Attention Deficit Disorder Essay.

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) Approximately 3-5% of all American children have an Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). ADD is a leading cause of school failure and under-achievement. ADD characteristics often arise in early childhood. As many as 50% of children with ADD are never diagnosed. Boys significantly outnumber girls, though girls are more likely to be undiagnosed with ADD. “ADD is not an attention disorder, but a disorder of impulse control ( Seminar notes Barkeley) .” Characteristics of Attention Deficit Disorder can include : Fidgeting with hands or feet, difficulty remaining seated, awaiting turns in games, following through on instructions , shifting from one uncompleted task to another, difficulty playing quietly, interrupting conversations and intruding into other children’s games, appearing to be not listening to what is being said, doing things that are dangerous without thinking about the consequences. Most scientist now believe that a brain dysfunction or abnormality in brain chemistry could be to blame for the symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder. The frontal lobes of the brain are thought to be most responsible for the regulation of behavior and attention.Attention Deficit Disorder Essay.

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They receive information from the lower brain, which regulated arousal and screens incoming messages from within and outside of the body. The limbic system , a group of related nervous system structures located in the midbrain and linked to emotions and feelings, also sends messages to the frontal lobes. Finally, the frontal lobes are suspected to be the site of working memory, the place where information about the immediate environment is considered for memory storage, planning, and future-directed behavior. Scientist believe the activity in the frontal lobes is depressed in people with ADD. Studies show a decrease in the ability of the ADD brain to use glucose, the body’s main source of energy, leading to slower and less efficient activity. Neurotransmitters provide the connection between one nerve cell and another. In essence, neurotransmitters allow electrical impulses to pass across synapses from one neuron to another. It is now suspected that people with Attention Deficit Disorder have a chemical imbalance of a class of neurotransmitters called catecholamines. Dopamine, helps to form a pathway between the motor center of the midbrain and the frontal lobes, as well as a pathway between the limbic system and the frontal lobes. Without enough dopamine and related catecholamines, such as serotonin and norepinephrine, the frontal lobes are under stimulated and thus unable to perform their complex functions efficiently. Attention Deficit Disorder is strongly considered genetically inherited, however, not all cases of ADD may be genetically linked. . Studies have shown that 20-30% of all hyperactive children have a least one parent with ADD. The environment is a big influence on a child during pregnancy and after. Some studies show that a small percentage of ADD cases were influenced by smoking, drinking alcohol, and using drugs during pregnancy. Exposure to toxins, such as lead, may also alter the brain chemistry and function. If you suspect that you are suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder you will need to discuss it with your medical doctor. In most cases the doctor will recommend that you visit a psychologist for an evaluation. The psychologist is professionally trained in human behavior and will be able to provide counseling and testing in areas related to mental health. The psychologist is not able to prescribe medication to help you, but may send you to a psychiatrist to prescribe and monitor medication. A neurologist may be consulted in order to rule out neurological conditions causing your symptoms. Your doctor will gather information about your past and present difficulties, medical history , current psychological makeup, educational and behavioral functioning. Depending on your symptoms, your diagnosis may be categorized as ADD, inattentive type ADD, or hyperactive/impulsive type ADD. After your diagnosis you may learn that you are also suffering from a learning disability, depression, or substance abuse, which is often associated with ADD. There is no cure for Attention Deficit Disorder. “Along with increasing awareness of the problem, a better understanding of its causes and treatment has developed (3 Wender)”. There is medication for ADD which will only alleviate the symptoms. The medication will not permanently restore the chemical balance. Attention Deficit Disorder Essay.Approximately 70% of adults with ADD find that their symptoms significantly improve after they take medication prescribed by their doctors. The patient is able to concentrate on difficult and time-consuming tasks, stop impulsive behavior , and tame the restless twitches that have been experienced in the past. Some ADD patient’s psychological and behavioral problems are not solved by medication alone, and are required more therapy or training . There are two types of drugs that work to balance the neurotransmitters and have been found to be most effective in treating ADD. Stimulants are drugs that stimulate or activate