Narcolepsy Essays - Sleep Disorders, Narcolepsy, Orexin, Cataplexy

Narcolepsy Narcolepsy is a disease that has been on the receiving end of many jokes in our society. Yet it is a serious and life altering disease that is no laughing matter to the 1,000 in every 2,000 people in the U.S. that have it. I was drawn to this article because a former supervisor that I worked with had this disease. She was prescribed the drug Ritalin. It always impressed me that she could confront an angry client or give a speech without succumbing to the symptoms of her disease. She revealed that her case of narcolepsy wasn't that bad, but without the Ritalin she would just fall asleep anywhere. "The overall incident of narcolepsy is about 10 times that of Lou Gehrig's disease, half that of multiple sclerosis, five times that of cystic fibrosis, and about one quarter that of Parkinson's disease." Narcolepsy is a chronic disease, but not a progressive one. It is a puzzling neurological disorder that causes cataplexy, the loss of skeletal muscle tone without loss of consciousness, and persistent daytime sleepiness. Cataplectic attacks of narcolepsy can be triggered by exceedingly strong emotions such as laughter, embarrassment, anger, and athletic or sexual exertion. In tests on narcoleptic dogs, Emmanuel Mignot of Stanford and his co-workers identified a gene responsible for narcolepsy in dogs. "His research group determined that the dogs carry a mutation in the receptor for a neurotransmitter called hypocretin or orexin." These receptors are missing a critical part, so they can't respond normally to messages they receive. This is a recessive trait in the canines. However, they state that it is unlikely that most human narcoleptics have these mutated genes. Most narcoleptics have no narcoleptic relatives, and the disease does not occur until the second or third decade of life. Also, they have concluded that in 75 percent of the cases in which narcolepsy occurs in an identical twin, the other twin is unaffected. This, they say, indicates that environmental conditions are important in human narcolepsy. What environmental conditions are they? Damage to the hypocretin/orexin system due to environmental factors may mimic the symptoms caused by mutations. They feel that narcolepsy may be an auto-immune disease, in that the body turns against one of its own tissues are cell types. "The next step will be to determine whether the immune systems of narcoleptics are mistakenly targeting the hypocretin/orexin receptors in their own brains as foreign." according to Jerome Siegel. There are no concrete answers at the present time. Just hypotheses. Right now the only thing that science has to offer a narcoleptic is drugs to control their symptoms. For which I am sure that the sufferers of this disease are very grateful. We never seem to care about a disease until it strikes us or a loved one or friend. I'm thankful we have scientists out there who are working on answers to the causes and cures of various diseases, that hopefully, we may never have occasion to know about.

Writing a Sample Essay For Each Sample Application

Writing a Sample Essay For Each Sample ApplicationBefore you decide to write a sample essay for each sample application, you should make sure that you write each sample essay in the exact same way and using the exact same vocabulary. In addition, the phrase you use throughout the writing should be taken literally. For example, if you wrote the sample application in English grammar and you use the phrase 'in line with your practice'.The first hint that you should remember about how to write an essay for each sample application is that it should reflect the personality of the student who will read the application. For example, if you had a student who was very enthusiastic about environmental issues, a sample essay should use an attitude and tone that describe their enthusiasm. If the student is very serious about using a specific product, the writing should reflect this as well.Another hint that you should remember about how to write an essay for each sample application is that the st yle of writing that your student is most comfortable with. For example, if you are writing a sample essay that your student has not written before, you should use a formal style. This means that your student should use proper spelling and grammar.If you are writing an essay for a student who writes very quickly, you should use a conversational style. You should use simple language and not long and complex sentences. You should talk about the things that you want your student to know or learn. Your student will appreciate this style more if they feel comfortable.There are three aspects that you should take into consideration when writing an essay for each sample application. First, the topic of the essay. Second, the tone and flow of the essay. Third, the writing structure and punctuation.The topic of the essay should be one that will interest the student. It is easy to confuse a topic that is too general with a general topic and they are not very good essays. You should base the top ic of the essay on the interest of the student. If you find that the student enjoys writing about wine, but not so much about geography, then it may be time to include a special interest topic into the essay.The tone and flow of the essay should be done using the tone and flow of speech that the student will use. You should be sure that your student understands that their style of writing and their personality should be reflected in the style of writing that you choose. You should also keep in mind that the student's writing is being evaluated so there should be no grammatical errors in sentence structure.As you can see, it is important to take these hints into consideration when writing each individual sample essays. Even if you are writing an essay for each application, make sure that you write each one in the exact same way and using the exact same vocabulary.