Leadership

September 2, 2010, 8:14 am • Tags: , ,

Govinda is a name of Krishna, referring to his youthful occupation as a cowherder. The ancient text Sri Brahma Samhita describes him as the source of all that is and the original cause of all causes.

The sages call Krishna “Govind” as he pervades all the worlds, giving them power. The Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata states that Vishnu restored the earth that had sunk into the netherword, so all the devas praised him as Govind, protector of the land.

In the Harivamsa, Indra praised Krishna for having attained loving leadership by saying, “So men too shall praise him as Govinda.” Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in his commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita, states that Govinda means “master of the senses”.

A famous prayer called the Bhaja Govindam states; “If one simply worships Govinda, one can easily cross this great ocean of birth and death.” This refers to the belief that worshipful adoration of Krishna can lead believers out of the cycle of reincarnation, or samsara, and into an eternal blissful life.

Framework

September 1, 2010, 8:08 am • Tags: , ,

Biosemiotics investigates the role that sign use plays in life processes. All processes in organisms obey physical laws, the difference from inanimate processes lying in their organisation and being subject to control by coded information.

It uses concepts from semiotics and the study of dynamic sign action in humans as well as elsewhere in nature to answer questions about the biological emergence of meaning, intentionality and a psychic world; questions that are hard to answer within a purely mechanist and physicalist framework.

To define biosemiotics as biology interpreted as sign systems study is to emphasize not only the close relation between biology as we know it and the study of signs, but primarily the profound change of perspective implied when life is considered not just from the perspectives of molecules and chemistry, but as signs conveyed and interpreted by other living signs in a variety of ways, including by means of molecules.

In this sense, biosemiotics takes for granted and respects the complexity of living processes as revealed by the existing fields of biology – from molecular biology to brain science and behavioural studies – however, biosemiotics attempts to bring together separate findings of the various disciplines of biology, including evolutionary biology, into a new and more unified perspective on the central phenomena of the living world, including the generation of function and signification in living systems, from the ribosome to the ecosystem and from the beginnings of life to its ultimate meanings.

Triangulation

August 31, 2010, 7:39 am • Tags: , ,

Psychology depicts love as a cognitive and social phenomenon. Psychologists have formulated a triangular theory of love and argued that love has three different components: intimacy, commitment, and passion.

Intimacy is a form in which two people share confidences and various details of their personal lives, and is usually shown in friendships and romantic love affairs. Commitment, on the other hand, is the expectation that the relationship is permanent. Passionate love is shown in infatuation as well as romantic love. All forms of love are viewed as varying combinations of these three components.

Following developments in electrical theories such as Coulomb’s law, which showed that positive and negative charges attract, analogs in human life were developed, such as “opposites attract.” Research on the nature of human mating has generally found this not to be true when it comes to character and personality, and that people tend to like people similar to themselves.

However, in a few unusual and specific domains, such as immune systems, it seems that humans prefer others who are unlike themselves, since this will lead to a baby that has the best of both worlds.

Some Western authorities disaggregate into two main components, the altruistic and the narcissistic. This view is represented in the works of Scott Peck, whose work in the field of applied psychology explored the definitions of love and evil. Peck maintains that love is a combination of the “concern for the spiritual growth of another,” and simple narcissism. In combination, love is an activity, not simply a feeling.

Minerals

August 21, 2010, 8:40 am • Tags: , ,

Dietary minerals are the chemical elements required by living organisms, other than the four elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen present in common organic molecules. Some sources state that thirteen dietary minerals are required to support human biochemical processes by serving structural and functional roles.

Potassium is a systemic electrolyte and is essential in coregulating ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate, a transporter of chemical energy within cells for metabolism with sodium). Dietary sources include legumes, potato skin, tomatoes, and bananas.

Chloride is needed for production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and in cellular pump functions. Table salt is the main dietary source of chloride.

Sodium is a systemic electrolyte and is essential in coregulating ATP with potassium. Dietary sources include table salt, sea vegetables, milk, and spinach.

Calcium is needed for muscle, heart and digestive system health, to build bones, and support synthesis and function of blood cells. Dietary sources of calcium include dairy products, canned fish with bones (salmon, sardines), green leafy vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Phosphorus is a component of bones, cellular energy processing and many other functions. In biological contexts it is usually observed as phosphate.

Magnesium is required for processing ATP and for bones. Dietary sources include nuts, soy beans, and cocoa.

Zinc is pervasive and required for several enzymes such as carboxypeptidase, liver alcohol dehydrogenase, and carbonic anhydrase.

Iron is required for many proteins and enzymes, notably hemoglobin. Dietary sources include red meat, leafy green vegetables, fish (tuna, salmon), eggs, dried fruits, beans, whole grains, and enriched grains.

Manganese is a significant cofactor in many enzyme functions.

