Environmental Spirituality

It is difficult to address the crises of ecology and relevance in religion where the culture is increasingly secular, disbelieving, and unable to ground itself in local experience. This paper proposes that church leaders have the opportunity to change perspective from one that is “other-worldly” to one which focuses on the environment as earth-based, sacred, and which ultimately requires our respect. Indigenous Australians led the way in this regard. Only by making the world sacred, by turning the earth into creation, can we approach the problem of the environmental crisis and work toward repair

Australians and the Future of Spirituality

Today I would like to consider the topic of Australians and the future of spirituality from a relatively personal point of view. We in academia like to pretend that our views are not 'personal' at all, that we are somehow exempt from the personal equation as we tackle the big issues in our disciplines. But feminism, cultural relativism, and now social constructivism have done much to undermine the idea of a fully objective scholarship, which enables people like myself to address our own 'speaking position' in the conference paper. We can, I hope, learn how to be intelligently personal without indulging our 'personality', and I think the future of scholarship depends on our ability to know the difference between these things

David J. Tweardy, MD, Oral History Interview, January 22, 2019

Major Topics Covered: Personal background and education; spirituality; evolution of perspective on science and medicine Research: cytokines and shift to focus on oncologyhttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewsessions/1196/thumbnail.jp

Production of Normal Mammalian Organ Culture Using a Medium Containing Mem-Alpha, Leibovitz L 15, Glucose Galactose Fructose

Normal mammalian tissue and the culturing process has been developed for the three groups of organ, structural and blood tissue. The cells are grown in vitro under micro- gravity culture conditions and form three dimensional cells aggregates with normal cell function. The microgravity culture conditions may be microgravity or simulated microgravity created in a horizontal rotating wall culture vessel. The medium used for culturing the cells, especially a mixture of epithelial and mesenchymal cells contains a mixture of Mem-alpha and Leibovits L15 supplemented with glucose, galactose and fructose

Cultured normal mammalian tissue and process

Normal mammalian tissue and the culturing process has been developed for the three groups of organ, structural and blood tissue. The cells are grown in vitro under microgravity culture conditions and form three dimensional cell aggregates with normal cell function. The microgravity culture conditions may be microgravity or simulated microgravity created in a horizontal rotating wall culture vessel

The effects of acute exercise on bone turnover markers in middle-aged and older adults: A systematic review

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. Background: Bone turnover is the cellular machinery responsible for bone integrity and strength and, in the clinical setting, it is assessed using bone turnover markers (BTMs). Acute exercise can induce mechanical stress on bone which is needed for bone remodelling, but to date, there are conflicting results in regards to the effects of varying mechanical stimuli on BTMs. Objectives: This systematic review examines the effects of acute aerobic, resistance and impact exercises on BTMs in middle and older-aged adults and examines whether the responses are determined by the exercise mode, intensity, age and sex. Methods: We searched PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science and EMBASE up to 22nd April 2020. Eligibility criteria included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and single-arm studies that included middle-aged (50 to 65 years) and older adults (\u3e65 years) and, a single-bout, acute-exercise (aerobic, resistance, impact) intervention with measurement of BTMs. PROSPERO registration number CRD42020145359. Results: Thirteen studies were included; 8 in middle-aged (n = 275, 212 women/63 men, mean age = 57.9 ± 1.5 years) and 5 in older adults (n = 93, 50 women/43 men, mean age = 68.2 ± 2.2 years). Eleven studies included aerobic exercise (AE, 7 middle-aged/4 older adults), and two included resistance exercise (RE, both middle-aged). AE significantly increased C-terminal telopeptide (CTX), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and bone-ALP in middle-aged and older adults. AE also significantly increased total osteocalcin (tOC) in middle-aged men and Procollagen I Carboxyterminal Propeptide and Cross-Linked Carboxyterminal Telopeptide of Type I Collagen in older women. RE alone decreased ALP in older adults. In middle-aged adults, RE with impact had no effect on tOC or BALP, but significantly decreased CTX. Impact (jumping) exercise alone increased Procollagen Type 1 N Propeptide and tOC in middle-aged women. Conclusion: Acute exercise is an effective tool to modify BTMs, however, the response appears to be exercise modality-, intensity-, age- and sex-specific. There is further need for higher quality and larger RCTs in this area

The Effects of Acute High-Intensity Interval Exercise and Hyperinsulinemic-Euglycemic Clamp on Osteoglycin Levels in Young and Middle-Aged Men

Osteoglycin (OGN) is a leucine-rich proteoglycan that has been implicated in the regulation of glucose in animal models. However, its relationship with glucose control in humans is unclear. We examined the effect of high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) and hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp on circulating levels of OGN as well as whether circulating OGN levels are associated with markers of glycemic control and cardio-metabolic health. Serum was analyzed for OGN (ELISA) levels from 9 middle-aged obese men (58.1 ± 2.2 years, body mass index [BMI] = 33.1 ± 1.4 kg∙m−2, mean ± SEM) and 9 young men (27.8 ± 1.6 years, BMI = 24.4 ± 0.08 kg∙m−2) who previously completed a study involving a euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp at rest and after HIIE (4x4 minutes cycling at approximately 95% peak heart rate (HRpeak), interspersed with 2 minutes of active recovery). Blood pressure, body composition (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry), and insulin sensitivity (hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp) were assessed. Serum OGN was higher in the young cohort compared with the middle-aged cohort (65.2 ± 10.1 ng/mL versus 36.5 ± 4. 5 ng/mL, p ≤ 0.05). Serum OGN was unaffected by acute HIIE but decreased after the insulin clamp compared with baseline (~−27%, p = 0.01), post-exercise (~−35%, p = 0.01), and pre-clamp (~−32%, p = 0.02) time points, irrespective of age. At baseline, lower circulating OGN levels were associated with increased age, BMI, and fat mass, whereas higher OGN levels were related to lower fasting glucose. Higher OGN levels were associated with a higher glucose infusion rate. Exercise had a limited effect on circulating OGN. The mechanisms by which OGN affects glucose regulation should be explored in the future. © 2022 The Authors. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research

