Alterations in electrodermal activity and cardiac parasympathetic tone during hypnosis

Exploring autonomic nervous system (ANS) changes during hypnosis is critical for understanding the nature and extent of the hypnotic phenomenon and for identifying the mechanisms underlying the effects of hypnosis in different medical conditions. To assess ANS changes during hypnosis, electrodermal activity and pulse rate variability (PRV) were measured in 121 young adults. Participants either received hypnotic induction (hypnosis condition) or listened to music (control condition), and both groups were exposed to test suggestions. Blocks of silence and experimental sound stimuli were presented at baseline, after induction, and after de-induction. Skin conductance level (SCL) and high frequency (HF) power of PRV measured at each phase were compared between groups. Hypnosis decreased SCL compared to the control condition; however, there were no group differences in HF power. Furthermore, hypnotic suggestibility did not moderate ANS changes in the hypnosis group. These findings indicate that hypnosis reduces tonic sympathetic nervous system activity, which might explain why hypnosis is effective in the treatment of disorders with strong sympathetic nervous system involvement, such as rheumatoid arthritis, hot flashes, hypertension, and chronic pain. Further studies with different control conditions are required to examine the specificity of the sympathetic effects of hypnosis

Validity of telemetric-derived measures of heart rate variability: a systematic review

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a widely accepted indirect measure of autonomic function with widespread application across many settings. Although traditionally measured from the 'gold standard' criterion electrocardiography (ECG), the development of wireless telemetric heart rate monitors (HRMs) extends the scope of the HRV measurement. However, the validity of telemetric-derived data against the criterion ECG data is unclear. Thus, the purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to systematically review the validity of telemetric HRM devices to detect inter-beat intervals and aberrant beats; and (b) to determine the accuracy of HRV parameters computed from HRM-derived inter-beat interval time series data against criterion ECG-derived data in healthy adults aged 19 to 62 yrs. A systematic review of research evidence was conducted. Four electronic databases were accessed to obtain relevant articles (PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE and SPORTDiscus. Articles published in English between 1996 and 2016 were eligible for inclusion. Outcome measures included temporal and power spectral indices (Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology (1996). The review confirmed that modern HRMs (Polar® V800™ and Polar® RS800CX™) accurately detected inter-beat interval time-series data. The HRV parameters computed from the HRM-derived time series data were interchangeable with the ECG-derived data. The accuracy of the automatic in-built manufacturer error detection and the HRV algorithms were not established. Notwithstanding acknowledged limitations (a single reviewer, language bias, and the restricted selection of HRV parameters), we conclude that the modern Polar® HRMs offer a valid useful alternative to the ECG for the acquisition of inter-beat interval time series data, and the HRV parameters computed from Polar® HRM-derived inter-beat interval time series data accurately reflect ECG-derived HRV metrics, when inter-beat interval data are processed and analyzed using identical protocols, validated algorithms and software, particularly under controlled and stable conditions

Automated Analysis of Crackles in Patients with Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis

Background. The crackles in patients with interstitial pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) can be difficult to distinguish from those heard in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and pneumonia (PN). Misinterpretation of these crackles can lead to inappropriate therapy. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the crackles in patients with IPF differ from those in patients with CHF and PN. Methods. We studied 39 patients with IPF, 95 with CHF and 123 with PN using a 16-channel lung sound analyzer. Crackle features were analyzed using machine learning methods including neural networks and support vector machines. Results. The IPF crackles had distinctive features that allowed them to be separated from those in patients with PN with a sensitivity of 0.82, a specificity of 0.88 and an accuracy of 0.86. They were separated from those of CHF patients with a sensitivity of 0.77, a specificity of 0.85 and an accuracy of 0.82. Conclusion. Distinctive features are present in the crackles of IPF that help separate them from the crackles of CHF and PN. Computer analysis of crackles at the bedside has the potential of aiding clinicians in diagnosing IPF more easily and thus helping to avoid medication errors

HRV and ECG signal analysis of smokers and non-smokers

The current study deals with the study of Heart Rate Variability and wavelet-based ECG signal analysis of thirty-two volunteers, who were divided into two groups of smokers and non-smokers. Although the preliminary results of frequency domain analysis of HRV showed some dominance towards the sympathetic nervous system activity in smokers, they were not found to be statistically significant. Hence the bias of results towards the increase of sympathetic activity might be attributed to the masking affect of some other factors, apart from smoking, which were not included in our experiment. The wavelet decomposition of the ECG signal was done using the Daubechies (Db 6) wavelet family. No significant difference was observed between the smokers and non-smokers which apparently suggested that HRV does not affect the conduction pathway of heart

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia as an Index of Vagal Activity during Stress in Infants: Respiratory Influences and Their Control

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is related to cardiac vagal outflow and the respiratory pattern. Prior infant studies have not systematically examined respiration rate and tidal volume influences on infant RSA or the extent to which infants' breathing is too fast to extract a valid RSA. We therefore monitored cardiac activity, respiration, and physical activity in 23 six-month old infants during a standardized laboratory stressor protocol. On average, 12.6% (range 0–58.2%) of analyzed breaths were too short for RSA extraction. Higher respiration rate was associated with lower RSA amplitude in most infants, and lower tidal volume was associated with lower RSA amplitude in some infants. RSA amplitude corrected for respiration rate and tidal volume influences showed theoretically expected strong reductions during stress, whereas performance of uncorrected RSA was less consistent. We conclude that stress-induced changes of peak-valley RSA and effects of variations in breathing patterns on RSA can be determined for a representative percentage of infant breaths. As expected, breathing substantially affects infant RSA and needs to be considered in studies of infant psychophysiology