Gold CIL (Carbon in Leach) Process is an efficient design of extracting and recovering gold from its ore. By cyaniding and carbon leaching crushed gold ore slurry simultaneously, CIL process lower the gold mining operation cost and increase gold recovery rate to a degree of 99 .Gold CIL (Carbon in Leach) Process is an efficient design of extracting and recovering gold from its ore. By cyaniding and carbon leaching the gold ore slurry simultaneously, CIL process lower the gold mining operation cost, and increase gold recovery rate to a ratio of 98 . It has become the first choice of modern gold mining and beneficiation.
Gold CIL process (carbon in leach) is an efficient method of extracting and recovering gold from its ore. By cyaniding and carbon leaching crushed gold ore slurry simultaneously, CIL process lowers the gold mining operation cost and increases gold recovery rate to a degree of 99 .Reason 2 There are minerals such as carbon or graphite in gold ore. Some gold ores have active organic carbon or graphite, etc. Because the carbon contained in the ore has considerable activity, the phenomenon of carbonaceous gold robbing will occur during the leaching process.
Gold CIP Production Line. Process Introduction. CIP (Carbon in pulp) process is a high efficient method to leaching and recovering gold from gold ore, The most different from CIL process is in CIP process, gold leaching and adsorption are separated, first leaching, and then adsorption.Carbon-in-columns During this process, the cyanide leaching solution passes through columns filled with ore. The process is highly effective for removing gold from low grade ore. Resin Recovery Technologies Resin RIL (Resin-in-leach) RIP (Resin-in pulp) In recent years, resin is replacing carbon as the gold recovery substrate of choice.
In the case of Goldstrike, this was a double-refractory ore combining sulphide-occluded gold with preg-robbing carbonaceous material that rendered the ore unsuitable for conventional cyanide leaching and carbon adsorption. In most cases, gold processing with cyanide leaching, usually with carbon adsorption, is still the core technology and the.3. Carbon-In-Leach (CIL) The carbon-in-leach process integrates leaching and carbon-in-pulp into a single unit process operation. Leach tanks are fitted with carbon retention screens and the CIP tanks are eliminated. Carbon is added in leach so that the gold is adsorbed onto carbon almost as soon as it is dissolved by the cyanide solution.
Situ leaching of oxide ores. The next step after leaching in the hydrometallurgical gold pro-cessing is the recovery of gold from the solution. In the gold mining industry, activated carbon is the most widely used extractant to recover gold from pregnant cyanide leach solution, known as carbon-in-leach (CIL), carbon-in-pulp (CIP), and carbon-in.The above is the common carbon in leaching process. The gold ore beneficiation method is suitable for processing gold ore and tailings after heavy separation and amalgamation. The carbon leaching method is developed on the basis of the carbon slurry method. The advantage lies in reducing the number of leaching tanks and shortening the process.
The new mill at Syama in Mali is processing an oxide ore containing traces of organic carbon. The testwork demonstrated a 5-15 increase in recovery after utilisation of a shear reactor oxygenation device followed by CIL leaching.Gold ore carbon in leaching cil equipment. 11 04 2018 Gold Leaching carbon in leach process is widely used in the newly built gold leaching plants in recent years, and a lot of plants are changing into CIL as well Gold Leaching CIL process is suitable for the treatment of oxidized gold ore with low sulfur content and mud content It is.
Jan 04, 2017 The simultaneous leach and absorption phases of the CIL process were developed for processing gold ores that contain preg-robbing materials such as natural absorptive carbon.These reduce the gold.A double refractory gold ore contains gold particles locked in sulphides, solid-solution in arsenopyrite, and preg-robbing material such as carbonaceous matter, and so on. The diagnostic leach test (DLT) and preg-robbing (PR) approaches are widely used to investigate the occurrence and the distribution of refractory gold. DLT serves to qualitatively evaluate the gold occurrences within the ore.
Recovery of gold from copper-rich gold ores has proved challenging. Dissolved copper in cyanide deficit leach solutions severely interferes with adsorption of gold onto activated carbon or ion.It's famous feature is the simultaneous gold leaching and adsorption. This CIL method has high recovery rate and high degree of automation. Gold Carbon In Leaching leaching process is a process that adds activated carbon to the slurry and simultaneously leaches and adsorbs gold, which is the preferred process for modern gold ore dressing.
Modular Gold Cil Plant, Small Scale Modular Gold Cil Plant, Crushing Module manufacturer supplier in China, offering Portable Gold CIL Carbon in Leach Plant Mineral Processing, Mining Crushing Equipment Hammer Mill of Gravity Concentration Plant, Stone Crushing Machinery Hammer Mill of Gravity Concentration Plant and so on.Carbon in leach (CIL process) back to top. 1. Pretreatment Screening the coarse granular materials (such as sand) and wood chips before the adsorption, which is beneficial to the adsorption, separation of gold-bearing activated carbon and gold removal slurry, slow down the accelerated wear and the regeneration of activated carbon.
In order to extract gold, it is necessary to crush and grind the ore to suitable size and then separate the gold from the ore using specific mineral processing method and gold recovery chemicals. At present, gravity separation, flotation separation, heap leaching and cyanidation (CIL,CIP) are four commonly used gold recovery methods.In this process, ore is firstly crushed to fine particles. By spraying leaching solution to the large piles, the gold-containing solution is leached. Then used the method of carbon adsorption, zinc powder displacement device and so on to separate gold from the liquid.
The carbon in pulp method is only used where tank leaching is utilized for the recovery of gold from the ores and this is not the case in most large gold mines today, since heap leaching is the lowest cost method for recovering gold from ores containing from a few grams to 5 or 6 grams per ton.That are packed with carbon. The process is known as carbon-in-columns (CIC). For mill, agitated-tank leaching operations, gold is extracted directly from the leached pulp in either a carbon-in-leach (CIL), or a carbon-in-pulp (CIP) plant. In both these cases, the coarse granules of activated carbon are mechanically mixed with the.
Flow Add the gold ore slurry into 9 leaching agitation tanks, pour in cyanide solution in first 2 tanks , activate carbon in the following 7 tanks for the reverse-absorption process (the number of tanks depend on the capacity size).Gold processing - Gold processing - Mining and concentrating The nature of the ore deposit determines the mining and mineral processing techniques applied. Oxide ore deposits are frequently of such low grade (e.g., 3 to 10 parts per million) that extensive mineral processing cannot economically be justified. In this case they are merely shattered by explosives and then piled into heaps for.


