WASHINGTON (AP) ? Four major universities are joining theater companies in Boston, Baltimore, Washington and Atlanta to commission new plays, music and dance compositions about the Civil War and its lasting legacy.
The National Civil War Project being announced Thursday will involve programming over the next two years to mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.
Harvard University will partner with the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass.; The University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center will join CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore; George Washington University is working with Arena Stage in Washington, and Atlanta's Alliance Theatre will join Emory University.
The project will include a new theatrical production of U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey's Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Native Guard." It recounts a black Civil War regiment assigned to guard white Confederate soldiers.
In his play The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare wrote, ?But love is blind, and lovers cannot see / The pretty follies that themselves commit? (2.6.36-37).
Clearly, people have been perceiving love as a force incapable of perceiving the flaws of others for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Even a verse in the Bible states that ?[love] keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth? (1 Corinthians 13:5-6).
But here lies the conundrum: how can love both ?rejoice in the truth? and ?keep no record of wrongs?? Wouldn?t ignoring the wrongdoings of love be an untruthful perception of it?
And yet this is the theory behind the love-is-blind bias.
The love-is-blind bias describes the tendency to perceive those we love (particularly those we love romantically) in an extra-positive, but also less realistic, light. These so-called ?positive illusions? were first specifically analyzed by psychologists Shelley Taylor and Johnathon Brown in 1988. They concluded that an individual?s blindness to another person?s flaws is actually correlated with greater psychological well-being of that individual.
Since this discovery, many researchers have corroborated the beneficial effects of positive illusions in romantic relationships. However, as this topic unfolded, research has also questioned the flip side of love: what happens after disillusionment? After all, positive illusions can only take you so far.
Although positive illusions, or experiences of the ?love-is-blind bias,? can be correlated with level of satisfaction in the relationship, Swami et al. (2009) discovered a negative relationship between the degree of blind love and relationship length. This suggests that as a relationship progresses and an individual gets to know her or his partner better (or possibly with decreasing satisfaction derived from the relationship), the love-is-blind bias may decrease in strength.
But if this glowing perspective decreases as time passes, wouldn?t the perceived quality of the relationship also decline?
After the positive illusions have diminished, one might start to look for better alternatives to the person they once thought was ?perfect.? At this point, the satisfaction and commitment to the relationship would also be compromised and the relationship might be worse off than if those positive illusions had never existed in the first place.
In a more recent study, Swami and his colleagues discovered a positive correlational relationship between positive illusions in relationships and certain types of jealousy, especially anxious jealousy (2012). Anxious jealousy refers to a process where an individual ruminates about the possibility of a mate?s infidelity, and experiences feelings of anxiety, suspicion, worry, and distrust (Barelds & Dijkstra, 2006). After all, if you perceive your partner as perfect, wouldn?t you be concerned that others perceive him this way as well?
But what about even more extreme cases of disillusionment? What happens after Adam betrays Eve?
In cases of relationship betrayal, commitment to the relationship, rather than positive illusions of the other, tends to be the strongest motivation for forgiveness and continuing the relationship (Finkel et al., 2002). After all, without true commitment to each other, a relationship based on positive illusions alone is merely a fatuous love and cannot be sustained in the long term.
This situation certainly holds true for many celebrity relationships, which are typically short-lived and end in some sort of grand catastrophe such as infidelity. Since celebrities are the ultimate icons of positive illusions, it?s easy to understand how a relationship could be built on false impressions and quickly become unsustainable.
In general, it seems that positive illusions might be beneficial during the ?honeymoon? phase of the relationship. But after that stage is over, acceptance of the other?s flaws, not just overlooking them, is truly what will sustain a healthy and prosperous relationship.
?
References
Barelds, D. P. H., & Dijkstra, P. (2006). Reactive, Anxious and Possessive Forms of Jealousy and Their Relation to Relationship Quality Among Heterosexuals and Homosexuals. Journal of Homosexuality, 51(3), 183-198. doi: 10.1300/J082v51n03_09
Swami, V., Inamdar, S., Steiger, S., Nader, I. W., Pietschnig, J., Tran, U. S., & Voracek, M. (2012). A dark side of positive illusions? Associations between the love-is-blind bias and the experience of jealousy. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(6), 796-800. dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.06.004
Swami, V., Stieger, S., Haubner, T., Voracek, M., & Furnham, A. (2009). Evaluating the physical attractiveness of oneself and one?s romantic partner: Individual and relationship correlates of the love-is-blind bias. Journal Of Individual Differences, 30(1), 35-43. doi:10.1027/1614-0001.30.1.35
Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 103(2), 193-210. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.103.2.193
????Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 27 Feb 2013 ????Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.