brain activity. Stimulants work by increasing the amount of dopamine either produced in the brain or used by the frontal lobes of the brain. There are several different stimulants that may work to alleviate the symptoms of ADD, including methylphenidate (Ritalin), dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine), and pemoline (Cylert). Stimulants are by far the most effective medications in the treatment of ADD. Some patients respond well to antidepressants. Antidepressants also stimulate brain activity in the frontal lobes, but they affect the production and use of other chemicals, usually norepinephrine and serotonin. The antidepressants considered most useful for ADD include imipramine (Tofranil), desipramine (Norpramin), bupropion ( Wellbutrin), and fluoxetine hydrochloride (Prozac). All stimulants have the same set of side effects. Some patients complain of feeling nauseous or headachy at the outset of treatment, but find that these side effects pass within a few days. Others find that their appetites are suppressed and or that they have difficulty sleeping. If the stimulant dosage is too high the patient may experience feelings of nervousness, agitation, and anxiety, In rare cases, increased heart rate and high blood pressure can result with the use of stimulants, especially if the patient has an underlying predisposition toward hypertension. Ritalin is the most widely prescribed drug used to treat ADD in both children and adults. Ritalin appears to work by stimulating the production of the neurotransmitter dopamine. The benefits of Ritalin include improved concentration and reduced distractibility and disorganization. Dextroamphetamine is another stimulant medication that appears to have a slightly different pharmacological action than Ritalin. Both work to boost the amount of available dopamine. Dextroamphetamine, however, blocks the reuptake of the neurotransmitter while Ritalin increases its production (334 Kelly, Ramundo, Press). All the drugs used to treat ADD have the same goal: to provide the brain with the raw materials it needs to concentrate over a sustained period of time, control impulses, and regulate motor activity. The drug or combination of drugs that work best for you depends on the individuals brain chemistry and constellation of symptoms. The process of finding the right drug can be tricky for each individual. The physicians are not able to accurately predict how any one individual will respond to various doses or types of Attention Deficit Disorder medication. Medication is rarely enough for the patient. Most Attention Deficit Disorder patients require therapy to give guidance . Adult patients have the burden of the past that often hinders their progress. The patient then needs help with the relief of disappointment, frustration, and nagging sense of self-doubt that often weighs upon the ADD patient. Some ADD patients suffer from low-grade depression or anxiety, others with a dependence on alcohol or drugs, and most with low self-esteem and feelings of helplessness. Therapy also helps the ADD patient fully understand the disorder and how it controls the patients life. The knowledge of ADD will make the patient and parents more capable of changing the behaviors or circumstances disliked and enhancing strengths and assets. A second and most crucial part of the education process involves informing those around you about the disorder and its effects. Family members, friends, employers, and colleagues have been playing roles in the drama called ADD without ever being aware of it. Explaining how the disorder may affect the relationships around the patient will help repair any past damage as well as pave the way to a stable future. Attention Deficit Disorder is difficult for any family. ADD challenges the relationships and the issues of daily family life.Attention Deficit Disorder Essay. Getting a family household to function smoothly is challenging for any family, with or without the presence of ADD. Adults and children suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder have trouble establishing and maintaining physical order, coordinating schedules and activities, and accepting and meeting responsibilities. Parents with children
suffering with ADD have to learn how to deal with the obstacles that they will have while raising their child. Adults dealing with ADD often have chronic employment problems, impulsive spending, and erratic bookkeeping and bill paying. Raising healthy, well-adjusted children requires patience, sound judgment, good humor, and, discipline which is difficult for an ADD parent to do. The presence of ADD often hinders the development of intimate relationships for a variety of reasons. Although many adults with ADD enjoy successful, satisfying marriages, the disorder almost always adds a certain amount of extra tension and pressure to the union. The non-ADD spouse bears an additional burden of responsibility for keeping the household running smoothly and meeting the needs of the children, the spouse with ADD, and, if he or she has time, his or her own priorities. Parenting a child who has ADD can be an exhausting and, at times, frustrating experience. Parents play a key role in managing the disability. Attention Deficit Disorder Essay.

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American Health & Fitness Essay.

