Guest Blog by Alastair Fraser, author of Forestry Flavours of the Month







Publication Date: May 20, 2016
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Formats: Ebook
Pages: 228
Genre: Biography
Tour Dates: September 4 - 15

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Forestry touches on all aspects of human welfare in one way or another, which is why foresters need to play an active role in determining our collective agenda. Alastair Fraser, a lifelong forester and the co-founder of LTS International, a forestry consulting company, explains how forestry changes with political cycles and how foresters can promote healthy forests at all times.

He explores critical issues such as:
• forests and their connection to coal;
• forest's role in combatting floods and climate change;
• illegal logging in Indonesia, Laos, and elsewhere;
• tactics to promote sustainable forestry management;
• plantations as a solution to tropical deforestation.

From pulping in Sweden and Brazil, paper mills in Greece and India, agroforestry in the Philippines, "pink" disease in India and oil bearing trees of Vietnam, no topic is off limits. Based on the author's life as a forester in dozens of countries, this account shows the breadth of forestry and makes a convincing case that forestry management needs to focus on managing change and achieving sustainability. Whether you're preparing to become a forester, already in the field, or involved with conservation, the environment or government, you'll be driven to action with Forestry Flavours of the Month.




Forestry Flavours of the Month; the Changing Face of World Forestry 

Forests still cover almost a third of the world’s land area, but few people other than professional foresters and conservationist have much idea about what forests are and how they benefit mankind. The word “forest” conjures up many differing images for people depending on where they live and what kind of life they lead. 

The book highlights the author’s 55-year career as an international forestry consultant, and shows how the issues facing forestry and foresters around the world have changed over time. Major issues such as tropical deforestation and sustainability have come and gone in response to economic and political cycles. Covering rural poverty and development, climate change, energy, airships, floating pulp mills, radio communication, tobacco curing and more, the book also highlights some of the difficulties foresters face, such as illegal logging.

“Climate change, tropical deforestation and environmental degradation are major issues for today’s society, and while it is easy to suggest things that should be done, the reality of trying to change things on the ground is very challenging,”. 

The combination of an autobiography and a travel book related to global forestry, the book shares the author’s experiences in over 20 countries, including the United States, Russia, China and Brazil. The final chapter also highlights the worrying trend around the world for governments to split responsibility for the production side of forests from the conservation and environmental aspects between departments, thus weakening the ability of the professionals to take a holistic approach to the management of forests. 

“For older people who are concerned about the environment and related issues, I hope the book will provide them with a better understanding of what is actually happening around the world and what foresters are trying to do about it,” “For young readers in high school or university, I hope that the book will inspire some of them to take up the challenge of becoming foresters and following up on some of the issues raised in the book.”


Alastair Fraser is a founder member of the archaeology group No Man s Land. He has worked as researcher and participant in a number of Great War documentaries. Steve Roberts is a retired police officer and an ex-regular soldier. He specialises in researching individuals who served during the war and is also a founder member of No Man s Land. Andrew Robertshaw frequently appears on television as a commentator on battlefield archaeology and the soldier in history, and he has coordinated the work of No Man s Land. His publications include Somme 1 July 1916: Tragedy and Triumph, Digging the Trenches (with David Kenyon) and The Platoon.



Book Feature: 2D Surgical Hospital by Lorna Griess





Title: 2D Surgical Hospital
Author: Lorna Griess
Publisher: XLibrisUS
Genre: Military Biography
Format: Ebook
This book is about living and working in a mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) in South Vietnam. It talks about the hospital itself, the setting, how we lived, how we coped with less-than-good circumstances, the type of patients we received, the equipment we worked with, and the emotional highs and lows that were part of every day. The stories are true. Some of the dates and numbers of things may be off a little; that was a long time ago. Names have not been used to protect the wonderful, dedicated people with whom I worked and lived with.
Lorna Griess made the Army Nurse Corps her career after her tour in Vietnam. She served in hospitals worldwide for almost thirty years. She retired as a full colonel and chief nurse at Letterman Army Medical Center on the Presidio in San Francisco (now closed). Fully retired from nursing, she joined the Military Officers Association of America, California Council of Chapters, and became their legislative liaison. She serves as a veterans’ advocate in the California State Legislature. She is a member of several other veterans’ organizations including Vietnam Veterans, AMVETS, and VFW. She writes articles, reporting on current legislation for local newsletters. For relaxation, she has become an artist. Her oil paintings have been on display at several galleries around Sacramento, including the Crocker Art Gallery.

