Significant Dreams: Bizarre or Beautiful?

The literature on highly significant dreams is filled with references to the bizarreness of their content. On the other hand, the concept of beauty is rarely if ever mentioned in relation to these dreams. Grounded in archetypal psychology's tenet that psychological life is aesthetic life, this article argues that the enduring, even life-long, influence some dreams have on the dreamer's life may be better approached through the idea of beauty than through the idea of bizarreness. The argument builds on Hunt's (1989, 1995) theoretical model of the nature of consciousness and dream multiplicity with its emphasis on cross-modal synesthesia as well as on insights provided by Scarry's (1999) recent essay on beauty. A detailed account of how one composer's work was profoundly influenced by his most significant dream is presented to illustrate this aesthetic approach to understanding the on-going significance of significant dreams.     

The On-Going Significance of Significant Dreams: The Case of the Bodiless Head

In the growing literature on significant dreams, relatively little attention has been given to the enduring, even life-long, influence some dreams have on dreamers' lives. This article describes an ongoing research project on significant dreams by way of an illustrative case of a young woman whose 20-year-old dream still resonates in her psychic life. We suggest that such dreams might be better understood in terms of the aesthetics of & #x201C;image rather than the interpretation of dreams as & #x201C;text.     

Significant dreams: Repositioning the self narrative.

In this article the authors argue that the study of the ongoing significance of significant dreams necessarily goes beyond quantitative methods for analyzing dream content to a qualitative study of how the dream experience influences the dreamer's meaning-making processes. A set of concepts from narrative psychology is introduced as being potentially valuable in this regard. A case study is presented to illustrate how the significant dream may serve as a catalyst for repositioning the dreamer's self narrative relative to a cultural master narrative. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dream content: Reflections of the emotional and psychological states of earthquake survivors.

This study investigated dream narratives as reflections of the emotional and psychological states of earthquake survivors. Dreams and dreams imagery have reportedly been affected by the emotional and psychological trauma that the dreamer goes through. Dream narratives and dream content ratings used in earlier studies were utilized in this study. Narratives and content ratings were obtained from a sample of 27 volunteer survivors of the October 8, 2005 earthquake in Pakistan (Azad Kashmir area) and 27 volunteer controls from similar demographics. Three independent raters judged the dream narratives and dream content ratings. The judges rating were highly congruent (86.05). Findings revealed that the survivor group had more vivid, unpleasant, horrifying, and hostile dreams compared with the control group. However, there were no significant gender differences. The data suggest that a closer study of dreams can be used to understand the underlying trauma for effective interventions. In addition, interesting emergence of recurrent dreams was seen, which will be independently studied in future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Touring the Dream Factory: The Dream-Film Connection in The Wizard of Oz and A Nightmare on Elm Street

This essay explores the complex interplay of dreams and film, using an analysis of The Wizard of Oz (1939) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) to illustrate how an interdisciplinary approach can provide fruitful insights into how dreams influence films, and films influence dreams. The essay suggests that reflecting on the dreams-film connection can deepen our understanding of the cultural dimensions of human development, particularly in the context of modern American culture. By using the methodological resources of psychology, sociology, history, film criticism, and theology, the essay argues more generally that the interdisciplinary analysis of films offers significant new possibilities for the development of dream studies. Kelly Bulkeley, Ph.D.     

The central image makes "big" dreams big: The central image as the emotional heart of the dream.

"Big dreams" are hard to define. This paper considers "big" dreams under several more easily definable subcategories: memorable dreams; important dreams (labeled by dreamer); significant dreams; and impactful dreams. Past studies are reviewed, and five new preliminary studies are presented showing that a powerful Central Image (CI) distinguishes "big" dreams in all subcategories. 1) Dreams labeled "important" by the dreamer have higher CI intensity than dreams labeled "unimportant." 2) Dreams labeled "especially significant" have especially high CI intensity. 3) Impactful dreams (leading to a new discovery) have a very high CI intensity. 4) The dreams of people who score very "thin" on the Boundary Questionnaire (BQ)--sometimes called "dream-people"--have higher CI intensity than the dreams of people who score "thick." 5) In a separate, larger group, there is a significant positive correlation between CI intensity and "thinness." It appears that CI intensity is an important measure of the "bigness" of dreams. The present results are consistent with the Contemporary Theory of Dreaming which states that dreams involve making connections guided by emotion, that the Ci of the dream pictures the emotion, and that CI intensity measures the power of the underlying emotion. "Big" dreams are dreams with great emotional power and have powerful Central Images. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Dream Will Tell: Militant Muslim Dreaming in the Context of Traditional and Contemporary Islamic Dream Theory and Practice.

