Understanding Asthma

This image  credits to pharmpro.com
ASTHMA is a worldwide affliction. Here in New Zealand, it is estimated that 1 in 10 suffers from it. Young and old alike, townsfolk and countryfolk, manual workers and office workers, are among the sufferers.

Yet, asthma is little understood, especially by nonsufferers. Even asthmatics often do not understand what is happening to them, and this can create anxiety that only aggravates the condition. Perhaps the following comments, based on experiences and research in New Zealand, will help to lessen somewhat that lack of understanding.

What Is Asthma?
In a typical asthma attack, the sufferer feels a tightness in the chest. Wheezing and coughing, he struggles to breathe. The experience is frightening! An asthma attack may be severe or quite mild. Symptoms may vary, as may the frequency of attacks. Some persons always have the symptoms, although they differ in severity.

What causes these unpleasant sensations? As you probably know, air is channeled into our lungs through the bronchial tubes. In many asthmatic patients, allergic reactions cause oversensitivity in these tubes. The muscles in the bronchial wall may contract, the membrane lining the tubes may swell, and the glands in the bronchial wall may produce excess mucus. The result? The tubes get narrower. No wonder the patient has difficulty breathing!

What Causes Asthma?
What triggers an asthma attack? Perhaps an infection, an emotional upset, or a severe allergic reaction to something. However, once the disease has been triggered in a person, there may be several antigens, or specific substances, that will produce an oversensitivity in the bronchial tubes. And once the bronchial tubes are sensitized to these, other factors, such as temperature changes, varying humidity, emotional upsets, or exercise, may also cause attacks.

Doctors may be able to identify some of the antigens that bring on an asthma attack, but it is not often possible to find all of them. And even when they are found, it is not always possible to avoid them. Thorough investigation to find the causes of asthma and the best way to manage it may take time. It may involve much patience on the part of the sufferer and the doctor. But such time spent will likely result in greater ability to control the symptoms.

How to Prevent Attacks
Many things irritate the lungs and can provoke an attack in an asthma sufferer. Try to avoid contact with the following.

Tobacco Smoke: Do not smoke, and avoid smoke-filled rooms. Doctors quickly lose sympathy for asthmatics who insist on smoking. And friends of someone who suffers from asthma should not smoke in the person’s presence. Although the person may not suffer an attack immediately, hours later the individual may be in dire straits because of the effects of the smoke.

Dust: Try to avoid dusty, enclosed areas as well as activities that stir up dust. If your job brings you into contact with a lot of dust, give serious consideration to changing it. Some asthmatics find that their symptoms occur only at night or in the bedroom. Could this be due to house dust or those tiny house-dust mites? In many cases it is; hence, the asthmatic’s bedroom should be as free of dust as possible. Following are some housekeeping suggestions especially designed for asthmatics.

Clean the bedroom daily.
Each week, thoroughly clean and vacuum mattress, bed base, blankets, and floor. Hardwood floors are better than rugs or carpets, and venetian blinds than drapes.

Dust furniture, tops of doors, window frames, and windowsills with a damp or oily cloth.
The room should be aired thoroughly and the doors and windows closed after the airing, at least three to four hours before the person retires. Mattress, blankets, and pillows should not be of allergy-causing materials, and they should regularly be aired in the sun if at all possible.

One more thing. Do not allow pets into the bedroom. And if there is any evidence that you are allergic to your pet, find another home for it—or, at least, always keep it out of the house.
Temperature and Humidity: Sudden temperature changes and extremes of heat and cold may provoke an attack.
The ideal is air that is slightly warm and moist. Hence, if you suffer from asthma, go out as little as possible in foggy or crisp, cold weather. Avoid hot, dry central heating. If temperature changes cause attacks during the night, try having a thermostatically controlled heater in your room during the winter months. If humidity brings on your symptoms, try using a humidity controller.

Emotional Stress and Fatigue: Either of these may cause an asthma attack. True, we cannot always control emotional stress. But many asthmatics have found that Bible principles help them in this area. The Bible tells us: “The life of the body is a tranquil heart.” (Proverbs 14:30, The Jerusalem Bible) Also, wise sufferers of asthma try to be aware of their physical limitations, avoiding fatigue, which can also trigger an attack.

