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An automated external defibrillator is used in cases of life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias which lead to cardiac arrest. The rhythms that the device will treat are usually limited to:

Pulseless Ventricular tachycardia (shortened to VT or V-Tach)[1]
Ventricular fibrillation (shortened to VF or V-Fib)
In each of these two types of shockable cardiac arrhythmia, the heart is electrically active, but in a dysfunctional pattern that does not allow it to pump and circulate blood. In ventricular tachycardia, the heart beats too fast to effectively pump blood. Ultimately, ventricular tachycardia leads to ventricular fibrillation. In ventricular fibrillation, the electrical activity of the heart becomes chaotic, preventing the ventricle from effectively pumping blood. The fibrillation in the heart decreases over time, and will eventually reach asystole.

AEDs, like all defibrillators, are not designed to shock asystole (‘flat line’ patterns) as this will not have a positive clinical outcome. The asystolic patient only has a chance of survival if, through a combination of CPR and cardiac stimulant drugs, one of the shockable rhythms can be established, which makes it imperative for CPR to be carried out prior to the arrival of a defibrillator.

Effect of delayed treatment Edit
Uncorrected, these cardiac conditions (ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, asystole) rapidly lead to irreversible brain damage and death, once cardiac arrest takes place. After approximately three to five minutes in cardiac arrest, irreversible brain/tissue damage may begin to occur. For every minute that a person in cardiac arrest goes without being successfully treated (by defibrillation), the chance of survival decreases by 7 percent per minute in the first 3 minutes, and decreases by 10 percent per minute as time advances beyond ~3 minutes.

AEDs are designed to be used by laypersons who ideally should have received AED training. However, sixth-grade students have been reported to begin defibrillation within 90 seconds, as opposed to a trained operator beginning within 67 seconds. This is in contrast to more sophisticated manual and semi-automatic defibrillators used by health professionals, which can act as a pacemaker if the heart rate is too slow (bradycardia) and perform other functions which require a skilled operator able to read electrocardiograms.

The use of easily visible status indicator and pad expiration date on a Cardiac Science G3 AED
An AED is “automatic” because of the unit’s ability to autonomously analyse the patient’s condition. To assist this, the vast majority of units have spoken prompts, and some may also have visual displays to instruct the user.

“External” refers to the fact that the operator applies the electrode pads to the bare chest of the victim (as opposed to internal defibrillators, which have electrodes surgically implanted inside the body of a patient).

When turned on or opened, the AED will instruct the user to connect the electrodes (pads) to the patient. Once the pads are attached, everyone should avoid touching the patient so as to avoid false readings by the unit. The pads allow the AED to examine the electrical output from the heart and determine if the patient is in a shockable rhythm (either ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia). If the device determines that a shock is warranted, it will use the battery to charge its internal capacitor in preparation to deliver the shock. This system is not only safer (charging only when required), but also allows for a faster delivery of the electric current.

When charged, the device instructs the user to ensure no one is touching the patient and then to press a button to deliver the shock; human intervention is usually required to deliver the shock to the patient in order to avoid the possibility of accidental injury to another person (which can result from a responder or bystander touching the patient at the time of the shock). Depending on the manufacturer and particular model, after the shock is delivered most devices will analyze the patient and either instruct CPR to be given, or administer another shock.

Many AED units have an ‘event memory’ which store the ECG of the patient along with details of the time the unit was activated and the number and strength of any shocks delivered. Some units also have voice recording abilities[18] to monitor the actions taken by the personnel in order to ascertain if these had any impact on the survival outcome. All this recorded data can be either downloaded to a computer or printed out so that the providing organisation or responsible body is able to see the effectiveness of both CPR and defibrillation. Some AED units even provide feedback on the quality of the compressions provided by the rescuer.[19]

The first commercially available AEDs were all of a monophasic type, which gave a high-energy shock, up to 360 to 400 joules depending on the model. This caused increased cardiac injury and in some cases second and third-degree burns around the shock pad sites. Newer AEDs (manufactured after late 2003) have tended to utilise biphasic algorithms which give two sequential lower-energy shocks of 120 – 200 joules, with each shock moving in an opposite polarity between the pads. This lower-energy waveform has proven more effective in clinical tests, as well as offering a reduced rate of complications and reduced recovery time.

 

When you’re a nice person, conflict can be a real challenge. Not that mean people are any better at conflict; they just enjoy it more.

