Healing the psyche through music, myth, and ritual.

According to Carl Jung, a person's symptoms occur as a result of the psyche's creative attempt to self-regulate. These symptoms are viewed as the symbol-making function of the psyche. Music therapy as a therapeutic tool is also viewed as having a symbol-making function in that the physical act of making music involves conceptualizing one's symptoms into sounds. The sound serves as a musical symbol of the symptom. The myth of Orpheus is offered as an example of how early man amplified the creative potential contained in music to heal from life's woes. The Orphic archetype illustrates that music serves as a medium for healing and as an expression of Self. That psyche can be healed by music is a reminder of the connection between music therapy and the myth of Orpheus. In using the therapeutic tool of music one can transcend, through the symbol making process inherent in music therapy, the tension of opposites that are created at the crossroads of disease and wellness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mercury levels in freshwater fish of the state of South Carolina

Samples of fish from freshwater sources of rivers, lakes and ponds all over the state of South Carolina were collected during the Summer of 1974 and 1975. The fish collected were Bass, Bluegill, Redbreast, Catfish, Shad, Carp, Crappie, Mudfish and Pike. Samples were analyzed using the flameless atomic absorption procedure outlined by Hatch and Ott, and Uthe et al as modified for use with Perkin-Elmer, Coleman MAS-50 mercury analyzer. Triplicate samples of fish tissue were analyzed by wet digestion method. The mean mercury levels in ppb were determined for baseline mercury levels. A significant finding of this report is that those species for which fish of widely differing weights were analyzed, larger fish had higher mercury levels. Mercury levels exceeding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration guideline of 500 ppb for fish tissues have been found in the Mudfish from Edisto River and Pike fish from Lake Murray. Higher levels of mercury occurred in the highly vascularized blood tissues of liver and kidney than in muscle. Carnivorous and bottom-feeding fishes are the most reliable indicators of mercury pollution.     

Social embeddedness in an online weight management programme is linked to greater weight loss

The obesity epidemic is heightening chronic disease risk globally. Online weight management (OWM) communities could potentially promote weight loss among large numbers of people at low cost. Because little is known about the impact of these online communities, we examined the relationship between individual and social network variables, and weight loss in a large, international OWM programme. We studied the online activity and weight change of 22 419 members of an OWM system during a six-month period, focusing especially on the 2033 members with at least one friend within the community. Using Heckman''s sample-selection procedure to account for potential selection bias and data censoring, we found that initial body mass index, adherence to self-monitoring and social networking were significantly correlated with weight loss. Remarkably, greater embeddedness in the network was the variable with the highest statistical significance in our model for weight loss. Average per cent weight loss at six months increased in a graded manner from 4.1% for non-networked members, to 5.2% for those with a few (two to nine) friends, to 6.8% for those connected to the giant component of the network, to 8.3% for those with high social embeddedness. Social networking within an OWM community, and particularly when highly embedded, may offer a potent, scalable way to curb the obesity epidemic and other disorders that could benefit from behavioural changes.     

Plastic Flow and Microstructure Evolution during Thermomechanical Processing of a PM Nickel-Base Superalloy

Plastic flow and microstructure evolution during sub- and supersolvus forging and subsequent supersolvus heat treatment of the powder-metallurgy superalloy LSHR (low-solvus, high-refractory) were investigated to develop an understanding of methods that can be used to obtain a moderately coarse gamma grain size under well-controlled conditions. To this end, isothermal, hot compression tests were conducted over broad ranges of temperature [(1144 K to 1450 K) 871 °C to 1177 °C] and constant true strain rate (0.0005 to 10 s^?1). At low temperatures, deformation was generally characterized by flow softening and dynamic recrystallization that led to a decrease in grain size. At high subsolvus temperatures and low strain rates, steady-state flow or flow hardening was observed. These latter behaviors were ascribed to superplastic deformation and microstructure evolution characterized by a constant grain size or concomitant dynamic grain growth, respectively. During supersolvus heat treatment following subsolvus deformation, increases in grain size whose magnitude was a function of the prior deformation conditions were noted. A transition in flow behavior from superplastic to nonsuperplastic and the development during forging at a high subsolvus temperature of a wide (possibly bi- or multimodal) gamma-grain-size distribution having some large grains led to a substantially coarser grain size during supersolvus annealing in comparison to that produced under all other forging conditions.     

Adjuvant therapy for breast cancer and psychological distress

OBJECTIVES: A case of bilateral ectopic pelvic kidney is presented whose clinical symptoms were hypogastric pain and cloudy urine. The few cases reported in the world medical literature are briefly reviewed. METHODS: Patient evaluation included intravenous urography, selective right renal arteriography and transoperative left antegrade pyelography. A left nephrectomy was performed. RESULTS: All symptoms disappeared after nephrectomy. CONCLUSIONS: Bilateral ectopic pelvic kidneys are uncommon as shown by the few cases reported in the literature. To our knowledge, the present case is the first case reported in the Spanish literature.     

Relationships among ratings, production, efficiency, and the General Aptitude Test Battery scales in an industrial setting.

Examined relations among the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) scales, job-related behavior (supervisor's ratings), and actual production and efficiency rates of 76 coil winders in an overhead distribution transformer plant. The correlations between the GATB scales and the rating, production, and efficiency variables were from low to insignificant, including more than 1/3 that were negative. Published selection strategies were ineffective in differentiating between good and poor Ss in terms of ratings, production, and efficiency. Additionally, the correlations between the rating, production, and efficiency variables were at best only from moderate to insignificant. Results indicate a need for further evaluation of the GATB in the industrial setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Microstructure Evolution during Supersolvus Heat Treatment of a Powder Metallurgy Nickel-Base Superalloy

Microstructure evolution during the supersolvus heat treatment of a powder-metallurgy, low-solvus, high-refractory (LSHR) superalloy was established. For this purpose, three lots of LSHR with varying initial carbon/boron composition and thermomechanical history were subjected to a series of short-time (induction) and long-time (furnace) heat treatments followed by scanning electron microscopy/electron backscatter diffraction and quantitative metallography. The size of the (pinned) gamma grains exhibited a limited dependence on heating rate and soak time at peak temperature, and it was generally smaller than the predictions based on the classic Smith-Zener model. The differences were rationalized in terms of stereological and pinning-particle location effects. Observations of limited coarsening of the carbide/boride pinning particles were interpreted in the context of prior experimental observations and a modified Lifshitz-Slyosov-Wagner model applied previously for the coarsening of compound phases in steels.