Exhaled nitric oxide and clinical phenotypes of childhood asthma

Whether exhaled NO helps to identify a specific phenotype of asthmatic patients remains debated. Our aims were to evaluate whether exhaled NO (FENO0.05) is independently associated (1) with underlying pathophysiological characteristics of asthma such as airway tone (bronchodilator response) and airway inflammation (inhaled corticosteroid [ICS]-dependant inflammation), and (2) with clinical phenotypes of asthma

Exhaled nitric oxide and clinical phenotypes of childhood asthma

Whether exhaled NO helps to identify a specific phenotype of asthmatic patients remains debated. Our aims were to evaluate whether exhaled NO (FENO0.05) is independently associated (1) with underlying pathophysiological characteristics of asthma such as airway tone (bronchodilator response) and airway inflammation (inhaled corticosteroid [ICS]-dependant inflammation), and (2) with clinical phenotypes of asthma

A comparison of self reported air pollution problems and GIS-modeled levels of air pollution in people with and without chronic diseases

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>To explore various contributors to people's reporting of self reported air pollution problems in area of living, including GIS-modeled air pollution, and to investigate whether those with respiratory or other chronic diseases tend to over-report air pollution problems, compared to healthy people.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cross-sectional data from the Oslo Health Study (2000–2001) were linked with GIS-modeled air pollution data from the Norwegian Institute of Air Research. Multivariate regression analyses were performed. 14 294 persons aged 30, 40, 45, 60 or 75 years old with complete information on modeled and self reported air pollution were included.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>People who reported air pollution problems were exposed to significantly higher GIS-modeled air pollution levels than those who did not report such problems. People with chronic disease, reported significantly more air pollution problems after adjustment for modeled levels of nitrogen dioxides, socio-demographic variables, smoking, depression, dwelling conditions and an area deprivation index, even if they had a non-respiratory disease. No diseases, however, were significantly associated with levels of nitrogen dioxides.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Self reported air pollution problems in area of living are strongly associated with increased levels of GIS-modeled air pollution. Over and above this, those who report to have a chronic disease tend to report more air pollution problems in area of living, despite no significant difference in air pollution exposure compared to healthy people, and no associations between these diseases and NO₂. Studies on the association between self reported air pollution problems and health should be aware of the possibility that disease itself may influence the reporting of air pollution.</p

Movement Timing and Invariance Arise from Several Geometries

Human movements show several prominent features; movement duration is nearly independent of movement size (the isochrony principle), instantaneous speed depends on movement curvature (captured by the 2/3 power law), and complex movements are composed of simpler elements (movement compositionality). No existing theory can successfully account for all of these features, and the nature of the underlying motion primitives is still unknown. Also unknown is how the brain selects movement duration. Here we present a new theory of movement timing based on geometrical invariance. We propose that movement duration and compositionality arise from cooperation among Euclidian, equi-affine and full affine geometries. Each geometry posses a canonical measure of distance along curves, an invariant arc-length parameter. We suggest that for continuous movements, the actual movement duration reflects a particular tensorial mixture of these canonical parameters. Near geometrical singularities, specific combinations are selected to compensate for time expansion or compression in individual parameters. The theory was mathematically formulated using Cartan's moving frame method. Its predictions were tested on three data sets: drawings of elliptical curves, locomotion and drawing trajectories of complex figural forms (cloverleaves, lemniscates and limaçons, with varying ratios between the sizes of the large versus the small loops). Our theory accounted well for the kinematic and temporal features of these movements, in most cases better than the constrained Minimum Jerk model, even when taking into account the number of estimated free parameters. During both drawing and locomotion equi-affine geometry was the most dominant geometry, with affine geometry second most important during drawing; Euclidian geometry was second most important during locomotion. We further discuss the implications of this theory: the origin of the dominance of equi-affine geometry, the possibility that the brain uses different mixtures of these geometries to encode movement duration and speed, and the ontogeny of such representations

Mindful Aging: The Effects of Regular Brief Mindfulness Practice on Electrophysiological Markers of Cognitive and Affective Processing in Older Adults

There is growing interest in the potential benefits of mindfulness meditation practices in terms of counteracting some of the cognitive effects associated with aging. Pursuing this question, the aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of mindfulness training on executive control and emotion regulation in older adults, by means of studying behavioral and electrophysiological changes. Participants, 55 to 75 years of age, were randomly allocated to an 8-week mindful breath awareness training group or an active control group engaging in brain training exercises. Before and after the training period, participants completed an emotional-counting Stroop task, designed to measure attentional control and emotion regulation processes. Concurrently, their brain activity was measured by means of 64-channel electroencephalography. The results show that engaging in just over 10 min of mindfulness practice five times per week resulted in significant improvements in behavioral (response latency) and electrophysiological (N2 event-related potential) measures related to general task performance. Analyses of the underlying cortical sources (Variable Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography, VARETA) indicate that this N2-related effect is primarily associated with changes in the right angular gyrus and other areas of the dorsal attention network. However, the study did not find the expected specific improvements in executive control and emotion regulation, which may be due to the training instructions or the relative brevity of the intervention. Overall, the results indicate that engaging in mindfulness meditation training improves the maintenance of goal-directed visuospatial attention and may be a useful strategy for counteracting cognitive decline associated with aging

The GTN patch: a simple and effective new approach to cardioprotection?