Food: Food allergies may be causes of asthma attacks, especially in children or in adults whose asthma started in childhood. Even common foods, such as milk, eggs, and cereals, may be suspect. But it may take a lot of detective work to determine the culprit, especially if it is a widely used substance, such as sugar. And, of course, it could be that more than one food is involved. Adult patients would be well-advised to consider alcoholic drinks, especially beer and wine, to be possible aggravating factors.

Exercise: Sometimes an asthma attack is triggered by overexertion, usually striking after the exercise is completed. If this is your experience, avoid exercises, such as squash, that involve sudden bursts of energy and try a more gradual form of exercise, such as swimming and bicycling. Perhaps it may help to use a bronchodilator (a medicine that relieves congestion in the bronchial tubes) prior to any strenuous activity. A physiotherapist may be able to help you with a program that will increase your tolerance of exercise.

 This will enable you to take part in more activities without becoming short of breath.
Infection: Often, minor respiratory infections, such as a cold or influenza, will provoke asthma attacks or make the symptoms worse. The usual medication for relief of asthma is not always effective when an infection is present.

Living With Pollens: While the winter months cause many problems to those with respiratory disease, many suffer from what is called seasonal asthma. Microscopically small particles of pollen floating in the summer air can cause untold misery and discomfort to asthma sufferers. It is impossible to eradicate the sources of this pollen, but some commonsense measures may help. For instance, try to avoid freshly mowed lawns, as well as wilderness or country areas during pollen seasons, and use effective air-conditioning if possible.

Living With Molds: Thousands of molds, or fungi, inhabit our environment. Molds and fungal spores (reproductive bodies) grow on vegetable or animal matter. They are also abundant on wheat, oats, corn, grasses, and leaves. While only a small number have been shown to cause problems for asthma sufferers, a study in New Zealand suggested that spores may be a major allergy factor. Hence, while it is impossible to eradicate airborne spores,

 The following measures may help:
Avoid damp, musty basements and buildings.
Do not rake or burn leaves or dry grass.
Disinfect or destroy any moldy articles.
Do not keep plants indoors or establish a compost pile in the garden.
Decontaminate household areas infected with mold.

Is Your Child Asthmatic?
If so, he will need your support. You, as well as his teachers, will need to understand his problem and help him to cope with it. The child must not be pushed to do more than he can manage, but neither should he be allowed to hide behind his asthma and avoid doing things that would be good for him.
His physical activities should preferably be noncompetitive, although many children with asthma can play most games when they are free of symptoms.

However, the child with chronic asthma may be able to enjoy only limited activity, and adults should be careful not to push him to try too hard. The intelligent use of medication may help him to enjoy regular activities such as physical education, and the instructor should know when and how to use a bronchodilator aerosol.

A few children are so severely affected by asthma that they persistently have difficulty in breathing and are frequently wheezy. Such children are often anxious and tense, and their parents and teachers worry a lot about them. The children frequently miss school and may be unable to join in games.
A parent may be overprotective of such a child. If the child comes from a home where there is constant tension and argument, he may lack the support, love, understanding, and encouragement he so desperately needs. Parents who adopt a healthy, optimistic approach to asthma help reduce anxiety in the child, minimizing the severity of the disorder.

If Someone Has an Attack . . .
Move him to a quiet place and reassure him. He may stand or sit leaning forward, often the most comfortable position during an attack, and he should use his bronchodilator immediately. If the bronchodilator is an inhalant, it may work faster and therefore be more effective than a medicine taken orally. If the attack is severe—especially if the sufferer cannot speak properly—he should be taken to a doctor as soon as possible. By the way, the patient loses a lot of moisture during an attack because of the gasping and panting. Therefore, give him plenty to drink.

