<p> Negative affect is widely recognized as a common precipitant of both subjective and objective sleep disturbances (Vandekerckhove &amp; Cluydts, 2010). Since repetitive thought forms such as rumination can sustain negative affect states, they may play a critical role in the etiology of sleep impairment. However, extant research suffers from a number of methodological shortcomings, including a lack of objective sleep assessment and 'first-night' effects. Further, this literature has yet to adequately address the treatment implications of the association between rumination and sleep. Mindfulness-based meditation has emerged as a favorable candidate for such an intervention in recent years (Carney &amp; Segal, 2005). Therefore, the present studies aimed to investigate the association between rumination and sleep outcomes using a multi-method approach to sleep assessment. The efficacy of mindfulness-based meditation in extinguishing rumination and improving sleep was also explored. </p><p> A sample of 42 university students who scored high on a trait-level measure of rumination participated in two, week-long studies. Participants provided informed consent, received an actiwatch, and were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness or distraction group before the studies began. During Study 1, participants in both groups completed brief, electronic questionnaires assessing daily levels of rumination just prior to bedtime. Immediately after waking, participants reported the duration and quality of sleep they experienced the previous night. Analyses revealed that daily rumination (z = 2.44; p &lt; .05) was significantly associated with actigraphy-based sleep-onset latency (SOL), but not with total sleep time (TST) or sleep efficiency (SE). Daily rumination was also significantly associated with self-reported SOL (z = 3.18; p &lt; .01) and SQ (z = 2.39; p &lt; .01), but not with TST. </p><p> During Study 2, participants in the mindfulness and distraction groups partook respectively in a mindfulness- or distraction-induction task immediately after the nightly questionnaires. A significant effect emerged between group membership and actigraphy-based SOL (z = - 2.13; p &lt; .05), diary-based TST (z = 2.38; p &lt; .05), and diary-based SQ (z = - 2.88; p &lt; .05), with the mindfulness group reporting better sleep outcomes. With respect to within-person effects over the course of the two studies, the mindfulness group exhibited shorter actigraphy-based SOL (z = - 2.30; p &lt; .05), higher actigraphy-based SE (z = 6.54; p &lt; .01), and higher diary-based SQ (z = - 2.22, p &lt; .05) during Study 2 than during Study 1. There were no significant differences in any sleep outcome between Studies 1 and 2 for the distraction group. </p><p> These data suggest that rumination is associated with both subjective and objective sleep impairment, and that mindfulness-based meditation can help attenuate this effect. Implications for current behavioral treatments for insomnia are discussed.</p>

<p> Contextual fear conditioning involves pairing a novel context (conditioned stimulus) with several footshocks (unconditioned stimulus) that serve to condition fear to that context. As the retention interval between training and testing increases context specificity is lost. In other words, the fear memory is no longer precise or context-specific, but has generalized to novel contexts at remote time points. In an attempt to investigate the neural pattern of an imprecise contextual memory trace as a function of time, we used fluorescent in situ hybridization to for Arc mRNA as a measure of neuronal activation following expression of a precise vs. imprecise context fear memory. Expression of a contextually precise memory involved increased Arc mRNA expression in both the dorsal and ventral CA1 regions of the hippocampus as well as the ACC and IL. Expression of a contextually imprecise fear memory involved Arc mRNA expression in the ventral CA1, ACC, IL, and the PL suggesting that both the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex are involved in the expression of a remote contextually imprecise memory. Further, inactivation of the ACC at remote time points returned the context memory to a precise state, but had no effect on memory for the training context. Taken together, these data suggest that as a context fear memory ages, both the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex interact in the expression of the memory trace resulting in the loss of precision. Preventing this interaction through inactivation of the ACC allows the hippocampus to express the contextually precise memory. In addition to the systems investigation of fear generalization, we also investigated a potential synaptic mechanism of the phenomenon. Specifically, we discovered that mice lacking a GABAB1 receptor subtype, GABAB1a, exhibit a loss of context discrimination compared to wild-type animals. Animals lacking GABAB1a receptors showed a significant, but not complete loss of context specificity 24 hours post-training. GABAB1a knock out mice exhibited a complete loss of context discrimination by 5 days post-training. However, knock out mice exhibited normal context discrimination immediately following training, suggesting that GABAB1A receptors are necessary for the retention, but not acquisition, of context discrimination. Our results indicate that presynaptic inhibition is required for the maintenance of context. </p>