Copper is a required component of many redox enzymes, including cytochrome.

Iodine is required for the biosynthesis of thyroxine.

Selenium is a cofactor essential in activity of antioxidant enzymes like glutathione peroxidase.

Molybdenum subsists in the oxidases. Xanthine oxidase, aldehyde oxidase, and sulfite oxidase all contain significant quantities of molybdenum.

Description

August 20, 2010, 8:54 am • Tags: , ,

Theranostics is a term used to describe the proposed process of diagnostic therapy for individual patients. This involves testing for possible reaction to a new medication and tailoring a treatment based on the test results.

It encompasses the utilization of a wide range of subjects including predictive medicine, personalized medicine, integrated medicine and pharmacodiagnostics. The method is looked upon as the possible end result of new advances made in new drug discovery, molecular biology and microarray chips technology.

Although the use of the term Theranostics has been criticized as less than accurate, it is in line with today’s personalized approach to medicine, especially as it relates to cancer treatment. The stakes have never been higher to know that a drug therapy is working in real time than with cancer. Tumor responsiveness is critical to successful treatment and the term used to describe the process of making clinical treatment decisions mid-therapy in direct response to that precise therapy is Theranostics.

However, Theranostics is a confusing term and not understood by most professionals. There is no difficulty in describing this concept without using a special term, so if one needs to use a single word to describe a test linked to therapy, one can use pharmacodiagnostics, which is more appropriate and easy to understand.

Comeback

August 19, 2010, 9:18 am • Tags: , ,

A cancer survivor is an individual with cancer of any type, current or past, who is still living. About 11 million Americans alive today, or one in 30 people, are either currently undergoing treatment for cancer or have done so in the past. Nearly 65% of persons diagnosed with cancer are expected to live more than five years after the cancer is discovered.

Many cancer survivors describe the process of living with and beating cancer as a life-changing experience. It is not uncommon for this experience to bring about a personal epiphany, which the person uses as motivation to meet goals of great personal importance, such as climbing a mountain or reconciling with an estranged family member.

In October 1996, Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer, with a tumor that had metastasized to his brain and lungs. His cancer treatments included surgery and extensive chemotherapy, and his prognosis was originally poor. He went on to win the Tour de France each year from 1999 to 2005, and is the only person to win seven times.

In 1995, the Grammy-nominated American poet, activist and author Nikki Giovanni was diagnosed with lung cancer. Alive today, a 15-year survivor, she denies that her cancer has made her a better person, adding that “If it takes a near-death experience for you to appreciate your life, you’re wasting somebody’s time.”

Existential

August 18, 2010, 8:06 am • Tags: , ,

Terror management theory is a theory within psychology that focuses on the implicit emotional reactions of people that occur when confronted with the psychological terror of knowing we will eventually die. Empirical support for terror management theory has originated from more than 175 published experiments which have been conducted cross-culturally both nationally and internationally.

The theory builds from the assumption that the capability of self-reflection and the consciousness of one’s own mortality can be regarded as a continuous source for existential anguish. This irresolvable paradox is created from the desire to preserve life and the realization of that impossibility because life is finite.

Humans are aware of the inevitability of their own death. Culture diminishes this psychological terror by providing meaning, organization and continuity to people’s lives. Compliance with cultural values enhances one’s feeling of security and self-esteem, provided that the individual is capable of living in accordance with whatever particular cultural standards apply to him or her.

The belief in the rightness of the cultural values and standards creates the conviction necessary to live a reasonable and meaningful life. This cultural worldview provides a base of making sense of the world as stable and orderly, a place where one rests their hopes on symbolic immortality such as having children, fame, or legacies of wealth, or literal immortality such as the promise of a life in an afterworld.

Predisposition

August 17, 2010, 8:09 am • Tags: , ,

In psychology, preparedness is a concept developed to explain why certain associations are learned more readily than others. For example, phobias related to survival, such as snakes, spiders, and heights, are much more common and much easier to induce in the laboratory than other kinds of fears.

This is a result of our evolutionary history. Organisms which learned to fear environmental threats faster had a survival and reproductive advantage. Consequently, the innate predisposition to fear became an adaptive human trait. Because early humans that were quick to fear dangerous situations were more likely to survive and reproduce, preparedness is theorized to be a genetic effect that is the result of natural selection.

Fear can sometimes create the condition we commonly call disease. Realistically, mammals all develop disease throughout their lifetimes but they remain unaware of this fact because the immune system recognizes the threat and eliminates it. The long term effect of chronic fear on the immune system can be extremely damaging.

For some, becoming aware of fear and changing the response to it has brought about a lessening of disease. By taking a deep breath, pausing and reflecting, one can identify a negative belief system and replace it with a positive, loving belief system that can remedy problems before they escalate.

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