What was one of the main problems in Call It Courage?

When you ask about “problems” in Call It Courage, I assume that you are asking about the conflicts within the story.  Every story is built on some sort of conflict that must be resolved.  We typically say that a story can be built on conflict between “man and man,” between “man and nature,” and between “man and self.”  All three of these kinds of conflict are present in Call It Courage, but the main conflict in the story is between “man” (Mafatu) and self.  The main conflict is the one in which Mafatu tries to overcome his own fear.

There are clearly other kinds of conflict in this book.  Mafatu comes into conflict with nature in the shape of, for example, the shark.  He comes into conflict with other people, particularly the eaters of men.  But neither of these conflicts is the main problem in the book.  The main problem in the book is that Mafatu is afraid.

We see this conflict set up at the beginning of the book.  We are told that Mafatu has been afraid of the ocean ever since he and his mother were swept away, leading to him mother’s death.  Because Mafatu is afraid, the other people in his community cannot respect him and his father cannot be proud of him.  Mafatu hates the fact that he is called “The Boy Who Was Afraid.”  This is the main conflict of the story.  Mafatu needs to stop being afraid of the ocean so that he can become a regular member of his society.  The whole story revolves around Mafatu’s efforts (which ultimately succeed) to rid himself of his fear.

What is drive theory?

Introduction

One goal of science is to understand, predict, or manipulate natural events. A scientist may start by observing an event of interest and measuring it as precisely as possible to detect any changes. In experimental research, scientists systematically manipulate various other events to see whether the event of interest also changes. In survey research, different events are measured to see whether they vary with the event of interest. Understanding is achieved when the relationship between the event of interest (the dependent variable) and other events (independent variables) is established. One can then predict or manipulate the event of interest. A theory provides a guideline to organize the variables into a system based on common properties. To a psychologist, the dependent variable is the behavior of all animals and humans, and the independent variables (also called determinants) may be any other variable related to behaviors. Psychological research aims to discover the determinants of a certain behavior, some of which are motivational variables. The field of motivation
examines why a particular behavior occurs, why it is so strong, and why it is so persistent.

A drive is a process related to the source of behavioral energy originating from within the body that is created by disturbances in homeostasis (a state of systemic equilibrium). A homeostatic imbalance creates a state of need for certain stimuli from the environment that can restore the balance. For example, abnormal body temperature and hyperosmolality of the body fluid (electrolyte concentration outside cells that is higher than that of the intracellular fluid, resulting in cell dehydration) are disturbances in homeostasis. The homeostatic balance can be restored through two means: physiological and behavioral. Physiological means such as vasodilation, sweating, and panting serve to reduce body temperature, while concentration of electrolytes in the urine by the kidneys reduces hyperosmolality. Behavioral means such as taking off clothes, turning on an air conditioner, and drinking cold liquid lower body temperature; drinking water would also result in reduction of hyperosmolality. One may examine a case of homeostatic imbalance in detail to illustrate how the two means function to restore the balance.

When the body fluid volume is reduced (hypovolemia) because of loss of blood or of body fluid due to intense sweating, the body responds immediately by vasoconstriction, reducing urine volume (through vasopressin release), and conserving sodium (through aldosterone release). Those are physiological means that will restore the blood pressure and prevent circulatory failure. Eventually, however, the body must get back the lost fluid from the environment via behavior (seeking water and drinking) to achieve long-lasting homeostasis. The physiological means are immediate and effective, but they are only stopgap measures. Behavior is the means by which the animal interacts with its environment to get back the lost resource.

Drive, Reinforcement, and Learning

The concept of drives is very important to the theories of Clark L. Hull, a neo-behaviorist. According to Hull, a drive has at least two distinct functions as far as behavioral activation is concerned: without drives there could be no reinforcement and thus no learning, because drive reduction is the reinforcement; and without drives there could be no response, for a drive activates behavioral potentials into performance. Drive theory maintains that a state named “drive,” or D, is a necessary condition for behavior to occur, but D is not the same as the bodily need. D determines how strongly and persistently a behavior will occur; it connects the need with the behavior. This distinction between need and drive is necessary because while the state of need serves as the source of behavior, the intensity of behavior is not always related to the intensity of need. Need can be defined as a state of an organism attributable to deprivation of a biological or psychological requirement, related to a disturbance in the homeostatic state.

There are cases in which the need increases but behavior does not, or in which the need remains but behavior is no longer manifested. Prolonged deprivation, for example, may not result in a linear or proportional increase in behavior. A water-deprived animal may stop drinking even before cellular dehydration is restored to the normal state; the behavior is changing independent of homeostatic imbalance. Cessation of behavior is seen as being attributable to drive reduction.

Hull uses D to symbolize drive and sHr (H is commonly used to denote this, for convenience) to symbolize a
habit that consists of an acquired relationship between stimulus (S) and response (R). It represents a memory of experience in which certain environmental stimuli and responses were followed by a reward. An effective reward establishes an S-R relationship; the effect is termed reinforcement. One example of an H would be an experience of maze stimuli and running that led to food. H is a behavioral potential, not a behavior. Food deprivation induces a need state that can be physiologically defined; then D will energize H into behavior. The need increases monotonically with hours of deprivation, but D increases only up to three days without food. A simplified version of the Hullian formula for a behavior would be “behavior = HD,” or “performance = behavioral potential energizer.” The formula indicates that learning, via establishing behavioral potential, and D, via energizing the potential, are both necessary for performance to occur. This is a multiplicative relationship; that is, when either H or D is zero, a specific performance cannot occur.

Role of Freud’s “Id”

In his psychoanalytical approach to behavioral energy, Sigmund Freud
proposed that psychic energy is the source of human behaviors. The id
is the reservoir of instinctual energy presumed to derive directly from the somatic processes. This energy is unorganized, illogical, and timeless, knowing “no values, no good or evil, no morality,” according to Freud in 1933. The id operates according to the pleasure principle, using the primary process to discharge its energy as soon as possible, with no regard for reality. When the discharge is hindered by reality, however, the ego handles the situation according to the reality principle, using a secondary process to pursue realistic gratification. The ego mediates between the id on one hand and reality on the other.

Freud thus conceptualized the id to be the energy source and the ego to manage behavior in terms of reality. Learning is manifested in the way the ego manages behavior for gratification under the restriction of the environment and the superego. In this model, the drive is seen as the energizer of behavior. The similarity between the Freudian and Hullian concepts of drive is obvious. Food deprivation would generate homeostatic imbalance, which is the somatic process, and the need, which is similar to the energy of the id. The organism cannot obtain immediate gratification because of environmental constraints on acquiring food, so behavior is generated to negotiate with the environment. Drive is much like the ego, since it energizes the behavioral potentials into behaviors to seek reality gratification, which is equivalent to drive reduction. The concept of pleasure and behavioral changes commonly appears in various theories that incorporate a subtle influence of Freudian thought.

Deprivation and Incentive Motives

In one classic experiment, Carl J. Warden studied the persistence of behavior as a function of various sources, including the strength of a drive, using an apparatus called a Columbia obstruction box. He demonstrated that a rat without food would cross an electrified grid to reach a goal box that held food. When the rat was immediately brought back from the goal box to the start box, it would cross the grid again and again. The number of grid crossings was positively related to the number of days without food for up to three days. From the fourth day without food, however, the number of crossings slowly decreased. When baby rats were placed in the goal box, a mother rat would cross the grid repeatedly. When a male or female rat was placed in the goal box, a rat of the opposite sex would cross repeatedly. The number of crossings by the male rat was positively related to the duration it spent without a female companion.

These animals were all manifesting the effect of different drives: hunger, maternal instinct, and sex. It was shown that the maternal drive was associated with the greatest number of crossings (twenty-two times in twenty minutes), followed by thirst (twenty times), hunger (seventeen), female sex drive (fourteen), male sex drive (thirteen), and exploration (six). Warden demonstrated that various internal forces, created by deprivation and hormonal state, and external forces, created by different goal objects, together determine the grid-crossing behavior. The level of deprivation induces drive motivation; the reward in the goal box induces incentive motivation. In this example, the focus is on drive motivation.

If one were to place a well-trained rat into a maze, it might or might not run to the goal box. Whether it would run, how fast it would run, and how well (in terms of errors) it would run would depend on whether the subject were food deprived. With food deprivation, the well-trained rat would run to the goal box with few errors. If it had just been fed, it would not run; it would simply wander, sniff at the corner, and go to sleep. The environmental stimulus (the maze) is the same; the rat’s behavior is different because the internal force—the drive created by food deprivation—is different. A need state produces D, and D triggers behavior. The behavior that will occur is determined jointly by the past experience of learning, which is termed H, and by stimuli, S, from the environment. An inexperienced rat, without the H of maze running, will behave differently from a well-trained rat in a maze. D is an intervening variable: It connects need and behavior, so one must consider both the source (need) and the consequence (behavior) to define D. When D is zero, there will be no maze running, no matter how well trained the rat is. On the other hand, if there is no H (training), the proper maze-running behavior will not occur, no matter how hungry the rat is. An animal must be exposed to a maze when hungry to learn to negotiate the various turns on the way to the goal box containing food. Without food deprivation (and the resultant D), the animal would not perform even if it could; one cannot tell whether an animal has the knowledge to run the maze until one introduces a D variable. H is a potential of behavior, and D makes the potential into the observable reality of performance. Motivation turns a behavior on.

These ideas can be applied to countless real-life examples. If a person is not very good at playing tennis (has a low H), for example, no matter how motivated (high D) he or she is, that person will not be able to beat a friend who is an expert at the game. If a person is very good at tennis (high H) but does not feel like playing (low D), perhaps because of a lack of sleep, he or she will not perform well. The same situation would apply to taking a test, delivering a speech, or running a marathon.

