scholarly journals Eye Blink Rates and Eyelid Twitches as a Non-Invasive Measure of Stress in the Domestic Horse

Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merkies ◽  
Ready ◽  
Farkas ◽  
Hodder
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Feed Restriction ◽  
Feeding Time ◽  
Stressful Situation ◽  
Blink Rate ◽  
Visual Contact ◽  
Eye Blink ◽  
Non Invasive

Physiological changes provide indices of stress responses, however, behavioural measures may be easier to determine. Spontaneous eye blink rate has potential as a non-invasive indicator of stress. Eyelid movements, along with heart rate (HR) and behaviour, from 33 horses were evaluated over four treatments: 1) control—horse in its normal paddock environment; 2) feed restriction—feed was withheld at regular feeding time; 3) separation—horse was removed from visual contact with their paddock mates; and 4) startle test—a ball was suddenly thrown on the ground in front of the horse. HR data was collected every five s throughout each three min test. Eyelid movements and behaviours were retrospectively determined from video recordings. A generalized linear mixed model (GLIMMIX) procedure with Sidak’s multiple comparisons of least squares means demonstrated that both full blinks (16 ± 12b vs. 15 ± 15b vs. 13 ± 11b vs. 26 ± 20a full blinks/3 min ± SEM; a,b differ p < 0.006) and half blinks (34 ± 15ab vs. 27 ± 14bc vs. 25 ± 13c vs. 42 ± 22a half blinks/3 min ± SEM; a,b,c differ p < 0.0001) decreased during feed restriction, separation and the startle test compared to the control, respectively. Eyelid twitches occurred more frequently in feed restriction (p < 0.0001) along with an increased HR (p < 0.0001). This study demonstrates that spontaneous blink rate decreases while eyelid twitches increase when the horse experiences a stressful situation.

scholarly journals Spontaneous Eye Blink Rate during the Working Memory Delay Period Predicts Task Performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jefferson Ortega ◽  
Chelsea Reichert Plaska ◽  
Bernard A Gomes ◽  
Timothy M Ellmore
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Delay Period ◽  
Blink Rate ◽  
Indirect Measure ◽  
Eye Blink ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Spontaneous eye blink rate (sEBR) has been found to be a non-invasive indirect measure of striatal dopamine activity. Dopamine (DA) neurons project to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) through the mesocortical dopamine pathway and their activity is implicated in a range of cognitive functions, including attention and working memory (WM). The goal of the present study was to understand how fluctuations in sEBR during different phases of a working memory task relate to task performance. Across two experiments, with recordings of sEBR inside and outside of a magnetic resonance imaging bore, we observed sEBR to be positively correlated with WM performance during the WM delay period. Additionally we investigated the non-linear relationship between sEBR and WM performance, and modeled a proposed Inverted-U-shape relationship between DA and WM performance. We also investigated blink duration, which is proposed to be related to sustained attention, and found blink duration to be significantly shorter during the encoding and probe periods of the task. Taken together, these results provide support towards sEBR as an important correlate of working memory task performance. The relationship of sEBR to DA activity and the influence of DA on the PFC during WM maintenance is discussed.

scholarly journals Accuracy of BIS monitoring using a novel interface device connecting conventional needle-electrodes and BIS sensors during frontal neurosurgical procedures

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. e0258647
Author(s):  
Hideki Harada ◽  
Seiya Muta ◽  
Tatsuyuki Kakuma ◽  
Misa Ukeda ◽  
So Ota ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Clinical Performance ◽  
Clinical Situation ◽  
Electrode Placement ◽  
Neurosurgical Procedures ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Invasive Method ◽  
Data Points ◽  
Interface Device