AIDS and YOU Introduction: AIDS is a life and death issue. To have the AIDS disease is at present a sentence of slow but inevitable death. I’ve already lost one friend to AIDS. I may soon lose others. My own sexual behavior and that of many of my friends has been profoundly altered by it. In my part of the country, one man in 10 may already be carrying the AIDS virus. While the figures may currently be less in much of the rest of the country, this is changing rapidly. There currently is neither a cure, nor even an effective treatment, and no vaccine either. But there are things that have been PROVEN immensely effective in slowing the spread of this hideously lethal disease. In this essay I hope to present this information.American Health & Fitness Essay.

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History and Overview: AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Defficiency Disease. It is caused by a virus. The disease originated somewhere in Africa about 20 years ago. There it first appeared as a mysterious ailment afflicting primarily heterosexuals of both sexes. It probably was spread especially fast by primarily female prostitutes there. AIDS has already become a crisis of STAGGERING proportions in parts of Africa. In Zaire, it is estimated that over twenty percent of the adults currently carry the virus. That figure is increasing. And what occurred there will, if no cure is found, most likely occur here among heterosexual folks. AIDS was first seen as a disease of gay males in this country. This was a result of the fact that gay males in this culture in the days before AIDS had an average of 200 to 400 new sexual contacts per year. This figure was much higher than common practice among heterosexual (straight) men or women.American Health & Fitness Essay.

In addition, it turned out that rectal sex was a particularly effective way to transmit the disease, and rectal sex is a common practice among gay males. For these reasons, the disease spread in the gay male population of this country immensely more quickly than in other populations. It became to be thought of as a “gay disease”. Because the disease is spread primarily by exposure of ones blood to infected blood or semen, I.V. drug addicts who shared needles also soon were identified as an affected group. As the AIDS epidemic began to affect increasingly large fractions of those two populations (gay males and IV drug abusers), many of the rest of this society looked on smugly, for both populations tended to be despised by the “mainstream” of society here. But AIDS is also spread by heterosexual sex. In addition, it is spread by blood transfusions.American Health & Fitness Essay.

New born babies can acquire the disease from infected mothers during pregnancy. Gradually more and more “mainstream” folks got the disease. Most recently, a member of congress died of the disease. Finally, even the national news media began to join in the task of educating the public to the notion that AIDS can affect everyone. Basic medical research began to provide a few bits of information, and some help.

The virus causing the disease was isolated and identified. The AIDS virus turned out to be a very unusual sort of virus. Its genetic material was not DNA, but RNA. When it infected human cells, it had its RNA direct the synthesis of viral DNA. While RNA viruses are not that uncommon, very few RNA viruses reproduce by setting up the flow of information from RNA to DNA. Such reverse or “retro” flow of information does not occur at all in any DNA virus or any other living things. Hence, the virus was said to belong to the rar group of virues called “Retro Viruses”. Research provided the means to test donated blood for the presence of the antibodies to the virus, astronomically reducing the chance of ones getting AIDS from a blood transfusion. This was one of the first real breakthroughs. The same discoveries that allowed us to make our blood bank blood supply far safer also allowed us to be able to tell (in most cases) whether one has been exposed to the AIDS virus using a simple blood test.

The Types of AIDS Infection: When the AIDS virus gets into a person’s body, the results can be broken down into three general types of situations: AIDS disease, ARC, and asymptomatic seropositive condition. The AIDS disease is characterized by having one’s immune system devastated by the AIDS virus. One is said to have the *disease* if one contracts particular varieties (Pneumocystis, for example) of pneumonia, or one of several particular varieties of otherwise rare cancers (Kaposi’s Sarcoma, for example). This *disease* is inevitably fatal. Death occurs often after many weeks or months of expensive and painful hospital care. Most folks with the disease can transmit it to others by sexual contact or other exposure of an uninfected person’s blood to the blood or semen of the infected person. There is also a condition referred to as ARC (“Aids Related Complex”). In this situation, one is infected with the AIDS virus and one’s immune system is compromised, but not so much so that one gets the (ultimately lethal) cancers or pneumonias of the AIDS disease.

