offspring

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Major food alert.....

Major food alert as two Britons are diagnosed with fatal food poisoning bug traced to organic cucumbers

By Sean Poulter

Last updated at 3:55 AM on 28th May 2011

  • Hundreds more have fallen ill in outbreak
  • Bug could affect tomatoes and lettuce
A food poisoning bug found in organic cucumbers  has killed five of its victims.
Hundreds more have fallen ill in the outbreak, which could affect tomatoes and lettuce too.
Although centred on Germany, where the deaths occurred, the outbreak has spread to Britain and three other countries.

Deadly strain: A scientist at the Consumer Protection and Food Safety office in northern Germany, prepares a sample of tomatoes in order to test if they are infected with the E.coli 
Deadly strain: A scientist at the Consumer Protection and Food Safety office in northern Germany, prepares a sample of tomatoes in order to test if they are infected with the E.coli

Three people in the UK who had been to Germany recently, have fallen ill after becoming infected with a rare form of E.coli.
Around seven in ten of the victims are adult women – a group which tends to eat a lot of fresh produce – but youngsters have also been hit.
 
The outbreak has been traced to fresh produce grown in Spain, then exported to Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.
Some victims have gone on to develop a complication of food poisoning, known as hemolytic-uremic syndrome. Potentially fatal, it affects the blood, kidneys and, in severe cases, the central nervous system.

The E. coli (EHEC) bacteria: Travellers to Germany have been warned to be especially careful when eating tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers
The E. coli (EHEC) bacteria: Travellers to Germany have been warned to be especially careful when eating tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers 

E.coli contamination is normally associated with animal and human faeces, which may have affected water used to irrigate the crops  in Spain.

Britain imports more than 5 per cent of its food from Spain. It is a particularly valuable source of tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers. So far there is no evidence of contaminated food reaching British shops. However, the alert will serve as a warning for families heading to Spain for half-term.

More than 270 people have been confirmed as victims in Germany and some 500 more have reported feeling ill. 

Alert: German experts yesterday identified Spanish cucumbers as the source of a virulent super-bacterium that has killed five people
Alert: German experts yesterday identified Spanish cucumbers as the source of a virulent super-bacterium that has killed five people 

Three German nationals in the UK have been affected – two are thought to live in Britain and the third is a tourist.

Others in the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark have also fallen ill. Dr Dilys Morgan, of the UK’s Health Protection Agency, said it was monitoring the situation. ‘We are keeping a close watch for potential cases reported in England. 

‘In addition we are in the process of alerting health professionals to the situation and advising them to urgently investigate potential cases with a travel history to Germany.’

The World Health Organisation office in Europe said: ‘The outbreak is unusual in that it has developed very rapidly, and an unusually high number of cases affect adults, particularly women, instead of the normal high-risk groups, which are young children and the elderly. 

A worker harvests cucumber in a greenhouse in El Almeria - one of the Spanish regions suspected by German officials
Source of outbreak: A worker harvests cucumber in a greenhouse in El Almeria - one of the Spanish regions suspected by German officials

‘Nevertheless, cases have also been reported in school-aged children.
‘The unusual E.coli serogroup O104 is suspected of being the pathogen likely to be associated with this outbreak.’

Organic cucumbers from two provinces of Spain, Almeria and Malaga, have been identified as sources, but tomatoes and lettuce may also be implicated. Cucumbers from affected producers have been pulled from shelves and officials are advising shoppers in Germany to avoid eating raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce.

In Britain, the Food Standards Agency said: ‘We are monitoring the situation closely.


‘It’s a good idea to wash fruit and vegetables before you eat them to ensure that they are clean, and to help remove germs that might be on the outside. 

‘Peeling or cooking fruit and vegetables can also remove these germs.’
The Spanish food safety agency said: ‘The Andalusian authorities are investigating to find out where the contamination comes from and when it took place.’

Britain’s Fresh Produce Consortium said: ‘To date we are not aware of evidence of any link to fresh produce imported to the UK.
‘At this time of the year the majority of cucumbers on the UK market are grown in the UK. 

‘Food poisoning outbreaks linked with the contamination of fresh produce remain extremely rare in the UK.’

