Hi all, I am writing this article because lately, I have been hearing about Migraine a lot than every before, every other friend I meet, says he/ she is suffering from Migraine, so a little bit of information on Migraine.
Migraine is a neurological syndrome characterized by altered bodily perceptions, headaches, and nausea. Physiologically, the migraine headache is a neurological condition more common to women than to men. The typical migraine headache is unilateral and pulsating, lasting from 4 to 72 hours; symptoms include nausea, vomiting, photophobia (increased sensitivity to bright light), and hyperacusis (increased sensitivity to noise);approximately one third of people who suffer migraine headache perceive an aura — unusual visual, olfactory, or other sensory experiences that are a sign that the migraine will soon occur. Initial treatment is with analgesics for the head-ache, an anti-emetic for the nausea, and the avoidance of triggering conditions. The cause of migraine headache is unknown; the accepted theory is a disorder of the serotonergic control system, as PET scan has demonstrated the aura coincides with diffusion of cortical depression consequent to increased blood flow. There are migraine headache variants, some originate in the brainstem (featuring intercellular transport dysfunction of calcium and potassium ions) and some are genetically disposed. Studies of twins indicate a 60 to 65 percent genetic influence upon their developing propensity to migraine headache. Moreover, fluctuating hormone levels indicate a migraine relation: 75 percent of adult patients are women, although migraine affects approximately equal numbers of prepubescent boys and girls; propensity to migraine headache is known to disappear during pregnancy. Although in some women migraines may become more frequent during pregnancy.
Signs and symptoms
The signs and symptoms of migraine vary among patients. Therefore, what a patient experiences before, during and after an attack cannot be defined exactly. The there are four distinct phases of a migraine attack are listed below. Additionally, the phases experienced and the symptoms experienced during them can vary from one migraine attack to another in the same migraineur:
1. The prodrome, which occurs hours or days before the headache.
2. The aura, which immediately precedes the headache.
3. The pain phase, also known as headache phase.
4. The postdrome.
Triggers
Migraine attacks may be triggered by:
1. Allergic reactions
2. Bright lights, loud noises, and certain odors or perfumes
3. Physical or emotional stress
4. Changes in sleep patterns
5. Smoking or exposure to smoke
6. Skipping meals
7. Alcohol
8. Menstrual cycle fluctuations, birth control pills, hormone fluctuations during the menopause transition
9. Tension headaches
10. Foods containing tyramine (red wine, aged cheese, smoked fish, chicken livers, figs, and some beans), monosodium glutamate (MSG) or nitrates (like bacon, hot dogs, and salami)
11. Other foods such as chocolate, nuts, peanut butter, avocado, banana, citrus, onions, dairy products, and fermented or pickled foods.
Diagnosis
Migraines are under diagnosed and misdiagnosed. The diagnosis of migraine without aura, according to the International Headache Society, can be made according to the following criteria, the "5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 criteria":
· 5 or more attacks
· 4 hours to 3 days in duration
· 2 or more of - unilateral location, pulsating quality, moderate to severe pain, aggravation by or avoidance of routine physical activity
· 1 or more accompanying symptoms - nausea and/or vomiting, photophobia, phonophobia
For migraine with aura, only two attacks are required to justify the diagnosis.
The mnemonic POUNDing (Pulsating, duration of 4–72 hours, Unilateral, Nausea, and Disabling) can help diagnose migraine. If 4 of the 5 criteria are met, then the positive likelihood ratio for diagnosing migraine is 24.
The presence of disability, nausea or sensitivity, can diagnose migraine with:
· sensitivity of 81%
· specificity of 75%
Migraine should be differentiated from other causes of headaches such as cluster headaches. These are extremely painful, unilateral headaches of a piercing quality. The duration of the common attack is 15 minutes to three hours. Onset of an attack is rapid, and most often without the preliminary signs that are characteristic of a migraine.
Migraine and cardiovascular risks
The risk of stroke may be increased two- to threefold in migraine sufferers. Young adult sufferers and women using hormonal contraception appear to be at particular risk. The mechanism of any association is unclear, but chronic abnormalities of cerebral blood vessel tone may be involved. Women who experience auras have been found to have twice the risk of strokes and heart attacks over non-aura migraine sufferers and women who do not have migraines. Migraine sufferers seem to be at risk for both thrombotic and hemorrhagic stroke as well as transient ischemic attacks. Death from cardiovascular causes was higher in people with migraine with aura in a Women's Health Initiative study, but more research is needed to confirm this.
