Behcet’s disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder that can affect many systems in the body. Cardiac involvement increases the risk of cardiovascular mortality and occurs in 1%-5% of patients with BD. Ventricul...Behcet’s disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder that can affect many systems in the body. Cardiac involvement increases the risk of cardiovascular mortality and occurs in 1%-5% of patients with BD. Ventricular arrythmias are believed to be the cause of this increased risk of cardiovascular mortality and it is also thought to be related with cardiac autonomic dysfunction. Heart rate turbulence (HRT) is a new predictor of cardiac autonomic activity. HRT is an independent and powerful predictor of mortality. In this study, we investigated the cardiac autonomic activity which can be determined by HRT in patients with BD. Forty patients with BD (20 men, mean age: 40 ± 9 years, range: 27-55 years) were diagnosed according to the International Study Group Criteria (ISGC) and gender and age matched healthy volunteers (20 men, mean age: 39 ± 8 years, range: 26-56 years) were included in this study. All of the participants (patients and controls) underwent 24 hours Holter electrocardiogram. HRT parameters, turbulence onset (TO) and turbulence slope (TS) were calculated with HRT (View Version 0.60-0.1 of Software Program). There were no significant differences in TO and TS values between patients with BD and control subject (TO-BD: 0.014 ± 0.03, TO-Control: 0.011 ± 0.04;TS-BD: 7.88 ± 4.9, TS-Control: 9.42 ± 6.7 respectively). Although increased cardiovascular mortality rates in BD have been shown in many studies, HRT values—detecting the risk of sudden death—do not seem to be altered in this disease.展开更多
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that occurs due to loss of nerve cells that produce dopamine in the brain, affecting approximately 4 million people worldwide. PD patients often feel an increas...Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that occurs due to loss of nerve cells that produce dopamine in the brain, affecting approximately 4 million people worldwide. PD patients often feel an increase in anxiety levels daily. While there are medications/exercises to help relieve anxiety, there are limited methods to reduce anxiety without the help of a caretaker. As a result, MEDIC Foundation, a non-profit organization in British Columbia, Canada, is designing an automated system that consists of a wristband and an application which uses vi-bration therapy to help reduce anxiety of PD patients. Literature reviews were conducted to document the project’s needs. Phase I of the project focused on de-veloping a prototype for the application and phase II on developing the wrist-band. The team developed prototypes of a wristband that automatically applies vibration near the median nerve as the heart rate variability (HRV) deviates away from the normal threshold of the user, and an application that displays real-time heart rate variability signals as well as provides for relaxation. The development of the prototype is still in early progress. By creating this automated system, we aim to provide a solution to senior PD patients to relieve anxiety independently. .展开更多
Introduction: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive technique for brain stimulation. Repetitive TMS (rTMS) over the medial Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC), Broadman Area 10 (BA10) may stimulate transynapt...Introduction: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive technique for brain stimulation. Repetitive TMS (rTMS) over the medial Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC), Broadman Area 10 (BA10) may stimulate transynaptically perigenual Anterior Cingulate Cortex (pACC, BA 33), insula, amigdala, hypothalamus and connected branches of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) involved in stressorevoked cardiovascular reactivity. Stressors are associated with an increase in sympathetic cardiac control, a decrease in parasympathetic control, or both, and, consequently, an increase in systolic/stroke volume, total vascular impedance/resistance and heart rate, a decrease of baroreflex sensitivity, i.e., an increase in blood pressure/arterial tension. Objectives and Aims: The present work aims, using TMS and accordingly to Gianaros modeling, based on functional neuroimaging studies and previous neuroanatomical data from animal models, to probe the connectivity of brain systems involved in stressor-evoked cardiovascular reactivity and to explore TMS potential as a tool for detection and stratification of individual differences concerning this reactivity and hemorreological risk factors correlated with the development of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). Methods: Both subjects, a 52 years old male and a 40 years old female with previous increased Low Frequency (LF)/High Frequency (HF) Heart Rate Variability (HRV) ratios (respectively, 4.209/3.028) without decompensated cardiorespiratory symptoms, gave informed consent, and ethico-legal issues have been observed. Electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring has been performed for safety purposes. Immediately after administration, over the mPFC, of 15 pulses of rTMS, during 60 second, with an inductive electrical current, at the stimulating coil, of 85.9 Ampère per μsecond and 66 Ampère per μsecond, respectively, for male and female subjects (a “figure-of-eight” coil and magnetic stimulator MagLite, Dantec/Medtronic, have been used), HRV spectrum analysis (cStress software) has been performed (during 5 minutes, in supine position). Results: In both subjects, LF power, HF power and LF/HF ratio results, before and after rTMS administration, pointed towards sympathetic attenuation and parasympathetic augmentation (respectively, in male/female subject: decreased LF power—65.1 nu/69.3 nu, before rTMS;56.1 nu/41.6 nu, after rTMS;increased HF power—15.5 nu/22.9 nu, before rTMS;30.9 nu/45.5 nu, after rTMS). Conclusions: In this preliminary investigation, the existence of a link between “mind” and heart’s function has been put in evidence, through a reversible “virtual” lesion, of brain systems involved in cardiovascular control, caused by TMS. Repetitive TMS over mPFC decreased brain function involved in stressorevoked cardiovascular reactivity, suggesting the importance of TMS in the management of stress-related cardiovascular disorders.展开更多
Background: It is difficult to observe the phenomena of cardiac fatigue under a low or moderate workload test, and little was reported about cardiac fatigue under a heavy workload test because of the potential risk (s...Background: It is difficult to observe the phenomena of cardiac fatigue under a low or moderate workload test, and little was reported about cardiac fatigue under a heavy workload test because of the potential risk (sudden death) of prolonged strenuous exercise. Animal experiments would be helpful to resolve this problem. The objective of this study was to obtain baseline data of two new indicators of cardiac reserve in rats, rabbits, and dogs. Methods: Ten New Zealand White rabbits (1. 5 to 2 kg, 4 females), 10 male Wistar rats (2 months old), and 10 Golden Retriever dogs (40 days old, 5 females) were included in this study. Phonocardiogram of each animal was recorded. The basic points concerning heart sound quantitative analysis were: 1) measuring the duration and the amplitude of relevant heart sound components;2) calculating and analyzing relevant indicators based on the data obtained from the above measurements, including the ratio of diastolic to systolic duration (D/S) and the ratio of the amplitude of the first heart sound to the amplitude of the second heart sound (S1/S2). Results: The baseline data of D/S ratio and S1/S2 ratio in rats, rabbits, and dogs were obtained. The swimming time to exhaustion for rabbits was several to a dozen minutes, and for rats, several hours. Conclusion: D/S ratio has an important biological implication, which is a safe and easy indicator for evaluating the cardiac health status of both animals and humans.展开更多
Human Consciousness is one of most elusive issues in the scientific history. Its nature created major historical debate started thousands of years ago and still ongoing. Despite the explosive developments in the last ...Human Consciousness is one of most elusive issues in the scientific history. Its nature created major historical debate started thousands of years ago and still ongoing. Despite the explosive developments in the last century to explore its nature, the knowledge about it is still deficient. The important advances in the twentieth and 21st centuries in understanding cerebral cortex dynamics fortified by the dominant materialistic approach of the era dictated its impact on consciousness science, which is perceived as sole human brain function. This original review is a call for holistic perception of human consciousness incorporating the ancient wisdom of the human civilizations with the massive current era advances in different disciplines of applied sciences. The description of René Descartes in the 17th century of the Cartesian dualism is timely to revisit with new holistic perspective, in view of the major advances of our understanding of heart brain communications, astrophysical resonances with human heart ascending afferents to central nervous system, and signaling between humans and the space. Universal vibrations, frequencies and resonances as perceived by Nikola Tesla constitute the core of our new conceptual and experimental perspective on human consciousness. Neural and psychological correlates of human consciousness which dominate the consciousness research nowadays should undergo revolutionary conceptual understanding to perceive consciousness as a massive universal event expanding from human genes to galaxies. In the next discussion, we are going to navigate in the nature and fate of human consciousness with new innovative universal perspective based on heart rate variability of human heart and its cosmic resonances as represented by Schumann Resonances, Solar Wind Indices and Galactic Cosmic Rays. The interpretation of our existential secrets and biology without the space around us is a major gap in our scientific perception of life. The delicate orchestration between human heart and the space frequencies create the great whisper which in our perspective, encodes the secrets of human consciousness.展开更多
