To Make the Rest Participate In It: The Use of Contemplative Pedagogy in The Holocaust and the Arts

In the preface to Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi says he wrote the book because he felt “the need to tell our story to ‘the rest’, to make ‘the rest’ participate in it” (9). Levi’s intentions in writing his essential Holocaust testimony are worth reflecting on for a moment. “The need to tell”: what is this need? Is it a need to tell so that others will know what happened inside a death camp? Is it the need to warn others so that they will be vigilant in guarding against conditions that could allow another Holocaust to occur? Is there a more fundamental need underlying this one, a need as basic as the need for food and shelter? Do we all feel a need to tell our stories, whether they happen to be ordinary or extraordinary, common or unique—stories of our loves and losses, stories of our lives at work and at the gym, at the doctor’s office and on vacation? Telling our stories to each other: is this how we define, project, sustain, and protect ourselves? If there’s a teller, must there also be a listener? What does it take to be able to listen to another’s story, especially if it’s a horrific story, a painful story, a story that might implicate the listener in the action or inaction that contributed to the teller’s suffering

To Make the Rest Participate In It: The Use of Contemplative Pedagogy in The Holocaust and the Arts

In the preface to Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi says he wrote the book because he felt “the need to tell our story to ‘the rest’, to make ‘the rest’ participate in it” (9). Levi’s intentions in writing his essential Holocaust testimony are worth reflecting on for a moment. “The need to tell”: what is this need? Is it a need to tell so that others will know what happened inside a death camp? Is it the need to warn others so that they will be vigilant in guarding against conditions that could allow another Holocaust to occur? Is there a more fundamental need underlying this one, a need as basic as the need for food and shelter? Do we all feel a need to tell our stories, whether they happen to be ordinary or extraordinary, common or unique—stories of our loves and losses, stories of our lives at work and at the gym, at the doctor’s office and on vacation? Telling our stories to each other: is this how we define, project, sustain, and protect ourselves? If there’s a teller, must there also be a listener? What does it take to be able to listen to another’s story, especially if it’s a horrific story, a painful story, a story that might implicate the listener in the action or inaction that contributed to the teller’s suffering

The Parietal Reach Region Selectively Anti-Synchronizes with Dorsal Premotor Cortex during Planning

Recent reports have indicated that oscillations shared across distant cortical regions can enhance their connectivity, but do coherent oscillations ever diminish connectivity? We investigated oscillatory activity in two distinct reach-related regions in the awake behaving monkey (Macaca mulatta): the parietal reach region (PRR) and the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd). PRR and PMd were found to oscillate at similar frequencies (beta, 15–30 Hz) during periods of fixation and movement planning. At first glance, the stronger oscillator of the two, PRR, would seem to drive the weaker, PMd. However, a more fine-grained measure, the partial spike-field coherence, revealed a different relationship. Relative to global beta-band activity in the brain, action potentials in PRR anti-synchronize with PMd oscillations. These data suggest that, rather than driving PMd during planning, PRR neurons fire in such a way that they are less likely to communicate information to PMd

“Learning How to See”: Faculty Members’ Use of Unnamed Contemplative Practices

As contemplative pedagogy on higher education campuses grows, so does interest in supporting additional faculty in using contemplative practices. At our small, liberal arts teaching university in the southeast USA, our faculty contemplative learning circle has steadily widened and worked to integrate mindfulness and other practices into our campus activities. We became interested in how contemplative practices are already happening in our classrooms without being named as such, and if finding out about them might elucidate opportunities to support faculty in deepening and expanding current efforts. This paper presents the findings from an interview study with 35 faculty members not formally participating in faculty activities involving contemplative pedagogy. Faculty spontaneously mentioned some activities that may be considered contemplative in their descriptions of effective teaching strategies, such as class discussions, experiential activities, and journaling. Among a provided list of contemplative activities, the most frequently used were discussions/debates, journaling/reflective writing, and beholding, though the ways in which faculty implemented the activities varied. Faculty offered many examples of activities that could be considered contemplative or introspective, and the ways they used the activities differed by discipline. When asked directly, 18 participants reported that they used contemplative practices or pedagogy in some way, nine reported that they were uncertain about the definition and/ or whether they used them, and eight responded that they do not use them. Many faculty members also indicated interest in learning more about how to incorporate contemplative practices in teaching, suggesting an opportunity for enhanced faculty development efforts

