View allAll Photos Tagged dysfunction
“...just going to lay here while my bed deflates.”
(I’m projecting my executive dysfunction on her, oops!)
Everybody brace for a long montage of Dania marching through her ship! I’m almost done sorting photos to continue the story.
In other news, I’m in love with Dania. She is so gorgeous, and a lot of fun! I should do a proper review eventually.
(( Catch up on the story from the beginning in the MothershipTrouble Album: flic.kr/s/aHsmTGKkdc ))
After the death of her twin sister Bonnie, Piepsi sufferd from loneliness. She lost some weight and was very choosy with her food. One morning we noticed, that she started runnig into the furniture. A physical examination and a blood test revealed that she had a serious dysfunction of her kidneys and that she suddenly went blind. She got some pills from the vet, but after 4 weeks there is still no improvement, but at least it is not becoming worse. The blindness is no problem, within a few days the orientation in the house was no problem anymore. Sometimes we believe she could see something, but this could also be an illusion. Our main concern is the dysfunction of her kidneys. We hope there will be some improvement within the next weeks.
Today's We're Here Challenge: Christmas Dysfunction
I ran some errands today & did some shopping, all while getting a lot of wonderful views of the snow in the mountains.
Folkloric
- Red leaves are used to expel worms.
- Fruit is said to be purgative.
- Leaves mixed with oil are rubbed onto the breast to relieve mammary pain.
- Bark is used for gastric ailments, bilious diarrhea and dysentery.
- The sap of young leaves mixed with the kernel oil has been used for the treatment of leprosy.
- Bark decoction has been used for the treatment of gonorrhea and stomach cramps.
- Leaves are applied to rheumatic joints.
- Juice of young leaves used for scabies and other cutaneous diseases, headaches and colic.
- Leaves macerated in oil has been used for tonsillitis.
- In Sri Lankan folklore, juice of tender leaves used for pains, including headaches.
- In India, the bark is used as a diuretic and cardiotonic; leaves used for headache.
- In Nigeria, leaves macerated in palm oil used for tonsillitis; stems and bark used for sexual dysfunction.
- Seeds have been used for sexual dysfunction.
source: stuart xchange
As I search for sanity in this world of dysfunction I stubble upon hope; an article exposing the Toxic work environment in Yosemite National Park. Others are speaking out about the harassment, bulling, retaliation, mobbing in our National Parks. Yosemite’s Superintendent abruptly resigned among the investigations of sexual harassment, retaliation and bullying in Yosemite.
There was an article in the Merced paper saying there would be investigators in the park last week to further their investigation. It stated the Department of Interior, Inspector General’s Office has asked for victims to come forward and contact them. I asked Yosemite’s Law Enforcement how to contact them and was rudely told they had nothing to do with it. When I asked a Law Enforcement Officer how to contact those investigating, explained how I was being harassed, bullied, mobbed, my vehicle vandalized and my residence illegally entered; I was rudely told that with all the investigations maybe it wasn’t true, maybe I should just leave. Over a week ago I went to the Yosemite's National Park Admin office and asked to speak or make an appointment to speak with the acting Superintendent to discuss the waste, dysfunction, incompetence, harassment, bullying, retaliation and misconduct of employees. I was given the runaround, couldn’t make an appointment, was told I’d be contacted; still waiting.
I have ruffled a few feathers; every low-life, half-wit and simpleton in Yosemite has bumped up the stalking, harassment, bulling, misconduct and Law Enforcement intimidation. I’m not and will not be intimidated; I will continue to expose this culture of toxic behavior.
Here is a link to an article addressing this Toxic behavior I your National parks:
•The truth about Yosemite: www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Sexual-Harassment-Common-in...
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Siesta Lake, taken with 3 exposures, bracketed in 2 stop increments, layered in Photomatix Pro5, final edit in Lightroom CC.
Siesta; meaning sleep, is something I get very little of. The more I speak out and post about Yosemite’s Toxic work and living environment, the more it’s mobbing community retaliates. I go to work early and many days come home exhausted. I lie down to take a nap and my neighbors rally to stomp through the hall, in front of my room and at my door, slamming pots and pans, drop heavy things on the floor; anything to keep me from sleeping or relaxing in any form. Many times, one of the housing staff will show up to rally them into a frenzy, you know like they used to with “lynch mobs”, trying to add validity to their unethical and illegal behavior. As I started writing this they started stomping on floors. Harassment and retaliation are allowed in Yosemite national Park. I’m told I can move; I’ve moved 3 times in almost 10 years, what don’t these people get? That’s just their scapegoat.
Sadly, for years here in Yosemite they’ve been hiring like minded people. These people are supposed to be stewards of this magnificent park; many are far from such. There is hardly a day that goes by that I don’t apologize to a guest; because of incompetence, waste, extremely poor management, filth, dysfunction, fraud and employee behavior. It’s embarrassing to watch grown men and women act as if teenagers or younger. Their actions directly impacting the guest experience and the preservation of the park. These same men and women spreading hate for someone they don’t even know.
We have come to a bad place in America. If you would like see just how bad; come work and live in Yosemite National Park for a season.
I love this country and this park. I could give up and quit; that’s not me. It was not my father or my mother. I’m going to stay, continue to expose the Toxic working and living conditions, try to make this a better park for all that work and live here. What are you going to do Mr. Superintendent?
What is happening in Yosemite is WRONG!
Yosemite’s current Superintendent is: Michael T Reynolds
Nominated Director National Parks Services is: David Vela
• The truth about Yosemite 2016 to current: www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Yosemite-Chief-Retiring-Ami...
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Here we go again! Persistence and consistence!
Oh dysfunctional me ... but it's all good dysfunction! Really!
This is at Rideau Ferry Yacht Club Conservation Area.
It was a mild day yesterday with lots of sunshine.
This is at the beach on Lower Rideau Lake. There was a bit of activity on the ice with a number of people locating their ice fishing huts on the frozen lake.
I know they will have a fun season fishing throughout the winter.
I don't play on the ice. I do not have the knowledge or experience.
I do not trust the ice. I am alive because of that. Enough said.
I visit here often. Especially in the winter. During the frozen months the people are here for a walk, with or without a dog. It is a good place to chat with people and learn about their journey, their story, their life.
The gift that is given to us by this place is a serene moment in time.
There is an indescribable benefit or quality to the gift of nature.
It is all sensory though. You feel the wind against you. You hear everything. Sometimes there is no sound at all.
It is a feeling. An experience.
When I am here alone, it is mine. It belongs to me.
I pick up the garbage. How dare they? How could they? They don't get it! Maybe if they come here enough, they will start to understand.
You should come and experience it. It will touch you. It will comfort you. You will appreciate it.
Perfect timing for today's theme of Christmas Dysfunction, in celebration of the accidents, trauma, mayhem and disappointments caused by Christmas. Percy, our rooftop Christmas penguin, succumbed to the winds last night, and greeted me from the driveway. Oh dear.
The Jersey Shore is littered with these ice cream stands for Kohr’s and Kohr Brothers (long story of family dysfunction behind that split….) Every boardwalk has at least one, preferably multiples. Nikomat FTn, Washi R, Adox Scala reversal kit.
Les médecins du Service de Santé Publique étaient postés aux alentours des escaliers pour détecter ceux qui devaient être retenus pour un examen médical plus approfondi. Les plus expérimentés pouvaient détecter les signes d'une grande variété de maladies ou de dysfonctionnements. Quand un médecin soupçonnait une maladie ou désordre mental il écrivait à l'aide d'une craie une lettre sur le revers ou l'épaule de la personne concernée.
ENGLISH :
5000 than 10 000 people are inspected daily by officials of Ellis Island. Sort among immigrants was performed on arrival. Newcomers formed a long line that went up to the recording room. The doctors of the Public Health Service were stationed around the stairs to detect those to be retained for further medical examination. The more experienced could detect signs of a wide variety of diseases or dysfunctions. When a doctor suspected a disease or mental disorder he wrote with chalk a letter on the back or shoulder of the person concerned.
NB
Mes photos sont des photos de photos que j'ai faites dans le musée. My photos are pictures of pictures I made in the museum
Staff of Programmes Ltd, London, England. Dateline: mid-1980's.
