The beneficial health effects of olive oil are due to both its high content of monounsaturated fatty acids and its high content of antioxidative substances. Studies have shown that olive oil offers protection against heart disease by controlling LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels while raising HDL (the “good” cholesterol) levels. (1-3) No other naturally produced oil has as large an amount of monounsaturated as olive oil -mainly oleic acid.

Olive oil is very well tolerated by the stomach. In fact, olive oil’s protective function has a beneficial effect on ulcers and gastritis. Olive oil activates the secretion of bile and pancreatic hormones much more naturally than prescribed drugs. Consequently, it lowers the incidence of gallstone formation.

Cancer Inhibitor
A study published in the January 2005 issue of Annals of Oncology has identified oleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid found in olive oil, as having the ability to reduce the affect of an oncogene (a gene that will turn a host cell into a cancer cell). This particular oncogene is associated with the rapid growth of breast cancer tumors. The conclusion of the researchers was that oleic acid when combined with drug therapy encouraged the self-destruction of aggressive, treatment-resistant cancer cells thus destroying the cancer.

Olive oil has been positively indicated in studies on prostate and endometrial cancers as well.

Unlike other fats, which are associated with a higher risk of colon cancer, olive oil helps protect the cells of the colon from carcinogens. A study published in the November 2003 issue of Food Chemistry Toxicology suggests that the antioxidants in olive oil reduce the amount of carcinogens formed when meat is cooked.

How to make Olive Oil
Milling is the process of taking olives and extracting the olive oil. It is often referred to as “Pressing”, although this is an obsolete and incomplete term. In the following sections, we describe the basics of the process, the different types of equipment used, as well as some other considerations related to the milling process.

When most people think about making olive oil, they often still imagine a donkey pulling a stone wheel around. This romantic notion, however, often misleads them in thinking that the old-fashion way of milling olives is the best way. This is one of the great myths about olive oil. Modern equipment, although it does not have the aesthetic appeal of the old stones and presses, allows producers to make vastly superior and healthier oil at a lower price, in much more sanitary conditions.

Buy Your Own Farm
South Africa represents a great opportunity to grow olives. Its close to the european export market, has excellent soils, abundant cheap labour and land prices are good compared to Tuscany and Australia. If you’re interested in buying an olive farm a good place to start would be olive farm for sale in south africa.

Parents want the very best for their children. And people tend to want everything that they feel that they are entitled to from their school. But sometimes we can expect too much from our public agencies, and sometimes we look in the wrong places for help. The answer to this question is somewhat long and complicated. So we will begin with writing that while someone with ADHD may qualify for protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act, not everyone with the diagnosis of ADHD will qualify. And that may include you or your child.

The Americans with Disabilities Act was established by Congress in 1990. The purpose of the Act is to end discrimination against persons with disabilities when it comes to housing, education, public transportation, recreation, health services, voting, and access to public services. It also aims to provide equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The ADA was written to offer protections to individuals with disabilities, not individuals with any particular diagnosis.

The Americans with Disabilities Act seeks to protect individuals with significant impairments in function. By the way, it is estimated that the population of the United States is over 300 million persons. And it is estimate that about 19% of persons have some type of long-lasting condition or disability. That would be somewhere near 60 million persons. This includes about 3.5% with a sensory disability involving sight or hearing, about 8% with a condition that limits basic physical activities such as walking or lifting. It also includes millions of people with mental, emotional, or cognitive impairments. See the details in the Census 2000 Brief titled, Disability Status 2000 at Census dot gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-17 dot pdf

Since Congress enacted the ADA courts have had several challenges in defining the scope of the Act. What exactly is a disability? Who would be defined as having a disability? Is having a diagnosis the same as having a disability? These are some of the questions that the courts have had to wrestle with, not to mention the questions related to how schools, work places, public transportation agencies, and more, are to implement the Act in daily operations with both employees and customers.

So, to the Question: Is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder included in the ADA? The answer is Yes, No, or Maybe.