APA Reference Teeple-Elder, A. (2013). Is ?Blind Love? Too Much of a Good Thing?. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 27, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/02/27/is-blind-love-too-much-of-a-good-thing/
Apple has announced that it's to settle a class action lawsuit about in-app purchases—that could have involved more than 23 million App Store users!—by bunging the affected parties free iTune credit. More »
Blood vessels 'sniff' gut microbes to regulate blood pressurePublic release date: 26-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Catherine Kolf ckolf@jhmi.edu 443-287-2251 Johns Hopkins Medicine
Researchers at The Johns Hopkins University and Yale University have discovered that a specialized receptor, normally found in the nose, is also in blood vessels throughout the body, sensing small molecules created by microbes that line mammalian intestines, and responding to these molecules by increasing blood pressure. The finding suggests that gut bacteria are an integral part of the body's complex system for maintaining a stable blood pressure.
A description of the research, conducted in mice and test tubes, appeared online Feb. 11 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The contribution that gut microbes apparently make to blood pressure regulation and human health is a surprise," says Jennifer Pluznick, Ph.D., assistant professor of physiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "There is still much to learn about this mechanism, but we now know some of the players and how they interact," she adds.
Pluznick says that several years ago, thanks to a "happy coincidence," she found in the kidney some of the same odor-sensing proteins that give the nose its powers. Focusing on one of those proteins, olfactory receptor 78 (Olfr78), her team specifically located it in the major branches of the kidney's artery and in the smaller arterioles that lead into the kidney's filtering structures. Olfr78 also turned up in the walls of small blood vessels throughout the body, she says, particularly in the heart, diaphragm, skeletal muscle and skin.
To figure out which molecules bind and activate Olfr78, the scientists programmed cells to have Olfr78 protein receptors on their surface. They also gave these same cells the ability to start a light-producing chemical reaction whenever Olfr78 is activated. By adding different cocktails of molecules to the cells and measuring the light the cells produced, they homed in on a single mixture that activated Olfr78. They then tested each component in that mix and found that only acetic acid (a.k.a. vinegar) bound Olfr78 and caused the reaction.
Acetic acid and its alter ego, acetate, are part of a group of molecules known as short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). When the team tested other molecules in this group, they found that propionate, which is similar to acetate, also binds Olfr78. In the body of mammals, including humans, SCFAs are made when zillions of bacteria lining the gut digest starch and cellulose from plant-based foods. The SCFAs are absorbed by the intestines into the blood stream, where they can interact with Olfr78.
To pinpoint the effect of Olfr78, the scientists gave SCFAs to mice missing the Olfr78 gene and found that the rodents' blood pressure decreased, suggesting that SCFAs normally induce Olfr78 to elevate blood pressure. However, when they gave SCFAs to normal mice with intact Olfr78, they did not see the expected increase in blood pressure, but rather a decrease, though it was less pronounced than before.
To test the effect of reducing the SCFAs available to Olfr78, the team gave mice a three-week course of antibiotics to wipe out the gut microbes responsible for SCFA production. In this case, normal mice showed very little change in blood pressure, but mice without Olfr78 experienced an increase in blood pressure, suggesting that there were other factors involved in the Olfr78/SCFA/blood pressure relationship.
The mystery was solved, Pluznick says, when the team examined mice lacking Gpr41, a non-smell-related protein receptor located in blood vessel walls that also binds SCFAs. When SCFAs bind to Gpr41, blood pressure is decreased. The researchers eventually discovered that Olfr78 and Gpr41 both are activated by SCFAs, but with contradictory effects. The negative effect of Gpr41 is counterbalanced by the positive effect of Olfr78, but Gpr41's effect is stronger, so an increase in SCFAs produces an overall decrease in blood pressure.
"We don't have the full story yet," says Pluznick. "There are many players involved in the maintenance of stable levels of blood pressure, and these are just a few of them. We don't know why it would be beneficial for blood pressure to decrease after eating or why gut microbes would play a part in signaling that change. But our work opens the door for exploring the effects of antibiotic treatments, probiotics and other dietary changes on blood pressure levels in mice, and perhaps eventually people."
###
Johns Hopkins Medicine
Media Relations and Public Affairs
Other authors of the report include Ryan Protzko of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Jinah Han, La-Xiang Wan, Tong Wang, Anne Eichmann and Michael Caplan of the Yale University School of Medicine; Haykanush Gevorgyan, Arnold Sipos and Janos Peti-Peterdi of the University of Southern California; and others from the College de France, Columbia University, the Washington University School of Medicine and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK081610, DK64324, DK17433) and the Leducq Foundation.
