Effects of a Form of Equine-Facilitated Learning on Heart Rate Variability, Immune Function, and Self-Esteem in Older Adults

Equine-facilitated learning (EFL) helps people access their immediate sensations and feelings because horses, as prey animals, are continually aware of their environment and provide instant feedback to human behaviors and emotions. We hypothesize that during EFL, older people become more aware of their bodily sensations and emotions, leading to increased heart rate variability (HRV), improved self-esteem (Rosenberg scale), and improved immune function. Twenty-four subjects (age \u3e 55) participated in a single 15-minute EFL activity, Con Su Permiso, during which they focused on their bodily sensations and the responses of the horse as they moved toward and around the horse. Subjects served as their own control, interacting with a human. Pre and post measures of HRV were obtained from humans and horses; self-esteem score and immune response (salivary immunoglobulin A, sIgA) from humans. During equine and control interactions, the subject’s HRV (and the horse’s when present) was monitored, while being synchronized with a video recording. An exit interview was conducted after each interaction. Words and gestures relating to feelings and sensations were categorized as positive, neutral, or negative. Human heart and respiration rates as well as HRV (SDRR) increased significantly during interactions with horses and humans compared to baseline (paired t-test, p \u3c 0.05). During equine interactions, human HRV frequency spectrum shifted somewhat to the very low frequency (VLF) range (p \u3c 0.05). The four horses’ HR and HRV responses were varied, but in all cases HRV frequency peaks were predominantly in the VLF range. Human self-esteem increased during interactions with horses and humans (p \u3c 0.05) but sIgA did not change. During exit interviews participants used more positive and fewer negative gestures (p \u3c 0.05) describing the equine experience compared to control; words and gestures were more consistent with each other. These findings mostly support our hypothesis and suggest that engaging with horses benefits humans, indicating an enlivened state without stress

Effects of Equine Interaction on Mutual Autonomic Nervous System Responses and Interoception in a Learning Program for Older Adults

Equine-assisted learning (EAL) may improve the health of older adults, but scientific data are sparse. This study investigated whether people aged 55 and older show increased heart rate variability (HRV) during EAL and awareness of bodily sensations that are overall pleasant. Subjects (n = 24) participated in mindful grooming during which they slowed their breathing and brushed a horse while noticing sensations in their body and watching the horse’s reactions. The subject’s and horse’s HRV were recorded simultaneously before, during, and after mindful grooming. For control, the same subjects performed mindful grooming with a plush simulation horse. During exit interviews, participants described their sensations. Words and gestures were categorized as positive, neutral, or negative. During mindful grooming, human heart rate and HRV (standard deviation of interbeat interval, SDRR) increased compared to baseline (paired t-test, t = –4.228, p \u3c 0.001; t = –3.814, p = 0.001), as did the percent very low frequency (%VLF) component of HRV (t = –4.274, p \u3c 0.001). Equine HRV values remained in the normal range, mostly VLF. In 10 cases, during mindful grooming, horse and human HRVs showed matching VLF frequencies. Grooming the simulation horse significantly elevated SDRR but did not alter %VLF. Exit interviews revealed significantly more positive gestures (t = –3.814, p = 0.031) and fewer negative gestures (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Z-statistic = –2.12, p = 0.036, p \u3c 0.05) when participants spoke about the real horse compared to the simulation. These findings demonstrate that during mindful grooming people aged 55 and older benefit by experiencing increased HRV, heightened awareness of pleasant bodily sensations, and often some synchronization of their HRV frequency spectrum with that of their horse, possibly reflecting emotional bonding

Impact of Cage Size and Enrichment (Tube and Shelf) on Heart Rate Variability in Rats

Rats respond physiologically and behaviorally to environmental stressors. As cage conditions can be a stressor, it is important that experimental results acquired from caged rats are not confounded by these responses. This study determined the effects of cage size and cage enrichment (tube and shelf) on heart rate variability (HRV) in rats as a measure of stress. Electrocardiogram data were collected from 5 male Sprague-Dawley rats, each implanted with a radio-telemetric transducer to assess the ratio of the low to high frequency components of the HRV power spectrum (LF/HF). This ratio reflects the degree of sympathetic versus parasympathetic nervous activity and increases with decreasing HRV. Rats were housed for 3 weeks in each of the following cage conditions: small un-enriched, small enriched, large un-enriched and large enriched. Cage enrichment and/or larger cages did not significantly alter LF/HF values compared to the small, un-enriched cage condition, when considered independent of the sleep/wake cycle. However, when results were pooled for all cage conditions, LF/HF significantly increased during the wake cycle compared to the sleep cycle. Further analysis showed that this difference was only statistically significant for the un-enriched cage condition. Thus the presence of a tube and a shelf in a rodent cage can alter the diurnal rhythm of HRV in rats and this should be taken into account when designing experiments in which HRV is an outcome

