What is "First Monday"? Their self-description is "...one of the first openly accessible,
peer-reviewed journals on the Internet, solely devoted to the Internet." I went there because I was interested in finding out what the most current data reveals about "who" is using the internet. I was curious because of something I said, without checking on, in a recent comment about realizing that I'm an older guy in what is, basically, a younger persons domain. You can find the answer to this and much more here, within the site. About 72% of people 18-29 use the internet (I would have guessed higher) and about 20% of people 65 and older use it (which sounds about right). Of course statistics can be deceiving. For instance, how many people are there between 18 and 29? How many 65 and older? Percentages are one thing, totals are another. But there is a lot of data at First Monday regarding age, sex, marital status, race, area of country, etc. So give this site a browse.
Monday, April 24, 2006
First Monday
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2 comments:
The CFS study results showed mutations on three genes- one for serotonin- that interefered with the body's response to stress. In other words allostasis or the body's ability to remain calm under pressure was compromised. Something to do with SNP changes. That is what I remember off hand. I am at home sick with the flu for the second day in a row and so I am in a bit of a fog.
The reason I am so annoyed with the disbelief regarding CFS is because for too long people with Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS) which is the politically correct word for "full of s..." have been told they are faking. It is a disease that white women primarily get, which is confirmed by the study, but it is also embedded in the general population. There are four forms of the disease. I was on another blog recently and some young doctor disparaged it as a disease of young women with stressful jobs- the implication being they are trying to drop out of life because they can't handle it psychologically. This at at least explains why, biologically, this happens, and allows people some hope for diagnosis, compassion, and real treatment.
I do not have this. I make myself clear about this, because I don't want to have anyone think this is MY fight. I am calling for dignity to be expressed for whatever unexplained condition is making people's lives hell. I do live with a person in chronic pain. That is how my interest in SCIENCE began. The help my person received was essentially psychological - and like his doctor said there is no way to think away with happy thoughts neurpathic pain. It won't happen. There is a large segment of the insurance and pain industry that believes otherwise. He went through the pain course and it did nothing. That was almost a year ago.
If they can figure out CFS then maybe there is hope for neuropathy. There is some evidence for it being an immune system dysfunction, involving cytokine cascades, as well as a problem with sodium channels being stuck at the on position. Botox or lidocaine patches could work. They are not approved however.
So that is me and mine. All of this came out of a study I did on ten to fifteen pain conditions that had a strong component of fatigue and dysfunction. Pro Inflammatory Cytokines were the common thread.
Things like relaxation, acupuncture, laughter therapy, visualization and other naturopathic interventions including cognitive behavioural therapy are not effective for many of the problems I looked up and now some have actual treatments that are medically based. They work. My hope is that neuropathic pain is recognized as a reality and not a way to drop out of life .
BTW- what is supposed to happen on edit me? I am a bit cahhelenged in the area of figuring out how to do links and stuff, and out of sheer frustration I have just said stuff it. The last time I fiddled with anything my profile ended up at the bottom of the page and I have no idea what I did wrong. LOL!!!!
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