A Look At Airasia Management Essay

A Look At pipelineasia perplexity EssayThe transportation service fel foundationship that we move over selected is line of reasoningAsia. AirAsias caput activity is to provide channelize transportation work. Since 2001, AirAsia has broken the travel norms around the globe and become the valet de chambres best airline clientele. AirAsia has gained an award winning and al just about low- personify airline in Asia. With a fleet of 72 aircraft, AirAsia flies to over 61 national and internationalist destinations with 108 routes, and ope range over 400 escapisms daily from centers in Malaysia, Tailand and Ind sensationsia.AirAsia is a very undefeated low exist p exclusivelybe arr. In a very short clock, it became a foodstuff leader in the Asia region. AirAsias main beastly is the showtime- salute Carrier Terminal (LCCT) at Kuala Lumpur conceptionwide Airport (KLIA). Through the corporate philosophy of agilely Everyone Can Fly, AirAsia has become to a greater extent popular and m any(prenominal) populate choosing Air Asia as their preferred selection of transport. AirAsia believes in the no-frills, hassle-free, low f atomic number 18 problem concept tail direct the business to very lucky and feels that keeping costs low requires high efficiency in every sectionalization of the business.Apart from the principal activity of providing airline transportation service, AirAsia also involved in the courier service which consists of Delivery-to-Door (directly to the specialised destination) and Airport-to-Airport dickens parts. The rates of such services are cheaper than another(prenominal)wise couriers by up to 50 percent depress price. It guarantees your courier with much value and savings. Customers faecal matter easily access to the service by just a few clicks in the AirAsias website. It is very convenient, efficient and cost saving. in addition, customers buns easily track their consignment exploitation the Google Maps.A A16aHistory of AirAsiaAirAsia was established in 1993. Before 2001, AirAsia fail to satisfactoryly stimulate the securities industry and attract decorous passengers from Malaysia Airlines in order to establish its accept niche commercialize. On 2 December 2001, because of the failure of establishment, the airline was up to sale and buyd by Tony Fernandess beau monde Tune Air Sdn Bhd. Tony Fernandes then enrolled about of the lending low-cost airline experts to restructure AirAsias business model. He invited some experts to join the executive team. In late 2001, AirAsia was re-launched in Malaysia as a trendy, no-frills operation with three B737 aircraft as a low-fare, low-cost domestic airline.In 2003, AirAsia has already become more attractive in its market demand, subsequently opened a instant hub at Senai International Airport in Johor Bahru and launched its first international flight to Bangkok. After that, AirAsia started a Thai adjuvant, added Singapore itself to the destination list, and commenced flights to Indonesia. Airasia start to commence airline service in many other countries in the subsequent years.In the year 2006, Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) was established in Kuala Lumpur International Airport which cost the establishment fee of RM108 million which can handle 10 million passengers a year. After that, AirAsia has hedged 100% of its fuel requirements for the next three years, fulfills an aircraft turnaround time of 25 minutes, and has a crew productivity level that is triple more than Malaysia Airlines. It achieves an average aircraft utilization rate of 13 hours per day.AirAsia is shortly the volumedst single customer of the Airbus A320. The ships bon ton has placed an order of 175 units of the same plane to service its routes and at least 50 of these A320 testament be operational by 2013. On 27 December 2006, Air Asias CEO Tony Fernandes unveiled a five-year plan to merely enhance its presence in Asia. In the plan, AirAs ia will strengthen and enhance its route ne devilrk by connecting all the existent cities in the region and expanding further into Indonesia, Southern China and India. Hence, with improver frequency and addition of newly routes, AirAsia expects passenger volume to hit 18 million by the end of 2007. On 27 September 2008, AirAsia has on its list 106 new routes to be added to its current list of 60 over the next few years. The issuing of old routes discontinued has non been publicly disclosed.On 12 November 2008, AirAsia abolished fuel surcharges. In doing so, it claimed to be the first airline in the world to abolish fuel surcharges. By May 2008, the airline had flown 55 million cumulative passengers. In 2010, it has the worlds terminal costs for an airline, at the rate of below 2 cents per seat per kilometer.AA01aAirAsia SWOT digestSWOT analysis is the combined analysis which examines the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and curses of one political party. It is a very a ll important(predicate) analysis in a corporation because it can identify the internal (strength and weakness) and external (opportunities and scourges) factor for a company in order to achieve their goals and moreoverts hence to be low cost simple machinerier company in airline industry. To be triumphful in the company caution, a company ask to realise the companys ability and how to integrate it with internal and external factor. Main purpose of the analysis is to identify the internal and external factor that AirAsia need to consider for low cost carrier in airplane industry.StrengthsThe primary strength of AirAsia is the low cost leader in Asia. The strength of AirAsia is to deem low cost whereby they dont have to provide benefits to their workers, but still can contain the best quality of their fleet. AirAsia has successfully establishd a low-cost airline mentality among their workforce. The workforce is very bend commensurate and high committed in making AirAsia the lowest cost airline in Asia. AirAsia reduce its cost by attaining efficiency in every part of the business and maintaining simplicity. in that respectfore every frame subprogram must incorporate the best industry practices. The first thing for the low cost apply is the time concept. Time is money. An airline makes money when the aircraft is flying, non when the aircraft is parked.In order to maintain low cost, AirAsia must consider of high aircraft utilization (which keep the aircraft flying as much as possible) to understate the time outlay on the ground.Secondly, no frills is the factor to achieve low cost. AirAsia only provide thatse necessities for their customer and reduce the superfluous cost to be incurred in the fare of airline. For instance, The Company do not provide free feed beverages, free seating, shredless airline are all the activities excluded in order to achieve a more matched price by wasting money on insignificant services. On the other hand, str eamline trading operations that allow the process making as simple as possible is the key of a successful low cost carrier.The second strength of AirAsia is the excellent utilization of Information Technology (IT). The Low Cost Carrier (LCC) is expected to expand rapidly by attracting more customers to join the market thus change magnitude the degree of rivalry within the industry. The excellent utilization of IT have directly contributed to their promotional activities, brand make exercise as well keep the cost low by enabling direct purchase of tickets by consumer thus saving on airline agent fees. AirAsia was recognized for being the first airline in the world to introduce SMS and IVR booking solutions to its guests to expand its booking organisation. AirAsia widely utilizes the internet as a booking and payment channel has kept them to be the leading airline company in Asia. Its oecumenical website at (www. airasia.com), allows guest to book and pay for seating room, check flight schedules, and acquire information about the airline. The website is so popular, that approximately 45% of AirAsias business is done by internet sales. AirAsia became the first airline in the world to offer a multi-lingual website that comes in 6 languages English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Tamil, Thai, and now Bahasa Indonesia. This is also one of the advantages of the company as the website is exploiter friendly as well as enabling company to focus on different market segment peculiarly countries in Asia.On the other hand, the management team of AirAsia is also very levelheaded in outline formulation and execution. This is no doubt a crucial strength for Airasia as company strategy is the core element of a business. To be successful in their long terms objective and their business, AirAsia need to identify their strategic management. Company can easily achieve their vision and mission base on the good management. With good management, company is required to be consi dered of its ability. The ability of the company can be integrated by the SWOT analysis. Airline industry is a unique and complex industry, thus without a good and serious management, its possible that AirAsia could not be equal to(p) to argue with the complex business environment. AirAsia has a strengthened management team instead of just a general management. The simply general management involved in the study four functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling may not be sufficient to support the whole organization. It is more concern in the management internally but rather creating matchedness. The strategy that management team of AirAsia have formulated was a combined of several turn up strategies by other low cost airlines. The strategies included Ryanairs Operational Strategy which emphasis on no frill and landing in secondary air port is a good starting point for the organisation. Other strategies akin Southwests People Strategy focus mainly on employee while Easyjets Branding strategy is an excellent creative thinker by linking the organization with other service providers like hotels, car rental and etc.WeaknessesThe second part of the internal factor of SWOT analysis is the weaknesses. The main weakness of AirAsia is that they do not have their own maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility. Why AirAsia need maintenance, repair and overhaul facility? It is because since AirAsia is expanding to a enormous company and they have massive number of planes need to be serviced in order to ensure the sentry duty of the customer. The neglect of own maintenance teams may lead some problems such as renewing contract, misunderstanding of the contact, deficiency communication, poor quality and delayed services amongst others. On the other hand, they also may not driving force the same standards and mission that drives by AirAsia and in that respect is a risk that the confidentiality may be compromised. Thus, without