Programmes Ltd. was the UK's sales sensation of its time. These people could sell anyone practically anything, legal or not: they worked insanely hard and made their company the industry leader in about two years. No wonder they quickly won Britain's top phone marketing award.
Never mind marketing – this is about a phenomenal group of people whose story has never been told. If a history of cults in modern Britain were to be written, these people would be in it. Fact: all or almost all the staff seen here are graduates of the controversial - some would say notorious - Exegesis Seminar. Without Exegesis, Programmes would never have existed. It was these men and women who launched Programmes in Bristol and later London. They quickly proceeded to revolutionize telephone marketing in the UK. The year was 1981.
.
Founded, inspired and controlled by the charismatic Robert Daubigny, a master trainer, Exegesis copied the style and content of Werner Erhard's est training – and pushed further. Exegesis seminars were much smaller, more intense and confrontational than est trainings. Once the seminar commenced its four long days in a hotel room, you quickly realized the trainer was not like anyone you had ever met. He, or she, was ruthless. It was as if your game was up. You could not hide. Nothing had prepared me for it.
Was it disturbing? Absolutely. Was it abusive? Did it go 'too far'? I never witnessed that. The British media were extremely prejudiced about Exegesis and slammed it as a scam and worse. I cheerfully disagree.
A man needs a little madness or else he never dares to cut the rope and be free.
—Nikos Kazantzakis
If anything, I thought Exegesis did not go far enough; still, of what use would the most brilliant training be if it was so shocking that the authorities banned it?
Active in England and Wales from the late-70s to the mid-80s, with headquarters in Bristol and London, whoever was lucky - or doomed - enough to do the Exegesis Seminar, and had the nerve to endure it to the end either went through hell and came out transformed, as we used to say, or merely wasted time, money and the opportunity of a lifetime – and didn't. By normal, conventional standards it was a rash and scary thing to do.
www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/gurus.shtml
Given Exegesis' damn-the-torpedoes brand of full-frontal experiential education, toxic media reportage and ensuing notoriety were all but guaranteed. In fact, Exegesis got such lousy press it led to hostile questions in the UK Parliament. Thus, from Hansard:
hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1984/may/14/mr-ashley...
Full disclosure: I never worked for Programmes. I took part actively in Exegesis. Did I like it? No. I loved it. I hated it. I was fascinated by it, and at times disgusted as well. I wanted to get out, I wanted to stay in. It was as if we were being cooked in a cauldron of ever increasing commitment to be fully here now. My time in Exegesis was priceless, unforgettable. It invited me to experience passion, excellence, total commitment, trauma, grace, and enlightenment. If you could stand it, Exegesis was the shock treatment of your life (those barf bags under every chair in the seminar? They weren't props). Every moment was wake-up time: take full responsibility - no excuses! now! now! now! Committed exegesis graduates were like warriors without a war – or rather the war Robert had us fighting was no less than the age-old spiritual war against our own copping out, against apathy, against the fear-driven betrayal of life, truth and of love.
Your greatest gift lies beyond the door named 'fear.'
—Sufi aphorism
“The need for truth is more sacred than any other need.”
—Simone Weil
Well, that was what fired me up. Other graduates responded differently. For many, the power they discovered in the seminar was promptly deployed in business; in this, Exegesis' series of communication, and other-themed, seminars were very successful. The applications for sales were obvious, and in Programmes they were put to full use.
Reality check: if Exegesis sounds implausibly gruelling, idealistic and too good to be true, well, it was. Personal integrity was hammered into us at seminars; yet, outside, the Exegesis ethic was to go for results by whatever, uh, worked. Morality was irrelevant: ends justified the means. Even healthy and creative criticism was angrily rejected: unquestioning trust in Robert's directives and appointees trumped all other considerations. Dysfunction shadowed enlightenment in a weird duet. Largely as a result, project after project was launched with high hopes only to go nowhere.
Away from the seminar – only, there was no 'away' from the seminar – there was no escape from the in-your-face demands by staff for more sacrifice, more commitment and most of all, more registrations. We grunts, called gaspers (graduate assistant seminar programme: an ultra-committed corps of unpaid employees) were not allowed to forget that Job One was to get people, thousands, millions of people, the whole freaking world! to do the Exegesis Seminar.
"Hello, I want to offer you this unique opportunity to be humiliated, taken apart and turned inside-out in front of strangers. This is your once in a lifetime chance to totally transform your life and get enlightened."
I mean, come on. You had to be crazy, right? We were!
Yes, I took part in the drive, in 1981, to swing an election in a heavily Labour constituency of London to our very own candidate, a respectable lawyer. Unknown to the public, not to mention the dear old oblivious Liberal Party, she was in fact an exegesis staff-member taking orders from Robert. In the weeks before election day, busloads of well-dressed graduates from Bristol joined London graduates in canvassing the entire borough, door to door, clipboards in hand, scripts memorised, getting the answers we wanted.
Using my deafness as an excuse I had at first not wanted to do it, then changed my mind. It turned out beautifully, blowing away yet another old limiting belief: "I can't do canvassing because I'm deaf". Going door to door meeting all kinds of people (years later I recall how kind they were to give me their time) and asking for their vote, and often getting it, was when I first realised my being deaf is, paradoxically, a gift, also an exquisite joke, opening me to total listening, without prejudice, a listening that transcends communication and opens to – whoa! – communion. Nothing else but total listening was – is – the answer to the koan of my deafness. How perfect it was. My world was rocked! Could I have learned this by following social norms and having a conventional education? Fat chance.
“The deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond words, and it is beyond speech, and it is beyond concept.” —Thomas Merton
How grateful I am that Exegesis was almost nothing like Aum Shinrikyo, or Heaven's Gate, or People's Temple, of "drinking the Kool Aid" infamy.
Being unreasonable, risking yourself and doing the impossible was the Exegesis way. That was what I got from my encounter with Robert D'Aubigny and his students.
Incidentally, in that election the Liberal Party, the Labour Party and even MI5 never knew who we were until the votes were in and it was too late. Exegesis' candidate came second, almost winning the seat against all the odds.
Ah, memories. Yes, I witnessed the rise and fall of Microlight Engineering Ltd. (made hang-glider-like planes from imported kits), an Exegesis front company in the heart of Bristol's old industrial district. All the employees were exegesis graduates, including - fatally - its management. Its too-trusting graduate founder was soon financially ruined... Yes, I was in at the beginning of the powerplays called the Bristol Project (aim: to recruit key people in the city, and grow Robert's influence there) and the Glastonbury University project (aim: a university teaching enlightenment or whatever else Robert wanted)
Dodgiest of all – or perhaps not – was the 'Money Seminar' (Bristol, 1981) in which Robert raked in serious cash from us suckers running a one-game casino, week after week... until we wised up and clammed up. How it worked: every graduate in the room wrote down their high bid in secret and handed it to a staff-person. The highest bidder won half the total pool. To this day I remember the awful look on the face of neophyte graduate D_ R_ as he learned that he had won that night's bout with his huge wager – and that after the organization had skimmed off its hefty cut he'd actually get back about half his stake. We all cheered for the winning loser!
While not as unfortunate as my hapless cultmate I too was taken for a tidy sum before catching on. Ouch!
The wackiest Exegesis project of them all? No contest: the Total Transformation of Society – yes, this includes you, dear reader – in 4 years. Or was it two? Launched at a much-heralded gathering of all exegesis graduates, led by Robert himself, in a city-owned hall at the foot of Park Street, Bristol in 1981, it was to begin with us 'transforming' the city, and go viral from there. If I recall aright, Robert declared the project a success after two years.
Or was it one? Whatever.
Anyway, every Exegesis project more or less failed, with the glittering exception of Programmes. It made Robert D'Aubigny extremely wealthy.
homersykes.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Exegesis-Cult-1...
In 1986 Exegesis ceased operations, having transformed itself into Britain's top telephone marketing firm: Programmes.
The people I trained with in Exegesis still have a place in my heart – you never forget your first time! I wanted more, and became somewhat of a glutton for seminars and groupwork in the 1980s. Pursuing my passion for enlightenment, I went to a zen monastery in California, then on to Esalen Institute, and did the est training and its various graduate seminars. At the last est training and the first Forum in San Francisco, I assisted Werner Erhard. Curious about Werner and est? Check out:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Erhard
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMeXmFVq6cY
and
www.erhardseminarstraining.com/
At the same time, I volunteered at The Breakthrough Foundation, an est offshoot, as also the Hunger Project, and the simply transcendent Holiday Project, and as my decade of crunchy cult goodness came to a close, Ron Kennedy's 'Man Woman Training'. The last of these I did, in Russia, afforded us western participants the eerie realization that we were doing a seminar peppered with KGB agents (Moscow, then-USSR, 1989).
