Maximilian Moser

Medical University of Graz · Institute of Physiology

Objective: In this research we explored the (homeo)dynamic character of cardiorespiratory coupling (CRC) under the influence of different body posture and breathing regimes. Our tool for it was the pulse respiration quotient (PRQ), representing the number of heartbeat intervals per breathing cycle. We obtained non-integer PRQ values using our advan...

Introduction: A functional reciprocity between the gut microbiome and vagal nerve activity has been suggested, however, human studies addressing this phenomenon are limited. Methods: Twenty-four-hour cardiac vagal activity (CVA) was assessed from 73 female participants (aged 24.5 ± 4.3 years). Additionally, stool samples were subjected to 16SrRN...

Background Depressive disorders are disorders of the entire organism characterized by a cluster of symptoms on the emotional, cognitive, physiological, motor, social-interactive and behavioral level. Current literature shows that depressed people also have a higher heart rate and limited heart rate variability (HRV) compared to control subjects. Re...

Mindfulness-based receptive music therapy in depressed patients A pilot randomized controlled trial evaluating heart rate variability and mindfulness Background: Depressive disorders are disorders of the entire organism characterized by a cluster of symptoms on the emotional, cognitive, physiological, motor, social-interactive and behavioral level...

Drowsiness is a leading cause of accidents on the road as it negatively affects the driver’s ability to safely operate a vehicle. Neural activity recorded by EEG electrodes is a widely used physiological correlate of driver drowsiness. This paper presents a novel dynamical modeling solution to estimate the instantaneous level of the driver drowsine...

Driver drowsiness is one of the leading causes of traffic accidents. This paper proposes a new method for classifying driver drowsiness using deep convolution neural networks trained by wavelet scalogram images of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. Three different classes were defined for drowsiness based on video observation of driving tests perform...

Driver drowsiness is one of the leading causes of traffic accidents. This paper proposes a new method for classifying driver drowsiness using deep convolution neural networks trained by wavelet scalogram images of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. Three different classes were de-fined for drowsiness based on video observation of driving tests perfor...

Introduction: A new inpatient secondary preventive program for patients with musculoskeletal health problems was introduced throughout Austria. The aim of the current work was to evaluate this ‘Health Prevention Active’ program and its possible influences on the quality of medical results upon hospital discharge. Methods: This observational study...

Cardiorespiratory interactions (CRIs) reflect the mutual tuning of two important organismic oscillators—the heartbeat and respiration. These interactions can be used as a powerful tool to characterize the self-organizational and recreational quality of sleep. In this randomized, blinded and cross-over design study, we investigated CRIs in 15 subjec...

Altern ist mit einer Verringerung der Schwingungsamplitude des Tagesverlaufs von physiologischen Variablen verbunden. Die Häufigkeit von Stürzen folgt bei älteren Menschen einem Tagesgang. Darüber hinaus sind die Zusammenhänge zwischen Alterungsprozessen und Faktoren, die vegetative Störungen begünstigen, gut bekannt. So konnte ein starker Zusammen...

Objectives Rehabilitation plays a vital role in the mitigation and improvement of functional limitations associated with aging and chronic conditions. Moderating factors such as sex, age, the medical diagnosis, and rehabilitation timing for admission status, as well as the expected change related to inpatient rehabilitation, are examined to provide...

Aging is associated with weakening of the circadian system. The circadian amplitude of most physiological variables is reduced, while the circadian phase becomes more labile and tends to occur earlier with advancing age. As the incidence of falls in older persons could follow circadian variations, a better understanding of conditions in which falls...

—Reduced alertness due to the drowsy state that impairs driving performance has been reported to be one of the significant causes of road accidents. This paper aims to present a data fusion of vehicle-based and ECG signals for classifying three levels of driver drowsiness, including alert, moderately drowsy, and extremely drowsy. Lateral deviation...

Depressive disorders are disorders of the entire organism characterized by a cluster of symptoms on the emotional, cognitive, physiological, motor, social-interactive and behavioral levels. Current literature shows the depressed people also have a higher heart rate and limited heart rate variability (HRV) compared to control subjects [1]. Relaxatio...

The development of automated driving is an ongoing process; nonetheless, certain problems remain unresolved. One of them is the question when the automated vehicle control system should hand over the control to a human driver and whether this can be done in a safe way. What happens if a driver is not ready to take over? Can the system somehow estim...

This dissertation project will investigate the efficacy of music therapy interventions in depressive patients (n=40). Through questionnaires and HRV measurements, psychometric and stress markers and their interaction will be obtained. The correlating intensity measure of depression repectively awareness sensitization will be collected with the help...

Depressive disorders are disorders of the entire organism characterized by a cluster of symptoms on the emotional, cognitive, physiological, motor, social-interactive and behavioral levels. Current literature shows the depressed people also have a higher heart rate and limited heart rate variability (HRV) compared to control subjects [1]. Relaxatio...

