REMOTE INFLUENCE OF HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY BY A RITUAL HEALING TECHNIQUE

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that remote calming effects of a traditional healing ritual can be objectively measured using indicators of electrodermal activity, heart rate and blood volume. A total of 14 sessions were conducted in the initial study and 16 sessions were conducted in the replication. In both experiments, the authors exchanged roles as experimenter, healer and patient. Healers were instructed to try to calm the remote patient using a set of traditional ritual magic strategies, or to exert no influence (as a control). The patient created a doll in his or her likeness and provided mementos, pictures and an autobiographical sketch. The healer used these materials to form a sympathetic connection with the patient who was located in another building in an isolated toom. During the experiments, there were no other connections between the healer and the patient. Each session consisted of a randomized counterbalanced sequence of five calming and five control epochs of one minute each. No performance feedback was provided to the healer or patient during the session. The combined results of both experiments showed significant effects for changes in blood volume (p = .00002), heart rate (p = .001) and electrodermal activity (p = .013), suggesting that traditional magic healing rituals caused significant relaxation of the vascular system and arousal of electrodermal activity. These rituals appear to be helpful in focusing mental intention in laboratory investigations of direct mental interactions with living systems

REMOTE INFLUENCE OF HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY BY A RITUAL HEALING TECHNIQUE

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that remote calming effects of a traditional healing ritual can be objectively measured using indicators of electrodermal activity, heart rate and blood volume. A total of 14 sessions were conducted in the initial study and 16 sessions were conducted in the replication. In both experiments, the authors exchanged roles as experimenter, healer and patient. Healers were instructed to try to calm the remote patient using a set of traditional ritual magic strategies, or to exert no influence (as a control). The patient created a doll in his or her likeness and provided mementos, pictures and an autobiographical sketch. The healer used these materials to form a sympathetic connection with the patient who was located in another building in an isolated toom. During the experiments, there were no other connections between the healer and the patient. Each session consisted of a randomized counterbalanced sequence of five calming and five control epochs of one minute each. No performance feedback was provided to the healer or patient during the session. The combined results of both experiments showed significant effects for changes in blood volume (p = .00002), heart rate (p = .001) and electrodermal activity (p = .013), suggesting that traditional magic healing rituals caused significant relaxation of the vascular system and arousal of electrodermal activity. These rituals appear to be helpful in focusing mental intention in laboratory investigations of direct mental interactions with living systems

Glial and neuronal localization of cerebroside-metabolizing enzymes

Glial and neuronal cell preparations were made from young rat cerebrum and assayed for 3 enzymes involved in sphingolipid metabolism. A galactosyltransferase which makes galactocerebroside, a primary component of myelin, was found in all cell types examined, at fairly similar levels of activity. The same distribution of activities was found for the [beta]-galactosidase which hydrolyzes galactocerebroside. It is suggested that the very low levels of galactocerebroside found in neurons are the result of an inability of neurons to form the lipoidal cerebroside precursor, hydroxy ceramide, or a cerebroside-binding protein.The glucosyltransferase which makes glucocerebroside, an intermediate in ganglioside biosynthesis, was found only in neurons. This may be a new marker enzyme for neurons, in contrast to other brain cells. Since gangliosides are found in non-neuronal membranes, it appears likely that they (or some intermediate in biosynthesis) are transferred from neurons.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/34120/1/0000404.pd

Conceptual Design of Shielded Metal Arc Welding Workstation: Work Posture and Bead Dimension Consideration

The aim of this study was to propose a conceptual design of SMAW workstation which considered work postures of welders and weld bead dimensions. This study applied full factorial design of experiment. The independent variables were table height, table surface inclination, and work position. Meanwhile the dependent variables were bead height, bead width, and RULA score. Results of analysis of variance showed that the table height, table surface inclination, and work position have an effect on bead width and bead height. This study concluded that the proposed SMAW workstation can offer acceptable bead dimensions when it is designed with adjustable table height, table surface is flat (0°), and work position is standing. However, the work posture still requires further investigation

