Category Archives: Student Posts

“‘Male Brains’ Linked To Higher Autism Risk in Women, Study Says”

autism-awareness

Article Summary:

Just as the human face can be depicted as feminine or masculine, brain structures are also distinct in a way to determine masculine or feminine structure. Male and female brain structures, however, can be developed in both men and women. This is the reason women with masculine brain structures are at a higher risk to develop autism spectrum disorder. The idea of masculine and feminine brain structures stem from the idea of men having thinner cortex and women having thicker cortex. Due to this, men are more likely to develop the autism spectrum disorder than women because they are more likely to have the masculine brain anatomy.

In addition, when discussing autism, it is important to note that the condition is neurodevelopmental which indicates that symptoms begin during childhood and children are more likely to not achieve typical milestones of maturity. Physicians use the term spectrum to provide a range of symptoms or level of disability to measure different persons. For instance, some autistic patients may not be able to function in social environments but they possess extraordinary math skills. Over time, the condition will allow the individual to function on a higher or lower level – there is a possibility of change in behavior depending on the individual. According to Christine Ecker, professor at Goethe University, autism spectrum disorder is two to five times more common in males. Her research team, however, have not been studying the probability of autism developing in the male population – but more so the male brain structure population.

Moreover, Christine Ecker and her team based their research on the study of brain anatomy differences that could potentially lead to the development of autism spectrum disorder. To test their theory, they evaluated the cortical thickness of the brain in relation to the condition. Ecker notes, “females tend to have a thicker cortex than males in various regions of the brain” and “previous studies have also shown thickness to be significantly altered in people with autism”. To conduct the study, the researchers tested “98 high-functioning adults with autism (49 of them men) and 98 adults without autism (51 of them men). Both groups were roughly within the same age range: mid-20s, on average”. People who had a history of head injuries or abnormities were excluded from the participant pool. To carry out their study, the researchers used a MRI scan to observe cortical thickness or the grey matter across the surface of the cortex. What researchers found, as stated above, is that brain phenotype varies from men to women. Women who had male structured brains were at high risk for the autism spectrum disorder. Why is this? The thicker the matter across the cortex the harder it is for the brain to fully interact as a system.

Furthermore, Ecker explained how her goal consisted of finding a way to start earlier diagnosis of the autism spectrum disorder. This biological approach could show physicians ahead of time if their patients are at risk. In addition, this can also benefit psychologists, who are treating autistic patients in that it will provide concrete proof to their assumptions.  The most important thing to take away would be “Women with male brain anatomy are three times more likely to develop the autism spectrum disorder than women with female brain anatomy”.

Reflection:

I would have to argue that this research project was very informative and interesting. Throughout the project I was able to read many interesting articles that covered autism spectrum disorder and got a grasp of what the disease is and is capable of. Prior to my research, I knew about the neurodevelopmental disease but I did not know the specifics. Since reading about the condition more, I have a firm idea of how the condition can act as a social, physical, and mental burden. Socially, autistic individuals may have a harder time interacting with others when compared to someone living without the condition. Physically, the disease can cause individuals to express little emotion or large amounts of emotions when faced with certain stimuli. Mentally, I believe the disease can be the biggest burden in that it disengages autistic individuals from the rest of their environment.

The disorder may seem as a huge disadvantage because it makes social cues harder to identify from autistic individuals perception and it can also cause one to lack emotion in serious situations. Living with autism spectrum disorder, however, isn’t all that bad. The disorder can come with a few negatives as well as positives. Some autistic individuals are able to focus intensely on specific activities or subjects that allow them to exceed others of that field. For instance, a well known example would be autistic individuals who are math or science geniuses. The idea here is that these individuals are able to see complex things in a much simpler way.

In conclusion, I now have a new perspective on autism spectrum disorder and how it affects the everyday lives of individuals. Moving forward, I would like to continue my research and become more involved with the autism movement.

Source:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/08/health/autism-typical-male-brain-study/index.html

Scutti, Susan. “‘Male Brains’ Linked to Higher Autism Risk in Women, Study Says.” CNN. Cable News Network, 08 Feb. 2017. Web. 02 May 2017.

