Submitted by Geandra Rodrigues (geandrar@gmail.com) on 2018-06-18T13:40:42Z No. of bitstreams: 1 priscillarezendesilva.pdf: 1039823 bytes, checksum: 1dd3ace224b869dc4a10c45288993628 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2018-06-27T12:00:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 priscillarezendesilva.pdf: 1039823 bytes, checksum: 1dd3ace224b869dc4a10c45288993628 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-27T12:00:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 priscillarezendesilva.pdf: 1039823 bytes, checksum: 1dd3ace224b869dc4a10c45288993628 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-27 / Dentre os tratamentos propostos para transtornos mentais, a terapia de biofeedback é uma das muitas abordagens utilizadas. Tal terapia tem como objetivo auxiliar o indivíduo a assumir a responsabilidade pelo seu bem-estar, englobando responsabilidades pelas mudanças cognitivas, emocionais e comportamentais necessárias para a obtenção de mudanças fisiológicas saudáveis. Neste trabalho de revisão sistemática objetivou-se pesquisar e averiguar em quais psicopatologias o biofeedback e o neurofeedback têm sido utilizados, bem como verificar a existência de evidências de sua eficácia nesses quadros. Foi realizada uma pesquisa em cinco bases de dados eletrônicas (PubMed/Medline, SCOPUS, Web of Science, PsycInfo e Scielo), utilizando-se combinações booleanas do termo “biofeedback” (AND) com termos retirados da Classificação Estatística Internacional de Doenças e Problemas Relacionados à Saúde – 10 (CID-10). A seguir, novas combinações foram empregadas adicionando o termo “intervention” às combinações descritas. Um total de 14.350 estudos foram incluídos no conjunto de dados. Foram analisados estudos originais, cujo objetivo era investigar a eficácia do biofeedback no tratamento de psicopatologias, escritos em português e/ou inglês publicados entre os anos de 2012-2017. Após o cumprimento de várias etapas de seleção, foram incluídos 49 estudos no conjunto de dados final e analisados de acordo com a: descrição da amostra (patologia; idade; tipo de biofeedback), desenho (Randomização; Controle, Cegamento; cálculo do N, Follow-up, Registro, Tamanho de efeito, análise por intenção de tratar, Multicêntrico, Piloto), protocolo (número de sessões de treinamento e de intervenção, duração da sessão de intervenção, frequência das sessões e duração da pesquisa). As psicopatologias mais frequentes foram transtorno de déficit de atenção e hiperatividade, transtorno depressivo maior, transtorno do espectro autista, dependência de álcool, compulsão alimentar e estresse. A maioria (51,02%) dos estudos analisados não utilizou medidas de tamanho de efeito e apenas um quinto (20,42%) encontrou, efetivamente, algum efeito nas intervenções com biofeedback ou neurofeedback. Todos os 13 estudos nos quais foi apresentado algum efeito do bio ou neurofeedback continham importantes falhas metodológicas. Considerados todos os aspectos metodológicos e os vieses de cada uma das falhas, verifica-se que nenhum dos artigos conseguiu contemplar todos os requisitos metodológicos para que se pudesse afirmar a eficácia do tratamento através do biofeedback e o neurofeedback. São necessários estudos mais rigorosos para que se possa afirmar a aplicabilidade e a eficácia do biofeedback e neurofeedback no manejo de psicopatologias. / Among the proposed treatments for mental disorders, biofeedback therapy is one of many approaches. Such therapy aims to assist the individual to take responsibility for their well-being, encompassing responsibility for the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes necessary to effect healthy physiological changes. In this systematic review we aimed to investigate in which psychopathologies biofeedback and neurofeedback have been used, as well as to verify the existence of evidence of its effectiveness in these psychopathologies. A search was carried out in five electronic databases (PubMed / Medline, SCOPUS, Web of Science, PsycInfo and Scielo), using boolean combinations of the term "biofeedback" (AND) with terms derived from the International Classification of Diseases for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics- 10 (ICD-10). Next, new combinations were employed by adding the term "intervention" to the combinations described. A total of 14,350 studies were included in the data set. We analyzed original studies, whose objective was to investigate the efficacy of biofeedback in the treatment of psychopathologies, written in Portuguese and / or English and published between the years of 2012-2017. After completing several selection steps, 49 studies were included in the final data set and analyzed according to: sample description (pathology; age; type of biofeedback), design (Randomization; Control, Blinding; Statistic for sample size, Follow-up, size of effect, intention-to-treat, Multicenter, Pilot) and protocol (number of training sessions, number of intervention sessions, duration of intervention session, frequency of sessions and duration of research). Biofeedback and neurofeedback were found mostly used in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, major depressive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, alcohol dependence, binge eating, and stress. Most (51.02%) of the studies analyzed did not use effect size measures and only one fifth (20.42%) did indeed find any effect on interventions with biofeedback or neurofeedback. All 13 studies that found some bio or neurofeedback effect contained important methodological flaws. Considering all the methodological aspects and biases of each one of the failures, it was verified that none of the studies was able to contemplate all the methodological requirements so that the effectiveness of the treatment with the biofeedback and the neurofeedback could be affirmed. More rigorous studies are needed to establish the applicability and efficacy of biofeedback and neurofeedback in the management of psychopathologies.

