Mindfulness for musicians: A mixed methods study investigating the effects of 8-week mindfulness courses on music students at a leading conservatoire

Mindfulness courses are beneficial in clinical domains for anxiety and depression and are becoming more prevalent as interventions in education. However, little is known about what effects mindfulness might have on musicians. In an exploratory study, 25 music students, who completed one of four 8-week MBSR/MBCT mindfulness courses adapted for musicians at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, completed the validated Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire and a bespoke Mindfulness for Musicians questionnaire pre- and post-intervention. Twenty-one music students also took part in a post-intervention one-to-one semi-structured interview. Post-intervention mindfulness scores for both questionnaires increased significantly in comparison to pre-intervention scores. In interviews, participants were reportedly more aware and focused in instrumental lessons, were less self-critical, and developed increased body awareness, which improved their learning of instrumental technique. Participants also described enhanced teacher/pupil communication. In instrumental practice sessions, participants reported more efficient, effective and creative practice, and said that mindfulness exercises helped them deal with problems experienced while practising. Participants also described enhanced listening skills and improved socio-collaboration in ensemble rehearsals. They reported that mindfulness strategies had positive effects on music performance anxiety and described changes in time perception, enhanced expressivity, and positive post-performance effects. Future researchers could adopt a more robust methodology, such as a randomised controlled trial, and incorporate further design elements, such as longitudinal follow-up. Providing more systematic evidence of the beneficial role of mindfulness for conservatoire music students as learners and performers may encourage greater provision of such opportunities in musical settings in the future

Epigenetic Chromatin Silencing: Bistability and Front Propagation

The role of post-translational modification of histones in eukaryotic gene regulation is well recognized. Epigenetic silencing of genes via heritable chromatin modifications plays a major role in cell fate specification in higher organisms. We formulate a coarse-grained model of chromatin silencing in yeast and study the conditions under which the system becomes bistable, allowing for different epigenetic states. We also study the dynamics of the boundary between the two locally stable states of chromatin: silenced and unsilenced. The model could be of use in guiding the discussion on chromatin silencing in general. In the context of silencing in budding yeast, it helps us understand the phenotype of various mutants, some of which may be non-trivial to see without the help of a mathematical model. One such example is a mutation that reduces the rate of background acetylation of particular histone side-chains that competes with the deacetylation by Sir2p. The resulting negative feedback due to a Sir protein depletion effect gives rise to interesting counter-intuitive consequences. Our mathematical analysis brings forth the different dynamical behaviors possible within the same molecular model and guides the formulation of more refined hypotheses that could be addressed experimentally.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure

Plasma Physics

Contains research objectives and reports on four research projects.U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (Contract AT(30-1)-1842)U.S. Atomic Energy Commission Contract W-7405-Eng-3

Bis(2,3,5,6-tetra-2-pyridyl­pyrazine-κ3 N 2,N 1,N 6)nickel(II) dithio­cyanate dihydrate

In the title compound, [Ni(C24H16N6)2](NCS)2·2H2O, the central NiII ion is octahedrally coordinated by six N atoms of two tridentate 2,3,5,6-tetra-2-pyridyl­pyrazine ligands (tppz). Two thio­cyanate anions act as counter-ions and two water mol­ecules act as solvation agents. O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds are observed in the crystral structure

Plasma anandamide concentrations are lower in children with autism spectrum disorder

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmentaldisorder characterized by restricted, stereotyped behaviors and impairments in social communication. Although the underlying biological mechanisms of ASD remain poorly understood, recent preclinical research has implicated the endogenous cannabinoid (or endocannabinoid), anandamide, as a significant neuromodulator in rodent models of ASD. Despite this promising preclinical evidence, no clinical studies to date have tested whether endocannabinoids are dysregulated in individuals with ASD. Here, we addressed this critical gap in knowledge by optimizing liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry methodology to quantitatively analyze anandamide concentrations in banked blood samples collected from a cohort of children withand without ASD (N= 112). Findings: Anandamide concentrations significantly differentiated ASD cases (N= 59) from controls (N= 53), such that children with lower anandamide concentrations were more likely to have ASD (p= 0.041). In keeping with this notion, anandamide concentrations were also significantly lower in ASD compared to control children (p= 0.034). Conclusions: These findings are the first empirical human data to translate preclinical rodent findings to confirm a link between plasma anandamide concentrations in children with ASD. Although preliminary, these data suggest that impaired anandamide signaling may be involved in the pathophysiology of ASD

Coating and Density Distribution Analysis of Commercial Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride Monohydrate Tablets by Terahertz Pulsed Spectroscopy and Imaging

Terahertz pulsed spectroscopy was used to qualitatively detect ciprofloxacin hydrochloride monohydrate (CPFX·HCl·H2O) in tablets, and terahertz pulsed imaging (TPI) was used to scrutinize not only the coating state but also the density distribution of tablets produced by several manufacturers. TPI was also used to evaluate distinguishability among these tablets. The same waveform, which is a unique terahertz absorption spectrum derived from pure CPFX·HCl·H2O, was observed in all of the crushed tablets and in pure CPFX·HCl·H2O. TPI can provide information about the physical states of coated tablets. Information about the uniformity of parameters such as a coating thickness and density can be obtained. In this study, the authors investigated the coating thickness distributions of film-coated CPFX·HCl·H2O from four different manufacturers. Unique terahertz images of the density distributions in these commercial tablets were obtained. Moreover, B-scan (depth) images show the status of the coating layer in each tablet and the density map inside the tablets. These features would reflect differences resulting from different tablet-manufacturing processes