Treatment of the Asthmatic 
Physiotherapy is an important aid in helping the asthmatic, especially in showing him how to breathe properly (using the diaphragm) and how to ease shortness of breath. The therapist can also teach him relaxation, good posture, and exercises that help to keep asthma under control. Treatments vary. A doctor is usually the most qualified to suggest what is best in each individual case.
Treatments include the use of drugs, such as sodium cromolyn and steroids, as well as several types of bronchodilators. Of course, with the use of drugs, there may be possible side effects. A doctor may be able to recommend other treatments.

Asthma is complex. Relatives and friends must understand this if they are going to be of any help. Avoid saying things like, ‘Just get your mind off it’ or, ‘You look quite well to me.’ Asthma sufferers who learn to understand their affliction can take comfort in knowing that even before humankind is cured of all ills in God’s new world, they can be better prepared for asthma attacks, better equipped to avoid things that trigger them, and have their stress, anxiety, and discomfort greatly lessened. (Isaiah 33:22, 24)—Contributed by an asthma sufferer.
[Footnotes]
Sometimes an asthmatic may be too sick to perform these household chores. For helpful suggestions, please refer to the article “A Clean Home Despite Ill Health” in Awake! of February 22, 1982.
[Diagram/Picture on page 17]

NORMAL
Muscle relaxed
Mucosa
Unrestricted airway
ASTHMA ATTACK
Muscle contracted
Inflamed mucosa
Restricted airway
Phlegm

The Case for Mother’s Milk

 This image credits to parents.com

By Awake! correspondent in Nigeria
IMAGINE a baby food that is delicious, easy to digest, and meets all the nutritional needs of developing infants. A food that is a “wonder drug” that both guards against and treats disease. A food that costs nothing and is readily available to families everywhere on earth.
Impossible, you say? Well, such a product does exist, though it has not been developed by industrial scientists. It is mother’s milk.

Throughout mankind’s history this marvelous food has been considered crucial to child care. For example, the Bible tells us that when the daughter of Pharaoh found the infant Moses, she directed his sister to call for “a nursing woman” to care for him. (Exodus 2:5-9) Later, in Greek and Roman societies, robust wet nurses were commonly employed to provide milk for the infants of wealthy parents.

In recent decades, however, the practice of breast-feeding has sharply declined, partly because of advertising that made many people think that breast milk was inferior to the infant formulas of modern technology. Today, that trend is being reversed as more and more mothers come to realize that “breast is best.”

The Best Nutrition
Have scientists improved on the Creator’s built-in method of feeding infants? Hardly. UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) states: “Breast-milk alone is the best possible food and drink for babies in the first four to six months of life.” Breast milk contains all the proteins, growth stimulants, fats, carbohydrates, enzymes, vitamins, and trace elements that are vital to an infant’s healthy growth during the first few months of life.

Not only is breast milk the best food for newborn babies but it is also the only food they need. The World Health Assembly reaffirmed in May 1992 that “during the first four to six months of life no food or liquid other than breast milk, not even water, is required to meet the normal infant’s nutritional requirements.”

Breast milk contains enough water to quench a baby’s thirst even in hot, dry climates. Bottle-feeding extra water or sugary drinks is not only unnecessary but can cause the baby to stop breast-feeding entirely, since babies usually prefer the relative ease of bottle-feeding. Of course, after the first few months of life, other food and drink need to be gradually added to the baby’s diet.

No substitute provides such an ideal balance of ingredients to promote the healthy growth and development of infants. The book Reproductive Health—Global Issues states: “Attempts to substitute for breast milk have not been successful. The historical literature on the subject of infant feeding is replete with evidence that non-breastfed infants are at a much higher risk of infection and malnutrition than breastfed infants.”

Breast-Feeding Saves Lives
According to WHO (World Health Organization), a million infant deaths worldwide would be prevented each year if all mothers fed their babies nothing but breast milk during the first four to six months of life. UNICEF’s report State of the World’s Children 1992 states: “A bottle-fed baby in a poor community is approximately 15 times more likely to die from diarrhoeal disease and 4 times more likely to die from pneumonia than a baby who is exclusively breastfed.”

