Project description
Cardiac-brain connection in women
The menstrual cycle induces significant hormonal fluctuations in women, which have notable effects on both neurological and cardiac function. These hormonal changes are also present in 400 million women worldwide who use contraceptives. Psychological symptoms and certain types of heart arrhythmias often intensify during particular phases of the menstrual cycle. This highlights a potentially important but underexplored link between female sex hormones and psycho-cardiac health. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the FEM-CYCLE project aims to investigate how cardiac interoception and cardiac signalling differ according to biological sex, menstrual cycle phase, and contraceptive use. Project findings will provide fundamental understanding of the impact of cycling hormones on mental and cardiac wellbeing.
Objective
"Every month, over two billion females around the world menstruate. In addition, an estimated 400 million females globally use hormonal contraception (""the pill""). Consequently, from puberty to menopause, the female heart and brain are continuously exposed to cyclical changes in sex hormones, e.g. associated with the menstrual cycle or hormonal contraceptive use, with direct implications for neuro-cardiac health. Both psychological symptoms and specific cardiac arrhythmias show an increased prevalence and burden during specific phases of the menstrual cycle. Given this association, it becomes evident that the menstrual cycle is a key factor in understanding the heart-brain connection and its effect on psychological and cardiac health.
This project aims to reveal how two recently identified markers of the heart-brain axis relevant for psycho-cardiac health, i.e. cardiac signaling (denoting neural responses to cardiac signals) and cardiac interoception (denoting conscious awareness of signals arising from the heart), varies with sex, menstrual cycle phase, and hormonal contraceptive use. To this end, we will (1) utilize a novel psychophysiological task to assess cyclical and group changes in heartbeat detection; and (2) perform concurrent electrocardiogram and electroencephalogram recordings to study cyclical fluctuations in the heartbeat evoked potential (HEP). A male reference group will be adopted to provide a basis for comparative analyses.
By adopting a multidisciplinary approach and integrating knowledge from cardiac psychophysiology, biological psychology and neuroendocrinology, to study the specific role of cycling female sex hormones on the heart-brain axis, this research aims to provide critical insights into the well-known sex discrepancies in mental and cardiovascular health, as well as the exacerbation of psychological and cardiac symptoms during specific menstrual cycle phases."
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Keywords
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
80539 MUNCHEN
Germany
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