Saturday, 6 October 2007

EMOTIONS

/////////////Brain areas related to emotion
Emotions are thought to be related to activity in brain areas that direct our attention, motivate our behavior, and determine the significance of what is going on around us. Pioneering work by Broca (1878), Papez (1937), and MacLean (1952) suggested that emotion is related to a group of structures in the center of the brain called the limbic system, which includes the hypothalamus, cingulate cortex, hippocampi, and other structures. More recent research has shown that some of these limbic structures are not as directly related to emotion as others are, while some non-limbic structures have been found to be of greater emotional relevance. The following brain structures are currently thought to be most involved in emotion:
Amygdala — The amygdalae are two small, round structures located anterior to the hippocampi near the temporal poles. The amygdalae are involved in detecting and learning what parts of our surroundings are important and have emotional significance. They are critical for the production of emotion, and may be particularly so for negative emotions, especially fear.
Prefrontal cortex — The term prefrontal cortex refers to the very front of the brain, behind the forehead and above the eyes. It appears to play a critical role in the regulation of emotion and behavior by anticipating the consequences of our actions. The prefrontal cortex may play an important role in delayed gratification by maintaining emotions over time and organizing behavior toward specific goals.
Anterior cingulate — The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is located in the middle of the brain, just behind the prefrontal cortex. The ACC is thought to play a central role in attention, and may be particularly important with regard to conscious, subjective emotional awareness. This region of the brain may also play an important role in the initiation of motivated behavior.
Ventral striatum — The ventral striatum is a group of subcortical structures thought to play an important role in emotion and behavior. One part of the ventral striatum called the nucleus accumbens is thought to be involved in the experience of goal-directed positive emotion. Individuals with addictions experience increased activity in this area when they encounter the object of their addiction.
Insula — The insular cortex is thought to play a critical role in the bodily experience of emotion, as it is connected to other brain structures that regulate the body’s autonomic functions (heart rate, breathing, digestion, etc.). This region also processes taste information and is thought to play an important role in experiencing the emotion of disgust.







///////////////////The brain is steeped in a neurochemical cocktail that changes during the different stages of sleep, Walker notes. The neurotransmitter glutamate revs up the brain, causing neural transmission, whereas the neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid suppresses neural activity. The impact of these two chemicals is fine-tuned by neuromodulators including acetylcholine, serotonin, and noradrenaline (also known as norepinephrine).
"When we're awake, these three neuromodulators are all swilling around the brain in fairly high concentrations," Walker says. "But as we start to fall asleep, they start to decrease in concentration." Acetylcholine drops to its lowest levels during dreamless sleep. During the transition to dreaming sleep, noradrenaline and serotonin levels remain low, but the acetylcholine level begins to rise, reaching twice the waking level in some parts of the brain. The body cycles several times between dreaming and nondreaming sleep throughout the night.
The three neuromodulators are probably intricately involved in the impact of sleep on memory, Walker notes, though for now, that's just an educated guess. "People know a lot about the brain chemistry of sleep, and people know a lot about the brain chemistry of memory," he says. "But very few people have started to try and put those two fields together to understand why sleep seems to offer these benefits to memory. We're really just starting to scratch the surface now."







/////////////////// certainly don't mean to imply that these VMPO patients are psychopaths. But their inability to decipher their emotions does leave them with a distinctly consequentialist view of morality:
Those with ventromedial injuries were about twice as likely as other participants to say they would push someone in front of the train (if that was the only option), or suffocate a baby whose crying would reveal to enemy soldiers where the subject and family and friends were hiding.
The difference was very clear for all the ventromedial patients, said Dr. Michael Koenigs, a neuroscientist at the National Institutes of Health who led the study while at the University of Iowa. After repeatedly endorsing killing in these high-conflict situations, Dr. Koenigs said, one patient told him, "Jeez, I've turned into a killer."
Fore more on the etiology of psychopathic tendencies, I'd recommend The Psychopath: Emotion and the Brain, by James Blair, et. al.







///////////////////////PPL PAY MORE ATTN TO ANIMALS THAN VEHICLES







///////////////////ABANDONMENT





/////////////////MONISM IS ADAITABAD







/////////////////////BRAIN IN A VAT







///////////////////IF SNEEZING SLOW DOWN CAR







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f you're unskilled or semi-skilled in this country, you're generally paid by the hour- e.g., $5.15/hour to serve hamburgers at McDonald's. If you have middle-class skills, you're paid by the month or year- e.g., $39,000/year to teach high school in San Francisco. But if you're lucky enough to be born into the upper class, you'll be "paid" once in your life, namely when you inherit a trust fund or estate of some millions of dollars of stocks, bonds, real estate, and other assets.
Parallel to the time frames by which one is "paid" are the time frames with which life is viewed. For a truly poor person, life is coped with day by day. A middle-class person has the means to think further ahead: to next summer's vacation, or a down payment for a house. But a truly rich person, being freed from day-to-day or even year-to-year financial anxieties, can plan a whole lifetime with the assurance of prosperity; the goal is to assure similar prosperity for grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Thus, the poor live and plan by the day, and the rich, by the lifetime.







