Leonardo Ulian, from Gorizia, Italy, is responsible for this intricate Circuit Mandala. The OCD portion of my brain really appreciates the symmetry he achieved with this piece. I get the impression that he started with the middle microchip and just worked his way outward. This thing is about 4ft x 4ft, so it must have taken him quite some time. This thing really is a masterpiece… The final product appears reminiscent of a spider web. buy vilitra online https://nouvita.co.uk/wp-content/languages/en/vilitra.html no prescription
It’d really be fantastic if the circuit was functional…
…And I guess Leonardo Ulian addresses that here:
“With the Technological Mandala series I combined the suggestive and spiritual meaning of the Indian Mandalas with something that has been perceived as far from that sphere of influence, technology. The search of perfection as necessity within the electronics industry has stimulated my curiosity to produce this series of pieces in order to evocate that specific need. I wanted to show what has been hidden from the eyes of the consumer, representing electronic circuits as extraordinary objects where the perfection of the design can becomes almost something ethereal. buy vigora online https://nouvita.co.uk/wp-content/languages/en/vigora.html no prescription
The shapes and colors of the single components intrigued me for pure aesthetic reasons with the consequent loss of the actual functionality of the component itself. My circuits/ Mandalas do not activate lights or do other complicated function, but they simply function as stimulus to produce simple questions like: what will happen if a real electric current flows through the Circuit/Mandala?”
Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure nothing good would come out of this circuit. However, it would be a nice artistic progression for Ulian to design an aesthetically beautiful circuit that also functions. buy top avana online https://nouvita.co.uk/wp-content/languages/en/top-avana.html no prescription
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), commonly known as Electroshock Therapy, has certainly gotten a bad rap. When most people imagine this treatment, they conjure up images of some sadistic psychiatrist laughing as he tortures his helpless patients. There are many misconceived notions about ECT, so I thought I would let you all know a bit about its history and why, in reality, it’s a good thing (despite the harrowing photo above).
The Origin of Electroconvulsive Therapy
ECT dates back pretty much to the dawn of recorded history. Before we found biological reasons for mental illness, humans believed that patients who suffered from schizophrenia and other illnesses were possessed by evil spirits. Hippocrates and his colleagues even spent time searching for plants that could induce seizures in hopes of “shaking the evil spirits from the body.” Doctors attempted many different methods to induce seizures such as fever, insulin, and camphor, before finally settling on electricity.
Vintage Electroconvulsive Device
In the 1930’s, Italian scientists, Ugo Cerletti and Lucio Bini noticed that if their patients who suffered from epilepsy had a series of seizures, then subsequently, their depression would be temporarily cured. After testing electric shock on pigs, they moved on to human subjects with excellent results. ECT gained tremendous popularity throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s before suffering from negative publicity.
So why so much negativity? Throughout the 60’s and 70’s, ECT was certainly overused. We didn’t have all of the pharmacological treatments that we do today, so we depended entirely too much on ECT as a treatment for all types of mental illness. Many physicians were accused of using ECT as punishment for poor behavior. Furthermore, physicians didn’t really use the muscle relaxants that we have today. During the seizures, patients would convulse their bodies violently, often resulting in bodily harm, especially in the older patients.
Back to the Basics
So What Exactly is ECT? A psychiatric treatment in which a generalized central nervous system seizure is induced by means of electric current.
Administration: Treatments are usually given 3x a week — on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for about a month. Electroconvulsive shock is applied to one or both cerebral hemispheres to induce a seizure. Variables include stimulus pattern, amplitude, and duration. The goal is to produce a therapeutic generalized seizure 30–60 s in duration. Electrical stimuli are usually administered until a therapeutic seizure is induced. A good therapeutic effect is generally not achieved until a total of 400–700 seizure seconds have been induced.
Anesthesia: General anesthesia – usually Propofol (+ Lidocaine for the burn of the injection). And a Neuromuscular blocking agent – succinylcholine, which helps relax all of the muscles from convulsion for safety.
Does it Really Work? Yes! Not only does it work, but it is actually the MOST EFFECTIVE treatment of severe depression with an efficacy of ~ 70-85%. Comparative controlled studies of ECT and pharmacotherapy show that it is more effective. This means that it works more often then Prozac, Zoloft etc… This is only a short term treatment, however, and maintenance treatments must be used to continue the beneficial effects.
Contraindications: There are no absolute contraindications to the use of ECT. It can even be used in pregnancy! – 2 reviews found a risk of about 5-10% for complications in pregnancy => should only be used when depression is recalcitrant to intensive pharmacotherapy.
