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Abstract Background Breast cancer is the most common female cancer worldwide. Its diagnosis and prognosis remain scanty, imprecise, and poorly documented. Previous studies have indicated that some genetic mutational signatures are suspected to lead to progression of various breast cancer scenarios. There is paucity of data on the role of AI tools in delineating breast cancer mutational signatures. This study sought to investigate the relationship between breast cancer genetic mutational profiles using artificial intelligence models with a view to developing an accurate prognostic prediction based on breast cancer genetic signatures. Prior research on breast cancer has been based on symptoms, origin, and tumor size. It has not been investigated whether diagnosis of breast cancer can be made utilizing AI platforms like Cytoscape, Phenolyzer, and Geneshot with potential for better prognostic power. This is the first ever attempt for a combinatorial approach to breast cancer diagnosis using different AI platforms. Method Artificial intelligence (AI) are mathematical algorithms that simulate human cognitive abilities and solve difficult healthcare issues such as complicated biological abnormalities like those experienced in breast cancer scenarios. The current models aimed to predict outcomes and prognosis by correlating imaging phenotypes with genetic mutations, tumor profiles, and hormone receptor status and development of imaging biomarkers that combine tumor and patient-specific features. Geneshotsav 2021, Cytoscape 3.9.1, and Phenolyzer Nature Methods, 12:841–843 (2015) tools, were used to mine breast cancer-associated mutational signatures and provided useful alternative computational tools for discerning pathways and enriched networks of genes of similarity with the overall goal of providing a systematic view of the variety of mutational processes that lead to breast cancer development. The development of novel-tailored pharmaceuticals, as well as the distribution of prospective treatment alternatives, would be aided by the collection of massive datasets and the use of such tools as diagnostic markers. Results Specific DNA-maintenance defects, endogenous or environmental exposures, and cancer genomic signatures are connected. The PubMed database (Geneshot) search for the keywords yielded a total of 21,921 genes associated with breast cancer. Then, based on their propensity to result in gene mutations, the genes were screened using the Phenolyzer software. These platforms lend credence to the fact that breast cancer diagnosis using Cytoscape 3.9.1, Phenolyzer, and Geneshot 2021 reveals high profile of the following mutational signatures: BRCA1, BRCA2, TP53, CHEK2, PTEN, CDH1, BRIP1, RAD51C, CASP3, CREBBP, and SMAD3.

The stability and durability of concrete materials are essential factors in the construction industry. Environmental conditions, such as temperature affect the tensile strength and durability of concrete structures. This work investigates the thermodynamic behaviour of hollow cylindrical concrete using the finite element method (FEM). By deploying ANSYS®, the element mesh was created, and the temperature distribution inside the hollow cylinder was calculated. The effect of the hollowness of the concrete on its heat absorption is determined. The findings demonstrate that the temperature profiles changed radially throughout the concrete thickness. Moreover, it was discovered that the temperature distribution was impacted by the airflow into the cylinder. The numerical experiment in this study was essential in providing a comprehensive understanding of the behaviour of the concrete, particularly when exposed to higher heating rates. This study contributes to the knowledge of the performance and stability of concrete materials. It also demonstrates that the hollowness of the concrete enhances its heat-shielding performance. Furthermore, the inflow of air into the cylinder affects the temperature distribution, with a higher influx of air resulting in lower temperatures. These findings can be utilised to develop appropriate measures to enhance the performance and durability of concrete structures.

Aim: Mental wellbeing has been one of the most prominent health concerns in Aotearoa New Zealand and has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we explored factors associated with anxiety and happiness in a mid-pandemic climate in Aotearoa., Methods: Analyses were performed on the anxiety and happiness scores from the wellbeing survey in December 2020 (Statistics NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa; 30,000 responders contacted for the Household Labour Force Survey). Correlations and general linear models were used to identify significant predictor variables related to anxiety and happiness scores., Results: A number of factors correlated with both anxiety and happiness, including loneliness, physical health, family wellbeing, financial wellbeing, age and gender. After controlling for many ethnically stratified social burdens, Māori and Pacific populations demonstrated higher levels of happiness. Discrimination was only associated with anxiety, while generalised trust, trust in the police and in the health system all related to happiness., Conclusion: Anxiety and happiness in a mid-pandemic environment shared many related variables spanning physical, social and financial domains. Additionally, anxiety was associated with greater levels of discrimination, and happiness with trust in public services. Here we provide a window into the state of mental wellbeing in Aotearoa during a global health crisis., Competing Interests: Nil. Rutherford Discovery Fellowship from the Royal Society of New Zealand (awarded to Dr Harrison). School of Pharmacy, University of Otago - Provision of STATSNZ access funding., (© PMA.)

