“Natural Highs” in an Historical and Biological Context

1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-47
Author(s):  
William A. Emboden
Keyword(s):  
Current Level ◽  
Real Problem ◽  
Altered States ◽  
Drug Induced ◽  
Natural Sources ◽  
Natural Substances ◽  
Substance Use And Abuse ◽  
Psychoactive Effects ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Plant Sources

Historical and contemporary patterns of substance use and abuse are recognized, and the error in believing psychoactive natural substances to be reasonably safe is pointed out. The plethora of literature on drug-induced ecstasies among diverse peoples produces over-confidence in the safety of inducing altered states by means of natural chemicals. Given the current level of experimentation, the lack of a context for use, and the lack of knowledge of the toxicity of many plant sources presents a very real problem. Documented evidence of recent changes in patterns of experimentation with diverse drugs, many from natural sources, suggests that the naive user may experience an unwarranted level of confidence. Diverse genera and species of plants that produce psychoactive effects are presented. Many of these are now in use and others will undoubtedly be the subject of uncontrolled experimentation in the future. Educators, researchers, legislators, physicians, and therapists should be aware of chemicals from natural sources, and the categories of experience that they provoke.

scholarly journals Bridging the Gap? Altered Thalamocortical Connectivity in Psychotic and Psychedelic States

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mihai Avram ◽  
Helena Rogg ◽  
Alexandra Korda ◽  
Christina Andreou ◽  
Felix Müller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Psychotic Disorders ◽  
Clinical Syndrome ◽  
Psychotic Symptoms ◽  
Altered States ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Drug Induced ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Reality Testing ◽  
Psychoactive Effects ◽  
Cognitive Disturbances

Psychiatry has a well-established tradition of comparing drug-induced experiences to psychotic symptoms, based on shared phenomena such as altered perceptions. The present review focuses on experiences induced by classic psychedelics, which are substances capable of eliciting powerful psychoactive effects, characterized by distortions/alterations of several neurocognitive processes (e.g., hallucinations). Herein we refer to such experiences as psychedelic states. Psychosis is a clinical syndrome defined by impaired reality testing, also characterized by impaired neurocognitive processes (e.g., hallucinations and delusions). In this review we refer to acute phases of psychotic disorders as psychotic states. Neuropharmacological investigations have begun to characterize the neurobiological mechanisms underpinning the shared and distinct neurophysiological changes observed in psychedelic and psychotic states. Mounting evidence indicates changes in thalamic filtering, along with disturbances in cortico-striato-pallido-thalamo-cortical (CSPTC)-circuitry, in both altered states. Notably, alterations in thalamocortical functional connectivity were reported by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. Thalamocortical dysconnectivity and its clinical relevance are well-characterized in psychotic states, particularly in schizophrenia research. Specifically, studies report hyperconnectivity between the thalamus and sensorimotor cortices and hypoconnectivity between the thalamus and prefrontal cortices, associated with patients' psychotic symptoms and cognitive disturbances, respectively. Intriguingly, studies also report hyperconnectivity between the thalamus and sensorimotor cortices in psychedelic states, correlating with altered visual and auditory perceptions. Taken together, the two altered states appear to share clinically and functionally relevant dysconnectivity patterns. In this review we discuss recent findings of thalamocortical dysconnectivity, its putative extension to CSPTC circuitry, along with its clinical implications and future directions.

Medical Malpractice Litigation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Hyman ◽  
Charles Silver
Keyword(s):  
Medical Malpractice ◽  
Healthcare Spending ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Real Problem ◽  
Damage Costs ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Basic Facts ◽  
Civil Justice System ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Noneconomic Damages

Medical malpractice is the best studied aspect of the civil justice system. But the subject is complicated, and there are heated disputes about basic facts. For example, are premium spikes driven by factors that are internal (i.e., number of claims, payout per claim, and damage costs) or external to the system? How large (or small) is the impact of a damages cap? Do caps have a bigger impact on the number of cases that are brought or the payment in the cases that remain? Do blockbuster verdicts cause defendants to settle cases for more than they are worth? Do caps attract physicians? Do caps reduce healthcare spending—and by how much? How much does it cost to resolve the high percentage of cases in which no damages are recovered? What is the comparative impact of a cap on noneconomic damages versus a cap on total damages? Other disputes involve normative questions. Is there too much med mal litigation or not enough? Are damage caps fair? Is the real problem bad doctors or predatory lawyers—or some combination of both? This article summarizes the empirical research on the performance of the med mal system, and highlights some areas for future research.