Background Bispectral index (BIS) monitoring is a widely used non-invasive method to monitor the depth of anesthesia. However, in the event of surgeries requiring a frontal approach, placement of the electrode may be impossible at the designated area to achieve a proper BIS measurement. Methods We developed an investigational interface device to connect needle-electrodes to BIS sensors. The safety and clinical performance were investigated in patients who underwent surgery. Direct BIS values from a disposable BIS electrode and indirect values via the interface device were simultaneously recorded from the same areas of electrode placement in a single patient. The agreement between the direct and indirect BIS values was statistically analyzed. Results The interface device with a silver electrode demonstrated sufficient electric conduction to transmit electroencephalogram signals. The overall BIS curves were similar to those of direct BIS monitoring. Direct and indirect BIS values from 18 patients were statistically analyzed using a linear mixed model and a significant concordance was confirmed (indirect BIS = 7.0405 + 0.8286 * direct BIS, p<0.0001). Most observed data (2582/2787 data points, 92.64%) had BIS unit differences of 10 or less. Conclusions The interface device provides an opportunity for intraoperative BIS monitoring of patients, whose clinical situation does not permit the placement of conventional adhesive sensors at the standard location.

Effect of dietary magnesium supplementation in alleviating stress associated with road transportation in weaned lambs

2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 219 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Pye ◽  
R. E. Doyle ◽  
M. A. Friend ◽  
M. S. Bhanugopan
Keyword(s):  
Feed Intake ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Average Daily Gain ◽  
Basal Diet ◽  
Serum Cortisol ◽  
Repeated Measure ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Road Transportation

Magnesium (Mg) supplementation has shown to modulate the stress responses to transport in other species. An experiment was designed to evaluate the effect of Mg for alleviating stress associated with road transportation in lambs. Two groups (n = 18 each) of 4-month old male crossbred lambs (24 ± 4.5 kg) were fed a basal diet comprising oaten hay, pellets and barley, that contained 0.17% Mg. One group was supplemented with magnesium oxide, such that dietary Mg was 0.41%. At the end of the 2-week supplementation period, the lambs were transported by road for 8 h. Blood samples were collected before supplementation, 1 h before transport, within 0.5 h post-transport, at 2 h post-transport and 5 days post-transport. Data were analysed using a repeated-measure analysis of variance and linear mixed model with treatment within time interaction. Supplementation with dietary Mg in the form of MgO increased serum Mg concentrations (1.16 mmol/L ± 0.012, compared with 1.09 mmol/L ± 0.013 in the control group; P < 0.05), but had no effect on alleviating stress during transportation. Transport resulted in a significant increase in serum cortisol, which returned to pre-transport levels 2 h after transport. The serum β-hydroxybutyrate was significantly higher 5 days after transport. The post-transport average feed intake and the average daily gain were significantly lower than pre-transport values, suggesting that the stress of transportation resulted in a decrease in feed intake post-transport, which could have implications on liveweight gain of animals after transportation.

scholarly journals Now it’s your turn!: Eye blink rate in a Jenga task modulated by interaction of task wait times, effortful control, and internalizing behaviors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelley Gunther ◽  
Xiaoxue Fu ◽  
Leigha A. MacNeill ◽  
Morgan Jones ◽  
Briana Ermanni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Effortful Control ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Internalizing Behaviors ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Blink Rate ◽  
Eye Blink ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Midbrain Dopamine ◽  
Dopamine Signaling

Dopamine is a versatile neurotransmitter with implications in many domains, including anxiety and effortful control. Where high levels of effortful control are often regarded as adaptive, other work suggests that high levels of effortful control may be a risk factor for anxiety. Dopamine signaling may be key in understanding these relations. Eye blink rate is a non-invasive proxy metric of midbrain dopamine activity. However, much work with eye blink rate has been constrained to screen-based tasks which lack in ecological validity. We tested whether changes in eye blink rate during a naturalistic effortful control task differ as a function of parent-reported effortful control and internalizing behaviors. Children played a Jenga-like game with an experimenter, but for each trial the experimenter took an increasingly long time to take their turn. Blinks-per-second were computed during each wait period. Multilevel modeling examined the relation between duration of wait period, effortful control, and internalizing behaviors on eye blink rate. We found a significant 3-way interaction between effortful control, internalizing behaviors, and duration of the wait period. Probing this interaction revealed that for children with low reported internalizing behaviors (-1 SD) and high reported effortful control (+1 SD), eye blink rate significantly decreased as they waited longer to take their turn. These findings index task-related changes in midbrain dopamine activity in relation to naturalistic task demands, and that these changes may vary as a function of individual differences in effortful control and internalizing behaviors. We discuss possible top-down mechanisms that may underlie these differences.

