Effects of Neck Position and Movement on the Tonic Vibration Reflex in the Arms

The present study investigated the tonic vibration reflex (TVR) in humans elicited by vibratory stimulation applied to the muscle of the triceps brachii and examined the effects of rotation of the neck on misperception of movement of the elbow. Fifteen healthy subjects actively flexed their elbows from 0° to 90° for 3 s with their eyes closed. During the time that the elbow was flexed, vibratory stimulation (100 Hz) was applied to the tendon of the right triceps brachii. In the first experiment, only the right elbow was flexed (one-arm experiment), whereas in the second experiment both elbows were flexed simultaneously (two-arm experiment). In the two-arm experiment with vibratory stimulation, the mean ( ± SD) angle of the elbow was 63.2 ± 11.2° with neck rotation at 0°, which decreased significantly to 53.0 ± 15.5° (P< 0.05) when the neck was rotated back to 0° from the position of maximal right rotation. This suggests that there is an asymmetric tonic neck reflex as a result of neck movement, with the pathways involved in the crossed extension reflex enhanced by the simultaneous movement of both elbows. The TVR is an effective tool with which the convergence of various reflexes on α-motor neurons innervating the muscles of the extremity can be examined

The Effect of Touching a Dolphin on the EEG Slow Waves hi Children

Among animal-facilitated therapies, dolphin-facilitated therapy has been shown to beneficially affect human behavior, emotion and speech ability. We recently showed that touching a dolphin reduced the respiratory rate and state anxiety in healthy children. In this study, we collected electroencephalographic data (EEG), widely used for examining various brain functions, before and after touching dolphins. We examined the relationship between EEG power spectra and individual trait anxiety scores. The results showed that the appearance of slow waves in the frontal area increased significantly after touching a dolphin. Furthermore, the difference in slow wave activity was negatively, but significantly, correlated with trait anxiety in the frontal area. This negative correlation showed that slow wave power was greater in subjects with lower trait anxiety, indicating that touching a dolphin may be more effective for subjects with low trait anxiety than those with high trait anxiety. However, even though the increase in slow wave power was lower in subjects with high trait anxiety, touching a dolphin appeared to affect brain rhythms by increasing slow waves

Effects of Viewing Ikehana on Breathing in Humans

Flower arrangements are widely used for decoration, but also for emotional healing. Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, dating back over 600 years. Although ikebana has been used for psychological rehabilitation, no research has examined its effect on physiological responses in individuals. We examined the effect of viewing photos of ikebana on anxiety and respiratory responses. For controls, we used photos of ikebana that were artificially changed from real, beautiful photos to non-beautiful altered photos. Participants\u27 sense of beauty was measured by a visual analogue scale (VAS). Values were significantly higher while viewing the real photos compared to altered photos (P < 0.05). The VAS score differences between the real and altered photos were also significantly higher in subjects with low trait anxiety (P < 0.05). There was no significant change in respiratory rate (RR) between subjects viewing real and retouched photos. However, the mean difference in RR when viewing real photos compared to retouched photos was higher in subjects with low trait anxiety scores. There was no correlation between VAS score differences and trait anxiety scores. However, differences in RR when viewing real photos compared to viewing retouched photos had a significantly negative correlation (P < 0.05). Results indicated that RR was slower when viewing photos of ikebana in subjects with higher trait anxiety. Our findings suggest that viewing beautiful things may relax individuals who have high anxiety

Early Onset of Ventilatory and Airway Response to Hypercapnia is Mediated by Medullary 5-HT1A Receptors in Infant Rats

