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In this article, the heart rate variability signal taken from subjects practising different types of meditations have been investigated to find the underlying similarity among them and how they differ from the non-meditative condition. Four different groups of subjects having different meditation techniques are involved. The data have been obtained from the Physionet and also collected with our own ECG machine. For data analysis, the second order difference plot is applied. Each of the plots obtained from the second order differences form a single cluster which is nearly elliptical in shape except for some outliers. In meditation, the axis of the elliptical cluster rotates anticlockwise from the cluster formed from the premeditation data, although the amount of rotation is not of the same extent in every case. This form study reveals definite and specific changes in the heart rate variability of the subjects during meditation. All the four groups of subjects followed different procedures but surprisingly the resulting physiological effect is the same to some extent. It indicates that there is some commonness among all the meditative techniques in spite of their apparent dissimilarity and it may be hoped that each of them leads to the same result as preached by the masters of meditation. The study shows that meditative state has a completely different physiology and that it can be achieved by any meditation technique we have observed. Possible use of this tool in clinical setting such as in stress management and in the treatment of hypertension is also mentioned.

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AimsTo objectively characterize and mathematically justify the observation that vectorcardiographic QRS loops in normal individuals are more planar than those from patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). MethodsVectorcardiograms (VCG) were constructed from three simultaneously recorded quasiorthogonal leads, I, aVF and V2 (sampled at 1000 samples/sec). The planarity of these QRS loops was determined by fitting a surface to each loop. Goodness of fit was expressed in numerical terms. Results15 healthy individuals aged 35 -65 years (73% male) and 15 patients aged 45 -70 years (80% male) with diagnosed acute STEMI were recruited. The spatial-QRS loop was found to lie in a plane in normal controls. In STEMI patients, this planarity was lost. Calculation of goodness of fit supported these visual observations. ConclusionsThe degree of planarity of the VCG loop can differentiate healthy individuals from patients with STEMI. This observation is compatible with our basic understanding of the electrophysiology of the human heart.