Puzzle-Box Learning

In another experiment involving drive, Edward L. Thorndike
put a cat into a puzzle box. The cat attempted to get out via various behaviors (mewing, scratching, and so on). By chance, it stepped on a plate that resulted in the door opening, allowing the cat to escape. The cat was repeatedly returned to the box, and soon it would escape right away by stepping on the plate; other, useless behaviors were no longer manifested. The source of D in this case was the anxiety induced by confinement in the box, which could be measured by various physiological changes, such as heart rate and hormonal levels. Escaping makes the anxiety disappear, and D is reduced. D reduction results in an increase in the probability that the behavior immediately preceding it (stepping on the plate) will recur. Thorndike describes this puzzle-box learning as trial and error, implying a blind attempt at various means of escape until one happens to work. He states that a “satisfying effect” will create repetition, calling this the law of effect; the essence of the satisfying effect appears to be drive reduction. A five-stage learning cycle, then, consists of need, drive, behavior, drive reduction, and behavior repetition.

Central Motive State

The question of how a habit (H) is formed and how it is stored in the brain is a lively research topic in the psychobiology of learning, memory, and cognition, as well as in neuropsychology, which deals with learning deficit and loss of memory. Drive and reinforcement are important variables that determine whether learning will succeed and whether past learning will be manifested as behaviors. Research on hunger and thirst forms one subfield of psychobiology.

If D is the common energizer of various behaviors, then all sources of D—hunger, thirst, sex, mothering, exploration—should have something in common physiologically. The so-called central motive state is hypothesized to be such a state. It is known that arousal is common to the sources of D. Research involves biological delineation of the sources of D; researchers are studying the mechanisms of hunger, for example. There has been insufficient attention paid to the physiological processes by which hunger may motivate various behaviors and by which drive reduction would serve as a reinforcement in learning. Extreme lack of motivation can be seen in some depressed and psychotic patients, which results in both a lack of new learning and a lack of manifesting what is already known. The neuronal substrates of this “lack of energy” represent one problem under investigation in the area of drive and motivation.

Bibliography

Amsel, Abram. Mechanisms of Adaptive Behavior: Clark Hull’s Theoretical Papers, with Commentary. New York: Columbia UP, 1984. Print.

Bolles, Robert C. Theory of Motivation. 2nd ed. New York: Harper, 1975. Print.

Deckers, Lambert. Motivation: Biological, Psychological, and Environmental. 4th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print.

Freud, Sigmund. New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. New York: Norton, 1933. Print.

Hull, Clark L. Principles of Behavior. New York: Appleton, 1943. Print.

Miller, Neal. Learning, Motivation, and Their Physiological Mechanisms. New Brunswick: Aldine, 2007. Print.

Petri, Herbert L., and John M. Govern. Motivation: Theory, Research, and Applications. 6th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2013. Print.

Pfaff, Donald W., ed. The Physiological Mechanisms of Motivation. New York: Springer, 1982. Print.

Reeve, Johnmarshall. Understanding Motivation and Emotion. 5th ed. Hoboken: Wiley, 2009. Print.

Ryan, Richard M., ed. The Oxford Handbook of Human Motivation. New York: Oxford UP, 2012. Print.

Stellar, James R., and Eliot Stellar. The Neurobiology of Motivation and Reward. New York: Springer, 1985. Print.

Warden, Carl John. Animal Motivation: Experimental Studies on the Albino Rat. New York: Columbia UP, 1931. Print.

The following reaction 6CO2(g)+6H2O(l) ---> C6H12O6(s)+6 O2(g) has a delta G =+2880 KJ/mol. The information indicates that the forward reaction:...

The given reaction is:

`6CO_2 (g) + 6H_2O (l) -> C_6H_12O_6 (s) + 6O_2 (g)`

This is the standard, well-balanced chemical equation for the photosynthesis reaction. The delta G or Gibbs free energy for this reaction is given as +2880 kJ/mol.

As per the convention, a reaction with a positive delta G is known as an endergonic, while a negative delta G indicates an exergonic reaction. An endergonic reaction means that energy is required for the reaction to take place and that the reaction can not take place on its own. Exergonic reaction, on the other hand, are spontaneous reactions and take place on their own. We can also say that an endergonic reaction favors reactants and that is why the forward reaction can not work on its own.

Thus, an endergonic reaction can only take place if energy is supplied to it. One way to do that is by doing work on it. Thus, among the given options, only option D is correct.

Hope this helps.

Can you tell me about the concept of justice in the law?

Black's Law Dictionary gives the definition of "justice" as "The constant and perpetual disposition to render every man his due."  In other words, our legal system is designed to provide everyone with what he (or she) is rightly entitled to receive. 

However, the reality is not as simple as the theoretical definition.  Our nation's court procedures have become very demanding over two and a half centuries, so it is sometimes difficult for someone to receive "justice" without incurring great cost.  A cynical person would say that the person with more money to spend is in a better position to receive "justice" in the courts than someone with less. 

We use what is called an "adversarial" system, which means that courts are designed to resolve conflicts between two adversaries.  Putting aside the element of cost, a person who believes that he has been wronged in some way is entitled to file a complaint in court; the other party files an answer to dispute the matter; and ultimately a judge or jury will listen to both sides and make the fairest decision possible.  That's the simple version of our system.  Each person has equal opportunity to make or defend his or her argument, and each person is considered equally.  Along the way, however, are myriad motions, requests, discovery matters, document reviews, depositions, etc., which can take a great deal of time and money. 

A famous literary example of the cost of justice is the case of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, which is a dispute about an inheritance in the novel Bleak House by Charles Dickens.  At the opening of the novel, that dispute has already been going on in the court system for generations, and by the time it is resolved, the legal costs have expended the full amount of the inheritance.  Everyone had their time in court, but nobody (except the lawyers) received anything from it.  Is that justice?

What are some things that leap?

This is a cute question -- I assume related to Leap Year.

My first thoughts go to animals that leap.  Some of the more common ones would be frogs or anything in that family, including toads.  Rabbits and hares are probably some of the most famous leapers.  Squirrels seem to jump a lot as they move from tree to tree; in fact, the animals that we call "flying squirrels" do not actually fly, but because of skin flaps that connect their legs to their bodies, they appear to glide as they leap from the top of one tree and sail to another.  Deer, and other animals in that family, such as gazelles, antelopes, and the like, can leap for very long distances when they are running at full speed.  Kangaroos are incredible leapers.  In fact, I have heard that there are places in Australia where car accidents have occurred on the highway because a kangaroo that was not even in sight leapt across the road and collided with a moving vehicle.  Because of the great distance of the leap, the driver had no way to avoid it.

On a happier note, children leap when they run and play.

I'm sure you can also think of many other examples.

What is a summary of "The Flower-School" by Tagore?

"The Flower-School" is a poem by Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. It is narrated in the third person, but includes elements of a child speaking to a mother.

The title of the poem is almost paradoxical in that flowers do not actually attend school. Thus the title makes readers contemplate this paradox of how flowers create spectacularly beautiful blossoms without the training given human children.

The child's voice in the poem hypothesizes that flowers perhaps go to school underground and that their beautiful eruption above ground is similar to children being let out of school into playgrounds and rainstorms are similar to school holidays. The child, looking at the flowers waving in the wind, surmises that their true home is in the sky which is their mother.

As Tagore himself was a Brahmin who founded an ashram, one might also wish to think of the parallel that the flowers' underground life is like the life of humans living in mortal bodies, and like the flowers bursting into bloom above ground, so the human soul eventually departs the body to its true home.

What do Roger and Mrs. Jones talk about during their meal?

In Langston Hughes’ story “Thank You M’am” Roger and Mrs. Jones share one meal together. After Roger’s failed attempt to steal her pocketbook, Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones scrutinizes Roger’s condition. She notices he is unkempt and determines, upon questioning him, he has not eaten dinner even though it is late in the evening. She drags him home with her to a room in a local rooming house.

Prior to feeding him, she has him wash up and they have a quiet conversation in which Mrs. Jones reveals important details about her past.

When they finally sit down to eat the simple meal she prepared, their conversation focuses more on what is not said, than what is. Mrs. Jones does not ask Roger about his past or home life so that he will not feel uncomfortable. Instead, she describes her work as a beautician in a local hotel. She tells him about her clientele while impressing the importance of doing an honest day’s work. Roger does more listening than talking during the meal.

She heated some lima beans and ham she had in the icebox, made the cocoa, and set the table.

The woman did not ask the boy anything about where he lived, or his folks, or anything else that would embarrass him. Instead, as they ate, she told him about her job in a hotel beauty-shop that stayed open late, what the work was like, and how all kinds of women came in and out, blondes, red-heads, and Spanish. Then she cut him a half of her ten-cent cake.

What is dyslexia?

Causes and Symptoms

The term dyslexia was first introduced by the German
ophthalmologist Rudolf Berlin in the nineteenth century. Berlin defined it as
designating all those individuals who possessed average or above-average
intelligence quotients (IQs) but who could not read adequately because of their
inability to process language symbols.

The problem involved in dyslexia has been defined and redefined many times since
its introduction. The modern definition of the disorder, which is close to
Berlin’s definition, is based on long-term, extensive studies of children with
dyslexia. These studies have identified dyslexia as a complex syndrome
characterized by a variety of difficulties associated with reading, spelling,
writing, listening, and processing information due to neuroanatomical
abnormalities, particularly deficits in areas of the brain involved in language.
These problems include visual letter and word reversal, difficulties
understanding spoken words and following complex instructions, difficulties
spelling, the inability to sound out new and unfamiliar words, and the inability
to distinguish between important elements of the spoken language. Associated
behavioral problems can arise due to these problems in processing information,
including distractibility, frustration, and loss of motivation in school.

Identifying dyslexia early in order to correct this reading disability is crucial.
To learn to read well, an individual must acquire many basic cognitive and
linguistic skills. First, it is necessary to pay close attention, to concentrate,
to follow directions, and to understand the language spoken in daily life. Next,
one must develop an auditory and visual memory, strong sequencing ability, solid
word decoding skills, the ability to carry out structural-contextual language
analysis, the capability to interpret written language, a solid vocabulary that
expands as needed, and speed in scanning and interpreting written language. These
skills are taught in good developmental reading programs, but some or all are
found to be deficient in individuals with dyslexia. Early educational
interventions that are tailored to the child with dyslexia can focus on building
these deficient skills by teaching phonemes and strategies to better comprehend
written material. Tutoring sessions with a reading specialist or an individual
education plan can help to reinforce these skills.

