Psychomotor abnormalities are relevant symptoms in the clinical presentation of schizophrenia, and assessing them could facilitate monitoring. New technologies can measure psychomotor activity ...objectively and continuously, but evidence on the topic is scarce. Our aim is to systematically review the existing evidence about eHealth tools for assessing psychomotor activity in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.
We performed a systematic search of the PubMed and Embase databases and identified 15 relevant articles on eHealth tools for assessing psychomotor activity in schizophrenia.
eHealth devices accurately assessed psychomotor activity and were well accepted. Abnormalities in psychomotor activity helped differentiate between different subtypes of schizophrenia. Abnormal increases in psychomotor activity were correlated with acute presentations, while lower activity was associated with relapses, deterioration, and negative symptoms.
Actigraphy is still the preferred eHealth device in research settings, but mobile applications have great potential. Further studies are needed to explore the possibilities of psychomotor monitoring and mobile health applications for preventing relapses in schizophrenia. eHealth could be useful for monitoring psychomotor activity, which might help prevent relapses.
Sensitization Processes in Drug Addiction Vanderschuren, Louk J. M. J.; Pierce, R. Christopher
Behavioral Neuroscience of Drug Addiction,
01/2010, Letnik:
3
Book Chapter, Journal Article
Recenzirano
In 1993, Robinson and Berridge published their first review that laid out the incentive sensitization theory of addiction (Robinson and Berridge 1993 Brain Res Rev 18:247). Its basic point is that ...repeated exposure to drugs of abuse causes hypersensitivity to drugs and drug-associated stimuli of the neural circuits mediating incentive salience, an important way in which motivational stimuli influence behavior. In laymen’s terms, it states that this drug-induced hypersensitivity of motivational circuitry would mediate an increase in drug “wanting,” thus being responsible for the dramatically exaggerated motivation for drugs displayed by addicts. This theory has been exceptionally influential, as evidenced by the fact that the original review paper about this theory (Robinson and Berridge 1993 Brain Res Rev 18:247) has been cited 2,277 times so far, and subsequent updates of this view (Robinson and Berridge 2000 Addiction 95(Suppl 2):S91; Robinson and Berridge 2001 Addiction 96:103; Robinson and Berridge 2003 Ann Rev Psychol 54:25) have been cited 274, 297, and 365 times, respectively, adding up to more than 3,200 citations within 15 years. The present chapter aims to delineate the merits and limitations of the incentive sensitization view of addiction, and whether incentive sensitization occurs in humans. We conclude that since incentive sensitization most prominently occurs after the first few drug exposures, it may represent an important initial step in the addiction process. During the expression of full-blown addiction, characterized by loss of control over drug intake and use of large quantities of drugs, the expression of incentive sensitization may be transiently suppressed. However, detoxification and the gradual disappearance of tolerance and withdrawal symptoms may unmask sensitization, which could then play an important role in the high risk of relapse.
La investigación en acción ha tenido una gran influencia en la formación docente en las últimas décadas. El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar los beneficios de un proceso de formación colaborativa ...docente, en el área de psicomotricidad, asesorada por un experto, a partir del diagnóstico de necesidades de los participantes. En un centro en Venezuela, dos profesores de educación física y diez de educación inicial, después de recibir formación, transformaron el abordaje de la psicomotricidad en su centro, diseñando y poniendo en práctica nuevas planificaciones de aula, y procedimientos de detección y derivación de niños con alto riesgo motor. La investigación en acción se inició con un diagnóstico y se desarrolló en tres ciclos que interactuaron entre sí. Para evaluar el proceso se utilizaron varias fuentes y técnicas de recogida de información cualitativas y cuantitativas. Los análisis estadísticos realizados (descriptivos y W de Kendall), permiten afirmar que la formación contribuyó a que los docentes se apoderaran de los conocimientos teóricos y consolidaran cambios significativos en su práctica pedagógica. El aprendizaje reflexivo ha sido un elemento fundamental para avanzar en el conocimiento profesional y autonomía de los docentes, y en la mejora de la educación psicomotora del centro.
