INFL

Thursday, November 14, 2013

More cancer, fewer deaths?

Study: more cancer, fewer deaths
Australians are now developing cancer at slightly higher rates but dying of the disease less often, according to University of Sydney research published in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA).
Professor Bruce Armstrong wrote the most notable trends in the latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) statistics were annual five to six percent rises in the incidence of hepatic and prostatic cancers and four to five percent falls in mortality from Hodgkin lymphoma and cervical and testicular cancers.
While the research shows we're doing well at preventing cancer deaths, we need to do more to prevent the disease in the first place.
Image: Lightspring/Shutterstock

"These examples reflect the annual trends in the rates of all cancers: increasing incidence of 0.7 percent and falling mortality of 1.4 percent," Professor Armstrong wrote.
Three factors drive trends in cancer incidence and mortality, he wrote.
"Changes in population exposure to cancer risk factors can increase or decrease cancer incidence and, after a delay, produce a parallel change in mortality. Liver cancer, which has shown an increasing annual incidence of 4.8 percent and increasing mortality of 3.0 percent, was an example of this."
Population screening that detects precancerous lesions can cause drops in both incidence and mortality.
"Cervical cancer shows this pattern, however, population screening that detects invasive cancer tends to increase incidence and decrease mortality," he said.
"The national prostate cancer screening program with PSA was an example of this pattern.
"Finally, in the absence of both incidence downtrend and any material effort at early diagnosis, treatment advances were the most likely contributor to mortality downtrend."
Professor Armstrong wrote that while Australia had done very well in preventing cancer deaths, the story was not so good in terms of primary prevention.
"Given that the data show 19 favourable and two adverse mortality trends, six favourable and 17 adverse incidence trends, this was an inescapable conclusion," Professor Armstrong wrote.
"This should come as no surprise: the AIHW estimated that in the 2004-05 financial year, Australia spent $3.19 billion on medical and hospital care and pharmaceuticals for cancer and $0.22 billion on community and public health programs — mostly for screening programs, not primary prevention. The imbalance is unlikely to be less now."
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Behavioral neuroscience

Behavioral neuroscience, also known as biological psychology, biopsychology, or psychobiology is the application of the principles of biology (in particular neurobiology), to the study of physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms of behavior in human and non-human animals. It typically investigates at the level of nerves, neurotransmitters, brain circuitry and the basic biological processes that underlie normal and abnormal behavior. Most typically, experiments in behavioral neuroscience involve non-human animal models (such as rats and mice, and non-human primates) which have implications for better understanding of human pathology and therefore contribute to evidence-based practice.


History

Behavioral neuroscience as a scientific discipline emerged from a variety of scientific and philosophical traditions in the 18th and 19th centuries. In philosophy, people like RenĂ© Descartes proposed physical models to explain animal and human behavior. Descartes, for example, suggested that the pineal gland, a midline unpaired structure in the brain of many organisms, was the point of contact between mind and body. Descartes also elaborated on a theory in which the pneumatics of bodily fluids could explain reflexes and other motor behavior. This theory was inspired by moving statues in a garden in Paris.
Other philosophers also helped give birth to psychology. One of the earliest textbooks in the new field, The Principles of Psychology by William James (1890), argues that the scientific study of psychology should be grounded in an understanding of biology:
Bodily experiences, therefore, and more particularly brain-experiences, must take a place amongst those conditions of the mental life of which Psychology need take account. The spiritualist and the associationist must both be 'cerebralists,' to the extent at least of admitting that certain peculiarities in the way of working of their own favorite principles are explicable only by the fact that the brain laws are a codeterminant of their result.
Our first conclusion, then, is that a certain amount of brain-physiology must be presupposed or included in Psychology.
James, like many early psychologists, had considerable training in physiology. The emergence of both psychology and behavioral neuroscience as legitimate sciences can be traced from the emergence of physiology from anatomy, particularly neuroanatomy. Physiologists conducted experiments on living organisms, a practice that was distrusted by the dominant anatomists of the 18th and 19th centuries. The influential work of Claude BernardCharles Bell, and William Harvey helped to convince the scientific community that reliable data could be obtained from living subjects.
The term "psychobiology" has been used in a variety of contexts,emphasizing the importance of biology, which is the discipline that studies organic, neural and cellular modifications in behavior, plasticity in neuroscience, and biological deceases in all aspects, in addition, biology focuses and analyzes behavior and all the subjects it is concerned about, from a scientific point of view. In this context, psychology helps as a complementary, but important discipline in the neurobiological sciences. The role of psychology in this questions is that of a social tool that backs up the main or strongest biological science. The term "psychobiology" was first used in its modern sense by Knight Dunlap in his book An Outline of Psychobiology (1914). Dunlap also was the founder and editor-in-chief of the journal Psychobiology. In the announcement of that journal, Dunlap writes that the journal will publish research "...bearing on the interconnection of mental and physiological functions", which describes the field of behavioral neuroscience even in its modern sense.

