The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of self-stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system on immune function and DNA repair function in family caregivers. Seven female family caregivers engaged in individually tailored stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system in everyday life for 2 weeks. Although we observed effects on lymphocyte function and secretory immunoglob...

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) serves as a good model for the study of heart-brain interactions because it is associated with both a high incidence of arrhythmia and a low prevalence of coronary heart disease. The pathophysiology of cardiac abnormalities in SAH is unsettled. Initial theories focused on sustained stimulation of cardiomyocytes at sympathetic nerve endings, but recent data suggest ...

A 47-year-old female patient with multiple sclerosis (MS) developed symptomatic intermittent 2nd degree atrioventricular block (AVB) of five-hour duration, five hours after the first two doses of fingolimod, that resolved completely. Frequency domain analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) revealed increased parasympathetic activity and decreased sympathetic tone, while modified Ewing tests we...

UNLABELLED We previously demonstrated correlation between parasympathetic dysfunction and brain white matter lesions in chronic chagasic patients. OBJECTIVE To correlate serum functional circulating antibodies with beta adrenergic (Ab-beta), muscarinic (Ab-M) or muscarinic and beta adrenergic (Ab-Mbeta) activity, the autonomic system function and brain lesions in chronic chagasic patients. ...

Autonomic nervous system activity is an important component of affective experience. We demonstrate in the rhesus monkey that both the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system respond differentially to the affective valence of passively viewed video stimuli. We recorded cardiac impedance and an electrocardiogram while adult macaques watched a series of 300 30-sec...

The cause of most cases of human obesity is unknown. Specific alterations in the activity of the autonomic nervous system may mediate and perhaps cause obesity in animal models. We therefore looked for alterations in autonomic activity in human obesity. Fifty-six healthy men with various percentages of body fat underwent autonomic testing while at rest. Significant correlations were found betwe...

OBJECTIVES To expand previous G-spot anatomical and histological investigations; to examine the G-spot complex anatomic role in the anterior vaginal wall ballooning bio-mechanisms; and to determine, which division of autonomic nervous system (sympathetic or parasympathetic) dominates at the time of female sudden death. STUDY DESIGN A prospective-descriptive case series anatomical study on ele...

Cardiac parasympathetic activity reduces susceptibility to potentially lethal ventricular arrhythmias in heart failure and ischemic heart disease. This influence is mediated in large part by antagonism of the adverse cardiac effects of sympathetic overactivity ("indirect" parasympathetic activity) in addition to the "direct" effects of muscarinic stimulation. Nitric oxide modulates parasympathe...