One tends to be plagued by frequent colds, enlarged lymph nodes, and the like. This condition can go on for years. One is likely to be able to infect others if one has ARC. Unfortunately, all those with ARC are currently felt to eventually progess to getting the full blown AIDS disease. There are, however, many folks who have NO obvious signs of disease what so ever, but when their blood serum is tested they show positive evidence of having been exposed to the virus. This is on the basis of the fact that antibodies to the AIDS virus are found in their blood. Such “asymptomatic but seropositive” folks may or may not carry enough virus to be infectious. Most sadly, though, current research and experience with the disease would seem to indicate that EVENTUALLY, nearly all folks who are seropostive will develop the full blown AIDS disease. There is one ray of hope here: It may in some cases take up to 15 years or more between one’s becoming seropositive for the AIDS virus and one’s developing the disease. Thus, all those millions (soon to be tens and hundreds of millions) who are now seropositive for AIDS are under a sentence of death, but a sentence that may not be carried out for one or two decades in a significan fraction of cases. Medical research holds the possibility of commuting that sentence, or reversing it.American Health & Fitness Essay.

There is one other fact that needs to be mentioned here because it is highly significant in determining recommendations for safe sexual conduct which will be discussed below: Currently, it is felt that after exposure to the virus, most folks will turn seropositive for it (develop a positive blood test for it) within four months. It is currently felt that if you are sexually exposed to a person with AIDS and do not become seropositive within six months after that exposure, you will never become seropositive as a result of that exposure. Just to confuse the issue a little, there are a few folks whose blood shows NO antibodies to the virus, but from whom live virus has been cultured. Thus, if one is serongative, it is not absolute proof one is not exposed to the virus. This category of folks is very hard to test for, and currently felt to be quite rare. Some even speculate that such folks may be rare examples of those who are immune to the effects of the virus, but this remains speculation. It is not known if such folks can also transmit the virus. Transmission of AIDS: The AIDS virus is extremely fragile, and is killed by exposure to mild detergents or to chlorox, among other things. AIDS itself may be transmitted by actual virus particles, or by the transmission of living human cells that contain AIDS viral DNA already grafted onto the human DNA. Or both. Which of these two mechanisms is the main one is not known as I write this essay. But the fact remains that it is VERY hard to catch AIDS unless one engages in certain specific activities. What will NOT transmit AIDS? Casual contact (shaking hands, hugging, sharing tools) cannot transmit AIDS. Although live virus has been recovered from saliva of AIDS patients, the techniques used to do this involved concentrating the virus to extents many thousands of times greater than occurs in normal human contact, such as kissing (including “deep” or “French” kissing). Thus, there remains no solid evidence that even “deep” kissing can transmit AIDS. Similarly, there is no evidence that sharing food or eating utensils with an AIDS patient can transmit the virus.American Health & Fitness Essay.