文摘Behcet’s disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder that can affect many systems in the body. Cardiac involvement increases the risk of cardiovascular mortality and occurs in 1%-5% of patients with BD. Ventricular arrythmias are believed to be the cause of this increased risk of cardiovascular mortality and it is also thought to be related with cardiac autonomic dysfunction. Heart rate turbulence (HRT) is a new predictor of cardiac autonomic activity. HRT is an independent and powerful predictor of mortality. In this study, we investigated the cardiac autonomic activity which can be determined by HRT in patients with BD. Forty patients with BD (20 men, mean age: 40 ± 9 years, range: 27-55 years) were diagnosed according to the International Study Group Criteria (ISGC) and gender and age matched healthy volunteers (20 men, mean age: 39 ± 8 years, range: 26-56 years) were included in this study. All of the participants (patients and controls) underwent 24 hours Holter electrocardiogram. HRT parameters, turbulence onset (TO) and turbulence slope (TS) were calculated with HRT (View Version 0.60-0.1 of Software Program). There were no significant differences in TO and TS values between patients with BD and control subject (TO-BD: 0.014 ± 0.03, TO-Control: 0.011 ± 0.04;TS-BD: 7.88 ± 4.9, TS-Control: 9.42 ± 6.7 respectively). Although increased cardiovascular mortality rates in BD have been shown in many studies, HRT values—detecting the risk of sudden death—do not seem to be altered in this disease.
文摘Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that occurs due to loss of nerve cells that produce dopamine in the brain, affecting approximately 4 million people worldwide. PD patients often feel an increase in anxiety levels daily. While there are medications/exercises to help relieve anxiety, there are limited methods to reduce anxiety without the help of a caretaker. As a result, MEDIC Foundation, a non-profit organization in British Columbia, Canada, is designing an automated system that consists of a wristband and an application which uses vi-bration therapy to help reduce anxiety of PD patients. Literature reviews were conducted to document the project’s needs. Phase I of the project focused on de-veloping a prototype for the application and phase II on developing the wrist-band. The team developed prototypes of a wristband that automatically applies vibration near the median nerve as the heart rate variability (HRV) deviates away from the normal threshold of the user, and an application that displays real-time heart rate variability signals as well as provides for relaxation. The development of the prototype is still in early progress. By creating this automated system, we aim to provide a solution to senior PD patients to relieve anxiety independently. .
文摘Introduction: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive technique for brain stimulation. Repetitive TMS (rTMS) over the medial Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC), Broadman Area 10 (BA10) may stimulate transynaptically perigenual Anterior Cingulate Cortex (pACC, BA 33), insula, amigdala, hypothalamus and connected branches of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) involved in stressorevoked cardiovascular reactivity. Stressors are associated with an increase in sympathetic cardiac control, a decrease in parasympathetic control, or both, and, consequently, an increase in systolic/stroke volume, total vascular impedance/resistance and heart rate, a decrease of baroreflex sensitivity, i.e., an increase in blood pressure/arterial tension. Objectives and Aims: The present work aims, using TMS and accordingly to Gianaros modeling, based on functional neuroimaging studies and previous neuroanatomical data from animal models, to probe the connectivity of brain systems involved in stressor-evoked cardiovascular reactivity and to explore TMS potential as a tool for detection and stratification of individual differences concerning this reactivity and hemorreological risk factors correlated with the development of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). Methods: Both subjects, a 52 years old male and a 40 years old female with previous increased Low Frequency (LF)/High Frequency (HF) Heart Rate Variability (HRV) ratios (respectively, 4.209/3.028) without decompensated cardiorespiratory symptoms, gave informed consent, and ethico-legal