MUSIC LISTENING AND MAKING ACTIVATES A multitude of brain structures, the engagement of which is likely to have beneficial effects on the psychological and physiological health of individuals. We first briefly review functional neuroimaging experiments on music and emotion, showing that music-evoked emotions can change activity in virtually all core areas of emotional processing.We then enumerate social functions that are automatically and effortlessly engaged when humans make music. Engagement in these social functions fulfils basic human needs, is part of what makes us human, and is an important source for pleasure and happiness. Finally, we present a new method for music therapy, including an exploratory empirical study on effects of music making. Results show that the music making increased the mood of individuals compared to a control group. This music therapy method is promising in encouraging further development for the treatment of affective disorders, and can be used in both single- and double-blinded studies for empirical, evidence-based medical research.

Aims High concentrations of air pollutants are associated with increased risk for myocardial infarction. The European Union has defined statutory limits for air pollutants based on upper absolute concentrations. We evaluated the association between rapid changes in air pollutants and the risk of myocardial infarction independently of absolute concentrations. Methods and results Using a hospital-based case-crossover study, effects of 24h changes of nitrogen oxides (NO), particulate matter (PM), and ozone on the risk of myocardial infarction was assessed in 693 patients. In the overall population, increases of NO of more than 20 µg/m within 24 h were associated with an increase in the risk of myocardial infarction by up to 121% (odds ratio (OR) 2.21, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.19-4.08). Comparably, rapid increases of NO of more than 8 µg/m tended to increase myocardial infarction risk by 73% (OR 1.73, 95% CI 0.91-3.28) while myocardial infarction risk decreased by 60% after a decrease of NO concentration of more than 8 µg/m (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.21-0.77), suggesting a close-to-linear association. While results for ozone concentrations were ambiguous, rapid change in PM was not associated with myocardial infarction risk. Conclusion Dynamics and extent of increase in nitrogen oxide concentrations may be an independent risk factor for myocardial infarction. As there are currently no European Union statutory limits reflecting this dynamic variation of air pollutants on a daily basis, the results urgently call for confirming studies in different geographical regions to verify the observations.

Background: To evaluate if weather or changes in weather are risk factors for Bell’s palsy (BP) as exposure to draught of cold air has been popularly associated with the occurrence of BP. Methods: Using a multicenter hospital-based case-crossover study, we analyzed the association between ambient temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative air humidity or their 24 h changes and the risk for BP in 825 patients or subgroups. Results: One day following a 24 h increase in atmospheric pressure of more than 6 hPa, the risk for BP increased by 35% (OR 1.35; 95% CI 1.03–1.78) in the overall population. The risk for BP more than doubled in patients with diabetes mellitus after rapid variations in ambient temperature, independent of the direction (temperature decrease > 2.25°C; OR 2.15; 95% CI 1.08–4.25; temperature increase between 0.75 and 2.25°C; OR 2.88; 95% CI 1.63–5.10). Conclusions: Our findings support the hypothesis of an association between certain weather conditions and the risk for BP with acute changes in atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature as the main risk factors. Additionally, contrasting results for risk of BP after temperature changes in the diabetic and non-diabetic subgroups support the paradigm of a diabetic facial palsy as a distinct disease entity.

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Das Hauptziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, den H-Satz fur Flachen vom Geschlecht Null in geeigneter Weise auf zweidi mensionale Flachen im Rn+2 zu iibertragen, was im Falle n = 2 U. SIMON [4] und fur n = 3 erst kiirzlich E. A. RUH (Minimal Immersions of 2-spheres in X h ) gelungen ist. Zu diesem Zweck werden zwei spezielle Flachenklassen, namlich die ,,sph8-rischen Nabelpunktsflachen" und die ,,pseudonabelschen Flachen" naher untersucht. Bezuglich der Schreibweise und der Bezeichnungen wird dem Kapitel VII von KOBAYASHI-NOMIZU [ 2 ] gefolgt.8 1. Bezeichnungsweise und Grundformeln Es sei M eine m-dimensionale (m 2 a), differenzierbare (,,differenzierbar" stehe stets synonym fur C"), orientierbare, zusammenhangende RIEMANN-Mannigfaltigkeit, M' RIEMANN-Mannigfaltigkeit von konstanter Schnittkriimmung c und der Dimension m + n (n 2 1) und x : M +M' eine differenzierbare isometrische Immersion. Das Normalenbiindel T(M)' sol1 n globale, differenzierbare und linear unabhangige Schnitte ti, . . . , EB enthalten, die ohne Beschrankung der Allgemeinheit ort,honormiert sind.