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~ creative arts therapist

RichardbBrunner

Category Archives: Research

US-European Satellite Will Make World’s First Global Freshwater Survey

02 Friday Sep 2022

Posted by RichardB in Research

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research, water

https://nasa.gov/feature/jpl/us-european-satellite-will-make-world-s-first-global-freshwater-survey

“A collaboration between NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatial (CNES), with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency and the United Kingdom Space Agency, SWOT is scheduled to launch in November from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.“

“SWOT has several key tasks, including measuring the height of water bodies on Earth’s surface. Over the ocean, the satellite will be able to “see” features like eddies less than 60 miles (100 kilometers) across – smaller than those that previous sea level satellites could observe. SWOT will also measure more than 95% of Earth’s lakes larger than 15 acres (6 hectares) and rivers wider than 330 feet (100 meters) across.”

via #NASA_APP

Russia, China, and Money

29 Tuesday Mar 2022

Posted by RichardB in China, Economics, Economy, news, Politics, Research

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China, economics, reserve currency, Russia, world

The Russia-led Eurasia Economic Union and China just agreed to design the mechanism for an independent financial and monetary system that would bypass dollar transactions.

“The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and China agreed to design the mechanism for an independent international monetary and financial system.”

Say hello to Russian gold and Chinese petroyuan. https://thecradle.co/Article/columns/7975

The Eurasian Economic Union: Deals, Rules and the Exercise of Power
Regardless of its multiple shortcomings, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) should not be dismissed out of hand. For Russia, it is the primary vehicle for realizing a global geopolitical agenda.
Chatham House Research Paper. https://www.chathamhouse.org/2017/05/eurasian-economic-union

Russia and China, Together at Last: At the core of recent conflicts is an entente between China and Russia that the world hasn’t seen since the start of the Cold War.

“At their February 4 meeting, Putin and Xi drew on 37 prior encounters to proclaim nothing less than an ad-hoc alliance meant to shake the world. As the foundation for their new “global governance system,” they promised to “enhance transport infrastructure connectivity to keep logistics on the Eurasian continent smooth and…make steady progress on major oil and gas cooperation projects.” These words gained weight with the announcement that Russia would spend another $118 billion on new oil and gas pipelines to China. (Four-hundred billion dollars had already been invested in 2014 when Russia faced European sanctions over its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.) The result: an integrated Sino-Russian oil-and-gas infrastructure is being built from the North Sea to the South China Sea.”

Russia and China Together at Last. https://www.thenation.com/article/world/russia-and-china-together-at-last/

Follow the Russia-Ukraine Monitor Map

18 Friday Mar 2022

Posted by RichardB in news, Research

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crowdsourced, information, War

From Bellingcat:

“The Russia-Ukraine Monitor Map is a crowdsourced effort by Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) and the wider open source community to map, document and verify significant incidents during the conflict in Ukraine. Its aim is to provide reliable information for policymakers, journalists as well as justice and accountability bodies about the evolving situations both on-the-ground and online. Bellingcat and the Conflict Intelligence Team have also begun to contribute to the map in recent days. All content reviewed for this project has been collected and submitted to Mnemonic for preservation.“


“At CIR we began mapping out verified incidents surrounding the build-up of Russian troops, and later the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, so that as many people as possible could have access to reliable, accurate information about what is going on and to boost the integrity of the information environment.”

“The map is publicly viewable on both desktop and mobile and, as of 24 February, has had almost 500,000 views. It had also logged more than 570 items to give an up to date, detailed view of what is happening in Ukraine. Click the link below form more.”

