PATIENTS APPRECIATE NURSES SPIRITUAL CARE

Simply by showing kindness and listening, nurses satisfy patients' needs for spiritual care, according to research recently conducted by E.J. Taylor of the Loma Linda University School of Nursing.

In this study, published in Oncology Nursing Forum, patients were interviewed about their needs for spiritual care and their percetion of nurses' behavior and attitudes that matched those needs. The results indicated that very simple things qualified as meeting spiritual needs. After kindness and listening, the most frequently mentioned were authenticity, personal connection, physical connection, and physical presence. The only items mentioned that resembled caregiving behaviours traditionally thought of as spiritual was having nurses pray and mobilizing religious or spiritual resources. The results suggested there is indeed a need for spiritual care, but it can come in ways that do not touch upon traditional religious concerns.

MUSIC SHOWN TO HAVE SEDATIVE QUALITIES

Not only will music soothe the savage breast, it can also provide sedative qualities, both for surgery patients and for those with chronic pain.

Patients undergoing surgery were provided with one of three different sound environments during the operation: telephones playing their favorite music, headphones playing white noise, or no headphones and exposure to the various operating room noises. The patients hearing music, according to the study reported in the medical journal "Anesthesia & Analgesia, required significantly less sedation during their operations than did the patients in the other two groups.

Patients experiencing chronic pain for over six years (from osteoarthritis, disc problems and rheumatoid arthritis) were divided into two groups in a study reported in the "Journal of Advanced Nursing." One listened to music for one hour per day on headsets. The other did not listen to music at all. The results indicated that music brought about a 21 percent reduction in depression linked to pain. According to the researchers, the patients felt that music therapy made the pain less disabling, and gave them an increased sense of power over their condition.

ADDENDUM ON da VINCI

Biographies have always been fascinating for me to search out. Here is another clarification on Leonardo da Vinci who first appeared in my Blog of July 16, 2008, under the title of "Sayings of the Sages." In it I explained that in 1503 he started painting the Mona Lisa and quoted one biographer as saying that his model was the wife of a Florentine merchant. My Blog earlier this week suggested that according to Dr. Lillian Schwartz of Bell Labs who had digitized the artist's self portrait along with that of the Mona Lisa, flipped the self-portrait, and merged the two together in a computer program. The features of the faces aligned perfectly suggesting that he may have been the model himself. This seems reasonable since the "New Standard Encyclopedia" says he worked on the Mona Lisa painting over a period of sixteen years. Indeed, we seem to have been left with another riddle. When one is ever in Paris it would be interesting to stop at the Louvre and search out that knowing smile of the Mona Lisa and decide for ourselves.

The short "Sayings" left by da Vinci and others are collectibles for me.
The one I chose for him in my July 16, 2008 Blog was: "Vitality and beauty are gifts of nature for those who live according to its laws."

Here are a few more of his quotes:
"I obey Thee, Lord, first for the love I ought, in all reason to bear Thee; secondly for that Thou canst shorten or prolong the lives of men."

"Patience serves us against insults precisely as clothes do against the cold. For if you multiply your garments as the cold increases, that cold cannot hurt you."

"He turns not back who is bound to a star."

"I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have."

Leonardo's paintings, writings, sketches and wisdom in general, continue to honor the divine after five hundred years.

STUDENTS START POWER NAP CLUB

With evidence mounting of widespread sleep deprivation among adults, teenagers, and children, some high school students are taking counter measures. They've formed a "Power Nap Club" at school and nap together.

At the Greenwich High School, in a high-income, high-powered suburban area of Connecticut, pressures are high for top achievement - in class and outside of it. According to a story in USA Today, many students at first considered the nap club idea a joke, but it caught on and membership is growing. They meet on Monday afternoons after school lets out, in a classroom, and nap together. With the evidence available about how naps improve memory for previously learned material, this kind of club just might catch on elsewhere as a boost to the education process.

People in Italy, as well as in other areas of Europe have been having power naps before returning to their work in the afternoon. With the job search and the economy in difficult circumstances now, it might be a good time to go back to school and learn new skills along with the power napping habit.