Many physicians propose that dyslexia is caused by heritable structural
abnormalities in the brain. In-depth studies into the causes of dyslexia have been
made by the use of electroencephalograms (EEGs), computed tomography (CT) scans,
and positron emission tomography (PET) scans.

Another interesting point of view, expressed by some experts, is the idea that
dyslexia may be the fault of the written languages of the Western world. For
example, Rudolph F. Wagner argues that Japanese children exhibit a lower incidence
of dyslexia. The explanation for this, say Wagner and others, is that unlike
Japanese, Western languages require both reading from left to right and phonetic
word attack. These characteristics—absent in Japanese—may make the Western
languages either much harder to learn or much less suitable for learning.
Evolutionary biologists argue that reading and writing are relatively new skills
when considered against the entire time line of human evolutionary history.

A number of experts propose three types of dyslexia. The most common type and the
one most often identified as dyslexia is called visual dyslexia, the lack of
ability to translate the observed written or printed language into meaningful
terms. The major difficulty is that afflicted people see certain words or letters
backward or upside down. The resultant problem is that to the person with visual
dyslexia, any written sentence is a jumble of many letters whose accurate
translation may require five or more times as much effort as is needed by an
unafflicted person. Special fonts have been developed to overcome the problems
posed by visual dyslexia; these fonts are designed to make similar-looking
letters, such as p, b, q, and d, more visually distinct from one another. The
other two problems viewed as dyslexia are auditory dyslexia and dysgraphia.
Auditory dyslexia is the inability to perceive individual sounds of spoken
language. Despite the absence of hearing problems, individuals with auditory
dyslexia have difficulty hearing the differences between certain vowel or
consonant sounds, and what they cannot hear they cannot write. Dysgraphia is the
inability to write legibly. The basis for this problem is a lack of the hand-eye
coordination that is required to write clearly.

Many children with visual dyslexia also exhibit elements of auditory dyslexia.
This complicates the issue of teaching many students with dyslexia because only
one type of dyslexic symptom can be treated at a time.

Treatment and Therapy

The early diagnosis and treatment of dyslexia is essential to its eventual
correction. The preliminary identification of dyslexia can be made from symptoms
that include poor written schoolwork, easy distractibility, poor coordination,
poor spatial orientation, confused writing and spelling, and poor left-right
orientation. Because numerous children who do not have dyslexia also show many of
these symptoms, a second step is required for such identification: the use of
written tests designed to identify dyslexics. These tests include the Peabody
Individual Achievement Test and the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test
Battery.

EEGs and CT scans may be often performed in the hope of pinning down concrete
brain abnormalities in patients with dyslexia. There is considerable disagreement,
however, regarding the value of these techniques, beyond finding evidence of
tumors or severe brain damage—both of which may indicate that the condition
observed is not dyslexia.

Once conclusive identification of dyslexia has been made, it becomes possible to
begin corrective treatment. Such treatment is usually the preserve of
individualized
education plans. These plans are carried out by the special
education teacher in school resource rooms and provide specially tailored
supplemental education to address the specific problems posed by dyslexia or other
learning difficulties. Many schools also involve special classes limited to
children with reading disabilities and schools that specialize in treating
learning
disabilities. Private or group tutoring sessions with a
reading specialist can also teach strategies to a child with dyslexia to help them
overcome specific difficulties with reading comprehension, writing skills, and
spelling.

An often-cited method used is that of Grace Fernald, which utilizes kinesthetic
imprinting, based on combined language experience and tactile stimulation. In this
popular method or adaptations of it, a child with dyslexia learns to read in the
following way. First, the child tells a spontaneous story to the teacher, who
transcribes it. Next, each word that is unrecognizable to the child is written
down by the teacher, and the child traces its letters repeatedly until he or she
can write the word without using the model. Each word learned becomes part of the
child’s word file. A large number of stories are handled this way.

A second common teaching technique used by special educators is the
Orton-Gillingham-Stillman method, which was developed in a collaboration between
two teachers and a pediatric neurologist, Samuel T. Orton. The method evolved from
Orton’s conceptualization of language as developing from a sequence of processes
in the nervous system that ends in its unilateral control by the left cerebral
hemisphere. He proposed that dyslexia arises from conflicts between this cerebral
hemisphere and the right cerebral hemisphere, which is usually involved in the
handling of nonverbal, pictorial, and spatial stimuli.

Consequently, the corrective method that is used is a multisensory and kinesthetic
approach, like that of Fernald. It begins, however, with the teaching of
individual letters and phonemes. Then, it progresses to
dealing with syllables, words, and sentences. Children taught by this method are
drilled systematically, to imprint them with a mastery of phonics and
the sounding out of unknown written words. They are encouraged to learn how the
elements of written language look, how they sound, how it feels to pronounce them,
and how it feels to write them down. Although the Orton-Gillingham-Stillman method
is as laborious as that of Fernald, it is widely used and appears to be
successful.

An important aspect of dyslexia treatment is parental support. Such emotional
support helps children with dyslexia cope with associated problems of frustration,
lack of motivation, and lowered self-esteem. Useful aspects of this support
include a positive attitude toward the child, appropriate home help that
complements efforts at school, encouragement and praise for achievements, lack of
recrimination when repeated mistakes are made, and positive interaction with
special education teachers.

Perspective and Prospects

The identification of dyslexia by German physician Rudolf Berlin and England’s W.
A. Morgan began the efforts to solve this unfortunate disorder. In 1917, Scottish
eye surgeon James Hinshelwood published a book on dyslexia, which he viewed as
being a hereditary problem, and the phenomenon became much better known to many
physicians. Attempts at educating individuals with dyslexia were highly
individualized until the endeavors of Orton and his coworkers and of Fernald led
to more standardized and widely used methods. These procedures, their adaptations,
and several others had become the standard treatments for dyslexia by the late
twentieth century.

Many famous people—including Hans Christian Andersen, Winston Churchill, Albert
Einstein, George Patton, and Woodrow Wilson—had symptoms of dyslexia, which they
subsequently overcame. This was fortunate for them, because untreated dyslexia
often puts individuals at a great disadvantage.

With the development of a more complete understanding of the brain and its many
functions, better counseling facilities, and the conceptualization and
actualization of both parent-child and parent-counselor interactions, the
probability of success in overcoming the challenges posed by dyslexia has improved
greatly. Moreover, while environmental and socioeconomic factors contribute
relatively little to the occurrence of dyslexia, they strongly affect the outcome
of its treatment.

The endeavors of special education have so far made the greatest inroads in the
treatment of dyslexia. It is hoped that many more advances in the area will be
made as the science of the mind grows and diversifies and the contributions of
psychologists, physicians, physiologists, and special educators mesh even more
effectively.

Bibliography

Eide, Brock L., and Fernette F. Eide.
The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the
Dyslexic Brain. New York: Plume, 2011. Print.

Farquharson, Kelly, et al. "Phonological and
Lexical Influences on Phonological Awareness in Children with Specific
Language Impairment and Dyslexia." Frontiers in Psychology
5 (2014): 838. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.

Foss, Ben. The Dyslexia
Empowerment Plan: A Blueprint for Renewing Your Child's Confidence and
Love of Learning. New York: Ballantine, 2013. Print.

Huston, Anne Marshall.
Understanding Dyslexia: A Practical Approach for Parents and
Teachers. Rev. ed. Lanham: Madison, 1992. Print.

Jordan, Dale R.
Overcoming Dyslexia in Children, Adolescents, and
Adults. 3rd ed. Austin: Pro-Ed, 2002. Print.

Levinson, Harold N.
Smart But Feeling Dumb: The Challenging New Research on
Dyslexia—And How It May Help You. Rev. ed. New York: Warner,
2003. Print.

Reid, Gavin, and Jane
Kirk. Dyslexia in Adults: Education and Employment. New
York: Wiley, 2001. Print.

Shaywitz, Sally. Overcoming
Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems
at Any Level. New York: Vintage, 2005. Print.

Snowling, Margaret.
Dyslexia: A Cognitive Developmental Perspective. 2nd ed.
Malden: Blackwell, 2002. Print.

Wolraich, Mark L., ed.
Disorders of Development and Learning: A Practical Guide to
Assessment and Management. 3rd ed. Hamilton: Decker, 2003.
Print.

What is osteogenesis imperfecta?

Causes and Symptoms

Osteogenesis imperfecta, a rare genetic disorder occurring in approximately 1 in 20,000 people, affects the formation of collagen, which in turn alters bone formation, as collagen provides the foundation for mineralization of developing and healing bone. As the name implies, patients with this disorder have imperfect bone formation, resulting in multiple, recurrent fractures.

Bones are composed of a complex matrix including strands of cross-linked collagen. Collagen is produced by chondrocytes in newly forming bone. Osteoblasts then add the mineral matrix (calcium salts), which forms a complex with collagen to create bone. Children with osteogenesis imperfecta do not produce collagen molecules that allow for a well-organized, strong, stable structure. Fractures can take place without outside stresses such as those occurring in a fall. Normal muscle contractions can produce enough force in some children to induce a bone break.

The long-term outcome of the disease is variable. The most severely affected infants die from complications of lung disease. Patients with less severe disease usually survive but have fractures of their long bones. Most breaks occur between the ages of two and three and again during puberty, between ten and fifteen. From late adolescence through the adult years, the fracture incidence drops unless the patient becomes pregnant, is nursing, or becomes inactive.

There are eight types of osteogenesis imperfecta. Type I is the mildest and most common, accounting for about half of all cases. In Type I osteogenesis imperfecta, the person's collagen is normal, but there is not enough of it, and bones break fairly easily. Type II is the most severe; the person does not have enough collagen, and the collagen they do have is not formed properly. This type of osteogenesis imperfecta affects bone development during gestation and results in bone fractures before birth. Because of the malformation of bony tissues and frequent fractures, patients do not grow normally, have numerous bone deformities, and may die in infancy. The other types of the disease present variations on these symptoms.

