Search This Blog

Monday, July 30, 2012

DIMA DMITRIEV Paintings


Dima Dmitriev was born in Moscow, Russia, and is the second generation of artists in his family.  He moved to Prague, Czech Republic, where he graduated from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design. As his paintings gained attention and praise at fine art exhibitions throughout Europe, Dima became one of the most talked about young artists living in Prague’s flourishing artistic community.  Dmitriev has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Europe, North America, and Asia.


Dima’s paintings represent forms of “visual paradise.”  He describes this as the process of extracting the color, light, and texture from real places and distilling these onto his canvases as idealized worlds. Dima rarely uses a brush. His preferred tool is the palette knife. Dima also adds depth and color saturation to some of his works by starting with black, rather than the traditional white, canvas. Dmitriev’s Impressionistic composition and style combined with his mastery of the palette knife create oil paintings that are vibrant and sculptural. His works often include themes of childhood, nature and the sea. 


Some big international companies, for example, AT&T (USA), Vodafone (UK) or AWD Holding AG (Germany) have added his paintings to their art collections. As well as many private collectors from Czech Republic, USA, Spain, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Australia, Qatar, Dominican Republic and others.





Palette knife painting

Dima Dmitriev is a painter without a brush creating impressionist style paintings with the palette knife. I love painting with a palette knife because the creative thinking is very different than with a brush. Dima is a master of palette knife painting. He visits locations to take photographs but creates all the work in his studio. I don't agree 100% with that and feel it's important to also paint on location to understand the light better. There are things which you just can not see in a photograph. Most of Dima's paintings are some kind of 'visual paradise' which does not really exist because behind the facade of the paradise are normal people leading normal lives with all the problems of existence. If you believe that painting should question, then his art fails on that point and questions very little. For some these will be the chocolate box image. What is important for myself is the act of creating rather than the final outcome. Art is a journey and not a destination. Like the Buddha said "Enjoy what there is to enjoy, suffer what there is to suffer."









































































Exhibits and Shows:

1994-98 "Domino" Gallery - Prague, Czech Republic
1998-99 "U Cerveneho Beranka" Gallery - Prague, Czech Republic
1999-05 "D-Art" Gallery - Prague, Czech Republic
2000-03 "Arman-Art" Gallery - Prague, Czech Republic
2004 "Moscow Contemporary Art Gallery" - Moscow, Russia
2004 "Horace Richter" Gallery - Old Jaffo/Tel-Aviv, Israel
2004-05 "Art Gallery" - Karlstejn, Czech Republic
2006 "Cerale Exhibition" Gallery - Ceriale, Italy
2005-11 "Vam-Art" Gallery - Prague, Czech Republic
2008 "Art Ireland 2008" - Dublin, Ireland
2008-09 "Artcity" Gallery - Prague, Czech Republic
2006-11 "Michalska" Gallery - Prague, Czech Republic
2010 "Allegro Arts" - Woodside, California
2010-11 "Canvasations" Gallery - Redwood City, California
2011 "Konditorei" - Portola Valley, California
2011 "Art11" Gallery - Prague, Czech Republic

Prizes:

2004 "Oscar Artisti di Successo" Accademia Severiade, Milano, Italy
2005 I. prize, volume for a prize "Citta di Cereale" Pro Loco Ceriale, Ceriale, Italy
2005 I. prize, volume for a prize "Antonello da Messina" Messina, Italy
2005 II. prize, "Web Convivio 2005" Il Convivio, Messina, Italy
2006 Special Prize, volume for a prize "Filippo Juvara" Messina, Italy
2007 III. prize, volume for a prize "Un uomo, la sua citta" Il Capricorno, Corinaldo, Italy
2007 III. prize, A.L.I.A.S. org., Melbourne, Australia
2009 Artmajeur Silver Award 2009
2010 Artmajeur Silver Award 2010
2011 Artmajeur Silver Award 2011
2011 I. prize, 2nd Bienale di Arte "Citta di Senigallia 2011"
Dima Dmitriev
1974 born in Moscow, Russia
Lives and works in Prague, Czech Republic
Education

Academy of Arts, Archchitecture and Design Prague - Fashion Designer

Testosterone ups prostate cancer risk



THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA   
Share on print
jamesbenet_-_prostate_cancer_slide
The researchers said that while higher levels of testosterone were unlikely to cause cancer, they might make an existing tumour grow faster. 
Image: jamesbenet/iStockphoto
Older men - those in their 70s and 80s - with higher levels of testosterone, including those who undergo hormone replacement therapy, are at an increased risk of prostate cancer, according to new research.  