How you handle conflict determines the amount of trust, respect, and connection you have with your colleagues.

Conflict typically boils down to moments when the stakes are high, emotions run strong and opinions differ. And you cannot master these moments without a high degree of emotional intelligence (EQ).

With a mastery of conflict being so critical to your success, it’s no wonder that, among the million-plus people that TalentSmart has given an emotional intelligence test, more than 90% of top performers have high EQs.

New research from Columbia University shows that how you handle conflict can make or break your career.

The researchers measured something scientifically that many of us have seen firsthand—people who are too aggressive in conflict situations harm their performance by upsetting and alienating their peers, while people who are too passive at handling conflict hinder their ability to reach their goals.

Passive-Assertive-Aggressive

The secret to effective handling of conflict is assertiveness—that delicate place where you get your needs met without bullying the other person into submission.

Assertive people strike a careful balance between passivity and aggression (that is, they never lean too far in either direction).

How To Handle Conflict Assertively

It’s easy to think that nice people are too passive. While that’s often true, unchecked passivity can boil over into aggression.

So there are plenty of very nice people out there who have exhibited both extremes of the assertiveness spectrum.

To be assertive, you need to learn to engage in healthy conflict.

Healthy conflict directly and constructively addresses the issue at hand without ignoring or trivializing the needs of either party.

The strategies that follow will get you there.

1. Consider the repercussions of silence.

Sometimes it’s hard to muster the motivation to speak up when the likelihood is high that things will turn ugly.

The fastest way to motivate yourself to act is to fully consider the costs of not speaking up—they’re typically far greater than not standing up for yourself.

The trick is that you need to shift your attention away from the headache that will come with getting involved to all of the things you stand to gain from your assertiveness.

2. Say “and” instead of “but.”

The simple act of replacing the word “but” with “and” makes conflict much more constructive and collaborative.

Say, for example, that your teammate John wants to use the majority of your budget on a marketing campaign, but you’re worried that doing so won’t leave enough money for a critical new hire. Instead of saying, “I see that you want to use the money for marketing, but I think we need to make a new hire,” say “I see that you want to use the money for marketing, and I think we need to make a new hire.”

The difference is subtle, but the first sentence minimizes the value of his idea.

The second sentence states the problem as you see it, without devaluing his idea, which then opens things up for discussion. Saying “and” makes the other party feel like you’re working with them, rather than against them.

3. Use hypotheticals.

When you assert yourself, you don’t want it to look like you’re poking holes in their idea (even when you are).

Hypotheticals are the perfect way to pull this off. Telling someone, for example, “Your new product idea won’t work because you overlooked how the sales team operates” comes across much more aggressively than suggesting the hypothetical, “How do you think our sales team will go about selling this new product?”

When you see a flaw and present a hypothetical, you’re engaging with the original idea and giving the other party a chance to explain how it might work. This shows that you’re willing to hear the other person out.

4. Don’t speak in absolutes (“You Always” or “You Never”).

No one always or never does anything. People don’t see themselves as one-dimensional, so you shouldn’t attempt to define them as such.

Using these phrases during conflict makes people defensive and closed off to your message.

Instead, point out what the other person did that’s a problem for you.

Stick to the facts.

If the frequency of the behavior is an issue, you can always say, “It seems like you do this often.” or “You do this often enough for me to notice.”

5. Ask good questions until you get to the heart of the matter.

Failing to understand the motive behind someone’s behavior throws fuel on the fire of conflict, because it makes everything they do appear foolish and shortsighted. Instead of pointing out flaws, you should seek to understand where the other person is coming from.

Try asking good questions, such as Why did you choose to do it that way?

What do you mean by that? and Can you help me to understand this better?

Even when you don’t see eye to eye, using questions to get to the underlying motive builds trust and understanding, both of which are conflict killers.

6. When you challenge, offer solutions.

People don’t like it when they feel as if you’re attempting to take apart their idea right off the bat.

When you challenge someone’s idea, but also offer a solution, you demonstrate that you want to work together to come up with a fix.

This reinforces the value of their idea, even if it’s full of holes. For example, you might say “One potential problem that I see with your idea is ___.

However, I think we can overcome this problem if we can just figure out a way to___.”

In this example, you aren’t even providing the solution.

You’re just acknowledging that you’re willing to work together to find one.

