HIV vaccine: updates about Aids HIV vaccine research - What do you think about HIV vaccination?

HIV vaccine: updates about Aids HIV vaccine research - What do you think about HIV vaccination?

HIV vaccine:  Dr. Mart Ustav, (Professor at the Estonian University of Tartu) together with the Finnish FIT Biotech team, developed an HIV vaccine deemed effective in clinical trials. Two years ago, the vaccine under development reached the clinical trial stage. A group of HIV-infected people in South Africa was vaccinated three times while researchers closely monitored their condition during the two-year period.

The findings revealed that the vaccine decreased the level of the virus and enhanced the functioning of the immune system in the group. "It is one of the first clinical HIV-vaccine trials to demonstrate a biological effect in a human organism," says Professor Ustav.  "It is an important achievement, but unfortunately it’s not enough to fully protect people from the virus’ attack yet."

According to Mart Ustav, the final goal will be reached when no one in the vaccinated group is infected by HIV. The first half of the vaccine that influences virus activity needs a counterpart to trigger a strong immune response. There are many types and subtypes of the virus, which behave somewhat differently from each other. Even in Estonia, where 7000 HIV-infected people are officially registered (the actual number could be twice as high), researchers discovered a rare type of HIV that became known as the Estonian isolate of combinate forms.

The vaccine developed by FIT Biotech is able to cover more than 95 percent of the currently known types of HIV. This is achieved by affecting the parts that these known viruses have in common. While HIV can be controlled by vaccines or drugs, there is no cure once it has developed into AIDS. The latter involves the breakdown of the immune system, so the organism is not able to protect itself against any diseases.

Source: www.ut.ee 

What do you think about HIV vaccination? Please write us to share your views. UT.ee article mentions that a fully effective HIV vaccine would have a huge impact on the pharmaceutical industry. Currently, HIV is treated as a chronic disease similar to Hepatitis B or C. Essentially, a person is chronically infected by the virus, but a constant regimen of drugs can keep the virus under control for decades. The cost of such drugs per person is 4500-8300 euros annually, which is costly for society, but very convenient for pharmaceutical companies. "Now that there is an effective vaccine in place, we can substitute costly medical HIV treatment with vaccination – this would be simpler, cheaper, and more effective," affirms Professor Ustav. "And the quality of life of infected people would improve."

Alternative Medicine for Aging courses - Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Alternative Medicine for Aging courses - Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Course Title: Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and Aging
Credits: 1 hour of CME; 1.2 nursing contact hours (CEU)
Cost: Free

Lecturer: Marc R. Blackman, M.D., Former Chief of the Endocrine Section Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Learning Objectives:

- Discuss the theoretical aspects of the aging process, including the decreased ability to respond to stressors
- Identify the principles of CAM and their relationship to the aging process
- Describe CAM studies related to aging
- Examine aging issues specific to women
- Review CAM approaches to treating prostate cancer in aging men

Visit http://videolectures.nccam.nih.gov/ for this free Alternative Medicine video courses offered by the the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Applied philosophy, appliedsophy: end of boring monologues

Philosophy has often been seen as an investigation into an area not sufficiently well understood to have its own branch of knowledge. What were once philosophical pursuits have evolved into the modern day fields such as psychology, sociology, linguistics, and economics, for example. From this prospective, philosophy has been a noble quest for truth. We also need to be aware that it sometimes degraded into the love of hearing oneself talking, or instrumental in pushing an all inclusive, absolute truth against the people's will, using words as weapons and shutting down any form of non-aligned thinking.

May we declare the end of heavy, long, boring monologues? And the start of applying approaches, not iron-rules, to opportunities and questions in daily life; the rise of appliedsophy!

If you are interested in discussing about applied philosophy, or as it is called there appliedsophy just visit http://www.amareway.org/

Social media how to: social media holistic strategies, social media optimization

Readers searching for social media holistic strategies should check out with "Social media how to guide" with advices about social media optimization. 

Social media protagonists are both producers and consumers of the media. The way prosumers interact with other prosumers is very different from the way a consumer interacts with a producer. Social Media are those applications which allow users to create their own content, share it, mash it with existing content, and access peers’ content. Traditional media base their reach on distribution channels, social media on the network which relays them; the network may be based on the permanent personal contacts of the content producer, or be dynamically created based on mutual interest of the users.