Trajectories in chronic disease accrual and mortality across the lifespan in Wales, UK (2005-2019), by area deprivation profile : linked electronic health records cohort study on 965,905 individuals

Funding: This work was supported by Health Data Research UK (HDRUK) Measuring and Understanding Multimorbidity using Routine Data in the UK (MUrMuRUK, HDR-9006; CFC0110). Health Data Research UK (HDR-9006) is funded by: UK Medical Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research (England), Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates, Health and Social Care Research and Development Division (Welsh Government), Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland), British Heart Foundation, and Wellcome Trust. This work also was co-funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) through grant number MR/S027750/1. The work was supported by the ADR Wales programme of work, part of the Economic and Social Research Council (part of UK Research and Innovation) funded ADR UK (grant ES/S007393/1).Background  Understanding and quantifying the differences in disease development in different socioeconomic groups of people across the lifespan is important for planning healthcare and preventive services. The study aimed to measure chronic disease accrual, and examine the differences in time to individual morbidities, multimorbidity, and mortality between socioeconomic groups in Wales, UK. Methods  Population-wide electronic linked cohort study, following Welsh residents for up to 20 years (2000-2019). Chronic disease diagnoses were obtained from general practice and hospitalisation records using the CALIBER disease phenotype register. Multi-state models were used to examine trajectories of accrual of 132 diseases and mortality, adjusted for sex, age and area-level deprivation. Restricted mean survival time was calculated to measure time spent free of chronic disease(s) or mortality between socioeconomic groups. Findings  In total, 965,905 individuals aged 5-104 were included, from a possible 2·9m individuals following a 5-year clearance period, with an average follow-up of 13·2 years (12·7 million person-years). Some 673,189 (69·7 %) individuals developed at least one chronic disease or died within the study period. From ages 10 years upwards, the individuals living in the most deprived areas consistently experienced reduced time between health states, demonstrating accelerated transitions to first and subsequent morbidities and death compared to their demographic equivalent living in the least deprived areas. The largest difference were observed in 10 and 20 year old males developing multimorbidity (-0·45 years (99%CI:-0·45,-0·44)) and in 70 year old males dying after developing multimorbidity (-1·98 years (99%CI:-2·01,-1·95)). Interpretation  This study adds to the existing literature on health inequalities by demonstrating that individuals living in more deprived areas consistently experience accelerated time to diagnosis of chronic disease and death across all ages, accounting for competing risks.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Safety and pharmacokinetics of multiple dose myo-inositol in preterm infants

BACKGROUND: Preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) given inositol had reduced bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), death and severe retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). We assessed the safety and pharmacokinetics of daily inositol to select a dose providing serum levels previously associated with benefit, and to learn if accumulation occurred when administered throughout the normal period of retinal vascularization. METHODS: Infants ≤ 29 wk GA (n = 122, 14 centers) were randomized and treated with placebo or inositol at 10, 40, or 80 mg/kg/d. Intravenous administration converted to enteral when feedings were established, and continued to the first of 10 wk, 34 wk postmenstrual age (PMA) or discharge. Serum collection employed a sparse sampling population pharmacokinetics design. Inositol urine losses and feeding intakes were measured. Safety was prospectively monitored. RESULTS: At 80 mg/kg/d mean serum levels reached 140 mg/l, similar to Hallman's findings. Levels declined after 2 wk, converging in all groups by 6 wk. Analyses showed a mean volume of distribution 0.657 l/kg, clearance 0.058 l/kg/h, and half-life 7.90 h. Adverse events and comorbidities were fewer in the inositol groups, but not significantly so. CONCLUSION: Multiple dose inositol at 80 mg/kg/d was not associated with increased adverse events, achieves previously effective serum levels, and is appropriate for investigation in a phase III trial

