Musical perceptual skills, but not neural auditory processing, are associated with better reading ability in childhood

Musical activities have been suggested to be beneficial for language development in childhood. Randomised controlled trials using music have indicated that musical interventions can be used to support language skills in children with developmental language difficulties. However, it is not entirely clear how beneficial music activities are for normally developing children or how the effects mediated via music are transmitted. To investigate these questions, the present study used structural equation models to assess how musical training, perceptual musical skills, and auditory processing in the brain are associated with reading proficiency and each other. Perceptual musical skills were assessed using musicality tests while auditory processing in the brain was measured using mismatch negativity responses to pitch, duration, and phoneme length contrasts. Our participants were a community sample of 64 8–11-year-old typically developing children with and without musical training, recruited from four classes in four elementary schools in Finland. Approximately half of children had music as a hobby. Our results suggest that performance in tests of musical perceptual skills is directly linked with reading proficiency instead of being mediated via auditory processing in the brain. Auditory processing in the brain in itself seems not to be strongly linked with reading proficiency in these children. Our results support the view that musical perceptual skills are associated with reading skills regardless of musical training.Peer reviewe

Oral health status and associated lifestyle behaviors in a sample of Iranian adults : an exploratory household survey

Background Poor oral hygiene can lead to serious diseases, such as periodontitis, tooth decay, pain and discomfort in teeth or gums, infections, and loss of teeth. In Iran, adults aged 50 y and older are a high-risk group for oral health problems, and this age group will grow in the coming decades. Despite increasing attention on healthy aging, there is relatively less emphasis on oral hygiene and health-related problems. The present study investigated the oral health status of Iranian adults using the oral health self-assessment questionnaire (OHQ) developed by the World Health Organization (WHO). Methods A population-based household survey of a sample of adults aged 18-65 y was conducted. In this study, the participants were recruited between May and October 2016 in Tabriz, Iran, and the study population was sampled using a multi-stage cluster sampling design. The WHO's OHQ for adults was used for measuring oral health status and oral hygiene behavior. Results In total, 2310 respondents completed the survey. The mean age (SD) of the participants was 41.6(23.4) y. Males accounted for 48.8% of the participants. Of the 2310 respondents,187 (8.1%) individuals were edentulous, 152(20.7%) of whom were aged 51-65 y. Furthermore, 72.3% of those aged 51-65 y were dentate, and 50% of adults aged 51-65 y said they had 20 or more teeth. About one-third of the participants reported that they did not brush their teeth daily (23% of those aged 18-35 y,35.9% of those aged 36-50 y, and 44.6% for those aged 51-65 y). In the sample, 39.4% of individuals aged 18-35 y,34.1% of individuals aged 36-50 y, and 26.6% of individuals aged 51-65 y had visited a dentist less than 6 month ago. One-third of the participants consumed sweets and sugary drinks daily. Conclusions Although the majority of Iranian adults considered their oral health status good, only a small percentage of the sample visited their dentist regularly. Furthermore, visits to the dentist declined in accordance with increasing age, a time when the incidence of oral health problems may increase. Poor oral health may increase the risk of adverse health outcomes, particularly among the aging population

Development and assessment of an environmental DNA (eDNA) assay for a cryptic Siren (Amphibia: Sirenidae)

Environmental DNA (eDNA) assays have become a major aspect of surveys for aquatic organisms in the past decade. These methods are highly sensitive, making them well-suited for monitoring rare and cryptic species. Current efforts to study the Rio Grande Siren in southern Texas have been hampered due to the cryptic nature of these aquatic salamanders. Arid conditions further add to the difficulty in studying this species, as many water bodies they inhabit are ephemeral, sometimes constraining sampling efforts to a short window after heavy rain. Additionally, sirens are known to cease activity and reside underground when ponds begin to dry or as water temperatures increase. Conventional sampling efforts require extensive trap-hours to be effective, which is not always possible within the required sampling window. This study presents the development of a novel eDNA assay technique for this elusive species using conventional PCR and Sanger sequencing and compares eDNA sampling results with simultaneous trapping at multiple sites to assess the relative effectiveness of the procedure. Rio Grande Siren detection via eDNA sampling was significantly higher at all sites compared to trapping, confirming the utility of this assay for species detection. This methodology gives promise for future work assessing the distribution and status of the Rio Grande Siren and has potential for use on other southern Texas amphibians