The ADA defines disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, such as walking, seeing, hearing, or learning. Having a diagnosed impairment, such as ADHD, does not necessarily mean that an individual is disabled within the meaning of the ADA.

The ADA does provide for mental conditions or mental illnesses, and potentially ADHD fits in this category. But as with physical impairments, the diagnosis of a mental illness or mental impairment such as ADHD is not sufficient by itself to qualify for protection under ADA. Again, having a diagnosis is not the same as having a disability.

We are not lawyers, and our readers probably are not either, but it is interesting to look at some of the recent court cases regarding the ADA that directly related to children or adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. These two cases seem to expand the definition of major life activities to include concentration and cognitive functions: Brown v. Cox Medical Centers (8th Cir. 2002), where reportedly the court stated that the ability to perform cognitive functions is a major life activity; and Gagliardo v. Connaught Laboratories, Inc. (3d Cir. 2002), where reportedly the court held that concentrating and remembering (more generally, cognitive function) are major life activities.

But the courts have placed limitations on the scope of the Act as well, and have not just tried to accommodate everyone with ADHD. The court has its limits, and they have ruled that the ADA has its limits.

For example Knapp v. City of Columbus (2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 17081) is the story of three firefighters with ADHD who wanted the City to make accommodations for them in their jobs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit declined to extend ADA coverage to three firefighters who had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Three firefighters had claimed that ADHD substantially limited their ability to learn, so the City should make accommodations for them. But the court held that the firefighters failed to establish that their ADHD met the standards to qualify as a disability under the ADA.

A very important limitation of Act involved a ruling from an earlier Supreme Court case with Toyota in 2002 which the Sixth Circuit Court used in this case with the firefighters. The Sixth Circuit applied the U.S. Supreme Courts test in Toyota Motor Mfg., Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams, 534 U.S. 184 (2002). Under the Toyota Motor ruling the courts must consider whether the person making the claim is unable to perform the variety of tasks central to most people’s daily lives, not whether the claimant is unable to perform the tasks associated with his or her specific job. When applying this test, the Sixth Circuit wrote that when a person who is seeking protection or accommodations under the ADA can fully compensate for an impairment through medication, personal practice, or an alteration of behavior, a disability, as defined by the Disabilities Act, does not exist.

In other words, if a child, teen, or adult with ADHD can get the task done or get the job done by using medications, applying behavioral management techniques, receiving counseling, using biofeedback, using Attend, or other treatment interventions, then they do not have a disability that is protected under the ADA.

In this court case, all three firefighters testified that taking Ritalin controlled their symptoms, and that they were able to fulfill their family and work obligations. Thus, an ADA disability was not found. So, it would follow that if you, or your child, could function pretty well at work or in school when taking medication or Attend, or using some other treatment, no disability as defined under the ADA would exist – at least according to the 6th Circuit Court.

Also, it seems that as a result of this ruling, employers under the Sixth Circuit do not need to make accommodations for employees with ADHD under these conditions:

When the disorder has not been shown to substantially impair their ability to perform tasks central to daily life;

When the ADHD symptoms can be improved by medication or other treatments.

Here is a pretty good list from a major university of the conditions that must be met for ADHD to qualify for coverage and protection under the American with Disabilities Act of 1990:

The ADHD must cause significant impact or limitation in a major life activity or function;

The individual must be regarded as having a disability;

The individual must have a record of having been viewed as being disabled;

The applicant must also be able to perform the essential job functions with or without accommodations to qualify as an individual with a disability under the meaning of the Act.

To establish that an individual is covered under the ADA, documentation must indicate that a specific disability exists and that the identified disability substantially limits one or more major life activities. Documentation must also support the accommodations requested.