The same is true for transmission by sneezing or coughing. There just is no current evidence that the disease can be transmitted that way.The same may be true even for BITING,though here there may be some increased (though still remote) chance of transmitting the disease. The above is very important. It means that there is NO medical reason WHAT SO EVER to recommend tha AIDS suffers or AIDS antibody positive folks be quarrantined. Such recommendations are motivated either by ignorance or by sinister desires to set up concentration camps. Combined with the fact that the disease is already well established in this country, the above also means that there is no rational medical basis for immigration laws preventing visits by AIDS suffers or antibody positive persons. The above also means that friends and family and coworkers of AIDS patients and seropostive persons have nothing to fear from such casual contact. There is no reason to not show your love or concern for a friend with AIDS by embracing the person. Indeed, there appears still to be NO rational basis for excluding AIDS suffers from food preparation activity. Even if an AIDS suffer cuts his or her finger and bleeds into the salad or soup, most of the cells and virus will die, in most cases, before the food is consumed. In addition, it is extremely difficult to get successfully attacked by AIDS via stuff you eat. AIDS cannot be transmitted by the act of GIVING blood to a blood bank. All equipment used for such blood donation is sterile, and is used just once, and then discarded. How is AIDS transmitted? Sexual activity is one of the primary ways AIDS is transmitted. AIDS is transmitted particulary by the transmission of blood or semen of an infected person into contact with the blood of an uninfected person. Sex involving penetration of the penis into either the vagina of a woman or the rectum of either a woman or a man has a very high risk of transmitting the disease. It is felt to be about four times MORE likely for an infected male to transmit AIDS to an uninfected woman in the course of vaginal sex than it is likely for an infected woman to transmit AID to an uninfected male. This probably relates to the greater area of moist tissue in a woman’s vagina, and to the relative liklihood of microscopic tears to occur in that tissue during sex. But the bottom line is that AIDS can be transmitted in EITHER direction in the case of heterosexual sex. Transmission among lesbians (homosexual females) is rare. Oral sex is an extremely common form of sexual activity among both gay and straight folks. Such activity involves contact of infected semen or vaginal secretions with the mouth, esophagus (the tube that connects the mouth with the stomach) and the stomach. AIDS virus and infected cells most certainly cannot survive the acid environment of the stomach. Yet, it is still felt that there is a chance of catching the disease by having oral sex with an infected person. The chance is probably a lot smaller than in the case of vaginal or rectal sex, but is still felt to be significant. As mentioned above, AIDS is also transmitted among intravenous drug users by the sharing of needles. Self righteous attitudes by the political “leaders” of this country at local, state, and national levels have repeatedly prevented the very rational approach of providing free access to sterile intravenous equipment for IV drug users. This measure, when taken promptly in Amsterdam, was proven to greatly and SIGNIFICANTLY slow the spread of the virus in that population. The best that rational medical workers have succeeded in doing here in San Francisco is distribute educational leaflets and cartoons to the I.V. drug abusing population instructing them in the necessity of their rinsing their “works” with chlorox before reusing the same needle in another person. Note that even if you don’t care what happens to I.V. drug abusers, the increase in the nuber of folks carrying the virus ultimately endangers ALL living persons. Thus, the issue is NOT what you morally think of I.V. drug addicts, but one of what is the most rational way to slow the spread of AIDS in all populations. Testing of donated blood for AIDS has massivly reduced the chance of catching AIDS from blood transfusions. But a very small risk still remains. To further reduce that risk, efforts have been made to use “autotransfusions” in cases of “elective surgery” (surgery that can be planned months in advance). Autotransfusion involves the patient storing their own blood a couple of weeks prior to their own surgery, to be used during the surgery if needed. Similary, setting up donations of blood from friends and family known to be antibody negative and at low risk for AIDS prior to schedualed surgery further can decrease the already small risks from transfusion. AIDS and SEX: What are the rational options? The “sexual revolution” of the 1960’s has been stopped dead in its tracks by the AIDS epidemic. The danger of contracting AIDS is so real now that it has massively affected the behavior of both gay and straight folks who formerly had elected to lead an active sexual life that included numerous new sexual contacts. Abstinence The safest option regarding AIDS and sex is total abstinence from all sexual contact. For those who prefer to indulge in sexual contact, this is often far too great a sacrifice. But it IS an option to be considered. Safe Sex For those who wish to have sexual contact with folks on a relatively casual basis, there have been devised rules for “safe sex”. These rules are very strict, and will be found quite objectionable by most of us who have previously enjoyed unrestricted sex. But to violate these rules is to risk unusually horrible death. Once one gets used to them, tho, the rule for “safe sex” do allow for quite acceptable sexual enjoyment in most cases. For those who wish to indulge in pentration of the vagina or rectum by a penis: The penis MUST be sheathed in a condom or “rubber”. This must be done “religiously”, and NO exceptions are allowed. A condom must be used by a man even when he is receiving oral sex. Cunnilingus (oral stimulation of a womans gentitals by the mouth of a lover) is NOT considerd to be safe sex. Safe sex includes mutual masturbation, and the stimultion of one genitals by another’s hand (provided there are no cuts in the skin on that hand). But manual stimulation of another’s genitals is NOT safe if one has cuts on one’s hands, unless one is wearing a glove. American Health & Fitness Essay.

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