Tensions in charismatic-evangelical urban practice: Towards a practical charismatic-evangelical urban social ethic

The past fifteen years have witnessed a growing engagement with disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods on the part of UK charismatic-evangelical churches. Yet this has received little attention within previous academic studies across a variety of disciplines (voluntary sector studies; the sociology of religion; Christian social ethics; and evangelical, charismatic and Pentecostal theology). In addressing these gaps, this study achieves two main purposes. Firstly, it enables greater understanding of charismatic-evangelical motivation and urban practice. Secondly, it reflects theologically on such motivation and practice, and articulates a distinctive practical charismatic-evangelical urban social ethic. To do this, the study drew on models of practical theology to integrate qualitative research with theological reflection. Given the under-researched nature of the subject area, an exploratory, inductive, and multi-method research approach was chosen. This combined an ethnographic study of a charismatic-evangelical urban church with focus groups in a further three charismatic-evangelical churches. Analysis of the qualitative data gathered led to the identification of six tensions that characterise contemporary charismatic-evangelical urban practice. An engagement with other bodies of literature then found that all six tensions have some resonance with the findings of previous research in voluntary sector studies and the sociology of religion. However, it also revealed that the experience of UK charismatic-evangelical urban churches challenges certain established understandings in these disciplines. The task of (more explicit) theological reflection involved a series of facilitated dialogues between charismatic-evangelical urban practice and theoretical approaches to Christian social ethics. These dialogues then led on to an attempt to construct a distinctive practical charismatic-evangelical urban social ethic. This is presented as a creative response to the tensions encountered in charismatic-evangelical urban practice that is both consistent with charismatic-evangelical convictions and open to insights from other traditions. The thesis makes two main contributions to academic knowledge. Firstly, it brings a greater understanding of charismatic-evangelical urban practice to the disciplines of voluntary sector studies and the sociology of religion. Secondly, it represents both a contribution and a challenge to established theoretical perspectives in Christian social ethics and evangelical theology. Contributing as it does to a variety of academic disciplines, as well as enhancing institutional and professional knowledge, this is a not a prepositional thesis, but a foundational one. As such, it opens up a new field of enquiry and sets out theoretical conceptions intended to provoke further scholarly enquiry and reflective practice

The Effect of Habitual Smoking on VO2max

VO2max is associated with many factors, including age, gender, physical activity, and body composition. It is popularly believed that habitual smoking lowers aerobic fitness. PURPOSE: to determine the effect of habitual smoking on VO2max after controlling for age, gender, activity and BMI. METHODS: 2374 men and 375 women employed at the NASA/Johnson Space Center were measured for VO2max by indirect calorimetry (RER>=1.1), activity by the 11 point (0-10) NASA Physical Activity Status Scale (PASS), BMI and smoking pack-yrs (packs day*y of smoking). Age was recorded in years and gender was coded as M=1, W=0. Pack.y was made a categorical variable consisting of four levels as follows: Never Smoked (0), Light (1-10), Regular (11-20), Heavy (>20). Group differences were verified by ANOVA. A General Linear Models (GLM) was used to develop two models to examine the relationship of smoking behavior on VO2max. GLM #1(without smoking) determined the combined effects of age, gender, PASS and BMI on VO2max. GLM #2 (with smoking) determined the added effects of smoking (pack.y groupings) on VO2max after controlling for age, gender, PASS and BMI. Constant errors (CE) were calculated to compare the accuracy of the two models for estimating the VO2max of the smoking subgroups. RESULTS: ANOVA affirmed the mean VO2max of each pack.y grouping decreased significantly (p<0.01) as the level of smoking exposure increased. GLM #1 showed that age, gender, PASS and BMI were independently related with VO2max (R2 = 0.642, SEE = 4.90, p<0.001). The added pack.y variables in GLM #2 were statistically significant (R2 change = 0.7%, p<0.01). Post hoc analysis showed that compared to Never Smoked, the effects on VO2max from Light and Regular smoking habits were -0.83 and -0.85 ml.kg- 1.min-1 respectively (p<0.05). The effect of Heavy smoking on VO2max was -2.56 ml.kg- 1.min-1 (p<0.001). The CE s of each smoking group in GLM #2 was smaller than the CE s of the smoking group counterparts in GLM #1. CONCLUSIONS: After accounting for the effects of gender, age, PASS and BMI the effect of habitual smoking on reducing VO2max is minimal, about 0.85 ml/kg/min, until the habit exceeds 20 pack.y at which point an additional decrease of 1.71 ml/kg/min is noted. Adding pack.y data improves the accuracy of predicting the VO2max of smokers