The effects of acute high-intensity interval exercise and hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp on osteoglycin levels in young and middle-aged men

Osteoglycin (OGN) is a leucine-rich proteoglycan that has been implicated in the regulation of glucose in animal models. However, its relationship with glucose control in humans is unclear. We examined the effect of high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) and hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp on circulating levels of OGN as well as whether circulating OGN levels are associated with markers of glycemic control and cardio-metabolic health. Serum was analyzed for OGN (ELISA) levels from 9 middle-aged obese men (58.1 ± 2.2 years, body mass index [BMI] = 33.1 ± 1.4 kg∙m − 2, mean ± SEM) and 9 young men (27.8 ± 1.6 years, BMI = 24.4 ± 0.08 kg∙m − 2) who previously completed a study involving a euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp at rest and after HIIE (4 x 4 minutes cycling at approximately 95% peak heart rate (HRpeak), interspersed with 2 minutes of active recovery). Blood pressure, body composition (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry), and insulin sensitivity (hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp) were assessed. Serum OGN was higher in the young cohort compared with the middle-aged cohort (65.2 ± 10.1 ng/mL versus 36.5 ± 4. 5 ng/mL, p ≤ 0.05). Serum OGN was unaffected by acute HIIE but decreased after the insulin clamp compared with baseline (~ − 27 %, p = 0.01), post-exercise (~ − 35 %, p = 0.01), and pre-clamp (~ − 32 %, p = 0.02) time points, irrespective of age. At baseline, lower circulating OGN levels were associated with increased age, BMI, and fat mass, whereas higher OGN levels were related to lower fasting glucose. Higher OGN levels were associated with a higher glucose infusion rate. Exercise had a limited effect on circulating OGN. The mechanisms by which OGN affects glucose regulation should be explored in the future

Patterns of the use of advanced radiation therapy techniques for the management of bone metastases and the associated factors in Victoria.

INTRODUCTION: To describe the pattern of the use of advanced radiation therapy (RT) techniques, including intensity-modulated RT (IMRT), volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), and stereotactic body RT (SBRT) for the management of bone metastases (BM), and the associated factors in Victoria. METHODS: We used a population-based cohort of patients from the state-wide Victorian Radiotherapy Minimum Data Set (VRMDS) who received RT for BM between 2012 and 2017. The primary outcome was proportion of RT courses using advanced RT techniques. The Cochran-Armitage test for trend was used to evaluate temporal trend in advanced RT use. Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with advanced RT use. RESULTS: A total of 18,158 courses of RT were delivered to 10,956 patients-16,626 (91.6%) courses were 3D conformal RT, 857 (4.7%) IMRT/VMAT and 675 (3.7%) SBRT. There was a sharp increase in IMRT/VMAT use from <1% in 2012-2015, to 10.1% in 2016 and 16.3% in 2017 (P-trend < 0.001). Increase in SBRT use was more gradual, from 1.2% in 2012 to 4.8% in 2016 and 5.5% in 2017 for SBRT (P-trend<0.001). In multivariate analyses, year of RT was the strongest predictor of IMRT/VMAT use (OR = 41; 95%CI = 25-67; P < 0.001, comparing 2012-2013 and 2016-2017). Primary tumour type (prostate cancer) was the strongest predictor of SBRT use (OR = 6.07; 95% CI = 4.19-8.80; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Overall, there was increasing trend in the use of advanced RT techniques for BM in Victoria, with a distinct pattern for IMRT/VMAT compared with SBRT - SBRT uptake was more gradual while IMRT/VMAT uptake was abrupt, occurring contemporaneously with Medicare Benefit Scheme funding changes in 2016

Single dose prednisolone alters endocrine and haematologic responses and exercise performance in men

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a single dose of prednisolone on (A) high-intensity interval cycling performance and (B) post-exercise metabolic, hormonal and haematological responses. Nine young men participated in this double-blind, randomised, cross-over study. The participants completed exercise sessions (4 × 4 min cycling bouts at 90–95% of peak heart rate), 12 h after ingesting prednisolone (20 mg) or placebo. Work load was adjusted to maintain the same relative heart rate between the sessions. Exercise performance was measured as total work performed. Blood samples were taken at rest, immediately post exercise and up to 3 h post exercise. Prednisolone ingestion decreased total work performed by 5% (P 0.05). Prednisolone suppressed the increase in blood lactate immediately post exercise (P < 0.05). Total white blood cell count was elevated at all time-points with prednisolone (P < 0.01). Androgens and sex hormone-binding globulin were elevated immediately after exercise, irrespective of prednisolone or placebo. In contrast, prednisolone significantly reduced the ratio of testosterone/luteinizing hormone (P < 0.01). Acute prednisolone treatment impairs high-intensity interval cycling performance and alters metabolic and haematological parameters in healthy young men. Exercise may be an effective tool to minimise the effect of prednisolone on blood glucose levels