Urbanisation and today’s “digital” lifestyle promotes stress and a sense of alienation. Does nature hold the key to our inner peace and development?
Jasper wondered what was happening to him. It had been quite some time since he felt like his usual self. Ever since he had been promoted from managing director of a small-town bank branch, to a role in Treasury at its London head office, his mental state hadn’t been the same. He was anxious and restless. He missed his old country house, his daily walks with his dog in the woods, and being surrounded by nature. In London he was lucky if he managed a short walk in the nearest park, a subway’s stop away. And even then this only served to make his nostalgia for the woods more poignant.
His current state of mind was affecting his motivation and quality of work. He found it a challenge to maintain focus; he made mistakes and was often in a foul mood. In fact, Jasper was seriously questioning whether he would be able to hold onto his job.
Nature deficit disorder
According to the American author Richard Louv (as developed in his book The Nature Principle), people living in today’s world often suffer from what he called “nature deficit disorder”, the negative, behavioural consequences of the divorce of humans from their natural habitat. He is not alone in this observation. A substantial body of research reflects on the restorative benefits of being connected to nature. According to studies, our mood improves dramatically when we spend time outside. Being in nature appears to decrease the presence of stress hormones in our blood, our respiration rate, and our brain activity. And, as we saw in the case of Jasper, it can even affect our psychological mood.
Being in nature also has a strong primordial influence on our psychological and physical well-being. It can help us move from having a depressed, stressed or anxious state of mind to becoming calmer and more balanced. These findings make a lot of sense given our evolutionary history, of which modernity comprises only an infinitesimal part. Many eco-psychologists – people who study the relationships between human beings and the natural world – note that when we feel alienated from the natural world, we are likely to experience a host of personal, relational and social problems, including psychological disorders such as free-floating anxiety, depression, and other psychosomatic symptoms.
Studies indicate that urban dwellers with little access to green spaces are more likely to have psychological problems than people who live near parks or those who make regular visits to nature settings. Even adding flowers and plants to a work environment can positively affect our ability to be creative, productive, and to solve problems.
A number of other studies have shown that contact with animals may reduce aggression and agitation among children and people diagnosed with Alzheimer disease. In fact, children who live in buildings close to green spaces seem to have better concentration, a greater ability to delay gratification, and are more effective in controlling impulsive behaviour, compared to children who live in buildings surrounded by concrete.
Regular contact with the natural world – whether it is through gardening, contact with animals, nature walks, or nature brought indoors – thus contributes to our sense of self-esteem, social connections, health, and general feelings of happiness.
Eco-therapy to cope with stresses of life
Looking at the present state of the world, it is quite obvious that we are far removed from our original hunter-gatherer existence and have become increasingly alienated from the world of nature. The onset of the Cyber Age has added to this sense of alienation. The situation has worsened with the increasing urbanisation of the population.
But we need to recognise that human well-being and ecological well-being are closely intertwined. Increasingly, human action is contributing to our planet’s ecological deterioration. But, by relearning how to care for our natural environment, we can conquer the consequences of eco-stress – the inner deadness and self-alienation from the world.
And here is where eco-therapy enters into the picture.
Eco-therapy, also known as nature therapy, can be viewed as a union between the ideas of eco-psychology and psychotherapy. It refers to the kind of mental health work that puts our connection with the earth at the core of our psychological activities. In taking this approach, eco-therapy may help us to cope with the stresses and strains of daily life.
Eco-therapy is influenced partly by psychodynamic object relations theory, social systems theory, and the psychology of religion. Object relations theory tries to explain the way we relate to others. Social systems theory helps us to understand how we function not only in human systems but also within the greater multi-species systems. And the psychology of religion helps us understand how humans exist within the context of nature phenomena.
To build on this last perspective, in its exploration of how Homo sapiens bond with nature, eco-therapy is interested in the examples provided by a wide variety of ancient and contemporary indigenous cultures. Thus we can look at eco-therapy as a way of returning to our roots – the way our ancestors acted for thousands of years.
Increasing potential for transformation
From my work with executives and business leaders, I have learned that spending time in nature provides the space for inward reflection, recharging our energy, thereby increasing the potential for inner transformation. Immersed in nature, we become more conscious of our “self” in relation to our environment. It helps us return to a state of interconnectivity with the world around us. This (re)connection is powerful as it regenerates our spirits, improves our mood states, eases our levels of anxiety, lessens our stress levels, and enables us to fight depression. Eco-therapy can be used on its own, or it can accompany other treatments such as the talking cure or medication.
“Being in vast landscapes reminds us of our smallness”
I often begin this form of therapy by asking executives to keep a “nature journal” which records how much time they are spending in nature as well as descriptions of the physiological and psychological states of being in nature. I may urge them to hike, take up gardening or engage in other outdoor activities. I even conduct some coaching sessions outdoors so that they may experience the benefit of nature while getting some clinical help – a walking and talking cure.
I also encourage them to travel to wild places. Being in vast and immense landscapes (mountains, seas, plains, forests, etc.) reminds us of our “smallness” and returns to us a sense of awe and wonder for the world we live in. It can also turn out to be an excellent antidote to excessive narcissistic behaviour. Furthermore, such heightening of senses and greater connectedness with oneself and the world around us can lead to intense spiritual, transcendental and awakening experiences.
Given Jasper’s psychological make-up (in which nature has always played a major role), he would do well to reassess his ambitions, and ask himself whether he should return to a place where he feels truly good in his skin. As Edward Wilson, the famous sociobiologist once said, “Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.”
Manfred Kets De Vries is the Distinguished Clinical Professor of Leadership Development & Organisational Change at INSEAD and The Raoul de Vitry d'Avaucourt Chaired Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus. He is the Founder of INSEAD's Global Leadership Centre and the Programme Director of The Challenge of Leadership, one of INSEAD’s Top Executive Development Programmes. His most recent books are “You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger: Executive Coaching Challenges” and “Telling Fairy Tales in the Boardroom: How to Make Sure your Organization Lives Happily Ever After.”


Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet, wrote in Secrets of a Healthy Society.
"What if governments defined security in a broader way—as the health not only of its people but also its society?
A healthy society is much more than a community in which the causes of disease are minimized.
It is one where, at the very least, human creativity is free to flourish, individuals have the liberty to be who they wish to be (without violating the liberties of others), and the spirit of life (all life and not merely human life) prospers.
The peak period for human creativity is between 30 and 40 years.
Second, breadth. Original thinkers who can foster healthy societies will not worship geekery. To solve global problems, people will need to look beyond the knowledge they have mastered.
They will have to seek insights between disparate disciplines in ways that our current educational apparatus disincentivises.
Third, the ability to frame new questions. What matters is not problem solving. It is problem finding.
Elizabeth Warren: Change Can Happen, Quit Bedding with Billionaires
Finally, openness. Never close your mind. Enjoy the idea of ideas. Bask in a sea of hypotheses."
- Inefficient, expensive healthcare system in the United States that bankrupts the middle class and is a barrier to utilization for lower income citizens.
- Neglect and futility in treating mental illness in the United States and overprescribing of addictive psychoactive drugs: Poor understanding and overtreatment of centralized pain with opioids is no different than our poor understanding and mistreatment of mental illness and behavioral issues with antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and antipsychotics. The opioid overdose problem is an epidemic that medicine made, medicine that is the most expensive and least efficient healthcare system in the world.
NEJM: "But treatment providers in abstinence-oriented programs and their government allies never accepted indefinite maintenance, and their moral and political reservations kept the issue simmering. It simmers still, despite the 2002 approval by the Food and Drug Administration of new products containing buprenorphine, a partial opioid agonist.
The lack of resolution has hindered another important medical task — tertiary prevention by minimizing harm in cases of firmly established opioid addiction. The key objectives — reducing fatal overdoses, medical and social complications, and injection-drug use and related infections — are difficult to achieve if abstinence-oriented treatment is the only option available. Yet that remains the situation in many places, particularly in rural locales, where officials dismiss methadone and buprenorphine as unacceptable substitute addictions. “IF YOU WANT PROBATION OR DIVERSION AND YOUR ON SUBOXIN,” declared an erratically spelled sign outside a Kentucky courtroom, “YOU MUST BE WEENED OFF BY THE TIME OF YOUR SENTENCING DATE.”
More from NEJM: Threading the Needle — How to Stop the HIV Outbreak in Rural Indiana
American culture has never been comfortable with harm reduction: The prescription opioid epidemic led to a heroin epidemic, which created a hepatitis C epidemic. A life-saving cure for hepatitis C was discovered a few years ago, but 90% of hepatitis C patients cannot be treated because of the price of the drug. The Medicare budget for hepatitis C went from $300 million to $4.5 billion, overnight. More on this below.
NOTE: The hepatitis C epidemic and HIV outbreak in Indiana convinced the culturally-opposed House Republicans to lift a ban on Federal funding for syringe exchanges in December 2015.
National Geographic Southern Justice,
"Within 10 days, three pharmacies are robbed of prescription painkillers. Sheriff's deputies and detectives try to determine if a single suspect is responsible for all three robberies. The thief gets away with tablets of prescription painkillers including Oxycontin, nicknamed 'hillbilly heroin.'"
NEW IMAGES: Johnson City Walgreens armed robbery suspect possibly connected to similar case in Gray
JCPD search for Walgreen’s robbery suspect
Man wearing surgical scrubs, mask accused of robbing Walgreens pharmacy
Caught on video: 2nd Johnson City Walgreen's robbed 6 days after 1st
Man Disguised in Calamine Lotion Robs Pharmacy
Learn about the single payer system and the direction American healthcare must take. This video describes how Big Pharma and insurers lobbied against Americans having a less expensive public option for care. It should start with mental health care.
Top 2 healthcare priorities in a recent Kaiser health tracking poll:
- Making sure expensive drugs for chronic conditions (i.e. asthma, mental illness, cancer, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's, HIV, hepatitis) are available to those who need them.
- Government action to lower prescription drug prices
Our current healthcare system only benefits top income earners while burying most United States citizens under insurmountable debt if they ever have to utilize the system.
The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will not fully work unless there is a single payer national healthcare system where government can negotiate a reasonable price for healthcare services and prescription drugs. Create a healthcare tax and initiate radical healthcare reforms that do not hurt the struggling middle class.
Version 1.0 of the Affordable Care Act is unsustainable. However, the previous healthcare system was much worse. Those with chronic health conditions like asthma and Crohn's disease could simply be denied health insurance and prescription drug coverage due to a preexisting condition. Still, we need to do more, and do it better. Senator Bernie Sanders explained it best in his speech at Georgetown:
"Medicare-for-all would not only guarantee health care for all people, not only save middle class families and our entire nation significant sums of money, it would radically improve the lives of all Americans and bring about significant improvements in our economy."
Implementing a single payer system in mental health care would allow rigorous trials to be conducted to determine the effectiveness of non-drug therapies. It would create jobs in the mental health sector and ensure proper mental health care for Americans in rural and low-income communities with few behavioral health providers.
Study psychotherapies that are assisted with serotonin 2a receptor agonist psilocybin or kappa-opioid agonist Salvinorin A. Quoting chair of the department of psychiatry at the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, Dr. John Kane, "I believe we have to separate the politics from the science and make sure that our political decisions are informed by data and by evidence. That has been lacking in recent years. We need much more information that people can use. There are always risks and benefits. We have compounds that may have abuse potential but may also have some valuable therapeutic indications."
Even the Veterans Affairs System, arguably the best healthcare system in the United States, cannot provide adequate mental health care for veterans.
Stripes: VA care hard to get for mental health
In terms of psychoactive drugs, the American system allows way more harm to be done than good. It is well known that guidelines for treating pain and mental illness have been weighted heavily toward pharmaceutical company interests.
In the United States, it has resulted in overprescribing of expensive prescription opioids, benzodiazepines, antidepressant, and antipsychotics, while limiting insurance reimbursement of non-drug therapies
"Opiates, for your baby, too."
On the contrary, psychiatric medications work only half the time, are expensive, and have the potential to cause side effects such as impotence, addiction, and weight gain. Morbidity from suicide has not decreased in the past 50 years and has increased the last ten. Self-treating subclinical to mild anxiety and depression with alcohol and doctor-supplied prescription opioids harms thousands. 24,000 Americans died from prescription opioid and heroin overdose in 2013 alone.
Politics and the War on Drugs: ""Drugs" is a word that has polluted the well of language. Part of the reason we have a drug problem is because we don't have an intelligent language to talk about substances, plants, psychedelic [and] sedative states of mind, states of amphetamine excitation. We can't make sense of the problem and the opportunities offered by substances unless we clean up our language.
So it's a kind of a paradox isn't it?
"Drugs" mean that which cures us and the greatest social problem of the generation.
Apparently there are "good drugs" sanctioned by science and medicine and "bad drugs" used by brown people in strange rites and growing in unusual plants in distant parts of the world. This kind of thinking, because it's naive, leads of course to social problems and bad politics and bad social policy.
Stars and Stripes: Budget bill forces VA to review policy on medicinal marijuana
Every society chooses a small number of substances, no matter how toxic, and enshrines them in its cultural values, then demonizes all other substances and then persecutes and launches witch hunts against those users whenever some political pretext requires...So it's an old game and it's been played in many places."
U.S. News: America Wakes Up to Mental Health
After the Asylum: How America's Trying to Fix Its Broken Mental Health System
No Help for Those with Serious Mental Illness: Fraud, Waste, and Excess Profits
Drug War Follies: Prohibition's Last Dance with Mary Jane
VICE: Amphetamine of the Year Treats Binge-Eating Disorder
Two bills are in the works that could provide great help to those with serious mental illness: Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with severe mania.
Over-reliance on drug therapies that work only half the time erodes the availability and affordability of non-drug therapies that are first-line treatments for many forms of mental illness.
It's easier for doctors and cheaper in the short-term. In the long-term, it's less effective and more expensive to society.
"Recently my psychiatric journals have been full of glossy ads promoting a new diagnosis, “binge eating disorder.”
A picture of a sad, lonely woman surrounded by junk food sits underneath text introducing me to the diagnosis, encouraging me to ask my female patients if they sometimes regret how much they eat, because they may be ashamed to talk about it.
It’s getting harder to remain unmedicated in the Altered States of America. Street drugs, speed and heroin, have come in, out of the cold, and are now Adderall or Vyvanse, OxyContin or Zohydro as Big Pharma expands into the recreational market. More women are becoming addicted to opiates and dying of overdoses, and more women are taking antidepressants and sleeping pills than ever before." - Psychiatrist Julie Holland, Seattle Times
Learn from Canada? Adopting their more efficient single payer system would be a start.
Loyd is also featured here:
Johnson City, largest of the Tri-Cities with a population 65,000, is home to 3 of the top 10 Suboxone prescribers in the United States. Suboxone–a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone–is a form of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) to overcome opioid addiction. "MAT has proved to be clinically effective and to significantly reduce the need for inpatient detoxification services (rehab). MAT provides a more comprehensive, individually tailored program of medication and behavioral therapy."
- Improve patient survival and retention in treatment
- Decrease illicit opiate use and other criminal activity among people with substance use disorders
- Increase patients’ ability to gain and maintain employment
- Improve birth outcomes among women who have substance use disorders and are pregnant
CNN reports, "Half (49%) of those addicted to opioid painkillers were able to reduce their drug abuse when taking Suboxone for at least 12 weeks. The success rate dropped to less than 10% [8.6%] once patients stopped taking the drug." The video below, again from Johnson City, shows how a husband and wife can have completely different responses to Suboxone.
Are patients in Johnson City receiving the appropriate level of care that is needed, such as additional medication-assisted treatment options (i.e. methadone clinics) for opioid use disorder and quality mental health care?
Patients are often co-prescribed benzodiazepines with Suboxone, increasing the risk of respiratory depression and death.
- Benzodiazepines Treat Anxiety, Cause Long-Term Problems
Continued Questions on Benzodiazepine Use in Older Patients
- The Next Earl of Sandwich, Luke Montagu: Rapid withdrawal and misprescribing of a benzodiazepine leads to £1.35m settlement for Luke Montagu, CEP co-founder
Why is Suboxone the only treatment option in a community that is clearly as high-risk as Johnson City? As the video above shows, Suboxone doesn't work for everyone and is easily diverted into the community. Another option, methadone clinics, do not carry the same risk of drug diversion.
Nov 2015: Two methadone clinics could be coming to Johnson City
Strictly-regulated Opioid Treatment Programs that administer methadone are few and far between in Tennessee. According to the SAMHSA Opioid Treatment Program Directory, the closest OTP to Johnson City and the Tri-Cities region (population 500,000+) is almost 2 hours away in Knoxville. In fact, the two OTPs in Knoxville are the only two in east Tennessee, excluding Chattanooga.
By comparison, Georgia has a 61 OTPs–almost six times as many as Tennessee–spread evenly across the state. Several South Georgia towns such as Vidalia (pop. 10,000), Valdosta (pop. 56,000), Bainbridge (pop. 12,500), 2 in Dublin (pop. 16,000), Waycross (pop. 16,000), and Brunswick (pop. 15,000) have Opioid Treatment Programs.
Neighboring North Carolina has 52 Methadone Clinics. Five alone are located across the mountains less than an hour away in Boone and Asheville.
Leading the Charge: North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition
2015 CDC Report highlights Opioid Treatment Provider Need:
"Although the number of physicians and programs that provide medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in the U.S. increased from 2003 to 2012, this increase was not enough to adequately address growing opioid abuse and dependence. A new study points to the need to expand access to methadone and buprenorphine to address the opioid addiction epidemic in the U.S."
Conservative local politicians play a role in the lack of care:
Creating Drug Seekers: Baeteena Black, TPRN
Without adequately funding behavioral health and support systems, government cracked down on pill mills and overprescribing, then implemented electronic prescription drug monitoring programs.
When the prescription opioid supply decreased, users switched to an unregulated and much cheaper opioid–heroin, administered via injection–resulting in increased overdose deaths and infectious disease transmission.
Key findings include:
- Those who abuse or are dependent on prescription opioid painkillers are 40 times more likely to abuse or be dependent on heroin.
- As heroin abuse or dependence has increased, so has heroin-related overdose deaths. From 2002 through 2013, the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths nearly quadrupled.
There were significant increases of heroin use among groups with historically low rates of injectable drug use–women, those with private insurance, higher incomes–groups that have historically high rates of prescription opioid abuse.
NYTimes: Big Pharma disproportionately targets women (1 out of 4 women take psych meds) according to psychiatrist
Click images for sources.
- Claiborne County, TN, jail says most inmates have hepatitis C
- Costly Hepatitis C Drugs Threaten To Bust Prison Budgets
- Minnesota prison inmates sue to access to costly hepatitis C meds
Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) is a new drug that can essentially cure hepatitis C. Made by Gilead Sciences, Inc., Sovaldi costs about $1,000 a pill, or about $84,000 for a patient on a standard, 12-week treatment schedule.
The U.S. is unique among Western countries in that it doesn’t regulate drug prices. One nurse tells the story of what it’s like to watch patients get sicker when they can’t afford a pricey treatment: The True Cost of an Expensive Medication
Liver Disease Stage Req. for Medicaid Coverage of Sovaldi
In an unusual move for a Republican, Indiana governor Mike Pence expedited legislation to allow syringe exchanges, a harm reduction measure that halts infectious disease transmission and increases contact between substance users and the healthcare system.
NOTE: The United States bans federal funding for syringe exchange programs. According to the Huffington Post, "The ban was put in place in 1988, repealed in 2009, and reinstated by Congress in 2011." (NOTE: The Indiana HIV outbreak finally convinced the culturally-opposed House Republicans to do something as simple as lift a ban on Federal funding for syringe exchanges in December 2015)
- JAMA: Ideological Anachronism Involving Needle and Syringe Exchange Programs. Lessons From the Indiana HIV Outbreak
Politicians acting as moral police do not have the courage to adopt harm reduction measures such as syringe exchanges and/or sterile injection facilities in times of crisis.
What more can being done to help victims of addiction?
Harm reduction is an approach to substance abuse that is based on support rather than punishment. It reduces stigma and encourages greater healthcare system utilization among drug users. Leaders have implemented life-saving intranasal naloxone initiatives, but are slow to adopt other harm reduction programs due to ideological differences and stigma against drug users. Ineffective and stigmatizing "tough on drugs" attitudes still exist in many areas of the United States, especially in areas hard hit with addiction.
What is being done improve care in northeast Tennessee?
- Harm Reduction
- Intranasal naloxone
- Syringe/needle exchanges that would reduce rates of infectious disease transmission and increase healthcare utilization among heroin users. Injection centers would reduce overdose deaths.
Amount spent annually in the U.S. on the War on Drugs:
- More than $51,000,000,000
- More Drug War Statistics
America's War on Drugs:
- PBS Frontline: Staggering Death Toll of Mexico’s Drug War
A more effective system of drug policy would treat drug use as a public health problem rather than a criminal offense. More compassion and education, less incarceration.
Substance and Shadow: Women and Addiction in the United States
- The Harrison Act and Its Repercussions
- Excerpt: Women & Addiction in the United States–1850 to 1920
- NEJM book review from 1997, before America's #RxProblem
American culture has never been comfortable with harm reduction:
Obama Tells Outdated Opioid Treatment Industry It's Time To Change
"President Barack Obama tackled the opioid epidemic on October 21 by telling health care providers across the country that access to medication-assisted treatment must be expanded.
For decades, those treating opioid addiction ignored the scientific consensus that the best approach involved medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration, coupled with counseling. Instead, the treatment industry insisted on a model known as "abstinence," in which any prescription medication aimed at addressing a patient's opioid use disorder was forbidden."
If they can afford it, patients who visit rehab will first spend time in detox, then learn to trust the higher power of a 12-step program meant to dissolve ego and reduce addictive behaviors. Patients stay for 30 to 90 days and are encouraged to attend daily AA or NA meetings once they are discharged. Click here to learn more about the higher power that the world has used for eighty years to overcome addiction, in addition to the mystical experience occasioned by psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy.
Follow this link for an excellent flow chart titled "Roadblocks to Seeking Treatment for Substance Addiction" that details the difficult process of accessing a rehab facility.
America must rethink how it approaches drugs by shifting funds away from law enforcement and toward support services: Education, prevention, and treatment.
"The top cops in America's four biggest cities said on Wednesday that the war on drugs has failed to keep America safe and that it's time to reform the country's criminal justice system, a view now officially shared by more than 125 other prosecutors, sheriffs, attorneys general, and law enforcement leaders from across the US."
"The war on drugs has been a tremendous failure," Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland said on Wednesday, advocating for treatment instead of prison for drug offenders. "We've got to rethink the equation when we're making young people, especially young people of color in their mid-20s unemployable because they have a high-level misdemeanor or felony on their record for drugs or nonviolent crime and have no vocation, education, or job skills."
Shamanic Medicines: Trying to Help a Broken and Addicted U.S. Mental Health Care System
Mental Health Argument for Psychedelics: The Kennedys, Addiction, and America's Top Psychiatrist
American Culture is Not Your Friend: Bernie Sanders Gets Between American Cultural Institutions and the Next Overdose Epidemic
When will thought leaders seriously consider allowing non-addictive, archaic means of resilience like meditation and psychedelic psychotherapy become a part of American culture? Mistreating chronic pain in the United States helped create the opioid problem, yet cannabis, with evidence of effectiveness against chronic pain, is illegal. We need behavioral health to be under a single payer system or create alternate means of resilience that are accessible for all.
FDA-Approved Drug Therapies & Classic Hallucinogens to Treat Alcoholism: Barriers, Background, and the Latest Research
"We have had a nearly 50-year hiatus in any serious investigation, except for some heroic investigators at a few universities."
"We Need to Study These Drugs."
"My point is not to say that these drugs should be discounted and relegated to the criticism and dismissal similar to that of treatments for which we have no basis for claims of therapeutic efficacy.
Lieberman & Steve Jobs agree: "LSD was
a very important experience to have"
These psychedelic drugs clearly are pharmacologically active, have profound effects, could be useful for therapeutic purposes, and need to be studied in an intensive and extensive way before an informed determination can be made.
Given American mental health's epidemic of death, government should fund psychedelic therapy research to generate needed evidence, then support its integration into society. If not, states might take matters into their own hands. The public already has.
CNN: Could this be the next medical marijuana?
Lieberman continues, "I believe that the scientific investigation of mind-altering psychedelic drugs in the 1960s and '70s was a truncated but promising avenue of research, and that these medications, these drugs, could have significant value for a variety of indications if studied adequately."
See: When Robert Kennedy Defended LSD
In his book, Shrinks, Lieberman states, "Perhaps I’m biased, since without psychiatry I might not be alive. As a teenager my depression nearly got the upper hand before I was saved by drugs—a one-two punch of tricyclic antidepressants and tryptamine psychedelics—and I continue to find better living through chemistry.
My trip did produce one lasting insight, though--one that I remain grateful for to this day...I marveled at the fact that [if] such an incredibly minute amount of a chemical...could so dramatically alter my cognition, the chemistry of the brain must be susceptible to pharmacologic manipulations in other ways, including ways that could be therapeutic."
2011. Mystical experiences occasioned by the hallucinogen psilocybin lead to increases in the personality domain of openness. MacLean. J Psychopharmacology.
Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later. Griffiths. J Psychopharmacology. Press Release. 2008.
2014-2015 American Psychiatric Association President Paul Summergrad sat with Ram Dass (formerly Harvard psychedelics researcher Richard Alpert) for a taped interview that was shown at the 2015 APA Annual Convention that had a spiritual theme: "Psychiatry: Integrating Body and Mind, Heart and Soul."
Could plant medicines such as cannabis, psilocybin (from Psilocybe mushrooms), and ayahuasca that are current DEA Schedule I drugs have therapeutic benefit? Cannabis has anti-cancer properties, alleviates seizures in some patients when other drugs fail, and is a safer pain-relief option than opioid analgesics. LSD leapt onto the scene in the 1950s as the most promising drug ever to treat mental illness and addiction.
After a 40 year hiatus, the LSD's serotonin 2a receptor-stimulating counterparts–psilocybin and ayahuasca–are being studied to treat mental disorders such as addiction, anxiety, and depression.
A myriad of difficult-to-treat mental disorders are waiting to be researched using treatment with psychedelic psychotherapy.
Roland Griffiths, PhD, Addiction Pharmacologist, Psychedelics & Spirituality Expert, Recipient of the 2015 Nathan B. Eddy Award from the College on Problems of Drug Dependence Speaker at TedMed2015
Benjamin Franklin, Redacted: Nothing Said to Be Certain but Death and Psilocybin's Potential Benefit to Mental Health Treatment and Research
See: Kary Mullis, Nobel Prize winner for inventing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Mullis on psychedelic problem solving
See: America's Greatest Ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes Discusses Ayahuasca and the Importance of Plant Medicines
Medical Ethics: Is it Unethical Not to Research These Plant Medicines?
Psychedelics, Spirituality, and More: A Religious Model for DMT
And I should mention MDMA for PTSD. In the first study published, the majority of the folks having had received active MDMA therapy no longer qualified for the diagnosis of PTSD anymore. Again, the effect size is much larger than is typically seen with the approved medications that are used to treat PTSD, which don't work very well."
Additional highlights in the interview:
- There are going to be both biological and psychological answers to many of these questions about mechanism with much work to be done. Safety is discussed at 13:00.
Tim's Story and psilocybin research fundraiser: "A recent but still unpublished study at Johns Hopkins demonstrated rapid, substantial, and sustained (lasting up to six months) antidepressant and anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) effects of a single dose of psilocybin in psychologically-distressed patients with life-threatening cancer
diagnoses. This is incredibly exciting. What if we could decrease or avoid altogether the known side-effects (and frequency of consumption) of current antidepressant drugs like SSRIs? This study could help establish an alternative.
Current popular antidepressant medications have significant adverse side effects, with up to 50% of patients failing to respond fully and as many as 30% remaining completely resistant.
Psilocybin has been safely consumed by humans for millennia. Despite this, the study of entheogens like psilocybin was blocked for several decades due to political rather than scientific factors. Now, we can finally explore the therapeutic and medical potential of these powerful compounds."
The work Tim is hoping to fund "will determine the efficacy of psilocybin in treatment-resistant depression, and will also use cutting-edge brain imaging to clarify the mechanism of action of psilocybin's antidepressant effects.
From Nature: "Standard approaches to developing drugs for mental health have not reaped significant benefit in the past two decades, but it is a dilemma for the companies because there is a large and growing market for these products.” Mental disorders impose the largest disease burden worldwide and current treatments do not work particularly well for most patients."
"If you can treat anxiety and depression in people that are dying, why do they have to be dying? If people have chronic anxiety about something or depression, it may be that we'll find treatment so that people don't have to be on antidepressants for years and years and years." David Nichols, PhD, Former Distinguished Chair in Pharmacology, Professor Emeritus, Purdue University
Why does important mental health research require crowdfunding?
From Michael Pollan's The Trip Treatment in The New Yorker:
Existing pharmaceuticals do not help ease depression and anxiety in homebound older adults. Could psilocybin help to relieve psychological distress in aging baby boomers?
Benefits of Nature...And More Importantly, What Makes Americans Unhappy? A Pew survey found something of a stress gap by race and education. College-educated parents and white parents were significantly more likely than other parents to say work-family balance is difficult. This is a big reason people are having fewer kids or none at all.
Purposes in Children and Elderly, Overused in Adults
Antipsychotics have a number of severe side-effects and have been linked to long-term structural brain abnormalities, but they carry even bigger risks in elderly people. In March, a team of researchers from the University of Michigan examined the records of older veterans from 1998 and 2009 and found that one of out every 27 patients with dementia treated with the antipsychotics Haloperidol or Risperidone died within six months."
MedlinePlus: Many Seniors Given Antipsychotic Meds, Despite Potential Problems (Risks: kidney damage, stroke, and even death)
NY Times: When Crime Pays: J&J’s Drug Risperdal
"Risperdal is a billion-dollar antipsychotic medicine with real benefits — and a few unfortunate side effects. It can cause strokes among the elderly. And it can cause boys to grow large, pendulous breasts; one boy developed a 46DD bust. Yet Johnson & Johnson marketed Risperdal aggressively to the elderly and to boys while allegedly manipulating and hiding the data about breast development."
TIME: Antipsychotics Flood Top 10 Drug Company Settlements
Of the children on Medicaid who receive antipsychotics, 92% receive them for unapproved uses.
92% of Foster Care and Poor Kids Receive Antipsychotics for Unapproved Uses
California Moves To Stop Misuse Of Psychiatric Meds In Foster Care
See the most common side effects of second generation antipsychotics below, described as potentially "unbearable" and include weight gain, drowsiness, menstrual irregularities, decreased sex drive and arousal, akathisia (inability to sit still), insomnia, and dry mouth.
- "Over the past several years, an increasing number of adults and children in the United States have been treated with antipsychotic medications.1,2
- Antipsychotics are now among the most commonly prescribed and costly classes of medications.3
- In adults, antipsychotic medications have demonstrated efficacy and have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a primary treatment for schizophrenia4,5 and bipolar disorder6,7 and as an adjunctive treatment for major depressive disorder.8
- In children and adolescents, antipsychotics are indicated for irritability associated with autistic disorder (5-16 years), tics and vocal utterances of Tourette syndrome and bipolar mania (10-17 years), and schizophrenia (13-17 years)."
When Crime Pays: J&J’s Drug Risperdal
JAMA Psychiatry: Children and youth prescribed antipsychotics had an increased risk of type 2 diabetes that increased with cumulative dose.
Less drug, more support
"More than two million people in the United States have a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and the treatment for most of them mainly involves strong doses of antipsychotic drugs that blunt hallucinations and delusions but can come with unbearable side effects, like severe weight gain or debilitating tremors.
Now, results of a landmark government-funded study call that approach into question. The findings, from by far the most rigorous trial to date conducted in the United States, concluded that schizophrenia patients who received a program intended to keep dosages of antipsychotic medication as low as possible and emphasize one-on-one talk therapy and family support made greater strides in recovery over the first two years of treatment than patients who got the usual drug-focused care.
The report, to be published on Tuesday in The American Journal of Psychiatry and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, comes as Congress debates mental health reform and as interest in the effectiveness of treatments grows amid a debate over the possible role of mental illness in mass shootings."
Treat Mental and Substance Abuse Disorders
Addiction, Culture, Ayahuasca... and Drug Policy
Addiction Specialist Gabor Maté, M.D.
Science and Psychology of Classic Hallucinogens
Dr. Gabor Maté Uses Ayahuasca to Treat Opioid
Addiction in David Suzuki's Nature of Things
Therapies Past, Present & Future
Patient Abuse, Drug Diversion, Pharma Fraud/Greed
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, PATIENTS MUST PAY FOR THIS POOR LEVEL OF CARE