Musical perceptual skills, but not neural auditory processing, are associated with better reading ability in childhood

Musical activities have been suggested to be beneficial for language development in childhood. Randomised controlled trials using music have indicated that musical interventions can be used to support language skills in children with developmental language difficulties. However, it is not entirely clear how beneficial music activities are for normally developing children or how the effects mediated via music are transmitted. To investigate these questions, the present study used structural equation models to assess how musical training, perceptual musical skills, and auditory processing in the brain are associated with reading proficiency and each other. Perceptual musical skills were assessed using musicality tests while auditory processing in the brain was measured using mismatch negativity responses to pitch, duration, and phoneme length contrasts. Our participants were a community sample of 64 8–11-year-old typically developing children with and without musical training, recruited from four classes in four elementary schools in Finland. Approximately half of children had music as a hobby. Our results suggest that performance in tests of musical perceptual skills is directly linked with reading proficiency instead of being mediated via auditory processing in the brain. Auditory processing in the brain in itself seems not to be strongly linked with reading proficiency in these children. Our results support the view that musical perceptual skills are associated with reading skills regardless of musical training.</div

Musical activities and the development of neural sound discrimination

Musical experience may have the potential to influence functional brain development. The present thesis investigated how the maturation of neural auditory discrimination in childhood varies according to the amount of informal musical activities (e.g., singing and musical play) and formal musical training. Neural auditory discrimination was examined by recording auditory event-related potentials (ERP) to different types of sound changes with electroencephalography (EEG) in children of various ages. The relation of these responses to the amount of informal musical activities was examined in 2 3-year-old children. Furthermore, the development of the responses from early school-age until preadolescence was compared between children receiving formal musical training and musically nontrained children. With regard to typical maturation, the results suggest that neural auditory discrimination is still immature at the age of 2 3 years and continues to develop at least until pre-adolescence. Both informal musical experience and formal musical training were found to modulate various stages of neural auditory discrimination. Specifically, in the 2 3-year-old children, a high amount of informal musical activities was associated with response profiles consistent with enhanced processing of auditory changes and lowered distractibility. Furthermore, during school-age, musically trained children showed more rapid development of neural auditory discrimination than nontrained children especially for music-like sounds. Importantly, no differences were seen between the musically trained and nontrained children at the early stages of the training. Therefore, the group differences that emerged at later ages were most likely due to training and did not reflect pre-existing functional differences between the groups. Thus, the results (i) highlight the usefulness of change-related auditory ERPs as biomarkers for the maturation of auditory processing, (ii) provide novel evidence for the role of informal musical activities in shaping auditory skills in early childhood, and (iii) demonstrate that formal musical training shapes the development of neural auditory discrimination.Musiikillinen toiminta saattaa muokata aivojen kehitystä. Tässä väitöskirjassa tutkittiin, miten arkipäiväiset musiikilliset toiminnot (esim. laulaminen ja tanssiminen) ja ohjattu soittoharrastus heijastuvat äänien hermostollisen erottelun kehitykseen. Erottelukykyjä tarkasteltiin mittaamalla erilaisten äänissä tapahtuvien muutosten synnyttämiä kuuloherätevasteita aivosähkökäyrällä (EEG). Vasteiden yhteyttä arkipäiväisten musiikillisten toimintojen määrään tutkittiin 2-3-vuotiailla lapsilla. Lisäksi vasteiden kehitystä varhaisesta kouluiästä esimurrosikään verrattiin soittamista ja muita asioita harrastavien lasten välillä. Aivojen tyypillisen kehityksen osalta tulokset viittasivat siihen, että äänien hermostollinen erottelu on 2-3-vuoden iässä kypsymätöntä ja kehittyi ainakin esimurrosikään asti. Sekä arkipäiväisten musiikillisten toimintojen että ohjatun soittoharrastuksen havaittiin olevan yhteydessä äänien hermostolliseen erotteluun. Musiikillisesti aktiivisten 2-3-vuotiaiden lasten aivovasteprofiilit viittasivat tehostuneeseen äänissä tapahtuvien muutosten käsittelyyn ja alhaisempaan häiriintyvyyteen. Kouluiässä äänien hermostollinen erottelu kehittyy nopeammin musiikkia harrastavilla lapsilla muihin lapsiin verrattuna. Ryhmien välillä ei havaittu eroja musiikinharjoittelun alkuvaiheessa, mikä viittaa siihen, että myöhemmin esiin tulleet ryhmäerot heijastivat harjoittelun vaikutusta eikä ennen harjoittelua olemassa olleita eroja. Tulokset korostavat herätevasteiden hyödyllisyyttä aivojen kuulokykyjen kehityksen tutkimisessa, tarjoavat uutta tietoa arkipäiväisten musiikillisten toimintojen yhteydestä kuulokykyihin varhaisessa lapsuudessa sekä osoittavat soittoharrastuksen tehostavan äänien hermostollista erottelua

