The Applied Neuroscience Society of Australasia

Annual Conference and Workshops

24-28 August 2007

Mental health through self regulation and nutrition

Speakers:

Professor Richard Gevirtz, San Diego, USA
Heart rate Variability Biofeedback for treating Anxiety, IBS, Cardiac and non-cardiac Chest pains

Dr Len Ochs, Psychologist, Sebastopol, California, USA
The LENS system - An effective brain training system which is related to but not the same as neurofeedback

Dr. Dennis Shum, Psychiatrist, Geelong, Australia
"Behavioural & Emotional Symptom Elimination Training For Resolving Excess Emotion, Fear, Anger, Sadness and Trauma" (BSFF) - a behavioural and solution-focused approach to resolve emotional trauma

Professor Evian Gordon, CEO Brain Resource Company, Australia
International Study of ADHD Neurofeedback Efficacy (iSANE)”

Jacques Duff - Psychologist, Melbourne, Australia
Quantitative EEG and biomedical underpinnings of ADHD subjects and effective treatment options

Nerida Saunders - Psychologist, Tweed Heads, Australia
Objective validation of a personalized neurofeedback training approach.

Martha Mack - Psychologist, Melbourne, Australia
The effectiveness of "The listening program" in treating Central Auditory Processing Disorders (CAPD)

Henry Oseicki - Nutritionist and author of several books on functional nutrition
The impact of nutritional factors on neurotransmitter function and mental health.

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PRE CONFERENCE Workshop
24th August 2007 - HRV THEORY AND PRACTICE - Richard Gevirtz PhD
Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback for anxiety disorders, IBS and Non Cardiac Chest Pains.....

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a measure of the variability in the intervals between heart beats. HRV is an index of the tone of the vagus nerve, which slows down the heart during expiration when the autonomic nervous system is operating in parasympathetic tone. Low HRV is correlated with anxiety and sympathetic arousal and with an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. HRV Biofeedback has become a hot topic in many medical and psychological areas, and has emerged as a powerful tool to help in the self-regulation of the autonomic nervous system.

This workshop covers the basic physiology and neurophysiology underlying HRV biofeedback phenomenon. Applications for several disorders will be presented to enable each participant to learn HRV protocols for disorders such as: chronic pain, headache, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, etc.

Participants in this workshop will learn how to use respiration biofeedback to maximize heart rate variability to treat cardiac pain and anxiety disorders and minimise symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). The technique is currently called "Resonant Frequency Training" (RFT) and was previously called respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) biofeedback. The literature supporting the technique's efficacy is solid (e.g. Gevirtz 1999, Gevirtz 2002, Lehrer et al 2000

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Post-conference workshop - 27-28 August 2007
Dr. Len Ochs PhD, Director and founder of Ochs Labs and the designer of the LENS system.

The LENS, or Low Energy Neurofeedback System, uses a very low power electromagnetic field down the same wires carrying the brain waves to the amplifier and computer. Although the feedback signal is weak, it produces a measurable change in the brainwaves without conscious effort from the individual receiving the feedback. The LENS software allows the EEG signals that are recorded from the scalp to control the feedback electromagnetic field .

The gut bacteria profile, when they appear, and how long they stay varied widely among babie

Chana Palmer and Patrick Brown collected daily stool samples from 14 healthy babies from birth, to the end of the first year.

They profiled the microbial communities present.

They also collected stool samples from many of the parents and siblings, as well as vaginal and breast-milk samples from the mothers.

They extracted genetic material that used a single gene that tells betweent housands of distinct microbial species.

Of the 4,000-plus genetic sequences found, 3 major taxonomic groups dominate.

There is no link between mode of delivery and onset of colonization.

The two cesarean section babies had lower bacterial counts than the others during the first week.

The twins' flora was similar to each other until one year old, when all the babies' profiles converged toward a adult-like profile.

This suggests that a baby’s initial bacterial profile is comes mainly by chance microbial encounters.

The fact that some of the early stool samples matched their mother’s breast milk or vaginal sample supports this interpretation.

The tendency of bacterial profile to converge may be due to human–microbe symbiosis, and selection pressure in the gut, where certain well-adapted microbes repeatedly wins the battle over the opportunistic early colonizers.

http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0050191

Evolution of Symbiotic Bacteria in the Distal Human Intestine

http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0050156

The adult human intestine contains trillions of bacteria, representing hundreds of species and thousands of subspecies.

Little is previous known about the selective pressures that have shaped and are shaping this community's component species, which are dominated by members of the Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes divisions.

We sequenced the genomes of two members of the normal distal human gut microbiota, Bacteroides vulgatus and Bacteroides distasonis, and by comparison with the few other sequenced gut and non-gut Bacteroidetes, analyzed their niche and habitat adaptations.

The results show that lateral gene transfer, mobile elements, and gene amplification have played important roles in affecting the ability of gut-dwelling Bacteroidetes to vary their cell surface, sense their environment, and harvest nutrients in the distal intestine.

These processes drive the adaptation of Bacteroidetes to the distal gut environment.