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Background: Shamanism is a spiritual tradition in which trance practitioners deliberately modify their state of consciousness to seemingly interact with an invisible world to resolve their community members' problems. This review aims to provide a multidisciplinary overview of scientific research on shamanic trance. Methods: The search was performed using PubMed and Google Scholar databases. Twenty-seven articles were found to be eligible, and their data were classified into four dimensions, namely, a) phenomenology, b) psychology, c) neuro-physiological functions, and d) clinical applications. Results: These studies suggest that these trances are non-pathological, different from normal states of consciousness in terms of phenomenology and neurophysiology, and influenced by multiple personal and environmental variables. Furthermore, while trances may offer therapeutic potential, their scope should be approached cautiously, underscoring the need for rigorous studies to assess the effectiveness of shamanic approaches for complementary therapies. Conclusion: Overall, shamanic trance and its potential benefits remain an intriguing and multifaceted area of scientific study, offering insights into the intersections of consciousness, spirituality, and possibly therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Shamanism is a spiritual tradition in which trance practitioners deliberately modify their state of consciousness to seemingly interact with an invisible world to resolve their community members’ problems. This review aims to provide a multidisciplinary overview of scientific research on shamanic trance. Methods The search was performed using PubMed and Google Scholar databases. Twenty-seven articles were found to be eligible, and their data were classified into four dimensions, namely, a) phenomenology, b) psychology, c) neuro-physiological functions, and d) clinical applications. Results These studies suggest that these trances are non-pathological, different from normal states of consciousness in terms of phenomenology and neurophysiology, and influenced by multiple personal and environmental variables. Furthermore, while trances may offer therapeutic potential, their scope should be approached cautiously, underscoring the need for rigorous studies to assess the effectiveness of shamanic approaches for complementary therapies. Conclusion Overall, shamanic trance and its potential benefits remain an intriguing and multifaceted area of scientific study, offering insights into the intersections of consciousness, spirituality, and possibly therapy.

A set of interventions that can produce altered states of consciousness (ASC) have shown utility in the treatment of substance misuse. In this review, we examine addiction-related outcomes associated with three common interventions that produce ASCs: psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PP), Transcendental Meditation (TM) and hypnotherapy (HT). While procedurally distinct, all three interventions are associated with some common phenomenological, psychological, and neurobiological features, indicating some possible convergent mechanisms of action. Along with addiction and mental health outcomes, these common features are reviewed, and their impact on substance misuse is discussed. While our review highlights some mixed findings and methodological issues, results indicate that PP and TM are associated with significant improvements in substance misuse, alongside improvements in emotional, cognitive and social functioning, behavior-change motivation, sense of self-identity, and meaning. In contrast, and despite its broader acceptance, HT has been associated with mixed and minimal results with respect to substance misuse treatment. Authors identify key research gaps in the role of ASC interventions in addiction and outline a set of promising future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mexico, shamans are recognized for the gift of entering a deep trance that allows them to know the origin of the diseases and conflicts that afflict people. They commonly treat patients through limpias (cleansing) to extract negative elements sent by a witch or that were "collected" in places that harbor "evil winds." We present a case study of an 81-year-old Mexican shaman who noticed her gift in childhood. Electroencephalographic recordings were made while the shaman performed three activities: reading cards to diagnose a patient and answer the questions he posed; limpia with chicken eggs, stones, and bells to absorb adverse "things"; and the incorporation trance through which the deceased is believed to occupy the shaman's body to use it as a communication channel. Alpha activity was observed when concentrated, suggesting a hypnagogic-like state. Predominant beta and gamma oscillations were observed, suggesting a potential plastic phenomenon that modulates the assimilation of external and internal referents guiding temporal schemes for action, attention, and the integration of mnemonic, sensory, and imaginative elements. We used a neuroanthropological approach to understand shamanic trance as a biological potential of the human brain to induce non-ordinary states of consciousness linked to cultural beliefs and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass psychogenic illness is a phenomenon that occurs every year in Indonesia, mainly in schools and factories. In the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, this phenomenon is classified as dissociative disorders. However, the Indonesian diagnostic manual of mental disorders (the PPDGJ) classified the phenomenon as a conversion disorder. The confounding diagnosis will likely result in less effective and less humane interventions. This study aims to determine the symptoms experienced by individuals experiencing mass psychogenic illness, therefore contributing to the current literature regarding the proper diagnostic of the spirit possession. Samples (N=55) were assessed using the Dissociative Disorder Interview Schedule based on DSM-5. The Beck Depression Inventory and Wong-Baker Face Rating Scale are also used