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Book Feature: Yesterday is Gone by Ilona Salley






Title: Yesterday is Never Gone
Author: Ilona Sally
Publisher: iUniverse
Genre: Thriller/Crime
Format: Ebook
Niki is no stranger to horrific personal challenges. As a child, she bravely endured abandonment by her father. While in her teens, she witnessed her mother’s murder and the abduction and presumed death of her only sibling. Although her secrets have always been carefully cloaked from others, they have shaped her personality more than she would like to admit. But with a past as terrible as hers, how can Niki ever hope for a bright future? Years later, Niki is a dedicated profiler in a criminal investigation agency with no idea her life is about to change exponentially. One day, through a quirky twist of fate, she receives startling news that her sister, Inge, is alive. As a driving force compels Niki to search for her, she embarks on a quest that takes her through cities and wilderness on two continents. She encounters difficult decisions, threatening mobsters, near-death experiences, and romance, yet nothing deters her from reaching her goal—not even a gruesome discovery about her father. But Niki is about to discover that things are never what they seem to be. In this thrilling tale, deception and inner turmoil hamper a young woman’s journey toward a new reality as she attempts to reconcile her past and find the truth.
Ilona Salley emigrated from Germany to Toronto, Canada, with her family when she was three. Throughout her life, her interests have included squash, skiing, wood carving, literature, art, and languages. Her fascination with architecture and archaeology has led her to travel in search of ancient places and artifacts. After a long career as an educator, she expanded her horizons by teaching in England and China. Now, she spends part of each year in Fort Myers, Florida.

Monday, November 20
Review From Here
Literal Exposure

Tuesday, November 21
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A Title Wave

Wednesday, November 22
A Book Lover
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Thursday, November 23
T's Stuff
Mythical Books

Friday, November 24
My Bookish Pleasures
Inkslinger's Opus

Monday, November 27
All Inclusive Retort
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Tuesday, November 28
Bent Over Bookwords
Lover of Literature

Wednesday, November 29
The Book Czar
The Book Refuge

Thursday, November 30
The Hype and the Hoopla
The Revolving Bookshelf

Friday, December 1
Voodoo Princess
Write and Take Flight

Chasing Dopamine by Dr. Patrick Mbaya, author of My Brain is Out of Control







Publication Date: September 2016
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Formats: Ebook
Pages: 76
Genre: Biography/Autobiography
Tour Dates: October 23-December 15

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Although Dr. Patrick Mbaya’s illness caused a lot distress and nearly took his life, the emotional symptoms of the depression he developed helped him understand and empathize with patients and how they feel when they become ill. In My Brain is Out of Control, Mbaya, fifty-five and at the peak of his career, shares a personal story of how he suffered from a brain infection in 2010 that caused loss of speech, right-sided weakness, and subsequent depression. He tells how he also dealt with the antibiotics complications of low white cell count and hepatitis. He narrates his experiences as a patient, the neurological and psychiatric complications he encountered, how he coped, and his journey to recovery. Presenting a personal perspective of Mbaya’s illness from the other side of the bed, My Brain is Out of Control, offers profound insight into battling a serious illness.



CHASING DOPAMINE: NATURAL HIGHS 

 Following my mystery illness, I developed strategies in order to get my body and brain strength back. I used natural ways to induce (chase) dopamine in the reward centre. Press-ups is one way to keep fit, and at the same time, chase dopamine. This can be done at home in secret, especially at the beginning, like when I first started doing press-ups, after doing one, I couldn’t lift my body off the floor! After two years of practice, I was able to do 60 in 60 seconds! Not bad. As they say, “practice makes perfect.” 