On the Web:
Link to article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1215927110
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Blood vessels 'sniff' gut microbes to regulate blood pressurePublic release date: 26-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Catherine Kolf ckolf@jhmi.edu 443-287-2251 Johns Hopkins Medicine
Researchers at The Johns Hopkins University and Yale University have discovered that a specialized receptor, normally found in the nose, is also in blood vessels throughout the body, sensing small molecules created by microbes that line mammalian intestines, and responding to these molecules by increasing blood pressure. The finding suggests that gut bacteria are an integral part of the body's complex system for maintaining a stable blood pressure.
A description of the research, conducted in mice and test tubes, appeared online Feb. 11 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The contribution that gut microbes apparently make to blood pressure regulation and human health is a surprise," says Jennifer Pluznick, Ph.D., assistant professor of physiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "There is still much to learn about this mechanism, but we now know some of the players and how they interact," she adds.
Pluznick says that several years ago, thanks to a "happy coincidence," she found in the kidney some of the same odor-sensing proteins that give the nose its powers. Focusing on one of those proteins, olfactory receptor 78 (Olfr78), her team specifically located it in the major branches of the kidney's artery and in the smaller arterioles that lead into the kidney's filtering structures. Olfr78 also turned up in the walls of small blood vessels throughout the body, she says, particularly in the heart, diaphragm, skeletal muscle and skin.
To figure out which molecules bind and activate Olfr78, the scientists programmed cells to have Olfr78 protein receptors on their surface. They also gave these same cells the ability to start a light-producing chemical reaction whenever Olfr78 is activated. By adding different cocktails of molecules to the cells and measuring the light the cells produced, they homed in on a single mixture that activated Olfr78. They then tested each component in that mix and found that only acetic acid (a.k.a. vinegar) bound Olfr78 and caused the reaction.
Acetic acid and its alter ego, acetate, are part of a group of molecules known as short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). When the team tested other molecules in this group, they found that propionate, which is similar to acetate, also binds Olfr78. In the body of mammals, including humans, SCFAs are made when zillions of bacteria lining the gut digest starch and cellulose from plant-based foods. The SCFAs are absorbed by the intestines into the blood stream, where they can interact with Olfr78.
To pinpoint the effect of Olfr78, the scientists gave SCFAs to mice missing the Olfr78 gene and found that the rodents' blood pressure decreased, suggesting that SCFAs normally induce Olfr78 to elevate blood pressure. However, when they gave SCFAs to normal mice with intact Olfr78, they did not see the expected increase in blood pressure, but rather a decrease, though it was less pronounced than before.
To test the effect of reducing the SCFAs available to Olfr78, the team gave mice a three-week course of antibiotics to wipe out the gut microbes responsible for SCFA production. In this case, normal mice showed very little change in blood pressure, but mice without Olfr78 experienced an increase in blood pressure, suggesting that there were other factors involved in the Olfr78/SCFA/blood pressure relationship.
The mystery was solved, Pluznick says, when the team examined mice lacking Gpr41, a non-smell-related protein receptor located in blood vessel walls that also binds SCFAs. When SCFAs bind to Gpr41, blood pressure is decreased. The researchers eventually discovered that Olfr78 and Gpr41 both are activated by SCFAs, but with contradictory effects. The negative effect of Gpr41 is counterbalanced by the positive effect of Olfr78, but Gpr41's effect is stronger, so an increase in SCFAs produces an overall decrease in blood pressure.
"We don't have the full story yet," says Pluznick. "There are many players involved in the maintenance of stable levels of blood pressure, and these are just a few of them. We don't know why it would be beneficial for blood pressure to decrease after eating or why gut microbes would play a part in signaling that change. But our work opens the door for exploring the effects of antibiotic treatments, probiotics and other dietary changes on blood pressure levels in mice, and perhaps eventually people."
###
Johns Hopkins Medicine
Media Relations and Public Affairs
Other authors of the report include Ryan Protzko of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Jinah Han, La-Xiang Wan, Tong Wang, Anne Eichmann and Michael Caplan of the Yale University School of Medicine; Haykanush Gevorgyan, Arnold Sipos and Janos Peti-Peterdi of the University of Southern California; and others from the College de France, Columbia University, the Washington University School of Medicine and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK081610, DK64324, DK17433) and the Leducq Foundation.