Al-Qaeda and Taliban leadership and membership appear to have been motivated, inspired, and guided by certain dreams. Their understanding of dreams seems to draw at least partly on traditional and contemporary Islamic dream theories. If this hypothesis is correct, then there is a need for the urgent study of Islamic Jihadist political/religious conversion and guidance dreams across the Middle East. The dream-as experienced, reported, and interpreted-is now a significant aspect of the global conflict between Al-Qaeda and its associates versus the core value system of Western civilization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Amorphization Alone Does Not Account for the Enhancement of Solubility of Drug Co-ground with Silicate: The Case of Indomethacin

The solubility advantage of indomethacin amorphized by co-grinding with Neusilin US2 in various media was investigated. Physical mixtures of γ-indomethacin and Neusilin US2 (in the ratios 1:1, 1:4 and 1:5) were amorphized at room temperature employing 75% RH in a porcelain jar mill using zirconia balls. The crystallinity of the samples was determined using ATR-FTIR and PXRD. The solubility and dissolution profiles of co-ground powders and crystalline counterparts were evaluated in 0.1 N HCl, water and phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) in a USP type II dissolution apparatus at 250 rpm and 37 °C. Very high concentrations of dissolved indomethacin as compared to the solubility of γ-indomethacin (~500 times in water and ~ 3.7 times in phosphate buffer) were attained. However, the presence of other polymorphs detected by PXRD and a change in the pH of the medium made interpretation of the results difficult. In 0.1 N HCl the solubility (i.e., the peak in a concentration versus time plot) of the amorphized drug in a 1:5 ratio with Neusilin increased to 109 times the solubility of crystalline γ-indomethacin alone. An increase in amount of drug and Neusilin in the same ratio added to the dissolution medium also increased peak and plateau dissolution concentrations. The presence of silicic acid and ions (Mg²⁺ and Al³⁺) in the dissolution media were found to cause the increase in the plateau concentration of indomethacin. Amorphization alone does not account for all of the dissolution enhancement; acidity, ions, and silicic acid are major contributors to dissolution enhancement.     

Papain Does Not Cleave Operator-Bound Lambda Repressor: Structural Characterization of the Carboxy Terminal Domain and the Hinge

Abstract

The circular dichroism spectra of three different purified carboxy terminal fragments 93–236, 112–236 and 132–236 of the bacteriophage γ cI repressor have been measured and compared with those of the intact repressor and the amino terminal fragment 1–92. All three carboxy terminal fragments contain mostly β-strands and loops, a minor helix content increasing with the size of the fragment, showing that the 93–131 region previously called a hinge is structured. Fourier transformed infrared spectra also showed that fragment 93–236 contains α-helices, β-sheets and turns but fragment 132–236 contains no detectable α-helix, only β-sheets and turns. Papain is known to cleave the γ repressor, but it is shown here that it cannot cleave the operator-bound repressor dimer. For the 132–236 fragment, both the wt and the SN228 mutant previously shown to be dimerization defective in the intact, gave similar dimerization properties as investigated by HPLC at 2 to 100 µM protein concentration, with a KD of 13.2 µM and 19.1 µM respectively. The papain cleavage for wt and SN228 proceed at equal rates for the first cleavage at 92–93; however, the subsequent cleavages are faster for SN228. The three Cys residues in the 132–236 fragment were found to be unreactive upon incubation with DTNB, indicating the thiol sulfur atoms are buried in the repressor carboxy terminal domain. Denaturation of the 132–236 fragment studied by tryptophan fluorescence shows two transitions centered at 1.5 M and 4.5 M of urea.     