Bringing It All Together

Mastering conflict requires emotional intelligence.

Emotionally intelligent people know how to craft their message in a conflict, whether they’re naturally assertive or not.

They take other people’s feelings into account while still asserting themselves confidently.

How have you used assertiveness to your advantage?

These 7 Ways Can Help Clean Your Arteries Naturally

The largest cause of death in the United States of America is the cardiovascular disease. However, that should not worry you because the good news is that you can avoid that.
All you need to do is to take care of your arteries. If there is fat and cholesterol build up on the walls of your arteries with that, there is a formation of plaque.
When that happens your arteries become narrow and hard, this is a condition that is known as arteriosclerosis.

And when this happens, there is a reduction of the flow of blood to the heart, and that can lead to discomfort and chest pain, a condition that is known as angina.
If the plaque breaks open that can create a blood clot. And in case the blood clot is big that in turn can create a complete blockage of the blood flow and that lead to heart attack.
And in case it is an artery that is located or leads to the brain, and this artery blocks a stroke will occur.
Furthermore, blockage of the arteries might occur due to LDL and excessive amounts of that cholesterol.
The triglycerides are harmful as well. The triglycerides are produced in your liver after an excessive amount of calories and drinking alcohol.
What can also cause plaque buildup and damage the arteries and its inner layer can be blood vessel inflammation, high blood sugar, stress, high blood pressure and smoking.
But it doesn’t mean that you cannot reverse the plaque buildup. All you need to do is maintain a better diet and lifestyle.

How To Make A Thorough Detox For The Arteries

1. Stop Smoking

Do you know the statistic? Well it goes like this, 1 out of every 3 deaths of cardiovascular disease occurs because of smoking.
There are many harmful chemicals in your cigarettes that actually inflame your cells that line the blood vessels.
Because of smoking low HDL cholesterol levels and plaque might occur.
If you stop smoking you can undo some of the done damage. One year after you quit smoking, the risk of heart attack can decrease drastically.
Moreover, 5 years after you quit smoking the risk to have a stroke will almost be the same as the risk of stroke for a person that does not smoke.

2. Eat The Mediterranean Way

By now, you are surely aware of the fact that a diet that is well-balanced can help you a lot when it comes to the health of your heart.
The Mediterranean diet is said to be very beneficial for your heart because it has an abundance of antioxidants and unsaturated fats.
People that actually live in the Mediterranean region maitain a typical diet that is with limited amounts of sweets, red meat, butter, and eggs.

On the other hand, these people enjoy good diet such as seafood, fish, olive oil, whole grains, nuts, legumes and small portions of chicken and lean meat.

In fact, this diet includes vegetables, fruits and is high in fiber. Which is more than what there is in the usual American diet.
If you eat the Mediterranean way that can help you reduce the risk of heart diseases, lower your triglycerides and cholesterol and stabilize your blood sugar.

3. Sleep For Better Health

It is crucial to be well rested and to get the amount of sleep you need to. Sleeping is important for your overall health and also for your cholesterol levels.
In fact, deprivation of sleep is associated with obesity, and it might affect the balance of leptin and ghrelin. The leptin and ghrelin are hormones which regulate your hunger.

4. Focus On Your Fats

The recommendation of the American Heart Association is to consume more polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats and to restrict on the trans fat and saturated fats.
You should limit these fats to be only from 5 to 6 percent of calories you consume on a daily basis i.e. on a 2, 000 calorie diet that would be around 13 grams.
To be more accurate, reduce on cream, butter, cheese. Also on baked goods such as donuts, cookies, and cakes that have trans fats which are very harmful.
As a substitute, you can eat fatty fish such as sardines and salmon. You can also eat seeds and unsalted nuts. If you want red meat, you should go for the leanest cuts.

5. Start Moving

If you want to maintain your triglyceride and cholesterol levels, bear in mind that you should exercise 5 times per week, more than 30 minutes on a daily basis.

You should also combine resistance training with low-intensity such as pushups with the aerobic exercise of moderate intensity such as cycling and brisk walking.

In case you already have high cholesterol, you should consider increasing the intensity of your resistance training to high or moderate level.

And in case you are someone that is just starting with any type of exercise you can start with yoga. Because it is said that when it comes to the health of your heart yoga is just as good as the general aerobic exercise.

