APLIKASI VIRTUAL ALAT MUSIK GRUP BAND MENGGUNAKAN FLASH PROGRAMMING

Saat ini pertumbuhan band musik semakin pesat, namun tidak semua orang bisa membentuk band musik dan tidak semua orang bisa memiliki alat musik yang diimpikannya. Padahal sebenarnya banyak sekali orang dengan talenta musik yang hebat namun tidak tersalurkan, sehingga bakat alaminya akhirnya terpendam begitu saja. Semua itu dikarenakan faktor ekonomi sehingga tidak bisa membeli alat musik tersebut. Agar bisa bermain musik tanpa membeli alat musik tersebut, maka dirancanglah aplikasi virtual alat musik grup band yang bisa dimainkan di dalam komputer. Perancangan aplikasi ini meliputi 5 jenis alat musik, yaitu : gitar bass, gitar akustik, gitar elektrik, drum dan keyboard. Dalam alat musik keyboard terdapat 5 jenis instrumen, yaitu : piano, strings, electric guitar, steel drum dan vibraphone. Uji coba aplikasi ini membuktikan bahwa bermain alat musik grup band bisa secara virtual di dalam komputer, tanpa harus memiliki alat musik tersebut

Activin in the Brain Modulates Anxiety-Related Behavior and Adult Neurogenesis

Activin, a member of the transforming growth factor-β superfamily, is an endocrine hormone that regulates differentiation and proliferation of a wide variety of cells. In the brain, activin protects neurons from ischemic damage. In this study, we demonstrate that activin modulates anxiety-related behavior by analyzing ACM4 and FSM transgenic mice in which activin and follistatin (which antagonizes the activin signal), respectively, were overexpressed in a forebrain-specific manner under the control of the αCaMKII promoter. Behavioral analyses revealed that FSM mice exhibited enhanced anxiety compared to wild-type littermates, while ACM4 mice showed reduced anxiety. Importantly, survival of newly formed neurons in the subgranular zone of adult hippocampus was significantly decreased in FSM mice, which was partially rescued in ACM4/FSM double transgenic mice. Our findings demonstrate that the level of activin in the adult brain bi-directionally influences anxiety-related behavior. These results further suggest that decreases in postnatal neurogenesis caused by activin inhibition affect an anxiety-related behavior in adulthood. Activin and its signaling pathway may represent novel therapeutic targets for anxiety disorder as well as ischemic brain injury

Can Blood Ammonia Level, Prehospital Time, and Return of Spontaneous Circulation Predict Neurological Outcomes of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Patients? A Nationwide, Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: This study aimed to test if blood ammonia levels at hospital arrival, considering prehospital time and the patient's condition (whether return of spontaneous circulation [ROSC] was achieved at hospital arrival), can predict neurological outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study on data from a nationwide OHCA registry in Japan. Patients over 17 years old and whose blood ammonia levels had been recorded were included. The primary outcome was favorable neurological outcome at 30 days after OHCA. Blood ammonia levels, prehospital time, and the combination of the two were evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic curve to predict favorable outcomes. Then, cut-off blood ammonia values were determined based on whether ROSC was achieved at hospital arrival. Results: Blood ammonia levels alone were sufficient to predict favorable outcomes. The overall cut-off ammonia value for favorable outcomes was 138 mu g/dL; values were different for patients with ROSC (96.5 mu g/dL) and those without ROSC (156 mu g/dL) at hospital arrival. Conclusions: Our results using patient data from a large OHCA registry showed that blood ammonia levels at hospital arrival can predict neurological outcomes, with different cut-off values for patients with or without ROSC at hospital arrival