Life events and one's ability to adapt to these events has significant effects on immune functioning. Immunosuppression has been related to a high magnitude of life stress and low adaptive ability. While studies have explored immune response in stressed individuals, no study has approached the area of prevention with low-immunity individuals. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether subjects who self-report stressful lives have lower immunity, and whether "low" immunity subjects under "high" stress could enhance phagocytic activity through biofeedback-assisted relaxation.

This study evaluated the efficacy of cognitive therapy and biofeedback training in lowering Dlood pressures of normotensives under no-stress and stress conditions. A cognitive therapy group was compared to biofeedback and habituation control groups with 32 normotensives. Subjects were taught to use the electronic sphygmomanometer that served as the device to measure blood pressure during pretreatment and posttreatment phases of the study. These measurement phases each consisted of three 19 minute periods. Trie first period consisted of no-stress, and then a stress period followed. Return-to-no-stress was the final period. Subjects in the cognitive therapy and biofeedbacK groups received five sessions of self-control training of 66 minutes each between the pre- and posttreatment phases. The cold pressor was the analogue stressor used to induce bxood pressure elevations,

Human wellbeing, in a large component, relies on the harmony between the body and the mind. Unfortunately, we often miss or ignore important signals from our bodies, and sometimes this can negatively impact our health. Therefore, the use of intelligent systems that grasp such signals and convey them in an intuitive manner to our minds can result in great health benefits. In this Thesis, we introduce a family of multimedia technologies and techniques aimed at realizing such systems. We call them: Ubiquitous Biofeedback Multimedia Systems. Although the notion of clinical biofeedback has been around for years, we introduce the concept of Ubiquitous Biofeedback where the biofeedback operation is given geographical and temporal ubiquity attributes. A Ubiquitous Biofeedback reference model is introduced in the Thesis to provide an abstract structural representation of the various components at play in a typical non-clinical biofeedback environment. Two systems that implement the reference model’s components are presented. These systems implement the concept of Ubiquitous Biofeedback through the introduction of innovative stress management methods. An important component of these systems guides users through a relaxation routine. Therefore, a mathematical model is developed in the goal of personalizing the relaxation process. Its objective is to suggest relaxation techniques to a user during a stressful episode based on her or his preferences, history of what worked well and appropriateness for the context. The mental stress monitoring mechanism built into the Ubiquitous Biofeedback systems presented in this Thesis relies on the measurement of Heart Rate Variability (HRV). Therefore, HRV based methods for tracking mental stress accumulation and acute manifestations during long term monitoring have been devised. Also, since HRV signals can be plagued by artifacts, several algorithms are contributed to the effort of correcting such occurrences.

