Paul\u27s \u27Zine Number 6: Philemon

Illustrated \u27zine of Paul\u27s letter to Philemon

The Significance of Jesus\u27 Healing Miracles: A Study of their Role in the Synoptic Gospels and their Importance to Early Christianity

This essay examines the healing miracles of Jesus as described by the Synoptic Gospels and posits that the appeal of the Synoptics over non-canonical texts can partially be found in the former’s focus on these physical healing miracles. The essay argues that the idea that one can be healed of physical pain through faith is a varied theme in the Synoptics and a strong motivator to bring an interest in early Christianity, especially during a time of persecution. Further, this essay considers Gnostic Gospels and their relative lack of healing miracles to expand upon a theory put forth by Elaine Pagels, namely that the early church declared Gnostic texts to be heretical in part because they did not cater to the basic needs of the people as the Synoptics did

Development of the PSYCHS: Positive SYmptoms and Diagnostic Criteria for the CAARMS Harmonized with the SIPS

Aim: To harmonize two ascertainment and severity rating instruments commonly used for the clinical high risk syndrome for psychosis (CHR-P): the Structured Interview for Psychosis-risk Syndromes (SIPS) and the Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States (CAARMS). Methods: The initial workshop is described in the companion report from Addington et al. After the workshop, lead experts for each instrument continued harmonizing attenuated positive symptoms and criteria for psychosis and CHR-P through an intensive series of joint videoconferences. Results: Full harmonization was achieved for attenuated positive symptom ratings and psychosis criteria, and modest harmonization for CHR-P criteria. The semi-structured interview, named Positive SYmptoms and Diagnostic Criteria for the CAARMS Harmonized with the SIPS (PSYCHS), generates CHR-P criteria and severity scores for both CAARMS and SIPS. Conclusions: Using the PSYCHS for CHR-P ascertainment, conversion determination, and attenuated positive symptom severity rating will help in comparing findings across studies and in meta-analyses

Association of Thalamic Dysconnectivity and Conversion to Psychosis in Youth and Young Adults at Elevated Clinical Risk

Severe neuropsychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia, affect distributed neural computations. One candidate system profoundly altered in chronic schizophrenia involves the thalamocortical networks. It is widely acknowledged that schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder that likely affects the brain before onset of clinical symptoms. However, no investigation has tested whether thalamocortical connectivity is altered in individuals at risk for psychosis or whether this pattern is more severe in individuals who later develop full-blown illness

The "Science" of Prediction: A Battery of Blind Back-Dated Validation Tests of PredictionWorks' New Venture Assessment System

This report examines the results of a research partnership between PredictionWorks, a private firm, and The University of Texas at Austin (McCombs School of Business and the IC² Institute). PredictionWorks' New Venture Assessor is an assessment system which attempts to predict the success of new ventures based on their business plans. In this study the principals of PredictionWorks applied their methodology to ten past ventures from the Austin region in a set of blind back-dated validation tests.IC2 Institut

Spending to save: What will it cost to halt Australia's extinction crisis?

As with most governments worldwide, Australian governments list threatened species and proffer commitments to recovering them. Yet most of Australia's imperiled species continue to decline or go extinct and a contributing cause is inadequate investment in conservation management. However, this has been difficult to evaluate because the extent of funding committed to such recovery in Australia, like in many nations, is opaque. Here, by collating disparate published budget figures of Australian governments, we show that annual spending on targeted threatened species recovery is around U.S.$92m (AU$122m) which is around one tenth of that spent by the U.S. endangered species recovery program, and about 15% of what is needed to avoid extinctions and recover threatened species. Our approach to estimating funding needs for species recovery could be applied in any jurisdiction and could be scaled up to calculate what is needed to achieve international goals for ending the species extinction crisis.Australian Research Council grants, Grant/Award Numbers: FL120100108, LP160100439, FT130101225, DP160101397, FT14010051

Spending to save: What will it cost to halt Australia's extinction crisis?

