Spiritual healing that have been labeled as "voodoo" by its critics is to provide patients with the NHS £ 205 000 research project funded by the National Lottery.

Healers pass their hands over the patient's body to the "healing energy" channel of the affected areas 20-minute sessions designed to see whether the treatment relieves the discomfort.

According to its proponents energy work, "as a set of jumper cables and can relieve mild pain. But critics say that the cure has no scientific basis and the money raised through the lottery should not be used to promote alternative medicine that is pressed when the NHS money.

A Big Lottery Fund grant for the two-year investigation was distributed to charitable healing cool breeze, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham and Good Hope Hospital NHS in Sutton Coldfield.

Three healers Good Hope is to recruit 200 patients with intestinal diseases.

Patients were divided into two groups, one receiving and the other five soon after the three months late. The group, which was compared with time after treatment, which does not exist.

Sukhdev Singh, a consultant in gastroenterology at the coordination of research, said he was encouraged by the results so far.

He added: "For many people, we see the usual treatments do not provide a complete answer to be able to offer treatment, we are able to offer complementary methods of treatments have had good results.".

But a patient said, Good Hope, which has refused to join the process.

"How can a person who runs his hand over, you can make a difference, I really do not know," he said. "I think there's a certain amount of human despair accommodate.

"The healing seems to be based on Buddhist spiritual practice of Reiki, which is ironic, when the Christian doctors and nurses are advised to pray for their patients. "

According Healing Trust, Britain's largest improvements in the organization of which he is a member of the fresh winds, healing works by correcting the "imbalance in the flow of energy." Trust leaflet says that the treatment is usually "no-touch", and that patients are dressed.

He added: "It is normal to feel tingling, warmth, coolness or discomfort that comes to the surface to be released as the work of healing energy or you may feel a thing - it makes no difference to the result ..

The Web site adds fresh winds: .. "The healing energy is all around us In the end, it is universal - part of nature itself according to their individual beliefs, see some healers and recipients of divine energy, while others consider it as a pure universal energy. It is often viewed as simply "love and light." '

Alternative medicine as a healing or homeopathy have been gaining acceptance in the NHS, with support from influential figures like Prince Charles.

Many NHS trusts allow healers to use on a voluntary basis in hospitals, and supporters say it is increasingly clear that the method can be effective.

But critics, including leading scientists and doctors have attacked public funding of such treatment.

Simon Singh, author of Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial, said: "The £ 200 000 must be spent on much better causes. There is no evidence at all that good work of spiritual healing in any way, shape or form other than the placebo effect - when the patient feels better just because they get some attention.

"You can use the money for this lottery is to introduce health in voodoo.

"It's really tragic to spend money this way, when so many real answer medical questions."

Simon Singh, co-author, Professor Edzard Ernst of Exeter University in complementary medicine, said: "It makes a mockery of evidence-based medicine to put public money in this."

Big Lottery Fund, said the results should be presented in the NHS next year to inform their decision whether some complementary therapies in the management of irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease.

WASHINGTON - However, the ends of the debt limit showdown, one thing is clear: under pressure from Republicans in Congress, President Obama has shifted to the right on fiscal policy, the deepening cracks in his party, go to upcoming elections.

Entering a campaign that promises to be an epic clash of parties' views differ on the size and role of the federal government, the Republicans changed the terms of national debate. Obama, seeking to appeal to independent voters broadband, Republicans have adopted the language and in some cases, their politics, while signaling a desire to break with liberal on some issues.

It has some progressive members of Congress and liberal groups to claim that the struggle to spend no more stimulus, Obama may end up with an economy that continues to produce so few jobs before election day that his re-election could be threatened. In addition to turning off independent risks alienating Obama's Democratic voters are already disappointed with his escalation of the war in Afghanistan and its inability to close the Guantanamo prison, at the end of the tax cuts of the Bush era and adopt a government-run health insurance.

"The liberal grassroots support Obama because they are terrified by the right wing," said Robert L. Borosage, co-leader of the liberal group Campaign for America's future.