On the Global Existence of Bohmian Mechanics

We show that the particle motion in Bohmian mechanics, given by the solution of an ordinary differential equation, exists globally: For a large class of potentials the singularities of the velocity field and infinity will not be reached in finite time for typical initial values. A substantial part of the analysis is based on the probabilistic significance of the quantum flux. We elucidate the connection between the conditions necessary for global existence and the self-adjointness of the Schr\"odinger Hamiltonian.Comment: 35 pages, LaTe

CEREBROSIDE GALACTOSIDASE: A METHOD FOR DETERMINATION AND A COMPARISON WITH OTHER LYSOSOMAL ENZYMES IN DEVELOPING RAT BRAIN 1

(1) A method is described for assaying brain for cerebroside galactosidase activity. The enzyme was liberated by sonication and addition of sodium taurocholate, then by digestion with pancreatic enzymes. It was further purified by precipitation at pH 3. The enzyme was then incubated with an emulsion of galactose-labelled cerebroside in taurocholate and oleate at pH 4·5, and the liberated galactose was determined by scintillation counting. (2) The content of cerebroside galactosidase in rat brain at various ages has been determined. The enzyme was present before cerebroside appears in noticeable amounts (4 days) and the amount rose considerably during the period of active cerebroside deposition and myelination. The amount then remained at a high concentration even in the adult. (3) Comparison with other lysosomal brain enzymes was made in the age study. Nitrophenyl galactoside hydrolase also increased during myelination but levelled off earlier; its activity paralleled the amount of ganglioside. Nitrophenyl glucoside hydrolase started at a lower level and decreased with age. Sulphatase activity rose during myelination, then decreased somewhat after 15 days. Ceramidase followed a pattern similar to that of nitrophenyl galactoside hydrolase; it is suggested that both of these enzymes reflect ganglioside metabolism. (4) The relative amounts of brain enzymes in different states were determined as a function of age in the case of cerebrosidase, nitrophenyl galactoside hydrolase and sulphatase. The proportion found in the high speed supernatant fraction was low but increased after myelination. The proportion that could be ‘solubilized’ by sonication decreased after myelination but the values differed greatly for the three enzymes. This treatment solubilized one-seventh of the cerebrosidase, half the nitrophenyl galactosidase and three-quarters of the sulphatase.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66425/1/j.1471-4159.1969.tb06849.x.pd

Efficacy of Dupilumab in a Phase 2 Randomized Trial of Adults With Active Eosinophilic Esophagitis.

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is an allergen-mediated inflammatory disease with no approved treatment in the United States. Dupilumab, a VelocImmune-derived human monoclonal antibody against the interleukin (IL) 4 receptor, inhibits IL4 and IL13 signaling. Dupilumab is effective in the treatment of allergic, atopic, and type 2 diseases, so we assessed its efficacy and safety in patients with EoE. We performed a phase 2 study of adults with active EoE (2 episodes of dysphagia/week with peak esophageal eosinophil density of 15 or more eosinophils per high-power field), from May 12, 2015, through November 9, 2016, at 14 sites. Participants were randomly assigned to groups that received weekly subcutaneous injections of dupilumab (300 mg, n = 23) or placebo (n = 24) for 12 weeks. The primary endpoint was change from baseline to week 10 in Straumann Dysphagia Instrument (SDI) patient-reported outcome (PRO) score. We also assessed histologic features of EoE (peak esophageal intraepithelial eosinophil count and EoE histologic scores), endoscopically visualized features (endoscopic reference score), esophageal distensibility, and safety. The mean SDI PRO score was 6.4 when the study began. In the dupilumab group, SDI PRO scores were reduced by a mean value of 3.0 at week 10 compared with a mean reduction of 1.3 in the placebo group (P = .0304). At week 12, dupilumab reduced the peak esophageal intraepithelial eosinophil count by a mean 86.8 eosinophils per high-power field (reduction of 107.1%; P < .0001 vs placebo), the EoE-histologic scoring system (HSS) severity score by 68.3% (P < .0001 vs placebo), and the endoscopic reference score by 1.6 (P = .0006 vs placebo). Dupilumab increased esophageal distensibility by 18% vs placebo (P < .0001). Higher proportions of patients in the dupilumab group developed injection-site erythema (35% vs 8% in the placebo group) and nasopharyngitis (17% vs 4% in the placebo group). In a phase 2 trial of patients with active EoE, dupilumab reduced dysphagia, histologic features of disease (including eosinophilic infiltration and a marker of type 2 inflammation), and abnormal endoscopic features compared with placebo. Dupilumab increased esophageal distensibility and was generally well tolerated. ClinicalTrials.gov, Number: NCT02379052