Other tissues with abundant collagen are also affected in severe cases of osteogenesis imperfecta. Because these tissues include tendons and ligaments, joints become more mobile and less stable. The small bones in the middle ear are similarly affected, resulting in otosclerosis, in which the ossicles stiffen and do not allow the normal transition of sound from the eardrum to the inner ear. Thus, patients have hearing difficulties and subsequent language delays. Because the white parts of the eyes (the sclera) are composed mainly of collagen, these patients tend to have bluish sclera. They also have thinner skin that bleeds easily. Epistaxis (nosebleeding) is likewise common and difficult to control. Patients may have deformed teeth, as tooth development is also affected. They tend to have elevated body temperatures, causing them to sweat excessively. It is important to note that the nervous system, and thus the intelligence, of children with osteogenesis imperfecta is not affected.

Treatment and Therapy

There is no known cure for osteogenesis imperfecta. Drug therapies include a class of drugs called bisphosonates, such as alendronate (Fosamax), which have been shown to increase bone density and are also used to treat similar conditions like osteoporosis. Treatment with growth
hormones also seems to stabilize the bone matrix by stimulating bone-forming cells (osteoblasts) and inhibiting the cells that break down bone tissue (osteoclasts). This is likely why patients tend to improve during and after puberty, since levels of these hormones naturally rise.

Physical therapy, especially involving low-impact exercise like swimming, is another standard treatment. A healthy diet rich in calcium and vitamin D is encouraged, as is an active lifestyle, as exercise strengthens bones. Activities with a high potential for fractures, however, should be avoided. If fractures occur, pediatric orthopedic specialists may place metal rods in the long bones when repairing a fracture to help prevent deformities. Adaptive aids such as crutches, braces, or wheelchairs may also be needed.

Perspective and Prospects

Unfortunately, the prognosis for some children with osteogenesis imperfecta is poor, and many are confined to wheelchairs as adults. Others are more fortunate and have relatively few fractures after adolescence.

Some advancements in the understanding of osteogenesis imperfecta have occurred using molecular biology techniques to help identify the errors in collagen formation. It is hoped that these data will result in future gene therapies.

Bibliography

Green, Morris. Pediatric Diagnosis: Interpretation of Symptoms and Signs in Infants, Children, and Adolescents. 6th ed. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1998.

Hay, William W., Jr., et al., eds. Current Diagnosis and Treatment in Pediatrics. 21st ed. New York: Lange Medical Books/McGraw-Hill, 2012.

Jones, Kenneth Lyons. Smith’s Recognizable Patterns of Human Malformation. 7th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders/Elsevier, 2013.

Kliegman, Robert M., and Waldo E. Nelson, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 19th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders/Elsevier, 2011.

Larsen, Laura, ed. Childhood Diseases and Disorders Sourcebook. 3d ed. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 2012.

Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation. http://www.oif.org/.

Parker, James N., and Philip M. Parker, eds. The Official Patient’s Sourcebook on Osteogenesis Imperfecta. San Diego, Calif.: Icon Health, 2002.

Smith, Nathalie. "Osteogenesis Imperfecta." Health Library, November 26, 2012.

Van De Graaff, Kent M., and Stuart I. Fox. Concepts of Human Anatomy and Physiology. 5th ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown, 2000.

What did Kit admit to Captain Eaton when they landed at Wethersfield in The Witch of Blackbird Pond?

Kit admitted that she had not told her family she was coming.

When Kit’s grandfather died, she had almost no family left.  The only family was an aunt in Wethersfield, Connecticut that she had never met.  Kit was not sure they would take her in, and didn’t know how to ask them, so she decided to just show up.  She figured they couldn’t reject her once she was actually there.

When they arrive at Wethersfield, Kit realizes she has to tell Captain Eaton the truth.  He is confused that Kit’s family did not come to meet her.  She has to explain to him that she was a bit deceitful.

Kit swallowed and gathered her courage. "Captain Eaton," she said boldly, "my uncle and aunt can hardly be blamed for not meeting me. You see- well, to be honest, they do not even know that I am coming." (Ch. 2) 

Kit tries to justify her actions by saying she never actually told Captain Eaton that her family knew she was coming, but only said that they wanted her.  She assumed that her family would want to see her.  They may not realize that she has nowhere else to go, however. 

He scowled with annoyance. "You know very well that I should never have taken you on board had I known this. Now I shall have to take the time to find where your uncle lives and deliver you. But understand, I take no responsibility for your coming." (Ch. 2) 

Kit tells him that she takes full responsibility for her actions.  She is a bold and independent young lady.  She has been through a lot, and is already experiencing culture shock.  The people on the ship did not approve of her jumping into the water to retrieve the doll.  Thus by the time she arrived, she already had developed a bad reputation as being completely different from the stern, pious Wethersfield residents.

Discuss the significance of developmental psychology to the teacher.

Developmental psychology is of prime importance to teachers.  Our knowledge of the developmental stages of our students enables us to tailor our curricula, our lessons, our teaching strategies, our assessments, and our expectations to the stages our students are in. People develop along different dimensions, cognitive, social, physical, and I like to add moral, so at any given moment, students may be highly developed in one dimension and not particularly developed in another.  All of this must be taken into consideration by a teacher. Let me give you a few examples concerning cognitive development.

Jean Piaget was a theorist who offered a theory of cognitive development that is of great use to teachers. He posited that there were several stages children go through, and until they are at a particular stage of development, they are incapable of learning certain concepts. The most striking example of this for me is pouring water from a container of one shape and size to a container of another shape and size. Until a child has reached the concrete operational stage, the child will report that the second container holds a different quantity than the first. For a teacher to try to teach a child that there is a constancy in quantity is an impossibility until the child reaches that stage.  This theory has great utility, particularly for the elementary to middle-school teacher. 

Vygotsky had a concept he called the zone of proximal development (ZPG). This concept is equally useful to the teacher in planning and expectations.  The idea is that children's development always rests on what went before, such that if there are inadequate underpinnings of knowledge or experience, a new idea or experience cannot "stick." It has nothing to stick to! When we plan our teaching, we therefore do something called "scaffolding," to be sure that what we are presenting builds on knowledge and experience that is already there. Picture trying to build a third floor on a house if you have not built the first and second already.  Vygotsky's idea is that learning is like that, too, and that as students develop, we want to build on to what is present and push ahead just a little bit at a time developmentally. 

These are two of the developmental theory greats in education, but there are others as well, and no teacher should enter the classroom without some grounding in these important theories of development. 

In the novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, where are Bruno and Gretel? How do you know, and what clues did you use in the passage to infer the...

In Chapter 4, Bruno and Gretel attempt to figure out where they are. The first thing Bruno mentions is the numerous boys, men, and grandfathers who inhabit the place that does not look as "nice as home." Bruno describes a huge wire fence that runs along the length of the house and separates the area where the people are living as far as his eyes can see. Bruno is essentially describing the fence surrounding the concentration camp that is used to keep the prisoners confined. The landscape inside the concentration camp is rather barren, with no greenery, and Gretel comments that "it is a nasty-looking place" (Boyne 32). The children notice the small one-floor huts and the various activities the prisoners are engaged in. Bruno mentions how the people stand still in lines with their hands against their sides as soldiers march in front of them. He also describes what seems to be a chain gang, while other people are wheeling wheelbarrows and carrying spades. Inside the camp, soldiers are yelling at children, and Gretel mentions that the children look filthy. Bruno's final thought of the chapter is the most revealing about the atmosphere they are viewing. Bruno says that all the people living inside the fence are wearing the same pair of grey striped pajamas and caps on their heads. This final piece of information from Chapter 4 reveals that Bruno and Gretel's family has moved to a concentration camp. The striped pajamas are actually the Jewish prisoners' uniforms.

One can infer that the concentration camp they've actually moved to is Auschwitz based on Bruno's continual mispronunciation. Out-With sounds like Auschwitz, and one can also infer that Bruno's father is a Nazi officer of some sort. We know from Chapter 1 that Bruno's family is German, and in Chapter 2 we find out that Bruno's father has a very important job that forces them to move. Bruno's father is a Nazi, and they have just moved from Berlin to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

What is animal nutrition? What are the chemicals of life in biology?

A good program of animal nutrition should include intakes of amino acids to form proteins, carbohydrates, fatty acids to form lipids, minerals, vitamins, and good quality water. 

Dietary supplementation with nutrients such as zinc and linoleic acid my help improve important metabolic pathways.

The major categories of biological molecules are:

Lipids:

Lipids are important for building cell membranes and energy storage. They are composed of fatty acids. Examples: fats, phospholipids, steroids, hormones, certain vitamins

Carbohydrates:

Carbohydrates are needed for energy, energy storage, and as building materials for cells. Carbohydrates are composed of units of sugar. Examples: glucose, cellulose, starch, glycogen

Nucleic Acids:

Nucleic acids store genetic material in the cell and are composed of nucleotides. Examples: DNA, RNA

Proteins: 

Proteins make up many of the structural components of the body and are important in regulating many biological processes. Proteins are composed of amino acids. Examples: trypsin, myosin, tubulin

What is DNA isolation?

DNA Discovery and Extraction

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was discovered in 1869 by the Swiss physician Friedrich Miescher, who studied white blood cells in pus obtained from a surgical clinic. Miescher found that when bandages that had been removed from the postoperative wounds of injured soldiers were washed in a saline solution, the cells on the bandages swelled into a gelatinous mass that consisted largely of DNA. Miescher had isolated a denatured form of DNA—that is, DNA not in the normal double-stranded conformation. After a series of experiments, Miescher concluded that the substance he had isolated originated in the nuclei of the blood cells; he first called the substance nuclein and later nucleic acid.