Why is this? One reason is that powdered milk, apart from being nutritionally inferior to mother’s milk, is often overdiluted using unclean water and then served in unsterilized feeding bottles. So bottle milk can easily be contaminated with the bacteria and viruses that cause diarrheic disease and respiratory infections, the major killers of children in developing countries. In contrast, milk straight from the breast is not easily contaminated, requires no mixing, does not spoil, and cannot become overdiluted.

A second reason why breast-feeding saves lives is that mother’s milk contains antibodies that protect the infant against disease. Even when diarrheic disease or other infections do occur, they are usually less severe and easier to treat among breast-fed infants. Researchers also suggest that babies fed on breast milk seem less prone to dental disease, cancer, diabetes, and allergies. And because it requires vigorous sucking action, breast-feeding may promote in infants the proper development of facial bones and muscles.

Benefits to Mothers
Breast-feeding doesn’t benefit just baby; it benefits mother as well. For one thing, a baby’s suckling the breast stimulates the release of the hormone oxytocin, which not only helps milk release and flow but also causes contraction of the uterus. When the uterus contracts promptly after delivery, prolonged bleeding is less likely. Breast-feeding also delays the return of ovulation and menstruation. This tends to delay the next pregnancy.

Longer intervals between pregnancies mean healthier mothers and babies. Another big plus for women is that breast-feeding lowers the risk of ovarian and breast cancer. Some experts say that the risk of breast cancer for a woman who breast-feeds her infant is half what it would be if she did not.

Not to be overlooked in listing the benefits of breast-feeding is mother-child bonding. Since it involves not only the giving of food but also oral contact, skin-to-skin contact, and physical warmth, breast-feeding can help forge an important bond between mother and child and may contribute to the child’s emotional and social development.

Deciding to Breast-Feed
Almost all mothers are physically able to provide enough milk for their infants if certain requirements are met. Breast-feeding should begin as soon as possible after birth, within the first hour after the delivery of the baby. (The first breast milk, a thick yellowish substance called colostrum, is good for babies and helps protect them from infections.) Thereafter, babies should be fed on demand, including during the night, and not according to a fixed schedule. The correct positioning of the baby at the breast is also important. An experienced and sympathetic adviser can provide help in these matters.

Of course, whether a mother decides to breast-feed her infant or not depends on more than simply her physical ability to do so. The State of the World’s Children 1992 reports: “Mothers need the support of hospitals if they are to give their babies the best possible start; but if they are to continue breastfeeding, they will also need the support of employers, trade unions, communities—and of men.”

Breast-Feeding in the Developing World
  1. Breast milk alone is the best possible food and drink for a baby in the first four to six months of life.
  2. Babies should start to breast-feed as soon as possible after birth. Virtually every mother can breast-feed her baby.
  3. Frequent sucking is needed to produce enough breast milk for the baby’s needs.
  4. Bottle-feeding can lead to serious illness and death.
  5. Breast-feeding should continue well into the second year of a child’s life and for longer if possible.

  Source: Facts for Life, jointly published by UNICEF, WHO, and UNESCO.

Breast-Feeding and AIDS
  In late April 1992, WHO and UNICEF brought together an international group of experts to consider the relationship of AIDS and breast-feeding. The need for the meeting was explained by Dr. Michael Merson, director of the WHO Global Program on AIDS. He said: “Breast-feeding is a crucial element of child survival. A baby’s risk of dying of AIDS through breast-feeding must be balanced against its risk of dying of other causes if not breast-fed.”

  According to WHO, about one third of all babies born to HIV-infected mothers become infected also. While much of the mother-to-infant transmission of the disease occurs during pregnancy and delivery, there is evidence that it can also occur through breast-feeding. However, states WHO, “the vast majority of babies breast-fed by HIV-infected mothers do not become infected through breast-feeding.”

  The panel of experts concluded: “Where infectious diseases and malnutrition are the main cause of infant deaths and the infant mortality rate is high, breast-feeding should be the usual advice to pregnant women, including those who are HIV-infected. This is because their baby’s risk of HIV infection through breast milk is likely to be lower than its risk of death from other causes if it is not breast-fed.

