J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2008 Mar;48(1):102-6.

Evaluation on the effects of relaxing music on the recovery from aerobic exercise-induced fatigue.

Jing L, Xudong W.

Department of Human Sports Science, Nanjing Institute of Physicial Education, Nanjing, Republic of China lijing197512@163.com.

AIM: There are few researches on the effects of music therapy on the recovery from exercise-induced fatigue worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of relaxing music on aerobic exercise-induced fatigue. The authors' hypothesis is that relaxing music can effectively eliminate aerobic exercise-induced fatigue. METHODS: Thirty healthy male college students were randomly assigned to either no-music group or music group. All the subjects maintained the pedal cadence of 50 revmin-1 on a cycle ergometer until fatigue. Then subjects in music group listened to relaxing music for 15 minutes, while subjects in no-music group had a 15-minute rest without music. Heart rates, jump  height, blood glucose, blood lactic acid, urinary protein, simple reaction time and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were determined before and after the 15-minute treatment for each group. RESULTS: The results showed that heart rates, urinary protein and RPE decreased significantly after the application of relaxing music (P<0.01), and these decreases were greater than those without music. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that relaxing music has better effects on the rehabilitation of cardiovascular, central, musculoskeletal and psychological fatigue and the promotion of the regulatory capability of the kidneys.

PMID: 18212717 [PubMed - in process]

Cognition. 2008 Feb;106(2):975-83. Epub 2007 May 1.

Songs as an aid for language acquisition.

Schön D, Boyer M, Moreno S, Besson M, Peretz I, Kolinsky R.

INCM-CNRS & Université de la Méditerranée, 31 Ch Joseph Aiguier, 13420 Marseille, France.

In previous research, Saffran and colleagues [Saffran, J. R., Aslin, R. N., & Newport, E. L. (1996). Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science, 274, 1926-1928; Saffran, J. R., Newport, E. L., & Aslin, R. N. (1996). Word segmentation: The role of distributional cues. Journal of Memory and Language, 35, 606-621.] have shown that adults and infants can use the statistical properties of syllable sequences to extract words from continuous speech. They also showed that a similar learning mechanism operates with musical stimuli [Saffran, J. R., Johnson, R. E. K., Aslin, N., & Newport, E. L. (1999). Abstract  Statistical learning of tone sequences by human infants and adults. Cognition, 70, 27-52.]. In this work we combined linguistic and musical information and we compared language learning based on speech sequences to language learning based on sung sequences. We hypothesized that, compared to speech sequences, a consistent mapping of linguistic and musical information would enhance learning.  Results confirmed the hypothesis showing a strong learning facilitation of song compared to speech. Most importantly, the present results show that learning a new language, especially in the first learning phase wherein one needs to segment new words, may largely benefit of the motivational and structuring properties of  music in song.

PMID: 17475231 [PubMed - in process]

J Pers. 2008 Feb;76(1):135-70.

Motivation and engagement in music and sport: testing a multidimensional framework in diverse performance settings.

Martin AJ.

University of Sydney.

The present study assessed the application of a multidimensional model of motivation and engagement (the Motivation and Engagement Wheel) and its accompanying instrumentation (the Motivation and Engagement Scale) to the music and sport domains. Participants were 463 young classical musicians (N=224) and sportspeople (N=239). In both music and sport samples, the data confirmed the good fit of the four hypothesized higher-order dimensions and their 11 first-order dimensions: adaptive cognitions (self-efficacy, valuing, mastery orientation), adaptive behaviors (planning, task management, persistence), impeding/maladaptive cognitions (uncertain control, anxiety, failure avoidance),  and maladaptive behaviors (self-handicapping, disengagement). Multigroup tests of factor invariance showed that in terms of underlying motivational constructs and  the composition of and relationships among these constructs, key subsamples are not substantially different. Moreover-and of particular relevance to issues around the generalizability of the framework-the factor structure for music and sport samples was predominantly invariant.

PMID: 18186713 [PubMed - in process]

Nucl Med Commun. 2008 Feb;29(2):150-6.

Regional cerebral blood flow in childhood autism: a SPET study with SPM evaluation.

Burroni L, Orsi A, Monti L, Hayek Y, Rocchi R, Vattimo AG.

Departments of aNuclear Medicine bInfantile Neuropsychiatry cNeuroradiology dNeurology, University of Siena, Italy.

AIM: To establish a link between rCBF assessed with Tc-ECD SPET and the clinical  manifestation of the disease. METHODS: We performed the study on 11 patients (five girls and six boys; mean age 11.2 years) displaying autistic behaviour and  we compared their data with that of an age-matched reference group of eight normal children. A quantitative analysis of rCBF was performed calculating a perfusion index (PI) and an asymmetry index (AI) in each lobe. Images were analysed with statistical parametric mapping software, following the spatial normalization of SPET images for a standard brain. RESULTS: A statistically significant (P=0.003) global reduction of CBF was found in the group of autistic  children (PI=1.07+/-0.07) when compared with the reference group (PI=1.25+/-0.12). Moreover, a significant difference was also observed for the right-to-left asymmetry of hemispheric perfusion between the control group and autistic patients (P=0.0085) with a right prevalence greater in autistic (2.90+/-1.68) with respect to normal children (1.12+/-0.49). Our data show a significant decrease of global cerebral perfusion in autistic children in comparison with their normal counterparts and the existence of left-hemispheric dysfunction, especially in the temporo-parietal areas devoted to language and the comprehension of music and sounds. CONCLUSION: We suggest that these abnormal areas are related to the cognitive impairment observed in autistic children, such as language deficits, impairment of cognitive development and object representation, and abnormal perception and responses to sensory stimuli. Tc-ECD  SPET seems to be sensitive in revealing brain blood flow alterations and left-to-right asymmetries, when neuroradiological patterns are normal.

PMID: 18094637 [PubMed - in process] 

Brain Res. 2008 Jan 29;1191:96-106. Epub 2007 Nov 22.

Calbindin D-28K and parvalbumin expression in embryonic chick hippocampus is enhanced by prenatal auditory stimulation.

Chaudhury S, Nag TC, Wadhwa S.

Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India.

Calcium-binding proteins (CaBPs) buffer excess of cytosolic Ca(2+), which accompanies neuronal activity following external stimuli. Prenatal auditory stimulation by species-specific sound and music influences early maturation of the auditory pathway and the behavioral responses in chicks. In this study, we determined the volume, total number of neurons, proportion of calbindin D-28K and parvalbumin-positive neurons along with their levels of expression in the developing chick hippocampus following prenatal auditory stimulation. Fertilized  eggs of domestic chicks were exposed to sounds of either species-specific calls or sitar music at 65 dB for 15 min/h round the clock from embryonic day (E) 10 until hatching. Hippocampi of developmental stages (E12, E16 and E20) were examined. With an increase in embryonic age during normal development, the hippocampus showed an increase in its volume, total number of neurons as well as  in the neuron proportions and levels of expression of calbindin D-28K and parvalbumin. A significant increase of volume at E20 was noted only in the music-stimulated group compared to that of their age-matched control (p<0.05). On the other hand, both auditory-stimulated groups showed a significant increase in  the proportion of immunopositive neurons and the levels of expression of calbindin D-28K and parvalbumin as compared to the control at all developmental stages studied (p<0.003). The increase in proportions of CaBP neurons during development and in the sound-enriched groups suggests an activity-dependent increase in Ca(2+) influx. The enhanced expression of CaBPs may help in cell survival by preventing excitotoxic death of neurons during development and may also be involved in long-term potentiation.

PMID: 18096144 [PubMed - in process]

Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2008 Jan 24 [Epub ahead of print]

Electroencephalographic (EEG) Measurements of Mindfulness-based Triarchic Body-pathway Relaxation Technique: A Pilot Study.

Chan AS, Han YM, Cheung MC.

Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, aschan@psy.cuhk.edu.hk.

OBJECTIVE: The "Triarchic body-pathway relaxation technique" (TBRT) is a form of  ancient Chinese mindfulness-based meditation professed to give rise to positive emotions and a specific state of consciousness in which deep relaxation and internalized attention coexist. The purpose of this study was to examine the EEG  pattern generated during the practice of this mindfulness exercise, and compare it to music listening which has been shown to induce positive emotions. METHODS:  Nineteen college students (aged 19-22 years) participated in the study. Each participant listened to both the TBRT and music audiotapes while EEG was recorded. The order of presentation was counterbalanced to avoid order effect. Two EEG indicators were used: (1) alpha asymmetry index, an indicator for left-sided anterior activation, as measure of positive emotions, and (2) frontal  midline theta activity, as a measure for internalized attention. RESULTS: Increased left-sided activation, a pattern associated with positive emotions, was found during both TBRT exercise and music conditions. However, only TBRT exercise was shown to exhibit greater frontal midline theta power, a pattern associated with internalized attention. CONCLUSIONS: These results provided evidence to support that the TBRT gives rise to positive emotional experience, accompanied by focused internalized attention.

PMID: 18214668 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2008 Jan 22 [Epub ahead of print]

Playing-related disabling musculoskeletal disorders in young and adult classical  piano students.

Bruno S, Lorusso A, L'abbate N.