EEG biofeedback (neurotherapy) has been demonstrated as effective in the treatment of alcoholism, as evidenced by Peniston and Kulkosky's research efforts. These neurotherapy pioneers evaluated the efficacy of alpha-theta brain wave biofeedback as a treatment for chronic alcohol abuse, citing 80% abstinence rates as measured by improvements in psychopathology, serum beta endorphin levels, and long-term alcohol abstinence. Most research with alpha-theta EEG biofeedback has addressed alcohol addiction. Cocaine is now considered to be the most common drug problem of patients entering treatment for drug abuse. To date, only one controlled study has been published that researched alpha-theta neurofeedback in the treatment of "crack" cocaine addiction. The present study was an extension of a 4-year EEG-biofeedback treatment outcome project underway at a faith-based homeless mission in Houston, Texas, with male "crack" cocaine addicts. Changes in personality, attention, and impulsivity were measured following 30 sessions of a non-individualized EEG -biofeedback protocol. Experimental subjects received a variant of the Peniston-Kulkosky alpha-theta protocol for 30 sessions while controls received all elements of the experimental protocol except the EEG biofeedback. Assessment measures included the MMPI-2 and the IVA. Although experimental subjects showed greater mean improvement on most MMPI basic scales and all IVA Attention related measures, results indicated no significant differences between control and experimental groups. The present study did not result in significant differences between control and experimental groups on attentional or personality variables in crack cocaine addicts. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of biofeedback-assisted relaxation therapy on reducing psychophysiological stress levels of working professional mothers. Participants were 14 working professional mothers from a major daily newspaper. Reported stress levels were measured with the 123 question Stress Profile (Nowack, 1990) three times during the eight week treatment study that was held at the women's workplace. A repeated measure ANOVA design was used to analyze the data and a partial eta squared was used to calculate effect size. As hypothesized, the study found a statistically significant reduction of reported stress levels (F=8.62; p=.001) and a statistically significant (F=3.65; p=.01) reduction in measured muscle tension across subjects. Practical significance (effect size) was found for reduction in reported stress levels (n=.39) and reduction in muscle tension (n=.21).