scholarly journals Creating Sim Flower Scent (Rhodomyrtus tomentosa) for Product Sim Fruit from Natural Materials in Vietnam

2021 ◽  
pp. 87-92
Author(s):  
Le Huy Hai ◽  
Le Mai Xuan Truc
Keyword(s):  
Diethyl Phthalate ◽  
Linalyl Acetate ◽  
Natural Sources ◽  
Natural Materials ◽  
Cinnamon Bark ◽  
Flower Scent ◽  
Natural Substances ◽  
Flower Fragrance ◽  
Rhodomyrtus Tomentosa

Aim and Objectives: The purpose of this study is to reproduce the scent of Sim (Rhodomyrtus tomentosa) flower from natural substances present in Vietnam to replace the scent extracted from Sim flower. Materials and Methods: All the materials for making the Sim flower fragrance and products from Sim fruit are natural sources in Vietnam. Fragrance assessment by olfactory, the aroma is diluted 20 times with an odorless diethyl phthalate (DEP) solvent, followed by a special scent paper and the smell of the nose to assess the scent. The fragrance of Sim flower was tested on Sim syrup product 0.2%, Sim jam 0.5%, Sim wine 0.3% by weight. Results: After the experiment, we have selected fragrance FW.1, FW.2 for Sim wine, FS.1 and FS.2 for Sim syrup, FJ.1 and FJ.2 for Sim jam. The main aroma of Sim flower is made up of Aldehyde anisic, Cinnamaldehyde, Cinnamon bark oil, Linalool, Linalyl acetate, Linalyl cinnamate, Linalyl formate, Linalyl butyrate. Aldehyde anisic and Linalool are the main constituents that determine the aroma of Sim flower. Conclusions: We have created the scent of Sim flower from natural materials in Vietnam for Sim wine FW.1, FW.2, for Sim syrup FS.1, FS.2, and Sim jam FJ.1, FJ.2. Sim flower FW.1, FW.2, FS.1, FS.2, FJ.1, and FJ.2 are added to Sim wine, Sim syrup, Sim jam to increase the value and appeal of the products made from Vietnam Sim fruit.

scholarly journals Neural correlates of the shamanic state of consciousness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma R Huels ◽  
Hyoungkyu Kim ◽  
UnCheol Lee ◽  
Tarik Bel-Bahar ◽  
Angelo Colmenero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Altered States Of Consciousness ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Altered States ◽  
Beta Band ◽  
Drug Induced ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Signal Diversity

Despite the use of shamanism as a healing practice for several millennia, few empirical studies of the shamanic state of consciousness exist. We investigated the neural correlates of shamanic trance using high-density electroencephalography (EEG) in 24 shamanic practitioners and 24 healthy controls during rest, shamanic drumming, and classical music listening, followed by a validated assessment of altered states of consciousness. EEG data were used to assess changes in absolute power, connectivity, signal diversity, and criticality, which were correlated with assessment measures. We also compared assessment scores to those of individuals in a previous study under the influence of psychedelics. Shamanic practitioners were significantly different from controls in several domains of altered states of consciousness, with scores comparable to or exceeding that of healthy volunteers under the influence of psychedelics. Practitioners also displayed increased gamma power during drumming that positively correlated with elementary visual alterations. Furthermore, shamanic practitioners had decreased low alpha and increased low beta connectivity during drumming and classical music, and decreased neural signal diversity in the gamma band during drumming that inversely correlated with insightfulness. Finally, criticality in practitioners was increased during drumming in the low and high beta and gamma bands, with increases in the low beta band correlating with complex imagery and elementary visual alterations. These findings suggest that psychedelic drug-induced and non-pharmacologic alterations in consciousness have overlapping phenomenal traits but are distinct states of consciousness, as reflected by the unique brain-related changes during shamanic trance compared to previous literature investigating the psychedelic state.

scholarly journals Cholinergic-Induced Specific Oscillations in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex to Reverse Propofol Anesthesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lieju Wang ◽  
Weijie Zhang ◽  
Ying Wu ◽  
Yibo Gao ◽  
Na Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Basal Forebrain ◽  
Electrophysiological Recording ◽  
Specific Power ◽  
Altered States ◽  
Drug Induced ◽  
Glutamatergic Neurons ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Level Of Consciousness ◽  
Glutamatergic Pathways