Taming the symbiont for coexistence: a host PGRP neutralizes a bacterial symbiont toxin

In horizontally-transmitted mutualisms between marine animals and their bacterial partners, the host environment promotes the initial colonization by specific symbionts that it harvests from the surrounding bacterioplankton. Subsequently, the host must develop long-term tolerance to immunogenic bacterial molecules, such as peptidoglycan and lipopolysaccaride derivatives. We describe the characterization of the activity of a host peptidoglycan-recognition protein (EsPGRP2) during establishment of the symbiosis between the squid Euprymna scolopes and its luminous bacterial symbiont Vibrio fischeri. Using confocal immunocytochemistry, we localized EsPGRP2 to all epithelial surfaces of the animal, and determined that it is exported in association with mucus shedding. Most notably, EsPGRP2 was released by the crypt epithelia into the extracellular spaces housing the symbionts. This translocation occurred only after the symbionts had triggered host morphogenesis, a process that is induced by exposure to the peptidoglycan monomer (TCT), a bacterial ‘toxin’ that is constitutively exported by V. fischeri. Enzymatic analyses demonstrated that, like many described PGRPs, EsPGRP2 has a TCT-degrading amidase activity. The timing of EsPGRP2 export into the crypts provides evidence that the host does not export this protein until after TCT induces morphogenesis, and thereafter EsPGRP2 is constantly present in the crypts ameliorating the effects of V. fischeri TCT

Peptidoglycan Induces Loss of a Nuclear PGRP During Host Tissue Development in a Beneficial Animal–Bacterial Symbiosis

Peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs) are mediators of innate immunity and recently have been implicated in developmental regulation. To explore the interplay between these two roles, we characterized a PGRP in the host squid Euprymna scolopes (EsPGRP1) during colonization by the mutualistic bacterium Vibrio fischeri. Previous research on the squid-vibrio symbiosis had shown that, upon colonization of deep epithelium-lined crypts of the host light organ, symbiont-derived peptidoglycan monomers induce apoptosis-mediated regression of remote epithelial fields involved in the inoculation process. In this study, immunofluorescence microscopy revealed that EsPGRP1 localizes to the nuclei of epithelial cells, and symbiont colonization induces the loss of EsPGRP1 from apoptotic nuclei. The loss of nuclear EsPGRP1 occurred prior to DNA cleavage and breakdown of the nuclear membrane, but followed chromatin condensation, suggesting that it occurs during late stage apoptosis. Experiments with purified peptidoglycan monomers and with V. fischeri mutants defective in peptidoglycan-monomer release provided evidence that these molecules trigger nuclear loss of EsPGRP1 and apoptosis. The demonstration of a nuclear PGRP is unprecedented, and the dynamics of EsPGRP1 during apoptosis provide a striking example of a connection between microbial recognition and developmental responses in the establishment of symbiosis

Arrhythmogenic actions of the Ca2+ channel agonist FPL-64716 in Langendorff-perfused murine hearts

The experiments explored the extent to which alterations in L-type Ca2+ channel-mediated Ca2+ entry triggers Ca2+-mediated arrhythmogenesis in Langendorff-perfused murine hearts through use of the specific L-type Ca2+ channel modulator FPL-64716 (FPL). Introduction of FPL (1 μm) resulted in a gradual development (>10 min) of diastolic electrical events and alternans in spontaneously beating hearts from which monophasic action potentials were recorded. In regularly paced hearts, they additionally led to non-sustained and sustained ventricular tachycardia (nsVT and sVT). Programmed electrical stimulation (PES) resulted in nsVT and sVT after 5–10 and >10 min perfusion, respectively. Pretreatments with nifedipine, diltiazem and cyclopiazonic acid abolished arrhythmogenic tendency induced by subsequent introduction of FPL, consistent with its dependence upon both extracellular Ca2+ entry and the degree of filling of the sarcoplasmic reticular Ca2+ store. Values for action potential duration at 90% repolarization when any of these agents were applied to FPL-treated hearts became indistinguishable from those shown by untreated control hearts, in contrast to earlier reports of their altering in long QT syndrome type 3 and hypokalaemic murine models for re-entrant arrhythmogenesis. These arrhythmic effects instead correlated with alterations in Ca2+ homeostasis at the single-cell level found in investigations of the effects of both FPL and the same agents in regularly stimulated fluo−3 loaded myocytes. These findings are compatible with a prolonged extracellular Ca2+ entry that potentially results in an intracellular Ca2+ overload and produces the cardiac arrhythmogenecity following addition of FPL

