Medveten närvaro är den svenska översättningen av mindfulness. Behandlingsmetoden Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction har påvisat positiva effekter för välmående gällande vissa sjukdomar. Medveten närvaro är centralt i behandlingsmetoden Basal Kroppskännedom. Syftet med undersökningen var att undersöka hur medveten närvaro upplevs av personer som genomgår behandling i Basal Kroppskännedom. Material insamlades genom sju halvstrukturerade intervjuer. Data analyserades med fenomenologisk metod, IPA. Resultatet visade vad som är centralt för personernas upplevelse av medveten närvaro. I kronologisk ordning: att praktisera sin medvetna närvaro för att förstå vad den innebär, acceptera och tolerera sig själv, att ha ett ickedömande perspektiv, att kunna hantera sina tankar för att uppleva självkontroll i olika situationer, att ha ett helhetsperspektiv på sig själv gällande kropp, känslor och tankar samt en egen betydelse av medveten närvaro. Resultaten stöds av tidigare forskning. Vidare forskning kan vara att följa upplevelserna i olika behandlingsmetoder med medveten närvaro i fokus.

Den vanligaste smittvägen för vårdrelaterade infektioner är genom direkt eller indirekt kontaktsmitta via personalens händer, kläder och tekniska utrustning. Röntgensjuksköterskor möter dagligen ett stort antal patienter och blir därför en potentiell smittväg för mikroorganismer, som skulle kunna spridas vidare på kort tid till patienter om den basala hygienen inte efterföljs. Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka i vilken omfattning röntgensjuksköterskor utför den basala hygienen vid patientkontakt enligt Socialstyrelsens föreskrifter. Kvantitativ metod med enkät valdes där urvalet bestod av röntgensjuksköterskor som arbetade vid två röntgenavdelningar från två sjukhus i södra Sverige. Resultatet visade att majoriteten av röntgensjuksköterskorna följer Socialstyrelsens föreskrifter inom basal hygien och att röntgensjuksköterskorna upplever att det fanns fler faktorer på arbetsplatserna som främjade men även faktorer som hindrade utförandet av den basala hygienen.

The neuropathology of Tourette Syndrome (TS) is poorly characterized. This thesis provides the first quantitative stereologic immunohistochemical study of the basal ganglia in TS. TS is a childhood neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by motor and vocal tics. Previous imaging studies found alterations in caudate (Cd) and putamen (Pt) volumes. To investigate possible alterations in cell populations, postmortem basal ganglia tissue from individuals with TS and normal controls (NC) was analyzed using unbiased stereological techniques. A markedly higher (>160% of control) total neuron number and density was found in the internal segment of the globus pallidus (GPi) of TS (p<0.025). An increased number (>220% of control) and proportion of these GPi neurons were positive for the calcium-binding protein parvalbumin (PV) in the tissue from TS subjects (p<0.025). In contrast, a lower number (<60% of control) of neurons was observed in the external segment (GPe) (p<0.025). In addition, there was a lower density of PV-positive interneurons in both Cd (<50% of control) and Pt (<65% of control) (p>0.025). The imbalance in striatal and GPi inhibitory neuron distribution suggests that the functional dynamics of cortico-striato-thalamic circuitry are fundamentally altered in severe, persistent TS.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 204-225). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet, 2009. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Previous studies have indicated that persons with autism spectrum disorder have distinct cerebella, striatum, and an impaired ability to anticipate implicit learning sequences; also, previous research indicates anatomic connections among these regions. Investigating distinctions in connectivity and impairments in the ability to anticipate implicit sequences linked to ASD would help clarify some of the core deficits associated with the disorder. This dissertation sought to explore differences in functional connectivity among the cerebellum, thalamus, and striatum. This dissertation also sought to determine if an impaired ability to anticipate implicit sequences is associated with ASD. Twelve ASD participants and 11 control participants were scanned using an MRI while engaged in a modified serial reaction task. The findings indicate that the cerebellum and the striatum are functionally connected and the thalamus mediates this connection. The results indicate that ASD participants have stronger connections than the control, and ASD participants demonstrated some impairments in learning. However, there was not enough evidence to link ASD to an impaired ability to anticipate implicit sequences. This dissertation recommends that future studies consider the roles that these distinct connections play in symptoms of ASD. / text