Whatever exercise one designs, that’s fine. You will know it’s working when you sweat, muscles start to ache and maybe in time muscles start to show? For those people who are courageous enough to go the gym or jog, that’s even better. I have continued with my exercise regime at home. Although before you start it might be a struggle, when you are in the flow, you actually feel good, solutions to complex problems are found, especially when done first thing in the morning? 

Another way of chasing dopamine, is listening to good music. I used this strategy when I was recovering. I tried to lift my mood by visiting the “Mandela Garden” while listening to good music. The sort of music which can make dopamine flow even in “aliens” brains. 

In addition to “chasing dopamine,” exercise will also improve blood flow to different parts of the body, which may have been injured. As outlined in, “My Brain is Out of Control,” I was advised by my orthopaedic doctor, following my knee injury while doing my “moon walk”, at a club in Washington, that I will need a knee replacement, but I have not had any problems, I think I have completely recovered? That’s this form physiotherapy, has been beneficial to me. 

There are user friendly ways of chasing dopamine, where one does not get in any form of bother or arguments with any one. Thus, although you might not chase as much dopamine, compared to naughty or illegal ways, this can be done at any time, and anywhere? 

The brain is involved in processing reward. The brain connection called the, “mesolimbic” dopamine pathway, is involved in reward, and pleasure. This is described as the “pleasure centre.” The chemical dopamine is the pleasure chemical that transmits this information for both natural highs (chasing dopamine), and drugs of addiction (naughty ways of chasing dopamine), like stimulants (cocaine and amphetamines), which are powerful inducers of dopamine. 

In natural highs (chasing dopamine), natural occurring chemicals from different parts of the brain carry messages to influence the mesolimbic pathway for reinforcement, and reward. Some behaviours as described above, including exercise, sex (orgasm), food, and listening to good music, can trigger the mesolimbic pathway. 

The brain makes its own chemicals like endorphins (brain morphine like substance), endocannabinoids (brain cannabis like substance) etc, can act on the reward system, triggering dopamine, causing pleasure in the reward system. 

Drugs of addiction, including alcohol, cannabis, opiates, amphetamines, cocaine, bypass natural occurring chemicals (neurotransmitters), and directly stimulate brain receptors, causing dopamine release. Artificial highs may be achieved on demand rather than naturally. Using more of a particular drug, will release more dopamine, inducing my more pleasure, than naturally chasing dopamine. Drugs of addiction release much more pleasure than natural highs, although at an expense of likelihood addiction. However, with time, the drug stops working, or when the individual decides to stop using the drug, dopamine receptors crave for dopamine. The individual becomes pre-occupied with the drug, and will try to avoid the horrible withdrawal symptoms by using the drug, and not for enjoyment. Thus, addiction has occurred. 

Some of the current drugs used to treat addiction, work by interacting with this system. Drugs which work by reducing consumption, promote abstinence or reduce craving of a particular psychoactive drug (like Acamprosate, and the opiate blocker Nalmefene for alcohol, or topiramate for cocaine). 

 Dr Patrick Mbaya MD FRCPsych. 

www.drpatrickmbaya.com 

Essential Psychopharmacology, Neuroscientific Basis, and Practical Applications. Stephen M. Stahl. Second Edition, Cambridge University Press, 2000. 

Essential Psychopharmacology, Neuroscientific Basis, and Practical Applications. Stephen M. Stahl. Fourth Edition, Cambridge University Press, 2013. 

Lowinson and Ruiz’s Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook, Fifth Edition (Williams & Wilkens, 2011). 

My Brain Is Out of Control. Patrick Mbaya. Author House. September 2016.



Dr. Patrick Mbaya is a medical doctor specializing in psychiatry. He is a consultant psychiatrist and honorary clinical lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. He has a special interest in mood and addiction disorders.

Book Feature: The Light Theatre Opened to Universe (II) by Kazuo Ueno




Title: The Light Theater Opened to Universe (II)
Author: Kazuo Ueno
Publisher: Xlibris
Genre: Philosophy
Format: Ebook


How 17th Century Dutch Painter Johannes Vermeer's idea was ifluenced from Christian Huygens? Perhaps in the sense of subconsciousness and eventually how it was realized by the method so called "Mitate" (look alike) in his painting as Heaven & Earth correspondence. His painting represents "Universe" itself.



