Effect of yoga on pulse rate variability measured from a venous pressure waveform

The benefits of yoga have been studied in different fields, from chronic health conditions to mental disorders, showing that it can help to improve the overall health. In particular, it has been proven that yoga also improves the autonomic function. Heart rate variability (HRV) at rest is commonly used as a non-invasive measure of autonomic regulation of heart rate. Alternatively, pulse rate variability (PRV) has been proposed as a surrogate of HRV. VoluMetrix has developed a novel technology that captures venous waveforms via sensors on the volar aspect of the wrist, called NIVAband. This study aims to assess the effect of yoga in the autonomic nervous system by analyzing the PRV obtained from the NIVA signal. Temporal (statistics of the normal-to-normal intervals), spectral (power in low and high frequency bands) and nonlinear (lagged Poincaré Plot analysis) parameters are analyzed before and after a yoga session in 20 healthy volunteers. The PRV analysis shows an increase in parameters related to parasympathetic activity and overall variability, and a decrease in parameters related to sympathetic activity and mean heart rate. These results support the beneficial effect of yoga in autonomic nervous system, increasing the parasympathetic activity

Temporal Dynamics in Perturbation Theory

Perturbation theory can be reformulated as dynamical theory. Then a sequence of perturbative approximations is bijective to a trajectory of dynamical system with discrete time, called the approximation cascade. Here we concentrate our attention on the stability conditions permitting to control the convergence of approximation sequences. We show that several types of mapping multipliers and Lyapunov exponents can be introduced and, respectively, several types of conditions controlling local stability can be formulated. The ideas are illustrated by calculating the energy levels of an anharmonic oscillator.Comment: 1 file, 21 pages, RevTex, 2 table

A community-based geological reconstruction of Antarctic Ice Sheet deglaciation since the Last Glacial Maximum

A robust understanding of Antarctic Ice Sheet deglacial history since the Last Glacial Maximum is important in order to constrain ice sheet and glacial-isostatic adjustment models, and to explore the forcing mechanisms responsible for ice sheet retreat. Such understanding can be derived from a broad range of geological and glaciological datasets and recent decades have seen an upsurge in such data gathering around the continent and Sub-Antarctic islands. Here, we report a new synthesis of those datasets, based on an accompanying series of reviews of the geological data, organised by sector. We present a series of timeslice maps for 20 ka, 15 ka, 10 ka and 5 ka, including grounding line position and ice sheet thickness changes, along with a clear assessment of levels of confidence. The reconstruction shows that the Antarctic Ice sheet did not everywhere reach the continental shelf edge at its maximum, that initial retreat was asynchronous, and that the spatial pattern of deglaciation was highly variable, particularly on the inner shelf. The deglacial reconstruction is consistent with a moderate overall excess ice volume and with a relatively small Antarctic contribution to meltwater pulse 1a. We discuss key areas of uncertainty both around the continent and by time interval, and we highlight potential priorities for future work. The synthesis is intended to be a resource for the modelling and glacial geological community

Late Holocene great earthquakes in the eastern part of the Aleutian megathrust

The great earthquake, Mw 9.2, of AD 1964 may not be typical of other megathrust earthquakes in the region during the last 4000 years. We present new field data from three sites: Copper River Delta, the lower Katalla River valley and Puffy Slough, to enhance the temporal and spatial resolutions of the paleoseismic records of multiple great earthquakes. Differences in the spatial patterns of coseismic uplift and subsidence suggest different rupture combinations of the Kodiak, Prince William Sound and western Yakutat segments of the plate boundary. The longest and most comprehensive records all come from the Prince William Sound segment. Most sites here reveal net subsidence over multiple earthquake cycles except where probable upper plate faulting contributes locally to net uplift, with measurable differences between sites only a few kilometers apart. We identify the Katalla area as a source of local seismic hazard, similar to other locations in the western part of the Yakutat microplate, including the two Mw8+ ruptures in AD 1899. We use a Bayesian radiocarbon modeling approach to estimate the age and recurrence intervals of multiple great earthquakes for the Prince William Sound segment of the megathrust. The long interval, 883 ± 34 (2σ) years, between the penultimate earthquake and AD 1964 contrasts with the older earthquakes that have intervals ranging from ~420 to ~610 years, with a mean of ~535 years

Great tsunamigenic earthquakes during the last 1000 years on the Alaska megathrust