/////////////////DUMMY PREVENTS SIDS-BUT AVOID UNDER 1 MO AGE





////////////////SMALL CAR<4k>


//////////////CYCLIC BRANE COLLISIONS



Dark energy was only observationally confirmed in 1999 and it was a huge surprise for the inflationary picture. There is no rhyme or reason for its existence in that picture: dark energy plays no role in the early universe, according to inflationary theory. Whereas in the cyclic model, dark energy is vital, because it is the decay of dark energy which leads to the next Big Bang.
This picture of cyclic brane collisions actually resolves one of the longest-standing puzzles in cyclic models. The idea of a cyclic model isn't new: Friedmann and others pictured a cyclic model back in the 1930's. They envisaged a finite universe which collapsed and bounced over and over again. But Richard Tolman soon pointed out that, actually, it wouldn't remove the problem of having to have a beginning. The reason those cyclic models didn't work is that every bounce makes more radiation and that means the universe has more stuff in it. According to Einstein's equations, this makes the universe bigger after each bounce, so that every cycle lasts longer than the one before it. But, tracing back to the past, the duration of each bounce gets shorter and shorter and the duration of the cycles shrinks to zero, meaning that the universe still had to begin a finite time ago. An eternal cyclic model was impossible, in the old framework. What is new about our model is that by employing dark energy and by having an infinite universe, which dilutes away the radiation and matter after every bang, you actually can have an eternal cyclic universe, which could last forever.



////////////////////SPRAINS=RX RICE=REST,ICE,COMPRESSN,ELEVN




////////////////KOOL=KICK OUT OF LF



/////////////////WHEN THE SECONDS COUNT,WE ARE THERE IN MINUTES-EM SERVICES



//////////////Risk homeostasis is a psychological theory developed by Gerald J.S. Wilde, a professor emeritus of psychology at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. This theory is fleshed out in Wilde's book1.
The theory of risk homeostasis states that an individual has an inbuilt target level of acceptable risk which does not change. This level varies between individuals. When the level of acceptable risk in one part of the individual's life changes; there will be a corresponding rise/drop in acceptable risk elsewhere. The same, argues Wilde, is true of larger human systems (e.g. a population of drivers).
For example, in the famous Munich taxicab study, half of a fleet of cabs were equipped with antilock braking system (ABS) brakes, while the other half had older brake systems. The accident rate for both types of car (ABS and non-ABS) remained the same, because ABS-car drivers took more risks, assuming that ABS would take care of them. They raised their risk taking, assuming the ABS would then lower the real risks, leaving their "target level" of risk unchanged. The non-ABS drivers drove the same way, thinking that they had to be more careful, since ABS would not be there to help in case of a dangerous situation.




////////////////////BB=ULTIMATE FREE LUNCH=STONT






//////////////////////240K MILES FAR IS MOON-FURTHEST JRNY BY MAN




//////////////////////Mechanics of Meditation: Stillness, Posture, Attention, CDS




//////////////////////UNIVERSE EX-NIHILIO



/////////////////////FATE=FIND AT THE END



///////////////////SIDHU JETHAR DIARY




////////////////////Personal finance rule of thumb says do not lend money you cannot afford to lose



/////////////////Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space. - Douglas Adams
Indecision may or may not be my problem. - Jimmy Buffett
There's a whiff of the lynch mob or the lemming migration about any overlarge concentration of like-thinking individuals, no matter how virtuous their cause. - PJ O'Rourke




////////////////Buddhist Prayer for Peace
May all beings everywhere plaguedwith sufferings of body and mindquickly be freed from their illnesses.May those frightened cease to be afraid,and may those bound be free.May the powerless find power,and may people think of befriendingone another.May those who find themselves in trackless,fearful wilderness ~the children, the age, the unprotected ~be guarded by beneficial celestials,and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood

/////////////////By becoming attached to names and forms, not realising that they have no more basis than the activities of the mind itself, error rises and the way to emancipation is blocked. -Buddha