No, they did not exactly get into the groove.
I came across this photo from 2016 recently, and found that it expresses, better than I can in words, the distress I feel when confronting the pandemic and the political dysfunction we're dealing with in the U.S.
Bonito Lava Flow, Sunset Crater National Monument
Today was my daughter's 22nd birthday. I'm still amazed how well my kids grew up, especially when dealing with the dysfunction that was "just another day" in our household. I know it's cliche to say "I couldn't be prouder" of my kids, but it's true. Not only proud of what they've accomplished, but of how they've persevered. My daughter decided to buck tradition and not follow what was the assumed path in her life, and she is very proud that she did what her heart told her, no matter what her parents told her. She made some very adult decisions before she was even an adult, and she is reaping the benefits now.
Yes, I know the focus is off on this. The dangers of a fast lens. But I'll take the look of REAL happiness on her face, as opposed to a tack sharp posed picture any day.
Loneliness is a complex and usually unpleasant emotional response to isolation. Loneliness typically includes anxious feelings about a lack of connection or communication with other beings, both in the present and extending into the future. As such, loneliness can be felt even when surrounded by other people and one who feels lonely, is lonely. The causes of loneliness are varied and include social, mental, emotional, and physical factors.
Research has shown that loneliness is prevalent throughout society, including people in marriages, relationships, families, veterans, and those with successful careers.[1] It has been a long explored theme in the literature of human beings since Classical antiquity. Loneliness has also been described as social pain—a psychological mechanism meant to motivate an individual to seek social connections.[2] Loneliness is often defined in terms of one's connectedness to others, or more specifically as "the unpleasant experience that occurs when a person's network of social relations is deficient in some important way".[3]
Contents
1Common causes
2Typology
2.1Feeling lonely vs. being socially isolated
2.2Transient vs. chronic loneliness
2.3Loneliness as a human condition
3Frequency
4Effects
4.1Mental health
4.2Physical health
4.3Physiological mechanisms link to poor health
5Treatments and prevention
6See also
7References
8External links
Common causes[edit]
People can experience loneliness for many reasons, and many life events may cause it, such as a lack of friendship relations during childhood and adolescence, or the physical absence of meaningful people around a person. At the same time, loneliness may be a symptom of another social or psychological problem, such as chronic depression.
Many people experience loneliness for the first time when they are left alone as infants. It is also a very common, though normally temporary, consequence of a breakup, divorce, or loss of any important long-term relationship. In these cases, it may stem both from the loss of a specific person and from the withdrawal from social circles caused by the event or the associated sadness.
The loss of a significant person in one's life will typically initiate a grief response; in this situation, one might feel lonely, even while in the company of others. Loneliness may also occur after the birth of a child (often expressed in postpartum depression), after marriage, or following any other socially disruptive event, such as moving from one's home town into an unfamiliar community, leading to homesickness. Loneliness can occur within unstable marriages or other close relationships of a similar nature, in which feelings present may include anger or resentment, or in which the feeling of love cannot be given or received. Loneliness may represent a dysfunction of communication, and can also result from places with low population densities in which there are comparatively few people to interact with. Loneliness can also be seen as a social phenomenon, capable of spreading like a disease. When one person in a group begins to feel lonely, this feeling can spread to others, increasing everybody's risk for feelings of loneliness.[4] People can feel lonely even when they are surrounded by other people.[5]
A twin study found evidence that genetics account for approximately half of the measurable differences in loneliness among adults, which was similar to the heritability estimates found previously in children. These genes operate in a similar manner in males and females. The study found no common environmental contributions to adult loneliness.[6]
Typology[edit]
Feeling lonely vs. being socially isolated[edit]
There is a clear distinction between feeling lonely and being socially isolated (for example, a loner). In particular, one way of thinking about loneliness is as a discrepancy between one's necessary and achieved levels of social interaction,[1] while solitude is simply the lack of contact with people. Loneliness is therefore a subjective experience; if a person thinks they are lonely, then they are lonely. People can be lonely while in solitude, or in the middle of a crowd. What makes a person lonely is the fact that they need more social interaction or a certain type of social interaction that is not currently available. A person can be in the middle of a party and feel lonely due to not talking to enough people. Conversely, one can be alone and not feel lonely; even though there is no one around that person is not lonely because there is no desire for social interaction. There have also been suggestions that each person has their own optimal level of social interaction. If a person gets too little or too much social interaction, this could lead to feelings of loneliness or over-stimulation.[7]
Solitude can have positive effects on individuals. One study found that, although time spent alone tended to depress a person's mood and increase feelings of loneliness, it also helped to improve their cognitive state, such as improving concentration. Furthermore, once the alone time was over, people's moods tended to increase significantly.[8] Solitude is also associated with other positive growth experiences, religious experiences, and identity building such as solitary quests used in rites of passages for adolescents.[9]
Loneliness can also play an important role in the creative process. In some people, temporary or prolonged loneliness can lead to notable artistic and creative expression, for example, as was the case with poets Emily Dickinson and Isabella di Morra, and numerous musicians[who?]. This is not to imply that loneliness itself ensures this creativity, rather, it may have an influence on the subject matter of the artist and more likely be present in individuals engaged in creative activities.[citation needed]
Transient vs. chronic loneliness[edit]
The other important typology of loneliness focuses on the time perspective.[10] In this respect, loneliness can be viewed as either transient or chronic. It has also been referred to as state and trait loneliness.
Transient (state) loneliness is temporary in nature, caused by something in the environment, and is easily relieved. Chronic (trait) loneliness is more permanent, caused by the person, and is not easily relieved.[11] For example, when a person is sick and cannot socialize with friends would be a case of transient loneliness. Once the person got better it would be easy for them to alleviate their loneliness. A person who feels lonely regardless of if they are at a family gathering, with friends, or alone is experiencing chronic loneliness. It does not matter what goes on in the surrounding environment, the experience of loneliness is always there.
Loneliness as a human condition[edit]
The existentialist school of thought views loneliness as the essence of being human. Each human being comes into the world alone, travels through life as a separate person, and ultimately dies alone. Coping with this, accepting it, and learning how to direct our own lives with some degree of grace and satisfaction is the human condition.[12]
Some philosophers, such as Sartre, believe in an epistemic loneliness in which loneliness is a fundamental part of the human condition because of the paradox between people's consciousness desiring meaning in life and the isolation and nothingness of the universe.[13] Conversely, other existentialist thinkers argue that human beings might be said to actively engage each other and the universe as they communicate and create, and loneliness is merely the feeling of being cut off from this process.
In his recent text, Evidence of Being: The Black Gay Cultural Renaissance and the Politics of Violence, Darius Bost draws from Heather Love's theorization of loneliness[14] to delineate the ways in which loneliness structures black gay feeling and literary, cultural productions. Bost limns, “As a form of negative affect, loneliness shores up the alienation, isolation, and pathologization of black gay men during the 1980s and early 1990s. But loneliness is also a form of bodily desire, a yearning for an attachment to the social and for a future beyond the forces that create someone’s alienation and isolation."[15]
Frequency[edit]
There are several estimates and indicators of loneliness. It has been estimated that approximately 60 million people in the United States, or 20% of the total population, feel lonely.[2] Another study found that 12% of Americans have no one with whom to spend free time or to discuss important matters.[16] Other research suggests that this rate has been increasing over time. The General Social Survey found that between 1985 and 2004, the number of people the average American discusses important matters with decreased from three to two. Additionally, the number of Americans with no one to discuss important matters with tripled[17] (though this particular study may be flawed[18]). In the UK research by Age UK shows half a million people more than 60 years old spend each day alone without social interaction and almost half a million more see and speak to no one for 5 or 6 days a week.[19] On the other hand, the Community Life Survey, 2016 to 2017, by the UK's Office for National Statistics, found that young adults in England aged 16 to 24 reported feeling lonely more often than those in older age groups.[20]
Loneliness appears to have intensified in every society in the world as modernization occurs. A certain amount of this loneliness appears to be related to greater migration, smaller household sizes, a larger degree of media consumption (all of which have positive sides as well in the form of more opportunities, more choice in family size, and better access to information), all of which relates to social capital.