Large to great earthquakes and related tsunamis generated on the Alaska megathrust produce major hazards for both the area of rupture and heavily populated coastlines around much of the Pacific Ocean. Recent modeling studies suggest that single-segment ruptures, as well as multi-segment, 1964-type ruptures, can produce great earthquakes, >M8, and significant hazards both in the near field and to distant locations through the generation of tsunamis. We present new paleoseismological data from Kodiak Island and a new analysis of radiocarbon data based on Bayesian age modeling to combine our observations with previous geological, historical, and archaeological investigations. We suggest that, in addition to multi-segment ruptures in A.D. 1964 and 1020–1150 (95% age estimate), a single-segment rupture occurred in 1788, with coseismic land-surface deformation across Kodiak Island and a tsunami that is recorded in historical documents and in sediment sequences, and another, similar rupture of the same Kodiak segment at A.D. 1440–1620. These indicate shorter intervals between ruptures of the Kodiak segment than previously assumed, and more frequent ruptures than for the Prince William Sound segment

Reconstructing paleoseismic deformation, 2: 1000 years of great earthquakes at Chucalén, south central Chile

In this paper we adopt a quantitative biostratigraphic approach to establish a 1000-year-long coastal record of megathrust earthquake and tsunami occurrence in south central Chile. Our investigations focus on a site in the centre of the rupture segment of the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake, the AD 1960 magnitude 9.5 Chile earthquake. At Chucalén coseismic subsidence in 1960 is recorded in the lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy of coastal marshes, with peat overlain by minerogenic sediment and changes in the assemblages of diatoms (unicellular algae) indicating an abrupt increase in relative sea level. In addition to the 1960 earthquake, the stratigraphy at Chucalén records three earlier earthquakes, the historically documented earthquake of 1575 and two prehistoric earthquakes, radiocarbon dated to AD 1270–1450 and 1070–1220. Laterally extensive sand sheets containing marine or brackish diatom assemblages suggest tsunami deposition associated with at least two of the three pre-1960 earthquakes. The record presented here suggests a longer earthquake recurrence interval, averaging 270 years, than the historical recurrence interval, which averages 128 years. The lack of geologic evidence at Chucalén of two historically documented earthquakes, in 1737 and 1837, supports the previously suggested hypothesis of variability in historical earthquake characteristics. Our estimates of coseismic land-level change for the four earthquakes range from meter-scale subsidence to no subsidence or slight uplift, suggesting earthquakes completing each ∼270 year cycle may not share a common, characteristic slip distribution. The presence of buried soils at elevations below their modern equivalents implies net relative sea-level rise over the course of the Chucalén paleoseismic record, in contrast to relative sea-level fall over preceding millennia inferred from sites on the mainland. Sea-level rise may contribute to the preservation of evidence for multiple earthquakes during the last millennium, while net relative sea-level fall over the last 2000–5000 years may explain the lack of evidence for older earthquakes

Reconstruction of ice-sheet changes in the Antarctic Peninsula since the Last Glacial Maximum

This paper compiles and reviews marine and terrestrial data constraining the dimensions and configuration of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet (APIS) from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) through deglaciation to the present day. These data are used to reconstruct grounding-line retreat in 5 ka time-steps from 25 ka BP to present. Glacial landforms and subglacial tills on the eastern and western Antarctic Peninsula (AP) shelf indicate that the APIS was grounded to the outer shelf/shelf edge at the LGM and contained a series of fast-flowing ice streams that drained along cross-shelf bathymetric troughs. The ice sheet was grounded at the shelf edge until ∼20 cal ka BP. Chronological control on retreat is provided by radiocarbon dates on glacimarine sediments from the shelf troughs and on lacustrine and terrestrial organic remains, as well as cosmogenic nuclide dates on erratics and ice moulded bedrock. Retreat in the east was underway by about 18 cal ka BP. The earliest dates on recession in the west are from Bransfield Basin where recession was underway by 17.5 cal ka BP. Ice streams were active during deglaciation at least until the ice sheet had pulled back to the mid-shelf. The timing of initial retreat decreased progressively southwards along the western AP shelf; the large ice stream in Marguerite Trough may have remained grounded at the shelf edge until about 14 cal ka BP, although terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide ages indicate that thinning had commenced by 18 ka BP. Between 15 and 10 cal ka BP the APIS underwent significant recession along the western AP margin, although retreat between individual troughs was asynchronous. Ice in Marguerite Trough may have still been grounded on the mid-shelf at 10 cal ka BP. In the Larsen-A region the transition from grounded to floating ice was established by 10.7–10.6 cal ka BP. The APIS had retreated towards its present configuration in the western AP by the mid-Holocene but on the eastern peninsula may have approached its present configuration several thousand years earlier, by the start of the Holocene. Mid to late-Holocene retreat was diachronous with stillstands, re-advances and changes in ice-shelf configuration being recorded in most places. Subglacial topography exerted a major control on grounding-line retreat with grounding-zone wedges, and thus by inference slow-downs or stillstands in the retreat of the grounding line, occurring in some cases on reverse bed slopes