Nocturnal blood pressure dipping, blood pressure variability, and cognitive function in early and middle-aged adults.

Higher nighttime blood pressure (BP), less BP dipping, and higher BP variability have been linked with worse cognitive function in the elderly. The goal of this study is to explore whether this relationship already exists in early and middle adulthood. We further examined whether ethnic differences between African Americans and European Americans in BP parameters can explain ethnic differences in cognitive function. 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring and cognitive function were obtained from 390 participants (average age: 37.2 years with a range of 25-50; 54.9% African Americans; 63.6% females). We observed that higher nighttime BP, decreased dipping, and higher variability were significantly associated with lower scores on the Picture Sequence Memory Test. Significant negative associations between variability and overall composite scores were also observed. No significant associations between average 24-h or daytime BP and cognitive function were observed. Ethnic differences in nighttime diastolic pressures and dipping can explain 6.81% to 10.8% of the ethnicity difference in the score of the Picture Sequence Memory Test (ps < .05). This study suggests that the associations of nighttime BP, dipping, and variability with cognitive function already exist in young and middle-aged adults. Ethnic differences in nighttime BP and dipping can at least partially explain ethnic differences in cognitive function. The stronger association of these parameters with cognitive function than daytime or average BP in this age range raises the importance of using ambulatory BP monitoring for more precise detection of abnormal BP patterns in young adulthood.

Sleep Variability, Sleep Irregularity, and Nighttime Blood Pressure Dipping.

BACKGROUND: Circadian rhythm regulates many important biological functions in humans. The goal of this study is to explore the impact of day-to-day deviations in the sleep-wake cycle on nighttime blood pressure (BP) dipping and further examine whether the ethnic difference in day-to-day deviations in sleep patterns can explain the ethnic difference in nighttime BP dipping. METHODS: Twenty-four-hour ambulatory BP monitoring and 7-day accelerometer data were obtained from 365 adult participants (age range, 18.7-50.1 years; 52.6% Black participants and 47.3% European Americans; 64.1% females). Systolic BP dipping level was used to represent nighttime BP dipping. The SD of sleep duration was calculated as the index of sleep variability, and the SD of sleep midpoint was calculated as the index of sleep irregularity. RESULTS: A 1-hour increase in the SD of sleep midpoint was associated with a 1.16% decrease in nighttime BP dipping (P<0.001). A 1-hour increase in the SD of sleep duration was associated with a 1.39% decrease in nighttime BP dipping (P=0.017). The ethnic difference in the SD of sleep midpoint can explain 29.2% of the ethnicity difference in BP dipping (P=0.008). CONCLUSIONS: Sleep variability and sleep irregularity are associated with blunted BP dipping in the general population. In addition, data from the present investigation also demonstrate that the ethnic difference in sleep irregularity could partly explain the ethnic difference in BP dipping, an important finding that may help reduce the health disparity between Black participants and European Americans.

A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating Essential Oils for Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy.

BACKGROUND: Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a painful, debilitating consequence of cancer treatment affecting up to 60% of patients. Pharmacological approaches to CIPN are often ineffective and cause adverse effects. Essential oils are an underutilized non-pharmacological approach to pain reduction. AIMS: To ascertain the efficacy of an essential oil intervention to reduce CIPN. DESIGN: A single-blind, pilot randomized controlled trial. METHODS: Participants (n = 27) were stratified by baseline pain scores and randomized to intervention (n = 13) and placebo groups (n = 14). Participants topically-applied the essential oil intervention or placebo every eight hours for six weeks. Pain was assessed using the Short-Form-McGill Pain Questionnaire-2 weekly and the Visual Analogue Scale daily. Quality-of-life was assessed using the Quality-of-Life: CIPN-20 and Quality-of-Life Adult Cancer Survivor questionnaires. Data were analyzed in SPSS using generalized estimating equations. RESULTS: No significant difference was observed between groups in pain or quality-of-life scores over seven weeks, but improvement was observed in both groups. Participants using the intervention with pain medications showed a significant reduction in pain compared to placebo (p = .001). Educational level (p = .041) and annual income (p = .005) were significant covariates mirroring these social determinates of pain. Older participants felt less negatively about their CIPN (p = .002). Positive placebo effect and spatiotemporal interactions were observed. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study demonstrated that participants adhered to the intervention for six weeks. Essential oils have potential direct and adjuvant pain-reducing effects and should be studied further.

