Cultivating the Senses and Giving in to the Sacred: Notes on Body and Experience among Pentecostal Women in Salvador,Brazil

The article deals with the religious experience of poor Pentecostal women from the city of Salvador, Northeast Brazil. In centering the discussion of this experience on bodily engagement in place—and on the body's attunement to place—this article seeks to capture the social and existential dimensions of the sensibilities which women develop as members of the religious community and thus to address the question of how the sense experiences, which are awakened and cultivated in this religious setting, help shape embodied forms of attention to oneself, to others, and to context. We contend that concrete embodied experience of divine power fostered in ritual favors training attention to context in search of signs of divine presence and helps give shape to a disposition which extends, to other people and places, the power that flows from Pentecostal women's bodies.     

Ressentiment and power: On Reginster's The Will to Nothingness

A critical discussion of Bernard Reginster's book The Will to Nothingness. The contribution engages with Reginster's interpretation of Nietzschean ressentiment, arguing that it is an essentially interpersonal attitude in two different senses. It is a response to a social situation of structural deprivation, and it involves an element of antagonism toward those who are better off within this social structure. The contribution then discusses Reginster's claim that modern morality restores the sense of power of the masses by adjusting the goals that they aim to pursue. I argue that this interesting interpretation does not do full justice to the themes of hostility or hatred that permeate the Genealogy of Morals, extending from Nietzsche's discussion of the slave revolt to his treatments of the bad conscience and of ascetic ideals.     

Angiotensin-(1-7)/Mas axis integrity is required for the expression of object recognition memory

It has been shown that the brain has its own intrinsic renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and angiotensin-(1-7) (Ang-(1-7)) is particularly interesting, because it appears to counterbalance most of the Ang II effects. Ang-(1-7) exerts its biological function through activation of the G-protein-coupled receptor Mas. Interestingly, hippocampus is one of the regions with higher expression of Mas. However, the role of Ang-(1-7)/Mas axis in hippocampus-dependent memories is still poorly understood. Here we demonstrated that Mas ablation, as well as the blockade of Mas in the CA1-hippocampus, impaired object recognition memory (ORM). We also demonstrated that the blockade of Ang II receptors AT1, but not AT2, recovers ORM impairment of Mas-deficient mice. Considering that high concentrations of Ang-(1-7) may activate AT1 receptors, nonspecifically, we evaluate the levels of Ang-(1-7) and its main precursors Ang I and Ang II in the hippocampus of Mas-deficient mice. The Ang I and Ang II levels are unaltered in the whole hipocampus of MasKo. However, Ang-(1-7) concentration is increased in the whole hippocampus of MasKo mice, as well as in the CA1 area. Taken together, our findings suggest that the functionality of the Ang-(1-7)/Mas axis is essential for normal ORM processing.     

Time-dependent effects of treadmill exercise on aversive memory and cyclooxygenase pathway function

Exercise induces brain function adaptations and improves learning and memory; however the time window of exercise effects has been poorly investigated. Studies demonstrate an important role for cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) pathway function in the mechanisms underlying memory formation. The aim of present work was to investigate the effects of treadmill exercise on aversive memory and COX-2, PGE(2) and E-prostanoid receptors contents in the rat hippocampus at different time points after exercise has ended. Adult male Wistar rats were assigned to non-exercised (sedentary) and exercised (running daily for 20min, for 2weeks) groups. The inhibitory avoidance task was used to assess aversive memory and the COX-2, PGE(2) and E-prostanoid receptors (EP1, EP2, EP3 and EP4) levels were determined 1h, 18h, 3days or 7days after the last training session of treadmill exercise. The step down latency in the inhibitory avoidance, COX-2 and EP4 receptors levels were acutely increased by exercise, with a significant positive correlation between aversive memory performance and COX-2 levels. Increased EP2 content decreased PGE(2) levels were observed 7days after the last running session. The treadmill exercise protocol facilitates inhibitory avoidance memory and induces time-dependent changes on COX-2 pathways function (COX-2, PGE(2) and EP receptors).     

