1 1672 126 NONLINEAR MEASURES IN POSTUROGRAPHY COMPARED TO LINEAR MEASURES BASED ON YOGA POSES PERFORMANCE. PURPOSE: YOGA IS KNOWN AS A TYPE OF EXERCISE THAT COMBINES PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND SPIRITUAL ASPECTS. THERE HAS NOT BEEN MUCH RESEARCH ON THE POSTURAL CONTROL IN VARIOUS YOGA POSES. THE AIM OF THIS STUDY WAS TO EXAMINE COP REGULARITY IN BOTH YOGA INSTRUCTORS AND NOVICES DURING THE PERFORMANCE OF FOUR YOGA POSES, AND TO VERIFY THE SENSITIVITY OF LINEAR AND NONLINEAR METHODS FOR ASSESSING POSTURAL STABILITY. METHODS: THE DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF COP FLUCTUATIONS WERE EXAMINED USING LINEAR AND NONLINEAR METHODS ON A GROUP OF 22 YOGA INSTRUCTORS (Y) AND 18 AGE-MATCHED NON-PRACTITIONERS OF YOGA (NY). THE STUDY INVOLVED MAINTAINING A BALANCE FOR 20 SECONDS WHILE PERFORMING FOUR YOGA POSES. RESULTS: CONVENTIONAL ANALYSIS OF COP TRAJECTORIES SHOWED THAT NY AND Y EXHIBITED SIMILAR CONTROL OF POSTURAL SWAY, AS INDICATED BY SIMILAR COP PATH-LENGTH AND AREA VALUES OBSERVED IN BOTH GROUPS. THESE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT THE SPECIAL BALANCE YOGA TRAINING RECEIVED BY Y MAY NOT HAVE AN IMPACT ON LESS CHALLENGING BALANCE CONDITIONS, SUCH AS THE POSES USED IN THIS EXPERIMENT. INTERESTINGLY, NONLINEAR DYNAMICAL ANALYSIS OF COP SHOWED THAT Y EXHIBITED LESS COP REGULARITY AND MORE COMPLEX SIGNAL THAN NY, AS EVIDENCED BY HIGHER VALUES OF SAMPLE ENTROPY AND FRACTAL DIMENSION. CONCLUSIONS: THE RESULTS SHED LIGHT ON THE SURPLUS VALUES OF COP TRAJECTORIES IN THE NONLINEAR DYNAMICAL ANALYSIS TO GAIN FURTHER INSIGHT INTO THE MECHANISMS INVOLVED IN POSTURE CONTROL. 2020 2 2779 19 YOGA TECHNIQUES AS A MEANS OF CORE STABILITY TRAINING. CORE STABILITY IN GENERAL INVOLVES THE MUSCULAR CONTROL REQUIRED AROUND THE LUMBAR SPINE TO MAINTAIN FUNCTIONAL STABILITY. STABILITY AND MOVEMENT ARE CRITICALLY DEPENDENT ON THE COORDINATION OF ALL THE MUSCLES SURROUNDING THE LUMBAR SPINE. THIS PAPER AIMS TO SHOW THAT AN AGE-OLD YOGA PRACTICE, CALLED UDDHYANA BHANDA AND NOULI, IS AN EFFECTIVE MEANS OF CORE STABILITY. 2009 3 875 30 EFFECT OF YOGA THERAPY ON PLASMA OXYTOCIN AND FACIAL EMOTION RECOGNITION DEFICITS IN PATIENTS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA. CONTEXT: YOGA THERAPY HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED TO BE USEFUL IN TREATMENT OF NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS AND IMPROVING THE SOCIO-OCCUPATIONAL FUNCTIONING AND EMOTION RECOGNITION DEFICITS IN ANTIPSYCHOTIC-STABILIZED SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS. OXYTOCIN HAS BEEN RECENTLY IMPLICATED IN SOCIAL COGNITION DEFICITS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA. THE EFFECT OF YOGA THERAPY ON OXYTOCIN LEVELS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA HAS NOT BEEN STUDIED. AIMS: THIS STUDY AIMED TO ASSESS THE EFFECT OF YOGA THERAPY ON SYMPTOMS, SOCIO-OCCUPATIONAL FUNCTIONING, FACIAL EMOTION RECOGNITION DEFICITS AND PLASMA OXYTOCIN LEVELS IN ANTIPSYCHOTIC STABILIZED SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED STUDY ON 43 CONSENTING, MEDICATION STABILIZED PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA IN A TERTIARY PSYCHIATRIC CENTER USING YOGA INTERVENTION AND WAITLISTED