A comparison of the beat competency and rhythm pattern imitation of high school instrumental music students and high school dance students

Thesis (D.M.A.)--Boston UniversityLeading music educators, such as Dalcroze, Orff, Kodály, and Gordon, enthusiastically support the use of movement in the teaching of rhythm. This endorsement, coupled with the number and variety of studies that have examined movement and its impact on music learning, reflects the importance music educators and researchers have placed on movement's pedagogical possibilities. If movement is important in achieving rhythmic competency then it follows that students who participate in dance should possess rhythmic skills that equal or exceed those of music students. In order to examine the impact of movement, this study compared dance training and music training in the development of the rhythmic abilities of beat competency and rhythm pattern imitation. Secondary purposes were to determine the impact of the amount of instrumental music instruction, the amount of dance instruction, the type of instrument studied, or the style of dance studied. For this study, a causal-comparative design was employed. Participants (N = 84) were drawn from four arts magnet high schools and one traditional public school in Connecticut and were stratified into groups defined as music students and dance students. The beat competency and rhythm pattern imitation skills of each subject were then measured using the Rhythm Performance Test-Revised, a computer-generated test, and results for each group were compared. Results indicated a statistically significant difference in favor of the music students on both the beat competency and rhythm pattern imitation measures. Further investigations indicated a statistically significant, negative relationship between the amount of dance training received and scores on the rhythm pattern imitation measure among the dance students. The percussion students scored statistically significantly better than all other music students on the beat competency measure. The study gives us initial insights into how music and dance pedagogical approaches work independently of each other. Whereas past studies have suggested that rhythmic movement may positively impact rhythmic ability when added to methods of rhythm pedagogy, this study suggests that rhythmic movement cannot replace the direct instruction of rhythm in a musical context

Pathophysiologic and pharmacokinetic determinants of the antihypertensive response to propranolol

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117090/1/cpt1977223299.pd

Effect of beta-blockade on low heart rate-related ischemia during mental stress

To explore the effect of beta-adrenergic blockade on low heart rate-related (mental stress) ischemia, 19 patients with coronary artery disease were randomized into a double-blind crossover trial of metoprolol, 100 mg twice daily, and underwent serial mental stress/bicycle exercise studies. Mental stress-induced wall motion abnormalities occurred at a lower heart rate than exercise-induced wall motion abnormalities during placebo administration (81 ± 16 vs. 123 ± 20 beats/min, p < 0.05). Metoprolol reduced the mean magnitude of exercise-induced wall motion abnormalities (2.8 ± 2.0 vs. 1.6 ± 2.4, p = 0.003); improvement was related to the magnitude of hemodynamic beta-blockade effect. Metoprolol did not significantly reduce the mean magnitude of mental stress-induced wall motion abnormalities (3.0 ± 2.2 vs. 2.6 ± 2.2), although individual responses predominantly either improved (50%) or worsened (29%).Unlike exercise, the magnitude of hemodynamic beta-blockade did not predict mental stress response and metoprolol did not block mental stress-induced blood pressure elevations. Patients with abolition of exercise-induced ischemia were more likely to have reduction of mental stress-induced ischemia. Patients whose ischemia worsened with metoprolol during mental stress had more easily inducible ischemia, as assessed by exercise-induced placebo wall motion abnormality, chest pain and prior myocardial infarction. Beta-blockade was associated with a lowering of ischemia-related hemodynamic thresholds compared with placebo.These results suggest that beta-blockade has a variable effect on low heart rate-related ischemia that may be due to a lack of effect on mental stress-induced blood pressure elevation in patients with easily induced ischemia or to effects on coronary vasomotor tone, or both

Positive psychosocial factors may protect against perceived stress in people with systemic lupus erythematosus with and without trauma history

Objective: Trauma history is associated with SLE onset and worse patient-reported outcomes; perceived stress is associated with greater SLE disease activity. Stress perceptions vary in response to life events and may be influenced by psychosocial factors. In an SLE cohort, we examined whether stressful events associated with perceived stress, whether psychosocial factors affected perceived stress, and whether these relationships varied by prior trauma exposure. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of data from the California Lupus Epidemiology Study, an adult SLE cohort. Multivariable linear regression analyses controlling for age, gender, educational attainment, income, SLE damage, comorbid conditions, glucocorticoids ≥7.5 mg/day and depression examined associations of recent stressful events (Life Events Inventory) and positive (resilience, self-efficacy, emotional support) and negative (social isolation) psychosocial factors with perceived stress. Analyses were stratified by lifetime trauma history (Brief Trauma Questionnaire (BTQ)) and by adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in a subset. Results: Among 242 individuals with SLE, a greater number of recent stressful events was associated with greater perceived stress (beta (95% CI)=0.20 (0.07 to 0.33), p=0.003). Positive psychosocial factor score representing resilience, self-efficacy and emotional support was associated with lower perceived stress when accounting for number of stressful events (−0.67 (−0.94 to –0.40), p&lt;0.0001); social isolation was associated with higher stress (0.20 (0.14 to 0.25), p&lt;0.0001). In analyses stratified by BTQ trauma and ACEs, associations of psychosocial factors and perceived stress were similar between groups. However, the number of recent stressful events was significantly associated with perceived stress only for people with BTQ trauma (0.17 (0.05 to 0.29), p=0.0077) and ACEs (0.37 (0.15 to 0.58), p=0.0011).Conclusion: Enhancing positive and lessening negative psychosocial factors may mitigate deleterious perceived stress, which may improve outcomes in SLE, even among individuals with a history of prior trauma who may be more vulnerable to recent stressful events

SUPPRESSION OF SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS FUNCTION IN LOW-RENIN ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION

Study of general haemodynamics in 15 patients with low-renin essential hypertension showed haemodynamic and pathophysiological heterogeneity. However, there was suppression of sympathetic nervous system function in all low-renin patients, regardless of haemodynamic pattern. Subnormal sympathetic nervous activity was manifested by a low normal mean plasma-noradrenaline concentration at rest, diminished noradrenaline responsiveness to postural stimulation, and a reduced blood-pressure response to the indirectly acting sympathomimetic amine tyramine. It is proposed that the syndrome of low-renin essential hypertension is of diverse aetiology, but with secondary sympathetic nervous system underactivity as a feature common to the various forms. The low plasmarenin activity is probably an expression of defective sympathetic nervous system stimulation of renin release.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/21720/1/0000112.pd