The memory skills of musicians and nonmusicians

Musicians seem to have superior abilities than those of nonmusicians, that are not just music-related but that extend to classic auditory and even cognitive tasks, in particular memory tasks. However, concerning memory, results tend to vary depending on the memory system investigated (i.e., long-term, short-term, working memory) and on the category of stimuli that are presented (e.g., verbal, visuospatial). The present research project investigated the memory skills of musicians and nonmusicians, with the final goal of clarifying which (if there are some) characteristics of musicians are linked to better memory skills and if this advantage is general or depends on specific tasks or content of the tasks. Study 1 investigated the literature on memory skills of musicians and nonmusicians through a meta-analysis. Three meta-analysis were conducted separately for long-term memory, short-term memory, and working memory. The effect of moderators was also tested; defined as the type of stimuli presented in the memory task (i.e., verbal, visuospatial, and tonal). The three meta-analyses revealed a medium effect-size in working memory and short-term memory (i.e., there is a moderate difference between musicians and nonmusicians) with effect of moderators. The advantage of musicians was larger for tonal and verbal stimuli and smaller for visual ones. In long term memory the effect-size was small, with no effect of moderators. Study 2 aimed to understand if the advantage found in verbal working memory depended on the modality in which the task was delivered (i.e., stimuli presented auditorily or stimuli presented visually). 18 musicians and 18 nonmusicians performed a digit span task that was presented aurally, visually, or audiovisually. The task was performed with or without a concurrent task (i.e., articulatory suppression). Results showed that musicians had significantly larger spans than nonmusicians regardless of the sensory modality and the concurrent task. Secondary analyses showed that the advantage was more evident when the digits were delivered auditorily and audiovisually. Study 3 aimed to investigate the individual differences among musicians. In particular, the goal was to understand whether the type of music training (classic vs self-taught) could influence the advantage of musicians over nonmusicians in verbal working memory skills, always taking into account the modality of presentation of the verbal stimuli (i.e., visual vs auditory). 102 young adults participated to the study: 33 reader musicians (i.e., that could read music notation), 33 nonreader musicians (i.e., self-taught, that could not read music notation), and 36 nonmusicians A digit span forward and backward was presented in three different modalities, alike study 2. Results showed that reader musicians, nonreader musicians and nonmusicians performed equally well in the digit span forward. However, the group interacted with the modality, revealing that reader musicians performed better than nonmusicians in the audiovisual presentation of digits. No other difference was found. In the backward digit span no difference among groups was found. Study 4 aimed to understand whether the superiority of musicians in short-term memory extends to auditory and visual stimuli that are not verbal and not musical. 36 young adults participated to the study, 24 nonmusicians and 12 professional musicians. A verbal memory task was also included as control measure. In the short-term memory tasks, two sequences of elements were presented, with a short delay in between. The participant had to judge whether the second sequence was the same or different from the first. The types of stimuli composing the sequences where the following: verbal stimuli (i.e., syllables, presented either visually and auditorily); visual contour stimuli (i.e., luminance variations); auditory contour stimuli (i.e., loudness variations); visual nocontour stimuli (i.e., kanji ideograms); auditory nocontour stimuli (i.e., pink noises). Results showed that musicians outperformed nonmusicians in the short-term memory task with the auditory contour and nocontour stimuli, and with the visual contour stimuli

Influência do preço externo no preço interno de frango.

bitstream/item/58658/1/CUsersPiazzonDocuments188.pd

Coeficientes técnicos e custos agregados na cadeia produtiva do frango no oeste catarinense.

bitstream/item/58224/1/doc121.pdfProjeto n. 04.06.32.000-02

Selected medical conditions and risk of breast cancer.

Several diseases are known or suspected to be associated with altered levels of hormones and growth factors that may influence breast cancer risk. To elucidate this possibility, we studied the relationship between 23 medical conditions or procedures and breast cancer risk by means of data from a multicentric case-control study conducted between 1991 and 1994 in six Italian areas. The study included 2569 histologically confirmed incident cases of breast cancer (median age 55 years, range 23-74 years) and 2588 control women (median age 56 years, range 20-74 years) admitted to the same hospitals as cases for a variety of acute conditions unrelated to known or suspected risk factors for breast cancer. After allowance for education, parity and body mass index, elevated odds ratios (ORs) emerged for history of diabetes mellitus in post-menopausal women (OR = 1.5, 95% CI 1.1-2.0), hypertension in pregnancy (OR = 1.8, 95% CI 1.0-3.4) and breast nodules (OR = 1.3, 95% CI 1.0-1.7). Risk decreases were associated with ovarian ablation for ovarian cysts (OR = 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.7) and with thyroid nodules (OR = 0.7, 95% CI 0.5-0.9) but not with the combination of any type of benign thyroid disease. While most examined conditions seemed unrelated to breast cancer risk, the association with late-onset diabetes is of special interest as it suggests a role of hyperinsulinaemia and insulin resistance in breast cancer promotion. It also points to preventive lifestyle modifications

Os 35 anos que mudaram a avicultura brasileira.

Projeto: 11.11.11.111

Leanness as early marker of cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx

Summary Background: It is not clear whether the purported association of leanness with cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx was due to cancer-related weight loss or to the influence of factors associated with leanness. Patients and methods: Seven hundred fifty-four incident cases of cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx and 1775 controls, admitted to hospital for acute, non-neoplastic diseases, in Italy and Switzerland. Questionnaire included height, lifetime history of weight and of physical activity, waist and hip measurements, and a validated food-frequency section. Results: Leanness at diagnosis was associated with elevated risk in men (adjusted odds ratio, OR for 5-unit decrease in body-mass index, BMI = 1.9; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.6-2.2 in men). Male cases were significantly leaner than control subjects at the age of 30 and of 50. Thinner women also had an increased risk, but the inverse association with BMI was non linear. In both sexes, the association with leanness was restricted to smokers and moderate/heavy drinkers, but was not accounted for by drinking and smoking habits, nor by differences in physical activity or dietary habits. Conclusions: Leanness appears to be an early marker of some unknown biological effect of smoking and/or of alcohol abuse, which may contribute to the prediction of cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx. Cessation of smoking and substantial reduction of alcohol intake may improve nutritional status, besides stopping carcinogen exposur

Smoking and drinking cessation and the risk of oesophageal cancer

In a case–control study from Italy and Switzerland with 404 oesophageal cancer cases and 1070 hospital controls, the risk of oesophageal cancer declined with time since cessation of smoking or drinking, and was significantly reduced (odds ratio = 0.11) 10 or more years after cessation of both habits. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig

Sementes com alta tecnologia ? o futuro da lavoura.

No moderno sistema de produção agrícola a qualidade da semente é o fator determinante para o início de uma atividade rentável. O uso de sementes de alta qualidade dará origem a plântulas normais de maneira rápida e uniforme, influenciando de forma positiva o rendimento por área e a qualidade do produto final. Para o ótimo estabelecimento da cultura no campo a expressão do material genético deve ser considerada e aliada a isso as características físicas e fisiológicas das sementes. Desta forma, a germinação, o vigor, a pureza e a sanidade das sementes são fatores indispensáveis na escolha de um material de qualidade e com garantia inicial de uma planta economicamente viável.bitstream/item/123066/1/Sementes-com-alta.pd