Micro-calibration of space and motion by photoreceptors synchronized in parallel with cortical oscillations: A unified theory of visual perception.

A fundamental function of the visual system is detecting motion, yet visual perception is poorly understood. Current research has determined that the retina and ganglion cells elicit responses for motion detection; however, the underlying mechanism for this is incompletely understood. Previously we proposed that retinogeniculo-cortical oscillations and photoreceptors work in parallel to process vision. Here we propose that motion could also be processed within the retina, and not in the brain as current theory suggests. In this paper, we discuss: 1) internal neural space formation; 2) primary, secondary, and tertiary roles of vision; 3) gamma as the secondary role; and 4) synchronization and coherence. Movement within the external field is instantly detected by primary processing within the space formed by the retina, providing a unified view of the world from an internal point of view. Our new theory begins to answer questions about: 1) perception of space, erect images, and motion, 2) purpose of lateral inhibition, 3) speed of visual perception, and 4) how peripheral color vision occurs without a large population of cones located peripherally in the retina. We explain that strong oscillatory activity influences on brain activity and is necessary for: 1) visual processing, and 2) formation of the internal visuospatial area necessary for visual consciousness, which could allow rods to receive precise visual and visuospatial information, while retinal waves could link the lateral geniculate body with the cortex to form a neural space formed by membrane potential-based oscillations and photoreceptors. We propose that vision is tripartite, with three components that allow a person to make sense of the world, terming them "primary, secondary, and tertiary roles" of vision. Finally, we propose that Gamma waves that are higher in strength and volume allow communication among the retina, thalamus, and various areas of the cortex, and synchronization brings cortical faculties to the retina, while the thalamus is the link that couples the retina to the rest of the brain through activity by gamma oscillations. This novel theory lays groundwork for further research by providing a theoretical understanding that expands upon the functions of the retina, photoreceptors, and retinal plexus to include parallel processing needed to form the internal visual space that we perceive as the external world.

Self-Regulation of Breathing as an Adjunctive Treatment of Insomnia.

Sleep is a quiescent behavioral state during which complex homeostatic functions essential to health and well-being occur. Insomnia is a very common psychiatric disorder leading to a myriad of detrimental effects including loss of concentration, memory, and performance as well as disease. Current pharmaceutical treatments can be expensive, impairing, unhealthy, and habit-forming. Relaxation techniques, such as meditation target the brain and body in contrast to pharmaceutical interventions which solely target neurotransmitter systems in the brain. In this article we present a viewpoint on the treatment of insomnia that techniques of slow, deep breathing (0.1 Hz) in adjunct to sleep hygiene and relaxation therapies may be highly effective in initiating sleep as well as facilitating falling back asleep. The autonomic nervous system is integral to sleep initiation, maintenance, and disruption. Understanding the relationship between the autonomic nervous system and sleep physiology along with the nature of sleep itself remains a challenge to modern science. We present this perspective in light of a prevailing "dysevolution" theory on the pathology of insomnia that proposes hyper-arousal characterized in part by chronic sympathetic hyperactivation and/or parasympathetic hypoactivation disrupts normal sleep onset latency, sleep quality, and sleep duration. We additionally discuss physiological mechanisms responsible for the effectiveness of the breathing treatment we describe. A better understanding of these mechanisms and autonomic pathologies of insomnia may provide support for the effectiveness of such techniques and provide relief to sufferers of this health epidemic.

How lateral inhibition and fast retinogeniculo-cortical oscillations create vision: A new hypothesis.