Book Feature: My Brain is Out of Control by Dr. Patrick Mbaya







Publication Date: September 2016
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Formats: Ebook
Pages: 76
Genre: Biography/Autobiography
Tour Dates: August 14-August 25

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Although Dr. Patrick Mbaya’s illness caused a lot distress and nearly took his life, the emotional symptoms of the depression he developed helped him understand and empathize with patients and how they feel when they become ill. In My Brain is Out of Control, Mbaya, fifty-five and at the peak of his career, shares a personal story of how he suffered from a brain infection in 2010 that caused loss of speech, right-sided weakness, and subsequent depression. He tells how he also dealt with the antibiotics complications of low white cell count and hepatitis. He narrates his experiences as a patient, the neurological and psychiatric complications he encountered, how he coped, and his journey to recovery. Presenting a personal perspective of Mbaya’s illness from the other side of the bed, My Brain is Out of Control, offers profound insight into battling a serious illness.

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Dr. Patrick Mbaya is a medical doctor specializing in psychiatry. He is a consultant psychiatrist and honorary clinical lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. He has a special interest in mood and addiction disorders.


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Interview with Mary Brooks, author of Mary Lives A story of Anorexia Nervosa & Bipolar Disorder








Publication Date: March 5, 2014
Publisher: XlibrisAU
Formats: Ebook
Pages: 396
Genre: Mental Health
Tour Dates: July 24th-August 4th

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In this chaotic, desperate storm the brain tries hard to gather its fragmented parts, and anchor down the guy lines. To weather out this hopelessness, this turmoil and this pain, -prevent disintegration until the calm returns and clear skies come again.In this chaotic, desperate storm the brain tries hard to gather its fragmented parts, and anchor down the guy lines. To weather out this hopelessness, this turmoil and this pain, -prevent disintegration until the calm returns and clear skies come again.





Do you have a daily writing routine? 

No, I have been very slack lately and need to get back to it. 

Where do you do most of your writing? 

At my computer. 

Where did you grow up? Can you tell us a little about it? 

I grew up in Mascot, New South Wales Australia, in the 1950s. I didn’t go without and had 2 loving parents, but unfortunately, they didn’t know what to do with me when I became depressed and anorexic, and when I became a hospitalized Psychiatric patient, I lost contact with my family for about 15 years. 

What is your motto in life/writing? 

My motto in life is “Do Unto Others” 

What inspired you to writing your book? 

Writing this book I was inspired by realizing how far I had come, and deciding to share that with others. And hopefully helping others as well.



Mary is a General Practitioner, a Family Doctor, and became anorexic and depressed at age 12. She writes of the chaos and pain of her life, through her abnormal adolescence and adult years, to the equilibrium of the current day. It is an enlightening and inspiring story of Anorexia Nervosa and Bipolar Affective Disorder or Manic Depression.


Clinical Depression Guest Post by Dr. Patrick Mbaya, author of My Brain is Out of Control







Although Dr. Patrick Mbaya’s illness caused a lot distress and nearly took his life, the emotional symptoms of the depression he developed helped him understand and empathize with patients and how they feel when they become ill. In My Brain is Out of Control, Mbaya, fifty-five and at the peak of his career, shares a personal story of how he suffered from a brain infection in 2010 that caused loss of speech, right-sided weakness, and subsequent depression. He tells how he also dealt with the antibiotics complications of low white cell count and hepatitis. He narrates his experiences as a patient, the neurological and psychiatric complications he encountered, how he coped, and his journey to recovery. Presenting a personal perspective of Mbaya’s illness from the other side of the bed, My Brain is Out of Control, offers profound insight into battling a serious illness.

