The flash noseband and its effect on the behaviour in show jumping horses

Bridles has been used to control horses all around the world for approximately 6000 years, and its use is based on application of pressure on sensitive parts of the horse’s head. The originally purpose of the noseband is to relieve strain from the bit and transfer it to the face of the horse, but nowadays nosebands are more commonly used to conceal defective suppleness and conflict behaviours in horses during riding. The reasons seem to be ignorance among riders in relation to what damage a tight noseband can cause a horse’s mental and physical health, but also the interest of succeeding during competition. The aim of this study was to investigate how horses would react to a correct, versus a tight, flash noseband while jumping a course. The research issues were “is it possible to distinguish oral and bodily expressed conflict behaviours when the horse wears a correct, versus a tight, flash noseband during a jumping course?” and “how does the frequency of oral and bodily expressed behaviours look like when the horse wears a correct, versus a tight, flash noseband during a jumping course?”. The effect of the flash noseband on the behaviour of eight Swedish warmblood horses were observed and analysed. The horses’ flash nosebands were adjusted with an ISES taper gauge before and after the first and the second jumping course. One person adjusted the flash nosebands and one person oversaw the recording. The person who adjusted the flash nosebands decided in what order each horse would get their treatment (correct or tight). The results demonstrated that especially the oral behaviours decreased when the flash nosebands were tightened. The majority of the horses did not show any changes in neither oral or bodily expressed conflict behaviours when the flash nosebands were tightened. However, what could be observed was that the horses showed less oral expressed conflict behaviours when the flash nosebands were adjusted from correct to tight. The conclusion of this study was that each horse revealed both oral and bodily expressed conflict behaviours regardless if the flash nosebands were correct or tight. A tight flash noseband prevents for example the horse from gaping its mouth and moving its lips. Other aspects that could have affected the conflict behaviours is the horse’s individual preferences and the rider’s ability to engage the horse to work correctly and carry itself.Användandet av nosgrimma ökar ryttarens kontroll över hästen, och nosgrimman används även för att förhindra att hästen öppnar munnen och gapar eller lägger ut tungan ur munnen vid ridning. När två fingrar hos en vuxen person ryms mellan hästens nosrygg och nosgrimman är nosgrimman, enligt tradition, korrekt tillpassad. Tidigare studier inom ämnet som berör nosgrimmans inverkan på hästens beteende har framförallt genomförts inom dressyr vilket genererade i att valet föll på att göra en liknande undersökning inom hoppning. Resultat från studier inom dressyr har visat att en av anledningarna till att nosgrimmor spänns i samband med tävlingsmomentet är att ett ekipage kan få poängavdrag om hästen till exempel gapar eller lägger ut tungan ur munnen. En ytterligare anledning till att nosgrimmor spänns hårdare än rekommenderat är för att maskera bristfällig lösgjordhet och konfliktbeteenden hos hästen under ridning. Det kan beropå ryttares okunskap gällande de psykiska och fysiska påföljderna av en hårt spänd nosgrimma samt intresset av att prestera i samband med tävling. I studien användes åtta av Ridskolan Strömsholms skolhästar med inriktning hoppning. Hästarna var av rasen svenskt varmblod i åldrarna fem till fjorton år. Hästarna delades upp i två grupper utifrån ålder och utbildningsståndpunkt. Hästarnas nosgrimmor justerades innan och efter genomförandet av runda ett och runda två med hjälp av en International Society of Equitation Science (ISES) noseband taper gauge. En person justerade nosgrimmorna och en person filmade. Personen som spände nosgrimmorna valde ordningen för hur nosgrimman hos respektive häst skulle spännas: två fingrar mellan nosgrimma nosrygg och inga fingrar mellan nosgrimma och nosrygg. Studien var blindad då personen som filmade tittade bort medan nosgrimmorna spändes, för att på så vis kunna vara objektiv i sin bedömning vid den kommande beteenderegistreringen. Personen som filmade utförde beteenderegistreringen i efterhand genom att observera filmerna kontinuerligt och samtidigt fylla i de tillhörande etogrammen. Respektive film observerades flera gånger för att förekomsten av respektive beteende skulle kunna identifieras. Filmerna observerades var och en för sig och registreringen var blindad. Resultatet av studien visade att hästarna uppvisade färre orala och kroppsliga beteenden med en hårt spänd nosgrimma än med en korrekt spänd nosgrimma. Beteendet som minskade mest med en hårt spänd nosgrimma var det orala beteendet tuggar, ”tuggar med öppna läppar”. Beteendefrekvenserna från resultatet av studien visade att majoriteten av hästarna varken ökade eller minskade antalet orala och kroppsliga beteenden när nosgrimman justerades från lös till hård. Det som dock kunde observeras var att hästarna som visade orala beteendeförändringar i samband med att nosgrimman spändes gjorde det genom att röra läppar och tunga färre gånger samt spjärna mot ryttarens hand. Inga större kroppsliga beteendeförändringar kunde urskiljas. Anledningen till att hästarna visade färre orala beteenden med en hårt spänd nosgrimma än med en korrekt spänd nosgrimma kan bero på att hästarna, vid bärandet av en lösare nosgrimma, ges större möjlighet att till exempel röra på käkarna. Hästarna visade såväl orala som kroppsliga konfliktbeteenden när de bar en aachennosgrimma, oavsett hur spänd den var. En aachennosgrimma som dras åt så att inga fingrar ryms mellan nosgrimma och nosrygg förhindrar hästen från att till exempel gapa eller lägga ut tungan ur munnen vid ridning Andra aspekter som kan påverka konfliktbeteenden är hästens individuella preferenser och ryttarens skicklighet att förmå hästen att arbeta med påskjut och bjudning