Mrs E Williamson – Subject Leader
Miss Abbygail Lewis – Teacher
Key stage 3 Art and Design
In years 7, 8 and 9 pupils are taught in mixed ability groups. Pupils receive one lesson per week.
During year 7 students will develop skills in pencil and colour work, concentrating on tone. Students will study the work of Jasper Johns, Vincent Scarpace and a variety of Welsh artists.
During year 8 students will develop observation drawing skills. They will design and use 3D techniques to construct and decorate a Carnival mask. Students will also study the work of Gaudi and Hundertwasser where they will design and paint an imaginary city.
During year 9 students will concentrate on developing portrait drawing skills. They will study the use of pattern and colour by the psychedelic artists and create a psychedelic style portrait. Students will also study Natural Forms and will experiment with a range of drawing styles and techniques.
Key stage 4 GCSE Art and Design
Pupils who choose to study Art and design at GCSE receive two lessons per week.
The course is made up of 2 components. The portfolio which is completed in year 10 and the first term of year 11, this counts for 60% of the final grade. The Externally set task (exam) counts for the remaining 40%. The exam is made up of a preparation period which is usually around 6 weeks and the ten hour practical exam.
During the GCSE course pupils work on a wide variety of themes and have the opportunity to experience a range of topics, materials and techniques.


