Mozart Effect and Its Clinical Applications: A Review.

Recent research efforts examining the effects on the brain of listening to music have discovered that music, with specific characteristics, is able to improve cognitive and learning capacity. Recent studies have demonstrated that music, in particular some musical compositions (such as those of W. A. Mozart and J. S. Bach), has a notable role not only in cognitive disturbances, but also in the treatment of several syndromes and diseases, either by rehabilitating or by stimulating cerebral synaptic plasticity. The Mozart Effect was described for the first time in 1993. Subsequently, other studies with similar designs were made. This review summarizes the recent scientific literature on the Mozart Effect. More studies are needed, in order to define specific protocols in which music helps clinicians in recuperating patients and in improving their quality of life.

Associação do estado nutricional com capacidade cognitiva, sexo e idade em idosos residentes na cidade de Maringá/PR / Association of nutritional status with cognitive ability, gender and age in elderly residents in the city of Maringá / PR

Estudos de avaliação do estado nutricional mostram que indivíduos idosos apresentam risco nutricional, que pode estar associado à capacidade cognitiva, sexo e idade. Objetivo - Verificar a associação do estado nutricional com capacidade cognitiva, sexo e idade em idosos residentes na cidade de Maringá/PR. Métodos - O estudo foi de associação, transversal, de base domiciliar, com coleta de dados primários, desenvolvido com idosos ( 60 anos ou mais) da Pastoral da Pessoa Idosa (PPI) da paróquia Santo Antônio de Pádua da cidade de Maringá/PR. As variáveis analisadas foram: capacidade cognitiva, estado nutricional, sexo e idade. A capacidade cognitiva foi avaliada por meio do miniexame do estado mental (MEEM) e o estado nutricional, segundo o indicador nutricional área muscular do braço (AMB). Para verificar a associação entre os agrupamentos foi utilizado o teste qui-quadrado (2) e o teste exato de Fisher. A diferença entre as variáveis e os agrupamentos foi verificada por meio dos testes de Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney e Kruskal-Wallis. Resultados - Participaram da pesquisa 214 idosos (69,2 por cento mulheres). Quanto ao estado nutricional, 48,6 por cento apresentaram estado nutricional adequado. As mulheres e o grupo etário dos idosos 80 anos apresentaram maior proporção de idosos com estado nutricional adequado (52,7 por cento e 53,7 por cento, respectivamente). Associação estatisticamente significativa foi observada somente entre estado nutricional e sexo. Em relação à capacidade cognitiva, 65,4 por cento dos idosos apresentaram distúrbio cognitivo (DC) (72,9 por cento do sexo feminino). Os idosos sem DC apresentaram maior proporção de idosos com estado nutricional adequado (52,7 por cento), quando comparados aos idosos com DC (46,4 por cento). As mulheres sem DC apresentaram maior proporção de idosos com estado nutricional adequado (56,5 por cento) em relação às mulheres com DC (51,0 por cento), e aos homens com (34,2 por cento) e sem...

Association of nutritional status with cognitive ability, gender and age in elderly residents in the city of Maringá / PR. [thesis]. São Paulo (BR): Faculdade de Saúde Pública da Universidade de São Paulo; 2009. Introduction Studies evaluating the nutritional state show that elderly individuals present nutritional risk that can be associated to cognitive capacity, sex and age. Objective Verify the association of the nutritional state with the cognitive capacity, sex and age in elderly people living in the city of Maringa/PR. Methods It was an associating, transversal and domicile based study, with primary data collection, developed with elderly people ( 60 years old or more) from Pastoral da Pessoa Idosa (PPI) at the parish Santo Antonio de Padua in the city of Maringa/PR. The variables analyzed were: cognitive capacity, nutritional state, sex and age. The cognitive capacity was evaluated through the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) and the nutritional state according to the nutritional indicator arm muscle area (AMA). To verify the association between the groupings, a Chisquare (2) and the Exact Text of Fisher were used. The difference between the variables and the groupings were verified by the tests Wilcoxon-Mann- Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis. Results 214 elderly people participated in the research (69.2 per cent women). Considering the nutritional state, 48.6 per cent presented adequate nutritional state. The women and the 80 years old group presented more proportion of elderly people with adequate nutritional state (52.7 per cent and 53.7 per cent, respectively). Association statistically meaningful was observed only between the nutritional state and sex. In relation to the cognitive...

The Relationship between Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment and Functional Assessments in Brain-Injured Patients

The Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment(LOTCA) battery provides an initial profile of the cognitive abilities of the brain-injured patient that can be used as a starting point for occupational therapy intervention and as a screening test for further assessment. Reliability and validity for the LOTCA have been reported in the literatures. This study investigated the relationship between LOTCA scores and functional assessments in 34 brain-injured patients, consisting of 21 stroke patients and 13 traumatic brain injury patients. Subjects were administered the LOTCA and, as functional assessment tools, the Cognitive Capacity Screening Examination(CCSE) and the Modified Barthel Index(MBI) upon referral to occupational therapy initially, and again at discharge. The initial and the last LOTCA scores were significantly related to the initial and the last CCSE scores and the MBI scores, respectively, in brain-injured patients. Each of the last LOTCA scores, CCSE scores, and MBI scores increased significantly compared to the initial scores. There were no significant differences in the initial and the last LOTCA scores, CCSE scores, and MBI scores between stroke patients and traumatic brain injury patients. Greater LOTCA gain was significantly related to greater MBI gain. These results suggest that the LOTCA battery for brain-injured patients is related not only to cognitive function, but also to functional evaluation as activities of daily living and functional recovery at discharge.