Debate: Plain Packaging on Tobacco Products

Hari Srinivasan
Prof David Presti / GSI Carson McNeil
Psych C19 Drugs and the Brain


First Debate at Cal for Prof David Presti's  Drugs and the Brain class
My task - Opening Statement 

Debate Topic: A plain-packaging requirement for tobacco products should NOT be implemented in the USA.

Our group supports the negative motion, that plain packaging for tobacco products should not be implemented.

It is ironic that in an age where more states are legalizing marijuana, which to a large extent is smoked, there is yet another move to suppress tobacco smoking through plain packaging. Tobacco has been around from ancient times. As we learnt in our last lecture, it was the primary shamanic plant of the Americas. It was used to bind friendships and seal covenants by Native Americans. The Hookah of the east has been around since the era of Akbar the Great in India. Why should Tobacco alone be demonized, targeted and penalized? After all it is but one of the many poison plants that we are surrounded by.

We argue that plain packaging is not evidence based, infringes on our intellectual property rights, curtails freedom of speech and  increases illicit trade.

A Guiness Record

Bragging Rights on the first day at UC Berkeley

Day 1 of Golden Bear Orientation for the incoming class of 9500 students
The incoming class got to participate in a Guinness World Record Event for the largest human letter. Took a few hours to form the letter inside Memorial Stadium. We were in line for a couple of hours outside the stadium waiting to get in. I'm somewhere in the bottom of the letter C.




Suite Seats for the Ball Game

SF Giants vs Oakland A's at AT&T Park last Thursday. Giants won 11-2. 
What an amazing suite level seats to see the game. The view from up there is amazing.
Thank you David and his parents Linda and Gary for inviting us. 
I totally loved the experience.

Happy Father's Day

Moods from worry about my future
To elation over past accomplishments

My dad
Dives with passion into cooking
Explore hip youtube recipes
International eating, GFCF  style

My dad
Fingers fly over the qwerty keys
Searching for solutions that may help me
unendingly

My dad
We watch basketball and football heavily
Sprinkles of cricket and tennis thrown in
Warriors Champs 2017

My dad
Quite the best Bud really
Happy  Father’s Day


Plans. Dad and I will have a father-son lunch on sunday.

SJCC Commencement

I graduated from San Jose City College. Yeah!

Looking forward to going to UC Berkeley



Highlights

- Special Callout for Outstanding Academic Achievement during the Commencement.

(That was quite unexpected)

- I had been shortlisted (list of 5) for valedictorian too

- Three tassels on my cap. Yellow for Honors, Purple - Transfer, Black - Regular)

- Yellow Honor Cord

- Lots of Sashes - a silver one from DSP too.

- My Patti (grandma) was able to attend.


Graduation Album

A Baby Bundle



A Baby Bundle

A baby bundle handed to you.
Eyes in slumber or gazing at you
Innocence personified!!


Lightning flash……..


It’s gonna be...
Love at First Sight!





Impact of Autism and Coping Strategies in Indian-American Families


Impact of Autism and Coping Strategies in Indian-American Families.
Hari Srinivasan

APA Poster


Abstract
This paper explores the impact of autism and coping strategies amongst  Indian-American families living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Descriptive information on the challenges faced, coping strategies and a stress score (as measured by the Cohen Perceived Stress Scale) was gathered from 18 Indian-American parents of individuals with autism. The study finds that  high levels of stress amongst the ASD families (sample mean of 19.2) compared to the non-ASD families (population mean of 13). The study found that the age of the ASD family member does not seem to influence stress levels. There is however  a direct correlation between the severity of challenging ASD symptoms and the level of stress.  

This study suggests that if causes are better understood about the underlying physiological conditions for each specific case of autism, rather than classifying autism into one broad bucket, it may lead to more targeted treatments and better support systems could be put in place as well.

Positive outcomes for ASD individuals lead to less stress for families. Families also need more comprehensive support and resources in planning and supporting the needs of their ASD family member. Less stress for families leads to better outcomes for the ASD individuals.


A Case Study in the Neural Basis of Communication Challenges

[Concepts in Sensorimotor Research]


An Assignment on Speech and Language 


The chapter on the Physiology of Speech and Language is frustratingly close to home for me as I am severely limited by both my expressive speech and almost very poor handwriting skills (along with other stuff). So I thought I would look at the concepts in this chapter in terms of a case-study of an impacted individual, namely me.

A Case Study in the Neural Basis of Communication Challenges

H is a young adult, who was diagnosed with Autism at age 3. His was a case of regressive Autism in which infants who seem to develop typically and meet developmental milestones,  lose much of their language and other skills soon after the 18 month mark. H exhibits both speech and motor (writing) challenges. This report is an attempt to delineate H’s communication challenges along with the current scientific knowledge about their neural basis.