Holistic blog: about holistic blogs, holistic blogging and how to blog holistically

You are reading this post, so chances are you have already one or more blogs. Have you ever considered to blog holistically? We are not talking only about starting a holistic blog, but also about blogging about your favorite topic having one of our best approaches: an holistic one.

If you, too, are open to this approach and believe that serious bloggers should love their readers, and write with their audience in mind, check out this holistic blog strategies white paper.

Chiropractic and Spinal Manipulation courses - Free Alternative Medicine video courses

Course Title: Manipulative and Body-Based Therapies: Chiropractic and Spinal
Credits: 1 hour of CME; 1.2 nursing contact hours (CEU)
Cost: Free

Lecturer: William Meeker, D.C., M.P.H., President, Palmer College of Chiropractic, West Campus, San Jose, CA
Learning Objectives:

- Explain the profession of chiropractic
- Describe the various procedures utilized in chiropractic
- Discuss the potential safety issues associated with chiropractic
- Review the scientific evidence for the efficacy of spinal manipulation and mobilization
- Recognize the research challenges associated with spinal manipulation and mobilization

Visit http://videolectures.nccam.nih.gov/ for this free Alternative Medicine video courses offered by the the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Meditation styles: Christian meditation, Bible meditation

Christian meditation

Christian meditation is often associated with prayer or scripture study; Christian meditation is rooted in the Bible. In the Old Testament, there are two Hebrew words for meditation: hāgâ, which means to sigh or murmur, but also to meditate, and sîḥâ, which means to muse, or rehearse in one's mind. In Joshua 1:8, God commands his people to meditate on his word day and night to instill obedience and enhance relationship and fellowship. This brings us in close touch with God's reality, power, grace, faith and miracles. The psalmist says that "his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2). The Bible mentions meditate or meditation twenty times.

Christian meditation is meditation in a Christian context. The word meditation has come to have two different meanings: (1) continued, intent, focused thought; and (2) a state of quiet, intentionally unfocused, "contentless" awareness. This double meaning has contributed to misunderstanding and disagreement about the nature, role, and even the appropriateness of Christian meditation. Traditionally, the word meditation (meditatio) had the first meaning, and another word, contemplation (contemplatio) was used for the second.

As stated in the catechism of the Catholic Church, the official Catholic position about Christian meditation is:

- "2705 Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking. The required attentiveness is difficult to sustain. We are usually helped by books, and Christians do not want for them: the Sacred Scriptures, particularly the Gospels, holy icons, liturgical texts of the day or season, writings of the spiritual fathers, works of spirituality, the great book of creation, and that of history the page on which the "today" of God is written.

- 2706 To meditate on what we read helps us to make it our own by confronting it with ourselves. Here, another book is opened: the book of life. We pass from thoughts to reality. To the extent that we are humble and faithful, we discover in meditation the movements that stir the heart and we are able to discern them. It is a question of acting truthfully in order to come into the light: "Lord, what do you want me to do?"

- 2707 There are as many and varied methods of meditation as there are spiritual masters. Christians owe it to themselves to develop the desire to meditate regularly, lest they come to resemble the three first kinds of soil in the parable of the sower.5 But a method is only a guide; the important thing is to advance, with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of prayer: Christ Jesus.

- 2708 Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him."

Christian meditation - Lectio Divina

Formal Christian meditation began with the early Christian monastic practice of reading the Bible slowly. Monks would carefully consider the deeper meaning of each verse as they read it. This slow and thoughtful reading of Scripture, and the ensuing pondering of its meaning, was their meditation. This spiritual practice is called "divine reading" or "sacred reading", or lectio divina.

Sometimes the monks found themselves spontaneously praying as a result of their meditation on Scripture, and their prayer would in turn lead on to a simple, loving focus on God. This wordless love for God they called contemplation.

The progression from Bible reading, to meditation, to prayer, to loving regard for God, was first formally described by Guigo II, a Carthusian monk and prior of Grande Chartreuse in the 12th century. Guigo named the four steps of this "ladder" of prayer with the Latin terms lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio.

Christian meditation -  The Cloud of Unknowing (14th century)

The Cloud of Unknowing, an anonymous treatise written in England in the 14th century, is a concise and practical primer on contemplative prayer. The author's premise is that, to experience God, one must strive for a "darkness about your mind, or as it were, a cloud of unknowing." To do this, one must fix one's heart on God, forgetting all else.[citation needed]

Christian meditation -  St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556)

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola contain numerous meditative exercises. For example, the practitioner is encouraged to visualize and meditate upon scenes from the life of Christ. His Contemplation to Attain Love (of God), is, in a sense, a method that combines intellectual meditation and more affective (emotional) contemplation.

