Trust your doctor, not Wikipedia, say scientists

By Pippa Stephens Health reporter, BBC News

 Scientists compared Wikipedia entries with peer-reviewed medical research

Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia, contains errors in nine out of 10 of its health entries, and should be treated with caution, a study has said.

Scientists in the US compared entries about conditions such as heart disease, lung cancer, depression and diabetes with peer-reviewed medical research.
They said most articles in Wikipedia contained "many errors".
Wikimedia UK, its British arm, said it was "crucial" that people with health concerns spoke to their GP first.

 Open-access 'concerns'

The online encyclopaedia is a charity, and has 30 million articles in 285 languages.

It can be edited by anybody, but many volunteers from the medical profession check the pages for inaccuracies, said Wikimedia UK.
The open-access nature has "raised concern" among doctors about its reliability, as it is the sixth most popular site on the internet, the US authors of the research, published in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, said.
Up to 70% of physicians and medical students use the tool, they say.
The 10 researchers across America looked at online articles for 10 of the "most costly" conditions in the US, including osteoarthritis, back problems and asthma.
They printed off the articles on 25 April 2012 to analyse, and discovered that 90% of the entries made statements that contradicted latest medical research.

“Start Quote

Wikipedia, like any encyclopaedia, should not take the place of a qualified medical practitioner”

Stevie Benton Wikimedia UK

Lead author Dr Robert Hasty, of the Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine in North Carolina, said: "While Wikipedia is a convenient tool for conducting research, from a public health standpoint patients should not use it as a primary resource because those articles do not go through the same peer-review process as medical journals."

Dr Hasty added the "best resource" for people worried about their health was their doctor.

Contact GP 'first'

Stevie Benton, at Wikimedia UK, said there were a "number of initiatives" in place to help improve the articles, "especially in relation to health and medicine".
He said the charity had a project to bring together volunteer Wikipedia editors with a medical knowledge to identify articles that need improvement, find credible sources and make entries more "accurate and more readable".
Mr Benton said Wikipedia was also working with Cancer Research UK to review cancer-related articles by clinical researchers and writers to keep them accurate and up-to-date.
But he added: "However, it is crucial that anybody with concerns over their health contacts their GP as a first point of call. Wikipedia, like any encyclopaedia, should not take the place of a qualified medical practitioner."
Wikipedia also expressed concern at the small sample size used in the research, as it may not be representative.

The study did not account for Wikipedia leaving out important information.

Alien Planets Like Earth

Alien Planets Like Earth [2014 Documentary] NEW
Habitable alien planets similar to Earth may not be that rare in the universe, a new study suggests.

About one in five sunlike stars observed by NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft has an Earth-size planet in the so-called habitable zone, where liquid water — and, potentially life — could exist, according to the new study. If these results apply elsewhere in the galaxy, the nearest such planet could be just 12 light-years away.

"Human beings have been looking at the stars for thousands of years," said study researcher Erik Petigura, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley). "How many of those stars have planets that are in some way like Earth?

Understand the neurochemistry of sex!why do we feel bad after sex??why do we cheat?

 Understand the neurochemistry of sex

Orgasm is generally regarded as the ultimate goal of recreational sex. Wilhelm Reich was the first scientist to describe the nature and purpose of the orgasm as a discharge of excess bio-energy with the additional liberation of feeling energy, and he also recognized the negative consequences of blocked sexual energies.

Unfortunately, in addition to exciting peaks, orgasms tend to produce powerful negative side-effects that are only now becoming better understood. This is due to predictable trends in hormonal activity which seem to be similar in all mammals to ensure certain evolutionary objectives, especially the wide mixing of gene pools and the safe raising of offspring. This is achieved with the following neurochemical changes.

The main players are dopamine, the reward hormone; prolactin, the hormone of satiation; oxytocin, the cuddle hormone, and levels of androgen receptors, which all powerfully affect our mood, our desire for intimacy, our perception of our mate, as well as our susceptibility to addictive activities and substances. These hormones can also have different but generally related functions.