Department of Internal Medicine and Public Medicine, University of Bari, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124, Bari, Italy.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of instrument-related musculoskeletal problems in classical piano students and investigate piano-specific risk factors. METHODS: A specially developed four parts questionnaire was administered to classical piano students of two Apulian conservatories, in southern Italy. A cross-sectional design was used. Prevalences of playing related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) were calculated and cases were compared with non-cases. RESULTS: A total of 195 out of the 224 piano students responded (87%). Among 195 responders, 75 (38.4%) were considered affected according to the pre-established  criteria. Disabling MSDs showed similar prevalence rates for neck (29.3%), thoracic spine (21.3%) and upper limbs (from 20.0 to 30.4%) in the affected group. Univariate analyses showed statistical differences concerning mean age, number of hours per week spent playing, more than 60 min of continuative playing  without breaks, lack of sport practice and acceptability of "No pain, no gain" criterion in students with music-related pain compared with pianists not affected. Statistical correlation was found only between upper limbs diseases in  pianists and hand sizes. No correlation with the model of piano played was found  in the affected group. The multivariate analyses performed by logistic regression confirmed the independent correlation of the risk factors age, lack of sport practice and acceptability of "No pain, no gain" criterion. CONCLUSION: Our study showed MSDs to be a common problem among classical piano students. With variance  in several studies reported, older students appeared to be more frequently affected by disabling MSDs and no difference in the prevalence rate of the disorders was found in females.

PMID: 18210148 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Conscious Cogn. 2008 Jan 18 [Epub ahead of print]

Towards a sensorimotor aesthetics of performing art.

Calvo-Merino B, Jola C, Glaser DE, Haggard P.

Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University College London, 17 Queen Square, WC1N 3AR, London, UK.

The field of neuroaesthetics attempts to identify the brain processes underlying  aesthetic experience, including but not limited to beauty. Previous neuroaesthetic studies have focussed largely on paintings and music, while performing arts such as dance have been less studied. Nevertheless, increasing knowledge of the neural mechanisms that represent the bodies and actions of others, and which contribute to empathy, make a neuroaesthetics of dance timely.  Here, we present the first neuroscientific study of aesthetic perception in the context of the performing arts. We investigated brain areas whose activity during passive viewing of dance stimuli was related to later, independent aesthetic evaluation of the same stimuli. Brain activity of six naďve male subjects was measured using fMRI, while they watched 24 dance movements, and performed an irrelevant task. In a later session, participants rated each movement along a set of established aesthetic dimensions. The ratings were used to identify brain regions that were more active when viewing moves that received high average ratings than moves that received low average ratings. This contrast revealed bilateral activity in the occipital cortices and in right premotor cortex. Our results suggest a possible role of visual and sensorimotor brain areas in an automatic aesthetic response to dance. This sensorimotor response may explain why dance is widely appreciated in so many human cultures.

PMID: 18207423 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Public Health. 2008 Jan 16 [Epub ahead of print]

Adolescent smoking and volume of exposure to various forms of media.

Primack BA, Land SR, Fine MJ.

Center for Research on Health Care, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine,  230 McKee Place Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Division of Adolescent Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between adolescent smoking and volume of exposure to various forms of media after controlling for multiple relevant covariates. METHODS: A survey of all adolescents at a large suburban high school  assessed: (1) current smoking and susceptibility to future smoking; (2) volume of exposure to various media; and (3) covariates related to smoking. Multivariate logistic regression models assessed relationships between each of the independent variables (media exposures) and the two smoking outcomes after controlling for covariates. RESULTS: Of the 1138 respondents, 19% (n=216) reported current smoking. Forty percent (n=342) of the non-smokers (n=922) were susceptible to future smoking. Students reported exposure to an average of 8.6 (standard deviation 5.1)h of media daily, including 2.6h of music. Those with high exposure to films and music were more likely to be smokers (P(trend)=0.036 and P(trend)<0.001, respectively), and those with high exposure to books were less likely to be smokers (P(trend)<0.001). After controlling for all relevant covariates, those with high exposure to music had greater odds of being smokers than those with low exposure [odds ratio (OR) 1.90, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.10-3.30], and those with high exposure to books had lower odds of being current smokers (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.33-0.94). CONCLUSION: Exposure to films and music are  associated with smoking, but only the relationship between music exposure and smoking persists after rigorous covariate control. Exposure to books is associated with lower odds of smoking.

PMID: 18206196 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2008 Jan 15 [Epub ahead of print]

Lullament: Lullaby and Lament Therapeutic Qualities Actualized Through Music Therapy.

O'Callaghan C.

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Caritas Christi Hospice, St Vincent’s Health, Victoria, Australia.

Lullabies and laments promote new awareness, enculturation, adaptation, and grief expression. These concepts' relevance to palliative care, however, has not been examined. In this study, a music therapist used a grounded theory-informed design to reflexively analyze lullaby and lament qualities, evident in more than 20 years of personal palliative care practice. Thus, the construct "lullament" emerged, which signified helpful moments when patients' and families' personal and sociohistorical relationship with lullabies and laments were actualized. Specific music could be both a lullaby and a lament. A music therapist can enable the lullament through providing opportunities for music-contextualized "restorative resounding," expressed psychobiologically, verbally, musically, and  metaphorically.

PMID: 18198359 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

J Sex Med. 2008 Jan 10 [Epub ahead of print]

Changes of Cerebral Current Source by Audiovisual Erotic Stimuli in Premature Ejaculation Patients.

Hyun JS, Kam SC, Kwon OY.

Department of Urology, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Jinju,  South Korea.

Introduction. Premature ejaculation (PE) is one of the most common forms of male  sexual dysfunction. The mechanisms of PE remain poorly understood, despite its high prevalence. Aim. To investigate the pathophysiology and casuses of PE in the central nervous system, we tried to observe the changes in brain current source distribution by audiovisual induction of sexual arousal. Methods. Electroencephalograpies were recorded in patients with PE (45.0 +/- 10.3 years old, N = 18) and in controls (45.6 +/- 9.8 years old, N = 18) during four 10-minute segments of resting, watching a music video excerpt, resting, and watching an erotic video excerpt. Five artifact-free 5-second segments were used  to obtain cross-spectral low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) images. Main Outcome Measures. Statistical nonparametric maps (SnPM) were obtained to detect the current density changes of six frequency bands between the erotic video session and the music video session in each group. Comparisons were  also made between the two groups in the erotic video session. Results. In the SnPM of each spectrum in patients with PE, the current source density of the alpha band was significantly reduced in the right precentral gyrus, the right insula, and both superior parietal lobules (P < 0.01). Comparing the two groups in the erotic video session, the current densities of the beta-2 and -3 bands in  the PE group were significantly decreased in the right parahippocampal gyrus and  left middle temporal gyrus (P < 0.01). Conclusions. Neuronal activity in the right precental gyrus, the right insula, both the superior parietal lobule, the right parahippocampal gyrus, and the left middle temporal gyrus may be decreased  in PE patients upon sexual arousal. Further studies are needed to evaluate the meaning of decreased neuronal activities in PE patients.

PMID: 18194183 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Nature. 2008 Jan 10;451(7175):197-201.

Ultra-fine frequency tuning revealed in single neurons of human auditory cortex.

Bitterman Y, Mukamel R, Malach R, Fried I, Nelken I.

Department of Neurobiology, Life Science Institute, Hebrew University, Jerusalem  91904, Israel.

Just-noticeable differences of physical parameters are often limited by the resolution of the peripheral sensory apparatus. Thus, two-point discrimination in vision is limited by the size of individual photoreceptors. Frequency selectivity is a basic property of neurons in the mammalian auditory pathway. However, just-noticeable differences of frequency are substantially smaller than the bandwidth of the peripheral sensors. Here we report that frequency tuning in single neurons recorded from human auditory cortex in response to random-chord stimuli is far narrower than that typically described in any other mammalian species (besides bats), and substantially exceeds that attributed to the human auditory periphery. Interestingly, simple spectral filter models failed to predict the neuronal responses to natural stimuli, including speech and music. Thus, natural sounds engage additional processing mechanisms beyond the exquisite frequency tuning probed by the random-chord stimuli.

Publication Types:      Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural     Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't     Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

PMID: 18185589 [PubMed - in process]

Trends Cogn Sci. 2008 Jan 3 [Epub ahead of print]

Music, language and cognition: unresolved issues.

Schellenberg EG, Peretz I.

Department of Psychology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga  Road North, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada.

Publication Types:      LETTER

PMID: 18178126 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Hum Brain Mapp. 2008 Jan 2 [Epub ahead of print]

Language and music: Differential hemispheric dominance in detecting unexpected errors in the lyrics and melody of memorized songs.

Yasui T, Kaga K, Sakai KL.

Department of Basic Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, 3‐8‐1 Komaba, Meguro‐ku, Tokyo 153‐8902, Japan.

Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we report here the hemispheric dominance of the auditory cortex that is selectively modulated by unexpected errors in the lyrics and melody of songs (lyrics and melody deviants), thereby elucidating under which conditions the lateralization of auditory processing changes. In experiment 1 using familiar songs, we found that the dipole strength of responses to the lyrics deviants was left-dominant at 140 ms (M140), whereas that of responses to the melody deviants was right-dominant at 130 ms (M130). In experiment 2 using familiar songs with a constant syllable or pitch, the dipole strength of frequency mismatch negativity elicited by oddballs was left-dominant. There were significant main effects of experiment (1 and 2) for the peak latencies and for the coordinates of the dipoles, indicating that the M140 and M130 were not the frequency mismatch negativity. In experiment 3 using newly memorized songs, the right-dominant M130 was observed only when the presented note was unexpected one, independent of perceiving unnatural pitch transitions (i.e., perceptual saliency) and of selective attention to the melody of songs. The consistent right-dominance of the M130 between experiments 1 and 3 suggests that the M130 in experiment 1 is due to unexpected notes deviating from well-memorized songs. On the other hand, the left-dominant M140 was elicited by lyrics deviants, suggesting the influence of top-down linguistic information and  the memory of the familiar songs. We thus conclude that the left- lateralized M140 and right-lateralized M130 reflect the expectation based on top-down information of language and music, respectively. Hum Brain Mapp, 2008. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

PMID: 18172848 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Accid Anal Prev. 2008 Jan;40(1):349-56. Epub 2007 Jul 25.