GUEST POST

CLINICAL DEPRESSION
 Clinical Depression is a common illness, different from ordinary sadness, which is a normal reaction. It can affect anyone, including doctors like myself, and indeed I suffered from this, during my illness. It is not a weakness.
It may occur spontaneously in vulnerable individuals, like someone with a family history of depression. Severe stress or traumatic events in childhood, may also make an individual vulnerable to developing depressive illness, later on in life. Recent research has shown that this could be due to the effect of stress hormone cortisol, on the developing brain. Severe stress or loss events (like losing a family member) can cause (precipitate) it. In my case the brain infection I suffered, affected the limbic/emotional brain (see below).
Emotions, and certain behaviours are controlled by the limbic (emotional) brain. This is like a circuit comprising of connections from the brain stem (stem of the brain), to the front part of the brain (prefrontal cortex, the part in front of the motor cortex), then to the medial (inner side) of the temporal lobe structures like amygdala and hippocampus. In my case, it is the left prefrontal cortex, which is next to the motor cortex (which caused weakness on my right side) and the speech (Broca’s) area.
There are different theories about the biological causes of depression within the brain. However, there is a lot of clinical, and research evidence that depression is associated altered levels of chemicals (neurotransmitters) that control emotions, and behaviours. The two main chemicals (neurotransmitters) being serotonin and noradrenaline (also known as norepinephrine). These chemicals are made by the brain from the food we eat, like bananas (I asked my daughter to get me bananas during my recovery phase). Emotions and behaviours like mood, sleep, appetite, enjoyment, concentration, short-term memory, energy, and some forms of thinking are controlled by these chemicals.
There is both clinical, and research evidence that these chemicals become imbalanced, causing symptoms of clinical depression including persistent low mood, tearfulness, poor sleep, lack of enjoyment, poor concentration, short term memory, reduced interest in things, poor appetite, feeling negative (like focussing on past traumatic or unhappy events, or being emotionally affected by current sad events) up to including suicidal thoughts. (Recent research has shown that amygdala become very active in clinical depression, negative traumatic past events tend to re-surface and the individual becomes pre-occupied with these events, feels hopeless, worthless, and has suicidal thoughts, and these symptoms are reversed by effective treatment of depression). These symptoms tend to be worse in the morning (diurnal variation, possibly related to high levels of the stress hormone cortisol) and can improve later on during the day. Like in my case, my mood was worse in the morning. “I was emotional and found myself crying without a moment’s notice.”
As depressive illness can affect confidence, energy, motivation, concentration, short term memory, level of functioning is impaired (the ability to carry out activities of daily living, even to the point of being unable to work, socialise or to go to school). The World Health Organization (WHO) found out in a study (1990), comparing medical illnesses, that depression was four in the league table, as a cause of health-related disability. They estimated that by 2020, it will rank second to heart disease!
Current research has shown that severe stress increases the levels of stress hormone cortisol, which in turn reduces serotonin, noradrenaline, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF, also known as brain fertilizer, which protects against cell death by cortisol), in the brain, causing depression.
Antidepressants work by increasing these chemicals/neurotransmitters (improving symptoms, and level of functioning), and may protect against severe stress causing depression. Psychological treatment like cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), is also effective in depression, especially in combination with antidepressants. Current guidelines recommend psychological treatment for mild to moderate depression, and antidepressant medication, plus psychological treatment for moderate to severe depression.
Dr Patrick Mbaya MD FRCPsych.
www.drpatrickmbaya.com
References: Cancel reply
Duman Ronald. Depression: a cause of neuronal life and death. Biological Psychiatry, 1 August 2004, vol.56:140-145  Cancel reply
Global Burden of Disease, World Health Organization, 1990.
Mbaya Patrick. My Brain Is Out Of Control. Author House. September, 2016
Shimizu Fiji et al.  Cancel replyAlterations of serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in depressed patients with or without antidepressants; Biological Psychiatry, 1 July 2003,Vol 54(1): 70-75
Stahl Stephen M. Essential Psychopharmacology, Neuroscientific Basis and Practical Applications. Second Edition.  Cambridge University Press.
Stress and Plasticity in Limbic System, Robert M. Sapolsky; Neurochemical Research, Vol. 28, No. 11.


Dr. Patrick Mbaya is a medical doctor specializing in psychiatry. He is a consultant psychiatrist and honorary clinical lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. He has a special interest in mood and addiction disorders.




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