Glider

Hmmm.. It put me South-West of the intersect, right between Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama.

The term 'pathology' applies to both. In a physical pathology (e.g. disease) the effects or symptoms are manifested physically (lesions, elevated temp., dysfunctional organs etc..). In psychopathology the the symptoms are manifested behaviourally (affective disorders, hallucinations, maladaptive behaviours etc..) and are not directly damaging to the physical body (suicide and self-harm notwithstanding). Having said that, I don't believe there is any psychological condition or state that does not have its base in neurological function (or dysfunction), so in a sense, psychopathologies can be said to be physically based, it's just that their most direct effects are not.

Do we get to put him in the jungle somewhere now?

The phospholipid bilayer of animal cells is very fluid on its own. It is reinforced by 'plates' of cholesterol which buffer the motion of the phospholipid molecules, which are spinning like ballerinas, and occasionally will even flip from one layer to the other. Without these cholesterol plates, the cell membrane would have little more integrity than the meniscus layer of water. As Skye said, cell integrity is further helped by the cytoskeleton, and also the proximity of other cells and support tissues. The whole lot is helped further by the intra and intercellular pressure being slightly less than one atmosphere, so air pressure helps maintain tissue tone also.

Pay day

...

Why? In what way is this relevant to the thread?

Some sharks sleep (become dormant, rest on the bottom and do not have to keep swimming). Others do need to keep swimming (i.e. they don't have the ability to pump water through their gills and must relay on their own motion to maintain flow), but still enter a sleep-like state. They manage to keep swimming the same way we manage to keep breathing when we are asleep. Sharks don't have swim bladders so those that can pump water over their gills (e.g. Grey Nurse shark) must rest on the bottom when asleep, unlike other fish which can maintain neutral buoyancy. Dolphins are interesting in that as they can't rest on the bottom to sleep, they have evolved a mechanism by which each hemisphere of their brain sleeps separately.

I think the only legitimate solution to this question would be to present the case to the survivors and ask them. I don't think anyone else has a right to presume what the victims of those experiments would want done with the data.

I designed mine for the cover of a course outline booklet that was given to students taking the MSc in Health Psychology (I was teaching the Physiology and Psychology of Pain module as part of that course at the time). I thought the caduseus wrapped around the symbol for psychology (Psi) summed up the course nicely, but the image turned out so well (I think), that I kept it and use it here because it sums up my area of interest equally well.

Yeah, good point. The way scientist stereotypes are presented doesn't help at all. I know quite a few scientists too, and none of them fit the stereotype either. Well, one does, but he was weird long before he was a scientist. I agree also with MishMish and Photovet. I think critical thinking needs to be introduced in schools. It is a skill which is developed through practice, and so cannot really be taught, but an early introduction into the principles would certainly help.

Yes, I can understand that. I don't think it excuses innacuracy in reporting research though. I think that often, the media are attracted by a title, or some other 'catchy' element of research, and write it up without fully understanding it themselves. This is also understandable, but no more excusable when what the public often receive at the end of the process is misleading rubbish, which defeats the object of 'smartening up the public'.

I agree with that absolutely! The media always use the excuse that they're 'making it accessible to the public', which loosely translates as 'cutting all ties with reality and sensationalising it to sell copy'.

Good luck to both of you! (...of course, the scientific response to that would be: "Luck is NOT a factor!)

Maybe the latter is a function of the former?

The bit in contact with the road wants to be doing exactly 0 in relation to the road, or you is gonna wake up with a crowd around you after you hit your first corner. This being the case, the topmost point wants to be doing exactly twice the speed (of the vehicle) in the opposite direction, or your tyre will rip itself apart and once again, you'll wake up in a strange place among strange people (an unnerving experience, trust me).

1) Angina is a condition. It can result from a number of different causes, coronary heart disease being the major one. 2) to 15) I haven't the first idea.

The topmost point of any of the wheels is moving 120mph. The bottom most point of the wheel (the bit in contact with the road) is stationary, relative to the road. It's easier to imagine if you think of a tank track. The top part of the track must be moving forward at twice the speed of the tank, relative to the ground, whilst the bottom part is stationary, relative to the ground.

Everybody needs a hobby.