News, music videos and action movie exposure and adolescents' intentions to take  risks in traffic.

Beullens K, Van den Bulck J.

Leuven School for Mass Communication Research, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Parkstraat 45 (Box 3603), 3000 Leuven, Belgium.

This study explored the relationship between adolescents' viewing of specific television genres (action movies, news and music videos) and the intention to take risks in traffic. Participants were 2194 adolescent boys and girls who completed a questionnaire on television viewing, risk perception and the intention to speed and drive after consuming alcohol. As hypothesized, more news  viewing was associated with a higher perceived risk of drunk driving and speeding. More music video viewing, on the other hand, was negatively associated  with the assessment of the dangers of speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol. Girls regarded speeding and drunk driving as more dangerous than boys did. Contrary to our hypotheses, action movie viewing did not make a significant  contribution to our models. Both news and music video viewing were indirectly, via risk perception, related to the intention to drive risky. The more dangerous  a particular behavior was perceived to be, the less likely respondents intended to exhibit this behavior in the future.

PMID: 18215568 [PubMed - in process]

Adv Exp Med Biol. 2008;605:213-7.

Phase relations between rhythmical movements and breathing in wind instrument players.

Ebert D, Kaerger W.

Dept. of Neurology, University of Duesseldorf, Germany. dietrichebert@gmx.de

PMID: 18085274 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Am J Hum Biol. 2008 Jan-Feb;20(1):110-5.

A subordinate status position increases the present value of financial resources  for low 2D:4D men.

Millet K, Dewitte S.

Department of Marketing and Organization Studies, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Kobe.Millet@econ.kuleuven.be

It has been suggested that the ratio of the length of the 2nd and 4th fingers (digit ratio or 2D:4D) is related to prenatal testosterone with lower ratios thought to be influenced by higher prenatal testosterone levels. Accordingly, low 2D:4D has been associated to a number of fitness-related factors, such as high status in competitive sports and in music. Recent evidence suggests that 2D:4D is also related to economic decision making. We combine both streams of research in  the present paper. In two studies we manipulated status in two different ways. We found that a subordinate position raises discount rates, consistent with the reasoning that the present utility of money is higher for men in this position. Moreover, the effect was more pronounced for men with a low 2D:4D. There was a significant negative relationship between 2D:4D and level of discounting in a subordinate status position, but no significant relationship emerged in the dominant status position. Our studies add evidence to the recent line of research associating digit ratio and economic decision making. Moreover, our studies show  that future 2D:4D research should focus on plausible interactions between 2D:4D and context cues rather than on linear relations. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

PMID: 17972318 [PubMed - in process]

Brain. 2008 Jan;131(Pt 1):39-49. Epub 2007 Dec 5.

Unravelling Boléro: progressive aphasia, transmodal creativity and the right posterior neocortex.

Seeley WW, Matthews BR, Crawford RK, Gorno-Tempini ML, Foti D, Mackenzie IR, Miller BL.

Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF, USA. wseeley@memory.ucsf.edu

Most neurological lesion studies emphasize performance deficits that result from  focal brain injury. Here, we describe striking gains of function in a patient with primary progressive aphasia, a degenerative disease of the human language network. During the decade before her language deficits arose, Anne Adams (AA), a lifelong scientist, developed an intense drive to produce visual art. Paintings from AA's artistic peak revealed her capacity to create expressive transmodal art, such as renderings of music in paint, which may have reflected an increased  subjective relatedness among internal perceptual and conceptual images. AA became fascinated with Maurice Ravel, the French composer who also suffered from a progressive aphasia, and painted his best-known work, 'Boléro', by translating its musical elements into visual form. Later paintings, achieved when AA was nearly mute, moved towards increasing photographic realism, perhaps because visual representations came to dominate AA's mental landscape during this phase of her illness. Neuroimaging analyses revealed that, despite severe degeneration  of left inferior frontal-insular, temporal and striatal regions, AA showed increased grey matter volume and hyperperfusion in right posterior neocortical areas implicated in heteromodal and polysensory integration. The findings suggest that structural and functional enhancements in non-dominant posterior neocortex may give rise to specific forms of visual creativity that can be liberated by dominant inferior frontal cortex injury.

Publication Types:      Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

PMID: 18057074 [PubMed - in process]

Epilepsy Behav. 2008 Jan;12(1):165-9. Epub 2007 Nov 5.

The representation of epilepsy in popular music.

Baxendale S.

Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK.

Much can be learned about the contemporary stereotypes associated with epilepsy by studying the representation of the disorder in paintings, literature, and movies. Popular music is arguably the most accessible and ubiquitous of the creative art forms, touching most of us on a daily basis. Reviewed here are the ways in which epilepsy and seizures are used in the lyrics of musicians from a wide variety of musical genres, from hip-hop to rhythm and blues. Many of the ancient associations of epilepsy with madness, horror, and lunacy can be found in these lyrics. However, the language of epilepsy has also been appropriated by some musical artists to represent a state of sexual ecstasy and dance euphoria. The references to these states as "epilepsy" or a "seizure" in numerous songs suggest that this shorthand is widely recognized within some subcultures. Although epilepsy has frequently been associated with female sexual availability  in other creative art forms, this novel use of the language of epilepsy represents a contemporary departure in the artistic application of epilepsy-related images and associations in the 21st century.

PMID: 17980673 [PubMed - in process]

Epilepsy Behav. 2008 Jan;12(1):208-9. Epub 2007 Oct 30.

The role of Mozart's music in sudden unexpected death in epilepsy: A new open window of a dark room.

Scorza FA, Arida RM, de Albuquerque M, Cavalheiro EA.

Laboratório de Neurologia Experimental, Universidade Federal de Săo Paulo/Escola  Paulista de Medicina (UNIFESP/EPM), Săo Paulo, Brazil.

Publication Types:      Letter

PMID: 17977798 [PubMed - in process]

Explore (NY). 2008 Jan-Feb;4(1):70-3.

Building the Ship of Death: Part II.

Murfin S, Haberman M.

This is the second in a series of two articles by clinicians in Spokane, Washington, both articles presenting the results of original research from a team of music-thanatologists. The first article (EXPLORE, Volume 3, No 6) presented an overview, through clinical narratives, of the interconnected physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of 11 dying persons and their families in a hospital setting. This second article continues with narrative, yet focuses on the clinical practice of music-thanatology and includes the documentation of the palliation it offers to meet these physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. These two articles demonstrate a way of implementing effective, supportive care of the dying that models a greatly poised balance between the active and contemplative dimensions of life, no small miracle inside the teeming corridors of biomedicine. -Therese Schroeder-Sheker The Chalice of Repose Project www.chaliceofrepose.org.

PMID: 18194797 [PubMed - in process]

Int J Clin Pract. 2008 Jan;62(1):166. Epub 2007 Oct 3.

Effects of music on gastric myoelectrical activity.

Kullmann T, Rácz I.

Department of Pathophysiology, National Korányi Institute for TB and Pulmonology, Budapest, Hungary.

PMID: 17916177 [PubMed - in process]

J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2008 Jan;23(1):141-9.

Effects of audio stimulation on gastric myoelectrical activity and sympathovagal  balance in healthy adolescents and adults.

Chen DD, Xu X, Zhao Q, Yin J, Sallam H, Chen JD.

Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA.

Aim: The primary aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different audio stimulations on gastric myoelectrical activity and sympathovagal balance in adolescents compared with adults. Methods: The study was performed in 11 adults and 12 adolescents. Each subject underwent two sessions, one for classical music, and the other for noise. Each session consisted of 30 min of baseline, 30 min of  fasting audio stimulation, a test meal, 30 min of fed audio stimulation, and 30 min of recovery. Electrocardiogram and electrogastrogram were both recorded throughout each session. Results: (i) In the fasting state, both classical music  and noise impaired gastric slow wave activity in adolescents. In adults, noise had no effects while classical music moderately improved slow wave rhythmicity. (ii) In the fed state, neither noise nor music had any effects on gastric slow waves. (iii) In the fasting state, both noise and music increased the sympathovagal balance in adolescents; in adults only noise had such an effect. (iv) The test meal increased the sympathovagal balance in all groups. Conclusions: Gastric slow waves and the sympathovagal balance are more strongly affected by audio stimulation in adolescents than in adults. The test meal normalizes the audio stimulation-induced differences between the groups.

PMID: 18171353 [PubMed - in process]

J Pain Symptom Manage. 2008 Jan;35(1):83-94. Epub 2007 Oct 23.

Oncology nurses' use of nondrug pain interventions in practice.

Kwekkeboom KL, Bumpus M, Wanta B, Serlin RC.

