新乡市七喵美甲加盟电话多少钱(淮北市甜果美甲加盟电话多少钱) (今日更新中)

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Those childhood music lessons could pay off decades later -- even for those who no longer play an instrument -- by keeping the mind sharper as people age, according to a preliminary study published by the American Psychological Association (APA).The study recruited 70 healthy adults age 60 to 83 who were divided into groups based on their levels of musical experience. The musicians performed better on several cognitive tests than individuals who had never studied an instrument or learned how to read music, according to the research findings published Wednesday online in the APA journal Neuropsychology."Musical activity throughout life may serve as a challenging cognitive exercise, making your brain fitter and more capable of accommodating the challenges of aging," said lead researcher Brenda Hanna-Pladdy, a clinical neuropsychologist at the University of Kansas Medical Center. "Since studying an instrument requires years of practice and learning, it may create alternate connections in the brain that could compensate for cognitive declines as we get older."The three groups of study participants included individuals with no musical training; with one to nine years of musical study; or with at least 10 years of musical training. All of the participants had similar levels of education and fitness and didn' t show any evidence of Alzheimer's disease.All of the musicians were amateurs who began playing an instrument at about 10 years of age. More than half played the piano while approximately a quarter had studied woodwind instruments such as the flute or clarinet. Smaller numbers performed with stringed instruments, percussion or brass instruments.The high-level musicians who had studied the longest performed the best on the cognitive tests, followed by the low-level musicians and non-musicians, revealing a trend relating to years of musical practice. The high-level musicians had statistically significant higher scores than the non-musicians on cognitive tests relating to visuospatial memory, naming objects and cognitive flexibility, or the brain's ability to adapt to new information.The brain functions measured by the tests typically decline as the body ages and more dramatically deteriorate in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. The results "suggest a strong predictive effect of high musical activity throughout the lifespan on preserved cognitive functioning in advanced age," the study stated.Half of the high-level musicians still played an instrument at the time of the study, but they didn't perform better on the cognitive tests than the other advanced musicians who had stopped playing years earlier. This suggests that the duration of musical study was more important than whether musicians continued playing at an advanced age, Hanna-Pladdy says."Based on previous research and our study results, we believe that both the years of musical participation and the age of acquisition are critical," Hanna-Pladdy says. "There are crucial periods in brain plasticity that enhance learning, which may make it easier to learn a musical instrument before a certain age and thus may have a larger impact on brain development."The preliminary study was correlational, meaning that the higher cognitive performance of the musicians couldn't be conclusively linked to their years of musical study. More research is needed to explore that possible link.

WASHINGTON, May 3 (Xinhua) -- People diagnosed with asthma in the United States grew by 4.3 million between 2001 and 2009, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).In 2009, nearly one in 12 Americans were diagnosed with asthma. In addition to increased diagnoses, asthma costs grew from about 53 billion U.S. dollars in 2002 to about 56 billion dollars in 2007, about a six percent increase. The explanation for the growth in asthma rates is unknown, according to the CDC.Asthma is a lifelong disease that causes wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and coughing, though people with asthma can control symptoms and prevent asthma attacks by avoiding things that can set off an asthma attacks, and correctly using prescribed medicine, like inhaled corticosteroids. The report highlights the benefits of essential asthma education and services that reduce the impact of these triggers, but most often these benefits are not covered by health insurers."Despite the fact that outdoor air quality has improved, we've reduced two common asthma triggers -- secondhand smoke and smoking in general -- asthma is increasing," said Paul Garbe, chief of CDC 's Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch. "While we don't know the cause of the increase, our top priority is getting people to manage their symptoms better."Asthma triggers are usually environmental and can be found at school, work, home, outdoors, and elsewhere and can include tobacco smoke, mold, outdoor air pollution, and infections linked to influenza, cold-like symptoms, and other viruses.According to the report, asthma diagnoses increased among all demographic groups between 2001 and 2009, though a higher percentage of children reported having asthma than adults (9.6 percent compared to 7.7 percent in 2009). Annual asthma costs in the United States were 3,300 dollars per person with asthma from 2002 to 2007 in medical expenses. About two in five uninsured and one in nine insured people with asthma could not afford their prescription medication."Asthma is a serious, lifelong disease that unfortunately kills thousands of people each year and adds billions to our nation's health care costs," said CDC Director Thomas Frieden. "We have to do a better job educating people about managing their symptoms and how to correctly use medicines to control asthma so they can live longer more productive lives while saving health care costs."

BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's meteorological authority said Saturday that a cold snap would sweep north China over the next few days, bringing down temperatures and carrying gusty winds.Temperatures in some parts of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and northeast China will drop 4 to 6 degrees Celsius over the weekend, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said in a statement on its website.In most areas north to the Huaihe River, the temperatures will go down 4 to 6 degrees Celsius, or even 8 to 10 degrees Celsius in some parts of the areas between Monday and Tuesday.The cold front would then move southward to affect more areas in the eastern and southern parts of the country.The NMC said some areas in northern and western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the eastern part of Inner Mongolia, Sichuan Basin and most of the northeast China, the western parts of the areas south to the Yangtze River will see light to moderate snow or sleet in the forthcoming three days.Fog continued to shroud south China Saturday, reducing visibility to less than 200 meters in parts of Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Fujian provinces, as well as Chongqing City.

BEIJING, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- China has introduced new stimulus policies to boost the development of the software and integrated circuit (IC) industries.Software firms will continue to enjoy preferential value-added tax policies, according to a circular posted on the central government's website, www.gov.cn on Wednesday. The circular was dated Jan. 28.The new policies also granted tax cuts to manufacturers of integrated circuit. Enterprises of IC products whose product line is less than 0.8 micron (including 0.8 micron) wide will be exempted from corporate income taxes on the first and the second year after reaching profitability, according to the statement.Taxes will also be halved for such companies from the third to fifth year after reaching profitability.Makers of IC products that have a product line that is less than 0.25 micron wide or have invested more than 8 billion yuan (1.21 billion U.S. dollars) in production will pay reduced income taxes.For companies that have operated for more than 15 years, corporate income taxes will be exempted from the first year to the fifth after reaching profitability.Between the sixth and the tenth year, the firms will pay half of the taxes, the statement said.The government also encouraged consolidation in the software and IC industries and will provide financial support to technological research and development.

BEIJING, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- China plans to dig 1,350 wells in eight major wheat-growing provinces to help ease the ongoing drought that is threatening the country's grain harvest, said the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) on Friday.The ministry will establish an anti-drought and well drilling operation headquarters and three front working teams in north China, Huanghuai area - along the Yellow and Huai rivers - and northwest China, said the MLR at a video conference.Also, China Geological Survey, an institution directly under the MLR, will transfer experienced technicians from its nine affiliated units to form three emergency squads and 12 emergency groups to assist local governments in finding water in those regions, said the MLR.Further, the MLR will send geological survey teams from its nine affiliated units and eight provinces, including Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, to the eight provinces, it said.The survey teams will bring 100 sets of advanced geophysical prospecting instruments and 320 sets of drill machines to dig 1,350 wells to ease the water shortages affecting people and livestock, especially those in mountainous areas, and strengthen local irrigation, it noted.The eight provinces include Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu and Jiangsu, which are China's major wheat-producing regions and have been severely affected by months-long drought.The MLR had previously put in place a series of measures to relieve drought and find water, such as making underground water layout maps and sending experts to drought-hit regions to give technical guidance, said the MLR.As of 3 p.m. Thursday, the drought had affected 101.28 million mu (6.75 million hectares) of crops nationwide and left 2.81 million people and 2.57 million livestock short of drinking water, said the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

来源：资阳报