Formal Comment to Pettengill: The Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor Does Not (Usually) Approximate the Date of Divergence

In 2013 Zhou et al. concluded that Salmonella enterica serovar Agona represents a genetically monomorphic lineage of recent ancestry, whose most recent common ancestor existed in 1932, or earlier. The Abstract stated ‘Agona consists of three lineages with minimal mutational diversity: only 846 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have accumulated in the non-repetitive, core genome since Agona evolved in 1932 and subsequently underwent a major population expansion in the 1960s.’ These conclusions have now been criticized by Pettengill, who claims that the evolutionary models used to date Agona may not have been appropriate, the dating estimates were inaccurate, and the age of emergence of Agona should have been qualified by an upper limit reflecting the date of its divergence from an outgroup, serovar Soerenga. We dispute these claims. Firstly, Pettengill’s analysis of Agona is not justifiable on technical grounds. Secondly, an upper limit for divergence from an outgroup would only be meaningful if the outgroup were closely related to Agona, but close relatives of Agona are yet to be identified. Thirdly, it is not possible to reliably date the time of divergence between Agona and Soerenga. We conclude that Pettengill’s criticism is comparable to a tempest in a teapot.     

Nanoscale amphiphilic macromolecules as lipoprotein inhibitors: the role of charge and architecture

A series of novel amphiphilic macromolecules composed of alkyl chains as the hydrophobic block and poly(ethylene glycol) as the hydrophilic block were designed to inhibit highly oxidized low density lipoprotein (hoxLDL) uptake by synthesizing macromolecules with negatively charged moieties (ie, carboxylic acids) located in the two different blocks. The macromolecules have molecular weights around 5,500 g/mol, form micelles in aqueous solution with an average size of 20-35 nm, and display critical micelle concentration values as low as 10(-7) M. Their charge densities and hydrodynamic size in physiological buffer solutions correlated with the hydrophobic/ hydrophilic block location and quantity of the carboxylate groups. Generally, carboxylate groups located in the hydrophobic block destabilize micelle formation more than carboxylate groups in the hydrophilic block. Although all amphiphilic macromolecules inhibited unregulated uptake of hoxLDL by macrophages, inhibition efficiency was influenced by the quantity and location of the negatively charged-carboxylate on the macromolecules. Notably, negative charge is not the sole factor in reducing hoxLDL uptake. The combination of smaller size, micellar stability and charge density is critical for inhibiting hoxLDL uptake by macrophages.     

Strong Competition Does Not Always Predict Play Asymmetry: The Case of South American Sea Lions (Otaria flavescens)

Although play fighting has been studied for over a century in both human and non‐human animals, quantitative data on marine mammals are still scarce. Here, we investigated play fighting in South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens), one of the most sexually dimorphic species with an extreme polygynous mating system, high levels of both intra‐ and inter‐sexual competition. All these features make South American sea lions a good model species to test some predictions on play fighting. Our results indicate play is restricted to juveniles, being inhibited among adults, and as to be expected in a species that shows a high degree of sexual dimorphism, it is mainly expressed in males. Even though playful interactions were punctuated by competitive behaviours, animals played in a highly symmetric way and were able to adjust their competitive playful interactions in a flexible manner and so reduce the risk of escalation to a minimum level. They were highly selective in their choice of playmates by limiting the number of players per session and playing more with age‐matched companions and friends. All these factors taken together are probably at the basis of the low risk of escalation recorded during the study. This result is predictive of a high ability and motivation of these animals to engage in play behaviour which can have a possible role not only in the acquisition of dominance status, but also in establishing and maintaining social relationships, an unexpected role in a so highly competitive species.     

The Weight of Evidence Does Not Support the Listing of Styrene as “Reasonably Anticipated to be a Human Carcinogen” in NTP's Twelfth Report on Carcinogens

Styrene was listed as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen” in the twelfth edition of the National Toxicology Program's Report on Carcinogens based on what we contend are erroneous findings of limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans, sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals, and supporting mechanistic data. The epidemiology studies show no consistent increased incidence of, or mortality from, any type of cancer. In animal studies, increased incidence rates of mostly benign tumors have been observed only in certain strains of one species (mice) and at one tissue site (lung). The lack of concordance of tumor incidence and tumor type among animals (even within the same species) and humans indicates that there has been no particular cancer consistently observed among all available studies. The only plausible mechanism for styrene-induced carcinogenesis—a non-genotoxic mode of action that is specific to the mouse lung—is not relevant to humans. As a whole, the evidence does not support the characterization of styrene as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen,” and styrene should not be listed in the Report on Carcinogens.     