But he said: "I think the Democratic Party's electoral base - young single women, African Americans, Latinos - will be so discouraged by this economy, and so horrified, unless the President begins to fight for a jobs program and the Republican Congress to assume that the ability to work to turn his vote, the ability of activists to mobilize the vote that will be significantly reduced. "

While Obama and Republicans have reached agreement on debt reduction plan of spending cuts and revenue increases to cut the $ 4 trillion in the first decade, on Saturday, have negotiated an agreement with less spending cuts to ensure that the debt ceiling National to be lifted in 2013 in order to avoid a stalemate in the heat of the campaign season.

No matter how immediate the problem is solved, Obama, in his effort failed to reduce the deficit larger, is on the table a lot more spending reductions in the coming years, such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, as did the new income between rich and businesses. He has proposed military spending cuts and less health to the reciprocal of the Senate group, which includes a section of the most conservative Republicans.

To win the approval of the essential increase the borrowing limit 14300000000000 country, Obama has sought the deficit that the Republicans do, and with fewer changes in entitlement programs because he was prepared to generate additional revenue from 2013 and they were not. And despite the persistence of unemployment to its highest level in decades, Obama has not fought this year for a program of major works with billions of dollars for public works projects, which in the Liberal party said. Instead, he wants to extend a temporary payroll tax cut for everyone, because the Republicans support tax cuts, despite studies showing that spending programs are often the most effective stimulus.

Even before the last election in November gave the Republicans control the House, Obama said he would turn to reduce the deficit after two years of recovery measures are primarily intended to save the economy and encourage a return to near-collapse the financial system. With Republican gains in congressional elections, which became the pivot of rotation. However, Republicans in Congress say that Mr. Obama is seeking an increase in the debt limit as a "blank check" to keep spending.

"The Republicans have won and do not know how to accept the victory," said Robert D. Reischauer, former director of the Congressional Budget Office.

In his budget in January, fell to Obama to propose a plan along the lines proposed by the majority of its non-partisan Tax Commission in December 4000 recommended billions of dollars in savings over 10 years through cuts in programs military and domestic, including Medicare and Medicaid, and an overhaul of the tax code to lower prices, while raising more revenue.

While Barack Obama has been criticized from all sides, the administration officials said then that having adopted this approach so it would have too far to the right - where he would eventually end up in any compromise with the Republicans, and not where he wanted to start.

But this month, ultimately unsuccessful talks with President John A. Boehner, Obama tentatively agreed to a plan that was fairer than most of the Tax Commission and a bipartisan group of senators called six times. It also included a gradual increase in the Medicare eligibility age to 67 from 65 and, after 2015, a change in the formula for Social Security cost of living, long sought by economists.

"He has to adapt to new realities in Washington," said Tom Davis, a former House Republican leader of Virginia. "This is what leaders do."

But Congressional Democrats and liberal groups have protested.

"The President proposed cuts in Social Security and Medicare have the potential to SAP energy in the Democratic base - among older voters because of Medicare and Medicaid and young voters because of the lack of jobs," Damon Silvers A. said, political director of the AFL-CIO "And secondly, these fiscal tightening on the table to make the economy worse."

Obama's situation has parallels in mid-1990, when President Bill Clinton moved to the center after taking the Republicans in Congress and have fought to reduce the deficit and an overhaul of welfare. Many Democrats were angered by his confession of a feeling of being left out of negotiations and a fear of offending Democratic constituencies. Clinton was reelected in 1996.

But Obama will outline to voters and the decline in unemployment during the reign of Clinton. Still, his advisers express confidence that voters will reward Obama is to win a lot of mortgage, if this were to happen, or at least its more balanced approach, which is a remake of the Medicare and Medicaid, and to demand more income from the rich . And another parallel can suggest the Clinton years, divided government: that the risk of Republican voters a setback with the uncompromising stands.

"Democrats created Social Security and Medicare, and we have fought for decades against Republican attempts to end these programs," said Dan Pfeiffer, communications director of Obama. "And Obama believes that the time has come for Democrats to be the ones to strengthen and save Social Security and Medicare. "

Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster, said the survey results showed that, at this point in his term, Mr. Obama, compared with former Democratic president, has done as well or better with Democratic voters. "Whatever misgivings or doubts you may have about this policy or the policy at the end of the day all you are absolutely sure - will hate the Republican candidates," M. Mellman said. "So I'm not so worried about a solid or an honest enthusiasm."