The evaluation must be conducted by a qualified professional, such as psychologist, neuropsychologist, psychiatrist, or other medical doctor who has had comprehensive training in the differential diagnosis of ADHD and direct experience with an adult ADHD population. The name, title, and professional credentials of the evaluator should be clearly stated. All reports should be on letterhead, typed, dated, signed and otherwise legible. Documentation must be current. The diagnostic evaluation must adequately address the individual’s current level of functioning and need for accommodations. In most cases, the evaluation must have been completed in the last three years.

A school plan, such as an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or 504 Plan, is insufficient documentation for a university, but can be included for consideration as part of a more comprehensive evaluative report. Documentation necessary to substantiate the diagnosis must be comprehensive and include:

Evidence of early impairment. Historical information must be presented to demonstrate symptoms in childhood which manifested in more than one setting.

Evidence of current impairment, which may include presenting attentional symptoms and/or ongoing impulsive/hyperactive behaviors that significantly impair functioning in two or more settings.

In addition, the diagnostic interview should include information from, but not limited to, the following sources: developmental history, family history, academic history, medical history, and prior psycho-educational test reports. Alternative diagnoses or explanations should be ruled out. The evaluator must investigate and discuss the possibility of dual diagnoses and alternative or coexisting mood, behavioral, neurological, and/or personality disorders that may confound the diagnosis of ADHD.

Relevant testing information must be provided and all data must reflect a diagnosis of ADHD and a resultant substantial limitation to learning.

Documentation must include a specific diagnosis. The diagnosis must include specific criteria based on the DSM-IV, including evidence of impairment during childhood, presentation of symptoms for at least the past six months, and clear evidence of significant impairment in two or more settings. The diagnostician should use direct language in the diagnosis of ADHD, avoiding the use of such terms as suggests, is indicative of, or attentional problems. An interpretive summary must be provided that demonstrates that alternative explanations have been ruled out and that explains how the presence of ADHD was determined, the effects of any mitigating measures (such as medication), the substantial limitation to learning caused by the ADHD, and the rationale for specific accommodations.

Obviously, dealing with government regulations with their specific definitions can be very frustrating and difficult. It would be important to have realistic expectations in regards to the American with Disabilities Act and ADHD. We would recommend getting legal advice from an attorney who specializes in educational law, or has expertise in the Americans with Disabilities Act, to learn more about how the ADA may apply in a specific case to a particular individual with ADHD.

By: Doug Cowan

The three people you’ve just met, Mark, Lisa, and Henry, all have a form of ADHD–Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. ADHD is not like a broken arm, or strep throat. Unlike these two disorders, ADHD does not have clear physical signs that can be seen in an x-ray or a lab test. ADHD can only be identified by looking for certain characteristic behaviors, and as with Mark, Lisa, and Henry, these behaviors vary from person to person. Scientists have not yet identified a single cause behind all the different patterns of behavior–and they may never find just one. Rather, someday scientists may find that ADHD is actually an umbrella term for several slightly different disorders.

At present, ADHD is a diagnosis applied to children and adults who consistently display certain characteristic behaviors over a period of time. The most common behaviors fall into three categories: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

Inattention. People who are inattentive have a hard time keeping their mind on any one thing and may get bored with a task after only a few minutes. They may give effortless, automatic attention to activities and things they enjoy. But focusing deliberate, conscious attention to organizing and completing a task or learning something new is difficult.

For example, Lisa found it agonizing to do homework. Often, she forgot to plan ahead by writing down the assignment or bringing home the right books. And when trying to work, every few minutes she found her mind drifting to something else. As a result, she rarely finished and her work was full of errors.

Hyperactivity. People who are hyperactive always seem to be in motion. They can’t sit still. Like Mark, they may dash around or talk incessantly. Sitting still through a lesson can be an impossible task. Hyperactive children squirm in their seat or roam around the room. Or they might wiggle their feet, touch everything, or noisily tap their pencil. Hyperactive teens and adults may feel intensely restless. They may be fidgety or, like Henry, they may try to do several things at once, bouncing around from one activity to the next.

