Induction of altered states of consciousness during Floatation-REST is associated with the dissolution of body boundaries and the distortion of subjective time.

Floatation-REST (Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy) minimizes stimulation of the nervous system by immersing subjects in an environment without sound or light while they effortlessly float in thermoneutral water supersaturated with Epsom salt. Here we investigated the relationship between altered states of consciousness (ASC) and its association with the affective changes induced by Floatation-REST. Using a within-subject crossover design, 50 healthy subjects were randomized to 60 min of Floatation-REST or 60 min of Bed-REST (an active control condition that entailed lying supine on a warm waterbed in a dark and quiet room). Following Floatation-REST, subjects felt significantly more relaxed, less anxious, and less tired than after Bed-REST. Floatation-REST also induced significantly more pronounced ASC characterized by the dissolution of body boundaries and the distortion of subjective time. The loss of body boundaries mediated the loss of anxiety, revealing a novel mechanism by which Floatation-REST exerts its anxiolytic effect.

Mindfulness for internet use disorder: a study protocol of a systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Internet use disorder (IUD) is on the rise and is associated with detrimental health consequences. Growing evidence suggests that mindfulness-either as a trait or cultivated in mindfulness-based programmes (MBPs)-is promising in preventing and treating IUD. With this systematic review and meta-analysis, we will examine (1) the association between trait mindfulness (TM) and IUD and (2) the effectiveness of MBPs in reducing IUD. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: In October 2022, we will screen Medline, PsycINFO, PSYINDEX, CINAHL, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials without language or publication date restrictions. We will conduct backward and forward citation searches of included studies and relevant reviews. We will include studies that evaluate either (1) the association between TM and IUD or (2) the effectiveness of MBPs in reducing IUD. Two reviewers will independently screen records, select and extract data, and rate the risk of bias. In total, we will conduct three meta-analyses: a first meta-analysis will be on the correlation between TM and IUD, a second meta-analysis will be on between-group data examining the effectiveness of MBPs in reducing IUD in randomised controlled trials (RCTs), and a third meta-analysis will be on within-group pre-postdata examining the effectiveness of MBPs in reducing IUD in all kinds of intervention studies. For the second and third meta-analyses, the primary outcome will be changes in IUD. We will explore moderators and sources of between-study heterogeneity and pursue a narrative synthesis of results. We will use the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system to assess the overall quality of evidence across intervention studies. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval is not required. Results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at (inter)national conferences. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42022350071.

Changes in Subjective Time and Self during Meditation.

This study examined the effects of meditative states in experienced meditators on present-moment awareness, subjective time, and self-awareness while assessing meditation-induced changes in heart-rate variability and breathing rate. A sample of 22 experienced meditators who practiced meditation techniques stressing awareness of the present moment (average 20 years of practice) filled out subjective scales pertaining to sense of time and the bodily self and accomplished a metronome task as an operationalization of present-moment awareness before and after a 20 min meditation session (experimental condition) and a 20 min reading session (control condition) according to a within-subject design. A mixed pattern of increased sympathetic and parasympathetic activity was found during meditation regarding heart-rate measures. Breathing intervals were prolonged during meditation. Participants perceived their body boundaries as less salient during meditation than while reading the story; they also felt time passed more quickly and they paid less attention to time during meditation. No significant differences between conditions became apparent for the metronome task. This is probably the first quantitative study to show how the experience of time during a meditation session is altered together with the sense of the bodily self.

Alterations in the Experience of Time, Space, and Intersubjectivity and the Interaction with Pre-Existent Psychopathology during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to protect the physically vulnerable may disproportionately affect people with mental health vulnerabilities, who receive psychotherapeutic inpatient treatment, as many of these measures impact the (inter)subjective space crucial to psychotherapy. OBJECTIVE: We investigate how people with pre-existing mental health conditions and healthcare professionals experienced changes linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: During the first COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown in spring 2020, we conducted semi-structured interviews with patients and healthcare professionals at a clinic for psychosomatic medicine in Germany and analyzed them following the principles of descriptive phenomenology focusing on social interactions, intersubjectivity, and the therapeutic space. RESULTS: We conducted a total of >30 h of interviews with 19 patients and 17 healthcare professionals. Analyses revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic and the related measures have led to a sudden loss of a sense of normality. Participants experienced changes in the perception of time, space, self, and embodied interaction with others, resulting in a profound feeling of alienation and "unhomeliness" which seemed to magnify pre-existing psychopathology. The inpatient psychotherapeutic environment provided safety by offering spatial and temporal structures and opportunities for social interaction, supporting people to find new ways to be in a changed world. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that despite the threat of infection, it is vital to continue to provide people with psychological vulnerabilities with a safe therapeutic space in which to regain a sense of safety in a changed world. This is particularly important, as those people seem to suffer intensely from the collateral measures of a pandemic.