  “On the other hand, in settings where the main cause of death during infancy is not infectious diseases and the infant mortality rate is low, the . . . usual advice to pregnant women known to be infected with HIV should be to use a safe feeding alternative for their baby rather than breast-feed.”

Our Versatile Sense of Smell

This image credits to wbmd.com
 


STIRS UP MEMORIES, ENHANCES TASTES
WHAT is your favorite aroma? When this question was asked of several people, their answers were fascinating. Bacon frying. Salt air off the ocean. Clean laundry blowing in the wind. Freshly mowed hay. Hot spices. Puppy breath. When probed further as to why these were their favorite smells, all had a specific, vivid memory that they recalled with the first whiff of the odor. Very often the memories were from childhood.

A young woman remembers lying in her bed in the morning, the tantalizing aroma of frying bacon drifting into the room, beckoning her to breakfast with her family.
Louise, 58, said that the fragrance of sea air brings back her childhood summers on the coast of Maine in the United States. “The freedom we had,” she says, “running and playing in the sand, digging for clams and cooking them over an open fire!”

Michele, 72, remembers the times as a child when she helped her mother gather the laundry off the clothesline, burying her face in armloads of it as she carried it into the house, breathing deeply to take in the fresh, clean fragrance. Freshly mowed hay spreads the scent that takes Jeremy back 55 years, to his days as a child on an Iowa farm, riding on a wagonload of freshly cut hay being taken into the barn to escape the rain he and his father could smell coming.

“Hot spices” was the response of 76-year-old Jessie, who closed her eyes and told of her family cooking apple butter (a heavily spiced sort of jam made in the United States) in an iron kettle outdoors. Seventy years ago, but the memory was still very much alive.
Carol remembers the cuddly little puppy she held in her lap when she was five and recalls the smell of the puppy’s breath. Ah, yes, that smell gives her the feeling of being warm in the sunshine on an old front porch in a little seersucker dress.

Now, what about you? Has a smell ever pleased you as it has others—evoking memories, stirring emotions? Have you ever felt invigorated by pine-scented mountain air or refreshed by the tangy stimulus of a sea breeze? Or perhaps you’ve found your mouth watering after catching a stray whiff from a bakery shop. Neuroscientist Gordon Shepherd stated in National Geographic: “We think our lives are dominated by our visual sense, but the closer you get to dinner, the more you realize how much your real pleasure in life is tied to smell.”

Smell does wonders for our sense of taste. While taste buds differentiate between the salty, the sweet, the bitter, and the sour, our sense of smell picks up other, subtler elements of flavor. If they lacked a smell, apples and onions might taste virtually the same. Or, for example, see how much flavor a piece of chocolate loses when you eat it while holding your nose.

Picture an appetizing piece of food—let’s say a freshly baked pie. Those enticing aromas waft up from it because it is releasing molecules and setting them adrift in the air currents. Along comes your nose, sniffing away eagerly. It sucks in air and sends those molecules on their way through the amazing machinery of our sense of smell. For a more detailed examination of the process of olfaction, see the box on pages 24 and 25. The intricacy and complexity of this sense is truly awe-inspiring.

Odors and Their Effects on You
Perfumers, master chefs, and vintners have for centuries recognized the power of aromas to captivate the mind and please the senses. Today, fragrance psychologists and biochemists are trying to tap the power of scent in new ways. Experimenting with fragrances ranging from lily of the valley to apple and spice, odor engineers have pumped scents into schools, office buildings, nursing homes, and even a subway train in order to study effects on the mind and human behavior. They claim that certain scents can affect moods, making people friendlier, improving their efficiency in the workplace, and even enhancing mental alertness.

According to The Futurist magazine, people line up at a fashionable health club in Tokyo, Japan, for a 30-minute “aroma cocktail” said to relieve the stress of city living. Japanese scientists have also studied the effects of forest air on humans and recommend walking through forests as a remedy for jangled nerves. The terpenes (pine scent) that trees exude have been found to relax not simply the body but especially the mind.

