Andreas Ebert

..These results are invaluable for researchers studying changes of biological signals prone to the influence of breathing rate and rhythm (e.g., functional imaging)...

..One way to detect adaptive capabilities and thus stability of regulation is to measure complexity of heart rate fluctuations, with more complex heart rate fluctuations indicating better adaptability of the underlying system...

..Depression is a common comorbidity of chronic pain and chronic pain represents a common additional symptom of depressed patients. The physiological basis is unknown...

..Mainly we found that patients displaying stronger psychotic symptoms as assessed by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale exhibit more severe cardiac ANS disturbances compared with controls...

..We aimed to assess vasomotor reactivity in patients with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia due to microangiopathy using transcranial Doppler sonography and near-infrared spectroscopy during a CO(2) exposition task...

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..Since linear analysis of heart rate variability may not be entirely adequate to detect such autonomic dysfunction in acute alcohol withdrawal, we applied novel non-linear parameters and measures for cardio-respiratory coupling...

..In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the autonomic dysregulation at the heart is reflected in the regulation of the pupillary light reflex...

..Further studies are warranted to gain more insight into cardiac regulation in schizophrenia and the effect of novel antipsychotics...

..Examinations as described here might add to the diagnosis of autonomic dysfunction and reveal differential patterns in certain disease states...

..In addition, these findings may be of value to identify the high-risk group of patients' relatives in regards to serious cardiovascular events so that early preventive measures can be taken...

..While the exact underlying mechanisms are under debate, a role for the sympathetic response upon ECT has been suggested. When assessing patients with MDD for autonomic function, however, a loss of vagal function is prominent...

..We sought to examine the hypothesis that nortriptyline treatment will be associated with a decrease in heart rate variability and coupling between heart rate and respiration compared to treatment with S-citalopram...

..Thus, our results might change the view on the paradox of pain perception in major depression because increased heat pain thresholds are associated with augmented pain perception in the disease...

..The correlation of positive symptoms with QT variability might indicate high sympathetic cardiac activity in these patients, which might be associated with increased cardiovascular mortality...

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..Altered pain processing at brain stem level might only partially be responsible for the observed finding...

..Former studies of autonomic dysfunction in major depression have shown inconclusive results...

..The aim of this study was to determine differing reactions of the left and right eyes with regard to pupillary light reflex (PLR) parameters...

..Although this patient might have suffered from late-onset schizophrenia with painful hallucinations right from the start of her disease, the case highlights psychiatric complications that might be associated with neuroborreliosis...

..Future studies are warranted to investigate the interaction between cardiac autonomic function and schizophrenia and to identify patients on risk...

..This knowledge may enable us to understand and ultimately treat pain complaints more appropriately in depressed patients...

..Although the underlying pathology is elusive it is likely that the mechanisms for reduced pain sensitivity are comparable in MDD and AD...

..The distinct decrease of BRS in AWS and in long-term abstained subjects described here is of importance since similar alterations have been identified as independent prognostic factors for cardiac mortality in other diseases...

..To gain more insight into the pathology, the authors investigated pain perception, autonomic function, and endocrine parameters before and during successful treatment of adolescent AN patients...

..In contrast to many neurochemical studies of sympathetic activation during AW, only very few studies investigated autonomic balance using neurophysiological methods...

..Furthermore, blood pressure was significantly higher compared to controls, whereas its variability was unchanged. We conclude that our results reflect autonomic cardiovascular dysregulation in acute schizophrenia...

..Future studies are warranted to examine the role of the sympathetic system and possible autonomic differences in hyperarousal induced by anxiety and/or external stressful events...

..As the QT interval reflects the most critical phase for the generation of reentry and thus for arrhythmia, we examined QT variability in patients suffering from acute alcohol withdrawal...

..Although insomnia and dysautonomia have been described as hallmarks of the disease, there is substantial variability in clinical presentation...

..When the final results of the trial are available, PREVENT will substantially expand the current limited evidence base for best clinical practice in people at-risk (prodromal) of first-episode psychosis...