An Open Mind

I was recently meditating, at home, in the early afternoon. Outside, intense snow squalls alternated with a few minutes of sunshine. Schools started two hours late that morning because of the weather, and before meditating I had wondered if the after-school class that I was supposed to teach would be cancelled. I concentrated on my breath and soon became calm and focused and lost all sense of school and snow. Then the phone rang. My wife picked it up somewhere in the house. I couldn’t hear the conversation but knew it was the school calling about the class and I began to wonder, again, if it would be cancelled. I tried to return my focus to the breath, but couldn’t do it by increasing my concentration. So, I tried another strategy. I made my response and interest in the call the object of awareness. I simply noticed what was there, in me, without judging it. That did it. My mind calmed.

By shifting attention to what was there in my own mind and body, and being open to it, my mind became the state of openness. The result was both calm and insight.

Why do I have this drive to have an answer? To know is to hold information in mind and be able to use that information, to comprehend and own in myself. Even more, it is a drive for a concept to fit reality into, or this is one way to understand it. In the past, I thought that the drive for answers was a common and primal human drive. It was part of learning and growing up; humans were naturally driven to better understand the world and themselves—unless it was educated out of them. And putting what you knew into words to form a worldview was part of developing an identity.

You create explanations and stories to order your life. Having an explanation of any sort is often more important than its accuracy. Thus, you feel uncomfortable when you don’t-know. You take it as something missing, a lack, a hole in your universe. You then hate not-knowing, as it leads you to worry or feel anxious. Part of the joy of solving puzzles or watching a mystery movie is that, for a moment, you feel the anxiety of not-knowing, but in a controlled way. You prove to yourself that this situation can be faced and overcome. It is like an inoculation against fear. The puzzle creates just enough anxiety that by solving the puzzle you demonstrate your control over not-knowing.

But this day, I realized this explanation was not enough. I dislike not-knowing only to the degree that I am wedded to an outcome or idea, only to the degree that I cling to one answer, fear another, or think I am only capable of handling certain types of situations.

It is easy to cling to ideas, and think knowing is only about putting experiences into words. You value the memory over the “thing” or experience itself, the story about your trip to Africa in the past over the experience of a moment of your life right now. And by focusing so much on the words and explanations, you easily lose perspective on the important role not-knowing plays in your life.

There is a second type of not-knowing, an experience of your world being fully there, alive, not lacking. Every moment begins with this not-knowing. If the present moment were known and put into words, it would already be past. Daniel Siegel and other neuroscientists describe stages in the formation of emotion. The first is an “orienting response.” Brain and body systems become alerted and energized. You begin to feel. Only later is memory activated, energy directed, liking and disliking begun, emotion and meaning created. In this sense, not-knowing is a step you need to go through to learn and understand anything. It is your original contact with the world. It is a non-verbal or incommunicable sort of knowing, the taste, the touch, the joy and agony of a body twisting in space, the rush of concentrated attention.

In Buddhism, not-knowing is to perceive without preconceived ideas. It is to hold what you know lightly, and to put observation and experience before concept. It is a silence of concept mind so you can hear the world more clearly.

In the first sense of knowing, where you emphasize knowing as conceptualizing, you can miss, not fully engage in, the only moment you ever live in, the present. Your life becomes a memory, a story or explanation, and is lived almost secondhand. It is something you read about in your own mind or listen for in the words of others, not what you live each moment.

When you understand yourself in this almost secondhand manner, you cling to ideas and it is easier to get into energetic disagreements about points of view. When you think you know and have the explanation of an event, you feel in control. When you threaten a person’s explanation, you threaten their world. And when people in power and in the headlines manipulate information, say one thing and mean something entirely different, and lie repeatedly, even obviously, they are attempting to take away your power by undermining your sense that there is a clear reality out there. They can create psychological and social chaos. The lie is not just a lie. It is an attempt to undermine your sense of control over your life. It is an attempt to get you to live as if your life were a memory. With a truth, you can have a two-way conversation; a lie is an attempt to make it one-way.

To not-know in the second way, you can’t be manipulated so easily because you welcome and are fully present in your immediate experience. Thus, to be open to whatever arises in your mind, body and the world around you, and to be able to utilize both forms of knowing and not-knowing, is a revolutionary act. To face your fear and anxiety is a form of resistance to the powerful. It is to return to where all action begins and all thought is born. And that is a very powerful state.

*Two Resources Relevant to This Post:

Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman

Stepping Out of Self-Deception: The Buddha’s Liberating Teaching of No-Self, by Rodney Smith

How to Let Go of Stress and Save the World

It is easy to forget how your mental attitude affects the world you perceive. It is easy to get so stressed about the problems you perceive in the world and your lives that you can’t act or can’t clearly understand what you face. So not understanding stress can be a significant block to feeling good and acting skillfully.

What is stress? Many people think of it as a physiological response to a threat that you can’t control or shape. It is the fight-flight-freeze response, mostly the flight or freeze aspects. But it’s not just that. As Joseph LeDoux makes clear in his new book, Anxious: Understanding The Brain To Understand And Treat Fear And Anxiety, the feeling of fear and anxiety is not simply a physiological response. There is a cognitive component to it.

The physiological threat response arises to enable many different kinds of activities, from facing an actual physical threat, such as a knife-wielding robber, to when you think your sense of self is endangered. It can arise when you need to take a test, drive in traffic, talk with a friend about a difficult topic, or write a blog. It can underlie a great many emotions, like fear, worry, anxiety, jealousy and anger.

Daniel Siegel, in The Developing Mind, describes steps in the construction of emotion. The first step is arousing attention and energy, what he calls the initial orienting response. The second is appraisal, which includes what we might call feeling and interpreting, labeling stimuli as good or bad, to approach or avoid. Memories enter the picture. The third step is your categorical emotions like sadness, happiness, fear. Without the initial signals to pay attention and to approach a task, motivation is absent; and learning, clear thinking is nearly impossible.

You can learn to notice what happens in your body as it occurs. If you don’t become aware of what is going on inside you, you can’t do anything about it. You can notice:

*Location: where the sensations of stress are in your body

*Quality: type of feeling you experience, like discomfort, pins and needles, squeezed or pressured, hot or cold.

*Intensity: strength.

*Direction of motivated action: do you feel like approaching, turning away, or being neutral?

*Mental attitude: what thoughts, images— what sense of who you are arises in your mind?

The threat response is thus the combination of awakened energy and attention, added to a sense of being uncomfortable, and the internal pressure to relieve it. Stress, at its earliest stage, is simply awakened energy. It is useful and necessary. What turns awakened energy into unwelcome stress is the interpretation or the stories you construct from the memories and sensations and situation. For example, do you think you are capable and strong enough to handle the situation?

Unwelcome stress is, thusly, meeting discomfort or any situation with resistance. It is being uncomfortable with discomfort, afraid of being afraid. Once you resist, your thinking gets further skewed, and limited. Emotional awareness or mindfulness of the moment by moment arising of sensations, feelings, thoughts, and images allows you to notice, recognize and thus let go of any emotion before it becomes overwhelming. It allows you to think and act with more clarity, speed, and concern for self and others.

Sometimes students express a fear when they practice mindfulness. They say, “if I let go of my feelings, what would be left of me? My emotions are me.” On one level, this is the expression of fear of fear. On another level, mindfulness adds a level of awareness students might not be used to. However, when you let go of fearing fear and other emotions, you notice an even more authentic you, and a deeper realm of feeling.

To practice this mindful awareness, take a moment to sit up, possibly close your eyes, and turn inward for a moment. Maybe notice the air entering your nostrils as you breathe in—and breathe out. Or become aware of how your body, as in your shoulders or jaw, expands as you breathe in—and lets go, settles down as you breathe out. You might hear a thought and simply notice it as you breathe in—and let it go as you return your attention to breathing out. Simply take a breath or two, noticing what you do, and then open your eyes, stretch and return fully to the room—awake and refreshed.

You can use mindfulness whenever you want to clear your mind: before you enter a class, begin a project, a test, a heavy conversation, or make an important decision. Or when you want to appreciate something more deeply, let go of pain, or take political or social action to reduce inequity, injustice, or suffering.