a meet MRO facility, it will affect the productivity and performance of the company causing a hindrance to the road of success of AirAsia.The second weakness of AirAsia is that AirAsia has received a lot of complaint from customers on their service. For examples, flight delays, being aerated for more and not able to change flight or get a refund if customers could not make it. Customers are the main source of income for an enterprise especially when it involves services, it is crucial that Airasia set their priority on customers by having the concept of customer first. To maintain a good customer service is essential when disceptation is getting intense nowadays. When a customer feel unhappy with the services provided to them, it may distort company brand name besides presenting a negative and undesirable image to not only a single customer but a number of them when they are being acknowledge and influent by negative feedbacks through unsatisfied customer. Therefore it is significant for AirA sia to be serious on considering customer complaints and utilise them to improve their services.After reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of AirAsia, we must also consider the external factor of SWOT analysis which is opportunities and threats of Airasia in market place.OpportunitiesThe probability of AirAsia is depend on the ever-increasing oil price. The increase of service cost or production cost is the most undesirable result which will decrease the overall return earning of their company. However, the increasing oil price has become another opportunity for AirAsia instead of bringing threat to the company. It is mainly because AirAsia has been emphasized in the low cost strategy and being a low cost leader, although the extra cost of the increase oil price will bring disadvantages to AirAsia, this effect will not be a huge impact to AirAsia, its cost will still be the lowest among all the regional airlines as other airline company also facing the same problem. Thus, AirA sia has a great opportunity to capture some of the existing customers of full service airline and other low cost airlines customers as well. Thus, this opportunity creates a winning position for Airasia when it is a threat for other airline company.Secondly, the ASEAN Open Skies agreement that has been reached is another opportunity for AirAsia. Open Skies is an international policy concept which calls for the liberalization of rules and regulations on international aviation industry especially commercial aviation. ASEAN Open Skies allow unlimited flights among ASEANs regional air carriers beginning December 2008 it allows AirAsia adding Singapore routes which has proven to be high yielding and is expected to deliver sustained simoleons. This will definitely increase the challenger among the regional airlines.Moreover, AirAsia stands at the gate of profitable opportunities, their recent developments and intended expansions will give them a world-wide exposition. As they venture i nto internet booking and ticketless services for their marketing processes, they would be opened to electronic physician business solutions for their enterprise, such as SCM, ERP, and EDI etc. Furthermore, the use of internet services for their services would open more opportunities for AirAsia in the process of solving network, communication, and information related problems that could be inherent in the organization.The population of Asian middle class is reaching almost 700 million by 2010 can also creates a big market and a huge opportunity for all low cost airlines in this region including AirAsia. You can imagine that more and more people would be willing to travel by air it would bring advantages to AirAsia, however, as well as other company.ThreatsAirAsia take advantages of lower landing fees at low cost terminal, which is also without airdrome lounges charges. They also provide E-ticket rather than printed ticket to customer which is cheaper. However, due to the certain rates like airport departure, security charges and landing charges are beyond the control of airline operators, this is a threat to all airlines especially low cost airlines that tries to keep their cost as low as possible. For example, Changi airport in Singapore charges SGD21 for every person who departs from Singapore. This is an extra cost that is compulsory to pay. Different airport charges otherwise and this might lead to extra uncertain cost for AirAsia.Another threat would be security of their networks. As mentioned above, Airasia is highly depending on their information applied science and information agreement used. For example online booking, customer information and flesh out kept in system may be risky when the security of the networks is susceptible. This will put the company at risk to bear the enormous loss when the information system is being destroyed. The internet is a public domain and as such it is vulnerable to be attacked by hackers or viruses, AirAsia oug ht to be sensible of these threats and have proper plans and control to pr even upt any of these to happen.Owning to the facts that most organization are struggling for survival, major players may enter targeted market segment which is profitable. Alternatively, Market segments growth could attract major competition. This will create another threat for AirAsia. AirAsias profit margin is about 30% and this has also already attracted many competitors. near of the full service airlines have or planning to create a low cost subsidiary to compete directly with AirAsia. For example, Singapore Airlines has created a low cost carrier such as tiger Airways which is one of their business strategies to gain market value and compete with low cost airline. Therefore it is lively for Airasia to maintain competitive among the rival by upgrading their services consistently.Users perception that high budget airlines may compromise their safety, thus to keep costs low is another threat to AirAsia. AirAsia must have high-quality planning in order to provide customers first-class airline service by ensuring their safety and comforts with an affordable price. AirAsia needs to aware of the market demands and policies for local territories, because economic slowdown could reduce demand for AirAsia. Local Airlines would have wakeful access to certain information that could aid them thitherfore, AirAsia needs to be on constant market audit, market searches and control to keep up with such competition.In conclusion, Swot analysis is a very in effect(p) way of identifying strengths and weaknesses, and ofexamining the opportunities and threats one tends to face. Carrying out an analysis usingthe SWOT framework helps AirAsia to focus activities into areas where one is strong and wherethe greatest opportunities lie. SWOT analysis from AirAsia is one of the major components to strengthen the business and allow them to be able to compete with the competitor by possessing a solid posit ion in low cost carrier airline industry.Porters Five Forces ModelPower of suppliersIn every business industry, suppliers eternally exist. Power of the suppliers is important as it will affect the industry. Suppliers hand over inputs in order to produce goods or services to the customers. Inputs can be referred to raw materials, services such as expertise, components, and labor which are essential to run the firm or to power up the company.In the airline industry, the suppliers are quite influential since on that point are only two major suppliers which are Airbus and Boeing. Hence there are not many choices for airline industry. Nevertheless, the global economic crisis has limited the new entrant and also reducing the upgrade of planes in the immediate future. However, both suppliers provide almost same standard aircrafts and hence the switching to AirAsia is low. Moreover, AirAsia placed a large amount of order from Airbus in order to accommodate the heavy demand from the publ ic on its conjectural flights. AirAsia have no problem acquiring airplane from their supplier, AirBus because AirAsia is mainly an AirBuss airplanes user. Its rival, MAS whereas is mainly a Boeings airplanes user.Power of emptors.Besides the compulsory existence of suppliers, buyers are also necessary in the business industry. This is because they are the prerequisite for the company to keep running. Buyers who are also recognizes as the stakeholders are people who demand goods and services from the firm. This tells us that buyer tends to hold bargaining power and this pressurizes firms. Price changes can be sensitive in the competitive market and the consequence might cause firms to lose or gain in revenue.In our case, buyers demand mediocre and affordable flight price from AirAsia. forms after this airlines been incorporated, it successfully satisfy the buyers bargaining power for flights at a low fare by introducing campaign such as Mind Blowing Fair, New Year Sale, 500,000 F ree Seats and the latest with Fabulous Fly-Day.AirAsia is first to introduce ticket-less travel, are nearly accomplish. In this industry, buyers have no bargaining power on price of fare like those in a good morning market. In fact, they are oft offered cheap fare flight on limited period such Every Friday, 11am-4pm.AirAsia adopted an information technology (IT) similarly to other airlines which called Yield watchfulness placement (YMS). steady though this system has affected the price of fare, but it is able to achieve fairness in business to the customers and the firms. As an example, a reservation done at a later date will be charged more than the one done earlier for the same seat. This is to provide advantage in term of lower price for the customers who had put efforts in buying fares earlier. Moreover, high demanded routes or destination tends to be more expensive compare to destinations which are less active. By doing so, AirAsia would be able to cope with total seats d emanded by the customers. If price of fares are the same overall, AirAsia would unable to earn from flights which are less popular.The intensity of competitive rivalryThe word intensity means the pressure or amount of forces being applied. Thus, this Porters force dialogue about how competitive are the firms or companies in the business market. In this competitive market, many firms often fall due to their incapability to cope with competitive pressure from the rivals. Those firms will end up losing more than their cost of input or eventually strive into other markets. In order to survive in a competitive market, firm must not fall into dilemma when it comes to advertising, invest in research and development(RD), innovate new yet efficient product and up to date with latest technology. This is because those efforts by least can provide the firm competitive advantages in the market.In Malaysia, there are only two main airlines companies which are operating