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Understanding the factors that predict why some individuals perceive to respond more to meditation training than others could impact the development, efficacy, adherence levels, and implementation of meditation-based interventions. We investigated individual-level variables associated with self- and teacher-perceived responsiveness to longer-term meditation training. This study presents a secondary analysis of the Age-Well trial (NCT02977819, 30/11/2016) and includes 90 healthy older adults (65–84 years) that were randomised to an 18-month meditation training or a non-native language (English) training. Responsiveness was measured post-intervention using participants’ and teachers’ ratings of four psychological domains (connection, positive/negative emotions, meta-awareness) in relation to two contexts (during sessions, in daily life), teachers’ perception of overall benefit, and a global composite comprising all self- and teacher-perceived responsiveness measures. Linear regression modelling indicates that, when including baseline variables (sex, education, neuroticism, cognition, expectancy) and engagement (hours of formal practice during intervention), only higher levels of engagement were associated with higher global composite scores (standardised estimate = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.24–0.77, p  < 0.001). Global composite scores were not correlated with pre-post changes in well-being. Findings indicate that more time spent practising meditation was related to greater perceived intervention effects. We suggest that future studies closely monitor levels of engagement and map reasons for disengagement.

This article discusses three textual problems in Servius’ commentary on Virgil (Serv. on Aen. 11.741; Ecl. 2.58; Ecl. 4.4). In two notes a new conjecture is proposed; in one passage a transmitted reading, so far neglected by earlier editors, is supported.

In this short note I shall address a problem of word order in a passage of Petronius’ Cena Trimalchionis by pointing out an attractive variant in the key codex Traguriensis, which has been neglected thus far.

This pre-post, single-centered study evaluates the effects of a compassion-oriented mindfulness-based intervention on health professionals’ quality of life. The intervention was conducted in an Italian general hospital in the province of Milan. Between 2014 and 2015, thirty-four health professionals operating in the territorial psychiatric services followed an 18-week Compassion-Oriented Mindfulness-based Program. The program involved the practice of mindfulness meditation combined with a psycho-educational training. This pilot study analysed the impact of the intervention on mood, quality of life, and burnout-related characteristics. Outcome measures included the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire, and the Professional Quality of Life Scale. After the intervention, participants showed significantly decreased levels of depression, state anxiety, and emotional exhaustion. We found that an overall beneficial effect of the Compassion-Oriented Mindfulness-based Program existed in preventing burnout symptomatology. Non-evaluative and mindful attention was shown to improve stress resilience and coping strategies while simultaneously reducing worry and rumination. These results suggest that a compassion-oriented mindfulness program could prevent the development of anxiety and depression traits.

Objectives Worldviews (WVs) are the set of beliefs that underlie the way we conceive of reality and selfhood. Buddhist meditation allegedly leads to long-lasting changes in WVs, and trait-like neurophysiological and behavioral differences between novice and expert meditators support this possibility. However, this claim has not yet been fully tested, and there is still no qualitative evidence. The purpose of the present qualitative study was to compare the WVs of a representative sample of European novices and long-term Buddhist trainees. Method As part of the European Research Council Brain and Mindfulness project, the present qualitative study involved interviewing 32 participants trained in mindfulness meditation (“novices”) and 30 long-term practitioners with more than 20,000 hr of practice in Tibetan Buddhism (“experts”). We used an interpretive-phenomenological approach to explore their core beliefs about the nature of reality, metaphysics, and ethics. For each area of inquiry, we used structural-thematic analysis to identify representative clusters that described the variety of WVs of the two samples. Results Emergent clusters show a strong dependence on expertise along a progressive distribution (gradient). This gradient shows that groups differ in terms of dereification, i.e., different degrees of identification with experiential contents (such as thoughts and emotions) while bringing insight about them as mental components. This applied to (1) subjectivity and agentivity, the latter being defined as the ability to make choices and determine one’s own outcomes; (2) linear temporality and causality; and (3) ontological substantialism, defined as the inherent essence or nature that grounds things. Finally, the gradient also describes a narrative-conversational shift from being content-oriented to process-oriented. Answers from novices tended to be based on knowledge organized on representational beliefs, while in the answers of experts, there was more metacognitive awareness and questioning of the ongoing experience of being interviewed. This result is consistent with the progressive cognitive and experiential dereification hypothesized to underlie this gradient. These results suggest that WVs depend on meditative experience, possibly due to metacognitive functions that shape thinking and knowledge about thinking. Conclusions These findings are consistent with the common Buddhist advice not to take contemplative beliefs at faith value, but instead to question and deconstruct any belief through close observation and analysis of one’s own experience. This exploratory journey is traditionally conceptualized as an interdependent, dynamic process. Future longitudinal studies are needed to explore how meditative practices can induce changes in WVs, and, reciprocally, the role of beliefs in cultivating targeted contemplative states, contributing to cognitive and emotional regulation. Preregistration This study was not preregistered.

Petronius's work Bellum civile is critiqued, focusing on the description of the Alps and the entrance of Julius Caesar's army. Also covered is Tumus's ambush of Aeneas and his forces.

•Participants’ accounts show a personal, spiritual reconnection throughout the intervention.•The interplay between the group dynamics and individual mindfulness exercises led participants to reframe their condition.•The abilities, learned during the intervention, allowed participants to develop a sort of existential gratitude.•Focusing on breathing, an accepting attitude towards pain or difficult emotions, such as panic and anguish, is developed. To explore the impact of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention for people with metastatic cancer integrated in Early Palliative Care (EPC). Design: Mixed-method study. EPC Service integrated with Oncology Unit, Carpi General Hospital, Italy from January to October 2017. The MBSR intervention took place inside the hospital. Study participation was offered to 25 consecutive people referred to the EPC service. Inclusion criteria: people with metastatic cancer between 18 and 75 years old; informed consent. Exclusion criteria: Performance Status <60% according to Karnofsky scale; active psychiatric disorder. 20 patients were included in the study. The adapted program consists of 8 meetings for 2.5 h once a week, a 4.5 h session between the 6th and 7th weeks and 0.5 h home practice daily. The following mindfulness practices were included during the training: formal sitting meditation, body scan, light yoga, walking meditation, and Aikido exercises. Participants were provided with materials for home practice. A qualified MBSR instructor conducted the program. Sessions were attended by a clinical psychologist and a physician trained in meditation, together with the palliative nurse as facilitators. Feasibility and acceptability were assessed on 16 participants. In addition, pre-post measures of cancer pain and mood state were collected. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted on a subset of 8 participants at the end of the study and analysed using the Interpretative-Phenomenological approach. MBSR attendance to meetings and adherence to home practice were 75%. MBSR intervention helped participants to develop an accepting attitude in respect to metastatic cancer disease helping them to face anxiety and cancer pain. MBSR improves self-regulation of mood state engendering feelings of compassion MBSR program supports participants in questioning and reconnecting with their values and spiritual beliefs. A Mindfulness intervention integrated into EPC setting is feasible, well accepted and could help metastatic cancer patients to control cancer pain together with an opportunity of emotional and spiritual relief.