Introduction: Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health conditions worldwide, and psychotherapeutic techniques can be employed to help manage and mitigate symptoms. While the available therapies are numerous, key strategies often involve cognitive and/or embodiment techniques. Within body-centered methods, breathing-oriented approaches are particularly prevalent, using either attention towards or active control of breathing. As the perception of body states (i.e., interoception) is thought to be an integral component of emotion generation, these embodiment and breathing techniques may be key in addressing the miscommunication between the brain and body that is thought to exist with anxiety. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effects of acute administration of psychological interventions for state anxiety., Results: This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA statement and registered prospectively in PROSPERO. A literature search for randomized controlled trials was conducted in PubMed, PsycINFO, and Scopus. We considered interventions that focused on cognitive, embodiment or breathing strategies, or a combination of these techniques. Twelve studies met our inclusion criteria, and study characteristics, quality and effect sizes were assessed. A single cognitive study was found to produce a moderate reduction in state anxiety, while moderate to large effects were found across studies assessing embodiment practices. In contrast, studies which utilized breathing-based interventions alone produced inconsistent results, with both attention towards and active control of breathing producing large to no effects depending on the technique employed. Finally, consistent moderate effects were found with combination techniques that involved passive attention (e.g., towards cognitions, body and/or breathing), with active combination techniques producing inconsistent results., Discussion: While study numbers are limited regarding brief interventions, cognitive and embodiment techniques are consistently helpful for reducing state anxiety, while breathing-based exercises need to consider the specific technique employed, and how successful this may be for each individual. Furthermore, combined practices such as mindfulness can also be successful, although care must be taken when introducing an active change to one or more elements., Prospero Systematic Review Registration Number: CRD42024507585 Available from: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42024507585., Competing Interests: Author FB is the Founder & Creative Director of Optimal Health Model Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Chin, Gorman, Beck, Russell, Stephan and Harrison.)

Introduction: Interoception, the perception of the internal state of the body, has been shown to be closely linked to emotions and mental health. Of particular interest are interoceptive learning processes that capture associations between environmental cues and body signals as a basis for making homeostatically relevant predictions about the future. One method of measuring respiratory interoceptive learning that has shown promising results is the Breathing Learning Task (BLT). While the original BLT required binary predictions regarding the presence or absence of an upcoming inspiratory resistance, here we extended this paradigm to capture continuous measures of prediction (un)certainty., Methods: Sixteen healthy participants completed the continuous version of the BLT, where they were asked to predict the likelihood of breathing resistances on a continuous scale from 0.0 to 10.0. In order to explain participants' responses, a Rescorla-Wagner model of associative learning was combined with suitable observation models for continuous or binary predictions, respectively. For validation, we compared both models against corresponding null models and examined the correlation between observed and modeled predictions. The model was additionally extended to test whether learning rates differed according to stimuli valence. Finally, summary measures of prediction certainty as well as model estimates for learning rates were considered against interoceptive and mental health questionnaire measures., Results: Our results demonstrated that the continuous model fits closely captured participant behavior using empirical data, and the binarised predictions showed excellent replicability compared to previously collected data. However, the model extension indicated that there were no significant differences between learning rates for negative (i.e. breathing resistance) and positive (i.e. no breathing resistance) stimuli. Finally, significant correlations were found between fatigue severity and both prediction certainty and learning rate, as well as between anxiety sensitivity and prediction certainty., Discussion: These results demonstrate the utility of gathering enriched continuous prediction data in interoceptive learning tasks, and suggest that the updated BLT is a promising paradigm for future investigations into interoceptive learning and potential links to mental health., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Brand, Wise, Hess, Russell, Stephan and Harrison.)