Table of Contents
What does uni mean as a root word?
-uni-, root. -uni- comes from Latin, where it has the meaning "one. '' This meaning is found in such words as: reunion, reunite, unicameral, unicorn, unicycle, uniform, unify, unilateral, union, unique, unisex, unit, unite, university. via
What does uni mean in university?
A uni is an institution where students study for degrees and where academic research is done. Uni is short for `university'. via
What is the difference between mono and uni?
Mostly it is a question of what sounds better, but other considerations are as follows: 1. "Mono" is from Greek and "uni" from Latin, and there is a mild preference to use the prefix derived from the same language as the main word. 2. "Mono" carries a stronger sense of the meaning "alone" than "uni". via
What words have the prefix UNI?
(check and correct) Spelling tip: The prefix 'uni' comes from Latin meaning 'one'.
Is Uni Latin or Greek?
Uni- comes from the Latin ūnus, meaning “one.” The Greek counterpart of uni- is mono-, as in monologue. Learn more at our Words That Use article on the form. via
What does the root word scrib mean?
The Latin root word scrib and its variant script both mean “write.” These roots are the word origin of a fair number of English vocabulary words, including scribe, describe, postscript, and manuscript. The root scrib is easily recalled through the word scribe, whose job is “writing,” and script, a “written” document. via
What does uni mean in police terms?
Uni, a uniformed police officer in law enforcement jargon. via
What does uni mean in Australia?
Uni – As in University. Yes, Australians will abbreviate anything! via
What does uni mean in England?
University, or “uni” for short, is where British people go for a bachelor's degree. via
Does mono mean single?
Mono- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “alone, singular, one.” It is used in a great many technical and scientific terms, including in chemistry, where it refers to compounds containing one atom of a particular element. Mono- comes from the Greek mónos, meaning “alone.” via
Is Omni Greek or Latin?
omni-, prefix. omni- comes from Latin, where it has the meaning "all'':omni- + directional → omnidirectional (= in all directions). via
Is UNI a root or a prefix?
The prefix uni- which means “one” is an important prefix in the English language. For instance, the prefix uni- gave rise to the words unicycle, uniform, and unison. Perhaps the easiest way to remember that uni- means “one” is through the word unicorn, or mythological horse that had “one” horn. via
What kind of word is uni?
Shortened term for “university” (the institution or its buildings). "I'm going to uni after I leave school." via
What is a word that starts with UNI?
10-letter words that start with uni


Starting in the fourteenth century, royal, episcopal, and city administrations around the Crown of Aragon began formalizing their methods of communication. By late in the century, the kingdom was woven together by a dense web of ambassadors and runners who could move information between cities and courts at surprising speed. The level of formalized communication allowed for new practices of information dissemination, collaboration, and secrecy at multiple levels of government. The siting of hostile ships along the coast could prompt the use of relay runners, each informing the next city along the coast of the potential threat. Military or commercial negotiations might prompt multiple messages with sensitive information to be disseminated only to certain people with differing information to be cried publicly. This project is still in its initial stages, focusing largely on the robust system of couriers put in place in the 1360’s in the city of Valencia. However, as the project progresses, the long term goal is to look at the extensive use of such runners. What other cities kept fully employed runners? How did the city systems interact with royal and episcopal messengers and representatives? How large did an administration have to be to employ such men? What other news did they carry? How effectively could administrations control the flow of administrations both to the public as well as to competing power brokers?
This project is directed by Adam Franklin-Lyons
Adam has also recorded a podcast describing the origins of the research.
At the 2016 Vermont Medieval Summit, Adam presented an essay on Valencian communication. There is a summary and collection of maps available.


As always, we share accounting knowledge in a practical way and not focussing on academic accounting theories. If you’re looking for more academic perspectives on these topics, we suggest checking out far more detailed resources on the web 🌐.
What Is a Profit and Loss Account?
The Profit and Loss account (P&L), or the Income Statement to our friends from across the pond, is one of three core financial statements that provide vital information on the health and potential of a business. The P&L indicates the profit (or loss) from business transactions over a time period.
They summarise the financial activity reading from the top-down like a funnel, we start with revenue at the top and the profit at the bottom. There are three sections of a P&L:
- revenues (income);
- expenditures (both indirect and indirect costs—more is coming on that later);
- and the difference between the two
The difference between revenues and expenditures gives you your company profit, and a key measure of the value that is created to the Shareholders.
- Learn about start-up business financial projections.
- Discover the 10 mistakes that you should look out for and try to avoid when writing your business plan.


