Cognitive modulation of psychophysical, respiratory and autonomic responses to cold pressor test

In healthy subjects with high hypnotisability (highs) under hypnosis, subjectively effective suggestions for analgesia abolish the increases in blood pressure associated with cold pressor test (cpt) by reducing the peripheral vascular resistance. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of the suggestions of analgesia on the responses to cpt in healthy highs (n = 22) and in low hypnotisable participants (lows, n = 22) out of hypnosis. Cpt was administered without (CPT) and with suggestions for analgesia (CPT+AN). Psychophysical (pain intensity, pain threshold, cpt duration (time of immersion) and pain tolerance, defined as the difference between cpt duration and pain threshold), respiratory (amplitude and frequency) and autonomic variables (tonic skin conductance, mean RR interval (RR = 1/heart rate), blood pressure, skin blood flow) were studied. The suggestions for analgesia increased cpt duration and RR in both groups, but decreased pain intensity and enhanced pain threshold only in highs; in both groups they did not modulate systolic blood pressure, tonic skin conductance and skin blood flow; thus, increased parasympathetic activity appears responsible for the heart rate reduction induced by suggestions in both groups. In conclusion, our findings show that suggestions modulate pain experience differentially in highs and lows, and are partially effective also in lows. We hypothesize that the mechanisms responsible for the efficacy of suggestions in healthy lows may be involved also in their efficacy in chronic pain patients with low hypnotisability

Vegetable extracts and nutrients useful in the recovery from helicobacter pylori infection: A systematic review on clinical trials

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infections affect almost half of the world’s population, with gradually increasing incidence in developed countries. Eradication of H. pylori may provide signifi-cant benefits to the affected individual by healing a number of gastrointestinal and extra-digestive disorders. But due to increased microbial resistance and lack of patient adherence to the therapy, the eradication rate of H. pylori is below 80% with current pharmacological therapies. The usage of botanicals for their therapeutic purposes and medicinal properties have been increased in last decades. They can be use as alternative H. pylori treatments, especially against drug-resistant strains. Epidemiological studies have revealed that people with lower vegetable and micronutrient intake may be at increased risk of H. pylori infection. We have undertaken a review of clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of vegetable extracts and micronutrients in patients with H. pylori. Various databases, such as Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library, were searched for the articles published in English. A total of 24 clinical studies (15 for vegetable extracts and 9 for micronutrients) were selected to be reviewed and summarized in this article. Vegetable extracts (Broccoli sprouts, curcumin, Burdock complex, and Nigella sativa) and micronutrients (vitamin C and E) were not found to be as effective as single agents in H. pylori eradication, rather their efficacy synergized with conventional pharmacological therapies. Conversely, GutGard was found to be significantly effective as a single agent when compared to placebo control

Hydromethanolic Extracts from Adansonia digitata L. Edible Parts Positively Modulate Pathophysiological Mechanisms Related to the Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome includes a cluster of risk factors for many pathological conditions, including hyperglycemia, abdominal obesity, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension. Adansonia digitata L. (also known as baobab) is used in traditional African Medicine and recent studies showed that it improves the metabolism of carbohydrates and lipids. The aim of this study is to investigate the mechanisms of action associated with the beneficial effects of extracts from the edible parts of baobab (fruit pulp, leaves, raw and toasted seeds), evaluating their inhibitory activity against: alpha-amylase, alpha-glucosidase, angiotensin-converting enzyme, 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A reductase, and pancreatic lipase. Baobab fruit pulp and leaf extracts resulted to be the most active ones and were then tested on the differentiation process of SW-872 human liposarcoma cells to mature adipocytes. The addition of these latter extracts did not affect triglyceride accumulation, indicating a neutral impact on this parameter. The findings here reported help to explain the growing amount of evidence on the biological properties of baobab and provide suggestions about their use in food and nutraceutical fields

New directions in hypnosis research: strategies for advancing the cognitive and clinical neuroscience of hypnosis