Abstract Background Abnormalities in psychomotor activity are a central and essential feature of affective disorder. Studies measuring differences in psychomotor activity between unipolar and bipolar ...disorder show divergent results and none have used a combined heart rate and movement monitor for measuring activity during free-living conditions. Objective To compare objectively measured psychomotor activity in patients with unipolar and bipolar disorder in a remitted or mild/moderate depressive state. Further, both groups were compared to a healthy control group. Methods A cross-sectional study of outpatients suffering from unipolar (n = 20) and bipolar (n = 18) disorder and healthy controls (n = 31), aged 18–60 years. For three consecutive days a combined acceleration (m/s2 ) and heart rate (beats per minute) monitoring was used in conjunction with a step test to estimate activity energy expenditure (J/min/kg) as measures of psychomotor activity and physical fitness. Results Overall score on Hamilton-17 items ranged between 0 and 22. Patients had higher sleeping heart rate (p < 0.001), lower fitness (p = 0.02), lower acceleration (p = 0.004), and lower activity energy expenditure (p = 0.004) compared to controls. Comparing unipolar and bipolar patients and adjusting for differences in Hamilton-17 revealed lower acceleration (p = 0.01) and activity energy expenditure in bipolar patients (p = 0.02); the difference was most prominent in the morning. Conclusions Electronic monitoring of psychomotor activity may be a promising additional tool in the distinction between unipolar and bipolar affective disorder when patients present in a remitted or depressive state.
•Prior binge-drinking augmented methamphetamine-conditioned reward in mice.•Prior binge-drinking reduced spontaneous locomotion.•Prior binge-drinking did not influence methamphetamine ...locomotion/sensitization.•Prior binge-drinking increases the reward efficacy of methamphetamine.
An alcohol use disorder is a major predisposing factor for methamphetamine (MA) abuse. Further, MA-alcohol co-abuse is a risk factor for treatment discontinuation and non-compliance in MA-dependent individuals. No effective treatment exists for MA addiction, let alone treatments directed at those suffering from MA-alcohol addiction co-morbidity. Thus, it is imperative that we develop high-throughput animal models to study the biobehavioral interactions between MA and alcohol of relevance to the etiology and treatment of co-abuse. To this end, we reported that a history of binge alcohol-drinking 5,10, 20 and 40% (v/v); 2 h/day for 10–14 days reduces MA reinforcement and intake, but it augments MA-preference and intake when drug availability is behaviorally non-contingent. To reconcile this apparent discrepancy in findings, we employed a comparable 2-week binge-drinking paradigm as that employed in our previous studies followed by place-conditioning procedures (4 pairings of 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2 or 4 mg/kg MA, i.p.). This was meant to determine how a prior binge-drinking history impacts the affective valence of MA and sensitivity to MA-induced psychomotor-activation/sensitization. Prior binge-drinking history blunted spontaneous locomotor activity and shifted the MA dose-place-preference function upwards of water drinking controls. The potentiation of MA-conditioned reward by prior binge-drinking history was independent of any alcohol effects upon the locomotor-activating or –sensitizing effects of MA. Based on these results we propose that the reduced MA reinforcement reported previously by our group likely reflects a compensatory response to an increased sensitivity to MA’s positive subjective effects rather than increased sensitivity to the drug’s psychomotor-activating effects.
Introduction:
the article is devoted to the study of the motor sphere of preschoolers with mental retardation. The issues of complex diagnostics of physical development, motility and psychomotor ...children of children with mental retardation in comparison with their normally developing peers are considered. Disorders of motor development of preschool children with mental retardation are not clearly expressed, but, to a large extent, are the cause of their lag in cognitive, verbal, and social development. Special motor disorders of these children are most often the result of early intrauterine minimal organic lesions of the central nervous system. In the early stages of development of such children, disorders of muscle tone are observed, pathological tonic reflexes take place, all stages of motor development in infancy are delayed evenly. The combination of these three components results in special disturbances, which are characterized as motor ones. In children with minimal organic pathology, quite often, especially in children with mental retardation, the frontal brain regions are formed very slowly, namely, they are responsible for creating an action program and monitoring it. n this case, the child is not able to build a scheme of the motor act, does not understand what should be the movement. The reason for the difficulties in this case is not a violation of muscle tone, but a disturbance in the cerebral cortex: the child does not understand how to perform the action. In this case, there is a psychomotor disorder. These two groups of motor disorders in children with mental retardation determine the two systems of work to overcome them. There is a third group of disorders - a mixed form, when a child has both motor and psychomotor disorders. The direction of work to overcome motor disorders in children with mental retardation will depend on the nature of the disorders: motor, psychomotor, and mixed. Thus, motor developmental disorders of children with mental retardation may have a different nature, it is necessary to carefully study the characteristics of the motor sphere of these children and implement a differentiated approach to overcoming its disadvantages.