Relationship to other fields of psychology and biology


In many cases, humans may serve as experimental subjects in behavioral neuroscience experiments; however, a great deal of the experimental literature in behavioral neuroscience comes from the study of non-human species, most frequently rats, mice, and monkeys. As a result, a critical assumption in behavioral neuroscience is that organisms share biological and behavioral similarities, enough to permit extrapolations across species. This allies behavioral neuroscience closely with comparative psychologyevolutionary psychologyevolutionary biology, andneurobiology. Behavioral neuroscience also has paradigmatic and methodological similarities to neuropsychology, which relies heavily on the study of the behavior of humans with nervous system dysfunction (i.e., a non-experimentally based biological manipulation).
Synonyms for behavioral neuroscience include biopsychology and psychobiology. Physiological psychology is another term often used synonymously with behavioral neuroscience, though authors would make physiological psychology a subfield of behavioral neuroscience, with an appropriately narrow definition.

Abnormal Psychology

Abnormal Psychology

Do you think you're abnormal? Moreover is it positive or negative to become or stay abnormal
Abnormal essentially implies outside the normal - that today mean individuals who have a behaviour that most other individuals do not.
It will all hang on how abnormal psychology addresses or analyses the facts though, and just how society places values on attributes. There was a time in Britain when to be left handed wasn't just abnormal - you could have been burnt at the stake for being a witch!

Having a significantly low IQ is abnormal. So is having a considerably high IQ but it is usually just the former that is thought of as abnormal because children with high IQs are considered as having desirable attributes - highly gifted springs to mind even if they display unusual behaviour
Approximately a quarter of older people suffer from depression; does that render depression abnormal? It's definitely not rare, but it will probably be unusual behaviour and it could be a problem.
Abnormal psychology only tends to come to the fore if the attributes of a person's behaviour or thinking become problematic. When someone's behaviour makes people feel threatened. Not that the threat is required to be real, it is a perception.
Social standards seem to have more effect on abnormality, than someone being different does. if it's not socially acceptable then it is perceived as abnormal. As mentioned earlier abnormality doesn't stand the test of time. Being a homosexual was thought of as a psychological indeed psychiatric disorder once whilst it isn't today and drink drivers, once an accepted normal behaviour is now not seen in that light. Ditto smokers.
Abnormal psychology comes to the fore when individuals behave in a manner that disrupts their day-to-day functional ability
Rosenhan & Seligman (1989) noted the following indicators of abnormality
• Maladaptiveness - being a danger to oneself
• Vividness & unconventionality - an individual who stands out significantly from the crowd
• Unpredictably & loss of control - someone who may explode with rage or tears
• Irrationality/incomprehensibility - the inability to think in a traditional way or to make themselves understood by the mainstream
• Causes observer discomfort - those whose behaviour disconcerts those around them
• Violates moral/social standards - individuals that go against generally accepted standards
Strangely enough even these traits are open to question
If the behaviour ensures they are happy who's to suggest it is not acceptable when it does no physical harm?
And aren't boxer, smokers, drinkers all self harmers?
Abnormal psychology is not easily defined
It looks to be less about "abnormal "but more about " less than the ideal"
So what is the ideal?
Well again ideas vary but generally speaking it's individuals who have a positive view of themselves and others, who have the capability to grow and develop. They have the ability to function independently of others and can also think for themselves. They understand what is real and what isn't - worrying considering the number of individuals who think the characters in Eastenders are real! Furthermore they can function on a daily basis and find it not too difficult to form good relationships and maintain them.
Oh and if you pile on social class into that little box of tricks you will notice that when it comes to abnormality the working class suffer more than their higher class counterparts.
An Abnormal Psychology Course will help you understand this fascinating subject

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7077455

Psychology

Psychology - The Study of the Human Mind

Why are children stubborn? Why do some people become addicted to alcohol or gambling? How do you help an abused child? All of these are difficult and challenging questions that the field of psychology is trying to answer.
So, then what exactly is psychology? There are many misperceptions created by television and movies today, but the basic answer is that psychology is both an applied and academic science that studies the human mind and behavior. Research in psychology seeks to understand and explain thought, emotion, and behavior. Psychology is applied to individuals via mental health treatment, performance enhancement, self-help, ergonomics, and many other areas affecting health and daily life.

