Selective Brain Damage Modulates Human Spirituality
from Science Daily --
New
research provides fascinating
insight into brain changes that
might underlie alterations in
spiritual and religious
attitudes. The study, published
by Cell Press in the
February 11 issue of the journal
Neuron, explores the
neural basis of spirituality by
studying patients before and
after surgery to remove a brain
tumor.
Although it is well established that all behaviors and experiences, spiritual or otherwise, must originate in the brain, true empirical exploration of the neural underpinnings of spirituality has been challenging. However, recent advances in neuroscience have started to make the complex mental processes associated with religion and spirituality more accessible.
"Neuroimaging studies have linked activity within a large network in the brain that connects the frontal, parietal, and temporal cortexes with spiritual experiences, but information on the causative link between such a network and spirituality is lacking," explains lead study author, Dr. Cosimo Urgesi from the University of Udine in Italy.
Dr. Urgesi and colleagues were interested in making a direct link between brain activity and spirituality. They focused specifically on the personality trait called self-transcendence (ST), which is thought to be a measure of spiritual feeling, thinking, and behaviors in humans. ST reflects a decreased sense of self and an ability to identify one's self as an integral part of the universe as a whole.
The researchers combined analysis of ST scores obtained from brain tumor patients before and after they had surgery to remove their tumor, with advanced techniques for mapping the exact location of the brain lesions after surgery. "This approach allowed us to explore the possible changes of ST induced by specific brain lesions and the causative role played by frontal, temporal, and parietal structures in supporting interindividual differences in ST," says researcher Dr. Franco Fabbro from the University of Udine.
The group found that selective damage to the left and right posterior parietal regions induced a specific increase in ST. "Our symptom-lesion mapping study is the first demonstration of a causative link between brain functioning and ST," offers Dr. Urgesi. "Damage to posterior parietal areas induced unusually fast changes of a stable personality dimension related to transcendental self-referential awareness. Thus, dysfunctional parietal neural activity may underpin altered spiritual and religious attitudes and behaviors."
These results may even lead to new strategies for treating some forms of mental illness. "If a stable personality trait like ST can undergo fast changes as a consequence of brain lesions, it would indicate that at least some personality dimensions may be modified by influencing neural activity in specific areas," suggests Dr. Salvatore M. Aglioti from Sapienza University of Rome. "Perhaps novel approaches aimed at modulating neural activity might ultimately pave the way to new treatments of personality disorders."
The researchers include Cosimo Urgesi, Universita` di Udine, Udine, Italy, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Eugenio Medea, Pordenone, Italy; Salvatore M. Aglioti, Sapienza Universita` di Roma, Roma, Italy, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Fondazione S. Lucia, Roma, Italy; Miran Skrap, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Santa Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy; and Franco Fabbro, Universita` di Udine, Udine, Italy, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Eugenio Medea, Pordenone, Italy.
Storm Brewing over 'Biology-Based'
Locker Rooms
from WorldNet--
Should
"George" be allowed to play
alongside "Cindy" and "Cathy" on a
girls basketball team and then later
accompany them into the
privacy of a locker room or shower
facility that formerly was
"biology-based"?
That's the question that will be addressed Monday when the Maine Human Rights Commission meets to talk about "transgendered" students.
Guidelines have been proposed that would specify what commission officials believe all schools must do to make accommodations for any biological boy who asserts he's female or a biological girl who asserts she's male. Under discussion will be the suggested guideline:
Transgender students must be allowed
access to bathrooms that correspond
with their gender identity or
expression or, if they prefer, to
existing single stall bathrooms.
With respect to locker rooms and
shower facilities that involve
undressing in front of others,
transgender students must be
provided with accommodations that
meet their needs and that take into
account
the legitimate privacy concerns of
all student involved.
Steve Martin, local radio talk show host, said the 2005 law was written to add sexual orientation as a protected class and what the law also covers is public accommodation But Maine Human Rights Commission legal counsel John Gause said the proposal is just misunderstood.
"If there's a suit brought for example by a little girl who's not happy that a fully naked little boy is in her shower stall with her, then she can be sued for sexual harassment if she complains about that. That's my understanding of where this is all going," Martin said.
Currently, Colorado, Iowa, Washington state, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco have rules, policies or laws dealing with transgender restroom accommodations. The Maine rules would make Maine the first state in the U.S. to adopt the policies for elementary and secondary school students and the first to extend the rules to private and sectarian schools
from Slate.com
--
There's
a filet mignon in my
fridge that expired
four days ago, but
it seems OK to me. I
take a hesitant
whiff and detect no
putrid odor of
rotting flesh, no
oozing, fetid cow
juice—just the
full-bodied aroma of
well-aged meat. A
feast for one; I
retrieve my frying
pan. This is not an
isolated experiment
or a sad symptom of
my radical
frugality. With a
spirit of teenage
rebellion, I disavow
any regard for
expiration dates.
The fact is that expiration dates mean very little. Food starts to deteriorate from the moment it's harvested, butchered, or processed, but the rate at which it spoils depends less on time than on the conditions under which it's stored. Moisture and warmth are especially detrimental. A package of ground meat, say, will stay fresher longer if placed near the coldest part of a refrigerator (below 40 degrees Fahrenheit), than next to the heat-emitting light bulb. Besides, as University of Minnesota food scientist Ted Labuza explained to me, expiration dates address quality—optimum freshness—rather than safety and are extremely conservative. To account for all manner of consumer, manufacturers imagine how the laziest people with the most undesirable kitchens might store and handle their food, then test their products based on these criteria.
