Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
-
Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. · Aug 2009
Caloric restriction and longevity: the science and the ascetic experience.
Aging involves a gradual increase in disorder of the systems that sustain living. Although stress is a major driver of this process, one stressor, caloric restriction (CR), is the only intervention proven to extend life span in multiple species as well as extend the persistence of those characteristics that are associated with youth. CR has been used since ancient times to enhance many of those characteristics: principally, increased activity levels and heightened levels of mental acuity. ⋯ Tibetan medicine has made use of observations, which include that of enhanced immune function, in its dietary prescriptions. In the hopes of reaping these benefits for the general population, scientists focusing their research on the aging process have sought mimetics that will deliver the benefits of CR without requiring the discipline of fasting. The search begins with discovering the processes that make CR work.
-
We performed two parallel interview studies of stroke patients (n= 20) and professional nurses (n= 5) to gain more insight into the therapeutic role of music listening in stroke rehabilitation. Results suggest that music listening can be used to relax, improve mood, and provide both physical and mental activation during the early stages of recovery from stroke. Thus, music listening could provide a useful clinical tool in stroke rehabilitation.
-
Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. · Jun 2009
What motivates participation in violent political action: selective incentives or parochial altruism?
In standard models of decision making, participation in violent political action is understood as the product of instrumentally rational reasoning. According to this line of thinking, instrumentally rational individuals will participate in violent political action only if there are selective incentives that are limited to participants. We argue in favor of an alternate model of political violence where participants are motivated by moral commitments to collective sacred values. Correlative and experimental empirical evidence in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict strongly supports this alternate view.
-
The rickettsial diseases of Australia are described in their chronological order of discovery. The include epidemic typhus (R. prowazekii); murine typhus (R. typhi) found Australia-wide; scrub typhus (O. tsutsugamushi) only in tropical, northen Australia; Q. fever (C. burnetti) found Australia-wide; Queensland tick typhus (R. australis) along the east coast of Australia; Flinders Island spotted fever (R. honei) in southeast Australia; Variant Flinders Island spotted fever (R. honei, strain "marmionii") in eastern Australia; Rickettsia felis, Western Australia; eight new RFG rickettsiae from ticks (of unknown pathogenicity); and two nonhuman pathogens in A. platys (dogs) and A. marginale (cattle).