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

Cancer pain management guidelines recommend nondrug interventions as adjuvants to analgesic medications. Although physicians typically are responsible for pharmacologic pain treatments, oncology staff nurses, who spend considerable time with patients, are largely responsible for identifying and implementing nondrug pain treatments. Oncology nurses' use of nondrug interventions, however, has not  been well studied. The purpose of this study was to describe oncology nurses' use of four nondrug interventions (music, guided imagery, relaxation, distraction) and to identify factors that influence their use in practice. A national sample of 724 oncology staff nurses completed a mailed survey regarding use of the nondrug interventions in practice, beliefs about the interventions, and demographic characteristics. The percentages of nurses who reported administering the strategies in practice at least sometimes were 54% for music, 40% for guided  imagery, 82% for relaxation, and 80% for distraction. Use of each nondrug intervention was predicted by a composite score on beliefs about effectiveness of the intervention (e.g., perceived benefit; P<0.025) and a composite score on beliefs about support for carrying out the intervention (e.g., time; P<0.025). In addition, use of guided imagery was predicted by a composite score on beliefs about characteristics of patients who may benefit from the intervention (e.g., cognitive ability; P<0.05). Some nurse demographic, professional preparation, and practice environment characteristics also predicted use of individual nondrug interventions. Efforts to improve application of nondrug interventions should focus on innovative educational strategies, problem solving to secure support, and development and testing of new delivery methods that require less time from busy staff nurses.

PMID: 17959348 [PubMed - in process]

Med Sci Monit. 2008 Jan;14(1):BR28-33.

Influence of classical and rock music on red blood cell rheological properties in rats.

Erken G, Bor Kucukatay M, Erken HA, Kursunluoglu R, Genc O.

Pamukkale University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physiology, Kinikli, 20070, Denizli, Turkey.

Background: A number of studies have reported physiological effects of music. Different types of music have been found to induce different alterations. Although some physiological and psychological parameters have been demonstrated to be influenced by music, the effect of music on hemorheological parameters such as red blood cell (RBC) deformability and aggregation are unknown. This study aimed at investigating the effects of classical and rock music on hemorheological parameters in rats.<br /> Material/Methods: Twenty-eight rats were divided into four groups: the control, noise-applied, and the classical music- and rock music-applied groups. Taped classical or rock music were played repeatedly for 1  hour a day for 2 weeks and 95-dB machine sound was applied to the noise-applied rats during the same period. RBC deformability and aggregation were measured using an ektacytometer.<br /> Results: RBC deformability was found to be increased in the classical music group. Exposure to both classical and rock music resulted in a decrement in erythrocyte aggregation, but the decline in RBC aggregation was of a higher degree of significance in the classical music group.  Exposure to noise did not have any effect on the parameters studied.<br /> Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that the alterations in hemorheological parameters were more pronounced in the classical music group compared with the rock music group.<br /> <br />

Publication Types:      Editorial

PMID: 18160935 [PubMed - in process]

Neuroimage. 2008 Jan 1;39(1):483-91. Epub 2007 Aug 25.

Memory of music: roles of right hippocampus and left inferior frontal gyrus.

Watanabe T, Yagishita S, Kikyo H.

Department of Physiology, The University of Tokyo School of Medicine, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.

We investigated neural correlates of retrieval success for music memory using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. To minimize the interference from MRI scan noise, we used sparse temporal sampling technique. Newly composed music materials were employed as stimuli, which enabled us to detect regions in absence of effects of experience with the music stimuli in this study. Whole brain analyses demonstrated significant retrieval success activities in the right hippocampus, bilateral lateral temporal regions, left inferior frontal gyrus and  left precuneus. Anatomically defined region-of-interests analyses showed that the activity of the right hippocampus was stronger than that of the left, while the activities of the inferior frontal gyri showed the reverse pattern. Furthermore,  performance-based analyses demonstrated that the retrieval success activity of the right hippocampus was positively correlated with the corrected recognition rate, suggesting that the right hippocampus contributes to the accuracy of music  retrieval outcome.

Publication Types:      Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 17905600 [PubMed - in process]

Nurs Sci Q. 2008 Jan;21(1):49-58.

The relation of meditation to power and well-being.

Tae Sook Kim , Jeong Sook Park , Myung Ae Kim .

St. Joseph's College, New York.

The purpose of this research is to examine the relation of meditation to power and well-being in Korean adults. Using a quasi-experimental design, meditation was provided through a chakra meditation music program over a 4 week period. The  Power as Knowing Participation in Change Tool and the Well-Being Picture Scale were used, after being translated into Korean. Statistically significant interaction effects of power and group (p < .001), and well-being and group (p <  .05) were found. Meditation has a potential to facilitate power and well-being in the human and environmental field patterning process.

PMID: 18096986 [PubMed - in process]

Pain. 2008 Jan;134(1-2):140-7. Epub 2007 May 25.

Emotional valence contributes to music-induced analgesia.

Roy M, Peretz I, Rainville P.

Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, C.P. 6128, Succ. Centre-ville,  Montreal, Que, Canada H3C 3J7.

The capacity of music to soothe pain has been used in many traditional forms of medicine. Yet, the mechanisms underlying these effects have not been demonstrated. Here, we examine the possibility that the modulatory effect of music on pain is mediated by the valence (pleasant-unpleasant dimension) of the emotions induced. We report the effects of listening to pleasant and unpleasant music on thermal pain in healthy human volunteers. Eighteen participants evaluated the warmth or pain induced by 40.0, 45.5, 47.0 and 48.5 degrees C thermal stimulations applied to the skin of their forearm while listening to pleasant and unpleasant musical excerpts matched for their high level of arousal  (relaxing-stimulating dimension). Compared to a silent control condition, only the pleasant excerpts produced highly significant reductions in both pain intensity and unpleasantness, demonstrating the effect of positive emotions induced by music on pain (Pairwise contrasts with silence: p's<0.001). Correlation analyses in the pleasant music condition further indicated that pain  decreased significantly (p's<0.05) with increases in self-reports of music pleasantness. In contrast, the unpleasant excerpts did not modulate pain significantly, and warmth perception was not affected by the presence of pleasant or unpleasant music. Those results support the hypothesis that positive emotional valence contributes to music-induced analgesia. These findings call for the integration of music to current methods of pain control.

Publication Types:      Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 17532141 [PubMed - in process]

J Adolesc. 2007 Dec 28 [Epub ahead of print]

The role of music preferences in early adolescents' friendship formation and stability.

Selfhout MH, Branje SJ, Ter Bogt TF, Meeus WH.

Research Centre Adolescent Development, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80140, 3508  TC Utrecht, The Netherlands.

The present study examines the role of similarity in music preferences in the formation and discontinuation of friendships over a 1-year period. Questionnaire  data were gathered from 283 Dutch same-sex mutual best friends (mean age=12.97) in two waves with a 1-year interval. Results show consistent evidence for high similarity in specific music dimensions among friends at both waves. Moderate similarity was found in the overall patterning of preferences for music genres at both waves, even after controlling for similarity in social background. Specific  music similarity in more non-mainstream music dimensions and overall music similarity at Wave 1 were related to selecting a new friend at Wave 2. However, similarity in music preferences was not related to the discontinuation of an existing friendship at Wave 2. Thus, results suggest that similarity in music preferences is related to friendship formation, and not to friendship discontinuation.

PMID: 18164756 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Neurosci Lett. 2007 Dec 18;429(2-3):152-5. Epub 2007 Oct 18.

Music exposure differentially alters the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and nerve growth factor in the mouse hypothalamus.

Angelucci F, Ricci E, Padua L, Sabino A, Tonali PA.

Fondazione Don C. Gnocchi, Rome, Italy. angeluccifrancesco@rm.unicatt.it

It has been reported that music may have physiological effects on blood pressure, cardiac heartbeat, respiration, and improve mood state in people affected by anxiety, depression and other psychiatric disorders. However, the physiological bases of these phenomena are not clear. Hypothalamus is a brain region involved in the regulation of body homeostasis and in the pathophysiology of anxiety and depression through the modulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Hypothalamic functions are also influenced by the presence of the neurotrophins brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF), which are proteins involved in the growth, survival and function of neurons in the central  nervous system. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of music exposure in mice on hypothalamic levels of BDNF and NGF. We exposed young adult mice to slow rhythm music (6h per day; mild sound pressure levels, between 50 and 60 dB) for 21 consecutive days. At the end of the treatment mice were sacrificed  and BDNF and NGF levels in the hypothalamus were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We found that music exposure significantly enhanced  BDNF levels in the hypothalamus. Furthermore, we observed that music-exposed mice had decreased NGF hypothalamic levels. Our results demonstrate that exposure to music in mice can influence neurotrophin production in the hypothalamus. Our findings also suggest that physiological effects of music might be in part mediated by modulation of neurotrophins.

Publication Types:      Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 17980967 [PubMed - in process]

Circulation. 2007 Dec 11;116(24):f139-40.

Music and the heart. Interview by Emma Baines.

Bernardi L.

Publication Types:      Interview

PMID: 18071081 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

36: Cognition. 2007 Dec 10 [Epub ahead of print]

The tonal function of a task-irrelevant chord modulates speed of visual processing.

Escoffier N, Tillmann B.

Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Neurosciences Sensorielles, Comportement, Cognition, CNRS-UMR 5020, IFR 19, 50 Avenue Tony Garnier, F-69366 Lyon Cedex 07,  France; University of Georgia, Department of Psychology, Athens, GA 30602, USA; National University of Singapore, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, 9 Arts Link, Singapore 117570, Singapore.