As with most governments worldwide, Australian governments list threatened species and proffer commitments to recovering them. Yet most of Australia's imperiled species continue to decline or go extinct and a contributing cause is inadequate investment in conservation management. However, this has been difficult to evaluate because the extent of funding committed to such recovery in Australia, like in many nations, is opaque. Here, by collating disparate published budget figures of Australian governments, we show that annual spending on targeted threatened species recovery is around U.S.$92m (AU$122m) which is around one tenth of that spent by the U.S. endangered species recovery program, and about 15% of what is needed to avoid extinctions and recover threatened species. Our approach to estimating funding needs for species recovery could be applied in any jurisdiction and could be scaled up to calculate what is needed to achieve international goals for ending the species extinction crisis

F61. TRIVIAL TRANSITIONS? SIPS-DEFINED CONVERSIONS TO PSYCHOSIS: ONE YEAR OUTCOME

Abstract Background Although the clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis paradigm has become well-established over the past two decades, one key component has received surprisingly little direct investigative attention: the validity of the conversion to psychosis or transition criteria. This lack of evidence is surprising because many CHR treatment and prediction studies rely on the conversion measure as an outcome. In the absence of such evidence, some observers have raised the possibility that conversions from CHR may be trivial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the predictive validity of the transition to psychosis as measured by the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS) in CHR individuals. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the CHR conversion to psychosis at one-year follow-up. It is hypothesized that CHR participants whose conversion to frank psychosis was ascertained by SIPS (SIPS CV) will show similar diagnostic stability and severity of illness compared to the FEP sample and will differ significantly from SIPS Non-Converters (NCV) on clinical severity. Methods Participants included 33 SIPS Converters (CV) (met criteria for conversion to frank psychosis (COPS) on SIPS) and 399 CHR NCV both from the North American Prodromal Longitudinal Study (NAPLS 2), as well as a sample of 67 separately-ascertained first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients from the STEP Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) program in New Haven, CT. Comparisons using Chi-square and ANOVA were made at baseline and one-year follow-up on variables from demographic, diagnostic stability (SCID) and available measurement domains relating to severity of illness (psychotropic medication and resource utilization). Results The principal findings of the present study are: 1) large majority of cases in both SIPS CV (n=27/33, 81.8%) and FEP (n=57/67, 85.1%) samples continued to have current psychosis diagnoses at one year follow up, 2) exposure to antipsychotic medication was higher in SIPS CVs (n=17/32, 53.1%) compared to SIPS NCVs (n=81/397, 20.4%), and similar as compared to FEP cases (n=39/65, 60%), 3) at follow up, SIPS CV had higher rates of resource utilization (any psychiatric hospitalizations, day hospital admissions, and ER visits) than SIPS-NCV and were similar to FEP in most categories. Discussion The results suggest that the SIPS definition of psychosis onset carries substantial validity in that those with SIPS-defined psychosis demonstrate similar diagnostic stability and severity of illness at one-year follow as a first episode sample and greater severity of illness as compared to a SIPS-defined CHR con-converting sample. Limitations include the lack of functional assessments at follow-up in the SIPS-CV. Additional studies are needed to further validate the CHR vs transition to psychosis distinction. Since many patients who come to baseline evaluation for CHR are discovered to have previously unrecognized frank psychosis, future studies should aim to obtain additional evidence by following this important group

Polygenic Risk Score Contribution to Psychosis Prediction in a Target Population of Persons at Clinical High Risk

ObjectiveThe 2-year risk of psychosis in persons who meet research criteria for a high-risk syndrome is about 15%-25%; improvements in risk prediction accuracy would benefit the development and implementation of preventive interventions. The authors sought to assess polygenic risk score (PRS) prediction of subsequent psychosis in persons at high risk and to determine the impact of adding the PRS to a previously validated psychosis risk calculator.MethodsPersons meeting research criteria for psychosis high risk (N=764) and unaffected individuals (N=279) were followed for up to 2 years. The PRS was based on the latest schizophrenia and bipolar genome-wide association studies. Variables in the psychosis risk calculator included stressful life events, trauma, disordered thought content, verbal learning, information processing speed, and family history of psychosis.ResultsFor Europeans, the PRS varied significantly by group and was higher in the psychosis converter group compared with both the nonconverter and unaffected groups, but was similar for the nonconverter group compared with the unaffected group. For non-Europeans, the PRS varied significantly by group; the difference between the converters and nonconverters was not significant, but the PRS was significantly higher in converters than in unaffected individuals, and it did not differ between nonconverters and unaffected individuals. The R2liability (R2 adjusted for the rate of disease risk in the population being studied, here assuming a 2-year psychosis risk between 10% and 30%) for Europeans varied between 9.2% and 12.3% and for non-Europeans between 3.5% and 4.8%. The amount of risk prediction information contributed by the addition of the PRS to the risk calculator was less than severity of disordered thoughts and similar to or greater than for other variables. For Europeans, the PRS was correlated with risk calculator variables of information processing speed and verbal memory.ConclusionsThe PRS discriminates psychosis converters from nonconverters and modestly improves individualized psychosis risk prediction when added to a psychosis risk calculator. The schizophrenia PRS shows promise in enhancing risk prediction in persons at high risk for psychosis, although its potential utility is limited by poor performance in persons of non-European ancestry