Unwanted effects: Is there a negative side of meditation? A multicentre survey

Objectives Despite the long-term use and evidence-based efficacy of meditation and mindfulness-based interventions, there is still a lack of data about the possible unwanted effects (UEs) of these practices. The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of UEs among meditation practitioners, considering moderating factors such as the type, frequency, and lifetime duration of the meditation practices. Methods An online survey was developed and disseminated through several websites, such as Spanish-, English- and Portuguese-language scientific research portals related to mindfulness and meditation. After excluding people who did not answer the survey correctly or completely and those who had less than two months of meditation experience, a total of 342 people participated in the study. However, only 87 reported information about UEs. Results The majority of the practitioners were women from Spain who were married and had a University education level. Practices were more frequently informal, performed on a daily basis, and followed by focused attention (FA). Among the participants, 25.4% reported UEs, showing that severity varies considerably. The information requested indicated that most of the UEs were transitory and did not lead to discontinuing meditation practice or the need for medical assistance. They were more frequently reported in relation to individual practice, during focused attention meditation, and when practising for more than 20 minutes and alone. The practice of body awareness was associated with UEs to a lesser extent, whereas focused attention was associated more with UEs. Conclusions This is the first large-scale, multi-cultural study on the UEs of meditation. Despite its limitations, this study suggests that UEs are prevalent and transitory and should be further studied. We recommend the use of standardized questionnaires to assess the UEs of meditation practices

Autoregulation in resistance training : addressing the inconsistencies

Autoregulation is a process that is used to manipulate training based primarily on the measurement of an individual's performance or their perceived capability to perform. Despite being established as a training framework since the 1940s, there has been limited systematic research investigating its broad utility. Instead, researchers have focused on disparate practices that can be considered specific examples of the broader autoregulation training framework. A primary limitation of previous research includes inconsistent use of key terminology (e.g., adaptation, readiness, fatigue, and response) and associated ambiguity of how to implement different autoregulation strategies. Crucially, this ambiguity in terminology and failure to provide a holistic overview of autoregulation limits the synthesis of existing research findings and their dissemination to practitioners working in both performance and health contexts. Therefore, the purpose of the current review was threefold: first, we provide a broad overview of various autoregulation strategies and their development in both research and practice whilst highlighting the inconsistencies in definitions and terminology that currently exist. Second, we present an overarching conceptual framework that can be used to generate operational definitions and contextualise autoregulation within broader training theory. Finally, we show how previous definitions of autoregulation fit within the proposed framework and provide specific examples of how common practices may be viewed, highlighting their individual subtleties

Методы расчета ущерба от катастроф различного типа

Abstract: Стандартно применяемые методы расчета ущерба от природных катастроф основываются на применении средних значений. Такие подходы, однако, неприменимы для многих случаев, когда распределения ущербов от катастроф описываются степенным законом. Предлагаются новые методы расчета, основанные на анализе распределения Парето. Обсуждается эффект нелинейного роста ожидаемого ущерба со временем.Note: (Москва

On self-propagating methodological flaws in performance normalization for strength and power sports

Performance in strength and power sports is greatly affected by a variety of anthropometric factors. The goal of performance normalization is to factor out the effects of confounding factors and compute a canonical (normalized) performance measure from the observed absolute performance. Performance normalization is applied in the ranking of elite athletes, as well as in the early stages of youth talent selection. Consequently, it is crucial that the process is principled and fair. The corpus of previous work on this topic, which is significant, is uniform in the methodology adopted. Performance normalization is universally reduced to a regression task: the collected performance data are used to fit a regression function that is then used to scale future performances. The present article demonstrates that this approach is fundamentally flawed. It inherently creates a bias that unfairly penalizes athletes with certain allometric characteristics, and, by virtue of its adoption in the ranking and selection of elite athletes, propagates and strengthens this bias over time. The main flaws are shown to originate in the criteria for selecting the data used for regression, as well as in the manner in which the regression model is applied in normalization. This analysis brings into light the aforesaid methodological flaws and motivates further work on the development of principled methods, the foundations of which are also laid out in this work

Extensive Implant Reaction in Failed Subtalar Joint Arthroereisis: Report of Two Cases

Foreign body synovitis with extensive granulomatous giant cell reaction to refractile polyethelene debris is a complication of subtalar arthroereisis not previously reported. We present two cases whereby STA-peg implants were used to treat bilateral painful flexible flatfoot deformities in children. Two boys, presented at 7 and 10 years of age, 2 years after STA-peg procedures and tendo-Achilles lengthening for painful flatfeet. They each had minimal subtalar motion and pain at the sinus tarsi. Radiographs demonstrated surgical defects in the calcaneus with surrounding high signal on the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the subchondral bone of the calcaneus and talus. Both patients failed conservative management and had their implants removed with good relief of their pain. Histology was submitted at the time of implant removal. We present the radiographic and pathologic findings seen in these two patients with failed subtalar arthroereisis due to extensive implant reaction. The pathologic process seen in these patients is a previously unreported complication of this procedure. We do not recommend arthroereisis in the treatment of painful flexible flatfoot in children