HUGS CAN PROTECT YOUR HEART

Handholding and hugging may protect the heart from the adverse effects of stress, according to some research conducted at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, School of Medicine.

Having to speak in public about a recent stressful event normally raises blood pressure and drives up heart rate. In this research, however, some participants were encouraged to hug and hold hands with their significant other, prior to being asked to make their public statement, while participants in the control group simply sat quietly alone before receiving their instructions for telling their tales of woe. The results showed that the period of public complaining caused the blood pressure to climb radically in the control group, more than twice that of those who got a hug first. The heart rate of the control group increased by twice as much as that of those who received hugs.

Another study showed that receiving touch lowers stress hormones, but that hugs from loved ones are much more effective than hugs from friends.

LEONARDO da VINCI

DID LEONARDO da VINCI FORECAST OUR PRESENT MONEY CIRCUMSTANCES?

Nearly five centuries have passed since Leonardo da Vinci left his Earthly sojourn in l5l9 at the age of 67 years. Still his words, sketches, inventions, paintings and prophecies continue to amaze scientists, as many of his inventions are even now unfolding as the necessary products to make them have become available.

It was often necessary for him to refer to his prophecies in cryptic language and riddles to avoid the anger of the church. After two centuries the Inquisition was still going strong and Leonardo had good reasons to fear for his safety. Even electronic voice technology was suggested with his words: "Men will talk to those who are not present. They will speak with each other from the most remote countries, and reply." Referring perhaps to the present day folks at Wall Street as well as the pyramid scheme makers that are bilking many of their retirement savings, he said "Invisible money will procure the triumph of many who will spend it."

He often scattered his riddles and prophecies among his notes that were written backwards, and readable with the aid of a mirror. Here is one of his riddles. "Many persons puffing out a breath with too much haste, will thereby lose their sight, and soon after will lose all consciousness." Want to guess the answer? At this point he was likely delighted to stump the king and those attending court. The answer: "Putting out the light when going to bed."

In da Vinci's day, Church dogma mixed liberally with alchemy, superstition and necromancy. Danger lurked at every corner for him as one biographer accused him of heresy and he devised many methods of thwarting snooping inquisitors. He was an ethical vegetarian and a defender against cruelty to animals. "These creatures will form many communities, which will hide themselves and their young ones and victuals in dark caverns, and they will feed themselves and their families in dark places for many months without any light, artificial or natural." He was speaking of ants.

Perhaps he referred to each one's book of life when he said, "Things that are separate shall be united and acquire such virtue that they will restore to man his lost memory; as sheets of papyrus made of separate strips that have preserved the memory of the things and acts of men." To understand how he walked the "closer walk," perhaps we can look to the knowing smile of the Mona Lisa. Dr. Lillian Schwartz, of Bell Labs, sugggested that Leonardo used himself as the model for this painting. Schwartz digitized the artist's self portrait along with that of the Mona Lisa, flipped the self-portrait, and merged the two together in a computer program. The features of the faces aligned perfectly. Was that perhaps Leonardo's greatest riddle of all? His painting, "The Last Supper" suggests he may have used himself as the model for Thaddeus, second from right. He died at the castle of St. Cloux in France commenting to his friend, King Francis I that he had offended God by not working on his art as much as he should have. He included alms for the poor in his will.

ARTAINMENT DEVELOPED FOR SPIRITUAL UPLIFT

Research has shown the health effects of color and some classical music. Inspirational art and classical music have been combined to create "artainment," a holistic approach to healing. It is the brainchild of DaVid Rafael, MD, a visionary artist as well as healing physician, who founded the San Francisco Medical Research Foundation to explore the role of aesthetic experience in healing and rejuvenation. The foundation's Web site (http://www.lightparty.com/Artainment/Artainment.php) demonstrates many examples of the inspirational combination of visionary art and classical music. The purpose of these investigations is to develop aesthetic resources that "Inspire, Delight, Heal, and Enlighten."

BUILDING HEALTH AND VITALITY

Dr. Judith Orloff, M.D., is also a board-certified psychiatrist and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA and an international workshop leader. Further information is available from her free newsletter at: www.drjudithorloff.com. Her news letter can be unsubscribed to at any time.

