Blood Pressure and Cognitive Performance After a Single Administration of a Camphor-Crataegus Combination in Adolescents with Low Blood Pressure.

Low blood pressure is rather widespread among adolescents and frequently accompanied by complaints. Two single-center, double-blinded, randomized, and placebo-controlled trials were performed with adolescent participants in the age range of 14 - 17 y having a systolic blood pressure below 118 mmHg (boys) or 110 mmHg (girls). They received a single dose of 20 drops of a fixed combination of natural D-camphor and an ethanolic extract from fresh berries (CCC) or of an ethanolic placebo.

The effects of repeated administration of camphor-crataegus berry extract combination on blood pressure and on attentional performance - a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study.

The present study investigated the effects of repeated administration of Korodin(®), a combination of camphor and crataegus berry extract, on blood pressure and attentional functioning. This study was conducted based on a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind design. 54 persons participated (33 female, 21 male) with a mean age of 24.

Interoceptive awareness moderates neural activity during decision-making.

The current study examined the relationship between conscious perception of somatic feedback (interoceptive awareness) and neural responses preceding decision-making. Previous research has suggested that decision-making is influenced by body signals from the periphery or the central representation of the periphery. Using event-related fMRI, participants whose interoceptive awareness was assessed using a heartbeat perception paradigm performed the Iowa Gambling Task.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients' disease-related preferences : a study using conjoint analysis.

Background: In the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), knowledge of disease attributes and preferences that are important to patients is crucial. This knowledge may support drug development and optimization of COPD management strategies.

Objective: To assess patient preferences in COPD and to use the conjoint methodology in order to propose a self-assessment tool based on patients' preferences gained from this conjoint analysis.

Differential effects of alexithymia subscales on autonomic reactivity and anxiety during social stress.

Objectives: Alexithymia is characterized by a difficulty in identifying and describing one's emotions. Recent research has associated differential effects of the alexithymia facets to hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis markers during stress. This study aimed to analyze how the facets of alexithymia interact with autonomic reactivity as well as self- and observer-rated anxiety during a social stress task.

Implicit memory for emotional words is modulated by cardiac perception.

In the present study we investigated the impact of viscero-sensory feedback on memory performance. Participants with good and poor perception of their heart activity were presented with positive, negative and neutral words while heart rate and skin conductance were measured. After a distractor task, participants were asked to complete primed and unprimed wordstems.

Cardiac awareness and autonomic cardiac reactivity during emotional picture viewing and mental stress.

This study investigated the relationship between autonomic cardiovascular reactivity and cardiac awareness during the following conditions: baseline, emotional picture viewing, mental stress, and heartbeat tracking. Cardiac parameters were examined by using power spectrum analysis of heart rate variability and impedance cardiography. According to their performance in a heartbeat tracking task, 38 participants were classified as good (n=19) or poor (n=19) heartbeat perceivers.

Relationships between affective states and decision-making.

The study investigated relationships between affective states and decision-making performance using the Iowa Gambling Task. Playing the task involves making decisions between four card decks. Two decks yield high gains and high losses, and if chosen continuously these decks lead to net loss.

D-camphor-crataegus berry extract combination increases blood pressure and cognitive functioning in the elderly - a randomized, placebo controlled double blind study.

The present study investigated whether the D-camphor-crataegus berry extract combination Korodin elevates blood pressure and enhances cognitive performance in the elderly population. Eighty women aged between 50 and 80 years were examined based on a randomized, placebo controlled double blind design. Blood pressure was measured sphygmomanometrically and through continuous noninvasive recording.

Enhanced cardiac perception is associated with benefits in decision-making.

In the present study we provide the first empirical evidence that viscero-sensory feedback from an internal organ is associated with decision-making processes. Participants with accurate vs. poor perception of their heart activity were compared with regard to their performance in the Iowa Gambling Task.

Hemodynamic determinants of chronic hypotension and their modification through vasopressor application.

Chronic low blood pressure is typically accompanied by symptoms such as fatigue, reduced drive, dizziness, headaches and cold limbs. Reduced cognitive performance, diminished cerebral blood flow and autonomic dysregulation have been furthermore documented in this condition. The present contribution reports two studies exploring systemic hemodynamics in chronic hypotension and their modification through vasopressor application.

Differential effects of anxiety and depression on interoceptive accuracy.

Background: Feedback from the body is assumed to be altered in depression. Nevertheless, empirical studies investigating this assumed relationship remain sparse. This study aimed to examine interrelations between the ability to perceive heartbeats accurately (interoceptive awareness), depressive symptoms, and anxiety in healthy participants.

On the relationship between interoceptive awareness and the attentional processing of visual stimuli.

Mental processes related to visceral activity have gained growing interest during the last few years. The following study is the first to investigate possible interactions between interoceptive awareness and measures of attentional performance. We tested the hypothesis whether interoceptive awareness is positively related to indices of selective and divided attentional performances.

