Commonality and variation in mental representations of music revealed by a cross-cultural comparison of rhythm priors in 15 countries

Music is present in every known society but varies from place to place. What, if anything, is universal to music cognition? We measured a signature of mental representations of rhythm in 39 participant groups in 15 countries, spanning urban societies and Indigenous populations. Listeners reproduced random ‘seed’ rhythms; their reproductions were fed back as the stimulus (as in the game of ‘telephone’), such that their biases (the prior) could be estimated from the distribution of reproductions. Every tested group showed a sparse prior with peaks at integer-ratio rhythms. However, the importance of different integer ratios varied across groups, often reflecting local musical practices. Our results suggest a common feature of music cognition: discrete rhythm ‘categories’ at small-integer ratios. These discrete representations plausibly stabilize musical systems in the face of cultural transmission but interact with culture-specific traditions to yield the diversity that is evident when mental representations are probed across many cultures

Successful Endoscopic Closure Using Polyglycolic Acid Sheets with Fibrin Glue for Nonhealing Duodenal Ulcer with Perforation after Proton Beam Therapy of Liver Tumor

We describe the first case of a nonhealing duodenal ulcer with perforation after proton beam therapy (PBT) of a liver tumor that was successfully treated endoscopically using polyglycolic acid (PGA) sheets with fibrin glue. A 69-year-old man received PBT for a liver tumor. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) 3 months after PBT revealed a duodenal ulcer. A proton pump inhibitor was administered for 7 weeks, and the ulcer healed. Six months after the EGD, recurrence of the duodenal ulcer with perforation occurred. An emergency open surgery with placement of the omental patch was performed. However, 5 days after the surgery, because the EGD revealed a perforation site in the duodenal ulcer that was not closed, the conservative treatment was continued. Twenty-eight days after the surgery, EGD revealed that the perforation size had increased. Therefore, we conducted endoscopic closure therapy using PGA sheets with fibrin glue. Eleven days after the closure procedure, the EGD showed that the perforation site was filled with granulation tissue and was closed. Forty-nine days after the procedure, EGD revealed that the ulcer had healed. This endoscopic closure treatment was effective for a nonhealing duodenal ulcer with perforation after PBT of a liver tumor

Reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Japanese version of the Neck Pain and Disability Scale

Abstract Background Until recently, no Japanese versions have existed of the more popular, patient-reported disability questionnaires for neck pain. This study aimed to test the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Japanese version of the Neck Pain and Disability Scale (NPDS), one of the most widely used questionnaires in patients with neck pain. Methods In this validation study, 167 outpatients with neck pain participated. Patients received the NPDS and the Medical Outcome Study Short Form 36-item Health Survey (SF-36), and used Visual Analog Scales (VASs) to assess pain and global health. To examine test-retest reliability, patients who were considered stable by clinicians were given the NPDS 2 weeks after baseline. To examine responsiveness, patients who had not undergone treatment at the time of the first data collection or had no change in treatment over 3 months were studied again 2 weeks after starting a new medication or physical therapy. Results Of the 167 participants, 143 completed the questionnaires (85.6%). Factor analysis showed two factors, defined as neck-pain-related disability (factor 1) and neck-related pain (factor 2). Cronbach's a coefficient for factor 1, factor 2, and total score was 0.94, 0.93, and 0.96. The intra-class correlation coefficients for the 19 more stable patients were 0.79, 0.88, and 0.87. For concurrent validity, the correlation between NPDS subscales and total score and SF-36 subscale scores ranged from r = -0.54 to -0.22 (p \ 0.01). Correlations between the NPDS subscales and total score and VAS of pain ranged from 0.56 to 0.77 (p \ 0.01) and those for VAS of global health ranged from 0.48 to 0.63 (p \ 0.01). The NPDS subscales and total scores of the 41 patients retested after treatment were significantly improved. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this articl