Within developed nations, loneliness has shown the largest increases among two groups: seniors[21][22] and people living in low-density suburbs.[23][24] Seniors living in suburban areas are particularly vulnerable, for as they lose the ability to drive, they often become "stranded" and find it difficult to maintain interpersonal relationships.[25]
Loneliness is prevalent in vulnerable groups in society. In New Zealand the fourteen surveyed groups with the highest prevalence of loneliness most/all of the time in descending order are: disabled, recent migrants, low income households, unemployed, single parents, rural (rest of South Island), seniors aged 75+, not in the labour force, youth aged 15–24, no qualifications, not housing owner-occupier, not in a family nucleus, Māori, and low personal income.[26]
Americans seem to report more loneliness than any other country, though this finding may simply be an effect of greater research volume. A 2006 study in the American Sociological Review found that Americans on average had only two close friends in which to confide, which was down from an average of three in 1985. The percentage of people who noted having no such confidant rose from 10% to almost 25%, and an additional 19% said they had only a single confidant, often their spouse, thus raising the risk of serious loneliness if the relationship ended.[27] The modern office environment has been demonstrated to give rise to loneliness. This can be especially prevalent in individuals prone to social isolation who can interpret the business focus of co-workers for a deliberate ignoring of needs.[28]
Whether a correlation exists between Internet usage and loneliness is a subject of controversy, with some findings showing that Internet users are lonelier[29] and others showing that lonely people who use the Internet to keep in touch with loved ones (especially seniors) report less loneliness, but that those trying to make friends online became lonelier.[30] On the other hand, studies in 2002 and 2010 found that "Internet use was found to decrease loneliness and depression significantly, while perceived social support and self-esteem increased significantly"[31] and that the Internet "has an enabling and empowering role in people's lives, by increasing their sense of freedom and control, which has a positive impact on well-being or happiness."[32] The one apparently unequivocal finding of correlation is that long driving commutes correlate with dramatically higher reported feelings of loneliness (as well as other negative health impacts).[33][34]
Effects[edit]
Mental health[edit]
Loneliness by Hans Thoma (National Museum in Warsaw)
Loneliness has been linked with depression, and is thus a risk factor for suicide.[35] Émile Durkheim has described loneliness, specifically the inability or unwillingness to live for others, i.e. for friendships or altruistic ideas, as the main reason for what he called egoistic suicide.[36][unreliable source?] In adults, loneliness is a major precipitant of depression and alcoholism.[37] People who are socially isolated may report poor sleep quality, and thus have diminished restorative processes.[38] Loneliness has also been linked with a schizoid character type in which one may see the world differently and experience social alienation, described as the self in exile.[39]
While the long term effects of extended periods of loneliness are little understood, it has been noted that people who are isolated or experience loneliness for a long period of time fall into a “ontological crisis” or “ontological insecurity,” where they are not sure if they or their surroundings exist, and if they do, exactly who or what they are, creating torment, suffering, and despair to the point of palpability within the thoughts of the person.[40][41]
In children, a lack of social connections is directly linked to several forms of antisocial and self-destructive behavior, most notably hostile and delinquent behavior. In both children and adults, loneliness often has a negative impact on learning and memory. Its disruption of sleep patterns can have a significant impact on the ability to function in everyday life.[35]
Research from a large-scale study published in the journal Psychological Medicine, showed that "lonely millennials are more likely to have mental health problems, be out of work and feel pessimistic about their ability to succeed in life than their peers who feel connected to others, regardless of gender or wealth.”[42][43]
In 2004, the United States Department of Justice published a study indicating that loneliness increases suicide rates profoundly among juveniles, with 62% of all suicides that occurred within juvenile facilities being among those who either were, at the time of the suicide, in solitary confinement or among those with a history of being housed thereof.[40]
Pain, depression, and fatigue function as a symptom cluster and thus may share common risk factors. Two longitudinal studies with different populations demonstrated that loneliness was a risk factor for the development of the pain, depression, and fatigue symptom cluster over time. These data also highlight the health risks of loneliness; pain, depression, and fatigue often accompany serious illness and place people at risk for poor health and mortality.[44]
Physical health[edit]
Chronic loneliness can be a serious, life-threatening health condition. It has been found to be associated with an increased risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease.[45] Loneliness shows an increased incidence of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity.[46]
Loneliness is shown to increase the concentration of cortisol levels in the body.[46] Prolonged, high cortisol levels can cause anxiety, depression, digestive problems, heart disease, sleep problems, and weight gain.[47]
″Loneliness has been associated with impaired cellular immunity as reflected in lower natural killer (NK) cell activity and higher antibody titers to the Epstein Barr Virus and human herpes viruses".[46] Because of impaired cellular immunity, loneliness among young adults shows vaccines, like the flu vaccine, to be less effective.[46] Data from studies on loneliness and HIV positive men suggests loneliness increases disease progression.[46]
Physiological mechanisms link to poor health[edit]
There are a number of potential physiological mechanisms linking loneliness to poor health outcomes. In 2005, results from the American Framingham Heart Study demonstrated that lonely men had raised levels of Interleukin 6 (IL-6), a blood chemical linked to heart disease. A 2006 study conducted by the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago found loneliness can add thirty points to a blood pressure reading for adults over the age of fifty. Another finding, from a survey conducted by John Cacioppo from the University of Chicago, is that doctors report providing better medical care to patients who have a strong network of family and friends than they do to patients who are alone. Cacioppo states that loneliness impairs cognition and willpower, alters DNA transcription in immune cells, and leads over time to high blood pressure.[2] Lonelier people are more likely to show evidence of viral reactivation than less lonely people.[48] Lonelier people also have stronger inflammatory responses to acute stress compared with less lonely people; inflammation is a well known risk factor for age-related diseases.[49]
When someone feels left out of a situation, they feel excluded and one possible side effect is for their body temperature to decrease. When people feel excluded blood vessels at the periphery of the body may narrow, preserving core body heat. This class protective mechanism is known as vasoconstriction.[50]
Treatments and prevention[edit]
There are many different ways used to treat loneliness, social isolation, and clinical depression. The first step that most doctors recommend to patients is therapy. Therapy is a common and effective way of treating loneliness and is often successful. Short-term therapy, the most common form for lonely or depressed patients, typically occurs over a period of ten to twenty weeks. During therapy, emphasis is put on understanding the cause of the problem, reversing the negative thoughts, feelings, and attitudes resulting from the problem, and exploring ways to help the patient feel connected. Some doctors also recommend group therapy as a means to connect with other sufferers and establish a support system.[51] Doctors also frequently prescribe anti-depressants to patients as a stand-alone treatment, or in conjunction with therapy. It may take several attempts before a suitable anti-depressant medication is found.[52]
Alternative approaches to treating depression are suggested by many doctors. These treatments include exercise, dieting, hypnosis, electro-shock therapy, acupuncture, and herbs, amongst others. Many patients find that participating in these activities fully or partially alleviates symptoms related to depression.[53]
Paro, a robot pet seal classified as a medical device by U.S. regulators
Another treatment for both loneliness and depression is pet therapy, or animal-assisted therapy, as it is more formally known. Studies and surveys, as well as anecdotal evidence provided by volunteer and community organizations, indicate that the presence of animal companions such as dogs, cats, rabbits, and guinea pigs can ease feelings of depression and loneliness among some sufferers. Beyond the companionship the animal itself provides there may also be increased opportunities for socializing with other pet owners. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention there are a number of other health benefits associated with pet ownership, including lowered blood pressure and decreased levels of cholesterol and triglycerides.[54]
Nostalgia has also been found to have a restorative effect, counteracting loneliness by increasing perceived social support.[55]
A 1989 study found that the social aspect of religion had a significant negative association with loneliness among elderly people. The effect was more consistent than the effect of social relationships with family and friends, and the subjective concept of religiosity had no significant effect on loneliness.[56]
One study compared the effectiveness of four interventions: improving social skills, enhancing social support, increasing opportunities for social interaction, addressing abnormal social cognition (faulty thoughts and patterns of thoughts). The results of the study indicated that all interventions were effective in reducing loneliness, possibly with the exception of social skill training. Results of the meta-analysis suggest that correcting maladaptive social cognition offers the best chance of reducing loneliness.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loneliness
Adam's Song" is a song recorded by the American rock band Blink-182 for its third studio album, Enema of the State (1999). It was released as the third and final single from Enema of the State on September 5, 2000 through MCA Records. "Adam's Song" shares writing credits between the band's guitarist Tom DeLonge and bassist Mark Hoppus, but Hoppus was the primary composer of the song. The track concerns suicide, depression and loneliness. It incorporates a piano in its bridge section, and was regarded as one of the most serious songs the band had written to that point.