scholarly journals Tracking Real-Time Changes in Working Memory Updating and Gating with the Event-Based Eye-Blink Rate

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Rac-Lubashevsky ◽  
Heleen A. Slagter ◽  
Yoav Kessler
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Striatal Dopamine ◽  
Blink Rate ◽  
Eye Blink ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Working Memory Updating ◽  
Time Changes ◽  
Event Based ◽  
Gating Process

AbstractEffective working memory (WM) functioning depends on the gating process that regulates the balance between maintenance and updating of WM. The present study used the event-based eye-blink rate (ebEBR), which presumably reflects phasic striatal dopamine activity, to examine how the cognitive processes of gating and updating separately facilitate flexible updating of WM contents and the potential involvement of dopamine in these processes. Realtime changes in eye blinks were tracked during performance on the reference-back task, in which demands on these two processes were independently manipulated. In all three experiments, trials that required WM updating and trials that required gate switching were both associated with increased ebEBR. These results may support the prefrontal cortex basal ganglia WM model (PBWM) by linking updating and gating to striatal dopaminergic activity. In Experiment 3, the ebEBR was used to determine what triggers gate switching. We found that switching to an updating mode (gate opening) was more stimulus driven and retroactive than switching to a maintenance mode, which was more context driven. Together, these findings show that the ebEBR – an inexpensive, non-invasive, easy-to-use measure – can be used to track changes in WM demands during task performance and, hence, possibly striatal dopamine activity.

scholarly journals Lactobacillus-Based Probiotics Reduce the Adverse Effects of Stress in Rodents: A Meta-analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Mindus ◽  
Jennifer Ellis ◽  
Nienke van Staaveren ◽  
Alexandra Harlander-Matauschek
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Forced Swim Test ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Psychological Disorders ◽  
The Body ◽  
Stress Treatment ◽  
The Impact

Lactobacillus species play a critical role in the bidirectional communication between the gut and the brain. Consequently, they have the potential to aid in the treatment of psychological disorders. The impact of Lactobacillus supplementation on the stress responses triggering psychological disorders has not been systematically reviewed. Therefore, the aim of this meta-analysis is to summarize the body of research assessing the effects of Lactobacillus-based probiotics in rodents that underwent an experimental stress treatment or not. The duration of immobility in a Forced Swim Test (FST) was the outcome used to measure changes induced by various treatments. Four online databases were systematically searched for relevant studies published in English. Fourteen studies meeting the criteria were included in the meta-analysis. The effects of probiotic supplementation and stress treatment on the duration of immobility in the FST were analyzed using a generalized linear mixed model. Publication bias was evaluated by funnel plots. Our analysis shows that Lactobacillus-based probiotic supplements significantly reduce immobility in the FST (P &lt; 0.001) in stressed rodents. However, probiotics did not affect the rodents that did not undergo the stress treatment (P = 0.168). These findings provide a better understanding of the potential of Lactobacillus-based probiotics for the management of stress-induced behavior.

scholarly journals Effects of prefrontal tDCS on dopamine-mediated behavior and psychophysiology

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Imburgio ◽  
Hannah K. Ballard ◽  
Astin C. Cornwall ◽  
Darrell A. Worthy ◽  
Jessica A. Bernard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dopamine Release ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Blink Rate ◽  
Eye Blink ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Indirect Measures ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractThe ability to manipulate dopamine in vivo through non-invasive, reversible mechanisms has the potential to impact clinical, translational, and basic research. Recent PET studies have demonstrated increased dopamine release in the striatum after prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). We sought to extend this work by examining whether prefrontal tDCS could demonstrate an effect on behavioral and physiological correlates of subcortical dopamine activity. We conducted a between-subjects study (n = 30) with active and sham tDCS and used spontaneous eye blink rate (EBR), facial attractiveness ratings, and greyscales orienting bias as indirect proxies for dopamine functioning. The initial design and analyses were pre-registered (https://osf.io/gmnpc). Stimulation did not significantly affect any of the three measures, though effect sizes were often moderately large and were all in the predicted directions. Additional exploratory analyses suggested that stimulation’s effect on EBR might depend on pre-stimulation dopamine levels. Our results shed light on the sensitivity of indirect measures of dopamine in humans and add to a growing body of work demonstrating the importance of examining individual differences in tDCS response.