In the US, being constantly busy supposedly signifies you are valued and important. But being on the go all the time means you don’t let your body fully settle. Mindfulness, especially when combined with compassion, gives you the opportunity to let your mind calm and quiet. It can help you discover what you truly feel and guide you through the thinking process. Doing it for just a few minutes at a time can help you better discern which actions are of the most benefit to you and others and help ”save” the world.

Anxiety and Critical Thinking: How Helping Students Deal With Their Anxiety Will Help Them Learn To Think More Clearly And Critically.

Last week, I wrote about how to begin anything, especially the school year. One of the most important things teachers do to begin the school year is get to know the students, to help them feel supported, trusted, and part of a community. To do that, especially after a summer like this one marked by so much violence in the news, it is important to ask students about their summer, and discover what, if anything is disturbing them. Anxiety in schools has been rising over the last four or five years. Recognizing this in class, allowing students some space to talk about their emotions, is a crucial component of creating a supportive educational community and showing students that education can be a meaningful force in their lives.

Take a minute to think back on how you were affected by different events of the summer. How did you respond to Orlando? Nice? The police shootings of African-Americans? To shootings of police⎯or Donald Trump’s attack on Judge Gonzalo Curiel? To the drought in New York or other weather disasters? By studying yourself, you learn how to help students do the same. If you can’t be a student to yourself, how can you ask students to do it?

Then bring up the image of one of your students. Imagine how she or he stands, her face, his posture. Then imagine how the student might have responded to different news items reported this summer. Pick another student and do the same. Maybe write down what you notice, in yourself, in your students.

If schools are to accomplish one of their hopefully prime goals, namely teaching critical thinking, teachers have to understand the role emotions play in thinking. Does being worried, for example, or anxious, fearful affect student learning? How?

Would you say that emotion does not influence how or how clearly you think? Depression, for example, can be viewed as a state of mind that severely limits the amount of new information your mind will process. When depressed, it is especially difficult to process information that goes against the view of the world that keeps alive the depression. What about anger, jealousy, fear?

Yet, what about this: If you aren’t interested in a subject, how hard is it to think about it? How hard is it to think clearly when you’re bored or don’t care? If you don’t care, you don’t think. When you’re interested in something, when you care, your mind and body are energized. Without emotion, thinking is difficult if not impossible.

We grow up, or at least I grew up, with people saying that emotion or feeling, and thinking are opposed. We are told to stop being emotional. But emotion, or at least feeling, is what integrates, assigns value and thusly guides and gives meaning to thought.

Teachers can’t be therapists. But you can use the skills that teachers normally teach, analysis, critical thinking, focus, and empathy, in order to understand and let go of emotion. For example, when you analyze an emotion, you step back from it. You switch your mind from being identified or caught in emotion to the mind of analysis. When you inquire, you become inquisitive.

There is also a form of analysis you can access that is the basis of any thinking. The initial level of emotion or any mental state is what Daniel Siegel and others call an “orienting response.” Brain and body systems become alerted and energized. You begin to feel. Then you get “elaborative appraisal” which involves activating memory, directing energy, and creating meaning. You feel bad, good, or neutral, pleasant or unpleasant. Only after this do you get the desire to hold, as in joy or love, or push away, as in distaste or hate. When your mind is energetic and quiet, you are more likely to directly notice and sense this level of feeling and the development of thought. You can let your mind rest inside a developing idea without being caught by it. You can learn how to name what arises, not to get involved in purely intellectual thought, but to study or increase awareness of your mental processing.

In the case of anxiety, for example: If you were in an ongoing class studying the role of emotion in thinking, after sharing and examining different triggers of anxiety, you would need to determine what they all shared. What is it about these stimuli that trigger the emotion? And what are the historical, social, political conditions that contributed to the anxiety-triggering events? Then you’d research several scientific and philosophical perspectives on emotion. You’d ask: What is emotion? And what is critical thinking?

You’d take time to study your own experience of the emotion. By studying one emotion, as it arises in yourself, you can learn a method to better understand and deal with any emotion. By taking the time to understand the emotional process, you and your students will be better able to monitor emotions and state of mind, and better able to focus attention. You will be better able to think clearly, relationships in the class will improve, and the atmosphere will become more positive and supportive. You also study yourself so you can increase the positive applications and limit the negative affects of the use of computers and other digital media.

And remember, it’s important to help students understand that it is not the trigger or stimulus alone which causes an emotion, but the environment they’re in, and how they interpret, think about, and initially respond to the stimulus.

*This is the first in a series of blogs on different elements of critical thinking. Next week, I will focus on the different components of emotion and how to use inquiry, imagination and mindfulness practices to study yourself, think more clearly and critically, and teach your students to do the same.

Ideas, Perceptions and Feelings

We all form ideas about reality. It is a normal and necessary component of experiencing a meaningful world. However, the idea can seem to us as the reality, even though it’s not. I had two experiences recently which brought out this discrepancy. In one case, it turned an inconvenience into a difficult situation. In the other, it converted joy into loss.

In the first situation, I had arranged to use a space to hold a class. I had all the paperwork in and had used the space on and off for years. Then during the class session, another group came in half way through the class and said they had the space reserved. I was annoyed at the interruption and astonished by their claim.  I calmed down and let them use part of the space for the last twenty minutes of the class, even though my class was relatively quiet and theirs noisy. Then the next day, I checked in with the person in charge of scheduling the space and was assured the room was mine, not theirs. So, in my mind, I formed this idea that the other group was lying or taking advantage. That was my interpretation of what had happened. When I saw the leader of the group again, he even looked to me like a liar. But I was wrong about him. I later found out the person in charge of scheduling the space had double booked it.

In a totally different type of situation, I noticed recently that as I got older, I centered my life less on my work. I thought of friends and family more. I began to see my family more often and wanted to spend more time with friends. And with both, I am lucky. My family is supportive. I have close friends who care about and accept me. When I am with them, there are distinct ups and downs, but generally my moments with them are some of the finest moments in life. But I sometimes add something to the joy that changes its nature. I add this yearning to keep them close to me more of the time. Even though I have my own life and each of them has theirs, I dream of more time together. Instead of taking this dream as simply an extension of the joy and something to learn from, I sometimes take it as an indication that something is missing. Joy is then converted into clinging and loss.

Our emotions integrate the different elements of our world. They can do this for good or ill. They begin with what the author and child psychiatrist Daniel Siegel calls an initial “orienting response” or awakening of attention, grows to include memories, likes and dislikes, interpretations, until we get fully ripened emotions and inclinations to act.

It can be difficult to spot when distortions in our understanding occur, or understand what the distortion is. But it helps to know how emotions and perceptions are constructed. It helps to be mindful and keep in touch with the feeling underlying emotion. It helps when we notice if we are acting out of fear or a sense of threat so we can step back from the fear and more clearly consider if there is really a threat.  Or step back from an idea and evaluate if it accurately mirrors the situation. To take a breath and ask ourselves: “How am I viewing the other people in this situation? What is motivating the action I imagine?” It helps to realize that the perception I have of others is created along with the idea I hold of myself.

Life is so much fuller when I take time to absorb and cherish the reality I am presented with, whatever it is, but especially when it involves the friends and family I am close to.

*Photo from Cappadocia, Turkey.

News Events and the Stories We Tell Ourselves

How and why do people hurt others? I am a mostly retired secondary school teacher. This question came up frequently in my classrooms in the past, and it has frequently been in my mind lately. Is it in our nature to hurt? Do many of us suffer from an empathy deficit disorder? Or do we hurt others when we are too distracted, lost in an emotion, or educated to ignore the pain of others except those who are close to us? Do we have to be “carefully taught” to turn a blind eye to those in need or those breathing close to us on the street?

This is a crucial question, for the living room as well as the classroom. It is the question of “what is human nature?” Or is there a human nature? It is a question about the psychology of violence and ethics. How do you stop violence? Or, what allows us to be violent towards other humans? It happens seemingly too often. How can we not see and feel another breathing, feeling, speaking being as essentially just like us? What goes on in the mind when this inner blindness or distortion or active antipathy occurs? There are so many ways to think about and try to answer the question, yet we have to struggle with it.

In Baltimore over 2 weeks ago, an African-American man named Freddie Gray died in the custody of police. Evidence revealed to date indicates he was not involved in any criminal act. Yet, he was arrested and is now dead. How can this happen? Why? There have been partial explanations revealed, charges filed, but still, there is no justifiable reason for this death.

