A tragic quest for Amazon 'medicine'

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Kyle Nolan, right, pictured with his triplet sister Marion and triplet brother, Kevin.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Is ayahuasca a natural remedy for anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder or just another drug fad? Lisa Ling goes inside an ayahuasca ceremony in the Amazon on this week's episode of "This Is Life With Lisa Ling: Jungle Fix" Sunday, October 26, at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

(CNN) -- Kyle Nolan did his research -- his mother made sure of that. She didn't want her 18-year-old son heading to the Amazon jungle at all -- let alone, without learning everything he could about the supposed "medicine" with the bizarre name that he insisted would help him turn his young life around.

"I really tried to discourage him ... I kept telling him over and over, there are no easy answers in life," Ingeborg Oswald said.

But she knew she couldn't stop him.

Overshadowed by his "overachieving" triplet brother and sister, Oswald said Kyle "was going through this teenage crisis, not knowing what he wanted to do with his life."

He had dropped out of junior college and was living with his mother, when he somehow discovered ayahuasca, (pronounced "eye-uh-WAHS-kuh") a psychedelic brew that some believe can help users achieve a higher state of consciousness.

"He went online and started reading all these positive things about ayahuasca, which is something I had never heard of before," Oswald said. "Apparently there's a huge, positive movement toward ayahuasca. And he thought that that would help him maybe discover who he was."

His research led him to the Shimbre Shamanic Center in a remote corner of the Peruvian Amazon region. Oswald said the center's website made its ayahuasca experience "sound very individualized."

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A tragic quest for Amazon 'medicine'

Opponents to protest trade deal

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Medicine and land will be more expensive if a Pacific Rim trade deal passes, a protest organiser says.

Temuka woman Abbeyrose Neho is organising a protest on Timaru's Piazza on November 8 against New Zealand joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.

Neho, 20, said subsidised medicine would be threatened by the proposed 12-country trade deal.

Diplomats have been negotiating the text of the agreement since 2010.

Neho, a Presbyterian Support worker, social work student and Greenpeace activist, said leaked negotiating texts showed the New Zealand Government's single-buyer drug agency, Pharmac, was under threat from foreign business interests.

She knew several diabetics and thought their medicine could become more expensive if the deal passed.

She also believes the deal will limit government restrictions on oil drilling and foreigners buying land and fears environmental damage and higher property prices will result.

Timaru Grey Power president Denise Fitzgerald said some local members had concerns about the effect a deal would have on Pharmac, as well as a general feeling of disquiet about it because it had been so hush-hush.

She would be attending the protest, she said.

Grey Power's national body has echoed Christchurch psychiatrist Dr Erik Monasterio's concerns the deal could remove much of Pharmac's power to control medicine costs.

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Opponents to protest trade deal

Shannon appoints Canterbury interim Medical School dean

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Long-time associate dean to return to return to current position afterwards by Henry Pflager | Oct 09 2014 | 10/09/14 12:06am

University officials announced Dr. Randolph J. Canterbury accepted his appointment to Interim Medical School Dean earlier this week. His term will begin Dec. 1, 2014.

Canterbury, the senior associate dean for education at the Medical School, will replace Medical School Dean Nancy Dunlap, who is stepping down after 18-months in the position.

Dunlap said in an email that she came to the Medical School during a period of turnover and was allotted an 18-month period to ensure everything went smoothly.

Randy is a thoughtful individual who understands the issues that are being addressed, Dunlap said. I have no doubt that the transition to Randy's leadership will be smooth. The other senior associate deans are very talented and will help Randy if issues arise. We have completed a strategic planning process and are implementing our initiatives. Teams are in place to help carry out our plans.

Dr. Richard Shannon, the executive vice president for Health Affairs, said in an email that Canterbury has been close advisor to the dean for more than a decade, and is taking on the role out of a deep sense of duty to the University.

Shannon said the interim position was not a lame duck position and would require skilled leadership.

The unfinished work of the SOM [Medical School] strategic plan and important administrative restructuring will begin under Randys leadership, Shannon said.