With perishables like milk and meat, most responsible consumers (those who refrigerate their groceries as soon as they get home, for instance) have a three–to-seven-day grace period after the "Sell by" date has elapsed. As for pre-packaged greens, studies show that nutrient loss in vegetables is linked to a decline in appearance. When your broccoli florets yellow or your green beans shrivel, this signals a depletion of vitamins. But if they haven't lost their looks, ignore the printed date. Pasta and rice will taste fine for a year. Unopened packs of cookies are edible for months before the fat oxidizes and they turn rancid. Pancake and cake mixes have at least six months. Canned items are potentially the safest foods around and will keep five years or more if stored in a cold pantry. Labuza recalls a seven-year-old can of chicken chunks he ate recently. "It tasted just like chicken," he said.
That dates feature so prolifically is almost entirely due to industry practices voluntarily adopted by manufacturers and grocery stores. As America urbanized in the early 20th century, town and city dwellers resorted more and more to processed food. In the 1930s, the magazine Consumer Reports argued that Americans increasingly looked to expiration dates as an indication of freshness and quality. Supermarkets responded and in the 1970s some chains implemented their own dating systems. Despite the fact that in the '70s and '80s consumer groups and processors held hearings to establish a federally regulated system, nothing came of them.
These dates have no real legal meaning, either. Only last year, 7th Circuit Judge Richard Posner reversed the conviction of a wily entrepreneur who'd relabeled 1.6 million bottles of Henri's salad dressing with a new "Best when purchased by" date. Posner decided that the prosecutor had unjustly condemned the dressing as rancid, rotten, and harmful, when in fact there was no evidence to suggest that the mature product posed a safety threat.
Expiration dates are intended to inspire confidence, but they only invest us with a false sense of security. The reality is that the onus lies with consumers to judge and maintain the freshness and edibility of their food—by checking for offensive slime, rank smells, and off colors. Perhaps, then, we should do away with dates altogether and have packages equipped with more instructive guidance on properly storing foods, and on detecting spoilage. Better yet, we should focus our efforts on what really matters to our health—not spoilage bacteria, which are fairly docile, but their malevolent counterparts: disease-causing pathogens like salmonella and Listeria, which infect the food we eat not because it's old but as a result of unsanitary conditions at factories or elsewhere along the supply chain. A new system that could somehow prevent the next E. coli outbreak would be far more useful to consumers than a fairly arbitrary set of labels that merely (try to) guarantee taste.
Barb Dwyer: Britain's 'Most Unfortunate Names' Disclosed in New Survey
Stan Still, Anna Sasin, Hazel Nutt, Barb Dwyer and Justin Case are among some of the country’s unluckiest people who have been given the unfortunate names by their parents, it found.
In what may sound like a bad joke to some, others to make the “Most Unfortunate Names in Britain” list include Mary Christmas, Paige Turner, Chris Cross and Barry Cade.
Some of the more curious American names, uncovered by a parenting group who trawled the internet, include Carrie Oakey, Anna Prentice and Bill Board.
“When the parents of some of those people mentioned named their children, many probably didn't even realize the implications at the time,” said a spokesman for TheBabyWebsite.com, which commissioned the research.
“There must be tremendous embarrassment every time they have to introduce themselves to anyone, especially to a crowd. Even their teachers must have had to hold back their smiles sometimes.
"Parents really do need to think carefully though when choosing names for their children.”
He added: "Their name will be with them for life and what may be quirky and fun for a toddler might be regretted terribly when that person becomes older or even a grandparent perhaps."
The spokesman said the researchers also found hilarious examples in the United States of people who have “brilliant names linked to their professions”.
He said the names included Dr Leslie Doctor and Dr Thoulton Surgeon, a vet in Connecticut, Dr Payne, a plastic surgeon in Ohio, Les Plack, a dentist in San Francisco and Priti Manek, a doctor in Florida.
“And one of the funniest, Dr Sumey … is likely to invite more than his fair share of lawsuits from disgruntled patients,” he said.
He said one advantage was that these people are not likely be forgotten.
Retired airman Stan Still, 76, from Cirencester, Glocs, said his name had been “a blooming millstone around my neck my entire life”.
"When I was in the RAF my commanding officer used to shout, ‘Stan Still, get a move on’ and roll about laughing," he told the BBC.
"It got hugely boring after a while."
But 51-year-old Rose Bush, from Coventry, West Midlands, added to the broadcaster: “I always get comments about it but they are always very positive.”
Another woman, Jenny Taylor, of Kendal, Cumbria, also wrote: “Mine tops the lot. Think about it.”
Britain’s bizarre names: Barb Dwyer. Pearl Button. Hazel Nutt. Ray Gunn, Helen Back. Stan Still , Jo King . Lee King, Terry Bull, Mary Christmas, Max Power. Paige Turner. Sonny Day. Tim Burr. Will Power. Anna Sasin, Chris Cross, Doug Hole, Justin Case, Barry Cade
America’s bizarre names: Anna Prentice. Bill Board, Carrie Oakey, Dr Payne, Les Plack, Priti Manek, Dr Sumey