Results from Australia's largest healthy ageing study, The Health in Men Study (HIMS), published online today in the peer reviewed journal, Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, have confirmed this link.

Lead author from The University of Western Australia's Centre for Health and Ageing, Dr Zoë Hyde, said while higher levels of testosterone were unlikely to cause cancer, they might make an existing cancer grow faster. 

However, Dr Hyde cautioned that this did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

"We need to conduct large-scale long-term trials of testosterone therapy to see if this risk applies to men receiving testosterone," she said.

The research is timely because the use of testosterone therapy is growing, and prostate cancer is very common in old age, Dr Hyde said.

Low testosterone in older men can cause loss of muscle mass, decreased sexual function, fatigue, mood changes, depression and impaired cognition. Hormone replacement therapy may seem the best approach to relieve the symptoms, but scientists now believe more research is needed on this treatment to determine if it does help patients.

They say the possibility that high levels of testosterone could make prostate cancer grow faster is concerning. A cancer that would have gone undetected and never caused any problems might now affect health.

"While some men can benefit from testosterone therapy, we still don't fully understand all of the benefits and risks of treatment," Dr Hyde said.

"There is no need for men who are currently taking testosterone to stop but in light of our findings, prostate health should be monitored closely during treatment."

This research is part of the Health In Men Study that has been following a group of men living in Perth, Western Australia, since 1996 and is the largest study of ageing men in Australia.  The study involved community-dwelling men in their 70s and 80s but excluded those receiving hormonal therapy or men with prostate cancer.
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

DNA repair gene involved in tumours



THE GARVAN INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL RESEARCH   
Share on print


Expression levels of a DNA repair gene called MGMT have been widely studied across many cancers as a biomarker of response to temozolomide, a chemotherapeutic agent. Now Australian scientists have published findings suggesting MGMT may also play a significant role in tumour progression.


Previous work by the same group showed that MGMT was expressed at different levels in pituitary tumours, those with low levels being more aggressive. It is those more aggressive tumours that tend to respond to chemotherapy, because MGMT can no longer undo the damage caused by the drug.


The current study looked closely at 19 pituitary tumours, 12 expressing high levels of MGMT, 7 low, showing very different gene expression profiles between the two groups.

Further investigation also revealed very different gene networks, or ‘signaling pathways’. The tumours with high MGMT expression showed activation of genes implicated in chemotherapy resistance. Those with low MGMT expression showed activation of genes involved in DNA damage and repair, as well as genes involved in gene transcription.


These results led to the formulation of a model describing the possible role of MGMT in pituitary tumour progression – and the conclusion that the results may apply to many other cancer types. 

Endocrinologist Dr Ann McCormack, now at Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research, undertook much of this work in collaboration with Associate Professor Roderick Clifton-Bligh as part of her doctoral studies at the Kolling Institute of Medical Research. Microarray analysis and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis were done with Dr Warren Kaplan from Garvan. The findings are described in Pituitary, now online.


“Pituitary tumours display a strong tendency towards ‘senescence’, akin to hibernation, and most do not become aggressive or malignant,” said Dr McCormack. 

“In a small number of cases, however, the tumours emerge from their senescent state and become aggressive. It is likely that prolonged DNA damage signaling contributes to this progression.”


“This study told us that loss of MGMT expression may contribute to the progressive accumulation of genetic mutations and cellular proliferation that occurs.”


“We feel these results would be of interest to other cancer researchers. There has been substantial literature regarding MGMT as a biomarker of response to temozolomide, however, this is the first paper to examine the relationship between MGMT and genome-wide gene expression profiles in any tumour type.”