“‘Male Brains’ Linked To Higher Autism Risk in Women, Study Says”

autism-awareness

Article Summary:

Just as the human face can be depicted as feminine or masculine, brain structures are also distinct in a way to determine masculine or feminine structure. Male and female brain structures, however, can be developed in both men and women. This is the reason women with masculine brain structures are at a higher risk to develop autism spectrum disorder. The idea of masculine and feminine brain structures stem from the idea of men having thinner cortex and women having thicker cortex. Due to this, men are more likely to develop the autism spectrum disorder than women because they are more likely to have the masculine brain anatomy.

In addition, when discussing autism, it is important to note that the condition is neurodevelopmental which indicates that symptoms begin during childhood and children are more likely to not achieve typical milestones of maturity. Physicians use the term spectrum to provide a range of symptoms or level of disability to measure different persons. For instance, some autistic patients may not be able to function in social environments but they possess extraordinary math skills. Over time, the condition will allow the individual to function on a higher or lower level – there is a possibility of change in behavior depending on the individual. According to Christine Ecker, professor at Goethe University, autism spectrum disorder is two to five times more common in males. Her research team, however, have not been studying the probability of autism developing in the male population – but more so the male brain structure population.

Moreover, Christine Ecker and her team based their research on the study of brain anatomy differences that could potentially lead to the development of autism spectrum disorder. To test their theory, they evaluated the cortical thickness of the brain in relation to the condition. Ecker notes, “females tend to have a thicker cortex than males in various regions of the brain” and “previous studies have also shown thickness to be significantly altered in people with autism”. To conduct the study, the researchers tested “98 high-functioning adults with autism (49 of them men) and 98 adults without autism (51 of them men). Both groups were roughly within the same age range: mid-20s, on average”. People who had a history of head injuries or abnormities were excluded from the participant pool. To carry out their study, the researchers used a MRI scan to observe cortical thickness or the grey matter across the surface of the cortex. What researchers found, as stated above, is that brain phenotype varies from men to women. Women who had male structured brains were at high risk for the autism spectrum disorder. Why is this? The thicker the matter across the cortex the harder it is for the brain to fully interact as a system.

Furthermore, Ecker explained how her goal consisted of finding a way to start earlier diagnosis of the autism spectrum disorder. This biological approach could show physicians ahead of time if their patients are at risk. In addition, this can also benefit psychologists, who are treating autistic patients in that it will provide concrete proof to their assumptions.  The most important thing to take away would be “Women with male brain anatomy are three times more likely to develop the autism spectrum disorder than women with female brain anatomy”.

Reflection:

I would have to argue that this research project was very informative and interesting. Throughout the project I was able to read many interesting articles that covered autism spectrum disorder and got a grasp of what the disease is and is capable of. Prior to my research, I knew about the neurodevelopmental disease but I did not know the specifics. Since reading about the condition more, I have a firm idea of how the condition can act as a social, physical, and mental burden. Socially, autistic individuals may have a harder time interacting with others when compared to someone living without the condition. Physically, the disease can cause individuals to express little emotion or large amounts of emotions when faced with certain stimuli. Mentally, I believe the disease can be the biggest burden in that it disengages autistic individuals from the rest of their environment.

The disorder may seem as a huge disadvantage because it makes social cues harder to identify from autistic individuals perception and it can also cause one to lack emotion in serious situations. Living with autism spectrum disorder, however, isn’t all that bad. The disorder can come with a few negatives as well as positives. Some autistic individuals are able to focus intensely on specific activities or subjects that allow them to exceed others of that field. For instance, a well known example would be autistic individuals who are math or science geniuses. The idea here is that these individuals are able to see complex things in a much simpler way.

In conclusion, I now have a new perspective on autism spectrum disorder and how it affects the everyday lives of individuals. Moving forward, I would like to continue my research and become more involved with the autism movement.

Source:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/08/health/autism-typical-male-brain-study/index.html

Scutti, Susan. “‘Male Brains’ Linked to Higher Autism Risk in Women, Study Says.” CNN. Cable News Network, 08 Feb. 2017. Web. 02 May 2017.