The Colonisation of Exotic Species Does Not Have to Trigger Faunal Homogenisation: Lessons from the Assembly Patterns of Arthropods on Oceanic Islands

Human-caused disturbances can lead to the extinction of indigenous (endemic and native) species, while facilitating and increasing the colonisation of exotic species; this increase can, in turn, promote the similarity of species compositions between sites if human-disturbed sites are consistently invaded by a regionally species-poor pool of exotic species. In this study, we analysed the extent to which epigean arthropod assemblages of four islands of the Azorean archipelago are characterised by nestedness according to a habitat-altered gradient. The degree of nestedness represents the extent to which less ubiquitous species occur in subsets of sites occupied by the more widespread species, resulting in an ordered loss/gain of species across environmental or ecological gradients. A predictable loss of species across communities while maintaining others may lead to more similar communities (i.e. lower beta-diversity). In contrast, anti-nestedness occurs when different species tend to occupy distinct sites, thus characterising a replacement of species across such gradients. Our results showed that an increase in exotic species does not promote assemblage homogenisation at the habitat level. On the contrary, exotic species were revealed as habitat specialists that constitute new and well-differentiated assemblages, even increasing the species compositional heterogeneity within human-altered landscapes. Therefore, contrary to expectations, our results show that both indigenous and exotic species established idiosyncratic assemblages within habitats and islands. We suggest that both the historical extinction of indigenous species in disturbed habitats and the habitat-specialised character of some exotic invasions have contributed to the construction of current assemblages.     

The Switch that Does Not Flip: The Blue-Light Receptor YtvA from Bacillus subtilis Adopts an Elongated Dimer Conformation Independent of the Activation State as Revealed by a Combined AUC and SAXS Study

Photoreceptors play an important role in plants and bacteria by converting extracellular stimuli into intracellular signals. One distinct class are the blue-light-sensitive phototropins harboring a light-oxygen-voltage (LOV) domain coupled to various effector domains. Photon absorption by the chromophore within the LOV domain results in an activation of the output domain via mechanisms that are hitherto not well understood. The photoreceptor YtvA from Bacillus subtilis is a bacterial analog of phototropins, consists of an LOV and a sulfate transporter/anti-sigma factor antagonist domain, and is involved in the response of the bacterium to environmental stress. We present here analytical ultracentrifugation studies and small-angle X-ray scattering experiments, showing that YtvA is a dimer. On the basis of these results, we present a low-resolution model of the dimer in the dark and the lit state of the protein. In addition, we show that YtvA does not change its oligomerization state or its overall shape upon light activation.     

A Physician's Perspective on the Incorporation of Pictograms as a Supplement to Medical Instructions in Chile: A Pilot Study

Introduction and objectivesCurrent models of health care are progressively migrating to more participatory models, where for treatment to achieve results that last over time, there must be effective communication between the patient, his or her caregivers, and health professionals. Although the use of pictograms in the context of medical instructions has been widely studied, in our country, there are no studies about their usefulness, or which set of symbols should be used by the systems. This work aims to present the first step towards the development of platforms that automatically suggest pictograms to supplement medical instructions for primary care settings in Chile.Materials and methodsIn this pilot study, we collected and analyzed the physicians' opinions on the selection of medical instructions that later will automatically be supplemented by the software that is under construction. We designed an expert validation survey using a set of 66 medical instructions with pictograms. This survey provided three rating options for each medical instruction: Not necessary (supplementing the instruction with a pictogram does not carry any value), Useful (supplementing the instruction with a pictogram may help patients to understand and remember the instruction), and Essential (supplementing the instruction with a pictogram is essential). Seventy-one physicians responded to the survey.Results22 out of 66 medical instructions were considered “essential” by >=51% of the experts, and 12 of the 66 were considered to be “useful but not essential” by >=51% of the experts.ConclusionResults of our survey validate the potential use of pictograms as a complement to better comprehension of medical instructions in our country.     