“We believe that as well as being a biomarker of treatment response, MGMT may ultimately serve to reflect tumour biology and act as a prognostic indicator. These are preliminary findings and we now need to validate our results.”
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

Mind vs. body? Dualist beliefs linked with less concern for healthy behaviors



(Medical Xpress) -- Many people, whether they know it or not, are philosophical dualists. That is, they believe that the brain and the mind are two separate entities. Despite the fact dualist beliefs are found in virtually all human cultures, surprisingly little is known about the impact of these beliefs on how we think and behave in everyday life.
But a new research article forthcoming in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that espousing a dualist philosophy can have important real-life consequences.
Across five related studies, researchers Matthias Forstmann, Pascal Burgmer, and Thomas Mussweiler of the University of Cologne, Germany, found that people primed with dualist beliefs had more reckless attitudes toward health and exercise, and also preferred (and ate) a less healthy diet than those who were primed with physicalist beliefs.
Furthermore, they found that the relationship also worked in the other direction. People who were primed with unhealthy behaviors – such as pictures of unhealthy food – reported a stronger dualistic belief than participants who were primed with healthy behaviors.
Overall, the findings from the five studies provide converging evidence demonstrating that mind-body dualism has a noticeable impact on people’s health-related attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, these findings suggest that dualistic beliefs decrease the likelihood of engaging in healthy behavior.
These findings support the researchers’ original hypothesis that the more people perceive their minds and bodies to be distinct entities, the less likely they will be to engage in behaviors that protect their bodies. Bodies are ultimately viewed as a disposable vessel that helps the mind interact with the physical world.
Evidence of a bidirectional relationship further suggests that metaphysical beliefs, such as beliefs in mind-body dualism, may serve as cognitive tools for coping with threatening or harmful situations.
The fact that the simple priming procedures used in the studies had an immediate impact on health-related attitudes and behavior suggests that these procedures may eventually have profound implications for real-life problems. Interventions that reduce dualistic beliefs through priming could be one way to help promote healthier – or less self-damaging – behaviors in at-risk populations.
Provided by Association for Psychological Science
"Mind vs. body? Dualist beliefs linked with less concern for healthy behaviors." July 25th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-mind-body-dualist-beliefs-linked.html

Increasing dopamine in brain's frontal cortex decreases impulsive tendency: research



Raising levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the frontal cortex of the brain significantly decreased impulsivity in healthy adults, in a study conducted by researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco.
"Impulsivity is a risk factor for addiction to many substances, and it has been suggested that people with lower dopamine levels in the frontal cortex tend to be more impulsive," said lead author Andrew Kayser, PhD, an investigator at Gallo and an assistant professor of neurology at UCSF. "We wanted to see if we could decrease impulsivity by raising dopamine, and it seems as if we can."
The study was published on July 4 in the Journal of Neuroscience.
In a double-blinded, placebo-controlled study, 23 adult research participants were given either tolcapone, a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that inhibits a dopamine-degrading enzyme, or a placebo. The researchers then gave the participants a task that measured impulsivity, asking them to make a hypothetical choice between receiving a smaller amount of money immediately ("smaller sooner") or a larger amount at a later time ("larger later"). Each participant was tested twice, once with tolcapone and once with placebo.
Participants – especially those who were more impulsive at baseline – were more likely to choose the less impulsive "larger later" option after taking tolcapone than they were after taking the placebo.
Magnetic resonance imaging conducted while the participants were taking the test confirmed that regions of the frontal cortex associated with decision-making were more active in the presence of tolcapone than in the presence of placebo.
"To our knowledge, this is the first study to use tolcapone to look for an effect on impulsivity," said Kayser.
The study was not designed to investigate the reasons that reduced dopamine is linked with impulsivity. However, explained Kayser, scientists believe that impulsivity is associated with an imbalance in dopamine between the frontal cortex, which governs executive functions such as cognitive control and self-regulation, and the striatum, which is thought to be involved in the planning and modification of more habitual behaviors.
"Most, if not all, drugs of abuse, such as cocaine and amphetamine, directly or indirectly involve the dopamine system," said Kayser. "They tend to increase dopamine in the striatum, which in turn may reward impulsive behavior. In a very simplistic fashion, the striatum is saying 'go,' and the frontal cortex is saying 'stop.' If you take cocaine, you're increasing the 'go' signal, and the 'stop' signal is not adequate to counteract it."
Kayser and his research team plan a follow-up study of the effects of tolcapone on drinking behavior. "Once we determine whether drinkers can safely tolerate this medication, we will see if it has any effect on how much they drink while they're taking it," said Kayser.
Tolcapone is approved as a medication for Parkinson's disease, in which a chronic deficit of dopamine inhibits movement.
Provided by University of California, San Francisco
"Increasing dopamine in brain's frontal cortex decreases impulsive tendency: research." July 25th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-dopamine-brain-frontal-cortex-decreases.html

SAIBABA GANESHA IN SKY