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2018-07-16T19:41:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Amir Curcio dos Reis.pdf: 1475489 bytes, checksum: 32eea3f7e24896f451e6ba9cb6544786 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-16T19:41:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Amir Curcio dos Reis.pdf: 1475489 bytes, checksum: 32eea3f7e24896f451e6ba9cb6544786 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-11-29 / Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is one of the main diseases of the lower limbs, especially physically active women. The etiology is multifactorial and is directly linked to biomechanical disorders in the lower limb. Dynamic knee valgus is one of the major lower limb misalignment linked to PFP. Among the biomechanical characteristics in dynamic knee valgus, we highlight the excessive movement of hip adduction and internal rotation during closed kinetic chain activities, especially the squat. In addition to squat, dynamic valgus is described in other activities considered as low impact, such as stair climbing, and descending, walking and step downs tests, however, when we look for comparative information between high and low impact activity there is a gap in the literature. Furthermore, the kinematic behavior of the foot has been frequently associated with patellofemoral pain, however, studies evaluating the kinematic specifically during the functional activities through a multisegmented model are also scarce in the literature. Regarding treatment, there is no consensus about best approach, but the kinematic biofeedback has become an increasingly useful tool. The application can intervene directly in the joints of interest. Therefore, this PhD thesis was divided into 3 studies, with the following objectives: 1: Assess through kinetic and kinematic variables, the phase of high-impact single leg triple hop test (SLTHT) promotes more biomechanical changes in lower limb the phase of the low impact; 2: Compare the women foot kinematics with patellofemoral pain and pronated foot with asymptomatic during the implementation of the previous step down and side; and 3: To assess whether the 20% reduction results hip adduction or an increase of 20% of the anterior trunk tilt through kinematic biofeedback display different results when given the verbal biofeedback to lower hip adduction and most anterior trunk flexion and to evaluate whether these strategies are able to improve the pain immediately of women with patellofemoral pain during the squat. / A dor femoropatelar (DFP) constitui uma das principais afecções dos membros inferiores, sobretudo de mulheres fisicamente ativas. Sua etiologia é multifatorial e está diretamente ligada à desarranjos biomecânicos que envolvem o membro inferior, sendo o valgo dinâmico do joelho uma das principais alterações ligadas à ela. Dentre as características biomecânicas, destacamos a movimentação excessiva de adução e rotação medial do quadril durante atividades em cadeia cinética fechada, sobretudo o agachamento unipodal. Além do agachamento unipodal, o valgo dinâmico é descrito em outras atividades consideradas de baixo impacto, como a subida de escadas, descida de escadas, marcha, corrida e step downs tests, entretanto, quando se busca informações comparativas entre atividades de alto versus baixo impacto, há ima importante lacuna na literatura. Além disso, o comportamento cinemático do pé tem sido frequentemente associado à dor femoropatelar, entretanto, estudos que avaliem especificamente a cinemática durante as atividades funcionais por meio de um modelo multisegmentar também são escassos na literatura. Em relação ao tratamento, não existe um consenso sobre a melhor conduta, mas o biofeedback cinemático tem se tornado uma ferramenta cada vez mais útil. Sua aplicação pode intervir de forma direta nas articulações de interesse. Sendo assim, essa tese de Doutorado foi dividida em 3 estudos, com os seguintes objetivos: 1: Avaliar através de variáveis cinéticas e cinemáticas, se a fase de alto impacto do single leg triple hop test (SLTHT) promove mais alterações biomecânicas no membro inferior do que a fase de baixo impacto; 2: Comparar a cinemática do pé de mulheres com dor femoropatelar e o pé pronado com as assintomáticas durante a execução do do step down anterior e lateral; e 3: Avaliar se os resultados da redução de 20% da adução de quadril ou um aumento de 20% da inclinação anterior do tronco através do biofeedback cinemático apresentam resultados diferentes quando dado o biofeedback verbal para menor adução do quadril e maior flexão anterior do tronco, assim como avaliar se essas estratégias são capazes de melhorar a dor de forma imediata das mulheres com dor femoropatelar durante o agachamento unipodal.

This study investigated the use of biofeedback as part of stress-management training program with head injured adults. The single cases examined were four males with head injuries of moderate severity who were in the post-acute stages of recovery. Treatment involved bi-weekly relaxation training, using EMG biofeedback in combination with deep breathing, autogenic training and/or imagery. Individual subject response to relaxation training was examined during treatment sessions, as was the frequency of stress-related symptomatology outside of sessions, and overall functional adaptation. While all subjects showed evidence of relaxation during treatment sessions, such factors as the nature of the functional disturbance and personal motivation appear to be related to the degree of carryover to the external environment.

The primary purpose of the present study is to demonstrate that acne vulgaris can be reduced by psychological treatment. A cognitive-behavioral adjunctive intervention involving biofeedback-assisted relaxation and cognitive imagery procedures for the treatment of acne vulgaris was investigated in this study with 30 patients, already receiving traditional dermatological treatment, as participants. A three-group design was used which consisted of a treatment (relaxation-imagery), a rational behavior group therapy attention-comparison, and a medical intervention control (medication and lesion extraction) group.

This thesis explains structure of skeletal muscles, generation of action potencial and principle of muscle contraction. Further it shows types of electromyographic signal recording and its usage in therapy. Technical aspects of EMG signal and components required for electromyograph assemblage are next topic of this thesis. Another part presents design of simple EMG module for therapeutical application with bluetooth 4.0 interface.