Study identifies ‘Achilles heel’ of bacteria linked to Crohn’s disease
The discovery of an “Achilles heel” in a type of gut bacteria that causes intestinal inflammation in patients with Crohn’s disease may lead to more targeted therapies for the difficult to treat disease.
In a study published Feb. 3 in Cell Host and Microbe, the investigators showed that patients with Crohn’s disease have an overabundance of a type of gut bacteria called adherent-invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC), whichpromotes inflammation in the intestine. Their experiments revealed that a metabolite produced by the bacteria interacts with immune system cells in the lining of the intestine, triggering inflammation. Interfering with this process, by either reducing the bacteria’s food supply or eliminating a key enzyme in the process relieved gut inflammation in a mouse model of Crohn’s disease.
“The study reveals a therapeutically targetable weak point in the bacteria,” said senior author Dr. Randy Longman, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and the Director of the Jill Roberts Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
To find this “Achilles heel,” Dr. Longman and his colleagues, including Drs. Ellen Scherl and Chun-Jun Guo at Weill Cornell Medicine and collaborators Dr. Gretchen Diehl at Memorial Sloan Kettering and Dr. Kenneth Simpson at Cornell’s Ithaca campus, targeted a process the AIEC bacteria uses to convert a byproduct of sugar fermentation in the gut to grow. Specifically, the AIEC uses 1,2-propanediol, a byproduct of the breakdown of a type of sugar called fucose that is found in the lining of the intestines. When the AIEC converts 1,2-propanediol, it produces propionate, which the study showed interacts with a type of immune system cell called mononuclear phagocytes that are also found in the lining of the gut. This sets off a cascade of inflammation.
Next, the investigators genetically engineered AIEC bacteria to lack a key enzyme in this process called propanediol dehydratase. Without propanediol dehydratase, the bacteria do not set off a cascade of inflammation in a mouse model of Crohn’s disease. Reducing the available supply of fucose in the animal’s gut also reduced inflammation.
“Changing one metabolic pathway in one type of bacteria can have a big impact on intestinal inflammation,” said the study’s co-lead author Dr. Monica Viladomiu, a post-doctoral associate in medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and in the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Weill Cornell Medicine. Maeva Metz, a Weill Cornell Medicine Graduate School of Medical Sciences doctoral candidate in Dr. Longman’s laboratory, is also co-lead author.
The discovery could lead to better treatments for Crohn’s disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disease that affects more than 4 million people worldwide. Currently, patients with Crohn’s disease are often treated with antibiotics, which can kill both beneficial and harmful bacteria causing unwanted side effects. But treatments that precisely target the inflammatory cascade discovered by Dr. Longman and colleagues might help reduce inflammation while preserving beneficial bacteria.
“If we can develop small molecule drugs that inhibit propanediol dehydratase or use dietary modifications to reduce the availability of fucose, we may be able to reduce intestinal inflammation in patients with Crohn’s disease with fewer side effects,” said Dr. Longman, who is also a member of the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
One of the next steps for the team will be testing potential treatments. They also plan to study the potential role of an enzyme called fucosyltransferase 2 in protecting the gut against this inflammatory cascade. Dr. Longman explained that many patients with Crohn’s disease have mutations in the gene that encodes this enzyme, rendering it nonfunctional.
“From a clinical perspective, that’s interesting because it may help us stratify people for whom one intervention or another maybe more useful,” Dr. Longman said.
Find original source here.


Urine drug screening
Urine drug screening, or toxicological screening, is a process of chemical analysis designed to test patients for drug abuse, or to insure that a patient is substance-free before undergoing a medical procedure.
Urine drug screening can be used to evaluate possible accidental or intentional overdose or poisoning, to assess the type and amount of prescribed and/or illicit drugs used by a person, or to determine the cause of acute drug toxicity. It is also used to monitor drug dependency or to determine the presence of drugs in the body for medical and legal purposes.
In many occupations, urine drug screening has become a required condition of employment. Nearly all workers in certain occupations, such as law enforcement and transportation, must submit to periodic, random, and post-incident drug screening. Federal laws mandate the administration of drug screens to workers in the transportation industry, including bus drivers, truckers, airline employees, and railroad workers. Federally required testing must be conducted by a laboratory certified by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Other industries must follow state regulations, which vary considerably.
Urine screening tests are able to detect general classes of compounds, such as amphetamines , barbiturates , benzodiazepines, and opiates. Drug screening can also detect cocaine, marijuana, and phencyclidine (PCP). The screening tests themselves are unable to distinguish between illicit and prescription drugs within the same class. A patient taking prescribed codeine pills and an individual using heroin would both show positive urine screening tests for opiates. It is also possible for some over-the-counter medications to cause a positive drug screen in someone who has taken neither illegal nor prescription drugs. These incorrect reactions are known as "false-positives."
Urine drug screens can detect the use of several drugs. Some of these drugs are as follows:
- phencyclidine (PCP)
- tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
Certain foods, such as poppy seeds, may result in a positive urine screen for opiates, since poppy seeds are derived from opium poppies. Preliminary urine screening results, when positive, should be confirmed by a more accurate method that can distinguish between poppy seed ingestion and use of heroin or other opiates. Poppy seeds and opiates produce different chemicals, known as metabolic breakdown products or metabolites, as they travel through the body, allowing them to be distinguished from one another.
The method of collecting a urine sample for drug screening can be important. Some illicit drug users may attempt to substitute another person's urine, or chemically alter their own specimen. If the urine drug screen is being used for an important decision, such as employment or legal action, procedures to minimize chances of an adulterated or substituted sample may be necessary. These include measuring the temperature or pH of the sample immediately after it is procured, and using tamper-proof containers. Supervised specimen collection may be conducted to ensure that the urine indeed comes from the person being screened.
The most commonly used method for urine drug screening is immunoassay, a rapid and accurate test that uses antibodies embedded on test strips to reveal drug use. Antibodies react only in the presence of very specific substances—in this case, drugs present in urine. When a sufficient concentration of a drug (or drugs) are present, the test strip will indicate which substances have been detected. A control band on each strip confirms that the test was done correctly.
Positive screening results should always be confirmed by a more sensitive method. The most widely accepted corroborative test for all drugs is gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), which can determine the specific substances in the body by recognizing not only the molecular structure of the original compound, but also its metabolite, a chemical created when the drug is metabolized.
See also Addiction ; Amphetamines and related disorders ; ; Barbiturates ; Cannabis and related disorders ; Cocaine and related disorders ; Disease concept of chemical dependency ; Methadone ; Opioids and related disorders ; Sedatives and related disorders
Kaplan, Harold, MD, and Benjamin J. Sadock, MD. Synopsis of Psychiatry. 8th edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 1998.
Persoon, Thomas, MS. "Virtual Hospital: Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act: Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Drug Abuse Screening, IV." Screening for Drugs of Abuse. The University of Iowa, 1999.
Policy Statement: Drug and Alcohol Screening. American Academy of child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Approved by Council, October 1990.
Barbara S. Sternberg, Ph.D.


News from the Field
Resource: NCTSN Fact Sheet on Complex Trauma in Urban African-American Children, Youth, and Families
April 14, 2017 | Emily Taylor
A new 4-page fact sheet from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network discusses how families living in racially and economically segregated communities must also cope with the effects of historical trauma and inter-generational racism. It also outlines specific barriers that African-Americans may face in obtaining needed services and ideas for providers on building supportive relationships with African-American children and families who have experienced complex trauma.


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is renewing its push to have more 11- and 12-year-old children of both sexes be vaccinated against cancer-causing strains of human papillomavirus (HPV), despite continuing concerns about its safety and opposition by many parents.
The CDC will hold an Aug. 30 news conference -- the third in as many months -- to release more data on the effects of the vaccines. The CDC is asking physicians to "strongly recommend HPV vaccines, starting with patients who are 11 years old," when visiting physicians' offices to receive other vaccines.
But opponents say the CDC plan is to essentially mandate the inoculation of all children against a virus that has lasting effects for only a small portion of the population with a vaccination that has raised safety concerns. Parents have also questioned the need to inoculate such young children for a sexually transmitted disease.
A study, published in Pediatrics, found that an increasing number of parents are refusing to have their girls be vaccinated -- rising from 40 percent in 2008 to 44 percent in 2010. The number of parents concerned about the vaccine's side-effects more than tripled, from 5 percent to 16 percent during the same period.
Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) told Newsmax, "Our concern is this aggressive push by the Centers for Disease Control and by medical trade organizations … toward a mandating of this vaccine for all children."
"In the 1960s when the polio vaccine was introduced and distributed through the school systems, mothers wanted that vaccine for their children. There was no huge outcry for HPV vaccine," Fisher said.
Two vaccines are used against four of the 150 varieties of HPV, Gardasil, produced by Merck & Co. Inc., and Cervarix, produced by GlaxoSmithKline, which has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration for use in females as young as nine for the prevention of cervical cancer. The CDC in 2011 began recommending the vaccine for boys who might be susceptible later in life to anal, penile, and mouth and throat cancer.
NVIC and others have expressed concerns over the safety of the vaccines.
"As of July 2013, there have been 27,908 Gardasil adverse-event reports filed with VAERS [Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System], including 126 deaths, more than 10,000 emergency room visits, over 2,500 hospitalizations," Fisher said. Another 12 death reports in VAERS have been associated with Cervarix.
Fisher charged that those 27,908 negative reactions may represent "only 10 percent of Gardasil adverse events that have actually occurred … because 90 percent of all Gardasil adverse events have never been reported to VAERS."
The CDC and the manufacturers say it is necessary to put the number of adverse reactions into perspective considering the large number of vaccines given.
"With the 56 or 57 million doses of HPV vaccine in this country, and even more in other countries -- we don't have safety concerns about the vaccine," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease.
The drug manufacturers, the FDA, CDC, and other organizations say the HPV vaccines are safe and that there are no serious side effects from their use, beyond a higher incidence of fainting associated with Gardacil, requiring vaccinated recipients to spend 15 minutes under observation before being released.
"It is important to understand that VAERS accepts reports from anyone, whether the information is verifiable or not," CDC spokeswoman Darlene M. Foote told Newsmax. "It is also important to understand that VAERS cannot determine if a reported adverse health event was caused by one or more vaccines."
In response to Fisher's accusations and opposition from others, Foote said, "Thousands of men and women die each year from HPV associated cancer. We now have a safe and effective vaccine that can prevent HPV infection. We owe it to our children to do all that we can to protect them so they can grow up to be healthy adults."
Coleen Kivlahan, senior director of health systems innovation and policy at the American Association of Medical Colleges, told Newsmax, "If adolescents are unlikely to be sexually active with multiple partners, wait until marriage, or use condoms consistently, they may be able to do without the vaccine. Otherwise if your daughter lives in the U.S. and acts as most teens do, the vaccine is the best option."
But the National Cancer Institute (NCI) suggests that most people who have HPV suffer few consequences from contracting the virus.
While HPVs can cause genital warts and others are associated with cervical and throat cancers, most people will never know they have HPV because they have no symptoms and their immune system inactivates the virus, "with the result that in nearly 90 percent of people, the immune system clears the HPV infection within [two] years," says a NCI fact sheet.
In addition, having the vaccination does not end the need for women to receive regular Pap tests that detect cervical cancer.
Which is another reason NVIC sees the heavy push for HPV vaccine as unnecessary. "Cervical cancer in this country dropped more than 70 percent among women after the introduction of routine Pap screenings in women's health programs in this country in the 1960s and 1970s," Fisher said.
But Foote, the CDC spokeswoman, told Newsmax that 18 percent of women, or over 16 million, reported not having a Pap test in the last three years. "Generally, Pap testing is very effective, but no screening test works 100 percent of the time," she said.
The vaccine is big business for its manufacturers with Gardasil sales now totaling $1.6 billion annually, a 65 percent rise from 2010.
"We really have to take the blinders off and understand that the pharmaceutical industry, like every industry that's in the business of making and selling product, their goal is to sell a lot of product," Fisher said. "What is unsettling to me -- after working on this issue for 30 years -- is to see how much more taxpayer money is being spent by government health agencies to assist the pharmaceutical industry in selling their vaccines."
Merck had attempted to have the drug mandated by the states, but pulled back on that effort in 2007 "after groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics said there wasn't enough state funding to pay for the $360 vaccine or public acceptance," according to a Bloomberg article.
Concerns have also been voiced that Gardasil was fast-tracked through the FDA approval process at the request of Merck. Fast-tracking vaccine approval is a process authorized by Congress that is initiated by the manufacturer, and in Fisher's view has led to deficiencies in the testing of Gardacil.
CDC Director Tom Frieden said last month that at the upcoming August press conference they would share data that will "include vaccination coverage estimates for HPV vaccinations among boys, something that's only more recently been recommended."
While touting the efficacy of the vaccines, Frieden lamented that the number of teen girls completing the three-dose vaccine series dropped from 34.8 percent in 2011 to 33.4 percent in 2012.
"This is a huge disappointment, but I'm confident that we will turn it around," he told reporters.
© 2014 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


