Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Improves Multiple Physiological Markers of Health

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is an evidence-based self-help therapeutic method and over 100 studies demonstrate its efficacy. However, information about the physiological effects of EFT is limited. The current study sought to elucidate EFTs mechanisms of action across the central nervous system (CNS) by measuring heart rate variability (HRV) and heart coherence (HC); the circulatory system using resting heart rate (RHR) and blood pressure (BP); the endocrine system using cortisol, and the immune system using salivary immunoglobulin A (SigA). The second aim was to measure psychological symptoms. Participants (N = 203) were enrolled in a 4-day training workshop held in different locations. At one workshop (n = 31), participants also received comprehensive physiological testing. Posttest, significant declines were found in anxiety (−40%), depression (−35%), posttraumatic stress disorder (−32%), pain (−57%), and cravings (−74%), all P < .000. Happiness increased (+31%, P = .000) as did SigA (+113%, P = .017). Significant improvements were found in RHR (−8%, P = .001), cortisol (−37%, P < .000), systolic BP (−6%, P = .001), and diastolic BP (−8%, P < .000). Positive trends were observed for HRV and HC and gains were maintained on follow-up, indicating EFT results in positive health effects as well as increased mental well-being

The Interrelated Physiological and Psychological Effects of EcoMeditation

This study investigated changes in psychological and physiological markers during a weekend meditation workshop (N = 34). Psychological symptoms of anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and happiness were assessed. Physiological markers included cortisol, salivary immunoglobulin A (SigA), heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure (BP), and resting heart rate (RHR). On posttest, significant reductions were found in cortisol (−29%, P < .0001), RHR (−5%, P = .0281), and pain (−43%, P = .0022). Happiness increased significantly (+11%, P = .0159) while the increase in SigA was nonsignificant (+27%, P = .6964). Anxiety, depression, and PTSD all declined (−26%, P = .0159; −32%, P = .0197; −18%, P = .1533), though changes in PTSD did not reach statistical significance. No changes were found in BP, HRV, and heart coherence. Participants were assessed for psychological symptoms at 3-month follow-up, but the results were nonsignificant due to inadequate sample size (n = 17). EcoMeditation shows promise as a stress-reduction method

Draft Genome Sequence of the Caffeine-Degrading Methylotroph Methylorubrum populi Pinkel.

A pink-pigmented facultative methylotroph, Methylorubrum populi Pinkel, was isolated from compost by selective enrichment with caffeine (3,5,7-trimethylxanthine) as the sole carbon, nitrogen, and energy source. We report here its high-quality draft genome sequence, assembled in 35 contigs totaling 5,630,907 bp. We identified 5,681 protein-coding sequences, including those putatively involved in caffeine degradation

Chronostratigraphy of an eroding complex Atlantic Round House, Baile Sear, Scotland

The excavation team would like to thank Historic Scotland (now Historic Environment Scotland) and the University of St Andrews for providing funding.A high-resolution chronostratigraphy has been established for an eroding Atlantic round house at Sloc Sàbhaidh (North Uist, Scotland), combining detailed OSL profiling and dating of sediments encompassing the main bracketing events associated with the monument, radiocarbon AMS dates on bone recovered from excavated features and fills within it, and TL dates on pottery and burnt clay. Concordant OSL and radiocarbon evidence place construction of the wheelhouse in the first to second centuries AD, contemporary with dates from the primary occupation. Beneath the wheelhouse, clay deposits containing burnt material, attest to cultural activity in vicinity to the monument in the preceding second to first centuries BC. At a later date, the southern wall collapsed, was rebuilt, and the interior spaces to the monument re-structured. The chronology for the later horizons identified from the sediment luminescence dates extends to the second half of the first millennium AD, which goes beyond the range of the radiocarbon dates obtained. The data from ceramics encompass both periods. The juxtaposition of the dating evidence is discussed relative to short and longer chronologies for this Iron Age monument. Corollaries of this research are the implications that based on the long chronology, some of the ecofacts (bone) appear to be residual, and that the temporal duration of Hebridean Coarse Ware may extend into the second half of the first millennium AD.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Setting learning analytics in context: overcoming the barriers to large-scale adoption

