On A Meaningful Life

Given that this blog had the same title as a wonderful book written by Jack Kornfield, in deference to his book I changed the blog title. This URL, however, remains the same. His book is entitled A Path With Heart: A Guide Through The Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life .

In Psychology Today online, a quick easy to read review about bipolar affective disorder and treatment options, especially new approaches is found here .

New Insight On How Lithium Works BioMedNet News (warning: requires registration), in the News Archives July 31, 2003, has a summary of exciting new British research throwing fresh light on how mood stabilizers used in treatment of bipolar affective disorder affects cellular pathways. (Article is entitled: “Slime Mould Gets Moody” by Laura Spinney). Although the organism in the spotlight is Dictyostelium discoideum , the slime mold, the pathways being studied are present in both mammals and slime mold. Adrian Harwood and his lab at the Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology of the University College London have been focusing on the inositide signaling pathway and the Wnt-signaling pathway in slime mold. The most important implication of this work is stated here: "…Their latest findings add more detail to the picture, indicating that lithium and valproic acid exert their effects at different stages of the inositide-signaling pathway. "Dictyo...

Hypnosis in the Scientific American Scientific American online has an easy to read review of hypnosis here . My only disappointment: where are those references? With so many interesting results cited, I’d like to see the sources. And a quick neuropsychology refresher: which part of the brain is activated under hypnosis? According to this article, the answer is this: “…The tests showed that a region of the brain called the right anterior cingulate cortex was just as active while the volunteers were hallucinating as it was while they were actually hearing the stimulus. In contrast, that brain area was not active while the subjects were imagining that they heard the stimulus. Somehow hypnosis had tricked this area of the brain into registering the hallucinated voice as real...”

Knowing A Wee Bit More About How Cancer Works New Scientist writes about recent research published in Clinical Cancer Research. By interfering with how a specific type of protein attaches to another protein, a team of scientists at UCSF and the University of Lund noted slower growth of tumors as well as fewer tumors overall in mice. Although this is a long ways away from an actual cure to be used in people, it seems as though this is an important piece of information about how cancer cells may grow and proliferate. (Note: The title of the New Scientist article was, I thought, a bit misleading).

New Treatment for Wounds In the Hartford Courant, Hilary Waldman reports on a new paradigm for wound treatment pioneered by Dr. Kenneth Dobuler at the Comprehensive Wound Healing Center at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticutt. What's new is the use of hyperbaric oxygen treatment on intransigent cases. Routine use of Betadine and hydrogen peroxide may not be the state of the art treatment, the reason being this kills healthy tissue. Rather, use of moisturized bandages is emphasized. This article reports on a new skin treatment for non healing wounds related to lupus. But read the article to find out the details.

Peace, calm and serenity When you need a breather, try the famous Interview with God (click on the VIEW PRESENTATION button) and begin to breathe again. If you need even more oxygen, try "Right Now" .Thank you, Kristin, for these links.

24 Hour Hotlines in Los Angeles L.A. County Mental Health/Crisis Line, 1-800-854-7771 Sojourn Services for Battered Women and their Children , referrals, 310-264-6644 Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles , referrals, 818-505-0900 or 310-858-9344 Center for the Pacific-Asian Family, referrals, 800-339-3940 or 323-653-4042 National Domestic Violence Hotline , referrals, 800-799-7233 Info Line , referrals, 800-540-4000 Suicide Prevention Crisis Center, 310-391-1253 To report only: LA County Child Abuse Hotline, 800-540-4000 LA County Elder Abuse Hotline, 800-992-1660