Hoppus was inspired by the loneliness he experienced while on tour; while his bandmates had significant others to return home to, he was single. He was also influenced by a teen suicide letter he read in a magazine. The song takes the form of a suicide note, and contains lyrical allusions to the Nirvana song "Come as You Are". "Adam's Song" was one of the last songs to be written and recorded for Enema of the State, and it was nearly left off the album. Though Hoppus worried the subject matter was too depressing, his bandmates were receptive to its message. The song was produced by Jerry Finn.
"Adam's Song" peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart; it was also a top 25 hit in Canada and Italy, but did not replicate its success on other charts. It received praise from music critics, who considered it a change of pace from the trio's more lighthearted singles. The single's music video, a hit on MTV, was directed by Liz Friedlander. Though the song was intended to inspire hope to those struggling with depression, it encountered controversy when a student of Columbine High School committed suicide with the track on repeat in 2000.
In this episode the Talkitects sit with one of the best tastemakers in the game. Mainly because he transformed himself into a chef. Hawaii Mike Salman is about as Hip-Hop as you can get. He has transformed himself from a journalist to a mass marketer to a cannabis advocate.
One of the Talkitects comes to the studio extra saucy but the crew manages to power thru the dysfunction. Can we get much higher? You tell us. Comment, rate and most importantly subscribe to the Talkitecture podcast
What is left of a sign for Magic Hills Golf Course. If you assume the title is due to the location of the pole. Well, you are correct.
Magic Hills Golf Course, is a Public, 9 hole golf course located in Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas.
The Howard Johnson Company designed the Magic Hills golf course which opened in 1955. It closed in 2011. As such, the grounds are unkempt and overgrown.
No último final de semana fui numa feirinha de artesanato e antiguidades que tem todo mês perto da minha casa, e encontrei essa coroa de flores de margaridas por apenas 10 reais, o que foi ótimo pois eu já estava planejando fazer uma, mas a preguiça de comprar os materiais e fazer me dominava. rs
Thisslightly bizarre portrait is of a performer from a show called 'Dysfunction', which was at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe. It was part of the American High School Theatre Festival.
Violence against women
Violence against women and girls is a major health and human rights concern. Women can experience physical or mental abuse throughout their lifecycle, in infancy, childhood and/or adolescence, or during adulthood or older age. While violence has severe health consequences for the affected, it is a social problem that warrants an immediate coordinated response from multiple sectors.
The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993) defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."
This encompasses, inter alia, "physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family and in the general community, including battering, sexual abuse of children, dowry-related violence, rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women, forced prostitution, and violence perpetrated or condoned by the state."
Is battering just a psychological problem?
No. The ultimate answer to why does he batter is: BECAUSE HE CAN. What that means is that the society has given him the idea that a woman is property, his home his castle. Behavior he knows he'd never get away with in the outside world, seems to be permitted at home.
(Some batterers are also aggressive outside the home - this is not a good sign but at least it makes this type of man more predictable. The inconsistency of many batterers' behavior at home vs. outside is more confusing for us to grasp.)
So we're saying that not all men are batterers, it takes special circumstances to motivate abusive personalities - but once formed, these men who might like to abuse many people get the message that there will be consequences for so doing everywhere EXCEPT with his woman. That's what is meant by he does it BECAUSE HE CAN.
Another way to put this is to say that it takes a combination of culture and family dysfunction to create an abusive personality.
(i) 1 in 2 women have a chance of being raped in their lifetime
(II) A woman is raped every 26 seconds in South Africa
(III) More than 40% of perpetrators are known to the rape survivor.
(IV) Less than 2% of reported rapes are false
(V) Most rapes occur within the rapists community
(VI) 1 in 4 women are in an abusive relationship
(VII) A woman is killed every 6 days by her intimate male partner in South Africa.
(VIII) Women are more likely to be attacked by someone they know than by a stranger
www.powa.co.za/Display.asp?ID=2
Integratore di Ginkgo Biloba
Il Ginkgo biloba è uno degli alberi più antichi del pianeta. Il Ginkgo è considerato un "fossile vivente", nel senso che ha continuato a sopravvivere anche dopo grandi eventi di estinzione.
Gli alberi di Ginkgo hanno proprietà molto particolari: sono in grado di crescere più di 130 piedi e possono vivere per più di mille anni. In realtà, in Cina ci sono alcuni esemplari che hanno più di 2500 anni.
Il suo estratto ha molte proprietà terapeutiche e contiene alti livelli di flavonoidi e terpenoidi, antiossidanti che assicurano una protezione contro lo stress ossidativo causato dai radicali liberi.
Negli ultimi anni, gli integratori di Ginkgo sono diventati sempre più popolari: attualmente sono tra i fitoterapici più venduti. L'estratto di Ginkgo biloba (GBE) viene raccolto dalle foglie verdi essiccate della pianta ed è disponibile come estratti liquidi, capsule, e compresse.
Le foglie secche della pianta possono essere utilizzate anche per fare il tè.
Il Ginkgo è stato utilizzato ed è ancora usato per una grande quantità di problemi di salute e di malattie. Le sue proprietà principali sono il suo utilizzo come antibatterico, antimicotico, antiossidante, antitosse, espettorante, astringente, stimolante circolatorio, ringiovanente e sedativo.
L'effetto più apprezzato del Ginkgo è quello sul sistema circolatorio. I flavonoidi del Ginkgo dilatano direttamente il più piccolo segmento del sistema circolatorio, i capillari, che aumentano i livelli di circolazione del sangue e di ossigeno nel corpo. Questo è uno dei motivi principali per cui è così efficace in alcuni disturbi. Il Ginkgo contiene anche componenti che inibiscono attività di fattore piastrinico (PAF), che è un costituente del nostro corpo. Lo stress fisico, e la cattiva alimentazione possono però stimolare maggiormente la produzione di PAF; in altre parole la coagulazione del sangue. Le piastrine diventano eccessivamente adesive causando la loro aggregazione. Il coagulo così formato può rimanere attaccato al vaso sanguigno o staccarsi e rimanere in circolo fintanto che non incontrano un vaso troppo stretto attraverso cui non può passare. La coagulazione del sangue può essere responsabile di una grande varietà di malattie devastanti.
Il Ginkgo agisce in modo simile all'aspirina riducendo la viscosità del sangue.
Qui di seguito ci sono diversi casi in cui il Ginkgo biloba è stato efficace in alcuni problemi di salute e malattie.
Il Ginkgo biloba è molto ricercato per le sue proprietà medicinali e la capacità di migliorare il funzionamento della mente.
Per capire il motivo per cui il Ginkgo è efficace nel trattamento di queste malattie, dobbiamo prima capire che cosa provoca la malattia. Pertanto, ogni malattia sarà seguita da una breve descrizione della causa e poi una spiegazione di come e perché il Ginkgo è efficace.
Il Ginkgo biloba è molto ricercato per le sue proprietà medicinali e la capacità di migliorare le capacità mentali. Nelle malattie degenerative legate all'età come l'Alzheimer, oltre a migliorare le attività mentali semplici è in grado di supportare la memoria a breve termine.