Christian meditation - St. Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)

St. Teresa of Avila practiced contemplative prayer for periods of one hour at a time, twice a day. In her Life she recounts that she found this very difficult for the first several years. She had no one to teach her, and taught herself from the instructions given in a book, The Third Spiritual Alphabet by Francisco de Osuna. Her starting point was the practice of "recollection". Recollection means an effort of the will to keep the senses and the intellect in check and not allow them to stray. One restricts the attention to a single subject, principally the love of God. "It is called recollection because the soul collects together all the faculties and enters within itself to be with God", she says in The way of perfection. Because St Teresa found it difficult to concentrate, she would use devices such as short readings from an inspiring book, a scene of natural beauty or a religious statue or picture to remind her of her intended focus. In due course, the mind becomes effortlessly still. The initial practice St Teresa viewed as the voluntary effort of the individual, while the subsequent stillness and joy she saw as gifts from God. Her best-known book on meditation and prayer is The Interior Castle.

Christian meditation - Madame Guyon (1648–1717)

Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon (1648-1717) was a French mystic and writer. As a 19-year-old, she was greatly influenced by an encounter with a Franciscan priest who had just emerged from a five-year retreat. She asked him why he was having such difficulties with prayer, and he replied: "It is, Madame, because you seek without what you have within. Accustom yourself to seek God in your heart, and there you will find Him". In her mid-thirties, Madame Guyon wrote her Moyen court et très facile de faire oraison, which in English is titled A short and very easy method of prayer[1]. (Note that the book Experiencing the depths of Jesus Christ, which poses as a translation, is in fact an interpretive revision.)

The mysticism of Madame Guyon is generally considered a form of quietism, which is very strongly discouraged, even to the point of being considered heresy, by the Roman Catholic Church.

Christian meditation - The 20th Century

Two contemporary forms of Christian meditation emerged during the twentieth century.

- Fr. John Main, O.S.B. (1926–1982) was a Benedictine monk and priest who presented a way of Christian meditation which utilizes the practice of a prayer-phrase or mantra.[1] In his method, one recites a prayer-phrase as a means of placing everything aside. In this way, instead of talking to God, one is just being with God, allowing God’s presence to fill his heart, thus transforming his inner being. Fr. Main's teachings drew on parallels he saw between the spiritual practice taught by Desert Father John Cassian and the meditative practice he had been taught by the Swami Satyananda in Kuala Lumpur.[2] His work is continued by Fr. Laurence Freeman, O.S.B.

- Fr. William Meninger, O.C.S.O., Fr. Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., and Fr. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O., were the leading proponents of the Centering Prayer method. Here a sacred word is used to express only the intention to be in God's presence, placing everything else aside. As with Fr. Main's method, the goal is for one to just be with God, allowing God’s presence and action to fill his inner being.

- The forms of prayer described above are part of the apophatic tradition and are quite distinct from, for example, the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

- Richard J. Foster, an Evangelical Quaker, supports Christian meditation or contemplative prayer in Chapter 2 of his work Celebration of Discipline.

Meditation styles: Jewish meditation, Meditation in Kabbalah, Meditation in Hasidism

Jewish meditation includes the teachings of Abraham ben Maimonides. In Kabbalah of Abraham Abulafia, Isaac the Blind, Azriel of Gerona, Moses Cordovero, Yosef Karo and Isaac Luria. In Hasidism of the Baal Shem Tov, Schneur Zalman of Liadi and Nachman of Breslov. In the Mussar Movement of Israel Salanter and Simcha Zissel Ziv.

Jewish meditation refers to several traditional practices of contemplation, ranging from visualization and intuitive methods, or forms of emotional insight in communitive prayer, to intellectual analysis of philosophical and mystical concepts. It often accompanies unstructured, personal Jewish prayer that can allow isolated contemplation, or sometimes the instituted Jewish services. Its elevated psychological insights can give birth to dveikus (cleaving to God), particularly in Jewish mysticism.