Ah yes, I do remember: Reisner A.D. (2003) The Electroconvulsive Therapy Controversy: Evidence and Ethics. <I>Neuropsychology Review.</I> 13 (4). 199-219. Abstract: The author reviews literature pertaining to the efficacy and safety of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), with emphasis on the controversy concerning whether ECT causes brain damage. ECT does appear to be effective in the treatment of severe depression and possibly mania. The types of memory problems caused by ECT are discussed, and evidence suggests that most of these deficits are transitory. Although most evidence points toward modern ECT not causing brain damage, there are still some findings that raise questions about safety. Ethical issues involving this treatment's use, its availability to the public, and informed consent procedures are discussed. As for ECT being very painful, I can find no refence to ECT being a particularly unpleasant procedure (probably due to the anaesthesia: See previous post). What I did find was quite interesting however. It seems there is a large body of evidence to show that ECT, rather than being overly unpleasant and painful, is actually effective in controlling certain chronic pain conditions. I.e. it appears to have significant analgesic effects. For example: <B>Rasmussen K.G.; Rummans T.A. (2000). Electroconvulsive therapy for phantom limb pain. <I>Pain. </I>85 (1), 297-299. </B> Abstract: Phantom limb pain is common in amputees. Although several treatments are available, a significant number of patients are refractory. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which is usually given to patients with psychiatric disorders such as major depression, has shown efficacy in patients with a variety of pain syndromes occurring along with depression. Two patients are described herein with severe phantom limb pain refractory to multiple therapies, without concurrent psychiatric disorder, who received ECT. Both patients enjoyed substantial pain relief. In one case, phantom pain was still in remission 3.5 years after ECT. It is concluded that phantom limb patients who are refractory to multiple therapies may respond to ECT. Other examples: Wasan A.D.; Artin K.; Clark M.R., (2004). A Case-Matching Study of the Analgesic Properties of Electroconvulsive Therapy. <I>Pain Medicine</I>, 5 (1) 50-58. Rasmussen K.G., (2003). The Role of Electroconvulsive Therapy in Chronic Pain. <I>Analgesia</I>. 7 (1) 61-68. Fukui S.; Nosaka S., (2002). Changes in regional cerebral blood flow in the thalamus after electroconvulsive therapy for patients with central post-stroke pain. <I>The Pain Clinic</I>, 14 (3), 273-276. Fukui S.; Shigemori S.; Komoda Y.; Yamada N.; Nosaka S., (2002). Phantom pain with beneficial response to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) studied with Xenon-CT. <I>The Pain Clinic. </I>13 (4) 355-359. Fukui S.; Shigemori S.; Yamada N.; Nosaka S., (2002). Chronic neuropathic pain with beneficial response to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and regional cerebral blood flow changes assessed by SPECT. <I>The Pain Clinic</I>. 13 (4) 361-365. Canavero S.; Bonicalzi V., (2001). Electroconvulsive therapy and pain. <I>Pain</I>. 89 (2) 301-302. Rasmussen K.G.; Rummans T.A., (2000). Electroconvulsive therapy for phantom limb pain. <I>Pain. </I>85 (1) 297-299. McCance S.; Hawton K.; Brighouse D.; Glynn C., (1996). Does electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) have any role in the management of intractable thalamic pain? <I>Pain. </I>68 (1) 129-131.

Yes, that's what I had heard. I think there was some suggestion of a cumulative effect also, but that it was not permanent, and reversed once treatment had ceased.

Moreover, there's an increasing body of evidence to suggest that 'ultra-clean' environments are harmful in the long term. It has been suggested that being raised in a very clean environment denies the developing immune system the normal range of pathogens to work on and so it sensitizes to what's available, usually innocuous things like pollen, house dust and so-on, even our own bodies (autoimmune disorders are on the increase). It has been suggested that the increase in asthma and allergies and other immune disorders is the product of modern domestic hygene.

ECT is very effective and performed under anaesthesia. It does not hurt and is not dangerous. To use an analogy, it is the equivalent of a hard re-boot and is very effective in cutting short the depressive phase of bimodal depression. During the period when its efficacy was in doubt, a single-blind study was conducted in which all patients were given the anaesthesia, but half (placebo group) underwent sham treatment (everything up to but excluding the administration of current), whilst the other half underwent ECT. Perhaps the most salient result of that research was that a significant proportion of the placebo group went on to commit suicide through depression. There is some evidence of long term effects of repeated treatments on memory, but this is an area of debate as far as I know.

Isn't Oocyte just the biological term for egg?.

That's it exactly. At puberty, the larynx of males grows larger (giving the 'adams apple') and the vocal cords (which are simply folds of the lining of the larynx) thicken so the pitch drops, and the voice 'breaks'. This doesn't happen in females, so the voice remains at a higher pitch. Wear and tear (smoking, shouting etc.) also thicken the membranes lowering the pitch.