This documentary elucidates what transpires when an overpopulated world, dwindling resources, and a shifting climate all collide-an intersection of humanity that many call the greatest challenge mankind will ever face. If an "Inconvenient Truth" depicted what causes climate change, this film illuminates the calamity that we kindle by continuing to facilitate climate change.
Mental noise can be defined as less reliable information processing. Individuals with high levels of mental noise are thought to be disadvantaged in cognitive, emotional, and behavioural realms. The present five studies (total N=298) investigated such potential disadvantages among normally functioning college undergraduates. Mental noise was operationalised in terms of the reaction time coefficient of variation (RTCV), a measure of RT variability that corrects for average levels of mental speed. Individuals with higher RTCV exhibited less effective cognitive control (Studies 1 and 5), less controlled behaviour (Study 2), and were more prone to negative emotional experiences (Study 3) and depressive symptoms (Study 4). Study 5 extended these results and found that individuals higher (versus lower) in RTCV were more adversely affected by their attentional lapses in daily life. Results converge on the idea that mental noise is an important individual difference dimension with multiple adverse correlates and consequences.
A recently published analysis by Lewis and Maslin (Lewis SL and Maslin MA (2015) Defining the Anthropocene. Nature 519: 171–180) has identified two new potential horizons for the Holocene−Anthropocene boundary: 1610 (associated with European colonization of the Americas), or 1964 (the peak of the excess radiocarbon signal arising from atom bomb tests). We discuss both of these novel suggestions, and consider that there is insufficient stratigraphic basis for the former, whereas placing the latter at the peak of the signal rather than at its inception does not follow normal stratigraphical practice. Wherever the boundary is eventually placed, it should be optimized to reflect stratigraphical evidence with the least possible ambiguity.
<p>A criticism of Mr. I.V. Somlai's report on the lha phewa and bu uama festivals of 1981 in Thaak khola. (Mark Turin 2004-06-14)</p>
This research examined whether cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness interventions that target responses to chronic stress, pain, and depression reduce pain and improve the quality of everyday life for adults with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The 144 RA participants were clustered into groups of 6–10 participants and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments: cognitive behavioral therapy for pain (P); mindfulness meditation and emotion regulation therapy (M); or education-only group (E), which served as an attention placebo control. The authors took a multimethod approach, employing daily diaries and laboratory assessment of pain and mitogen-stimulated levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), a proinflammatory cytokine. Participants receiving P showed the greatest Pre to Post improvement in self-reported pain control and reductions in the IL-6; both P and M groups showed more improvement in coping efficacy than did the E group. The relative value of the treatments varied as a function of depression history. RA patients with recurrent depression benefited most from M across several measures, including negative and positive affect and physicians' ratings of joint tenderness, indicating that the emotion regulation aspects of that treatment were most beneficial to those with chronic depressive features.
<b>Aim: </b> To compare maternal and neonatal outcomes of Tibetan and Han Chinese women delivering vaginally at high altitude (3650 meters) in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China.<br><b>Method: </b> Comparative analysis of data from a prospective observational study of Tibetan (<i>n</i> = 938) and Han Chinese (<i>n</i> = 146) women delivering at three hospitals between January 2004 and May 2005.<br><b>Results: </b> Han Chinese women had higher rates of pre-eclampsia/gestational hypertension than Tibetan women, (10.3% vs 5.9%, <i>P</i> = 0.04). There was no difference in rates of postpartum hemorrhage between Tibetan and Han women (12.8% vs 17.1%, <i>P</i> = 0.15). Han newborns weighed significantly less than Tibetan newborns (<i>P</i> < 0.01), and were twice as likely to be small for gestational age, (24.5% vs 11.6%, <i>P</i> < 0.01). Tibetan newborns were less likely to have poor neonatal outcomes than Han newborns (<i>P</i> < 0.01).<br><b>Conclusion: </b> In high altitude deliveries in Tibet, adverse outcomes were significantly more common among Han Chinese.
BACKGROUND:This study tested the effectiveness of a computerized mindfulness-based cognitive therapy intervention compared with computerized pain management psychoeducation in a randomized study.