Results of the research:
the article presents the results of the study of the motor and psychomotor functions of preschoolers with mental retardation, indicators of their health and physical development. A comparative experimental study of the characteristics of the motor sphere of preschoolers with mental retardation and their peers who attend mass groups of the kindergarten allowed to draw some conclusions about the specific shortcomings of the motor development of children with mental retardation. Most children with mental retardation have quite serious impairments in their state of health, are lagging in physical development: they have disproportions in their height and weight, reduced muscle strength in their hands, and insufficient lung capacity. Motor skills do not meet age norms: speed and power characteristics of movements, dexterity and coordination abilities are most reduced. Indicators of psychomotor development, especially the dynamic and spatial organization of movements, are lower than those of peers who attend mass groups in kindergarten. These deficiencies are the result of early organic damage to the central nervous system or its functional immaturity. As a result of studying the state of motor skills of children according to N.I. Ozeretsky revealed some important facts: when performing certain tests (for simultaneity of movements, speed of movements, dynamic coordination of movements) and children with mental retardation, and children from large groups showed equally poor results. This indicates a general trend of deterioration of the motor development of modern children, especially those living in the megalopolis. As part of the neuropsychological research, three groups of children with mental retardation in terms of the development of movements and actions were identified, which can serve as the basis for the implementation of a differentiated approach during remedial work. The application of the method of age cuts allowed to conclude that there is a certain positive age dynamics in the formation of motor and psychomotor children with mental retardation, but there is a difference in the sensitive periods of motor skills formation in children with mental retardation and children with normal development. If in normally developing children, at the age of five, the basic motor skills are practically formed, then in children with mental retardation they are formed only by six to seven years and later.
Discussion and conclusions:
the article proposed a diagnostic program for studying the characteristics of the motor sphere of preschoolers with mental retardation. Comprehensive diagnostics of the motor development of children with mental retardation is necessary to take into account the individual characteristics of children in the organization of physical education and to implement a differentiated approach in physical education and other motor exercises. Based on the characteristics of the contingent of children with mental retardation, the following system for diagnosing motor development was proposed: an individual assessment of the physical development and functional state of the organism of children of preschool age; assessment of children's physical fitness; study of children's motility using metric tests N.I. Ozeretsky; study of the characteristics of the psychomotor development of children using neuropsychological tests for the study of movements and actions adapted for preschool children with mental retardation. Thus, a combination of qualitative and quantitative assessment of psychological and pedagogical data on the level of development of the child’s motility, dynamic observation and comprehensive neuropsychological research allows most accurately and fully assess the overall psychophysical development of the child, the state of his motility and psychomotor system, predict future development and determine the best ways psychological and pedagogical correction.
The hypothalamus, limbic system, and brainstem play an important role in the regulation of instinctive behavior. Many kinds of hypothalamic neuropeptides, such as orexin, ghrelin, neuropeptide Y, ...melanin‐concentrating hormone, pituitary adenylate cyclase‐activating polypeptide, corticotropin‐releasing hormone, and diazepam‐binding inhibitor‐derived peptides, including the octadecaneuropeptide, have been implicated in the regulation of appetite and energy homeostasis in various models, including rodents and goldfish. Several of these neuropeptides also influence locomotor or psychomotor activity in rats and mice. The aim of this paper is to review the current knowledge on the psychophysiological effects of neuropeptides involved in the regulation of food intake in fish, and to examine their significance from a comparative point of view.
