A room of one\u27s own, revisited: An existential-hermeneutic study of female solitude

This study presents an existential-hermeneutic analysis of nine women\u27s first-person accounts of extended periods of solitude. The accounts were analyzed along the five existential dimensions of spatiality, temporality, embodiment, language, and co-existentiality, producing a rich portrait of the women\u27s lived experience of solitude. One of the first-person accounts was provided by the author of the study, who underwent three solitary retreats in the interest of this project, adding an autoethnographic component to the work. Theory from the existential-phenomenological, monastic, ecopsychological, and feminist literatures was applied to the data, enabling us to interpret the significance of the shifts the women experienced through an interdisciplinary set of lenses. The women experienced both subtle and profound shifts in their senses of self and modes of being in the world over the course of their retreats. In the absence of direct human relations, the women developed greater intimacy with things, non-human beings, and the Divine. Through the practice of simplicity, the women cultivated humility and more contemplative modes of seeing, revealing previously hidden contours of the material world and fostering a child-like sense of wonder. By leaving clock time and slowing down, the women became increasingly oriented toward the present moment, entrained to the rhythms of the natural world, and attuned to their desire. By retreating from the gaze of the (human) other, the women worked to heal a sense of alienation from their own bodies, experienced a respite from feminine performativity, and came to move through the world more seamlessly and comfortably. And by observing silence, the women cultivated the ability to listen beyond the human conversation and the chattering of their own minds, developed a more sacred relationship to language, confronted their emotional demons, and found themselves increasingly drawn toward the poetic. Overall, through their solitudes, the women developed a greater stance of receptivity toward the more-than-human world, deconstructed elements of identity and modes of being aligned with the false self, and recovered aspects of their lived experience which had been neglected or suppressed over the course of becoming an adult, and especially a woman, in the context of contemporary American culture

Mononuclear and dinuclear heteroleptic Cu(I) complexes based on pyridyl-triazole and DPEPhos with long-lived excited-state lifetimes

A mononuclear and two dinuclear heteroleptic Cu(I) complexes have been successfully prepared, using the chelating bis [(2-diphenylphosphino)phenyl] ether (DPEPhos) and pyrid-2'-yl-1H-1,2,3-triazole as chelating ligands. They show good luminescence in solution at room temperature with long-lived excited states. Furthermore, bimolecular quenching experiments of these new complexes with the catalyst Ni(cyclam)Cl-2 encourage the use of such compounds as photosensitizers for the photoreduction of carbon dioxide. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

R-esp1, a rat homologue of Drosophila Groucho, is differentially expressed after optic nerve crush and mediates NGF-induced survival of PC12 cells

AbstractThe differential display reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction method was used to detect alterations in gene expression in the superior colliculus after optic nerve crush in adult rats. One of the most prominent changes observed was the selective induction of R-esp1, a homologue of the Drosophila enhancer of split locus (Groucho). Therefore, we studied the influence of R-esp1 on nerve growth factor (NGF)-induced cell survival of PC12 cells. Overexpression of R-esp1 promotes cell survival even in the absence of NGF and, conversely, it is reduced by antisense-mediated inhibition of R-esp1 expression. In conclusion, we propose a novel model in which R-esp1 protein mediates the NGF-signaling pathway

SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF PTSD PATIENTS IN CROATIA AND BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: A QUANTITATIVE PILOT STUDY

Background: As a result of the wars in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, many people have been affected by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Considering that religion plays an important role in both of these countries and that religiosity/spirituality can be a positive coping resource, we were interested in investigating the spiritual needs of PTSD patients in these countries. Also, we aimed to compare the spiritual needs of war veterans and civilians with PTSD. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 120 questionnaires were distributed to civilians and veterans with PTSD at one university hospital in Croatia and in Bosnia-Herzegovina, respectively (response rate: 52.2%). The sample ranged in age from 35-61 years (average age: 49±1 years) and was mostly male (77.8%). The Spiritual Needs Questionnaire (SpNQ 2.1) was used. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS. Results: Two-thirds of participants identified themselves as religious and exhibited a variety of spiritual needs. The intensity of spiritual needs (i.e., Religious Needs, Existential Needs, Inner Peace Needs, Giving / Generativity Needs; but also Social Support needs) did not significantly differ between veterans and civilians. PTSD patients who identified themselves as non-religious had significantly lower Religious Needs and Existential Needs; there was also a trend to lower Inner Peace Needs. Conclusion: Regardless of religious identity, PTSD patients in our study expressed several psychosocial, existential and spiritual needs. A holistic approach to treatment of these patients, which includes psychosocial and spiritual aspects, appears meaningful

Personal Prayer in Patients Dealing with Chronic Illness: A Review of the Research Literature