The first problem when extracting DNA is lysing, or breaking open, the cell. Bacteria, yeast, and plant cells usually have a thick cell wall protecting them, which makes lysis more difficult. Bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, are the easiest of these cells to open by a process called alkaline lysis, in which cells are treated with a solution of sodium hydroxide and detergent that degrades both the cell wall and the cell membrane. Yeast cells are often broken open with enzymes such as lysozyme that degrade cell walls or by using a “French press,” a piston in an enclosed chamber that forces cells open under high pressure. Plant tissue is usually mechanically broken into a fine cell suspension before extraction by grinding frozen tissue in a mortar and pestle. Once the suspension of cells is obtained, the tissue may be treated with a variety of enzymes to break down cell walls or with strong detergents, such as sodium lauryl sarcosine, that disrupt and dissolve both cell walls and cell membranes. Animal cells, such as white blood cells, do not have cell walls and can generally be opened by osmotic shock, the lysing of cells by moving them from a liquid environment with a high solute concentration to an environment with a very low solute concentration.

Isolation and Purification

Although lysis methods differ according to cell type, the process of DNA isolation and purification is more standardized. The isolation process may be imagined as a series of steps designed to remove either naturally occurring biological contaminants from the DNA or contaminants added by the scientist during the extraction process. The biological contaminants already present in cells are proteins, fat, and ribonucleic acid (RNA); additionally, plant cells have high levels of complex carbohydrates. Contaminants intentionally added by scientists may include salts and various chemicals.

After cells are lysed, a high-speed centrifugation is performed to form large-scale, insoluble cellular debris, such as membranes and organelles, into a pellet. The liquid extract remaining still contains dissolved proteins, RNA, and DNA. If salts are not already present in the extract, they are added; salt must be present later for the DNA to precipitate efficiently. Proteins must be removed from the extract since some not only degrade DNA but also inhibit enzymatic reactions with DNA that would be involved in further DNA manipulations used in cloning, for example. Proteins are precipitated by mixing the extract with a chemical called phenol. When phenol and the extract are mixed in a test tube, they separate into two parts like oil and water. If these fluids are centrifuged, precipitated proteins will actually collect between the two liquids at a spot called the interphase. The liquid layer containing the dissolved DNA is then drawn up and away from the precipitated protein.

The protein-free solution still contains DNA, RNA, salts, and traces of phenol dissolved into the extract. To remove the contaminating phenol, the extract is mixed with a chloroform/isoamyl alcohol solution (CIA). Again like oil and water, the DNA extract and CIA separate into two layers. If the two layers are mixed vigorously and separated by centrifugation, the phenol will move from the DNA extract into the CIA layer. At this point the extract—removed to a new test tube—contains RNA, DNA, and salt.

The extract is next mixed with 100 percent ethanol, inducing the DNA to precipitate out in long strands. The DNA strands may be isolated by either spooling the sticky DNA around a glass rod or by centrifugation. If spooled, the DNA is placed in a new test tube; if centrifuged, the liquid is decanted from the pellet of DNA. The precipitated DNA, with salt and RNA present, is still not pure. It is washed for a final time with 70 percent ethanol, which does not dissolve the DNA but forces salts present to go into solution. The DNA is then reisolated by spooling or centrifugation and dried to remove all traces of ethanol. At this point, only DNA and RNA are left; this mixture can be dissolved in a low-salt buffer containing the enzyme RNase, which degrades any RNA present, leaving pure DNA.

Technological advances have allowed deproteinization by the use of “spin columns” without the employment of toxic phenol. The raw DNA extract is placed on top of a column containing a chemical matrix that binds proteins but not DNA; the column is then centrifuged in a test tube. The raw extract passes through the chemical matrix and exits protein-free into the collection tube. These newer methods not only increase safety and reduce the production of toxic waste; they are also much faster.

For the isolation of DNA for cloning, DNA is typically broken into fragments using enzymes called restriction endonucleases. The fragment of interest is typically separated from other DNA using gel electrophoresis in an agarose gel. The DNA is stained with ethinium bromide, which permits visualization using UV light. The fragment of DNA is cut out of the agarose gel and purified using spin columns, which contain silica to which DNA binds in the presence of chaotropic salts. The chaotropic salt, such as guanidium chloride, denatures biomolecules by disrupting the shell of hydration around them. This allows a positively charged ion to form a salt bridge between the negatively charged silica and the negatively charged DNA backbone when the salt concentration is high. After the DNA is adsorbed to the silica surface, all other molecules pass through the column. The DNA is then washed with high salt and ethanol, and ultimately eluted
with low salt.

Plasmids are used as vectors to clone DNA of interest. Plasmids are extrachromosomal DNA that replicate independent of the chromosome and occur naturally in bacteria. To isolate plasmids independent of chromosomal bacterial DNA, holes are punctured in the bacterial cell wall by gently mixing a bacterial cell suspension with alkali, which is then neutralized. The holes that are generated are of a size that permits the plasmids to leak out of the cell while the chromosomal DNA remains trapped in the bacteria and is separated from the plasmid DNA and RNA by differential centrifugation. The cell debris forms a pellet, which is discarded. Proteins, RNA, and plasmid DNA are present in the supernatant. RNA is removed with RNAse. Plasmid DNA can be purified using either phenol/chloroform extraction and ethanol precipitation or silica column chromatography.

Key Terms



chloroform/isoamyl alcohol (CIA)

:

a mixture of two chemicals used in DNA isolation to rid the extract of the contaminating compound phenol




lysis

:

the breaking open of a cell




osmotic shock

:

the lysing of cells by moving them from a liquid environment with a high solute concentration to an environment with a very low solute concentration





phenol


:

a simple chemical used in DNA extraction to precipitate proteins and aid in their removal





Bibliography

Chaudhuri, Keya. Recombinant DNA Technology. New Delhi: Energy and Resources Institute, 2013. Print.

Dale, Jeremy W., Malcolm von Schantz, and Nick Plant. From Genes to Genomes: Concepts and Applications of DNA Technology. 3rd ed. Chichester: Wiley, 2012. Print.

Gjerde, Douglas T., Christopher P. Hanna, and David Hornby. DNA Chromatography. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH, 2002. Print.

Mozayani, Ashraf, and Carla Noziglia, eds. The Forensic Laboratory Handbook Procedures and Practice. 2nd ed. New York: Springer, 2011. Print.

Roe, Bruce A., Judy S. Crabtree, and Akbar S. Khan, eds. DNA Isolation and Sequencing. New York: Wiley, 1996. Print.

Sambrook, Joseph, and David W. Russell, eds. Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual. 3rd ed. 3 vols. Cold Spring Harbor: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory P, 2001. Print.

Trevors, J. T., and J. D. van Elsas, eds. Nucleic Acids in the Environment. New York: Springer, 1995. Print.

Watson, James, et al. Recombinant DNA. New York: Freeman, 1992. Print.

Weissman, Sherman M., ed. cDNA Preparation and Characterization. San Diego: Academic, 1999. Print.

Are religious rituals or religious beliefs more important?

The answer to your question depends almost entirely on which religion you are talking about! In Christianity, especially in the protestant tradition, beliefs tend to be valued more than rituals. During the Protestant Reformation and beyond, faith took on an extremely important role in protestant culture that contrasted with the Catholic Church’s emphasis upon rituals— sacraments, fasts, etc.

Judaism, on the other hand, is considered by most Jewish scholars to be a religion that places a far greater emphasis on practice than on belief. In observant Judaism, the most important element of religious practice is the fulfillment of mitzvoth, or commandments that connect the Jewish practitioner to a relationship with God. While some Jewish thinkers like Maimonides did place a significant emphasis on belief, most observant Jews value ritual much more highly, and many Jewish thinkers agree that one can be a religious Jew and not even believe in God! An often quoted principle among the observant is “Na’aseh v’nishma,” or we will do and then we will understand--- this Torah verse flips the expected order of understanding before doing, and is often interpreted as indicating that deeds are more important than intentions in Jewish religious practice.

Similarly, Buddhism tends to be a religion of practice rather than belief (a notable exception to this is the Chinese and Japanese sect of Pure Land Buddhism, which places an enormous amount of emphasis on perfect faith in Amida Buddha, which will lead to reincarnation in the Pure Land). The Buddha is famously quoted as responding to a man who asked about the nature of God and the Universe— “You have been shot with a poison arrow--- and now you want to ask about who the shooter was? Work first on pulling the arrow out!” This story is told to bring home the point that Buddhism places more emphasis on the following of the Eightfold Noble Path as a means to eliminating suffering than on any kind of metaphysical conjecture. Indeed, it is very possible to be a Buddhist practitioner in many sects (Zen Buddhism especially) without having any belief in a higher power whatsoever.

What is elephantiasis?

Causes and Symptoms

Elephantiasis is characterized by gross enlargement of a body part caused by the accumulation of fluid and connective tissue. It most frequently affects the legs but may also occur in the arms, breasts, scrotum, vulva, or any other body part. The disease starts with the slight enlargement of one leg or arm (or other body part). The limb increases in size with recurrent attacks of fever. Gradually, the affected part swells, and the swelling, which is soft at first, becomes hard following the growth of connective tissue in the area. In addition, the skin over the swollen area changes so that it becomes coarse and thickened, looking almost like elephant hide. The elephant-like skin, along with the enlarged body parts, gave the disease the name elephantiasis.

Elephantiasis is found worldwide, mostly in the tropics and subtropics. About 90 percent of cases of elephantiasis are a result of infection with a parasitic worm called Wuchereria bancrofti (W. bancrofti). W. bancrofti belongs to a group of
worms called filaria, or roundworms, and infection with a filarial worm is called filariasis. Filariasis caused by W. bancrofti is the most common and widespread type of human filarial infection and is often called Bancroft’s filariasis; filarial infections that can cause elephantiasis are known in general as lymphatic filariasis. Elephantiasis is the advanced, chronic stage of lymphatic filariasis, and only a small percentage of persons with the infection will develop elephantiasis. During Bancroft’s filariasis, adult forms of W. bancrofti live inside the human lymphatic system, and it is the person’s reaction to the presence of the worm that causes the symptoms of the disease. The worm’s life cycle is important in understanding how the disease is transmitted from one person to another, how the symptoms develop, and how to prevent and reduce the incidence of the disease.

