The Big Score : Instrumentaalin teemalevyn suunnittelu- ja sävellysprosessi

Opinnäytetyöni on kuvaus King Kahuna -yhtyeen debyyttialbumin The Big Score suunnittelu- ja sävellysprosessista. Kuvailen yhtyeen alkuperäistä konseptia ja tuon ilmi omia ajatuksiani instrumentaalimusiikin säveltämiseen liittyen sekä ideoita tämän projektin taustalla. Ensisijaisena tavoitteenani oli tehdä mahdollisimman tyylikäs ja yhtenäinen albumikokonaisuus, minkä vuoksi päädyin teemalevyyn. Esittelen lyhyesti teemalevy-käsitteen historiaa ja tuon esille muutamia mielestäni tyylikkäitä ja onnistuneita albumeita. Lisäksi analysoin musiikillisia ja ulkomusiikillisia inspiraation lähteitäni, joiden pohjalta olen muodostanut oman versioni tyylikkäästä albumikokonaisuudesta. Koen myös aiheelliseksi käsitellä levyn kansitaidetta ja suunnittelua osana tätä prosessia, jotka ovat molemmat tässä tapauksessa yhtä tärkeitä prosessin osia kokonaisuuden kannalta kuin itse musiikillinen sisältö. Pyrkimyksenäni oli säveltää mielikuvia herättelevää musiikkia ja yksityiskohtaisen teoreettisen musiikkianalyysin sijaan pyrin tuomaan esille sen, mitä olen missäkin tilanteessa yrittänyt kuulijalle viestittää. Tämä vaatii toki jossain määrin perinteistä analyysia, mutta lähinnä kyse on tunnelmista, ja tunnelmat taas kytkeytyvät vahvasti elokuvamusiikkiin, josta olen pääasialliset vaikutteeni ammentanut. Inspiraation lähteeni kuuluvat selkeästi musiikistani ja käyn ne myös tarkasti läpi tässä tekstissä. Lisäksi esittelen lopuksi levyn kolme ensimmäistä temaattisesti yhteydessä olevaa kappaletta nuottiesimerkein, joista käy ilmi teemojen variaatiot kappaleiden kesken.This project report describes the design and composition process of King Kahuna’s debut album The Big Score. I will explain the development of the group’s early concept and express my own thoughts on composing instrumental music and the ideas regarding this particular project. My primary goal was to make an album which would be as stylish, uniform and consistent as possible, which is why I ended up with the idea of a concept album. I will briefly introduce the history of concept albums and discuss some albums which I consider to be especially well-thought-out and stylish. I will also detail my sources of inspiration – musical and otherwise – which have laid the foundation for the music I composed for this album. I also illustrate the importance of album cover art and layout design, which are both integral parts of the album as a whole – especially in the case of a concept album. In addition, I demonstrate the thematic variations between the album’s first three tracks. My aim was to compose visually stimulating music, and instead of a detailed theoretical analysis, I explain what I was trying to communicate to the listener. This requires, of course, some traditional musical analysis, but the main point is to describe how moods, emotions and associations are generated. In order to truly understand and perhaps appreciate this music, the reader needs to listen to the music and have some knowledge of the source material I have drawn from, i.e., films and film music. All of the musical examples are available on streaming services on the internet

Retrospective single-center study on elderly patients with glioblastoma between 2014 and 2018 evaluating the effect of age and performance status on survival