When we perceive others, we do so in an environmental, social-historical as well as a personal context. We are always part of a context or situation. We make the situation meaningful by organizing all the sensory and other information we receive into a coherent structure, basically into a story, with a beginning, middle, and end. This story helps us remember details of our lives; it is built out of memories. It gives meaning not only to the situation but to ourselves. To create this structure, details must be selected. What supports the structure is perceived; what doesn’t is ignored. Once we have our story, we live an abstraction; we live at a distance. How much and what we feel, think and, thus, do is determined by the story. How we frame reality determines our sense of power, our sense of justice, and compassion.

So, what story were the police who arrested Freddie Gray and contributed to his death telling themselves? Did they see him as another person? And the news reporters talking about the demonstrations and violence: what story were they telling themselves, and telling us? Are the people who took to the streets demonstrators for justice? Are they moral citizens or criminals? Is the violence the consequence of people taking to the streets to speak out? Or the inevitable consequence of inequity and racism?  And the police—are they also seen as people? There are stories of great courage in Baltimore as well as ones of people losing control. Clearly, there are volumes of background stories, volumes of past history. Which stories get told? Where you begin your story and how you tell it has consequences. Are the news media considering the consequences of the stories they tell?

Dominique Hazzard, a teenager from Baltimore, wrote: “Imagine, for a second, that Maryland governor Larry Hogan called for a state of emergency when Freddie Gray’s spine was broken and his voice box was smashed [when he was] arrested for no reason.” A very different way to think of what happened; a very different story would have been told. Such perspectives need to enter classrooms and living rooms throughout the country.

There are many subjects students need to learn in school, how to read, write, be a responsible citizen and question. But one crucial subject is how their own minds work and how other people and social situations influence their viewpoints and values. It’s not just what happens that’s important; its what we tell ourselves about what’s happened. There’s always a difference between an event and the thoughts and memories of it, even when we try to tell the truth. The event is alive, fully now, rich in infinite detail. The memory, story, is, as I said, more selective, abstracted. We all need to learn how we construct the meaning and memory of what happens in our lives. Only if we notice something, whether it’s an injustice in our community or a mental pattern that causes suffering, can we act to stop it.

In order to understand how we construct meaning, we need to study the nature of emotion and how it arises in us. One purpose of emotion is to tag stimuli with value. It glues a story together. Daniel Siegel, in The Developing Mind, describes steps in the construction of emotion. The first step is arousing attention, what he calls the initial orienting response. Do we notice, pay attention or ignore a raw stimulus? The second adds memory and thoughts. It involves appraisal, which includes labeling stimuli as good, bad, or neutral, something to approach or avoid. The third step is experiencing the full emotion like sadness, happiness, fear. Without awareness of the initial signals to pay attention and then to approach a task, learning as well as timely action is nearly impossible. Without this awareness, we too easily convert living people into characters in a story.

Teachers need to select the stories they tell and the ones they assign not just with the eye of beauty but with the aim of improving social and self understanding, knowledge as well as awareness. They need to tell the story of how to create meaning and live meaningfully. They need to foster inner strength, understanding of how interconnected we all are, and a sense of responsibility for how we act.

To Question, First Listen

Several teachers asked me: “How do you get students to question, or ask questions?” I often say that, to start any unit or start the school year, find out what questions students have about the subject. What do they want or feel a need to know? But, students don’t always know or won’t say. Their questions are not always clear to them. The same for most of us. So, what then?

What do you do when you’re unsure about what you feel or think, or you don’t know what’s bothering or driving you? In other words, how do you hear what you’re saying to yourself?  Or, how do you improve your ability to listen, not just hear; to see, not just look? That’s a big question, bigger than I can answer.

Some people think a question is a sign of ignorance. Actually, it’s a sign of strength. A question is halfway to an answer. You need to recognize that you don’t know in order to come to knowing or to changing a viewpoint. So, teach and learn how to live with not-knowing and to live with questions.

One important element of teaching questioning in school is creating an environment or school culture that honors questioning and honors student voices, both in and out of the classroom. For example, a democratic school honors student voices and gives students a sense that their viewpoints are important. If they think their views are important, they will be more motivated to listen to themselves. If the school does not give students a sincere voice, students have more of a struggle to recognize value in their own mind and heart.

But what if you don’t have or can’t create a democratic school? Or even if you do, it’s not enough. The teacher in a classroom can model asking and listening– and questioning. Teachers should make their thinking visible, so the student can do the same. When teachers enter the classroom as if they are guides to learning, not know-it-alls; if teachers admit they lack knowledge and have questions, students feel more inclined to do the same.

Teach model questions. For example, questions to ask when you’re discussing a topic or reading a text. Questions to ask to test the speaker and ones to ask to test your own understanding. My favorites are ‘what,’ and ‘why’ and then how. “What exactly was said? What was the context? What was meant?” And: “Why was it said? What reasons would/did the person give for saying it? What is the proof?” Then: “How did they or would you apply this?”

What you are after is interoception, a relatively new word that means “perceiving within,” or perceiving one’s internal state. Humans have evolved brain systems devoted to this skill. Interoception is crucial for thinking clearly and acting with awareness. Mindfulness or learning how to be aware moment-by-moment of thoughts, feeling, and sensations is one way to train interoception.

Another way is to pick up a pen and write down on a piece of paper exactly what you hear, now, in your mind, without editing. Write even your wonder about what you’re writing. And then read Writing Your Mind Alive, by Linda Trichter-Metcalf and Tobin Simon. It describes a practice of revelation and understanding called proprioceptive writing.  The practice helped me find joy in writing, after I had lost it, and deepen understanding and self-trust.

Improvisational theatre games can be adapted to the classroom. They’re fun, and also teach you how to listen not only for your inner speech but for that of others. I’ll describe a few exercises I have used frequently in a classroom:

Show the class a photograph of a few people interacting in public. Ask students to study the photo and then write, “who-what-why;” who the people are, what they’re doing, and why they’re doing what they’re doing. Tell them to simply listen to their intuition and let their imaginations work.

Give students one word, one that easily evokes an archetype, such as ‘no’ or ‘wonder’ and ask them: say the word to yourself a few times. Then describe an imagined person who this word personifies. To take this to the next step, have students create three people, from three contrasting words, like ‘yes-no-maybe.’ Put these three in a situation and imagine what will happen.

A more physical exercise might be mirroring. Pair up students. Have the people face each other, hands up, palms toward the partner. You can begin by having one person act as the leader, and then switch back and forth until there’s no clear leader.  When one moves, the other mirrors the movement. Make the movements fairly easy, at first. Do not lose eye contact or break the plane of the mirror.

Mirroring is a good way to introduce empathy training. There are many meditation practices to develop empathy and compassion. According to Paul Ekman, who has studied emotion extensively, empathy can take different forms. It begins with recognizing or reading what someone is feeling or thinking. It can then progress to “feeling with” another. Add caring and the willingness to act for another’s welfare and you have compassionate empathy. Add putting yourself at risk and you have altruism. Empathy is not “self-sacrifice” in the sense of not valuing your life. Instead, valuing (and clearly perceiving) the messages of your own mind and heart allows you to value the mind and heart of others, and vice versa.

To question, first listen. To listen, first care. To care—hopefully needs no further reason.

An Interview on Out of Bounds

I was recently interviewed by Tish Pearlman, for the local NPR program Out of Bounds. Tish was an incisive and sensitive interviewer. I greatly appreciated how she heard and spoke to me. She started by asking how I became a teacher. I talked about this topic in an earlier blog. But in thinking about this question with Tish, I came to insights I didn’t realize before.

I went to college from 1965-1969, the heart of the sixties. It was a time of great upheaval, pain, challenge, but also meaning. There were many protest demonstrations. The idea of an involved citizenry demanding not only peace and justice but a meaningful life was, for many,  just in the bloodstream of the times. So when I had to think about a profession, that’s what I was looking for. I wanted to keep my ideals alive in my professional life.

And at first, teaching was not my primary choice. I had had some good-to-great teachers in public school, even more in college (even more since college). But public schools themselves were not inspiring to me. I did not at first appreciate what my schools had given me. Not until I was in the Peace Corps and actually taught.