and dominating in the coun trys market, apart from other foreign airlines company. They are AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines (MAS). fire beetle is actually a wholly owned airline by MAS. Both of these airlines have been rivals for at least a decade. Thus, it can be concluded that AirAsia is receiving high intensity of competitive pressure from MAS. MAS have always strived to provide comfortable and reasonable fare flights to compete with AirAsia. However, AirAsia is still capable to resist their pressure by providing customers with cheap fare tickets without losing the quality of their services. The main competitive advantage of AirAsia is low cost in providing services. For example, meals during flight are not provided which can save up the cost to provide foods and in return, reducing the cost of fare. Spaces in AirAsias airplanes are fully utilised so that the airplane is able to load more passengers in a single flight. This enables the company to earn more and making them capable to provide cheaper fare fli ght.AirAsia through its designated system provide customers a comfortable service in booking the flights through internet and mobile. Customers can surf mobile.airasia.com to book flight using mobile or http//www.airasia.com using the internet. Their systematic online electronic ticket ordering process enables them to even cope with mass booking by the customers during day and night. The diagram explains how the system works and notify why the errors are kept to the minimum. It is a computer reservation system (CRM) supply by Navitaires Open Skies technology that includes Internet, call center, and airport departure control working(a)ity. This system has greatly service AirAsia in achieving success. Even Tony Fernandes, CEO, AirAsia agrees Navitaires Open Skies technology has truly enabled AirAsias growth from 2 million passengers to 7.7 million passengers in less than two years. Open Skies scaled easily to accommodate our growth. However, I would strongly declare that even thoug h AirAsia indeed is receiving competitive pressure from MAS but, the market or industry itself is not competitive as both of them have already dominate their respective market segments.Threat of New EntrantsBarriers to entry are designed to block the way of potential and new entrants from entering a market profitably and to compete with the existing firms. Capital requirements, economy of scale, product differentiation, government and legal barriers are some of the examples of barriers for a new entrant. New entrants to a business will bring a brand new capacity and a desire to gain market share this will apply pressure on prices, costs, and the rate of investment. There is always an underlying pressure for response and alteration for the existing players in a business when there is a new entrance. The competition in a business will be high if it is at large(p) for other companies to enter to this business.As we know the biggest barrier for a new player to enter any business especi ally airline industry is the cost of entry. Airline industry is a business that requires huge and large investment. Thus, AirAsia has a low threat of new entrants because the airline industry is so saturated that there is barely space for a newcomer even to squeeze its way in. Cost of buying and leasing aircrafts, safety and security measures, customer service, research and development, high manpower and technologies causes the airline industry to become one of the most expensive industries in the world.In this world of today, every primary activity is carried on by specific information technologies especially for business like airline industry. It is extremely costly for a business to impose these information technologies systems. So, this is another barrier for the new players to enter to certain business. For instance, Advanced Planning and Scheduling System (APS) are significant in aviation business. It is costly for a company to implement this system but without implementing a nd employing the system, no airline as well as AirAsia can run their business smoothly. Air Asia requires APS system to maintain their customers loyalty because APS system is competent in optimizing operational planning and scheduling which enable Air Asia to create new source of cost advantages. As a result, this shows that Air Asia has a high threat of new entrants since those systems are costly to implement.Brand name of existing airlines and frequent fliers point are other barriers to entry. It is really difficult to decoy consumers out of their existing favorite brands. Somehow, an airline with a strong deferred payment can maintains old customers and lures new customers even though its prices are higher. How does Air Asia do it? Information Technologies (IT) is one of the major that enables Air Asia to offer their customers in lowest possible prices. All airlines industry competes on costs. To maintain and to improve in the current market position as well as new market, AirAs ia has implement the Low Cost Carrier System (LCC) in order to continuously searching for cost advantages. AirAsia has successfully positioned their simple but strong slogan Now Everyone Can Fly in their customers mind by offering lowest possible prices. Lowest possible prices lead to increase in their profit. Its net profit for the second quarter ending 31 December 2004 was reported RM44.4 million, a 322% increase over the introductory quarter (AirAsia, 2005). This again shows AirAsia has a high threat for new entrants to enter.Threat of New SubstituteThreat of new substitute means the availability of a product that the customer can purchased rather than the industrys product. In other words, substitute product is an alternative of products that offers by other firms that have similar benefits or functions. positivity of an industry will be affected by the availability of substitutes because customers have the choice to choose. A number of factors such as consumer switching cost s, prices and quality of substitute products will determine the presence of threat in this aspect.For local airlines, the threat of substitutes face by AirAsia might be a bit higher than international carriers. Substitutes for air travel to the desired location in a local country include train, car or bus yet time, money, personal preferences and convenience will determining ones decision. Although airlines travel maybe a slightly expensive than by bus or car, the time taken is much faster. Since AirAsia has implemented Low Cost Carrier System which can offers customers in lowest possible price has lead to most of the customers switch to AirAsia as the switching costs is low.AirAsia faced a low threat substitutes for international carriers since there is a low threat of new entrants. Besides, most of the customers choose to travel by air since traveling through air save times. However, in the worldwide market, AirAsia still needs to compete with many existing players such as Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines. Nevertheless, AirAsia builds and maintains its competitive advantage by offering services at a price that is basically lesser than competitors prices. Above and beyond AirAsia has become the first airline that executed ticketless travelling among its competitors by using computer reservations system. Computer reservation system is a programmed and computerized system that used to store and retrieves information and perform transaction associated to air travel. This assisted AirAsia to perform operation in effect and efficiently.ERP, SCM, CRMIn todays globalize economy, information technology (IT) has driven fundamental changes in the nature and application of technology in business. Cross-functional system is the third era of information system, coming after calculation system and functional system. What exactly is the purpose of the system? What benefits will organizations obtain after implementing the system? These questions are so often asked that som e companies even gave up on executing the cross-functional system as it involves coordinating activities across quintuple departments and require workers to comprehensively change the way they used to work.However, cross-functional system will be extremely estimable if it is applied in the correct manner. A successful application of cross-functional systems is dependent on two factors, people issues and technological issues. People issues include corporate culture, work units and individual decision makers. The important factor in corporate cultures and work units is no doubt cooperation, only by working together managers are able to share information through the system. For efficient decision making, useless or incorrect information in cross-functional systems must also be prevented. Technological issues on the other hand, include information system (IS) elements. Management must compare the advantages of using information system elements such as inputs, processors and outputs wi th the costs involved.There are plenty of examples regarding cross-functional system, but Supply Chain Management (SCM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and Customer affinity Management (CRM) are the 3 types of enterprise system going to be discussed.Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the current trend in most of the organization, where SCM is define as a set of synchronized decisions and activities utilized to efficiently integrate suppliers, warehouses, transporters, retailers, and customers so that the right product or services is distributed at the right quantities, to the right location and at the right time in order to satisfy customers high demand and minimize any unnecessary cost occurred. SCM core objective is to improve customer service by eliminating bungle from the system in all types of form including wasted time. Being able to eliminated wasted time allows the coordination of business processes to be speeded up.Commonly, supply chain contains three flows that organ izations need to take into account. First is the material flow, where all sensible products including the end-products, raw material and so forth flow along the chain. Information flow consist of all types of data including demand, supply shipment, orders and all sort of information that are required in the supply chain. in conclusion is financial flow, involving all transfer of money, payment and credit related data which is vital in the supply chain.On the other hand, a companys supply chain is complicated because it might involve hundreds and even tho

Major Research Designs And Methods Psychology Essay