This article summarizes key advances in hypnosis research during the past two decades, including (i) clinical research supporting the efficacy of hypnosis for managing a number of clinical symptoms and conditions, (ii) research supporting the role of various divisions in the anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortices in hypnotic responding, and (iii) an emerging finding that high hypnotic suggestibility is associated with atypical brain connectivity profiles. Key recommendations for a research agenda for the next decade include the recommendations that (i) laboratory hypnosis researchers should strongly consider how they assess hypnotic suggestibility in their studies, (ii) inclusion of study participants who score in the middle range of hypnotic suggestibility, and (iii) use of expanding research designs that more clearly delineate the roles of inductions and specific suggestions. Finally, we make two specific suggestions for helping to move the field forward including (i) the use of data sharing and (ii) redirecting resources away from contrasting state and nonstate positions toward studying (a) the efficacy of hypnotic treatments for clinical conditions influenced by central nervous system processes and (b) the neurophysiological underpinnings of hypnotic phenomena. As we learn more about the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying hypnosis and suggestion, we will strengthen our knowledge of both basic brain functions and a host of different psychological functions. Highlights • Hypnosis treatments have demonstrated efficacy for a number of conditions. • Research supports the role of divisions in the anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortices in hypnotic responding. • Consideration of three study design issues could improve the impact of hypnosis research. • Researchers in the field would do well to consider developing mechanisms for data sharing. • It may be time to direct research resources away from studies that contrast state and non state models of hypnosis

Social-sanitary big data framework

The growing number of medical research on the web shows that the health and healthcare are increasingly digital. In order to ensure the safety of citizens, social cohesion, and economic competitiveness at a national level, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can facilitate knowledge and exchange of data through an analytical approach to problem solving, through continuous improvement of statistical managing of Big Data also in the healthcare field. The new technologies have become essential, thanks to the enormous possibilities that they can offer: we have witnessed over a very short period of time, that most of the human activities which were carried out manually have given space to much more efficient digital implementations. For instance, we can consider the serious problems that the vast documental archives have created in its management, and how centralized computer databases helped to solve most of these problems, speeding up and optimizing all research operations and data mining. This natural easiness of data exchange is still being expanded and facilitated by the development of computer networks, and in particular by the internet. Despite progress made in recent years, the quality of the data is still one of the critical aspects of statistical production in the social-sanitary field and is partly due to the lack of accurate data provided by the peripheral structures, where the measurements are still in course of automation. Another factor that adversely affects the quality of the information consists of the delay time between the occurrence of the underlying events and the recording of related data: these, in fact, sometimes they are not inserted immediately in information systems and are then retrieved at a later time. ICT offers possible solutions, improving the administration and helping to streamline procedures and reduce costs. Moreover, the problems of data reliability, the provision of appropriate classifications in survey forms and, more generally, the quality of data are attributable, directly or indirectly, to the degree of computerization in social-sanitary production. In fact, in the presence of a fully computerized detection system, the possibility of errors transcription, manipulation and interpretation of the required information will drastically reduce (due to the non-perfect correspondence between the classification adopted in models of detection and what is recovered in the official records), as well as the time-lag in some cases considerable, between data recording and the actual time/instant of reference; on the other hand, the detailing of the information collected could increase a result of a greater and more appropriate articulation of the detection patterns (certainly not feasible, beyond a given limit, in cases of manual detection) and the activation of an automatic check on the consistency of the data would be possible, not only ex-post, but also during the same stage in which information is entered. In reference to electronic health records, the Legislative Decree 179/2012 published in the Official Gazette of 11 November 2015 defines the set of health Big data and digital socio-sanitary documents generated from clinical present and past events: each one generates big data receiving a prescription, buying a medicine, requiring a health service, accessing to the emergency room, undergoing a diagnostic or laboratory examination, using social networks to communicate health conditions. Cross analysing this information, policy makers, hospitals and clinics could prevent the most common diseases and balance healthcare services according to the real needs of the population in a given territory. The application of these concepts to social-sanitary activities has opened a new and interesting line of research considered as a matter that unfolds on interoperability between the systems of public administration and the ICT. The crucial role of big data in healthcare is therefore to use the already considerable amount of existing information to avoid waste and to concentrate financial resources in sectors and medical specialties really needed by citizens

High Motor Cortex Excitability in Highly Hypnotizable Individuals: A Favourable Factor for Neuroplasticity?