Speech, writing, and tool-use are all prime examples of everyday learned motor skills that together with dance, music, and sports performance represent the full glory of human cultural expression afforded by dexterous digits, limbs, and bodies. Learning to subconsciously move parts of our body is an underappreciated function of the brain. This dissertation aims to illuminate this process through a series of studies using the zebra finch as a model system. It addresses two major questions. First, what level of modularity is involved in motor learning? Specifically, can we decompose complex learned skills, such as the zebra finch song, into their distinct components such as spectral and temporal aspects? And if so, how independent are these various aspects of motor skill learning and execution from one another? Second, to what degree are the basal ganglia, essential and phylogenetically conserved parts of the motor system, involved in different aspects of motor skill learning? In Chapter 1 of this dissertation, I describe the complex learned vocalization of the zebra finch as a model for understanding these questions, highlighting the use of a rapid and well-controlled learning paradigm termed conditional auditory feedback (CAF). In Chapter 2, using CAF, focal lesions and recordings, I test the role of a songbird basal ganglia pathway in distinct aspects of motor learning. I find that the basal ganglia pathway is necessary for learning spectral but not temporal aspects of the song whereas a pre-motor cortical area encodes changes in the temporal but not spectral structure, suggesting a modularity in birdsong motor learning. In Chapter 3, I infer the mechanisms underlying the basal ganglia-independent temporal learning. Further CAF experiments demonstrate that the nervous system is capable of flexibly modifying temporal structure in one part of the song without affecting the timing in the rest of the song, uncovering yet another level of modularity in encoding song structure. Chapters 2 and 3 provide evidence for the modularity in learning the mean spectral and temporal structure. However, motor performance is also characterized by its trial-to-trial variability around the mean. In Chapter 4, I describe CAF experiments to interrogate the neural basis underlying changes in variability around a mean. I show that spectral variability can be modulated in a very specific manner and independently in different parts of the song. I show that this temporally-specific modulation of variability is mediated by the basal ganglia. Overall, the dissertation suggests that complex motor skills emerge from basic functional modules that independently learn, modulate, and control distinct aspects of learned motor output.

To survive in a complex changing environment humans frequently need to adapt their behaviour incidentally from normal interactions in the environment without any specific intention to learn. Whilst there is a considerable body of research into incidental learning of sequential information there is still fundamental debate regarding its cognitive basis, the associated neural mechanisms and the way in which it is affected by neurological disease. These issues were explored, in normal participants and neurological patients, using manipulations of the Serial Reaction Task [SRT] in which participants gradually learn a stimulus sequence (usually screen locations) after responding to each item by pressing corresponding response buttons. The first two experiments (chapter 3) demonstrate that the specific metric used to quantify learning and the occurrence of highly salient repeat locations may inflate estimates of learning in tasks with increased motor demands. The next three experiments (chapter 4) examine whether a secondary (not directly behaviourally relevant) information source during the SRT facilitates chunking in memory and overall learning. In a spatial SRT task (specified by horizontal location), additional spatial information (vertical location) enhanced learning but a secondary perceptual property (colour) produced a cost. However, in a perceptual SRT a secondary perceptual property (colour) had no effect. The next study demonstrates that impairments of incidental learning in Parkinson’s disease are partially reduced by administration of l-Dopa. Implications for models of striatal function and studies suggesting implicit learning is impaired by l-Dopa are discussed. Finally, the impact of Deep Brain Stimulation of the GPi is investigated in a population known to have only limited cognitive deficits relating to their illness (dystonia). Despite previous reports of impaired intentional learning in participants with a high genetic risk of Dystonia, there was no evidence for any impairment before or after stimulation. Implications across studies and future research directions are also discussed.