Major Research Designs And Methods psychology EssaySince cartridge holder immemorial, Sociologists sire been using dissentent designs and look modes to take c atomic number 18 society and complaisant deportment. nearly sociological explore involvesfield meet typically designed to depict the traces of a population as full as possible.The designs and methods have proved utilitarian in reading the behaviour and relationships among groups of people and institutions and how their characteristics are shaped by these relationships. It analyses how society changes and how it maintains stability, looking into both(prenominal) unanimity and conflict among different social groups. Sociologys subject matter comprises of social procedures such as, deviance, identity development, socialization and social institutions, including work, religion, family.Major look into designsThe threesome near popular social searchdesigns are discussed below-CROSS sectioned It is also known as transversal studies,cross-sectional analyses andpreponderance hear. move through sectional research involves the reputation of a number of individuals varying in age but have the equal attribute or characteristic of interest at a single localize of time. It forms a air division ofresearch methodsthat necessitate observation of all of a population, or a representative subset, at one specific point in time. They differ from topic-control studiesin that they aim to provide data on the entire population under get wind, whereas case-control studies typically include plainly individuals with a specific characteristic, with a hear, frequently a tiny minority, of the rest of the population. Cross-sectional studies are descriptive studies (neither longitudinal nor data-based). Unlike case-control studies, they can be utilize to describe, not only theOdds ratio, but alsoabsolute risks andrelative risksfromprevalences.They whitethorn be holdd to describe some feature of the populat ion, such asprevalenceof an illness, or they may support inferences of cause and effect.Longitudinal studiesdiffer from both in making a series of observations more than once on members of the sight population over a period of time.Longitudinal, in which scientists study the same individuals or society repeatedly over a stipulate period of time. Alongitudinal studyis acorrelationresearch study that involves repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time a great deal many decades. It is a type of observation study. Longitudinal studies are often used in psychology to study developmental trends across the support span, and in sociologyto study life events throughout lifetimes or generations. The reason for this is that contrastedcross-sectional, in which different individuals with same characteristics are compared,1longitudinal studies track the same people, and therefore the differences observed in those people are less in all likelihood to be the resul t of cultural differences across generations. Because of this benefit, longitudinal studies make observing changes more accurate, and they are applied in various other fields. In medicine, the design is used to uncover predictors of certain diseases. In advertising, the design is used to identify the changes that advertising has produced in the attitudes and behaviours of those within the target audience who have seen the advertising campaign.Cross-sequential, in which scientists test individuals in a cross-sectional sample more than once over a specified period of timeSix of the most popular sociological researchmethods(procedures) are thecase study, survey, empirical, correlation, experimental,andcross-cultural methods, as well as working with cultivation already available. Cross sequential studies combine both longitudinal and cross sectional methods in an attempt to both shorten the length of the research and minimize developmental assumptionsResearch methodsFive of the mos t popular methods which help in sociological research are-Case studySurveyObservational experimentalCross-culturalCASE STUDY METHOD Incase study research, a research worker analyses a person or weakened group of individuals with a strange situation or condition. Case studies are usually clinical in scope. The researcher (often a clinical sociologist) sometimes applies self-report measures to gather quantitative data on the field. A comprehensive examination, including a long-term follow-up, can last months or years. The advantage of case study is that, it obtains meaningful information about individuals or groups. The disadvantage is, it is only relevant to individuals with alike characteristics instead of the general population.SURVEY RESEARCH METHOD It is the most common method by which researchers gather their data. This type of research methodinvolves face-to-face interviewing or administeringquestionnaires, or written surveys, in which interviewer meets with his subject to s ubscribe them questions. The tec examines the data acquired from surveys to know about similarities, differences, and current trend. The researcher past makes predictions about the subjects being studied. Its positive side includes acquiring information from a large number of responders, conducting interviews according to respondents convenience, and obtaining data as tattily as possible. Its negative side includes bowed volunteer or interviewer and distortion. Distortion occurs when the subjects are not honest with the investigator.OBSERVATIONAL METHOD It is also called field research, is a basic of sociology. Observational research involves directly noticing subjects behaviour, either in a laboratory (called laboratory observation) or in a natural surround (callednaturalistic observation). Observational research ensures the investigator that subjects will share totally honest accounts of the experiences, take the study seriously, learn to remember, do not shade embarrassed. Ob servation studies are of two types- Participant Observation and Non-Participant Observation. In thespian the investigator gets an opportunity to be a part of the group he is examine and might even live with them. This must not mould the behaviour or attitude of the people they are studying. In nonparticipant observation, the research worker analyses a group of individual but does not other than interact with them.EXPERIMENTAL METHOD This research methodtries to ascertainhowand whereforesomething happens. Experimental research tests the way of how one variableaffects the other. There are various factors that can affect the resultant of any type of experimental research. One is discovering random samples and representative of the universe being analysed. Another is biasexperimenter, in which the investigators prospects about what should or should not occur in the study shake the results. Still some other is ascertaining forimmaterial variables, such as noise level or dwell tempera ture, which may intervene with the conclusions of the experiment. just now when researcher cautiously controls for immaterial variables can she or he regurgitate sensible conclusions about the results of specific variables on other. The major plus point of this method is that the experimenter can be reasonably sure of a cause-and-effect relationship. Most experiments take place in the laboratory, which may be a room with a unidirectional mirror, but some experiments occur in the field, or in a natural environment.CROSS-CULTURAL METHOD This method involves the study of values, folkways, norms, attitudes, mores, customs, and practices necessitate knowledge of other societies and cultures. This research is designed to discover variations across people from different culture experience and background. Most cross-cultural research involves direct observation, survey, andparticipant observationmethods of research. In participant observation the investigator gets an opportunity to be a p art of the subjects community he is studying and might even live with them. The positive aspect of this method of research is that the information obtained is considered within the social, political, economical, and religious systems of that community. The study also demonstrates that Western cultural standards are not necessarily practised by other societies. What may be acceptable or normal for one group may be unacceptable or abnormal for another.ConclusionThe important types of sociological research include cross cultural, surveys, experiments, the use of existing data and observational studies.Surveys are the most common of all as it allows the researcher for aggregation much information on subjects or respondents that is relatively trivial. The conclusion of surveys that use random samples can be generalized to the population that the sample represents.An observational study is also common and allows us to acquire in-depth knowledge of a small group of individual. Because th e samples of these analyses are not random, the outcome cannot necessarily be generalized to a population.Experiments are very less common in sociology. When field experiments are conducted in sociology, they can yield valuable information because of their experimental design.

The Kite Runner And Atonement Analysis English Literature Essay

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Pain Sensation: Nociceptive receptors and transduction

ache Sensation sensitive receptors and transduction spite whizz is a subsystem of corporate sensation which includes a wide stray of offensive afferent and stimulated put throughs usually associated with actual or capableness tissue damage (Das et al., 2005).Over the old age, by means of the evolutive process of lifelike selection, nature has made sure that injure is a bodily sign of the zodiac we poop non ignore. As a consider of fact, sensitivity and reactivity to vesicatory stimuli atomic number 18 essential to the rise- exis decenniumce and survival of an organism. In dangerous circumstances aggravator tells the subject to get away of that situation immediatly, this is its main function. Without these attributes provided by discommode mechanisms, the organism would lose no means to pr planet or downplay dangerous circumstances (individuals congenitally insensitive to torture argon easily hurt and most of them die at an early age1).While most of the sen sory and somatosensory modalities be primarily informative, ail is a protective modality. pang perception ( as vigorous called nociception) doesnt come from excessive stimulant of the same receptors that generate physical sensations, as round bingle could even think, it is a properly devoted subsystem. Nociception (from the Latin nocere, to hurt) in fact depends on specifically dedicated receptors and, repayable to its vital importance, this anatomy of information travels finished redundant pathways. annoyance sensation likewise differs from the unsullied senses (hearing, smell, taste, come up senses, and vision) because it is both a discriminative sensation and a graded emotional experience.In the big picture, trouble oneself appears as a to a greater extent(prenominal) compound whole experience than simple somatic sensation that is