In a separate development, 15 cases of E.coli poisoning have been linked to a Bristol school.

Redfield Edge Primary School was closed on May 20 when three pupils became ill.
Since then 12 children aged five and six have fallen ill, along with three family members. The source is not known.
 

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

When doctors said I was brain dead......

When doctors said I was brain dead, I wanted to scream, yet all I could do was blink

By Kate Allatt

Last updated at 3:00 PM on 17th May 2011

A stroke trapped Kate in her body for months but she was saved by love and courage

When I opened my eyes, I was lying in intensive care. Tubes were everywhere — up my nose, in my arms and, worst of all, there was a monster tube in my mouth, which was linked to the machine that was breathing for me. I wanted to spit it out, but I couldn’t move.

I was ‘locked in’ — my mind intact, my body paralysed. The only thing I could move was my eyelids, which I could open and close at will. I couldn’t even move my eyeballs around.

Family support: Kate with Harvey (left), Woody and India who helped her recover from locked in syndrome
Family support: Kate with Harvey (left), Woody and India who helped her recover from locked in syndrome

Terrifyingly, I was aware of everything going on around me. I could see and hear the doctors and nurses busying themselves and filling in charts. I heard them say I was showing no signs of consciousness and that I was brain dead.

This is what it must feel like to be buried alive — only worse, because I could see life carrying on around me and had no way of being part of it. I wanted to scream.

Three days earlier, one Sunday evening in early February 2010, I’d suffered a blood clot in the stem of my brain — a massive stroke.

A constant headache had developed in the space of a weekend from being mildly annoying to ‘something not right’, and my husband Mark had rounded up our three children, India, 11, Harvey, nine, and Woody, six, and driven us from our home in the village of Dore, Yorkshire, to A&E at the general hospital. By then, when I tried to talk, my words came out slurred and my vision was starting to blur.

The junior doctor decided I was suffering from a migraine and sent me home with Co-codamol. I don’t remember the ambulance journey back to A&E after I collapsed at home. Three hours later, Mark and both sets of parents were told the clot was in such a delicate area they could not operate.

Doctors gave me a 50/50 chance of survival and said if I was to stand any chance of making it through the night, they had to put me in a coma to give my brain a chance.

When I came out of the coma three days later, Mark was sitting by the bed. He gave me a hug and I tried to clasp his fingers. Nothing. I tried to move my foot. Nothing. He smiled at me, hiding his fear.

Mark had never known me to be ill. Even when I had a Caesarean to give birth to Woody, I was back in the gym within days. Every Saturday, I would go fell-running in the South Yorkshire countryside near our home.

Trapped in a nightmare: After a stroke, Kate could not move or speak to communicate that she wasn't brain dead
Trapped in a nightmare: After a stroke, Kate could not move or speak to communicate that she wasn't brain dead

There was so much I wanted to say. I wanted to know if India, Harvey and Woody had seen me being wheeled away in the ambulance, and if they were as frightened as I was. The thought of not being with my children was terrifying.

I wanted someone to put me out of my misery. But I couldn’t even do that — only watch as Mark sat holding my limp hand. I could, however, feel pain. My shoulder hurt from being in the same position for days on end. The only solace was the nurses’ four-hourly ritual in which they rolled me over from my back on to my left side to stop me getting bedsores.

Each day, two nurses would also come to my bed with a bowl of water and a flannel, strip me and rub soap and water into every intimate nook and cranny. I closed my eyes and tried to shut out the indignity.

Next, my physiotherapist would hoist me out of bed and manoeuvre my limbs to keep my muscles active. After an exhausting morning, I would often fall asleep while watching the clock and waiting for visitors.

'I prayed doctors would carry out a test that would show I was awake'

My mum, who came every day, was buoyed by my consultant who had explained the brain sometimes has the ability to open up new connections. This gave her hope, and she would stare at me for hours looking for the faintest twitch or flicker of movement. I stared back, trying desperately to blink in a way that might make her realise I was there. Each time she left, I felt bereft.

I later learned that insomnia can be one of the many side-effects of locked-in syndrome. It didn’t help that the nursing night staff would often use the empty bay next to my bed to meet. They had no idea I could hear them laughing and chatting.

