Stroke Recovery Improves with Music

Dr. Kay is a medical doctor with training in pathology, and an avid writer. During his training, he worked on pre-clinical and clinical trials in a variety of laboratories related to alcohol effects on the brain, cancer diagnosis, and alternative medicine. Stroke victims face a long and difficult road to recovery, and many of them suffer from irreparable residual effects. Researchers around the globe are searching for treatment options that improve recovery in stroke patients, but to date no magic bullet has arrived. Currently, patients are treated with a multimodal approach, including physical therapy, occupational therapy and counseling as needed.

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Mozart, MD – Music for the Mind and Body

Music not only soothes the savage beast; it heals the critically ill.

A study in Critical Care Medicine evaluated the mechanisms of music-induced relaxation in critically ill patients. The researchers measured blood pressure and heart rate, brain electrical activity, serum levels of stress hormones and cytokines, requirements for sedative drugs, and level of sedation before and after an hour of listening to piano sonatas through headphones.

Researchers found that patients who listened to the sonatas required less medication to achieve a comparable level of sedation, compared to those who didn’t.

One of the remarkable things about the study is that the researchers also found that serum levels of growth hormone went up after listening to music, while those of epinephrine and interleukin-6 went down. The levels of all three should decrease with lowered stress. The jury’s definitely still out on the mechanism by which this might occur, and bear in mind that this was an extremely small study: a total of just 10 patients in both intervention and control groups.

But not just any music will do. It has to be Mozart.

Another study compared the effect of listening to either Eine Kleine Nachtmusik or New Age music on relaxation states. Subjects were assigned to listen to either one for 28 minutes a day on three consecutive days. At the outset, all subjects scored similarly on the Smith Relaxation States Inventory.

On Day 2, Mozart listeners reported higher levels of a relaxation state called “At Ease/Peace” and lower levels of negative emotion. On Day 3, Mozart listeners reported substantially higher levels of the states of Mental Quiet, Awe and Wonder, Mystery, At Ease/Peace, and Rested/Refreshed than did those who listened to New Age music.

Researchers have demonstrated that listening to Mozart for ten minutes briefly improves performance on tests of spatial temporal reasoning and, most astoundingly, reduces epileptiform brain activity and clinical seizures. Mozart even works for mice. Those who were exposed to Mozart’s piano sonata K448 en utero and for 60 days after birth performed better at maze tests than mice who were exposed to silence, white noise, or music composed by Phillip Glass.

Computer analysis of the music of 58 composers revealed that Mozart was distinct in using long-term periodicity; that is, musical phrases lasting between 10 and 60 seconds with a definite beginning and end. Of all the music analyzed, only the Bach boys, J.S. and C.P.E., included similar periodicity.

Take two sonatas and call me in the morning.

References

Conrad, C., Niess, H., Jauch, K.W., Bruns, C.J., Hartl, W., Welker, L. (2007). Overture for growth hormone: requiem for interleukin-6?. Critical Care Medicine, 35(12), 2709-2713.

Hughes, J.R., Fino, J.J. (2000). The Mozart effect: distinctive aspects of the music–a clue to brain coding?. Clinical EEG, 31(2), 94-103.

Smith, J.C., Joyce, C.A. (2004). Mozart versus new age music: relaxation states, stress, and ABC relaxation theory. Journal of Music Therapy, 41(3), 215-224.

Source: Brain Blogger

Solving Problems with Pictures

Interview with Dan Roam, author of The Back of the Napkin August 1, 2009. By Vern Burkhardt"We can use the simplicity and immediacy of pictures to discover and clarify our own ideas, and use those same pictures to clarify our ideas for other people, helping them discover something new for themselves along the way." Pictures can be used to discover, develop and share business ideas—and have some fun.

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New Products and Inventions

Molecule That Can Help The Heart Repair Itself

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discoverd a protein that can initiate the repair of heart cells and blood vessel growth after a heart attack.

The molecule, Thymosin beta-4, is expressed by embryos during the heart's development and encourages migration of heart cells. Scientitsts have used the molecule experimentally in mice, and it can begin to take action as early as 24 hours after injection. An examination of the capillary smooth muscle cells three days later showed a significant increase in capillary density near the site of the heart attack.

Further studies are needed to determine whether the same success will occur in larger animals.

Nation's First Green Gym to Run On Human-Generated Energy

Shedding pounds and expending energy is no longer just good for you – it's also a way to give back to the environment. The Green Microgym, based in Portland, Oregon, is the nation's first gym that aims to use human-generated energy from clients as they work out. Adam Boesel, the gym's owner, hopes that in the future the gym will run entirely on the energy generated by clients. While the science behind generating energy from spinning wheels – commonly used in much of the exercise equipment installed in gyms – the issue at hand thus far has been how to adapt the technology and find the right equipment. A Texas-based company, Henry Works is currently developing a device called the Human Dynamo, which Boesel's Microgym hopes to use. The dynamo connects a number of exercise bikes with a battery that stores the energy generated as people exercise. Appliances like lamps or televisions can then be plugged into the box in order to utilize this power. Although installing the energy-generating equipment is expensive, if gyms can pony up enough to do so, they stand to save significantly in the long-term. And as with all technology, the expectation is that the further the concept is developed the more affordable and viable it will become.