Express yourself: expressive gesture and non-verbal communication skills in popular music performance

This paper is concerned with popular music performance. It investigates the importance of performance, and explores why the non-musical elements are so important to the delivery of a musical presentation. Musicians who undertake formal training spend years of practice learning their craft, and much of the time they spend doing this involves honing technical ability; the importance of which should not be underestimated. Yet, the area of how to perform remains an area to be commonly neglected in favour of a focus on technical development of musical skills for performing musicians in a variety of musical genres – not just in popular music. Paradoxically, the importance of how to perform is rarely questioned; nonetheless very few (popular) musicians have received formal training on, or even an awareness of, the different elements that make a performance visually stimulating and engaging. I believe it is vital that our future musicians are given the pedagogical tools with which they can develop this area of their musicianship

Antihemophilic factor (recombinant) plasma/albumin-free method for the management and prevention of bleeding episodes in patients with hemophilia A

Hemophilia is a rare genetic bleeding disorder that, if not adequately controlled, is associated with life-threatening bleeding events and serious and costly complications, primarily from joint damage. The advent of effective clotting factor replacement therapy for patients with hemophilia is considered one of the foremost medical advances of the 20th century. The last 3 decades of experience in hemophilia care have witnessed the effectiveness of the care of patients with hemophilia within specialized comprehensive care centers, advances in factor replacement therapies, the benefits of prophylaxis over on-demand replacement therapy, and the role of aggressive management of joint disease to prevent dysfunction. Ongoing challenges, including the management of inhibitors to factor therapies and the consequences of thousands of patients with hemophilia becoming infected with human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis C virus in the 1980s from contaminated plasma-derived factor concentrates, have highlighted the need for vigilance with respect to clotting factor product safety, access to care, and a full complement of choice of factor replacement therapies. Advate® (antihemophilic factor [recombinant] plasma/albumin-free method [rAHF-PFM]) is the first recombinant factor VIII therapy manufactured without human or animal protein additives to eliminate the risk of pathogen transmission that could be carried by these additives. Preclinical studies established bioequivalence with recombinant antihemophilic factor (Recombinate®), a product with 16 years of clinical experience. Currently licensed in 44 countries worldwide, rAHF-PFM has over 7 years of clinical research within 5 global studies supporting its safety and efficacy in the treatment of patients with hemophilia A

Whisking with robots from rat vibrissae to biomimetic technology for active touch

This article summarizes some of the key features of the rat vibrissal system, including the actively controlled sweeping movements of the vibrissae known as whisking, and reviews the past and ongoing research aimed at replicating some of this functionality in biomimetic robots

Performance-enhancing drugs, supplements and the athlete’s heart

The use of performance-enhancing drugs is an unfortunatereality of contemporary sport. It would be a mistake tobelieve that this is a phenomenon found only in elite sport.Athletes at all levels and young adults may be tempted toaccentuate performance or physique with prohibited drugsor products marketed as supplements. No defined populationsof users ingesting known quantities of known substances are generally available for study. Many of these products have been associated with adverse health effects; cardiac structure and function are known to be affected by many of the products commonly abused. Changes to the lipoprotein profile, propensity for coagulation, coronary circulation, and ventricular function may accompany the use of many performance-enhancing compounds and methods. Anabolic steroids, other peptide hormones, stimulants, erythropoietin and blood doping, have all been associated with significant cardiovascular consequences. So-called nutritional supplements aggressively marketed to the athletically inclined, are available over the Internet and typically totally unregulated in the country of their origin. Clinicians should be aware of the problems that such drug use can engender, and be sensitive to the possibilities of such abuse in caring for athletes and young patients, particularly in those presenting with unusual or unanticipated cardiovascular signs and symptoms

The promise and challenges of bioengineered recombinant clotting factors

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72636/1/j.1538-7836.2005.01367.x.pd