Objective: Several different measures of heart rate variability, and particularly of respiratory sinus arrhythmia, are widely used in research and clinical applications. For many purposes it is important to know which features of heart rate variability are directly related to respiration and which are caused by other aspects of cardiac dynamics. Ap...

Automatically determining when a person falls asleep from easily available vital signals is important, not just for medical applications but also for practical ones, such as traffic safety or smart homes. Heart dynamics and respiration cycle couple differently during sleep and awake. Specifically, respiratory modulation of heart rhythm or respirato...

Background: A well-coordinated organism in which the body's rhythms work together recovers particularly well and quickly. Rhythmicity can be read off well from heart rate variability (HRV) or heart rhythm flexibility. It results from the cyclical interaction of the two control organs of the heart - the parasympathetic and the sympathetic nervous sy...

We develop a technique for the multivariate data analysis of perturbed self-sustained oscillators. The approach is based on the reconstruction of the phase dynamics model from observations and on a subsequent exploration of this model. For the system, driven by several inputs, we suggest a dynamical disentanglement procedure, allowing us to reconst...

Background & aims: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe psychosomatic disease that seriously affects nutritional status. Therapeutic approaches primarily aim for rapid weight restoration by high caloric diets and activity restriction. This often promotes abdominal body fat gain, which potentially negatively influences the patient's compliance and inc...

Background Vagal activity is critical for maintaining key body functions, including the stability of inflammatory control. Its weakening, such as in the aftermatch of a surgery, leaves the body vulnerable to diverse inflammatory conditions, including sepsis.Methods Vagal activity can be measured by the cardiorespiratory interaction known as respira...

Inpatient medical rehabilitation improves general well-being and physical functioning and reduces risk factors in the majority of patients. These achievements can be observed in all age groups. From a medical point of view all patients should be offered rehabilitation independent of age, sex and employment status.

Incidences of chronic diseases are increasing in modern society and with age. Rehabilitation plays a vital role in preventing and minimizing the functional limitations associated with ageing and chronic conditions. In Austria phase II (WHO) rehabilitation is generally carried out stationary. As part of the documentation for all patients who benefi...

We develop a technique for the multivariate data analysis of perturbed self-sustained oscillators. The approach is based on the reconstruction of the phase dynamics model from observations and on a subsequent exploration of this model. For the system, driven by several inputs, we suggest a dynamical disentanglement procedure, allowing us to reconst...

Psychophysiological Study to Evaluate Heart Rate Variability and Awareness in Receptive Music Therapy with Depressive Patients This dissertation project will examine the efficacy of music therapy intervention in depressive patients (n=40). Through HRV measurements, psychometric and biological interaction and stress markers will be obtained. The c...

Biological oscillations occur within the human organism in several time scales, from milliseconds to years. After Forsgren first discovered diurnal variations in the liver metabolism in 1928, mainstream science has assumed that diurnal cycles of physiological parameters are random fluctuations, measurement artefacts or secondary oscillations follow...

Purpose: Clinical uses of mechanical whole body vibration therapies are the subject of contradictory debate. Orthopaedic pathologies, including the presence of endoprostheses, are considered to be contraindications. Materials and Methods: Within the context of a 3-week in-patient rehabilitation programme 109 orthopaedic patients (61,4±8 years) were...

Different measures of heart rate variability and particularly of respiratory sinus arrhythmia are widely used in research and clinical applications. Inspired by the ideas from the theory of coupled oscillators, we use simultaneous measurements of respiratory and cardiac activity to perform a nonlinear disentanglement of the heart rate variability i...

In recent years, LED lighting became an indispensable alternative to conventional lighting systems. Sophisticated solutions offer not only comfortable white light with a high color rendering index. They also provide the possibility of changing illuminance and color temperature values. Such systems are supposed to have a positive effect on well-bein...

Aims and Objectives: The autonomic nervous system plays an important role in homeostasis and organismic recreation, control of immune function, inflammation, and bone growth. It also regulates blood pressure and orthostasis via vagal and sympathetic pathways. Besides recording of heart rate variability (HRV), which characterizes medium (1–5 min) an...

Wood is generally associated with being practical, aesthetic and economy-friendly. Using wood in interior settings also can be based on psychological expectations and assumptions, as wood is attributed as warmer, more homely, more relaxing and more inviting. However, when investigating psychological differences, wood is usually compared to carpets,...

In recent years, LED lighting became an indispensable alternative to conventional lighting systems. Sophisticated solutions offer not only comfortable white light with a good color rendering. They also provide the possibility of changing illuminance and color temperature. Some systems even simulate daylight over the entire day, some including natur...