GROUPS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A TOTAL OF 43 SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS WERE RANDOMIZED TO YOGA GROUP (N=15) OR WAITLIST GROUP (N=28). PATIENTS IN THE YOGA GROUP RECEIVED TRAINING IN A SPECIFIC YOGA THERAPY MODULE FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA. PATIENTS IN BOTH GROUPS WERE CONTINUED ON STABLE ANTIPSYCHOTIC MEDICATION. ASSESSMENTS INCLUDED SCALE FOR ASSESSMENT OF POSITIVE SYMPTOMS, SCALE FOR ASSESSMENT OF NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS, SOCIO-OCCUPATIONAL FUNCTIONING SCALE AND TOOL FOR RECOGNITION OF EMOTIONS IN NEUROPSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS (TRENDS) AND PLASMA OXYTOCIN LEVELS; PERFORMED AT BASELINE AND AT THE END OF 1 MONTH. RESULTS: A TOTAL OF 15 PATIENTS IN THE YOGA GROUP AND 12 IN WAITLIST GROUP COMPLETED THE STUDY. THE YOGA THERAPY GROUP SHOWED A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN SOCIO-OCCUPATIONAL FUNCTIONING, PERFORMANCE ON TRENDS (P<0.001) AND PLASMA INCREASE IN OXYTOCIN LEVELS (P=0.01) AS COMPARED WITH THE WAITLIST GROUP. CONCLUSION: THE STUDY SUPPORTED THE ROLE OF ADD-ON YOGA THERAPY IN MANAGEMENT OF SCHIZOPHRENIA AND DEMONSTRATED AN IMPROVEMENT IN ENDOGENOUS PLASMA OXYTOCIN LEVELS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS RECEIVING YOGA THERAPY. 2013 4 860 34 EFFECT OF YOGA PRACTICE ON REDUCING COGNITIVE-MOTOR INTERFERENCE FOR IMPROVING DYNAMIC BALANCE CONTROL IN HEALTHY ADULTS. OBJECTIVE: THE PURPOSE OF OUR STUDY WAS TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECTS OF YOGA ON REDUCING COGNITIVE-MOTOR INTERFERENCE (CMI) FOR MAINTAINING BALANCE CONTROL DURING VARIED BALANCE TASKS. METHOD: YOGA (N=10) AND AGE-SIMILAR NON-PRACTITIONERS (N=10) PERFORMED THREE BALANCE TASKS INCLUDING THE LIMITS OF STABILITY TEST (LOS - INTENTIONAL BALANCE), MOTOR CONTROL TEST (MCT - REACTIVE BALANCE), AND SENSORY ORGANIZATION TEST (SOT -CONDITION 6: INDUCING BOTH SOMATOSENSORY AND VISUAL CONFLICTS) UNDER SINGLE-TASK (ST) AND DUAL-TASK (DT, ADDITION OF A COGNITIVE WORKING MEMORY TASK) CONDITIONS. THE MOTOR PERFORMANCE WAS ASSESSED BY RECORDING THE RESPONSE TIME (RT) AND MOVEMENT VELOCITY (MV) OF THE CENTER OF PRESSURE (COP) ON LOS TEST, WEIGHT SYMMETRY (WS) OF COP ON THE MCT TEST AND EQUILIBRIUM (EQ) OF COP ON THE SOT TEST. COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE WAS RECORDED AS THE NUMBER OF CORRECT RESPONSES ENUMERATED IN SITTING (ST) AND UNDER DT CONDITIONS. THE MOTOR COST (MC) AND COGNITIVE COST (CC) WERE COMPUTED USING THE FORMULA ([ST-DT]/ST)*100 FOR ALL THE VARIABLES. GREATER COST INDICATES LOWER PERFORMANCE UNDER DT VERSUS ST CONDITION. RESULTS: THE YOGA GROUP SHOWED A SIGNIFICANTLY LESSER MC FOR BOTH MCT AND SOT TESTS (P<0.05) IN COMPARISON TO THEIR COUNTERPARTS. THE CC WERE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER ON LOS AND MCT TEST FOR THE YOGA GROUP (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: RESULTS SUGGEST THAT YOGA PRACTICE CAN SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE CMI BY IMPROVING ALLOCATION AND UTILIZATION OF ATTENTIONAL RESOURCES FOR BOTH BALANCE CONTROL AND EXECUTIVE COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING; THUS RESULTING IN BETTER PERFORMANCE UNDER DT CONDITIONS. 