Acute exercise has been shown to induce a small reduction in state anxiety, yet the most beneficial exercise stimulus is not clear. This review provides an update on the papers published since the last comprehensive review in 2015, with specific emphasis on whether study quality has improved. Randomised control trials, conducted in samples of healthy adults with non-clinical anxiety, were sourced from PubMed, PsycInfo, and Scopus. Study characteristics and study quality were assessed in nine studies comprising thirteen exercise conditions. Acute exercise significantly reduced anxiety in 53% ( N = 7/13) of the exercise conditions. In comparison to a control condition, four showed exercising to be more effective, and one was as effective as the control. Two of the effective studies did not contain a control group. Six conditions were ineffective in reducing anxiety. There was no clear pattern of what combination of exercise mode, duration, and intensity was most effective, suggesting a variety may be effective in reducing anxiety. Methodological limitations still exist within the research, e.g., participant recruitment not considering baseline anxiety; variations in the control condition content. Future research should include participant samples exhibiting moderate-to-high levels of anxiety and examine self-selected exercise intensities.

Research Question: Pulmonary rehabilitation is the best treatment for chronic breathlessness in COPD but there remains an unmet need to improve efficacy. Pulmonary rehabilitation has strong parallels with exposure-based cognitive behavioural therapies (CBT), both clinically and in terms of brain activity patterns. The partial N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)-receptor agonist d-cycloserine has shown promising results in enhancing efficacy of CBT, thus we hypothesised that it would similarly augment the effects of pulmonary rehabilitation in the brain. Positive findings would support further development in phase 3 clinical trials., Methods: 72 participants with mild-to-moderate COPD were recruited to a double-blind pre-registered (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01985750) experimental medicine study running parallel to a pulmonary rehabilitation course. Participants were randomised to 250 mg d-cycloserine or placebo, administered immediately prior to the first four sessions of pulmonary rehabilitation. Primary outcome measures were differences between d-cycloserine and placebo in brain activity in the anterior insula, posterior insula, anterior cingulate cortices, amygdala and hippocampus following completion of pulmonary rehabilitation. Secondary outcomes included the same measures at an intermediate time point and voxel-wise difference across wider brain regions. An exploratory analysis determined the interaction with breathlessness anxiety., Results: No difference between d-cycloserine and placebo groups was observed across the primary or secondary outcome measures. d-cycloserine was shown instead to interact with changes in breathlessness anxiety to dampen reactivity to breathlessness cues. Questionnaire and measures of respiratory function showed no group difference. This is the first study testing brain-active drugs in pulmonary rehabilitation. Rigorous trial methodology and validated surrogate end-points maximised statistical power., Conclusion: Although increasing evidence supports therapeutic modulation of NMDA pathways to treat symptoms, we conclude that a phase 3 clinical trial of d-cycloserine would not be worthwhile., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: C.J. Harmer has valueless shares in p1vital and serves on their advisory panel. She has received consultancy payments from p1vital, Zogenix, J&J, Pfizer, Servier, Eli-Lilly, Astra Zeneca and Lundbeck. K.T.S. Pattinson and M. Ezra are named as co-inventors on a provisional U.K. patent application titled “Use of cerebral nitric oxide donors in the assessment of the extent of brain dysfunction following injury”. N.M. Rahman has received consulting fees from Rocket Medical U.K. T.E. Nichols has received consulting fees from Perspectum Diagnostics. The remaining authors have no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright ©The authors 2023.)