I also didn’t have patience with myself. I thought I could be a success right away. Success meant standing out in some way, or having some label I could apply to myself, like an explorer, or a writer, poet, actor, director—the arts were the first area to stand out to me as meaningful. I really had no other idea of what I really wanted to do. I had no idea what success meant. What does it mean to be a success? For me, now, it’s not about having a lot of money or recognition. You could be successful with a project, but to be a success with your life, you first have to live for a while. And when you do live for more than three or four decades, everything, I think, shifts. It’s no longer money or fame that are important, it’s moments. Not just great moments that you could reflect back on, but how you have learned to live a moment. It’s not so much what you do, although that is important. It’s how.

But what makes a moment full and meaningful? I think it is the quality of presence and caring, what you can take in, what you feel touched by, the depth of your connection to others and this world. And your ability to act in ways guided by that care. So in the interview, I said I turned to teaching because I wanted a full and meaningful life, but there was so much more in that statement than I first thought.

I also didn’t realize that what I was feeling in the 60’s was the remains of my adolescence. The drive for meaning, to test and expand boundaries, to be courageous, creative and engage with the world, as Daniel Siegel and others have pointed out, is central to adolescence. And my ability to feel this drive as a teacher enabled my teaching, enabled me to bring that meaning into the classroom.

So ask your students these questions. What does success mean to you? What do you want the individual moments of your life to feel like? What do you want your relationships to be like? How do you want to influence your world?

Have a great Thanksgiving. I might take a vacation for the holiday but will return.

Here is the information for the interview:

The Out of Bounds Radio Show with Tish Pearlman

Sat Nov 29 at 3:30 pm: WEOS-FM (90.3 & 89.5 Geneva region)

Live Stream:

 Sun Nov 30 at 11:30am: WSKG-FM 89.3 Binghamton, 90.9 Ithaca 91.7 Cooperstown/Oneonta,

91.1 Corning/Elmira, 88.7 Hornell/Alfred) Live Stream:

*Photo: South_Bend_Voice_-_2014_People’s_Climate_March_crowd_with_banner.jpg

Embedding Compassion Part B: Teaching With Joy

To Teach Critical Thinking or Compassion, Mindfully Teach About Emotion:

When our minds are filled with emotions like fear, hate, anger, or greed it can be difficult to think clearly. When we feel we are boxed in, for example, the walls of the box are our own anger and fear. Certain emotions scream at us. Because of this, it is easy to assume that emotion interferes with critical or at least clear thinking.

But consider this: what happens if you try to read a book that you don’t care about? Or solve a tough math problem when you think the problem has no connection to your life? It is excruciating. Engagement and connection are emotion. Care is emotion. We all know the value of being engaged with what we are doing. Reading, writing, solving problems all take energy, emotional energy to create meaning.

Emotion is not just feeling. One purpose of emotion is to give value to things so we know how to think and act. Daniel Siegel describes phases in the process of constructing emotion. The first phase is jolting the system to pay attention, what he calls the “initial orienting response.” The second is “elaborative appraisal,” which includes labeling stimuli as good or bad, dangerous or pleasing. We begin to construct meaning, assign value, and then prepare for action, to either approach or avoid something. The first two phases can be unconscious. In the third phase, what we normally call emotion develops. Emotions like fear, sadness, joy integrate seemingly diverse realms of experience. For example, attention, value, meaning are integrated with ideas of how things work, with physiological changes in our body and with perceiving and communicating social signals. In other words, body, mind, and relationships can link together, so we need to be attentive to what and how we link. Without the initial “emotional” energy to pay attention and to approach a task, learning is nearly impossible. Teaching about emotion, its uses and how it’s constructed, is one of the most important subjects we could teach our students. It takes up most of my book on teaching.

Awareness or mindfulness of the moment by moment arising of feelings, thoughts, beliefs and images allows us to notice, recognize and thus let go of any of these. In previous blogs, we talked about the fact that if we don’t become aware of what is going on inside us, we can’t do anything about it. The earlier in the emotion process we do this, the more we can monitor and alter it. That is not controversial. What is harder to understand is that the focus created by mindfulness can create a different sort of emotion that supports learning and thinking. First, the mind stops screaming. Then it quiets. A focused and flexible attention ensues. You feel a sense of silent presence which says “pay attention” and “feel your way into this.” You can find a similar attention in the absorption of a writer in creating a story or an athlete with their sport. Focus feels good. Insight feels good. Solving a problem that arises from your own heart feels good. Even if what you learn is also painful in some way, there is this good feeling inside the learning. Thinking deeply might be difficult, but when you do it, it is greatly satisfying. This good feeling is not a distraction but part of the essential component of creating meaning. It is an essential part of an undistracted experience of living and breathing.

In fact, this feeling of joy is an extremely subtle guide that we don’t always recognize. To cut ourselves off from our emotions and our bodily response is to cut us off from our full ability to think. When we experience the difficulty of thinking deeply, this can be our body and mind giving us direction. The difficulty is telling us that we are not fully energized or there is something that needs our attention. Go directly into that feeling of not being energized. A narrative will come up with feelings and images attached. Instead of inhabiting that narrative, we need to shift attention to our responses to it. Notice what’s there without getting caught up in the storyline. There we will find the needed energy.  Notice and move on.

There are moments when you mentally stop, let go of whatever is on your mind, and just look around you. In the early morning before a school day, I would feel the anticipation and anxiety of a school day as I walked from the parking lot to the school. I would repeat in my mind stories and dialogues involving my plans and hopes for the day. These plans cut me off from my feelings. Then I would stop and look around me. I would look at the trees, the building and people rushing to get inside. And I’d feel, “Ah, it is only this that I have to do. I only have to take this in and I’ll be fine.” And then it was fine.

This is an example of what we need to help students learn. Students sometimes express a fear when they practice mindfulness. They say, “If I let go of my emotions, what would be left of me? My emotions are me. They are the most authentic part of me.” This fear might be partly from an uncertainty or shakiness with their identity. They identify not with the total experience of their life but with specific images, thoughts, memories or emotions. So ask them, “When you have a new emotion, does your old you disappear? Are you any one emotion, or all emotion?” When you mindfully let go of an emotion, awareness remains. You let go of separation. In that awareness, there is an even more authentic you. Compassion for yourself and others awaits you. What is left is a deeper realm of feeling, a clearer realm of thinking.


Zen Garden

Ryōan-ji (late 15th century) in Kyoto

A Japanese rock garden or zen garden is a miniature landscape created with carefully composed arrangements of rocks, water features, moss, pruned trees and bushes, and uses gravel or sand that is raked to represent ripples in water.

A zen garden is usually relatively small, surrounded by a wall, and is usually meant to be seen while seated from a single viewpoint outside the garden, such as the porch of the hojo, the residence of the chief monk of the temple or monastery. Classical zen gardens were created at temples of Zen Buddhism in Kyoto during the Muromachi period. They were intended to imitate the intimate essence of nature, not its actual appearance, and to serve as an aid to meditation about the true meaning of life.

Ad blocker interference detected!


Presentation is loading. Please wait.

Presentation is loading. Please wait.

DNA damage & repair.

Similar presentations

Presentation on theme: "DNA damage & repair."— Presentation transcript:

1 DNA damage & repair

2 DNA damage and repair and their role in carcinogenesis
A DNA sequence can be changed by copying errors introduced by DNA polymerase during replication and by environmental agents such as chemical mutagens or radiation If uncorrected, such changes may interfere with the ability of the cell to function DNA damage can be repaired by several mechanisms All carcinogens cause changes in the DNA sequence and thus DNA damage and repair are important aspects in the development of cancer Prokaryotic and eukaryotic DNA-repair systems are analogous

3 General types of DNA damage and causes

4 Replication errors and their repair
The nature of mutations: Point mutation 1. Switch of one base for another: purine pyrimidine (transition) (transversion) 2. insertion or deletion of a nucleotide

5 Rearrangement of chromosome
Drastic changes in DNA Deletion Insertion Rearrangement of chromosome By insertion of a transposon, or aberrant actions of recombination Process.

