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The effects of two pranayama yoga breathing exercises on airway reactivity, airway calibre, symptom scores, and medication use in patients with mild asthma were assessed in a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial. After baseline assessment over 1 week, 18 patients with mild asthma practised slow deep breathing for 15 min twice a day for two consecutive 2-week periods. During the active period, subjects were asked to breathe through a Pink City lung (PCL) exerciser--a device which imposes slowing of breathing and a 1:2 inspiration:expiration duration ratio equivalent to pranayama breathing methods; during the control period, subjects breathed through a matched placebo device. Mean forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), peak expiratory flow rate, symptom score, and inhaler use over the last 3 days of each treatment period were assessed in comparison with the baseline assessment period; all improved more with the PCL exerciser than with the placebo device, but the differences were not significant. There was a statistically significant increase in the dose of histamine needed to provoke a 20% reduction in FEV1 (PD20) during pranayama breathing but not with the placebo device. The usefulness of controlled ventilation exercises in the control of asthma should be further investigated.
OBJECTIVE:Studies have demonstrated that negative affect increases prior to food intake in individuals diagnosed with an eating disorder. Mindfulness has been supported empirically to treat experiential avoidance stemming from anxiety. Thus, the current objective in this study is to empirically compare mindfulness vs. thought suppression invention during a food exposure in both clinical and nonclinical samples.
METHOD:
In a 2 (Group: clinical vs. nonclinical) × 2 (INTERVENTION: mindfulness vs. distraction) counterbalanced within treatment design, the current investigation sought to determine the differential effectiveness of a brief mindfulness intervention vs. a brief distraction intervention in women diagnosed with AN and BN in a clinical and nonclinical sample during a food exposure.
RESULTS:
Results indicated that the eating disorder group reported a significant increase in negative affect after the mindfulness intervention as compared to the distraction intervention, whereas the nonclinical group reported a significant decrease in negative affect after the mindfulness intervention as compared to the distraction intervention.
DISCUSSION:
Preliminary findings suggest that clinicians may want to proceed cautiously when using mindful eating in those with severe eating disorders during the early stages of food exposure. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
A herbal formula, Badmaev 28, was evaluated in the treatment of an induced attack in a chronic relapsing model of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) in SJL/J mice. Chronic EAE was induced by immunization of 8 week old mice with an emulsion of syngeneic spinal cords with incomplete Freund's adjuvant supplemented with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Therapy with Badmaev 28 was started on day 25 after the immunization, and the formula was administered in the drinking water at doses of 7, 21, 83 and 166 mg/kg/day. The treatment resulted in significantly decreased mortality compared with the untreated control animals and the therapeutic effect occurred in one experiment in a dose-dependent fashion. Based on the experimental results it is difficult to name one particular mechanism responsible for the therapeutic effectiveness of the formula in the EAE model. Rather this protective effect could be explained by a broad protective mechanism of action discussed in the literature as nonspecific resistance (NSR) to the diversified biological and psychological stressors. The increase in NSR characterizes the action of pharmacological compounds termed adaptogens or bioprotectants.