Canterbury said he has been meeting with Dunlap for the past 18 months as part of the Medical Schools management team. While the strategic plan represents an ongoing project which started nine months ago under Dunlaps watch, implementation will continue under Canterbury.

We have an institutional plan that was developed by members of the Medical School community with a strategy to move forward, Canterbury said. I think my job will be I wont say simple, but itll [be] pretty clear, and that is to implement that plan over the next 7-8 months.

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Shannon appoints Canterbury interim Medical School dean

Ivy Foundation Translational Research Building dedicated

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New School of Medicine building to be used for research, education by Hailey Ross | Oct 07 2014 | 10/07/14 9:18pm

The Medical School dedicated the Ivy Foundation Translational Research Building Friday in honor of a $45 million dollar gift from the Ivy Foundation.

Peggy Shupnik, senior associate dean for research at the Medical School, said the building will house researchers studying the regulatory processes of various drugs and devices, clinical trials, epilepsy and childrens diseases.

This is the first building that the Medical School has had for training in translational research, Shupnik said.

Translational research focuses on turning scientific findings into practical applications to enhance human health.

Psychiatry Prof. Boris Kovatchev will lead one of the many translational research groups in the building. His team is working to create model mathematics of how insulin, glucagon and glucose change within the body.

This research is part of the artificial pancreas project, which aims to drastically change the way patients with Type 1 diabetes live their lives by allowing them to wear an artificial pancreas device around their waist.

Another group in the building focuses research on epilepsy, and will use the new space to carry out clinical trials.

Other projects include studies of population sciences as well as disease prevention and control.

The new building will primarily be used for research, but will also serve educational purposes. Faculty and students will be taught how to effectively market products and applications, as well as how to get them through the Federal Drug Association's regulatory processes.

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Ivy Foundation Translational Research Building dedicated

USF plan for downtown campus part of national trend

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TAMPA A university proposes a big expansion from its outlying campus to the heart of downtown. The mayor calls it a game changer. Downtown business folks rejoice.

That sounds a lot like the University of South Floridas recent announcement that it is considering relocating its medical school to downtown Tampa. But it is also a scene playing out in Orlando, where the University of Central Florida wants to push into the city center.

And both Florida schools point to Phoenix, where Arizona State University has strayed from its main Tempe campus into the land of the skyscrapers to tremendous success.

Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Diego all are hoping to lure university expansions in their city centers.

It is a trend, said Wellington Duke Reiter, a senior adviser to ASUs president who was instrumental in that schools expansion from the so-called East Valley into downtown Phoenix. It tends to be in cities whose downtown is not as vibrant as they might like. Many of these cities have wonderful downtowns, but they want to see more activities.

Reiter said major sports centers do a lot for downtown revitalization, but not consistently. Major company relocations, of course, also help beef up a moribund downtown.

But universities might be the best answer in that once they are located in an area, they never leave, he said. They continue to grow, they continue to plan. Theyre a good play.

Rumors had swirled that USF was interested in moving its crowded Morsani School of Medicine from the main Fowler Avenue campus to downtown Tampa, and last month President Judy Genshaft confirmed it was on the table.

On Oct. 14, a USF trustees committee revealed that Jeff Vinik, owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning and a major downtown real estate developer, was offering a parcel at Meridian Avenue and Channelside Drive to the university for the medical school.

If youre sitting in Judy Genshafts seat, the opportunity to create a signature building in the downtown core with USF establishing a footprint there is a game-changer for USF and for downtown Tampa, said Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

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USF plan for downtown campus part of national trend

2005 Jeep Liberty Renegade 4WD 4dr SUV for sale in Brooklyn, – Video

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Repugnance: Stop Obeying Them if You Want to Win for Liberty (TAC006) – Video

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Repugnance: Stop Obeying Them if You Want to Win for Liberty (TAC006)
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No Boxes Here Mate With Liberty & Jeri – What It Is To Be Human [10/24/2014] – Video

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