Correction to: The hidden therapist: evidence for a central role of music in psychedelic therapy.

The article The hidden therapist: evidence for a central role of music in psychedelic therapy, written by Mendel Kaelen, Bruna Giribaldi, Jordan Raine, Lisa Evans, Christopher Timmerman, Natalie Rodriguez, Leor Roseman, Amanda Feilding, David Nutt, Robin Carhart-Harris, was originally published electronically on the publisher's internet portal

Faint solar analogs: at the limit of no reddening

The flux distribution of solar analogs is required for calculating the spectral albedo of Solar System bodies such as asteroids and trans-Neptunian objects. Ideally a solar analog should be comparably faint as the target of interest, but only few analogs fainter than V = 9 were identified so far. Only atmospheric parameters equal to solar guarantee a flux distribution equal to solar as well, while only photometric colors equal to solar do not. Reddening is also a factor to consider when selecting faint analog candidates. We implement the methodology for identifying faint analogs at the limit of precision allowed by current spectroscopic surveys. We quantify the precision attainable for the atmospheric parameters effective temperature ($T_{eff}$), metallicity ([Fe/H]), surface gravity (log $g$) when derived from moderate low resolution (R=8000) spectra with S/N $\sim 100$. We calibrated $T_{eff}$ and [Fe/H] as functions of equivalent widths of spectral indices by means of the PCA regression. We derive log $g$, mass, radius, and age from the atmospheric parameters, Gaia parallaxes and evolutionary tracks. We obtained $T_{eff}$/[Fe/H]/log $g$ with precision of 97 K/0.06 dex/0.05 dex. We identify five solar analogs with $V\sim10.5$ (located at $\sim135$ pc): HIP 991, HIP 5811, HIP 69477, HIP 55619 and HIP 61835. Other six stars have $T_{eff}$ close to solar but slightly lower [Fe/H]. Our analogs show no evidence of reddening but for four stars, which present $E(B-V) \geq 0.06$ mag, translating to at least a 200 K decrease in photometric $T_{eff}$.Comment: Paper accepted. Fundamental parameters of the solar analogs are in Table

The hidden therapist: evidence for a central role of music in psychedelic therapy

Rationale Recent studies have supported the safety and efficacy of psychedelic therapy for mood disorders and addiction. Music is considered an important component in the treatment model, but little empirical research has been done to examine the magnitude and nature of its therapeutic role. Objectives The present study assessed the influence of music on the acute experience and clinical outcomes of psychedelic therapy. Methods Semi-structured interviews inquired about the different ways in which music influenced the experience of 19 patients undergoing psychedelic therapy with psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was applied to the interview data to identify salient themes. In addition, ratings were given for each patient for the extent to which they expressed “liking,” “resonance” (the music being experienced as “harmonious” with the emotional state of the listener), and “openness” (acceptance of the music-evoked experience). Results Analyses of the interviews revealed that the music had both “welcome” and “unwelcome” influences on patients’ subjective experiences. Welcome influences included the evocation of personally meaningful and therapeutically useful emotion and mental imagery, a sense of guidance, openness, and the promotion of calm and a sense of safety. Conversely, unwelcome influences included the evocation of unpleasant emotion and imagery, a sense of being misguided and resistance. Correlation analyses showed that patients’ experience of the music was associated with the occurrence of “mystical experiences” and “insightfulness.” Crucially, the nature of the music experience was significantly predictive of reductions in depression 1 week after psilocybin, whereas general drug intensity was not. Conclusions This study indicates that music plays a central therapeutic function in psychedelic therapy

Body mass index (BMI) does not predict responses to psilocybin

Background: Psilocybin is a serotonin type 2A (5-HT2A) receptor agonist and naturally occurring psychedelic. 5-HT2A receptor density is known to be associated with body mass index (BMI), however, the impact of this on psilocybin therapy has not been explored. While body weight-adjusted dosing is widely used, this imposes a practical and financial strain on the scalability of psychedelic therapy. This gap between evidence and practice is caused by the absence of studies clarifying the relationship between BMI, the acute psychedelic experience and long-term psychological outcomes. Method: Data were pooled across three studies using a fixed 25 mg dose of psilocybin delivered in a therapeutic context to assess whether BMI predicts characteristics of the acute experience and changes in well-being 2 weeks later. Supplementing frequentist analysis with Bayes Factors has enabled for conclusions to be drawn regarding the null hypothesis. Results: Results support the null hypothesis that BMI does not predict overall intensity of the altered state, mystical experiences, perceptual changes or emotional breakthroughs during the acute experience. There was weak evidence for greater ‘dread of ego dissolution’ in participants with lower BMI, however, further analysis suggested BMI did not meaningfully add to the combination of the other covariates (age, sex and study). While mystical-type experiences and emotional breakthroughs were strong predictors of improvements in well-being, BMI was not. Conclusions: These findings have important implications for our understanding of pharmacological and extra-pharmacological contributors to psychedelic-assisted therapy and for the standardization of a fixed therapeutic dose in psychedelic-assisted therapy

MTH1 deficiency selectively increases non-cytotoxic oxidative DNA damage in lung cancer cells: more bad news than good?

Representative images of “Comets” and the corresponding intensity profiles, showing (i) ~ 5% Tail DNA damage, typical of the NSCLC cells treated with no siRNA or scramble siRNA, and analysed by regular Fpg-modified alkaline comet assay (0.8 U Fpg/gel); and (ii) comets showing ~ 10% tail DNA, typical of the NSCLC cells treated with MTH1 siRNA. Superimposed on the Comet images are the image analysis software (Komet 5.5, Andor Technology) determined boundaries demarcating the ‘Comet head’ (pink circle) and ‘tail extent’ (vertical orange line) (Barber RC, Hickenbotham P, Hatch T, Kelly D, Topchiy N, Almeida GM, et al. Radiation-induced transgenerational alterations in genome stability and DNA damage. Oncogene. 2006;25(56):7336–7342). % tail DNA = 100 - % head DNA; % head DNA = (integrated optical head intensity / (integrated optical head intensity + integrated optical tail intensity)) × 100. (PDF 1431 kb