Jewish Meditation in Kabbalah

The contemporary teacher of Kabbalah and Hasidic thought, Yitzchak Ginsburgh, describes the historical evoltion of Kabbalah as the union of "Wisdom" and "Prophecy":
Historical Kabbalistic practice focused on Kavanot (meditations) of Divine names. Angels elevated or blocked prayers in the ascending Worlds. The names were seen as keys to gates in Heaven for elevated people, though simple tears of others could also open gates

The numerical value of the word Kabbalah ("Received") in Hebrew is 137...and is the value of the sum of two very important words that relate to Kabbalah: Chochmah ("Wisdom") equals 73 and Nevuah ("Prophecy") equals 64. Kabbalah can therefore be understood as the union (or "marriage") of wisdom and prophecy. Historically, Kabbalah developed out of the prophetic tradition that existed in Judaism up to the Second Temple period (beginning in the 4th century BCE). Though the prophetic spirit that had dwelt in the prophets continued to "hover above" (Sovev) the Jewish people, it was no longer manifest directly. Instead, the spirit of wisdom manifested the Divine in the form of the Oral Torah (the oral tradition), the body of Rabbinic knowledge that began developing in the second Temple period and continues to this day. The meeting of wisdom (the mind, intellect) and prophecy (the spirit which still remains) and their union is what produces and defines the essence of Kabbalah.

In the Kabbalistic conceptual scheme, "wisdom" corresponds to the sefirah of wisdom, otherwise known as the "Father" principle (Partsuf of Abba) and "prophecy" corresponds to the sefirah of understanding or the "Mother" principle (Parsuf of Ima). Wisdom and understanding are described in the Zohar as "two companions that never part". Thus, Kabbalah represents the union of wisdom and prophecy in the collective Jewish soul; whenever we study Kabbalah, the inner wisdom of the Torah, we reveal this union. It is important to clarify that Kabbalah is not a separate discipline from the traditional study of the Torah, it is rather the Torah’s inner soul (nishmata de’orayta, in the language of the Zohar and the Arizal). Oftentimes a union of two things is represented in Kabbalah as an acronym composed of their initial letters. In this case, "wisdom" in Hebrew starts with the letter chet; "prophecy" begins with the letter nun; so their acronym spells the Hebrew word "chen", which means "grace", in the sense of beauty. Grace in particular refers to symmetric beauty, i.e., the type of beauty that we perceive in symmetry. This observation ties in with the fact that the inner wisdom of the Torah, Kabbalah is referred to as "Chochmat ha’Chen", which we would literally translate as the wisdom of chen. Chen here is an acronym for another two words: "Concealed Wisdom". But, following our analysis here, Kabbalah is called chen because it is the union of wisdom and prophecy...

Jewish Meditation in Kabbalah - Abraham Abulafia

Abraham Abulafia (1240-1291), the founder of the school of "Prophetic Kabbalah", wrote meditation manuals using meditation on Hebrew letters and words to achieve ecstatic states. His work is surrounded in controversy because of the edict against him by the Rashba (R. Shlomo Ben Aderet), a contemporary leading scholar. However according to Aryeh Kaplan, the Abulafian system of meditations forms an important part of the work of Rabbi Hayim Vital, and in turn his master the Ari, Rabbi Isaac Luria[citation needed]. See Abraham Abulafia for further discussion of his meditative methods.

Jewish Meditation in Kabbalah - Moshe Cordovero

Rabbi Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (1522-1570 CE), central historical Kabbalist in Safed, taught that when meditating, one does not focus on the Sefirot (Divine emanations) per se, but rather on the light from the Infinite ("Atzmut"-essence of God) contained within the emanations. Keeping in mind that all reaches up to the Infinite, his prayer is "to Him, not to His attributes." Proper meditation focuses upon how the Godhead acts through specific sefirot. In meditation on the essential Hebrew name of God, represented by the four letter Tetragrammaton, this corresponds to meditating on the Hebrew vowels which are seen as reflecting the light from the Infinite-Atzmut.