Harmonic priming studies have provided evidence that musical expectations influence sung phoneme monitoring, with facilitated processing for phonemes sung  on tonally related (expected) chords in comparison to less-related (less-expected) chords [Bigand, Tillmann, Poulin, D'Adamo, and Madurell (2001). The effect of harmonic context on phoneme monitoring in vocal music. Cognition, 81, B11-B20]. This tonal relatedness effect has suggested two interpretations: (a) processing of music and language interact at some level of processing; and (b) tonal functions of chords influence task performance via listeners' attention. Our study investigated these hypotheses by exploring whether the effect of tonal relatedness extends to the processing of visually presented syllables (Experiments 1 and 2) and geometric forms (Experiments 3 and 4). For Experiments 1-4, visual target identification was faster when the musical background fulfilled listeners' expectations (i.e., a related chord was played simultaneously). In Experiment 4, the addition of a baseline condition (i.e., without an established tonal center) further showed that the observed difference  was due to a facilitation linked to the related chord and not to an inhibition or disruption caused by the less-related chord. This outcome suggests the influence  of musical structures on attentional mechanisms and that these mechanisms are shared between auditory and visual modalities. The implications for research investigating neural correlates shared by music and language processing are discussed.

PMID: 18076873 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Hum Brain Mapp. 2007 Dec 10 [Epub ahead of print]

Selective neurophysiologic responses to music in instrumentalists with different  listening biographies.

Margulis EH, Mlsna LM, Uppunda AK, Parrish TB, Wong PC.

Department of Music, University of Arkansas, MB201, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

To appropriately adapt to constant sensory stimulation, neurons in the auditory system are tuned to various acoustic characteristics, such as center frequencies, frequency modulations, and their combinations, particularly those combinations that carry species-specific communicative functions. The present study asks whether such tunings extend beyond acoustic and communicative functions to auditory self-relevance and expertise. More specifically, we examined the role of the listening biography-an individual's long term experience with a particular type of auditory input-on perceptual-neural plasticity. Two groups of expert instrumentalists (violinists and flutists) listened to matched musical excerpts played on the two instruments (J.S. Bach Partitas for solo violin and flute) while their cerebral hemodynamic responses were measured using fMRI. Our experimental design allowed for a comprehensive investigation of the neurophysiology (cerebral hemodynamic responses as measured by fMRI) of auditory  expertise (i.e., when violinists listened to violin music and when flutists listened to flute music) and nonexpertise (i.e., when subjects listened to music  played on the other instrument). We found an extensive cerebral network of expertise, which implicates increased sensitivity to musical syntax (BA 44), timbre (auditory association cortex), and sound-motor interactions (precentral gyrus) when listening to music played on the instrument of expertise (the instrument for which subjects had a unique listening biography). These findings highlight auditory self-relevance and expertise as a mechanism of perceptual-neural plasticity, and implicate neural tuning that includes and extends beyond acoustic and communication-relevant structures. Hum Brain Mapp, 2007. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

PMID: 18072277 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2007 Dec 8 [Epub ahead of print]

Discrimination of Schroeder-Phase Harmonic Complexes by Normal-Hearing and Cochlear-Implant Listeners.

Drennan WR, Longnion JK, Ruffin C, Rubinstein JT.

Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Washington, Box 357923, Seattle, WA, 98195,  USA, drennan@u.washington.edu.

The temporal fine structure (TFS) of sound contributes significantly to the perception of music and speech in noise. The evaluation of new strategies to improve TFS delivery in cochlear implants (CIs) relies upon the assessment of fine structure encoding. Most modern CI sound processing schemes do not encode within-channel TFS per se, but some TFS information is delivered through temporal envelope cues across multiple channels. Positive and negative Schroeder-phase harmonic complexes differ primarily in acoustic TFS and provide a potential test  of TFS discrimination ability in CI users for current and future processing strategies. The ability to discriminate Schroeder-phase stimuli was evaluated in  24 CI users and 7 normal-hearing listeners at four fundamental frequencies: 50, 100, 200, and 400 Hz. The dependent variables were percent correct at each fundamental frequency, average score across all fundamental frequencies, and a maximum-likelihood-predicted threshold fundamental frequency for 75% correct. CI  listeners scored better than chance for all fundamental frequencies tested. The 50-Hz, average, and predicted threshold scores correlated significantly with consonant-nucleus-consonant word scores. The 200-Hz score correlated with a measure of speech perception in speech-shaped noise. Pitch-direction sensitivity  is predicted jointly by the 400-Hz Schroeder score and a spectral ripple discrimination task. The results demonstrate that the Schroeder test is a potentially useful measure of clinically relevant temporal processing abilities in CI users.

PMID: 18066624 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Brain Res. 2007 Dec 4 [Epub ahead of print]

Musical aptitude and second language pronunciation skills in school-aged children: Neural and behavioral evidence.

Milovanov R, Huotilainen M, Välimäki V, Esquef PA, Tervaniemi M.

Department of English, University of Turku, Finland; Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, Finland.

The main focus of this study was to examine the relationship between musical aptitude and second language pronunciation skills. We investigated whether children with superior performance in foreign language production represent musical sound features more readily in the preattentive level of neural processing compared with children with less-advanced production skills. Sound processing accuracy was examined in elementary school children by means of event-related potential (ERP) recordings and behavioral measures. Children with good linguistic skills had better musical skills as measured by the Seashore musicality test than children with less accurate linguistic skills. The ERP data  accompany the results of the behavioral tests: children with good linguistic skills showed more pronounced sound-change evoked activation with the music stimuli than children with less accurate linguistic skills. Taken together, the results imply that musical and linguistic skills could partly be based on shared  neural mechanisms.

PMID: 18182165 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

CMAJ. 2007 Dec 4;177(12):1547-8.

Sound medicine: an introduction to cacophonology.

Gosset B.

PMID: 18056621 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Neuroscience. 2007 Dec 4 [Epub ahead of print]

Neural interactions within and beyond the critical band elicited by two simultaneously presented narrow band noises: A magnetoencephalographic study.

Okamoto H, Stracke H, Pantev C.

Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of Muenster, Malmedyweg 15, 48149 Muenster, Germany.

Neural activities elicited in the auditory system are systematically organized according to the frequency characteristics of corresponding sound inputs. This systematic frequency alignment, called 'tonotopy,' plays an important role in auditory perception. By means of magnetoencephalography (MEG) we investigated here interactions between neural groups activated by two simultaneously presented narrow-band noises (NBNs) within the human cortical tonotopic map. Auditory evoked fields indicated that the neural interactions activated by these NBNs depended on the frequency difference between them: the amplitude of the N1m-response systematically increased with increasing frequency difference between the NBNs until the critical bandwidth was reached. In contrast, the N1m decreased with frequency difference exceeding the critical bandwidth. The different N1m-response patterns within and beyond the critical band seem to result from the combination of inhibitory and excitatory neural processes in the  auditory pathway and may contribute to the perception of complex sound patterns like speech and music.

PMID: 18191899 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2007 Dec;32(3-4):163-8. Epub 2007 Oct 27.

Coping with stress: the effectiveness of different types of music.

Labbé E, Schmidt N, Babin J, Pharr M.

Department of Psychology, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688, USA. elabbe@usouthal.edu

Listening to classical and self-selected relaxing music after exposure to a stressor should result in significant reductions in anxiety, anger, and sympathetic nervous system arousal, and increased relaxation compared to those who sit in silence or listen to heavy metal music. Fifty-six college students, 15 males and 41 females, were exposed to different types of music genres after experiencing a stressful test. Several 4 x 2 mixed design analyses of variance were conducted to determine the effects of music and silence conditions (heavy metal, classical, or self-selected music and silence) and time (pre-post music) on emotional state and physiological arousal. Results indicate listening to self-select or classical music, after exposure to a stressor, significantly reduces negative emotional states and physiological arousal compared to listening to heavy metal music or sitting in silence.

Publication Types:      Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

PMID: 17965934 [PubMed - in process]

Arch Ophthalmol. 2007 Dec;125(12):1717-8.

The eyes, brain, bones, and skull of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Breitenfeld T.

Publication Types:      Biography     Historical Article     Letter

Personal Name as Subject:      Bach JS

PMID: 18071133 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Cereb Cortex. 2007 Dec;17(12):2828-40. Epub 2007 Mar 29.

Feeling the real world: limbic response to music depends on related content.

Eldar E, Ganor O, Admon R, Bleich A, Hendler T.

Wohl Institute for Advanced Imaging, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Israel.

Emotions are often object related--they are about someone or something in the world. It is yet an open question whether emotions and the associated perceptual  contents that they refer to are processed by different parts of the brain or whether the brain regions that mediate emotions are also involved in the processing of the associated content they refer to. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we showed that simply combining music (rich in emotion but poor in information about the concrete world) with neutral films (poor in emotionality but rich in real-world details) yields increased activity in the amygdala, hippocampus, and lateral prefrontal regions. In contrast, emotional music on its own did not elicit a differential response in these regions. The finding that the amygdala, the heart of the emotional brain, responds increasingly to an emotional stimulus when it is associated with realistic scenes supports a fundamental role for concrete real-world content in emotional processing.

Publication Types:      Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 17395609 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Cognition. 2007 Dec;105(3):533-46. Epub 2006 Dec 29.

Hearing what the body feels: auditory encoding of rhythmic movement.

