The Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Attention, Negative Affect and Stress in Healthy Adults.

A growing number of empirical studies have revealed that diaphragmatic breathing may trigger body relaxation responses and benefit both physical and mental health. However, the specific benefits of diaphragmatic breathing on mental health remain largely unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of diaphragmatic breathing on cognition, affect, and cortisol responses to stress.

Tai Chi Chuan modulates heart rate variability during abdominal breathing in elderly adults.

Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) practice is currently intentionally applied in clinical populations, especially those with cardiovascular diseases because of its potential benefits on the autonomic nervous system. The long-term effect of TCC practice on heart rate variability (HRV) remains largely unknown. In this study, we recruited 23 TCC practitioners whose experience averaged approximately 21 years and 19 controls matched by age, sex and education to examine the effect of TCC practice on the autonomic nervous system during a resting state and during an abdominal breathing state.

A down-regulated epi-allele of the genomes uncoupled 4 gene generates a xantha marker trait in rice.

A γ-ray-induced xantha trait is epigenetically controlled by the genomes uncoupled 4 gene with enhanced promoter segment methylation and down-regulated expression in rice. For easy testing and to increase varietal purity, a xantha mutation (xnt), which turns plants yellow and makes them visually distinguishable from normal green rice, has been generated and bred into male sterile lines for hybrid rice production. The xnt locus was previously fine mapped to a ~100-kb interval on chromosome 11, but its identity was unknown.