“‘Male Brains’ Linked To Higher Autism Risk in Women, Study Says”

autism-awareness

Article Summary:

Just as the human face can be depicted as feminine or masculine, brain structures are also distinct in a way to determine masculine or feminine structure. Male and female brain structures, however, can be developed in both men and women. This is the reason women with masculine brain structures are at a higher risk to develop autism spectrum disorder. The idea of masculine and feminine brain structures stem from the idea of men having thinner cortex and women having thicker cortex. Due to this, men are more likely to develop the autism spectrum disorder than women because they are more likely to have the masculine brain anatomy.

In addition, when discussing autism, it is important to note that the condition is neurodevelopmental which indicates that symptoms begin during childhood and children are more likely to not achieve typical milestones of maturity. Physicians use the term spectrum to provide a range of symptoms or level of disability to measure different persons. For instance, some autistic patients may not be able to function in social environments but they possess extraordinary math skills. Over time, the condition will allow the individual to function on a higher or lower level – there is a possibility of change in behavior depending on the individual. According to Christine Ecker, professor at Goethe University, autism spectrum disorder is two to five times more common in males. Her research team, however, have not been studying the probability of autism developing in the male population – but more so the male brain structure population.

Moreover, Christine Ecker and her team based their research on the study of brain anatomy differences that could potentially lead to the development of autism spectrum disorder. To test their theory, they evaluated the cortical thickness of the brain in relation to the condition. Ecker notes, “females tend to have a thicker cortex than males in various regions of the brain” and “previous studies have also shown thickness to be significantly altered in people with autism”. To conduct the study, the researchers tested “98 high-functioning adults with autism (49 of them men) and 98 adults without autism (51 of them men). Both groups were roughly within the same age range: mid-20s, on average”. People who had a history of head injuries or abnormities were excluded from the participant pool. To carry out their study, the researchers used a MRI scan to observe cortical thickness or the grey matter across the surface of the cortex. What researchers found, as stated above, is that brain phenotype varies from men to women. Women who had male structured brains were at high risk for the autism spectrum disorder. Why is this? The thicker the matter across the cortex the harder it is for the brain to fully interact as a system.

Furthermore, Ecker explained how her goal consisted of finding a way to start earlier diagnosis of the autism spectrum disorder. This biological approach could show physicians ahead of time if their patients are at risk. In addition, this can also benefit psychologists, who are treating autistic patients in that it will provide concrete proof to their assumptions.  The most important thing to take away would be “Women with male brain anatomy are three times more likely to develop the autism spectrum disorder than women with female brain anatomy”.

Reflection:

I would have to argue that this research project was very informative and interesting. Throughout the project I was able to read many interesting articles that covered autism spectrum disorder and got a grasp of what the disease is and is capable of. Prior to my research, I knew about the neurodevelopmental disease but I did not know the specifics. Since reading about the condition more, I have a firm idea of how the condition can act as a social, physical, and mental burden. Socially, autistic individuals may have a harder time interacting with others when compared to someone living without the condition. Physically, the disease can cause individuals to express little emotion or large amounts of emotions when faced with certain stimuli. Mentally, I believe the disease can be the biggest burden in that it disengages autistic individuals from the rest of their environment.

The disorder may seem as a huge disadvantage because it makes social cues harder to identify from autistic individuals perception and it can also cause one to lack emotion in serious situations. Living with autism spectrum disorder, however, isn’t all that bad. The disorder can come with a few negatives as well as positives. Some autistic individuals are able to focus intensely on specific activities or subjects that allow them to exceed others of that field. For instance, a well known example would be autistic individuals who are math or science geniuses. The idea here is that these individuals are able to see complex things in a much simpler way.

In conclusion, I now have a new perspective on autism spectrum disorder and how it affects the everyday lives of individuals. Moving forward, I would like to continue my research and become more involved with the autism movement.

Source:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/08/health/autism-typical-male-brain-study/index.html

Scutti, Susan. “‘Male Brains’ Linked to Higher Autism Risk in Women, Study Says.” CNN. Cable News Network, 08 Feb. 2017. Web. 02 May 2017.

