HYPNOTIZABILITY AND PAIN MODULATION: A Body-Mind Perspective.

The study investigated whether the cardiac activity and cognitive-emotional traits sustained by the behavioral inhibition/activation system (BIS/BAS) may contribute to hypnotizability-related pain modulation. Nociceptive stimulation (cold-pressor test) was administered to healthy participants with high (highs) and low (lows) hypnotizability in the presence and absence of suggestions for analgesia. Results showed that heart rate increased abruptly at the beginning of nociceptive stimulation in all participants.

A new method for QRS complex detection in multichannel ECG: Application to self-monitoring of fetal health.

This paper proposes a new approach for QRS complex detection in multichannel ECG and presents its application to fetal QRS (fQRS) detection in signals acquired from maternal abdominal leads. The method exploits the characteristics of pseudo-periodicity and time shape of QRS, it consists of devising a quality index (QI) which synthesizes these characteristics and of finding the linear combination of the acquired ECGs, which maximizes this QI. In the application for fQRS detection two QIs are devised, one QI (mQI) for maternal ECG (mECG) and one QI (fQI) for fetal ECG (fECG).

Paradoxical response to an emotional task: trait characteristics and heart-rate dynamics.

The present study evaluated the heart-rate dynamics of subjects reporting decreased (responders) or paradoxically increased relaxation (nonresponders) at the end of a threatening movie. Heart-rate dynamics were characterized by indices extracted through recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). These indices were studied as a function of a few individual characteristics: hypnotizability, gender, absorption, anxiety, and the activity of the behavioral inhibition and activation systems (BIS/BAS).

An efficient unsupervised fetal QRS complex detection from abdominal maternal ECG.

Non-invasive fetal heart rate is of great relevance in clinical practice to monitor fetal health state during pregnancy. To date, however, despite significant advances in the field of electrocardiography, the analysis of abdominal fetal ECG is considered a challenging problem for biomedical and signal processing communities. This is mainly due to the low signal-to-noise ratio of fetal ECG and difficulties in cancellation of maternal QRS complexes, motion and electromyographic artefacts.

The role of wearable sensors and wireless technologies for the assessment of heart rate variability in anorexia nervosa.

Purpose: Bradycardia and abnormal cardiac autonomic function are related to increased mortality in anorexia nervosa (AN). The aim of this study was to assess heart rate (HR) and HR variability of young adolescents with AN as compared to controls by means of wearable sensors and wireless technologies.

Method: The ECG signal was recorded in 27 AN girls and 15 healthy girls at rest using a wearable chest strap.