La malattia di Alzheimer
La malattia di Alzheimer è una malattia neurodegenerativa che si manifesta con un progressivo deterioramento mentale, perdita di memoria e declino delle funzioni cognitive, e l'incapacità di portare a termine le attività della vita quotidiana. Questi sintomi sono spesso indicati come demenza. Negli Stati Uniti, il 5% della popolazione di età superiore ai sessantacinque anni soffre di demenza grave, mentre un altro 10% della popolazione soffre di demenza da lieve a moderata. Anche se ci sono molti studi sulla causa dellla malattia di Alzheimer, ce ne sono principalmente due che sono trattabili con il Ginkgo: i danni causati dai radicali liberi e il danno ossidativo. Grazie alle sue proprietà antiossidanti il Ginkgo migliora la circolazione sanguigna e aumenta i livelli di ossigeno nei tessuti cerebrali. Questi antiossidanti fungono da scavenger e combattono i radicali liberi (sostanze chimiche altamente reattive che attaccano le molecole cruciali per la funzione delle cellule causando danni nel cervello e in altri tessuti). Questo risulta in una aumentata longevità cellulare e in una migliore stabilità della membrana. Inoltre, aumenta il metabolismo e regola i neurotrasmettitori che sono direttamente correlati alla funzione cerebrale. Altri effetti sono stati dimostrati in uno studio in doppio cieco con EEG (test utilizzato per rilevare e registrare l'attività elettrica generata dal cervello). Questo studio ha dimostrato che il Ginkgo aumenta le onde alfa (associate alla prontezza mentale) e diminuisce le onde theta (correlate alla mancanza di attenzione) negli anziani che mostravano segni di deterioramento mentale. Altri studi hanno dimostrato che l'estratto di Ginkgo non solo è in grado di aumentare la capacità funzionale del cervello, ma normalizza anche i recettori nell'ippocampo (la zona del cervello più colpita dalla malattia di Alzheimer) e aumenta la trasmissione colinergica, deficitaria nell'Alzheimer.
L'efficacia clinica dell'estratto di Ginkgo EGb 761 in caso di demenza come l'Alzheimer è stata confermata in uno studio pubblicato sulla rivista Pharmacopsychiatry (Kanowski S et al., Proof of efficacy of the ginkgo biloba special extract EGb 761 in outpatients suffering from mild to moderate primary degenerative dementia of the Alzheimer type or multi-infarct dementia. Pharmacopsychiatry. 1996 Mar;29(2):47-56.)
-Un altro studio, pubblicato su JAMA, allo stesso modo ha scoperto che EGb 761 "era sicuro e sembra in grado di stabilizzare e, in un numero considerevole di casi, migliorare le prestazioni cognitive e la socializzazione dei pazienti affetti da demenza da 6 mesi a 1 anno.".
(Le Bars PL et al. A placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized trial of an extract of Ginkgo biloba for dementia. North American EGb Study Group, JAMA 1997 Oct 22-29;278(16):1327-32.)
Miglioramento cognitivo e della memoria
Dal momento che il Ginkgo aumenta il flusso di ossigeno al cervello, aumenta l'assorbimento e l'utilizzo di glucosio (stimolando il metabolismo del cervello e l'energia), è anche oggetto di ricerca per il suo ruolo nella senilità, nella perdita di memoria, mal di testa, e nel miglioramento delle prestazioni mentali.
Hindmarch (1988) ha riferito sugli effetti della somministrazione orale di un estratto standardizzato di Ginkgo biloba (GBE) sulla memoria a breve termine di giovani volontari sani di età 25-40 anni. In uno studio in doppio cieco cross-over, Hindmarch ha scoperto che, un'ora dopo una singola dose orale di 600 mg di GBE, parametri di memoria a breve-termine sono risultati significativamente migliorati rispetto ai controlli. Secondo Hindmarch, i test indicano una specifica attività sui processi cognitivi centrali e propone l'uso di GBE nei casi di deficit di memoria.
Il Ginkgo è spesso aggiunto a frullati di frutta e altri snack sani al fine di raggiungere risultati come migliorare le capacità cognitive e la memoria.
Malattia vascolare o claudicatio intermittens
Le malattie vascolari si riferiscono alle malattie dei vasi sanguigni al di fuori del cuore e del cervello. Ci si riferisce spesso ad un restringimento dei vasi che portano il sangue alle gambe, allo stomaco, alle braccia o ai reni. A causa del restringimento dei vasi il flusso di sangue alle gambe diminuisce e la malattia altera la capacità di camminare causando un forte dolore alle gambe.
La claudicazione intermittente è simile alla malattia vascolare in quanto anche essa è causata da insufficiente flusso di sangue (e quindi di apporto di ossigeno) ai muscoli delle gambe. Essa si verifica comunemente durante l'esercizio fisico o stando in piedi. I sintomi sono dolore alle gambe, crampi muscolari e zoppia. Il semplice compito di camminare diventa insopportabile per alcuni.
A causa delle stesse proprietà antiossidanti che aiutano con le funzioni cerebrali, il ginkgo sembra offrire la stessa protezione dai disturbi vascolari. Aumenta il flusso di sangue, aiuta l'ossigeno ad essere distribuito più efficacemente dai vasi sanguigni al tessuto muscolare. Aiuta a mantenere l'integrità e la permeabilità delle pareti cellulari inibendo la perossidazione lipidica (lipidi che si rompono e formano radicali liberi). Migliora anche il tono e il nutrimento dei vasi sanguigni.
Anche altri disturbi della circolazione possono essere trattati con Ginkgo quali emorroidi, vene varicose, problemi di circolazione causati da ictus o trauma cranico.
Depressione e ansia
Una mente efficiente è molto importante nel controllo dell'umore e nei livelli di serotonina. La serotonina è un neurotrasmettitore chimico del cervello che controlla le emozioni, il comportamento e il pensiero.
Il Ginkgo può contribuire ad alleviare i sintomi dell'ansia.
Uno studio, pubblicato sul Journal of Psychiatric Research, ha evidenziato che le persone con disturbo d'ansia generalizzato che hanno assunto l'estratto di Ginkgo hanno sperimentato un maggior sollievo dall'ansia rispetto ai soggetti trattati con placebo.
(Woelk H et al., Ginkgo biloba special extract EGb 761 in generalized anxiety disorder and adjustment disorder with anxious mood: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. J Psychiatr Res. 2007 Sep;41(6):472-80. Epub 2006 Jun 30.)
Tinnitus
Negli Stati Uniti, si stima che 17 milioni di persone hanno o hanno avuto acufeni. L'acufene non è una malattia, si tratta di un sintomo di danni al sistema nervoso e di alcuni disturbi dei vasi sanguigni. Si crea la percezione di un suono, sibilo, o fischio nelle orecchie o nella testa quando nessun suono esterno è presente. Nel 1986, Christopher Hobbs ha dimostrato l'efficacia del Ginkgo come trattamento per gli acufeni. Il fischio è scomparso nel 35% dei pazienti testati, con un netto miglioramento in settanta giorni. Molti pazienti che assumono Ginkgo per l'acufene, sostengono che è poco costoso rispetto ad altri trattamenti disponibili e che ci sono pochi effetti collaterali.
Oftalmologia, glaucoma, cataratta e degenerazione maculare
L'assunzione regolare di ginkgo aiuta a migliorare la vista ed è in grado di proteggere gli occhi da una grave patologia oculare.
Il glaucoma è un termine usato per descrivere un gruppo di patologie oculari che coinvolgono di solito un aumento della pressione all'interno del bulbo oculare. Può essere correlato al danno del nervo ottico e della retina. Il glaucoma è solitamente una condizione che sopraggiunge con l'avanzare dell'età e può addirittura causare cecità.
Le cataratte sono definite come un appannamento o oscuramento della lente nell'occhio provocando visione sfocata, offuscata o distorta. È una condizione naturale negli anziani, ma può anche essere causato da sovraesposizione ai raggi ultravioletti.
La degenerazione maculare è un'anomalia di afflusso di sangue alla macula, cioè la parte dell'occhio sensibile alla luce. Come risultato, il deterioramento della macula avviene causando una perdita della visione centrale.
I flavonoidi contenuti nel Ginkgo aiutano a fluidificare il sangue: i globuli rossi possono muoversi con più facilità all'interno del torrente ematico e attraverso i sottili capillari, aumentando così l'apporto di sangue ai capillari retinici. Questo può rallentare il deterioramento della retina, che si traduce in un aumento di acuità visiva. Gli antiossidanti presenti nel ginkgo hanno anche una funzione di protezione per gli occhi.
Anti-impotenza
Questo è un altro malfunzionamento del corpo causato da insufficiente flusso di ossigeno nel sangue e aterosclerosi (indurimento e ostruzione delle arterie) del pene.