In addition to advice on physical needs she shows ways how to handle the wide range of energies that make up each day of living, both positive and negative. Positive energy includes compassion, courage, forgiveness and faith. Negative energy includes fear, anger, hopelessness, and shame. Physical healing is assisted when all body energies are synchronized through understanding these three aspects of living. Health can be restored by learning to avoid draining situations or people who are energy vampires.

Being chronically tired indicates that energy is lacking and can and will be increased as one understands Positive Energy when balancing mind, body and spirit to create a vibrant life through accepting and using these energies. A way of building health and vitality is available through daily practice as we face challenges and make decisions that restore health and healing to add additional years of life with vitality. If this reminds us of things we have heard at Sunday School and throughout many verses of Scriptures, this will help us put them into daily practice. Our physical bodies require nourishing food each day and our spirit needs food for the soul each day as decisions of mind puts them into practice . Feeding all three; food for the body, the spirit and mind might be just what is needed to solve the desperate situation facing our World today.

SCIENTISTS CAN PREDICT HAPPY MARRIAGES

There's now a formula that quite accurately predicts the outcome of a marriage. Scientists at the University of Washington, who studied over 700 couples over a 10 year period, were able to predict with a 95 percent accuracy which marriages would last. Their sole predictive tool was observations taken of the couple during the 15-minute interview.

Their formula, presented recently at the Mathematical Biology Conference at Dundee University in Scotland, takes into account good signs and bad signs displayed by the newlywed couple as they discussed potential sources of marital friction. Good signs were displays of humor, positive vocal tone, smiles, and affectionate gestures. Bad signs were rolling of the eyes, criticism, or mockery of one's partner, as well as displays of coldness and negativity.

SELF HYPNOSIS CALMS ASTHMA ATTACKS

An asthma attack has both physical and psychological components. The anxiety that often accompanies an attack reinforces the physiological processes underlying the asthmatic response. Teaching the asthmatic patient how to use self-hypnosis to control the anxiety can be effective and may also reduce the need for medication.

A 12-year-old asthmatic patient learned self-hypnosis by following instructions that she would imagine walking on a beach and lying down near the ocean to relax. She received, according to the report published in BMC Pediatrics by Ran D. Anbar, M.D. of the Department of Pediatrics, State University of New York Upstate Medical University, a post-hypnotic suggestion that when she touched her finger to her nose, she would enter a state of profound relaxation.

After two 45-minute sessions, she was able to use the finger relaxation technique to calm herself. She had been using nebulized levalbuterol at least four times a day, but within two weeks of her training, she was using hypnosis instead, half of the time, and by three months she had completely discontinued use of the medication.

BELIEVING IN GUARDIAN ANGELS

More Americans than not believe they have received protection from a guardian angel. A total of 55 percent of adults, including 20 percent of folks with no religion, make this claim, according to research conducted at Baylor University and reported in USA Today.

Broken down by religious categories, the results indicated that angelic protection was reported by 66 percent of evangelical Protestants, 81 percent of black protestants, 55 percent of mainline Protestants, 57 percent of Catholics, and 10 percent of Jewish respondents.

Not everyone has the same criteria for believing that a guardian angel provided protection. Not everyone is envisioning a being with wings. Some feel it is a departed loved one watching over them, some claim to hear the voice of God, and have an inner sense of protection.

Difficult financial times are motivating more people to turn to angels, according to a report in Britain's Times Online. Sales of angel paraphernalia, angel books, and courses on contacting angels have increased dramatically.

ONE NIGHT'S SLEEP LOSS CONFUSES BRAIN

"Being deprived of sleep even for one night makes the brain unstable and prone to sudden shutdowns akin to a power failure - brief lapses that hover between sleep and wakefulness " says David Dinges of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, commenting upon his study which recently appeared in the Journal of Neuroscience. It's as though it is both asleep and awake as they are switching between each other very rapidly," he said.

Participants in his study submitted to brain scans while they attempted to perform simple puzzle tasks. The experimental participants stayed awake one full night before their testing and were compared with folks who got a full night's sleep. The results clearly showed the brain's confusion among the sleep-deprived participants. Momentary lapses of function were frequent in many areas of the brain. Driving in this manner is clearly very dangerous while the brain is confused.