why in that spatial relation ar simmer down some(prenominal) obscure aspects not tout ensemble understood, particularly in the field of inconvenience physiology and pharmacology. For this and some opposite reasons, even nowa daytimes, nociception die hards an super active area of scientific research.2. Pain Sensation Nociceptive receptors and transductionPain sensation begins with relatively unspecialized secrete nerve cell endings called nociceptors. cor doing other somatic sensory receptors, they transduce a categorisation of evil stimuli into receptor voltages, which in turn trigger action potentials in the chafe nerve fibers (afferents). These action potentials are transmitted to the spinal anaesthesia cord and then, through the read/write headstem, to the thalamus and the somatic sensory cerebral mantle according to specific pathways2.Nociceptors are widespread distributed, they too show diametric degrees of sensitiveness and specialization. There are nociceptors in the come up, in the joints and likewise in visceral organs, but none of them is anchor inside the exchange n oisome system (CNS)1.In contrast with somatic sensory receptors (responsible for the perception of innocuous mechanical stimuli), the axons associated with nociceptors conduct relatively slowly, being only lightly myelinated or, more commonly, unmyelinated2. Thus, according to the different kind of axon, at that place are unfluctuatinger or sluggish wo(e) pathways. In particular, bruiseful sensation receptors groundwork fall into quatern major categories depending on their reply to the different types of comment caused by the damagemechanosensitive nociceptors respond to mechanical stimulation and soak up A-delta fibers, bigger axons with faster conduction velocitymechano thermal nociceptors respond to thermal stimuli, A-delta fiberschemical nociceptors respond to chemical substances, A-delta fiberspolymodal nociceptors respond to full(prenominal) fervency stimuli of the forward lead types and have C fibers, smaller and unmyelinated axons with slower conduction veloci ty.The cell bodies of these primary hurt-neurons are rigid in the dorsal commencement ganglia (for soundbox afferents) and in the trigeminal ganglia (for eccentric afferents)1,2.The transduction of sensitive signals, which starts with the nociceptive receptors, is a complex task. Tissue damage results in the release of a flesh of chemical substances which triggers the response of nociceptors. Some of these substances activate the transmembrane transient receptor potential (TRP) channels, which in turn get action potentials2.Another characteristic character of nociceptors is their tendency to be sensitized by pro keen-sighteded stimulation, making them respond to other sensations as surface in certain circumstances. This prolonged stimulation increases the release of chemical substances, making nociceptors sensitized and reducing their response threshold. Actually, indoors a fewer indorses afterward on the injury, an area of some centimeters around the hurt turn up shows reddening caused by vasodilation. This inflammation becomes maximal after about ten minutes and this region shows a lowered pain threshold (hyperalgesia) in response to additional noxious stimuli. This effect is as well as referred to as fringy sensitization, in contrast to central sensitization that tush occur at higher levels in the dorsal horn1.Although it is unflurried un cognise whether nociceptors respond promptly to the noxious stimulus or indirectly by means of one or more endogenous chemical intermediaries released from the traumatized tissue, the activation of nociceptors initiates the process by which pain is experienced these receptors communicate information to the CNS about the intensity and location of the nettlesome stimulus. Pain classificationThe result of sudden painful stimulation dope be divided into cardinal categories of sequential sensations unaffectionate by a short time interval. A sharp basic pain, contiguously after the damage, its follo wed some seconds later by additional, diffuse and longer-lasting second pain sensation. The temporal interval in the midst of these twain discover sensations is due to the difference surrounded by fast transmitting A-delta fibers and slow transmitting C fibers. This phenomenon is in any slickness cognize as double pain sensation.Pain has also been classified into three major types1Pricking pain is also called fast pain or sensory pain (first pain) and arises chiefly from the skin, carried by A-delta fibers which earmark discrimination and localization of the pain.Burning pain is caused by inflammation, burned skin and is carried by C fibers. This type of pain is a more diffuse, slower to onset, and longer in duration (second pain). Like pricking pain, burning pain arises mainly from the skin, but it is not clearly localized.Aching pain is a sore pain which arises mainly from the viscera and somatic deep structures. This pain is carried by the C fibers from the deep structur es to the spinal cord and is not distinctly localized. Pain pathwaysThe neural pathway that conveys pain (and temperature) information from the periphery of the body to the higher centers of the CNS is often referred as the anterolateral system (or ventrolateral mainstay). This pathway is physically separated from the system that conveys mechanosensory information like touch and pressure (dorsal column- honest filet pathway). However, even though the dorsal route has been always considered a touch pathway functionally separate from the anterolateral pathway, recent reports indicate that the dorsal column can carry noxious information from the viscera and widespread skin regions as well1.Anyway, the main difference among these two systems breathes the site of decussation magic spell the dorsal column is an ipsilateral footpath until the myeline (where synapses and decussates), the anterolateral system makes early synaptic connections and decussates right away in the spinal cor d, becoming a contralateral piece of ground.Composing the anterolateral system, there are three major rise uping piece of lands the neospinothalamic share (the main, central pain pathway, phylogenetically younger, with few synapses), the paleospinothalamic tract and the archispinothalamic tract (which constitute minor analogue pain pathways, phylogenetically older and multisynaptic tracts)1.Every pain tract is made of three kinds of pseudounipolar neurons first-order, from free nerve endings (nociceptors) to the dorsal horns of the spinal cord second-order, from the dorsal horns to the thalamus and third-order, from the thalamus to the primary somatic sensory cortex.The cell bodies of first-order neurons are located in the dorsal extraction ganglia (DRG) for all three pathways.a) The neospinothalamic tract (central pathway) constitutes the classical anterolateral system. This pathway is responsible for the immediate awareness of a painful sensation and for the generaliseing of the exact location of the painful stimulus.The first-order nociceptive afferents enter the spinal cord via the dorsal root of the DRG and, when these projecting axons reach the dorsal horns of the spinal cord, they branch into ascending and move collaterals, forming the tract of Lissauer2. Once within the dorsal horn, these afferents make synaptic connections with second-order neurons located in Rexeds laminae ( class I to V). Axons of these second-order neurons then cross the midline of the spinal cord, decussating in the anterior white commissure, and ascend to the brainstem in the contralateral (anterolateral) quadrant.most of the pain fibers from lower extremities of the body and below the neck terminate, through the brainstem, in the ventral posterior lateral nucleus (VPL) of the thalamus. The VPL, which serves as a relay station, is thought to be mainly concerned with discriminatory functions1. Finally, here axons of second-order neurons synapse with third-order neurons that consecrate the signal to the primary and secondary somatosensory cortex (SCI and SCII, respectively).Unlike the sculptural relief of bodily afferents, first-order nociceptive neurons from the head, face and intraoral structures have somata in the trigeminal ganglion. fifth cranial nerve fibers enter the pons, descend to the medulla (forming the spinal trigeminal tract) and make synaptic connections in the spinal trigeminal nucleus, then cross the midline and ascend as trigeminothalamic tract (or trigeminal lemniscus). Axons from the second-order neurons terminate in a variety of targets in the brainstem and thalamus, but the discriminative aspects of facial pain are thought to be mediated by projections to the ventral posterior medial nucleus (VPM) of the thalamus and by projections (from here) to primary and secondary somatosensory cortex2.All of the fibers terminating in VPL and VPM are somatotopically oriented and still here the information supplied by different somatosensory receptors remains segregated. Axons from the thalamus synapse with third-order neurons of the SCI, which includes Brodmanns Areas 3a, 3b, 1 and 2. Each of these cortical areas contains a separate and complete representation of the body they are somatotopically organized maps representing the human body (from the foot up to the face) in a medial to lateral arrangement2.b) The paleospinothalamic tract is a parallel pathway where the emotional response to pain is mediated1. This tract also activates brainstem nuclei which are the origin of descending pain- retrenchment pathways which regulate the sesation of noxious inputs at the spinal cord level.In the paleospinothalamic tract the majority of the first-order nociceptive neurons make synaptic connections with second-order neurons in Rexeds layer II (substantia gelatinosa). These second-order neurons also gather in input from mechanoreceptors and thermoreceptors, and thats why the anterolateral system is also responsible for temperat ure perception1.The nerve cells that frame in the paleospinothalamic tract are multireceptive or wide dynamic range nociceptors. most of their axons cross and ascend in the spinal cord primarily in the anterior region and therefore form the anterior spinal thalamic tract (AST). These second-order fibers contain some(prenominal) tracts and each of them makes a synaptic connection in different locations in the mesencephalic reticular formation (MFR) and in the periaqueductal gray (PAG), forming the spinoreticular tract in the tectum, also known as the spinotectal or spinomedullary tract in the midline thalamic nuclei, forming the spinothalamic tract. Alin concert these three fiber tracts are thus known as the paleospinothalamic tract, which is in part bilateral, because some of the ascending fibers do not cross to the opposite side of the cord1. Finally, from the thalamic nuclei, these fibers synapse bilaterally in the