Purpose: Hypercapnic chemosensitivity traditionally captures the ventilatory response to elevated pressures of carbon dioxide in the blood. However, hypercapnia also contributes to subjective breathing perceptions, and previously we demonstrated a closer matching of perception to changes in ventilation in athletes compared to controls. Here we investigated any potential underlying hypercapnic chemosensitivity differences between groups, and explored whether these measures relate to ventilatory and perceptual responses during exercise as well as trait levels of affect., Methods: A hypercapnic challenge, incremental maximal exercise test and affective questionnaires were completed by 20 endurance athletes and 20 age-/sex-matched sedentary controls. The hypercapnic challenge involved elevating end-tidal PCO 2 by 0.8% (6.1 mmHg) and 1.5% (11.2 mmHg) for 3 min each (randomised), with constant end-tidal oxygen. Ventilatory and perceptual responses to hypercapnia were compared between groups, and within each group the relationships between hypercapnic chemosensitivity (slope analyses) and exercising ventilation and perceptions were calculated using Spearman's non-parametric correlations., Results: While absolute ventilation differences during hypercapnia and exercise were observed, no group differences were found across hypercapnic chemosensitivity (slope) measures. Correlation analyses revealed the anxiety hypercapnic response was related to maximal exercise anxiety, but only in sedentary individuals., Conclusion: Ventilatory and perceptual hypercapnic chemosensitivity do not differ between athletes and sedentary individuals. However, ventilatory and anxiety hypercapnic chemosensitivities were related to ventilatory and anxiety responses during exercise in untrained individuals only. Athletes may employ additional strategies during exercise to reduce the influence of chemosensitivity on ventilatory and perceptual responses., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Harrison, Russell and Pattinson.)

Talks, Benjamin James, Catherine Campbell, Stephanie J. Larcombe, Lucy Marlow, Sarah L. Finnegan, Christopher T. Lewis, Samuel J.E. Lucas, Olivia K. Harrison, and Kyle T.S. Pattinson. Baseline psychological traits contribute to Lake Louise Acute Mountain Sickness score at high altitude. High Alt Med Biol. 23:69-77, 2022. Background: Interoception refers to an individual's ability to sense their internal bodily sensations. Acute mountain sickness (AMS) is a common feature of ascent to high altitude that is only partially explained by measures of peripheral physiology. We hypothesized that interoceptive ability may explain the disconnect between measures of physiology and symptom experience in AMS. Methods: Two groups of 18 participants were recruited to complete a respiratory interoceptive task three times at 2-week intervals. The control group remained in Birmingham (140 m altitude) for all three tests. The altitude group completed test 1 in Birmingham, test 2 the day after arrival at 2,624 m, and test 3 at 2,728 m after an 11-day trek at high altitude (up to 4,800 m). Results: By measuring changes to metacognitive performance, we showed that acute ascent to altitude neither presented an interoceptive challenge, nor acted as interoceptive training. However, AMS symptom burden throughout the trek was found to relate to sea level measures of anxiety, agoraphobia, and neuroticism. Conclusions: This suggests that the Lake Louise AMS score is not solely a reflection of physiological changes on ascent to high altitude, despite often being used as such by researchers and commercial trekking companies alike.

Interoception, the perception of internal bodily states, is thought to be inextricably linked to affective qualities such as anxiety. Although interoception spans sensory to metacognitive processing, it is not clear whether anxiety is differentially related to these processing levels. Here we investigated this question in the domain of breathing, using computational modeling and high-field (7 T) fMRI to assess brain activity relating to dynamic changes in inspiratory resistance of varying predictability. Notably, the anterior insula was associated with both breathing-related prediction certainty and prediction errors, suggesting an important role in representing and updating models of the body. Individuals with low versus moderate anxiety traits showed differential anterior insula activity for prediction certainty. Multi-modal analyses of data from fMRI, computational assessments of breathing-related metacognition, and questionnaires demonstrated that anxiety-interoception links span all levels from perceptual sensitivity to metacognition, with strong effects seen at higher levels of interoceptive processes., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests F.V. has been invited to scientific meetings, consulted and/or served as speaker, and received compensation from Lundbeck, Servier, Recordati, Janssen, Otsuka, LivaNova, and Chiesi. None of these links are related to this work. The authors declare no other competing interests., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Abstract: Brain biomarkers of pain, including pain-predictive "signatures" based on brain activity, can provide measures of neurophysiological processes and potential targets for interventions. A central issue relates to the specificity of such measures, and understanding their current limits will both advance their development and explore potentially generalizable properties of pain to other states. Here, we used 2 data sets to test the neurologic pain signature (NPS), an established pain neuromarker. In study 1, brain activity was measured using high-field functional magnetic resonance imaging (7T fMRI, N = 40) during 5 to 25 seconds of experimental breathlessness (induced by inspiratory resistive loading), conditioned breathlessness anticipation, and finger opposition. In study 2, we assessed anticipation and breathlessness perception (3T, N = 19) under blinded saline (placebo) and remifentanil administration. The NPS responded to breathlessness, anticipation, and finger opposition, although no direct comparisons with painful events were possible. Local NPS patterns in anterior or midinsula, S2, and dorsal anterior cingulate responded to breathlessness and finger opposition and were reduced by remifentanil. Local NPS responses in the dorsal posterior insula did not respond to any manipulations. Therefore, significant global NPS activity alone is not specific for pain, and we offer insight into the overlap between NPS responses, breathlessness, and somatomotor demand., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the International Association for the Study of Pain.)

