Anxiety and depression are the most frequently diagnosed psychological diseases showing a high co-morbidity. They have a severe impact on the lives of the persons concerned. Many meta-analytical studies suggested a positive anxiolytic and depression-reducing effect of exercise programs. The aim of the present article is to synthesize metaanalyses on the effects of exercise on anxiety and depression and to describe average effect sizes. For this purpose 37 meta-analyses were included reporting 50 effect sizes for anxiety scores of 42,264 participants and depression scores of 48,207 persons. The average documented anxiolytic effect of exercise in these reviews was small, 0.34. In contrast, the effect of exercise on depression was significantly higher and at a moderate level, 0.56. Data of randomized controlled trials suggest higher sizes for the effect of exercise on anxiety and depression leading to increases up to moderate and large effects, respectively. Additionally, exercise seems to be more beneficial for patients compared to participants within a non-clinical, normal range of psychological disease. Especially for the effect of exercise on anxiety, more high quality meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials are needed. Finally, possible neurobiological explanations are suggested for the positive effect of exercise on psychological disorders like anxiety and depression.

Because the function and mechanisms of sleep are partially clear, here we applied a meta-analysis to address the issue whether sleep function includes antioxidative properties in mice and rats. Given the expansion of the knowledge in the sleep field, it is indeed ambitious to describe all mammals, or other animals, in which sleep shows an antioxidant function. However, in this paper we reviewed the current understanding from basic studies in two species to drive the hypothesis that sleep is a dynamic-resting state with antioxidative properties. We performed a systematic review of articles cited in Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science until March 2015 using the following search terms:Sleep or sleep deprivation and oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, glutathione, nitric oxide, catalase or superoxide dismutase. We found a total of 266 studies. After inclusion and exclusion criteria, 44 articles were included, which are presented and discussed in this study. The complex relationship between sleep duration and oxidative stress is discussed. Further studies should consider molecular and genetic approaches to determine whether disrupted sleep promotes oxidative stress.

Article: Active exergames to improve cognitive functioning in neurological disabilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis - European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine 2018 June;54(3):450-62 - Minerva Medica - Journals

Anxiety and depression are pathologies that affect human beings in many aspects of life, including social life, productivity and health. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a constituent non-psychotomimetic of Cannabis sativa with great psychiatric potential, including uses as an antidepressant-like and anxiolytic-like compound. The aim of this study is to review studies of animal models using CBD as an anxiolytic-like and antidepressant-like compound. Studies involving animal models, performing a variety of experiments on the above-mentioned disorders, such as the forced swimming test (FST), elevated plus maze (EPM) and Vogel conflict test (VCT), suggest that CBD exhibited an anti-anxiety and antidepressant effects in animal models discussed. Experiments with CBD demonstrated non-activation of neuroreceptors CB1 and CB2. Most of the studies demonstrated a good interaction between CBD and the 5-HT1A neuro-receptor.

Some patients are no longer able to communicate effectively or even interact with the outside world in ways that most of us take for granted. In the most severe cases, tetraplegic or post-stroke patients are literally 'locked in' their bodies, unable to exert any motor control after, for example, a spinal cord injury or a brainstem stroke, requiring alternative methods of communication and control. But we suggest that, in the near future, their brains may offer them a way out. Non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG)-based brain-computer interfaces (BCI) can be characterized by the technique used to measure brain activity and by the way that different brain signals are translated into commands that control an effector (e.g., controlling a computer cursor for word processing and accessing the internet). This review focuses on the basic concepts of EEG-based BCI, the main advances in communication, motor control restoration and the downregulation of cortical activity, and the mirror neuron system (MNS) in the context of BCI. The latter appears to be relevant for clinical applications in the coming years, particularly for severely limited patients. Hypothetically, MNS could provide a robust way to map neural activity to behavior, representing the high-level information about goals and intentions of these patients. Non-invasive EEG-based BCIs allow brain-derived communication in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and motor control restoration in patients after spinal cord injury and stroke. Epilepsy and attention deficit and hyperactive disorder patients were able to downregulate their cortical activity. Given the rapid progression of EEG-based BCI research over the last few years and the swift ascent of computer processing speeds and signal analysis techniques, we suggest that emerging ideas (e.g., MNS in the context of BCI) related to clinical neurorehabilitation of severely limited patients will generate viable clinical applications in the near future.