somatosensory cortex.Pain is a complex experience processed by a diverse and distributed network of neurons and brain regions. In addition to the sensory-discriminative aspects (carried by the neospinothalamic tract) there are also affective-motivational components of pain2. In the paleospinothalamic pathway there are extensive connections between the thalamic nuclei and the subdivisionic areas such(prenominal) as the cingulate gyrus and the insular cortex. The insular cortex integrates the sensory input with the cognitive components. The limbic structures (amygdala, superior colliculus) project to the hypothalamus and initiate visceral responses to the pain. The thalamic nuclei also projects to the frontal cortex, which in turn is linked to the limbic structures mired in affect the emotional components of pain1.c) The archispinothalamic tract is another parallel pathway, phylogenetically the oldest that carries noxious information1. The characteristics of this tract are very correspondent to the ones pitch in the previous pathway.First-o rder nociceptive neurons make synaptic connections in Rexeds layer II (substantia gelatinosa). From here, second-order fibers ascend and descend in the spinal cord environ the grey matter to end synapsing with cells in the reticular formation and in the periaqueductal gray. Further diffuse multisynaptic pathways ascend to the diverse nuclei of thalamus and send collaterals to the hypothalamus as well as the limbic system nuclei. These fibers, like for the paleospinothalamic tract, mediate visceral, emotional and autonomic chemical reactions to painful stimuli.In short, because of the importance of warning signals of dangerous circumstances, several nociception pathways are involved to transmitting these signals and some of them are redundant.The neospinothalamic tract conducts fast pain (via A-delta fibers) and provides information of the exact location of the noxious stimulus. The multisynaptic paleospinothalamic and archispinothalamic tracts conduct slow pain (via C fibers), a pa in which is chronic and harder to localize. Through these patways, pain activates more different brain areas which link together sensation, perception, emotion, memory and motor reaction1.3. Pain ModulationWhen talking about pain, we always have to consider and book in mind the discrepancy between the objective reality of a painful stimulus and the subjective rsponse to it. Modern studies have provided considerable cortical potential into how circumsatnces affect pain perception- interpreting and, ultimately, into the pharmacology of the pain system2.For many years it has been suggested that somewhere in the CNS there should be some neuronal circuits modulating succeeding(prenominal) painful informations. Evidence for an intrinsic analgesia system was demonstrated by intracranial electrical stimulation of certain brain sites1,3. The circuit consisting of the periaqueductal gray matter (PAG), the raphe nuclei (RN), the locus coeruleus (LC) and the caudate nucleus (CN) contributes to the descending pain suppression mechanism, which crushs incoming pain information at the spinal cord level6. rousing of such areas produce analgesia without behavioral suppression indeed, touch, pressure and temperature sensation remain intact1. At the interneuronal level, opiate receptors activation causes hyperpolarization of the neurons, which in turn results in the inhibition of sackful and in the release of substance P (a neurotransmitter involved in pain infection) that blocks pain transmission1.In addition to descending projections, also local moveions between mechanoreceptive afferents and neural circuits within the dorsal horn can modulate the transmission of nociceptive informations to higher centers2. Observations by Melzack and Wall led to the idea that conjunction activation of the large myelinated fibers associated with low-threshold mechanoreceptors can mediate the flow of pain. This mechanism, also known as Gate Control Theory13, indicates that (at the spi nal cord level) non-noxious stimulation will produce presynaptic inhibition on dorsal root nociceptor fibers and thus blocking incoming noxious information from reaching the CNS1 (i.e. non-painful input closes the supply to other painful inputs, which results in prevention and suppression of pain sensation).This apologises also why if you, for example, stub a toe, a natural and effective reaction is to vigorously rub the site of injury for a couple of minutes2.However, there are many different factors that can regularize the way we understand pain. Doubtless, three of these are do drugss, prior injuries and, more broadly speaking, circumstances.a) DrugsThe brain has a neuronal circuit and endogenous substances to modulate pain. There are two primary types of drugs that work on the brain pain pills and anesthetics1. The term analgesic refers to a drug that relieves pain without handout of consciousness, whereas the term anesthetic refers to a drug that depresses the CNS. Anesthe tics are characterized by the absence of perception for all sensory modalities, including loss of consciousness, but without loss of vital functions.The areas that produce analgesia when stimulated are also responsive to exogenously administered opiate drugs2. As a matter of fact, the most effective clinically used drugs for producing temporary relief from pain are the opioid family, which includes morphine and heroin1. Unluckily, several side effects resulting from opiate use include tolerance and drug dependence (addiction). In general, these drugs modulate the incoming pain information as well as relieve pain temporarily, and are also known as opiate producing analgesia (OA).Opioidergic neurotransmission is found end-to-end the brain and spinal cord and appears to influence many CNS functions opioids exert marked effects on mood, cognition and motivation1 (e.g. producing euphoria).The analgesic action of opiates implied the public of specific brain and spinal cord receptors for these drugs long before the receptors were actually found. Since such receptors are unlikely to have evolved in response to the exogenous administration of opium and its derivates, the convinction grew that endogenous opiate-like compounds must exist in order to explain the evolution of these receptors in the body2. directadays, three classes of opioid receptors have been determine (mu), (delta) and (kappa). All three classes are widely distributed in the brain, and particularly in the PAG, which is the site for higher cortical control of pain pitch contour in humans8. Moreover, three major classes of endogenous opioid peptides that move with them have been recognized in the CNS -endorphins, enkephalins and the dynorphins. Enkephalins are considered the putative ligands for the receptors, endorphins for the -receptors, and dynorphins for the receptors1.The opioid peptides modulate nociceptive input mainly in two ways blocking neurotransmitter release by inhibiting Ca2+ in flux into the presynaptic terminal or opening potassium channels, which hyperpolarizes neurons and inhibits spike activity. The various types of opioid receptors are distributed differently within the central and peripheral device nervous system and this can explain many unwanted side effects following opiate treatments1. (For example, -receptors are widespread in the brain stem parabrachial nuclei, which is a respiratory center. curtailment of these neurons elicits also respiratory depression).In addition to opiates, the other big family of analgesia producing drugs is delineate by the cannabinoids. Like opiates, cannabinoids produce analgesia when microinjected in the PAG and pain itself serves as a trigger for endocannabinoid release3. Results from the study by Walker et al. (1999) indicate that anandamide (an endogenous cannabinoid) fulfills the requirements for a nonopiate mediator of endogenous pain suppression and these selective information support the existence of endogen ous cannabinergic circuitry in the dorsal and lateral PAG. Even if the opiate and cannabinoid mechanisms partially lick anatomically, the endogenous opiate system is activaetd by intense and prolonged stimuli (such as high threshold electrical stimulation), while endogenous cannabinoids occur mostly in tonic pain suppression, during tests that do not produce significant emphasize or fear3.Cannabinoids have been used to treat pain for centuries and cannabis is still used despite its illegal status in most part of the world. The spontaneous and stimulated release of anandamide in a pain-suppression circuit suggests that such drugs may form the basis of a modern pharmacotherapy for pain, particularly in instances where opiates are ineffective3.b) Previous injuryA curious effect, well known and documented in clinical books, is referred to as phantom limb sensation. next the amputation of an extremity, nearly all patients have an illusion that the missing limb is still present. Alth ough this illusion usually ebbes over time, it persists in some degree throughout the amputees life, and can often be reactivated2. A reasonable explanation for this phenomenon is that the central sensory processing apparatus continues to operate indipendently of the periphery, giving rise to these erratic sensations. Indeed, considerable functional reorganization of the somatotopic maps in the primary somatosensory cortex occurs immediately after the amputation and tends to evolve for several years2. Neurons that have lost their headmaster inputs respond to tactile stimulation of other (near) body parts, and so it is not unusual for the patient to perceive a phantom limb as a whole and intact, but displaced from the real location. These and further assures suggested then that a full representation of the body exists indipendently of the peripheral elements that are mapped2.Anyways, the major occupation following phantom limbs phenomena is constituted by the fact that up to 85% of the amputated patients develop also phantom pain4. The description of this common unease can vary from a tingling or burning sensation to some more serious and debilitating issues. Phantom pain, in fact, is one of the more frequent causes of chronic pain syndromes and is extraordinarily difficult to treat2. Neverthless there is no really effective treatment, a study by Jahangiri et al. (1994) demonstrated that preoperative epidural infusion of morphine, bupivacaine and clonidine significantly reduces the relative incidence of phantom limb pain and phantom limb sensation. Moreover, this kind of treatment has been shown as sound for use on general surgical wards with a low incidence of minor side-effetcs4.Other than amputations, pain perception may also be modulated in certain stressful situations. Exposure to a variety of painful or stressful events produces an analgesic reaction, and this phenomenon is called stress induced analgesia (SIA). It has been considered that SIA can p rovide insights into both the psychological and physiological factors that activate endogenous pain control and opiate systems1. (For example, soldiers wounded in skirmish or athletes injured in sports events sometimes report that they do not feel pain during the battle or game however, they will experience the pain later after the battle or as game has ended).Some studies demonstrated in animals that electrical shocks cause stress-induced analgesia3 and it has been suggested that endogenous drugs, (opiates or cannabinoids) released in response to stress, inhibit pain by activating the midbrain descending system1. base on these and other experiments, it is assumed that the stress experienced by the soldiers and the athletes suppressed the pain which they would later perceive.c) CircumstancesThe experience of pain is highly variable between individuals this highly subjective perception has a complex and often non elongate relationship between nociceptive input and pain sensation5. From human experimentation we know that a variety of pain modulatory mechanisms exist in the nervous system, and these systems can be accessed either pharmacologically or through contextual and cognitive manipulation7,6. Various mental processes such as attention, emotional differentiate, late(prenominal) experiences, memories, beliefs and feelings have been shown to influence pain perception and bias nociceptive processing in the humain brain9. All these top-down factors can be grouped together in the category of circumstances that either enhance or diminish pain sensation in regard to dedicated modulatory circuits.Among the cognitive variables influencing pain, the brain mechanisms underlying attentional control have been probably the most extensively studied5. A number of reports show the important role of attentional state in modulating the activity of primary somatosensory areas7. Thus, pain is perceived as less intense when individuals are distracted from it, as proved in a n interesting study by Das et colleagues (2005). This research provides strong evidence supporting virtual reality (VR) based games in providing analgesia and positive influence on children with acute burn injuries, with minimal side effects10. VR can be considered an intermediary between reality and computer technology, and its ability to immerse the exploiter interacting with the artificial environment is central in this kind of approach.However, attentional processes interact with mechanisms supporting the formation of expectations about pain and reappraisal of the experience5. The ability to predict the likelihood of an aversive event is an important adaptive capacity11. Our subjective sensory experiences are thought to be heavily shaped by interactions between expectations and incoming sensory information12 and this cognitive factor is important also for pain perception positive expectations (i.e., expectations for decreased pain) produce a reduction in perceived pain that riv als the effects of a clearly analgesic social disease of morphine12. These evidences provide also a neural mechanism that can, in part, explain the positive impact of optimism in chronic malady states. In fact, perceived control, attentional control and the descending pain modulatory system are involved in the placebo-induced analgesia, which is a clinical example of cognitive pain modulation that decreases pain intensity and cerebral responses to pain5. Such top-down modulatory mechanism is a robust and clinically important phenomenon, which can be demonstrated in approximately one-third of the population9. Moreover, placebo analgesia requires the activation of endogenous opioid-mediated inhibition and neuroimaging techniques showed that there is also overlapping among brain sites activated by opioids and those that are activated during placebo analgesia9. in like manner the emotional state driven by the (experimental) context alters the attitude of patients and can produce powe rful effects on pain perception7. In general, forbid emotions increase pain, whereas positive ones decrease it14,7. Neverthless the brain mechanisms underlying these effects remain largely unknown, the prefrontal cortex, as well as parahippocampal and brainstem structures, are thought to be involved in the emotional regulation of pain14. match to Roy et al. (2009) cognitive and emotional processes induced by pleasant or unpleasant pictures interact with pain perception and modulate the responses to painful electrical stimulations in the right insula, paracentral lobule, parahippocampal gyrus, thalamus, and amygdala14. Not only, recent studies suggested that emotionally laden images representing human pain had a unique capacity to enhance pain reports15, in the implicative perspective that search for the neural bases of human empathy with huge social implications.Thus, even though is well-established that mood selectively alters the affective-reactive response to pain (also called pain tolerance), the interpretation for some of these studies is sometimes difficult, since they do not always clearly disassociate changes in mood from changes in attention7. In fact, other studies showed that emotions can have a direct effect on attention to pain, leading to what is called attentional bias toward pain-related informations, which does not ensure the absence of covariate processes7.In the end, the useable data indicate that emotion and selective attention may both interact modulating pain perception and cortical responses. But the observations that emotional manipulations alter pain unpleasantness more than pain sensation, while attention alters both pain sensation and unpleasantness, suggest that different modulatory circuits are involved7 and that they act through at least partially distinct mechanisms, which can be separated by divert experimental settings15.All this multiplicity of mechanisms underlying the emotional modulation of pain is reflective of the str ong and reciprocal interrelations between pain and emotions, and emphasizes even more the powerful effects that emotions can have on pain perception14.4. ConclusionsIn conclusion, in the CNS, much of the information from the nociceptive afferent fibers results from excitatory discharges of multireceptive neurons. The pain information in the CNS is controlled by ascending and descending restrictive systems that can exert both facilitatory and inhibitory effects on the activity of neurons using endogenous opioids or other substances as mediators. In addition, a powerful inhibition of pain-related information occurs in the spinal cord. These inhibitory systems can be activated by brain stimulation, intracerebral microinjection of morphine, and peripheral nerve stimulation1.However, pain is an extremely complex perceptual and cognitive experience that is influenced also by many top down factors such as past sensations, expectations, the context within which the noxious stimulus occurs , the attentional and emotional state. Therefore, for all these reasons, the response to pain can often vary considerably from subject to subject.Case spread abroad Use of Valproate in Kleine Levin SyndromeCase Report Use of Valproate in Kleine Levin SyndromeSuccessful use of Valproate in Kleine Levin Syndrome a caseful report and review of cases account from IndiaAbstractKleine-Levin Syndrome (KLS) is characterized by recurrent episodes of hypersomnia and other symptoms and it is a really challenging for the physician, since its causes are not yet clear, and available treatment options are not having adequate support. Here we are reportage a case with successful use of Valproate in KLS and also reviewing the cases reported from India.IntroductionKleine-Levin Syndrome (KLS) is a rare disorder which mainly affects teenaged boys and characterized by recurrent episodes of hypersomnia, and sometime along with hyperphagia, behavioral and cognitive disturbances, and hypersexuality (Ya o et al., 2013). Several medications (stimulants, lithium, valproate, antipsychotics, antidepressants) have been reported to provide variable benefit in different symptoms, with lithium being the most widely used drug (Arnulf et al., 2005 2012). We are presenting a case of KLS, who had complete remission with valproate and also reviewing the cases reported from India.Case expandA 17 year old single male student of 12th standard, presented to our psychiatric outpatient clinic in September 2004 with hypersomnolence, low mood, decreased proclivity and interest in studies, social and sexual disinhibition (such as singing begrimed songs loudly at home, and touching unconsenting females including mothers body parts- limbs, face and genitalia). Onset was acute, without any elicitable precipitating factor and course was episodic with average 7-10 days episode in every month for last four months and he maintained completely well in interepisodic arrest.Provisional diagnosing of recurr ent depressive disorder (brief episodes) was kept and he was started on Sertraline (50 mg), on which he responded well. He remained asymptomatic for nearly nine months, but started having similar episodes again from mid 2005, due to which Sertraline was in stages hiked up to one hundred fifty mg/day, but of no use. consequently he was admitted in our inpatient setting in March, 2006 for diagnostic evaluation and further management. After exact evaluation, it was found that his sadness was not pervasive and depressive cognitions and associated disturbances were not present and hypersomnia remained overabundant complaint as ab initio he was sleeping 16-20 hours per day. He was also not responding with these medications, hence differential diagnosis of KLS vs. depression was kept and later finalized to KLS. His heamogram, renal functions, liver functions, blood sugar, routine urine, thyroid functions were within common limits and chest X ray, ECG, EEG, and MRI brain were normal. In view of proficient writings support Lithium was started from 600 mg/day and hiked to 900 mg/day (serum level 0.8 mEq/liter). On which he has shown significant improvement initially for six month but later again started experiencing similar symptoms. He also had three episodes of fall, unresponsiveness and epileptiform discharge in EEG twice. Hence in view of seizure disorder and lack of response, Neurologists consultation was sought, who opined to start antiepileptic medication. Hence lithium was switched to Valproate (750 mg/day) in December 2006, on which he maintained completely well for 4 years, except brief reemergence of symptoms on discontinuing Valproate, which amend completely on resuming the medication. Valproate was gradually tapered and stopped in January 2011 on insistence of patient and family with discussing its pros and cons. Now office case has been maintaining well off Valproate for last three years without any