Ci sono stati diversi studi negli ultimi 15 anni per studiare gli effetti del Ginkgo su questo disturbo. Ad esempio, nel 1991, uno studio pubblicato sul Journal of Sex Education and Therapy ha valutato l'effetto dell'estratto di foglie di Ginkgo nel trattamento della disfunzione erettile in cinquanta pazienti. Gli uomini con diagnosi di impotenza erettile arteriosa hanno ricevuto 240 mg di estratto di foglie di ginkgo al giorno per un periodo di nove mesi. I pazienti sono stati divisi in due gruppi in base alla loro risposta alle terapie convenzionali. Nel primo gruppo di 20 pazienti erano state precedentemente sperimentate con successo terapie farmacologiche convenzionali. Il secondo gruppo (30 uomini) non aveva raggiunto l'erezione dopo le terapie convenzionali. In seguito al trattamento con l'estratto di foglie di ginkgo, tutti i pazienti del primo gruppo hanno riguadagnato piena, sufficiente, e spontanea erezione dopo sei mesi di trattamento. Il miglioramento è proseguito durante il periodo di trattamento di nove mesi. Nel secondo gruppo 19 su 30 pazienti hanno risposto positivamente al trattamento, mentre 11 sono rimasti impotenti. Nessun effetto collaterale è stati riportato nello studio. Questo era solo il secondo studio pubblicato sull'uso di estratti di foglie di ginkgo nel trattamento dell'impotenza. (Sohn, M. and Sikora, R. Ginkgo biloba extract in the therapy of erectile dysfunction. J. Se Educ. Ther. 17:53-61, 1991)
In un altro studio, esami ecografici di 60 uomini impotenti trattati con Ginkgo biloba hanno mostrato un miglioramento della circolazione sanguigna del pene dopo appena sei settimane. Dopo sei mesi, il 50% dei pazienti aveva riacquistato la potenza sessuale. Gli studiosi continuano a proporre il Ginkgo per il trattamento dell'impotenza con risultati soddisfacenti.
Migliora l'asma
L'asma è una malattia polmonare, che può provocare affanno e difficoltà di respirazione. Di solito è di origine allergica.
Il Ginkgo è stato utilizzato per trattare l'asma in Cina da molto tempo. Il Ginkgo inibisce l'attività degli eosinofili (un tipo di globuli bianchi attivi nella lotta contro i parassiti e le allergie); un'azione attribuita al Ginkgolide B. sembra alleviare gli spasmi delle vie respiratorie e dispnea associati a questa malattia polmonare. In uno studio condotto in Belgio, 6 su 10 bambini con asma severa hanno ottenuto sensibili miglioramenti entro i primi 3 o 4 giorni di assunzione di Ginkgo. Altri 3 in questo stesso gruppo hanno fatto enormi progressi, ma sono ancora necessarie altre terapie.
Il Ginkgo è raccomandato per il trattamento dell'asma, ma non nel caso di un attacco acuto.
Riduce il rischio di infarto o ictus
Un attacco di cuore è la morte del muscolo cardiaco a causa di mancato afflusso di sangue. Il mancato afflusso di sangue è di solito causato da blocco completo di un'arteria coronaria, che porta il sangue al cuore. Un attacco di cuore è spesso fatale.
Inibendo la formazione di coaguli di sangue causati dall'aggregazione dalle piastrine, e aumentando il flusso sanguigno e l'ossigenazione generale, il Ginkgo è una pianta ideale per la prevenzione e il trattamento di un attacco di cuore. Il Ginkgo non è consigliato per fermare un attacco cardiaco acuto, ma come trattamento preventivo.
Un ictus si verifica quando un'arteria nel cervello si blocca o quando si rompe vaso sanguigno, interrompendo il flusso di sangue in un'area del cervello. Quando si verifica un ictus, le cellule cerebrali nella zona circostante muoiono per il mancato apporto di ossigeno. Queste cellule cerebrali possono controllare funzioni differenti, come il movimento di un arto o il linguaggio. Quando queste cellule nervose si danneggiano, si perde la funzione che svolgevano.
Inibendo la formazione di coaguli di sangue dovuta all'aggregazione delle piastrine e aumentando il flusso sanguigno e l'ossigenazione generale, il Ginkgo è una pianta ideale per prevenire e curare infarto e ictus. Il Ginkgo non è consigliato per fermare un ictus, ma per prevenirne la comparsa.
Altre e nuove scoperte
Grazie all'utilizzo di Ginkgo biloba, recentemente sono state scoperte nuove funzioni. Altre malattie sono attualmente oggetto di studio con Ginkgo biloba: ad esempio la Vitilgo, una comune malattia auto-immune della pelle, la protezione dal danno cerebrale indotto dal telefono cellulare, azione anti-age, miglioramento dei comportamenti sociali, e prevenzione del rigetto di organi trapiantati.
Storia del Ginkgo biloba
Il Missouri Botanical Garden sostiene che il Ginkgo biloba è "l'unico membro ancora esistente di un gruppo di piante antiche che si ritiene abbiano abitato la terra, da 150 milioni di anni fa."
Introdotti molto presto nella storia umana, gli alberi sono stati originariamente coltivati come una medicina tradizionale.
Il Ginkgo biloba è stato utilizzato per le sue proprietà medicinali nella Cina antica. I cinesi hanno utilizzato il ginkgo per i suoi benefici effetti cognitivi e per alleviare i sintomi dell'asma.
Il Ginkgo biloba in Occidente
Engelbert Kaempfer fu il primo europeo a scoprire il Ginkgo, verso la fine del 1600. Nel 1771 Linneo finalmente da il nome all'albero di Ginkgo Biloba che si traduce in "pennacchio d'argento con due lobi."
Nel 1784 il Ginkgo è stato portato in America per il giardino di William Hamilton.
Interazioni farmacologiche del Ginkgo biloba
I pazienti con disturbi della circolazione sanguigna o individui in trattamento con anticoagulanti, come l'aspirina, sono a rischio di sperimentare effetti indesiderati dopo l'assunzione di ginkgo.
Inoltre, se si assumono antidepressivi si consiglia vivamente di non prendere il Ginkgo in quanto inibisce la monoamino ossidasi, riducendo l'efficacia dei farmaci (come gli inibitori della ricaptazione della serotonina e gli inibitori della monoamino ossidasi).
Possibili effetti collaterali del ginkgo biloba:
Nausea
Diarrea
Vertigini
Mal di testa
Mal di stomaco
Irrequietezza
Vomito.
Precauzioni d'uso del Ginkgo biloba
Le foglie di ginkgo contengono alchilfenoli a catena lunga, che sono altamente allergenici. Pertanto si consiglia alle persone che sono allergiche agli alchilfenoli e alle piante di edera di evitare completamente di assumere il ginkgo. www.b2s.pm/xih73T
narrow sky
rare & unique photo from my mobile phone
(no photo effect or edit)
my cell sometimes produces very special, unique and rare photographs ... it does it on its own ... maybe by some dysfunction of it. Decolorizes the reception in a unique way almost black and white and gives some different colors to the ones it removes. The final picture is unique and rare. With no editing and no effects you can see these photos ... there is a limited photo watermark on my photos and my name because I'm interested in exhibiting the templates.
All rights are reserved. No material appearing in these links may be reproduced without permission.
Όλες οι φωτογραφίες είναι πνευματική ιδιοκτησία μου και έχω τα αποκλειστικά δικαιώματα ( copyright ).
Απαγορεύεται η οποιαδήποτε χρήση των φωτογραφιών μου από τρίτους χωρίς την άδεια μου.
2016/2017/2018
christina minopoulou: © melissalli
Have a life-long feeling of apprehension involving carnivals and fairs. It's one of many phobias in my adult life that are rooted in childhood. Some have a very distinct point of origin. The causation of others is more vague. And I'm convinced some are simply genetically programmed. I think carnivals fall into this category. They just make me uneasy in a visceral sense and I stopped questioning it long ago. I avoided carnivals for years, but started venturing back some time ago. It wasn't a sudden change of heart. It had much more to do with channeling mental dysfunction for creative purposes. I tend to shoot around the periphery of these venues, going largely unnoticed by the crowds. But curiosity eventually led to portraits of the carnies themselves. I could do so much to soften up these poses, but choose instead a straight on deadpan expression, with carnie in the center of their booth. It preserves an often gritty reality that is generally lost in the moment as the human eye tends to be distracted by the proliferation of colors and shapes within the booth. These encounters are sometimes uncomfortable or even frightening. But holding a camera provides me with a sense of agency that, trust me, would not otherwise exist under these circumstances. I just make it a point to get in and get out quickly. Spontaneity is key.