Treatment
· Paracetamol or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs)
· Analgesics combined with antiemetics
· Serotonin agonists
· Anti-depressants
· Ergot alkaloids
· Dexamethasone
If the above medications do not work, or if triptans are unaffordable, the next step for many doctors is to prescribe Fioricet or Fiorinal, which is a combination of butalbital (a barbiturate), paracetamol (in Fioricet) or acetylsalicylic acid (more commonly known as aspirin and present in Fiorinal), and caffeine. While the risk of addiction is low, butalbital can be habit-forming if used daily, and it can also lead to rebound headaches. Barbiturate-containing medications are not available in many European countries.Amidrine, Duradrin, and Midrin is a combination of acetaminophen, dichloralphenazone, and isometheptene often prescribed for migraine headaches. Some studies have recently shown that these drugs may work better than sumatriptan for treating migraines.Anti-emetics may need to be given by suppository or injection where vomiting dominates the symptoms.
Recently it has been found that calcitonin gene related peptides (CGRPs) play a role in the pathogenesis of the pain associated with migraine as triptans also decrease its release and action. CGRP receptor antagonists such as olcegepant and telcagepant are being investigated both in vitro and in clinical studies for the treatment of migraine. Many other treatments are also directed, But it is always good to consult a doctor before any medicine is taken, It is always good to consult a doctor, after all it your brain that we are talking about ;-)
Friday, May 22, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Curse of the Bambino
The Curse of the Bambino was a superstition cited as a reason for the failure of the Boston Red Sox baseball team to win the World Series in the 86-year period. The curse was said to have begun after the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth, sometimes called The Bambino, to the New York Yankees in the off-season of 1919-1920. The Red Sox had been one of the most successful professional baseball franchises, winning the first World Series in 1903 and amassing five World Series titles prior to selling Ruth. After the sale, the once-lackluster Yankees became one of the most successful franchises in North American professional sports. Talk of the curse as an ongoing phenomenon ended in 2004, when the Red Sox came back from a 0-3 best-of-seven deficit to beat the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series and then went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals to win the 2004 World Series. The curse had been such a part of Boston culture that when a road sign on the city's much-used Storrow Drive was vandalized from "Reverse Curve" to "Reverse the Curse", officials left it in place until after the Red Sox won the Series in a 4-0 sweep.
Although it had long been noted that the selling of Ruth had been the beginning of a down period in the Red Sox' fortunes, explicit mentions of the curse are rare before the mid-1980s.[citation needed] The curse was publicized by Dan Shaughnessy in his 1990 book, The Curse of the Bambino, and became a key part of the Red Sox lore in the media thereafter. The degree to which ordinary Red Sox fans ever believed in the curse has been questioned, e.g., by Bill Simmons in his 2005 book, Now I Can Die in Peace.
Although the title drought dated back to 1918, the sale of Ruth to the Yankees was completed January 3, 1920. In standard curse lore, Red Sox owner and theatrical producer Harry Frazee used the proceeds from the sale to finance the production of a Broadway musical, usually specified as No, No, Nanette. In fact, Frazee backed many productions before and after Ruth's sale, and No, No, Nanette did not see its first performance until five years after the Ruth sale and two years after Frazee sold the Red Sox. In 1921, Red Sox manager Ed Barrow left to take over as general manager of the Yankees. Other Red Sox players were later sold or traded to the Yankees as well. Neither the lore, nor the debunking of it, entirely tells the story. As Leigh Montville discovered during research for his book, The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth (Random House, 2006, p.161-164), No, No, Nanette had originated as a non-musical stage play called My Lady Friends, which opened on Broadway in December 1919. His research indicated that that play had, indeed, been financed as a direct result of the Ruth deal. Various researchers, including Montville, have rediscovered the fact that Frazee had close ties to the Yankees owners, and that many of the player deals, as well as the mortgage deal for Fenway Park itself, had to do with financing his plays. Prior to Ruth leaving Boston, the Red Sox had won five of the first fifteen World Series, with Ruth pitching for the 1916 and 1918 championship teams (he was with the Sox for the 1915 Series but the manager used him only once, as a pinch-hitter, and he did not pitch). The Yankees had not played in any World Series up to that time. In the 84 years after the sale, the Yankees played in 39th World Series, winning 26 of them, twice as many as any other team in Major League Baseball. Meanwhile, over the same time span, the Red Sox played in only four World Series and lost each in seven games.
