Chetan Datta Poduri

The present author’s quest for a genuine description of God(s) in credible sources (be it religious or scientific), brought him to the point of investigating various supernatural phenomena. Scientific or religious literature and the internet are alive with numerous reports of supernatural phenomena. Supernatural phenomena are defined for the present as those spectacles that involve UFOs, ETs, and alien-abduction experiences. With the advent of numerous UFO-based religions, and as the maxim says, ‘No smoke without fire’, it makes sense to verify every reported supernatural phenomenon for their genuineness to avoid being deceived. Also, earlier authors working in the direction of ufology have found significant evidence to support the existence of UFOs. Whether these UFOs represent extra-terrestrial entities needs to be validated.In this study of studies, the present author starts with reported incidents in the documented literature that deal with supernatural phenomena. About 41 incidents, amongst several instances mentioned in various sources, were considered, and categorized based on an extended Russian classification of supernatural phenomenon. Among these, seven phenomena were found to be genuine. A dating discrepancy was noted in different sources regarding either ancient monuments or in the supernatural phenomena reported. All of these are discussed in significant detail.

Pathogens have been plaguing humans since time immemorial. One characteristic feature is repetition of pandemics by the same pathogen(s) resulting in devastation. However, starting CE 1880, the offending pathogens have been different with every episode. Borrowing concepts from theology and physics, this article tries to proffer answers to some aspects observed regarding Viruses, Vectors, and Humans, and thereby tries to redefine our thinking on the concepts of viral infections. These aspects being: how pandemics occur in the first instance, the rapid global spread of the current Covid-19 Pandemic and will the humanity be able to control such pandemics in future.

This article is now published in "Journal for the study of Religions and Ideologies". Please visit https://thenewjsri.ro/index.php/njsri/article/view/149 for latest version of the article.Thank you.

Dear Reader/Visitor,Thank you for your interest in my research.Note that a thoroughly revised version based on this article is now published and available online at: https://thenewjsri.ro/index.php/njsri/article/view/197Citation:Poduri, C. (2022). The Need for Religion and Spirituality in Counselling Practices: Approaching through Cardinal Sins. Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies, 21 # 62: 53-69.Regards,Chetan Datta Poduri

In the present-day world, several new religious movements (NRMs) are in vogue along with mainstream religions. Religions and NRMs describe the occurrence of miracles or religious phenomena either to the leaders of the faiths or to their believers at regular intervals. Invariably, these phenomena are projected as messages from the divinity, and thereby propelling the respective faith as true path to salvation. In the present article, the author tabulates the different miracles or religious phenomena reported by various NRMs founded after 1900 CE. Based on the discussion, along with presenting a simple categorization of miracles or religious phenomena, a probable pattern/trend for their occurrence is postulated. The article emphasizes the need for identifying the threshold level (of religious experience) for the emergence of the next messiah on this planet. Excessive violence, drugs and alcoholism are found to be a prominent feature in some, if not all, of the NRMs.

There is an increasing need to develop strategies for simultaneous detection of Chikungunya (ChikV), Dengue (DenV) and Zika Virus (ZikV) owing to their shared transmission ecology. Towards this aim, nine reference sequences of ChikV, DenV (1 - 4) and ZikV were aligned using ClustalW Omega Software available at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) website. Internet search engines like Google (Scholar), PubMed, JSTOR, and ProQuest Central were used for literature search. Also, Conserved Domain Database (CDD) (NCBI) and ZikaVR (IMTECH, C'garh) formed constant references. One conserved region, 21 amino acids (aa) in length, common to the three viruses mapping to the Core protein of ChikV (aa 211 - 231); and the NS3 proteins of DenV (1 - 4) (aa 1608 – 1628) and ZikV (aa 1631/35 - 1651/55) has been identified by the current author in this study. This region is the part of a protease in all the three viruses studied. Thus, this conserved region can form one diagnostic tool/probe for simultaneous detection of ChikV, DenV and ZikV. Additionally, as this region is conserved, it may form one therapeutic target.

This article discusses the popular Aristotelian phrase

In the past there were at least 23 epidemics with Ebola virus (EbV). Presently there are pandemics with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The recent epidemic of EbV has taken an year to get contained. Infections with HCV and HIV are continuing to increase. At present, except for EbV, neither HCV nor HIV have a vaccine to prevent future infections. Here, a snapshot of the three viruses with regard to their characteristics and prevalence (both global and Indian) are generated with an emphasis to study the infection dynamics of these three RNA viruses in relation to each other. An emphasis is made towards the common or shared features of the three viruses.

As per UNAIDS database, India has the World's third largest population of people living with HIV infection. Nigeria is second in position in this list of people living with HIV. This observation is significant for the simple reason that Nigeria is also presently affected with the recent Ebola epidemic (Ebola-2014). The West African region, to which Nigeria belongs, suffers the Ebola-2014 from a different strain of Ebola virus as compared to a concurrent epidemic in Equatorial African nation of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Presented in this article is an analysis of the documented literature on this multi-dimensional Ebola-2014 epidemic. The mystifying phenomenon of persistence of the epidemic in West Africa is explained through various aspects attributable to the geopolitics of the region, biology of the virus, funeral customs in the region, fiction, economics and conspiratorial theories.