Background: Current models of breathlessness often fail to explain disparities between patients' experiences of breathlessness and objective measures of lung function. While a mechanistic understanding of this discordance has thus far remained elusive, factors such as mood, attention and expectation have all been implicated as important modulators of breathlessness. Therefore, we have developed a model to better understand the relationships between these factors using unsupervised machine learning techniques. Subsequently we examined how expectation-related brain activity differed between these symptom-defined clusters of participants., Methods: A cohort of 91 participants with mild-to-moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) underwent functional brain imaging, self-report questionnaires and clinical measures of respiratory function. Unsupervised machine learning techniques of exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical cluster modelling were used to model brain-behaviour-breathlessness links., Results: We successfully stratified participants across four key factors corresponding to mood, symptom burden and two capability measures. Two key groups resulted from this stratification, corresponding to high and low symptom burden. Compared with the high symptom burden group, the low symptom burden group demonstrated significantly greater brain activity within the anterior insula, a key region thought to be involved in monitoring internal bodily sensations (interoception)., Conclusions: This is the largest functional neuroimaging study of COPD to date, and is the first to provide a clear model linking brain, behaviour and breathlessness expectation. Furthermore, it was possible to stratify participants into groups, which then revealed differences in brain activity patterns. Together, these findings highlight the value of multimodal models of breathlessness in identifying behavioural phenotypes and for advancing understanding of differences in breathlessness burden., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: S.L. Finnegan has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: O.K. Harrison has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: C.J. Harmer has valueless shares in p1vital and serves on their advisory panel; has received consultancy payments from p1vital, Servier, Eli-Lilly, AstraZeneca and Lundbeck; and is a director of Oxford Psychologists Ltd. Conflict of interest: M. Herigstad has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: N.M. Rahman reports personal fees for consultancy from Rocket Medical UK, outside the submitted work. Conflict of interest: A. Reinecke has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: K.T.S. Pattinson reports personal fees for consultancy from Nektar Therapeutics, outside the submitted work; and has a patent UK patent application titled “Use of cerebral nitric oxide donors in the assessment of the extent of brain dysfunction following injury” pending., (Copyright ©The authors 2021.)

Mapping the structural and functional connectivity of the central nervous system has become a key area within neuroimaging research. While detailed network structures across the entire brain have been probed using animal models, non-invasive neuroimaging in humans has thus far been dominated by cortical investigations. Beyond the cortex, subcortical nuclei have traditionally been less accessible due to their smaller size and greater distance from radio frequency coils. However, major neuroimaging developments now provide improved signal and the resolution required to study these structures. Here, we present an overview of the connectivity between the amygdala, brainstem, cerebellum, spinal cord and the rest of the brain. While limitations to their imaging and analyses remain, we also provide some recommendations and considerations for mapping brain connectivity beyond the cortex., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The study of the brain's processing of sensory inputs from within the body ('interoception') has been gaining rapid popularity in neuroscience, where interoceptive disturbances are thought to exist across a wide range of chronic physiological and psychological conditions. Here we present a task and analysis procedure to quantify specific dimensions of breathing-related interoception, including interoceptive sensitivity, decision bias, metacognitive bias, and metacognitive performance. Two major developments address some of the challenges presented by low trial numbers in interoceptive experiments: (i) a novel adaptive algorithm to maintain task performance at 70-75% accuracy; (ii) an extended hierarchical metacognitive model to estimate regression parameters linking metacognitive performance to relevant (e.g. clinical) variables. We demonstrate the utility of the task and analysis developments, using both simulated data and three empirical datasets. This methodology represents an important step towards accurately quantifying interoceptive dimensions from a simple experimental procedure that is compatible with clinical settings., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

