Role of music and non-musical techniques in self-guided emotional regulation

Introduction

Studies on relationships between music, visual imagery or therapeutic techniques, like mindfulness and emotions have been undertaken with varying success in predominantly adult populations. Their role in the child and adolescent population remains unclear.

Aims and objectives

We undertook a systematic literature review to assess current evidence in the use of music, guided imagery with/without therapeutic techniques for emotional processing in adults, children and adolescents.

Methods

We identified 87 relevant papers (JSTOR, OVID Medline, Cochrane, PubMed, Science Direct, Taylor & Francis and Wiley). We excluded non-English papers and qualitative analyses. Nine studies used quantitative techniques (Neuroimaging) for assessing emotional change using musical and non-musical stimuli (n = 77). Of these, four studies used fMRI and two used PET scans.

Results

fMRI demonstrates a significant relation between amygdalar activation and emotional response to visual imagery (P < 0.05, n = 45). Early information using PET scanning shows a significant association between activation of different parts of brain with varied visual imagery (one study, n = 5) and varied music (one study, n = 10). There is similarity in the activation of specific cortical areas using musical and non-musical stimuli. Two separate studies of patients with damaged amygdala due to disease (n = 6) showed significant impairment of emotional processing and response.

Conclusions

There is early encouraging data providing evidence of possible relationships between music and visual imagery in emotional processing. Further studies are needed to examine these in detail, especially in children/adolescents. Music with visual imagery may be a useful adjunct in the self-guided processing of milder emotional disorders with components of anxiety, depression, adjustment and emotional dysregulation.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Patterned bruising caused by an automobile tyre: an accurate guide to the mechanism of injury

Patterned bruises are frequently noted on trauma victims. Although these bruises do not require any specific treatment, they provide objective evidence of impact. They also provide valuable clues to determining the impacting object, the mechanism of injury and have medico-legal importance. We present a case to illustrate and discuss the clinical utility of patterned bruises.

Structural and optical studies of pHEMA encapsulated ZnS:Ni²⁺ nanoparticles

In this study, ZnS:Ni(2+) nanostructures have been synthesized through chemical precipitation method using poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA) as capping agent. The structural, morphological and optical properties at different pHEMA concentration of ZnS:Ni(2+) were studied by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), UV-Vis Spectroscopy (UV-Vis), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Photoluminescence (PL). The Average crystalline size of the nanoparticles was found to be in the range of ∼3.59-4.36 nm. The surface morphological analysis reveals that the pHEMA capped nanoparticles showed homogeneous smooth surface. HR-TEM analysis reminds the original size of pHEMA capped nanoparticles. The band gap investigation revealed the size dependent of quantum confined nanoparticles. The immobilized nanoparticles in pHEMA matrix were verified by FT-IR studies. Novel luminescence properties have been observed for uncapped and pHEMA capped ZnS nanoparticles. The optimal capping concentration was successfully determined and its influence on photoluminescence behavior has been thoroughly analyzed.

Crystal growth, morphology, spectrographic characterization and thermal properties of Glycine Barium Bromo Chloride crystals

Glycine Barium Bromo Chloride material was purified by repeated recrystallization. Single crystal was grown by the slow evaporation solution technique (SEST). The presence of functional groups in the grown crystals was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectrum analysis. Thermal properties of the crystals were investigated using thermogravimetric (TG) and differential thermal analyses (DTA). The dielectric studies were carried out to identify the phase transition temperature and the dielectric constant was found. The transparency of crystal was tested using UV-visible spectra. Single crystal X-ray diffraction study has been carried out to find the crystal system and unit cell parameters.