I remember listening as two other patients near me died. Before one man died, I overheard doctors discussing the withdrawal of his care and feeding with his family.
I panicked. What if the doctors were having a similar conversation with my family?

Tears rolled down my cheeks. I prayed doctors would carry out a test that would show I was awake. But they were sure I was brain dead and as far as they were concerned, their job was to keep my body alive.

Then, after three weeks, came the breakthrough. For days, I’d noticed Mark paying attention to my reactions. Sometimes, the TV at the end of my bed would be on. I would watch the news, then whenever there was a programme I hated, I would close my eyes.

Road to recovery: Having her children visit and talk to her helped Kate get better
Road to recovery: Having her children visit and talk to her helped Kate get better

On this occasion, he asked: ‘Kate, can you understand what I’m saying? Blink if you can.’ Relief flooded over me as I closed my eyes. When I opened them, Mark was grinning like the Cheshire cat. ‘Do it again,’ he said. I blinked again. ‘Nurse,’ he called out. ‘She can understand me.’ The joy of that  moment was indescribable: I had a way out.

Tests confirmed I was ‘locked in’. The stroke had caused a lesion in my brain stem — the lower part of the brain where it connects to the spinal cord. The top half of the brain, where conscious thought happens, was intact, but the bridge from my brain to my body was damaged. I was locked in a body that wouldn’t do as I wanted.

At last we were all blinking from the same hymn sheet. We worked out a system of two blinks for ‘yes’ and one blink for ‘no’, so I could tell the nurses if I needed pain relief, had an itch, or was too hot. It was a turning point, but I was in a shocking state — my legs strapped into braces, fed through a tube, unable to sit up.

Until then, the children had been kept away: now Mark decided they should come. My little Indi was as strong as an ox; inside she was hurting, but she proceeded to tell me what she’d done at school that day, just as if I was ‘regular Mum’ standing in the kitchen cooking tea.

When Harvey visited, he stroked my hand. Woody, the youngest, was the most difficult to deal with. When his little face appeared, the tears started rolling down my face. I wanted so much to give him a hug.

'"Nurse," he called out. "She can understand me." The joy of that moment was indescribable'
Nine weeks after the stroke, I was off the critical list and moved to the rehabilitation ward. The next stage was to learn to accept and live with my severe disabilities.

Although none of the doctors told me themselves, they didn’t believe I would ever walk or talk again.
But within weeks, my thumb moved. There had been a flicker of movement once before and I was sure it was not my imagination. I did it again. This time, it moved in time with my thoughts. I was controlling it.

Mark and my friends and family played down their excitement in front of me, but in private they were jumping up and down for joy. Until this point, the therapy team had no experience of anyone who’d had such a severe stroke regaining movement. But those small flickers of movement inspired us to set goals.

Within months, I managed to sit up. I still couldn’t speak, but communicated by blinking when the nurses held up different letters on a board.
‘Why did it happen to me?’ I spelled out to my mum and best friend Alison. Mum explained that super-fit people can push their blood vessels too far and clots occur.

Then a few weeks later, in July, I spoke my first words. Before then, I had been making animal-like grunting noises. I dedicated an entire weekend to practising the mouth exercises my speech therapist showed me, stringing syllables together.

Walk in the park: Doctors thought such a family day out would be a thing of the past for Kate but she proved them wrong
Walk in the park: Doctors thought such a family day out would be a thing of the past for Kate but she proved them wrong

When my favourite nurse arrived, I concentrated and said: ‘Morning, Oliver.’ ‘I became a nurse for moments like this,’ he said, weeping.

By early September, I was allowed home visits for two hours at a time, which then became overnight stays.
Initially, these trips were tearful. The smells and sounds of being home — Harvey opening the fridge; Woody and India playing on the computer — reminded me of what I was missing.

I was discharged eight months after the stroke. That morning, my mum was on video camera duty to record my marathon effort. The nurses gathered round as I lifted myself out of the wheelchair and onto crutches.

At home, I started practising walking. I also began a gym routine. At the end of November, I said goodbye to my crutches and promised myself I would run again.

In February, a year to the day after the stroke, I did. As I stepped on to the muddy track, I was overwhelmed with anxiety. But I inhaled deeply and I was off. Running free. It was just 20 metres. But the old Kate was well and truly back.