STRESS IS MORE STRESSFUL TODAY

Stress has always been with us. It comes in the form of change, both good (getting married and buying a house) and bad (illness and divorce). The Life Changes Stress Test developed in the 1960s to assess the relative severity of stress generated by various life changes, has recently been re-calibrated to reflect changes in the world in the past 40 years. The result of this re-calibration has revealed that certain life events have become significantly more stressful for us.

A survey of over l300 adult Americans, conducted by the Southern Institute of Research based in Richmond, Virginia, determined that, compared to the l960s, the death of a friend, being laid off, having a baby, getting a ticket, and traveling are all more significantly stressful today. Getting a divorce was one type of change that has become less stressful.

It is possible that this remarkable gift of life itself with all the privileges that are ours works within us to create a climate of guilt in failing to do more to create the change needed to clean up Mother Earth. Instead of grasping more there will come a climate of giving more and thus contribute more to develop a whole new attitude for all. And less stress for all as well.

THE BEETHOVEN FACTOR MAKES YOU STRONG

Whatever hurts you, if it doesn't kill you, will make you stronger. The idea that overcoming adversity builds new muscles for living more creatively is more than folk wisdom. It has scientific evidence to support it.

In his book "The Beethoven Factor: The New Postive Psychology of Hardiness, Happiness, Healing, and Hope (Hampton Roads Pub.), Paul Pearsall, Ph.D., uses the example of the famous composer to introduce the immense body of research now labeled as "positive psychology." He notes that in addition to PTSD (post-traumatic shock syndrome) there is evidence for PTTR, or post-traumatic thriving response, a reaction that is created by SIG, or stress-induced growth.

Positive psychology is founded on four basic areas of research: the hardiness of individuals, the happiness that results from a total involvement in life, the importance of finding meaning in one's life, the importance of optimism, and finding ways in which our actions make a difference.

BLIND MAN CAN SEE WITH INNER VISION

We assume that seeing involves information coming into our eyes and brain from the outside. It may be, however, that the brain can see even without the eyes. Scientists already realize that the brain has to "know" what it is looking at in order to "see" it, but research with a blind man has puzzled scientists. Esref Armagan, a congenitally blind artist, can paint pictures of objects placed in front of him, including the effects of perspective on color and shading, according to a report published in New Scientist.

John Kennedy, a psychologist at the University of Toronto who specializes in studying the artwork of the blind, used magnetic brain scans to study Armagan. One scan confirmed that light shined upon Armagan's eyes had no impact upon events within the brain - there was no brain response to the light, indicative of blindness. When Armagan would paint a portrait of something placed before him, however, the visual parts of his brain would evidence the same kind of activity that would be associated among normally sighted persons, with looking and seeing.

Armagan reports that his use of perspective, and its effect on color and shading, comes from what he has learned from the comments provided by people who have seen his work. Yet Armagan's brain scans detect no activity in the part of the brain associated with recalling verbal material. It may require posing in front of Armagan a scene with very unusual, or unexpected coloring and shading effects to determine if he is applying learning or if maybe, in fact, the brain has more ways of seeing than with the eyes.

GETTING RID OF A COLD

PREVENT A COLD THE EASY WAY

This is from a Victorian Order of Nurses

1. Drink plenty of water. (eight glasses a day) Keep the 'plumbing'
clean and flowing.

2. Eat raw fruits and vegetables every day. Keeps the bowels clean and
rolling on. Eat raw carrots, raw celery and lettuce daily, and support
the immune system, and it will support you. It's your best friend.
3. Avoid sugars and starches.