The impact of a tailored mindfulness-based program for resident physicians on distress and the quality of care: A randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Many resident physicians suffer from distress, which endangers their individual health and the quality of care. OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of a tailored mindfulness-based program (MBP) for resident physicians on distress and the quality of care. METHODS: A single-centre, two-armed, longitudinal randomised controlled trial. The intervention group took part in an 8-week, tailored MBP that included a coursebook. The MBP was followed by a 4-month maintenance phase. The active control group received the coursebook for self-study. Assessments were at baseline (t0, 0 months), after the intervention (t1, 2 months), after the maintenance phase (t2, 6 months), and at follow-up (t3, 12 months). The primary outcome was a change in burnout at t2. Secondary outcomes included perceived stress, mental distress, perceived job strain, depression, anxiety, hair cortisol secretion, self-reported medical errors and third-party ratings by patients, supervisors and colleagues. RESULTS: Seventy-six participants were randomised to the intervention and 71 to the control group. The intervention group showed greater improvements in the primary outcome (burnout at t2, d = 0.32, p = 0.046), in perceived stress (d = 0.31, p = 0.046) and perceived job strain (d = 0.33, p = 0.026) at t1, and in supervisor rated empathy (d = 0.71, p = 0.037) and colleague rated attentiveness (d = 0.85, p = .006) at t2. There was no difference between groups in the other outcomes. CONCLUSION: A tailored MBP for resident physicians improved burnout and might have improved other aspects of distress and the quality of care.

Mindfulness-based and acceptance-based programmes in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: a study protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) with exposure and response prevention is the recommended standard for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, a high proportion of patients refuse this treatment, do not respond or relapse shortly after treatment. Growing evidence suggests that mindfulness-based and acceptance-based programmes (MABPs) are an effective option for the treatment of OCD. This systematic review and meta-analysis will examine the effectiveness of MABPs in treating OCD. We also aimed to explore potential moderators of the programmes' effectiveness. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will systematically search MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, PSYINDEX, Web of Science, CINAHL and Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials (no language restrictions) for studies that evaluate the effect of MABPs on patients with OCD. We will conduct backward and forward citation searches of included studies and relevant reviews and contact corresponding authors. The primary outcome will be pre-post intervention change in symptom severity. A secondary outcome will be change in depressive symptoms. Two reviewers will independently screen the records, extract the data and rate the methodological quality of the studies. We will include both controlled and uncontrolled trials. Randomised controlled trials will be meta-analysed, separately assessing between-group effects. A second meta-analysis will assess the within-group effect of all eligible studies. We will explore moderators and sources of heterogeneity such as the specific programme, study design, changes in depressive symptoms, hours of guided treatment, control condition and prior therapy (eg, CBT) using metaregression and subgroup analyses. We will perform sensitivity analyses using follow-up data. A narrative synthesis will also be pursued. We will use the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system to assess the quality of the evidence. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval is not required. Results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at international conferences.

Assessment of a taping method combined with manual therapy as a treatment of non-specific chronic low back pain - a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Chronic low back pain is the most frequent medical problem and the condition with the most years lived with disability in Western countries. The objective of this study was to assess a new treatment, Medi-Taping, which aims at reducing complaints by treating pelvic obliquity with a combination of manual treatment of trigger points and kinesio taping in a pragmatic RCT with pilot character. METHODS: One hundred ten patients were randomized at two study centers either to Medi-Taping or to a standard treatment consisting of patient education and physiotherapy as control. Treatment duration was 3 weeks. Measures were taken at baseline, end of treatment and at follow-up after 2 months. Main outcome criteria were low back pain measured with VAS, the Chronic Pain Grade Scale (CPGS) and the Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire (ODQ). RESULTS: Patients of both groups benefited from the treatment by medium to large effect sizes. All effects were pointing towards the intended direction. While Medi-Taping showed slightly better improvement rates, there were no significant differences for the primary endpoints between groups at the end of treatment (VAS: mean difference in change 0.38, 95-CI [- 0.45; 1.21] p = 0.10; ODQ 2.35 [- 0.77; 5.48] p = 0.14; CPGS - 0.19 [- 0.46; 0.08] p = 0.64) and at follow-up. Health-related quality of life was significantly higher (p = .004) in patients receiving Medi-Taping compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS: Medi-Taping, a purported way of correcting pelvic obliquity and chronic tension resulting from it, is a treatment modality similar in effectiveness to complex physiotherapy and patient education. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial was registered retrospectively on July 24th, 2019 as Number DRKS00017051 in the German Register of Clinical Trials (Deutsches Register Klinischer Studien). URL of trial registry record: https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00017051 .

