temperature, which the researchers explain is a useful indicator of the patient’s emotional state. It may simply provide a focus.

Patients are then taught muscle and mental relaxation exercises and how to observe the effects of these on their skin temperature, thus providing a biofeedback mechanism that can also be monitored by their health care worker.

Temperature biofeedback has been utilized in medicine for more than three decades and because performance anxiety can occur during biofeedback a professional therapist must help the patient master the sensation of relaxation, especially in the initial stages of training.

The team has tested the system with ten patients in a pilot study. “Once the patients learned the cues for relaxation and the method to obtain rapid relaxation, they were able to apply the methods and cues to relieve the symptoms of panic disorder,” they conclude. The next step is to develop a related system that works with mobile devices rather than a personal computer.

“After receiving the muscle relaxation program, patients could feel the difference between relaxation and tension, and learned the skill of relaxation,” Tseng says, “The most important is that patients had fewer panic attacks and had improvement in Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS). A large multi-center clinical trial with this system is going on in Taiwan.”

Source: Inderscience Publishers

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/01/26/online-help-for-panic-disorders/10971.html

 

Ask any college student and they will tell you they are often overwhelmed with activities. The challenge of long days and nights of studying and participating in assorted activities is daunting for any student and especially for those with ADHD.

At the University of Alabama, Dr. Mark Thomas research efforts include a study of how ADHD is managed on campuses across the country. Treatments include prescriptions that allow students to focus over long periods of time and training in better study habits.

“Medications are, far and away, the most effective treatment for ADHD,” says Thomas. “They’re not the total treatment, but they’re the component of treatment that makes the most difference. We do try to advocate to students with AD/HD that the medication is just one part of the overall treatment approach.”

According to background information, Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder has a few categories; some children, for example, are unable to focus but don’t exhibit hyperactive symptoms. They are diagnosed with “AD/HD, inattentive type.” Those who exhibit both attention problems and hyperactivity are diagnosed with “AD/HD, combined type.”

Children with ADHD, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviors (may act without thinking about what the result will be) and in some cases, are overly active.”

Everybody has periods of distraction or forgetfulness, but for a diagnosis of ADHD, the symptoms need to disrupt the child’s life at school and at home.

“The characteristics of inattentiveness would include not only daydreaming, being easily distracted, procrastination, lack of organization, losing things, misplacing things, forgetting appointments, just an overall sense that the world is passing you by, and you’re not able to keep up with it,” Thomas says. “Patients end up feeling quite overwhelmed.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that, as of 2006, 4.5 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 had been diagnosed with ADHD. In 2003, Alabama led the nation with 11 percent of its children diagnosed with ADHD, according to a center report. When these children reach college, they’ll need to continue treatment. In addition, some students are being diagnosed with ADHD for the first time in college.

Thomas and his fellow physicians are responding with research to develop guidelines on treating ADHD on campus. “There are guidelines in place for the pediatric population – children roughly between 6 to 12 – that the American Academy of Pediatrics has come up with. There are also guidelines that psychiatric associations have prescribed for grownups. What are really lacking are guidelines for adolescents and young adults, college age in particular.”

Thomas surveyed 124 campus health centers from across the country about how staff members diagnose and treat ADHD. His preliminary findings suggest that about a third of these health centers do not offer prescription treatment for ADHD.

“While students on these campuses could presumably go off campus to receive this service, not having it readily available on-campus may provide a significant barrier to receiving care,” Thomas says.

Inconsistencies Among Campuses

Campuses also vary widely when it comes to diagnosing ADHD among students.

“Only about half of them handle making a new diagnosis of ADHD,” Thomas says. “Who they have handling their prescriptions and making the diagnoses varies widely. The most common providers they have are family-medicine physicians or psychiatrists. As far as making the diagnosis, there’s a larger number that use mental health professionals, which also would include psychologists as well as psychiatrists.”

Preliminary research also suggests that more than half of the students treated for ADHD in colleges were diagnosed on campus. Students who do not show the hyperactive component of ADHD in their childhood sometimes slip through the diagnosis net because they develop coping mechanisms in elementary or high school. Those coping mechanisms often break down in college.

“Eventually they get to the point where they’re no longer able to function adequately either due to the increasing complexity of the school work or because they are now without the aid of parents or teachers looking over their shoulders. That’s when they present and become diagnosed.”

Students come to Thomas seeking advice usually because a friend or professor notices the symptoms before they do.

Part of the guidelines Thomas is helping develop involves diagnosis. Physicians need to be careful about distinguishing between ADHD and normal problems with concentration. Also, he’s looking at who should make the diagnosis and whether the student has other problems that either mimic ADHD or make it worse.