Regularity Properties and Pathologies of Position-Space Renormalization-Group Transformations

We reconsider the conceptual foundations of the renormalization-group (RG) formalism, and prove some rigorous theorems on the regularity properties and possible pathologies of the RG map. Regarding regularity, we show that the RG map, defined on a suitable space of interactions (= formal Hamiltonians), is always single-valued and Lipschitz continuous on its domain of definition. This rules out a recently proposed scenario for the RG description of first-order phase transitions. On the pathological side, we make rigorous some arguments of Griffiths, Pearce and Israel, and prove in several cases that the renormalized measure is not a Gibbs measure for any reasonable interaction. This means that the RG map is ill-defined, and that the conventional RG description of first-order phase transitions is not universally valid. For decimation or Kadanoff transformations applied to the Ising model in dimension $d \ge 3$, these pathologies occur in a full neighborhood $\{ \beta > \beta_0 ,\, |h| < \epsilon(\beta) \}$ of the low-temperature part of the first-order phase-transition surface. For block-averaging transformations applied to the Ising model in dimension $d \ge 2$, the pathologies occur at low temperatures for arbitrary magnetic-field strength. Pathologies may also occur in the critical region for Ising models in dimension $d \ge 4$. We discuss in detail the distinction between Gibbsian and non-Gibbsian measures, and give a rather complete catalogue of the known examples. Finally, we discuss the heuristic and numerical evidence on RG pathologies in the light of our rigorous theorems.Comment: 273 pages including 14 figures, Postscript, See also ftp.scri.fsu.edu:hep-lat/papers/9210/9210032.ps.

Mice Lacking NKT Cells but with a Complete Complement of CD8+ T-Cells Are Not Protected against the Metabolic Abnormalities of Diet-Induced Obesity

The contribution of natural killer T (NKT) cells to the pathogenesis of metabolic abnormalities of obesity is controversial. While the combined genetic deletion of NKT and CD8+ T-cells improves glucose tolerance and reduces inflammation, interpretation of these data have been complicated by the recent observation that the deletion of CD8+ T-cells alone reduces obesity-induced inflammation and metabolic dysregulation, leaving the issue of the metabolic effects of NKT cell depletion unresolved. To address this question, CD1d null mice (CD1d−/−), which lack NKT cells but have a full complement of CD8+ T-cells, and littermate wild type controls (WT) on a pure C57BL/6J background were exposed to a high fat diet, and glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, inflammation, and obesity were assessed. Food intake (15.5±4.3 vs 15.3±1.8 kcal/mouse/day), weight gain (21.8±1.8 vs 22.8±1.4 g) and fat mass (18.6±1.9 vs 19.5±2.1 g) were similar in CD1d−/− and WT, respectively. As would be expected from these data, metabolic rate (3.0±0.1 vs 2.9±0.2 ml O2/g/h) and activity (21.6±4.3 vs 18.5±2.6 beam breaks/min) were unchanged by NKT cell depletion. Furthermore, the degree of insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, liver steatosis, and adipose and liver inflammatory marker expression (TNFα, IL-6, IL-10, IFN-γ, MCP-1, MIP1α) induced by high fat feeding in CD1d−/− were not different from WT. We conclude that deletion of NKT cells, in the absence of alterations in the CD8+ T-cell population, is insufficient to protect against the development of the metabolic abnormalities of diet-induced obesity

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London