<p> New onboard technologies will be required for future cockpits to support the altered responsibilities of pilots under the NextGen program. Effective Cockpit Displays of Information (CD Tis) should provide more flexibility to pilots en route and reduce the probability of conflicts. However, precise input from pilots can be difficult due to the unstable environment in the cockpit. The present study used a non-traditional input device (Novint Falcon) to examine the effect of force feedback on operator performance during point-and-click movements in a CDTI environment when distractors are present. Twelve participants performed point-and-click tasks with varying amounts of force feedback, distractor locations, target sizes, distances, and movement directions. Overall movement times (OMTs) were recorded. Results demonstrated that force feedback did not reduce or match OMTs relative to the computer mouse. However, significant interactions with other target variables highlighted conditional differences between the force levels, as well as distractor effects.</p>

<p> Although Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell were both avid athletes, research and theory around engaging in sports as a valuable psychological process is quite rare. Athletic experience has hardly been looked at through the lens of the archetypal hero's journey, or the path of the warrior, in spite of the fact that mythology and literature are filled with stories of such characters and they are often the primary subject of contents of dreams, reverie, and active imagination. Given that martial arts is steeped in rich cultural traditions, and intertwined with political history as well as mythology, this lack of study creates a gap in Jungian literature, particularly with regard to the archetypes of initiation and individuation. </p><p> This phenomenological hermeneutic study explores the lives of five Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt professors. The Literature Review was framed around historical perspectives of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Jungian psychology and somatics, sports philosophy, phenomenology, and hermeneutics. It provides an in-depth perspective of lived experience of a very popular martial art used for self-defense. Brazilian jiu-jitsu was chosen for a variety of reasons, including the ability to teach highly dangerous techniques to a wide range of participants, and because the rapid growth of jiu-jitsu may indicate places where collective energy is moving. This raises the questions, Why Brazilian jiu-jitsu? Why Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu right now? </p><p> The implications of this study and the qualitative data gleaned from the interviews show that the practice of Brazilian jiu-jitsu can offer a great deal to individuals and communities, and can impact either, depending on intention. The practice, as lived by five interviewees and many other practitioners who were consulted, offers a safe environment for personal transformation, coupled with a spirited playful atmosphere, an emphasis on social values, and teamwork. With these structures in place, Brazilian jiu-jitsu schools frequently become places to improve quality of life and to inadvertently address a wide variety of maladaptive and clinical issues. </p><p> Key Words: martial arts, Jungian psychology, jiu-jitsu, phenomenology, sports, archetypal.</p>

The influence of psychological status on recovery from a first lifetime episode of acute low-back pain was assessed in compensated workers seen in a physiatry clinic. One hundred thirty-four participants of a back school intervention trial were selected and followed for 1 year. The objectives were to determine the evolution of psychological distress, well-being, pain, self-reported disability and spinal flexibility, and to determine the psychological factors associated with return to work and recurrence. Improvement occurred post-treatment in all measures except well-being which did not fluctuate over the year. Additional improvement in functional disability occurred at 6 and 12 months. Using multiple logistic regression, low baseline psychological distress predicted late return to work and high baseline well-being predicted recurrence. A second model for recurrence that was constructed with post-treatment scores on the longitudinal measures had greater predictive power than the model using baseline scores. These results have implications for the management of return to work.

<p> Although there have been studies on the nocuous effects caused by human destruction of nature and the oppression of the man-made environment, there is scarce mention of the subliminal dimensions of this ecological alienation, or the dissociation or lack of self-reflexivity regarding one's embodied responses to the surrounding world. This inquiry explores the dissonance between documented psycho-physiological responses and psycho- emotional disconnection. It bridges the registers of the pre-reflective and reflective; conscious and unconscious. The study is of mixed method design and was conducted in Mumbai, India. Data gathering occurred by recording psycho-physiological responses to experimental stimuli consisting of randomized images of normalized ecological destruction with the aid of physiological monitoring, and through semi-structured interviews using the hermeneutic phenomenological method. It was found that often, individuals defensively organize around being unaware and split off from their psychesomas, when confronted with ecological destruction.</p>