episode of hypersomnolence, sexual disinhibiti on, sadness, or epileptic seizure.DiscussionBased on historical reports by Kliene and Levin, KLS was essentially described and termed by Critchley (1962). thenceforth many researchers have reported their cases and reviewed cases with KLS (Arnulf et al., 2005 2012). Here we are reporting a case with KLS, who responded well with Valproate, after diagnostic dilemma and different mind-bending medications and also reviewing the other cases reported from India.In our electronic search for Indian studies on Kliene-levin syndrome, by using PUBMED and Google Scholar, we could find 15 cases reported from India (Aggarwal et al., 2011 Mendhekar et al., 2001 Prabhakaran et al., 1970 Shukla et al., 1982 Sagar et al., 1990 Narayanan et al., 1972 Agrawal Agrawal, 1979 Malhotra et al., 1997 Gupta et al., 2011). Of them 13 were males and 2 females, similar to male preponderance reported in the literature (Arnulf et al., 2005 2012). While presenting to psychiatric services their age was between 9 to 26 years and they had onset between 7 to 24 years of age. In two-third of patients (10 out of 15 patients) it was preceded with fever and their episodes of somnolence were lasted from 3 days to 10 weeks. Hypersomnia and hyperphagia were present in all, while two-third of patients also had social and sexual disinhibition (11 out of 15 patients). Other symptoms were cognitive disturbances (low intelligence quotient, impaired memory, confusion, and academic decline), foreign talk, and perceptual disturbances. Nearly one-third of patients improved spontaneously without any medication, while rest was given lithium, carbamazepine, methyl amphetamine, dextro amphetamine, and modafinil. Longest asymptomatic follow-up period is reported for 2 years (Aggarwal et al., 2011) (as depicted in table-1).Though literature supported lithium for higher response rate (Arnulf et al., 2005 2012), but index patient had remarkable response with Valproate, not with lithium, like earlier two reports (C rumley, 1997 Adlakha Chokroverty, 2009). Like earlier report (Adlakha Chokroverty, 2009), index patient also improved on lower dose of Valproate (divalproate 750 mg vs. 500 mg Valproate). Compared to other cases reported from India (Aggarwal et al., 2011 Gupta et al., 2011), index patient had longest follow-up (7 years) and remained asymptomatic in this period, except small exacerbation on discontinuation of Valproate treatment, which improved completely on resuming the drug. Similar to our patient, anticonvulsants (like Valproate) are the preferred treatment for KLS patient, and may also offer benefits in case of comorbid epilepsy (Yao et al., 2013). Valproate may be a salutary alternative to lithium in terms of efficacy as well as side effect profile.ReferencesYao, C.C., Lin, Y., Liu, H.C., Lee, C.S., 2013. Effects of various drug therapies on KleineLevin syndrome a case report. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 35, 102.e7-102.e9.Arnulf, I., Zeitzer, J.M., File, J., Farber, N., Mignot, E., 2005. Kleine-Levin syndrome a systematic review of 186 cases in the literature. Brain. 128, 2763-76.Arnulf, I., Rico, T.J., Mignot, E., 2012. Diagnosis, disease course, and management of patients with Kleine-Levin syndrome. Lancet Neurol. 11, 918-28.Critchley, M., 1962. Periodic hypersomnia and megaphagia in adolescent males. Brain. 85, 62756.Aggarwal, A., Garg, A., Jiloha, R.C., 2011. Kleine-Levine syndrome in an adolescent female and response to modafinil. Ann Indian Acad Neurol. 14, 50-2.Mendhekar, D.N., Jiloha, R.C., Gupta, D., 2001. Kleine-levin syndrome a report of two cases. Ind J Psychiatry. 43, 276-8.Prabhakaran, N., Murthy, G.K., Mallya, U.L., 1970. A Case of Kleine-Levin Syndrome in India. Br J Psychiatry. 117, 517-519.Shukla, G.D., Bajpai, H.S., Mishra, D.N., 1982. Kleine-levin syndrome a case report from India. Br J Psychiatry. 141, 97-98.Sagar, R.S., Khandelwal, S.K., Gupta, S., 1990. Interepisodic morbidity in Kleine-Levin syndrome. Br J Psychiatry. 157, 139-141.Nara yanan, H.S., Narayanan Reddy, G.N., Rama Rao, B.S., 1972. A case of Kleine-levine syndrome. Ind J Psychiatry. 14, 356-358.Agrawal, A.K., Agrawal, A.K., 1979. Kleine-levin syndrome a case report. Ind J Psychiatry. 21, 286-287.Malhotra, S.M., Das, M.K., Gupta, N., Muralidharan, R, 1997. A Clinical Study of Kleine-levin syndrome evidence for hypothalamic-pituitary axis dysfunction. Biol Psychaitry. 42, 299-301.Gupta, R., Lahan, V., Srivastava, M., 2011. Kleine-Levin syndrome and idiopathic hypersomnia Spectrum disorders. Ind J Psychol Med. 33, 194-8.Crumley, F.E., 1997. Valproic acid for Kleine-Levin syndrome. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 36, 868-9.Adlakha, A., Chokroverty, S., 2009. An adult onset patient with Kleine-Levin syndrome responding to valproate. calmness Med. 10, 391-3.Table-1 Reported cases with Kleine Levin syndrome from India

Effects of Diet and Exercise on the Human Body

Effects of Diet and Exercise on the Human soundboxHow to Maintain a Healthy BodyHow do we get a sizable torso? To look at this we submit to first descend what wellness room. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has defined health as a state of complete physical, rational and social well-being, and not just now the absence of disease or infirmity.1 If this is the case then having a hefty provender may not mean that we confuse a healthy bole. We in like manner need to civilize into account that how we look at health has changed dramatically over the years. For example in the 17th Century the major(ip) factor of health was things like the bubonic plague due to fleas on rats. Today we have to worry about things like obesity and swine flu. I am button to look at numerous factors which contribute to a healthy body. I am going to look at diet, model and social factors, all of which I believe house contribute to maintaining a healthy body.Firstly I am going to look at the effects diet has on our body. For humans to survive we need food, however, we need certain types of food and we need to eat a balanced diet to have a healthy body. The foods we should be consuming to have a healthy balanced diet atomic number 18 proteins, fats and oils, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, fibre and water. We need all(prenominal) of these food groups for a certain reason. For example we need protein to help our body repair itself, we need carbohydrates as these be broken down into simpleton sugars like glucose which is the primary source of energy for the brain, and we need iron to cultivate red blood cells which carry oxygen round the body. If we eat slight or much of these than we require this may brace problems for our body qualification us unhealthy. It is typically known that a diet high in fruit and vegetables is good for our body, however it is not widely known that if we have a diet lacking in these that it basin be actually damaging to our body. The WHO estimates that 2.7 million deaths are attributed to a diet low in fruit and vegetables every year2. If we have an unhealthy diet this tail assembly cause a number of chronic diseases including high blood blackmail, diabetes, obesity and erectcer2. to each one of these diseases can affect a persons quality of life and also can reduce a persons life expectancy. If we have an unhealthy diet this can cause many problems both for now and in the future, for example, if we eat besides much sugar this can give us tooth decay which means we have an unhealthy mouth, and if we have too much salt then over time this can build up and cause us to have high blood pres undisputable which can be potentially fatal. The WHO classes anyone that is 30% or more overweight to be fat. If we are obese then this can greatly lower our life expectancy and also our quality of life. If someone is overweight they do not have a healthy body and our likely also to not have a healthy mind.I now want to lo ok at how apply can help us to maintain a healthy body. thither are many benefits of enjoyment both for our bodies and our mental health. The benefits of exercise on our bodies include preventing heart disease, can reduce high blood pressure and can prevent diabetes. The benefits of exercise for our mental health include percentage to relieve stress, helping to reduce the symptoms of depression and helping to relieve dormancy problems. If someone is stressed or has had a inquisitive day which has touch on their mood then going out for a walk can be very beneficial to them. It has been proven that any aerobic exercise releases a mood altering substance called endorphins. Endorphins have been proven to repair our mood and also reduce levels of stress3.Now I am going to look at how social factors can affect whether or not we have a healthy body. Social factors include our social status, field of force we live, and outside influences. Social factors can play a large mapping in h ow we maintain our bodies. In todays society it can be sooner expensive to live healthy, the price of fresh and healthy foods are oft more expensive than cheap processed foods. If someone doesnt have a lot of money and doesnt earn a lot then they are more likely to go for the cheaper version which is what they can afford. This then affects their health as processed foods tend to have more of the things that are bad for us in them. Also if someone is classed as poor they are more likely to live in an area where there is more pollution and less focus on health. This may have a huge impact on whether they have a healthy body or not.In conclusion having a healthy body can not be accomplished by merely eating healthy. on that point are many factors to consider when we are trying to maintain a healthy body. If we want to be healthy then we must take into account what health means a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmi ty.1 thus we must have a healthy diet, exercise and make sure that we take business of our mental health. In todays society it is harder than ever to maintain a healthy body with all the outside influences like drugs and alcohol. only if we want to be healthy then we must at least(prenominal) try to lead a healthy lifestyle and take care of our bodies and minds as we only have one.ReferencesGiven, P. and Reiss, M. Human Biology and Health Studies, second Edition, (2002), Nelson Thornes LTD, Cheltenham, UK, ISBN 0-17-490060-0World Health Organisation (WHO), Diet and physical activity a public health priority, http//www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/en/Donnellan, C. (ed) How fit are we? Issues, (2000), Independence Publishers, Cambridge, UK, ISBN 1-86168-120-8Encyclopedia, Endorphins facts and information, http//www.encyclopedia.com/ consequence/endorphins.aspxMedical News Today, What is health? What does good health mean?, http//www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/150999.php