In 2004, the Red Sox once again met the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. After losing the first three games, including a 19–8 drubbing at Fenway in Game 3, the Red Sox trailed 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 4. But the team tied the game with a walk by Kevin Millar and a stolen base by pinch-runner Dave Roberts, followed by an RBI single off Yankee closer Mariano Rivera by third baseman Bill Mueller, and won on a 2-run home run in the 12th inning by David Ortiz. The Red Sox would go on to win the next three games to become the first Major League Baseball team to win a seven-game postseason series after being down 3 games to none.
The Red Sox then faced the St. Louis Cardinals, the team to whom they lost the 1946 and 1967 World Series, and won in a four-game sweep. Cardinals shortstop Edgar Rentería—who wore number 3, Babe Ruth's uniform number with the Yankees—hit into the final out of the game. The final game took place on October 27 during a total lunar eclipse—the only post-season or World Series game to do so. It also took place exactly 18 years to the day the Red Sox last lost a World Series game. Players on the Red Sox said that the team would never ever hear "1918!" at Yankee Stadium again.
Three years later, the Red Sox would sweep the Colorado Rockies to win another World Series. The "curse" was also reversed in the same year that the Yankees formally announced plans to build a new stadium in the Bronx, and to tear down the original "House that Ruth Built."
Although it had long been noted that the selling of Ruth had been the beginning of a down period in the Red Sox' fortunes, explicit mentions of the curse are rare before the mid-1980s.[citation needed] The curse was publicized by Dan Shaughnessy in his 1990 book, The Curse of the Bambino, and became a key part of the Red Sox lore in the media thereafter. The degree to which ordinary Red Sox fans ever believed in the curse has been questioned, e.g., by Bill Simmons in his 2005 book, Now I Can Die in Peace.
Although the title drought dated back to 1918, the sale of Ruth to the Yankees was completed January 3, 1920. In standard curse lore, Red Sox owner and theatrical producer Harry Frazee used the proceeds from the sale to finance the production of a Broadway musical, usually specified as No, No, Nanette. In fact, Frazee backed many productions before and after Ruth's sale, and No, No, Nanette did not see its first performance until five years after the Ruth sale and two years after Frazee sold the Red Sox. In 1921, Red Sox manager Ed Barrow left to take over as general manager of the Yankees. Other Red Sox players were later sold or traded to the Yankees as well. Neither the lore, nor the debunking of it, entirely tells the story. As Leigh Montville discovered during research for his book, The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth (Random House, 2006, p.161-164), No, No, Nanette had originated as a non-musical stage play called My Lady Friends, which opened on Broadway in December 1919. His research indicated that that play had, indeed, been financed as a direct result of the Ruth deal. Various researchers, including Montville, have rediscovered the fact that Frazee had close ties to the Yankees owners, and that many of the player deals, as well as the mortgage deal for Fenway Park itself, had to do with financing his plays. Prior to Ruth leaving Boston, the Red Sox had won five of the first fifteen World Series, with Ruth pitching for the 1916 and 1918 championship teams (he was with the Sox for the 1915 Series but the manager used him only once, as a pinch-hitter, and he did not pitch). The Yankees had not played in any World Series up to that time. In the 84 years after the sale, the Yankees played in 39th World Series, winning 26 of them, twice as many as any other team in Major League Baseball. Meanwhile, over the same time span, the Red Sox played in only four World Series and lost each in seven games.
In 2004, the Red Sox once again met the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. After losing the first three games, including a 19–8 drubbing at Fenway in Game 3, the Red Sox trailed 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 4. But the team tied the game with a walk by Kevin Millar and a stolen base by pinch-runner Dave Roberts, followed by an RBI single off Yankee closer Mariano Rivera by third baseman Bill Mueller, and won on a 2-run home run in the 12th inning by David Ortiz. The Red Sox would go on to win the next three games to become the first Major League Baseball team to win a seven-game postseason series after being down 3 games to none.
