The Healing Brain

Editor's Notes

1. 1850s 3,000 deaths per million; 1973 –20 per million The decline started before medication intervention. Similar reductions occur with pneumonia, influenza, etc. What accounts for the decline of infectious disease? The advances in agriculture in the 18th and 19th centuries allowed people to eat much more varied and nutritious food.
2. Pp.23
3. Pp.24 Medicine has made some contribution to health, but its interventions in diseases have been greatly emphasized as to their real effectiveness and worth to society.
4. 24 People are healthier today not because they receive all this well-publicized better treatment when ill, but simply because they tend not to become ill in the first place.
5. Pp.25 Geography Climate Income Education Degree of urbanization Similar number of physicians and hospital beds per capita
6. Utah Religion—abstain from smoking and drinking Rigid social organization Quiet stable life Nevada Adult death rate 40% higher Liberal doses of alcohol and tobacco 100-600% higher death rate from cirrhosis and lung cancer Lifetyle more transient Socially unstable—more divorced, sinlge, separated and widowed
7. Pp.26 San Francisco study—7,000 adults for seven years Not smoking Drinking in moderation or not at all Exercising regularly Eating regular meals Getting adequate sleep
8. 2002 Sept news – one hong kong company reported less people sick under the no smoking rule
9. Budget expenses Steel Design Factory HEATLH INSURANCE
10. 1870 silk industry nearly destroyed by a disease that killed the silkworm. Louis Pasteur was called to look into it. He noticed that it as not just the presence of the germ but the physiological state of the silkworm that also determined the susceptibility to infection.
11. Reptilian –survival, fight or flight Mammalian – homeostasis (body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugar level) Cortex – avoid trouble (executive function)
12. 54 Connects output of nerve, muscle, gland cells Monitors all organs Controls heartbeat, blood pressure, blood composition and volume, breathing, entrance of oxygen to bloodstream, production, combination and distribution of thousands of chemicals of the internal pharmacy, integrity of the internal organs, safety of the organizm, avoidance of danger, attachments to family, friends, and society, creation of mental processes, mental routine
13. http://ep.llnl.gov/msds/pdb/acetylcholine.gif
14. “hate” dislike – “crazy, silly” 68
15. 73
16. 80-81 *one group did the operation *one group opened and closed 90% reported improved symptoms 75% better on exercise test BUT – of those who claimed well—only 20% showed actual improvement in heart function; 60% no improvement; 20% worse following the operation
17. 77