Varieties of Non-ordinary Experiences in Brazil—a Critical Review of the Contribution of Studies of ‘Religious Experience’ to the Study of Religion

According to the latest national census, 64.6% of Brazilians identified themselves as Roman Catholic. However, the census has little or nothing to do with actual practice or belief. Professing to be a Christian (within any confessional specification) is still part of being Brazilian. But the self-identification does not take into account that religiosity is expressed in very diverse ways nor does it prevent people from believing and practising one of the many Brazilian traditions though identifying themselves as Christian in the census. This perception represents the framework of the following discussion of non-ordinary experiences in Brazil, whether they are perceived as religious, spiritual or ‘just’ extraordinary. This article presents an overview of studies about non-ordinary experiences in Brazil. The aim is to show the importance of these experiences for the understanding of the religious landscape of Brazil

Practical guidelines for rigor and reproducibility in preclinical and clinical studies on cardioprotection

The potential for ischemic preconditioning to reduce infarct size was first recognized more than 30 years ago. Despite extension of the concept to ischemic postconditioning and remote ischemic conditioning and literally thousands of experimental studies in various species and models which identified a multitude of signaling steps, so far there is only a single and very recent study, which has unequivocally translated cardioprotection to improved clinical outcome as the primary endpoint in patients. Many potential reasons for this disappointing lack of clinical translation of cardioprotection have been proposed, including lack of rigor and reproducibility in preclinical studies, and poor design and conduct of clinical trials. There is, however, universal agreement that robust preclinical data are a mandatory prerequisite to initiate a meaningful clinical trial. In this context, it is disconcerting that the CAESAR consortium (Consortium for preclinicAl assESsment of cARdioprotective therapies) in a highly standardized multi-center approach of preclinical studies identified only ischemic preconditioning, but not nitrite or sildenafil, when given as adjunct to reperfusion, to reduce infarct size. However, ischemic preconditioning—due to its very nature—can only be used in elective interventions, and not in acute myocardial infarction. Therefore, better strategies to identify robust and reproducible strategies of cardioprotection, which can subsequently be tested in clinical trials must be developed. We refer to the recent guidelines for experimental models of myocardial ischemia and infarction, and aim to provide now practical guidelines to ensure rigor and reproducibility in preclinical and clinical studies on cardioprotection. In line with the above guideline, we define rigor as standardized state-of-the-art design, conduct and reporting of a study, which is then a prerequisite for reproducibility, i.e. replication of results by another laboratory when performing exactly the same experiment

Resveratrol and non-ethanolic components of wine in experimental cardiology.

International audienceThe mechanisms through which the consumption of alcoholic beverages, in particular wine, protects against cardiac and vascular diseases remain largely unexplored. New methods are needed to investigate that crucial medical and scientific question. Several groups are now beginning to use animal models of myocardial ischemia and reperfusion to explore whether certain nutrients, including ethanol and non-ethanolic components of wine, may have a specific protective effect on the myocardium, independently from the classical risk factors involved in vascular atherosclerosis and thrombosis. Concepts used in experimental cardiology, such as preconditioning and stunning, are now entering the field of nutrition, and this will undoubtedly lead to considerable improvements in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases

Antioxidant treatment prevents cardiac protein oxidation after ischemia-reperfusion and improves myocardial function and coronary perfusion in senescent hearts.

Cardiovascular ageing is associated with an increase in cardiac susceptibility to ischaemia and reperfusion and production of reactive oxygen species has been suspected to be responsible for this age-associated particular vulnerability. To determine whether administration of antioxidant treatment could afford some protection against ischaemia and reperfusion during aging, isolated perfused hearts from adult and senescent rats were submitted to normoxia (180 min), prolonged low-flow ischaemia (15% of initial coronary flow;180 min) or low-flow ischaemia/reperfusion (45 min/30 min), without or with antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase+catalase; 50IU/ml). Contractile function and coronary perfusion were measured and protein oxidation was quantitated in left ventricle after normoxia, ischaemia and ischaemia/reperfusion. Protein oxidation was higher in senescent than in adult hearts after ischaemia-reperfusion, in contrast to prolonged ischaemia. During prolonged ischaemia, antioxidant treatment prevented coronary vasoconstriction at both ages and delayed contractile dysfunction in senescent hearts but did not limit protein oxidation. During reperfusion, antioxidant treatment prevented coronary vasoconstriction and protein oxidation at both ages and considerably improved recovery of contractile function in senescent hearts. In conclusion, antioxidant treatment fully protects the senescent heart against ischaemia/reperfusion but not against prolonged ischaemia injury, indicating that oxidative stress plays a central role in the age-associated vulnerability to ischaemia-reperfusion