“We don’t want to establish the bar for making the diagnosis so high that it presents a significant barrier to care,” Thomas says. “At the same time, we don’t want to set it so low that it’s easy for someone to come off the street and get a prescription they don’t really need.

“As part of that diagnostic process, we do want to address the possibility of learning disorders, either co-existing with ADHD or mimicking ADHD. We also look out for other psychiatric diagnoses that mimic ADHD or coexist with ADHD. Why that’s important is, with psychiatric diagnoses, we don’t want to be treating the wrong thing.

“Sometimes the right medication for ADHD would be the wrong medication for other conditions and make the other conditions worse. On the other hand, if there are some unrecognized psychiatric diagnoses or learning disabilities, then we’re losing the opportunity to being able to fully help the patient or the student.”

Prescription medicine remains at the forefront of treating ADHD, Thomas says, including dextroamphetamines and methylphenidates. Innovations have refined and improved the way these drugs work on the brains of people with ADHD.

“The stimulant medication helps their brain to get tasks completed without getting distracted and going in other directions. It also helps to filter out extraneous stimuli coming in to their brain,” Thomas says. “They’re better able to sort out what’s important for them to keep in their conscious brain and what bits of information can go into their subconscious.”

Podcasts To Offer Peer-To-Peer Support

In the “old school” of treating ADHD, physicians perceived that the medication could be harmful, so they prescribed drugs only during school days. Now physicians recognize that the medication is relative very safe and that ADHD affects all aspects of a student’s life, including hanging out with friends or studying late into the night. Having untreated ADHD also negatively affects driving safety in young adults. So, medication is needed over an extended period. As a result, physicians are using medicine that’s delivered in pills or patches that spread the delivery of the drug over time.

Beyond drugs, Thomas is working to include in the guidelines other avenues of support for students with ADHD. He is working with students from the University Computer-Based Honors program to develop podcasts produced by students with ADHD to offer peer-to-peer support for the condition. He and other University staff members have formed the ADHD Consortium, a group of faculty and staff members interested in students with ADHD. The group is working to coordinate services for these students.

“We try to get them to go to the Office of Disability Services for academic accommodations,” Thomas says. “Another leg of their treatment is academic training help, such as training in study skills and time management skills. There are a number of places we can send them to for that, for example the Center for Teaching and Learning at UA. We also are very interested in developing more programs for helping in that area, because that’s an area in which students don’t have a lot of awareness of what’s available.”

Source: University of Alabama

Related News Articles

• ADHD on the College Campus
• Teachers Lack ADHD Management Skills
• Do Teachers Overestimate ADHD
• Adult ADHD Can be Problematic
• Improve Education on ADHD Meds

Related Clinical Articles

• Diagnosing ADHD/ADD in Adults
• ADHD & Me
• An Introduction to ADHD
• The Survival Guide for Kids With ADD or ADHD
• What if Someone You Know Has ADHD?

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/01/25/adhd-challenges-college-students/10947.html

 

How to Measure Attention Span of a Fly: Implications for ADHD, Autism in Humans

ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2010) — An Australian-German team of scientists at Freie Universität and the Queensland Brain Institute in Brisbane, Australia, has found a way to measure the attention span of a fly. The findings could lead to further advances in the understanding of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism in humans.

Associate Professor Bruno van Swinderen at the Queensland Brain Institute in Brisbane and Dr. Björn Brembs at Freie Universität combined genetic techniques with brain recordings and behavioral testing. They found different mutations that either increase or decrease a fly’s attention span.

Using the genetic fruit fly model, Drosophila melanogaster, van Swinderen found that a fly’s level of distractibility is finely tuned to allow “normal” behavioral responses to a constantly changing environment. He said, “We now have the two ends of an attention spectrum in our model. We have a fly memory mutant that is hard to distract and another fly memory mutant that’s too distractible. They both have the same result — they don’t learn well but for completely different reasons, not unlike human patients afflicted with autism and ADHD.”

The fruit flies were fed methylphenidate, which is sold under the brand name Ritalin and is used to treat patients with ADHD. The researchers found the drug had similar effects on fruit flies as it did on people: it helped the distractible flies to pay attention to visual stimuli.

“It suggests there may be similar pathways in the brains of fruit flies and humans, which means we now have a simple reductionist model, with all the genetic tools that go along with it, to try to understand what exactly this drug is doing,” according to van Swinderen.

Heisenberg fellow Brembs agrees: “These surprising parallels between insects and humans may point to a general, common functional organization of brains.”