Impulsivity. People who are overly impulsive seem unable to curb their immediate reactions or think before they act. As a result, like Lisa, they may blurt out inappropriate comments. Or like Mark, they may run into the street without looking. Their impulsivity may make it hard for them to wait for things they want or to take their turn in games. They may grab a toy from another child or hit when they’re upset.

Not everyone who is overly hyperactive, inattentive, or impulsive has an attention disorder. Since most people sometimes blurt out things they didn’t mean to say, bounce from one task to another, or become disorganized and forgetful, how can specialists tell if the problem is ADHD?

To assess whether a person has ADHD, specialists consider several critical questions: Are these behaviors excessive, long-term, and pervasive? That is, do they occur more often than in other people the same age? Are they a continuous problem, not just a response to a temporary situation? Do the behaviors occur in several settings or only in one specific place like the playground or the office? The person’s pattern of behavior is compared against a set of criteria and characteristics of the disorder. These criteria appear in a diagnostic reference book called the DSM (short for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).

According to the diagnostic manual, there are three patterns of behavior that indicate ADHD. People with ADHD may show several signs of being consistently inattentive. They may have a pattern of being hyperactive and impulsive. Or they may show all three types of behavior.

According to the DSM, signs of inattention include:
• becoming easily distracted by irrelevant sights and sounds
• failing to pay attention to details and making careless mistakes
• rarely following instructions carefully and completely
• losing or forgetting things like toys, or pencils, books, and tools needed for a taskSome signs of hyperactivity and impulsivity are:
• feeling restless, often fidgeting with hands or feet, or squirming
• running, climbing, or leaving a seat, in situations where sitting or quiet behavior is expected
• blurting out answers before hearing the whole question
• having difficulty waiting in line or for a turn
• medical alert information

Because everyone shows some of these behaviors at times, the DSM contains very specific guidelines for determining when they indicate ADHD. The behaviors must appear early in life, before age 7, and continue for at least 6 months. In children, they must be more frequent or severe than in others the same age. Above all, the behaviors must create a real handicap in at least two areas of a person’s life, such as school, home, work, or social settings. So someone whose work or friendships are not impaired by these behaviors would not be diagnosed with ADHD. Nor would a child who seems overly active at school but functions well elsewhere.

ADHD, once called hyperkinesis or minimal brain dysfunction, is one of the most common mental disorders among children. It affects 3 to 5 percent of all children, perhaps as many as 2 million American children. Two to three times more boys than girls are affected. On the average, at least one child in every classroom in the United States needs help for the disorder. ADHD often continues into adolescence and adulthood, and can cause a lifetime of frustrated dreams and emotional pain.

But there is help…and hope. In the last decade, scientists have learned much about the course of the disorder and are now able to identify and treat children, adolescents, and adults who have it. A variety of medications, behavior-changing therapies, and educational options are already available to help people with ADHD focus their attention, build self-esteem, and function in new ways.

In addition, new avenues of research promise to further improve diagnosis and treatment. With so many American children diagnosed as having attention disorder, research on ADHD has become a national priority. During the 1990s–which the President and Congress have declared the “Decade of the Brain”–it is possible that scientists will pinpoint the biological basis of ADHD and learn how to prevent or treat it even more effectively.

This booklet is provided by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the Federal agency that supports research nationwide on the brain, mental illnesses, and mental health. Scientists supported by NIMH are dedicated to understanding the workings and interrelationships of the various regions of the brain, and to developing preventive measures and new treatments to overcome brain disorders that handicap people in school, work, and play.

The booklet offers up-to-date information on attention deficit disorders and the role of NIMH-sponsored research in discovering underlying causes and effective treatments. It describes treatment options, strategies for coping, and sources of information and support. You’ll find out what it’s like to have ADHD from the stories of Mark, Lisa, and Henry. You’ll see their early frustrations, their steps toward getting help, and their hopes for the future.

The individuals referred to here are not real, but their stories are representative of people who show symptoms of ADHD.