Lifestyle modification with heavy alcohol drinkers: effects of aerobic exercise and meditation.

To assess the effects of exercise and meditation on alcohol consumption in social drinkers, 60 male students, between the ages of 21 and 30, all classified as heavy social drinkers, were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: exercise (running), meditation, and a no-treatment control group. The study consisted of three distinct phases: pretreatment baseline (2 weeks), treatment intervention (8 weeks), and a follow-up period (6 weeks). Subjects in the running and meditation conditions met as a group during the treatment intervention phase, and all subjects self-monitored their daily consumption of alcohol throughout the study. The results showed that subjects in the exercise condition significantly reduced their alcohol consumption compared to the no-treatment control condition. The implications of these findings for treatment intervention, and the importance of subject compliance are discussed.

A comparison of somatic relaxation and EEG activity in classical progressive relaxation and transcendental meditation.

Oxygen consumption, electroencephalogram (EEG), and four other measures of somatic relaxation were monitored in groups of long-term practitioners of classical Jacobson's progressive relaxation (PR) and Transcendental Meditation (TM) and also in a group of novice PR trainees. All subjects (1) practiced relaxation or meditation (treatment), (2) sat with eyes closed (EC control), and (3) read from a travel book during two identical sessions on different days. EEG findings indicated that all three groups remained primarily awake during treatment and EC control and that several subjects in each group displayed rare theta (5-7 Hz) waveforms. All three groups demonstrated similar decrements in somatic activity during treatment and EC control which were generally of small magnitude (e. g., 2-5% in oxygen consumption). These results supported the "relaxation response" model for state changes in somatic relaxation for techniques practiced under low levels of stress but not the claim that the relaxation response produced a hypometabolic state. Despite similar state effects, the long-term PR group manifested lower levels of somatic activity across all conditions compared to both novice PR and long-term TM groups. We concluded that PR causes a generalized trait of somatic relaxation which is manifested in a variety of settings and situations. Two likely explanations for this trait were discussed: (1) PR practitioners are taught to generalize relaxation to daily activities, and/or (2) according to a "multiprocess model," PR is a "somatic technique," which should produce greater somatic relaxation than does TM, a "cognitive technique." Further research is required to elucidate these possibilities.

The effect of transcendental meditation on iconic memory.

Three experiments investigated the effects of transcendental meditation (TM) on iconic memory. The task involved reporting of digits shown tachistoscopically, using Sperling's partial-report technique. Experiment 1 was a pilot study involving a meditation group and a nonmeditation gropu. All subjects were run in a pretest/treatment/posttest design. During the treatment phase the meditation group practiced TM for a 20-minute period and the nonmeditation group relaxed with eyes closed. The results showed that the treatment increased performance in meditators, but not in nonmeditators. In this experiment important controls such as individual administration of the task, extrinsic rewards, subject pacing, and adequate practice were lacking. Experiment 2 was a replication of the first, with these controls added. The results no longer showed a superiority for the meditation treatment. In fact, the meditation group performed worse on each day of running. Experiment 3 was a replication of Experiment 1, to assess whether the meditation effect of Experiment 1 was due to (a) differential increased attention of the meditators (minimized in subject-paced Experiment 2), (b) a gain early in learning for the meditators that was eliminated due to practice in Experiment 2, or (c) a lack of proper control procedures in Experiment 1. The performance of the meditators was, again, significantly lower. This research illustrates the importance of careful control when investigating the effects of meditation on behavior. It also suggests that the effects of meditation may depend on which hemisphere is dominant in performing the task.

Droperidol, fentanyl and morphine for i.v. surgical premedication.

Fentanyl 0.1 mg and morphine 10 mg alone and in combination with droperidol 2.5 and 5.0 mg were studied for i.v. surgical premedication in 240 patients. Relief of anxiety, sedation, lack of recall, patient acceptance and side-effects were evaluated. The addition of droperidol to fentanyl and morphine produced greater sedation and relief of anxiety before operation, but did not improve patient acceptance or lack of recall.

Lorazepam, hyoscine and atropine as i.v. surgical premedicants.

Lorazepam 2 and 4 mg alone and in combination with atropine 0.4 mg and hyoscine 0.4 mg were studied as i.v. surgical premedicants in 150 patients. Relief of anxiety, sedation, patient acceptance, lack of recall and side-effects were evaluated. Hyoscine was found to improve the relief of anxiety and sedation associated with lorazepam, but did not significantly increase lack of recall or patient acceptance. The addition of atropine to lorazepam did not significantly alter its effects. A high frequency of agitation and restlessness in patients receiving lorazepam and hyoscine make this combination undesirable for surgical premedication.

