Introduction
According to a team of US scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, there appears to be critical evidence relating activity in two brain areas to incidences of asthma disease. In an article whose findings appear in the BBC website (http:/news.bbc.co.uk) and based on research already published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, the US scientists led by Dr Richard Davidson have specified the role of each of these two brain regions to asthma attack. Their findings point out that one region obtains information about the asthma disease symptoms while the other region processes the patient’s emotions. These findings were obtained from experiments carried out on six volunteers with mild asthma and were designed to determine the relationship between the patient’s emotions and asthma disease.
Body
Asthma is a disease of the respiratory system which infects many people around the world (Belmont, 2009, December 9). Children are most affected as they are often much more vulnerable to this disease (Sandberg et al., 2002). Although stress and emotions are known to start in a patient’s mind, asthma in itself is a physical disease that affects the patient’s lungs, and stress can create strong physiological reactions which may lead to constriction of the airway and therefore resulting to changes in the immune system which is known to worsen asthma symptoms in patients (Rietveld et al., 2000).
Surprisingly, two brain regions, the anterior cingulated cortex and the insula have been shown to develop increased activity when the patient is subjected to stress as reported in the article which appeared in the BBC News on Health in which an experimental study involving six volunteer patients with mild asthma was carried out. The volunteers’ brain responses were closely monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging as they were shown three different categories of words that were either related, non-related or neutral to asthma; while at the same time asthma was induced in them by some known asthma triggers such as ragweed or dust-mite extract. The results demonstrated that there was increased activity in the two brain regions when asthma related words were heard compared to other neutral word types as well as increased brain activity linked to the body reaction as a result of the inhaled asthma triggers.
However the researchers admitted that due to a small number of people who participated in the study, their findings would need to be repeated using more volunteers as it was likely that other brain parts may be involved in the relationship between emotion and asthma that have not yet been identified. The study goes on to warn that these brain regions might be hyperresponsive to disease-specific emotions and therefore contribute to other conditions that might lead to worsened asthmatic conditions such as inflammation as also previously reported by Busse (1995).
Other experts such as Dr. Mark Britton, the Chairman of the British Lung Foundation, and Dr. Lyn Smurthwaite of Asthma UK, have concurred with these findings as reported in the article under review. These findings show that there is relationship between regions of the brain that process emotion and those that deal with physiological asthma symptoms. This means that asthma and patients’ personality are closely related and therefore stresses the fact that those patients with proper knowledge of their diseases are at a much better position to deal with the disease as also pointed out by Silva (September 13, 2006). The article warns that asthma patients should not be subjected to stress as this may aggravate their condition. In addition, the article emphasizes the need to offer counseling to asthma patients to enable them cope with their condition as also advised by Innocent (2009, October 29).
Critique
This article is written for the general public as it appears in the BBC Health News website. It is largely written in simple and clear language which can easily be understood by readers who may not be familiar with technical biological or medical terms. However, the scientific inclined readers can also benefit from the article as it points out that it is based on research which appeared in the peer reviewed Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences journal which can easily be accessed in the internet or relevant libraries. It would have been better also mention the name or names of the authors of the article in the BBC News Health page, though this could depend on the policy of BBC media house or publishers.
It is commendable that a picture of the brain is also given in the article through the two specific brain regions are not discernable. To the general public, the information given in this article is therefore highly relevant as it touches on health issues that are increasingly affecting more and more people all over the world especially those who suffer from asthma.
Since asthma is a relatively common disease, the symptoms are relatively clear to majority of people, therefore not much explanation is needed as has been done in the article. However, the technique in which brain activities were monitored using magnetic resonance imaging may not be clear to the readers and hence may require further explanation in layman’s terms. The procedure used in the experiment is outlined in the simplest way possible hence they do not require any explanation as the content is self explanatory and clear to the audience. This therefore enables the readers to appreciate the results obtained from the experiment and allows them reach their informed conclusions.
The article is relatively short and the information relayed is straight to the point which can encourage those people who might not have time for long articles or finer details of the subject to quickly read the article for general knowledge. The article emphasizes the need for medics and physicians to counsel their asthma patients to enable them avoid unnecessary stress that may worsen the disease, and possibly increase dosage of their medication when under stressful situations. The article is also important to the general public as they will be enlightened on how to deal with asthmatic patients to avoid stressing them up.
Synopsis
This article meets its intended purpose as it is written in a simple and clear language that suits its target audience. The article looks at the link between parts of the brain processing emotion and physiological asthma symptoms through scientific research, and the results obtained reveal that certain emotions do cause flare ups of asthma. The article attempts to justify why asthma patients should not be subjected to stress as this may worsen their conditions since the asthmatic condition and a patients emotions are very closely related.
References List
BBC News, Health. (2005). How Emotions Spark Asthma Attack. Web.
Belmont, A., (2009). Asthma – An Insight. Web.
Busse W. W., Kiekolt-Glaser J. K., Coe C., Martin R., Weiss S., Parker S., (1995). Stress and asthma. Am J Respir Crit Care Med; 151:249–252.
Innocent, M. (2009). Asthma and How to Resolve it Naturally. Web.
Rietveld S., Everaerd W., Creer T. (2000). Stress-induced asthma: a review of research and potential mechanisms. Clin Exp Allergy 2000;30:1058–1066.
Sandberg, S., McCann, D. C., S. Ahola S., Oja, H., Paton J. Y., McGuinness, D., (2002). Positive experiences and the relationship between stress and asthma in children. Acta paediatric, 91, (2), 152-158.
Silva, R. (2006). The Emotional Cause of Asthma. Web.