<p> Kappa-opioid receptors (KORs) are mediators of motivational processes, mood/emotion, and stress reactivity. KORs are enriched in brain regions that mediate such behaviors, including the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The mPFC guides behavior through its connections with limbic brain regions such as the amygdala, hippocampus, and ventral tegmental area. A critical knowledge gap exists in our understanding of the role of KOR systems in modulating mPFC afferents. Thus, we designed a series of studies to understand the role of KORs in regulating dopamine (DA) and limbic glutamatergic afferents to the mPFC. First, we determined the role of KOR systems in regulating neurotransmission in the mesocortical DA pathway by utilizing a combination of neurochemical techniques in rats and in transgenic mice. We found that mPFC KOR activation and antagonism decreased and increased DA output, respectively. Genetic ablation of KOR in DA neurons abolished the inhibitory effect of mPFC KOR signaling on local DA output. These findings suggest that mPFC KORs negatively modulate the mesocortical DA pathway by directly acting on DA varicosities in the mPFC. Second, we examined the role of mPFC KOR systems in regulating mPFC extracellular glutamate and glutamatergic limbic inputs utilizing neurochemical and electrophysiological techniques in rats. We found that extracellular glutamate and glutamate-driven GABA levels were inhibited by mPFC KORs. mPFC KOR activation inhibited synaptic transmission in the BLA to mPFC pathway in a manner not overcome by BLA burst stimulation. KORs do not inhibit the hippocampus to mPFC pathway. These findings show that mPFC KORs inhibit glutamatergic afferents in a pathway-specific manner. Lastly, we characterized heterosynaptic interactions between the BLA and hippocampus in the mPFC, and determined the role of KORs in these interactions. BLA train stimulation inhibits hippocampal inputs to the mPFC in an activity-dependent manner, while hippocampus stimulation is without effect on BLA-evoked responses. KOR antagonism does not modify BLA-evoked heterosynaptic suppression, suggesting that BLA-evoked heterosynaptic suppression is KOR-independent. This series of studies demonstrate that mPFC KORs regulate mesocortical DA and limbic pathways, but may not be involved in limbic interactions. These findings provide a biological framework whereby mPFC KOR signaling alters mPFC-dependent behaviors. </p>

The formalin model of inflammatory pain assesses the behavioural response to an injection of dilute formalin into the paw of a rodent. In adult rats, the behavioural response is related to the log of the formalin concentration. Very brief pain responses can be produced by injection of inflammatory mediators, and combination of 5-HT with other mediators produces a synergistic increase in the response. / The present study has two aims: (1) to determine the behavioural indices that best measure formalin-induced pain in 3 and 15 day old rat pups, and (2) to examine the behavioural response of infant rats to intraplantar injection of single inflammatory mediators and paired combinations of mediators. In Experiment 1, ascending concentrations of formalin were injected subcutaneously into the plantar surface of one rear paw. / In Experiment 2, ascending doses of 5-HT, PGE$ sb2$, bradykinin, or substance P were injected and the measures that were quantitatively related to formalin concentration used to assess pain. The data suggest that strong responses to formalin in young neonatal rats are not only a consequence of the continuing development of brainstem-spinal inhibitory systems, but may also be due to immaturity of peripheral pain transduction mechanisms. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

In these studies, we first compared the neuroendocrine responses between early (EL, PPD3-5), late (LL, PPD 15) lactating and virgin (V) females to a male intruder in the home cage. We next investigated whether the presence of the pups at the time of exposure to stress could modify the magnitude of the hormonal response to a male intruder in the home cage or to a predator odor (fox urine) in a novel environment. In the male intruder paradigm, levels of CRF mRNA expression in the PVN and CeA were lower in LL compared to EL or V females and plasma ACTH and B secretion was also reduced in LL compared to EL females. In EL females, the presence of the pups with their mothers at the time of stress significantly increased plasma ACTH and B responses to either male intruder or predator odor compared to EL females without their pups for 2.5hrs or 48 hrs. These studies point out to the critical role of the pups in modulating the maternal response to stressors that represent a threat for the litter.

Objectives. To determine the relationship between objective stress, subjective reaction, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and cortisol in pregnant women exposed to a natural disaster. / Methods. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) was used to measure PTSD symptoms in 193 subjects, and a Storm Questionnaire to assess objective and subjective stress. Seven salivary cortisol samples were collected from each subject; six were obtained between waking and bedtime on the first day, and then a seventh upon waking on the second day. / Results. Both objective stress and subjective reactions to the storm negatively predict cortisol, but size and significance of the effects vary according to trimesters of stress exposure. Across the four pregnancy groups, up to 42% of the variance in cortisol could be explained by objective stress and subjective reactions. / Conclusion. More severe PTSD symptoms are associated with lower cortisol levels, and pregnancy dampens a woman's physiological response to stress.