Extracted from Running Free by Kate Allatt, to be published tomorrow by Accent Press, £9.99. © 2011 Kate Allatt. To order a copy for £9.49 (including p&p), call 0843 382 0000.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Paracetamol....

Paracetamol found to have link to blood cancers

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 12:06 PM on 11th May 2011

  • Ground-breaking study tracked 65,000 older users
Danger: A chemical in paracetamol has been linked to blood cancers
Danger: A chemical in paracetamol has been linked to blood cancers

Regular users of paracetamol have an increased risk of developing blood cancers, researchers have found.
The tablets contain a chemical called acetaminophen which has been linked to cases of cancer in a number of individuals who were taking the drug.

The findings will terrify the millions in America and worldwide who pop the pills to cure minor ailments without so much as a second thought.

Earlier work has shown that aspirin use might lower the odds of dying from colon cancer but increase the risk of bleeding ulcers. The picture has been less clear for blood, or haematologic, cancers, however.

The finding adds another twist to the complicated evidence linking cancer and painkillers, and hints acetaminophen might be different from the rest.

'Prior to this study there was very little evidence that aspirin reduces your risk of haematological cancers,' said Emily White of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, who worked on the new research.

There were some suggestions that acetaminophen might increase the risk of the cancers, on the other hand, but those were based on individual cases of blood cancer.

Studies of individual patients aren't considered as strong as the new one, which tracked a large population of healthy people over time.

'We have the first prospective study,' White said.
Still, she warned, there is no proof that acetaminophen causes cancer, and the new results need to be confirmed before they are used in any treatment decision.
 
Earlier work has linked acetaminophen to asthma and eczema as well, but scientists still don't agree on whether the drug is the actual culprit or just an innocent bystander.
The new study suffers from the same limitations, in that people who use lots of painkillers could be dealing with medical problems that set them up for cancer down the road.
Illness: The researchers found that 577 people - or less than one percent - developed a cancer involving the blood cells
Illness: The researchers found that 577 people - or less than one percent - developed a cancer involving the blood cells

The scientists followed nearly 65,000 older men and women in Washington State. At the outset, they asked the participants about their use of painkillers over the past ten years and made sure that no one had cancer (except skin cancer).

SO JUST HOW WIDELY USED IS PARACETAMOL?

Paracetamol is one of the most common painkillers available worldwide. The drug is available over the counter to relieve headaches, aches, pains and other minor ailments. It can also be used to alleviate a fever and the symptoms of colds and the flu.

The tablets were first sold in the U.S. in 1953 by Sterling-Winthrop Co. Today it is more commonly known there as Tyelnol.

Concerns about paracetamol's safety delayed its widespread use until the 1970s, but by the 1980s paracetamol sales surpassed those of aspirin in many countries, including the UK.
Generic versions of the tablet that were made by a range of manufacturers later became available towards the 1980s when a U.S. patent expired.

Today, paracetamol is available from chemists and supermarkets in a tablet, capsule, liquid suspension, suppository, intravenous, and intramuscular form.

More than 960 million paracetamol tablets are prescribed by GPs each year in the UK alone. The figure does not include tablets that are bought over the counter, which pushes the total higher.

As an example of the drug's prevalence, in the Philippines, where the the largest-selling brand of paracetamol is called Biogesic, a billion units are sold each year. Across the world, total sales of paracetamol are estimated to exceed hundreds of billions, in an industry that is worth trillions of pounds.

Over some six years on average, 577 people -- or less than one percent -- developed a cancer involving the blood cells. Examples of such cancers include lymphoma and myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS.
More than nine per cent of people who developed one of these cancers used high amounts of acetaminophen, compared to only five percent of those who didn't get sick.

After accounting for things like age, arthritis and a family history of certain blood cancers, chronic acetaminophen users had nearly twice the risk of developing the disease.

'A person who is age 50 or older has about a one-percent risk in ten years of getting one of these cancers," White said. "Our study suggests that if you use acetaminophen at least four times a week for at least four years, that would increase the risk to about two percent.'

No other painkillers -- including aspirin and ibuprofen -- were tied to the risk of blood cancers.
Dr. Raymond DuBois, a cancer prevention expert at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said acetaminophen works very differently than other painkillers and so might be expected to have different effects on cancer.