Not all odors are healthful; far from it. What delights one person might well make another miserable. Strong odors, even of perfumes, have long been known to aggravate asthma and trigger allergic reactions in some people. Then, too, there are the malodors that everyone agrees on—noxious fumes spewed from industrial smokestacks and motor vehicle exhaust pipes, rancid odors of garbage landfills and sewage basins, and vapors from volatile chemicals used in many industrial workplaces.
Of course, dangerous chemicals occur naturally in our environment but are usually so diffuse as to be harmless.

However, when such chemicals are highly concentrated, overexposure to them can cause even the resilient olfactory nerve cells to degenerate. For instance, solvents such as those used in paints, as well as many other industrial chemicals, have been listed by experts as hazardous to the olfactory system. There are also physical disorders that can impede or destroy the sense of smell.

Do You Value the Gift?
Surely the sense of smell is worth protecting from such threats wherever possible. So familiarize yourself with the hazards of any chemicals you must work with, and take whatever reasonable precautions are necessary to protect your sensitive olfactory system. (Compare 2 Corinthians 7:1.) On the other hand, it is good to be equally concerned about the sensitivities of others. A high standard of cleanliness, including our homes and our bodies, can do much in this regard. Some have also chosen to be extra cautious with the use of perfumes—especially when they plan to be in close proximity with many others for some time, as in a theater or an Assembly Hall.—Compare Matthew 7:12.
In general, though, the olfactory system is a low-maintenance gift. It asks little of us in the way of care and protection, yet it brings us a daily bounty of small pleasures in life. When you receive a gift that makes you happy, do you feel a desire to thank the giver? Millions of people today earnestly thank the Creator for the marvelous way in which the human body is made. (Compare Psalm 139:14.) We might well hope that more such thanks and praise ascend to him and, like the sacrifices of the ancient Israelites, be as “a restful odor” to our loving, generous Creator.—Numbers 15:3; Hebrews 13:15.

How the Sense of Smell Works
First, the Odor Is Detected
  ODORS enter the nasal passages when you breathe in. Also, when you swallow food, molecules are forced up the back of the mouth and into the nasal cavity. First, though, odorous air has to make it past the “guards.” Lining the nostrils are the trigeminal nerves (1), which trigger sneezing when they sense stinging or irritating chemicals. These nerves also give pleasure by reacting to the pungency of some flavors.

  Next, odorous molecules are pushed upward by eddies that form when air currents swirl around three bony, scroll-like protrusions called turbinates (2). The airstream, moistened and warmed along the way, carries the molecules to the epithelium (3), the primary reception area. Situated in a narrow channel high up in the nose, this thumbnail-size patch of tissue is packed with some ten million sensory neurons (4), each tipped with numerous hairlike projections, called cilia, bathed in a thin layer of mucus. So sensitive is the epithelium that it can detect 1/1,300,000,000 ounce [1/460,000,000 mg] of certain odorants in a single whiff of air.

  But exactly how odors are detected is still shrouded in mystery. After all, humans can distinguish as many as 10,000 odors. And there are more than 400,000 odorous substances in our environment, with chemists constantly creating new ones. So how does our nose make sense of all this olfactory hubbub? Well over 20 different theories attempt to explain the mystery.

  Just recently scientists have made progress toward solving part of this puzzle. Some evidence was found in 1991 that there are tiny proteins, called olfactory receptors, woven through the cell membranes in the cilia. Apparently such receptors bind differently to differing types of odorous molecules, thus giving each odor a distinctive “fingerprint.”

Second, the Odor Is Transmitted
  To pass this information along to the brain, coded electrochemical messages are fired along the olfactory neurons (4). Dr. Lewis Thomas, a science essayist, calls these neurons the ‘Fifth wonder of the modern world.’ They are the only primary nerve cells that replicate every several weeks. Also, they have no protective barrier between them and the surrounding stimuli, as do the sensory nerve cells that lurk protected within the eye and the ear. Instead, the olfactory nerves reach out from the brain itself and come into direct contact with the outside world. Thus, the nose is a meeting place of brain and environment.

