Revoltierendes Anerkennen des Alter(n)s. Für eine unzeitgemäße Sicht auf das Alter

Das vielfach propagierte und gesellschaftlich positiv besetzte Bild des "aktiven Alterns" wird in diesem Beitrag kritisch betrachtet. Es wird die Frage aufgeworfen, inwiefern sich die Erwachsenenbildung mit ihrem Einsatz für ein aktives Altern in die Logiken einer neuen Sozialpolitik der Aktivierung verstrickt. Die Kritik aufgreifend, dass es mit den aktuell im Trend liegenden positiven Alterszuschreibungen zu einem Ausschluss von leidvollen Aspekten des Alterns kommt, wird aus einer bildungstheoretischen Perspektive für die Thematisierung von Körperlichkeit und die Anerkennung der Ambiguität menschlicher Existenz appelliert. "Revoltierendes Anerkennen des Alter(n)s" bietet der Erwachsenenbildung eine Sichtweise, die nicht zwischen Aktivität und Passivität polarisiert, sondern der Mehrdeutigkeit des Menschseins Rechnung trägt und damit auch einer möglichen ökonomischen und politischen Indienstnahme entgegentritt. (DIPF/Orig.)This article critically examines the idea of “active ageing” frequently propagated and positively seen by society. The question is raised to what extent adult education with its commitment to active ageing is caught up in the logic of a new social policy of activation. Responding to criticism that the current trend of attaching positive attributes to ageing leads to an exclusion of the painful aspects of ageing, the article employs an educational theory perspective to thematise physicality and to acknowledge the ambiguity of human existence. The “revolutionising acknowledgement of ageing and old age” provides adult education with a perspective that instead of polarising between activity and passivity accommodates the ambiguity of being human and thus takes steps against any possible economic and political exploitation. (DIPF/Orig.

Preliminary findings of cerebral responses on transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation on experimental heat pain.

Transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation (TVNS) is a promising complementary method of pain relief. However, the neural networks associated with its analgesic effects are still to be elucidated. Therefore, we conducted two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sessions, in a randomized order, with twenty healthy subjects who were exposed to experimental heat pain stimulation applied to the right forearm using a Contact Heat-Evoked Potential Stimulator. While in one session TVNS was administered bilaterally to the concha auriculae with maximal, non-painful intensity, the stimulation device was switched off in the other session (placebo condition). Pain thresholds were measured before and after each session. Heat stimulation elicited fMRI activation in cerebral pain processing regions. Activation magnitude in the secondary somatosensory cortex, posterior insula, anterior cingulate and caudate nucleus was associated with heat stimulation without TVNS. During TVNS, this association was only seen for the right anterior insula. TVNS decreased fMRI signals in the anterior cingulate cortex in comparison with the placebo condition; however, there was no relevant pain reducing effect over the group as a whole. In contrast, TVNS compared to the placebo condition showed an increased activation in the primary motor cortex, contralateral to the site of heat stimulation, and in the right amygdala. In conclusion, in the protocol used here, TVNS specifically modulated the cerebral response to heat pain, without having a direct effect on pain thresholds

Arm Ability Training (AAT) Promotes Dexterity Recovery After a Stroke—a Review of Its Design, Clinical Effectiveness, and the Neurobiology of the Actions

Arm Ability Training (AAT) has been specifically designed to promote manual dexterity recovery for stroke patients who have mild to moderate arm paresis. The motor control problems that these patients suffer from relate to a lack of efficiency in terms of the sensorimotor integration needed for dexterity. Various sensorimotor arm and hand abilities such as speed of selective movements, the capacity to make precise goal-directed arm movements, coordinated visually guided movements, steadiness, and finger dexterity all contribute to our “dexterity” in daily life. All these abilities are deficient in stroke patients who have mild to moderate paresis causing focal disability. The AAT explicitly and repetitively trains all these sensorimotor abilities at the individual's performance limit with eight different tasks; it further implements various task difficulty levels and integrates augmented feedback in the form of intermittent knowledge of results. The evidence from two randomized controlled trials indicates the clinical effectiveness of the AAT with regard to the promotion of “dexterity” recovery and the reduction of focal disability in stroke patients with mild to moderate arm paresis. In addition, the effects have been shown to be superior to time-equivalent “best conventional therapy.” Further, studies in healthy subjects showed that the AAT induced substantial sensorimotor learning. The observed learning dynamics indicate that different underlying sensorimotor arm and hand abilities are trained. Capacities strengthened by the training can, in part, be used by both arms. Non-invasive brain stimulation experiments and functional magnetic resonance imaging data documented that at an early stage in the training cortical sensorimotor network areas are involved in learning induced by the AAT, yet differentially for the tasks trained. With prolonged training over 2 to 3 weeks, subcortical structures seem to take over. While behavioral similarities in training responses have been observed in healthy volunteers and patients, training-induced functional re-organization in survivors of a subcortical stroke uniquely involved the ipsilesional premotor cortex as an adaptive recruitment of this secondary motor area. Thus, training-induced plasticity in healthy and brain-damaged subjects are not necessarily the same

Insular cortex activity and the evocation of laughter

The insular cortex is fundamentally involved in the processing of interoceptive information. It has been postulated that the integrative monitoring of the bodily responses to environmental stimuli is crucial for the recognition and experience of emotions. Because emotional arousal is known to be closely coupled to functions of the anterior insula, we suspected laughter to be associated primarily with neuronal activity in this region. An anatomically constrained re-analysis of our imaging data pertaining to ticklish laughter, to inhibited ticklish laughter, and to voluntary laughter revealed regional differences in the levels of neuronal activity in the posterior and mid-/anterior portions of the insula. Ticklish laughter was associated specifically with right ventral anterior insular activity, which was not detected under the other two conditions. Hence, apparently, only laughter that is evoked as an emotional response bears the signature of autonomic arousal in the insular cortex