The adult worms live in human lymphatic vessels and lymph nodes and measure about 4 centimeters in length for the male and 9 centimeters in length for the female. Both are threadlike and about 0.3 millimeters in diameter. After mating, the female releases large numbers of embryos or microfilariae (microscopic roundworms), which are more than one hundred times smaller in length and ten times thinner than their parents. They make their way from the lymphatic system into the bloodstream, where they can circulate for two years or longer. Interestingly, most strains of microfilariae exhibit a nocturnal periodicity, in which they appear in the peripheral blood system (the outer blood vessels, such as those in the arms, legs, and skin) only at night, mostly between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., and spend the remainder of the time in the blood vessels of the lungs and other internal organs. This nighttime cycling into the peripheral blood is somehow related to the patient’s sleeping habits, and although it is unknown exactly how or why the microfilariae do this, it is necessary for the survival of the worms. The microfilariae must develop through at least three different stages (called the first, second, and third larval stages) before they are ready to mature into adults; these stages take place not within humans but within certain types of mosquitoes, which bite at night. Thus, the microfilariae appear in the peripheral blood just in time for the mosquitoes to bite an infected human and extract them so that they can continue their life cycle. It is important to note, therefore, that both humans and the proper type of mosquito are needed to keep a filariasis infection going in a particular area.

Female night-feeding
mosquitoes of the genera Culex, Aedes, and Anopheles serve as intermediate hosts for Wuchereria bancrofti. The mosquitoes bite an infected person and ingest microfilariae from the peripheral blood. The microfilariae pass into the intestines of the mosquito, invade the intestinal wall, and within a day find their way to the thoracic
muscles (the muscles in the middle part of the mosquito’s body). There they develop from first-stage to third-stage larvae in about two weeks, and the new third-stage larvae move from the thoracic muscles to the head and mouth of the mosquito. Only the third-stage larvae are able to infect humans successfully, and the third stage can mature only inside humans. When the mosquito takes a blood meal, infective larvae make their way through the proboscis (the tubular sucking organ with which a mosquito bites a person) and enter the skin through the
puncture wound. After they enter the skin, the larvae move by an unknown route to the lymphatic system, where they develop into adult worms. It takes about one year or longer for the larvae to grow into adults, mate, and produce more microfilariae.

A person contracts Bancroft’s filariasis by being bitten by an infected mosquito. Various forms of the disease can occur, depending on the person’s immune response and the number of times the person is bitten. The period of time from when a person is first infected with larvae to the time microfilariae appear in the blood can be between one and two years. Even after this time some persons, especially young people, show no symptoms at all, yet they may have numerous microfilariae in their blood. This period of being a carrier of microfilariae without showing any signs of disease may last several years, and such carriers act as reservoirs for infecting the mosquito population.

In those patients showing symptoms from the infection, there are two stages of the disease: acute and chronic. In acute disease, the most common symptoms are a recurrent fever and lymphangitis or lymphadenitis in the arms, legs, or genitals. These symptoms are caused by an inflammatory response to the adult worms trapped inside the lymphatic system. Lymphangitis, an inflammation of the lymph vessels, is characterized by a hard, cordlike swelling or a red superficial streak that is tender and painful. Lymphadenitis is characterized by swollen and painful lymph nodes. The attacks of fever and lymphangitis or lymphadenitis recur at irregular intervals and may last from three weeks up to three months. The attacks usually become less frequent as the disease becomes more chronic. In the absence of reinfection, there is usually a steady improvement in the victim, each relapse being milder. Thus, without specific therapy, this condition is self-limiting and presumably will not become chronic in those acquiring the infection during a brief visit to an area where the disease is endemic.

The most obvious symptoms caused as a result of W. bancrofti infection, such as elephantiasis, are noted in the chronic stage. Chronic disease occurs only after years of repeated infection with the worms. It is seen only in areas where the disease is endemic and only occurs in a small percentage of the infected population. The symptoms are the result of an accumulation of damage caused by inflammatory reactions to the adult worms. The inflammation causes tissue death and a buildup of scar tissue that eventually results in the blockage of the lymphatic vessels in which the worms live. One of the functions of lymphatic vessels is to carry excess fluid away from tissues and bring it back to the blood, where it enters the circulation again as the fluid portion of the blood. If the lymphatic vessels are blocked, the excess fluid stays in the tissues, and swelling occurs. When this swelling is extensive, grotesque enlargement of that part of the body occurs.

Treatment and Therapy

One way in which doctors can tell whether a person has Bancroft’s filariasis is by taking a sample of peripheral blood at night and looking at the blood under a microscope to try to find microfilariae. Sometimes, the ability to find microfilariae is enhanced by filtering the blood to concentrate the possible microfilariae in a smaller volume of liquid. Many persons infected with W. bancrofti have no detectable microfilariae in their blood, so other methods are available. In the absence of microfilariae, a diagnosis can be made on the basis of a history of exposure, symptoms of the disease, positive antibody or skin tests, or the presence of worms in a sample of lymph tissue. It is important to note that in addition to W. bancrofti, a few other filarial worms and at least one bacteria can also cause elephantiasis; therefore, if symptoms of elephantiasis are observed, it is important to discover the correct cause so that the proper treatment can be given. Since chronic infection occurs after prolonged residence in areas where the disease occurs, patients with acute disease should be removed from those areas. They also should be reassured that elephantiasis is a rare complication that is limited to persons who have had constant exposure to infected mosquitoes for years. The best way to avoid contracting filariasis when traveling to an affected area is to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes. Insect repellent, mosquito netting, and other methods are helpful in this regard.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends treating lymphatic filariasis through mass drug administration to at-risk populations. The preferred regimen consists of a single dose of two combined drugs: albendazole and either ivermectin or diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC). These drugs kill the parasites with the body. Generally, in the treatment of acute disease, excellent results are obtained when the proper dosages of the drugs are given. Side effects include nausea or vomiting, usually relatively mild, and fever and dizziness, the severity of which depends on the number of microfilariae a person has in his or her blood; the more microfilariae, the more severe the reaction. Other drugs have been used in the treatment of filariasis, including suramin, metrifonate, and levamisole, but they are generally less effective or more toxic than the WHO's recommended regimen. Additional treatment measures include bed rest and supportive measures, such as using hot and cold compresses to reduce swelling. The administration of antibiotics for patients with secondary bacterial infections and painkillers as well as anti-inflammatory agents during the painful, acute stage is helpful. Sometimes, swollen limbs can be wrapped in pressure bandages to force the lymph from them. If the distortion is not too great, this method is successful. It should also be noted that although drugs such as DEC, albendazole, and ivermectin might be effective in killing W. bancrofti, the chronic lesions resulting from the infection are mostly incurable. Signs of chronic filariasis, such as elephantiasis of the limbs or the scrotum, are usually unaffected or only incompletely cured by medication, and it sometimes becomes necessary to apply surgical or other symptomatic treatments to relieve the suffering of the patients. Chronic obstruction in less advanced stages is sometimes improved by surgery. The surgical removal of an elephantoid breast, vulva, or scrotum is sometimes necessary.

Theoretically, it should be possible first to control and eventually to eliminate Bancroft’s filariasis. Conditions that are highly favorable for continued propagation of the infection include a pool of microfilariae carriers in the human population and the right species of mosquitoes breeding near human habitations. Thus, control can be effected by treating all microfilariae carriers in an affected area and eliminating the necessary mosquitoes. It is important to note that eliminating the mosquitoes alone will not control the disease, especially in tropical areas, since the breeding period and season in which the disease can be transmitted is so extensive. In some temperate areas, where Bancroft’s filariasis used to be endemic, measures that removed the mosquitoes alone aided in the elimination of the disease from that area, since in temperate areas the breeding period and thus the season for transmission is so short. In tropical areas, both drug therapy and mosquito control must be applied in order to control the disease.

The mosquito population can be controlled in four ways. First, general sanitation measures such as draining swamps can be carried out in order to reduce the areas where the mosquitoes are breeding. Second, insecticides can be used to kill the adult mosquitoes. Third, larvacides can be applied to sources of water where mosquitoes breed in order to kill the mosquito larvae. Finally, natural mosquito predators, such as certain species of fish, can be introduced into waters where mosquitoes breed to eat the mosquito larvae. Numerous problems stand in the way of eradication, such as poor sanitation, persons who do not cooperate with medical intervention, mosquitoes that become resistant to all known insecticides, increasing technology that yields increasing water supplies and therefore places for mosquitoes to breed, large populations, ignorance of the cause of the disease, and lack of medicine and distribution channels.

Perspective and Prospects

Dramatic symptoms of elephantiasis, especially the enormous swelling of legs or the scrotum, were recorded in much of the ancient medical literature of India, Persia, and the Far East. The embryonic form of microfilariae was first discovered and described in Paris in 1863. The organism was named for O. Wucherer, who also discovered microfilariae in 1866, and Joseph Bancroft, who discovered the adult worm in 1876. Two important facts about W. bancrofti—namely, its development in mosquitoes and the nocturnal periodicity of the microfilariae—were discovered by Patrick Manson between 1877 and 1879. This was the first example of a disease being transmitted by a mosquito, and its discovery earned for Manson the title of founder of tropical medicine. These and most of the other essential facts of the disease were discovered before the end of the nineteenth century. Progress in the epidemiology and control of filariasis came after World War II. In 1947, DEC was shown to kill filariae in animals, and this result was followed by the successful use of DEC in the treatment of humans. The first promising results in the control of Bancroft’s filariasis by mass administration of DEC were reported in 1957 on a small island in the South Pacific. Through subsequent studies, it has become clear that effective control of the infection can be achieved if sufficient dosages of DEC and related drugs are administered to infected populations.