The role of the physiological processes involved in human vision escapes clarification in current literature. Many unanswered questions about vision include: 1) whether there is more to lateral inhibition than previously proposed, 2) the role of the discs in rods and cones, 3) how inverted images on the retina are converted to erect images for visual perception, 4) what portion of the image formed on the retina is actually processed in the brain, 5) the reason we have an after-image with antagonistic colors, and 6) how we remember space. This theoretical article attempts to clarify some of the physiological processes involved with human vision. The global integration of visual information is conceptual; therefore, we include illustrations to present our theory. Universally, the eyeball is 2.4cm and works together with membrane potential, correspondingly representing the retinal layers, photoreceptors, and cortex. Images formed within the photoreceptors must first be converted into chemical signals on the photoreceptors' individual discs and the signals at each disc are transduced from light photons into electrical signals. We contend that the discs code the electrical signals into accurate distances and are shown in our figures. The pre-existing oscillations among the various cortices including the striate and parietal cortex, and the retina work in unison to create an infrastructure of visual space that functionally "places" the objects within this "neural" space. The horizontal layers integrate all discs accurately to create a retina that is pre-coded for distance. Our theory suggests image inversion never takes place on the retina, but rather images fall onto the retina as compressed and coiled, then amplified through lateral inhibition through intensification and amplification on the OFF-center cones. The intensified and amplified images are decompressed and expanded in the brain, which become the images we perceive as external vision. SUMMARY: This is a theoretical article presenting a novel hypothesis about the physiological processes in vision, and expounds upon the visual aspect of two of our previously published articles, "A unified 3D default space consciousness model combining neurological and physiological processes that underlie conscious experience", and "Functional representation of vision within the mind: A visual consciousness model based in 3D default space." Currently, neuroscience teaches that visual images are initially inverted on the retina, processed in the brain, and then conscious perception of vision happens in the visual cortex. Here, we propose that inversion of visual images never takes place because images enter the retina as coiled and compressed graded potentials that are intensified and amplified in OFF-center photoreceptors. Once they reach the brain, they are decompressed and expanded to the original size of the image, which is perceived by the brain as the external image. We adduce that pre-existing oscillations (alpha, beta, and gamma) among the various cortices in the brain (including the striate and parietal cortex) and the retina, work together in unison to create an infrastructure of visual space thatfunctionally "places" the objects within a "neural" space. These fast oscillations "bring" the faculties of the cortical activity to the retina, creating the infrastructure of the space within the eye where visual information can be immediately recognized by the brain. By this we mean that the visual (striate) cortex synchronizes the information with the photoreceptors in the retina, and the brain instantaneously receives the already processed visual image, thereby relinquishing the eye from being required to send the information to the brain to be interpreted before it can rise to consciousness. The visual system is a heavily studied area of neuroscience yet very little is known about how vision occurs. We believe that our novel hypothesis provides new insights into how vision becomes part of consciousness, helps to reconcile various previously proposed models, and further elucidates current questions in vision based on our unified 3D default space model. Illustrations are provided to aid in explaining our theory.

Impact of Transcendental Meditation on Psychotropic Medication Use Among Active Duty Military Service Members With Anxiety and PTSD.

The purpose of the study was to determine whether the regular practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM) decreased the need for psychotropic medications required for anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) management and increased psychological wellbeing. The sample included 74 military Service Members with documented PTSD or anxiety disorder not otherwise specified (ADNOS), 37 that practiced TM and 37 that did not. At 1 month, 83.7% of the TM group stabilized, decreased, or ceased medications and 10.8% increased medication dosage; compared with 59.4% of controls that showed stabilizations, decreases, or cessations; and 40.5% that increased medications (p < 0.03). A similar pattern was observed after 2 (p < 0.27), 3 (p < 0.002), and 6 months (p < 0.34). Notably, there was a 20.5% difference between groups in severity of psychological symptoms after 6 months, that is, the control group experienced an increase in symptom severity compared with the group practicing TM. These findings provide insight into the benefits of TM as a viable treatment modality in military treatment facilities for reducing PTSD and ADNOS psychological symptoms and associated medication use.

