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Topic Review
Mechanisms and Open Issues of Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation
Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques induce a mild magnetic or electric field in the brain to modulate behavior and cortical activation. NIBS comprises of different techniques based on magnetic or electrical stimulation of the scalp: transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial electrical stimulation techniques (tES), such as transcranial direct currect stimulation (tDCS), transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) and transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS). While TMS directly induces action potentials, tDCS induces modifications in the resting membrane potentials altering the spontaneous firing rate . tACS allows the entrainment of intrinsic brain oscillations through the administration of sinusoidal currents at specific frequencies , while tRNS is based on the application of several frequencies within a normally distributed frequency spectrum . Despite the great body of literature demonstrating promising results, unexpected or even paradoxical outcomes are sometimes observed. This might be due either to technical and methodological issues (e.g., stimulation parameters, stimulated brain area), or to participants’ expectations and beliefs before and during the stimulation sessions.
  • 532
  • 29 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Mechanisms by Which Smartphone Use Affects Sleep
Sleep quality is a person's subjective assessment of how well they feel they have slept. There has been increasing concern about sleep-related problems (e.g., sleep efficiency, sleep latency, or sleep quality) due to the importance of sleep in the general health of the population, especially mental health. Problematic smartphone use (PSU) is defined as smartphone use associated with at least some element of dysfunctional use, such as anxiety when the smartphone is unavailable or abandonment of other activities due to smartphone use. Considering the widespread use of smartphones among the population and their suitability for use in bed, many health professionals have been interested in whether there is a link between increased screen use and sleep problems.
  • 262
  • 23 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Mechanisms of Epigenetic Inheritance in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that causes debilitating functional impairment in patients. Observations from survivors of traumatic historical events solidify that this disease is not only associated with personal experiences but can also be inherited from familial traumas. Over the past decades, researchers have focused on epigenetic inheritance to understand how responses to adverse experiences can be passed down to future generations.
  • 296
  • 30 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Media Ecology
Media ecology theory is the study of media, technology, and communication and how they affect human environments. The theoretical concepts were proposed by Marshall McLuhan in 1964, while the term media ecology was first formally introduced by Neil Postman in 1968. Ecology in this context refers to the environment in which the medium is used – what they are and how they affect society. Neil Postman states, "if in biology a 'medium' is something in which a bacterial culture grows (as in a Petri dish), in media ecology, the medium is 'a technology within which a [human] culture grows.'" In other words, "Media ecology looks into the matter of how media of communication affect human perception, understanding, feeling, and value; and how our interaction with media facilitates or impedes our chances of survival. The word ecology implies the study of environments: their structure, content, and impact on people. An environment is, after all, a complex message system which imposes on human beings certain ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving." Media ecology argues that media act as extensions of the human senses in each era, and communication technology is the primary cause of social change. McLuhan is famous for coining the phrase, "the medium is the message", which is an often-debated phrase believed to mean that the medium chosen to relay a message is just as important (if not more so) than the message itself. McLuhan proposed that media influence the progression of society, and that significant periods of time and growth can be categorized by the rise of a specific technology during that period. Additionally, scholars have compared media broadly to a system of infrastructure that connect the nature and culture of a society with media ecology being the study of "traffic" between the two.
  • 3.5K
  • 23 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Mediation Effect of Risk Attitude
The influence of the epidemic situation on an individual’s risk perception will change an individual’s risk attitude, which, in turn, will affect their willingness to consume products from restaurants. Epidemic risk perception may also directly affect said willingness. Prati and team found that risk attitude is the most important component in predicting willingness, and it is further predicted by risk perception. A study of Spanish consumers by Martinez-Poveda and others found that the willingness and acceptance of consumers to buy goods is largely determined by the risks they perceive in the goods. Yang and Chen found that there is an interaction between risk perception and risk attitude, which affects the behavior of subjects. A study of consumer attitudes toward genetically modifiedfood in recent years, conducted by Wang and others, found that both risk perception and return affect consumers’ willingness to purchase genetically modified food. Consumers’ risk perception of the epidemic situation will influence their risk attitude and willingness to consume food. Based on the above analysis, the following hypothesis is proposed: Risk attitude plays a mediating role in the influence of consumers’ epidemic risk perception on their willingness to consume products from restaurants.