“‘Male Brains’ Linked To Higher Autism Risk in Women, Study Says”

autism-awareness

Article Summary:

Just as the human face can be depicted as feminine or masculine, brain structures are also distinct in a way to determine masculine or feminine structure. Male and female brain structures, however, can be developed in both men and women. This is the reason women with masculine brain structures are at a higher risk to develop autism spectrum disorder. The idea of masculine and feminine brain structures stem from the idea of men having thinner cortex and women having thicker cortex. Due to this, men are more likely to develop the autism spectrum disorder than women because they are more likely to have the masculine brain anatomy.

In addition, when discussing autism, it is important to note that the condition is neurodevelopmental which indicates that symptoms begin during childhood and children are more likely to not achieve typical milestones of maturity. Physicians use the term spectrum to provide a range of symptoms or level of disability to measure different persons. For instance, some autistic patients may not be able to function in social environments but they possess extraordinary math skills. Over time, the condition will allow the individual to function on a higher or lower level – there is a possibility of change in behavior depending on the individual. According to Christine Ecker, professor at Goethe University, autism spectrum disorder is two to five times more common in males. Her research team, however, have not been studying the probability of autism developing in the male population – but more so the male brain structure population.

Moreover, Christine Ecker and her team based their research on the study of brain anatomy differences that could potentially lead to the development of autism spectrum disorder. To test their theory, they evaluated the cortical thickness of the brain in relation to the condition. Ecker notes, “females tend to have a thicker cortex than males in various regions of the brain” and “previous studies have also shown thickness to be significantly altered in people with autism”. To conduct the study, the researchers tested “98 high-functioning adults with autism (49 of them men) and 98 adults without autism (51 of them men). Both groups were roughly within the same age range: mid-20s, on average”. People who had a history of head injuries or abnormities were excluded from the participant pool. To carry out their study, the researchers used a MRI scan to observe cortical thickness or the grey matter across the surface of the cortex. What researchers found, as stated above, is that brain phenotype varies from men to women. Women who had male structured brains were at high risk for the autism spectrum disorder. Why is this? The thicker the matter across the cortex the harder it is for the brain to fully interact as a system.

Furthermore, Ecker explained how her goal consisted of finding a way to start earlier diagnosis of the autism spectrum disorder. This biological approach could show physicians ahead of time if their patients are at risk. In addition, this can also benefit psychologists, who are treating autistic patients in that it will provide concrete proof to their assumptions.  The most important thing to take away would be “Women with male brain anatomy are three times more likely to develop the autism spectrum disorder than women with female brain anatomy”.

Reflection:

I would have to argue that this research project was very informative and interesting. Throughout the project I was able to read many interesting articles that covered autism spectrum disorder and got a grasp of what the disease is and is capable of. Prior to my research, I knew about the neurodevelopmental disease but I did not know the specifics. Since reading about the condition more, I have a firm idea of how the condition can act as a social, physical, and mental burden. Socially, autistic individuals may have a harder time interacting with others when compared to someone living without the condition. Physically, the disease can cause individuals to express little emotion or large amounts of emotions when faced with certain stimuli. Mentally, I believe the disease can be the biggest burden in that it disengages autistic individuals from the rest of their environment.

The disorder may seem as a huge disadvantage because it makes social cues harder to identify from autistic individuals perception and it can also cause one to lack emotion in serious situations. Living with autism spectrum disorder, however, isn’t all that bad. The disorder can come with a few negatives as well as positives. Some autistic individuals are able to focus intensely on specific activities or subjects that allow them to exceed others of that field. For instance, a well known example would be autistic individuals who are math or science geniuses. The idea here is that these individuals are able to see complex things in a much simpler way.

In conclusion, I now have a new perspective on autism spectrum disorder and how it affects the everyday lives of individuals. Moving forward, I would like to continue my research and become more involved with the autism movement.

Source:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/08/health/autism-typical-male-brain-study/index.html

Scutti, Susan. “‘Male Brains’ Linked to Higher Autism Risk in Women, Study Says.” CNN. Cable News Network, 08 Feb. 2017. Web. 02 May 2017.