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Basic Research in Cardiology . The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00395-018-0681-2There remains a significant un-met need to reduce the extent of myocardial injury caused by ischaemia and reperfusion injury in patients experiencing an ST-elevation MI. Although nitric oxide is central to many cardioprotective strategies currently undergoing investigation, cardioprotection from the delivery of nitrates/nitrites has been inconsistently observed. The route of administration appears to be a critical variable. The glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) patch is commonly used as a simple and practical means of delivering nitric oxide to patients with ischaemic heart disease, but whether acute cardioprotection can be achieved by application of a GTN patch has not been investigated before. Here, we use a mouse model to demonstrate that a GTN patch is highly cardioprotective when applied immediately prior to 40 min occlusion of the left anterior coronary artery followed by 2 h reperfusion, reducing infarct size from 54 ± 4% in control mice, to 28 ± 4% (P < 0.001, N = 7). The degree of protection was similar to that achieved with a standard remote ischaemic preconditioning protocol. Furthermore, and of greater potential clinical relevance, a GTN patch was also protective when applied well after the initiation of ischaemia and 15 min prior to reperfusion (28 ± 4 vs 59 ± 4%; P < 0.01, N = 5). Confirmatory experiments verified the expected effect increase in plasma nitrite levels and decrease in blood pressure. The simplicity and rapidity of GTN patch application (easily applied in an ambulance or cardiac catheterization laboratory), and low cost (potentially relevant to low-income countries), make it attractive for further investigation.NIHR Biomedical Research Council (SD), British Heart Foundation PG/15/52/31598 (SD, DH) and the The Hatter Foundation

Tratamento do transtorno de pânico com terapia psicodramática de grupo Treatment for panic disorder with psychodramatic group therapy

INTRODUÇÃO/OBJETIVOS: Há poucos trabalhos publicados sobre psicoterapia grupal para pacientes com transtorno de pânico (TP); além disso, esses estudos geralmente são restritos a abordagens cognitivo-comportamentais. O objetivo deste trabalho é relatar uma experiência de atendimento psicoterápico psicodramático grupal para portadores de TP, iniciada em 1996 na Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu/Unesp, e discutir aspectos psicodinâmicos desse transtorno. MÉTODOS: Atende-se uma média de oito a dez pacientes em sessões mensais de duas horas de duração, nas quais se utilizam técnicas psicodramáticas. O uso associado de psicofármacos é a regra. A temática é aberta, centrando-se tanto em aspectos próprios do TP (sintomas mais comuns; peregrinação em serviços médicos até o diagnóstico; preocupações hipocondríacas; limitações e dependência; reações dos familiares; estratégias de exposição e enfrentamento; efeitos e reações dos medicamentos) quanto em problemas individuais específicos. RESULTADOS: A abordagem psicodramática favorece a identificação e a elaboração de aspectos psicodinâmicos. Entre estes, destacaram-se os sentimentos de desamparo e seus desdobramentos: insegurança; fragilidade e medo; raiva e culpa; sentimentos de desamor e rejeição; vergonha e inferioridade; isolamento e dificuldade de pedir ajuda; dificuldade de identificar e de expressar sentimentos - manifestados somaticamente -; e dificuldade de assumir o papel de "cuidador" e outras responsabilidades. CONCLUSÕES: Aspectos valiosos para o tratamento do TP, como apoio mútuo, companheirismo, confiança, modelo e estímulo, são favorecidos pelo contexto grupal homogêneo. O compartilhar de experiências e sofrimentos comuns propiciou rápida coesão e suporte grupal, melhora da capacidade de expressar sentimentos e da auto-estima e o aprimoramento de papéis sociais. Além da melhora dos sintomas, possibilitou-se a melhor compreensão e elaboração destes, que passam a ser integrados significativamente no contexto existencial.<br>INTRODUCTION: There are few published articles on group psychotherapy for patients with panic disorder (PD) and usually they are restricted to the cognitive-behavioral approach. OBJECTIVE: To describe an experience of group psychodramatic therapy for PD patients, started in 1996 at Botucatu Medical School - UNESP, and discuss psychodynamic aspects of the panic disorder. METHODS: Two-hour monthly psychodramatic sessions, with an average of 8 to10 patients were carried out. The patients were usually receiving concomitantly psychopharmacological treatment. The subjects to be discussed were freely chosen, ranging from issues directly related to PD (most common symptoms, hurdles to get to a diagnosis, hypochondriac concerns, limitations and dependency, family reactions, strategies of exposure and coping, and effects of drug treatment) to individual conflicts and problems. RESULTS: The psychodramatic approach favors the identification and elaboration of psychodynamic aspects. The most common feelings observed were helplessness and other related ones, such as: insecurity; vulnerability and fear; anger and guilt; isolation and difficulty in identifying and expressing emotions (which manifested physically); and difficulty in assuming the role of caretaker and other responsibilities. CONCLUSIONS: Valuable aspects for the treatment of PD, such as mutual support, partnership, confidence, modeling and encouragement, are favored in a group setting, where sharing experiences and sufferings helped to improve the participants' self-esteem, their ability to express emotions and to play different social roles. Besides the clinical improvement, the symptoms could be better understood and elaborated, and meaningfully integrated into their life context