New energy geographies : a case study of yoga, meditation and healthfulness

Beginning with a routine day in the life of a practitioner of yoga and meditation and emphasising the importance of nurturing, maintaining and preventing the dissipation of diverse ‘energies’, this paper explores the possibilities for geographical health studies which take seriously ‘new energy geographies’. It is explained how this account is derived from in-depth fieldwork tracing how practitioners of yoga and meditation find times and spaces for these practices, often in the face of busy urban lifestyles. Attention is paid to the ‘energy talk’ featuring heavily in how practitioners describe the benefits that they perceive themselves to derive from these practices, and to claims made about ‘energies’ generated during the time-spaces of these practices which seemingly flow, usually with positive effects, into other domains of their lives. The paper then discusses the implications of this energy talk in the context of: (a) critically reviewing conventional approaches to studying ‘energy geographies’; (b) identifying an alertness to the likes of ‘affective energies’ surfacing in recent theoretically-attuned works of human geography (and cognate disciplines); and (c) exploring differing understandings of energy/energies extant in geographical studies of health and in step with the empirical research materials presented about yoga, meditation and healthfulness. While orientated towards explicitly geographical inquiries, the paper is intended as a statement of interest to the wider medical humanities

Cell motility: the integrating role of the plasma membrane

The plasma membrane is of central importance in the motility process. It defines the boundary separating the intracellular and extracellular environments, and mediates the interactions between a motile cell and its environment. Furthermore, the membrane serves as a dynamic platform for localization of various components which actively participate in all aspects of the motility process, including force generation, adhesion, signaling, and regulation. Membrane transport between internal membranes and the plasma membrane, and in particular polarized membrane transport, facilitates continuous reorganization of the plasma membrane and is thought to be involved in maintaining polarity and recycling of essential components in some motile cell types. Beyond its biochemical composition, the mechanical characteristics of the plasma membrane and, in particular, membrane tension are of central importance in cell motility; membrane tension affects the rates of all the processes which involve membrane deformation including edge extension, endocytosis, and exocytosis. Most importantly, the mechanical characteristics of the membrane and its biochemical composition are tightly intertwined; membrane tension and local curvature are largely determined by the biochemical composition of the membrane and the biochemical reactions taking place; at the same time, curvature and tension affect the localization of components and reaction rates. This review focuses on this dynamic interplay and the feedbacks between the biochemical and biophysical characteristics of the membrane and their effects on cell movement. New insight on these will be crucial for understanding the motility process

Geopolítica da fome: economia e humanismo.

Em seu livro Geopolítica da Fome, o professor Josué de Castro apresenta um dos aspectos mais prementes e, sem dúvida, o mais trágico desta geografia da alimentação, que é o capítulo inicial de toda geografia humana. Realmente, a importância de tais problemas não era desconhecida dos entendidos do assunto. Existe muito de humanidade profunda na obra de um E. Réclus ou de um Vidal de la Blache, para que não se tivesse deles uma clara consciência. Na verdade nossos antigos mestres não estavam enganados a respeito dos tabus que Josué de Castro denuncia. Todavia, ele tem muita razão quando afirmava que o comum dos geógrafos e, principalmente, o comum dos homens, preferiria nada dizer a propósito desse assunto. E muitos há que lançavam um véu discreto sobre essas feias perspectivas. Eis que, apesar disso, nós, civilizados, vimos levantar-se diante de nós o espectro horrível da fome. Coisa que não se imaginaria nos 20 anos passados, nós temos tido fome como nossos avós tiveram fome. Os quadros mais sombrios, nos quais estávamos inclinados a não encontrar senão na literatura, retomaram, a nossos olhos, cor e realidade. Viram os médicos o aparecimento, nos hospitais da Europa Ocidental, de moléstias estranhas, cujas causas mal se conheciam.Resenh

Val201-peptidin vaikutus eturauhassyöpäsoluissa

Eturauhassyöpä on miesten yleisin syöpä ja toiseksi yleisin miesten syöpäkuolemien syy Suomessa. Tutkimukset osoittavat, että osalla eturauhassyövistä kehittyminen ja kasvu ovat riippuvaisia androgeenivälitteisestä säätelystä. Tämä tieto on mahdollistanut uusien lääkkeiden kehittämisen eturauhassyövän hoitoon. Valirx on biolääketieteellinen yhtiö, joka kehittää ja tuottaa teknologiaa sekä tuotteita syövän hoitoon ja diagnostiikkaan. Opinnäytetyössämme testasimme Valirxille heidän kehittämänsä lääkekomponentin Val201:n vaikutusta eturauhassyöpäsoluihin. Käytössämme olivat eturauhassyöpäsolulinjat PC-3 sekä LNCaP. Testasimme, kuinka Val201 vaikuttaa solujen lisääntymiseen sekä kuinka Val201 vaikuttaa PSA:n erittymiseen soluista. Tavoitteenamme on tuottaa soveltamiskelpoisia tutkimustuloksia, joita Valirx pystyy hyödyntämään lääkekomponentin kehittämisessä. Käyttämämme menetelmät olivat WST-1 proliferaatio -menetelmä, jota käytimme solujen lisääntymisen tutkimiseen sekä CanAg PSA EIA -menetelmä, jolla mittasimme PSA:n erittymistä mediumiin. Molemmat ovat kaupallisia menetelmiä. Suoritimme testauksen yhteistyössä Valirx:n tytäryhtiön (ValiFinn) kanssa. Saimme tuotettua merkittäviä tutkimustuloksia Val201:n monipuolisista vaikutuksista syöpäsoluihin. Tulosten avulla voidaan päätellä lääkekomponentin syöpäsoluja vähentävä vaikutus sekä androgeeniriippuvaisen että -riippumattoman eturauhassyövän yhteydessä. Eturauhassyöpädiagnostiikassa käytössä oleva PSA-arvo testissä väheni myös Val201:n vaikutuksesta.Prostatic cancer is one of the most common cancers among men and the second most common cause of cancer related deaths in Finland. Research shows that in some of the prostatic cancers the development and growth are dependent on androgen mediated regulation. This information has provided the possibility to develop new medication for prostatic cancer treatment. Valirx is a biomedical company that develops technology and products for cancer treatment and diagnostics. Valirx has produced a test peptide Val201 against prostatic cancer. The objective in this study was to investigate Val201’s impact on prostatic cancer cells. We used in our study prostatic cancer cells PC-3 and LNCaP. We investigated the effects of Val201 on cell proliferation with different concentrations and also how Val201 effects the secretion of PSA of the cells. PSA value is used in prostatic cancer diagnostic. Our goal is to produce material that Valirx can utilize in their development of the new drug. In our cell proliferation study we used a commercial WST-1 proliferation kit, and on PSA secretion study we used a commercial CanAg PSA EIA kit. Our study was conducted in cooperation with ValiFinn. ValiFinn is a subsidiary of Valirx. We were able to produce research results of the diverse effects of Val201 on prostatic cancer cells. Judging from the results, Val201 has a subtractive effect on both androgen depended and independent prostatic cancer cells. Val201 also reduced the PSA value