View clinical trials related to Immune System Processes.
Filter by:Important health benefits of meditation may be conferred as much by what people actually do and say in their daily lives as by how they self-perceive the effect of training on their behavior and emotions. To test this hypothesis, and to explore whether specific elements of meditation (e.g. compassion vs. mindfulness) have different effects on real-world social behavior, the current project proposes to use the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) in a randomized, longitudinal design to objectively measure whether meditation does indeed make people behave in happier, kinder and more prosocial ways in their daily lives. This design will permit an exploratory analysis of how such behavioral transformations might relate to subjective reports of meditative effects. To accomplish these objectives, 108 medically healthy adults will be randomized to 8 weeks training in compassion meditation (n=36), Mindfulness Attention Training (MAT) (n = 36) or to an active control condition consisting of a health education discussion group (n=36). Prior to randomization and again upon completion of these interventions, all subjects will participate in an EAR protocol to evaluate the effect of meditation training on their real-world prosocial and affiliative behavior. Based on prior research and direct pilot data from 25 participants, prosocial and affiliative behavior will be assessed as the amount of (1) shown empathy and affection, (2) laughing vs. sighing, (3) arguing and complaining, (4) time spent interacting with others vs. alone, (5) meaningful conversations, (6) socially inclusive (i.e. use of "we"/us") vs. self-focused (i.e. use of "I"/me") first person language. Following the first EAR assessment, subjects will commence 8 weeks of compassion meditation training, MAT, or attendance in the health discussion group. Following these interventions subjects will participate in EAR monitoring identical to the initial assessment. To assess whether changes in daily behavior are sustained over a longer period, all subjects will undergo a final EAR assessment 6 months following completion of the study interventions. Self-report measures of social integration and support and behavioral/lifestyle variables that might be associated with EAR outcomes will be evaluated prior to each EAR assessment and treated as covariates.
The increasingly widespread use of meditation for stress-related emotional and medical conditions highlights the urgent need to rigorously evaluate mechanisms through which the benefits of practice might be conferred. Primary challenges in this regard include evaluating dose response relationships between practice time and outcomes; clarifying whether physiological and behavioral effects of meditation derive primarily from non-specific aspects of training or result from specific meditation practices; and identifying molecular mechanisms by which meditation might affect physiological responses relevant to stress-related illness. Recent findings from a cross-sectional study by our group indicate that young adults who are randomized to, and practice, compassion meditation demonstrate reduced inflammatory responses, less emotional distress, and reduced autonomic responses to a standardized laboratory psychosocial stressor (Trier Social Stress Test [TSST]) when compared to subjects randomized to an active control condition. However, as a result of the cross-sectional study design and lack of a meditation comparator arm, these results provide only partial insight into key issues outlined above regarding the role played by specific meditation procedures and/or practice time in observed physiological and behavioral outcomes. The primary hypothesis of the proposed work is that practicing a meditation procedure specifically designed to enhance empathic concern for others (i.e. compassion meditation) will optimize autonomic reactivity to psychosocial stress in a manner that results in diminished activation of peripheral inflammatory signaling pathways and reduced behavioral distress.
Background: - The Vaccine Research Center (VRC) is dedicated to understanding immune responses associated with prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. To study these immune responses, researchers need to collect specimens and images from individuals who have recently had a vaccination or recovered from an infection. These specimens and images are used to study different diseases and immune responses, and can be used to investigate ways to prevent or treat different medical conditions. Objectives: - To evaluate blood and other tissue samples for immune responses to vaccines and natural infections. Eligibility: - Healthy volunteers at least 18 years of age who agree to donate specimens for research purposes. Design: - Participants will have clinical evaluations and will be asked to provide some of the following samples, depending on the research question being addressed. All procedures and sample donations are optional and voluntary: - Blood samples through regular blood draws (for whole blood) and apheresis (to collect specific parts of the blood such as plasma or white blood cells) - Urine, semen, saliva, or vaginal swab samples - Tissue samples or biopsy specimens - Undergo procedures such as bronchoscopy (lung and respiratory tract), gastrointestinal endoscopy (stomach and upper intestinal tract), or colonoscopy (lower intestinal tract) to obtain tissue samples - Undergo imaging studies such as positron emission tomography (PET) or computed tomography (CT) scans Duration of participation is variable depending on the research question but will usually last up to 1 year. - Participants will be compensated for participation.