'It was quite surprising to see that acetaminophen use increased the risk of blood cancers,' said DuBois, who was not involved in the study.

McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary that sells Tylenol, did not respond to requests for comment.

White said it is too soon to make any recommendations based on the new study, and that none of the painkillers is free of side effects.

'Long-term use of any over-the-counter drug might have adverse effects," she said. 'You have to weigh the benefits against the risk of all the drugs.'
 

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Two little friends...

Two little friends... united by courage: Amputee victims forge firm friendship after contracting meningitis

By Paul Sims

Last updated at 6:19 PM on 5th May 2011

Smiling together, the two pretty blonde girls could easily be mistaken as sisters, not new friends with a unique bond.

The lives of Ellie Challis and Charlotte Nott have taken almost identical paths. Both started life as healthy babies — until they contracted meningitis and had to have all of their limbs amputated.


The incredible survival story of Ellie, now seven, gripped the nation after she fell ill in 2005 at just 16 months old. And in December, three-year-old Charlotte narrowly survived the illness, but at the cost of her arms and legs.


Here's how to do it: Ellie (right) shows off her new prosthetic leg to Charlotte, who hopes to get her first pair in a few months
Here's how to do it: Ellie (right) shows off her new prosthetic leg to Charlotte, who hopes to get her first pair in a few months

‘Charlotte put her stumps up against Ellie’s to say hello,’ said  her mother Jenny Daniels, 29,  yesterday. ‘She was so happy to  see someone else with stumps just like hers.

‘Ellie was great — she showed Charlotte that she could get around easily with or without prosthetic legs and Charlotte hobbled after her. It was very special.’
The girls spent the day giggling with one another as they cuddled rabbits and fed lambs at Mead Open Farm in Bedfordshire.


‘I love Ellie’s legs and I can’t wait until I get some, too, so we can run around together,’ said Charlotte, from Oxford.  


Hello, pet: Seven-year-old Ellie, who contracted meningitis in 2005, makes friends with the lambs during a day at a farm
Hello, pet: Seven-year-old Ellie, who contracted meningitis in 2005, makes friends with the lambs during a day at a farm

Ellie’s parents Lisa, 37, and Paul, 47, have helped her learn to walk on prosthetics, start school and ride a bike. ‘I know exactly what Jenny is going through,’ said Mrs Challis.

‘I remember thinking that Ellie would never have a normal life. But it’s great that we’ve been able to show Charlotte and her family that there’s very little Ellie can’t do.’


Charlotte’s parents - Jenny, an administrator for a book publisher, and air conditioning repairman Alex Nott, also 29 - are just starting to come to terms with what has happened to their daughter.


You have a go: Little Ellie is all smiles as she shows a curious Charlotte how to operate the wheelchair
You have a go: Little Ellie is all smiles as she shows a curious Charlotte how to operate the wheelchair

‘When Charlotte caught meningitis, my world fell apart. I was terrified about what the future held for her,’ said Miss Daniels.

‘So to see Ellie running around was so special to me - it has given me hope for Charlotte’s future.’
Ellie became the youngest person ever fitted with £10,000 carbon ‘flex-foot’ legs two years ago.

Ellie also let Charlotte have a go on her wheelchair - it is too tiring for her to use her prosthetic legs all the time. She controls it with the stumps of her arms.


I'll race you: Charlotte (left) and Ellie giggle together as they get behind the wheels of toy cars
I'll race you: Charlotte (left) and Ellie giggle together as they get behind the wheels of toy cars

Charlotte will have to wait until she is five before the NHS can provide her with a wheelchair.
She hopes to get her first pair of prosthetic limbs in the next few months once her wounds heal.


‘I still say thank you every day that Charlotte is still here with us,’ said Miss Daniels.

‘Watching her playing with Ellie was a miracle.’

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Heart Attack

Heart Attack: Warning Signs and Tips on Prevention

What is a heart attack?

A heart attack (also called myocardial infarction) is when part of the heart muscle is damaged or dies because it isn't receiving enough oxygen. Normally, oxygen is carried to the heart by blood flowing through the arteries that feed the heart muscle (called coronary arteries).
 