H’s consistent expressive speech ranges to a dozen or so few key phrases. His articulation may be hard to understand for people not familiar with him.  He can repeat phrases and can sing, though his prosody and articulation are inconsistent.  In receptive language skills, he is well above age cognitively.  He was fortunate to learn typing on an AAC device as a mode of communication which has helped improve his quality of life. What is intriguing in this case is that the subject is very articulate when it comes to written communication, yet struggles with basic conversational speech. H’s communication challenges could broadly be placed under Apraxia of Speech diagnosis though there may be an overlap with other diagnoses related to communication. Since the loss of speech was at an early age, it is often referred to as Developmental Apraxia or Developmental Dyspraxia,.

Apraxia of Speech is an impaired ability to consistently produce and sequence the facial/oral muscles to produce the sounds and syllables required in spoken language. H has reported that he knows what he wants to say but he is not able to sequence that thought into actual speech at that particular moment. He also exhibits other oral-motor skill issues such as challenges in properly chewing food. Studies of brain lesions of patients with Apraxia of Speech provide evidence of impairment in the left precentral gyrus of the insular cortex. Other studies have confirmed the findings that “articulation activated the left insular insula.

Spontaneous talking requires information to flow from the sensory-motor association cortex into the posterior language area of Broca’s area. Then the act of talking itself requires some significant and rapid movement, sequencing and coordination of numerous facial and oral motor muscles (tongue, lips, jaw) along with the vocal chords. Broca’s area along with the inferior caudal left front lobe is implicated in, “memories of sequences of muscular movements used to articulate words,” (Carlson). In addition, Broca’s area is also directly connected to the part of the primary cortex that controls speech muscles. So Broca’s area seems to be a  major player in H’s case.

H does not seem to exhibit significant challenges in the precursors to spoken language - such as perception of present and past events, memories (with some occasional deficits in  short term memory), thoughts and the desire to communicate. Comprehension does not seem to be impacted, which seems to rule out Wernicke’s area as a source of concern. Wernicke’s area is however connected to Broca’s area through the arcuate fasciculus, also known as the Phonological Loop. This connection seems to play a role in the short term memory of speech sounds. H has exhibited difficulty in repeating back  longer strings of words or forgetting the speech sounds of words he’d just read aloud.

There are elements of aphasia involved in that H exhibits anomia (groping for words) in addition to difficulty with articulation.  H likens his word finding difficulty to a, “spotlight effect;”  when placed in a situation where  he is required to speak, adding to the “tongue-tied” result, which in his case is word-retrieval difficulty. If a beginning sound such as the sound “M” is given to him as a prompt, he may cycle through his mental dictionary of words starting with that sound. For example if therapist Michael (vs Michelle) is at the door, H may greet him as, “Hi Michelle,” and a few other names, before arriving at the correct, “Hi Michael.” The word retrieval difficulty ranges from mild to significant on any given day.  H’s history has included EEG’s showing mild disturbances in the temporal lobe. Studies of brain lesions have linked the temporal lobe to the word-retrieval issues.   

Studies have found parallels between spoken language and  written language. For example H, exhibits difficulty in the prosody (rhythm, tone, emphasis) of spoken language which is believed to be controlled by neural connections in the right hemisphere. In his handwriting attempts too, there is disruption in the motor organization of the letters and spacing on the page, believed to be controlled by the dorsal parietal lobe and the premotor cortex. The act of handwriting activates the dorsal parietal lobe, the premotor cortex and the primary cortex.  H exhibits poor motor memory of the motor sequences of space, size and spacing of letters that is required for handwriting. Both attempts at speech and attempts at handwriting therefore are labored and prone to errors. Communication via typing has somewhat simplified the motor aspects of forming letters for H as that requires  keys to be pressed as compared to gripping a pen and drawing letters.

The overarching nature of the Autism Spectrum, with little knowledge of its physiological underpinnings means that there could be many other factors which play into the communication challenges. What is intriguing in H’s case (and frustrating for H himself) is the huge chasm between his motor ability (both speech and writing) and his comprehension and cognition skills.  Basic communication, especially spontaneous speech, is however a critical aspect of daily human functioning and hence its lack greatly affects the individual’s quality of life.  Our scientific understanding of neural workings, unfortunately have not yet reached a level where it  translates into meaningful treatment manipulation.


Psych 22: Biological Psychology

Winds of Change


Winds of change 


Mangled Cognitive distortions

Oppressive muddy skies 

Swallowed by emotional whirlpool 

Lost anchor to the gentle breeze



Tornado rages on

No respite...

Blazing an unwanted path

OCDs gleely plunge in. 

Anchor buffeted about 



Login needed anon

Try, try, But how?