A small space rock that is partially related to the earth by a chain of gravitation is to first planet known Trojan asteroids, astronomers say.

The Trojans are objects that are gravitationally stable regions in front of or behind another body, so they share the same orbit but never collide.

Trojan asteroids have been discovered around Jupiter, Neptune and Mars and Saturn in orbit by a few groups of the moons of Troy.

The recently discovered Trojan is about 1,000 feet (300 meters) wide and sits on about 50 million kilometers (80000000 km) in front of the Earth.

"It is in orbit around the Sun in the same way that our orbital path is, and is controlled in part by our severity, but the Sun's gravity to control," said Martin Connors, an astronomer at the University of Athabasca in Canada and one of the co-discoverers of the object.

Connors compared with the orange strange asteroid with an outstretched arm, by a person riding a Ferris wheel. In this analogy, the orange is the Trojan, the person is the Earth and the big wheel is our orbit around the sun.

"The orange would be walking around the wheel, but to keep it at arm's length is up to you," said Connors.

"This Trojan is: There is one important thing is you drag, gravity is the Sun, but Earth has some control over it and if the Earth's gravity does not exist, was another. Of course, as if you'll let go of the orange, that fall to the ground. "

Add The Trojans spotted yet?

Scientists have long predicted that the earth should be the Trojans, but, like the asteroid had not noticed until now, because they tend to be relatively small and scattered in the general direction of the Sun seen from Earth, which are difficult to locate the Star dazzle.

Fortunately, Trojans found traces it takes far enough from the solar telescopes on site.

Connors and his team discovered stone Commons, nicknamed TK7 2010 using NASA's Infrared Survey Explorer wider range, or the wise, the space telescope. The team later confirmed the discovery with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

We do not know when or how the Earth and asteroids, along with the first, but computer models suggest that the orbit of the Trojan will be stable for at least ten thousand years.

Despite being relatively close to Earth, 2010 TK7 not a good candidate for future exploration robots or human, the researchers said.

This is because the asteroid is an unusual slant route over the Earth, which is well above or below the plane of the orbit of our planet. In this configuration, to reach the Trojan require large amounts of fuel.

However, it is possible that the Trojan horses of the earth more conveniently located, which have yet to discover, Connors.

"Among the Trojan asteroids of Jupiter, some of them are almost in the plane of Jupiter," he said.

"If we can find similar things for the Earth, then they could be relatively low-power objectives, and would be an interesting opportunity to have."

Earth Trojan asteroid is first described the July 28 issue of the journal Nature.

Ever feel like making your own money? Well you probably shouldn't actually make any, because I don't think the law would appreciate it very much. But if you feel like just making some Photoshopped money for a design, then read on to find out how to stick your own face on a dollar bill!

Step1:
So I have chosen a US dollar banknote, but you can choose whatever you wish. Just grab a camera and take a photo of some money, or you can download a one-dollar note from google. The image size I've used is about 2000 px wide and 900 px high.


Step2:
The first step is to create a layer mask to erase Washington's face. So we add a new shape layer, and using the Ellipse Tool (U), draw an oval shape covering the area with the head. Set Fill to 0 to adjust shape.


Step3:
Now with the Pen Tool (P), we are going to draw a path as shown below, highlighted by red.


Step 4:
Create a Layer Mask (Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All) on the banknote layer. Then, we'll do four operations:

• Ctrl-Click on First Shape Layer (oval) to load selection
• Press D to set Black/White as your background/foreground colors
• Click on the layer mask of the banknote layer
• Alt + Backspace to fill selection

If you work correctly, the result will look like this:


Step 5:
Now Ctrl-Click on the other shape layer to load the selection of the part of the oval we wanted to keep. Select white as your foreground color, and select the layer mask of the banknote layer by clicking on it. Fill selection by using the Alt + Backspace shortcut or just by using a brush (as shown below).