Most heart attacks are caused by a blockage in these arteries. Usually the blockage is caused by atherosclerosis, which is the buildup of fatty deposits (called plaque) inside the artery, and hardening of the artery walls. The buildup is like the gunk that builds up in a drainpipe and slows the flow of water.

Heart attacks are also often caused by a blood clot that forms in a coronary artery, blocking blood flow. Clots are especially likely to form where plaques become cracked or damaged in any way.
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How do I know if I'm having a heart attack?

The pain of a heart attack can feel like bad heartburn. You may also be having a heart attack if you:
  • Feel a pressure or crushing pain in your chest, sometimes with sweating, dizziness, nausea or vomiting
  • Feel pain that extends from your chest into the jaw, left arm or left shoulder
  • Feel tightness in your chest
  • Have shortness of breath for more than a couple of seconds
  • Feel weak, lightheaded or faint
  • Have sudden overwhelming fatigue
Don't ignore the pain or discomfort. If you think you are having heart problems or a heart attack, get help immediately. The sooner you get treatment, the greater the chance that the doctors can prevent further damage to the heart muscle.
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What should I do if I think I am having a heart attack?

Right away, call for an ambulance to take you to the hospital. Don’t try to drive yourself. While you wait for the ambulance to come, chew one regular tablet of aspirin. Don't take the aspirin if you're allergic to aspirin.

If you can, go to a hospital with advanced care facilities for people with heart attacks. In these medical centers, the latest heart attack technology is available 24 hours a day. How well you survive a heart attack depends on how quickly you get treatment, how much damage there is to the heart, and where that damage is.
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Risk factors for a heart attack

  • Smoking
  • Diabetes
  • Age--Risk increases for men older than 45 years and for women older than 55 years (or after menopause). About 83% of people who die from heart disease are 65 years of age or older.
  • High cholesterol level
  • High blood pressure
  • Family history of heart attack
  • Race--African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans and native Hawaiians are at greater risk.
  • Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)
  • Lack of exercise
  • Stress
  • Obesity
  • Sex (Gender)--More men have heart attacks, although heart disease is the leading cause of death for American women.
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How can I avoid having a heart attack?

Talk to your family doctor about your specific risk factors (see box above) for a heart attack and how to reduce your risk. Your doctor may tell you to do the following:
  • Quit smoking. Your doctor can help you. (If you don't smoke, don't start!)
  • Eat a healthy diet. Cut back on foods high in saturated fat and sodium (salt) to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. A Mediterranean diet is also a very healthy choice. Ask your doctor about how to improve your diet.
  • Control your blood sugar if you have diabetes.
  • Exercise. It may sound hard if you haven't exercised for a while, but try to work up to 30 to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise (that raises your heart rate) 4 to 6 times a week.
  • Lose weight if you're overweight. Your doctor can advise you about the best ways to lose weight.
  • Control your blood pressure if you have hypertension. 
 
Talk to your doctor about whether aspirin would help reduce your risk of a heart attack. Aspirin can help keep your blood from forming clots that can eventually block the arteries.
 
 
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Source

Written by familydoctor.org editorial staff.
American Academy of Family Physicians
Reviewed/Updated: 11/10
Created: 09/00

Left-handed people are more easily frightened

Why left-handed people are more easily frightened than those who are right-handed

By Daniel Bates
Created 1:52 PM on 2nd May 2011
Left-handed people get more scared than those who are right-handed, psychologists have concluded.

Lefties who watched an eight-minute clip of horror film The Silence of the Lambs showed more symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder than right-handers.

When asked to recall details of the film, the left-handed test subjects gave more disjointed accounts, a symptom of PTSD.
Study: Left-handed people who watched an eight-minute clip of The Silence Of The Lambs (pictured) showed more symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder than right-handers 
Study: Left-handed people who watched an eight-minute clip of The Silence Of The Lambs (pictured) 
showed more symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder than right-handers

The findings add to the weight of research and myths about lefties, which mark them apart from their right-handed counterparts.
Left-handed people have endured centuries of stigma and folklore that says they are evil or bad luck.

 
And previous studies have also shown they are more likely to be angry and prone to negative emotions.