Amygdala and dlPFC abnormalities, with aberrant connectivity and habituation in response to emotional stimuli in females with BPD

Background: Little is known about the frontolimbic abnormalities thought to underlie borderline personality disorder (BPD). We endeavoured to study regional responses, as well as their connectivity and habituation during emotion processing. Methods: 14 BPD patients and 14 normal female controls (NC) controlled for menstrual phase underwent emotion-induction during an fMRI task using standardised images in a block design. We then performed psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis to investigate functional connectivity. Results: BPD patients reported more disgust in questionnaires compared to controls. Relative to NC, they showed reduced left amygdala and increased dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) activation to all emotions collapsed versus neutral. Habituation of ventral striatal activity to repeated emotional stimuli was observed in controls but not in BPD. Finally, in the context of disgust (but not other emotions) versus neutral, BPD patients displayed enhanced left amygdala coupling with the dlPFC and ventral striatum. Limitations: Strict inclusion criteria reduced the sample size. Conclusions: In summary, BPD showed abnormal patterns of activation, habituation and connectivity in regions linked to emotion regulation. Amygdala deactivation may be mediated by abnormal top-down regulatory control from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Aberrant emotion processing may play a unique role in the pathophysiology of BPD

The Involvement of SMILE/TMTC3 in Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Response

The state of operational tolerance has been detected sporadically in some renal transplanted patients that stopped immunosuppressive drugs, demonstrating that allograft tolerance might exist in humans. Several years ago, a study by Brouard et al. identified a molecular signature of several genes that were significantly differentially expressed in the blood of such patients compared with patients with other clinical situations. The aim of the present study is to analyze the role of one of these molecules over-expressed in the blood of operationally tolerant patients, SMILE or TMTC3, a protein whose function is still unknown.We first confirmed that SMILE mRNA is differentially expressed in the blood of operationally tolerant patients with drug-free long term graft function compared to stable and rejecting patients. Using a yeast two-hybrid approach and a colocalization study by confocal microscopy we furthermore report an interaction of SMILE with PDIA3, a molecule resident in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In accordance with this observation, SMILE silencing in HeLa cells correlated with the modulation of several transcripts involved in proteolysis and a decrease in proteasome activity. Finally, SMILE silencing increased HeLa cell sensitivity to the proteasome inhibitor Bortezomib, a drug that induces ER stress via protein overload, and increased transcript expression of a stress response protein, XBP-1, in HeLa cells and keratinocytes.In this study we showed that SMILE is involved in the endoplasmic reticulum stress response, by modulating proteasome activity and XBP-1 transcript expression. This function of SMILE may influence immune cell behavior in the context of transplantation, and the analysis of endoplasmic reticulum stress in transplantation may reveal new pathways of regulation in long-term graft acceptance thereby increasing our understanding of tolerance

Schizophrenia-associated somatic copy-number variants from 12,834 cases reveal recurrent NRXN1 and ABCB11 disruptions

While germline copy-number variants (CNVs) contribute to schizophrenia (SCZ) risk, the contribution of somatic CNVs (sCNVs)—present in some but not all cells—remains unknown. We identified sCNVs using blood-derived genotype arrays from 12,834 SCZ cases and 11,648 controls, filtering sCNVs at loci recurrently mutated in clonal blood disorders. Likely early-developmental sCNVs were more common in cases (0.91%) than controls (0.51%, p = 2.68e−4), with recurrent somatic deletions of exons 1–5 of the NRXN1 gene in five SCZ cases. Hi-C maps revealed ectopic, allele-specific loops forming between a potential cryptic promoter and non-coding cis-regulatory elements upon 5′ deletions in NRXN1. We also observed recurrent intragenic deletions of ABCB11, encoding a transporter implicated in anti-psychotic response, in five treatment-resistant SCZ cases and showed that ABCB11 is specifically enriched in neurons forming mesocortical and mesolimbic dopaminergic projections. Our results indicate potential roles of sCNVs in SCZ risk