235-u5-short LzVy1ewR

Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.

There are a few differences between the functions of the left and right hemispheres of the
brain. One hemisphere is referred to as the dominant hemisphere, and it is most associated
with language and with logical skills. The non-dominant hemisphere is responsible for
creativity, including art and imagination.

The dominant hemisphere of the brain is usually the hemisphere opposite your dominant
hand. This is why a stroke in the same location may affect left-handed person and the right-
handed person differently. When a person experiences a stroke, brain tumor, or injury that
affects the dominant side of the brain, the ability to use language is disrupted.

The language areas of the brain include several structures that are located in the frontal,
temporal, and parietal lobes. A stroke or an injury to any of these specialized language
regions, which include Broca's area, Wernicke's area, and the arcuate fasciculus, can cause
specific types of aphasia that correspond to the specific language region of the affected
brain. Some of the most common types of aphasia include expressive aphasia, also known
as Broca's aphasia, the inability to speak in a fluent and clear way, receptive aphasia, also
known as Wernicke's aphasia, the inability to understand the meaning of spoken or written
language.

Often people who have Wernicke's aphasia can speak fluently but with words and phrases
that do not make sense. Anomic or amnesia aphasia, the inability to find the correct name
for objects, people, or places. Global aphasia, the inability to speak or understand speech,
read, or write.

Holding the baby closely to the mother's chest is a special experience that can help build the
bond between them. This type of touch isn't just good for bonding, it's also medically
beneficial for the baby since it allows for skin-to-skin contact. During each session, the baby
will be placed naked except for a diaper and hat on the mother's chest, also bared to allow
skin-to-skin for up to a few hours.

A blanket, shirt, hospital gown, or robe can be wrapped around them for warmth. This
wrapping looks very much like a mother kangaroo holding her baby in her pouch, which is
where the name kangaroo care comes from. Kangaroo care was developed in Colombia in
the late 1970s.

This type of care was a response to a high death rate in preterm babies, which was
approximately 70% at that time. The babies were dying of infections, respiratory problems,
and simply due to a lack of attention. Researchers found that babies who were held close to
the mother's body for large portions of the day not only survived but thrived.

In the United States, hospitals that encourage kangaroo care typically have mothers or
fathers provide a skin-to-skin contact with their preterm babies for several hours each day.
Kangaroo care isn't only for premature babies. It can also be very good for full-term babies
and their parents.
Now skin-to-skin contact is encouraged for all babies. The benefits of kangaroo care to the
babies include stabilizing heart rate, improving breathing pattern and making the breathing
more regular, improving oxygen saturation levels, gaining in sleep time, experiencing more
rapid weight gain, decreasing crying, having more successful breastfeeding episodes, having
an earlier hospital discharge. The benefits of kangaroo care for parents can include
improving bonding with their baby and the feeling of closeness, increasing breast milk
supply, increasing confidence in the ability to care for the new baby, increasing confidence
that the baby is well cared for and increasing the sense of control.

Two of the hormones secreted by the thyroid gland are thyroxine or tetraiodothyronine or
T4 for short and triiodothyronine or T3. These hormones are synthesized in the thyroid
gland from iodine which is picked up from the blood circulating through the gland and from
an amino acid called tyrosine. T4 containing four atoms of iodine is much more
concentrated in the blood whereas T3 containing three atoms of iodine is far more potent in
affecting the metabolism of cells.

Most thyroid hormone is bound to protein molecules as it travels in the bloodstream. T4

and T3 are necessary in the body to maintain a normal level of metabolism in all body cells.
Cells need oxygen to carry on metabolic processes one aspect of which is burning food to
release energy stored within it.

Thyroid hormone acts cells in the uptake of oxygen and thus supports the metabolic rate in
the body. Injections of thyroid hormone raise the metabolic rate whereas removal of the
thyroid gland diminishing thyroid hormone content in the body results in a lower metabolic
rate, heat loss and poor physical and mental development. A more recently discovered
hormone produced by the thyroid gland is calcitonin.