Der menschliche Organismus schwingt in zahlreichen biologischen Rhythmen, welche die zeitgerechte Aktivierung und Deaktivierung von Körperfunktionen steuern. Alle Organsysteme sind dabei so aufeinander abgestimmt, dass ein optimales Zusammenspiel der Funktionen zustande kommt. Für die gegenseitige Synchronisation dieser Funktionen spielen Zeitgeber...

Rhythmik ist ein universales zeitliches Organisationsprinzip in der Natur. Ein zentraler Taktgeber konnte nicht festgestellt werden, wohl aber eine Koordination durch zentrale Oszillatoren. Das Spektrum und die Charakteristiken biologischer Rhythmen und Zeitgeber werden dargestellt sowie endo- und exogene Rhythmen in ihren Wirkungsweisen diskutiert...

Human biological age is a concept approached by many researchers from medicine, biology, genetics etc. However, there is no universal definition of this concept and many approaches are based on ad hoc heuristics taking into account chronological age, weight, education, some crucial habits like doing sports, drinking alcohol, smoking etc. and predic...

Natural materials in indoor settings influence the human organism positively. Wood is a natural material and shows similar positive effects on the individual's well-being. Because of similar looks and functional properties wood can be compared with laminate. However, when investigating psychological differences, wood is usually compared to carpets,...

Herz- und Atemrhythmus repräsentieren interagierende physiologische Oszillationen. Ihr Zusammenhang kann in Gestalt der aus der Herzfrequenzvariabilität (HRV) abgeleiteten respiratorischen Sinusarrhythmie oder als Ausprägungen kardiorespiratorischer Synchronisation untersucht werden. In der Anthroposophischen Medizin hat aufgrund einer Anregung Rud...

Heart rate and breathing rate fluctuations represent interacting physiological oscillations. These interactions are commonly studied using respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) of heart rate variability (HRV) or analyzing cardiorespiratory synchronization. Earlier work has focused on a third type of relationship, the temporal ratio of respiration rate...

When an astronaut transitions from a low to high gravitational environment, fluid shifts from the head towards the feet resulting in orthostatic intolerance and syncope. Ground based experiments have shown that by stimulating the cardiovascular system via simple mental stressors, syncope can be delayed, potentially enabling astronauts to reach assi...

Recovering interaction of endogenous rhythms from observations is challenging, especially if a mathematical model explaining the behaviour of the system is unknown. The decisive information for successful reconstruction of the dynamics is the sensitivity of an oscillator to external influences, which is quantified by its phase response curve. Here...

We aimed to describe the relationship between BMI and the subcutaneous adipose tissue topography within young athletes and non-athletic controls, to comparatively evaluate the diagnostic powers of subcutaneous adipose tissue thicknesses at different body sites, furthermore to explore appropriate cut-offs to discriminate between athletes and control...

Specified body sites employed for LIPOMETER measurements of SAT thickness [21] . (TIF)

Although the body mass index (BMI, kg/m 2) is widely used as a surrogate measure of adiposity, it is a measure of ex-cess weight, rather than excess body fat, relative to height. The BMI classification system is derived from cut points ob-tained from the general population. The influence of large muscle mass on BMI in athletes and young adults may...

Although the body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) is widely used as a surrogate measure of adiposity, it is a measure of excess weight, rather than excess body fat, relative to height. The BMI classification system is derived from cut points obtained from the general population. The influence of large muscle mass on BMI in athletes and young adults may mis...

We investigated the cardio-autonomic and psychological effects of colored light cycling with the wavelength of ultradian rhythms. In two consecutive experiments, an explorative, longitudinal test followed by a randomized crossover design, 20 healthy subjects each were exposed to oscillating red, green and blue light. Heart rate, heart rate variabil...

Ziel dieser Studie war es, den Einfluss zweier Bewegungsinterventionen (moderates Lauftraining vs. Koordinationstraining) auf die vegetative Schlaferholung mittels HRV bei Schülerinnen (N=31) aufzuzeigen und mögliche Unterschiede in ihrer Wirkungsweise auf die autonome Modulation herauszuarbeiten. Autonome Erholungskennwerte erhöhten sich in der ko...

Ziel dieser Studie war es, den Einfluss zweier Bewegungsinterventionen (moderates Lauftraining vs. Koordinationstraining) auf die vegetative Schlaferholung mittels HRV bei Schülerinnen (N=31) aufzuzeigen und mögliche Unterschiede in ihrer Wirkungsweise auf die autonome Modulation herauszuarbeiten. Autonome Erholungskennwerte erhöhten sich in der ko...

Bei der Entwicklung und Implementierung neuer Technologien in Innenräumen wird vor allem auf technische und ökonomische Aspekte geachtet. Mindestens ebenso wichtig sind jedoch humanbiologische und kulturelle Aspekte. Neue Studien zeigen, dass der heutige Mensch im Kontakt mit der Natur und natürlichen Materialien Erholung erlebt, Stress abbaut und...