//////////////////AUTISM

Christopher discovers the dead body of Wellington, his neighbour's poodle, speared by a garden fork. Having been blamed for it, he decides to investigate to clear his name. However, he is severely limited by his fears and difficulties when interpreting the world around him. Throughout his adventures, Christopher records his experiences in a book, entitled The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. During his investigation, Christopher meets people whom he has never before encountered, even though they live on the same street.
Ed, his father, discovers the book and confiscates it from Christopher, after a brief fight between them. In his search for the hidden book, Christopher uncovers a trove of letters to himself from his mother, dated after she allegedly died — which his father had also concealed. Christopher had been told by Ed that she died of a heart attack, but judging from the letters, Christopher concludes that she is still alive and that his father has lied to him. He is so thoroughly shocked by this fact that he is unable to move, curls up on the bed, vomits, and groans for several hours until his father returns home.
Ed realises that Christopher has read the letters and cleans him up. He then confesses that he had indeed lied about Judy's death and also that it was he who killed Wellington, stating that it was a mistake due to his anger after a heated argument with Mrs Shears.
Christopher, having lost all trust in his father and fearing that he may also try to kill him since he had already killed Wellington, decides to escape from home and live with his mother. Guided by his mother's address from the letters, he embarks on an adventurous trip to London, where his mother lives with Mr Shears.
After a long and confusing journey, evading policemen who have been dispatched to find him (due to Ed, who called the police about his disappearance), and feeling ill due to the overwhelming information from the crowds and the signs in the trains, he finally finds his way to his mother and Mr Shears' home, and waits outside until they arrive.
His mother is happy at his appearance and tries to keep him with her, despite the objections of both Mr Shears and Ed, the latter having tracked Christopher down with the aid of the police. His mother eventually leaves Mr Shears, their relationship apparently broken down because of the conflict over Christopher.
She then moves into a rented room in Swindon and, after an argument with Ed, agrees to let Ed meet with Christopher daily for a little while. However, at this stage, Christopher remains terrified of his father; he hopes Ed will be imprisoned for killing Wellington. The story ends with Ed getting Christopher a pet dog, because Toby,Christopher's pet rat, had died, and promising that he will rebuild trust with Christopher slowly, "no matter how long it takes," in his daily, brief sessions, and Christopher asserting that he will take further A-level exams and attend university. He completes his first mathematics A-level with top grades, with his ultimate goal to become a scientist.




//////////////////NREM SLEEP-LESS ACTIVE BRAIN



/////////////////WAKING UP-NE,SEROTONIN FILLING UP




/////////////////The Namesake describes the struggles between two first generation Indian immigrants, from West Bengal, to the United States, Ashima Ganguli (Tabu) and Ashoke Ganguli (Irfan Khan), and their children, Gogol (Kal Penn) and Sonali (Sonia) (Sahira Nair). The featured locales are Kolkata, India, Queens, New York, and the New York City suburbs of Nyack and Oyster Bay.
The story begins as Ashoke and Ashima leave Culcutta and settle in New York City. Through a series of miscues, their son's nickname, Gogol (named after Ukrainian author Nikolai Gogol), becomes his official birth name, an event which will shape many aspects of his life. The film uses Gogol's struggles over his name as a jumping off point to explore large issues of integration, assimilation and cultural identity. The film chronicles Gogol's cross-cultural experiences and his exploration of his Indian heritage, as the story shifts between the United States and India. Gogol eventually meets and falls in love with two women, Maxine (Jacinda Barrett) and Moushumi (Zuleikha Robinson), while his parents struggle to understand his modern, American perspectives on dating, marriage and love.
It is ultimately a story of American-born Gogol, the son of Indian immigrants, wanting to fit in among his fellow New Yorkers, despite his family's unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways. Ultimately, the viewer and Gogol himself gains a better understanding of the individual in Indian and Indian-American culture.


NAMESAKE



/////////////////////HOW BRAIN CHANGES MIND



///////////////////ephedrine nose drops CAN BE USED FOR NOSE BLOCK-0.25%,NOT 0.5%




//////////////////YOUNGER TO START SMOKING,MORE LIKELY TO DIE OF IT




///////////////1883=KRAKATOA,INDONESIA-VOLCANO-LARGEST HEARD BANG IN HISTORY



//////////////////“Be nice to geeks, you’ll probably end up working for one” was said by Bill Gates




////////////////////MIDGAMES-D BROWN





/////////////////Myth #1: The engine should be warmed up before driving. Reality: Idling is not an effective way to warm up your vehicle, even in cold weather. The best way to do this is to drive the vehicle. With today's modern engines, you need no more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days before driving away.





////////////////////RISE ABOVE,LOOK BEYOND



///////////////////HOGZILLA




//////////////////Salmonellosis has been recognized as one of the major public-health problems in many parts of the world, and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is the commonest serotype encountered in most geographical situations (1). Endemicity of Salmonella has been shown to be maintained through a cyclic order from man to the environment and vice-versa (2). Explosive outbreak due to a common-source contamination is rather a rare event, and person-to-person transmission has been believed to be operating in the spread of S. enterica serovar Typhimurium (3-5).
Symptomatic and asymptomatic persons in the community usually transmit salmonellosis. However, the exact mode of its transmission has not so far been elucidated. The present study was an attempt to determine the modes of transmission of S. enterica serovar Typhimurium in the endemic community of Kolkata, West Bengal, India.


INTRAFAMILIAL TRANSMISSION



///////////////////6 = 1 + 2 + 3, 28 = 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14, 496 = 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + 31 + 62 + 124 + 248 8128 = 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + 32 + 64 + 127 + 254 + 508 + 1016 + 2032 + 4064


perfect numbers




////////////////NEXT TIME THINK OF THIS WHILE EATING MEAT






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