“Calming Watercolors”: Using Mindful Art in Treatment of Mood Disorders

Art and mindfulness serve as separate approaches for both mental health treatment and relaxation. This thesis aimed to explore the meaning of a mindfulness-based art directive as perceived by individuals dealing with mood disorders, and its possible influence on their levels of mood and anxiety. The history of mindfulness and expressive therapies are explored, and the benefits of each approach are highlighted. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy are discussed as ways to enhance the relationship between mind and body, to reduce the suffering that comes from mental and physical pains, and to prevent depressive relapse. In order to examine the influences of mindful art as an integrated approach, I developed a mindfulness-based art directive, administered to patients diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder in a short-term inpatient psychiatric hospital unit. Participants were asked to assess their mood and anxiety before participating in a mindfulness activity followed by an arts-based directive. After the directive, participants were asked to reassess their mood and anxiety and to note any change. In addition, the participants shared their experience, thoughts and feelings regarding the directive. The analysis of the participants’ experiences gave rise to themes, such as “Mindfulness induced anxiety”, “The significance of watercolors”, “The intermodal affect” and “The choice of color”. In addition, the participants’ self-reports imply that the combination of mindfulness and art had a positive impact on mood. This study offers insight into arts and mindfulness as well as supporting the idea that the arts can serve as a complimentary piece to mindfulness-based interventions. Finally, recommendations for improving the directive and further research are delineated, mostly concentrating population size and the use of artistic medium

The geography of transaction linkages in twelve European case study regions

Small and medium sized enterprises operate within a complex web of links of various kinds. These may be distinguished in terms of their content (transactional, advisory, regulatory, social), "object" (other SMEs, third sector organisations, business services, local and national government), geography (local,regional, global), and durability (transient, permanent, frequent, irregular). A simpler categorisation might be between "hard" linkages involving a recorded transaction of some kind, and "soft" informal interation involving only information. Several schools of thought on local economic development emphasise either or both these types of interaction as important factors in local development dynamics. This is a particularily important group of concepts in relation to peripheral regions, where local opportunities for interaction are constrained, and longer distance relationships are more difficult and expensive. This paper begins with a review of recent research relating to business networks,focusing as far as possible on work relating to rural and peripheral areas, and including relevant aspects of the concepts of social capital, governance and "institutional thickness". This will be drawn together in the form of a number of hypotheses regarding the role of different forms of interaction in determining the degree of economic vitality in peripheral regions. The validity of these hypotheses will then be examined in the light of case-study data relating to twelve regions (six peripheral, six more accessible) in Scotland, Finland, Germany, Spain and Greece. Drawing predominantly on a survey of 600 SMEs, the discussion is structured into the following four themes: The geography of transactional linkages Other aspects of transactional linkages Links with third sector organisactions Links with local, regional and national government agencies. The paper will conclude with a review of the hypotheses and an integrated assessment of the impact of all kinds of networks on regional economic performance. The information presented in this paper has been derived from research funded by the EU Fifth Framework, as part of project QLK5-2000-00783 - Aspatial Peripherality, Innovation and the Rural Economy (AsPIRE).

Renal replacement modality and stroke risk in end-stage renal disease—a national registry study

Background: The risk of stroke in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on renal replacement therapy (RRT) is up to 10-fold greater than the general population. However, whether this increased risk differs by RRT modality is unclear. Methods: We used data contained in the Scottish Renal Registry and the Scottish Stroke Care Audit to identify stroke in all adult patients who commenced RRT for ESRD from 2005 to 2013. Incidence rate was calculated and regression analyses were performed to identify variables associated with stroke. We explored the effect of RRT modality at initiation and cumulative dialysis exposure by time-dependent regression analysis, using transplant recipients as the reference group. Results: A total of 4957 patients commenced RRT for ESRD. Median age was 64.5 years, 41.5% were female and 277 patients suffered a stroke (incidence rate was 18.6/1000 patient-years). Patients who had stroke were older, had higher blood pressure and were more likely to be female and have diabetes. On multivariable regression older age, female sex, diabetes and higher serum phosphate were associated with risk of stroke. RRT modality at initiation was not. On time-dependent analysis, haemodialysis (HD) exposure was independently associated with increased risk of stroke. Conclusions: In patients with ESRD who initiate RRT, HD use independently increases risk of stroke compared with transplantation. Use of peritoneal dialysis did not increase risk on adjusted analysis

Glucocorticoids: Fuelling the Fire of Atherosclerosis or Therapeutic Extinguishers?

