Respiratory sinus arrhythmia biofeedback therapy for asthma: a report of 20 unmedicated pediatric cases using the Smetankin method.

This multiple case study describes pulmonary function changes in 20 asthmatic children from 30 consecutive cases undergoing biofeedback training for increasing the amplitude of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). The Smetankin protocol was used, which, in addition to RSA biofeedback, includes instructions in relaxed abdominal pursed-lips breathing. Ten individuals were excluded, including 6 who had been taking asthma medication, 2 who developed viral infections during the treatment period, and 2 who dropped out prior to completing treatment.

[Use of electromagnetic feedback in the rehabilitation of children with injuries of the elbow joint].

The paper is devoted to the non-drug functional treatment of children with elbow joint damages by the use of portable self-contained device, based on the principle of electromagnetic feedback. It is demonstrated that sending of artificial feedback signals (light, sound) at the moment of arbitrary contraction of the muscles being trained during 8-10 treatment procedures ensures restoration of muscular-articular sense, strength, endurance of weakened muscle groups, normalizes volume of motion in the elbow joint.

[Treatment of Bell's palsy by using portable biofeedback devices].

Portable, electromyographic feed-back devices were used to develop a scheme for staged and directed correction of motor function of facial muscles. The scheme was applied to the treatment of 32 patients aged 17 to 60 years with neuritis and neuropathy of the facial nerve. As a result of the treatment, the patients manifested the improvement of coordinative interrelations between the analogous groups of muscles of the diseased and normal side of the face (activation of weakened muscles with simultaneous abatement of the intensity of pathologic synergisms), evidencing the returning to normal of the central programs that control movements.

[Interaction of the motor centers in posture-evoked asymmetry].

The EMG of hindlimb muscles was studied in spinal cats in resting and in evoked responses prior to and after modelling posture asymmetry with brain extracts obtained from donor rats whose cortical and cerebellar motor areas were partially lesioned. After the extract administration, slow and diverse changes occurred in the EMG amplitude whereas a constant level of activity was only maintained for limited periods (4-10 min). The most frequent patterns of interaction among hindlimb muscles were revealed and the character of evoked responses was shown to depend on the initial spontaneous pattern.

Electrical activity of the chick embryo brain during development of stable rearrangements of movement.

A study was made of the changes in the electrical activity of the brains of 19-day old chick embryos during the development of adaptive shifts of movement in controlled experiments. It has been established that the formation of new, stable rearrangements of movement - effected under different control regimes - is accompanied by an intensification of the process of spatio-temporal synchronization of the electrical activity of the embryonic brain within the range of the dominating frequencies. This allows us to think that the spatio-temporal synchronization of the EEG activity is a manifestation of the organization of centrally-controlled influences, whereby movement is transformed adaptively at the expense of changes in the components of an endogenous, embryonic motor activity biorhythm.

[Creation of steady alterations of motor activity in chick embryos under conditions of controlled experiments].

Steady alterations of motor activity in chick embryos were demonstrated under conditions of a controlled experiment, in production regimens of various directions. During controlled support by electrocutaneous stimulation of threshold amplitudes of the movements, the following characteristic time periods were distinguished: transitional, of steady alterations of motor activity with minimization of the amount of electrostimuli, and of the period of aftereffect. The conclusion is drawn about the united adaptive effect (minimization of biologically adverse influences) provided by the biorhythm of motor activity with directional potentiation of the activity of the components, which are not supported by adverse effects.

[An electrophysiological analysis of brain maturation in chicken embryogenesis].

Studies have been made on the development of the spontaneous bioelectrical activity in the brain of 13-21-day chick embryos and on the reactions of the brain to sonic and photic stimulation (single and rhythmic). It was shown that the onset of the evoked responses to afferent stimulation coincides with predominance of a periodic process in the bioelectrical activity (17-18th days of embryogenesis). The presence of ordered rhythmicity in the bioelectrical activity of the brain which coincides with a possibility of its transformation and synchronization with afferent stimuli is suggested to be an important index of the development of the brain.

[Changes in the bioelectrical activity of the brain in children with spastic cerebral paralysis following correctional straightening of their gait].

In normal children and patients with cerebral spastic paralysis from 7--12 years there were similar changes of the bioelectric brain activity under conditions of directed correction of gait. There were 3 stages of EEG changes: desynchronozation, synchronization of the dominating rhythm, local synchronization in the form of flashes of the dominating rhythm biopotentials. It was established that a correlational interconnection of the level of integrated EMG and changes in the level of bioelectric brain activity is detected in normals and in ill children on a certain phase of elaborated motor habits.