Once learning analytics have been successfully developed and tested, the next step is to implement them at a larger scale – across a faculty, an institution or an educational system. This introduces a new set of challenges, because education is a stable system, resistant to change. Implementing learning analytics at scale involves working with the entire technological complex that exists around technology-enhanced learning (TEL). This includes the different groups of people involved – learners, educators, administrators and support staff – the practices of those groups, their understandings of how teaching and learning take place, the technologies they use and the specific environments within which they operate. Each element of the TEL Complex requires explicit and careful consideration during the process of implementation, in order to avoid failure and maximise the chances of success. In order for learning analytics to be implemented successfully at scale, it is crucial to provide not only the analytics and their associated tools but also appropriate forms of support, training and community building

Digital crowdsourcing in healthcare environment co-design

Improving user experiences of healthcare environments via their participation has become a central theme in healthcare studies and strategic agendas. The co-design approach is often utilized to take into account opinions from different stakeholders including hospital staff. However, there are a number of competing stimuli and demands on staff at any point in time potentially making it difficult for them to participate in the co-design processes. Digital crowdsourcing may engage staff in participating in the design and appraisal of hospital environments when they have a spare moment by collecting small amounts of relevant data. In order to explore this, we have implemented a digital crowdsourcing co-design prototype. As users’ perceived acceptance of technologies is among the determining factors for a successful digital approach, in this paper, we report on participants’ acceptance of the prototype, aiming to reflect if and to what extend they accept this prototype to aid further development

Stability of β-lactam antibiotics in bacterial growth media

Laboratory assays such as MIC tests assume that antibiotic molecules are stable in the chosen growth medium-but rapid degradation has been observed for antibiotics including β-lactams under some conditions in aqueous solution. Degradation rates in bacterial growth medium are less well known. Here, we develop a 'delay time bioassay' that provides a simple way to estimate antibiotic stability in bacterial growth media, using only a plate reader and without the need to measure the antibiotic concentration directly. We use the bioassay to measure degradation half-lives of the β-lactam antibiotics mecillinam, aztreonam and cefotaxime in widely-used bacterial growth media based on MOPS and Luria-Bertani (LB) broth. We find that mecillinam degradation can occur rapidly, with a half-life as short as 2 hours in MOPS medium at 37°C and pH 7.4, and 4-5 hours in LB, but that adjusting the pH and temperature can increase its stability to a half-life around 6 hours without excessively perturbing growth. Aztreonam and cefotaxime were found to have half-lives longer than 6 hours in MOPS medium at 37°C and pH 7.4, but still shorter than the timescale of a typical minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay. Taken together, our results suggest that care is needed in interpreting MIC tests and other laboratory growth assays for β-lactam antibiotics, since there may be significant degradation of the antibiotic during the assay

An Investigation of the Ability of Antipsoriatic Drugs to Inhibit Calmodulin Activity: A Possible Mode of Action of Dithranol (Anthralin)

Epidermal calmodulin (CaM) has been reported to be elevated in psoriasis and to decrease following clearance of psoriasis with treatment. We set out to investigate whether any of the principle drugs used in the treatment of psoriasis had inherent CaM antagonist activity. Utilizing a CaM-activated phosphodiesterase we have demonstrated that even at very high concentrations, the systemic drugs etretinate, methotrexate, and 8-methoxypsoralen, and the topical agents hydrocortisone and crude coal tar showed minimal CaM inhibitory activity. Dithranol (anthralin), however, whether freshly prepared or oxidized, produced substantial inhibition of CaM activity and was demonstrated to be a potent competitive antagonist of CaM, suggesting another possible therapeutic mode of action of dithranol in psoriasis