The new research was led by Dr Carolyn Choudhary of Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh.
‘The prevalence of post traumatic stress disorder is almost double in left-handers compared to right-handers,’ she said.

‘We used a portion of film from The Silence of the Lambs that we know elicits fear, so we could check the recalled account against the film.

Left-handed people have endured centuries of stigma and folklore that says they are evil or bad luck 

Left-handed people have endured centuries of stigma and folklore that says they are evil or bad luck

'People who were left-handed showed significantly more fragmentation in their memories and more repetition.
'It seems that after experiencing a fearful event, even on film, people who are left-handed had subtle behaviours that were like people suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.’

Dr Choudhary, who will present her findings at the annual conference of the British Psychology Society, added: ‘The mistakes they made were subtle errors in verbal recall.

‘It appears these are tied to the way the brain makes memories during fearful experiences.

‘It is apparent the two sides of the brain have different roles in PTSD and the right-hand side of the brain seems to be involved in fear.

‘In people who are left-handed, the right-hand side of their brain is dominant, so it may have something to do with that.

‘We need to do more experiments to understand what exactly is going on here.’

Famous left-handed people from the past include Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Lewis Carroll, Marilyn Monroe and Michelangelo.

Even prominent and successful lefties today such as David Cameron, Barack Obama and Tom Cruise have been unable to shake off the mild stigma attached to their condition.

The myths include the idea that getting out of bed with the left foot first means that you will have a bad day and be bad-tempered.

It is thought we can only see ghosts if we look over our left shoulder, the same side the Devil watches over us.
 

Last-minute exam stress......

Last-minute exam stress can actually help students to form stronger memories

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:51 AM on 3rd May 2011
It runs counter to all the received wisdom about revision. But scientists say last-minute cramming could actually be better than spending months swotting up for exams.

According to research, hormones produced under stress cause changes to our brain cells that can help memories to be stored more efficiently.

Stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline alter the way genes inside neurons function, enhancing their learning ability, researchers have discovered.

Cram: Students ability to learn could actually be improved by studying when feeling the pressure of a deadline. Picture posed by models
Cram: Students ability to learn could actually be improved by studying when feeling the pressure of a deadline. Picture posed by models

Professor Hans Reul, a neuroscientist at the University of Bristol, said that the findings suggest students' learning could actually be improved by studying when feeling the pressure of a deadline.

Cortisol and adrenaline appear to boost a mechanism known as epigenetic modification that 'reprograms' neural DNA, he said, increasing or decreasing the expression of certain genes.

 

We often find that unpleasant memories are the ones that stay with us for the rest of our lives more than pleasant memories,' he told The Daily Telegraph.
'This is because of the role that stress plays – it is clearly important from a biological point of view to remember something that hurt or threatened us.'


Swotting up: Stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline boost the brain's capacity to learn. Posed by model
Swotting up: Stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline boost the brain's capacity to learn. Posed by model

Stress hormones bind to specific receptors in the human brain and enhance our control of learning and memory, he said.

As a result, stress enhances the process that is normally taking place when people learn, he added.
This enhanced learning caused by increased levels of stress consolidates the formation of memories in the hippocampus - the part of our brains directly involved with memory and learning.

Professor Reul's team have speculated that this reprogramming of the genes in the brain helps nerve cells to grow and develop larger networks.

Cortisol and adrenaline are essential components of humans' 'fight or flight' mechanism - the neuro-biological response to stressful situations that has evolved through millions of years.

At moments of stress these hormones flood the bloodstream, raising blood-sugar levels to speed up the metabolism and provide a burst of energy.
This mechanism would have helped ancient man to escape from or prevail in dangerous situations.
The action of these hormones on brain activity would have also helped to forge strong memories warning them to avoid similar situations in the future.

But too much stress is still bad news, with Professor Seul revealing that in extreme situations it is not possible to pick up new information.
He said that the brain goes into an override mode and so the memory formation is not efficient.

Professor Reul's findings's were presented in the journal Experimental Neurology and at the annual conference of the British Neuroscience Association.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1382936/Last-minute-exam-stress-actually-help-students-form-stronger-memories.html#ixzz1LOhhNRPo

Einstein

Socrates

Confucious

 

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