Getting the Haves to Come out Behind: Fixing the Distributive Injustices of American Health Care

Hyman criticizes an article by Havighurst and Richman regarding the distributive injustices of US health care. Hyman also offers a guide for implementing policy reforms based on the analysis by Havighurst and Richman

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Hippocampal Activation During Silent Mantra Meditation

Objectives: The objective of the present study was to investigate whether moderately experienced meditators activate hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex during silent mantra meditation, as has been observed in earlier studies on subjects with several years of practice. Methods: Subjects with less than 2 years of meditation practice according to the Kundalini yoga or Acem tradition were examined by functional magnetic resonance imaging during silent mantra meditation, using an on-off block design. Whole-brain as well as region-of-interest analyses were performed. Results: The most significant activation was found in the bilateral hippocampus/parahippocampal formations. Other areas with significant activation were the bilateral middle cingulate cortex and the bilateral precentral cortex. No activation in the anterior cingulate cortex was found, and only small activation clusters were observed in the prefrontal cortex. Conclusions: In conclusion, the main finding in this study was the significant activation in the hippocampi, which also has been correlated with meditation in several previous studies on very experienced meditators. We propose that the hippocampus is activated already after moderate meditation practice and also during different modes of meditation, including relaxation. The role of hippocampal activity during meditation should be further clarified in future studies, especially by investigating whether the meditation-correlated hippocampal activity is related to memory consolidation.Original Publication: Maria Engström, Johan Pihlsgård, Peter Lundberg and Birgitta Axelsson Söderfeldt, Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Hippocampal Activation During Silent Mantra Meditation, 2010, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, (16), 12, 1253-1258. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/acm.2009.0706 Copyright: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. http://www.liebertpub.com/</p