METHODS:
Using an intention-to-treat approach, 124 adult participants who reported experiencing pain that was unrelated to cancer and of at least 6 months duration were randomly assigned to computerized mindfulness-based cognitive therapy ("Mindfulness in Action" [MIA]) or pain management psychoeducation programs. Data were collected before and after the intervention and at 6-month follow-up.
RESULTS:
Participants in both groups showed equivalent change and significant improvements on measures of pain interference, pain acceptance, and catastrophizing from pretreatment to posttreatment and the improvements were maintained at follow-up. Average pain intensity also reduced from baseline to posttreatment for both groups, but was not maintained at follow-up. Participants in both groups reported increases in subjective well-being, these were more pronounced in the MIA than the pain management psychoeducation group. Participants in the MIA group also reported a greater reduction in pain "right now," and increases in their ability to manage emotions, manage stress, and enjoy pleasant events on completion of the intervention. The changes in ability to manage emotions and stressful events were maintained at follow-up.
CONCLUSIONS:
The results of the study provide evidence that although there were equivalent changes across outcomes of interest for participants in both conditions over time, the MIA program showed a number of unique benefits. However, the level of participant attrition in the study highlighted a need for further attention to participant engagement with online chronic pain programs.
<p>Divides the study of human attention into 3 components: alertness, selectivity, and processing capacity. Experimental techniques designed to separate these components and examine their interrelations within comparable tasks are outlined. It is shown that a stimulus may be used to increase alertness for processing all external information, to improve selection of particular stimuli, or to do both simultaneously. Development of alertness and selectivity are separable, but may go on together without interference. Moreover, encoding a stimulus may proceed without producing interference with other signals. Thus, the contact between an external stimulus and its representation in memory does not appear to require processing capacity. Limited capacity results are obtained when mental operations, E.g., response selection or rehearsal, must be performed on the encoded information. (45 ref.)</p>
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Most of the policy debate surrounding the actions needed to mitigate and adapt to anthropogenic climate change has been framed by observations of the past 150 years as well as climate and sea-level projections for the twenty-first century. The focus on this 250-year window, however, obscures some of the most profound problems associated with climate change. Here, we argue that the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, a period during which the overwhelming majority of human-caused carbon emissions are likely to occur, need to be placed into a long-term context that includes the past 20 millennia, when the last Ice Age ended and human civilization developed, and the next ten millennia, over which time the projected impacts of anthropogenic climate change will grow and persist. This long-term perspective illustrates that policy decisions made in the next few years to decades will have profound impacts on global climate, ecosystems and human societies — not just for this century, but for the next ten millennia and beyond.
From one of the most prestigious nonprofit organizations devoted to environmental issues comes a clear, practical, and rational overview of the relationship between consumers and the environment. Paper or plastic? Bus or car? Old house or new? Cloth diapers or disposables? Some choices have a huge impact on the environment; others are of negligible importance. To those of us who care about our quality of life and what is happening to the earth, this is a vastly important issue. In these pages, the Union of Concerned Scientists help inform consumers about everyday decisions that significantly affect the environment. For example, a few major decisions--such as the choice of a house or vehicle--have such a disproportionately large affect on the environment that minor environmental infractions shrink by comparison. This book identifies the 4 Most Significant Consumer-Related Environmental Problems, the 7 Most Damaging Spending Categories, 11 Priority Actions, and 7 Rules for Responsible Consumption. Learn what you can do to have a truly significant impact on our world from the people who are at the forefront of scientific research.
It is not surprising that smoking abstinence rates are low given that smoking cessation is associated with increases in negative affect and stress that can persist for months. Mindfulness is one factor that has been broadly linked with enhanced emotional regulation. This study examined baseline associations of self-reported trait mindfulness with psychological stress, negative affect, positive affect, and depression among 158 smokers enrolled in a smoking cessation treatment trial. Several coping dimensions were evaluated as potential mediators of these associations. Results indicated that mindfulness was negatively associated with psychological stress, negative affect, and depression and positively associated with positive affect. Furthermore, the use of relaxation as a coping strategy independently mediated the association of mindfulness with psychological stress, positive affect, and depression. The robust and consistent pattern that emerged suggests that greater mindfulness may facilitate cessation and attenuate vulnerability to relapse among smokers preparing for cessation. Furthermore, relaxation appears to be a key mechanism underlying these associations.