Background Incidence of glioblastoma (GBM) increases with age and the prognosis is worse among the elderly. This was shown in a Finnish population-based register study evaluating GBM patients diagnosed between 2000 and 2013. The median overall survival (OS) was poor among the elderly (4.5 months), despite the OS increase during that period. We conducted a study to see if the OS has increased in our hospital area with current therapies. Methods One hundred and ninety-eight patients over 65 years at the time of diagnosis, with malignant glioma diagnosed January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2018 at the Helsinki Comprehensive Cancer Center were included. In addition to grade IV gliomas, grade III gliomas with nonmutated R132HIDH1 and only radiographically diagnosed gliomas were included. The demographics and treatment data were collected with performance status evaluated retrospectively. The Kaplan-Meier method and the multivariate Cox proportional hazard model were used for the statistical analysis. Results One hundred and seventy-seven patients with grade IV glioma, 6 with grade III glioma with nonmutated IDH1 and 15 radiologically diagnosed patients were included. One hundred and sixteen patients received chemoradiation, 59 only radiotherapy, 3 only temozolomide, and 27 patients did not receive oncological treatments. In the age group 65-70 years the OS was 9.95 months, 70-75 years 10.12 months, and >75 years 5.54 months. Lower WHO status correlated with longer survival independently of the age of the patient. Also methylated O(6)-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase and tumor resection correlated with better survival. Conclusions The performance status of elderly patients is the most important prognostic factor. When choosing treatment protocols for patients in this age group, the performance status not calendar age should be considered.Peer reviewe

Tracking of Serum DHEAS Concentrations from Age 1 to 6 Years : A Prospective Cohort Study

Context: Adrenarche is a gradual process, but its programming is unknown. Objective: The objective of this article is to examine the trajectory of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) from age 1 to 6 years and the associations of early growth with DHEAS concentration by age 6 years. Design and participants: Longitudinal data from a population sample of 78 children (43 girls) with serum samples for DHEAS and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) measurements available at ages 1 and 6 years. Main outcome measure: Serum DHEAS concentration at age 6 years. Results: DHEAS concentration at age 1 year correlated with DHEAS concentration at age 6 years (r = 0.594, P <.001). DHEAS levels at age 6 years increased with tertiles of DHEAS at age 1 year (medians (mu g/dL); 4.2, 14.4, 22.6; P <.001) and with those of greater increase in length by age 1 year (6.0, 11.7, 16.4; P = .047), and decreased with Wailes of birth length (17.7, 13.3, 7.1; P = .042). In a regression model including birth size, biochemical covariates at age 1 year, and growth measures by age 6 years, higher DHEAS concentration at age 1 year was an independent determinant of falling into the highest DHEAS tertile at age 6 years. Conclusions: Higher serum DHEAS concentrations already at age 1 year are associated with those at age 6 years. Also, shorter birth length and rapid catch-up growth in length by age 1 year are associated with higher DHEAS concentrations at age 6 years. These results corroborate the early origin of adrenarche and strongly suggest that part of adrenarchal programming already takes place by the end of infancy. (C) Endocrine Society 2020.Peer reviewe

Jäkälät (ml. likenikoliset sienet)

Julkaisu: Suomen Lajitietokeskus 2019: Lajiluettelo 2018. Suomen Lajitietokeskus, Luonnontieteellinen keskusmuseo, Helsingin yliopisto, Helsinki

Association between developmental milestones and age of schizophrenia onset: Results from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966.

We investigated relationships between early developmental milestones, schizophrenia incidence and variability in its age at onset. We hypothesized that the period of risk for schizophrenia would be longer for those with later development. The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 was followed until 47 years of age, and those members diagnosed with schizophrenia or any other non-affective psychoses identified. Latent profile analysis was used to classify people into homogenous classes with respect to developmental milestones, and subsequently survival analysis explored relationship between classes and age of schizophrenia onset. Results suggest that 4-classes (early, regular, late, and extra late developers) can be identified, but due to few cases in one class (n = 93, <0.01% of 10,501), only 3 classes (early, regular, late) could be meaningfully compared. Schizophrenia incidence until 47 years of age differed systematically between classes: late developers had the highest cumulative incidence (2.39%); regular were intermediate (1.25%); and early developers had the lowest incidence (0.99%). However, age at onset and its variability was similar across classes, suggesting that our hypothesis of a wider 'window' for schizophrenia onset in late developers was not supported

Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers in Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus

The diagnosis of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) is still challenging. Alzheimer's disease (AD), along with vascular dementia, the most important differential diagnosis for iNPH, has several potential cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers which might help in the selection of patients for shunt treatment. The aim of this study was to compare a battery of CSF biomarkers including well-known AD-related proteins with CSF from patients with suspected iNPH collected from the external lumbar drainage test (ELD). A total of 35 patients with suspected iNPH patients were evaluated with ELD. CSF was collected in the beginning of the test, and the concentrations of total tau, ptau181, Aβ42, NFL, TNF-α, TGFβ1, and VEGF were analysed by ELISA. Twenty-six patients had a positive ELD result—that is, their gait symptoms improved; 9 patients had negative ELD. The levels of all analyzed CSF biomarkers were similar between the groups and none of them predicted the ELD result in these patients. Contrary to expectations lumbar CSF TNF-α concentration was low in iNPH patients

Lipreading a naturalistic narrative in a female population : Neural characteristics shared with listening and reading

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Brain and Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.Introduction: Few of us are skilled lipreaders while most struggle with the task. Neural substrates that enable comprehension of connected natural speech via lipreading are not yet well understood. Methods: We used a data-driven approach to identify brain areas underlying the lipreading of an 8-min narrative with participants whose lipreading skills varied extensively (range 6–100%, mean = 50.7%). The participants also listened to and read the same narrative. The similarity between individual participants’ brain activity during the whole narrative, within and between conditions, was estimated by a voxel-wise comparison of the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) signal time courses. Results: Inter-subject correlation (ISC) of the time courses revealed that lipreading, listening to, and reading the narrative were largely supported by the same brain areas in the temporal, parietal and frontal cortices, precuneus, and cerebellum. Additionally, listening to and reading connected naturalistic speech particularly activated higher-level linguistic processing in the parietal and frontal cortices more consistently than lipreading, probably paralleling the limited understanding obtained via lip-reading. Importantly, higher lipreading test score and subjective estimate of comprehension of the lipread narrative was associated with activity in the superior and middle temporal cortex. Conclusions: Our new data illustrates that findings from prior studies using well-controlled repetitive speech stimuli and stimulus-driven data analyses are also valid for naturalistic connected speech. Our results might suggest an efficient use of brain areas dealing with phonological processing in skilled lipreaders.Peer reviewe

Longitudinal regional brain volume loss in schizophrenia: Relationship to antipsychotic medication and change in social function.

BACKGROUND: Progressive brain volume loss in schizophrenia has been reported in previous studies but its cause and regional distribution remains unclear. We investigated progressive regional brain reductions in schizophrenia and correlations with potential mediators. METHOD: Participants were drawn from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. A total of 33 schizophrenia individuals and 71 controls were MRI scanned at baseline (mean age=34.7, SD=0.77) and at follow-up (mean age=43.4, SD=0.44). Regional brain change differences and associations with clinical mediators were examined using FSL voxelwise SIENA. RESULTS: Schizophrenia cases exhibited greater progressive brain reductions than controls, mainly in the frontal and temporal lobes. The degree of periventricular brain volume reductions were predicted by antipsychotic medication exposure at the fourth ventricular edge and by the number of days in hospital between the scans (a proxy measure of relapse duration) at the thalamic ventricular border. Decline in social and occupational functioning was associated with right supramarginal gyrus reduction. CONCLUSION: Our findings are consistent with the possibility that antipsychotic medication exposure and time spent in relapse partially explain progressive brain reductions in schizophrenia. However, residual confounding could also account for the findings and caution must be applied before drawing causal inferences from associations demonstrated in observational studies of modest size. Less progressive brain volume loss in schizophrenia may indicate better preserved social and occupational functions.Academy of Finland, Medical Research Council, Sigrid Jusélius Foundation and the Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation, Finland, Stanley Foundation, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. The work was partially completed within the University of Cambridge Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, supported by a joint award from the Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2015.06.01