Evolution of X and Y in Dioecious Plants
Although most flowering plants are hermaphroditic, having male and female function within a single flower, a few have shifted sexual function into separate male and female individuals, a condition known as dioecy. White campion (Silene latifolia) is a dioecious plant with XY chromosomes that determine the plant’s sex; however, whether they arose through a similar evolutionary process as the mammalian XY system is unclear. Muyle et al. sequenced the transcriptome of S. latifolia and found that genes on the Y chromosome show significantly less gene expression than those from the X. Examination of sex-linked transcripts from male and female plants indicated that S. latifolia is in the process of evolving dosage compensation for the X chromosome because of the degeneration of the Y, analogous to that of many animals, including humans. Furthermore, given the evolutionary youthfulness of this system (<10 million years compared to 150 million years for mammals), these findings suggest that dosage compensation is a relatively early process in the evolution of sex chromosomes.


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"Thus the Republic, like the Phaedo, rejects the claims of non-philosophers to possess any genuine virtue", Plato's Utopia Recast, p. 43.
What arguments does Bobonich give for this bold and unqualified conclusion?
1. His interpretation of the Phaedo: "...if Plato's view of non-philosophers is substantially more optimistic in the Republic, this will require deep changes in other aspects of his views" (42).
2. A deductive argument: virtue requires knowledge; the non-philosophers of the Republic lack knowledge; thus it must be the case that they lack virtue (43).
And that's it. (If you don't believe me, check the book.)
He then considers the objection:
One might object, however, that from the fact that non-philosophers fail to satisfy Book 4's accounts of the virtues, it does not follow that they are as badly off as non-philosophers in the Phaedo. Although they fail to have the 'highest grade' of virtue or 'perfect' virtue, that is, 'philosophical' virtue, non-philosophers might still have a lower grade or imperfect form of virtue (44).
How does Bobonich respond? "Plato never characterizes the virtues defined in Book 4 in any of these qualified ways" (44). Then he says, "The Republic does, however sometimes apply to non-philosophers virtue terms that are verbally qualified in some way. They might, for example, possess 'political courage' or 'moderation for the masses'" (44).
This apparently is an important concession. Doesn't it signal a recognition by Plato of some kind or degree of virtue? No, not at all, because: "...in the Phaedo, too, Plato was willing to attribute to non-philosophers verbally qualified forms of virtue such as 'popular', 'political', and 'slavish' virtue" (44)!!


Crystal balls, tarot cards, tea leafs – fortune telling methods that are most evidently ineffective. If there’s one thing that might be able to predict the future, it is the brain. “The ability to predict is critical, because actions do not take place in the immediate present, but in the future.” says Martin Vinck, principal investigator at the Ernst Strüngmann Institute in Frankfurt am Main. “For example, a tennis player needs to prepare a racket swing while the ball is still in the other side of the tennis court, and thus needs to predict the future trajectory of the ball.” The ability to infer future situations based on prior experience very likely is an important key to how we perceive the world. To better understand how this strategy is implemented in the brain Martin Vinck now receives one of the prestigious ERC starting grants offered by the European Commission to support excellent research by young scientists.
The world as perceived by the brain
In a traditional view the brain works in a highly hierarchical manner. Sensory cells are specialized to detect certain properties of a stimulus, let’s say the image of a chair. Some cells will register its outline, others its colour. Higher order cells in the next level of processing bring these information together and pass it on again until eventually a coherent image is constructed, attached with a name tag and meaning – based on which a behavioural decision can follow, such as sitting down. While this systematic approach explains well how perceptions of objects are constructed, there are reasons to suspect this might not be the default working mode of the brain: We recognize a chair as a chair also when its defining characteristics are skewed, such as standing upside down or when partly hidden by another object. Moreover computing an image bottom up from its smallest details every time you encounter it takes a lot of time. Time that can be precious in an environment where survival depends on quick actions.
Perceiving our environment gets a lot quicker, more efficient, and flexible when the brain makes use of the experience it has about the world. Much like listening to the first tune of a song and already knowing what will follow, the brain has the ability to infer from a minimum amount of sensory evidence what it has to expect for the larger picture. This way standard templates can be filled in without effort and time: Brown object in known location – chair in front of office desk – sit down. Capacity then is freed up to process relevant information, namely aspects of the world that are not as expected. Brown object in known location making roaring noises – grizzly in front of office desk – run away.
Unraveling the secrets of neural communication
Over the past twenty years scientists have found more and more evidence for the predictive abilities of the brain. However very little is known about how this strategy is implemented by the neuronal cells. In his ERC funded project Martin Vinck hopes to change exactly that: “In any given situation, some sensory inputs could be predicted from prior experience, while others could be unpredicted. We are testing exactly how the responses of neurons and their coordinated activity is modulated by this predictability.” He expects the timing of neuronal responses and particularly the rhythm that is produced by the simultaneous activity of multiple neurons will be critical to separate predictable from unpredictable inputs. To test these ideas he and his co-workers will use computer algorithms to detect response rules of neurons and predict patterns of brain activity.
The idea for the project has been on Martin Vinck’s mind for quite some time. The ERC grant now puts him in the position to finally pursue his idea. Needless to say he is thrilled: “The project is challenging but I am very much looking forward. I can’t wait for the first results to come in.” What these results will look like no brain can predict. But irrespective of its exact findings, the project surely will increase our understanding of the way the brain works.
Prospective PhD Students and Postdocs who are interested in working with Martin Vinck on this project are welcome to get in touch with him via email. Further information about him and his projects can be found on his homepage.


