Multimodal Behavior Program for ADHD Incorporating Yoga and Implemented by High School Volunteers: A Pilot Study

A low-cost resource approach to ADHD therapy would be a practical approach to treating children in developing countries. Research has shown that ADHD is prevalent in all areas of the world, and yet treatment for children in more impoverished countries is still lacking. The approach taken was to combine yoga and meditation combined with multimodal behavioral therapy program for children ageing 6 to 11. The program was kept low cost by using trained high school volunteers and integrating the program within the public school. After 6 weeks of the program, 90.5% of children showed improvement as measured by their performance impairment score, a measurement of academic performance. Parent and Teacher evaluations of behavior also found improvement as 25 of the 64 children (39.1%) improved into the normal range as measured by the Vanderbilt questionnaire. Moreover, children could successfully learn both yoga and meditation from high school students irrespective of their age, ADHD type, or initial performance impairment. The results demonstrate efficacy of a multimodal behavioral program incorporating yoga and meditation. The use of high school volunteers from schools in the area demonstrates an effective low-cost and universally applicable approach

Can The Cognitive Parameters Of College Students With Learning Disabilities Benefit From Using Mahapraan, A Breathing Based Preksha Meditation?

The efficacy of meditation in cognitive improvement is inadequately studied in college students with learning disabilities. Mahapraan, a short technique taught in Preksha Dhyan, is a simple technique that involves repeated deep breathing followed by a long buzzing sound. In this pilot study, we compared cognitive and pulmonary function changes in college students with and without learning disabilities (LD and no-LD respectively).   Methods: Following IRB approval, we recruited 6 LD and 9 no-LD students. The students practiced Mahapraan with a trained instructor 3 times a week for 30 minutes. We assessed Connors Continuous Performance Test II, duration of buzzing sound during prolonged expiration, and peak flow using a Peak Flow meter at baseline and at 4 weeks.   Results: At baseline, the LD students had poorer cognitive function than the no-LD group. Discrimination power  as measured by detectability, and the consistency of reaction showed improvement (p<0.05) in LD group.   The no-LD students showed significant increase in rate of response.  Both groups showed improvement in the duration of buzzing (10/13, 77%), by an average of 6.8 seconds as well as improvements in Peak Expiratory Flow (11/13, 85%), by an average of  107.5 mls (n.s.).   Conclusion: Except for better consistency and improved discrimination in LD from baseline, cognitive tests changes were similar in both groups. We saw improvement in buzzing duration and Peak Expiratory Flow rates in both groups suggesting similar development of technique. Mahapraan shows promise as a simple technique for cognitive improvement and pulmonary function in both LD and no-LD group

Cognitive Skills and DNA Methylation Are Correlating in Healthy and Novice College Students Practicing Preksha Dhyāna Meditation

The impact of different meditation protocols on human health is explored at the cognitive and cellular levels. Preksha Dhyana meditation has been observed to seemingly affect the cognitive performance, transcriptome, and methylome of healthy and novice participant practitioners. In this study, we performed correlation analyses to investigate the presence of any relationships in the changes in cognitive performance and DNA methylation in a group of college students practicing Preksha Dhyāna (N = 34). Nine factors of cognitive performance were assessed at baseline and 8 weeks postintervention timepoints in the participants. Statistically significant improvements were observed in six of the nine assessments, which were predominantly relating to memory and affect. Using Illumina 850 K microarray technology, 470 differentially methylated sites (DMS) were identified between the two timepoints (baseline and 8 weeks), using a threshold of p-value \u3c 0.05 and methylation levels beyond −3% to 3% at every site. Correlation analysis between the changes in performance on each of the nine assessments and every DMS unveiled statistically significant positive and negative relationships at several of these sites. The identified DMS were in proximity of essential genes involved in signaling and other important metabolic processes. Interestingly, we identified a set of sites that can be considered as biomarkers for Preksha meditation improvements at the genome level

Effects of Combining Meditation Techniques on Short-Term Memory, Attention, and Affect in Healthy College Students.