The research is reported in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Journal Reference:

1. Bruno van Swinderen, Björn Brembs. Attention-Like Deficit and Hyperactivity in a Drosophila Memory Mutant. Journal of Neuroscience, 2010; 30 (3): 1003 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4516-09.2010

 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126084127.htm

 

A policeman who has revolutionised relations between people with mental health problems, the police force and their wider community has been awarded a prestigious commendation for his contributions to social justice. PC Richard Harwin, from Hackney Metropolitan Police, received recognition at Wednesday night’s Una Padel Award for his innovative liaison work with his local Mind charity, City and Hackney Mind.

Source
MIND
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/176997.php

 

Eileen Parker, a woman who has sensory processing disorder (SPD) and Asperger’s syndrome writes a blog about the topics that interest her and she feels that interest others like her. There are plenty of posts that offer tips, trick, and insights into the world for those like her. She also created the Cozy Calm weighted blanket.

After not liking the designs of other weighted blankets (it is tough for someone with an SPD to find something that is perfect), she created her own for herself and others like her. The blanket creates melatonin, naturally, which can help a person fall asleep quickly and stay asleep. Even someone with restless leg syndrome may find some relief using this blanket.

Ms. Parker was kind enough to answer questions via email:

Q: You said to me that you like helping other people understand people like us (those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)). Is that why you started to blog about experiences to begin with?

A: I wanted people to understand beyond the “What is Autism” or “The Symptoms of Autism” articles on medical sites.

Q: Your latest post offered tips to anyone who deals with autistic people including to pause during speeches and to not use hand gestures. Why do avoiding hand gestures help you?

A: When I’m doing my best to look a person in the face, concentrating on making the right amount of eye contact, trying to decipher body position and facial expressions, and trying to figure out their “real” feelings, the hand gestures are a visual distraction.

Q: You also created the Cozy Calm Weighted Blanket, can you tell readers why?

A: I tried one in sensory integration therapy, which people on the spectrum often have, and I loved the weight. I bought many but they “weren’t right” so I invented my own. I created designs and had professional sewers make them for me. It was a long process, but after many design changes, I had a weighted blanket that felt, well, cozy and calming, hence the name of the company. I have a patent pending because it is unique.

Q: What size does the Cozy Calm Weighted Blanket come in? So many are so small they can’t be used as blankets on beds. Does your fit a traditional sized mattress?

A: All of them: child, twin, double, queen, lap cozys, and adult relaxation blankets. The fleece blankets fit the top of a mattress so it isn’t hanging over the side of the bed. Bigger ones will be available soon.
We have a number of new products developed that we will be unveiling at the Home & Garden Show in Minneapolis, February 24-28. You can find us two booths down from Select Comfort.

Read in Full:  http://www.examiner.com/x-10560-Special-Needs-Kids-Examiner~y2010m1d25-Meet-Eileen-Parker-Adult-with-autism-and-creator-of-the-Cozy-Calm-weighted-blanket

 

Blood does not travel in a steady flow through the body. Instead it is propelled through the blood vessels with the force of every heartbeat. Here’s a brief overview of blood pressure.

Every organ and tissue in your body requires a constant supply of blood. This blood supply provides the oxygen and nutrients your body needs to perform its normal functions and to dispose of the waste products that result from these functions.

To meet these needs, the heart has to pump blood through about 60,000 miles of blood vessels that wind their way to and from even the most distant tissues from the heart. This blood-vessel maze is more than twice the earth’s circumference. To navigate it, a certain amount of force is required to propel blood through the body and return it to the heart. Blood pressure is that force.

Your body generates blood pressure in two main ways:

1. Blood flowing through the arteries (vessels that carry blood from the heart to the tissues) creates pressure. The more blood the heart pumps with each heartbeat, the greater the amount of blood flowing through the arteries, and thus the greater the pressure against the artery walls.

 

2. The arteries themselves create pressure by resisting blood flow. Small arteries contain smooth muscle cells, which contract and expand like any other muscle in your body. When these muscles contract, the opening in the artery becomes smaller, and the pressure inside the artery increases as blood flows through.

The amount of pressure required to circulate blood varies according to your body’s needs. For example, your body requires less blood when you’re sitting still or sleeping than when you’re exercising or doing strenuous work. A complex mix of hormones and nerves regulates blood flow in response to your body’s changing needs.

In many people, this regulatory system goes awry and blood pressure remains persistently high, even at rest, resulting in a condition called high blood pressure, or hypertension. High blood pressure is one of the most important risk factors for stroke and heart attack.

Cardiac Risk From Chronic Stress

Tulane University researchers believe chronic stress following Hurricane Katrina contributed to a three-fold increase in heart attacks in New Orleans more than two years after the event.