Filariasis is a serious health hazard and public health problem in many tropical countries. Infection with W. bancrofti has been recorded in nearly all countries or territories in the tropical and subtropical zones of the world. The infection occurs primarily in coastal areas and islands that experience long periods of high humidity and heat. Infections have also been noted in some temperate zone districts, such as mainland Japan, central China, and some European countries. In early 2013, the WHO estimated that more than 120 million people worldwide were infected and more than 1.4 billion were at risk.

Bibliography

Beaver, Paul C., and Rodney C. Jung. Animal Agents and Vectors of Human Disease. 5th ed. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1985.

Biddle, Wayne. A Field Guide to Germs. 2d ed. New York: Anchor Books, 2002.

Frank, Steven A. Immunology and Evolution of Infectious Disease. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002.

Global Health, Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria. "Lymphatic Filariasis." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, February 1, 2012.

Joklik, Wolfgang K., et al. Zinsser Microbiology. 20th ed. Norwalk, Conn.: Appleton and Lange, 1997.

MedlinePlus. "Lymphatic Diseases." MedlinePlus, April 23, 2013.

Ransford, Oliver. “Bid the Sickness Cease.” London: John Murray, 1983.

Roberts, Larry S., and John Janovy, Jr., eds. Gerald D. Schmidt and Larry S. Roberts’ Foundations of Parasitology. 7th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2005..

Salyers, Abigail A., and Dixie D. Whitt. Bacterial Pathogenesis: A Molecular Approach. 2d ed. Washington, D.C.: ASM Press, 2002.

World Health Organization. "Lymphatic Filariasis." World Health Organization, March 2013.

What is the connotation for the word, "traitor" in Animal Farm and why does it have that connotation?

The word traitor appears five times in Animal Farm and is always used in conjunction with Snowball. The first time we hear it is when Napoleon tells the other animals that Snowball, earlier chased off the farm by the dogs on Napoleon's orders, is a "traitor" who "has crept here" and destroyed the windmill. In this same speech, Napoleon refers to Snowball a second time as a "traitor." Boxer, who accepts that Snowball is a traitor, will at one point contest the idea that Snowball started out as a "traitor," saying he fought bravely at the Battle of the Cowshed. (Napoleon will be afraid to go after Boxer.) The fourth time, it is spoken in reference to the so-called traitorous pigs and hens just executed for (supposedly) being incited by Snowball and finally, Napoleon uses it to justify changing the commandment that forbids one animal to kill another, for "clearly there was good reason for killing the traitors who had leagued themselves with Snowball."

Since Snowball's original "traitorous" act was to oppose Napoleon's will to power, the word "traitor" carries the connotation that anyone who disagrees with Napoleon is by definition a traitor. It also indicates that Snowball will be used as the excuse for anything Napoleon wants to do: if he wants to kill another animal or change a law, he simply needs to say it is necessary to stop "traitors" like Snowball. The term traitor carries the connotation of "any animal who opposes Napoleon in any way" because Napoleon has seized control of the animals and made his will the law. 

What are some basic facts about the Empire of Mali, Mansa Musa, and the Trans-Saharan Trade Route?

The Trans-Saharan Trade Route existed to link trade between West Africa and some Mediterranean countries. It stretched from the 8th until the late 16th century and primarily involved the empire of Ghana, who began and nourished the trade route during its beginning, and the empire of Mali, who flourished with the demise of Ghana by controlling the trade route. They taxed almost all trade that passed through the west, which brought them unimaginable wealth.

Mansa (which just means "King") Musa ruled the empire of Mali beginning in 1312. He expanded the borders of his empire tremendously, and is still to date one of the richest people in all of human history thanks, in no small part, to the Trans-Saharan Trade Route. 

Musa was a devout Muslim. So, in 1324, he made the 4,000-mile pilgrimage to Mecca. Because he was so rich, Musa's caravan on his pilgrimage was huge. It contained an insane number of horses, wagons, and soldiers. When he passed through Cairo, he gave away such a large amount of money that it caused massive inflation.

Musa died in 1337. His son, who took over the empire after Musa's death, could not hold the vast Mali empire together. So it, like the Ghana empire before it, fell into demise. 

What is fructosemia?

Causes and Symptoms

Fructosemia may also be called hereditary fructose intolerance; it literally means “fructose in the blood.” Fructosemia occurs as a result of a hereditary lack of an enzyme called fructose-1-phosphate aldolase B. This autosomal recessive disease is rare, although some researchers suspect that more people have the disorder than are diagnosed. These individuals may naturally avoid fructose after becoming ill following the consumption of fructose-containing foods. The infant, child, or adult with undiagnosed fructosemia will be normal unless foods containing fructose, sucrose, or sorbitol are eaten. If foods containing these carbohydrates are eaten, then fructose levels will increase in the patient’s blood and urine and the person will become ill. Symptoms include vomiting and low blood glucose and may progress to failure to thrive and/or coma. The severity of the disease appears to be variable, being rather mild in some individuals and causing death in others. In severe cases, the liver, kidneys, and
intestines may be affected, although this damage usually reverses with the elimination of dietary fructose.

Treatment and Therapy

Treatment for this disorder is entirely dietary. Foods containing fructose, sucrose, or sorbitol must be eliminated from the diet. Fructose is often thought of as “fruit sugar,” but far more foods than fruits and juices must be eliminated. Honey contains fructose, for example. Because half of sucrose becomes fructose when sucrose is metabolized, all foods containing sucrose (sugar) must be eliminated as well. This includes all sugar, whether from cane, beets, or sorghum. Sucrose is also part of maple syrup. Sorbitol metabolism also produces fructose, and so this sugar substitute must be avoided as well. Some infant formulas and baby foods may contain fructose, and many sweetened fruit beverages do. Reading food labels and being familiar with the ingredients of restaurant food is imperative for those with fructosemia.

Perspective and Prospects

Cases of fructosemia were first described in the mid-1950s. Soon after, the biochemical pathway defect was discovered. Today, genetic counseling may be of benefit to those who have fructosemia and want to have children, although strict avoidance of the three carbohydrates fructose, sucrose, and sorbitol will prevent symptoms.

Bibliography:

Ali, M., et al. “Hereditary Fructose Intolerance.” Journal of Medical Genetics 35, no. 5 (May, 1998): 353–365.

Cox, T. M. “Aldolase B and Fructose Intolerance.” FASEB Journal 8, no. 1 (January, 1994): 62–71.

Haldeman-Englert, Chad, and David Zieve. "Hereditary Fructose Intolerance." MedlinePlus, May 15, 2011.

"Hereditary Fructose Intolerance." Genetics Home Reference, May 13, 2013.

Sanders, Lee M. "Disorders of Carbohydrate Metabolism." Merck Manual Home Health Handbook, Feb. 2009.

Steinmann, Beat, René Santer, and Georges van den Berghe. “Disorders of Fructose Metabolism.” In Inborn Metabolic Diseases: Diagnosis and Treatment, edited by Jean-Marie Saudubray, et al. 5th ed. New York: Springer, 2012.

What is the definition of "hub" as it is used in Tuck Everlasting?

As it's used in the story, and elsewhere, a "hub" is literally the center of a wheel (the solid part to which all the spokes are attached--here's a drawing) or, figuratively, a "hub" is the center of the action. Other events and activities revolve around the "hub," just like a wheel revolves around its center. For example, you could say that the cafeteria is the hub of social activity in the mornings before school starts. Or, you could say that your college plans are the hub around which you organize your academic, social, and family activities.

Let's check out this word's use in the prologue of this novel:

"But things can come together in strange ways. The wood was at the center, the hub of the wheel. All wheels must have a hub. A Ferris wheel has one, as the sun is the hub of the wheeling calendar. Fixed points they are, and best left undisturbed, for without them, nothing holds together. But sometimes people find this out too late."

As you can see, the narrator builds on the meaning of "hub," pointing out how the hub stays in the same spot while other things are in motion all around it. The narrator is saying that, like the sun, or like the center of a Ferris wheel, the wood in this story is the very center and it remains still, and all the action of the story will revolve around that wood.

What is social support as a coping strategy?

Introduction

When there is a perceived discrepancy between environmental demands and one’s ability to meet those demands, an individual is likely to feel stress. Stress has both psychological and physiological causes and effects. To continue to function in an adaptive way, everyone must learn to cope with stress. There are many ways to cope. At one extreme, some people avoid or deny the existence of stress. At the other extreme, some people seek out and directly confront the source of stress to overcome it. One of the most-often-used approaches in coping with stress is social support, which can be used on its own or combined with other coping strategies.

Social support has many meanings. Sometimes it is defined simply as information that one receives from others. This information could come from a variety of sources—from family, friends, coworkers, or even the family’s faithful dog. For social scientists, social support is sometimes defined as the possibility of human interactions, and it can be measured by indicators such as marital status. In that case, it may be assumed that an individual who is married receives more social support than does one who is not married. This is often incorrect, however; there are many supportive relationships outside marriage—the parent-child relationship, for example.

Sidney Cobb in 1976 indicated that social support should be viewed as the receipt of information that one is cared for, is valued, and belongs to a mutually supportive social network. Parent-child relationships, and many others, would thus be possible sources of social support. This multidimensional view of social support has gained acceptance. Research in the area of social support has found common themes related to the perception of outcomes of interactions among people. In this view, there are five major outcomes constituting social support: the perception of a positive emotion toward oneself from another; agreement with another person about one’s beliefs or feelings; encouragement by another person to express one’s beliefs or feelings in a nonthreatening environment; the receipt of needed goods or services; and confirmation that one does not have to face events alone, that others will be there when needed. Viewing social support in terms of the subjective perception of an interaction rather than as the opportunity to interact with another is a useful way to conceptualize social support.

The perception of social support serves an important function in maintaining a positive sense of well-being by enabling one to cope with and adapt to stress. It has been shown to have a positive effect on physical as well as mental health. For example, the prognosis for an individual recovering from a heart attack or coping with a diagnosis of cancer is better for those with a good network of sources of social support. Research has shown that people who are depressed tend to have fewer and less supportive relationships with family members, coworkers, and friends than those who are not depressed.