It is not surprising that smoking abstinence rates are low given that smoking cessation is associated with increases in negative affect and stress that can persist for months. Mindfulness is one factor that has been broadly linked with enhanced emotional regulation. This study examined baseline associations of self-reported trait mindfulness with psychological stress, negative affect, positive affect, and depression among 158 smokers enrolled in a smoking cessation treatment trial. Several coping dimensions were evaluated as potential mediators of these associations. Results indicated that mindfulness was negatively associated with psychological stress, negative affect, and depression and positively associated with positive affect. Furthermore, the use of relaxation as a coping strategy independently mediated the association of mindfulness with psychological stress, positive affect, and depression. The robust and consistent pattern that emerged suggests that greater mindfulness may facilitate cessation and attenuate vulnerability to relapse among smokers preparing for cessation. Furthermore, relaxation appears to be a key mechanism underlying these associations.
Recent behavioral experiments aimed at understanding the evolutionary foundations of human cooperation have suggested that a willingness to engage in costly punishment, even in one-shot situations, may be part of human psychology and a key element in understanding our sociality. However, because most experiments have been confined to students in industrialized societies, generalizations of these insights to the species have necessarily been tentative. Here, experimental results from 15 diverse populations show that (i) all populations demonstrate some willingness to administer costly punishment as unequal behavior increases, (ii) the magnitude of this punishment varies substantially across populations, and (iii) costly punishment positively covaries with altruistic behavior across populations. These findings are consistent with models of the gene-culture coevolution of human altruism and further sharpen what any theory of human cooperation needs to explain.
The Buddhist practice of mindfulness is being used more often both to help clients and to facilitate counselor effectiveness. A growing body of research supports these uses of mindfulness. Most authors also emphasize that those who teach mindfulness must also apply it themselves. However, little is known about how counselors and counselor educators incorporate mindfulness into their personal and professional lives. The current study used semistructured interviews to elicit such information from 6 counselors and counselor educators. A constant comparative method was used to analyze the data and synthesize themes. Emergent themes included practices used to cultivate mindfulness and the results of mindfulness practices.
The locus coeruleus (LC) has established functions in both attention and respiration. Good attentional performance requires optimal levels of tonic LC activity, and must be matched to task consistently. LC neurons are chemosensitive, causing respiratory phrenic nerve firing to increase frequency with higher CO2 levels, and as CO2 level varies with the phase of respiration, tonic LC activity should exhibit fluctuations at respiratory frequency. Top-down modulation of tonic LC activity from brain areas involved in attentional regulation, intended to optimize LC firing to suit task requirements, may have respiratory consequences as well, as increases in LC activity influence phrenic nerve firing. We hypothesize that, due to the physiological and functional overlaps of attentional and respiratory functions of the LC, this small neuromodulatory nucleus is ideally situated to act as a mechanism of synchronization between respiratory and attentional systems, giving rise to a low-amplitude oscillation that enables attentional flexibility, but may also contribute to unintended destabilization of attention. Meditative and pranayama practices result in attentional, emotional, and physiological enhancements that may be partially due to the LC's pivotal role as the nexus in this coupled system. We present original findings of synchronization between respiration and LC activity (via fMRI and pupil dilation) and provide evidence of a relationship between respiratory phase modulation and attentional performance. We also present a mathematical dynamical systems model of respiratory-LC-attentional coupling, review candidate neurophysiological mechanisms of changes in coupling dynamics, and discuss implications for attentional theory, meditation, and pranayama, and possible therapeutic applications.