Meditation in Hasidism - The Baal Shem Tov and popular mysticism

Hasidic prayer left aside previous focus on Kabbalistic Kavanot (mental visualisation) of Divine names, in favour of innate dveikut (cleaving to God) of the soul

The Baal Shem Tov took the Talmudic phrase that "God desires the heart" and made it central to his love of the simple sincerity of the common folk. Advocating joy in the omnipresent Divine immanence, he sought to encourage the disenfranchised populance in their Jewish life. While he taught his close initiates the inner meaning of his teachings, his graspable presentation of Jewish mysticism to the unlearned, encouraged their emotional Dveikus (mystical fervour), especially through attachment to the Hasidic figure of the Tzaddik. In the presence of the Tzaddik, the followers could gain inspiration and attachment to God. In general, the Baal Shem Tov and the Hasidic Masters left aside the previous Kabbalistic meditation on Divine Names and their visualisation, in favour of a more personal, inner mysticism.
[edit] Chabad Hasidism: Hisbonenus - Chochma, Binah, and Daat
Habad differed from mainstream Hasidism in its preparation for prayer by intellectual contemplation of Hasidic philosophy. Nonetheless, an aim of this is to reveal simplicity of soul, which all possess. The Rebbes of Habad were envious of the sincerity of the simple folk

Rabbi Dov Ber of Lubavitch, the "Mitler Rebbe," the second leader of the Chabad Dynasty wrote several works explaining the Chabad approach. In his works, he explains that the Hebrew word for meditation is hisbonenus (alternatively transliterated as hitbonenut). The word "hisbonenut" derives from the Hebrew word Binah (lit. understanding) and refers to the process of understanding through analytical study. While the word hisbonenut can be applied to analytical study of any topic, it is generally used to refer to study of the Torah, and particularly in this context, the explanations of Kabbalah in Chabad Hasidic philosophy, in order to achieve a greater understanding and appreciation of God.

In the Chabad presentation, every intellectual process must incorporate three faculties: Chochma, Binah, and Daat. Chochma (lit. wisdom) is the mind's ability to come up with a new insight into a concept that one did not know before. Binah (lit. understanding) is the mind's ability to take a new insight (from Chochma), analyze all of its implications and simplify the concept so it is understood well. Daat (lit. knowledge), the third stage, is the mind's ability to focus and hold its attention on the Chochma and the Binah.

The term Hisbonenut represents an important point of the Chabad method: Chabad Hasidic philosophy rejects the notion that any new insight can come from mere concentration. Chabad philosophy explains that while "Daat" is a necessary component of cognition, it is like an empty vessel without the learning and analysis and study that comes through the faculty of Binah. Just as a scientist's new insight or discovery (Chochma) always results from prior in-depth study and analysis of his topic (Binah), likewise, to gain any insight in G-dliness can only come through in-depth study of the explanations of Kabbalah and Chassidic philosophy.

Chassidic masters say that enlightenment is commensurate with one's understanding of the Torah and specifically the explanations of Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy. They warn that prolonged concentration devoid of intellectual content can lead to sensory depravation, hallucinations, and even insanity which all can be tragically mistaken for "spiritual enlightenment".

However, a contemporary translation of the word hisbonenut into popular English would not be "meditation". "Meditation" refers to the mind's ability to concentrate (Daat), which in Hebrew is called Haamokat HaDaat. Hisbonenut, which, as explained above, refers to the process of analysis (Binah) is more properly translated as "in-depth analytical study".

Chabad accepts and endorses the writings of Kabbalists such as Moshe Cordevero and Haim Vital and their works are quoted at length in the Hasidic texts. However, the Hasidic masters say that their methods are easily misunderstood without a proper foundation in Hasidic philosophy.

The Mitler Rebbe emphasizes that hallucinations that come from a mind devoid of intellectual content are the product of the brain's Koach HaDimyon (lit. power of imagination), which is the brains lowest faculty. Even a child is capable of higher forms of thought than the Koach HaDimyon. So such imaginations should never be confused with the flash intuitive insight known as Chochma which can only be achieved through in-depth study of logical explanations of Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy.

Meditation in Hasidism - Breslav Hasidism: Hisbodedus and communitative prayer
Breslov Hasidim spend time in secluded communication of their heart to God. In Jewish communities they often seek this solitude in Nature at night

Hisbodedus (alternatively transliterated as "hitbodedut", from the root "boded" meaning "self-seclusion") refers to an unstructured, spontaneous and individualized form of prayer and meditation taught by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. The goal of hitbodedut is to establish a close, personal relationship with God and a clearer understanding of one's personal motives and goals. See Hisbodedus for the words of Rabbi Nachman on this method.

Meditation in the Musar Movement

The Mussar Movement, founded by Rabbi Israel Salanter in the middle of the nineteenth-century, encouraged meditative practices of introspection and visualization that could help to improve moral character. Many of these techniques were described in the writings of Salanter's closest disciple, Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv.