Report from a Tibetan Monastery: EEG neural correlates of concentrative and analytical meditation.

The positive effects of meditation on human wellbeing are indisputable, ranging from emotion regulation improvement to stress reduction and present-moment awareness enhancement. Changes in brain activity regulate and support these phenomena. However, the heterogeneity of meditation practices and their cultural background, as well as their poor categorization limit the generalization of results to all types of meditation.

Attention to cardiac sensations enhances the heartbeat-evoked potential during exhalation.

Respiration and cardiac activity intricately interact through complex physiological mechanisms. The heartbeat-evoked potential (HEP) is an EEG fluctuation reflecting the cortical processing of cardiac signals. We recently found higher HEP amplitude during exhalation than inhalation during a task involving attention to cardiac sensations.

Time-varying information measures: an adaptive estimation of information storage with application to brain-heart interactions.

Network Physiology is a rapidly growing field of study that aims to understand how physiological systems interact to maintain health. Within the information theory framework the information storage (IS) allows to measure the regularity and predictability of a dynamic process under stationarity assumption. However, this assumption does not allow to track over time the transient pathways occurring in the dynamical activity of a physiological system.

The impact of cardiac phases on multisensory integration.

The brain continuously processes information coming from both the external environment and visceral signals generated by the body. This constant information exchange between the body and the brain allows signals originating from the oscillatory activity of the heart, among others, to influence perception. Here, we investigated how the cardiac phase modulates multisensory integration, which is the process that allows information from multiple senses to combine non-linearly to reduce environmental uncertainty.

Mutual interaction between visual homeostatic plasticity and sleep in adult humans.

Sleep and plasticity are highly interrelated, as sleep slow oscillations and sleep spindles are associated with consolidation of Hebbian-based processes. However, in adult humans, visual cortical plasticity is mainly sustained by homeostatic mechanisms, for which the role of sleep is still largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that non-REM sleep stabilizes homeostatic plasticity of ocular dominance induced in adult humans by short-term monocular deprivation: the counterintuitive and otherwise transient boost of the deprived eye was preserved at the morning awakening (>6 hr after deprivation).

Brain-heart interactions are modulated across the respiratory cycle via interoceptive attention.

Respiration and heartbeat continuously interact within the living organism at many different levels, representing two of the main oscillatory rhythms of the body and providing major sources of interoceptive information to the brain. Despite the modulatory effect of respiration on exteroception and cognition has been recently established in humans, its role in shaping interoceptive perception has been scarcely investigated so far. In two independent studies, we investigated the effect of spontaneous breathing on cardiac interoception by assessing the Heartbeat Evoked Potential (HEP) in healthy humans.

A Systematic Review on the Role of Substance Consumption in Work-Related Road Traffic Crashes Reveals the Importance of Biopsychosocial Factors in Prevention.

Since many jobs imply driving, a relevant part of all road traffic crashes (RTC) is related to work. Statistics considering all crashes suggest that they are significantly associated with consumption of substances, but the root causes are not yet clear. The objective of the present paper was to systematically review the scientific literature concerning substances consumption and work-related RTC.

The Consciousness State of Traditional Nidrâ Yoga/Modern Yoga Nidra: Phenomenological Characterization and Preliminary Insights from an EEG Study.

Nidrâ yoga is an ancient yogic practice capable of inducing altered states of consciousness characterized by deep relaxation, strong concentration, acute self-awareness, and joy. In modern contemplative neuroscience language, it is known by the name yoga nidra, and few studies have investigated its phenomenological and psychophysiological effects. Six healthy volunteers (four females aged 31-74) performed 12 yoga nidra sessions guided by an expert during a 6-day retreat.

Systematic Review of Studies on Subliminal Exposure to Phobic Stimuli: Integrating Therapeutic Models for Specific Phobias.

We systematically review 26 papers investigating subjective, behavioral, and psychophysiological correlates of subliminal exposure to phobic stimuli in phobic patients. Stimulations were found to elicit: (1) cardiac defense responses, (2) specific brain activations of both subcortical (e.g.

Sleep slow oscillations favour local cortical plasticity underlying the consolidation of reinforced procedural learning in human sleep.

We investigated changes of slow-wave activity and sleep slow oscillations in the night following procedural learning boosted by reinforcement learning, and how these changes correlate with behavioural output. In the Task session, participants had to reach a visual target adapting cursor's movements to compensate an angular deviation introduced experimentally, while in the Control session no deviation was applied. The task was repeated at 13:00 hours, 17:00 hours and 23:00 hours before sleep, and at 08:00 hours after sleep.

The neurophysiological basis of excessive daytime sleepiness: suggestions of an altered state of consciousness.

Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is characterized by difficulty staying awake during daytime, though additional features may be present. EDS is a significant problem for clinical and non-clinical populations, being associated with a range of negative outcomes that also represent a burden for society. Extreme EDS is associated with sleep disorders, most notably the central hypersomnias such as narcolepsy, Kleine-Levin syndrome, and idiopathic hypersomnia (IH).

How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing.

The psycho-physiological changes in brain-body interaction observed in most of meditative and relaxing practices rely on voluntary slowing down of breath frequency. However, the identification of mechanisms linking breath control to its psychophysiological effects is still under debate. This systematic review is aimed at unveiling psychophysiological mechanisms underlying slow breathing techniques (<10 breaths/minute) and their effects on healthy subjects.

Ultra-slow mechanical stimulation of olfactory epithelium modulates consciousness by slowing cerebral rhythms in humans.

The coupling between respiration and neural activity within olfactory areas and hippocampus has recently been unambiguously demonstrated, its neurophysiological basis sustained by the well-assessed mechanical sensitivity of the olfactory epithelium. We herein hypothesize that this coupling reverberates to the whole brain, possibly modulating the subject's behavior and state of consciousness. The olfactory epithelium of 12 healthy subjects was stimulated with periodical odorless air-delivery (frequency 0.

Integrated care of muscular dystrophies in Italy. Part 2. Psychological treatments, social and welfare support, and financial costs.

This paper describes the psycho-social treatments received by 502 patients with MDs and their relatives, and the costs for care sustained by the families in the previous six month period. Data were collected by the MD-Care Schedule (MD-CS) and the Family Problems Questionnaire (FPQ). Psycho-educational interventions were provided to 72 patients (14.

Integrated care of muscular dystrophies in Italy. Part 1. Pharmacological treatment and rehabilitative interventions.

This paper describes the pharmacological therapies and rehabilitative interventions received by 502 patients with Muscular Dystrophies, evaluated in relation to patient's socio-demographic and clinical variables, and geographical areas. Data were collected by the MD-Socio-Demographic and Clinical Schedule (MD-SC-CS) and by the Family Problems Questionnaire (FPQ). The most part of the enrolled patients were in drug treatment.

Psychological and practical difficulties among parents and healthy siblings of children with Duchenne vs. Becker muscular dystrophy: an Italian comparative study.

This study explored the burden in parents and healthy siblings of 4-17 year-old patients with Duchenne (DMD) and Becker (BMD) muscular dystrophies, and whether the burden varied according to clinical aspects and social resources. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, patient's clinical history, parent and healthy children burden, and on parent's social resources were collected using self-reported questionnaires administered to 336 parents of patients with DMD (246) and BMD (90). Parents of patients with DMD reported higher burden than those of patients with BMD, especially concerning feeling of loss (84.

Burden, professional support, and social network in families of children and young adults with muscular dystrophies.

Introduction: This study explores burden and social and professional support in families of young patients with muscular dystrophies (MDs) in Italy.

Methods: The study was carried out on 502 key relatives of 4- to 25-year-old patients suffering from Duchenne, Becker, or Limb-Girdle MD who were living with at least 1 adult relative.

Results: A total of 77.

"Social dangerousness and incurability in schizophrenia": results of an educational intervention for medical and psychology students.

This study explored the influence of an educational intervention addressing common prejudices and scientific evidence about schizophrenia on medical and psychology students' views of this disorder. The intervention--consisting in two three-hour lessons with an interval of a week between--was run at first for medical students and then for psychology students. Participants' views of schizophrenia were assessed at baseline vs.

"I have got something positive out of this situation": psychological benefits of caregiving in relatives of young people with muscular dystrophy.

This paper focuses on the psychological benefits of caregiving in key relatives of patients with muscular dystrophies (MD), a group of rare diseases characterized by progressive weakness and restriction of the patient's functional abilities. We describe whether relatives perceived caregiving to be a positive experience and test whether relatives' perceptions vary in relation to their view of the patient as a valued person, the degree of involvement in care, and the level of support provided by social network and professionals. The study sample included 502 key relatives of patients aged 4-25 years, suffering from Duchenne, Becker, or limb-girdle MD, in treatment for at least 6 months to one of the eight participating centers, living with at least one relative aged 18-80 years.