Creating Safe and Supportive Schools and Fostering Students' Mental Health -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- PART I Creating Safe and Emotionally Healthy Schools -- 1 The Evolving Role of Educators -- Creating Safe Schools and Fostering Students' Mental Health -- The Evolving Role of Educators in Public Education -- School-based Mental Health -- School Safety and Violence Prevention -- Expert Interview 1.1 with Kevin Dwyer -- Expert Interview 1.2 with Eric Rossen -- The Role of Educators Transforming School Communities and Engaging Every Educator -- Working Together: Educators and Mental Health Professionals -- Safe Schools and Student Mental Health: A-Z -- The Structure of the Book -- Conclusion -- References -- 2 Safe and Supportive Schools -- Efforts to Promote Safe and Supportive Schools -- Expert Interview 2.1 with Michele Gay -- Expert Interview 2.2 with Ken Trump -- Promoting Psychological Safety -- Conclusion -- References -- PART II Fostering Students' Mental Health -- 3 The Importance of Providing Mental Health Services in Schools -- The Scope of the Problem The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Children's Mental Health -- Supporting Students' Mental Health and Emotional Well-Being -- The Roles of School-based Mental Health Professionals -- Addressing Shortages of School-based Mental Health Professionals -- Moving From a Two- to a Three-Component Approach -- A Public Health Approach as a Way to Provide Essential Services -- Conclusion -- Note -- References -- 4 The Promise of Social-Emotional Learning -- Defining Social-Emotional Learning -- Need for Social-Emotional Learning -- Applications of Social-Emotional Learning Barriers to Implementing SEL and Ways to Overcome These Barriers -- Social-Emotional Learning Teams -- Data Collection and Evaluation -- Implementing SEL -- Programming at the Elementary School Level -- Programming at the Middle School Level -- Programming at the High School Level -- Expert Interview 4.1 with Maurice J. Elias -- Conclusion -- References -- 5 Universal Interventions to Support the Mental Health of All Students -- Types of School-based Mental Health Interventions: Universal Interventions-Tier I -- Conclusion -- References 6 Resilient Classrooms and Targeted and Intensive Interventions -- Fostering Resilience -- Fostering Resilience in Students -- Expert Interview 6.1 with Sam Goldstein -- Resilient Classrooms and Classroom Supports -- Expert Interview 6.2 with Beth Doll -- Targeted Interventions: Tier II -- Intensive Interventions: Tier III -- Non-Responders to Intensive Interventions -- Conclusion -- References -- PART III Supporting Nurturing Learning Environments -- 7 School Climate and Social Supports -- Enhancing School Climate -- The Influence of School Climate -- The Phenomenology of School Climate
Creating Safe and Supportive Schools and Fostering Students' Mental Health -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- PART I Creating Safe and Emotionally Healthy Schools -- 1 The Evolving Role of Educators -- Creating Safe Schools and Fostering Students' Mental Health -- The Evolving Role of Educators in Public Education -- School-based Mental Health -- School Safety and Violence Prevention -- Expert Interview 1.1 with Kevin Dwyer -- Expert Interview 1.2 with Eric Rossen -- The Role of Educators Transforming School Communities and Engaging Every Educator -- Working Together: Educators and Mental Health Professionals -- Safe Schools and Student Mental Health: A-Z -- The Structure of the Book -- Conclusion -- References -- 2 Safe and Supportive Schools -- Efforts to Promote Safe and Supportive Schools -- Expert Interview 2.1 with Michele Gay -- Expert Interview 2.2 with Ken Trump -- Promoting Psychological Safety -- Conclusion -- References -- PART II Fostering Students' Mental Health -- 3 The Importance of Providing Mental Health Services in Schools -- The Scope of the Problem The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Children's Mental Health -- Supporting Students' Mental Health and Emotional Well-Being -- The Roles of School-based Mental Health Professionals -- Addressing Shortages of School-based Mental Health Professionals -- Moving From a Two- to a Three-Component Approach -- A Public Health Approach as a Way to Provide Essential Services -- Conclusion -- Note -- References -- 4 The Promise of Social-Emotional Learning -- Defining Social-Emotional Learning -- Need for Social-Emotional Learning -- Applications of Social-Emotional Learning Barriers to Implementing SEL and Ways to Overcome These Barriers -- Social-Emotional Learning Teams -- Data Collection and Evaluation -- Implementing SEL -- Programming at the Elementary School Level -- Programming at the Middle School Level -- Programming at