2 kirja Karl Morgensternile

http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b1845924~S1*es

2 kirja Karl Morgensternile, Dorpat

http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b1812458~S1*es

Is it safe to exercise during oncological treatment? A study of adverse events during endurance and resistance training–data from the Phys-Can study

publishedVersio

THETA-rhythm makes the world go round:dissociative effects of TMS theta versus alpha entrainment of right pTPJ on embodied perspective transformations

Being able to imagine another person's experience and perspective of the world is a crucial human ability and recent reports suggest that humans "embody" another's viewpoint by mentally rotating their own body representation into the other's orientation. Our recent Magnetoencephalography (MEG) data further confirmed this notion of embodied perspective transformations and pinpointed the right posterior temporo-parietal junction (pTPJ) as the crucial hub in a distributed network oscillating at theta frequency (3-7 Hz). In a subsequent transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) experiment we interfered with right pTPJ processing and observed a modulation of the embodied aspects of perspective transformations. While these results corroborated the role of right pTPJ, the notion of theta oscillations being the crucial neural code remained a correlational observation based on our MEG data. In the current study we therefore set out to confirm the importance of theta oscillations directly by means of TMS entrainment. We compared entrainment of right pTPJ at 6 Hz vs. 10 Hz and confirmed that only 6 Hz entrainment facilitated embodied perspective transformations (at 160° angular disparity) while 10 Hz slowed it down. The reverse was true at low angular disparity (60° between egocentric and target perspective) where a perspective transformation was not strictly necessary. Our results further corroborate right pTPJ involvement in embodied perspective transformations and highlight theta oscillations as a crucial neural code

Oscillatory networks of high-level mental alignment::A perspective-taking MEG study

Mentally imagining another's perspective is a high-level social process, reliant on manipulating internal representations of the self in an embodied manner. Recently Wang et al. (2016) showed that theta-band (3–7 Hz) brain oscillations within the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ) and brain regions coding for motor/body schema contribute to the process of perspective-taking. Using a similar paradigm, we set out to unravel the extended functional brain network in detail. Increasing the angle between self and other perspective was accompanied by longer reaction times and increases in theta power within rTPJ, right lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Using Granger-causality, we showed that lateral PFC and ACC exert top-down influence over rTPJ, indicative of executive control processes required for managing conflicts between self and other perspectives. Finally, we quantified patterns of whole-brain phase coupling in relation to the rTPJ. Results suggest that rTPJ increases its theta-band phase synchrony with brain regions involved in mentalizing and regions coding for motor/body schema; whilst decreasing synchrony to visual regions. Implications for neurocognitive models are discussed, and it is proposed that rTPJ acts as a ‘hub’ to route bottom-up visual information to internal representations of the self during perspective-taking, co-ordinated by theta-band oscillations