Additionally the stimulant phenylethylamine (PEA) is involved, which is also present in cocoa and chocolate and elevates energy, mood and attention. PEA is produced in greater amounts when one is in love; conversely a deficiency (common in manic-depressives) causes unhappy feelings.

When we first fall in love we become bonded by rising PEA, oxytocin and dopamine levels When we are sexually aroused by close contact our dopamine level rises further and at the time of orgasm we have a dopamine brainstorm which one researcher compared to the effects of heroin on the brain. Dopamine is active in all addictions, even in people who have forgotten what sex is. Most of this activity is in the limbic system, the oldest part of the brain.

After orgasm dopamine levels fall sharply with the usual withdrawal symptoms. This reaction tends to be immediate in males and delayed in females. Also prolactin levels rise, and androgen receptors fall after orgasm. Low testosterone is associated with irritability and anger. In sexually-satiated rats it has been shown that serotonin and endorphin levels also rise, and this also decreases dopamine and raises prolactin levels. Oxytocin levels fall after conventional orgasm but remaining in close contact may help to counter this drop and sustain oxytocin levels.

Behavioral changes from this disturbed hormone equilibrium have been noticed for up to two weeks. During this time we may be more irritable, dissatisfied, anxious or depressed, and instead of seeing the good side of our mate, we may now be painfully aware of his or her shortcomings. This is exactly the same process and length of time prolactin levels need to recover during withdrawal from cocaine. 

Initially, during the honeymoon period of our relationship, we remain strongly bonded by high oxytocin levels, and quickly overcome our hormonal blues by having more sex. Initially sex stimulates us to crave for more sex. This leads to rapid rises and falls in dopamine levels and corresponding rapid emotional fluctuations in our relationship. Later we become less and less interested in sex with our partner (perhaps because we subconsciously begin to associate him or her with the “lows” of the cycle, or perhaps because we grow tired of being used as a fix, and therefore feel less attraction), and now we try to prop up our dopamine level by becoming addicted to some kind of food or drug, or by becoming interested in a new sexual partner. Basically this type of behavior is the same for humans, primates, mammals and reptiles because it originates from the primitive part of our brain.

To be continued!!!!

Hypersexual disorder!Am I sexually addicted?Take a quize....

What is sex addiction?

Relationship counselling service Relate describes sex addiction as any sexual activity that feels "out of control". This could be sex with a partner, but it can also mean activities such as pornography, masturbation, visiting prostitutes or using chat lines.
For most people, these habits don't cause them any problems. However, sex addicts are unable to control these urges and actions, despite the problems it may cause their relationships, finances and professional lives.
The Recovery Network says sex addiction "involves frequent self-destructive or high risk activity that is not emotionally fulfilling, that one is ashamed of and that one is unable to stop, despite it causing repeated problems".

What causes sex addiction?

The causes of love and sex addictions are often rooted in childhood or adolescence. Early trauma, neglect or depression are potential reasons. One US study revealed that 80% of participants with a sex addiction suffered emotional trauma or sexual abuse during their childhood.

Sex addicts often describe their parents as rigid, distant and uncaring. These families, including the addicts themselves, are more likely to be substance abusers. One study found that 80 percent of recovering sex addicts report some type of addiction in their families of origin. 

Symptoms of sexual addiction

While there is no official diagnosis for sex addiction, clinicians and researchers have attempted to define the disorder using criteria based on chemical dependency literature. They include:

• Frequently engaging in more sex and with more partners than intended.
• Being preoccupied with or persistently craving sex; wanting to cut down and unsuccessfully attempting to limit sexual activity.
• Thinking of sex to the detriment of other activities or continually engaging in excessive sexual practices despite a desire to stop.
• Spending considerable time in activities related to sex, such as cruising for partners or spending hours online visiting pornographic Web sites.
• Neglecting obligations such as work, school or family in pursuit of sex.
• Continually engaging in the sexual behavior despite negative consequences, such as broken relationships or potential health risks.
• Escalating scope or frequency of sexual activity to achieve the desired effect, such as more frequent visits to prostitutes or more sex partners.
• Feeling irritable when unable to engage in the desired behavior.