2017 5 510 39 COMPARATIVE IMPACTS OF TAI CHI, BALANCE TRAINING, AND A SPECIALLY-DESIGNED YOGA PROGRAM ON BALANCE IN OLDER FALLERS. OBJECTIVE: TO COMPARE THE EFFECT OF A CUSTOM-DESIGNED YOGA PROGRAM WITH 2 OTHER BALANCE TRAINING PROGRAMS. DESIGN: RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL. SETTING: RESEARCH LABORATORY. PARTICIPANTS: A GROUP OF OLDER ADULTS (N=39; MEAN AGE, 74.15 +/- 6.99 Y) WITH A HISTORY OF FALLING. INTERVENTIONS: THREE DIFFERENT EXERCISE INTERVENTIONS (TAI CHI, STANDARD BALANCE TRAINING, YOGA) WERE GIVEN FOR 12 WEEKS. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: BALANCE PERFORMANCE WAS EXAMINED DURING PRE- AND POSTTEST USING FIELD TESTS, INCLUDING THE 8-FOOT UP-AND-GO TEST, 1-LEG STANCE, FUNCTIONAL REACH, AND USUAL AND MAXIMAL WALKING SPEED. THE STATIC AND DYNAMIC BALANCES WERE ALSO ASSESSED BY POSTURAL SWAY AND DYNAMIC POSTUROGRAPHY, RESPECTIVELY. RESULTS: TRAINING PRODUCED SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS IN ALL FIELD TESTS (P<.005), BUT GROUP DIFFERENCE AND TIME X GROUP INTERACTION WERE NOT DETECTED. FOR POSTURAL SWAY, SIGNIFICANT DECREASES IN THE AREA OF THE CENTER OF PRESSURE WITH EYES OPEN (P=.001) AND EYES CLOSED (P=.002) WERE DETECTED AFTER TRAINING. FOR EYES OPEN, MAXIMUM MEDIAL-LATERAL VELOCITY SIGNIFICANTLY DECREASED FOR THE SAMPLE (P=.013). FOR EYES CLOSED, MEDIAL-LATERAL DISPLACEMENT DECREASED FOR TAI CHI (P<.01). FOR DYNAMIC POSTUROGRAPHY, SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS IN OVERALL SCORE (P=.001), TIME ON THE TEST (P=.006), AND 2 LINEAR MEASURES IN LATERAL (P=.001) AND ANTERIOR-POSTERIOR (P<.001) DIRECTIONS WERE SEEN FOR THE SAMPLE. CONCLUSIONS: YOGA WAS AS EFFECTIVE AS TAI CHI AND STANDARD BALANCE TRAINING FOR IMPROVING POSTURAL STABILITY AND MAY OFFER AN ALTERNATIVE TO MORE TRADITIONAL PROGRAMS. 2014 6 872 29 EFFECT OF YOGA THERAPY ON FACIAL EMOTION RECOGNITION DEFICITS, SYMPTOMS AND FUNCTIONING IN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA. OBJECTIVE: FACIAL EMOTION RECOGNITION DEFICITS HAVE BEEN CONSISTENTLY DEMONSTRATED IN SCHIZOPHRENIA AND CAN IMPAIR SOCIO-OCCUPATIONAL FUNCTIONING IN THESE PATIENTS. TREATMENTS TO IMPROVE THESE DEFICITS IN ANTIPSYCHOTIC-STABILIZED PATIENTS HAVE NOT BEEN WELL STUDIED. YOGA THERAPY HAS BEEN DESCRIBED TO IMPROVE FUNCTIONING IN VARIOUS DOMAINS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA; HOWEVER, ITS EFFECT ON FERD IS NOT KNOWN. METHOD: ANTIPSYCHOTIC-STABILIZED PATIENTS RANDOMIZED TO RECEIVE YOGA (N=27), EXERCISE (N=17) OR WAITLIST GROUP (N=22) WERE ASSESSED AT BASELINE, 2ND MONTH, AND 4TH MONTH OF FOLLOW-UP BY RATERS BLIND TO GROUP STATUS. ASSESSMENTS INCLUDED POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SYNDROME SCALE (PANSS), SOCIO-OCCUPATIONAL FUNCTIONING SCALE (SOFS), AND TOOL FOR RECOGNITION OF EMOTIONS IN NEUROPSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS (TRENDS). RESULTS: THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT POSITIVE CORRELATION BETWEEN BASELINE FERD AND SOCIO-OCCUPATIONAL FUNCTIONING (R=0.3, P=0.01). PAIRED SAMPLES T TEST SHOWED SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS, SOCIO-OCCUPATIONAL FUNCTIONING AND PERFORMANCE ON TRENDS (P<0.05) IN THE YOGA GROUP, BUT NOT