This study wants to answer the question if interior wood use in classrooms has beneficial effects on the pupils. Up to date, most studies examining the effects of School environments on pupils concentrate on light, ergonomics, air quality, noise, colours, etc. (Higgins et al., 2005). We did not find one study looking at effects of different furnish...

This paper aims to introduce a research project to investigate and compare the effect of dynamic lighting on people for different light sources in an office setting. Basic differences of short term effects on human between static and dynamic lighting as well as light-emitting diodes (LED) and fluorescent lamps will be investigated in a laboratory s...

This paper focuses on an experiment the objective of which is to examine the appearance of coloured surfaces and the mood variation under several chromatic lights. To anticipate the appearance of the surface colours, different light conditions are of importance for painters and colour-designers, whose task is to design and apply colours in the buil...

Biological rhythms are coordinating the whole organism and help to anticipate changes in the environment. These rhythms are most present during sleep and might be more important for our health than realized before. Good sleep is considered as a precondition for regeneration and health and is closely connected to lifestyle and conditions of living....

The Human imbedded Grid (HiGrid) uses Grid Computing as a metaphor for the management of distributed work or distributed teams. While the services and capacity a computing resource can provide, are subject to standardized descriptions, representing the state of computing equipment, it is magnitudes more difficult to determine the overall state of h...

Schule stellt für viele SchülerInnen eine große Beanspruchung dar. Dadurch erzeugter negativer Stress führt nicht nur zu Störungen des Wohlbefindens, sondern langfristig zur Beeinträchtigung der Gesundheit. Ernährung, Bewegung und stressmindernde Copingstrategien sind häufig geübte und wichtige verhaltenspräventive Ansätze. Aber auch Raumklima, Luf...

Approaching space in a contemplative manner has shown that landscapes possess varying forms of vitality which impact both human psyche and body. Thus, when encountering space more profoundly physical and emotional processes are set off which, via the vegetative system, can have a calming or stimulating effect on humans. The present study investigat...

In a short overview the following text presents a discussion of the meaning of time and of system-time in biology and medicine and points out certain time-dependent functions and additional conditions or items, all of which can be summarised under the title chronobiology and play an important role in physiology and pathology. There is an intrinsic...

The Tyrolean iceman, a 5300-year-old mummy, presents tattoos on different parts of his body. Skin samples of several line tattoos and a cross tattoo were investigated by optical microscopy and various electron microscopy techniques (TEM, EFETEM, EELS, EDXS, electron diffraction). The epidermis of the investigated skin areas was mostly lacking. The...

Although the body mass index (BMI, kg/m 2) is widely used as a surrogate measure of adiposity, it is a measure of excess weight, rather than excess body fat, relative to height. The BMI classification system is derived from cut points obtained from the general population. The influence of large muscle mass on BMI in athletes and young adults may mi...

It would often be desirable to obtain the respiratory rate during everyday conditions without obtaining an additional respiratory trace. This study investigates the agreement between respiratory rate assessed from the electrocardiogram (ECG) and the reference respiratory rate derived from a nasal/oral airflow (AF). Nasal/oral airflow and a Holter E...

ECG and respiration (by nose thermistor sensor) were measured in 160 healthy volunteers under resting conditions. Frequency analysis allowed to distinguish fast (center frequency ≈ 0,25 Hertz), medium (center frequency ≈ 0,1 Hertz) and slow waves (center frequency = 0,05 Hertz) of heart rate variability. The fast waves are related to respiratory si...

Im Rahmen einer klinischen Längsschnittstudie wird der kurz-mittel-und langfristige Einfluss einer stationären, balneologischen Rehabilitationsbehandlung von PatientInnen mit totalendoprothetischem Knie-oder Hüftgelenkersatz untersucht. Es wurden 189 potentielle StudienteilnehmerInnen akquiriert, wovon aufgrund der umfangreichen Untersuchungen 86 P...

Biological rhythms in a wide range of frequencies are present in the whole organism as well as within each living cell. Some of these rhythms reflect adaptations to cosmic cycles and help to anticipate changes in the environment. Others integrate and coordinate body. Importance, interaction, and visualization of biological rhythms is presented in t...

The therapeutic application of pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) can accelerate healing after bone fractures and also alleviate pain according to several studies. However, no objective criteria have been available to ensure appropriate magnetic field strength or type of electromagnetic field. Moreover, few studies so far have investigated the p...

Aims: To test the efficacy and safety of Cardiodoron® (consisting of extracts from Primula officinalis, Onopordon acanthium, and Hyoscyamus niger) in the treatment of a hypotensive symptom complex in female patients. Methods: Sixty women (14–45 years) with hypotensive autonomic dysregulation symptoms including immediate or late orthostatic intoler...