从端粒和端粒酶探析冥想对压力的缓解作用

冥想是一种维持自我注意的身心调节技术,是缓解因压力所致的抑郁、焦虑等消极情绪的有效方法。端粒是维持染色体稳定和完整的DNA片段,大量有关冥想对端粒及端粒酶活性影响的研究阐明,通常情况下压力人群经过冥想训练能提高端粒长度并增加端粒酶活性,这种改变与压力缓解密切相关。这一积极效果主要得益于皮质醇和炎症等生物因素及心理和环境等非生物因素。未来可以通过对比不同冥想练习的效果、增加追踪研究、多学科联合及扩大样本等找到最有利于提高端粒长度和端粒酶活性的冥想方式。     

从端粒,端粒酶到端粒酶抑制剂的系列研究及其启示

端粒,端粒酶及其与肿瘤的关系是当今分子生物学研究的热点之一,端粒酶抑制被认为是一类潜在的高选择性,有关端粒酶抑制的开发研究为肿瘤药物开辟了一个新方向。从端粒,端粒酶到端粒酶抑制剂的系列研究是循环渐进,紧密相连的逻辑推理过程,集中体现了科学研究的逻辑性和系统性 。     

端粒,端粒酶：人类长寿及肿瘤治疗的新策略

端粒是真核生物染色体末端由许多简单重复序列和相关蛋白质组成的复合结构,具有维持染色体结构的完整性及解决末端复制难题的作用,端业酶是一种逆转录酶,由ＲＮＡ和蛋白质组成,它以自身ＲＮＡ为模块,合成端粒重复序列,加至新合成ＤＮＡ链末端,端粒及闰酶在细胞衰老及肿瘤形成过程中起重要作用,针对端粒栈瓣肿瘤治疗有可能成为肿瘤治疗新途径。     

冥想对注意能力的影响

所有冥想方法都要对注意进行管理, 注意是冥想的核心机制。近期研究发现, 冥想显著提高了持续性注意、执行注意和选择性注意分配等多种注意能力。认知神经科学研究发现, 冥想使注意资源分配更有效; 长期冥想者表现出更高的失匹配负波波幅和更低的β波幅; 冥想增强了中央执行网络有关脑区的功能联结, 提高了突出网络有关脑区的活动; 注意聚焦冥想降低了默认网络有关脑区的活动。另外, 作为一种提高注意能力的方法, 冥想不仅适用于注意缺陷多动障碍患者和已康复的抑郁症患者等有注意相关障碍的临床群体, 也适用于儿童和老年人等多种年龄阶段的健康群体。未来应通过追踪研究探讨冥想的长期效果; 探索冥想中注意与情绪的交互作用; 根据群体特征设计出更有针对性的冥想。     

正念冥想对走神的影响及其作用机制

走神是普遍存在的一种心理现象,这种普遍存在会为人们带来许多的妨碍。正念冥想是减轻或避免走神的重要干预方式之一。为此,在系统回顾以往研究基础上,首先通过不同时长、不同形式、对照组的设置以及不同群体等多个方面,梳理正念冥想对走神的改善作用;其次,结合神经机制及相关理论模型两方面内容阐述其作用机制;最后,围绕走神类型以及不同形式正念冥想直接对比等角度提出未来研究建议,探讨正念冥想对走神的改善,构建完善的理论模型。     

不同冥想类型对创造性思维的影响及作用机制

冥想与创造性的关系正逐渐被关注,澄清冥想练习对创造性思维的影响效果和作用机制对个体创新潜能的培养与提升具有重要意义。不同冥想类型对创造性思维的影响具有特异性,专注冥想主要通过注意聚焦和提升自上而下的执行控制能力来对聚合思维产生积极影响;正念冥想引起的离焦的注意状态,以及对认知灵活性和积极情绪的促进,有助于发散思维。未来应加强不同冥想类型与创造性思维的整合研究,探讨冥想影响创造性思维的脑机制,以及冥想与其他干预训练对创造性思维的不同作用机制等。     

冥想的安全性

大量研究表明冥想有助于身心健康的维持与幸福感的提升,但与此同时,飞速发展的研究与实践却严重忽略了对其安全性的考察。目前,我们对冥想各群体(临床人群、修行人、正念冥想指导者、普通练习者及大学生等)不良反应的表现、影响因素及发生与转化机制等都知之甚少,目前国内该领域的研究尚属空白,这是迫切需要研究者和实践者重视和严肃对待的伦理问题。国外研究表明,总体而言,冥想不良反应率为8.3%,表现在认知、感知觉、情感、躯体化、意志、自我意识与社会功能等7方面内容的不适或改变,严重的甚至出现自杀意念与行为;冥想不良反应的影响因素包括练习者、练习、关系及健康行为等4方面的内容。中国文化下本土化研究的开展以及冥想指导者胜任力等问题是未来研究的重要方向,分解设计、纵向设计与个人中心取向是重要的研究方法。     