4. Get outside in fresh air (hopefully with sunshine). Skin and retina need
it to do their preventive jobs.
5. Laugh and smile often. A l0 minute belly laugh elevates T-cell (immune
system's fighter cells) for 72 hours.
6. Avoid cold drafts and stay dry.
7. Lovingly and sincerely pray for others.

l. Avoid sugar
2. Drink plenty of water (ten glasses a day).
3. No starches, None! (always consult your doctor to confirm).
4. No juices. Drink water instead.
5. Have a nice soak in a steamy tub with epsom salts and sea salt.
6. Sip a cup of red clover tea.
7. Put on a funny movie or read the comics and have lots of laughs!
(If you start this regime at the beginning of a cold, and have a day
of fresh fruits and vegetables with plenty of water (organic black
coffee is okay) the cold will not be supported and be gone in a day.

VALENTINE LOVE GREETINGS

Day after tomorrow is Valentine Day and a great opportunity to tune into one of the most pleasurable aspects of living, sharing extra happiness. Every culture explores new ways of expanding love to our spouse, family, friends and all who are part of our sphere of living. The airwaves are full of suggestions of still one more way of doing this and here is one from a child to his grandmother, Dr. Gladys Taylor McGarey. They were chatting together about things that interest a six year old when he abruptly changed the subject, looked into the loving understanding eyes of his namesake. "Nanni," he said, "I think the meanest thing that anybody could do would be to kill the teddy bears and blankies."

"I gave him an understanding hug," she writes, and later thought about how much wisdom children share with us and how easy it is for us to think that our thoughts are more important than their insights. Taylor's statement was telling me that we need to be very aware of the nurturing aspect of divine energy, that we cannot live life fully without letting tenderness and compassion enter into our everyday lives. We have done so much harm taking away the arts and nurturing programs from our school children in our attempt to have them fit into certain proscribed patterns. I wonder what the children in war-torn countries are doing for blankies and teddy bears. No wonder the world is angry. We may not be able to give them the material blankies and teddy bears, but we can all pray for them and hold them in our hearts with loving concern.

Thinking further on this, I realized that not just children need this kind of concern, but the child in each one of us needs and wants to share love and compassion with each other. I know a young person who just started medical school last fall and has taken his blankie with him to his apartment. Pretty much of a rag by now, but it continues to be a comfort to him because of awareness of such needs and will be a truly good doctor.

When we cut back our interest and concern from the finer things in life and concentrate on the power of the mind, money and material things, our souls are injured. The use of creative energy for nurturing has always been important to the human soul. As we look for opportunities to be kind and gentle with the hurt parts of ourselves, we will find tenderness, and softness that will bring laughter and humor into the most difficult situations and healing when nothing else can. There is no receiving without giving, for he that would have joy must make joy in the lives of others, for peace and harmony creates peace in self and in relationships with others." I could not possibly add anything more to the words of Taylor and his grandmother, Dr.Gladys Taylor McGarey. She is coauthor of "The Physician Within You" and the lead physician at the Scottsdale Holistic Medical Group in Scottsdale, Arizona.

ENVIRONMENTALIST WINS PRIZE

The Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities has been awarded to Rev. Holmes Rolston, Ill. He established the field of environmental ethics. He focused beyond humans to show how plants, animals, and ecosystems have established goodness and needed to be considered in the total equation of creation. He demonstrated that ethics need to be based on a broader foundation than merely human concerns.

In a news conference following the announcement of the prize, Rev. Rolston said, "Our planetary crisis is one of spiritual information; not so much sustainable development, certainly not escalating consumption, but using the Earth with justice and charity. Science cannot take us there, religion perhaps can. After we learn altruism for each other, we need to become altruists toward our fellow creatures. We must encounter nature with grace, with an Earth ethics, because our ultimate Environment is God - in whom we live, move, and have our being."

The Templeton prize, worth l.2 million dollars, is the largest prize offered to an individual, more than the Nobel prize, because he believed that spiritual discoveries would be the most important and wanted to highlight their significance. Rev. Rolston is donating the prize money to his alma mater, Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, to endow a chair in religion and science.

RESEARCH ON TRANSFORMATION

What brings on transformation and what happens during and after the transformation process? These and several other questions are the focus for an enormous research program, with more than two million dollars in funding. Initially sponsored by the Templeton Foundation and administered by Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science, the program has launched research endeavors at several universities and other organizations.

