News Citations—fMRI & Temperature, Postpartum Depression, and Fibromyalgia

BIOPAC provides software and hardware that allow for research teams to record and analyze respiration activity in physiological experimentation. Here are a few notable studies covering MRI, ECG, and Laser Doppler Flow measurement.

fMRI & Thermal Perception: The neural mechanisms underlying thermal perception (how hot or cold we perceive the temperature to be) have not been fully explored because most studies were did not dissociate thermal sensation from comfort. Oi, H., Hashimoto, T., Nozawa, T, et al examined subjects in an fMRI while controlling outside temperature to find correlations between neural mechanisms and thermal sensation and comfort. Air temperature and respiration rate were recorded using MR safe transducers connected to a BIOPAC MP data acquisition system. Read the full study.

Postpartum Depression: Several studies have investigated risk factors for postpartum depression (PPD), a prevalent disorder among new mothers, but few have focused on the cognitive risk factors. Høifødt RS, Nordahl D, Pfuhl G, et al from University Hospital of North Norway explored a range of cognitive risk factors for sufferers of PPD and evaluate whether the Newborn Behavioral Observation (NBO) is an effective preventative technique. ECG was measured during mother and infant psychology testing, the final time point of the observational study, using BioNomadix wireless ECG amplifiers. Find the full study.

Importance of Exercise in FMS Patients: Individuals with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) find it harder to exercise regularly as increased pain effects their ability to tolerate exercise. Emre Esen and Alp Çetin studied microvascular functions and the effect that supervised aerobic exercise had on microvascular control mechanisms. A BIOPAC laser doppler flowmeter recorded cutaneous blood flow from participants before and after supervised exercise. The study showed that moderate exercise training is effective in improving microvascular functions and shows that aerobic exercise like walking is important for FMS patients. Read the full experiment.