Side Effects: The most common are memory disturbance and headache. Unilateral ECT is associated with less memory loss. Most memory faculties return to full capacity within several weeks. Confusion often lasting from minutes to hours is common, but reversible.
And if you would like to see a great TED talk on ECT, watch below, it’s quite moving:
Surgeon and author Sherwin Nuland discusses the development of electroshock therapy as a cure for severe, life-threatening depression — including his own. It’s a moving and heartfelt talk about relief, redemption and second chances.
Well, hopefully you enjoyed this information a bit. Electroshock for the win.
-RSB
References:
CURRENT Diagnosis & Treatment: Psychiatry > Section II. Psychiatric Disorders in Adults >
Chapter 18. Mood Disorders. Peter T. Loosen, MD, PhD, Richard C. Shelton, MD
Behavioral Medicine: A Guide for Clinical Practice > Section IV. Mental & Behavioral Disorders >
Chapter 22. Depression. Steven A. Cole, MD, John F. Christensen, PhD, Mary Raju Cole, RN, MS, APRN, BC, Henry Cohen, MS, Pharm D, FCCM, & Mitchell D. Feldman, MD, MPhil
Clinical Anesthesiology > Section IV. Physiology, Pathophysiology, & Anesthetic Management >Chapter 27. Anesthesia for Patients with Neurologic & Psychiatric Diseases. Steven A. Cole, MD, John F. Christensen, PhD, Mary Raju Cole, RN, MS, APRN, BC, Henry Cohen, MS, Pharm D, FCCM, & Mitchell D. Feldman, MD, MPhil
Baldovino Barani’s photography has acquired somewhat of a cult status in recent years. His often unsettling and fabulist allegories have interpreted the ever changing metamorphosis of the fashion seasons and showcased the work of this industry’s most talented designers. buy premarin online https://alvitacare.com/wp-content/languages/en/premarin.html no prescription
Always striving to impose character driven stories, Baldovino Barani’s heroines have come to stand for a new type of editorial femininity: a seamless assimilation between orphic narrative and pure sartorial ecstasy.
Yo Banana Boy – 2007 Oil on stainless steel, 66 x 50 cm
Valerio Carrubba is an Italian artist, born Sicily in 1975, and now living and working in Milan. His work is defined by vibrant colors and hyper-realistic imagery that has a way of jumping off the canvas at you. To create this effect, he uses high quality oil paints and ultra thin synthetic brushes on stainless steel canvases that are prepared by spraying two layers of a transparent primer for metals and two layers of white acrylic pigment before painting. buy tadalis sx online https://nouvita.co.uk/wp-content/languages/en/tadalis-sx.html no prescription
Degas Is Aged – 2008 Oil on stainless steel, 60 x 52.6 cm
Delia Failed – 2006 Oil on stainless steel, 60 x 52.6 cm
Nina Ricci Ran In – 2006 Oil on stainless steel, 60 x 52.6 cm
Bird Rib – 2007 Oil on stainless steel, 52 x 70 cm
From his gallery’s website:
What is unusual about Valerio Carrubba’s process is his choice to paint the same picture twice, so that the superimposition of the same figure creates a slight mismatch in lines and forms. This repeated action transforms the painting into an automatic gesture, that at one and the same time, emphasizes and repudiates the subject. buy cenforce online https://nouvita.co.uk/wp-content/languages/en/cenforce.html no prescription
If you have a keen eye, you may have noticed that all of the titles are actually palindromes (as is the title of this post!), words or phrases that can be read forwards or backwards without a change in meaning. Carrubba’s painting technique could be described as palindromic as well – he implements a doubling of each brushstroke to take away any hint of texture, which I think gives his paintings a certain stoicism.
And while I have always been a big fan of anatomical drawings (likely the reason I was drawn to his work), Carrubba was not actually very interested in the anatomy itself. As noted in one interview with Carrubba:
My approach to painting is totally conceptual. My work is to continually develop the realisation of processes from which pictures are derived. Putting the idea of form, subject and content in crisis, they arrive at the loss of the image and its meaning… …I am not interested in anatomy itself, it is just a means. I try to emphasise this ambiguity. buy sildenafil citrate dapoxetine online https://nouvita.co.uk/wp-content/languages/en/sildenafil-citrate-dapoxetine.html no prescription
Needless to say, Carrubba must have studied his anatomy quite closely to produce such accurate portrayals of the human body.