Increased baroreflex sensitivity and reduced cardiovascular reactivity in individuals with chronic low blood pressure.

This study investigated aberrations in baroreflex function and cardiovascular reactivity related to the condition of chronic low blood pressure. In 40 hypotensive and 40 normotensive control subjects, blood pressures were continuously recorded at rest and during mental stress. Baroreflex sensitivity was determined in the time domain using sequence analysis.

The effect of Camphor-Crataegus berry extract combination on blood pressure and mental functions in chronic hypotension--a randomized placebo controlled double blind design.

A number of studies have provided evidence for reduced cognitive performance due to chronically low blood pressure. The present studies explored whether these deficits can be reduced by pharmacological blood pressure elevation. Effects of the Camphor-Crataegus berry extract combination (Korodin(®)) were investigated in two studies with 40 and 48 hypotensive women based on a randomized, placebo controlled double blind design.

Reduced perception of bodily signals in anorexia nervosa.

Objective: Interoceptive awareness is known to be impaired in eating disorders. To date, it has remained unclear whether this variable is related to the construct of interoceptive sensitivity. Interoceptive sensitivity is considered to be an essential variable in emotional processes.

Deficits in early emotional reactivity in alexithymia.

Alexithymia is characterized by a difficulty in identifying and describing one's emotions. This study addressed the question of whether alexithymic tendencies are related to limited affective reactivity to briefly presented emotional stimuli. Skin conductance responses were assessed and backward masking was used to minimize elaborated processing of emotional pictures.

Impaired central processing of emotional faces in anorexia nervosa.

Objectives: To elucidate the potential relationship between classification of emotional faces and impaired central processing in eating disorders and to investigate the potential mediatory role of alexithymia and depression in this relationship.

Methods: Visual-evoked potentials (VEPs) to emotional faces and classification performance were assessed in 12 anorexic females and matched healthy controls.

Results: Patients with anorexia nervosa showed no modulation of emotional face processing and displayed significantly increased N200 amplitudes in response to all emotional categories and decreased VEPs in response to unpleasant emotional faces in the P300 time range as compared with healthy controls.

Increased sensitivity to heat pain in chronic low blood pressure.

While in elevated blood pressure reduced sensitivity to acute pain has been well established, little is known about possible alterations in pain perception within the lower range of blood pressure. In this study, sensitivity to heat pain was assessed in 40 subjects with chronic hypotension (mean blood pressure 96.5/57.

Time-locked association between rapid cerebral blood flow modulation and attentional performance.

Objective: The study investigated relationships between rapid cerebral hemodynamic modulation and attentional performance. Based on former results on complex cognitive functioning, a specific association between the first seconds of the hemodynamic response and performance was hypothesized.

Methods: Using transcranial Doppler sonography, blood flow velocities in the middle cerebral arteries of both hemispheres were recorded in 48 healthy subjects.

Heartbeat perception and P300 amplitude in a visual oddball paradigm.

Objective: The perception of bodily signals ("interoceptive awareness") was found to modulate evoked potential components, especially the P300, in response to emotional pictures and to internal signals. It remains an open question whether this variable is related to more elaborated information processing in general.

Methods: The present study investigated the relationship between heartbeat perception and the amplitude of the P300 to target stimuli in a visual oddball paradigm.

Interoceptive sensitivity and emotion processing: an EEG study.

Theories of emotion consider the self-perception of visceral activity to play an important role in emotion. This study examined the relationship between interoceptive sensitivity and both the subjective emotional experience and the processing of emotional pictures. According to their results in a heartbeat detection task subjects were classified as good (N = 17) or poor (N = 20) heartbeat perceivers.

Emotional stimulation alters olfactory sensitivity and odor judgment.

Emotions have a strong influence on the perception of visual and auditory stimuli. Only little is known about the relation between emotional stimulation and olfactory functions. The present study investigated the relationship between the presentation of affective pictures, olfactory functions, and sex.

Dissociation between cortical activation and cognitive performance under pharmacological blood pressure elevation in chronic hypotension.

The present study explored the impact of pharmacological blood pressure elevation on cortical activation and reaction time in chronic hypotension. Effects of the sympathomimetic etilefrine were investigated in 50 hypotensive persons based on a randomized, placebo-controlled double blind design. As an indicator of cortical excitability, the contingent negative variation (CNV), induced by a constant foreperiod reaction time task, was assessed at frontal (F3, Fz, F4) and central (C3, Cz, C4) scalp sites.

Interoceptive awareness, anxiety and cardiovascular reactivity to isometric exercise.

The present study was designed to investigate the relation between cardiovascular reactivity, trait anxiety and the interoceptive awareness. Eighteen male subjects underwent a heartbeat perception task and performed an isometric handgrip exercise. Subjects with high reactivity showed a higher degree of interoceptive awareness and trait anxiety suggesting that a habitually increased sympathetic outflow might be one variable contributing to the establishment of high interoceptive awareness and trait anxiety.