EEG Hyperscanning and Qualitative Analysis of Moments of Interest in Music Therapy for Stroke Rehabilitation—A Feasibility Study

Interdisciplinary research into the underlying neural processes of music therapy (MT) and subjective experiences of patients and therapists are largely lacking. The aim of the current study was to assess the feasibility of newly developed procedures (including electroencephalography/electrocardiography hyperscanning, synchronous audio–video monitoring, and qualitative interviews) to study the personal experiences and neuronal dynamics of moments of interest during MT with stroke survivors. The feasibility of our mobile setup and procedures as well as their clinical implementation in a rehabilitation centre and an acute hospital ward were tested with four phase C patients. Protocols and interviews were used for the documentation and analysis of the feasibility. Recruiting patients for MT sessions was feasible, although data collection on three consecutive weeks was not always possible due to organisational constraints, especially in the hospital with acute ward routines. Research procedures were successfully implemented, and according to interviews, none of the patients reported any burden, tiredness, or increased stress due to the research procedures, which lasted approx. 3 h (ranging from 135 min to 209 min) for each patient. Implementing the research procedures in a rehabilitation unit with stroke patients was feasible, and only small adaptations were made for further research

Dyadic nonverbal synchrony during pre and post music therapy interventions and its relationship to self-reported therapy readiness

Nonverbal interpersonal synchronization has been established as an important factor in therapeutic relationships, and the differentiation of who leads the interaction appears to provide further important information. We investigated nonverbal synchrony – quantified as the coordination of body movement between patient and therapist. This was observed in music therapy dyads, while engaged in verbal interaction before and after a music intervention in the session. We further examined associations with patients’ self-reported therapy readiness at the beginning of the session. Eleven neurological in-patients participated in this study. Our results showed an increase in both nonverbal synchrony and patient leading after the music intervention. A significant negative correlation was found between self-reported therapy readiness and nonverbal synchrony after the music intervention. These findings point to the empathic ability of the music therapist to sense patients’ therapy readiness. Higher patient leading in nonverbal synchrony after the music intervention may thus indicate that the music intervention may have allowed dyadic entrainment to take place, potentially increasing self-regulation and thus empowering patients

Adaptation of sea turtles to climate warming: Will phenological responses be sufficient to counteract changes in reproductive output?

Sea turtles are vulnerable to climate change since their reproductive output is influenced by incubating temperatures, with warmer temperatures causing lower hatching success and increased feminization of embryos. Their ability to cope with projected increases in ambient temperatures will depend on their capacity to adapt to shifts in climatic regimes. Here, we assessed the extent to which phenological shifts could mitigate impacts from increases in ambient temperatures (from 1.5 to 3°C in air temperatures and from 1.4 to 2.3°C in sea surface temperatures by 2100 at our sites) on four species of sea turtles, under a “middle of the road” scenario (SSP2-4.5). Sand temperatures at sea turtle nesting sites are projected to increase from 0.58 to 4.17°C by 2100 and expected shifts in nesting of 26–43 days earlier will not be sufficient to maintain current incubation temperatures at 7 (29%) of our sites, hatching success rates at 10 (42%) of our sites, with current trends in hatchling sex ratio being able to be maintained at half of the sites. We also calculated the phenological shifts that would be required (both backward for an earlier shift in nesting and forward for a later shift) to keep up with present-day incubation temperatures, hatching success rates, and sex ratios. The required shifts backward in nesting for incubation temperatures ranged from −20 to −191 days, whereas the required shifts forward ranged from +54 to +180 days. However, for half of the sites, no matter the shift the median incubation temperature will always be warmer than the 75th percentile of current ranges. Given that phenological shifts will not be able to ameliorate predicted changes in temperature, hatching success and sex ratio at most sites, turtles may need to use other adaptive responses and/or there is the need to enhance sea turtle resilience to climate warming.18 página

Adaptation of sea turtles to climate warming: Will phenological responses be sufficient to counteract changes in reproductive output?

© 2023 The Authors. Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Sea turtles are vulnerable to climate change since their reproductive output is influenced by incubating temperatures, with warmer temperatures causing lower hatching success and increased feminization of embryos. Their ability to cope with projected increases in ambient temperatures will depend on their capacity to adapt to shifts in climatic regimes. Here, we assessed the extent to which phenological shifts could mitigate impacts from increases in ambient temperatures (from 1.5 to 3°C in air temperatures and from 1.4 to 2.3°C in sea surface temperatures by 2100 at our sites) on four species of sea turtles, under a “middle of the road” scenario (SSP2-4.5). Sand temperatures at sea turtle nesting sites are projected to increase from 0.58 to 4.17°C by 2100 and expected shifts in nesting of 26–43 days earlier will not be sufficient to maintain current incubation temperatures at 7 (29%) of our sites, hatching success rates at 10 (42%) of our sites, with current trends in hatchling sex ratio being able to be maintained at half of the sites. We also calculated the phenological shifts that would be required (both backward for an earlier shift in nesting and forward for a later shift) to keep up with present-day incubation temperatures, hatching success rates, and sex ratios. The required shifts backward in nesting for incubation temperatures ranged from −20 to −191 days, whereas the required shifts forward ranged from +54 to +180 days. However, for half of the sites, no matter the shift the median incubation temperature will always be warmer than the 75th percentile of current ranges. Given that phenological shifts will not be able to ameliorate predicted changes in temperature, hatching success and sex ratio at most sites, turtles may need to use other adaptive responses and/or there is the need to enhance sea turtle resilience to climate warming.Peer reviewe

Depletion analysis of the HELIOS experiment using the MCB code

The focus of our studies is to present an advanced depletion analysis of the HELIOS experiment by means of the Monte Carlo continuous energy burn-up code (MCB). The MCB was used mainly to calculate nuclide density evolution in nuclear reactor cores. We present the capability of the MCB to investigate the depletion of nuclear fuel samples irradiated in the HELIOS experiment. In our studies we traced the behaviour of the main fissile isotopes, 242mAm and 239Pu, respectively. We also perform a sensitivity analysis to the choice of JEF2.2 and JEFF3.1 cross section libraries in terms of the released fission power and the evolution of actinide inventories. The amount of He produced at the end of irradiation, as well as Am and Pu depletion, were also considered.JRC.F.4-Nuclear Reactor Integrity Assessment and Knowledge Managemen