Identification of speeded and slowed familiar melodies by younger, middle-aged, and older musicians and nonmusicians

There is a range of tempos within which listeners can identify familiar tunes (around 0.8 to 6.0 notes/s). Faster and slower tunes are difficult to identify. The authors assessed fast and slow melody-identification thresholds for 80 listeners ages 17–79 years with expertise varying from musically untrained to professional. On fast-to-slow (FS) trials the tune started at a very fast tempo and slowed until the listener identified it. Slow-to-fast (SF) trials started slow and accelerated. Tunes either retained their natural rhythms or were stylized isochronous versions. Increased expertise led to better performance for both FS and SF thresholds (r = .45). Performance declined uniformly across the 62-year age range in the FS condition (r = .27). SF performance was unaffected by age. Although early encoding processes may slow with age, expertise has a greater effect. Musical expertise involves perceptual learning with melodies at a wide range of tempos.

Detrital Zircon Evidence for Mixing of Mazatzal Province Age Detritus With Yavapai Age (ca. 1700-1740 Ma) and Older Detritus in the ca. 1650 Ma Mazatzal Province of Central New Mexico, USA

Preliminary detrital zircon age distributions from Mazatzal crustal province quartzite and schist exposed in the Manzano Mountains and Pedernal Hills of central New Mexico are consistent with a mixture of detritus from Mazatzal age (ca. 1650 Ma), Yavapai age (ca. 1720 Ma.), and older sources. A quartzite sample from the Blue Springs Formation in the Manzano Mountains yielding 67 concordant grain analyses shows two dominant age peaks of 1737 Ma and 1791 Ma with a minimum peak age of 1652 Ma. Quartzite and micaceous quartzite samples from near Pedernal Peak give unimodal peak ages of ca. 1695 Ma and 1738 Ma with minimum detrital zircon ages of ca. 1625 Ma and 1680 Ma, respectively. A schist sample from the southern exposures of the Pedernal Hills area gives a unimodal peak age of 1680 Ma with a minimum age of ca. 1635 Ma. Minor amounts of older detritus (>1800 Ma) possibly reflect Trans-Hudson, Wyoming, Mojave Province, and older Archean sources and aid in locating potential source terrains for these detrital zircon. The Blue Springs Formation metarhyolite from near the top of the Proterozoic section in the Manzano Mountains yields 71 concordant grains that show a preliminary U-Pb zircon crystallization age of 1621 ¿ 5 Ma, which provides a minimum age constraint for deposition in the Manzano Mountains. Normalized probability plots from this study are similar to previously reported age distributions in the Burro and San Andres Mountains in southern New Mexico and suggest that Yavapai Province age detritus was deposited and intermingled with Mazatzal Province age detritus across much of the Mazatzal crustal province in New Mexico. This data shows that the tectonic evolution of southwestern Laurentia is associated with multiple orogenic events. Regional metamorphism and deformation in the area must postdate the Mazatzal Orogeny and ca. 1610 Ma ¿ 1620 Ma rhyolite crystallization and is attributed to the Mesoproterozoic ca. 1400 ¿ 1480 Ma Picuris Orogeny.

The Mental Health System and Older Adults in the 1990s

Trends in mental health services for older adults during the past decade were used to predict salient issues for the current decade. These include overreliance on inpatient treatment, increased use of general hospitals as treatment sites, inadequate integration with the nursing-home industry, and insufficient mental health referrals from general medical providers. In the decade ahead, the mental health needs of older adults are unlikely to be an identified focus; rather the issues will overlap with other priorities (e.g., biomedical research on brain functioning, alternative treatment programs for the chronically mentally ill, and containing health care costs). Advocates for the elderly will be successful to the extent that they cast aging services within the context of these other concerns.