Commonality and variation in mental representations of music revealed by a cross-cultural comparison of rhythm priors in 15 countries

Music is present in every known society but varies from place to place. What, if anything, is universal to music cognition? We measured a signature of mental representations of rhythm in 39 participant groups in 15 countries, spanning urban societies and Indigenous populations. Listeners reproduced random 'seed' rhythms; their reproductions were fed back as the stimulus (as in the game of 'telephone'), such that their biases (the prior) could be estimated from the distribution of reproductions. Every tested group showed a sparse prior with peaks at integer-ratio rhythms. However, the importance of different integer ratios varied across groups, often reflecting local musical practices. Our results suggest a common feature of music cognition: discrete rhythm 'categories' at small-integer ratios. These discrete representations plausibly stabilize musical systems in the face of cultural transmission but interact with culture-specific traditions to yield the diversity that is evident when mental representations are probed across many cultures. [Abstract copyright: © 2024. The Author(s).

Drug treatment for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in patients with pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a lethal disease where most tumors are too advanced at diagnosis for resection, leaving chemotherapy as the mainstay of treatment. Although the prognosis of unresectable PC is poor, it has been dramatically improved by new chemotherapy treatments, such as the combination of 5-fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, irinotecan, and leucovorin (FOLFIRINOX) or gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel. However, as oxaliplatin and paclitaxel are common neurotoxic drugs, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a common and severe adverse effect of both treatments. As there are no agents recommended in the ASCO guidelines, we review the methods used to treat CIPN caused by PC treatment. The efficacy of duloxetine was observed in a large randomized controlled trial (RCT). In addition, pregabalin was more effective than duloxetine for CIPN in two RCTs. Although duloxetine and pregabalin can be effective for CIPN, they have several side effects. Therefore, the choice between the two drugs should be determined according to effect and tolerability. Mirogabalin is also used in patients with PC and there is hope it will yield positive outcomes when treating CIPN in the future

Integer programming approaches in mean-risk models

This paper is concerned with porfolio optimization problems with integer constraints. Such problems include, among others mean-risk problems with nonconvex transaction cost, minimal transaction unit constraints and cardinality constraints on the number of assets in a portfolio. These problems, though practically very important have been considered intractable because we have to solve nonlinear integer programming problems for which there exists no efficient algorithms. We will show that these problems can now be solved by the state- of-the-art integer programming methodologies if we use absolute deviation as the measure of risk. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin/Heidelberg 2005Portfolio optimization, mean-absolute deviation model, integer constraints, integer programming,

A MEAN-VARIANCE-SKEWNESS MODEL: ALGORITHM AND APPLICATIONS

We will show that a mean-variance-skewness portfolio optimization model, a direct extension of the classical mean-variance model can be solved exactly and fast by using the state-of-the-art integer programming approach. This implies that we can now calculate a portfolio with maximal expected utility for any decreasing risk averse utility function.Also, we will show that this model can be used as a practical tool for constructing a portfolio when the asset returns follow skewed distribution. As an example, we apply this model to construct an index plus alpha portfolio.Portfolio optimization, third order moment, mean-variance-skewness, efficient frontier, nonconvex minimization, integer programming

A MAXIMAL PREDICTABILITY PORTFOLIO MODEL: ALGORITHM AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

The purpose of this paper is to show that an algorithm recently proposed by authors can in fact solve a maximal predictability portfolio (MPP) optimization problem, which is a hard nonconvex fractional programming optimization. Also, we will compare MPP with standard mean-variance portfolio (MVP) and show that MPP outperforms MVP and index. We believe that this paper is of interest to researchers and practitioners in the field of portfolio optimization.Portfolio optimization, maximal predictability portfolio, mean-variance portfolio, global optimization, fractional programming, 0-1 integer programming

A maximal predictability portfolio using absolute deviation reformulation

Portfolio optimization, Maximal predictability portfolio, Absolute deviation, Fractional programming, 0–1 mixed integer programming,