Optimizing song retention through the spacing effect

The spacing effect refers to the improvement in memory retention for materials learned in a series of sessions, as opposed to massing learning in a single session. It has been extensively studied in the domain of verbal learning using word lists. Less evidence is available for connected discourse or tasks requiring the complex coordination of verbal and other domains. In particular, the effect of spacing on the retention of words and music in song has yet to be determined. In this study, university students were taught an unaccompanied two-verse song based on traditional materials to a criterion of 95% correct memory for sung words. Subsequent training sessions were either massed or spaced by two days or one week and tested at a retention interval of three weeks. Performances were evaluated for number of correct and incorrect syllables, number of correctly and incorrectly pitched notes, degree notes were off-pitch, and number of hesitations while singing. The data revealed strong evidence for a spacing effect for song between the massed and spaced conditions at a retention interval of three weeks, and evidence of no difference between the two spaced conditions. These findings suggest that the ongoing cues offered by surface features in the song are strong enough to enable verbatim recall across spaced conditions, as long as the spacing interval reaches a critical threshold.

Early hospital trainings in patients with left ventricular mechanical support: influence on exercise tolerance and muscle strength

Background In extreme cases of heart failure, the only method of treatment is heart transplantation. Due to the insufficient number of organs for transplantation, left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) are increasingly being used. Rehabilitation of patients with LVAD is a very important element of complex therapy due to the long-term immobilization of these patients awaiting transplant or regeneration of the heart. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of early hospital rehabilitation on exercise tolerance, muscle strength and complex coordination in patients after LVAD implantation. Material and methods The study included 37 patients (35 men), aged 19–66 years, mean 58.7 years, after LVAD implantation. All of them underwent standard rehabilitation in the postoperative and rehabilitation department. The patients have started and continued trainings in a rehabilitation department for 4–5 weeks: endurance trainings, general fitness exercises with elements of balance and coordination exercises, elements of resistance exercises. Before the start of rehabilitation and after its completion, all patients underwent: cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), a six-minute walk tests (6-MWT), the tests of strength of the right and left hand grip, strenght of muscles of the lower limbs and complex coordination (up and go test). There were no adverse events that would justify changing the mode or discontinuing rehabilitation. Results A significant increase in the value of most of the parameters studied was observed after the completion of hospital rehabilitation: VO2peak [ml/kg/min], baseline: 10.60 (9.60, 12.90) vs. 12.85 (11.60, 15.73), p<0.001; 6-MWT [m]: 322.81 (113.62) vs. 416.12 (106.37), p<0.001; 30 second chair stand: no of stands: 9.12 (3.60) vs. 11.18 (4.50), p<0.001; up & go [sec] 9.18 (8.07, 10.50) vs. 7.58 (6.69, 9.04), p<0.001; left hand grip strengh [kg]: 30.04 (8.38) vs. 31.91 (8.10), p<0.011; right hand grip strengh [kg]: 31.52 (9.88) vs 33.20 (8.72), ns. Conclusions Early hospital rehabilitation in patients after implantation of left ventricular assist devices has significant benefits in terms of exercise tolerance, muscular strength and complex coordination. Complex rehabilitation is safe and effective in this group of patients. FUNDunding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – EU funding. Main funding source(s): STRATEGMED II - RH-ROT - NATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER

Re-Evaluations of Zr-DFO Complex Coordination Chemistry for the Estimation of Radiochemical Yields and Chelator-to-Antibody Ratios of 89Zr Immune-PET Tracers