issues have been observed. Electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring has been performed for safety purposes. Immediately after administration, over the mPFC, of 15 pulses of rTMS, during 60 second, with an inductive electrical current, at the stimulating coil, of 85.9 Ampère per μsecond and 66 Ampère per μsecond, respectively, for male and female subjects (a “figure-of-eight” coil and magnetic stimulator MagLite, Dantec/Medtronic, have been used), HRV spectrum analysis (cStress software) has been performed (during 5 minutes, in supine position). Results: In both subjects, LF power, HF power and LF/HF ratio results, before and after rTMS administration, pointed towards sympathetic attenuation and parasympathetic augmentation (respectively, in male/female subject: decreased LF power—65.1 nu/69.3 nu, before rTMS;56.1 nu/41.6 nu, after rTMS;increased HF power—15.5 nu/22.9 nu, before rTMS;30.9 nu/45.5 nu, after rTMS). Conclusions: In this preliminary investigation, the existence of a link between “mind” and heart’s function has been put in evidence, through a reversible “virtual” lesion, of brain systems involved in cardiovascular control, caused by TMS. Repetitive TMS over mPFC decreased brain function involved in stressorevoked cardiovascular reactivity, suggesting the importance of TMS in the management of stress-related cardiovascular disorders.
文摘Background: It is difficult to observe the phenomena of cardiac fatigue under a low or moderate workload test, and little was reported about cardiac fatigue under a heavy workload test because of the potential risk (sudden death) of prolonged strenuous exercise. Animal experiments would be helpful to resolve this problem. The objective of this study was to obtain baseline data of two new indicators of cardiac reserve in rats, rabbits, and dogs. Methods: Ten New Zealand White rabbits (1. 5 to 2 kg, 4 females), 10 male Wistar rats (2 months old), and 10 Golden Retriever dogs (40 days old, 5 females) were included in this study. Phonocardiogram of each animal was recorded. The basic points concerning heart sound quantitative analysis were: 1) measuring the duration and the amplitude of relevant heart sound components;2) calculating and analyzing relevant indicators based on the data obtained from the above measurements, including the ratio of diastolic to systolic duration (D/S) and the ratio of the amplitude of the first heart sound to the amplitude of the second heart sound (S1/S2). Results: The baseline data of D/S ratio and S1/S2 ratio in rats, rabbits, and dogs were obtained. The swimming time to exhaustion for rabbits was several to a dozen minutes, and for rats, several hours. Conclusion: D/S ratio has an important biological implication, which is a safe and easy indicator for evaluating the cardiac health status of both animals and humans.
文摘Human Consciousness is one of most elusive issues in the scientific history. Its nature created major historical debate started thousands of years ago and still ongoing. Despite the explosive developments in the last century to explore its nature, the knowledge about it is still deficient. The important advances in the twentieth and 21st centuries in understanding cerebral cortex dynamics fortified by the dominant materialistic approach of the era dictated its impact on consciousness science, which is perceived as sole human brain function. This original review is a call for holistic perception of human consciousness incorporating the ancient wisdom of the human civilizations with the massive current era advances in different disciplines of applied sciences. The description of René Descartes in the 17th century of the Cartesian dualism is timely to revisit with new holistic perspective, in view of the major advances of our understanding of heart brain communications, astrophysical resonances with human heart ascending afferents to central nervous system, and signaling between humans and the space. Universal vibrations, frequencies and resonances as perceived by Nikola Tesla constitute the core of our new conceptual and experimental perspective on human consciousness. Neural and psychological correlates of human consciousness which dominate the consciousness research nowadays should undergo revolutionary conceptual understanding to perceive consciousness as a massive universal event expanding from human genes to galaxies. In the next discussion, we are going to navigate in the nature and fate of human consciousness with new innovative universal perspective based on heart rate variability of human heart and its cosmic resonances as represented by Schumann Resonances, Solar Wind Indices and Galactic Cosmic Rays. The interpretation of our existential secrets and biology without the space around us is a major gap in our scientific perception of life. The delicate orchestration between human heart and the space frequencies create the great whisper which in our perspective, encodes the secrets of human consciousness.