Short-term impacts of Universal Basic Income on population mental health inequalities in the UK: a microsimulation modelling study

Background: Population mental health in the United Kingdom (UK) has deteriorated, alongside worsening socioeconomic conditions, over the last decade. Policies such as Universal Basic Income (UBI) have been suggested as an alternative economic approach to improve population mental health and reduce health inequalities. UBI may improve mental health (MH), but to our knowledge, no studies have trialled or modelled UBI in whole populations. We aimed to estimate the short-term effects of introducing UBI on mental health in the UK working-age population. Methods and findings: Adults aged 25 to 64 years were simulated across a 4-year period from 2022 to 2026 with the SimPaths microsimulation model, which models the effects of UK tax/benefit policies on mental health via income, poverty, and employment transitions. Data from the nationally representative UK Household Longitudinal Study were used to generate the simulated population (n = 25,000) and causal effect estimates. Three counterfactual UBI scenarios were modelled from 2023: “Partial” (value equivalent to existing benefits), “Full” (equivalent to the UK Minimum Income Standard), and “Full+” (retaining means-tested benefits for disability, housing, and childcare). Likely common mental disorder (CMD) was measured using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12, score ≥4). Relative and slope indices of inequality were calculated, and outcomes stratified by gender, age, education, and household structure. Simulations were run 1,000 times to generate 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). Sensitivity analyses relaxed SimPaths assumptions about reduced employment resulting from Full/Full+ UBI. Partial UBI had little impact on poverty, employment, or mental health. Full UBI scenarios practically eradicated poverty but decreased employment (for Full+ from 78.9% [95% UI 77.9, 79.9] to 74.1% [95% UI 72.6, 75.4]). Full+ UBI increased absolute CMD prevalence by 0.38% (percentage points; 95% UI 0.13, 0.69) in 2023, equivalent to 157,951 additional CMD cases (95% UI 54,036, 286,805); effects were largest for men (0.63% [95% UI 0.31, 1.01]) and those with children (0.64% [95% UI 0.18, 1.14]). In our sensitivity analysis assuming minimal UBI-related employment impacts, CMD prevalence instead fell by 0.27% (95% UI −0.49, −0.05), a reduction of 112,228 cases (95% UI 20,783, 203,673); effects were largest for women (−0.32% [95% UI −0.65, 0.00]), those without children (−0.40% [95% UI −0.68, −0.15]), and those with least education (−0.42% [95% UI −0.97, 0.15]). There was no effect on educational mental health inequalities in any scenario, and effects waned by 2026. The main limitations of our methods are the model’s short time horizon and focus on pathways from UBI to mental health solely via income, poverty, and employment, as well as the inability to integrate macroeconomic consequences of UBI; future iterations of the model will address these limitations. Conclusions: UBI has potential to improve short-term population mental health by reducing poverty, particularly for women, but impacts are highly dependent on whether individuals choose to remain in employment following its introduction. Future research modelling additional causal pathways between UBI and mental health would be beneficial

Design of a randomized controlled trial of physical training and cancer (Phys-Can) – the impact of exercise intensity on cancer related fatigue, quality of life and disease outcome

