Magic mushroom’s positive effects lasting over a year, say researchers

By Eric W. DolanWednesday, June 15, 2011 16:45 EDT Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine claim to have determined the proper dose levels needed to create positive changes in attitudes, mood, life satisfaction, and behavior that persist for more than a year with the psychoactive substance in so-called “magic mushrooms.” The findings are the latest in a series of experiments done at Johns Hopkins to investigate psilocybin, a psychedelic substance contained in certain mushrooms. The findings were published online this week in the peer-reviewed journal Psychopharmacology. “In our laboratory, weʼre working with the pure chemical psilocybin, which we can measure out precisely,” he added. SIMILAR: First therapeutic study of LSD in 35 years finishes treatment of last subject “I feel that I relate better in my marriage,” one participant reported. The participants, ages 29 to 62, were screened to include only those who were deemed psychologically and physically healthy.

Neurometabolic effects of psilocybin, 3,4-methylen... [Neuropsychopharmacology. 1999] - PubMed result The forbidden fruit that Eve ate was actually psychedelic mushrooms!! Mitochondria - Power Plants of the Cell [link to publications.nigms.nih.gov] Mitochondria1 are found in virtually every eukaryotic2 cell. What Do They Look Like? Mitochondria can be a variety of shapes, but you usually see them drawn like a peanut. How Do They Do What They Do? First off, anyone wanting to know about cellular biology had better be familiar with the common three letter acronyms, also known as TLAs3: DNA4 - deoxyribonucleic acidThis is basically the manager of the cell. RNA - Ribonucleic acidThis comes in three forms, mRNA, tRNA and ribosomal RNA (rRNA). mRNA is 'messenger' RNA. IMP - Integral membrane proteinsIf you think of a protein as a blob which can do stuff, then this is a blob which can do stuff which happens to be stuck right through (or just partially through) a membrane. ADP - Adenosine DiPhosphate and ATP - Adenosine TriPhosphateADP is a flat battery. The process of converting glucose into energy has several steps. Where Did It Come From? [link to www.bbc.co.uk]

Spiritual Effects Of Hallucinogens Persist, Researchers Report In a follow-up to research showing that psilocybin, a substance contained in "sacred mushrooms," produces substantial spiritual effects, a Johns Hopkins team reports that those beneficial effects appear to last more than a year. Writing in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the Johns Hopkins researchers note that most of the 36 volunteer subjects given psilocybin, under controlled conditions in a Hopkins study published in 2006, continued to say 14 months later that the experience increased their sense of well-being or life satisfaction. "Most of the volunteers looked back on their experience up to 14 months later and rated it as the most, or one of the five most, personally meaningful and spiritually significant of their lives," says lead investigator Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., a professor in the Johns Hopkins departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Neuroscience. "This is a truly remarkable finding," Griffiths says.