The Musicality of Non-Musicians: An Index for Assessing Musical Sophistication in the General Population

Musical skills and expertise vary greatly in Western societies. Individuals can differ in their repertoire of musical behaviours as well as in the level of skill they display for any single musical behaviour. The types of musical behaviours we refer to here are broad, ranging from performance on an instrument and listening expertise, to the ability to employ music in functional settings or to communicate about music. In this paper, we first describe the concept of ‘musical sophistication’ which can be used to describe the multi-faceted nature of musical expertise. Next, we develop a novel measurement instrument, the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI) to assess self-reported musical skills and behaviours on multiple dimensions in the general population using a large Internet sample (n = 147,636). Thirdly, we report results from several lab studies, demonstrating that the Gold-MSI possesses good psychometric properties, and that self-reported musical sophistication is associated with performance on two listening tasks. Finally, we identify occupation, occupational status, age, gender, and wealth as the main socio-demographic factors associated with musical sophistication. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical accounts of implicit and statistical music learning and with regard to social conditions of sophisticated musical engagement

Declarações de nascidos mortos no município de São Paulo: avaliação descritiva do preenchimento Stillbirths registers in the municipality of São Paulo: a descritive approach to fillingout of registration forms

OBJETIVOS: estudar as informações contidas nas Declarações de Nascidos Mortos (DNM) no município de São Paulo, Brasil. MÉTODOS: a partir das Declarações de Nascidos Mortos, disponibilizadas pela Fundação Sistema Estadual de Análise de Dados Estatísticos (FSEADE), estudou-se a proporção de preenchimento dos registros utilizando um Índice de Preenchimento de Dados (IPD), o que possibilitou a comparação entre os anos: 2001, 2002, 2003 (n=6722). Incluíram-se as variáveis com IPD maior que 10%, relativas à mãe (idade, escolaridade, paridade, local de residência, tipo de parto) e às referentes ao feto (peso, idade gestacional e causa básica). RESULTADOS o componente absoluto da natimortalidade pouco se alterou nos dois primeiros períodos e caiu levemente no último. A variável sexo foi preenchida em 98% (maior IPD), seguida pela informação do local de residência: 82,9% e número de gestações: 70%. As informações menos disponíveis foram às relativas à idade e escolaridade materna, 20,0 e 16,7% respectivamente. A causa básica do óbito foi registrada em 46,7%, enquanto o peso fetal em 37% e o tipo de parto em 25,3%. CONCLUSÕES: os dados mostram que a dificuldade em se incorporar este indicador de saúde ao conjunto dos tradicionais deve-se, em parte, à heterogeneidade no preenchimento dos campos da DNM.<br>OBJECTIVES: to study the information contained in Stillbirth Registers (SBRs) in the Municipality of São Paulo. METHODS: the adequacy of the filling out of SBR forms was assessed on the basis of the SBRs (6722) made available by the FSEADE (Foundation for Statistical Data Analysis System), using a Data Completion Index (DCI), making it possible to compare the three years studied (2001-3). Variables relating to the mother and the fetus were included where the DCI was greater than 10%. Education, parity, place of residence, birth type, for the mother and weight, gestational age and underlying cause of death, for the fetus. RESULTS: the absolute stillbirth component changed little in the first two of the three years, falling slightly in the third. The variable most frequently registered was sex (98%), followed by place of residence (82.9%) and parity (70%). The data least often registered were those relating to the mother's age and schooling, 20.0% and 16.7%, respectively. The underlying cause was recorded in 46.7%, fetal weight in 37% and type of birth in 25.3%. CONCLUSIONS: the data demonstrate that the difficulty encountered in incorporating this health indicator into the traditional set of indicators is in part due to the inadequacy of the data provided on the SBR form

Individual Differences in Cognition: New methods for examining the Personality-Cognition link

Traditional studies of cognitive ability have examined the component processes and factor structure of ability tests. Theoretical and empirical studies of non-cognitive dimensions of personality have examined how individual differences in personality interact with situational stressors to affect efficient cognitive performance. Previously reported results have emphasized motivational direction and intensity effects upon cognitive performance. Using a new technique of “Synthetic Aperture Personality Assessment ” (SAPA) which takes advantage of the large subject populations available on the internet, it is possible to study how basic personality dimensions relate to dimensions of cognitive ability. The SAPA procedure presents to participants small subsets of items sampled from large pools of publicly available personality and ability items. Although each participant is given only a small subset of items, with the recognition that subjects (&gt; 65, 000) are randomly sampled and items are missing at random, it is possible to synthesize large (&gt; 350x350) interitem correlation matrices. Individual differences in complex pattern recognition, spatial reasoning, and (self reported) standardized ability tests are moderately associated with Big 5 measures. We present the SAPA procedure in some detail and review findings relating dimensions of personality, ability, and interest. Based on a talk presented as part of a conference on “Individual differences in cognition ” A symposiu

Oesophagus

Oesophageal cancer frequently presents late and with incurable disease; therefore, knowledge and experience in palliative techniques are essential. Clinical policy on palliative surgery is generally determined by the local cancer network with individualised treatment agreed at a multidisciplinary meeting. Despite advances in perioperative care and meticulous patient selection, oesophagectomy remains a morbid procedure, and today palliative oesophagectomy is rarely performed, if at all. The most troublesome symptoms of incurable oesophageal cancer, namely, dysphagia and bleeding, can now be successfully alleviated using less invasive methods. Oesophageal self-expanding stents, brachytherapy, external beam radiotherapy and endoscopic recannulation techniques are highly effective as unimodal or multimodal therapy and are well tolerated by patients with minimal side effects. As such, they form the backbone of modern palliative oesophageal surgery.Benjamin C. Knight and Glyn G. Jamieso