FIP-Mental Health

Before watching the video, I think that TV shows that follow the lives of people with mental health issue can be exploitative, if they do not choose themselves to be documented. For example, in Intervention, a lot of the time, the family of the person with issue are the ones who choose to document the life of them. That is exploitative. So as long as people are choosing to be documented, then it is okay to film them for entertainment.

After watching the video, none of my opinions really change. You could visibly see how upset the guy was about his stuff being gone through, so in my mind its really unfair for them to be filming him.

The comments of the video were really rude and often not even about the show or the purpose behind the show. Potentially, the show could be used to communicate facts about real mental issue to a wide audience but since they are used for entertainment purposes, people often time focus on the superficial, such as the appearances of the people.


Mental Health

Schizophrenia is more or less fantasized in the media in my opinion. After watching the video and comparing it with what I have seen in movies that portray what the symptoms are like, I see a big difference in the advancement of symptoms. The movies make every case seem to be the worse case scenario and does not allow the lesser cases much exposure. The media has a bad case of dramatizing the effects and portrays the disease in its worse sense to get more attention. The YouTube video seemed to make the effects more personal and put you in an everyday situation. This allowed you to sympathize with the individual and allowed me to completely understand the effects of the disease. I feel as though the YouTube video was more effective than the media and movies at portraying the actual effects of the disease.


First Impressions: Schizophrenia

This week we were asked to watch a video showing a day from the perspective of someone who has schizophrenia and share our reactions. I certainly sympathize with those who go through what is represented in the video, it must be very scary and confusing. It makes me wonder if all people who have schizophrenia experience something similar to that, and if not what they do experience. I also wonder the effect that familiar faces and loved ones would have. The video showed (I assume his wife?) at the end and she seemed to help him but it wasn’t clear whether it was because she was familiar and loved or if it was just because she distracted him from his thoughts. I did not know that those who suffer from schizophrenia can see food as poison like the man in the video did. I appreciate more now how difficult very simple everyday things become for those who have schizophrenia. In all this video was not very different from how I have thought of schizophrenia being based on what I have seen about it in the media. I think the media makes people who have schizophrenia seem more crazy than most with schizophrenia actually are by portraying characters who have schizophrenia as more actively peculiar. By this I simply mean that it seems like they portray schizophrenics as always acting strangely rather than just having things going on in their head like the video showed. Donnie Darko seemed a little more surreal than I would think the majority of schizophrenics would be, however I simply don’t know. It certainly was more so than the video, but still quite similar in some respects. In all it doesn’t seem like my view or knowledge of schizophrenia has changed much after watching that video, as it didn’t seem to differ much from what I have seen in the media with regard to schizophrenia. However I have more appreciation of the difficulties schizophrenia presents in everyday life.


Week 14: Schizophrenia

This week in class we have been talking about mental health. For this blog prompt I decided to watch the YouTube video demonstrating the daily life of a patient suffering from schizophrenia. Before starting the video I was afraid of what I would see and I felt uncomfortable as I watched the progression of the video. The most uncomfortable part of the video was hearing the background voices and seeing how it affected the daily life of the man. It made me sad to see that these patients have trouble performing simple daily activities such as taking medications, answering the phone, and watching television. It was so disturbing to experience how these patients are controlled by the voices they hear,and the darkness throughout the video made me feel the anxiety that the person in the video was experiencing. Towards the end of the video the experiences seemed to become very personal, and I felt as if the voices were directed towards me.

The media often portrays different mental health related disorders in an extravagant way. I feel like the media often depicts schizophrenics as people that have no self control, and that these people are extremely dangerous. It is hurtful to see that the media shows these false sides to these important health issues. The media should work to inform the public about these health issues in order to teach people about a disorder that not most people know about. The media takes a toll on the way we view this mental health disorder because it depicts schizophrenics as crazy people that are scary and have no way of controlling their emotions.

The YouTube video made me see schizophrenia in a more personal way that allowed me to feel the anxiety that these people face on a daily basis. I think it is important to fully comprehend a topic before displaying it in the media, and I feel like it is wrong to depict it in false ,extravagant ways just to get more views from the public; even though that might not be the primary intention. It is important to teach people about this topic instead of scaring them and allowing them to think that there is no way of helping these patients.