There are different theories regarding the relationship between social support and stress. Some psychologists believe that social support has a buffering effect, while others believe that social support has a direct effect on stress. According to the buffering-effect model, social support is important when one is faced with a stressor because it comes between the individual and the source of stress, and thus it protects the individual from the negative effects of the stressor. In this case, social support acts as a safety net in much the same way that a physical safety net protects the trapeze artist from injury during a fall; unless there is a fall, the net does not serve any function. In contrast, the direct-effect model contends that social support is important regardless of the presence of a stressor. In this case, social support is seen as providing a generally positive effect on the individual, which would incidentally provide the individual with resources that can be called into play when faced with stress. For example, experiencing positive interactions can boost one’s self-esteem in general. The high self-esteem is incorporated into the individual’s self-concept, whether or not the person is currently dealing with a stressful event. However, when faced with stress, the self-esteem would then provide the individual with confidence to engage in problem-solving techniques to overcome the stressor. There is evidence to support both suggested mechanisms for social support, and it is likely that social support has both a buffering and a direct effect.

Despite the evidence indicating that social support helps people cope with stress, some studies show a negative effect. It seems that there are different types of social support, and it is important to match the type of support provided to the type of support needed. Tangible support is the providing of material aid in the form of goods and services. It is often needed but rarely given. One of the few instances in which it is commonly offered is following a death in the family, when friends and neighbors may bring over casseroles so that the grieving family can eat nutritious meals. Long-term tangible support is more likely to come either from impersonal sources, such as community-supported welfare programs, or from the most intimate source, the immediate family. The intermediate social network, consisting of friends and neighbors, is not likely to provide long-term tangible support.

Informational support is offered more freely by sources at all levels. This form of support serves an educational function, providing information relevant to coping with a problem. An example would be telling people the proper authority to call when they have no heat in their apartments. The third form of social support is emotional support, which comes from the more intimate sources, one’s family and close friends. This form of support involves expressing positive feelings toward an individual, acknowledging that person’s worth, and accepting his or her expressions of beliefs and feelings.

A number of factors might influence whether social support is provided. One factor is the perception of the person needing help of the likelihood that the desired support would actually be provided. If a person believes that he or she will get the help that is needed, that person is more likely to seek out social support. Studies have shown that individuals who are reluctant to seek help are less likely to receive the support they desperately need. Another factor that can influence the likelihood that social support will be provided is the person who could provide the desired support. That person has to perceive that there is an actual need on the part of the person requesting help. The individual also has to determine whether he or she can provide the appropriate type of support. Finally, the person who needs help has to be willing to accept the offer of social support when it is made. It is important to remember that the receivers of social support are not the only potential beneficiaries of the interaction. Providers of social support can also benefit from the interaction. In fact, studies show that even young children have a need to be helpful to others, particularly people in their families.

Support Settings

Social support is applied in a variety of settings, both informal and formal. Informal settings for social support include the sharing of one’s problems with friends and family. For example, an advertising executive may be under pressure to put together a campaign for the company’s biggest client, who is considering changing firms. Informational support may come from the executive’s coworkers over lunch. She might explain to her coworkers the problems she is facing designing the program. The coworkers might have faced similar problems, and they could tell the executive what they did to cope with the problems when they were experiencing them. The coworkers might provide tangible support by volunteering their time to work together on the campaign. Emotional support is more likely to come from the executive’s family when she describes her day over dinner. The family members need to convey their love and respect to the executive. In this case, they need to indicate that their regard for the person is not dependent on the success of any advertising account. It might be counterproductive for the spouse to express confidence in the executive’s ability to develop a successful campaign; the executive may then feel under more pressure, because now she not only has to worry about keeping the account but also may worry about disillusioning her spouse and losing that important source of support. Members of social networks need to be careful that they provide the correct form of social support, because providing support that does not match the needs of the recipient may be harmful.

Social support is important not only in a work setting but in a personal setting as well. For example, a man who is trying to lose weight would benefit from emotional support from his family and friends who let him know that they care about him and support his decision to lose weight. When dieting gets difficult, loved ones might be tempted to tell the dieter that they think he is fine just the way he is. That is not supportive of his decision to lose weight, however, and it works against his success. Informational support can be provided by giving the dieter information about ingredients and methods of meal preparation. This kind of support can be provided by a variety of people; waiters are generally quite willing to discuss this subject with restaurant patrons to give the needed information for a wise choice from the menu. This kind of support is requested so often, in fact, that many restaurants include such information on the menus themselves—an example of social support that is community based. Tangible support for weight loss can come from a diet or exercise partner who embarks on a weight-loss program with the dieter; another example would be a friend who provides low-calorie meals for the dieter.

Another informal setting in which social support is increasingly being provided is on the Internet. There has been a proliferation of Internet news and support groups that provide both informational and emotional support to individuals facing a number of physical and mental illnesses including diabetes, cancer, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and depression. The use of support groups by the elderly in particular, many of whom may have been socially isolated prior to their use of the Internet, has increased significantly.

Formal Support

These examples of situations in which people need social support can also be used to illustrate support in a formal setting. The executive who is undergoing stress might seek professional help from a counselor. A counseling situation takes place in a supportive environment and is generally focused on emotional support; however, some therapy situations can also provide informational and tangible support. Behavior therapy can be a source of informational support, such as when the executive is given homework assignments to identify what specific behaviors or thoughts are triggers for her stress. A clear identification of the trigger will aid in setting up a program to combat the stress. Sometimes people take part in group therapy settings, where a counselor works with several clients at the same time. Participants in the session become a tight social network that provides emotional, informational, and sometimes even tangible support. In this case, the executive might practice her presentation for the group, and the other members’ critique might include new ideas or techniques that can be used to solve her problem. Constructive criticism of a presentation is a service that could be considered a form of tangible support, as well as informational and emotional support.

A dieter can get support in a formal setting by joining an organized group such as Weight Watchers or Overeaters Anonymous. Losing weight alone can be a difficult task, and research has demonstrated that successful weight reduction is more likely to occur in group settings. Emotional support comes from fellow dieters who understand exactly what the dieter is experiencing and accept him as he is. In this case, everyone has the same problem, so the dieter does not feel that he does not fit in to society. Informational support comes from the group leader, who helps set goals and explains what behaviors need to be modified to achieve those goals. It also comes from other group members, who share recipes and advice on how to combat challenges. Tangible support comes in the form of the low-calorie meals provided by some weight-control programs or of a bond with a group member who can become an exercise partner. Social support from groups of people with common problems has been found to be so helpful that the number of such support, or self-help, groups is growing enormously. These groups are being founded for people with a wide range of problems: rape victims, people with alcohol dependency, spouses of military personnel stationed in a war zone, parents of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) victims, and caregivers of individuals with physical or mental illnesses. Formal social support groups, in a sense, act as the extended family that may be absent in a modern, mobile society.

Because positive social support has been associated with improved mental and physical health and overall well-being, interventions designed to promote positive health behaviors and to reduce adverse health behaviors have been targeted for not only individuals at risk but also their social support networks, which can play a significant role in influencing an individual’s behavior. For example, in the attempt to reduce drinking and driving among young people, advertisers have used slogans such as “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk,” hoping to encourage peers to support responsible drinking and the use of designated drivers. Physicians have also discovered that patients are more likely to comply with their advice if spouses and children are involved in the treatment regimen, because these patients are more likely to practice safe health behaviors and comply with treatment if they feel they have the support of family and friends. Thus, the concept of social support can be useful not only in helping individuals cope when faced with stressful events in both formal and informal settings but also in enlisting the cooperation of an individual’s social support network to promote successful behavioral health change.

Theories of Support

Social support is best understood in the context of social comparison theory, first presented by Leon Festinger in 1954. People have a need to be “correct,” to do the right thing, and to behave in a socially appropriate manner. It is not always easy to determine the correct position to hold in different situations. For example, how does someone decide what to wear to a party? Often, an individual will call a friend who is also going to the party and ask what the friend is planning to wear. A person tends to make decisions in ambiguous situations by observing what other people are doing. In general, one feels comfortable when behaving, dressing, or thinking in a manner that is similar to those around one. A woman is likely to feel uncomfortable and underdressed if she wears a skirt and blouse to a party where everyone else is in formal attire. A skirt and blouse are perfectly acceptable articles of clothing for a woman and are no less functional at a party than a formal gown would be. She may have worn that outfit to a social gathering previously and felt perfectly comfortable. When everyone else is dressed differently, however, she feels that she stands out and therefore is not dressed correctly. Correctness is determined by majority standards. People learn by the process of socialization to conform to those around them. Social comparison is the process by which people learn norms, or social expectations, in different settings.

In the process of learning norms, one also learns the social benefits of conformity: acceptance by others. When an individual expresses an idea or behavior that is consistent with the ideas or behaviors of others, then the social group is comfortable around that person and permits that person to join the group. If that person deviates from the group norm, then that person may be ostracized by the group. This is the basis of peer pressure, which people learn to apply at a young age.

When people turn to others for informational social support, they often are looking for guidance to help fit in with a social norm—to do or think the right thing. Emotional social support tells one that one is like others and is valued and accepted by others. Tangible social support tells one that one’s needs are acceptable and that other people will perform behaviors similar to one’s own behavior to meet those needs. The goal of both social comparison and social support is to validate oneself by ensuring that one does not deviate from social expectations.

In an interesting experiment designed to test the role of social comparison in emotional reactions, subjects were asked to wait until it was their turn to participate in an experiment; the experiment was explained to some subjects in a way designed to create apprehension. Subjects were given the opportunity either to wait alone or to wait with others. Those who were made fearful tended to want to wait with others more than did subjects who were not made fearful. This preference demonstrated that fear creates a desire to affiliate. More important, however, subjects showed a preference to wait with others only if they were told that the others were waiting for the same experiment. In this context, it is easy to understand the growth of support groups for specific problems. When facing a stressful situation, people need to be around others who can really understand what they are going through—in other words, other people with the same problem. There is strength in numbers.

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