Safe Use of Cortisol for Inflammation Disorders

In 1992, the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis was proposed to be the inflammation control system of the body. The cortisol pulse that emanates from this axis when activated is the inflammation gatekeeper that terminates short-term, beneficial inflammation at is due time. As the cortisol pulse weakens with age, injury and heredity, the termination becomes incomplete. Then, the residual short-term inflammation evolves into long-term, destructive inflammation within inflammation disorders. In support of the proposal, induced inflammation in normal rats causes a corticosterone pulse. If the proposal were correct, the inflammation disease solution would be to supplement the cortisol pulse at the proper time. Twenty-one (21) participants with rheumatoid arthritis entered a double-blind, crossover study using patient self-administered prednisone. The 18 completing the study averaged a record 75% symptom improvement with no significant side effects. Further, 2428 participants with 38 inflammation disorders entered an open study using patient self-administrated cortisol. The 2015 completing the study averaged 76% symptom improvement with no significant side effects

Knockout mice: Is it just genetics? Effect of enriched housing on fibulin-4+/- mice

Background. Fibulin-4 is an extracellular matrix protein expressed by vascular smooth muscle cells that is essential for maintaining arterial integrity. Fibulin-4-/- mice die just before birth due to arterial hemorrhage, but fibulin-4+/- mice appear to be outwardly normal. Experiments were therefore performed to determine whether fibulin-4+/- mice display arterial pathologies on a microscopic scale. After preliminary experiments were performed, a second purpose developed, which was to test the hypothesis that any observed pathologies would be ameliorated by housing the animals in enriched cages. Methodology. Fibulin-4+/- and wild-type mice were housed either four/cage in standard cages or two per cage in larger cages, each cage containing a tunnel and a wheel. After three weeks the mice were sacrificed, and the aortas perfusion-fixed and excised for light and electron microscopy. Principle Findings. When the mice were in standard cages, localized regions of disorganized extracellular matrix and collagen fibers consistently appeared between some of the medial smooth muscle cells in the fibulin-4+/- mice. In the wild-type mice, the smooth muscle cells were closely connected to each other and the media was more compact. The number of disorganized regions per square mm was significantly greater for fibulin-4+/- mice (172±43 (SEM)) than for wild-type mice (15±8) (p<0.01, n = 8). When the mice were in enriched cages, the fibulin-4+/- mice showed significantly fewer disorganized regions than those in standard cages (35±12) (p<0.05, n = 8). The wild type mice also showed fewer disorganized regions (3±2), but this difference was not significant. Conclusions. These results indicate that arterial pathologies manifested in fibulin-4+/- mice can be reduced by enriching the housing conditions, and imply that appropriate environments may counteract the effects of some genetic deficiencies

Yorkshire Lung Screening Trial (YLST): protocol for a randomised controlled trial to evaluate invitation to community-based low-dose CT screening for lung cancer versus usual care in a targeted population at risk

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. INTRODUCTION: Lung cancer is the world's leading cause of cancer death. Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening reduced lung cancer mortality by 20% in the US National Lung Screening Trial. Here, we present the Yorkshire Lung Screening Trial (YLST), which will address key questions of relevance for screening implementation. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Using a single-consent Zelen's design, ever-smokers aged 55-80 years registered with a general practice in Leeds will be randomised (1:1) to invitation to a telephone-based risk-assessment for a Lung Health Check or to usual care. The anticipated number randomised by household is 62 980 individuals. Responders at high risk will be invited for LDCT scanning for lung cancer on a mobile van in the community. There will be two rounds of screening at an interval of 2 years. Primary objectives are (1) measure participation rates, (2) compare the performance of PLCOM2012 (threshold ≥1.51%), Liverpool Lung Project (V.2) (threshold ≥5%) and US Preventive Services Task Force eligibility criteria for screening population selection and (3) assess lung cancer outcomes in the intervention and usual care arms. Secondary evaluations include health economics, quality of life, smoking rates according to intervention arm, screening programme performance with ancillary biomarker and smoking cessation studies. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has been approved by the Greater Manchester West research ethics committee (18-NW-0012) and the Health Research Authority following review by the Confidentiality Advisory Group. The results will be disseminated through publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals, presentation at conferences and on the YLST website. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS: ISRCTN42704678 and NCT03750110

Complementary and alternative medical therapy utilization by people with chronic fatiguing illnesses in the United States