Phillips-Silver J, Trainor LJ.

Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1.

Phillips-Silver and Trainor (Phillips-Silver, J., Trainor, L.J., (2005). Feeling  the beat: movement influences infants' rhythm perception. Science, 308, 1430) demonstrated an early cross-modal interaction between body movement and auditory  encoding of musical rhythm in infants. Here we show that the way adults move their bodies to music influences their auditory perception of the rhythm structure. We trained adults, while listening to an ambiguous rhythm with no accented beats, to bounce by bending their knees to interpret the rhythm either as a march or as a waltz. At test, adults identified as similar an auditory version of the rhythm pattern with accented strong beats that matched their previous bouncing experience in comparison with a version whose accents did not match. In subsequent experiments we showed that this effect does not depend on visual information, but that movement of the body is critical. Parallel results from adults and infants suggest that the movement-sound interaction develops early and is fundamental to music processing throughout life.

Publication Types:      Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 17196580 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Conscious Cogn. 2007 Dec;16(4):992-6. Epub 2006 Aug 23.

The effects of music exposure and own genre preference on conscious and unconscious cognitive processes: A pilot ERP study.

Caldwell GN, Riby LM.

Department of Psychology, Glasgow Caledonian University, 70 Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK.

Did Beethoven and Mozart have more in common with each other than Clapton and Hendrix? The current research demonstrated the widely reported Mozart Effect as only partly significant. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 16 professional classical and rock musicians during a standard 2 stimulus visual  oddball task, while listening to classical and rock music. During the oddball task participants were required to discriminate between an infrequent target stimulus randomly embedded in a train of repetitive background or standard stimuli. Consistent with previous research, the P3 and N2 ERPs were elicited in response to the infrequent target stimuli. Own genre preference resulted in a reduction in amplitude of the P3 for classical musicians exposed to classical music and rock musicians exposed to rock music. Notably, at the pre-attentive stage of processing (N2) beneficial effects of exposure to classical music were observed for both groups of musicians. These data are discussed in terms of short and long-term music benefits on both conscious and unconscious cognitive processes.

PMID: 16931056 [PubMed - in process]

Crit Care Med. 2007 Dec;35(12):2709-13.

Comment in:     Crit Care Med. 2007 Dec;35(12):2858-9.

Overture for growth hormone: requiem for interleukin-6?

Conrad C, Niess H, Jauch KW, Bruns CJ, Hartl W, Welker L.

Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. cconrad1@partners.org

BACKGROUND: Music has been used for therapeutic purposes since the beginning of cultural history. However, despite numerous descriptions of beneficial effects, the precise mechanisms by which music may improve human well-being remain unclear. METHODS: We conducted a randomized study in ten critically ill patients  to identify mechanisms of music-induced relaxation using a special selection of slow movements of Mozart's piano sonatas. These sonatas were analyzed for compositional elements of relaxation. We measured circulatory variables, brain electrical activity, serum levels of stress hormones and cytokines, requirements  for sedative drugs, and level of sedation before and at the end of a 1-hr therapeutic session. RESULTS: Compared with controls, we found that music application significantly reduced the amount of sedative drugs needed to achieve  a comparable degree of sedation. Simultaneously, among those receiving the music  intervention, plasma concentrations of growth hormone increased, whereas those of interleukin-6 and epinephrine decreased. The reduction in systemic stress hormone levels was associated with a significantly lower blood pressure and heart rate. CONCLUSION: Based on the effects of slow movements of Mozart's piano sonatas, we  propose a neurohumoral pathway by which music might exert its sedative action. This model includes an interaction of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis with the adrenal medulla via mediators of the unspecific immune system

Publication Types:      Randomized Controlled Trial

PMID: 18074473 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Crit Care Med. 2007 Dec;35(12):2858-9.

Comment on:     Crit Care Med. 2007 Dec;35(12):2709-13.

Sedative effects of Mozart's music in the critically ill: enjoy the hormonal symphony.

Paugam-Burtz C, Mantz J.

Publication Types:      Comment     Editorial

PMID: 18043205 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Epilepsy Res. 2007 Dec;77(2-3):169-73.

Neural correlates of musicogenic epilepsy: SISCOM and FDG-PET.

Cho JW, Seo DW, Joo EY, Tae WS, Lee J, Hong SB.

Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Irwon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-710, Republic of Korea.

To localize the neural correlates of musicogenic epilepsy, subtraction ictal SPECT coregistered with MRI (SISCOM) and (18)F-fluorodeoxy glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) were performed in a woman who had suffered from frequent musicogenic seizures. She had complex partial seizures consisting of palpitation and an unpleasant feeling, which were followed by staring and oroalimentary automatisms. Ictal EEG showed rhythmic theta waves originated from  the right temporal lobe, and SISCOM showed ictal hyperperfusion on right insula,  amygdala, hippocampal head, and anterior temporal lobe, whereas interictal FDG-PET showed interictal hypometabolism in the same brain regions, suggesting dysfunction and abnormal activation of right temporo-limbic structures related to an emotional response to music.

Publication Types:      Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 18035523 [PubMed - in process]

Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2007 Dec;34(12):2073-81. Epub 2007 Aug 17.

Functional sex differences in human primary auditory cortex.

Ruytjens L, Georgiadis JR, Holstege G, Wit HP, Albers FW, Willemsen AT.

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Medical Center Groningen, 9700 RB,  Groningen, The Netherlands.

BACKGROUND: We used PET to study cortical activation during auditory stimulation  and found sex differences in the human primary auditory cortex (PAC). Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured in 10 male and 10 female volunteers while listening to sounds (music or white noise) and during a baseline (no auditory stimulation). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: We found a sex difference in activation of  the left and right PAC when comparing music to noise. The PAC was more activated  by music than by noise in both men and women. But this difference between the two stimuli was significantly higher in men than in women. To investigate whether this difference could be attributed to either music or noise, we compared both stimuli with the baseline and revealed that noise gave a significantly higher activation in the female PAC than in the male PAC. Moreover, the male group showed a deactivation in the right prefrontal cortex when comparing noise to the  baseline, which was not present in the female group. Interestingly, the auditory  and prefrontal regions are anatomically and functionally linked and the prefrontal cortex is known to be engaged in auditory tasks that involve sustained or selective auditory attention. Thus we hypothesize that differences in attention result in a different deactivation of the right prefrontal cortex, which in turn modulates the activation of the PAC and thus explains the sex differences found in the activation of the PAC. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that sex is an important factor in auditory brain studies.

PMID: 17703299 [PubMed - in process]

Fortschr Neurol Psychiatr. 2007 Dec;75(12):699-707. Epub 2006 Nov 17.

[Creative therapy options for patients with dementia - a systematic review.]

Schmitt B, Frölich L.

Abteilung für Gerontopsychiatrie, Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit, Mannheim.

The specifics of creative therapies aim at activating the creative potential of the patients in the sense of acceptance, orientation and coping with their illness "dementia" and at improving their quality of life. Creative therapies in  the treatment of dementia offer the advantage of working with these patients, whose cognition and often also verbal communication skills are affected in a nonverbal way. This article presents a systematic review of studies and case studies, which could be found on the subject of the implementation of active creative therapies "music-, art-, drama- and dance-therapy" within the following  databases (05/05): Medline, Psyndex Plus, PsychInfo and Cochrane. The search terms used were: "Creativ* and therapy and dementia and (stud*)", "Dance therapy  and dementia", "Music therapy and dementia", "Drama therapy and dementia" and "Art therapy and dementia". As a result of this search we found seven quantitative evaluated controlled studies, three prae-post comparisions and three qualitative evaluated studies which have been finished since 1998. All of these studies included groups of at least three participants. Further reviews are mentioned in this article. This survey of studies on creative therapies for patients with dementia shows positive effects like the improvement of interaction skills. The data supplied thus supports the approach of using creative therapies  in order to help patients accept dementia as their illness and finally to cope with it. The methodical approach to the registration of the therapies' effects and process-orientated contents of the therapy create a field of tension, leading to the request for a further development and validation of instruments, which allow the quantitative evaluation of parameters like liveliness, agility and interaction skills.

Publication Types:      English Abstract

PMID: 17443437 [PubMed - in process]

J Pediatr Nurs. 2007 Dec;22(6):448-56.

Practice guidelines for music interventions with hospitalized pediatric patients.

Stouffer JW, Shirk BJ, Polomano RC.

Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA 19104, USA.

Music therapy is an effective complementary approach that can achieve specific therapeutic outcomes in the clinical management of pediatric patients. Growing research on music interventions has generated scientific knowledge about how this modality benefits patients and has formed the basis for effective protocols that  can be used in practice. Although it can be challenging to translate research-based protocols into routine clinical care at the bedside, it is essential that music therapy interventions be aligned with evidence-based information and that accepted standards be established by the music therapy discipline to achieve the greatest benefit. The importance of partnerships between nurses and music therapists is emphasized to enhance the success of music-based treatments. This discussion synthesizes research findings that can be used to design pediatric practice guidelines in the application of music therapy.

Publication Types:      Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 18036465 [PubMed - in process]

Psychol Aging. 2007 Dec;22(4):728-37.

Aging and variety seeking.

Novak DL, Mather M.

Department of Psychology, University of California.