Step 6:
Choose an image to insert. I've chosen my sister's photography :-) It's about 500px high. Something with contrast and white (or bright) background will be best. Now click Image > Mode > Grayscale


Step 7:
Then select Image > Mode > Bitmap. Then choose Halftone screen, keeping the Resolution the same as the original image (300 dpi in my case), then click OK. Then choose your Frequency (about 85 works well in this case, but you can try different values), 0 degrees and "Line" as Shape. Voilà !




Step 8:
Now go to Image > Mode > Grayscale and set Size Ratio "1" as your value. Now using the Magic Wand Tool, select a black point (Contiguous deselected and Tolerance "0"). Then Ctrl + C to copy.

Step 9:
Come back to our image of the banknote. Create a new layer, fill with white, and set as background. Still on the new layer, press Ctrl + V to paste. Put the photo in center of hole. See the image below.


Step 10:
Next, go to Image > Adjustment > Hue/Saturation. Use the values shown below. Note that Colorize is ticked. Set the Transparency of the layer to 90%.


Step 11:
Add a new layer between the white background and the photo. Then select the Clone Stamp Tool and choose a soft brush about 100 px.


Step 12:
To use the Clone Tool, you need to Alt-Click to set a source cloning point. Choose a point to the left of the face where there is an open space of paper. Then start to paint around the face in the photo as shown.


Step 13:
And there you have it, your own money!

In this tutorial, we're going to create some really sharp-looking glow effects using a combination of layer styles, the Pen Tool and Color Blending. The end effect is quite stunning and hopefully you'll pick up some tips you didn't know before.

Step 1:
As with pretty much every tutorial I've ever written, we begin with a radial gradient. This one is pretty harsh and goes from a reddish brown color to black. Here are the exact color codes:
Foreground color - #922f00 Background color - #000000


Step 2:
In this tutorial, we actually need a pretty intense center, so what we'll do is duplicate the layer we just made and set the one above to a blending mode of Color Dodge. There are a few types of blending modes, darkening ones, lightening ones, colorizing ones and inverting ones. Color Dodge is probably the strongest of the lightening ones. As you can see in the screenshot, it produces a pretty full-on center.


Step 3:
Now in our glow effect, it helps to have a nice textured background. So we are going to create a sort of smoky haze. To do this, create a new layer, then make sure you have white, #ffffff, and black, #000000, selected as your background and foreground colors.
Then go to Filter > Render > Clouds. This will give you the same random cloud pattern as above.


Step 4:
Now set the opacity of your layer to Overlay and 30% transparency. In some instances this would be enough, but for our needs we want it even smokier looking!
So go to Filter > Sketch > Chrome and use default settings of 4 and 7 for detail and smoothness respectively. Actually you can probably mess around with those if you want, but the defaults seem to be fine.
When you're done, the result should look a lot smokier (once it’s overlayed at 30% transparency that is). You can see the result in the background of the next screenshot.


Step 5:
Now before we can start making glows, we need to have something to glow. Here's where we break out the pen tool. If you have used the pen tool much I suggest playing around with it a little. There are some tricky things you can do with shortcuts, but for this tutorial you don't need those.
In fact all we want to achieve are some nice curves. Fortunately this isn't too hard. I find the trick is not to use too many points. Instead rely on the Pen Tool's natural curving and drag the mouse out for each point so you get a big angle. In this S-curve shown above, I've only used three points, the starting point, the end point and one in between to give it the bend.


Step 6:
Once you have a nice curve, create a new layer. Then click on the Paintbrush Tool (B) and choose a very thin, hard brush. As you know, soft brushes are the blurry ones and hard brushes are more solid. In this case I suggest using a thickness of 3.
Note that you can have any color selected as your brush color because we'll go over it with a layer style shortly.


Step 7:
Now switch back to the Pen Tool. You must switch tools in order to do this next bit. Then right-click and select Stroke Path. A little dialog box will appear as in the screenshot. Choose Brush and make sure there is a tick next to Simulate Pressure. This is important as it will give your curve tapered ends which will make it rock! Next right click again and select Delete Path.


Step 8:
You should now have something like the above. Just a thin, cool swishy thing.