Our food and our medicines are prone to chemical reactions when mixed or taken together. These reactions might be toxic or life-threatening. Some reactions are gradual but some are instantaneous which can get you to a hospital in no time.
We usually don't get told which food cannot go with which medications. To help you pick out the things to look out for, we made a list of fatal food and medication combination.
Make sure to list them down for your future reference.
1. Limes with cough medicine
Drugs inside the body need to be broken down by an enzyme after it has done its job. But some citrus fruits like lime, pomelo and Seville oranges may prevent the enzymes from metabolizing dextromethorphan known as a cough suppressant. It also blocks statin in cholesterol-lowering drugs. Once the medication like dextromethorphan builds up in the bloodstream, it can cause hallucination and sleepiness; whereas, the statin can cause severe muscle damage.
2. Fermented or aged food with antidepressant
Tyramine that is usually found in amino-acid rich food like sausage, salami, cheese and alcoholic beverages can cause hypertensive reaction to patients taking monoamine oxidase inhibitors or MAOIs antidepressants. This reaction occured when the gastrointestinal tract prevents the catabolism of exogenous or outsourced tyramine.
3. Chocolate, Caffeine with Ritalin
Ritalin is a central nervous system stimulant commonly used to treat (ADD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD), and narcolepsy. Chocolate and caffeine contain another stimulant called theobromine. The rule is you can not take two or more stimulants altogether. It's suicide.
4. Apple juice and allergy meds
This apple juice and antihistamine drugs combination may not be fatal but it makes the drug 70% less effective as a result. Certain peptide found in apple juice prevents the drug from getting into the bloodstream, thus preventing its maximum effectivity.
See: EpiPens Got Life-Hacked for the Better? There’s a $30 Alternative!
5. Cinnamon with anti-coagulant
Anti-coagulant or warfarin is used to prevent blood clots and indirectly affects thickness of blood, or thinness. Cassia cinnamon brands that are common in American brands are rich in coumarin which is also known to thin blood. It is also known to cause kidney and liver damage.
6. Alcohol with paracetamol
Taking both alcohol and paracetamol or acetaminophen at the same time is like making your body do two jobs at a time. Only one kind of enzyme is responsible in breaking down alcohol and acetaminophen, If you're a regular alcohol drinker, it's not a good thing to take paracetamol at all. Pairing them everyday can eventually lead to liver and kidney failure in much faster rate than just with alcohol.
See: Alcohol Flush Reaction: Blame Genes and Race


one has provided a satisfactory explanation of why ceramic arts have
reached an artistic peak in any given region during a particular period.
Perhaps there is no single reason. English delft was initiated in the 16
C by migrant Dutch potters. It was at its best in the second half of the
17 C, when it was simply decorated and in some cases possessed unrivalled charm, but at that time England was not producing any other art of particular merit. In Turkey, pottery reached its peak in the late
15 C with Iznik ware and in Spain ceramics peaked in the late 14 C and 15
Partly as a result of a search for the cause of the Black Death in the 14 C and 15 C, many inhabitants of the Italian peninsula at that time came to think of clay pots as unhygienic, with the result that they destroyed much of the pottery dating from the 13 C to the early 15 C. These ceramics seldom had charm and usually compared unfavourably with the contemporary and earlier ceramics produced in Islamic countries. Up to about 1420, the decoration consisted mostly of geometric motifs that sometimes incorporated stylised animals. This very early Italian pottery was influenced by imports into Southern Italy from Islamic North Africa that commenced about 1200.
The best Italian majolica was produced between approximately 1440 and 1540. Before 1440, the decoration was too primitive and after 1540 the products of most factories were showing signs of decadence, the decoration losing its raw mediaeval dynamism and strength. It is particularly the albarelli that convey the magic of early Renaissance Tuscan maiolica, especially those made in the second half of the 15 C.
From 1520 onwards, there was a tendency for the decoration to become more detailed and sophisticated and it lost some of its dramatic quality in the process. After about 1500 designs were often taken from engravings. The visual rhythm became gentler.
In the late 15 C, Italian majolica was influenced by Moorish Spain, which traded with Italy through Florence, and later by Greek and Roman art. Most of the very early claywares were produced in Tuscany and Umbria at factories in Orvieto, Perugia and Florence. Primarily, Italian pottery produced before 1350 had a lead glaze. In the 13 C, 14 C and earlier part of the 15 C, the only colours used were green and manganese/purple, derived respectively from oxides of copper and manganese, and subsequently a dark cobalt blue. However, by the end of the 15 C, the colour range was widened and consisted of blue from cobalt, green from copper, yellow from antimony, orange from antimony and iron, and purple and brown from manganese. At an early date red was a difficult colour to achieve and often turned out to be more of a sealing wax colour than a true red.
Italian majolica wares were first produced about 1350. They had a glaze that was composed of a lead oxide opacified with tin oxide combined with a silicate of potash. The decoration was applied to the dried glaze which was porous and demanded accurate painting,
since errors could not be later
rectified. Consequently there is a spontaneity and rhythm to the painting which is peculiar to this medium. Once fired, the colours were permanently fixed and are seen now as there were seen hundreds of years ago.
Sgraffiato - north Italy 15-16 C
Gubbio is most famous for its majolica lustre wares which no doubt were created as a result of the Hispano-Moresque imported from Valencia in the 15 C. Silver and copper were responsible for the lustre on early pottery and in the case of Gubbio a magical ruby lustre was obtained by the use of copper oxide in the last firing. Brushwood was burnt towards the end of this firing.
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The RAPTA Guidelines
RAPTA is a unique tool to help project designers and planners build the ideas of resilience, adaptation and transformation into their projects from the start, to ensure outcomes that are practicable, valuable and sustainable through time and change. This report offers practical advice to planners, project managers, policy makers, donors, farmers, researchers and other stakeholders on how to do this. This version of the guidelines was developed especially for meeting challenges around the future security of agriculture but applies equally well to planning for climate change adaptation, urban development, disaster management, biodiversity conservation and other vital fields.
RAPTA offers a fresh dimension to the familiar task of project planning and development – one which allows for rapid social, physical and environmental change in an uncertain world – leading to projects which deliver better results, more durably, reliably and consistently. It seeks to accommodate the rate, magnitude and novelty of the changes we face and the fact that, for these challenges, there are no “off the shelf” solutions. It promotes a structured approach to learning that enables constant improvement and adaptation to change.


Increases in costs to provide services and State mandated legislation to taxing districts are two reasons tax bills may increase as districts normally must increase their levy amount to cover their increased costs. Even if no equalization factor is applied, the recouping of increased costs to the taxing district will increase the taxes an individual pays.
Simplified example - if the assessment does not change but the taxing district requests an increase in dollars
Calculate Tax Rate
2015/Pay 2016 2016 Factor 2016/Pay 2017
Equalized Assessed Value 74,000,000 None (1.000) 74,000,000
District Levy 90,000 100,000
Tax Rate = Levy/Value .00121622 .00135135
When the Equalized Assessed Value stays the same but the Levy (money asked for by the district) goes up, the rate increase, and the individual taxpayer pays more even though his assessment does not change.
Equalized Assessed Value 50,000 50,000
Tax Rate .00121622 .00135135
Tax Bill $60.81 $67.57


Let’s get to the bottom of it
Recently there has been a lot of discussion on adding makerspaces within the school districts I am working with. However, from district-to-district there is variation between what a makerspace means to each district and how it is (or will be) used.
To clear things up makerspaces are simply a community space with tools and materials. These spaces bring together manufacturing equipment, technology, community and education for the purposes of enabling members to design, prototype and create (spaces.makerspace.com).
These spaces should take form based on each school’s specific needs, and the real key to the success is the right curriculum. In order for students to truly reap the benefits of a makerspace, we must challenge them to think outside of the box and explore using resources to solve problems.
An interesting element of these spaces is we’re asking students to use developing technology to further their knowledge rather than allowing the technology to replace it. This is exciting! Makerspaces should encourage students to learn from trial and error while digging deeper for big ideas through invention and hands-on design.
When it comes down to it, I believe the true purpose of a makerspace is to develop lifelong skills such as curiosity, creativity and the ability to learn in 3D. A makerspace should support the growth of these skills and allow students to learn in a more personalized way.
Is it here to stay?
Makerspaces are more than a trend and I really believe they are here to stay. Here’s my thinking:
- We are creating a space for what we already know: Studies and research prove students learn best through hands-on, self-directed learning. It results in greater retention, critical thinking skills, collaboration, creativity and "a deeper understanding."
- I have seen and experienced successful makerspaces not only in schools, but also in the community. Examples of this are my participation in a Makerspace exercise while attending the 2014 national conference of Council of Educational Facilities Planners International (CEFPI) in Portland, OR and a recent visit to the Milwaukee, WI community-based makerspace, which is open to the public.
- The job market. We have to give students the direction and tools they need to succeed in the future job market. Makerspaces are a catalyst for future changes in the curriculum, such as more classes in STE(A)M and Project Lead the Way efforts.
Making your makerspace
The great thing about makerspaces is they don’t necessarily require intense new construction or renovations. In fact, they can be cost effective – depending on the size and equipment needed.
While there has been a lot of attention on providing access to manufacturing trades such as steel fabrication, laser cutting and 3D printing, your makerspace doesn’t have to include all of the latest and the greatest technology. Many of the school districts I am working with focus on more traditional arts and crafts like knitting or Legos ™, while others might support more advanced technology. Makerspaces are for all ages, but and some schools DO put power tools in the hands of kindergarteners.
Thinking about the future of makerspaces in education, wouldn’t it be great if we could meld various subjects into one exciting creative space? A hub for creativity and the entrepreneurial spirit. A space that supports art, woods, metals, textiles, technology, etc.? Think about the possibilities! This concept could save money, increase collaboration and create innovation.
Most school districts we’re working with are creating makerspaces in the space they already have. We are, however, starting to see dedicated, central – open and flexible spaces being purposefully designed into new schools.
When it comes down to the basic design of a makerspace the fundamental concept is flexibility, which is true for all learning environments. Flexible spaces allow for more than one activity and are adaptable to the ever-changing technologies.
So now what?
Are you contemplating a Makerspace? What would you want your makerspace to do for your students or community? How can we better support the maker’s movement in our schools connecting these spaces to business and industry in our communities?
Answer these questions and you are on your way to a successful Makerspace that will encourage creativity, collaboration and the entrepreneurial spirit.
Robert Vajgrt, AIA, LEED AP, CDT