Structural Alterations in the Corpus Callosum Are Associated with Suicidal Behavior in Women with Borderline Personality Disorder

Structural alterations in the corpus callosum (CC), the major white matter tract connecting functionally related brain regions in the two hemispheres, have been shown to be associated with emotional instability, impulsivity and suicidality in various mental disorders. To explore whether structural alterations of the CC would be similarly associated with emotional instability, impulsivity and suicidality in borderline personality disorder (BPD), we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to assess the structural integrity of the CC in 21 BPD and 20 healthy control (HC) participants. Our hypothesis-driven analyses revealed a positive correlation between BPD participants’ suicidal behavior and fractional anisotropy (FA) in the splenium and genu of the CC and a negative correlation between BPD participants’ suicidal behavior and mean diffusivity (MD) in the splenium of CC. Our exploratory analyses suggested that suicidal BPD participants showed less FA and more MD in these regions than HC participants but that non-suicidal BPD participants showed similar FA and MD in these regions as HC participants. Taken together, our findings suggest an association between BPD participants’ suicidal behavior and structural alterations in regions of the CC that are connected with brain regions implicated in emotion regulation and impulse control. Structural alterations of the CC may, thus, account for deficits in emotion regulation and impulse control that lead to suicidal behavior in BPD. However, these findings should be considered as preliminary until replicated and extended in future studies that comprise larger samples of suicidal and non-suicidal BPD participants

Exploration of the Neural Correlates of Ticklish Laughter by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

The burst of laughter that is evoked by tickling is a primitive form of vocalization. It evolves during an early phase of postnatal life and appears to be independent of higher cortical circuits. Clinicopathological observations have led to suspicions that the hypothalamus is directly involved in the production of laughter. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation, healthy participants were 1) tickled on the sole of the right foot with permission to laugh, 2) tickled but asked to stifle laughter, and 3) requested to laugh voluntarily. Tickling that was accompanied by involuntary laughter activated regions in the lateral hypothalamus, parietal operculum, amygdala, and right cerebellum to a consistently greater degree than did the 2 other conditions. Activation of the periaqueductal gray matter was observed during voluntary and involuntary laughter but not when laughter was inhibited. The present findings indicate that hypothalamic activity plays a crucial role in evoking ticklish laughter in healthy individuals. The hypothalamus promotes innate behavioral reactions to stimuli and sends projections to the periaqueductal gray matter, which is itself an important integrative center for the control of vocalization. A comparison of our findings with published data relating to humorous laughter revealed the involvement of a common set of subcortical center

High mobility group protein B1 is a predictor of poor survival in ovarian cancer

High-mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1) has been implicated in numerous tumour types where expression regulates tumour cell growth and survival. We hypothesised that high HMGB1 expression in ovarian tumours would predict poor patient survival. Using tissue microarrays of primary ovarian cancers combined with a comprehensive database of clinicopathological variables, the expression of HMGB1 was assessed by immunohistochemistry in two independent cohorts (n=194 and n=360) using a monoclonal antibody specific for HMGB1. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed an association of HMGB1 expression with progression free survival in the primary cohort (p=0.023). In the validation cohort, expression was associated with overall survival (p=0.002). Low expression of HMGB1 was protective and in a multivariate model HMGB1 expression was shown to be an independent predictor of poor survival in ovarian cancer (p=0.006). The role of HMGB1 in cancer is complex. As high levels of HMGB1 expression are likely to render ovarian cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy, therapies targeting the HMGB1 axis may be appropriate in the treatment of ovarian cancer patients

Predicting Training Gain for a 3 Week Period of Arm Ability Training in the Subacute Stage After Stroke

Background: Biomarkers for gains of evidence based interventions for upper limb motor training in the subacute stage following stroke have rarely been described. Information about these parameters might help to identify patients who benefit from specific interventions and to determine individually expected behavioral gains for a certain period of therapy.Objective: To evaluate predictors for hand motor outcome after arm ability training in the subacute stage after stroke selected from known potentially relevant parameters (initial motor strength, structural integrity of the pyramidal tract and functional motor cortex integrity).Methods: We applied the arm ability training (AAT) over 3 weeks to a subpopulation of stroke patients with mild arm paresis, i.e., in 14 patients on average 4 weeks after stroke. The following biomarkers were measured before therapy onset: grip strength on the affected hand, transcranial magnetic stimulation recruitment curve steepness over the primary motor hand area [slope ratio between the ipsilesional hemisphere (IH) and contralesional hemisphere (CH)], and diffusion weighted MRI fractional anisotropy (FA) in the posterior limb of the internal capsule (PLIC; determined as a lateralization index between IH and CH). Outcome was assessed as the AATgain (percentage improvement over training). The “Test d'Evaluation des Membres Supérieurs de Personnes Âgées” (TEMPA) was assessed before and after training to test for possible associations of AAT with activity of daily living.Results: A stepwise linear regression identified the lateralization index of PLIC FA as the only significant predictor for AAT-gain (R2 = 0.519; P = 0.029). AAT-gain was positively associated (r = 0.59; P = 0.028) with improvement in arm function during daily activities (TEMPA).Conclusions: While all mildly affected patients achieved a clinically relevant therapeutic effect, pyramidal tract integrity nevertheless had a modifying role for clinical benefit