  These neurons all lead to the same destination: the twin olfactory bulbs (5) on the underside of the brain. These bulbs are the main relay station to other parts of the brain. First, though, they edit the flood of olfactory information, eliminate all but the essential, and then send it on.

Third, the Odor Is Perceived
  The olfactory bulbs are intricately “wired” into the brain’s limbic system (6), an elegantly looping set of structures that plays a key role in storing memories and in triggering emotional reactions. This is where “the cold world of reality is transformed into a bubbling caldron of human feelings,” according to the book The Human Body. The limbic system is so extensively tied in with the sense of smell that it was long referred to as the rhinencephalon, meaning “nose brain.” This close link between nose and limbic system may explain why we react so emotionally and nostalgically to odors. Aha! The frying bacon! The clean laundry! The freshly mowed hay! The puppy breath!

  Depending on the odor sensed, the limbic system may activate the hypothalamus (7), which in turn may direct the brain’s master gland, the pituitary (8), to produce various hormones—for instance, those hormones that control appetite or sexual function. No wonder, then, that the odor of food can suddenly make us feel hungry or that a perfume can be seen as an important factor in sexual attraction.

  The limbic system also reaches into the neocortex (9), a rather intellectual, analytical neighborhood within the brain. Here is where news from the nose may be compared with input coming in from the other senses. In an instant, you might combine such data as an acrid odor, a crackling sound, and a faint haze hanging in the air to form a conclusion—fire!

  The thalamus (10) plays a role too, perhaps mediating between those very different parts, the “emotional” limbic system and the “intellectual” neocortex. The olfactory cortex (11) helps to distinguish between similar odors. Various brain parts can also send messages back to the transmission stations, the olfactory bulbs. Why? So that the bulbs can then modify the perception of odors, in effect turning them down or even turning them off.

  You may have noticed that food doesn’t smell as inviting when your appetite is sated. Or have you ever been subjected to a pervasive, inescapable odor that seemed to fade away with time? The olfactory bulbs, informed by the brain, bring about these changes. They may be assisted by the receptor cells on the cilia, which are said to fatigue easily. This is a helpful feature, especially in the face of potent foul odors.
  Quite a system, isn’t it? Yet, we have barely touched on it! Entire books have been devoted to this intricate and sophisticated sensory system.

Smell Dysfunction
  Millions of people suffer smell dysfunction. The fragrance of springtime or of flavorful food does little or nothing for them. One woman described her sudden complete loss of smell this way: “We all know about blindness and deafness, and certainly I would never trade my disability for those afflictions. Yet we so take for granted the rich aroma of coffee and sweet flavor of oranges that when we lose these senses, it is almost as if we have forgotten how to breathe.”—Newsweek magazine.
  Smell disorders can even be life-threatening. A woman named Eva explains: “Not being able to smell, I have to be very careful. I shudder to think of winter coming, because I must close all the windows and doors to my apartment. Without the fresh air, I could easily be overcome by gas fumes if the pilot light went out on the gas stove.”

  What causes smell dysfunction? While there are over a score of causes, three are most common: head injury, upper respiratory viral infection, and sinus disease. If the nerve pathways are severed, if the epithelium is rendered insensitive, or if air cannot reach the epithelium because of blockage or inflammation, the sense of smell vanishes. Recognizing such disorders as a major problem, clinical research centers for the study of taste and smell have been established.

  In an interview, Dr. Maxwell Mozell of the State University of New York Health and Science Center at Syracuse related: “We’ve had patients in here that [smell a bad odor perceived only by themselves]. They smell horrible things. One woman smelled fish all the time. Imagine if every minute of every day, you smelled fish or burning rubber.” After suffering for 11 years with an unpleasant odor in her nose and consequent depression, one woman found immediate relief after one of the olfactory bulbs was surgically removed.

Oh, for Some Fresh Air!

 This image credits to lgsquaredinc.com

BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN BRITAIN
WHEN you breathe, do you inhale fresh air? Present-day air pollution is “a bigger enemy than smoking,” claims a doctor quoted in The Times of London. In England and in Wales, contaminated air kills an estimated 10,000 people every year. Worldwide, especially in large cities, the situation is serious.