Pain and clinical thrombophlebitis following intravenous diazepam and lorazepam.

Eighty-seven per cent of surgical patients receiving undiluted diazepam experienced pain on injection while 6-16%, depending on the dose, manifested evidence of clinical thrombophlebitis. This was improved when diazepam, 10 mg, was diluted to 20-40 ml with intravenous solution. In contrast, lorazepam appeared to have minimal irritative or injurious effects on veins whether undiluted or diluted. In view of these results and clinical studies reporting a higher patient acceptance of lorazepam than diazepam, lorazepam may be a superior drug for use in anaesthesia.

Histopathology of veins after intravenous lorazepam and RO 21-3981.

A previously established rat model has been utilized to demonstrate that an acute inflammatory response occurs after high intravenous doses of lorazepam. This occurs only with high concentrations of drug equivalent to 20 times the normal clinical dosage in man. In contract, water soluble RO 21-3981 produces no vascular pathology in any dosage evaluated. It appears that propylene glycol may play a role in the pathogenesis of the intravascular injury observed.

RO 21-3981 for intravenous surgical premedication and induction of anesthesia.

RO 21-3981, a new water soluble benzodiazepine, was studied in 24 patients both as an intravenous premedicant and to induce anesthesia. The premedicant dose of 5 mg produced lack of recall and marked sedation within 1 to 2 minutes after injection and persisted for at least 32 minutes. Subsequent induction of anesthesia required an additional 5 to 25 mg of RO 21-3981. However, anesthesia was not induced in 1 patient with 25 mg and was accomplished only with inhalation anesthesia. Loss of lid reflex was unreliable as a sign of induction for patients in whom tracheal intubation was planned. Although decreases in blood pressure of 10 to 30 mm Hg were noted after administration of RO 21-3981, systolic pressure was not recorded below 90 mm Hg. RO 21-3981, because of its amnesic, sedative, and anxiolytic properties, appears to be an excellent premedicant although the 5 mg dose studied was probably larger than necessary. For induction of anesthesia, RO 21-3981 may be an effective alternative to thiopental.

The effect of transcendental meditation on right hemispheric functioning.

This study reports two experiments investigating the effects of transcendental meditation on right hemispheric functioning. The task used in both experiments was the Seashore Tonal Memory Test. In the first experiment a non-meditator group and an experienced meditator group were run. The design involved three periods: a pretest, a meditation or rest period, and then a posttest. The results showed the experienced meditators were significantly better in both pretest and posttest performance. There were no pretest-posttest differences. The second experiment was done to replicate the first experiment and to control for possible selection bias. The design was the same as the first experiment, except that an additional group of inexperienced meditators was included. The results again showed significantly superior performance for the experienced meditators compared to the non-meditators. In addition, the experienced meditators were superior to the inexperienced meditators. There were no significant differences between the non-meditators and the inexperienced meditators. These results support the hypothesis that meditation facilitates right hemispheric functioning. Alternative explanations, such as selection bias, are also discussed.

Thrombophlebitis after intravenous diazepam--can it be prevented?

Although pain and subsequent thrombophlebitis are complications in patients receiving intravenous (IV) diazepam, the mechanism and accompanying histology are unknown. To further elucidate the pathogenesis for this and determine whether it can be minimized, adult female rats received IV diazepam, diazepam vehicle, lidocaine, a combination of lidocaine and diazepam, or N saline solution, and underwent subsequent tissue light microscopy. Vascular tissue from animals receiving IV diazepam alone revealed marked inflammation with inflammatory edema and intramural polymorphonuclear-cell infiltration. Intravascular thrombosis and complete vein-wall destruction were also present in some animals as early as 48 hours after IV diazepam. Diazepam vehicle and diluted diazepam produced similar morphologic alterations. Lidocaine or saline IV resulted in no histologic alterations, while lidocaine added to diazepam did not reduce the inflammatory response. These results represent the first systematic morphologic evaluation of vein response to intravascular diazepam and suggest that it produces rapid and detrimental morphologic alterations. The dilution of diazepam or combination with lidocaine does not appear to alter these findings, and diazepam vehicle appears to assume a role in the production of the vascular injury.

Sleep during transcendental meditation.

Five experienced practitioners of transcendental meditation spent appreciable parts of meditation sesions in sleep stages 2, 3, and 4. Time spent in each sleep stage varied both between sessions for a given subject and between subjects. In addition, we compare electroencephalogram records made during meditation with those made during naps taken at the same time of day. The range of states observed during meditation does not support the view that meditation produces a single, unique state of consciousness.