Effects of Lifelong Musicianship on White Matter Integrity and Cognitive Brain Reserve.

There is a significant body of research that has identified specific, high-end cognitive demand activities and lifestyles that may play a role in building cognitive brain reserve, including volume changes in gray matter and white matter, increased structural connectivity, and enhanced categorical perception. While normal aging produces trends of decreasing white matter (WM) integrity, research on cognitive brain reserve suggests that complex sensory-motor activities across the life span may slow down or reverse these trends. Previous research has focused on structural and functional changes to the human brain caused by training and experience in both linguistic (especially bilingualism) and musical domains.

L2 speech perception in noise: An fMRI study of advanced Spanish learners.

This experiment examined the neural correlates of second language (L2) speech perception in noise in advanced Spanish students. Participants completed a speech perception task in quiet and noise in their first language (L1 = English) and L2 during fMRI. Behavioral tests of L2 Spanish sentence recognition confirmed that advanced learners of Spanish can recognize sentences in quiet and in noise with an average of 85.

Perception of formulaic and novel expressions under acoustic degradation.

Background: Formulaic expressions, including idioms and other fixed expressions, comprise a significant proportion of discourse. Although much has been written about this topic, controversy remains about their psychological status. An important claim about formulaic expressions, that they are known to native speakers, has seldom been directly demonstrated.

Selenium, vitamin E and polyunsaturated fatty acid concentrations in goat kids with and without nutritional myodegeneration.

Mean selenium and vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) concentrations in the liver, myocardium and skeletal muscle of nine goat kids with nutritional myodegeneration (NMD) were significantly lower than those in a group of nine kids dying from other causes. Each of the 18 kids was from a different property in the southern half of the North Island. The polyunsaturated fatty acid composition of the liver, myocardium and skeletal muscle was not significantly different between the two groups, but the overall level of peroxidisable polyunsaturated fatty acids appeared high in both groups.

Vitamin E, selenium and polyunsaturated fatty acids in clinically normal grower (9-16 weeks old) pigs and their feed: their relationship to the vitamin E/selenium deficiency ("VESD") syndrome.

Vitamin E, selenium and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were determined in feed used at three piggeries over.a four week period and compared with corresponding concentrations in clinically normal grower pigs at slaughter. Mean values were vitamin E: 59 IU/kg (feed), 6 micromol/kg (liver), 1.

Blood thiamine levels in normal cattle and sheep at pasture.

Analysis of whole blood samples from 174 cattle and, 174 sheep from 3 geographical regions of New Zealand over a 10 month period showed a mean (range) thiamine level of 122 nmol/l (71-237 nmol/l) for cattle and 118 nmol/l (67-227 nmol/l) for sheep. Regional and seasonal differences were noted with levels tending to rise over the summer period. A reference range of 75-185 nmol/l is proposed for both cattle and sheep to cover these variations.

Determination of sodium monofluoroacetate (compound 1080) in tissues and baits as its benzyl ester by reaction-capillary gas chromatography.

A reaction-capillary gas-chromatographic procedure using photo-ionization (PID) or flame-ionization (FID) detection was developed for the determination of sodium monofluoroacetate (compound 1080), a pesticide, in tissues and baits. Fluoroacetic acid from tissue (1 g) and bait (10 g) extracts was first partitioned into ethyl acetate and then into 0.5 M benzyldimethylphenylammonium hydroxide.

A review of thiamine deficiency and its diagnosis, especially in ruminants.

Thiamine deficiency diseases are briefly reviewed with particular attention to the use of blood thiamine levels in their diagnosis. Blood thiamine levels below 50 nmol/l are considered significant with levels as low as 6-12 nmol/l often being found in suspected cases of polioencephalomalacia.

Fitch diets in New Zealand: an analytical survey.

Fitch diets from 30 farms were surveyed and analysed for moisture, protein, carbohydrate, fibre, ash, fat and individual fatty acids, fat peroxide value, and infinity-tocopherol. The dietary raw materials most often used were mutton, fish, poultry, beef and cereals. Eight of the 30 breeders added no vitamin or other supplements.

Liquid chromatographic determination of strychnine in stomach contents.

A chloroform extract of stomach contents at basic pH is concentrated and then extracted with 0.1 M phosphoric acid. The acid extract is chromatographed on a 10 cm reverse phase column, using 0.

Observations on an outbreak of nutritional steatitis (yellow fat disease) in fitch (Mustella putorius furo).

An outbreak of nutritional steatitis in farmed fitch (Mustella putorius furo) caused by feeding high levels of dietary polyunsaturated fat was investigated. The disease affected mainly 13 to 15 week rapidly growing kits; 793 kits were affected and 183 died. The outbreak was quickly controlled by lowering the level of polyunsaturated fat in the diet and administering high doses of vitamin E.

Vitamin E status of cattle and sheep. 2: Survey of liver from clinically normal cattle and sheep for alpha-tocopherol.

Analysis of liver from clinically normal animals showed a mean alpha-tocopherol level of 20 mg/kg for cattle and 6 mg/kg for sheep. The corresponding normal values (mean +/- 2 S.D.

Vitamin E status of cattle and sheep. 1: A background review.

The role of tocopherol in animal health, and its inter-relationship with selenium and polyunsaturated fatty acids, are reviewed.