The article deals with the problem of psychological principles of physical rehabilitation of patients with ischemic stroke in the process of their staying at the stationary stage of treatment. It was ...noted that the most frequent andsevere consequence of cerebral ischemic stroke is the disorder of the motor functions of the personality. The characteristic feather is the polymorphism of motor disorders of patients with cerebral ischemic stroke. In this case, general for patients is only the loss or violation of arbitrary actions (in the cases of hemiparesis or hemiplegia). Other clinical symptoms are largely variable and depend on a certain extent of the size of affected area, also its localization. According to various authors, persistent disturbances of motor function are also observed in the first days after the disease (in 70–80% of cases of patients who had the ischemic stroke). In accordance with the purpose of the research and in order to solve the tasks, 50 patients with ischemic stroke participated in our experiment, they had disturbances in the area of the internal carotid artery in the acute and residual period, who were treated at the Ternopil Regional Communal Clinical Psycho-neurological Hospital during the period from January to December, 2018. Thus, most patients had a fairly low functional state, which required careful monitoring of the level of physical exercises which were being used. The latter also determined the method of further restoration measures (initial position for trainings, duration of trainings, the number of exercises performed by the symptom complexes, the frequency of repetition of exercises, the need for more frequent recording of changes in the frequency of heart rate and blood pressure in response to physical activity). The author of the article developed «Functional method of restoration of motor functions of patients with ischemic stroke, taking into account their psycho-physiological features». The main principles of this technique are: 1) stabilization of psycho-emotional state of the patient: reducing the level of anxiety, increasing the motivation to do physical exercises (to be included into the course of physical rehabilitation); 2) actualization of stable static and dynamic stereotypes of the patient in all initial positions of the body; 3) the restoration of a dynamic stereotype: considering the distal direction of muscles actions because it is prerequisite for providing motor actions; physical exercises must be carried out consistently, with gradual increasing of physical activity; 4) physical rehabilitation should be conducted to ensure the safety of rehabilitation measures, to avoid fatigue or over-stress of the cardiovascular system of the patient and to exceed the permissible level of increasing physical activity for the patient. It is noted that proposed functional method of physical rehabilitation of patients with ischemic stroke, based on mentioned principles, is differentiated, ontogenetically determined, which solves the problem of modeling the psycho-physiological hierarchical control of motor function from the nervous system, which takes into account the psycho-emotional state of the patient, which was actualized as a result of the disease
On the flow dynamics of cerebrospinal fluid Bechter, Karl; Hof, Patrick R.; Benveniste, Helene
Neurology, psychiatry, and brain research,
June 2015, 2015-06-00, Letnik:
21, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Despite a not insignificant number of anatomical and experimental studies describing the distribution and movement of the cerebrospinal fluid several questions were answered controversially, leaving ...room for objections and doubts. Some of these controversies I have tried to address by new experiments. Before going on to describe these studies, some short anatomical notes on the membranes that cover the central nervous system may be appropriate.
Bichat described the anatomical membranes as follows: in between the fibrous lining of the brain-vertebral cavity, the dura mater and the vascularized coat of the spinal cord (the pia mater) a space covered by a serous skin is interposed, the parietal part of which is integrated with the inner side of the dura mater; and the visceral part in contrast is detachable from the underlying pia mater. The watery fluid of the brain-spinal-cord cavity discovered by Cotugno received more attention by Magendie, who initially placed it the fluid within the serous space described by Bichat, convincing himself Magendie however later, that it the fluid is present in between the visceral sheet of the arachnoid and the pia mater.
The role of individual factors in behavioural neuroscience is an important, but still neglected area of research. The present review aims to give, first, an outline of the most elaborated theory on ...animal behaviour, and second, an overview of systematic approaches of historic and present animal models of human psychopathology based on individual differences. This overview will be focused on animal models of unselected subjects (i.e. natural variance of a specific behaviour within a given population) and selected breeding for a specific behaviour. Accordingly, an outline of the personality model from Gray and McNaughton of individual behaviour in animals is given first. Then, a comprehensive overview of past and current animal models in novelty-seeking (i.e. psychomotor activation and exploration behaviour) based on systematic individual differences and its relationship to addiction is presented. Third, this will be followed by a comprehensive overview of individual differences in previous and present animal models for anxiety. Finally, critical aspects of such approaches in animal research are discussed, and suggestions are given where to go from here.
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