Trauma and CRF

People sometimes ask if it’s worth it to do the work necessary for recovery from identified childhood trauma. Corticotropin Releasing Factor or CRF is a very powerful brain substance. Effects of CRF in limbic brain regions have been associated with increased fear, alertness, decreased appetite and libido, all functions relevant in the Fight-or-flight response and dysregulated in depression and anxiety disorders. Over-activity of the CRF/CRF₁ receptor system has been demonstrated to be one of the long term neurobiological sequelae of early life trauma, a major risk factor for the development of affective disorders (such as depession). In fact, both rodents and non-human primates exposed to adverse experiences in early life exhibit evidence of hyperactivity of the CRF system as adults. Recovery work may be able to dampen down some of this CRF hyperactivity.

 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3666571/

Override Your Genetic Code for Cancer

According to David P. Rakel, MD, director of integrative medicine at the University of Wisconsin, School of Medicine and Public health, even if your family has a history of cancer, there are things you can do to bathe that gene in a way to keep it from expressing itself. This means your genes may produce healthy tissue instead of tissue that is diseased or cancerous. Your lifestyle choices can override your genetic code and effectively reduce or even eliminate your chance of repeating your family’s history of poor health . . . We have the choice to bathe our genes with joy, happiness, exercise, and nutritious foods, or we can bath them with anger, lack of hope, unforgiveness, junk food, and a sedentary lifestyle. . . (LaBrec, Adelle. How to Reprogram Your DNA for Optimum Health.)

Rare Blood Type Registry

Fortunately, the American Red Cross has the world’s largest registry of rare blood donors and maintains a supply of frozen rare blood available for immediate shipment anywhere in the world. Here are a couple URLs that may be helpful if you’re looking for additional information or want to register.

http://www.redcross.org/news/bm/blooddonation/010305a.html

African American Specialty

http://www.redcross.org/ro/midatlanticblood/info/minority.html

Rare Blood Types

The Bloodbook website lists rare ethic-related blood types. Here is an example of the most common blood types in the most often seen rare ethnic categories:

African American Blacks - U- and Duffy-

American Indians and Alaskan Native peoples – RzRz

Pacific Island peoples and Asians - Jk ( a- b- )

Hispanics - Di ( b- )

Russian Jews - Dr ( a- )

Whites - Kp ( b- ) and Vel

This means, of course, that minority and diverse populations play a critical role in meeting the constant need for blood for diversity.

http://www.bloodbook.com/rare-chart.html

Bombay Blood

The year 1952 marked a change in the understanding about blood types. That’s when the rarest blood type in the world was discovered. Dr. Y. M. Bhende and colleagues identified this rare blood type in Bombay (now Mumbai) India. Thus its name: Bombay (hh). The major characteristic of the red blood cells of the Bombay blood group is the absence of the H antigen. In India (mostly East India), it found in 1 among every 7,000-8,000 people, whereas in other parts of the world it occurs in 1 in about 250,000. Individuals with a Bombay Blood type can donate blood to types A, B, AB, and O people. However, a person with this rare blood phenotype cannot receive blood from these A, B, AB, and O types. This can make it difficult if a blood transfusion is needed. Fortunately, for individuals who possess an uncommon blood type, a rare blood type registry does exist. More next time.

Blood Types and Diversity

Humans are more alike than they are difference. For example, their brains are all the same color, if you will, regardless of skin or hair color. And humans all have blood—and it’s all red, again regardless of skin or hair color. However, actual blood types can differ based on ethnic diversity. Different ethnic and racial groups also have different frequency of the main blood types in their populations. An estimated 45 % of Caucasians are Type O, 51% of African Americans, and 57% of Hispanics are Type O. That means that type O is routinely in short supply and in high demand by hospitals, both because it is the most common blood type and because Type O-negative blood, in particular, is the universal type needed for emergency transfusions.

http://www.redcrossblood.org/learn-about-blood/blood-and-diversity

Blood Types

Each embryo has a blood type. Your red blood cells carry markers called antigens on their surface that provide evidence of your blood type. For a long time it was thought there were only four blood types: O being the most common, A, B, and AB being the least common. Then that was expanded to eight blood types because of Rh factor and other antigen/antibody markers. (Reportedly there are more than 600 known antigens besides A and B.) The vast majority of blood types fall into one of the major ABO groups. However, for a small percentage of the population, it can be like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack to find another person with the same blood type, which can be an issue if the individual suddenly requires a blood transfusion. Do you know your blood type? Mine happens to be O.