A tailored mindfulness-based program for resident physicians: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Diminished well-being is prevalent in resident physicians. This qualitative study explored the effects of a tailored mindfulness-based program (MBP) aimed at increasing resident physicians' well-being. A second goal was to compare the MBP with an active control group. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted interviews with 35 resident physicians: 21 physicians attended an eight-week MBP (intervention group) and 14 physicians received text-based information about mindfulness for self-study (control group). The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Participants in the intervention group reported that the MBP helped them integrate mindfulness into their everyday life, increased their self-awareness, equanimity and well-being, and had positive effects on their self-care and interactions with patients. In the control group, the perceived effects were minor. CONCLUSION: A tailored mindfulness-based program can help resident physicians care for their own well-being during medical residency and can have positive effects on their interactions with patients.

Liver Iron Content Determination Using a Volumetric Breath-Hold Gradient-Echo Sequence With In-Line R2 * Calculation.

BACKGROUND: Liver iron overload is a serious condition occurring in patients requiring blood transfusions (eg, in thalassemia and different forms of anemia) or with dysfunctional iron resorption, since there is no physiological mechanism to excrete iron. Above a certain level of iron concentration, chelation therapy is indicated. To monitor therapy success, liver iron content should be assessed regularly. A noninvasive method is important for patient management. Existing MRI methods suffer from long acquisition times and cost. PURPOSE: To study the correlation of liver iron content (LIC) reference values to liver R2 * determined using a 3D breath-hold multigradient echo (GRE) MRI sequence, employing accelerated acquisition by parallel imaging and in-line R2 * calculation. STUDY TYPE: Prospective. POPULATION: In all, 117 patients (22.1 ± 14.1 years, 66 men) suspected of iron overload. SEQUENCE: GRE. FIELD STRENGTH: 1.5T. ASSESSMENT: For comparison, a regulatory-approved method with a considerably longer scan time was used, providing LIC reference values. Participants were divided into a calibration group (65 participants), analyzed independently by two observers, and a validation group (52 participants). STATISTICAL TESTS: Linear correlation parameters were evaluated for R2 * values with LIC reference values, and for LIC determined from R2 * for validation group participants with LIC reference values. Sensitivity/specificity for clinical relevant LIC thresholds were analyzed. Interobserver variability was determined by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). RESULTS: Interobserver agreement was excellent, with an ICC of 0.99, P < 0.001. Good correlation (R2 = 0.89) and congruence of LIC values obtained with our method to LIC reference values was found, and almost identical diagnostic accuracy. Sensitivity/specificity were 0.98/0.67 for the diagnostic relevant LIC threshold of 4.5 mg/g and 1.0/0.95 for the threshold of 7 mg/g. DATA CONCLUSION: MRI acquisition times for determination of LIC can be significantly reduced by the use of comprehensive in-line R2 * map generation without compromising diagnostic accuracy. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 1 TECHNICAL EFFICACY STAGE: 2.

Mindfulness-based programme for residents: study protocol of a randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Residency is a stressful phase associated with high prevalence of mental distress. Besides impaired personal health, mental distress in residents has an impact on the quality of patient care and produces economic costs. Therefore, there is demand for interventions that improve resident physicians' mental health. The aim of the present study is to examine the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention that has been tailored to residents' needs. Specifically, mindfulness has been supplemented by a focus on the concept of Muße. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This study applies a randomised controlled multimethod design. Residents assigned to the intervention group will participate in an 8-week mindfulness course followed by a 4-month maintenance phase, whereas residents assigned to the control group will read text-based information about mindfulness on a weekly basis for the duration of 8 weeks. The intervention is focussed on a transfer of learnt techniques into the daily routine and is targeted to promote residents' self-care as well as on building empathic relationships. Participants will be assessed before, directly after the intervention, after the maintenance phase as well as at follow-up 6 months after the intervention group completes the intervention. Assessments will consist of self-report measures, physiological data, qualitative interviews, third-party reports as well as implicit and projective measures and will focus on both psychopathology and salutogenesis. The primary outcome will be burnout. Data will be analysed using linear mixed modelling. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study was approved by the ethics committee of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg and is funded by the German Research Foundation as part of the interdisciplinary Collaborative Research Center 'SFB Muße 1015'. The results of this study will be published in scientific journals and disseminated through the study's website, and conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: DRKS00014015.