Research projects include looking at the brain during mystical experiences, the transformation experiences of cancer patients, how spiritual transformation affects involvement in crime, the role of the experience of awe in spiritual transformation, the language of transformation, how spiritual transformation interacts with the maturational process, its role in alcoholism rehabilitation, its connection to religious conversion, and its effects with a marriage, and our day to day working life, to name a few topics.

Now with our present depression, it appears that many will be facing making changes in every aspect of life. There will be urgent demands upon both employer and employee. Step one finds both at a crossroads, whether it is a business itself that must close down or the worker that must be laid off. When employment insurance has run its course, every phase of life faces change for survival itself. One of the most urgent is the job search which could lead to a different type of work and a different occupation. Preparing a new resume is a first step, detailing interests, subjects taken in school in which you excelled and further study in it. Church friendships as well as well as volunteering can result in offers that open up a new opportunity doing the work you love as well as helping others as a side benefit.

FIVE SERVINGS OF FRUIT CONTAIN MANY BLESSINGS

We've heard it often: "eat plenty of fruit." Three studies have demonstrated additional reasons for doing so. In a report published in the British medical journal Lancet, past studies involving over 200,000 patients revealed that those who ate at least three servings of fruit daily had significantly fewer strokes than those who ate less fruit.

In another study, high intake of fruits and vegetables was associated with less risk of Alzheimer's, and less evidence of cognitive decline in the elderly years. Finally, a study conducted at the University of Montreal and published in the International Journal of Cancer, demonstrated that a diet rich in fruits was associated with significantly less cancer of the pancreas.

Eating more fruit seems to help in many ways in addition to stimulating the mind. This leads to the thoughts of many this 10th day of February, 2009 when job losses can cause individual depression as well. The CBC radio this morning interviewed a man who helps people looking for a new job and how to expand the possibility of a change of careers that could lead to an even more suitable job. The website given was: www.careerjoy.com. I am not looking for a job myself but checked out this website and found it very interesting. It never hurts look into it.

AROMATHERAPY CAN HELP DEMENTIA

Geriatric patients with dementia suffer from agitation, depression, and delusions, and show troublesome behaviors such as wandering, aggressiveness, and sleep disturbance. Smelling lemon balm and lavender oil seems to help, report a team of British researchers. In their study reported in the British Medical Journal, they compared aroma therapy with a control placebo and found that the lemon/lavender treatment was significantly effective in reducing agitation and generally improving quality-of-life variables. Additionally, there were no side effects such as usually observed with sedatives.

DOCTORS DECLARE TABLE SALT UNSAFE

The American Medical Association "AMA" is urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revoke the "generally recognized as safe" status of salt with the aim of reducing sodium intake throughout America in an effort to reduce cardiovascular disease - the number one killer in America. Most salt intake occurs through dining outside the home and the AMA hopes that an FDA pronouncement will encourage restaurants to significantly lower the use of salt in their menus. Their aim is to reduce overall salt intake by one-half within 10 years.

WHY EAT ORGANIC

According to Simone Gabbay, RNCP, registered nutritional consultant in Toronto, a person using a healthy lifestyle, good nutrition, and exercise will not need pharmaceutical drugs, antibiotics, or immunization. Crops grown in fertile mineral-rich soil are strong and pest-resistant and will need no pesticides, fungicides, or fumigants, the natural state of good health in organic fruits and vegetables.

The organic movement is particularly well established in Europe, with 72 percent of Europeans supporting organic food production. A 20-year study by Swiss scientists, published in 2002, offers a clear endorsement of organic farming methods.

Standard agricultural practices are jeopardizing everyone's health by undermining the well-being of the planet that sustains us. Worldwide, several billion kilograms of pesticides are applied every year. Exposure to pesticides, farm workers and their families, for example, has been linked to various forms of neurological and degenerative disease. Many of the synthetic fertilizers used in intensive farming are highly soluble and readily enter ground and surface water, hazardous to human and environmental health. Consumers can register a vote fovoring organic farming practices each time groceries are purchased.
Simone Gabbay has written a number of books including "Visionary Medicine," "Real Hope for Total Healing," and "Nourishing the Body Temple."

MEDITATION IS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH

Workers practicing mindfulness showed important biological changes with important implications for health, according to a study recently reported in the journal, Psychosomatic Medicine.