Calcitonin is secreted when calcium levels in the blood are high. It stimulates calcium to
leave the blood and enter the bones thus lowering blood calcium back to normal. Calcitonin
contained in a nasal spray may be used for treatment of osteoporosis a medical condition
characterized by the loss of bone density.

By increasing calcium storage in bone calcitonin strengthens weakened bone tissue and
prevents spontaneous bone fractures. Arteries are large blood vessels that carry blood away
from the heart. Their walls are lined with connective tissue, muscle tissue and elastic fibers
with an innermost layer of epithelial cells called endothelium.

Endothelial cells found in all blood vessels secrete factors that affect the size of blood
vessels, reduce blood clotting and promote the growth of blood vessels. Because arteries
carry blood away from the heart they must be strong enough to withstand the high pressure
of the pumping action of the heart. Their elastic walls allow them to expand as the
heartbeat forces blood into the arterial system throughout the body.

Smaller branches of arteries are arterioles. Arterioles are thinner than arteries and carry the
blood to the tiniest of blood vessels the capillaries. Capillaries have walls that are only one
endothelial cells in thickness.

These delicate microscopic vessels carry nutrient-rich oxygenated blood from the arteries
and arterioles to the body cells. Their thin walls allow passage of oxygen and nutrients out
of the bloodstream and into cells. There the nutrients are burned in the presence of oxygen
to release energy.

At the same time waste products such as carbon dioxide and water pass out of the cells and
into the thin-walled capillaries. Waste-filled blood then flow back to the heart in small
venues which combines to form larger vessels called veins. Veins have thinner walls
compared with arteries.

They conduct blood that has given up most of its oxygen toward the heart from the tissues.
Veins have little elastic tissue and less connective tissue than that typical of arteries and
blood pressure in veins is extremely low compared with pressure in arteries. In order to
keep blood moving back toward the heart, veins have valves that prevent the backflow of
blood and keep the blood moving in one direction.

Muscular action also helps the movement of blood in veins. Air enters the body via the nose
through two openings called nostrils or nares. Air then passes through the nasal cavity lined
with a mucous membrane and fine hairs called cilia to help filter out foreign bodies as well
as to warm and moisten the air.

Paranasal sinuses are hollow air-containing spaces within the skull that communicate with
the nasal cavity. They also have a mucous membrane lining. Besides producing mucus, a
lubricating fluid, the sinuses lighten the bones of the skull and help produce sound.

After passing through the nasal cavity, the air next reaches the pharynx or throat. There are
three divisions of the pharynx. The first is the nasal pharynx.

It contains the pharyngeal tonsils or adenoids which are collections of the lymphatic tissue.
They are more prominent in children and if enlarged, can obstruct air passage ways. Below
the nasal pharynx and closer to the mouth is the second division of the pharynx, the oral
pharynx.

The palatine tonsils, two surrounding masses of the lymphatic tissue, are in the oral
pharynx. The third division of the pharynx, the laryngopharynx, serves as a common
passageway for food from the mouth and air from the nose. It divides into the larynx or
voice box and the esophagus.

The esophagus lists into the stomach and carries food to be digested. The larynx contains
the vocal cords and is surrounded by pieces of cartilage for support. The thyroid cartilage is
the largest and in man is commonly referred to as the Adam's apple.

As expelled air passes the vocal cords, they vibrate to produce sounds. The tension of the
vocal cords determines the high or low pitch of the voice. If fertilization does occur in the
fallopian tube, the fertilized air travels to the uterus and implants in the uterine
endometrium.

The corpus luteum in the ovary continues to produce progesterone and estrogen. These
hormones support the vascular and glandular development of the uterine lining. The
placenta, a vascular organ, now forms attached to the uterine wall.
The placenta is derived from the maternal endometrium and from the chorion, the
outermost membrane that surrounds the developing embryo. The amnion, the innermost of
the embryonic membranes, holds the fetus suspended in an amniotic cavity surrounded by
a fluid called amniotic fluid. The amnion with its fluid is also known as the bag of waters or
amniotic sac which ruptures during labor.