Is Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction a Promising and Feasible Intervention for Patients Suffering from Migraine? A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial.

AIM: We performed a pilot study in order to evaluate the feasibility and to estimate effect sizes of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in a sample of patients suffering from migraine. METHOD: Migraine patients (n = 62, mean age 44 years, 92% female) were randomly allocated to either MBSR or an active control intervention based on progressive muscle relaxation and psychoeducation. The primary outcome was the number of migraine days per month assessed by headache diaries covering one month before and one month after the intervention. Secondary outcomes included functional impairment, use of medication, psychological symptoms, quality of life, pain acceptance, pain self-efficacy, pain perception and self-attributed mindfulness. To measure feasibility, questionnaires assessing study compliance and contentment were administered. RESULTS: The primary outcome migraine frequency showed no significant group difference. Compared to the control group, the MBSR group showed greater improvements in variables of psychological symptoms, pain self-efficacy and sensory pain perception. Within the MBSR condition, all variables showed significant improvements over the course span with effect sizes ranging from d = 0.37 to 0.81, apart from the primary outcome (27% reduction in migraine days, p = 0.07). Compliance and contentment rates were good, supporting the feasibility of the MBSR intervention. CONCLUSION: Overall, participants in the MBSR group showed more adaptive coping strategies and decreased levels of psychological impairment compared to the control group, indicating a reduced impact of migraine on their everyday lives. It is concluded that this feasibility study demonstrates the ability of mindfulness-based interventions to reduce suffering in patients with migraine.

Antibiotic resistant Klebsiella spp. from a hospital, hospital effluents and wastewater treatment plants in the uMgungundlovu District, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Hospital effluents are crucial hotspots for the dissemination of antibiotic resistant microorganisms. This study analysed hospital effluent and proximate wastewater treatment plants for the presence of antibiotic resistant Klebsiella spp. Water samples were obtained twice over a three-month period from an urban and rural hospital at three effluent points each, and from two proximate wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) comprising influent and effluent and river water samples up/downstream the WWTPs. Presumptive Klebsiella spp. were enumerated, isolated, and phenotypically confirmed using a well-established commercial test system for Enterobacteriaceae (API20E). Clinical Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates were provided by a hospital for comparison. The antibiotic resistance profiles of Klebsiella spp. isolates to 16 selected antibiotics were established according to EUCAST (European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing). In addition, extended spectrum ß-lactamase (ESBL) and carbapenemase production was analysed. A total of 93 confirmed Klebsiella spp. isolates from hospital effluents and 37 from WWTPs were obtained, comprising K. pneumoniae and K. oxytoca. The viable counts for confirmed Klebsiella spp. for hospital effluents ranged from 1.38 × 102 to 1.03 × 104, while those for WWTP influent were in a range of 1.76 × 103 to 5.10 × 103 CFU/ml. A higher proportion of Klebsiella spp. from urban hospital effluent was categorized as multidrug-resistant (MDR) (23%) compared to rural hospital effluent (9%). Resistance was observed to all antibiotic classes tested. Several clinical isolates presented resistance to four carbapenem antibiotics, while certain isolates from hospital effluent and WWTPs exhibited ertapenem and doripenem resistance. Fifteen Klebsiella spp. isolates (clinical and from urban hospital effluent) produced carbapenemases. Hospital effluents in South Africa contain antibiotic resistant Klebsiella spp. and may pose a risk to proximate informal communities if inadequately treated. Moreover, common phenotypic resistance profiles among isolates from the clinical-hospital effluent-wastewater works continuum suggest a need for further treatment of such effluent.

What happens in the brain of meditators when perception changes but not the stimulus?