(1) Background: Deferoxamine B (DFO) is the most widely used chelator for labeling of zirconium-89 (89Zr) to monoclonal antibody (mAb). Despite the remarkable developments of the clinical 89Zr-immuno-PET, chemical species and stability constants of the Zr-DFO complexes remain controversial. The aim of this study was to re-evaluate their stability constants by identifying species of Zr-DFO complexes and demonstrate that the stability constants can estimate radiochemical yield (RCY) and chelator-to-antibody ratio (CAR). (2) Methods: Zr-DFO species were determined by UV and ESI-MS spectroscopy. Stability constants and speciation of the Zr-DFO complex were redetermined by potentiometric titration. Complexation inhibition of Zr-DFO by residual impurities was investigated by competition titration. (3) Results: Unknown species, ZrHqDFO2, were successfully detected by nano-ESI-Q-MS analysis. We revealed that a dominant specie under radiolabeling condition (pH 7) was ZrHDFO, and its stability constant (logβ111) was 49.1 ± 0.3. Competition titration revealed that residual oxalate inhibits Zr-DFO complex formation. RCYs in different oxalate concentration (0.1 and 0.04 mol/L) were estimated to be 86% and >99%, which was in good agreement with reported results (87%, 97%). (4) Conclusion: This study succeeded in obtaining accurate stability constants of Zr-DFO complexes and estimating RCY and CAR from accurate stability constants established in this study.

The use of whole-body cryotherapy for increasing the stress resistance of female athletes in group types of gymnastics

Background. Representatives of complex coordination sports are most susceptible to psychoemotional stress, since they demonstrate high sports results already at a young age. The tightening of anti-doping control has significantly reduced the possibility of using pharmacological and biologically active drugs to speed up the recovery of athletes. Against this background, in sports medicine, more attention is paid to the use of non-drug methods to improve performance and recovery in athletes. Aim to study the efficiency of the introduction of whole-body cryotherapy in the training process of female athletes of complex coordination sports (for example, group gymnastics) to increase stress resistance and reduce violations of adaptation processes as a result of neuropsychiatric overstrain. Materials and methods. During the academic-training year, 22 gymnasts received six ten-day courses of whole-body cryotherapy in the ICEQUEEN cryosauna. 19 athletes were included in the control group. The studies were conducted 3 times: before the start of the procedures, after the first course of procedures, at the end of the training year. The diagnosis of nocturnal bruxism and the definition of the psychological component of health were carried out. Total and effective albumin concentrations were determined in the blood serum with the calculation of the albumin binding reserve, helper T-lymphocytes and killer T-lymphocytes with the calculation of the immunoregulatory index. Results. After one course, there was an increase in the functional activity of serum albumins, a decrease in the number of episodes of involuntary contractions of the masticatory muscles at night, and an increase in the psychological component of health according to SF-36. After six courses of cryotherapy, the functional activity of serum albumins and the initial values of the immunoregulatory index were preserved by the end of the season, and the psychological component of health according to SF-36 was increased, while these indicators decreased in the control group. There was also a decrease in the number of episodes of involuntary contractions of the masticatory muscles at night with an increase in their number in the control group of female athletes. Conclusions. Considering the obtained results, it is possible to recommend the use of whole-body cryotherapy in gymnasts during the preparatory and recovery periods of the annual training cycle in order to increase stress tolerance and prevent psychoemotional overstrain.

Approaches to Addressing Nonmedical Services and Care Coordination Needs for Older Adults

Objective: Non-medical services care coordination for daily activities of living is crucial in improving older adults’ health and enabling them to age in place, but little is known about specific practices and barriers in this space. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 41 professionals serving older adults in greater Chicago, Illinois—which consists of diverse urban, suburban, and semi-rural communities—to contextualize non-medical services needs and care coordination processes. Results: In-home care, home-delivered meals, non-emergency transportation, and housing support were cited as the most commonly needed services, all requiring complex coordination support. Respondents noted a reliance on inefficient phone/fax usage for referral-making and cited major challenges in inter-professional communication, service funding/reimbursement, and HIPAA. Conclusions: Non-medical services delivery for older adults is severely impacted by general siloing throughout the care continuum. Interventions are needed to enhance communication pathways and improve the salience and interdisciplinarity of non-medical services coordination for this population.