5-Hydroxy-3-Ethylamino-2-Oxindole Is Not Formed in Rat Brain Following a Neurotoxic Dose of Methamphetamine: Evidence that Methamphetamine Does Not Induce the Hydroxyl Radical-Mediated Oxidation of Serotonin

Abstract: Oxygen radicals have been implicated in the neurodegenerative and other neurobiological effects evoked by methamphetamine (MA) in the brain. It has been reported that shortly after a single large subcutaneous dose of MA to the rat, the serotonergic neurotoxin 5,6-dihydroxytryptamine (5,6-DHT) is formed in the cortex and hippocampus. This somewhat controversial finding suggests that MA potentiates formation of the hydroxyl radical (HO^?) that oxidizes 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) to 5,6-DHT, which, in turn, mediates the degeneration of serotonergic terminals. A major and more stable product of the in vitro HO^?-mediated oxidation of 5-HT is 5-hydroxy-3-ethylamino-2-oxindole (5-HEO). In this investigation, a method based on HPLC with electrochemical detection (HPLC-EC) has been developed that permits measurement of very low levels of 5-HEO in rat brain tissue in the presence of biogenic amine neurotransmitters/metabolites. After intracerebroventricular administration into rat brain, 5-HEO is transformed into a single major, but unknown, metabolite that can be detected by HPLC-EC. One hour after administration of MA (100 mg/kg s.c.) to the rat, massive decrements of 5-HT were observed in all regions of the brain examined (cortex, hippocampus, medulla and pons, midbrain, and striatum). However, 5-HEO, its unidentified metabolite, or 5,6-DHT were not detected as in vivo metabolites of 5-HT. MA administration, in particular to rats pretreated with pargyline, resulted in the formation of low levels of N-acetyl-5-hydroxytryptamine (NAc-5-HT) in all brain regions examined. These results suggest that MA does not potentiate the HO^?-mediated oxidation of 5-HT. Furthermore, the rapid MA-induced decrease of 5-HT might not only be related to oxidative deactivation of tryptophan hydroxylase, as demonstrated by other investigators, but also to the inhibition of tetrahydrobiopterin biosynthesis by NAc-5-HT. The massive decrements of 5-HT evoked by MA are accompanied by small or no corresponding increases in 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5-HIAA) levels. This is due, in part, to the relatively rapid clearance of 5-HIAA from the brain and monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibition by MA. However, the loss of 5-HT without corresponding increases in its metabolites point to other mechanisms that might deplete the neurotransmitter, such as oxidation by superoxide radical anion (O₂^??), a reaction that in vitro does not generate 5-HEO or 5,6-DHT but rather another putative neurotoxin, tryptamine-4,5-dione. One hour after administration, MA evokes large depletions of norepinephrine (NE) throughout the brain but somewhat smaller decrements of dopamine (DA) that are restricted to the nigrostriatal pathway. Furthermore, MA evokes a major shift in the metabolism of both NE and DA from the pathway mediated by MAO to that mediated by catechol-O-methyltransferase. The profound and widespread effects of MA on the noradrenergic system, but more anatomically localized influence on the dopaminergic system, suggests that NE in addition to DA, or unusual metabolites of these neurotransmitters, might play roles in the neurodegenerative effects evoked by this drug.     

Limited Reintroduction Does Not Always Lead to Rapid Loss of Genetic Diversity: An Example from the American Chestnut (Castanea dentata; Fagaceae)

In restoring species, reasons for introducing limited numbers of individuals at different locations include costs of introduction and maintenance, limited founder supply, and risk “bet hedging.” However, populations initiated from few founders may experience increased genetic drift, inbreeding, and diversity loss. We examined the genetic diversity of an isolated stand of more than 5,000 American chestnut trees relative to that of the 9 surviving stand founders (out of 10 total) planted in the 1880s. We used minisatellite DNA probes to reveal 84 genetic markers (circa 24 loci) among the nine founders, and their genetic diversity was compared with three separate plots of descendant trees, as well as with two natural stands. The descendants were circa 7.3% more heterozygous than the founders (mean estimated H= 0.556 vs. 0.518, respectively; p < 0.0001). Genetic differentiation was not pronounced (F_ST < 0.031), and no markers, including those at low frequency among the founders, were lost in the descendants. The founders and natural transects were not significantly different in H or similarity (mean proportion of bands shared). Special planting or mating protocols for establishment of a vigorous American chestnut population from a low number of founders may not be required to avoid strong effects of genetic drift and inbreeding. These results demonstrate that loss of genetic diversity following reintroduction of a limited number of founders is not always inevitable, such as this case where the species is highly outcrossing, expression of heterozygous advantage may occur, the original founders remain as gene contributors over generations, and the establishing population expands constantly and rapidly.