During the observation of an ambiguous figure our perception alternates between mutually exclusive interpretations, although the stimulus itself remains unchanged. The rate of these endogenous reversals has been discussed as reflecting basic aspects of endogenous brain dynamics. Recent evidence indicates that extensive meditation practice evokes long-term functional and anatomic changes in the brain, also affecting the endogenous brain dynamics. As one of several consequences the rate of perceptual reversals during ambiguous figure perception decreases. In the present study we compared EEG-correlates of endogenous reversals of ambiguous figures between meditators and non-meditating controls in order to better understand timing and brain locations of this altered endogenous brain dynamics. A well-established EEG paradigm was used to measure the neural processes underlying endogenous perceptual reversals of ambiguous figures with high temporal precision. We compared reversal-related ERPs between experienced meditators and non-meditating controls. For both groups we found highly similar chains of reversal-related ERPs, starting early in visual areas, therewith replicating previous findings from the literature. Meditators, however, showed an additional frontal ERP signature already 160 ms after stimulus onset (Frontal Negativity). We interpret the additional, meditation-specific ERP results as evidence that extensive meditation practice provides control of frontal brain areas over early sensory processing steps. This may allow meditators to overcome phylogenetically evolved perceptual and attentional processing automatisms.

Role of the supplementary motor area in auditory sensory attenuation.

Self-generated tones elicit smaller brain responses as compared to externally generated tones. This phenomenon known as sensory attenuation has been explained in terms of an internal forward model in which the brain predicts the upcoming events and thereby attenuates the sensory processing. Such prediction processes have been suggested to occur via an efference copy of the motor command that is sent from the motor system to the lower order sensory cortex. However, little is known about how the prediction is implemented in the brain's network organization. Because the supplementary motor area (SMA) is a primary brain structure of the motor system, we attributed the implementation of the prediction to the SMA. To address this question, we examined generative network models for auditory ERPs. ERPs were evoked by either a self-generated or externally generated tone, while subjects were paying attention to their motor action or to the tone. The tone itself was the same throughout all conditions. The network models consisted of three subsets embedding alternative hypotheses of the hierarchical structures: (1) auditory fields of the temporal lobe, (2) adding connections to the SMA, and (3) adding prediction signal to the SMA. The model comparison revealed that all ERP responses were mediated by the network connections across the auditory cortex and the SMA. Importantly, the prediction signal to the SMA was required when the tone was self-generated irrespective of the attention factor, whereas the externally generated tone did not require the prediction. We discussed these results in the context of the predictive coding framework.

Meditation-Induced States, Vagal Tone, and Breathing Activity Are Related to Changes in Auditory Temporal Integration.

This study is based on the relationship between meditation, the present moment, and psychophysiology. We employed the metronome task to operationalize the extension of the present moment. A pre-post longitudinal study was conducted. The performance in the metronome task was compared before and after the interventions (meditation, story). The aim was to assess whether physiological changes (heart, breathing) during meditation influence the temporal-integration (TI) of metronome beats. Mindfulness meditators either meditated (n = 41) or listened to a story (n = 43). The heart and breathing activity were recorded during the intervention and compared to a resting-state condition. By applying path analyses we found that meditation led to an increase of the duration of integration intervals at the slowest metronome frequency (inter-stimulus interval, ISI = 3 s). After meditation, the higher the heart-rate variability (i.e., the root mean square of successive differences, RMSSD), the longer the duration of integration intervals at the fastest frequency (ISI = 0.33 s). Moreover, the higher the breathing rate during meditation, the greater the integration of intervals at ISI = 1 s. These findings add evidence to meditation-induced changes on the TI of metronome beats and the concept of the embodiment of mental functioning.

Phase synchrony in slow cortical potentials is decreased in both expert and trained novice meditators.

Neuronal interactions coupled by phase synchronization have been studied in a wide range of frequency bands, but fluctuations below the delta frequency have often been neglected. In the present study, phase synchrony in slow cortical potentials (SCPs, 0.01-0.1 Hz) was examined during two different mental states; a resting state and a breath-focused mindfulness meditation. SCP phase synchrony in 9 long-term expert meditators (on average 22 years of experience) were compared with the data obtained from 11 novices. Additionally, after the novices attended an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program, SCP phase synchrony was measured again. While expert meditators and novices exhibited the same amount of SCP phase synchrony in the resting state, decreased synchronization was found during meditation among expert meditators as well as novices who had participated in the MBSR program (but not prior to the program). These findings suggest that phase synchrony in slow cortical activity is context-dependent and could provide crucial information in the study of the human mind.

Remote meditation support - a multimodal distant intention experiment.

