Some of the common symptoms of ADHD are visible in people that include incessant fiddling, short attention span, and unable to complete any task. There are other distinguished symptoms as well. There are various types of ADHD that are used to treat the basic ADHD and treatment is advised by consuming medicines like Ritalin.

The symptoms of ADHD may be confusing and may lead you to conclude prevalence of other disorders. The symptoms sometimes are easily understood and other times are very complex hence not easily identifiable. Doctors trust that examining the brain and its functions would help in treating ADHD. Dr Daniel Amen has successfully created his version of ADHD subtypes that are dependent on the scans of the brain.

Diagnosis of ADHD

Majorly doctors opine that the identification of ADHD is done by numerous tests that are especially designed to measure hyperactivity and inattentiveness that is clearly mention in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). If a particular patient is suffering from ADHD then the typical behavioral symptoms should have been prevalent for more than six months and should be severe in nature.

The symptoms of inattention are as follows :

• Missing out details
• Making sloppy mistakes
• Short attention span
• Inability to patiently hear
• Incapable to comprehend instructions
• Excessively and easily distracted
• Shrugging away tasks that need effort
• Forgetfulness

The symptoms of Hyperactivity of ADHD are as follows :

• Fiddling
• Wriggling
• Unable to remain seated in one place for a long time
• Incessant talking
• Making noise while playing or any other activity

The above mentioned symptoms determine the criteria of the various types of ADHD. There are three basic types of ADHD disorder.

The first is ADHD Combined type that has both the symptoms of hyperactivity and inattentiveness. The second type is primarily the inattentive type that clearly lacks hyperactivity symptoms and the third type is the hyperactive type of ADHD that lacks inattention symptoms.

Dr. Amen has classified ADHD disorder as per the scans of the brain and their functioning. The basic symptoms include inattentiveness, easily distracted, much disorganized and lack of inner control.

These symptoms and the scans of the brain which directly display the attention span and memory have determined six types of ADHD disorders.

Classic ADHD – It has all the basic symptoms and has hyperactivity symptoms as well.

Inattentive ADHD – It has the basic symptoms of ADHD and the patient suffers from low levels of energy.

Overfocused ADHD – It has the basic symptoms of ADHD and the patient displays a host of pessimistic behavior like arguments and fights. Patients are given antidepressants as well.

Temporal Lobe ADHD – It has the basic symptoms of ADHD and the behavior of the patient is dominated by irritation and assertiveness. Patients respond to antiseizure medication.

Limbic ADHD – It has the basic symptoms of ADHD along with bouts of depression and low levels of motivation. Patients imbibe antidepressants.

The Ring of Fire – It has combined symptoms of ADHD and the bipolar disease. The patient suffers from mood swings, assertiveness and annoyance. Patients are treated with anticonvulsants.

As per the suggestions of early research, treatment using oral contraceptives can help premenopausal in treating asthma though the symptoms of asthma are not associated with the menstrual cycles.

In a rigorous research conducted by at University of Alberta, the researchers have proved that varying levels of progesterone and estrogen can have straight effect on the markings of air duct inflammation. Oral contraceptives are used as supplementary treatments for women suffering from asthma whose symptoms are linked closely with their periods. The data to prove the influence of the sex hormones progesterone and estrogen on asthma was not available earlier and with this research proving it, new methods for treating asthma for pregnant women have evolved.

The research was conducted on seventeen premenopausal women who had moderate or severe asthma and were asked to meet the research crew everyday over the time span of 36 days till the entire menstrual cycle was complete. The measurement of levels of progesterone and estrogen were done each day and also the marking of air duct inflammation and asthma symptoms were supervised every day. Also, the skin-prick allergy tests were carried out every alternate day. The research required lot of efforts from every person involved and problems like university closure, snow storms and power outages were faced during it. But with much effort from everyone, 99 percent of the planned assessments were carried out with fail.

9 of the women in study were making use of oral contraceptives and 8 were not using them. Out of seventeen women, four had asthma symptoms associated with menstrual cycle. Since women who take oral contraceptives did not have noticeable modifications in the progestin and estrogen during their menstrual cycles, they did not anticipate any variations in the asthma throughout their menstrual cycle.

Women who do not take oral contraceptive must have changes in the levels of progesterone and estrogen which can cause some variations in the markers. The women who feel large variations in progesterone but minimal changes in estrogen during the menstrual cycle are most likely susceptible to asthma related cycle.

Mandhane hopes that the determinations prove the bigger studies examining the use of oral contraceptives for treatment with premenopausal women. The famous pain reliever acetaminophen has been associated with an enhanced risk of asthma in adults and children based on a new research review of the articles published earlier by Canadian researchers.

The research has successfully proved that throughout menstruation period, women who suffer from asthma and did not take oral contraceptives had smaller levels of breathed out Nitric Oxide (eNO) which is an indicator of air duct inflammation. Also, the women who do not use oral contraceptives had greater average eNo levels that the women who used oral contraceptives. Also, among the asthma infected women who did not use oral contraceptives, the estrogen levels were increased with the reduction in eNO, while the increase progesterone levels was mainly linked with the increase in levels of eNO. Scientists ponder that Oral contraceptives can have crucial role in managing asthma treatment in premenopausal women.

Scientists state that they have created a very powerful PSA (prostate specific antigen) which shall distinguish the patients of prostrate cancer who could recidivate after their treatment. In a research which was announced this week in PNAS journal, the examination showed to be three hundreds sensitive than the other PSA examinations which are commercially available.

The researcher from Northwestern University, Chad A. Mirkin has invented this test and he is also the co-founder of the company which is going to market it. He explains about the molecular technique, based on nanotechnology. The test shall indicate men whether prostate cancer they have would reappear after their surgery very early than the test which are available at present. The first thing which was proved by their research was that everyone will have a calculable PSA level after removal of prostrate. This was not possible to measure using current tests.

While the benefits of calculating PSA in while screening for the existence of prostrate cancer is queried, there is a mild discussion that increasing levels of PSA following the treatment auspicate reoccurrence. But PSA is usually not detectable for many years after removal of prostrate surgically even with men who will relapse eventually. If we measure the PSA level after completion of surgery using normal tests, the level of PSA will be 0. Men have to wait for another 5-7 years to find out whether the cancer would return back.

Working Of The Test

This test was invented by Mirkin and his co-workers which make use of very minute golden nano particles to find out the earlier immeasurable PSA levels in blood of the patient. The scientists marked the nano molecules using 1000s of DNA strands combined with certain antibodies that can identify PSA. For each captured PSA molecule, 100s of DNA strands were freed as per Mirkin.

In the newly issued studies, the serum samples which were gathered from eighteen patients with prostrate cancer who removed their prostrates surgically got analyzed both using the normal test available now and the test based on nano-particles. The nano molecular test was capable of detecting the rise in levels of PSA in few men very earlier when compared with the standard test which is commercially available now. Mirkins stated that according to the study which involves two hundred and fifty patients treated surgically is under progress to ensure the findings of the research.

Second Opinion

The spokesman from American Cancer society Mr. Durado Brooks stated that the findings are good but in preliminary level. He stated that even if the bigger study is confirming that the nano-molecular state could accurately spot out patients whose prostrate cancer would relapse after surgery; there are not clear clinical advantages for this test. It’s because there are not enough treatment choices for men who have repeated prostrate cancer.

We are now sure that the increasing PSA level after the treatment could indicate the relapse of the disease, but we are still not aware that if the finding it earlier or even after 3 years will make significant differences with the results.