Neuropsychology
Foad Niknasab; Fazlollah Bagherzadeh; Mahmoud Sheikh; Ali Moghadamzadeh; Davoud Hominian
Abstract
Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) display slowness, inaccuracy, and insufficient coordination in the performance of motor skills. Compared to children with normal development, they generally have poorer performance in tasks that require visual-motor integration. We evaluated the ...
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Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) display slowness, inaccuracy, and insufficient coordination in the performance of motor skills. Compared to children with normal development, they generally have poorer performance in tasks that require visual-motor integration. We evaluated the effect of tDCS stimulation on visual-motor integration in children with DCD. In this quasi-experimental study, featuring a pre-test-post-test design, 40 students with DCD aged 7-10 years were selected according to the inclusion criteria and randomly assigned into two groups: tDCS stimulation and artificial stimulation. In the pre-test, participants took a visual-motor integration test. The intervention phase was administered for 5 consecutive days. Each day, the subjects underwent either electrical stimulation in the motor cortex (anode at C3 and cathode at Fp2) or artificial stimulation. The post-test was administered in the last session. Short-term and long-term follow-ups were performed 1 day and 42 days after the post-test, respectively. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze the data. The results showed that electrical stimulation of the motor cortex significantly improves the visual-motor integration of children with DCD. The follow-up results supported the persistence of motor-visual integration in these children. In general, the results emphasized the effectiveness of tDCS exercises on motor-visual integration in children with DCD.
Neuropsychology
Amir Hossien Mehrsafar; Ali Moghadamzadeh; Hassan Gharayagh Zandi; Miguel Angel Serrano Rosa; Fazlollah Bagherzadeh
Abstract
Purpose: The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effect of mindfulness intervention on perceived stress and salivary immunoglobulin A (sIgA) levels of elite wrestlers during the competition period. Methods: 20 male elite freestyle wrestlers (age: 22.36±2.38) participated ...
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Purpose: The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effect of mindfulness intervention on perceived stress and salivary immunoglobulin A (sIgA) levels of elite wrestlers during the competition period. Methods: 20 male elite freestyle wrestlers (age: 22.36±2.38) participated in this study and were randomly assigned to experimental (mindfulness-based intervention) and control groups. Two official competitions were used as pre-test and post-test. Perceived stress was measured by the short version of Perceived stress scale. Awakening and competitive levels of salivary immunoglobulin A were evaluated using the ELISA method. The experimental group participated in 8-week mindfulness intervention (two sessions per week). Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA and independent t-test. Results: The results showed that after the 8 weeks of intervention, perceived stress was reduced in the experimental group. Hoewer, the awakening and competitive levels of immunoglobulin A did not show a significant difference compared to the control group from pre-test to post-test. Conclusion: In general, it can be concluded that mindfulness intervention can be a strategy to reduce the perceived stress in elite wrestlers during the competition period. Future studies with larger samples with other disciplines can better demonstrate the comprehensiveness of the results.