IN THE OTHER TWO GROUPS. MAXIMUM IMPROVEMENT OCCURRED AT THE END OF 2 MONTHS, AND IMPROVEMENT IN POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS PERSISTED AT THE END OF 4 MONTHS. CONCLUSION: YOGA THERAPY CAN BE A USEFUL ADD-ON TREATMENT TO IMPROVE PSYCHOPATHOLOGY, FERD, AND SOCIO-OCCUPATIONAL FUNCTIONING IN ANTIPSYCHOTIC-STABILIZED PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA. 2011 7 1276 26 FUNCTIONAL IMPROVEMENTS IN PARKINSON'S DISEASE FOLLOWING A RANDOMIZED TRIAL OF YOGA. INDIVIDUALS WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE (PD) EXPERIENCE SIGNIFICANT LIMITATIONS IN MOTOR FUNCTION, FUNCTIONAL GAIT, POSTURAL STABILITY, AND BALANCE. THESE LIMITATIONS OFTEN LEAD TO HIGHER INCIDENCES OF FALLS, WHICH HAVE SIGNIFICANT COMPLICATIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH PD. YOGA MAY IMPROVE THESE FUNCTIONAL DEFICITS IN INDIVIDUALS WITH PD. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE CHANGES IN MOTOR FUNCTION, FUNCTIONAL GAIT, POSTURAL STABILITY, AND BALANCE CONTROL FOR COMMUNITY DWELLING INDIVIDUALS WITH PD. THIS RANDOMIZED, WAIT-LIST CONTROLLED PILOT STUDY EXAMINED THE INFLUENCE OF AN 8-WEEK YOGA INTERVENTION FOR PEOPLE WITH PD WHO MET THE FOLLOWING INCLUSION CRITERIA: ENDORSING A FEAR OF FALLING, BEING ABLE TO SPEAK ENGLISH, SCORING 4/6 ON THE MINIMENTAL STATE EXAM, AND BEING WILLING TO ATTEND THE INTERVENTION TWICE WEEKLY FOR 8-WEEKS. PARTICIPANTS IN THE YOGA GROUP (N=15) EXPERIENCED IMPROVEMENTS IN MOTOR FUNCTION, POSTURAL STABILITY, FUNCTIONAL GAIT, AND FREEZING GAIT, AS WELL AS REDUCTIONS IN FALL RISK. PARTICIPANTS IN THE WAIT-LIST CONTROL (N=12) ALSO SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED IN POSTURAL STABILITY, ALTHOUGH THEIR FALL RISK WAS NOT REDUCED. INDIVIDUALS IN THE YOGA GROUP SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED THEIR FALL RISK. AN 8-WEEK YOGA INTERVENTION MAY REDUCE FALL RISK AND IMPROVE POSTURAL STABILITY, AND FUNCTIONAL AND FREEZING GAIT IN INDIVIDUALS WITH PD. THIS CLINICAL TRIAL IS REGISTERED AS PROTOCOL RECORD PRO00041068 IN CLINICALTRIALS.GOV. 2018 8 272 23 ADD-ON YOGA THERAPY FOR SOCIAL COGNITION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA: A PILOT STUDY. BACKGROUND: YOGA AS A MIND-BODY THERAPY IS USEFUL IN LIFESTYLE-RELATED DISORDERS INCLUDING NEUROPSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS. IN SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS, YOGA HAS BEEN SHOWN TO SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS, FUNCTIONING, AND PLASMA OXYTOCIN LEVEL. AIM: THE AIM OF THE STUDY WAS TO STUDY THE EFFECT OF ADD-ON YOGA THERAPY ON SOCIAL COGNITION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: IN A SINGLE PRE-POST, STUDY DESIGN, 15 SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS STABILIZED ON ANTIPSYCHOTIC MEDICATION FOR 6 WEEKS WERE ASSESSED FOR SOCIAL COGNITION (THEORY OF MIND, FACIAL EMOTION RECOGNITION, AND SOCIAL PERCEPTION [SP]) AND CLINICAL SYMPTOMS (NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE SYMPTOMS AND SOCIAL DISABILITY) BEFORE AND AFTER TWENTY SESSIONS OF ADD-ON YOGA THERAPY. RESULTS: THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN THE SOCIAL COGNITION COMPOSITE SCORE AFTER 20 SESSIONS OF YOGA (T[13] = -5.37, P