Schizophrenia

The video I watched about Schizophrenia was a good video that shows how people act when experiencing this disorder. I was shocked when the person was having difficulty to do tasks around the house.This type of video and the media videos such as movies or tv shows which show Schizophrenia use this to make the movies to be dramatic,suspenseful or unpredictable. The voices in the head of the person were manipulating the decision this person was making.When the person saw the pizza man at the door there was a sense of suspense and when the person got the pizza to look at it the person saw the pizza was making noises and moving so the person just threw it on the ground. A person with schizophrenia has a mental disorder that involves the thoughts,emotion, and behavior leading to how a person sees the reality by doing unusual things that a normal person doesn’t regularly do.There’s medication which helps people dealing with Schizophrenia to help people be able to live normal. The media these days shows good ways of Schizophrenia by showing people how this disorder affects a person’s life and the struggles they have to go through in everyday life.


Media Production Project: Attention, Students Put Your Laptops Away

The way people take notes is important to the way a person is able to learn in today’s society. In the present and future the advances of technology are increasing leading to students using tablets, or laptops in class to take notes. The number of students who type notes and the students who take notes by hand tend to have differences in the way of how they learn in class and their performance. Researchers believe the use of laptops can distract students because of multitasking and internet browsing. There are two hypothesis having to do with note-taking and those are the encoding hypothesis and the external storage hypothesis. The encoding hypothesis is the process of taking notes and being able to learn and retain from it while the external storage hypothesis is having to look back at the notes to learn.

There were 3 experiments conducted by Pam A. Mueller(Princeton University) and Daniel M. Oppenheimer (University of California,Los Angeles) to help inform the readers about which technique of note-taking is the most effective. The researchers gave the students materials such as the same type of laptops and materials for the longhand note-takers. In the first study there were 67 participants (33 male and 33 female, 1 unknown) and had to learn from 5 TED talks to learn and take notes from the session.Then, from there the students took a distraction task to distract the students from what they learned. After the distraction task students took a test, which resulted with longhand note-takers and typing note-takers were about the same results for factual questions, but for the conceptual questions longhand note-taking was more advantageous than typing note-takers. There was also a use of verbatim in students who type their notes meaning they type everything that is heard or seen while the longhand note-takers had less words because the students picked the information that was important to them.

The second experiment was the same but it had a little twist to it and it was to instruct laptop note takers to not take verbatim notes because this happened in the first experiment and led to poor results for students who type their notes.Students from the University of California, Los Angeles(151 students). There were 2 types of events were laptop and longhand note-takers separated into. Students who type would go to a nonintervention lecture or a lecture with an intervention afterwards. The results for longhand note-takers was better than the students who typed their notes. The laptop note-takers in the intervention lecture did better than the students with no intervention. The use of verbatim was still used and did not reduced the effect even when at the beginning of the study, it was instructed to not use verbatim to take notes resulting with  longhand note-takers also taking the advantage since it had a lesser word count compared to typing note-takers.

The third study had (109) participants from the University of California, Los Angeles  where they had to take notes about four different topics; bread, bats, respiration, and vaccines on individual monitors. The students would then come back a week later to be tested on the material. The researchers (Mueller and Oppenheimer) saw the results from the tests and longhand note-takers still outperformed the students who typed their notes. Students who write their notes by hand are able to process information to their mind when writing it down and are able to only pick the important information from a lecture. Students who type their notes have a difficult time to retain information because they usually type everything they hear or say and have too much information for the brain to process all at once.

These tests conducted how the performance of a note-taker can be affected depending on the note-taking techniques used to learn the material needed. The increasing popularity of laptops these days needs to be carefully evaluated on the learning experience because it could lead to poor performances in education. Long hand note-taking can have shorter word counts on a person’s notes but it will have the important information needed for the lecture. Typing notes in a verbatim manner can lead to excessive notes which are not really important to the lecture. The encoding and external storage of long hand note takers is more beneficial to them than the students who type their notes.

 

Link to News Article:

http://www.npr.org/2016/04/17/474525392/attention-students-put-your-laptops-away?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160826

Link to Research Article:

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0956797614524581