General anesthesia is a drug-induced reversible state comprised of altered states of consciousness, amnesia, analgesia, and immobility. The medial frontal cortex (mPFC) has been discovered to modulate the level of consciousness through cholinergic and glutamatergic pathways. The optogenetic tools combined with in vivo electrophysiological recording were used to study the neural oscillatory modulation mechanisms in mPFC underlying the loss of consciousness (LOC) and emergence. We found that optogenetic activation of both cholinergic and glutamatergic neurons in the basal forebrain (BF) reversed the hypnotic effect of propofol and accelerated the emergence from propofol-induced unconsciousness. The cholinergic light-activation during propofol anesthesia increased the power in the β (12–20 Hz) and low γ (20–30 Hz) bands. Conversely, glutamatergic activation increased the power at less specific broad (1–150 Hz) bands. The cholinergic-induced alteration to specific power bands after LOC had opposite effects to that of propofol. These results suggested that the cholinergic system might act on more specific cortical neural circuits related to propofol anesthesia.

scholarly journals Quantifying free behaviour in an open field using k-motif approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marein Könings ◽  
Mark Blokpoel ◽  
Katarzyna Kapusta ◽  
Tom Claassen ◽  
Jan K. Buitelaar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Open Field ◽  
Movement Time ◽  
Substantial Improvement ◽  
Repetitive Behaviour ◽  
Drug Induced ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Behavioural Analysis ◽  
Time Patterns ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Induced Changes

AbstractQuantification and parametrisation of movement are widely used in animal behavioural paradigms. In particular, free movement in controlled conditions (e.g., open field paradigm) is used as a “proxy for indices of baseline and drug-induced behavioural changes. However, the analysis of this is often time- and labour-intensive and existing algorithms do not always classify the behaviour correctly. Here, we propose a new approach to quantify behaviour in an unconstrained environment: searching for frequent patterns (k-motifs) in the time series representing the position of the subject over time. Validation of this method was performed using subchronic quinpirole-induced changes in open field experiment behaviours in rodents. Analysis of this data was performed using k-motifs as features to better classify subjects into experimental groups on the basis of behaviour in the open field. Our classifier using k-motifs gives as high as 94% accuracy in classifying repetitive behaviour versus controls which is a substantial improvement compared to currently available methods including using standard feature definitions (depending on the choice of feature set and classification strategy, accuracy up to 88%). Furthermore, visualisation of the movement/time patterns is highly predictive of these behaviours. By using machine learning, this can be applied to behavioural analysis across experimental paradigms.

scholarly journals Pollens in bee-breads as an indicator of honey sources

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 247-252
Author(s):  
AA AbdulRahaman ◽  
MT Liadi ◽  
AK Musa ◽  
OS Kolawole ◽  
FA Oladele
Keyword(s):  
Jatropha Curcas ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Natural Sources ◽  
Pollen Types ◽  
The University ◽  
Plant Sources

Adulteration of honey and bee-breads in the markets are becoming a matter of deep corncern. The aim of this study, therefore, is to authenticate the natural sources of the honey and bee breads produced by the University of Ilorin Apiary Farm and Jatropha Plantation. A microscopic survey of some pollen breads collected from the Apiary Farm of 6 colonies and Jatropha Plantation of one colony at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria revealed the presence of 9 types of pollens in honey-breads or bee-breads produced by the bees in the area under study. These pollen types include monoporate, salcate, triporate, tricolpate, pericolpate, panporate, biporate, salcate and vesculate. Monorate, colpate, triporate and panporate pollen types are the most frequent occuring in all colonies, followed by salcate, biporate and tricolpate. The least frequent types are pericolpate and vesculate pollens occuring only in the colony A. Density of each of these pollens were also determined in each colony. Some impurities were detected in colonies B, C and E. Panporate pollen of Jatropha curcas is of high frequency in the colony of Jatropha indicating that honeybees visit the Jatropha plants more frequently. So, the honey from the plantation might contain high percentage of panporate pollens. The honey produced at the Apiary and Jatropha Plantation at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria is based on this study. A polyfloral or multifloral type rather than unifloral or monofloral because it contains many types of pollen indicating its source from more than one plant sources or more than one nectars of different entomophilous plants exhibiting the presence of some anemophilous pollens. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjsir.v48i4.16966 Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 48(4), 247-252, 2013

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