Changes in the Freshwater Mussel Assemblage in the East Fork Tombigbee River, Mississippi: 1988-2011

The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway facilitates barge navigation between the Tennessee River drainage and Mobile River Basin via locks, dams, canals, and diverted streams. These alterations have destroyed habitat and isolated freshwater mussel populations in streams like the East Fork Tombigbee River. The first post-waterway mussel surveys in 1987 and 1988 reported 31 taxa. I sampled 70 sites in 2010 and 2011 and found 29 species. Though mussel richness was relatively unchanged, species composition shifted toward animals indicative of tributary systems rather than large rivers. Total abundance declined significantly. Relative abundance of 9 taxa decreased significantly; however, relative abundance increased for 11 species, 3 of them federally listed. This shift in mussel species dominance suggests that present stream habitats and/or fish hosts in the East Fork Tombigbee River are favoring smaller-bodied taxa. Yet, changes in the host fish assemblage may be responsible for the increased abundance of some sensitive mussels. Finally, I detected three non-native unionids—Quadrula quadrula, Potamilus alatus, and Potamilus ohiensis—which likely colonized the East Fork Tombigbee River from the Tennessee River drainage via the waterway. These results are among the first to document waterway-mediated shifts in mussel fauna and wide-spread assemblage changes linked to lock and dam river regulation

Predicting Temporal Aspects of Movement for Predictive Replication in Fog Environments

To fully exploit the benefits of the fog environment, efficient management of data locality is crucial. Blind or reactive data replication falls short in harnessing the potential of fog computing, necessitating more advanced techniques for predicting where and when clients will connect. While spatial prediction has received considerable attention, temporal prediction remains understudied. Our paper addresses this gap by examining the advantages of incorporating temporal prediction into existing spatial prediction models. We also provide a comprehensive analysis of spatio-temporal prediction models, such as Deep Neural Networks and Markov models, in the context of predictive replication. We propose a novel model using Holt-Winter's Exponential Smoothing for temporal prediction, leveraging sequential and periodical user movement patterns. In a fog network simulation with real user trajectories our model achieves a 15% reduction in excess data with a marginal 1% decrease in data availability

Number 49 (July 2007)

(July 2007) - Distribution and Status of Etheostoma tecumsehi, the Shawnee Darter, a Species Endemic to the Pond River, Green River Drainage, Kentucky. By Ronald R. Cicerello and Robert S. Butler Assessment and Control of an Invasive Aquaculture Species: An Update on Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in Coastal Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. By Pamela J. Schofield, W. Todd Slack, Mark S. Peterson and Denise R. Gregoire Minutes, Business Meeting, 31st and 32nd Annual Meeting, Southeastern Fishes Council Regional Southeastern Fishes Council Report