Curated Paper 2

                 The brain is one of the most fastinating organs in any organisms body, one of which we know frankly little about. This organ is the main one to tell if someone is saveable, or if we are just keeping a body alive. The brain controls all bodily functions in one way or another, even those that we perform subconsciously such as breathing. Our brain is the most complex organ in our bodies, being a large pathway of neurons that somehow developed the complexity of a conciense and thought.

On top of being the most complex and one of the most vital organs in the body, it is a very fragile organ, where with certain injuries or deformalities, there are many things that can go wrong if it isn’t balanced perfectly. For instance there are injuries that can cause for someone to be unable to recognize faces at all, or some who can’t recognize objects. There are also injuries that prevent the recognition of tone difference. On top of that with certain injuries it can cause a completely different personality than what was had prior.

The brain consists of a biological aspect, and a mental aspect. The biological aspect is generally constant from person to person, or even organism to organism in how it functions, it is programmed genetically to take a specific shape, form in a specific location, etc. Though the brain has this consistency it also has something that makes it so complicated and hard to understand, being the mind itself, which is heavily shaped by how an individual grows up, socially and environmentaly.

The brain to me is something that I want to study more and understand more of how it works, or how we might be able to repair it. Currently there are neural surgeons, who work on the brain and the spine, essentially areas of high nervous tissue, yet there is to date no way to fully repair damage that has been inflicted on it. We unfortunately don’t know how to reconnect pathways just as they were.

There are many things that can cause an imbalance of the brain, primarily things such as heavy impact toward the scull from car accidents, or sporting accidents. Or even punctures that penetrate the skull. There are also damages from drugs that can occur, lack of oxygen, or cancerous tumors that can form on the brain causing severe and permanent damage, leaving a person potentially completely different than they were previously. 

                 There are many brain disorders as well that can come from imbalances in the brain. These disorders are things such as bipolarism, or multiple personality disorders. Some of these imbalances are a result of poor genetics, where there are others that are a result of personal trama mentally, or even physical trama as discussed previously.

 

                 The term drugs in todays world has a very negative connotation. People who take drugs or do drugs are generally a type of person who breaks the law frequently, and who generally has some sort of criminal record. Drugs aren’t always a bad thing though, the term can also refer to a prescription that is designed to help maintain “Ayurveda,” or balance. These can be things such as pain meds, allergy meds, etc. So this term really can be both a positive and a negative depending heavily on the situation.

                 There are several different categories of drugs that are around, such as depressants, hallucinogens, opioids, stimulants, inhalants, etc. Each categorie of drugs has its own unique function and effect. Some of these are medically beneficial, while others can be detrimental to a person both physically and mentally. Knowing what drugs one is taking, and how they effect someone is essential in prescribing medications, as well as finding the proper medicines to help with any type of issue.

                 Probably the most commonly known types of drugs today in medicine and not are depressants and stimulants, but what do they really do? A depressant is a drug that can help to induce sleep, relieve anxiety, lower muscle spasms, and even prevent seizures. Though Depressants have these benefits, they allow have the possibility of slowing reaction times, impairing judgement, slowing breathing, causing weakness, or dizziness. Making having the proper dosage essential to protecting common life.

                 Stimulants inheritly have almost the exact opposite effects of a depressant. These can lower fatigue both mentally and physically, improving performance. Though just as the depressants have side effects, stimulants do as well, such as a loss of appetite, insomnia, headaches, nausea, higher blood pressure and heart rate, worsening of motor tics, etc. Showing again the necessity of the proper dosage, rather than uncontrolled use of this drug.

                 There are many other types of drugs that can cause several different benefits, or negative side effects, all highly dependent on the individual taking it, as well as the cuantity of the drug being used. These are all used to help maintain Ayurveda in the body when the body is failing to do so for itself. Though in the world where something good exists, it is often used for something bad, which is where many seek out drugs to fulfill some sort of addiction, such as needing a “high” or needing something to calm them down, that isn’t a natural response, but being relyant on the drugs provided.

 

                 Genetics plays a significant role in health, immunity, and vulnerability to diseases. Having genetic variation in a population is essential for a population to survive through disease and environmental change. Having that variety allows for some of the population to make it through devastation, and then grow a new population with more variety, but having the genes that allowed for the survival. Having a lack of genetic variety can cause for high risk of disease and the ability to survive through environmental changes.

                 There are many different types of mutations, non of which are inherently good or bad, just dependent heavily on the situation of the environment when the mutation has to be expressed. Genetics are such a complicated thing, and something that we really do not know a lot about, making it impossible to identify if a mutation could be beneficial for the organism's survival, neutral to its survival, or detrimental to its survival.

                 Detrimental mutations are generally mutations that won’t end up passing on from one generation to the next, this is because it usually will either damage the ability to reproduce, or to even survive long enough to reproduce. The danger of these mutations is very environmentally dependent. This makes it so a gene might be neutral for generations, but one day a disease comes, or their environment shifts, causing that neutral gene to express and become detrimental.

                 The beneficial mutations function very similar to the detrimental mutations. They are a gene that may be dormant or neutral until an environmental shift, or a disease arrives making that gene expression something to the advantage of the organism. Though in certain situations this might be beneficial, in others it might not, making genetic diversity extremely essential.

                 Genetic disease is a serious problem that is currently untreated, and basically undetectable. In people it is more detectable than in animal populations. Genetic disorders can lead to developmental issues, growth problems, high risk of contracting certain diseases, cancers, neurological issues, etc. It occurs frequently in any and all types of animals.

                 One of the most known genetic diseases that arise is cancer, this occurs from mutations that occur in individual cells, causing it to grow and divide unregulated, essentially acting as a bacterial cell that cam from our own bodies. This disease is one of the deadliest diseases that we have not found a sure way of eliminating.