Drowning mind needs to stretch

An anchor out of reach

A tsunami at sea, tailspin 

Autism and the ANS

A writeup I did for my college Biological Psychology Course

-------

Hari Srinivasan

Psych 22: Biological Psychology



Autism and the ANS

Abstract

Autism as a spectrum disorder is still not fully understood as it comes in many variants which indicate varied underlying psychological basis. This paper discusses the role of the nervous system in Autism, specifically the Autonomic Nervous System. While research is underway in the path towards its biological underpinnings, a much better understanding is required before it can translate into meaningful treatments in order to improve the quality of life for the affected ASD population.  



        Autism and the Nervous System



Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurological disorder with its onset commonly in early childhood. The DSM-V classification of ASD is largely based on observable external behaviors such as  deficits in social-emotional skills, repetitive behaviors, and communication skills. However the condition also seems to be accompanied by a whole host of co-morbid conditions such as ADHD, mood disorders, sleep disorders, intellectual disability, obsessive compulsive behaviors, and sensory dysregulation. Epigenetics could also play a role wherein the environment affects gene expression. A mix and match of varying degrees of severity in these parameters result in huge numbers of people that fit this spectrum disorder. One in every 110 children is being diagnosed with ASD in the US today . The severity ranges from individuals who are non -verbal and/or with many challenging behaviors to those who are barely distinguishable from their peers.

         

There has been an increasing focus on the role the nervous system plays in the physiological underpinnings of autism. For instance, my personal experience as a person in the ASD spectrum points to the inability of the ASD individual’s nervous system to handle environmental input as the probable cause behind the atypical “stim” (ie: self  stimulatory) mannerisms. An example is walking into a crowded room and hearing every conversation in the room at the same volume, and being unable to filter out the ones the individual needs to focus on.  The ASD individual may resort to atypical behaviors like flicking fingers in front of his eyes, generating their own verbal sounds or even banging their hands on their heads, all in an attempt to drown out the environmental visual and auditory cacophony. Social and communication skills are part of a typical person’s toolbox in coping with stressful situations; deficits in these areas often prevent an easy resolution for the ASD individual, heightening the problem. So sensory stimulation can result in hyper-arousal, hypo arousal or sensory seeking behaviors in ASD individuals.  


My personal observation and experience as an individual on the ASD spectrum has also been that of an unclear sense of body-schema  which could well be the cause of the constant movement exhibited by many on the spectrum.  It is almost as though the brain has to continually ascertain the position of the parts of the rest of the body in space and time.  The continual movement of the body (a movement disorder) could be an adaptive effort to keep this connection between brain and body alive. Without the movement, it would be like a brain that was lost as it did not feel attached to the body. A sense of panic could well set in when waking up in the dark at night and feeling body-less, thereby affecting sleep patterns and mood. According to the Subiaul et al (2007), “ It is well known that individuals with autism have poor body schemas and suffer from impairments in motor functioning, and planning.”  Ergo, ASD individuals exhibit atypical Autonomic Nervous System activity,

         

The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is part of the Peripheral Nervous System.  The ANS regulates our internal organs thus involving a lot of actions that are involuntary in nature. The ANS has 3 parts  - the Sympathetic Nervous System, the Parasympathetic Nervous System and the Enteric Nervous System.  The Sympathetic, “controls functions that accompany arousal and expenditure of energy,” while the parasympathetic, “controls functions that occur during relaxed state,” (Carlson, 2013). Many studies have backed observations about atypical ANS activity in Autism, such as the study by  Schaaf et al. (2015) which found that  ASD participants exhibited,  “a different pattern of parasympathetic activity”.  Changes in heart rate (specifically RSA or Respiratory Sinus Arrythma) in response to sensory stimuli is an oft-used measure of Parasympathetic activity in studies due to its non-invasive nature while variants of EGC’s are needed for measuring sympathetic activity (Schaaf et al., 2015).  Schaaf et al. also point to other studies that show atypical arousal levels in sympathetic system in ASD individuals. Interestingly the sympathetic activity  decreased in some studies and increased in other studies,  leading researchers to conclude that  ASD individuals would, “engage in self-stimulatory  or active sensory seeking behaviors to either dampen or increase sympathetic levels in order to calm or arouse themselves,” respectively (Schaaf et al, 2015).  Even as scientists and researchers agree more and more on ANS dysregulation in the ASD population,  “the exact nature  of the ANS dysregulation is [still] not clear,”.

         

Such self stimulatory mannerisms and movement issues, being almost involuntary in nature, pose one of the biggest challenges for an ASD individual and their families as they are considered socially inappropriate and make societal inclusion and acceptance all that much harder for the ASD individual especially as an adult.  It is clear that further insight into understanding the biological underpinnings of the ANS dysregulation in Autism is necessary before it can translate into meaningful and targeted treatments for the ASD population.  For instance, the neurotransmitters,  acetylcholine and norepinephrine play a major role in the ANS; the manipulation of which via pharmaceuticals could potentially play a future role in treatment and thereby improving the quality of life for ASD individuals. In the meantime, many in the Autism population continue to muddle through their overwhelming sensory environment hampered by a dysregulated Autonomic Nervous System.