The Red Sox then faced the St. Louis Cardinals, the team to whom they lost the 1946 and 1967 World Series, and won in a four-game sweep. Cardinals shortstop Edgar Rentería—who wore number 3, Babe Ruth's uniform number with the Yankees—hit into the final out of the game. The final game took place on October 27 during a total lunar eclipse—the only post-season or World Series game to do so. It also took place exactly 18 years to the day the Red Sox last lost a World Series game. Players on the Red Sox said that the team would never ever hear "1918!" at Yankee Stadium again.
Three years later, the Red Sox would sweep the Colorado Rockies to win another World Series. The "curse" was also reversed in the same year that the Yankees formally announced plans to build a new stadium in the Bronx, and to tear down the original "House that Ruth Built."
Monday, May 18, 2009
CURSE ON MYSORE MAHARAJA
The Thalakaadu curse has established itself in the folklore as a miracle since the early part of 16th
Century because of two strange events visible even to date: (i) Thalakaadu, an historically vibrant
City, is now being submerged under sand dunes several meters deep, and (ii) the Mysore royal family
have faced problem in having a rightful heir to the throne since 1600s. Both these events linked
to an apparent curse by a pious lady have defied logic. Based on the data from diverse sources and
field studies, I have reconstructed the possible chronology of events of this acclaimed miracle. I
argue that the Thalakaadu phenomenon represents an ecological disaster unintentionally wrought
on to a vibrant civilization at this place and in this sense the curse per se is an intelligently inserted
story as an overlay. Using this example I discuss the possible process through which the miracles
or myths of this kind survive in a society.
The Curse was resided as
Talakadu MaralagiMalangi MaduvagiMysore MaharajarigeMakkallilladirali”
According to the Second verse of the Curse Malangi Maduvagi which means that let Malangi have whirlpool, so if the story of the curse is what had happened, then Malangi had already had whirlpool otherwise the lady (Alamelamma) could not have committed suicide. So the second verse of the curse is ruled out.
Now the First verse of the curse Talakadu Maralagi which means that let the city of Thalakaadu be covered in sand domes. Geologists have demonstrated that there is an active but minor fault zone running along the path of the Cauvery river, especially in the area between Mysore and Hoggenekkal falls, spanning Shivana Samudra, BR Hills and Male Madheswara Hills7. Accordingly, owing to a major geological uplift, and northeastern movement of the BR Hills zone, the river has been rapidly shifting its course. At a higher scale, the very path of the Cauvery river is suggested to have changed over several tens of kilometers. At a local scale, the river is claimed to have taken sharp turns at several places. One
such severe turn had occurred exactly along Thalakaadu town. In fact, Thalakaadu in particular is covered by the river in a semicircle. It may therefore not be surprising that during heavy monsoons, the river swells and carries abundant sand to Thalakaadu town. However, on the other side of the river, towards Maalangi, it is bound by a relatively hard, lateritic-walled bank, which is perhaps preventing such deposition of sand. Nevertheless, as this bank is facing the rapidly flowing face of the river, it
is being gradually cut into. Consequently, Maalangi village is being gradually eaten into. The temple that was once on the east side of Maalangi, is now completely dilapidated by the force of the river, and its remnants salvaged by people, can be seen strewn all over the village roads.
Now the last and third verse of the Curse, Mysore Maharajarige Makkallilladirali, which means let the kings of Mysore do not have any rightful heir to the throne. A look at the family tree of the Mysore royal family does suggest that indeed there are problems with the continuation of heritage of the family. Most kings during the early days of this genealogy had more than a dozen queens or wives. Despite this, there have been several generations where owing to the lack of rightful heirs born to the ruling king, the family has adopted a prince from outside. However, a close examination suggests that only 10 out of the 19 generations have had problems of lineage and even among these there are a number of reasons to believe that the curse has hardly had any effect.
1. Just a few years following the acclaimed curse, there was a rightful heir born to the king but died later, suggesting that the curse did not have any effect on the fertility of and birth in the royal family.
2. At least three of the cases where the family lineage has been truncated were because the rightful heir(s) died even before the marriage.
3. Adoptions were almost invariably from within the genetically close links, amounting to consanguineous marriages which perhaps have resulted in typical inbreeding depression and hence probably the problem of lineage.