Meditation refers to a family of self-regulation practices that focuses on training attention and awareness to foster psycho-emotional well-being and to develop specific capacities such as calmness, clarity, and concentration. We report a prospective convenience-controlled study in which we analyzed the effect of two components of Preksha Dhyāna – buzzing bee sound meditation (Mahapran dhvani) and color meditation (leśyā dhyāna) on healthy college students. Mahapran and leśya dhyāna are two Preksha Dhyāna practices that are based on sound and green color, respectively. The study population represents a suitable target as college students experience different stress factors during the school year. This study measures the individual and combined effects of two techniques (one focusing on sound and one focusing on color), on short-term memory, attention, and affect, in novice meditators. We used a battery of cognitive, performance, and compared results with baseline and control values. We found improved cognition, especially attention, short-term memory, and affect in terms of positivity and reduced negativity. Overall, the two techniques produced variable benefits and subjects showed improved scores over baseline for short-term memory, cognitive function, and overall wellbeing. Further studies are required to understand underlying mechanisms for the observed differences between the two techniques and to elucidate mechanisms underlying the more pronounced and global benefits observed with the combined techniques. These results underscore a need to examine individual components of meditation practices in order to individualize treatment approaches for attention disorders in young adults

Conformal radiotherapy plans for palliative bone metastasis - comparison of dosimetric parameters

Background:Palliative radiotherapy offers significant relief in the huge physical distress of patients with bony metastasis. The enormous potential of conformal techniques has not been tested in palliative settings. However,the increasing life span of patients with metastatic disease demands to optimize the radiotherapy techniques to provide maximal durable symptomatic relief. Despitean increase in the utilization of the 3DCRT technique for palliative bony metastasis, the optimal beam arrangement remains unknown. Materials and Methods:Ten patients of vertebral bony metastasis were retrospectively selected and four virtual 3DCRT plans were generated for each patient. The field approaches were a single field, two fields, three fields and five field approaches. For PTV, D90, D50, Dmean, Conformity index (CI) were evaluated.Dmean was evaluated for the esophagus, bowel, kidneys, and combined lungs. Dose-volume histograms were computed for the various treatment plans and compared. Statistical analysis was done by ANOVA test. Results:A total of forty radiotherapy plans were generated. PTV parameters were significantly better with two field plans over one field plans in terms of D90 (p= 0.002), D50 (p= 0.02), Dmean(p=0.0009). Dmeanwassignificantly better with three field approach compared to two field approach (p=0.0006). The Dmeanwas significantly increased for organs at risk in two fields and three field plans.Five field approach did not showan advantage in terms of dosimetry of PTV but there was a significant rise in the dose to Organs at risk (OAR’s). Conclusion:The three field plans showed better dose distribution to the PTV with an acceptable increase in the dose to OAR’s

Preksha Dhyāna meditation induces alterations at the transcriptome level in novice and healthy college students

The human transcriptome across a variety of cell types and tissues are affected by stress and other psychological factors. Preksha Dhyana meditation (PM) is effective at improving cognitive skills in novice healthy college student meditators after 8 weeks of intervention, but the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in these improvements are still largely unknown. In order to decipher potential mechanisms at the cellular level, transcriptomic profiling analyses, from peripheral blood, were performed at baseline and 8 weeks post-intervention in 18-paired participants (RNASeq). At the transcriptomic level, 494 genes were nominally differentially expressed (p-value ≤ 0.05) between baseline and 8 weeks post-intervention. Our data showed that 136 genes were upregulated, while 358 genes were downregulated. These genes were enriched in several cellular pathways including innate and adaptive immunity, cell signaling, and other metabolic processes. Overall, our findings indicate that PM meditation affects gene expression patterns from whole blood in novice healthy college students. Improvements at the cognitive skills were also mirrored with changes at RNA expression profiling

Students' participation in collaborative research should be recognised

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