Hypnotizability is a psychophysiological trait associated with morphofunctional brain peculiarities and with several cognitive, sensorimotor and cardiovascular correlates. Behavioral and EEG studies indicate stronger functional equivalence (FE) between motor imagery and action in the individuals with high hypnotizability scores (Highs). We hypothesized that stronger FE leading to greater proneness to ideomotor behavior could be due to greater cortical excitability of the motor cortex. The aim of the study was to evaluate the motor cortical excitability through measurements of the muscle potentials (MEPs) evoked in the left abductor pollicis brevis by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the right motor cortex in 10 Highs, 10 medium (Mediums) and 10 low hypnotizable individuals (Lows) classified according to the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, form A (SHSS). They were studied in basal conditions (B) and during motor imagery (MI). Results showed significant, negative correlations (i) between hypnotizability and MEPs Resting Motor Threshold (RMT) in basal conditions, and (ii) between hypnotizability and both MEPs RMT and suprathreshold (I1mv) stimulation intensities during MI. ANOVA revealed significantly lower stimulation intensities in Highs than in Lows, with Mediums exhibiting intermediate values. Thus, the Highs’ greater cortical excitability could sustain their greater FE and proneness to ideomotor behavior. In cognitive neuroscience these findings are relevant to the physiological interpretation of the response to sensorimotor suggestions by participants in the ordinary state of consciousness. In the clinical field they can predict the efficacy of mental training based on motor imagery and, possibly, the degree of imagery-induced cortical plasticity

Suggestions of altered balance: Possible equivalence of imagery and perception

Hypnotic suggestions describing an altered perception induce congruent changes in the subject's experience and behavior. However, it is not known whether an implicit suggestion, only indirectly referring to an altered perception, induces a behavioral response corresponding to that of the real situation. In this study, an implicit suggestion of backward falling (IMP) was given to high hypnotizable participants not exposed (W-Highs) and exposed (H-Highs) to a hypnotic induction and a group of low hypnotizable individuals (W-Lows). Their posture was evaluated through an elite system. The results after the IMP were compared with those after an explicit suggestion of backward falling (EXP). In both W-Highs and H-Highs, the IMP elicited the backward body sway expected in the corresponding real situation, whereas no response was found in W-Lows. The results are discussed in terms of a possible equivalence of imagery and perception or of a lack of the motor inhibition normally associated with motor imagery

Pain perception and EEG dynamics: does hypnotisability account for the efficacy of the suggestions of analgesia?

We report novel findings concerning the role of hypnotisability, suggestions of analgesia and the activity of the Behavioral Inhibition/Activation System (BISBAS) in the modulation of the subjective experience of pain and of the associated EEG dynamics. The EEG of high (highs) and low hypnotisable participants (lows) who completed the BISBAS questionnaire was recorded during basal conditions, tonic nociceptive stimulation without (PAIN) and with suggestions for analgesia (AN). Participants scored the perceived pain intensity at the end of PAIN and AN. The EEG midline dynamics was characterized by indices indicating the signal predictability (Determinism) and complexity (Entropy) obtained through the Recurrence Quantification Analysis. The reduced pain intensity reported by highs during AN was partially accounted for by the activity of the Behavioral Activation System. The decreased midline cortical Determinism observed during nociceptive stimulation in both groups independently of suggestions remained significantly reduced only in lows after controlling for the activity of the Behavioural Activation System . Finally, controlling for the activity of the Behavioral Inhibition System abolished stimulation, suggestions and hypnotisability- related differences. Results indicate that the BISBAS activity may be more important than hypnotizability itself in pain modulation and in the associated EEG dynamics