Impact of Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness on Diet and Exercise Habits in Adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Childhood and adolescent overweight is one of the most important current public health concerns. There is an urgent need to initiate community-based prevention to support healthy eating and physical activity in children. Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT) is a 12-w eek manualized intervention developed by Kristeller et al. that uses focused meditation techniques to help obese individuals normalize eating behaviors, and improve exercise and dietary habits. OBJECTIVE: To adapt the MB-EAT program to adolescents (MB-EAT-A) and assess the impact of the MB-EAT-A program implemented in a high school setting on self-reported assessment of eating and exercise habits and dietary intake of fat. METHODS: 40 ninth grade adolescents (14 males; 35 African-Americans, 1 Caucasian, 4 Others; mean age 16.2±1.2 yrs; BMI=32.4±9.0, BMI range 19.1 to 58.4) from 6 high school health/physical education classes were randomly assigned to 12-weekly sessions of MB-EAT-A intervention (n=18) or health education control (CTL, n=22). Assessments of eating and exercise habits and dietary fat and caloric content were conducted at pre-test, post-test at 3 mo. immediately following intervention and follow-up, 3 months after intervention ended, with 85% retention at follow up. RESULTS: At 6 mo. follow-up, the MB-EAT-A group increased days/week of moderate exercise >30 min/day (0.8 vs -0.7 days/week), and intense aerobic exercise >20 min/day (1.4 vs. -0.5 days/week, both ps<.05) compared to decreases in CTLs. At 6 mo. follow-up the MB-EAT-A group increased number of servings per week of low calorie foods (7.7 vs. -.05, p<.02), foods with no saturated fats (5.1 vs. -0.4, p<.10) and low in saturated fats (4.6 vs. -2.7, p<.02). At 6 mo. follow-up the MBEAT-A group increased number of foods with no fat (3.9 vs -0.3, p<.08) and low in fat (5.8 vs. -1.4, p<.02) compared to decreases in CTLs. Weight gains at follow-up (4.2 vs 6.2 lbs, MB-EAT-A vs CTL) did not differ significantly between the two conditions (p=.87). In a sub-sample of 29 African American adolescents, 58% reported, a binge eating problem with most being mild to moderate in severity. Excessively eating on a regular basis and thinking about trying to control eating urges were the most common features present. Binge eating severity did not significantly correlate with anxiety, depression, or self-esteem. CONCLUSION: The MB-EAT-A program increased moderate and intense aerobic exercise and improved dietary habits in favor of low calorie and low fat foods in an overweight/obese adolescent sample. The MB-EAT-A program increased moderate and intense aerobic exercise and improved consumption of low calorie and low fat foods in overweight/obese adolescents. The study demonstrated feasibility of conducting the MB-EAT-A program in a high school setting, and good acceptability by the students. The successful implementation of MB-EAT-A points to the potential of school-based mindful eating programs as a means of addressing early onset of obesity in high-risk youth.

A unified 3D default space consciousness model combining neurological and physiological processes that underlie conscious experience.

The Global Workspace Theory and Information Integration Theory are two of the most currently accepted consciousness models; however, these models do not address many aspects of conscious experience. We compare these models to our previously proposed consciousness model in which the thalamus fills-in processed sensory information from corticothalamic feedback loops within a proposed 3D default space, resulting in the recreation of the internal and external worlds within the mind. This 3D default space is composed of all cells of the body, which communicate via gap junctions and electrical potentials to create this unified space. We use 3D illustrations to explain how both visual and non-visual sensory information may be filled-in within this dynamic space, creating a unified seamless conscious experience. This neural sensory memory space is likely generated by baseline neural oscillatory activity from the default mode network, other salient networks, brainstem, and reticular activating system.