Complex visual hallucinations and attentional performance in eye disease and dementia: a test of the Perception and Attention Deficit model

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to test the prediction from the Perception and Attention Deficit model of complex visual hallucinations (CVH) that impairments in visual attention and perception are key risk factors for complex hallucinations in eye disease and dementia. METHODS Two studies ran concurrently to investigate the relationship between CVH and impairments in perception (picture naming using the Graded Naming Test) and attention (Stroop task plus a novel Imagery task). The studies were in two populations-older patients with dementia (n = 28) and older people with eye disease (n = 50) with a shared control group (n = 37). The same methodology was used in both studies, and the North East Visual Hallucinations Inventory was used to identify CVH. RESULTS A reliable relationship was found for older patients with dementia between impaired perceptual and attentional performance and CVH. A reliable relationship was not found in the population of people with eye disease. CONCLUSIONS The results add to previous research that object perception and attentional deficits are associated with CVH in dementia, but that risk factors for CVH in eye disease are inconsistent, suggesting that dynamic rather than static impairments in attentional processes may be key in this population.

Social networking sites and older users - a systematic review

BACKGROUND Social networking sites can be beneficial for senior citizens to promote social participation and to enhance intergenerational communication. Particularly for older adults with impaired mobility, social networking sites can help them to connect with family members and other active social networking users. The aim of this systematic review is to give an overview of existing scientific literature on social networking in older users. METHODS Computerized databases were searched and 105 articles were identified and screened using exclusion criteria. After exclusion of 87 articles, 18 articles were included, reviewed, classified, and the key findings were extracted. Common findings are identified and critically discussed and possible future research directions are outlined. RESULTS The main benefit of using social networking sites for older adults is to enter in an intergenerational communication with younger family members (children and grandchildren) that is appreciated by both sides. Identified barriers are privacy concerns, technical difficulties and the fact that current Web design does not take the needs of older users into account. CONCLUSIONS Under the conditions that these problems are carefully addressed, social networking sites have the potential to support today's and tomorrow's communication between older and younger family members.

There is a place for radical cystectomy and urinary diversion, including orthotopic bladder substitution, in patients aged 75 and older: Results of a retrospective observational analysis from a high-volume center

INTRODUCTION The incidence of cancer increases with age and owing to the changing demographics we are increasingly confronted with treating bladder cancer in old patients. We report our results in patients>75 years of age who underwent open radical cystectomy (RC) and urinary diversion. MATERIAL AND METHODS From January 2000 to March 2013, a consecutive series of 224 old patients with complete follow-up who underwent RC and urinary diversion (ileal orthotopic bladder substitute [OBS], ileal conduit [IC], and ureterocutaneostomy [UCST]) were included in this retrospective single-center study. End points were the 90-day complication rates (Clavien-Dindo classification), 90-day mortality rates, overall and cancer-specific survival rates, and continence rates (OBS). RESULTS Median age was 79.2 years (range: 75.1-91.6); 35 of the 224 patients (17%) received an OBS, 178 of the 224 patients (78%) an IC, and 11 of the 224 patients (5%) an UCST. The 90-day complication rate was 54.3% in the OBS (major: Clavien grade 3-5: 22.9%, minor: Clavien Grade 1-2: 31.4%), 56.7% in the IC (major: 27%, minor: 29.8%), and 63.6% in the UCST group (major: 36.4%, minor: 27.3%); P = 0.001. The 90-day mortality was 0% in the OBS group, 13% in the IC group, and 10% in the UCST group (P = 0.077). The Glasgow prognostic score was an independent predictor of all survival parameters assessed, including 90-day mortality. Median follow-up was 22 months. Overall and cancer-specific survivals were 90 and 98, 47 and 91, and 11 and 12 months for OBS, IC, and UCST, respectively. In OBS patients, daytime continence was considered as dry in 66% and humid in 20% of patients. Nighttime continence was dry in 46% and humid 26% of patients. CONCLUSION With careful patient selection, oncological and functional outcome after RC can be good in old patients. Old age as the sole criterion should not preclude the indication for RC or the option of OBS. In old patients undergoing OBS, satisfactory continence results can be achieved.

Executive Power and the People: Does the President Care What You Think?

I sought to examine the relationship between public approval of the president and his subsequent behavior. Specifically, I looked at the relationship between public approval and signing statement usage along with their usage following the 2006 outcry against President Bush's use of them.

The change in diastolic blood pressure during autonomic blockade is associated with T50 and error signal in young and older women

Cambios en la presión arterial tras un beta-bloqueante.

Exercise and diet intervention improves lipoprotein profile rations in overweight and obese people

Cambios en los Ratios lipoproteicos tras una intervención de pérdida de peso con ejercicio.