The art of mentoring: teaching that engages the soul.

This paper explores the important educational issue of the art of mentoring in education, particularly regarding teachers. Using a biographical example to illustrate, I focus upon nurturing and the soul, emotional and pedagogical qualities in mentoring, and draw attention to paradoxes and issues that make mentoring an endangered activity

Doubling your payoff: winning pain relief engages endogenous pain inhibition

When in pain, pain relief is much sought after, particularly for individuals with chronic pain. In analogy to augmentation of the hedonic experience (“liking”) of a reward by the motivation to obtain a reward (“wanting”), the seeking of pain relief in a motivated state might increase the experience of pain relief when obtained. We tested this hypothesis in a psychophysical experiment in healthy human subjects, by assessing potential pain-inhibitory effects of pain relief “won” in a wheel of fortune game compared with pain relief without winning, exploiting the fact that the mere chance of winning induces a motivated state. The results show pain-inhibitory effects of pain relief obtained by winning in behaviorally assessed pain perception and ratings of pain intensity. Further, the higher participants scored on the personality trait novelty seeking, the more pain inhibition was induced. These results provide evidence that pain relief, when obtained in a motivated state, engages endogenous pain-inhibitory systems beyond the pain reduction that underlies the relief in the first place. Consequently, such pain relief might be used to improve behavioral pain therapy, inducing a positive, perhaps self-amplifying feedback loop of reduced pain and improved functionality

Organic hospital food is desired by patients and engages the kitchen

In December 2005 a questionnaire survey was conducted at the University Hospital in Trondheim, Norway. Patients and personnel expressed that food is important for their health and well-being. Good taste, appearance and right nutrition were mentioned as being important factors for food quality. About 80 % of the respondents were positive to the use of organic food at the hospital, even though only about half of them agreed that it is worth the price. The absence of pesticides, artificial fertilizers and preservatives in food was ranked to be more important than organic production of food. All respondents seemed to be critical to the use of pesticides and preservatives in food production and processing

Performing Relevance/ Relevant Performances: Shakespeare, Jonson, Hitchcock

Engages with questions of historicism and presentism in the modern performance of early modern drama, and compares Ben Jonson with Alfred Hitchcock

Mitochondrial permeabilization engages NF-κB-dependent anti-tumour activity under caspase deficiency

Apoptosis represents a key anti-cancer therapeutic effector mechanism. During apoptosis, mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP) typically kills cells even in the absence of caspase activity. Caspase activity can also have a variety of unwanted consequences that include DNA damage. We therefore investigated whether MOMP-induced caspase-independent cell death (CICD) might be a better way to kill cancer cells. We find that cells undergoing CICD display potent pro-inflammatory effects relative to apoptosis. Underlying this, MOMP was found to stimulate NF-κB activity through the downregulation of inhibitor of apoptosis proteins. Strikingly, engagement of CICD displays potent anti-tumorigenic effects, often promoting complete tumour regression in a manner dependent on intact immunity. Our data demonstrate that by activating NF-κB, MOMP can exert additional signalling functions besides triggering cell death. Moreover, they support a rationale for engaging caspase-independent cell death in cell-killing anti-cancer therapies

Do anthropologists use rational actor models? The case of Marilyn Strathern

Economics uses rational actor models, but what about anthropology? I present an interpretation of the influential anthropologist Marilyn Strathern according to which she engages in a kind of rational actor modelling, but a kind that is different from economic modelling