Step 9:
Now we add some glows. The easiest way to make our glows is to use layer styles. And the best way to tell you what layer styles to use is to tell you to download the sample Photoshop PSD from the bottom of this page and then open it up and look through them there.
In a nutshell, I've added two sets of glows. To do this I first use Outer Glow and then because I want a second glow, I change the Drop Shadow settings so that it becomes a glow (you can do this by reducing the Distance and changing the blend mode to something like Color Dodge)
Oh and also I've used a Color Overlay to make the item white so that it’s like the center of an intense glow.


Step 10:
So now you have the same line but with a cool glow coming off it. The beauty of using a layer style is that you can copy and paste it to other layers. To do this you just right-click the layer and select Copy Layer Style then create a new layer and right-click and choose Paste Layer Style.


Step 11:
So now repeat the same process a couple of times to make more squiggly lines.
In this instance, I made one a little thicker by changing the paint brush size before I did the Stroke Path bit of the process. I also made a third line and erased part of it and sort of made it join the other two to look like a cool triangular shape.


Step 12:
Here I've added some text in and applied the same layer style to the text layers.
It's important to pay lots of care and attention to your text. When you're first starting out, use simple fonts and play with spacing between letters, words and sizes. You can achieve a lot with just some small tricks. Here I've contrasted the three words by making Glow a lot larger and in regular casing, then made Advanced and FX much smaller, with greater space between the letters and all caps.
You can control spacing with text using the Character window. If it isn't already open go to Window > Character and it should appear. Mess about with the different settings until you learn what each controls.


Step 13:
Now we add some particles. To do this, create a new layer then select a tiny paint brush - size 3 - and just paint some dots on. It helps if they are clustered towards the center of the glow so that it looks like they are emanating from there.
You can make some of the central ones larger by doubling over on them with a second paint brush dab.
Then paste our Glow layer style on to that layer too!


Step 14:
Now that's looking pretty cool, but it will look even cooler if we give it some subtle coloring instead of this super gaudy red.
So create a new layer, and using a radial gradient, draw a blue to white gradient as shown.


Step 15:
Then set that layer to a blending mode of Color and change the opacity to 50%.
You'll see that it turns the image kind of bluish. I think that's looking much cooler already, but just to go that extra step I also created a couple of extra layers, one with some faint yellow and one with faint purple. You can see them in the screenshot above.
I set each layer to blending mode of Color and thin opacities so that they all fade together.


Step 16:
And there you have it: advanced glow effects with a cool color blend and subtle smoky background combined make for a pretty great effect.
Just remember to experiment with settings and try applying the glow to different things to see how it turns out. And try different color combinations, some surprising combinations turn out really beautiful. Good luck!

In this tutorial we'll be creating a smoky night effect on text to give it an eerie supernatural sort of feel. It's a good exercise in using the Wave distortion filter...

Step 1:
The first thing we need for our image is a background. We're going to use a quick star-sky background. There are lots of tutorials around for this effect, and it's actually a simple two-step process: clouds + noise.
So on a new blank canvas, start by choosing a dark blue color - #18323a - and black and then go to Filter > Render > Clouds.



Step 2:
Now create a new layer, fill it with black, and go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and use values roughly as shown below.


Step 3:
Now that is way too much noise, so go to Image > Adjustment > Levels (or Ctrl+L) and bring those sliders together until you see most of the 'stars' vanish as shown.


Step 4:
Now set the stars layer's blending mode to Screen so that the black vanishes and just the stars remain. It's still a bit too even though, so add a Layer Mask to the layer, and with a large fat brush just mask out blobs so that it seems a little less even. See the screenshot below to see the layer mask I added...


Step 5:
In this step, I added a radial gradient layer going from the white in the center to black at the edges and set the layer to Overlay and 45 percent; Opacity. The effect is just to darken the edges and it's not an essential step. In any case you should have something like this image shown below.


Step 6:
Now we add our text. I've used a font called Cuez_Ver6 which looks suitably strange. If you go to a free font site and look under sci-fi or the like, you'll doubtless find something similar. Actually it's quite unreadable really (especially the r), but who cares, it looks cool!


Step 7:
Next we're going to add some layer styles.
First I've given the text a Color Overlay of straight black (#000000). Then because the basis of this text effect is a creepy light, I added inner glows. First an Inner Glow as shown below, and then an Inner Shadow with color #54a4ff, blend mode Screen, distance 1, size 2, angle -90', and everything else default.


Step 8:
Next we use a textured Bevel and Emboss to give the style some unevenness. You can see the Bevel settings below. The Texture I added is just one of the standard ones that comes with Photoshop that looks like bubbles. And I set the Depth to -79.
As you can see below, this makes the inner glow look a lot more uneven.


Step 9:
Finally I added a Drop Shadow and Outer Glow, both set using Screen and the color #008ac5. I used both so that I could make one of them a small glow and one a really spread out glow, so the distances were 10px and 100px.


Step 10:
Ok, so here's our text with the Layer Style applied. It's off to a good start, but you can only do so much with Layer Styles, so now we do some good ol' manual effects.


Step 11:
First of all, duplicate the text, right-click the layer, and remove the layer styles. Then change the color of the text to a fluorescent blue (#5cdbff). Then press the up arrow once to move it one pixel up. This will give a sort of glow effect as shown below.


Step 12:
Ok, this next step is the key step in this tutorial.
Duplicate the text layer with the fluoro blue color. Then go to Filter > Distort > Wave. You can use mostly the default settings, except where it has Scale. I've set this to just 10 percnt; and 10 percent; this will distort the text, but only a little bit. If you leave it at 100 percent; the effect is pretty full-on!
(Note: In the image below, I moved the text down so that it would be clear that I was applying the wave filter to it.)


Step 13:
After you have distorted text, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and use a value of 4px. Then set the Opacity to 20 percent.
In the screenshot below, I've switched off the main text so that you can see the distorted text.


Step 14:
Now hold down Ctrl and click on that text layer to select it's pixels and then go to Select > Modify > Contract and use a value of 5px. Then press Shift+Ctrl+I to invert the selection and hit Delete. This should leave a thin wispy looking remnant of your text.
Now switch on the main text layer, and it should look like a tiny bit of smoke coming off the letters.


Step 15:
Now duplicate that layer and go to Filter > Distort > Wave and distort this copy even more.
Now repeat this step a couple of times and vary what you do with the wave. So you might want to press Randomize sometimes, or sometimes distort the copy a few times. Also I used a mix of blending modes on the different copies of the smoke. Two of them I had no blending mode set, two of them I used Overlay, and for another two I used Hard Light.
Also it's a good idea to mix up whether they are behind or in front of the text. Remember you want the effect to look like wisps of smoke coming off the letters.


Step 16:
Now that we have our small smoke sorted out, it's time to add some bigger wisps. So again duplicate the fluoro blue text layer.


Step 17:
We now apply another Wave distortion, but this time where it has Scale, set the horizontal to 5 percent; and the vertical to 100 percent. This will make the shapes become very elongated as shown. Once you've applied the wave, just repeatedly hit Ctrl+F to keep doing it over and over again until the text has been completely distorted into long wispy shapes.


Step 18:
Once you have a good smoky-looking effect, set the layer blending mode to Hard Light and you should have something similar to the image shown below.


Step 19:
Now duplicate that last layer and run a Gaussian Blur by going to Filter > Render > Gaussian Blur with a value of 4px. This will make our layer look a little softer.
After that, get a large soft eraser brush and just brush away some of the bits at the bottom and top so that it fades off as it approaches the edges. You may also want to repeat these last couple of steps to add more wisps.


Step 20:
Here I've removed the bottom of those wisps and added a few more subtle copies. Also I added some extra type above the main text just to make it look a bit cooler.


Step 21:
Next I moved one or two of the wispy layers in front of the text so that it looks like the smoke is trailing over the letters. In particular look at the E in super to see what I mean.


Step 22:
Finally, to give it a more eerie feel I added a layer above all the others and with a large brush painted some green on top, then set the layer blending mode to Color to make it so that the image is a blue-green coloring. And we're done! One slick, smoky effect!