Anorexia Nervosa Research Paper

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) was the first eating disorder to be classified, with some specific diagnostic criteria developed in the 1970s (Fairburn & Brownell, 2002). AN is a serious psychiatric disorder in terms of aetiology and epidemiology. 0.48% of prevalence of AN is estimated in girls who fall under the 15-19 age group (Lock et al., 2012). In AN, pathological thoughts and behaviours concerning food and weight, as well as emotions about appearance, eating and food co-occur (Lock et al., 2012). These thoughts, feelings and behaviours lead to changes in body composition and functions that are the direct results of starvation (Lock et al., 2012). The illness in adolescents causes severe affects physically and emotionally, and affects the social development of the individual. The causes of AN are not known but most of the researchers and clinicians agree that AN has multiple determinants (Garner et al., 1982) that emerge in a developmental sequence. Many physiological symptoms, common to semi-starvation irrespective of causes such as depressed mood, irritability, social withdrawal, loss of sexual libido, preoccupation with food, obsessional ruminations and rituals, as well as reduced alertness and concentration are also associated with Anorexia nervosa (Fairburn & Brownell, 2002). The illness is also associated with premorbid perfectionism, introversion, poor peer relations, and low self-esteem (Fairburn & Brownell, 2002). Patients suffering from AN, are also known to suffer from other physical consequences of starvation and other weight losing behaviours. The body’s response to starvation includes bone marrow suppression with increased susceptibility to overwhelming infection, which in the longer term may lead to health consequences s...

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...l electrophoresis (SCGE) also known as comet assay has become one of the standard methods for assessing DNA damage, with applications ranging from testing genotoxicity, human bio-monitoring and molecular epidemiology to its use in fundamental research in DNA damage and repair (Collins, 2004). The comet assay is a simple method for detecting DNA strand breaks within cells in eukaryotes. The procedure of comet assay includes Embedding the cells in agarose in a microscope slide, followed by lysing of cells with detergent and high salts to form nucleotides containing supercoiled loops of DNA linked to the nuclear matrix, and then undergoing Electrophoresis at high pH, which results in formation of structures resembling as comets, observed by fluorescence microscopy. The intensity of the comet tail relative to the head reflects the number of DNA breaks (Collins, 2004).