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2022/02/27/follow-the-russia-ukraine-monitor-map/

Bellingcat is an independent international collective of researchers, investigators and citizen journalists using open source and social media investigation to probe a variety of subjects – from Mexican drug lords and crimes against humanity, to tracking the use of chemical weapons and conflicts worldwide. With staff and contributors in more than 20 countries around the world, we operate in a unique field where advanced technology, forensic research, journalism, investigations, transparency and accountability come together.

https://maphub.net/Cen4infoRes/russian-ukraine-monitor

Depression and the inflammatory process

29 Wednesday Dec 2021

Posted by RichardB in Depression, Mental Health, Research, Uncategorized

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depression, inflammation, research

Most people feel down, tired and inactive when they’re injured or ill. This “sickness behavior” is caused by the activation of the body’s immune response. It’s the brain’s way of conserving energy so the body can heal.

This immune response can also occur in people with depression. This has prompted some researchers and clinicians to hypothesise that depression is actually a side effect of the inflammatory process.

But while there may be a connection between inflammation and depression, one doesn’t necessarily lead to the other. So it’s too simplistic to say depression is a physical, rather than a psychiatric, illness.

The inflammation hypothesis

University of California clinical psychologist and researcher George Slavich is one of the key recent proponents of depression as a physical illness. He hypothesises that social threats and adversity trigger the production of pro-inflammatory “cytokines”. These are messenger molecules of the immune system that play a critical role in orchestrating the host’s response to injury and infection.

This inflammatory process, Slavich argues, can initiate profound behavioral changes, including the induction of depression.

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The idea that the activation of the immune response may trigger depression in some people is by no means a new one. Early descriptions of post-influenza depression appeared in the 19th century in the writings of English physician Daniel Tuke.

But it was not until the 1988 seminal paper, published by veterinarian Benjamin Hart, that the phenomenon of acute “sickness behavior” caught the interest of the scientific community.

Hart described his detailed observations of the “behavior of sick animals”. During acute infection, and in response to fever, the animals sought sleep, lost their appetite, showed a reduction in activity, grooming and social interactions, as well as showing signs of “depression”.

Just like the immune response itself, these changes reflect an evolved survival strategy that shifts priorities toward energy conservation and recovery.

Putting the theory into practice

Cytokine-induced sickness behavior has subsequently been studied as an example of communication between the immune system and the brain.

The behavioral changes during sickness resemble those associated with depression, so it didn’t take long for researchers to make a connection between the phenomenon of sickness behavior and mental disorders.

Such speculation was strengthened by research showing that depressive states can be experimentally induced by administering cytokines and other immunogenic agents (such as vaccines) that cause an inflammatory response.

Depression is frequently associated with inflammatory illnesses such as heart disease and rheumatoid arthritis. It’s also a side effect of treatment with cytokines to enhance the immune system.

Over recent decades, researchers have made progress in understanding how inflammation may impact on the activity of signalling pathways to and from the brain, as well as on the functioning of key neural systems involved in mood regulation.

But there’s not always a link

From the available evidence it’s clear, however, that not everyone who suffers from depression has evidence of inflammation. And not all people with high levels of inflammation develop depression.

Trajectories of depression depend on a complex interplay of a spectrum of additional risk and resilience factors, which may be present to varying degrees and in a different combination in any individual at different times. These factors include the person’s:

  • genetic vulnerabilities affecting the intensity of our inflammatory response
  • other medical conditions
  • acquired hyper-vigilance in the stress response systems due to early life trauma, current adversities, or physical stressors
  • coping strategies, including social support
  • health behaviors, such as sleep, diet and exercise.

Implications for treatment

In line with the notion that inflammation drives depression, some researchers have already trialled the effectiveness of anti-inflammatory therapy as a treatment for depression.

While some recipients (such as those with high levels of inflammation) showed benefit from the treatment, others without increased inflammation did not. This supports the general hypothesis.

However, in our desire to find more effective treatments for depression, we should not forget that the immune response, including inflammation, has a specific purpose. It protects us from infection, disease and injury.

Cytokines act at many different levels, and often in subtle ways, to fulfill their numerous roles in the orchestration of the immune response. Undermining their vital role could have negative consequences.