6 Some replication errors escape proofreading

7 Mismatch repair removes errors escape proofreading
1. It must scan the genome. 2. The system must correct the mismatch accurately. Scan DNA Distortion in the backbone MutL activate MutH Embracing mismatch; Inducing a kick in DNA; Conformational change in MutS itself Nicking is followed by Helicase (UvrD) and one of exonucleases (III)

8 DNA methylation to recognize the parental strain
Once activated, MutH selectively nicks the Unmethylated strand.

9 Directionality in mismatch repair

10 Mismatch repair system in Eukaryotics
MutS MutL E. coli MSH (MutS homolog) MLH or PMS Eukaryotics Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (mutations in human homologes of Muts and MutL)

11 DNA damage Radiation, chemical mutagens, and spontaneous damage
spontaneous damage due to hydrolysis and deamination deamination Base pair with A depurination

12 DNA damage spontaneous damage to generate natural base
deamination Methylated Cs are hot spot for spontaneous mutation in vertebrate DNA

13 Base deamination leads to the formation of a spontaneous point mutation

14 Damaged by alkylation and oxidation
Alkylation at the oxygen of carbon atom 6 of G : O6-metylguanine, often mispairs with T. Oxidation of G generates oxoG, it can mispair with A and C. a G:C to T:A transversion is one of the most common mutation in human cancers.

15 DNA damage by UV Thymine dimer
These linked bases are incapable of base-pairing and cause DNA polymerase to stop.

16 Mutations caused by base analogs and intercalating agents
Thymine analog Analogs mispair to cause mistakes during replication

17 Intercalating agents Mutations caused by intercalating agents
flat molecules Causing addition or deletion of bases during replication

18 Chemical carcinogens react with DNA and the carcinogenic effect of a chemical correlates with its mutagenicity

19 modification of guanosine
Aflatoxin can lead to a modification of guanosine (in tobacco smoke)

20 DNA damage by UV light The killing spectrum of UV light coincides with the peak absorbance of DNA for UV light, suggesting that DNA is the key macromolecule that is damaged. UV light causes dimerization of 2 adjacent pyrimidine (thymines). There are 2 forms of the dimer a, cyclobutane dimer (most lethal form) b, 6-4 photoproduct (most mutagenic form) Both DNA lesions are bulky and distort the double helix The thymine dimers block transcription and replication, and are lethal unless repaired.

22 UV survival curves The UV survival curve for both mutant and wild-type indicates that there are repair systems to deal with UV –damaged induced DNA. 2 key observations: UV-irradiated bacteria if exposed to visible light showed an increased survival relative to those not exposed to visible light – PHOTOREACTIVATION UV-irradiated bacteria if held in non-nutrient buffer for several hours in the dark, also showed enhanced survival relative to controls which had not – LIQUID HOLDING RECOVERY or DARK REPAIR

23 Photoreactivation repair
The enhanced survival of UV-irradiated bacteria following exposure visible light is now known to be due to PHOTOLYASE, an enzyme that is encoded by E. coli genes phrA and phrB. This enzyme binds to pyrimidine dimers and uses energy from visible light (370 nm) to split the dimers apart. Phr- mutants were defective at photoreactivation. Similar enzymes are found in other bacteria, plants and eukaryotes (but not present in man).

24 (from T.A.Brown. Genetics a molecular approach)

25 Direct reversal of DNA damage
photoreactivation Capture energy from light breaking covalent bond

26 Dark repair or light independent mechanisms
Excision repair – removal of damaged DNA strand followed by DNA synthseis Recombinational repair - using other duplexes for repair. SOS error-prone ‘repair’ – tolerance of DNA damage

27 Dark repair processes are defined by mutations in key genes
uvrA, uvrB, uvrC, uvrD - excision repair recA, recB, recC recombination, recA, - SOS error-prone repair polA (DNA pol I) All are very sensitive to UV light uvrA-recA- mutants are totally defective at dark repair and are killed by the presence of just one pyrimidine dimer

28 Excision repair In this form of repair the gene products of the E. coli uvrA, uvrB and uvrC genes form an enzyme complex that physically cuts out (excises the damged strand containing the pyrimidine dimers. An incision is made 8 nucleotides (nt) away for the pyrimidine dimer on the 5’ side and 4 or 5 nt on the 3’ side.. The damaged strand is removed by uvrD, a helicase and then repaired by DNA pol I and DNA ligase. Is error-free.

29 Base excision repair If a damaged base is not removed by base excision before DNA replication: a fail-safe system oxoG:A repair

30 Excision Repair in E.coli
Damage recognised by UvrABC, nicks made on both sides of dimer 5’ 3’ 3’ 5’ T T 5’ 3’ 3’ 5’ T T Dimer removed by UvrD, a helicase T 3’ 5’ 5’ 3’ Gap filled by DNA pol I and the nick sealed by DNA ligase 3’ 5’ 5’ 3’

31 31

32 Excision repair The UvrABC complex is referred to as an exinuclease.
UvrAB proteins identify the bulky dimer lesion, UvrA protein then leaves, and UvrC protein then binds to UvrB protein and introduces the nicks on either side of the dimer. In man there is a similar process carried out by 2 related enzyme complexes: global excision repair and transcription coupled repair. Several human syndromes deficient in excision repair, Xeroderma pigmentosum, Cockayne Syndrome, and are characterised by extreme sensitivity to UV light (& skin cancers)

33 Base excision repair NOT a major form
of repair of UV-induced DNA damage, but an important form of DNA repair generally. (from T.A.Brown. Genetics a molecular approach)

34 RecA protein is essential for homologous recombination
DNA recombination RecA protein is essential for homologous recombination (from T.A.Brown. Genetics a molecular approach)

35 Summary Both the dark repair mechanisms and photo-reactivation are very accurate and can deal with low levels of DNA damage. However, extensive damage levels to elevated levels of excision and recombinational repair, and also the activation of another repair system which is error-prone (SOS) repair This error –prone repair mechanism is a last resort to ensure survival

Download ppt "DNA damage & repair."

Similar presentations

Ads by Google


Client Service Representative I

This job is no longer active. View similar jobs.

POST DATE 9/1/2016
END DATE 10/15/2016

HealthPort Farmington, MO

Job Classification
Full Time
Company Ref #
Farmington, MO
Entry Level (0 - 2 years)
Job Type
High School Diploma or GED
AJE Ref #

CIOX Health is currently seeking qualified professionals for a Client Service Specialist to process medical records requests at a local facility.

This is an entry level position responsible for processing all release of information (ROI) specifically medical record requests in a timely and efficient manner ensuring accuracy and providing customers with the highest quality product and customer service. Associate must at all times safeguard and protect the patient s right to privacy by ensuring that only authorized individuals have access to the patient s medical information and that all releases of information are in compliance with the request, authorization, company policy and HIPAA regulations.

Duties and responsibilities

* Maintains equipment in excellent operating condition (inside and out) and troubleshoot equipment issues with assistance from the Help Desk department. Provides excellent customer service by being attentive, respectful and professional at all times; insures understanding of customer request and follows-through as promised; being proactive in identifying and addressing member concerns, or problems.

* Maintains a neat, clean, and professional personal appearance and observes the dress code established by the Company or the member facility.

* Ability to maintain regular attendance and punctuality as scheduled. Notifies Manager, Operations and/or Supervisor if unable to adhere to daily schedule. Adheres to all Company time and attendance policies or applicable law covering meal breaks and rest periods. Records all accurate work hours in the Company s designated time keeping system daily and adheres to the Company s overtime policy and procedures for requesting time off or change in schedule.

* Works within scope of position and direction; willingly accepts assignments and is available to take on additional member facilities and assist with ROI backlogs.

* Performs responsibilities in accordance with the Company s and member facilities policies and procedures and state and federal labor regulations and works to minimize confidentiality breaches.

* Maintains confidentiality, information security and ethical behavior when handling all Company and medical records information during transport, storage and disposal. Will not remove medical records information from member site unless written authorization is provided by the facility s HIM Director, Company Manager and/or Supervisor and Vice President of Operations.

* ccepts new assignments willingly to meet business needs.

* Ability to accurately and efficiently utilize a computer for data input, retrieval of data and all other tasks associated with release of information services and time reporting.

* Ability to recognize emergency situations within context of job duties and communicate potential issues to Supervisor and/or Manager, Operations. Maintains knowledge of safety procedures to ensuring a safe work environment and reports safety concerns to Supervisor and/or Manager, Operations

* Maintains a current and valid driver s license and insures personal automobile insurance is in force and will be maintained, in at least the amounts required by state law, on any automobile or transportation that is use in connection with Company duties.

* Checks the Company s and other assigned email and communication systems such as REP Online and member assigned email on a daily basis. Utilizes assigned tools within established guidelines. Performs other tasks as assigned including but not limited to working at facilities within 50 miles of principal site as business needs arise.

* Adheres to the Company s Code of Conduct and business standards.

* A High School Diploma or GED is required.

* Must be able to communicate effectively in the English language.

* Must be 18 years of age or older

* Administrative experience in an office setting; previous release of information, medical records, or other related experience in a healthcare environment is preferred.

* Proven customer service experience and/or training.

* Ability to read and comprehend simple, healthcare terminology

* Effective verbal and written communication skills.

* Effective organizational skills a must

EEO Employer F/M/Vet/Disabled


On Eye Contact

On Eye ContactDoes anyone ever notice how little eye contact is made, when walking in the street? I often wonder why that is? Perhaps there is some inner meaning that is associated with it . Eye contact, conveys more than just the color of ones eyes , or a reaction one is having . Maybe it truly is the “mirror of the soul”.
And that is why so many in americans don’t like it. They may feel its an intrusion into the inner recesses of their mind , their soul or an invasion of their privacy.

Even in conversation, its very rare to find a person who sustains eye contact while talking to someone else. Its almost as if eye contact reveals some esoteric truth that speech alone does not. Perhaps looking into someones eyes conveys an emotion, or a truth that either is consistent or not with what is being said. In either case it seems likely that for some looking into someone’s eyes is an uncomfortable expendature of energy which in some way causes a loss of control because it may convey something they do not want to convey.

Does this mean that there is a basic dishonesty at play here? If the fear is that looking into someones eyes for a sustained length of time conveys more than what they want? Its also noticeable that when not engaged in conversation, people also generally dislike eye contact. Perhaps the concern is that it conveys more intimacy than they want.

Men especially don’t like to look into each others eyes as they pass in the street or in conversation, as if there is a sexual interest associated with it that makes men feel uncomfortable. The eye contact that is made is a quick glance,
a quick look into anothers eye, then a quick look away, as if to convey a lack of interest in what they see.

Those people who do have sustained eye contact, I have noticed , are usually people who have a certain self confidence that is conveyed through their comfort at speaking while looking directly into someones eyes and who are not afraid of relating more about who they are and what they mean , as they communicate. They exude a self assuredness that translates into an almost knowledge that what they are saying is how they truly feel and they are not afraid to say it, or I might add, to look it..


Explain the responsibilities of the king, Humanities

"Though the birds sang in the Unebi Mountain;/ None passed by who even looked like my wife./ I could only call her name and wave my sleeve." (Man'yoshu)

Speaker: From the article of Orzech, the Buddha is speaking to King Prasenajit

Subject: Addresses the gradual disappearance of dharma. Outward signs no longer referred to inward characteristics. Explain the responsibilities of the king.

Occasion: the Buddha is showing what rituals must be done and describing what will happen (the sequence of events) after the disappearance of dharma, the age of Mo Fa. This shows the corruption of the social order. Buddha is saying that laymen should not be in place where monks should be seated, b/c laymen are below in social/ religious order.

Purpose: Buddhism needs to be open to radical change. So it is important to fit Buddhism to the doctrine of the state. Therefore, kings must play pivotal role as source of salvation. Monks insist on autonomy of their temples. But rulers gained greater authority and significance in this age of Mo Fa. This is another way to get monks to pull back from worldly values, keep them in isolation, and cut back the growing power of the monasteries.

General Time: composed in Chinese in 5th century C.E.

Posted Date: 2/28/2013 2:08:05 AM | Location : United States

Related Discussions:- Explain the responsibilities of the king, Assignment Help, Ask Question on Explain the responsibilities of the king, Get Answer, Expert's Help, Explain the responsibilities of the king Discussions

Write discussion on Explain the responsibilities of the king
Your posts are moderated
Related Questions
Standard Vocabulary   As LCSH is the official list of Library of Congress, not only does it give an authority to the standard vocabulary of LC, but also maintains its utility,

I need report on Political Philosophy . Do you provide help in topic Political Philosophy ? I need expert's assistance to solve my college assignment. Please suggest if it work

Why is it necessary to call the entries main and added?

27 degrees 28s 153 degrees 02e

United Nations- United Nations (UN), international organization recognized immediately after II-World War. This replaced the League of Nations. In the year 1945, while the United N

explain briefly what s statutes of general application

man who has no inner life is a slave to his surroundings

reasons why the dover castle wartime tunnels were bulit what fusntions di they have

Coverage by Geographical Area There are indexing and abstracting services with coverage limited to literature of a particular country. Various countries bring out national I &


The body cavity in insects consists of sinuses containing blood in which all the organs lie bathed. We have already seen how air is carried to the tissues, rendering a respiratory pigment unnecessary. The blood is therefore colourless, but contains amceboid cells. It is caused to circulate by a tubular heart lying dorsal to the gut and enclosed by a very thin-walled pericardium. It consists of thirteen pear-shaped chambers, I.e. it is segmental in structure, having a hole at each side of the hinder end of each chamber. Each ostium is provided with a valve. There are many apertures in the pericardium allowing blood to get in from the body cavity, for there are no blood vessels. Such a system is an open one. When the heart ’beats, ’ a wave of contraction of its muscles begins at the hinder end and drives the blood in it forwards, the valves closing until the muscle relaxes. Then, aided by alary muscles, more blood enters from the pericardium. As blood is continually being forced into the sinuses at the anterior end, it gradually oozes backwards into the abdomen, eventually entering the pericardium once more.

The blood of the earthworm is carried entirely in ’vessels ’and capillaries, I.e. it is a closed one. The contractile dorsal blood vessel above the gut carries blood forwards ; from it five pairs of contractile pseudohearts convey blood downwards to ventral vessels that carry it backwards, giving off capillaries to all parts. Valves in the vessels prevent the blood from being forced the wrong way.

The blood is red, its haemoglobin being in solution. Numerous amoeboid cells are present.

Sorry, comments are closed for this post.


Shon Meckfessel: Nonviolence Ain't What It Used To Be - Unarmed Insurrection and the Rhetoric of Resistance

Klikkaa suurentaaksesi
Hinta: 18.00 €
Saatavuus: 2
Malli: kirja
Keskiarvo: Ei arvosteltu

Määrä: Lisää koriin

AK Press, 2016

US social movements face many challenges. One of their most troublesome involves the question of nonviolence. Civil disobedience and symbolic protest have characterized many struggles in the US since the Civil Rights era, but conditions have changed. Corporate media has consolidated, the police have militarized, dissent has been largely co-opted and institutionalized, but the strategic tools radicals employ haven’t necessarily kept pace. Our narratives, borrowed from movements of the past, are falling short.

Nonviolence Ain’t What It Used to Be maps emerging, more militant approaches that are developing to fill the gap, from Occupy to Black Lives Matter. It offers new angles on a seemingly intractable debate, introducing ideas that carve out a larger middle-ground between camps in order to chart an effective path forward.

You can read an excerpt here.

1. Why Did It Take So Long for People to Riot?
2. The Strange Magic of Nonviolence
3. The Eloquence of Public Property Destruction
4. The Eloquence of Police Clashes
5. The Characteristics of Movements to Come

Works Cited

Shon Meckfessel has been active in disruptive social movements for nearly twenty-five years, beginning in his native Sacramento, CA. After blocking highways to stop the first Persian Gulf War, he was never again inclined to petitionary protest. He has since researched and participated in social movements across the US, Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. Shon is the author of Suffled How It Gush: A North American Anarchist in the Balkans as well as numerous essays and articles. He has appeared as a social movement scholar and advocate in the New York Times and on Democracy Now, Al Jazeera, CNN, NPR, BBC, Radio, and Fox News. Shon is a member of the English Faculty at Highline College.

Anna arvio

Arviosi: HUOM: HTML-koodia ei käännetä!

Tähdet: Huonoa            Hyvää

Anna varmistuskoodi (alla kuvassa):

Tuotteesta ei löydy lisäkuvia.