You may have a sex addiction problem if you identify with three or more of the above criteria. More generally, sex addicts tend to organize their world around sex in the same way that cocaine addicts organize theirs around cocaine. Their goal in interacting with people and in social situations is obtaining sexual pleasure.

In 2010, the American Psychiatric Association issued its preliminary criteria for “Hypersexual Disorder,” which may be a possible alternative definition or diagnostic label for sex addiction.

Symptoms for hypersexual disorder

In 2010, the American Psychiatric Association released draft, preliminary criteria that may define “sex addiction,” which they are formally called Hypersexual Disorder. Hypersexual disorder can only be diagnosed in adults 18 years or older, according to the draft criteria.
The symptoms of Hypersexual Disorder are:

• Over a period of at least six months, a person experiences recurrent and intense sexual fantasies, sexual urges, and sexual behavior in association with four or more of the following five criteria:
1. Excessive time is consumed by sexual fantasies and urges, and by planning for and engaging in sexual behavior.
2. Repetitively engaging in these sexual fantasies, urges, and behavior in response to dysphoric mood states (e.g., anxiety, depression, boredom, irritability).
3. Repetitively engaging in sexual fantasies, urges, and behavior in response to stressful life events.
4. Repetitive but unsuccessful efforts to control or significantly reduce these sexual fantasies, urges, and behavior.
5. Repetitively engaging in sexual behavior while disregarding the risk for physical or emotional harm to self or others.
• The person experiences clinically significant personal distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning associated with the frequency and intensity of these sexual fantasies, urges, and behavior.

 Am I sexually addicted?Take a quize....

Can you become addicted to sex?

It is possible for some people to become addicted to sex. This addiction is similar to substance abuse, as an addiction is caused by the powerful chemical substances that are released during sex.

Dopamine is an excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter synthesized in many areas of the brain. It is a precursor for noradrenaline and adrenaline.
Dopamine also acts as a hormone when it is released from the hypothalamus, inhibiting prolactin production from the pituitary gland.

In the CNS dopamine is involved in the regulation of pleasure and reward, memory, motor control, sleep, mood, attention and learning.
Dopamine is released by rewarding experiences such as food, sex and (some) drugs. Lowered dopamine has been associated with loss of satisfaction, social withdrawal, apathy, reduced motivation and attention.

Other chemical substances that that has the effects on  mood disorders, hormones, sleep,pain perception, appetite, and cognitive function are Serotonin,GABA,Glutamate,Noradrenaline and Adrenaline.

Low or high levels of neurotransmitters are observed in various mental health disorders.

  

Dopamine causes the positive reinforcement(it makes you feel good--It causes you to feel pleasure.

Anything that cause an increase in dopamine will likely results in intense pleasure and the desire to repeat the experience.

It is that type of reward effect, that pleasure effect that we can attribute to drugs so that addiction partly can be explained by increasing in dopamine in the mesolimbic system and also some behaviours that are observed in psychosis.

Since drugs that can increase dopamine function will potentially be drugs of abuse but also drugs that will cause reinforcement and at high doses psychosis.

The same effect will be seen in sex that regular intense stimulation during sexual intercourse cause the rise of dopamine in the brain,which will eventual cause intense pleasure and the desire to repeat the experience.You can make someone sexual addicted to you!!

Being addicted to something means that not having it causes withdrawal symptoms, or a "come down". Because this can be unpleasant, it's easier to carry on having or doing what you crave, and so the cycle continues. Often, an addiction gets out of control because you need more and more to satisfy a craving and achieve the "high" you feel.
If you think you may have a sexual addiction, there is plenty of support available to you.

 references:

1. Caplan pharmacology 
2.  http://psychcentral.com
3.  http://www.nhs.uk
4.   http://www.emed.com.au/384 

"Begining of life in earth" the role of cyanobacteria in our existance...what will hapen after 100 million years in future?how will new york looklike?

what will happen after 100 million years in future?