Glucocorticoids are steroid hormones with key roles in the regulation of many physiological systems including energy homeostasis and immunity. However, chronic glucocorticoid excess, highlighted in Cushing’s syndrome, is established as being associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Atherosclerosis is the major cause of CVD, leading to complications including coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction and heart failure. While the associations between glucocorticoid excess and increased prevalence of these complications are well established, the mechanisms underlying the role of glucocorticoids in development of atheroma are unclear. This review aims to better understand the importance of glucocorticoids in atherosclerosis and to dissect their cell-specific effects on key processes (e.g., contractility, remodelling and lesion development). Clinical and pre-clinical studies have shown both athero-protective and pro-atherogenic responses to glucocorticoids, effects dependent upon their multifactorial actions. Evidence indicates regulation of glucocorticoid bioavailability at the vasculature is complex, with local delivery, pre-receptor metabolism, and receptor expression contributing to responses linked to vascular remodelling and inflammation. Further investigations are required to clarify the mechanisms through which endogenous, local glucocorticoid action and systemic glucocorticoid treatment promote/inhibit atherosclerosis. This will provide greater insights into the potential benefit of glucocorticoid targeted approaches in the treatment of cardiovascular disease

A multi-iron system capable of rapid N\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e formation and N \u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e cleavage

The six-electron oxidation of two nitrides to N2 is a key step of ammonia synthesis and decomposition reactions on surfaces. In molecular complexes, nitride coupling has been observed with terminal nitrides, but not with bridging nitride complexes that more closely resemble catalytically important surface species. Further, nitride coupling has not been reported in systems where the nitrides are derived from N2. Here, we show that a molecular diiron(II) diiron(III) bis(nitride) complex reacts with Lewis bases, leading to the rapid six-electron oxidation of two bridging nitrides to form N2. Surprisingly, these mild reagents generate high yields of iron(I) products from the iron(II/III) starting material. This is the first molecular system that both breaks and forms the triple bond of N2 at room temperature. These results highlight the ability of multi-iron species to decrease the energy barriers associated with the activation of strong bonds. © 2014 American Chemical Society

Inhibitory attentional control in anxiety: Manipulating cognitive load in an antisaccade task

Theorists have proposed that heightened anxiety vulnerability is characterised by reduced attentional control performance and have made the prediction in turn that elevating cognitive load will adversely impact attentional control performance for high anxious individuals to a greater degree than low anxious individuals. Critically however, existing attempts to test this prediction have been limited in their methodology and have presented inconsistent findings. Using a methodology capable of overcoming the limitations of previous research, the present study sought to investigate the effect of manipulating cognitive load on inhibitory attentional control performance of high anxious and low anxious individuals. High and low trait anxious participants completed an antisaccade task, requiring the execution of prosaccades towards, or antisaccades away from, emotionally toned stimuli while eye movements were recorded. Participants completed the antisaccade task under conditions that concurrently imposed a lesser cognitive load, or greater cognitive load. Analysis of participants’ saccade latencies revealed high trait anxious participants demonstrated generally poorer inhibitory attentional control performance as compared to low trait anxious participants. Furthermore, conditions imposing greater cognitive load, as compared to lesser cognitive load, resulted in enhanced inhibitory attentional control performance across participants generally. Crucially however, analyses did not reveal an effect of cognitive load condition on anxiety-linked differences in inhibitory attentional control performance, indicating that elevating cognitive load did not adversely impact attentional control performance for high anxious individuals to a greater degree than low anxious individuals. Hence, the present findings are inconsistent with predictions made by some theorists and are in contrast to the findings of earlier investigations. These findings further highlight the need for research into the relationship between anxiety, attentional control, and cognitive load

Cr:ZnSe laser incorporating anti-reflection microstructures exhibiting low-loss, damage-resistant lasing at near quantum limit efficiency

We report demonstration of efficient continuous-wave lasing from chromium-doped zinc selenide using anti-reflection microstructures (ARMs) in place of thin-film AR coatings or Brewster angle cavity geometries. ARM textures are more resistant to laser-induced damage than coatings, exhibit low-loss, wide angular acceptance, broad wavelength effectiveness, and are not susceptible to water absorption. Slope-efficiencies of 68% were achieved, which compares favorably to the thin-film control samples at 58% for the same cavity. ARMs hold promise for near-term power scaling and wavelength agility of transition-metal-ion doped II-VI lasers

A Description of Quasar Variability Measured Using Repeated SDSS and POSS Imaging

We provide a quantitative description and statistical interpretation of the optical continuum variability of quasars. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has obtained repeated imaging in five UV-to-IR photometric bands for 33,881 spectroscopically confirmed quasars. About 10,000 quasars have an average of 60 observations in each band obtained over a decade along Stripe 82 (S82), whereas the remaining ~25,000 have 2-3 observations due to scan overlaps. The observed time lags span the range from a day to almost 10 years, and constrain quasar variability at rest-frame time lags of up to 4 years, and at rest-frame wavelengths from 1000A to 6000A. We publicly release a user-friendly catalog of quasars from the SDSS Data Release 7 that have been observed at least twice in SDSS or once in both SDSS and the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, and we use it to analyze the ensemble properties of quasar variability. Based on a damped random walk (DRW) model defined by a characteristic time scale and an asymptotic variability amplitude that scale with the luminosity, black hole mass, and rest wavelength for individual quasars calibrated in S82, we can fully explain the ensemble variability statistics of the non-S82 quasars such as the exponential distribution of large magnitude changes. All available data are consistent with the DRW model as a viable description of the optical continuum variability of quasars on time scales of ~5-2000 days in the rest frame. We use these models to predict the incidence of quasar contamination in transient surveys such as those from PTF and LSST.Comment: 33 pages, 19 figures, replaced with accepted version. Catalog is available at http://www.astro.washington.edu/users/ivezic/macleod/qso_dr7