scholarly journals Non-invasive monitoring of longitudinal changes in cerebral hemodynamics in acute ischemic stroke using BOLD signal delay

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed A Khalil ◽  
Kersten Villringer ◽  
Vivien Filleböck ◽  
Jiun-Yiing Hu ◽  
Andrea Rocco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Perfusion ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Time Shift ◽  
Lesion Volume ◽  
Bold Signal ◽  
Stroke Patients ◽  
Vessel Occlusion ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Over Time

Relative delays in blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal oscillations can be used to assess cerebral perfusion without using contrast agents. However, little is currently known about the utility of this method in detecting clinically relevant perfusion changes over time. We investigated the relationship between longitudinal BOLD delay changes, vessel recanalization, and reperfusion in 15 acute stroke patients with vessel occlusion examined within 24 h of symptom onset (D0) and one day later (D1). We created BOLD delay maps using time shift analysis of resting-state functional MRI data and quantified perfusion lesion volume changes (using the D1/D0 volume ratio) and severity changes (using a linear mixed model) over time. Between baseline and follow-up, BOLD delay lesions shrank (median D1/D0 ratio = 0.2, IQR = 0.03–0.7) and BOLD delay severity decreased (b = −4.4 s) in patients with recanalization, whereas they grew (median D1/D0 ratio = 1.47, IQR = 1.1–1.7) and became more severe (b = 4.3 s) in patients with persistent vessel occlusion. Clinically relevant changes in cerebral perfusion in early stroke can be detected using BOLD delay, making this non-invasive method a promising option for detecting tissue at risk of infarction and monitoring stroke patients following recanalization therapy.

scholarly journals Continuous Non-Invasive Arterial Pressure Monitoring (ClearSight System) and Ankle Blood Pressure Measurements as Alternatives to Conventional Arm Blood Pressure

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 3615
Author(s):  
Seohee Lee ◽  
Jaeyeon Chung ◽  
Jinyoung Bae ◽  
Youn Joung Cho ◽  
Karam Nam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Least Squares ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Cancer Surgery ◽  
Breast Cancer Surgery ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Difference

Measuring blood pressure (BP) via a pneumatic cuff placed around the arm has long been the standard method. However, in clinical situations where BP monitoring at the arm is difficult, the ankle is frequently used instead. We compared continuous non-invasive blood pressure (CNBP) measurements obtained at the finger, ankle BP and arm BP in patients undergoing breast cancer surgery. Arm BP, ankle BP (both obtained with a conventional pneumatic cuff) and CNBP measurements were obtained every 2.5 min during surgery. Correlation and Bland–Altman analyses were performed and differences among measurements were analyzed using a linear mixed model. A total of 245 sets of BP measurements were obtained from 10 patients. All systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and mean blood pressure (MBP) measurements of ankle BP and CNBP were positively correlated with the arm BP measurements (Spearman rho 0.688–0.836, p < 0.001 for each correlation). The difference between CNBP and arm SBP was significantly smaller (least squares mean (95% confidence interval): −6.03 (−11.40, −0.67)) compared to that between ankle and arm SBP (least squares mean (95% CI): −15.32 (−20.69, −9.96), p = 0.019). However, this significant difference was not observed in DBP and MBP (−1.23 vs. 1.75, p = 0.190 and −3.85 vs. −2.63, p = 0.604, respectively). Ankle SBP measurements showed larger differences from arm SBP measurements than did CNBP SBP measurements in patients undergoing breast cancer surgery. CNBP could serve as a useful alternative to ankle BP when standard arm BP measurements cannot be obtained.

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