Many blame the automobile industry for polluting the atmosphere. To reduce dangerous exhaust, new vehicles in many countries now come fitted with catalytic converters, which reduce pollution. The hydrocarbons in exhaust gases have dropped to 12 percent of the 1970 levels, with similar reductions of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide. Babies in strollers are particularly vulnerable because they ride at the level that cars spew out fumes. But air pollution threatens car occupants as well. Reportedly, the contamination is three times higher inside cars than outside. Further hazards come from inhaling benzene fumes from fuel as you fill your car’s fuel tank.

Now the most prevalent form of air pollution worldwide is “Suspended Particulate Matter,” says a 1993-94 United Nations environmental data report. Apparently, tiny bits of soot, or particulate matter, have the ability to penetrate deep into the lungs and there deposit damaging chemicals.
The depletion of the ozone layer high above the globe attracts much press comment. At ground level, however, sunlight acts on the nitrogen oxides and other volatile elements of air pollution to produce high levels of ozone.

These levels have doubled in Britain during this century. 
These gases damage paint and other building materials, cause disease in trees, plants, and crops, and appear to trigger respiratory problems in some people. Although most of the ozone pollution occurs in towns, surprisingly it is the rural areas that suffer the worst effects. In the urban areas, nitrogen oxides mop up the excess ozone, but where these oxides are sparse, the ozone has free rein to wreak damage.

Additionally, air pollution is “up to 70 times higher inside homes than outdoors,” reports The Times. Here the fumes from air fresheners, mothballs, and even dry-cleaned clothes pollute the air. Cigarette smoke likewise adds to health risks indoors. What, then, can you do to protect your family?

 The Times of London offered the following suggestions.

• Reduce your use of the car. If possible, share transportation with others. Drive smoothly. If stuck in a traffic jam or otherwise stationary for more than a couple of minutes, switch off the engine. If possible, on hot days park your car in the shade to reduce pollution produced by fuel evaporation.
• Choose to exercise in the early mornings when ozone levels outdoors are generally low.
• Outlaw smoking in the home.
• Keep bedroom windows slightly open at night to lower humidity and move allergens outside.
No doubt you agree: Oh, for some fresh air!

How Should a Baby Sleep?

 This image credits to lovingmomsdiary.com

MANY babies around the world have died as a result of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). In the United States, it is the most common cause of death among babies between the ages of 1 month and 12 months. Is there any way to reduce the risk? According to The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), research in recent years indicates that the risk of SIDS seems to drop significantly when babies sleep on their back rather than on their stomach.

 Several countries have instituted programs to alert parents to the association between sleep position and SIDS. In Australia, England, Denmark, New Zealand, and Norway, SIDS fell by at least 50 percent after one to two years of public campaigns to promote putting babies to bed on their back.

Exactly how a baby’s sleeping on its stomach is linked to SIDS is not known, but some researchers suggest that this prone position may result in a baby’s rebreathing its own expelled air, thus increasing the level of carbon dioxide in its blood. The baby’s body may also become overheated because it does not dissipate heat as well when lying on its stomach. In any case, infants laid down either on their back or on their stomach tend to remain in that position. Studies also suggest that putting a normal, healthy infant on its back is better than putting it on its side.

Why do mothers choose one sleep position over another? JAMA notes that mothers often just follow custom—they put their babies to bed the way their own mothers or others in their community would. Or they may adopt the practice they observed in the hospital. Some mothers also feel that their baby prefers or sleeps better in a particular position. Many mothers consistently lay the baby down on its back for the first month but then change to the stomach later on. “This trend is disturbing,” states JAMA, “because the risk of SIDS is highest among infants at 2 to 3 months of age.” Doctors are striving to inform parents of small infants about what they say is a simple, effective measure for reducing the risk of SIDS—placing healthy infants on their back to sleep.
[Footnote]
If a baby suffers from respiratory disease or abnormal spitting up, it would be wise to consult a doctor about the best sleeping position.