The yoga can help you to lower your blood pressure, your LDL cholesterol and it can also help you to lose the unwanted weight.
And moreover, it is a stress-buster which means that it can help you relax.

6. Cut Back On Salt and Sugar

Consuming sugar can contribute to obesity, cholesterol, and high blood sugar.

According to the American Heart Association, when it comes to men they should not consume more than nine teaspoons i.e. 150 calories of sugar on a daily basis, while women should not consume more than 100 calories on a daily basis i.e. six teaspoons.
In order to satisfy your sweet tooth, you can eat fresh fruit that is rich in antioxidants. An excessive amount of salt especially processed table salt can clog your arteries and raise the blood pressure.

7. Enjoy Foods That Are Artery-Friendly

You might do not know this, but certain types of food can actually help you clean your arteries.

6 Foods for Clean Arteries

1. Ayurvedic Herbs
To lower your cholesterol, you can use the guggul herb, and you can also make a blend of honey and garlic.
For people with arteriosclerosis, the herbs such as saffron, turmeric, myrrh, calamus, and safflower may be beneficial.
2. Oats and Chickpeas
Oats and chickpeas have soluble fiber that may bind to the cholesterol in your digestive system and help remove it before it goes to the arteries.
According to studies both chickpeas and oats can help lower your total cholesterol and LDL, and they can do that without having an influence on your HDL levels.
3. Nuts
If you consume nuts 5 times or more on a weekly basis that is around 50 to 100 grams of nuts such as walnuts, almonds, and pecans that can help you reduce the LDL.
And it can also contribute reducing your total cholesterol. In fact, it is proven to be even better than a diet that is low in fats when it comes to your heart.
4. Pomegranates
According to one study people that had carotid artery disease consumed pomegranate juice.
They drank it for 3 years , and they managed to reduce their arterial thickening up to 30 percent and to lower their blood pressure.
On the other hand, those that did not drink pomegranate juice notice increase in thickness of their arteries by 30 percent.
5. Avocado
The avocado is rich in soluble fiber, monounsaturated fats, antioxidants, and vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin A.
The avocado can lower the total cholesterol and LDL and increase the HDL.
Instead of butter, you can put avocado on your toast, you need to try it, and you might just love it.
6. Garlic
The Garlic has sulfur compounds that can help lower your cholesterol.
According to one study consuming garlic for 6 to 8 months can lower the triglycerides and serum cholesterol.
Also, it can raise the HDL cholesterol in healthy people and people with coronary heart disease.

Australian researchers have come up with a non-invasive ultrasound technology that clears the brain of neurotoxic amyloid plaques – structures that are responsible for memory loss and a decline in cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients.

If a person has Alzheimer’s disease, it’s usually the result of a build-up of two types of lesions – amyloid plaques, and neurofibrillary tangles. Amyloid plaques sit between the neurons and end up as dense clusters of beta-amyloid molecules, a sticky type of protein that clumps together and forms plaques.

Neurofibrillary tangles are found inside the neurons of the brain, and they’re caused by defective tau proteins that clump up into a thick, insoluble mass. This causes tiny filaments called microtubules to get all twisted, which disrupts the transportation of essential materials such as nutrients and organelles along them, just like when you twist up the vacuum cleaner tube.

As we don’t have any kind of vaccine or preventative measure for Alzheimer’s – a disease that affects 343,000 people in Australia, and 50 million worldwide – it’s been a race to figure out how best to treat it, starting with how to clear the build-up of defective beta-amyloid and tau proteins from a patient’s brain. Now a team from the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) at the University of Queensland have come up with a pretty promising solution for removing the former.

Publishing in Science Translational Medicine, the team describes the technique as using a particular type of ultrasound called a focused therapeutic ultrasound, which non-invasively beams sound waves into the brain tissue. By oscillating super-fast, these sound waves are able to gently open up the blood-brain barrier, which is a layer that protects the brain against bacteria, and stimulate the brain’s microglial cells to activate. Microglila cells are basically waste-removal cells, so they’re able to clear out the toxic beta-amyloid clumps that are responsible for the worst symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

The team reports fully restoring the memory function of 75 percent of the mice they tested it on, with zero damage to the surrounding brain tissue. They found that the treated mice displayed improved performance in three memory tasks – a maze, a test to get them to recognise new objects, and one to get them to remember the places they should avoid.