Those suffering heart attacks post-Katrina also were significantly more likely to receive coronary interventions, particularly angioplasty to reopen clogged coronary arteries, which suggests these patients may have more severe disease.

The analysis is one of the first to look at the long-term impact on public health resulting from major disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

Previous studies have found short-term increases in heart attacks and other cardiac events occurring in the immediate hours to weeks after major disasters such as earthquakes or volcano eruptions.

“Our data show that the effects of an acute major disaster are not limited to its immediate aftermath, but can linger on for a prolonged duration,” said lead researcher Dr. Anand Irimpen, associate professor of clinical medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine.

The study analyzed the number of heart attack patients admitted to Tulane Medical Center in downtown New Orleans two years before the storm and two years after the hospital reopened in February 2006.

Researchers compared the two groups (pre- and post-Katrina) based on specific demographic and clinical data such as lab test results, health insurance, first-time hospitalization, smoking status, substance abuse and employment.

There were 246 admissions for heart attacks, out of a total census of 11,282 patients, post-Katrina compared with 150 admissions out of a total 21,229 patients in the two years before the storm.

In addition to a three-fold increase in heart attacks and a 120 percent increase in coronary interventions, the post-Katrina group had significantly higher prevalence of unemployment, lack of medical insurance, medication noncompliance, smoking, substance abuse, first-time hospitalization and people living in temporary housing.

There were no significant differences in the racial, gender or age distribution of the two groups.

Based on these data, the authors believe reduced access to preventive health services and chronic stress due to prolonged loss of employment, insurance coverage and housing played an important role in the development of heart attacks.

In addition, it appears chronic stress following Katrina may have fostered bad health practices, such as smoking and failure or refusal to adhere to treatment plans. “After a major disaster, people generally tend to neglect their health because they have other priorities,” Irimpen said.

“That can lead to serious consequences.”

Irimpen said that further study is needed into the long-term affects of chronic stress and his team will track the rates of heart attacks for another two years. They also will include other area hospitals in the study.

Source: Tulane University

Related News Articles

Simone Hoermann, Ph.D. Updated: Jan 21st 2010

Last week, I wrote about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. There is a close relative of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder amongst the Personality Disorders, namely, as you may have guessed by now, Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD). So, what is OCPD and how does it relate to OCD?

People with OCPD are perfectionists to the extreme. Now, a lot of people have perfectionist tendencies that may occasionally get in their way, but for someone with OCPD, perfectionism really interferes with completing important tasks.  Things have to be just so, and just right.  Therefore, instead of delegating tasks to other people, someone with OCPD will often end up doing everything themselves, because they feel that others just won’t do things correctly.

Perfectionism alone, however, is not enough to indicate that someone has OCPD.  People with OCPD tend to be very thorough and detail oriented, so much so that they sometimes don’t see the forest for the trees and get lost in those details.  Another characteristic of OCPD is difficulty in throwing out worthless or useless things, and a miserly spending style.  Someone with OCPD tends to be preoccupied with rules, regulations, order and schedules, and so they get caught up in details, and can get quite stuck on questions of morals and ethics.  Hence, they are very rigid and inflexible.  They are often scrupulous and overly conscientious, feeling way too responsible for anything that may go wrong.  Not surprisingly, they can be so devoted to their job and spend so much time at work, that they neglect their friendships and relationships.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, if a person has four of the above characteristics to a degree that it interferes with their lives, they meet the criteria for OCPD.  Research on prevalence of OCPD shows that roughly 1% of people in the general population can be diagnosed with OCPD.

The basic idea in terms of a distinction between OCD and OCPD is that typically a person with OCD will feel that the obsessions and compulsions are symptoms that are unreasonable and bothersome.  In contrast, OCPD is about longstanding personality characteristics, which the person with OCPD themselves does not experience as unreasonable.

Of note, I say this is a rough distinction, because there has been much debate about the relation between OCD and OCPD.  Some experts believe that OCPD might be a precursor, or less severe form, of OCD, although research results on this topic remain mixed.  Similarly, research findings on the prevalence of OCPD in people who have OCD shows a very wide range in different studies, from as low as 3% up to 60%.

As an aside, Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, wrote about OCPD already in the early 1900s and referred to it as “anal retentive” character, defined by a preoccupation with orderliness and cleanliness, and a tendency to be frugal, defiant and angy.  His idea was that children go through different developmental stages, and a conflict during the stage of toilet training, when children are supposed to learn to control bodily functions, results in the development of the anal personality.  Freud’s theory about where OCPD comes from is nowadays controversial, and many experts would disagree with it. However, you can see remnants of his idea in today’s colloquial use of the word “anal’ for people who are overly thorough and uptight.

Source:  http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=35095&cn=8