Medullary 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) neurons are involved in ventilatory responses to hypercapnia. Underdeveloped medullary 5-HT neurons and reduced 5-HT1A receptor binding activity in the dorsomedial medulla oblongata (DMM) have been found in infants with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The DMM includes the solitary tract nucleus, which receives primary afferent inputs from the lung, and the hypoglossal nucleus, which affects genioglossal muscle tone. We hypothesized that hypercapnia would elicit 5-HT release in the DMM and that local 5-HT1A receptors would affect ventilatory and airway responses to hypercapnia. This hypothesis was investigated in unanesthetized infant Wistar rats by microdialysis of the DMM coupled with double-chamber plethysmography. After microdialysis probe placement, the rats were acclimatized to the chamber for over 5h, and artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF) or a 5-HT1A receptor antagonist, WAY-100635, was then perfused into the DMM, and extracellular fluid was collected. Respiratory flow curves were recorded while the rats inhaled five concentrations of CO2 in O2 for 10 min each (0% [100% O2], 5%, 7%, 9%, and 0% again). 5-HT concentration was measured using high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. 5-HT release in the DMM and hypercapnic ventilatory and airway responses increased dose dependently with CO2 concentration during both aCSF and WAY-100635 perfusion, with no difference between groups. However, early-onset ventilatory and airway responses to hypercapnia were significantly delayed or reduced by WAY-100635 perfusion in the DMM. These results suggest that 5-HT release in the DMM is dependent on hypercapnia, while early ventilatory and airway responses to hypercapnia are mediated by 5-HT1A receptors in the DMM. Blunted early onset of hypercapnic ventilatory and airway responses may be one cause of SIDS

Effect of Music on Emotions and Respiration

In the present study we investigated whether the emotional state induced by music can change respiratory rate (RR), tidal volume (VT), minute ventilation (VE), and end-tidal CO2concentration (ETCO2). In a pioneering study investigating the effect of music on respiration, the music of Stockhausen and Chopin was used. In the present study, we examined the effects of the same musical stimuli used in that study on respiration. Each stimulus (Stockhausen, Chopin, and silence) was delivered for 30 s and each stimulus was presented five times in random order. Subjects reported feeling uncomfortable listening to Stockhausen\u27s music, but comfortable during Chopin\u27s music and silence. The respiratory response during exposure to Stockhausen\u27s music was rapid and shallow breathing, resulting in an increase in RR. Although the RR was decreased during silence and Chopin\u27s music by Chopin compared with that during Stockhausen\u27s music, there was no significant difference in RR in response to Chopin\u27s music and Stockhausen\u27s music. Although subjects reported feeling comfortable while listening to Chopin\u27s music, the decrease in RR was not significant. The lack of a significant decrease in RR in response to Chopin\u27s music may be due to a mixture of various emotions that may be interconnected to physiological responses, and this higher processing may be peculiar to humans

A three-component model of the spinal nerve ramification: Bringing together the human gross anatomy and modern Embryology

Due to its long history, the study of human gross anatomy has not adequately incorporated modern embryological findings; consequently, the current understanding has often been incompatible with recent discoveries from molecular studies. Notably, the traditional epaxial and hypaxial muscle distinction, and their corresponding innervation by the dorsal and ventral rami of the spinal nerve, do not correspond to the primaxial and abaxial muscle distinction, defined by the mesodermal lineages of target tissues. To resolve the disagreement between adult anatomy and embryology, we here propose a novel hypothetical model of spinal nerve ramification. Our model is based on the previously unknown developmental process of the intercostal nerves. Observations of these nerves in the mouse embryos revealed that the intercostal nerves initially had superficial and deep ventral branches, which is contrary to the general perception of a single ventral branch. The initial dual innervation pattern later changes into an adult-like single branch pattern following the retraction of the superficial branch. The modified intercostal nerves consist of the canonical ventral branches and novel branches that run on the muscular surface of the thorax, which sprout from the lateral cutaneous branches. We formulated the embryonic branching pattern into the hypothetical ramification model of the human spinal nerve so that the branching pattern is compatible with the developmental context of the target muscles. In our model, every spinal nerve consists of three components: (1) segmental branches that innervate the primaxial muscles, including the dorsal rami, and short branches and long superficial anterior branches from the ventral rami; (2) plexus-forming intramural branches, the serial homolog of the canonical intercostal nerves, which innervate the abaxial portion of the body wall; and (3) plexus-forming extramural branches, the series of novel branches located outside of the body wall, which innervate the girdle and limb muscles. The selective elaboration or deletion of each component successfully explains the reasoning for the standard morphology and variability of the spinal nerve. Therefore, our model brings a novel understanding of spinal nerve development and valuable information for basic and clinical sciences regarding the diverse branching patterns of the spinal nerve