The authors examined the influence of age on variety seeking in 3 experiments. When given choices among jellybeans or music, age differences in variety seeking  emerged. Younger adults selected similar levels of variety when choosing what to  consume immediately and what to consume later. In contrast, older adults consistently chose less variety when making choices to be consumed at a later time than when making choices to be consumed immediately. This pattern may be related to an increased focus on regulating future emotional experience that is associated with age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).

PMID: 18179293 [PubMed - in process]

Psychol Psychother. 2007 Dec;80(Pt 4):577-89.

Predictors of change in music therapy with children and adolescents: the role of  therapeutic techniques.

Gold C, Wigram T, Voracek M.

University of Bergen, Unifob Health, Bergen, Norway. christian.gold@grieg.uib.no

Music therapy has been shown to be efficacious in experimental studies. However,  there is little empirical research knowledge about what elements of music therapy influence its effectiveness in clinical practice. Children and adolescents with psychopathology (N=75) were assessed before and after participating in individual music therapy with 1 out of 15 music therapists in the Vienna region. Relationships between outcomes (as evaluated by parents) and therapy contents (as reported by therapists) were examined using general linear modelling. Results indicated that clients' symptoms and burdens on their social environment showed greater improvement when music therapy was limited to discipline-specific music therapy techniques and did not include other media such as play therapy elements. The findings indicate the importance of being aware of a therapy method's specific strengths and limitations. More research on the indicated specific ingredients of music therapy intervention is needed.

PMID: 17535546 [PubMed - in process]

Int J Sports Med. 2007 Nov 30 [Epub ahead of print]

Psychological Effects of Music Tempi during Exercise.

Karageorghis C, Jones L, Stuart DP.

School of Sport and Education, Brunel University, West London, Uxbridge, Middlesex, United Kingdom.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of music tempi on music  preference, intrinsic motivation, and flow during long-duration exercise ( approximately 26 min). Subjects (n = 29) selected the music of a single artist then walked at 70 % of maximum heart rate reserve (maxHRR) on a treadmill under three experimental conditions (medium tempi, fast tempi, and mixed tempi) and a no-music control. A music preference item, the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory, and Flow State Scale-2 were completed after each trial. Data were analyzed using  a mixed-model (Gender x Condition) ANOVA and MANOVA. The Gender x Condition interaction was nonsignificant in both analyses (p > 0.05). Contrary to expectations, higher preference scores were recorded for medium tempi than for mixed tempi (means: 7.8 +/- 1.3 vs. 7.1 +/- 1.1). The medium tempi music also yielded the highest levels of intrinsic motivation (p < 0.001). Pairwise comparisons showed that interest-enjoyment was higher for medium tempi when compared to mixed tempi, 95 % CI = 1.80 - 8.48, p = 0.001, and that each of the music preference experimental conditions yielded higher scores than the no-music  control. Also, pressure-tension was lower for medium tempi compared to fast tempi, 95 % CI = - 3.44 - 0.19, p = 0.022, and for both medium and mixed tempi compared to control (95 % CI = - 5.33 - 2.89, p = 0.000; 95 % CI = - 4.24 - 0.64, p = 0.004). A main effect was found for global flow (p = 0.000) with the highest  mean score evident in the medium tempi condition (14.6 +/- 1.5). Follow-up comparisons indicated that the medium tempi condition yielded higher flow scores  than the control, 95 % CI = 1.25 - 3.60, p = 0.000, as did fast tempi, 95 % CI =  0.89 - 3.14, p = 0.000, and mixed tempi, 95 % CI = 1.36 - 3.76, p = 0.000. It was concluded that a medium tempi music program was the most appropriate for an exercise intensity of 70 % maxHRR.

PMID: 18050063 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Hear Res. 2007 Nov 29 [Epub ahead of print]

Combined acoustic and electric hearing: Preserving residual acoustic hearing.

Turner CW, Reiss LA, Gantz BJ.

Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, 121B SHC Building, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States.

The topic of this review is the strategy of preserving residual acoustic hearing  in the implanted ear to provide combined electrical stimulation and acoustic hearing as a rehabilitative strategy for sensorineural hearing loss. This chapter will concentrate on research done with the Iowa/Nucleus 10mm Hybrid device, but we will also attempt to summarize strategies and results from other groups around the world who use slightly different approaches. A number of studies have shown that preserving residual acoustic hearing in the implanted ear is a realistic goal for many patients with severe high-frequency hearing loss. The addition of the electric stimulation to their existing acoustic hearing can provide increased speech recognition for these patients. In addition, the preserved acoustic hearing can offer considerable advantages, as compared to a traditional cochlear  implant, for tasks such as speech recognition in backgrounds or appreciation of music and other situations where the poor frequency resolution of electric stimulation has been a disadvantage.

PMID: 18164883 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2007 Nov 22 [Epub ahead of print]

Is the audiologic status of professional musicians a reflection of the noise exposure in classical orchestral music?

Emmerich E, Rudel L, Richter F.

Institute of Physiology I/Neurophysiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Teichgraben 8, 07740, Jena, Germany, eemm@mti.uni-jena.de.

The sound in classical orchestral music is louder than noise emissions allowed by national rules in industry. We wanted to assess the audiologic status of professional musicians at different ages of their careers and to look for a coherence of declined hearing ability and the sound emissions in order to substantiate advices for hearing protection and occupational medicine in musicians. Data from questionnaires (anamnestic data on sound exposure in profession and leisure times, use of hearing protection, self-evaluation of hearing function and hearing deficits), audiometric data and amplitudes of OAE were evaluated from 109 professional musicians aged 30-69 years from three major  German orchestras and from 110 students of an academy of music (aged 11-19 years). Sound emissions of the whole orchestra and of single instruments/instrument groups were measured at the orchestra stages and pits during rehearsals and performances. None of the musicians was engaged in noisy hobbies and only a few used hearing protectors regularly. More than 50% of the musicians had a hearing loss of 15 dB(A) and more. Highest losses were found among the strings and the brass players. DPOAE amplitudes coincidently declined with the duration of performing music in the orchestras. Professional musicians aged older than 60 years had a significantly greater hearing loss at 4 and 6 kHz  than those aged 30-39 years. Among the strings in one orchestra a dominant hearing deficit in the left ears was observed. Musicians need the same health care for their hearing as workers in noisy industry. A better education on the hearing hazards (use of hearing protectors) as well as sound protection in the rehearsal rooms is necessary. Hearing loss in professional musicians should be accepted as an occupational disease.

PMID: 18034257 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

J Neurosci. 2007 Nov 21;27(47):13028-32.

Cortical thickness in congenital amusia: when less is better than more.

Hyde KL, Lerch JP, Zatorre RJ, Griffiths TD, Evans AC, Peretz I.

Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A  2B4. krista.hyde@mail.mcgill.ca

Congenital amusia (or tone deafness) is a lifelong disorder characterized by impairments in the perception and production of music. A previous voxel-based morphometry (VBM) study revealed that amusic individuals had reduced white matter in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) relative to musically intact controls (Hyde et al., 2006). However, this VBM study also revealed associated increases in gray matter in the same right IFG region of amusics. The objective of the present study was to better understand this morphological brain anomaly by way of cortical thickness measures that provide a more specific measure of cortical morphology relative to VBM. We found that amusic subjects (n = 21) have thicker cortex in the right IFG and the right auditory cortex relative to musically intact controls (n = 26). These cortical thickness differences suggest the presence of cortical malformations in the amusic brain, such as abnormal neuronal migration, that may have compromised the normal development of a right frontotemporal pathway.

Publication Types:      Comparative Study     Multicenter Study     Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 18032676 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

J Voice. 2007 Nov 21 [Epub ahead of print]

Performer's Attitudes Toward Seeking Health Care for Voice Issues: Understanding  the Barriers.

Gilman M, Merati AL, Klein AM, Hapner ER, Johns MM.

The Emory Voice Center, Emory University, Department of Otolaryngology, Atlanta,  Georgia.

Contemporary commercial music (CCM) performers rely heavily on their voice, yet may not be aware of the importance of proactive voice care. This investigation intends to identify perceptions and barriers to seeking voice care among CCM artists. This cross-sectional observational study used a 10-item Likert-based response questionnaire to assess current perceptions regarding voice care in a population of randomly selected participants of professional CCM conference. Subjects (n=78) were queried regarding their likelihood to seek medical care for  minor medical problems and specifically problems with their voice. Additional questions investigated anxiety about seeking voice care from a physician specialist, speech language pathologist, or voice coach; apprehension regarding findings of laryngeal examination, laryngeal imaging procedures; and the effect of medical insurance on the likelihood of seeking medical care. Eighty-two percent of subjects reported that their voice was a critical part of their profession; 41% stated that they were not likely to seek medical care for problems with their voice; and only 19% were reluctant to seek care for general medical problems (P<0.001). Anxiety about seeking a clinician regarding their voice was not a deterrent. Most importantly, 39% of subjects do not seek medical  attention for their voice problems due to medical insurance coverage. The CCM artists are less likely to seek medical care for voice problems compared with general medical problems. Availability of medical insurance may be a factor. Availability of affordable voice care and education about the importance of voice care is needed in this population of vocal performers.

PMID: 18037270 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Psychooncology. 2007 Nov 21 [Epub ahead of print]

Randomized controlled trial of the active music engagement (AME) intervention on  children with cancer.

Robb SL, Clair AA, Watanabe M, Monahan PO, Azzouz F, Stouffer JW, Ebberts A, Darsie E, Whitmer C, Walker J, Nelson K, Hanson-Abromeit D, Lane D, Hannan A.

Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA.

Background: Coping theorists argue that environmental factors affect how children perceive and respond to stressful events such as cancer. However, few studies have investigated how particular interventions can change coping behaviors. The active music engagement (AME) intervention was designed to counter stressful qualities of the in-patient hospital environment by introducing three forms of environmental support.Method: The purpose of this multi-site randomized controlled trial was to determine the efficacy of the AME intervention on three coping-related behaviors (i.e. positive facial affect, active engagement, and initiation). Eighty-three participants, ages 4-7, were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: AME (n = 27), music listening (ML; n = 28), or audio storybooks (ASB; n = 28). Conditions were videotaped to facilitate behavioral data collection using time-sampling procedures.Results: After adjusting for baseline differences, repeated measure analyses indicated that AME participants had a significantly higher frequency of coping-related behaviors compared with ML or ASB. Positive facial affect and active engagement were significantly higher during AME compared with ML and ASB (p<0.0001). Initiation was significantly higher during AME than ASB (p<0.05).Conclusion: This study supports the use of the AME intervention to encourage coping-related behaviors in hospitalized children aged 4-7 receiving cancer treatment. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PMID: 18033724 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

J Voice. 2007 Nov 19 [Epub ahead of print]

Empirical Criteria for Establishing a Classification of Singing Activity in Children and Adolescents.

Fuchs M, Meuret S, Geister D, Pfohl W, Thiel S, Dietz A, Gelbrich G.

University of Leipzig, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Section of Phoniatrics  and Audiology, Leipzig, Germany.

SUMMARY: This study evaluated a proposed classification system to assess the nature and extent of voice use in young singers to support diagnostic routines, the treatment of voice disorders, and future research in children and adolescents. A classification system was developed and studied in 186 children and adolescents (age range 6-19 years, M=13.5 years). The system was based on three parameters previously shown to contribute to the development of voice disorders in young singers: amount of voice strain, amount of voice training, and the amount of wind instrument use. The subjects were selected on the basis of information from schools and choirs. After this selection, they were interviewed  in detail by seven phoniatricians, logopaedists, and voice teachers. The standardized interviews were recorded and used for classification. Afterward, 124 physicians/logopaedists, choirmasters, music teachers, and lay people classified  the singing activity by means of six randomized interviews, resulting in a total  of 744 second appraisals. The agreement concerning the classification on the part of the interviewers was evaluated for each preselection and each second appraisal result for all three dimensions of the classification for each subject. All of the second appraiser groups showed moderately strong agreement with the interviewers (kappa=0.65-0.83). In the selection in which the test subjects were  not interviewed, there was significantly less agreement (kappa=0.29-0.47). However, the additional strain caused by the instrument was already appraised with a very high degree of agreement in the preliminary selection (kappa=0.88-0.93). This classification system is a practical instrument for evaluating singing activity in young singers. It is accessible to lay persons, simplifying and standardizing communication among physicians, logopaedists, and singing teachers. It can be used at the level of a group comparison in scientific investigations.

PMID: 18031988 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

BMC Nurs. 2007 Nov 13;6:11.

Experienced stressors and coping strategies among Iranian nursing students.

Seyedfatemi N, Tafreshi M, Hagani H.

Mental Health Department, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery affiliated to Iran Medical Sciences University, Yasemi, St, Valiasr Aven, Tehran, Iran. nseyedfatemi@yahoo.com.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: College students are prone to stress due to the transitional nature of college life. High levels of stress are believed to affect students' health and academic functions. If the stress is not dealt with effectively, feelings of loneliness, nervousness, sleeplessness and worrying may  result. Effective coping strategies facilitate the return to a balanced state, reducing the negative effects of stress. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed to determine sources of stress and coping strategies in nursing students studying at the Iran Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery. All undergraduate nursing students enrolled in years 1-4 during academic year 2004-2005 were included in this study, with a total of 366 questionnaires fully completed by the students. The Student Stress Survey and the Adolescent Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences Inventory (ACOPE) were used for data collection. RESULTS: Most students reported "finding new friends" (76.2%), "working with people they did not know" (63.4%) as interpersonal sources of stress, "new responsibilities" (72.1%), "started college" (65.8%) as intrapersonal sources of stress more than others. The most frequent academic source of stress was "increased class workload" (66.9%) and the most frequent environmental sources of stress were being "placed in unfamiliar situations" (64.2%) and "waiting in long lines" (60.4%). Interpersonal and environmental sources of stress were reported more frequently than intrapersonal and academic sources. Mean interpersonal (P=0.04) and environmental (P=0.04) sources of stress were significantly greater in first year than in fourth year students. Among coping strategies in 12 areas, the family problem solving strategies, "trying to  reason with parents and compromise" (73%) and "going along with family rules" (68%) were used "often or always" by most students. To cope with engaging in demanding activity, students often or always used "trying to figure out how to deal with problems" (66.4%) and "trying to improve themselves" (64.5%). The self-reliance strategy, "trying to make their own decisions" (62%); the social support strategies, "apologizing to people" (59.6%), "trying to help other people solve their problems" (56.3%), and "trying to keep up friendships or make new friends" (54.4%); the spiritual strategy, "praying" (65.8%); the seeking diversions strategy, "listening to music" (57.7%), the relaxing strategy "day dreaming" (52.5%), and the effort to "be close with someone cares about you" (50.5%) were each used "often or always" by a majority of students. Most students reported that the avoiding strategies "smoking" (93.7%) and "drinking beer or wine" (92.9%), the ventilating strategies "saying mean things to people" and "swearing" (85.8%), the professional support strategies "getting professional counseling" (74.6%) and "talking to a teacher or counselor" (67.2%) and the humorous strategy "joking and keeping a sense of humor" (51.9%) were used "seldom or never". CONCLUSION: First year nursing students are exposed to a variety of stressors. Establishing a student support system during the first year and improving it throughout nursing school is necessary to equip nursing students with effective coping skills. Efforts should include counseling helpers and their teachers, strategies that can be called upon in these students' future nursing careers.

PMID: 17999772 [PubMed - in process]

AAOHN J. 2007 Nov;55(11):476.

Sources of noise-induced hearing loss.

Loftis M.

WRH Health System, Wadsworth, OH, USA.

Occupational health nurses should educate employees about the risk of noise-induced hearing loss from portable music players and cellular phones during preplacement and annual hearing evaluations.

PMID: 18019772 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Acta Otorrinolaringol Esp. 2007 Nov;58(9):401-7.

[Acoustic trauma in classical music players]

[Article in Spanish]

Morais D, Benito JI, Almaraz A.

Servicio de Otorrinolaringología, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid, Valladolid, Espańa. dmoraisp@ono.com

OBJECTIVE: To confirm the existence of acoustic trauma in classical musicians. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Sixty-five volunteers from the Castilla and León Symphony Orchestra were studied. The hearing thresholds of each musician were age-corrected using the ELI and ISO 7029:2000 scales. Furthermore the sound levels of the instruments in this symphony orchestra were studied. RESULTS: We observed that the sound level of the symphony orchestra instruments is higher than the level permitted by law, ie it constitutes a risk for hearing loss. We also found that 4 kHz hearing loss in the 5th percentile among musicians was double the rate that would be expected for age, and that violinists and viola players showed poorer hearing in the left ear. CONCLUSIONS: Classical music causes acoustic trauma in musicians and should be recognized as a professional illness. Musicians are obliged to protect their hearing and to undergo regular check-ups.

Publication Types:      English Abstract

PMID: 17999904 [PubMed - in process]

Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2007 Nov;116(5):362-70.

The additional therapeutic effect of group music therapy for schizophrenic patients: a randomized study.

Ulrich G, Houtmans T, Gold C.

Rhenish Clinic Bedburg-Hau, Bedburg-Hau, Germany. gunnarulrich@tiscali.nl

OBJECTIVE: Schizophrenia is one of the most serious mental disorders. Music therapy has only recently been introduced as a form of treatment. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of music therapy for schizophrenic in-patients needing acute care. METHOD: Thirty-seven patients with psychotic disorders were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group. Both groups received medication and treatment indicated for their disorder. Additionally, the experimental group (n = 21) underwent group music therapy. RESULTS: Significant effects of music therapy are found in patients' self-evaluation of their psychosocial orientation and for negative symptoms. No differences were found in  the quality of life. CONCLUSION: Musical activity diminishes negative symptoms and improves interpersonal contact. These positive effects of music therapy could increase the patient's abilities to adapt to the social environment in the community after discharge from the hospital.

PMID: 17919155 [PubMed - in process]

Ann Neurol. 2007 Nov;62(5):525-8.

Compulsive singing: another aspect of punding in Parkinson's disease.

Bonvin C, Horvath J, Christe B, Landis T, Burkhard PR.

Department of Neurology, Geneva University Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.

We report on two patients with advanced Parkinson's disease who were exhibiting a peculiar and stereotyped behavior characterized by an irrepressible need to sing  compulsively when under high-dose dopamine replacement therapy. Sharing many features with punding, this singing behavior is proposed as a distinct manifestation of the dopamine dysregulation syndrome in Parkinson's disease.

Publication Types:      Case Reports

PMID: 17696122 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

74: Cereb Cortex. 2007 Nov;17(11):2650-8. Epub 2007 Feb 8.

The feeling of familiarity of music and odors: the same neural signature?

Plailly J, Tillmann B, Royet JP.

Neurosciences & Systčm