Canaleparolina darwiniensis, gen. nov., sp. nov., and other pillotinaceae spirochetes from insects

We describe two new pillotinaceous spirochetes (Canaleparolina darwiniensis, Diplocalyx cryptotermitidis) and identify for the first time Hollandina pterotermitidisfrom both the subterranean termite Cryptotermes cavifrons and the wood-eating cockroach Cryptocercus punctulatus based on morphometric analysis of transmission electron micrographic thin sections. C. darwiniensis, gen. nov., sp. nov., limited to near Darwin, Australia, invariably is present on the surface of the treponeme-studded trichomonad Mixotricha paradoxa, a consistent inhabitant of the hindgut of healthy termite Mastotermes darwiniensis. The spirochete both attached to the surface of protists and free-swimming in the paunch (hindgut) lumen of the insect has 16 periplasmic flagella (16:32:16) and imbricated wall structures that resemble flattened crenulations of Pillotina. The flagella surround half the protoplasmic cylinder. C. darwiniensis is the largest (0.5 μm diameter × 25 μm length) of the three epibiotic bacteria (two spirochetes, one rod) that comprise the complex cortex of its host Mixotricha paradoxa. Several criteria distinguish Diplocalyx cryptotermitidis sp. nov. isolated from Cryptotermes cavifrons intestine: smaller diameter, fewer flagella, absence of inner and outer coats of the outer membrane, wider angle subtended by its flagella and, most notably, cytoplasmic tubuleassociated centers, which are periodic electron dense spheres within the protoplasmic cylinder from which emanate cytoplasmic tubules up to 24 nm in diameter. This is also the first report of abundant populations of Hollandina in Cryptotermes cavifrons (those populations belong to the species H. pterotermitidis). Morphometric analysis of the first thin sections of any spirochetes (published nearly 40 years ago by A.V. Grimstone) permits us to identify the large (0.9 μm diameter) free-swimming intestinal symbiont of Cryptocercus punctulatus also as Hollandina pterotermitidis

Canaleparolina Darwiniensis, Gen. Nov., Sp. Nov., and Other Pillotinaceae Spirochetes from Insects

We describe two new pillotinaceous spirochetes (Canaleparolina darwiniensis, Diplocalyx cryptotermitidis) and identify for the first time Hollandina pterotermitidisfrom both the subterranean termite Cryptotermes cavifrons and the wood-eating cockroach Cryptocercus punctulatus based on morphometric analysis of transmission electron micrographic thin sections. C. darwiniensis, gen. nov., sp. nov., limited to near Darwin, Australia, invariably is present on the surface of the treponeme-studded trichomonad Mixotricha paradoxa, a consistent inhabitant of the hindgut of healthy termite Mastotermes darwiniensis. The spirochete both attached to the surface of protists and free-swimming in the paunch (hindgut) lumen of the insect has 16 periplasmic flagella (16:32:16) and imbricated wall structures that resemble flattened crenulations of Pillotina. The flagella surround half the protoplasmic cylinder. C. darwiniensis is the largest (0.5 μm diameter × 25 μm length) of the three epibiotic bacteria (two spirochetes, one rod) that comprise the complex cortex of its host Mixotricha paradoxa. Several criteria distinguish Diplocalyx cryptotermitidis sp. nov. isolated from Cryptotermes cavifrons intestine: smaller diameter, fewer flagella, absence of inner and outer coats of the outer membrane, wider angle subtended by its flagella and, most notably, cytoplasmic tubuleassociated centers, which are periodic electron dense spheres within the protoplasmic cylinder from which emanate cytoplasmic tubules up to 24 nm in diameter. This is also the first report of abundant populations of Hollandina in Cryptotermes cavifrons (those populations belong to the species H. pterotermitidis). Morphometric analysis of the first thin sections of any spirochetes (published nearly 40 years ago by A.V. Grimstone) permits us to identify the large (0.9 μm diameter) free-swimming intestinal symbiont of Cryptocercus punctulatus also as Hollandina pterotermitidis