In this controlled and randomized study, conducted by Dr. Richard Davidson, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, Wisconsin, workers at a small biotech company had their blood tested and brains wired and measured before and after an eight-week period of meditation. Once a week for eight weeks those workers volunteering for the study, including scientists, marketing people, lab techs, and managers, would practice meditation for three hours.

Researchers found significant effects on activity in the front left portion of the brain, increases that lasted at least four months after the experiment. Those workers who showed the greatest brain effect also showed a greater ability to increase antibodies in response to getting a flu shot.

MIRROR THERAPY TREATS PHANTOM LIMB

Amputees often suffer from pain in the missing limb, a limb the amputee still experiences as being present. A new therapy that creates an illusion using mirrors is proving helpful to Iraq war veterans to eliminate this pain, according to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine and conducted at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

In the mirror therapy, a special arrangement of mirrors allows the patient to "see" the reflected image of the remaining limb as being actually the missing limb. When the patient moves both limbs, it appears that both limbs move. Often the phantom limb pain occurs because the assumed position of the missing limb is one associated with pain. When the patient "moves" the phantom limb into a position that is more comfortable, the pain goes away in most cases,

The researchers believe that the source of the pain is the brain's confusion as to the existence and whereabouts of the phantom limb. The physical sensations and the visual sensations do not match up. The mirror illusion allows for an apparent alignment of physical sensation and visuals as the phantom limb is seen and felt to move into a more comfortable position.

THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW

* Webster's 1996 dictionary had 315 misspelled entries.
* On average, 12 newborns a day will be given to the wrong parents.
* Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because Donald doesn't
wear pants, just a skirt, a shirt, and a bow tie.
* Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.
* Leonardo Da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at
the same time, inventing multi-tasking.
* The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan; there was never
a recorded Wendy before!
* If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $l.l9.
You also have the largest amount of money in coin without being able
to make change for a dollar.
* Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to digest a piece of
celery than the celery has in it (six) to begin with. It's the same with
apples!
* Guinness Book of Records holds the record for the book most often stolen
from public libraries.
* Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space, because
passing "wind" in a space suit damages it.

FLU SHOT WORKS BEST FOR HAPPY PEOPLE

If you are going to get a shot of flu vaccine, try to be happy about it before you get to the doctor's office. If you are in a depressed mood, your body may not be able to take advantage of the immunization. That's one implication of a recent study conducted at the University of Wisconsin and published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In this study, researchers asked students to think of either a very positive experience or a very negative one, and then write about it for five minutes.
Afterwards, they received a shot of flu vaccine. Blood tests later showed that the students in the positive group developed significantly greater amounts of immunity in response to the flu shot than did the students in the negative group. Brain scans during the experiment showed greater activity in the left prefrontal cortex, while the negative group showed greater activity in the right prefrontal cortex. Those in the positive group who showed the greatest left brain activity showed the greatest flu immunity six months later. Those in the negative group who showed the greatest right-brain activity showed the lowest flu immunity after six months.

GENETIC HERITAGE AWAITS ENVIRONMENTAL TRIGGERS

In the old nature/nurture debate, where scientists argue whether it is your inherited genes or your environmental context that determines your predisposition to disease, researchers have encountered a new level or complexity.

Scientists have discovered, according to a report published in "LiveScience", that genes have "epigenetic markers," or mechanisms that increase the gene's influence. These markers, it turns out, are controlled by environmental factors. It requires a certain environmental "trigger" to activate the epigenetic marker, which then fires up the gene to express itself.

VATICAN APPROVES UFOs

It is okay to believe in UFOs and alien beings, according to a statement released by the Vatican in Rome. "There could be alien life forms, and believing they exist isn't contradictory to having faith in God," said the Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the top astronomer and director of the Vatican observatory. In an article entitled, "The extraterrestrial is my brother," the scientist-priest speculated that it is possible that life exists elsewhere in the universe and to believe so doesn't contradict any church teachings. "We cannot put limits on the creative freedom of God," he said, "and that since any life forms existing in the universe were created by God, then these creatures are our siblings."