The maternal blood and the fetal blood never mix during pregnancy but important
nutrients, oxygen and weights are exchanged as the blood vessels of the fetus coming from
the umbilical cord lie side by side with the mother's blood vessels in the placenta. As the
placenta develops in the uterus, it produces its own hormone, human chorionic
gonadotropin or HCG. When women test their urine with a pregnancy test kit, presence or
absence of HCG confirms or rule out that they are pregnant.

This hormone stimulates the corpus luteum to continue producing hormones until about the
third month of pregnancy when the placenta takes over the endocrine function and releases
estrogen and progesterone. Progesterone maintains the development of the placenta. Low
levels of progesterone can lead to spontaneous abortion in pregnant women and menstrual
irregularities in non-pregnant women.

Agents from the environment such as chemicals, drugs, tobacco smoke, radiation and
viruses can cause damage to DNA and thus produce cancer. These environmental agents are
called carcinogens. Chemical carcinogens are found in a variety of products and drugs
including hydrocarbons in cigarette, cigar, pipe smoke and automobile exhaust, insecticides,
dyes, industrial chemicals, insulation and hormones.

For example, the hormone diethylstilbestrol, DES for short, causes a malignant tumor of the
vagina in daughters of women treated with DES during pregnancy. Drugs such as estrogens
can cause cancer by stimulating proliferation of cells in target organs such as the lining of
the uterus. Radiation, whatever its source, sunlight, x-rays, radioactive substances, consists
of waves of energy.

When this energy interacts with DNA, it causes DNA damage and mutations that lead to
cancer. Thus, leukemia, a cancerous condition of white blood cells, may be an occupational
hazard of radiologists who are routinely exposed to x-rays. Ultraviolet radiation in sunlight
can cause skin cancer, especially in persons with lightly pigmented skin.

Some viruses are carcinogenic. For example, the human T cell leukemia virus, or ATLV,
causes a form of leukemia in adults, and papillomavirus is known to cause cervical cancer.
These tumor-producing viruses, called oncogenic viruses, fall into two categories.

RNA viruses, composed of RNA and known as retroviruses, and DNA viruses, composed of
DNA. In addition to transmission of cancer by whole viruses, pieces of normal DNA, called
oncogenes, can cause normal cells to become malignant if they are activated by mutations.
An oncogene, or a cancer-causing gene, is a piece of DNA whose activation is associated
with the conversion of a normal cell into a cancerous cell.

A placebo is anything that seems to be a real medical treatment, but isn't. It could be a pill, a
shot, or some other type of treatment. What all placebos have in common is that they do
not contain an active substance meant to affect health.
Research on placebo effect has focused on the relationship of mind and body. One of the
most common theories is that the placebo effect is due to a person's expectations. If a
person expects a pill to do something, then it's possible that their body's own chemistry can
cause effects similar to what a medication might have caused.

For instance, in one study, people were given a placebo and told it was a stimulant. After
taking the pill, their pulse rate sped up, their blood pressure increased, and their reaction
speeds improved. When people were given the same pill and told it was to help them get to
sleep, they experienced the opposite effects.

Experts also say that there is a relationship between how strongly a person expects to have
results and whether or not results occur. The stronger the feeling, the more likely it is that a
person will experience positive effects. There may be a profound effect due to the
interaction between a patient and a healthcare provider.

The same appears to be true for negative effects. If people expect to have side effects, such
as headaches, nausea, or drowsiness, there is a greater chance of those reactions
happening. The fact that the placebo effect is tied to expectations doesn't make it imaginary
or fake.

Some studies show that there are actual physical changes that occur with the placebo
effect. For instance, some studies have documented an increase in the body's production of
endorphins, one of the body's natural pain relievers. One problem with the placebo effect is
that it can be difficult to distinguish from the actual effects of a real drug during a study.

Finding ways to distinguish between the placebo effect and the effect of treatment may
help improve the treatment and lower the cost of drug testing. And more studies may also
lead to ways to use the power of the placebo effect in treating disease.
Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.