An online treatment system for patients suffering with panic disorder and anxiety problems combine biofeedback therapy with web technologies and allows patients and medical professionals to communicate effectively, according to research published in the International Journal of Business Intelligence and Data Mining.

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 a system they say will have a “pivotal impact” on the healthcare industry.

The increasing pace of life, the industrialisation 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 hospitalisation 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 the problem persists 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 healthcare worker 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 healthcare 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.”

“Intelligent panic disorder treatment by using biofeedback analysis and web technologies” in Int. J. Business Intelligence and Data Mining, 2010, 5, 77-93 http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJBIDM.2010.030300

Source: Vincent Tseng
Inderscience Publishers

The mutation responsible for the alcohol flush reaction, an unpleasant response to alcohol that is relatively common in people of Asian descent, may have occurred following the domestication of rice. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology traced the history of the version of the gene responsible, finding that the ADH1B*47His allele appeared around the same time that rice was first cultivated in southern China.

Bing Su, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, worked with a team of researchers to study 38 populations (2,275 individuals) including Han Chinese, Tibetan and other ethnic populations across China. He said, “Our molecular dating suggests that the emergence of the ADH1B*47His allele occurred about 10,000-7,000 years ago. The geographic distribution of the allele in East Asia is also consistent with the unearthed culture relic sites of rice domestication in China, suggesting that distribution of the alcohol flush mutation can be explained by the origin and expansion of the Neolithic rice culture. This is one of the few cases reported demonstrating the genetic adaptation of human populations to the dramatic changes in agriculture and diet during Neolithic times”.

Rice was fermented to gain the benefits of ethanol’s combined analgesic, disinfectant and profound mind-altering effects. In addition, fermentation can help to preserve and enhance the nutritional value of food and drink. Su and his colleagues believe that the flushing response may be an adaptation to counter the negative effects of alcohol consumption. They write, “Individuals carrying ADH1B*47His have a lower risk for alcoholism, as the unpleasant reaction they experience can influence drinking behavior and so protect them from overconsumption. The allele can also protect their organs from the damage caused by alcohol consumption”.

Notes:
The ADH1B Arg47His polymorphism in East Asian populations and expansion of rice domestication in history
Yi Peng, Hong Shi, Xue-bin Qi, Chun-jie Xiao, Hua Zhong, Run-lin Z Ma and Bing Su
BMC Evolutionary Biology (in press)
Article available at journal website: http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcevolbiol/

Source: Graeme Baldwin
BioMed Central

More than 200 ShelterBoxes filled with disaster relief tents and emergency supplies are set to arrive in Port au Prince, Haiti later today.

256 ShelterBoxes that were dispatched from the prepositioned stock in Curacoa on Wednesday are due to touch down in Haiti late this afternoon, Haitian time, providing the plane they are on is cleared to land. However, the situation in Port au Prince is extremely fluid and logistics are changing minute by minute.
Aid workers for the international disaster relief charity ShelterBox have been in Port au Prince since Thursday and have been working around the clock assessing the most effective ways to distribute the much needed aid. The ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members David Eby (US), Wayne Robinson (US) and Mark Pearson (UK) says the situation on the ground is frantic but they are doing all they can to make sure they deliver aid into Port au Prince as quickly as they can.

Mark Pearson, who was one of the first on the ground in the Indian Ocean Tsunami, said: ‘This is worse than the Tsunami. It’s utter chaos at the airport. Buildings have been completely destroyed, the hospital has been destroyed. It’s a full scale emergency, there’s so much destruction.

‘The priority at the moment is search and rescue and then after that emergency shelter provision, so obviously there’s frustration. There’s no fuel and people are hunting for water. It’s difficult to but the scale of destruction into words.’

A second Response Team, consisting of SRT members Mark Dyer and John Lacquey (both US), are in Miami, USA coordinating the ShelterBox logistical effort into Haiti from there. They will be joined later today by SRT member Ian Neal (UK) who will be travelling with the ShelterBoxes which are being shipped through Miami.

Before he left the UK, Ian said: ‘I’m tasked with delivering emergency shelter to people affected by the earthquake. I’m just focusing on the good we can do.

‘Every disaster comes with shocking images but I’m going to focus on giving help to the people who have survived the earthquake. We’re just waiting for the ShelterBoxes to arrive which should be very soon.’

A Virgin Atlantic flight, loaded with ShelterBoxes, left the UK today heading for Miami. Virgin Atlantic are flying ShelterBoxes out of London Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester airports. Volunteers at ShelterBox UK have worked through the night packing boxes and will still be in full swing throughout the weekend.

ShelterBox’s Head of Operations, John Leach, added: ‘We’re doing all we can both here and in Port au Prince to clear the plane from Curacao for landing and we’re also awaiting confirmation that the 70 boxes sent from El Salvador have arrived.

‘The efforts of ShelterBox volunteers and supporters around the world is a true testament to the organisation. The job of getting aid to Haiti is well underway but there’s more hard work ahead. Please help in anyway if you can.’

Another 1,000 ShelterBoxes were being packed through the night to be ready for shipment to Haiti this weekend.

Source
ShelterBox

The site is user friendly but does not include “English” option!

Since I am in a mission to find a solution for my eye problems, I tried to look up the info for that

I clicked on Dr. Samia AlMutawa and I got to a page that lists her info, clinic address, contact details, and what others think of her (ratings)

The site also includes general info about better life with regards to health, and also a link with info on swine flue, smoking, obesity, and more!

There are also contact details and info of different pharmacies, nurses (for home services), and labs.

It is still in the early stages, nevertheless its aVERY useful site!

Source: http://ansam518.wordpress.com