Psychology History and Schools of Thought
While people have always been fascinated by human behavior, it wasn't until the late 19th century that psychology began to be considered an actual science. Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology lab in Germany. He believed in a school of thought called structuralism-believing that certain structures in the mind caused behavior. Over the course of psychology's history, different schools of thought have competed for prominence. Here are the major schools of thought in psychology:
oStructuralism. The belief that there is a connection between sensation and emotion and behavior.
oFunctionalism. The idea that the human brain is much like a computer, designed to carry out specific functions.
oPsychoanalysis. Created by Sigmund Freud, this school of thought believes in the rigorous probing of an individual's personal problems, motives, goals and attitudes as a way to heal the mind.
oBehaviorism. Proponents of this theory essentially hold that all human behavior is learned from one's surrounding context and environment.
oHumanism. This much more recent school of thought came as a reaction to behaviorism and Psychoanalysis, and emphasizes the importance of values, intentions, and meaning in the individual. The concept of the "self" is a central focus for most humanistic psychologists.
oCognitivism. This branch of psychology believes that psychology should be concerned with a person's internal representations of the world and with the internal or functional organization of the mind.
As psychology moved away from its philosophical roots, psychologists began to employ more and more scientific methods to study human behavior. Today, researchers employ a variety of scientific methods, including experiments, correlational studies, longitudinal studies, and others to test, explain, and predict behavior.
Areas of Psychology
Students of psychology soon realize that the subject covers a huge range of material. The diverse topics students might study include social behavior, personality, research methods, therapeutic techniques, and much more. Because it's such a broad and diverse field, a number of different subfields and specialty areas have emerged. The following are some of the major areas of research and application within psychology:
oAbnormal Psychology is the study of abnormal behavior. This specialty area is focused on research and treatment of a variety of mental disorders and is linked to psychotherapy and clinical psychology.
oBiological Psychology studies how biological processes influence the mind and behavior. This area is closely linked to neuroscience and utilizes tools such as MRI and PET scans to look at brain injury or brain abnormalities.
oClinical Psychology is focused on the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders.
oCognitive Psychology is the study of human thought processes and cognitions. Cognitive psychologists study topics such as attention, memory, perception, decision-making, problem solving, and language acquisition.
oComparative Psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the study of animal behavior.
oDevelopmental Psychology is the branch of psychology that looks at human growth and development over the lifespan.
oForensic Psychology is an applied field focused on using psychological research and principles in the legal and criminal justice system.
oIndustrial-Organizational Psychology is the area of psychology that uses psychological research to enhance work performance, select employee, improve product design, and enhance usability.
oPersonality Psychology looks at the various elements that make up individual personalities.
oSchool Psychology is the branch of psychology that works within the educational system to help children with emotional, social, and academic issues.
oSocial Psychology is a discipline that uses scientific methods to study social influence, social perception, and social interaction. Social psychology studies diverse subjects including group behavior, social perception, leadership, nonverbal behavior, conformity, aggression, and prejudice.
Today, psychologists prefer to use more objective scientific methods to understand, explain, and predict human behavior. Psychological studies are highly structured, beginning with a hypothesis that is then empirically tested. Academic psychologists focus on the study of different sub-topics within psychology including personality psychology, social psychology, and developmental psychology. These psychologists conduct basic research that seeks to expand our theoretical knowledge, while other researchers conduct applied research that seeks to solve everyday problems. Applied psychology focuses on the use of different psychological principles to solve real world problems. Examples of applied areas of psychology include forensic psychology, ergonomics, and industrial-organizational psychology. Many other psychologists work as therapists, helping people overcome mental, behavioral, and emotional disorders.
Psychology is a broad and diverse field with a variety of related professions. If you are considering studying psychology, you are pursuing one of the most important and basic of the human sciences. You can expect to have a long, satisfying, and fascinating career if psychology is your field.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/815596