Musical activity may improve cognitive aging – A study conducted by Brenda Hanna-Pladdy, PhD, a clinical neuropsychologist in Emory’s Department of Neurology, and cognitive psychologist Alicia MacKay, PhD, found that older individuals who spent a significant amount of time throughout life playing a musical instrument perform better on some cognitive tests than individuals who did not play an instrument.
Listening to music provided some relief for coronary heart disease patients suffering from anxiety, by reducing heart rate and blood pressure. – Listening to music may benefit patients who suffer severe stress and anxiety associated with having and undergoing treatment for coronary heart disease.
Listening to music in the early stages after a stroke can improve patients’ recovery, according to new research published online in the medical journal Brain – Researchers from Finland found that if stroke patients listened to music for a couple of hours a day, their verbal memory and focused attention recovered better and they had a more positive mood than patients who did not listen to anything or who listened to audio books.
A new research has found that musician’s dystonia, a movement disorder that causes muscles spasms in musicians, may be treated by a therapy that stimulates the hand muscles. – Stimulating the hand muscles may help treat the condition called musician’s dystonia. Musician’s dystonia – a focal dystonia is a nerological movement disorder that causes muscles spasms in musicians.
February is designated as American Heart Month in the United States. This observance is aimed at raising awareness about heart disease, the leading cause of
Does being a bookworm boost your brainpower in old age? – New research suggests that reading books, writing and participating in brain-stimulating activities at any age may preserve memory. “Our study suggests that exercising your brain by taking part in activities such as these across a person’s lifetime, from childhood through old age, is important for brain health in old age,” said study author Robert S. Wilson, PhD, with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Sustained action needed for ?Getting to Zero? — Zero New Infections, Zero AIDS-related deaths & Zero discrimination – India is on track to achieve the global targets of ?Zero New Infections, Zero AIDS-related deaths & Zero discrimination?. However, sustaining prevention focus and intensity in the areas where significant declines have been achieved, is highly critical to consolidate the gains, while effectively addressing the emerging epidemics.
Learn that tune while fast asleep — Research shows that stimulation during sleep can enhance skill learning – Want to nail that tune that you’ve practiced and practiced? Maybe you should take a nap with the same melody playing during your sleep, new provocative Northwestern University research suggests. The research grows out of exciting existing evidence that suggests that memories can be reactivated during sleep and storage of them can be strengthened in the process.
Research Shows 16-month-olds Infer Causes of Failed Actions — Findings have implications for learning strategies – Using a very small amount of statistical information, 16-month-old infants can distinguish between the influence of their own actions and the impact of the outside world, new research concludes. The findings, published in this week’s journal Science, give researchers insight into how infants integrate prior knowledge with a handful of statistical data to make accurate inferences about the causes of a failed action.
Parkinson’s patients sing in tune with creative arts therapy – Twice a month a jam session takes place on the third floor of Northwestern Memorial’s Prentice Women’s Hospital. A diverse group of men and women, ranging in age and ethnicity, gather in a circle with instruments in hand and sing together. This is no ordinary jam band; all its members have Parkinson’s disease. They are participating in Creative Arts for Parkinson’s, a music and drama therapy program offered through Northwestern’s Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center.