the High School Level -- Expert Interview 4.1 with Maurice J. Elias -- Conclusion -- References -- 5 Universal Interventions to Support the Mental Health of All Students -- Types of School-based Mental Health Interventions: Universal Interventions-Tier I -- Conclusion -- References 6 Resilient Classrooms and Targeted and Intensive Interventions -- Fostering Resilience -- Fostering Resilience in Students -- Expert Interview 6.1 with Sam Goldstein -- Resilient Classrooms and Classroom Supports -- Expert Interview 6.2 with Beth Doll -- Targeted Interventions: Tier II -- Intensive Interventions: Tier III -- Non-Responders to Intensive Interventions -- Conclusion -- References -- PART III Supporting Nurturing Learning Environments -- 7 School Climate and Social Supports -- Enhancing School Climate -- The Influence of School Climate -- The Phenomenology of School Climate
<p>The article discusses credit relations in Nepal. Such relations are formed as institutions named khatsara, kidu, dhukuti, etc. The article is mainly a report on the khatsara and manage kidu systems. (Rajeev Ranjan Singh 2007-03-05)</p>
The author focuses on the linkage of Marxism and deep ecology. He indicates that people need to radically rethink what it means to be a citizen in a global-ecological sense and goals to demystify the humanism's operations as a rational means of achieving democracy, freedom and prosperity. He also mentions that in order to disclose the limitations of an anthropocentric humanist discourse in this article, he uses Karl Marx's critiques of capitalism.
Practical strategies for bringing mindfulness into your life both inside and outside of the classroom to support your own well-being and, in turn, the well-being of the young people in your care.
Given curiosity’s fundamental role in motivation, learning, and well-being, we sought to refine the measurement of trait curiosity with an improved version of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory (CEI; Kashdan, Rose, & Fincham, 2004). A preliminary pool of 36 items was administered to 311 undergraduate students, who also completed measures of emotion, emotion regulation, personality, and well-being. Factor analyses indicated a two factor model—motivation to seek out knowledge and new experiences (Stretching; 5 items) and a willingness to embrace the novel, uncertain, and unpredictable nature of everyday life (Embracing; 5 items). In two additional samples (ns = 150 and 119), we cross-validated this factor structure and provided initial evidence for construct validity. This includes positive correlations with personal growth, openness to experience, autonomy, purpose in life, self-acceptance, psychological flexibility, positive affect, and positive social relations, among others. Applying item response theory (IRT) to these samples (n = 578), we showed that the items have good discrimination and a desirable breadth of difficulty. The item information functions and test information function were centered near zero, indicating that the scale assesses the mid-range of the latent curiosity trait most reliably. The findings thus far provide good evidence for the psychometric properties of the 10-item CEI-II.
Plant-derived compounds that modulate the immune responses are emerging as frontline treatment agents for cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmunity. Herein we have isolated 40 phytochemicals from five Bhutanese Sowa Rigpa medicinal plants—Aconitum laciniatum, Ajania nubegina, Corydalis crispa, Corydalis dubia and Pleurospermum amabile—and tested 14 purified compounds for their immunomodulatory properties using a murine dendritic cell (DC) line, and cytotoxicity against a human cholangiocyte cell line using xCELLigence real time cell monitoring. These compounds were: pseudaconitine, 14-veratryolpseudaconitine, 14-O-acetylneoline, linalool oxide acetate, (E)-spiroether, luteolin, luteolin-7-O-β-d-glucopyranoside, protopine, ochrobirine, scoulerine, capnoidine, isomyristicin, bergapten, and isoimperatorin. Of the 14 compounds tested here, scoulerine had adjuvant-like properties and strongly upregulated MHC-I gene and protein expression whereas bergapten displayed immunosuppressive properties and strongly down-regulated gene and protein expression of MHC-I and other co-stimulatory molecules. Both scoulerine and bergapten showed low cytotoxicity against normal healthy cells that were consistent with their immunoregulatory properties. These findings highlight the breadth of immunomodulatory properties of defined compounds from Bhutanese medicinal plants and show that some of these compounds exert their mechanisms of action by modulating DC activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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