A Little Bit of Everything For Dummies

by John Wiley & Sons

“scratch tests” are relatively accurate for inhalant allergies, doctors generally consider them an inaccurate test for food allergies.

People rarely have an allergic reaction to a food the first time they eat it.

IgE antibodies: These antibodies are associated with immediate allergic reactivity.

IgG antibodies: These antibodies are associated with more delayed allergic reactions,

the immune systems of Africans are stronger than those of Western populations.

mollusks, including oysters and clams,

crustaceans, including shrimp, crayfish, lobsters, and crabs.

In 1996, some manufacturers started putting DNA from certain foods into the seeds of soy, corn, cottonseed, and canola plants; the results are called genetically modified foods (or GMO foods). Specifically, manufacturers modified soybeans with a gene from a Brazil nut. Predictably, people allergic to tree nuts had reactions to those soybeans.

Most healthy adults need about 50 grams of complete protein every day. Pregnant and nursing women and people with chronic health problems may need more.

With the advent of Transcendental Meditation (TM) in the 1960s, a new wave of research, prompted by the technique’s growing notoriety — and by offshoots like Herbert Benson’s relaxation response — led to convincing evidence of meditation’s far-reaching health benefits.

They found that the meditators underwent an orderly progression in brain wave changes, beginning with a shift to more and larger alpha rhythms (brainwaves associated with relaxed attention) and culminating, as the meditation deepened, in an increase in theta (associated with deep relaxation, spiritual experience, and enhanced creativity).

particular, Transcendental Meditation, introduced in the late ’60s by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and championed by the Beatles, funded an extensive study into the method’s effectiveness and generated a flood of scientific papers, many of them written under the auspices of the organization’s own Maharishi International University (now known as the Maharishi School of Management).

Coherence, which can be measured by EEG, is the degree of correlation or synchrony between different parts of the brain.

relaxation response, a natural reflex mechanism that he found could be triggered by 20 minutes of daily meditation practice involving a quiet environment, repetition of a sound or phrase, a receptive attitude, and a comfortable sitting position.

Benson found that the relaxation response had a beneficial effect on hypertension, headaches, heart disease, alcohol consumption, anxiety, and premenstrual syndrome.

lactate (a chemical released into the bloodstream during stress)

Mindfulness — which is freely available and commonly taught in a number of the world’s spiritual traditions — gained additional recognition during this period through the study of the extraordinary meditative abilities of Tibetan monks and a series of dialogues between neuroscientists and the Dalai Lama.

Anterior cingulate cortex: Situated around the corpus callosum (the structure that joins the left and right hemispheres of the brain), the anterior cingulate cortex enables you to pay attention — including attention to attention itself — and acts as a bridge or mediator between thoughts and emotions. As a result, it performs a significant function in regulating emotion and the empathic “social brain.”

the activation of the left prefrontal cortex (LPFC) closely correlates with the experience of positive emotion — the happier you are, the more your LPFC lights up — apparently because it helps dampen the negative emotions generated by the amygdala. By contrast, right prefrontal cortex (RPFC) activation correlates with negative emotions.

scientists have measurable proof that the brain grows and changes in ways that correspond with meditators’ subjective reports.

subjects who meditated had white matter fibers (those involved in brain connectivity) that were more numerous, more dense, and more insulated than those who didn’t meditate.

white matter connecting the front and back of the cerebrum as well as the frontal cortex (the area associated with decision making, delayed gratification, and emotional regulation)

the limbic system (the locus of emotion).

default mode network, which is closely associated with the wandering mind.

Activation of the ACC improves self-regulation

growth in the hippocampus correlates with greater resilience,

as we age, our bodies may be less able to absorb vitamin B12 from food,

after the mid-30s, everybody — male and female — begins losing bone density.

the human brain is built upon the mammalian brain, which, in turn, is built on the reptilian brain.

This toxic mix of reptilian territorialism and our human capacities can result in arguments, road rage, boundary disagreements, and acts of revenge — even wars.

Paul Gilbert, the founder of CFT, refers to these various aspects of ourselves as our social mentalities,

we compare ourselves to others in a more complex way than other species do.

CFT is not about thinking ‘I’m brilliant’ or that you’re better than others. It’s about seeing yourself, in the context of your life and evolution, as connected to others and every other living thing. Your compassionate mind can then help you to consider what would be helpful and to commit to making meaningful changes in your life.

Our genotype (or DNA sequence) gives us our potential for factors such as intelligence, speed over 100 meters, and body shape, but our experiences influence which of our potentials are realised. This combination of biology and environment is termed our phenotype. For example, we all possess certain genes for height, but if we don’t receive adequate nutrition we won’t reach our potential. Similarly, we have the potential for feeling soothed and safe in our social group, but if our experiences in such groups haven’t been positive we may develop a very watchful and untrusting way of being with others.

Kindness, warmth, and compassion from our primary care-givers results in the development of confidence and an ability to feel content or ‘happy in our own skin’. It even improves our immune system and results in our brain developing in a way that allows the states of wellbeing and trust in others.

But our bodies, like our brains, have also developed from an earlier evolutionary model. Our skeleton was originally designed for life in the water. Standing upright, on land, means that we’re prone to problems with our backs, hips, and knees. It also means that more human mothers and babies die in childbirth, if medical interventions are unavailable, than any other species.

Four years after its 2004 launch, Facebook had 100 million users, and by 2012 it had over a billion. By contrast, it took desktop software years to reach even 1 million people.

Although roughly 300 million desktop computers are sold every year, almost 2 billion mobile phones are sold in that time

Internet protocol address (or, more commonly, IP address).

Appearance:

This category is called the front end and is created using languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Logic:

This category is part of the group called the back end and is created using languages like Ruby, Python, and PHP. These back end languages can modify the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that is displayed to the user.

Storage:

This category is part of the back end and is stored in databases like MongoDB and MySQL.

Infrastructure:

The rare website developer proficient in all four of these categories is referred to as a full stack developer.

In 2014, people with mobile devices outnumbered people with desktop computers.

Mobile-device users spend 80 percent of their time using native mobile applications, and 20 percent of their time browsing mobile websites.

The programming languages used to code basic web applications, further defined in the following sections, include HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and JavaScript. Additional features can be added to these websites using languages like Python, Ruby, or PHP.