This interview is with Clinical Medicine: Cardiology editorial board member Dr Vernon Barnes. Clinical Medicine: Cardiology is an open access journal published by Libertas Academica.

Editor in Chief Dr Martin LeWinter has recently issued a call for papers.

What is the primary focus of your work and main areas of expertise?

My current research evaluates the effectiveness of stress reduction techniques in the treatment of elevated blood pressure and associated pre-clinical markers of cardiovascular disease in youth. My main area of expertise is in researching complementary and alternative (mind-body) medicine.

What are the most exciting and cutting-edge developments in your area?

I have just submitted a manuscript entitled: “Family Environmental Influences of Meditation Efficacy On Hemodynamic Function Among African American Adolescents”. The main findings suggest that positive family environments in combination with either meditation or life skills training appear to have a beneficial impact upon hemodynamic function in adolescents. The findings suggest that adaptive and nurturing family environments are associated with greater benefit in adolescents’ hemodynamic functioning via behavioral interventions designed to be practiced in the home environment. The importance of this paper is the finding that meditation programs with adolescents, a more nurturing and supportive home environment may provide additional social support, thus increasing the likelihood of regular practice.

Who are your main formal and informal collaborators and/or networks? Please describe your work with them.

I am collaborating with Drs Redford and Virginia Williams on an NIH-grant funded project to develop and test a stress and anger management workshop for adolescents; with Dr. Gyan Sharma to evaluate a yoga program for heart patients; and with Dr. Jean Kristeller to develop and test a mindfulness-based eating awareness training for overweight adolescents. I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Schools of Medicine and Biobehavioral Nursing and Graduate Studies and working with faculty and graduate students in these areas

How did you come to be working in your research area?

I have had a life-long interest and practice in meditation, yoga and other mind-body methodologies.

What do you think about the development of open access publishing? Have you published in an open access journal? What motivated you to do so?

I am excited about open access publishing and have published with is method before.

I believe that open access publishing facilitates the entire publishing process, which can be unnecessarily long and tedious.

What articles and/or books have you published recently?

• Barnes VA, Treiber FA, Ludwig DA. African American adolescents stress responses following the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2005; 36 (3) 201-7. [Journal]
  
• Schneider RH, Alexander CN, Staggers F, Rainforth M, Salerno JW, Hartz A, S. A, Barnes VA, Nidich SI. Long-term effects of stress reduction on mortality in persons ≥55 years of age with systemic hypertension. Am J Cardiol. 2005;95:1060-1064. [Pubmed]
  
• Barnes VA. EEG, hypometabolism, and ketosis during Transcendental Meditation indicate it does not increase epilepsy risk. Medical Hypothesis. 2005;65:202-203. [Pubmed]
  
• Jerath R, Edry JW, Barnes VA, et al. Physiology of long pranayamic breathing: Neural respiratory elements may provide a mechanism that explains how slow deep breathing shifts the autonomic nervous system. Med Hypotheses. 2006; 67(3)566-57. [Pubmed]
  
• Barnes VA, Orme-Johnson DW. Clinical and Pre-clinical Applications of the Transcendental Meditation Program® in the Treatment and Prevention of Essential Hypertension and Cardiovascular Disease in Youth and Adults. Current Hypertension Reviews. 2006, 2(3):207-218.
• Barnes VA, Davis HC, Treiber FA: Perceived stress, heart rate and blood pressure among adolescents with family members deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Military Medicine 2007, 172(1) 40-43. [Pubmed]
  
• Barnes VA, Pendergrast RA, Harshfield GA, et al. Impact of meditation on ambulatory blood pressure and sodium handling in prehypertensive African American adolescents. Ethnicity & Disease. 2008, 18(1) 1-5. [Pubmed]
  
• Jerath R, Barnes VA, Fadel HE. Mechanism of development of pre-eclampsia linking breathing disorders to endothelial dysfunction. Med Hypotheses. 2009;Apr 11.. [Pubmed]