Due to the common belief that language is unique to humans, great emphasis has been placed on the neocortex, while the role of the subcortical areas has been minimized. This project used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the linguistic involvement of the basal ganglia (BG). Previous research has demonstrated that the BG are implicated in building up sequences of behavior into meaningful, goal-directed repertoires This study developed the idea of motor sequencing into linguistic sequencing to test the BG's involvement in the abstract sequencing of language. Since past imaging studies failed to present a coherent picture of the BG laterality, which might be due to the absence of the control for subjects' familial handedness background, this subject factor was also investigated.Twenty-four right-handed, neurologically healthy English speakers were recruited. Half of them had left-handed blood relatives (FS+); the other half did not (FS-). Their tasks included 1) linguistic sequencing--reordering phrases into a sentence or reordering words along the general-specific dimension, 2) non-linguistic sequencing--swapping designated phrases/words and 3) repeat--repeating words in their original sequence. Voxel-wise analysis showed that both the BG and cortical areas were activated when subjects performed a reordering task. Region of interest (ROI) analysis demonstrated that the BG were involved in linguistic sequencing (reorder - repeat) and that Broca's area and the caudate head were co-opted in computing hierarchical structure (reorder - swap). Although familial sinistrality did not alter the activation pattern of Broca's area and the caudate head, it played a role in their activation asymmetry: both subject groups had left-lateralization in the inferior frontal gyrus, but they failed to show identical laterality in the BG. A possible explanation based on the direct and indirect pathways in the BG was offered and the laterality discrepancy was attributed to these two groups' different time course of language acquisition.To summarize, this study suggested that the BG, especially the head of the caudate nucleus, were involved in the abstract sequencing of language and that the distinct brain asymmetry associated with different familial sinistrality background might be rooted in the BG.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a movement disorder that is of basal ganglia origin. It is characterized by a severe loss of dopaminergic input to the striatum and symptoms such as bradykinesia, rigidity and tremor. There is growing evidence that PD is associated with pathological synchronous oscillatory activity in the basal ganglia, which primarily occurs in the 11-30 Hz range, the so-called beta band. The aim of this project was to better understand the oscillatory activity recorded from the basal ganglia of PD patients and to elucidate the significance of this activity in PD. To do this, neuronal firing and local field potentials (LFPs) were recorded from the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and globus pallidus internus (GPi) of PD patients undergoing stereotactic neurosurgery for implantation of therapeutic deep brain stimulation electrodes. Beta oscillatory LFP activity in the STN and GPi was found to be coherent with, and reflect to a certain degree, rhythmic activity in a population of local neurons. I have demonstrated for the first time that the degree of beta oscillatory firing in the STN, which is maximal in the motor portion, correlates with the patients’ benefit from dopaminergic medications, but not with baseline motor deficits. My study has also established that beta oscillatory firing in the STN does not positively correlate with the patients’ tremor scores and that during periods of tremor patients tend to have less beta oscillatory firing and increased neuronal oscillatory firing at the tremor frequency. Temporal examination of the LFPs recorded during periods of intermittent resting tremor revealed that stronger tremor is associated with increased LFP power in the low gamma range (35-55 Hz) and there is a decrease in the ratio of beta to gamma coherence. Similarly, a change in balance between oscillatory activities was observed during levodopa-induced dyskinesias. Finally, when the oscillatory activity in the GPi of PD patients was compared to that in dystonia I found that in dystonia, oscillatory LFP activity is less likely to reflect the neuronal firing. These findings indicate that beta oscillatory activity in the basal ganglia might reflect the degree of dopamine deficiency in the striatum and that the relative strength of oscillatory rhythms may play an important role in mediating the pathological features in PD.