It is poorly understood why asthma symptoms are often discordant with objective medical tests. Differences in interoception (perception of internal bodily processes) may help explain symptom discordance, which may be further influenced by mood and attention. We explored inter-relationships between interoception, mood and attention in 63 individuals with asthma and 30 controls. Questionnaires, a breathing-related interoception task, two attention tasks, and standard clinical assessments were performed. Questionnaires were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, and linear regression examined relationships between measures. K-means clustering also defined asthma subgroups. Two concordant asthma subgroups (symptoms related appropriately to pathophysiology, normal mood) and one discordant subgroup (moderate symptoms, minor pathophysiology, low mood) were found. In all participants, negative mood correlated with decreased interoceptive ability and faster reaction times in an attention task. Our findings suggest that interpreting bodily sensations relates to mood, and this effect may be heightened in subgroups of individuals with asthma., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Exogenous ketones potentially provide an alternative, energetically advantageous fuel to power exercising skeletal muscle. However, there is limited evidence regarding their relative contribution to energy expenditure during exercise. Furthermore, the effect of blood ketone concentration and exercise intensity on exogenous ketone oxidation rates is unknown., Methods: Six athletes completed cycling ergometer exercise on three occasions within a single-blind, random-order controlled, crossover design study. Exercise duration was 60 min, consisting of 20-min intervals at 25%, 50%, and 75% maximal power output (WMax). Participants consumed (i) bitter flavored water (control), (ii) a low-dose β-hydroxybutyrate (βHB) ketone monoester (KME; 252 mg·kg BW-1, "low ketosis"), or (iii) a high-dose βHB KME (752 mg·kg BW-1, "high ketosis"). The KME contained a 13C isotope label, allowing for the determination of whole-body exogenous βHB oxidation rates through sampled respiratory gases., Results: Despite an approximate doubling of blood βHB concentrations between low- and high-ketosis conditions (~2 mM vs ~4.4 mM), exogenous βHB oxidation rates were similar at rest and throughout exercise. The contribution of exogenous βHB oxidation to energy expenditure peaked during the 25% WMax exercise intensity but was relatively low (4.46% ± 2.71%). Delta efficiency during cycling exercise was significantly greater in the low-ketosis (25.9% ± 2.1%) versus control condition (24.1% ± 1.9%; P = 0.027)., Conclusions: Regardless of exercise intensity, exogenous βHB oxidation contributes minimally to energy expenditure and is not increased by elevating circulating concentrations greater than ~2 mM. Despite low exogenous βHB oxidation rates, exercise efficiency was significantly improved when blood βHB concentration was raised to ~2 mM., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Sports Medicine.)

Research on how humans perceive sensory inputs from their bodies ("interoception") has been rapidly gaining momentum, with interest across a host of disciplines from physiology through to psychiatry. However, studying interoceptive processes is not without significant challenges, and many methods utilized to access internal states have been largely devoted to capturing and relating naturally occurring variations in interoceptive signals (such as heartbeats) to measures of how the brain processes these signals. An alternative procedure involves the controlled perturbation of specific interoceptive axes. This is challenging because it requires non-invasive interventions that can be repeated many times within a subject and that are potent but safe. Here we present an effective methodology for instigating these perturbations within the breathing domain. We describe a custom-built circuitry that is capable of delivering inspiratory resistive loads automatically and precisely. Importantly, our approach is compatible with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environments, allowing for the administration of complicated experimental designs in neuroimaging as increasingly required within developing fields such as computational psychiatry/psychosomatics. We describe the experimental setup for both the control and monitoring of the inspiratory resistive loads, and demonstrate its possible utilities within different study designs. This methodology represents an important step forward from the previously utilized, manually controlled resistive loading setups, which present significant experimental burdens with prolonged and/or complicated sequences of breathing stimuli., (Copyright © 2020 Rieger, Stephan and Harrison.)