'I-I' and 'I-me' : Transposing Buber's interpersonal attitudes to the intrapersonal plane

Hermans' polyphonic model of the self proposes that dialogical relationships can be established between multiple I-positions1 (e.g., Hermans, 2001a). There have been few attempts, however, to explicitly characterize the forms that these intrapersonal relationships may take. Drawing on Buber's (1958) distinction between the 'I-Thou' and 'I-It' attitude, it is proposed that intrapersonal relationships can take one of two forms: an 'I-I' form, in which one I-position encounters and confirms another I-position in its uniqueness and wholeness; and an 'I-Me' form, in which one I-position experiences another I-position in a detached and objectifying way. This article argues that this I-Me form of intrapersonal relating is associated with psychological distress, and that this is so for a number of reasons: Most notably, because an individual who objectifies and subjugates certain I-position cannot reconnect with more central I-positions when dominance reversal (Hermans, 2001a) takes place. On this basis, it is suggested that a key role of the therapeutic process is to help clients become more able to experience moments of I-I intrapersonal encounter, and it is argued that this requires the therapist to confirm the client both as a whole and in terms of each of his or her different voices

Practical issues and limitations of brain attenuation correction on a simultaneous PET-MR scanner

BACKGROUND: Despite the advent of clinical PET-MR imaging for routine use in 2011 and the development of several methods to address the problem of attenuation correction, some challenges remain. We have identified and investigated several issues that might affect the reliability and accuracy of current attenuation correction methods when these are implemented for clinical and research studies of the brain. These are (1) the accuracy of converting CT Hounsfield units, obtained from an independently acquired CT scan, to 511 keV linear attenuation coefficients; (2) the effect of padding used in the MR head coil; (3) the presence of close-packed hair; (4) the effect of headphones. For each of these, we have examined the effect on reconstructed PET images and evaluated practical mitigating measures. RESULTS: Our major findings were (1) for both Siemens and GE PET-MR systems, CT data from either a Siemens or a GE PET-CT scanner may be used, provided the conversion to 511 keV μ-map is performed by the PET-MR vendor’s own method, as implemented on their PET-CT scanner; (2) the effect of the head coil pads is minimal; (3) the effect of dense hair in the field of view is marked (> 10% error in reconstructed PET images); and (4) using headphones and not including them in the attenuation map causes significant errors in reconstructed PET images, but the risk of scanning without them may be acceptable following sound level measurements. CONCLUSIONS: It is important that the limitations of attenuation correction in PET-MR are considered when designing research and clinical PET-MR protocols in order to enable accurate quantification of brain PET scans. Whilst the effect of pads is not significant, dense hair, the use of headphones and the use of an independently acquired CT-scan can all lead to non-negligible effects on PET quantification. Although seemingly trivial, these effects add complications to setting up protocols for clinical and research PET-MR studies that do not occur with PET-CT. In the absence of more sophisticated PET-MR brain attenuation correction, the effect of all of the issues above can be minimised if the pragmatic approaches presented in this work are followed

METABOLIC HEALTH CHANGES: CLEAN KETOGENIC DIET VS. A CLEAN KETOGENIC DIET WITH INTERMITTENT FASTING

Todd Sherman, Angie MacKewn, Julie Floyd, Alison Ellis, Anna Mallory. University of Tennessee at Martin, Martin, TN. Background: Research on carbohydrate restrictive diets and intermittent fasting show promising results towards improvements in gut and metabolic health, however, many of these studies don’t control for the effects of processed foods on metabolic health. A clean keto diet greatly reduces oxalates, glutens, fiber, alcohol, and refined sugars and oils, which have all been linked back to gut dysbiosis. The purpose of this study was to compare metabolic health changes between eating clean ketogenic diet (CKD) and a clean ketogenic diet with intermittent fasting (CKD + IF) for 30-days. Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to either eat a clean ketogenic diet (CKD) or eat a clean ketogenic diet with intermittent fasting (CKD + IF) for 30 days. Pre-and post-testing included several measures of metabolic health, including, triglycerides and HDL through blood draws and fat mass %, measured using the BODPOD. Differences were compared after eating approximately 20 grams of clean carbohydrates for 30 days. There were no significant differences in the metabolic changes between the CKD and CKD + IF, in terms improvements, so a series of paired samples t-tests were performed between the pre-post scores separately by the group. Results: Both groups had significant improvements in a number of metabolic factors, but the CKD + IF had a significant decrease in the TG/HDL ratio, t(24) = 2.37, p =.013, whereas the CKD group improved, but not significantly, t(21) = .660, p \u3e.05. Having a TG/HDL ratio closer to 1 is desired for enhanced metabolism and health. Body fat % significantly decreased for both groups, CKD t(21) = 2.76 , p = .006. CKD + IF, t(24) = 5.84, p \u3c.001. Conclusions: Eating a clean ketogenic diet can significantly improve one’s health and wellness but eating within an 8-hour window and then fasting for 16 hours can enhance these metabolic benefits. These improvements demonstrate beneficial outcomes into many areas of health, including physical and psychological symptoms

PET/MRI in Oncological Imaging: State of the Art.

Positron emission tomography (PET) combined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a hybrid technology which has recently gained interest as a potential cancer imaging tool. Compared with CT, MRI is advantageous due to its lack of ionizing radiation, superior soft-tissue contrast resolution, and wider range of acquisition sequences. Several studies have shown PET/MRI to be equivalent to PET/CT in most oncological applications, possibly superior in certain body parts, e.g., head and neck, pelvis, and in certain situations, e.g., cancer recurrence. This review will update the readers on recent advances in PET/MRI technology and review key literature, while highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of PET/MRI in cancer imaging

Simultaneous PET–MR acquisition and MR-derived motion fields for correction of non-rigid motion in PET

Positron emission tomography (PET) provides an accurate measurement of radiotracer concentration in vivo, but performance can be limited by subject motion which degrades spatial resolution and quantitative accuracy. This effect may become a limiting factor for PET studies in the body as PET scanner technology improves. In this work, we propose a new approach to address this problem by employing motion information from images measured simultaneously using a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner. The approach is demonstrated using an MR-compatible PET scanner and PET-MR acquisition with a purpose-designed phantom capable of non-rigid deformations. Measured, simultaneously acquired MR data were used to correct for motion in PET, and results were compared with those obtained using motion information from PET images alone. Motion artefacts were significantly reduced and the PET image quality and quantification was significantly improved by the use of MR motion fields, whilst the use of PET-only motion information was less successful. Combined PET-MR acquisitions potentially allow PET motion compensation in whole-body acquisitions without prolonging PET acquisition time or increasing radiation dose. This, to the best of our knowledge, is the first study to demonstrate that simultaneously acquired MR data can be used to estimate and correct for the effects of non-rigid motion in PET