Science Is Rooted To All Things

Austin Maddox

Professor J. Karpel

Biology of Disease

OCT 28 2016

Science Is Rooted To All Things

The saying that all roads lead to Rome holds true in science; science has its roots in the source to all concepts and ideas, its connected in one way or another to all fields of endeavor. In my personal life, I am involved in two major fields of endeavor: medicine, and search and rescue. I have found through all of my passions that science; physics, biology, chemistry you name it, can be used as a tool to solve any problem. Let’s start with the field of medicine.

MEDICINE

I have worked in the medical field for a good portion of my life; in this field I have seen life, death, and all sorts of trauma. Of the events I have encountered both professionally and personally have been solved with science. In the field of medicine we use evidence based practice to further progress and better our patients. Evidence based practice (EBP) is the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of the individual patient. It means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research to further the patients care and provide life-essential care. Over the past month we have gone over brain and GI disorders and how they are linked, all of these conditions are also linked to medicine. Lets’ take for example ADHD: break it down into its components; diagnosis and medical treatment. What is ADHD? ADHD is an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; in a nutshell it makes an individual have a hyperactive brain, somewhat short attention span, and at times impulsive (American Psychiatric Association).

Diagnosis for this disorder is taken by scientific observational behavior analysis. They look at the behaviors and link the behaviors to areas of the brain, functions, and chemicals involved with these behaviors. The main chemicals involved with ADHD and its effect on the brain are dopamine and noradrenaline. The imbalance of these two chemicals lead to delayed maturation of dopaminergic pathways as well as influencing impulsivity and inattention. Emerging evidence also suggests possible roles for other signalling systems in the neurobiology of ADHD. Deficiencies in glutamate signalling in some regions of the brain may have a modulatory role in adults with ADHD (Winstanley).

Electrical brain activity also plays a vital role in diagnosis of ADHD. Using qualitative electroencephalography (EEG) from world-wide studies. In these studies it showed an increase of theta and beta brain wave frequency bands on the EEG. (Loo) Beta waves are high frequency low amplitude brain waves that are commonly observed while we are awake. They are involved in conscious thought, logical thinking, and tend to have a stimulating affect. Having the right amount of beta waves allows us to focus and complete school or work-based tasks easily. People with ADHD tend to have low frequencies of beta waves which lead to poor cognition and spaciness. Theta waves frequency range is involved in daydreaming and sleep. Theta waves are connected to us experiencing and feeling deep and raw emotion as well as has its benefits of helping improve our intuition, creativity, and makes us feel more natural. People with ADHD tend to have high frequencies of theta waves; this is what attributes to their hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattentiveness (Snyder).

 All of the background diagnosis through scientific methods of observation and exploration has led to various medicinal EBPs to help people cope and deal with the disorder to live healthy lifestyles. Most medication for ADHD are neuro-stimulants that normalize chemical imbalances and increase/decrease brain wave frequencies (Arns). In my personal experience these stimulants aided in increased focus and decreased impulsivity. They come up with these medicines through the science of biochemistry. So again science has its roots in all things, especially medicine.

Throughout my college career at SUU I have worked with Iron County search and rescue. In this time, I have seen many criminal and forensic sciences used. For example, during the Hildale flood incident search and rescue had to use techniques to identify bodies of persons lost in the flood.  Again, science has its roots in all things, including search and rescue. There was a lot of anatomy involved in identifying the victims. Using their facial structures to create reconstructions, to simply looking at overall body markers and structure make a huge difference and help in identifying the victim.

Another way that science is used in search and rescue is to find people. Having a knowledge of how weather influences location and the effects of environment on a person can be key in finding missing people, and before it is too late. Knowing that high temperatures, combined with lack of potable water can cause a person to dehydrate after so many days, or that the latest rainstorm caused severe flooding which could have affected the missing person’s location. Knowing the geography of the area you are searching is helpful in pinpointing the route that the missing person may have taken to try to get to safety. While there are so many examples that can be used, I think it is clear to see again that science has a root in all things.

So, just like all roads lead to Rome, science can be found in so many aspects and endeavors of our lives. While it may not be as blatantly obvious in some over others, it’s there, and plays a key role in that endeavor. Being able to notice the use of science in our endeavors, and appreciate it’s necessity, allows us to become more well-rounded as scientists, and individuals.

REFERENCES

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5, Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association

Arns, M. (2012). EEG-based personalized medicine in ADHD: Individual alpha peak frequency as an endophenotype associated with nonresponse.Journal of Neurotherapy, 16(2), 123-141.

Bader, A. & Adesman, A. (2015). Complementary and alternative medicine for ADHD. In R.A. Barkley (Ed.), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment (pp. 728-738). New York: Guilford Press.

Loo SK, Makeig S. Clinical utility of EEG in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a research update. Neurotherapeutics 2012; 9: 569-587.

Snyder SM, Hall JR. A meta-analysis of quantitative EEG power associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. J Clin Neurophysiol 2006; 23: 440-455.

Winstanley, C. A., Eagle, D. M., & Robbins, T. W. (2006). Behavioral models of impulsivity in relation to ADHD: translation between clinical and preclinical studies. Clinical psychology review, 26(4), 379-395.