Salivary concentrations of cortisol and testosterone and prediction of performance in a professional triathlon competition

The aim of this study was to examine salivary cortisol and testosterone concentrations in professional male athletes during a short triathlon competition using non-invasive methods, and to determine whether these hormone concentrations could be accurate predictors of performance. Eight adult male athletes (age, mean ± SEM: 27.8 ± 3.2 years; body mass index: 21.66 ± 0.42) in a professional triathlon team volunteered to participate in this study. Saliva samples were taken on the competition day and 7 days after competition on a rest day. The performance of the athletes was assessed by their rank order in the competition. Salivary cortisol concentrations were greater on the competition day than on the rest day in the early morning, immediately after waking up, 30 min later, immediately before the start of the competition, and later in the evening. Testosterone concentrations were greater on the competition day in the morning and in the evening. The diurnal rhythm of both cortisol and testosterone concentrations was maintained on both days and the testosterone/cortisol ratio (T/C ratio) was similar between days. The performance of the athletes was positively correlated with salivary cortisol concentration in the early morning of the competition day, but was not correlated with testosterone concentrations at any of the time points. In conclusion, early morning salivary cortisol concentration, but not T/C ratio, could be used to predict performance in athletes during a professional triathlon competition.     

The Interplay Among Levels of Personality: The Mediator Effect of Personal Projects Between the Big Five and Subjective Well-Being

Comprehensive models of personality aspire to integrate the several aspects related to the study of personality in a coherent whole. One of the great research challenges in this field is to understand if and how different levels of personality analysis interrelate to promote human well-being. The aim of the present study is to explore the mediator effect of personal projects’ efficacy on the relationship between Big Five and subjective well-being (SWB) components. We conducted a cross-sectional study in which a battery of self-report questionnaires was used to assess personality and SWB in 396 teachers. Path analysis results indicated that personal projects’ efficacy fully mediated the effects of openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness on life satisfaction and on negative affect. The effects of neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness on positive affect were direct but also indirect, partially mediated by personal projects’ efficacy. Neuroticism had a direct and an indirect effect through a decreased personal projects’ efficacy on the three components of SWB. Extraversion only directly predicted increased positive affect. These findings corroborate the conceptualization that these two types of personality analysis units (Big Five and personal projects) have their own direct, unique and irreducible effect on life satisfaction, positive affect and negative affect. However, their impact on SWB components seems to be also explained through their effect upon personal projects’ efficacy.     

Emotional expression and vocabulary learning in adults and children

A great deal of what we know about the world has not been learned via first-hand observation but thanks to others' testimony. A crucial issue is to know which kind of cues people use to evaluate information provided by others. In this context, recent studies in adults and children underline that informants' facial expressions could play an essential role. To test the importance of the other's emotions in vocabulary learning, we used two avatars expressing happiness, anger or neutral emotions when proposing different verbal labels for an unknown object. Experiment 1 revealed that adult participants were significantly more likely than chance to choose the label suggested by the avatar displaying a happy face over the label suggested by the avatar displaying an angry face. Experiment 2 extended these results by showing that both adults and children as young as 3 years old showed this effect. These data suggest that decision making concerning newly acquired information depends on informant's expressions of emotions, a finding that is consistent with the idea that behavioural intents have facial signatures that can be used to detect another's intention to cooperate.     

Heartless Bimbo or Subversive Role Model?: A Narrative (Self) Critical Reading of the Character of Esther

Abstract :  She has been described as weak, beautiful but brainless, and "the scab undermining the impact of a striking worker's sacrifice." This article engages such opinions, but takes a different view of the character of Esther. It is a narrative critical reading that is nuanced with 'realistic empathy', from the perspective of someone whose life story has much in common with Esther's tale. Given away as a child by my biological parents in a society that preferred boys, like Esther, I was adopted by a single parent and raised in a strongly patriarchal society. I am now an Asian immigrant in New Zealand, a predominantly Western society, while Esther was a diasporic Jew in Persia. ¹