to supplement the data. Findings indicate that the subjects fit the diagnostic criterion of several disorders, namely somatization (experienced by 98.18% of individuals), major depression (49%), trance (69%), childhood physical abuse (35%), and borderline personality disorder (47.2%). However, only 14.54% of subjects fulfilled the diagnostic criterion of dissociative amnesia, 7.27% for diagnostic fugue, 3.63% for depersonalization/derealization, 5% for dissociative identity disorder, 11% for other specified and unspecified dissociative disorder. These findings showed that mass psychogenic illness is likely the manifestation of distinct and separate mental disorders, notably that of somatization disorder, trance, borderline personality disorder, and major depressive disorder, and exclusively those of dissociative disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medio Period (AD 1200 to 1450) Casas Grandes shamans used tobacco and possibly other entheogens to initiate trance states that allowed their spirits to travel across the cosmos. These trance experiences involved a sense of vertigo and soul flight that is cross-culturally common and occurs with tobacco-based nicotine intoxication. The Medio Period shamans also relied on and interacted with other-than-human persons during their travels, including macaw- and serpent-linked deities, as well as animated objects designed to participate in their shamanic journeys. The animated objects included Playas Red and Chihuahuan Polychrome pottery effigies of humans, macaws, and snakes with shamanic themes that represented the spirit world. I propose these pots were animate "pot-people" created for shamanic rituals. They were created with unusual designs including painted images and incised patterns that emphasized the spinning/vertigo that was central to the shamans' soul flight experience. In some cases, the pots were literally spun, as evidenced by the distinctive wear patterns on their bases. The shamanic designs on the pots that reflected the upper and lower worlds, the depiction of spinning in the pottery decorations, and the literal spinning of some pots reflected the sympathetic and mimetic magic that linked them to the spirit world. They were imbued with the liminal nature of the creatures they depicted, and the symbolic and occasional literal emphasis on spinning would allow them to enter into a shamanic trance in a manner similar to their human counterparts. They, thus, were designed to enter into ASC in a manner that paralleled their human counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Body modifications such as tattoo, scarification and body suspension represent not only aesthetic interventions, they can also be social practices with which to challenge and transcend the body’s limits, operating on the perception of wellbeing and moulding specific forms of self. In this Research Article, based on research on body suspension in Europe, I aim to analyse body modifications as a means to voluntarily intervene in human perceptive abilities, shaping individual lives through unconventional sensory experiences. In these practices, pain is signified as a threshold for sensory turmoil, capable of shaping the protagonists into a ‘sensory poiesis’. Through such sensory experiences the individual embarks on a process of ‘self-design’ to achieve a better state of being, combining suspensions with other body modification techniques. Suspension practitioners act on the flesh and skin with hooks, scalpel, and ink in order to process events, to trigger new versions of the self, and to enhance how they feel. In doing so, they produce unique and original ‘projects of humanity’, that is, new forms of humanity created by the individuals themselves.

From the sufferings their art was born, from the torture they lived in during their life as slaves their music was created. From the torturing tools used on them they created their own musical instruments. From their screams as slaves, they composed a new music with unique rhythms. Gnawa become a cultural phenomenon in Morocco. A sufi confrerie imploring God, the prophet and the saints to release them from slavery, torture and the sufferings they encountered. Their music is considered spiritual because it calls souls to join its magic. Gnawa plays a psychotherapeutic role in healing people from various diseases through the practices of syncretic rituals and the trance state they put the participants into. All of these elements music, dances and rituals converge and synthesize into an event called lila a rich ceremony in which the sick tormented by spirits could get healed. This paper examines the practices and impact of the lila ceremony on the community from a psychological point of view revealing each step of the collective healing process and methods as used in the rituals.

In Mexico, shamans are recognized for the gift of entering a deep trance that allows them to know the origin of the diseases and conflicts that afflict people. They commonly treat patients through limpias (cleansing) to extract negative elements sent by a witch or that were “collected” in places that harbor “evil winds.” We present a case study of an 81-year-old Mexican shaman who noticed her gift in childhood. Electroencephalographic recordings were made while the shaman performed three activities: reading cards to diagnose a patient and answer the questions he posed; limpia with chicken eggs, stones, and bells to absorb adverse “things”; and the incorporation trance through which the deceased is believed to occupy the shaman’s body to use it as a communication channel. Alpha activity was observed when concentrated, suggesting a hypnagogic-like state. Predominant beta and gamma oscillations were observed, suggesting a potential plastic phenomenon that modulates the assimilation of external and internal referents guiding temporal schemes for action, attention, and the integration of mnemonic, sensory, and imaginative elements. We used a neuroanthropological approach to understand shamanic trance as a biological potential of the human brain to induce non-ordinary states of consciousness linked to cultural beliefs and practices.

Introduction: Hypnotic trance can be defined as a non-ordinary state of consciousness that is accompanied by a number of neurophysiological changes, including brain electrophysiology. In addition to subjective measures, corresponding objective parameters are needed in experimental and clinical hypnosis research but are complex, impractical, or unspecific. A similar challenge exists for the measurement and monitoring of drug-induced hypnosis, namely general anesthesia. The observation of changes in EEG induced by narcotics has led to the development of monitors for the depth of anesthesia based on EEG parameters. We investigated whether two such monitors react to the induction and maintenance of hypnosis during a highly standardized procedure. Methods: A total of 56 volunteers were monitored for the bispectral index (BIS) and cerebral state index (CSI) (range 0-100, >95 considered "awake") during the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility test. For this test, trance is induced by a taped text and followed by 12 tasks performed under hypnosis. In contrast to random forms of hypnosis, this represents a standardized, worldwide-established condition. According to the resulting score, participants were classified into suggestibility groups in order to evaluate whether the electrophysiological measurements of BIS and CIS indices differ between high and low suggestible persons. Furthermore, participants were asked to rate their hypnotic depth (HD, 1-10) at every task of the test. Results: Scores dropped significantly fromamean of 97.7 to 86.4 for BIS and from 94.6 to 77.7 for CSI with the induction of hypnosis to stay throughout hypnosis at levels of approximately 88.6 or 82.9, respectively. Results did not differ between high- and low-suggestible participants. The means of the subjective score of hypnotic depth and of the electrophysiological measurements showed a similar course. However, no correlation was found between BIS or CSI values and scores of hypnotic depths. Conclusion: Monitors for depth of anesthesia respond to changes in consciousness, including trance states of hypnosis. However, specificity is unclear. Practically, in hypnosis research with the exclusion of drug effects or sleep, these monitors might be helpful to test and compare the efficacy of induction texts and to detect disturbances of trance state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is about the analysis of the results of the empirical research in which effect of images on mind's condition of the recipients is in the focus. All of them are the participants of the prolonged study course of arts-therapeutical and transpersonal methods in the field of adjustment of stress conditions. In the article the indicators of encephalograms, which are fixed in the trans condition, and the content of the projective pictures are considered in respect to idiographic issue. The interpretation of their meanings makes it possible to speak about integration of consciousness and body. The target of the research is that psychological and physical issues present the holistic field of a person that cannot be limited with the frame of assessment of psycho-somatic characteristics. In conclusion, to define relationship of consciousness to body in a right way is necessary to examine both objective and metaphysical forms of individual's manifestations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Special Treatment / Különleges Bánásmód is the property of University of Debrecen and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

IntroductionHypnotic trance can be defined as a non-ordinary state of consciousness that is accompanied by a number of neurophysiological changes, including brain electrophysiology. In addition to subjective measures, corresponding objective parameters are needed in experimental and clinical hypnosis research but are complex, impractical, or unspecific. A similar challenge exists for the measurement and monitoring of drug-induced hypnosis, namely general anesthesia. The observation of changes in EEG induced by narcotics has led to the development of monitors for the depth of anesthesia based on EEG parameters. We investigated whether two such monitors react to the induction and maintenance of hypnosis during a highly standardized procedure.MethodsA total of 56 volunteers were monitored for the bispectral index (BIS) and cerebral state index (CSI) (range 0–100, >95 considered “awake”) during the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility test. For this test, trance is induced by a taped text and followed by 12 tasks performed under hypnosis. In contrast to random forms of hypnosis, this represents a standardized, worldwide-established condition. According to the resulting score, participants were classified into suggestibility groups in order to evaluate whether the electrophysiological measurements of BIS and CIS indices differ between high and low suggestible persons. Furthermore, participants were asked to rate their hypnotic depth (HD, 1–10) at every task of the test.ResultsScores dropped significantly from a mean of 97.7 to 86.4 for BIS and from 94.6 to 77.7 for CSI with the induction of hypnosis to stay throughout hypnosis at levels of approximately 88.6 or 82.9, respectively. Results did not differ between high- and low-suggestible participants. The means of the subjective score of hypnotic depth and of the electrophysiological measurements showed a similar course. However, no correlation was found between BIS or CSI values and scores of hypnotic depths.ConclusionMonitors for depth of anesthesia respond to changes in consciousness, including trance states of hypnosis. However, specificity is unclear. Practically, in hypnosis research with the exclusion of drug effects or sleep, these monitors might be helpful to test and compare the efficacy of induction texts and to detect disturbances of trance state.

Drumming practices have been documented across global cultures, often integrated into rituals surrounding major life transitions such as births, coming-of-age, marriages, and deaths. In many contemporary Western societies these drumming traditions have waned, becoming viewed as unconventional. Yet drumming has powerful neurophysiological effects demonstrated by research, which are well suited to supporting the birth journey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives. This exploratory study aimed to evaluate the potential usefulness of channeled information for ten questions from scientists. The study’s objectives were to 1) assess the correspondence of channeled and non-channeled answers within questions, 2) evaluate the correspondence of different channelers’ responses for each question while in channeling and non-channeling states, 3) examine whether channelers believe they are receiving information from the same source, and 4) explore qualitative themes that emerge for each question. Method. Fifteen channelers provided answers to 10 questions in a channeled and non-channeled state. The first three objectives were quantitatively evaluated by three judges using structured criteria to assess correspondence. The last objective employed qualitative thematic analysis of the channeled answers. Results. The quantitative analyses found 1) low correspondence between channeled and non-channeled answers as hypothesized, 2) virtually no correspondence for each question across channelers, contrary to our hypothesis, and 3) little support that the channelers perceived they were accessing the same source of information. The qualitative analysis resulted in coherent and common themes in the channeled responses for many but not all ten questions. Several methodological lessons were gleaned from the study, such as refining inclusion/exclusion criteria and the questions asked of channelers, allowing a similar amount of time for channeled and non-channeled answers, ensuring consistent methods across study sites, and including additional quantitative measures informing on the channelers experience in channeling and non-channeling states. Conclusions. This exploratory study offers insight into improving future studies attempting to obtain valuable information through channeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pós: Revista do Programa de POS-Graduacao Em Artes - EBA/UFMG is the property of Pos - Programa de Pos-graduacao em Artes (PPG-Artes) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: Background: Dancing to music can induce states of trance as well as very pleasant or ecstatic experiences – particularly when the music is repetitive, monotonous, and rhythmic. The consciousness-changing and trance-inducing effects of electronic music resemble some of the psychoactive effects induced by specific drugs. We hypothesized that the effects of dancing to electronic music alone and dancing combined with the intake of psychoactive drugs would produce similar levels of ecstatic trance. Methods: We investigated this hypothesis with 91 participants in a live club setting. About half of the participants had taken psychoactive drugs. We used the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) to measure ecstatic trance. Results: As hypothesized, the trance depth was similar in participants who had taken drugs and those who had not. Equivalence testing showed no difference between the two groups. Discussion: The results show that, while dancing to electronic music, the intake of psychoactive drugs is not necessary to experience an ecstatic trance. This is relevant not only for understanding the effects of music and dance in everyday life but also for counseling and (music) therapy.

Arthur Bispo do Rosário is one of the best-known and most studied Brazilian artists. His work has been discussed and exhibited as art of the unconscious, popular art, modern and contemporary art and, more recently, as Afro-Brazilian art. In this article I will challenge these labels and the idea that Bispo had a psychotic health condition, namely schizophrenia. I discuss how Bispo, whose alleged mental illness was first acknowledged, then silenced or seen as a riddle, was constructed as a Western artist. In due course I dismiss the history of art labels and argue that he developed his work as a messianic spiritual practice and the result of trances. Finally, I suggest that in order to do Bispo and his work justice it is necessary to decolonise the Western history of art. Only if we take into consideration other cosmo-perceptions can we call him an artist and see his work as art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

En este artículo, proponemos una lectura crítica de la obra de César Calvo Las tres mitades de Ino Moxo y otros brujos de la Amazonía a partir de la confluencia entre literatura y visualidades en tanto principio constructivo de una proliferación de soportes y de materiales al interior de la obra, como es el caso de la pintura de César Calvo de Araújo, los grabados de Francisco Mariotti o las fotografías de Augusto Falconi. La práctica aglutinante, tanto de la crítica a la especificidad como vector fundamental de la autonomía estética así como también exposición del archivo amazónico, se trata del estado de trance promovido por la ingesta de ayahuasca. Se obtiene así una forma literaria ligada a la construcción de un régimen de lo visual basado en los desarreglos de la percepción alrededor de la cual orbitan las prácticas visuales incorporadas a la ficción.

Rationale: The relationship between subjective drug experience and antidepressant outcomes for ketamine derivatives is poorly understood but of high clinical relevance. Esketamine is the patented (S)-enantiomer of ketamine and has regulatory approval for psychiatric applications. Objectives: We examined the relationship between acute dissociation, as measured by the Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale (CADSS), and antidepressant efficacy, as measured by the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), for esketamine across the 4-week induction phase of treatment. Methods: This post hoc analysis combined data (N = 576) from the TRANSFORM-1 and TRANSFORM-2 clinical trials of esketamine for treatment-resistant depression. Linear mixed models were performed using total MADRS score as the outcome variable with the following independent variables: baseline MADRS score, treatment condition × time interaction, and CADSS × time interaction. To assess whether initial dissociation predicted rapid antidepressant benefit with esketamine, a separately planned regression was performed with day 2 MADRS as the outcome variable with the following dependent variables: baseline MADRS, treatment condition, and day 1 CADSS. Results: The linear mixed model did not show any effect of a CADSS × time interaction (p = 0.7). Looking solely at the effect of day 1 CADSS on day 2 MADRS revealed that each additional CADSS point was associated with a −.04 [95% CI −.08, −.002] (p =.04) decrease in MADRS score. Conclusions: We found no evidence of a clinically significant positive or negative association between dissociation and antidepressant effect for esketamine. Our findings suggest that subsequent inquiry in this area will benefit from improved characterization of drug experiences relevant to therapeutic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the underground electronic dance music festival scene in the Johannesburg-Pretoria highveld region of South Africa. A documentary mode provides an overview and record of the diachronic development of this festival scene from 2015 to 2020, and the paper then progresses to more abstract synchronic considerations that draw on concepts from Shklovsky, Marx and Kant to foreground form over content, offering a formalist alternative to realist and metaphysical discourse about such events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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"Somnifera" explores interactions between the opium poppy and humans. In their exploration of new habitats, human tribes curiously tested out plants that could help them transcend their "normal" state into expanded experiences, possibly communicating with their ancestors or gods, as part of their experimental quest for knowledge. Since the dawn of time, we have milked the benefits of the opium plant, while politics, religion, and a cynical multinational drug and pharmaceutical industry have assigned the plant a controversial role on the world stage. The plant's power to both save life and take life is the essence of this artwork with the intention to contribute to a holistic debate about the opium poppy's potential: To lift it out of the shadow of condemnation and give it its rightful bright place among us. This narrative dips in and out between trance-states and every-day-states-of-mind, while the author's alter ego Sigma Woman enters love and grief - transitioning from emotional breakdown to possible healing. The figurative language of this text, and its accompanying images, are from visions emerging from ecstatic trance - described as the primaeval technique of a safe, natural physiological transition to direct experience of the eternal now and ancestral wisdom. In one of the trance-sessions we concentrated on the three-thousand-year-old figurine "The Poppy Goddess and Patron of Healing." This inner journey gave rise to the idea of exploring reenactment, inspired by experimental archaeology. Approaching the goddess figure, the author anoints her body with Caput Mortuum-colored oxidized magnetite, adorns herself with poppy capsules, and mimics the statue's apparent hibernation. In the attempts to find "surfaces of contact" between today's imaginary world and prehistoric times - through speculation whether we and our ancestors can "meet" in some way - the methods used to develop the artwork range from knowledge acquisition through scientific papers to techniques for embodying knowledge. As part of the artistic research project Matter, Gesture and Soul (MGS), which seeks encounters and alignments between art and archaeology, my artistic contribution seeks to question how multispecies storytelling may connect us emotionally to our ancient distant past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atendiendo a la relevancia del cuerpo como instrumento central de los seres y las sociedades humanas, en este artículo se plantea una aproximación a definiciones clásicas del concepto de trance desde la antropología. Su finalidad reside en discernir aquellos modelos explicativos (Fyrth y De Heusch principalmente) que emplazan este fenómeno social como escenario de tres variantes posibles de realización (posesión, mediumnidad, chamanismo), respecto a aquellos otros modelos (Bourguignon y Duvignaud principalmente) que diferencian explícitamente el trance y la posesión como dos campos distintos. Así, se aportan diversas conceptualizaciones susceptibles de ser interpretadas como contenidos paralelos a pesar de que se mantienen como denominaciones distintas.

This article offers a redefinition of the identificatory dimension of trance music based on the analysis of possession rituals among the Tandroy in southern Madagascar. The identificatory value of trance music had been expressed by Rouget in semantic terms: the music would be the signifier of the signified spirit. Based on the description of Tandroy ritual situations and of the musical actions collectively performed during these possession rituals, the aim of this article is to show the existence of another level of semantic relation, which leads to a change of anthropological perspective regarding the identificatory value of music in this ritual context. The argument takes into account the dynamic aspect of this practice of possession, influenced by the very strong mobility of a population that lives most often in bi-residence between its region of origin and different places on the island. Since the 1970s, the possessing spirits among the Tandroy belong to two categories – one indigenous, the other resulting from migration – to which specific rituals are associated, music being their main distinctive element. My hypothesis is that the relation between the actors and the music symbolizes the relation to the territory as experienced by the Tandroy. According to this approach, the principle of identification no longer concerns only the relationship between the possessed and the spirit, but also that of the ritual actors to their collective identity.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death globally and constitutes a major health problem. The disease is characterized by airflow obstructions due to chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema. Emerging evidence suggests that COPD is the result of impaired epithelial repair. Motivated by the need for more effective treatments, we studied whether receptor activator of nuclear factor κ-B ligand (RANKL) contributed to epithelial repair, as this protein has been implicated in epithelial regeneration of breast and thymus. To do so, we used precision-cut lung slices prepared from mouse tissue—viable explants that can be cultured ex vivo for up to a few days while retaining features of lung tissue. Slices were cultured with 10, 100, or 500 ng/ml of mouse RANKL for 24 h. We first found RANKL activated nuclear factor κ-B signaling, which is involved in cellular stress responses, without affecting the general viability of slices. Cell proliferation, however, was not altered by RANKL treatment. Interestingly, RANKL did reduce cell death, as revealed by TUNEL stainings and profiling of apoptosis-related proteins, indicating that it contributes to repair by conferring protection against cell death. This study improves our understanding of lung repair and could create new opportunities for developing COPD treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the representational slippage between queerness and entranceability in two queer modernist novels, Djuna Barnes's Nightwood and John Rechy's City of Night. Highlighting the historical and conceptual overlap between early sexological work on inversion and early psychological work on trance, it argues that, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, queer desire was in part understood as a function of compulsively misdirected and pathologically fixed attention. Embracing rather than refuting this model of queerness, writers such as Barnes and Rechy drew on the language and imagery of homoerotic entrancement to cultivate a mesmerizing—and distinctly queer—aesthetic, incorporating entrancement into their writing at the levels of both form and content. The article thus suggests that sexology provided writers such as Barnes and Rechy with an unexpected method for capturing and holding the attention of their readers, shaping queer modernist aesthetics in an oft-overlooked way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pós: Revista do Programa de POS-Graduacao Em Artes - EBA/UFMG is the property of Pos - Programa de Pos-graduacao em Artes (PPG-Artes) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death globally and constitutes a major health problem. The disease is characterized by airflow obstructions due to chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema. Emerging evidence suggests that COPD is the result of impaired epithelial repair. Motivated by the need for more effective treatments, we studied whether receptor activator of nuclear factor κ-Β ligand (RANKL) contributed to epithelial repair, as this protein has been implicated in epithelial regeneration of breast and thymus. To do so, we used precision-cut lung slices prepared from mouse tissue—viable explants that can be cultured ex vivo for up to a few days while retaining features of lung tissue. Slices were cultured with 10, 100, or 500 ng/ml of mouse RANKL for 24 h. We first found RANKL activated nuclear factor κ-Β signaling, which is involved in cellular stress responses, without affecting the general viability of slices. Cell proliferation, however, was not altered by RANKL treatment. Interestingly, RANKL did reduce cell death, as revealed by TUNEL stainings and profiling of apoptosis-related proteins, indicating that it contributes to repair by conferring protection against cell death. This study improves our understanding of lung repair and could create new opportunities for developing COPD treatments.