Negative spiritual experiences: encounters with evil

As I looked at the present spiritual climate and did field-work in neo-shamanic courses in England and Denmark it became clear to me that there was, if not a denial, then definitely an understatement of the evil or negative aspects of human spirituality. Although some of my informants had, indeed, experienced frightening and destructive spiritual encounters they mostly did not share them with their fellow participants as the atmosphere of the courses was that of benevolence emanating from the spirit-world. In the lower world the spirits seemed to be waiting readily for the course participants who were then generously supported by the spirits in their endeavours. A sort of ecologically correct lower world paradise was displayed. This was in such conflict with my understanding of the traditional shaman, that I decided to look at the archives at the Religious Experience Research Centre founded by Alister Hardy in 1969 and search for negative experiences to discover if there was evidence of modern Western people having had encounters that somehow were a manifestation of evil, destructive spirits, or the devil. There are about 6,000 letters, of which I looked at over 4,000, as the archive is presently being updated and the records put on computer. These letters were sent to the Research Centre by people who responded to the call for descriptions of spiritual experiences by Sir Alister Hardy and others involved in the research from the 1960s onwards. In this collection I found about 170 accounts or discussions of evil. I initially decided to use the word 'negative' instead of evil in my title for this collection, but as I worked through the material, I reverted to the term that most writers use themselves: evil

The role of the P1BS element containing promoter-driven genes in Pi transport and homeostasis in plants

Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is an easily accessible form of phosphorus for plants. Plant Pi uptake is usually limited by slow Pi diffusion through the soil which adsorps the Pi quite strong. That is why plants have developed mechanisms to increase Pi availability. There are abiotic (phosphate level) and biotic (mycorrhiza) factors regulating the expression of Pi-responsive genes. Transcription factors binding to the promoters of Pi-responsive genes activate different pathways of Pi transport, distribution and homeostasis maintenance. Pi metabolism involves proteins, as well as microRNAs and other noncoding RNAs

The Parent Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ-Parent). Adaptation and validity testing with parents of children with epilepsy

Aims: The aim of this study was to adapt the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) in English and Norwegian for use with parents. Methods: The research group evaluated all HLQ items and, where relevant, modified them to refocus the attribution of care to that of a child by a parent. Five cognitive interviews with parents were undertaken to gain a detailed depiction of the meanings and processes they used to respond to the HLQ items. Assessment of the psychometric properties of the revised HLQ was undertaken using data from a cross-sectional survey of 254 parents of children with epilepsy. Analysis included internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results: Some 22 out of 44 items and the names of three domains were modified (e.g. attribution changed from ‘me’ to ‘my child’). Cognitive interviews indicated that parents interpreted the HLQ-Parent items in the way intended. All but three factor loadings were high to acceptable. All nine HLQ scales showed satisfactory to good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha 0.70 to 0.87). When fitting one-factor CFA models, correlated residuals were required for four scales to generate an acceptable fit. One scale, ‘8. Ability to find good health information’, required inclusion of two correlated residuals to generate an acceptable CFA model fit, indicating that further work on this scale is warranted. Conclusions: The results from both the adaptation process and the CFA analysis supported the relevance, understanding and theoretical structure of the instrument in a parental context

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