Ok, so I might be a little late, but still I wanted to wish everyone a happy (new) year. Today I finally got around to scanning all the developed film photos from December and parts of January. Not to mention that I also had a bunch of prints from summer waiting to be digitalized (and be shared eventually, one future day, like so many others reaching back years).
This particular photo was taken on New Years Day. The weather was beautiful and the temperature was mild, so we could really enjoy the New-Years-walk around the nearby lake that has become our annual "tradition" over the last three years. It was a nice start to the new year - we stumbled upon two empty playgrounds (a rare opportunity!) and took advantage of the situation to hop on a small zip-line, the see-saw, and the swings. It was great fun, and it was good to be able to walk around without any hurry or obligation for more than two hours. I took the photo above some time inbetween it all.
After the walk, my energy level dropped drastically again, and stayed on a very low level for about a week. I was diagnosed with a thyroid dysfunction in early December, which had started to develop and manifest itself throughout 2015, if not even earlier.
It's nothing too dramatic, many people have it and live "normal" lives, I guess. However, it takes some time for the medicine to actually kick in, and for the hormone levels to be balanced enough in order for the body to function as it should. I feel better now, but it still is weird, and the dosis of medication probably needs to be adjusted again and again. There are still days where I am completely exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally, and where everything seems too overwhelming. It's ridiculous.
Anyway, this might explain why 2015 mostly felt exhausting to me. On the bright side, I managed to take my final exams, write a shitload of papers, and hand in my Master thesis a day before Christmas. I don't really know how I did it, what with the health problems and all, but it's done now. Which means that I'm starting afresh in 2016, looking for jobs or possibly a topic for a PhD thesis. There are so many plans and possibilities lingering in the air, and I'm excited to find out what will be next.
It has been a wish of mine to get into creative writing again, and finally get around to writing a whole story instead of just doing writing exercises and fragments. That is one of my motivations for this year. Also, I want to improve my photography. I don't feel I have a particular "style" yet. To me it seems like I'm forever stuck in this phase of trying out lots of subjects, cameras, etc without really getting anywhere. I don't know. Maybe 2016 will change that, too.
But now enough about me - what is going on with you people? Any particular plans for 2016? What are you looking forward to?
Oh, I'm on Instagram now, too (again), for fun. Flickr is and will remain my main photo site, though. Is anyone of you also on IG?
Today's New Releases
You will probably never see a better example of adhd than today's releases
I have built everything from cake bed thrones, to slimy pumpkins, to feed troughs, a laundry machine, and fantasy mailboxes.
Everything is available inworld here
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ocean%20Bay/219/42/22
and will be added to marketplace as soon as the executive dysfunction finishes uninstalling lmao
facebook.com/michmutters
Early self portraits with Decim8, Snapseed & Iris - original image taken with native cam
Elemental Series
Created using fundamental, natural elements. Water, natural elements and mineral samples are collected at the site of the picture - from the actual place depicted within the photograph. The depicted scene you see here is then created not just by exposing light on to the film but also by melding the organic samples with the film so the resulting image created more entirely from the scene itself.
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Location
Copenhagen, Denmark. Christiania Sea channel water, seethed Laesoe ground water mineral, local spring water.
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All Rights Reserved.
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See more at: photography.michaelrawling.com
Following some complaints from my contacts, on yesterdays shot of the wicked witch shoe colour on the promotional sculpture in front of the Brisbane Town Hall, I had to get in touch with the Lord Mayor to advise him what a serious error of judgement had been made in permitting this outrageous display of artistic dysfunction.
He promised to fix it immediately so when I went back after having a coffee, the council had carefully corrected the shoe colour.
However, when pressed for how many males had complained, I had to admit there were none.
Cardamom
The health benefits of cardamom include gastrointestinal protection, cholesterol control, control of cancer, relief from cardiovascular issues, and the improvement of blood circulation in the body. It is useful for curing dental diseases and urinary tract infections such as cystitis, nephritis, and gonorrhea. Cardamom possesses aphrodisiac properties and is also used as a cure for impotency, erectile dysfunction, and premature ejaculation.
Cardamom is a spice that originated in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. Today, it is available in most tropical places in Asia, including India, China, Bhutan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Korea, and Japan. It is regarded as the Queen of Spices and is one of the most expensive spices, ranking third, the first and second being saffron and vanilla, respectively.
It is believed that cultivation of cardamom began in the tropical and humid climate of the Western Ghats in India. In botanical terms, it belongs to the family of Zingibercease and its scientific name is Elettaria cardamomum. There are two main types or subspecies of cardamom. Their scientific names are Elettaria, which is called green or true cardamom, and Amomum, which stands for black, white, or red cardamom.
The Spices Board of India recognizes three varieties of cardamom, which include the Malabar, Mysore and Vazhukka varieties. There is another variety of cardamom, named Njallani, which has become very popular along with the three normal varieties. This variety was developed by a small farmer named Sebastian Joseph from the Idukki district in Kerala.
It is found in the form of a small pod with black seeds inside. Both the seeds and the pod give a pleasant aroma and flavor. Therefore, they are used as flavoring agents in Indian cuisine. Its use is just not just limited to hot and spicy dishes; the seeds are also added to desserts and beverages to complement the sweet flavor. Cardamom tea is a very famous beverage, along with ginger tea, in India.
In India, cardamom was traditionally considered as an herb and was one of the ingredients in Ayurveda (the ancient Indian science of medicine and lifestyle) and traditional Chinese medicine. It was believed to be a remedy for teeth and gum infections, throat problems, congestion of the lungs, pulmonary tuberculosis, inflammation of the eyelids, gastrointestinal disorders, disintegrating kidney, and gall bladder stones, and was also used as an antidote for poisons and venoms.
Caption: Scanning electron micrograph of a human T lymphocyte (also called a T cell) from the immune system of a healthy donor.
Image credit: NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)
From the International Space Station Research feature:
NASA and the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, have teamed up to support research aboard the International Space Station that may one day advance medical care and quality of life for all humanity. T-Cell Activation in Aging is the first study to launch into space that is funded by the Biomedical Research on the International Space Station National Institutes of Health initiative.
It is difficult to study the genetic and molecular changes associated with aging-related immune suppression because the condition develops over decades, and the elderly often have illnesses that can complicate research studies. However, changes in the immune system—including T-cell behavior—quickly occur in space.
“One of our goals for this study is to use microgravity as a novel model system of aging to investigate the molecular mechanisms of immune suppression commonly seen in the elderly population,” said Millie Hughes-Fulford, former NASA astronaut, principal investigator for the study and researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, Northern California Institute for Research and Education and the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. “Ultimately, this could lead us to new treatment strategies for immune system dysfunction.”
Read full article:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/T_Cell/
More about space station research:
We're here visiting Christmas dysfunction. What's more dysfunctional than your kids loving to see the Elf do things like this!
Well, did it have to come down to threatening the full faith and credit of the United States? It has been incredibly disappointing to see our leadership in action or rather inaction. I think it's healthy to have meaningful debate, but unhealthy to resort to shut down tactics that have hurt our citizens. The irony is we spent money to keep facilities closed (paying for security to keep people out) and kept others from their livelihoods. The brinksmanship actions are akin to throwing a temper tantrum, but worse as it has caused measurable harm to our economy and created uncertainty. I hope we can get past the vitriol and get back to work. I'm tired of seeing these politicians dominate the news cycle.
Last night I had a wonderful dinner with some incredibly brilliant scientists doing some incredible work in the area of light field research (many photographers would have a keen interest in this), developing new materials for detecting chemicals, and developing new materials for advanced semiconductors.
On a side note I find it difficult to see DC in a positive light... I just want to go into Lightroom and turn this into a dark, foreboding shot. Is there a 'toxic' filter? Well, I've left it largely as i saw it the morning i took a walk around the Capitol.