正念冥想对情绪的调节作用:理论与神经机制

正念冥想可调节个体的负性情绪、促进个体正性情绪,对于心身疾病具有显著的干预效用.正念冥想的再感知模型、正念应对模型、推动性上升螺旋模型以及正念情绪调节模型都强调了正念冥想对情绪的调节作用.认知神经科学的研究发现,正念冥想可促进左侧前额叶脑区激活增强,涉及的脑区主要包括背外侧前额叶皮层(DLPFC)和背内侧前额叶皮层(DMPFC).研究者进一步发现,正念特质是通过改善前额叶对边缘系统反应的调节来实现对情绪的调节作用.而且,这种调节作用还有可能体现为通过冥想训练分离联结在一起的两种自我参照神经机制,从而加强体验性神经机制.另外,研究者还发现,正念冥想训练还可以改变与情绪加工相关的大脑结构.进一步澄清冥想训练与大脑偏侧化的关系和不同类型被试之间的比较研究将成为该领域日后研究的重点.     

基于心理学视域的冥想研究

冥想(meditation)是一些综合性的心理和行为训练, 它有助于个体建立一种特殊的注意机制, 达到心理上的整体提升。心理学目前对冥想的研究主要集中在冥想的脑机制及冥想的功能(心理恢复、心理发展)两个方面, 常使用的研究工具主要有量表和EEG、fMRI、SPECT等仪器设备。未来的冥想研究应该在进一步规范冥想训练技术的基础上, 侧重于各种冥想技术的比较并对冥想结果开展长期的跟踪研究。     

开放监控冥想的特定影响效果

近几年来,开放监控冥想(Open Monitoring Meditation,OM)受到越来越多的关注,许多研究者对它进行了系统研究。与其它冥想,特别是与聚焦注意冥想(Focus Attention Meditation,FA)相比较,OM具有明显的差异。OM似乎对某些认知过程(创造性思维)的影响以及疼痛和焦虑的缓解具有优势,而对注意力的影响结果并不一致。脑电波、功能定位以及脑功能关联性方面的研究结果初步揭示了开放监控冥想过程中的脑神经机制,但是这种冥想对于默认网络的影响效果表现出不一致性。另外,研究中使用的OM训练方法也存在明显的差异性,尤其是注意的起点是否从呼吸开始,以及是否需要保持注意两个方面。这些结果需要今后的研究使用更加标准化的方法进一步明确。     

Contemporary Perspectives on Stress Management: Medication,Meditation or Mitigation

Stressful life events can increase the risk for developing a variety of physical disorders and emotional problems. A biopsychosocial approach can help mental health professions to better understand and more effectively treat disorders that are related to severe negative life events. Biological approaches focus on suppressing emotional reactions, usually through a reliance on psychopharmacological interventions. Psychological approaches usually focus on the cognitive processes that translate stress into distress. Psychological interventions focus on changing the negative attitudes and maladaptive behaviors that aggravate most stressful situations. Social interventions focus on improving social support and involvement with agencies to confront limited finances, unemployment, and housing problems. In these times of economic crisis and severe financial hardship, psychological and social intervention strategies appear more useful than biological treatments.     

打坐健身机制新探

打坐是一种席地端坐时将两腿交叉相压并调息入静的锻炼方式。打坐行为历史悠久,具有良好的健身作用,近年还发现对心脑血管疾病有一定治疗康复作用。但在中国由于打坐经常被认为属于宗教修炼而被普通大众忽视。本文将打坐与宗教分离开来,通过现代医学理论从调整呼吸、入静、远程缺血预适应保护等对神经系统、内脏功能（肺、消化系统、心血管系统及淋巴循环功能）的影响方面探讨了打坐的健身机制,为进一步研究并向大众推广这种安全有效的健身方法提供一管之见。特别是对心血管系统的保护作用值得进一步研究利用。     

关于全科医学兴起和发展的哲学审视

全科医学的兴起已经成为"必然",当今医学科学的发展应该对这种"必然"做出理性的思考.全科医学的兴起和发展隐含着对现代医疗中失人性化倾向的反动,揭示了人道主义精神在现代医疗中的回归.全科医疗与专科医疗是一种互补关系,共同丰富和完善医疗卫生服务体系.     

Meditation and the scope of mental action

While philosophers of mind have devoted abundant time and attention to questions of content and consciousness, philosophical questions about the nature and scope of mental action have been relatively neglected. Galen Strawson’s account of mental action, the most well developed extant account, holds that cognitive mental action consists in triggering the delivery of content to one’s field of consciousness. However, Strawson fails to recognize several distinct types of mental action that might not reduce to triggering content delivery. In this article, we argue that meditation provides a useful model for understanding a wider range of types of mental action than heretofore recognized. Conclusions yielded by two distinct bodies of current psychological research on meditation and cognition, and meditation and introspection, buttress meditation’s suitability for this role.     

