Music Therapy as a Treatment for Female Adolescents with Childhood Abuse

This article describes the preference to using receptive music therapy as a modality for helping an adolescent who has PTSD from childhood abuses. Adolescence is a difficult period during the life span. The second stage of separation/individuation provides challenges to almost all adolescents. This article contains a description of the adolescent behaviors of someone who is experiencing the consequences of PTSD. Along with an explanation of why receptive music therapy is an effective therapy with this population is a case study

Memories from VII World Congress of Music Therapy, Vitoria Gasteiz, 1993

Some of the participants share their memories and photos from the VII World Congress of Music Therapy, held in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain in 1993

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Ego development and self-representation among high school adolescents in music performing groups

The relationship between human emotional development and the use of music in impacting on that development has been explored in the psychoanalytic and developmental literature in the form of case studies. However, there is only one study which compares the general student population with students who choose to study music at various levels of intensity. These levels range from the student who elects to study music as part of an academic education to students who perform music professionally. It is the attempt of this study to begin to look empirically at some of the developmental factors which might differentiate those students who choose to participate in high school music performing groups from those who do not. In the developmental and psychoanalytic literature, the ability to successfully separate from primary caretakers is considered to be a major task of the adolescent stage. Ego development and changes in the quality of self and object representation are considered to be important factors in the achievement of this task. In addition, progress towards individuation and identity formation is significant. Measures used in this study include the Loevinger\u27s Sentence Completion Test, the Erikson Psychosocial Inventory, and the Profile of Developmental Positions in Adolescence. The subjects of this study are students who attended a northern Westchester high school, who have been participating in a five year longitudinal investigation of adolescent development. Included in this study are 110 protocols of students in the music performing groups randomly matched to 110 students from the general population by grade and sex. Music students attained significantly higher levels of ego development compared to the control group and higher scores on Trust and Industry. On the Profile of Developmental Positions in Adolescence, the music students were less stimulation seeking and counterdepressive in their behavior. They were also more likely to be loyal to their primary objects and to be committed to their ego ideals. Sex differences also effected the outcome of this study. Female students in the music performing groups were found to score significantly higher on the Intimacy scale, of the EPPSI, than males or students in the control group. Males in both groups scored higher on the DPA Dominating/Grandiose Scale. Discussion focuses on the implication of these findings in connection with the function of music as a form of emotional expression and relationship

Memories from VII World Congress of Music Therapy, Vitoria Gasteiz, 1993

Some of the participants share their memories and photos from the  VII World Congress of Music Therapy, held in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain in 1993

Postoperative continuous positive airway pressure to prevent pneumonia, re-intubation, and death after major abdominal surgery (PRISM): a multicentre, open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial

Background: Respiratory complications are an important cause of postoperative morbidity. We aimed to investigate whether continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) administered immediately after major abdominal surgery could prevent postoperative morbidity. Methods: PRISM was an open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial done at 70 hospitals across six countries. Patients aged 50 years or older who were undergoing elective major open abdominal surgery were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive CPAP within 4 h of the end of surgery or usual postoperative care. Patients were randomly assigned using a computer-generated minimisation algorithm with inbuilt concealment. The primary outcome was a composite of pneumonia, endotracheal re-intubation, or death within 30 days after randomisation, assessed in the intention-to-treat population. Safety was assessed in all patients who received CPAP. The trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN56012545. Findings: Between Feb 8, 2016, and Nov 11, 2019, 4806 patients were randomly assigned (2405 to the CPAP group and 2401 to the usual care group), of whom 4793 were included in the primary analysis (2396 in the CPAP group and 2397 in the usual care group). 195 (8\ub71%) of 2396 patients in the CPAP group and 197 (8\ub72%) of 2397 patients in the usual care group met the composite primary outcome (adjusted odds ratio 1\ub701 [95% CI 0\ub781-1\ub724]; p=0\ub795). 200 (8\ub79%) of 2241 patients in the CPAP group had adverse events. The most common adverse events were claustrophobia (78 [3\ub75%] of 2241 patients), oronasal dryness (43 [1\ub79%]), excessive air leak (36 [1\ub76%]), vomiting (26 [1\ub72%]), and pain (24 [1\ub71%]). There were two serious adverse events: one patient had significant hearing loss and one patient had obstruction of their venous catheter caused by a CPAP hood, which resulted in transient haemodynamic instability. Interpretation: In this large clinical effectiveness trial, CPAP did not reduce the incidence of pneumonia, endotracheal re-intubation, or death after major abdominal surgery. Although CPAP has an important role in the treatment of respiratory failure after surgery, routine use of prophylactic post-operative CPAP is not recommended