Technical Papers Plastics
A kilometer long carbon nanotube fiber with excellent uniformity

A kilometer long carbon nanotube fiber with excellent uniformity

Continuous carbon nanotubes (CNTs) yarn is yet not available commercially. The Tianjin University from China has conducted research and successfully produced a kilometer long carbon nanotube fiber with excellent uniformity. Its internal structure makes it versatile for use in a wide range of applications. The ability to fabricate continuous, multifunctional yarns represents an important step makes it possible for materials engineers to exploit the outstanding mechanical properties of CNTs for applications in fibers, composites, fabrics and other larger-scale structures and devices.
So far, researchers have been working on several processes to make macro scale CNT fibers. Development of a continuous and weavable pure carbon nanotube yarn remains a major challenge in the fabrications as CNT yarns so far obtained from the different processes are monolithic in structure. The team has been able to demonstrate the fabrication of a novel continuous yarn of CNTs with a multiple-layer structure by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) spinning process. The yarn consists of multiple monolayers of CNTs concentrically assembled in seamless tubules along the yarn axis. Fabrication of a CNT yarn by the CVD spinning process relies on the assembly of CNTs in the gas flow by van der Waals interactions. The CNTs assemble in the gas flow when produced in a sufficiently high yield with a high purity such that interaction occurs. Their assembly is, therefore, greatly dependent on the chemistry of the carbon sources. The assembly of CNTs in the gas flow forms a continuous sock-like CNT integrate, which can be mechanically spun out into a CNT yarn. Spinning of multilayered CNT yarns is based on the team's discovery that CNTs can self-assemble into a multilayered CNT 'sock' in the gas flow when a mixture of acetone and ethanol is used as the carbon source. The core scientific discovery is that carbon nanotubes can self assemble in the gas flow, into multiple geometry of layered structures by controlling the reaction chemistry and synthesis conditions.
This novel technique makes it possible to fabricate CNT yarns and multiple functional yarns that can be spun over kilometers with controlled CNT structures at atomic levels and micro levels. This is made possible through the innovative spinning methodology including the development of densification method and control of spinning.
The development of a continuous, wearable multilayered CNT yarn which opens the way for a wide range of structural and functional applications, including composites, intelligent fabrics, catalyst supports, and sensors. The yarns can be applied in composites, fabric, structural and functional components just like conventional fibers but with multifunctional properties such as high electrical conductivity and superior mechanical properties. These carbon nanotube yarns can be made either dense or hollow or multiple layered structures to meet specific structural and functional applications. The hollow and multiple layer structures allows mass transfer with enhanced contact which can be applied in many fields such as electrochemical system for the development of energy storage materials and in bio-system as tissues, vascular and nerves. The team is working towards enlarging the production to provide quantity CNT yarns; fabricating woven fabrics; using the yarn to make composites; and exploring its potential in electrochemical systems and biomaterials including sensors and tissue materials.
  Back to Articles

Previous Article

Next Article

Name Required.

Email Id Required.

Email Id Not Valid.

Mobile Required.

Message Required.

Click to Change image  Refresh Captcha
{{comment.Name}} made a post.

1120 mm, 10 colour rotogravure machine

1120 mm, 10 colour rotogravure machine


• +91 9821865616
  • enquiry@unitedmedtour.com

A normal heart beat is a boon for us. But when it is slow or high it becomes a problem. Usually the heart beats between 60 to 80 beats per minute but when the rhythm goes down below 60 and goes up above 80 it becomes a problem and this condition is known as arrhythmia. The bradycardia and tachycardia condition is due the wrong functioning of the sinus node.

Types of arrhythmias

Bradycardia:- It occurs when the heart beats so slow that it is not able to pump enough blood for the body’s requirement. If left untreated it can cause tiredness , dizziness, lightheadedness or fainting. There can be several reasons for bradycardia like sick sinus syndrome and heart block etc when the body’s normal functioning is hampered due to a physiological condition.

Tachycardia:- It occurs when the heart beat is quite fast. But there can be a number of factors responsible for fast heart beat. Few conditions are atrial flutter when an extra or early electrical impulse travels around the atria in circular path instead of the normal one. It can cause chest pain and faintness.

Atria fibrillation:- This is the common form of tachycardia when the electrical activity in the atria is disorganized and rapid. The uncoordinated beating of the ventricles can cause light headedness and palpitations.

Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia:- This type of tachycardia is found in congenital anomalies and few adult conditions and is less life threatening.

Wolff Parkinsons white syndrome:- It is a condition in which an extra abnormal pathway leads to alternative cycles of fast heartbeat. It is a congenital abnormality.

Ventricular fibrillations:- It is the condition in which incorrectly timed signals can mislead the pathway and fibrillation or incomplete contract can occur.

Ablation:- It is the process by which the normal rhythm of heart is restored and the correct pumping action of the heart is triggered. The two main types of surgical ablations are Cox-maze procedure and cardiac ablation without cuts.

Implantable pacemaker:- In these procedure surgeons implants an artificial device to control the electrical activity of the heart. The pace maker regulates the rhythm and the heart rate. The electrical signals of the pace maker makes the heart muscles contract and relax leading to proper functioning of the heart in a systematic manner.

Ventricular resection:- It is the surgical procedure for correcting the heart failure in cardiomyopathy. It includes reshaping and resizing of the heart muscles to restore the normal function of the heart.

Hence India is quite ahead than many other nations in the field of medical industry. You name and we have the procedure done by qualified specialist. Cardiac specialists who are working in the metro hospitals are approachable and can be called upon anytime for advice and support. Even small hospitals too have cardiac surgeons as it is such a common specialty. If you are looking for cardiac treatment opt India for the same.

State your medical problem

Get In Touch

M-15, Lane No- 6/6

New Delhi 110025

Mobile: 9821865616

Email: enquiry@unitedmedtour.com

Newsletter Subscription


Potential Breakthrough in Depression Treatment

Potential for Ketamine-like Antidepressant Effects without Ketamine's CNS Side-Effects

AV-101 (L-4-chlorokyurenine or 4-CI-KYN) is an orally available new generation prodrug candidate, in Phase 2 development, initially for the adjunctive treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) in patients with an inadequate response to standard antidepressants.

VistaGen believes it has the potential to expand AV-101 into multiple additional CNS indications beyond adjunctive treatment of MDD, including neuropsychiatric disorders (depression and bipolar depression), neurological disorders (chronic neuropathic pain and epilepsy) and neurodegenerative disorders (Huntington's disease and Parkinson's disease), each representing potential blockbuster opportunities.

  • New generation oral antidepressant prodrug candidate, rapidly absorbed through the gut, actively transported into the brain, converted into its active metabolite, 7-Cl-KYNA, and binds to NMDAR GlyB site
  • Similar to ketamine: acts in the brain through the same glutamatergic AMPA-dependent pathway, rapidly inducing antidepressant effects
  • Safer than ketamine: blocks the NMDAR through GlyB site binding; ketamine blocks the ion channel of NMDARs, causing its negative side effects
  • Safe and well-tolerated in two NIH-funded Phase 1 safety studies; no ketamine-like side effects
  • Drug-drug interaction and "Black Box" metabolic effects related to standard antidepressants and atypical antipsychotics not anticipated

In peer-reviewed and published preclinical studies, AV-101 demonstrated the robust antidepressant-like activity of the NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine HCl, an FDA-approved anesthetic, including low dose ketamine's rapid onset and long duration of antidepressant effects, without any of ketamine's CNS side effects. In two NIH-funded randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 1 safety studies, AV-101 was safe, well-tolerated and not associated with any severe adverse events. There were no signs of sedation, hallucinations or schizophrenia-like side effects often associated with ketamine and other NMDA receptor ion channel blockers.

AV-101's Mechanism is Fundamentally Differentiated from All FDA-Approved Standard Antidepressants and Atypical Antipsychotics


Character and characterisation in novels: techniques, examples and exercises

Characterisation and character development in writing aren’t easy.

But if you are struggling to create characters with real life, or a strong character arc for your protagonist, just apply the characterisation examples here on our ultimate character creator page.

If you follow these correctly, your characterisation should be just fine.

Characterisation and protagonist personalities

A Song of Ice and Fire

Before you plan a character profile, note there are roughly two types of protagonist personality in fiction.

