Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), a signature wound of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, can result from blunt head trauma or exposure to a blast/explosion. While TBI affects sleep, the neurobiological underpinnings between TBI and sleep are largely unknown. To examine the neurobiological underpinnings of this relationship in military veterans, [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) was used to compare mTBI-related changes in relative cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (rCMRglc) during wakefulness, Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, and non-REM (NREM) sleep, after adjusting for the effects of posttraumatic stress (PTS). Fourteen Veterans with a history of Blast Exposure and/or mTBI (B/mTBI) (age 27.5 ± 3.9) and eleven Veterans with no history (No B/mTBI) (age 27.7 ± 3.8) completed FDG PET studies during wakefulness, REM sleep, and NREM sleep. Whole-brain analyses were conducted using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM8). Between group comparisons revealed that B/mTBI was associated with significantly lower rCMRglc during wakefulness and REM sleep in the amygdala, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, thalamus, insula, uncus, culmen, visual association cortices, and midline medial frontal cortices. These results suggest alterations in neurobiological networks during Wakefulness and REM sleep subsequent to B/mTBI exposure, may contribute to chronic sleep disturbances, and differ in individuals with acute symptoms.

Brain-based behavioral interventions targeting specific neurocognitive mechanisms show initial promise in the treatment of emotional disorders, but personalization of such approaches will be facilitated if brain targets are empirically established. As a preliminary step, we conducted a proof-of-concept study to test whether particular emotion regulatory neural circuitry can be differentially targeted by specific neurocognitive tasks, and whether these tasks effectively inhibit amygdala activity. Eleven healthy individuals underwent an idiographic sadness and guilt induction. Brain response was measured via fMRI during 4 subsequent emotion regulation conditions: fixation, cognitive reappraisal (selected to target the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex), working memory practice (selected to target the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), and visual distraction (Tetris; selected to target occipital cortex). In whole-brain comparisons to fixation, hypotheses were upheld. Reappraisal uniquely activated left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, working memory practice uniquely activated left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and Tetris uniquely activated bilateral occipitoparietal cortex, activations that were largely robust at the single-subject level. All tasks inhibited amygdala activity relative to fixation. Data support examining whether repeated exposure to these tasks in psychiatric patients affects neural abnormalities implicated in emotional disorders. Ideally, psychiatric treatment will be accelerated by matching specific treatments to patients with specific neural profiles.

Study Objectives: This study examined the extent to which self-reported exposure to blast during deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan affects subjective and objective sleep measures in service members and veterans with and without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Methods: Seventy-one medication-free service members and veterans (mean age = 29.47 ± 5.76 years old; 85% men) completed self-report sleep measures and overnight polysomnographic studies. Four multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) were conducted to examine the impact of blast exposure and PTSD on subjective sleep measures, measures of sleep continuity, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep parameters, and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep parameters. Results: There was no significant Blast × PTSD interaction on subjective sleep measures. Rather, PTSD had a main effect on insomnia severity, sleep quality, and disruptive nocturnal behaviors. There was no significant Blast × PTSD interaction, nor were there main effects of PTSD or Blast on measures of sleep continuity and NREM sleep. A significant PTSD × Blast interaction effect was found for REM fragmentation. Conclusions:The results suggest that, although persistent concussive symptoms following blast exposure are associated with sleep disturbances, selfreported blast exposure without concurrent symptoms does not appear to contribute to poor sleep quality, insomnia, and disruptive nocturnal disturbances beyond the effects of PTSD. Reduced REM sleep fragmentation may be a sensitive index of the synergetic effects of both psychological and physical insults. I NTRO DUCTI O NMild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is one of the signature injuries of the Global War on Terror, and is among the leading factors contributing to disability and death among military service members of Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).1-4 mTBI is defined as a loss of consciousness lasting up to 30 minutes, alteration of consciousness/mental state from a moment up to 24 hours, and posttraumatic amnesia lasting 1 day or less, in the absence of detectable abnormal structural imaging findings.5 Between 30% and 40% of combat infantry and other military personnel who have served in OEF/OIF have been exposed to blast forces resulting from explosives, particularly improvised explosive devices (IEDs).6,7 While mTBI sustained from blast injuries are not the only means of sustaining mTBI (i.e., blunt trauma), blast injuries represent the most common type of mTBI reported in returning military personnel.3,8 Of those exposed to blasts, the reported prevalence rates of subsequent mTBI in warfighters vary between 4.9% to 22%. 6,7,9,10 The projected 2-year costs associated with chronic mTBI, which refers to symptoms and impairments that last more than three months post-injury, could average as much as $591 billion. 10Sleep disturbances are prevalent among both warfighters and civilians with subacute (i.e., < 3 months in duration) and chronic mild traumatic brain injury (cmTBI), and can impede recovery.11,12 As many...

The essential purpose of this research study is to analyze the relationship among information technology, precision agriculture, and sustainability. This research study is related to primary data analysis, which determines the research used specific questions related to the variables. The open-ended and closed-ended questions are used for gathering the data, and these questions fulfill from different participants who have knowledge about sustainability, information technology, and agriculture. For measuring the data, used smart PLS software and generated different informative results such as indicator correlation, R square, F square, discriminant validity, and composite Reliability. Also, that smart PLS Algorithm model in between independent and dependent variables. Information technology is the main independent variable, and precision agriculture, also sustainability are both dependent variables. The overall result found that information technology positively relates to precision agriculture. The significant and direct relation with sustainability and information technology are positively associated with each other.

Drawing on parallels from the world of comedy, sports and emergency medicine, Ben Paul reflects on key learnings from the Performance Psychology in Medicine symposium hosted by London's Air Ambulance.