Background: Cancer-related fatigue is a common problem in persons with cancer, influencing health-related quality of life and causing a considerable challenge to society. Current evidence supports the beneficial effects of physical exercise in reducing fatigue, but the results across studies are not consistent, especially in terms of exercise intensity. It is also unclear whether use of behaviour change techniques can further increase exercise adherence and maintain physical activity behaviour. This study will investigate whether exercise intensity affects fatigue and health related quality of life in persons undergoing adjuvant cancer treatment. In addition, to examine effects of exercise intensity on mood disturbance, adherence to oncological treatment, adverse effects from treatment, activities of daily living after treatment completion and return to work, and behaviour change techniques effect on exercise adherence. We will also investigate whether exercise intensity influences inflammatory markers and cytokines, and whether gene expressions following training serve as mediators for the effects of exercise on fatigue and health related quality of life. Methods/design: Six hundred newly diagnosed persons with breast, colorectal or prostate cancer undergoing adjuvant therapy will be randomized in a 2 × 2 factorial design to following conditions; A) individually tailored low-to-moderate intensity exercise with or without behaviour change techniques or B) individually tailored high intensity exercise with or without behaviour change techniques. The training consists of both resistance and endurance exercise sessions under the guidance of trained coaches. The primary outcomes, fatigue and health related quality of life, are measured by self-reports. Secondary outcomes include fitness, mood disturbance, adherence to the cancer treatment, adverse effects, return to activities of daily living after completed treatment, return to work as well as inflammatory markers, cytokines and gene expression. Discussion: The study will contribute to our understanding of the value of exercise and exercise intensity in reducing fatigue and improving health related quality of life and, potentially, clinical outcomes. The value of behaviour change techniques in terms of adherence to and maintenance of physical exercise behaviour in persons with cancer will be evaluated

Does exercise intensity matter for fatigue during (neo‐)adjuvant cancer treatment? The Phys‐Can randomized clinical trial

Exercise during cancer treatment improves cancer‐related fatigue (CRF), but the importance of exercise intensity for CRF is unclear. We compared the effects of high‐ vs low‐to‐moderate‐intensity exercise with or without additional behavior change support (BCS) on CRF in patients undergoing (neo‐)adjuvant cancer treatment. This was a multicenter, 2x2 factorial design randomized controlled trial (Clinical Trials NCT02473003) in Sweden. Participants recently diagnosed with breast (n = 457), prostate (n = 97) or colorectal (n = 23) cancer undergoing (neo‐)adjuvant treatment were randomized to high intensity (n = 144), low‐to‐moderate intensity (n = 144), high intensity with BCS (n = 144) or low‐to‐moderate intensity with BCS (n = 145). The 6‐month exercise intervention included supervised resistance training and home‐based endurance training. CRF was assessed by Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI, five subscales score range 4‐20), and Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy‐Fatigue scale (FACIT‐F, score range 0‐52). Multiple linear regression for main factorial effects was performed according to intention‐to‐treat, with post‐intervention CRF as primary endpoint. Overall, 577 participants (mean age 58.7 years) were randomized. Participants randomized to high‐ vs low‐to‐moderate‐intensity exercise had lower physical fatigue (MFI Physical Fatigue subscale; mean difference −1.05 [95% CI: −1.85, −0.25]), but the difference was not clinically important (ie <2). We found no differences in other CRF dimensions and no effect of additional BCS. There were few minor adverse events. For CRF, patients undergoing (neo‐)adjuvant treatment for breast, prostate or colorectal cancer can safely exercise at high‐ or low‐to‐moderate intensity, according to their own preferences. Additional BCS does not provide extra benefit for CRF in supervised, well‐controlled exercise interventions

Contribution of left supramarginal and angular gyri to episodic memory encoding: An intracranial EEG study.

The role of the left ventral lateral parietal cortex (VPC) in episodic memory is hypothesized to include bottom-up attentional orienting to recalled items, according to the dual-attention model (Cabeza et al., 2008). However, its role in memory encoding could be further clarified, with studies showing both positive and negative subsequent memory effects (SMEs). Furthermore, few studies have compared the relative contributions of sub-regions in this functionally heterogeneous area, specifically the anterior VPC (supramarginal gyrus/BA40) and the posterior VPC (angular gyrus/BA39), on a within-subject basis. To elucidate the role of the VPC in episodic encoding, we compared SMEs in the intracranial EEG across multiple frequency bands in the supramarginal gyrus (SmG) and angular gyrus (AnG), as twenty-four epilepsy patients with indwelling electrodes performed a free recall task. We found a significant SME of decreased theta power and increased high gamma power in the VPC overall, and specifically in the SmG. Furthermore, SmG exhibited significantly greater spectral tilt SME from 0.5 to 1.6 s post-stimulus, in which power spectra slope differences between recalled and unrecalled words were greater than in the AnG (p = 0.04). These results affirm the contribution of VPC to episodic memory encoding, and suggest an anterior-posterior dissociation within VPC with respect to its electrophysiological underpinnings