The first protagonist type is an ordinary character plunged into the extraordinary. And, by this process, they become a little more extraordinary themselves. Harry Potter seems ordinary, albeit he is a wizard. Jon Snow of A Song of Ice and Fire seems ordinary, yet there’s more in store for him than Westeros expects.

These characters are often reluctant or hidden heroes.

The second type of protagonist is more obviously out-of-the-ordinary. They’ll cause a stir by their nature, i.e. Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. These people could make things happen in an empty room. Characters like this may be anti-heroes like Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, anti-heroines like Amy Dunne in Gone Girl.

And either type of protagonist is fine.

Whichever you choose, do not struggle to equip your protagonist with a whole lot of amazing skills to dazzle us. It will not feel authentic. Nor should you always soften your anti-hero by way of their character arc. (An anti-hero like Heathcliff shocks and rivets because his character arc grows progressively darker.)

But the secret of being a gifted character creator is to know your character well.

Understand them from the inside, as though you were that person, then make sure the book is as true to that person as you can make it.

Creating a character profile

Strong characterisation is based on knowledge. The best way to write a really strong protagonist is to know them inside out. If you have this knowledge, you will find yourself using it. If you don’t have it, you can’t.

So the problem of writing character is a problem of knowing your protagonist. And we’ve got a brilliant technique to help with just that.

If you haven’t yet started your book, then work on the character creator exercise below before you start. If you have started, but think that maybe you started prematurely, then back up. Do the exercise and look back over your existing character development work.

Begin with a blank sheet (or screen). And begin to write down everything you know about your central character. Don’t be too concerned to edit yourself at this stage. Just let rip: this will be your character profile. It helps to group your comments a bit under certain themes, but if that inhibits your flow then just write. Group your notes up later.

You should cover all kinds of topics, including:

Your character’s backstory

Where did your protagonist come from? What was their childhood like? Happy or sad? What were relations like with their parents? Or brothers or sisters? If their father was (say) extravagant, what impact did this have? If their mother was (say) easily tearful, how did this affect them?

And what about now, in particular, where relations with others are concerned? Were there key incidents in childhood that shaped this person in a way relevant to your book’s story?

Write how your protagonist’s backstory has shaped their drives, their character arc, and will shape your plot. It helps if examples are concrete, showing your protagonist via actions and choices in specific situations.

(Need help on story? Get it here.)

Your character’s personality

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

It’s actually a good idea to come to this issue a bit later than other things. You’ll likely have ideas about personalities already, but your ideas will have depth and subtlety when the structure of a back story is already in place.

But start to answer as many questions as you can think of.

Is your character sunny and carefree, like Lizzy Bennet in Pride and Prejudice? Or hardened, unforgiving, like Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?

What impression would they make on a casual observer? High school freshman Charlie Kelmeckis is shy, self-conscious, told in Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of being a Wallflower: “You see things and you understand. You’re a wallflower.” But there’s more than meets the eye. Charlie is gentle but has hidden anger issues. In this sense, you can create flaws and subvert archetypes, making your character human, not clichéd.

And are they screwed up in any way? Are they conflict-avoiders or conflict-seekers? Are they sensitive or selfish lovers? How emotionally involved would they get? Will any of this feed into their character arc?

Ask these questions in order to ‘get to know’ your characters.

Your character’s relationships

Be sure any relationship is deeply sewn into your study of character arc and action, romantic or otherwise. For example, perhaps your central character seeks to avoid a certain painful truth, and this is the challenge around which your story revolves.

Me Before You

In that case, a character’s key romance could perhaps be with a person who challenges him to face up to that truth, i.e. Lou and Will in Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You. Lou must convince Will life is worth living after his paralysis. Or perhaps the characters collude to avoid such truth. Lou and Will arguably do this, too.

So elaborate on relationship(s), including your character’s romantic interest(s). Why has your character chosen this particular partner? Is he or she like the partners your character normally goes for?

Try and explore their intimate dialogue. Do they go in for cutesie baby-talk? Or hard-edged flippancy? Or reflectiveness? What are their pet names for each other? Do they encourage maturity in the other or bring out the less mature side?

What are their disagreements about? Do they row, and if so, how? How do they mend rows? What does one love most about the other? What do they most dislike? What is your predicted future for the relationship beyond the end of the novel?

Do spend real time and thought on this exercise and technique, especially if your novel revolves around romance or relationship. If your answers feel good and true, you will start to develop real chemistry between your lovers. Romance mustn’t just be thrown in for the sake of it; it should feed back into their character arc.

(Tip: read your favourite authors and see how they handle these things. You can read Harry Bingham’s analysis of a number of well-known novels in his How To Write.)

Your character’s looks

What does your character look like? You can note down build, hair, eye hue but don’t stop there. Find the distinctive things about your character’s physiognomy. Please don’t (unless this is central) just give your character some obvious distinguishing feature for the sake of it. Be subtle.

Think of an actor or actress who could play your character. If you need a visual image to work from, then look through magazines until you’ve got something you can use. Pin it up close to where you work, and work from that. Or create an inspiration board, either a real one or using a site like Pinterest, to pin images of your characters, of story aesthetic, etc.

Just don’t forget to keep things grounded in reality. Combine objective with subjective. Not everyone will swoon over your beautiful person, nor will everyone believe a plain character looks unappealing.

Jane of Jane Eyre is told by most she is plain, though some tell her she is pretty. Rochester changes his mind as he falls for Jane, describing her face as ‘delicate’, but Jane’s words are ‘puny and insignificant’ (telling us Jane is self-conscious of her looks).

Your character’s life (i.e. all the rest)

A Song of Ice and Fire

And don’t just write about all the important things. Write about the trivial, too. So what food does your character like? It’s relevant in a book like Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire what ‘food’ protagonist Louis likes, as he struggles with his new identity.

What skills do they have, i.e. can they speak other languages? Languages help Daenerys in A Song of Ice and Fire. Have they ever used a weapon? Katniss in The Hunger Games uses a bow not just to eat, but deliberately to show strength.

Describe their hands. Jo March’s hands in Little Women are ‘stiff’ from writing. Does your character drink or take drugs, like Alex in A Clockwork Orange? Do they drink for fun, or perhaps to forget something? What is it about them that takes them to these places? What makes your character laugh, and what does their laugh sound like? What animal would they be and why?

And so on and so on.

Many of these questions will have no direct relevance to your book, but the more questions you ask and answer, the better you will know your character.

And you should aim to cover at least five pages or so with this exercise. Maybe more.

Don’t do it all on one day, as you won’t get everything you need in a single go. Give yourself at least 3-4 days for this. Repeat the exercise for your other main characters. Keep your notes available as you start to work on other things, so you can enrich your notes as you go.

The less central a character is to your book, the less you need to know him or her. But don’t skimp. If in doubt, do more.

And this exercise will work. You will end up with more knowledge than you ever had before, and this knowledge will transmit itself into your writing. Your characterisation will improve. Your characters will grow more life-like. Your book will be better.

On empathy and character motivation

Empathy for characters is key to gripping readers. What’s important is that characters illicit a response.

Just not indifference.

You want compelling characters with strong, complex character motivation to create empathy and compel us to read on. Be sure to get this right when developing your character.

It matters that your characters are not flat or boring.

It matters that your reader is drawn into your protagonist’s world, whether they like it or not; that the story you’re writing forces that character to encounter big risks, mounting jeopardy, that the stakes are personal.

(See more on plotting here and here).

And yes, part of that comes from external descriptions, but much more of it comes from the novelist’s ability to disclose inner worlds (more detail on inner worlds just here).

Checking your character development

Once you’ve got a fair way into your character development writing (say 5 to 10,000 words), then look back at it. Is your character really emerging? Do you describe him or her in clichés? Does your character come over more as a real-life human, or an implausible movie character?

Be tough on yourself and be rid of cliché. If necessary, go back to this exercise and hammer away at your character profile. (Tip: good writing and good character building are intimately connected. Take a look at our advice on prose style here, and on building a sense of place here.)

Even genre fiction needs swiftly drawn and believable characters. If you don’t succeed on this aspect of writing, your novel won’t work.

The good news is that you can get where you need to get by applying yourself seriously to the kind of exercise presented here. Talent helps, but sheer craft and application takes you a long way.

(And if you need editorial help with your manuscript, your novel-in-progress, then of course we’re happy to offer you feedback.)

Back to writing advice