A cortical potential reflecting cardiac function

Emotional trauma and psychological stress can precipitate cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death through arrhythmogenic effects of efferent sympathetic drive. Patients with preexisting heart disease are particularly at risk. Moreover, generation of proarrhythmic activity patterns within cerebral autonomic centers may be amplified by afferent feedback from a dysfunctional myocardium. An electrocortical potential reflecting afferent cardiac information has been described, reflecting individual differences in interoceptive sensitivity (awareness of one's own heartbeats). To inform our understanding of mechanisms underlying arrhythmogenesis, we extended this approach, identifying electrocortical potentials corresponding to the cortical expression of afferent information about the integrity of myocardial function during stress. We measured changes in cardiac response simultaneously with electroencephalography in patients with established ventricular dysfunction. Experimentally induced mental stress enhanced cardiovascular indices of sympathetic activity (systolic blood pressure, heart rate, ventricular ejection fraction, and skin conductance) across all patients. However, the functional response of the myocardium varied; some patients increased, whereas others decreased, cardiac output during stress. Across patients, heartbeat-evoked potential amplitude at left temporal and lateral frontal electrode locations correlated with stress-induced changes in cardiac output, consistent with an afferent cortical representation of myocardial function during stress. Moreover, the amplitude of the heartbeat-evoked potential in the left temporal region reflected the proarrhythmic status of the heart (inhomogeneity of left ventricular repolarization). These observations delineate a cortical representation of cardiac function predictive of proarrhythmic abnormalities in cardiac repolarization. Our findings highlight the dynamic interaction of heart and brain in stress-induced cardiovascular morbidity

The Leader’s Mind Matters: The Effect of Mindful Leadership Development Programs on Leadership Effectiveness, Mindfulness, and Well-Being Among Global Manufacturing Leaders

The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative study was to examine the effects of mindful leadership development programs and mindfulness practices on wellbeing, dispositional mindfulness, and leadership effectiveness among 102 global manufacturing leaders facing volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) business environments. Organizations worldwide report challenges to develop leaders to lead effectively and maintain well-being in VUCA environments. Evidence points to the benefits of mindfulness to reduce stress and anxiety, in addition to providing behavioral and cognitive improvements to support leadership effectiveness. Although a few global organizations are offering mindful leadership development programs, there is a gap between industry practices and scholarly research. The results of this study suggest leaders who completed one mindful leadership development program reported greater well-being and received higher annual leadership effectiveness performance appraisal scores (PAS). Leaders who engaged in consistent mindfulness practices also reported higher levels of leadership effectiveness (PAS) as compared to leaders without a mindfulness practice. Implications exist for the bodies of knowledge concerning well-being and leadership effectiveness in VUCA environments, and leadership development programs. Recommendations were provided for future research, culture and strategy, professional practice, and executive leadership. This is the first study (to date) to investigate the effects of mindful leadership development programs for global manufacturing leaders facing VUCA conditions

St Helens Drug Testing Profile (2013/14 to 2015/16)

The Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) process begins with the police arresting and drug testing potential drug using offenders. If offenders test positive for Class A drugs they are served with a Required Assessment (RA) by the police. This is a compulsory legal sanction for the individual to attend up to two appointments (initial/follow-up RA) with a drugs worker. During these assessments the drugs worker will assess the individual’s drug use and offending behaviour and, if necessary, encourage them to engage with drug treatment services. This drug testing profile for St Helens presents drug testing data between April 2013 and March 2016, with an emphasis on the most recent financial year (2015/16). This profile contextualises Merseyside Police drug testing data by providing numbers and trends of drug using offenders identified through this route into the DIP system and a demographic overview of the client group. This profile also provides recommendations for local government, commissioners and service providers, in terms of the efficient use of resources and effective services locally and across Merseyside

AdS Taub-Nut Space and the O(N) Vector Model on a Squashed 3-Sphere

In this note, motivated by the Klebanov-Polyakov conjecture we investigate the strongly coupled O(N) vector model at large $N$ on a squashed three-sphere and its holographic relation to bulk gravity on asymptotically locally $AdS_4$ spaces. We present analytical results for the action of the field theory as the squashing parameter $\alpha\to-1$, when the boundary becomes effectively one dimensional. The dual bulk geometry is AdS-Taub-NUT space in the corresponding limit. In this limit we solve the theory exactly and show that the action of the strongly coupled boundary theory scales as $\ln(1+\alpha)/ (1+\alpha)^2$. This result is remarkably close to the $-1/(1+\alpha)^2$ scaling of the Einstein gravity action for AdS-Taub-NUT space. These results explain the numerical agreement presented in hep-th/0503238, and the soft logarithmic departure is interpreted as a prediction for the contribution due to higher spin fields in the bulk $AdS_4$ geometry.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. References adde

Wirral Drug Testing Profile (2013/14 to 2015/16)

The Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) process begins with the police arresting and drug testing potential drug using offenders. If offenders test positive for Class A drugs they are served with a Required Assessment (RA) by the police. This is a compulsory legal sanction for the individual to attend up to two appointments (initial/follow-up RA) with a drugs worker. During these assessments the drugs worker will assess the individual’s drug use and offending behaviour and, if necessary, encourage them to engage with drug treatment services. This drug testing profile for Wirral presents drug testing data between April 2013 and March 2016, with an emphasis on the most recent financial year (2015/16). This profile contextualises Merseyside Police drug testing data by providing numbers and trends of drug using offenders identified through this route into the DIP system and a demographic overview of the client group. This profile also provides recommendations for local government, commissioners and service providers, in terms of the efficient use of resources and effective services locally and across Merseyside