4. Clearly, the adopted princes have had offspring and occasionally, the second generation had the problem, perhaps owing to enhanced inbreeding depression. Thus the problem of the lack of ‘issues’ to the royal kings seems explainable based on the factors distinct from the effect of the curse.
Now this explain the curse on Mysore Maharaja’s…….
For more detailed explanation look into the article in
http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/dec102007/1495.pdf
Which is been the source of his post. Hope you liked it
Century because of two strange events visible even to date: (i) Thalakaadu, an historically vibrant
City, is now being submerged under sand dunes several meters deep, and (ii) the Mysore royal family
have faced problem in having a rightful heir to the throne since 1600s. Both these events linked
to an apparent curse by a pious lady have defied logic. Based on the data from diverse sources and
field studies, I have reconstructed the possible chronology of events of this acclaimed miracle. I
argue that the Thalakaadu phenomenon represents an ecological disaster unintentionally wrought
on to a vibrant civilization at this place and in this sense the curse per se is an intelligently inserted
story as an overlay. Using this example I discuss the possible process through which the miracles
or myths of this kind survive in a society.
The Curse was resided as
Talakadu MaralagiMalangi MaduvagiMysore MaharajarigeMakkallilladirali”
According to the Second verse of the Curse Malangi Maduvagi which means that let Malangi have whirlpool, so if the story of the curse is what had happened, then Malangi had already had whirlpool otherwise the lady (Alamelamma) could not have committed suicide. So the second verse of the curse is ruled out.
Now the First verse of the curse Talakadu Maralagi which means that let the city of Thalakaadu be covered in sand domes. Geologists have demonstrated that there is an active but minor fault zone running along the path of the Cauvery river, especially in the area between Mysore and Hoggenekkal falls, spanning Shivana Samudra, BR Hills and Male Madheswara Hills7. Accordingly, owing to a major geological uplift, and northeastern movement of the BR Hills zone, the river has been rapidly shifting its course. At a higher scale, the very path of the Cauvery river is suggested to have changed over several tens of kilometers. At a local scale, the river is claimed to have taken sharp turns at several places. One
such severe turn had occurred exactly along Thalakaadu town. In fact, Thalakaadu in particular is covered by the river in a semicircle. It may therefore not be surprising that during heavy monsoons, the river swells and carries abundant sand to Thalakaadu town. However, on the other side of the river, towards Maalangi, it is bound by a relatively hard, lateritic-walled bank, which is perhaps preventing such deposition of sand. Nevertheless, as this bank is facing the rapidly flowing face of the river, it
is being gradually cut into. Consequently, Maalangi village is being gradually eaten into. The temple that was once on the east side of Maalangi, is now completely dilapidated by the force of the river, and its remnants salvaged by people, can be seen strewn all over the village roads.
Now the last and third verse of the Curse, Mysore Maharajarige Makkallilladirali, which means let the kings of Mysore do not have any rightful heir to the throne. A look at the family tree of the Mysore royal family does suggest that indeed there are problems with the continuation of heritage of the family. Most kings during the early days of this genealogy had more than a dozen queens or wives. Despite this, there have been several generations where owing to the lack of rightful heirs born to the ruling king, the family has adopted a prince from outside. However, a close examination suggests that only 10 out of the 19 generations have had problems of lineage and even among these there are a number of reasons to believe that the curse has hardly had any effect.
1. Just a few years following the acclaimed curse, there was a rightful heir born to the king but died later, suggesting that the curse did not have any effect on the fertility of and birth in the royal family.
2. At least three of the cases where the family lineage has been truncated were because the rightful heir(s) died even before the marriage.
3. Adoptions were almost invariably from within the genetically close links, amounting to consanguineous marriages which perhaps have resulted in typical inbreeding depression and hence probably the problem of lineage.
4. Clearly, the adopted princes have had offspring and occasionally, the second generation had the problem, perhaps owing to enhanced inbreeding depression. Thus the problem of the lack of ‘issues’ to the royal kings seems explainable based on the factors distinct from the effect of the curse.
Now this explain the curse on Mysore Maharaja’s…….
For more detailed explanation look into the article in
http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/dec102007/1495.pdf
Which is been the source of his post. Hope you liked it
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