Mind versus body

The recent enthusiasm to embrace inflammation as the major culprit in psychiatric conditions ignores the reality that “depression” is not a single condition. Some depressive states, such as melancholia, are diseases; some are reactions to the environment; some are existential; and some normal.

Such separate states have differing contributions of biological, social and psychological causes. So any attempt to invoke a single all-explanatory “cause” should be rejected. Where living organisms are concerned it is almost never that simple.

In the end, we cannot escape the reality that changes must occur at the level of the brain, in regions responsible for mood regulation, for “depression” to be experienced.

Narrative Medicine

15 Wednesday Dec 2021

Posted by RichardB in Health and wellness, Research

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medicine, practice, research

From Wikipedia: Narrative medicine is a medical approach that utilizes people’s narratives in clinical practice, research, and education as a way to promote healing. It aims to address the relational and psychological dimensions that occur in tandem with physical illness, with an attempt to deal with the individual stories of patients. In doing this, narrative medicine aims not only to validate the experience of the patient, but also to encourage creativity and self-reflection in the physician.

Excerpt below from Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine: Exploring perception and usage of narrative medicine by physician specialty: a qualitative analysis.

Background

Narrative medicine is a well-recognized and respected approach to care. It is now found in medical school curricula and widely implemented in practice. However, there has been no analysis of the perception and usage of narrative medicine across different medical specialties and whether there may be unique recommendations for implementation based upon specialty. The aims of this study were to explore these gaps in research.

Methods

Fifteen senior physicians who specialize in internal medicine, pediatrics, or surgery (5 physicians from each specialty) were interviewed in a semi-structured format about the utilization, benefits, drawbacks (i.e., negative consequences), and roles pertaining to narrative medicine. Qualitative content analysis of each interview was then performed.

Excerpt from : Exploring perception and usage of narrative medicine by physician specialty: a qualitative analysis.

Human Skin Color

10 Friday Dec 2021

Posted by RichardB in Research, Uncategorized

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research

Preferences for group arts therapies

13 Wednesday Oct 2021

Posted by RichardB in creative arts therapy, Research, Therapy

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creative arts therapy, research, therapy

From BMJ Open:

Abstract

Objectives The arts therapies include music therapy, dance movement therapy, art therapy and dramatherapy. Preferences for art forms may play an important role in engagement with treatment. This survey was an initial exploration of who is interested in group arts therapies, what they would choose and why.
Conclusions Large proportions of the participants expressed an interest in group arts therapies. This may justify the wide provision of arts therapies and the offer of more than one modality to interested patients. It also highlights key considerations for assessment of preferences in the arts therapies as part of shared decision-making.

Read the entire article at BMJ Open.

Dance/Movement Therapy: Analyzing “Body Language”

06 Wednesday Oct 2021

Posted by RichardB in creative arts therapy, Dance Movement Therapy, Embodied, Evaluation, Movement, Research

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dance, Movement, therapy, youtube

Secret life of the cat: What do our feline companions get up to?

19 Thursday Aug 2021

Posted by RichardB in bbc, Maps, Research, UK

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cat map, cats, pets, research

Ever wondered what your cat spends its time doing when you’re not around? Where do our purring pets go when they disappear through the cat flap? Armed with GPS tracking devices and micro-cameras, a team from BBC Two’s Horizon programme in collaboration with the Royal Veterinary Collegeset off to a Surrey village to find out. Discover more by clicking this link and selecting a cat. catt

World order in the 21st century:

30 Friday Jul 2021

Posted by RichardB in global, news, Research

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Chatham House, World Order

The authors of an important new essay collection discuss proposals for international order in the 21st century. This webinar launches Anchoring the World: International Order in the Twenty-First Century, published by Foreign Affairs. This anthology marks the Centennials of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, the Council on Foreign Relations and Chatham House. The anthology is the culmination of the Lloyd George Study Group on World Order.

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