Evidence that bottlenose dolphins can communicate with vocal signals to solve a cooperative task

Cooperation experiments have long been used to explore the cognition underlying animals' coordination towards a shared goal. While the ability to understand the need for a partner in a cooperative task has been demonstrated in a number of species, there has been far less focus on cooperation experiments that address the role of communication. In humans, cooperative efforts can be enhanced by physical synchrony, and coordination problems can be solved using spoken language. Indeed, human children adapt to complex coordination problems by communicating with vocal signals. Here, we investigate whether bottlenose dolphins can use vocal signals to coordinate their behaviour in a cooperative button-pressing task. The two dolphin dyads used in this study were significantly more likely to cooperate successfully when they used whistles prior to pressing their buttons, with whistling leading to shorter button press intervals and more successful trials. Whistle timing was important as the dolphins were significantly more likely to succeed if they pushed their buttons together after the last whistle, rather than pushing independently of whistle production. Bottlenose dolphins are well known for cooperating extensively in the wild, and while it remains to be seen how wild dolphins use communication to coordinate cooperation, our results reveal that at least some dolphins are capable of using vocal signals to facilitate the successful execution of coordinated, cooperative actions.

TonalEmergence: An Agent-Based Model of Tonal Coordination

Humans have a remarkable capacity for coordination. Our ability to interact and act jointly in groups is crucial to our success as a species. Joint Action (JA) research has often concerned itself with simplistic behaviors in highly constrained laboratory tasks. But there has been a growing interest in understanding complex coordination in more open-ended contexts. In this regard, collective music improvisation has emerged as a fascinating model domain for studying basic JA mechanisms in an unconstrained and highly sophisticated setting. A number of empirical studies have begun to elucidate coordination mechanisms underlying joint musical improvisation, but these empirical findings have yet to be cached out in a working computational model. The present work fills this gap by presenting TonalEmergence, an idealized agent-based model of improvised musical coordination. TonalEmergence models the coordination of notes played by improvisers to generate harmony (i.e., tonality), by simulating agents that stochastically generate notes biased towards maximizing harmonic consonance given their partner's previous notes. The model replicates an interesting empirical result from a previous study of professional jazz pianists: that feedback loops of mutual adaptation between interacting agents support the production of consonant harmony. The model is further explored to show how complex tonal dynamics, such as the production and dissolution of stable tonal centers, are supported by agents that are characterized by 1) a tendency to strive toward consonance, 2) stochasticity, and 3) a limited memory for previously played notes. TonalEmergence thus provides a grounded computational model to simulate and probe the coordination mechanisms underpinning one of the more remarkable feats of human cognition: collective music improvisation.

Drosophila female reproductive tract gene expression reveals coordinated mating responses and rapidly evolving tissue-specific genes

Sexual reproduction in internally fertilizing species requires complex coordination between female and male reproductive systems and among the diverse tissues of the female reproductive tract (FRT). Here, we report a comprehensive, tissue-specific investigation of Drosophila melanogaster FRT gene expression before and after mating. We identified expression profiles that distinguished each tissue, including major differences between tissues with glandular or primarily non-glandular epithelium. All tissues were enriched for distinct sets of genes possessing secretion signals and exhibiting accelerated evolution, as might be expected for genes participating in molecular interactions between the sexes within the FRT extracellular environment. Despite robust transcriptional differences between tissues, post-mating responses were dominated by coordinated transient changes indicative of an integrated systems-level functional response. This comprehensive characterization of gene expression throughout the FRT identifies putative female contributions to post-copulatory events critical to reproduction and potentially reproductive isolation, as well as the putative targets of sexual selection and conflict.

ORGANIZATIONAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE SELECTION OF MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT FOR SPORTS AEROBICS

Sports aerobics is a complex coordination sport characterized by the ability of athletes to perform, in accordance with musical accompaniment, a continuous complex of various combinations of high-intensity movements borrowed from traditional dances. The article presents materials on the organization of the selection of musical accompaniment for sports aerobics.