On the Web:
Link to article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1215927110
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Over the weekend, UFC president Dana White said featherweight champion Jose Aldo was refusing to take a fight with Anthony Pettis, the lightweight who was scheduled to fight Aldo in August. As Kevin Iole wrote, Aldo told White he didn't think Pettis had earned the title shot.
The fight is back on. Andre Pederneias, Aldo's manager, told SporTV in Brazil (with translation from our friends at Yahoo! Brazil) that Aldo will take the fight, with one condition:
?I had a meeting today (Monday) with Jos? Aldo, who said: ?I?m going to end with this clownery. People are saying that I?m running, so they are going to see who will run from who when the time comes. If you enjoy a brawl, you can buy the pay-per-view of august 3th and that what you are going to watch because heads will roll?. At that moment I called Dana White to agree with the fight, but on one condition: after that fight, the winner gets a title shot at LW?.
White confirmed that the fight is on.
Yes Aldo vs Pettis and it's for Aldo's UFC 145lb title
ESPN is reporting that Aldo will get his wish, and that if he beats Pettis on Aug. 3, he will get a shot at the UFC lightweight belt. Benson Henderson is currently the title holder, and will fight Gilbert Melendez in April.
This means the UFC lightweight belt has a clear path for 2013. Pettis was supposed to be the next lightweight contender, but pushed for the Aldo fight because he didn't want to wait until the Henderson and Melendez fight was over.
Are you looking forward to seeing Aldo possibly fight for the lightweight belt? Speak up in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.
OMAHA, Neb.?? Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway said Monday that it is buying the Tulsa World, bringing its newspaper unit to 28 small- or medium-sized dailies.
The privately held Tulsa newspaper has a daily circulation of 95,000. The sale was reported Monday by the Tulsa World and Berkshire's Omaha World-Herald, whose executives oversee the company's newspapers.
Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in March, weren't disclosed.
Terry Kroeger, who runs Berkshire's newspapers, said the Tulsa paper will be a great fit. "The Tulsa World is a special newspaper in an outstanding market and we are honored to have the opportunity to own it," Kroeger said in a statement.
Buffett did not immediately respond to a message Monday about the Tulsa World acquisition.
The chairman of the World Publishing Company, which owns the Tulsa World, said selling to Berkshire would provide a secure future for the Tulsa newspaper.
"Our family takes great pride in the Tulsa World and its many years of service to Tulsa and Oklahoma," Robert Lorton Jr. said. "The newspaper business has become a difficult business model within a changing society and in particular for local family owned newspapers."
Besides daily newspapers, Berkshire owns 40 other newspapers that publish less frequently and other monthly publications and regional magazines. The growing media chain owns newspapers in Nebraska, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Florida.
Berkshire bought 63 Media General newspapers last year for $142 million to launch its newspaper unit. At the end of 2012, Berkshire did close the Manassas News & Messenger, a Virginia newspaper, because it was struggling to compete in the Washington suburbs.
But Berkshire has continued buying newspapers since then with the addition of the Greensboro, N.C., News & Record last month, and now the Tulsa World.
Buffett has said newspapers that are the primary source of information about their communities will continue delivering decent returns. Buffett, who is Berkshire's chairman and chief executive, has said he won't try to influence the newspapers' editorial policies.
Newspapers are still a relatively small part of Berkshire Hathaway, which owns an assortment of more than 80 subsidiaries and holds major stakes in companies like Coca-Cola Co., Wells Fargo and IBM.
Berkshire's subsidiaries include Geico and General Reinsurance, BNSF railroad, MidAmerican Energy utility, Fruit of the Loom, Nebraska Furniture Mart, Dairy Queen and many others.
___
Follow Josh Funk online at www.twitter.com/funkwrite
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran's parliament has approved a North Korean-educated former military official for a key post in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government.
The official IRNA news agency says Mohammad Hasan Nami ? nominated by Ahmadinejad last week for the post of communications minister ? got 177 votes in parliament on Tuesday. There were 243 lawmakers present in the 290-seat chamber.
Nami is the third minister with a military background to join Ahmadinejad administration, after Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi and Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar.
Nami holds a doctorate degree in state management from Kim Il-Sung University in Pyongyang, North Korea. He is also a former deputy defense minister and Iran's ex-deputy Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Army.
Nami is fluent in English and is reportedly behind Iran's national intranet project.
In his play The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare wrote, ?But love is blind, and lovers cannot see / The pretty follies that themselves commit? (2.6.36-37). 
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Public release date: 26-Feb-2013
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Over the weekend, UFC president Dana White said featherweight champion Jose Aldo was refusing to take a fight with Anthony Pettis, the lightweight who was scheduled to fight Aldo in August. 