Emotional Evaluation of Pain in Migraine Patients

In the present study, we investigated how pain perception by migraine (MG) patients may differ from that of normal subjects. We simultaneously measured respiration and used an electroencephalogram to find inspiration-related (I-α) potentials during pain stimuli, which are usually observed in normal subjects during emotional arousal. There were no differences in pain threshold levels, maximum pain levels, scales of the level of pain, state, and trait anxiety, or respiratory rate during rest and stimulation between normal and MG subjects. When anticipating a pain stimulus, respiratory rate increased in both MG and normal subjects. However, I-α potentials were only found in normal subjects. We suggest that the absence of I-α potentials in MG patients may be due to the fact that pain-induced pervasive cortical excitability may not be sufficient to concentrate the brain rhythms to phase-lock. Hypersensitivity towards light, sound, and various sensations is often reported in MG. Thus, there may be a tendency in MG subjects to avoid concentrating on one external stimulus to protect against increased hypersensitivity. It may be that MG patients intuitively know that decentralizing their attention can avoid triggering an MG attack

Parallel Activation of the Amygdala and Visual Cortex Estimated by Dipole Tracing Analysis during Visual Stimulation of Fear and Sadness

In this study we used the electroencephalograph (EEG) dipole tracing method to analyze the visual and emotional evoked potentials (VEEPs) triggered by emotional stimuli induced by pictures of fear, sadness and happiness selected from the International Affective Picture System. We hypothesized that if we used the emotional pictures as triggers for averaging the EEG, we could determine VEEPs, and dipoles could be estimated in the visual cortex as well as in the areas related to the picture-induced emotions. We found the VEEP components elicited by fearful and sad stimuli were quite similar and there were no differences in the root mean square values of the positive waves, P1 and P2, in these two stimuli. However, the VEEP elicited by the happy stimulus had a significantly different amplitude compared to the fearful and sad stimuli. Different amplitude components of VEEPs between negative and positive emotions might be caused by differences in the processing of activations. The negative emotions of fear and sadness activated the amygdala in parallel with the visual cortex immediately after the stimuli; and at a later time period the anterior cingulate cortex was activated for conscious awareness of the negative emotions. A simple happy stimulus does not need parallel activation of the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex, along with activation of the visual cortex. We suggest that parallel processing in the visual cortex and amygdala might serve to rapidly evaluate stimuli, in readiness for the conscious awareness of negative emotions

Odor Detection and Recognition Ability in Patients with Alzheimer\u27s Disease

Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) manifests early with prominent olfactory dysfunction. The olfactory symptoms appear long before cognitive impairment and other typical AD symptoms. Here, we tested odor detection and recognition acuity in AD patients and in age-matched controls to determine the relationships between olfactory test scores and anxiety level, cognitive function, and disease and therapy duration.We found that while AD patients had the same odor detection sensitivity as healthy subjects, most patients exhibited impaired odor recognition. AD patients had significantly lower cognitive function and trait anxiety scores than healthy subjects according to our assessments using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Trait anxiety scores are thought to be lower in AD patients because of atrophy of the limbic system, particularly the amygdala (AMG). It has been reported that trait anxiety level is dependent on amygdala activity, therefore, the low activation of the AMG is linked to reduced trait anxiety in AD.However, we found that trait anxiety correlated positively with odor detection ability in AD patients. Although the function of the AMG is reduced in AD patients, it still contributes to odor detection in AD patients with high trait anxiety

Effects of Respiratory Muscle Stretch Gymnastics on Children\u27s Emotional Responses

Respiratory muscle stretch gymnastics (RMSG) are designed to decrease chest wall stiffness, reduce dyspnea at rest and improve the quality of life. The focus of this study was to determine whether a RMSG program affects the psychological state of healthy subjects. A previous study showed that there is a positive correlation between anxiety level and respiratory rate (RR). We hypothesize that RMSG will decrease the RR related to alterations in anxiety or other factors that are associated with the quality of life in healthy children. Forty-four primary school children living in Tokyo participated in the study and were randomly assigned to either gymnastics or control groups. Baseline assessment of both groups included completion of the Questionnaire for Measuring Health-Related Quality of Life in Children (Kid-KINDL) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventories for Children (STAI-C). RRs were recorded initially and the children in the gymnastics group were instructed on how to perform RMSG. The RR was measured again and the participants completed the state anxiety scale. The gymnastics group was told to perform the gymnastics once a day for one week, whereupon post-testing using the testing protocol used for the baseline measurement was performed again on both groups. RR and anxiety level significantly decreased while Kid-KINDL increased after one week of RMSG in high trait anxiety subjects of the gymnastics group. We suggest that the decrease in RR after RMSG reduces anxiety levels in children, and contributes to an improvement in their Kid-KINDL score