Breath Versus Emotions: The Impact of Different Foci of Attention During Mindfulness Meditation on the Experience of Negative and Positive Emotions

Mindfulness meditation yields beneficial effects on the processing of emotions. However, it is still unclear whether the focus of attention during meditation influences these effects. In the present study we aimed at comparing the effects of breathing meditation and emotion-focused meditation on the immediate and delayed processing of negative and positive emotions. The study included 65 adult novice meditators who were exposed to positively and negatively valenced film clips. Participants were randomly assigned to three conditions. While watching the films at t1, they were asked to mindfully focus on their breath (condition 1), on emotions (condition 2), or on nothing in particular (condition 3). Ten minutes later at t2, comparable film clips were shown but all participants watched them without taking up a mindful attitude. Dependent measures were emotional states at t1 and t2. Participants of both meditation conditions particularly showed a more preferable delayed emotional reaction to negative stimuli than participants of the control condition. Breathing meditation and emotion-focused meditation may constitute effective emotion regulation strategies to deal with negatively valenced emotional states.     

Learning from Spiritual Models and Meditation: A Randomized Evaluation of a College Course

Effects of two meditation and mindfulness-based spiritual interventions were examined in college undergraduates (N=44). Compared to a control group, both interventions decreased negative religious coping (d=−0.80, p<.01) and images of God as mainly controlling (d=−.73, p<.01). One intervention provided more training in tools for learning from community and tradition-based spiritual exemplars. It produced gains in famous or traditional spiritual exemplars’ perceived influence (d=+.81, p<.05) and availability (d=+.66, p<.10), in self-efficacy for learning from spiritual exemplars (d=+.92, p<.05), and in nonmaterialistic aspirations (d=+0.65, p<.05).     

Personality and Spirituality: Christian Prayer and Eastern Meditation Are Not the Same

A random sample of 1,033 adults in an Australian community survey completed a form containing the abbreviated Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire together with questions about the practice of prayer and Eastern meditation. While prayer was associated with low psychoticism scores, Eastern meditation was associated with high psychoticism scores.     

SARS反思:我国卫生资源宏观分配中存在的几个问题

此次应对SARS的历程昭示我们,我国卫生资源宏观分配存在严重问题。主要表现在：政府卫生总投入严重不足;政府卫生资源在治疗和预防之间的再分配不合理;政府卫生资源的城乡分布极不均衡。我国应该从这次对抗SARS的战役中吸取教训,努力改变这种不合理的局面,提高我国应对各种疾病特别是各种传染病的能力,增进我国人民特剐是农民的健康水平。     

The Effects of Tai Chi Chuan Relaxation and Exercise on Stress Responses and Well-Being: An Overview of Research

The rationale of this article is to review, analyze, and discuss studies concerning the role of Tai Chi in stress management and well-being, linking those studies to research on exercise, yoga, and relaxation with regard to physiological and psychological wellness. All studies reported in PsychLit and Medline between 1996 and 1999 directly related to the subject, plus other studies relevant for the analysis, are addressed in this review. Studies reviewed in this article characterize Tai Chi as a form of moderate exercise. Although Tai Chi may not be suitable for achieving aerobic fitness, it may enhance flexibility and overall psychological well-being. Cognitively, there are indications that Tai Chi exercise may lead to improvements in mood. However, it is not clear whether the positive effects of Tai Chi are due solely to its relaxation and meditation component, or whether they are the consequence of various peripheral factors, since it is known that stress reduction often occurs when we indulge in activities we find pleasurable and satisfying. An important finding is that all studies on the benefits of Tai Chi for senior adults have revealed positive results.     

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Sense of Coherence Among Women with Fibromyalgia

Sense of Coherence (SOC) is conceptualized as a disposition to experience life as meaningful and manageable. Research suggests a protective effect of SOC on psychological health in stressful circumstances. This study assessed the capacity of SOC to buffer the effect of illness symptoms on psychological distress among patients with fibromyalgia. Self-reported changes in SOC after participation in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program were also examined. Ninety-one women with fibromyalgia provided baseline data pertaining to illness symptoms, perceived stress, and depression prior to participation in a randomized trial of MBSR. SOC and fibromyalgia symptoms were independently related to perceived stress and depression at baseline. SOC was not a statistically significant moderator of symptom effects on psychological distress. In comparison with wait-listed controls, program participants reported a significant increase in SOC after MBSR participation. These results provide the first demonstration from a randomized trial that SOC may be enhanced via intervention.