BACKGROUND: Distant intention research refers to experiments in which a distant interaction between two persons is assessed that precludes conventional communication. In these experiments the intention of one person is varied systematically while the effect of this variation is assessed in the remote other person. AIMS: Our study aimed at improving effect sizes by participant selection based on a screening test and by including experienced meditators. METHOD: 66 participants with meditation experience participated in a forced-choice psi-test as a screening test. Participants with similar performance were invited as pairs for a distant intention experiment. The task of the helpee was to focus attention on a candle and to indicate lapses in attention by pressing a button. In a within-subject design the task of the remote helper was either to assist the helpee in this effort or to engage in a distraction task. Electrodermal activity (EDA) and button presses from the helpee served as dependent variables. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Participants' performance in the psi-screening test did not exceed chance expectations. In the distant intention experiment with 30 sessions no distant intention effect could be found in the prespecified analyses. The results in the psi-screening test were not correlated with performance in the main experiment. However, we found a large negative correlation between self-reported exceptional experiences of the helper and two EDA variables, namely skin conductance level and number of non-specific skin conductance responses. This correlation, if replicated, can hardly be explained without the assumption of a distant interaction.

Content-Free Awareness: EEG-fcMRI Correlates of Consciousness as Such in an Expert Meditator.

The minimal neural correlate of the conscious state, regardless of the neural activity correlated with the ever-changing contents of experience, has still not been identified. Different attempts have been made, mainly by comparing the normal waking state to seemingly unconscious states, such as deep sleep or general anesthesia. A more direct approach would be the neuroscientific investigation of conscious states that are experienced as free of any specific phenomenal content. Here we present serendipitous data on content-free awareness (CFA) during an EEG-fMRI assessment reported by an extraordinarily qualified meditator with over 50,000 h of practice. We focused on two specific cortical networks related to external and internal awareness, i.e., the dorsal attention network (DAN) and the default mode network (DMN), to explore the neural correlates of this experience. The combination of high-resolution EEG and ultrafast fMRI enabled us to analyze the dynamic aspects of fMRI connectivity informed by EEG power analysis. The neural correlates of CFA were characterized by a sharp decrease in alpha power and an increase in theta power as well as increases in functional connectivity in the DAN and decreases in the posterior DMN. We interpret these findings as correlates of a top-down-initiated attentional state excluding external sensory stimuli and internal mentation from conscious experience. We conclude that the investigation of states of CFA could provide valuable input for new methodological and conceptual approaches in the search for the minimal neural correlate of consciousness.

Feldenkrais 'Functional Integration' Increases Body Contact Surface in the Supine Position: A Randomized-Controlled Experimental Study.

Feldenkrais 'Functional Integration' (FI) is a widely used type of body work with a focus on the continuous integration of body sensations and awareness with movement. The method is, amongst others, known for improving balance in aging populations, but also for its ability to relax muscles. With participants treated in the supine position FI is potentially changing the surface area of the body in contact with the surface on which a participant is lying. So far, no prior study has assessed this claim. We evaluated objectively and subjectively if a treatment with FI would induce changes in pressure and contact surface of the body on the mat. Thirty volunteers received an individual treatment with FI, in a randomized order on both sides of the body. Pressure and contact surface was documented with the Xsensor-Measurement-System. Subjective sensations were assessed with a self-report scale. Due to two parallel assessments alpha-level was adjusted to α = 0.025. We found that pressure and contact surface of the body on the mat significantly changed after the treatment (factor time: p < 0.0001, η p 2 = 0.90). We also found that pressure and contact surface increased significantly on the left side for the group that started with the left side first (time × group p = 0.016; η p 2 = 0.62), but less so on the right side for the group that started with the right side first (time × group: p = 0.056) although there was still a substantial effect size ( η p 2 = 0.54). The subjective reports confirmed the physical measurements. In conclusion our results demonstrate for the first time that the treatment with the Feldenkrais method changes muscle tone leading to a more relaxed supine position with respect to pressure and contact surface on the mat.

Antibacterial and antifungal activity of phytosterols and methyl dehydroabietate of Norway spruce bark extracts.

The current study focuses on the analysis of in vitro biological activity of extract from bark of Norway spruce (Picea Abies), which can find potential application in food and cosmetic industry and pharmacology. Milled bark was subjected to Soxhlet extraction and supercritical fluid extraction to obtain two ethanol extracts. These extracts were further used to obtain their pre-extracts to n-hexane. It was investigated whether beta-sitosterol exhibits bacteriostatic activity necessary to observe antimicrobial and antifungal activity of methyl dehydroabiatate. This synergic effect and bacteriostatic activity of beta-sitosterol have not been previously reported. The greatest inhibition zone of n-hexane pre-extracts was confirmed in bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa (0,9 - 1,5 cm) and yeast Alternaria alternata (0,7 - 1,6 cm). It is novel, the antioxidant, antimicrobial and antifungal activity of spruce bark extracts assessed in terms of food and cosmetic fortification.