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chronic fatiguing illnesses, including chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), pose a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Previous clinical reports addressed the utilization of health care provided to patients with CFS by a variety of practitioners with other than allopathic training, but did not examine the spectrum of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies used. This study was designed to measure CAM therapy use by persons with fatiguing illnesses in the United States population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>During a random-digit dialing survey to estimate the prevalence of CFS-like illness in urban and rural populations from different geographic regions of the United States, we queried the utilization of CAM including manipulation or body-based therapies, alternative medical systems, mind-body, biologically-based, and energy modalities.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Four hundred forty fatigued and 444 non-fatigued persons from 2,728 households completed screening. Fatigued subjects included 53 persons with prolonged fatigue, 338 with chronic fatigue, and 49 with CFS-like illness. Mind-body therapy (primarily personal prayer and prayer by others) was the most frequently used CAM across all groups. Among women, there was a significant trend of increasing overall CAM use across all subgroups (p-trend = 0.003). All categories of CAM use were associated with significantly poorer physical health scores, and all but one (alternative medicine systems) were associated with significantly poorer mental health scores. People with CFS-like illness were significantly more likely to use body-based therapy (chiropractic and massage) than non-fatigued participants (OR = 2.52, CI = 1.32, 4.82). Use of body-based therapies increased significantly in a linear trend across subgroups of non-fatigued, prolonged fatigued, chronic fatigued, and CFS-like subjects (p-trend = 0.002). People with chronic fatigue were also significantly more likely to use body-based therapy (OR = 1.52, CI = 1.07, 2.16) and mind-body (excluding prayer) therapy than non-fatigued participants (OR = 1.73, CI = 1.20 – 2.48).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Utilization of CAM was common in fatiguing illnesses, and was largely accounted for by the presence of underlying conditions and poor physical and mental health. Compared to non-fatigued persons, those with CFS-like illness or chronic fatigue were most likely to use body-based and mind-body therapies. These observations have important implications for provider education programs and development of intervention strategies for CFS.</p

Development of a rapid and quantitative lateral flow assay for the simultaneous measurement of serum κ and λ immunoglobulin free light chains (FLC):inception of a new near-patient FLC screening tool

Item does not contain fulltextBACKGROUND: Serum free light chains (FLC) are sensitive biomarkers used for the diagnosis and management of plasma cell dyscrasias, such as multiple myeloma (MM), and are central to clinical screening algorithms and therapy response criteria. We have developed a portable, near-patient, lateral-flow test (Seralite(R)) that quantitates serum FLC in 10 min, and is designed to eliminate sample processing delays and accelerate decision-making in the clinic. METHODS: Assay interference, imprecision, lot-to-lot variability, linearity, and the utility of a competitive-inhibition design for the elimination of antigen-excess ('hook effect') were assessed. Reference ranges were calculated from 91 healthy donor sera. Preliminary clinical validation was conducted by retrospective analysis of sera from 329 patients. Quantitative and diagnostic results were compared to Freelite(R). RESULTS: Seralite(R) gave a broad competitive-inhibition calibration curve from below 2.5 mg/L to above 200 mg/L, provided good assay linearity (between 1.6 and 208.7 mg/L for kappa FLC and between 3.5 and 249.7 mg/L for lambda FLC) and sensitivity (1.4 mg/L for kappa FLC and 1.7 mg/L for lambda FLC), and eliminated anomalous results from antigen-excess. Seralite(R) gave good diagnostic concordance with Freelite(R) (Roche Hitachi Cobas C501) identifying an abnormal FLC ratio and FLC difference in 209 patients with newly diagnosed MM and differentiating these patients from normal healthy donors with polyclonal FLC. CONCLUSIONS: Seralite(R) sensitively quantitates FLC and rapidly identifies clinical conditions where FLC are abnormal, including MM

The link between job satisfaction and organizational commitment:differences between public and private sector employees

Employees in the public and private sectors experience different working conditions and employment relationships. Therefore, it can be assumed that their attitudes toward their job and organizations, and relationships between them, are different. The existing literature has identified the relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction as interesting in this context. The present field study examines the satisfaction–commitment link with respect to differences between private and public sector employees. A sample of 617 Greek employees (257 from the private sector and 360 from the public sector) completed standardized questionnaires. Results confirmed the hypothesized relationship differences: Extrinsic satisfaction and intrinsic satisfaction are more strongly related to affective commitment and normative commitment for public sector employees than for private sector ones. The results are discussed, limitations are considered, and directions for future research are proposed

The open innovation research landscape: established perspectives and emerging themes across different levels of analysis

This paper provides an overview of the main perspectives and themes emerging in research on open innovation (OI). The paper is the result of a collaborative process among several OI scholars – having a common basis in the recurrent Professional Development Workshop on ‘Researching Open Innovation’ at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management. In this paper, we present opportunities for future research on OI, organised at different levels of analysis. We discuss some of the contingencies at these different levels, and argue that future research needs to study OI – originally an organisational-level phenomenon – across multiple levels of analysis. While our integrative framework allows comparing, contrasting and integrating various perspectives at different levels of analysis, further theorising will be needed to advance OI research. On this basis, we propose some new research categories as well as questions for future research – particularly those that span across research domains that have so far developed in isolation