  • 398
  • 12 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Medical Ethnobotany of India
The medical ethnobotany of India is the study of Indian medicinal plants and their traditional uses. Plants have been used in India for treatment of disease and health maintenance for thousands of years, and remain important staples of health and folk medicine for millions. Indians today utilize plants for both primary medical care (principally in Rural and undeserved areas) and as supplementary treatment alongside modern medical science. It is estimated that 70% of rural Indians use traditional plant based remedies for primary healthcare needs. This reliance of plants for medicine is consistent with trends widely observed in the developing world, where between 65% and 80% of people use medicinal plant remedies. Herbal medicine in India is largely guided by folk medicine, both in codified cultural practices shared widely (Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani), and highly localized practices unique to individual tribes or tribal groups (Adivasi). Between 3,000 and 5,000 species of medicinal plants grow in India with roughly 1,000 threatened with extinction. Of these, more than 2,400 plant species have been documented for medicinal use.
  • 2.6K
  • 01 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Medical Psychology
Medical psychology, or Medico-psychology, is the application of psychological principles to the practice of medicine, primarily drug-oriented, for both physical and mental disorders. A medical psychologist who holds prescriptive authority for specific psychiatric medications and other pharmaceutical drugs must first obtain specific qualifications in psychopharmacology. A trained medical psychologist, or clinical psychopharmacologist who has prescriptive authority, is equated with a mid-level provider who has the authority to prescribe psychotropic medication such as antidepressants for mental health disorders. However, a medical psychologist does not automatically equate with a psychologist who has the authority to prescribe medication. In fact, most medical psychologists do not prescribe medication and do not have the authority to do so. Medical psychologists apply psychological theories, scientific psychological findings, and techniques of psychotherapy, behavior modification, cognitive, interpersonal, family, and lifestyle therapy to improve the psychological and physical health of the patient. Psychologists with postdoctoral specialty training as medical psychologists are the practitioners with refined skills in clinical psychology, health psychology, behavioral medicine, psychopharmacology, and medical science. Highly qualified and postgraduate specialized doctors are trained for service in primary care centers, hospitals, residential care centers, and long-term care facilities and in multidisciplinary collaboration and team treatment.
  • 648
  • 28 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Medicine Lodge Treaty
The Medicine Lodge Treaty is the overall name for three treaties signed near Medicine Lodge, Kansas, between the Federal government of the United States and southern Plains Indian tribes in October 1867, intended to bring peace to the area by relocating the Native Americans to reservations in Indian Territory and away from European-American settlement. The treaty was negotiated after investigation by the Indian Peace Commission, which in its final report in 1868 concluded that the wars had been preventable. They determined that the United States government and its representatives, including the United States Congress, had contributed to the warfare on the Great Plains by failing to fulfill their legal obligations and to treat the Native Americans with honesty. The U.S. government and tribal chiefs met at a place traditional for Native American ceremonies, at their request. The first treaty was signed October 21, 1867, with the Kiowa and Comanche tribes. The second, with the Kiowa-Apache, was signed the same day. The third treaty was signed with the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho on October 28. Under the Medicine Lodge Treaty, the tribes were assigned reservations of diminished size compared to territories defined in an 1865 treaty. The treaty tribes never ratified the treaty by vote of adult males, as it required. In addition, by changing allotment policy under the Dawes Act and authorizing sales under the Agreement with the Cheyenne and Arapaho (1890) and the Agreement with the Comanche, Kiowa and Apache (1892) signed with the Cherokee Commission, the Congress effectively further reduced their reservation territory. The Kiowa chief Lone Wolf filed suit against the government for fraud on behalf of the tribes in Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock. In 1903 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the tribes, determining that the Congress had "plenary power" and the political right to make such decisions. In the aftermath of that case, Congress acted unilaterally on land decisions related to other reservations as well. Because of the outstanding issues with the treaty and subsequent government actions, in the mid-20th century, the Kiowa, Arapaho and Comanche filed several suits for claims against the U.S. government. Over decades, they won substantial settlements of monetary compensation in the amount of tens of millions of dollars, although it took years for the cases to be resolved.
  • 272
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Meditation and Techno-Mindfulness
Mindful meditation has discernible effects on enhancing the mind’s focus, proving to “impact various components of attention, although the precise effects may depend on the meditation style practiced and the level of experience of the practitioner”. This success has precipitated the swift adoption of mindfulness as a therapeutic instrument. During its process of medicalization, which has turned meditation into a clinical product suitable for the therapeutic forms of Western biomedicine, mindfulness is also undergoing a further transformation, one that progressively integrates it into the techno-medical and digitalizing aspect of modern therapies. 
  • 310
  • 09 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Meic Torcaill
The Meic Torcaill, also known as the Meic Turcaill, the Mac Torcaill dynasty, and the Mac Turcaill dynasty, were a leading Norse-Gaelic family in mediaeval Dublin. The kindred produced several eminent men and kings of Dublin before the English conquest of the kingdom in 1170. Afterwards the family fell from prominence, losing possession of their extensive lands in the region. In time the Meic Torcaill lost precedence to other Dublin families, such as the Harolds and Archbolds.
  • 506
  • 25 Nov 2022
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