Background. Prayer is commonly used among patients for health purposes. Therefore, this review focused on three main questions: (1) why do people turn to prayer in times of illness?, (2) what are the main topics of their prayers?, and (3) how do they pray? Method. We undertook a systematic review of the literature by searching the databases PubMed, Medline, and PsycINFO. The following inclusion criteria were used: (1) participants in the study were patients dealing with an illness, (2) the study examined the use of private rather than intercessory prayer, and (3) the content and purpose of prayer rather than its effects were investigated. Results. 16 articles were included in the final review. Participants suffered from a variety of chronic diseases, mostly cancer. Five main categories for the reasons and topics of prayer were found: (1) disease-centered prayer, (2) assurance-centered prayer, (3) God-centered prayer, (4) others-centered prayer, and (5) lamentations. Among these, disease-centered prayer was most common. Conclusions. Although most patients with chronic diseases do pray for relief from their physical and mental suffering, the intention of their prayers is not only for healing. Rather, prayer can be a resource that allows patients to positively transform the experience of their illness

Deriving Historical Temperature and Precipitation Time Series For Alaska Climate Divisions Via Climatologically Aided Interpolation

This paper describes the construction of temperature and precipitation time series for climate divisions in Alaska for 1925-2015. Designed for NOAA climate monitoring applications, these new series build upon the divisional data of Bieniek et al. (2014) through the inclusion of additional observing stations, temperature bias adjustments, supplemental temperature elements, and enhanced computational techniques (i.e., climatologically aided interpolation). The new NOAA series are in general agreement with Bieniek et al. (2014), differences being attributable to the underlying methods used to compute divisional averages in each dataset. Trends in minimum temperature are significant in most divisions whereas trends in maximum temperature are generally not significant in the eastern third of the state. Likewise, the statewide rate of warming in minimum temperature (0.158°C dec-1) is roughly 50% larger than that of maximum temperature (0.101 °C dec-1). Trends in precipitation are not significant for most divisions or for the state as a whole

Bone fragility and decline in stem cells in prematurely aging DNA repair deficient trichothiodystrophy mice

Trichothiodystrophy (TTD) is a rare, autosomal recessive nucleotide excision repair (NER) disorder caused by mutations in components of the dual functional NER/basal transcription factor TFIIH. TTD mice, carrying a patient-based point mutation in the Xpd gene, strikingly resemble many features of the human syndrome and exhibit signs of premature aging. To examine to which extent TTD mice resemble the normal process of aging, we thoroughly investigated the bone phenotype. Here, we show that female TTD mice exhibit accelerated bone aging from 39 weeks onwards as well as lack of periosteal apposition leading to reduced bone strength. Before 39 weeks have passed, bones of wild-type and TTD mice are identical excluding a developmental defect. Albeit that bone formation is decreased, osteoblasts in TTD mice retain bone-forming capacity as in vivo PTH treatment leads to increased cortical thickness. In vitro bone marrow cell cultures showed that TTD osteoprogenitors retain the capacity to differentiate into osteoblasts. However, after 13 weeks of age TTD females show decreased bone nodule formation. No increase in bone resorption or the number of osteoclasts was detected. In conclusion, TTD mice show premature bone aging, which is preceded by a decrease in mesenchymal stem cells/osteoprogenitors and a change in systemic factors, identifying DNA damage and repair as key determinants for bone fragility by influencing osteogenesis and bone metabolism

Fine Mapping of the 1p36 Deletion Syndrome Identifies Mutation of PRDM16 as a Cause of Cardiomyopathy

Deletion 1p36 syndrome is recognized as the most common terminal deletion syndrome. Here, we describe the loss of a gene within the deletion that is responsible for the cardiomyopathy associated with monosomy 1p36, and we confirm its role in nonsyndromic left ventricular noncompaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). With our own data and publically available data from array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH), we identified a minimal deletion for the cardiomyopathy associated with 1p36del syndrome that included only the terminal 14 exons of the transcription factor PRDM16 (PR domain containing 16), a gene that had previously been shown to direct brown fat determination and differentiation. Resequencing of PRDM16 in a cohort of 75 nonsyndromic individuals with LVNC detected three mutations, including one truncation mutant, one frameshift null mutation, and a single missense mutant. In addition, in a series of cardiac biopsies from 131 individuals with DCM, we found 5 individuals with 4 previously unreported nonsynonymous variants in the coding region of PRDM16. None of the PRDM16 mutations identified were observed in more than 6,400 controls. PRDM16 has not previously been associated with cardiac disease but is localized in the nuclei of cardiomyocytes throughout murine and human development and in the adult heart. Modeling of PRDM16 haploinsufficiency and a human truncation mutant in zebrafish resulted in both contractile dysfunction and partial uncoupling of cardiomyocytes and also revealed evidence of impaired cardiomyocyte proliferative capacity. In conclusion, mutation of PRDM16 causes the cardiomyopathy in 1p36 deletion syndrome as well as a proportion of nonsyndromic LVNC and DCM