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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.

BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao's latest state visit to the United States bore rich fruit and opened a new chapter of cooperation between the two countries, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Saturday.The tour, from Tuesday through Friday, came at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, on the 40th anniversary of the resumption of contact between the two countries and on the opening year of China's 12th five-year plan for national socioeconomic development, Yang noted.Meanwhile, the international situation was witnessing deep and complicated changes, and the China-U.S. relationship was forging ahead with increasing momentum while inevitably encountering some differences and disputes, he said.Against such a backdrop, the Chinese president held frank and in-depth talks with his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, and many other senior political figures, and reached important consensus on bilateral relations and a host of major regional and global affairs, Yang said.During the tightly scheduled trip, which saw Hu attend nearly 20 events in Washington and Chicago within 68 hours, the Chinese leader also reached out to the U.S. public, conveying China's resolution to advance China-U.S. ties, highlighting China's commitment to peaceful development and presenting China's image of peace, development, opening-up and progress, Yang said.The U.S. and international media, he added, attached great importance to and spoke highly of Hu's trip, hailing it as a historic visit at a crucial moment and whose significance was manifested partly in the top level reception with full pomp and ceremony given by the U.S. government.In summary, the latest step in China-U.S. diplomacy achieved rich results and cast a far-reaching influence not only upon the two countries themselves but upon the whole world, the Chinese foreign minister said.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Apple Inc. announced on Tuesday that it has updated its iMac all-in-one desktop, adding Intel's next generation quad-core processors, Thunderbolt data ports and a new HD camera.Starting at 1,199 U.S. dollars, the new iMac is up to 70 percent faster and its new graphics deliver up to three times the performance of the previous generation, Apple said in a statement.The new iMac features quad-core Intel Core i5 processors with an upgrade option to Core i7 processors.The 21.5-inch model has a single Thunderbolt port while the 27- inch has two, in addition to four USB 2.0 inputs and a FireWire 800 port.Thunderbolt, which debuted with Apple's updated MacBook Pro notebooks in February, is also an Intel design bringing together high-speed data transfer and high-definition display onto a single cable. It can transfer a full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds with a speed of 10 gigabits per second, which is twice the speed of USB 3.0, 12 times faster than FireWire 800 and up to 20 times faster than USB 2.0.The new iMac also includes a built-in FaceTime HD camera, which supports high-definition video calls, Apple said.

BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese central government in Beijing pledged Saturday that it would work to ensure smooth and safe traveling for the public as many return home to reunite with families during the Spring Festival.It is expected that some 700 million people are to travel during a 40-day Spring Festival travel period that began Wednesday, but heavy snow and icy rain, which has continued since the new year began, has disrupted traffic and cut water and power supplies to some regions in south and southwest China.The lingering freezing weather also poses great challenges to transportation and railway authorities, as they work to avoid another travel disaster, as was seen in early 2008 when unprecedented heavy snow and freezing rain inundated the south of the country, bringing traffic to a standstill at the peak holiday season.Due to this, the Ministry of Public Security announced on Saturday that it had drawn upon the experiences gained from the 2008 weather disaster, and has ordered local bureaus to begin planning precautionary measures to combat the freezing weather.It also issued orders to local departments beginning in late December to step up snow clearance and make sure expressways and key trunk lines are not closed by snow."More police will be deployed to maintain traffic order and security, and to reduce offences such as drunk driving, speeding, passenger overloading of cars and trucks, and driving while fatigued," Huang Ming, Vice Minister of Public Security, said in a press conference held in Beijing.Meanwhile, over 8,300 service stops would be established across the country in order to provide necessities such as water and medical help to drivers and migrant works returning home for the festival.China's meteorological authority forecast Saturday that snowy weather will weaken in most regions over the next three days, but the eastern areas in southwest China will continue to see more rain and snow.On Sunday, the weather forecast anticipated that moderate snow would hit some regions in Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, and Hainan, as the southwestern province of Guizhou will see more icy rain.Local authorities said nearly 10 million have been affected in Hunan after a blizzard that started Monday, which also forced the evacuation of 73,000 people. About 15 power lines were shut down and 132 roads were closed because of snow and icy rain in Guangxi.As the freezing weather makes travel on roads more difficult, railway stations are seeing surges in passenger numbers.An official with the Ministry of Railways (MOR) said nearly 4.8 million passengers took trains on Jan. 19, the first day of the travel peak season this year, up 11.9 percent compared to the corresponding day last year. The next day, over 4.9 million passengers traveled on railways, up 17.5 percent. The Nanchang railway station even saw passenger number jump 30 percent.The MOR said earlier that it would run an additional 293 pairs of trains per day during the rush period in order to meet climbing passenger demand.Further, the Vice Minister of the country's National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning body, said the ministry would work with other government departments to implement multiple measures in maintaining a stable supply of coal, electricity, oil, and gas so that residents' demands for heating and power use can be met during the festival.The traditional Chinese Spring Festival, or chun jie in Chinese, is the country's most important festival. It falls on Feb. 3 this year. Workers nationwide enjoy a seven-day holiday that ends on Feb. 8.

BEIJING, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Jia Qinglin, China's top political advisor, urged the municipality of Beijing to intensify efforts to promote the development of service and manufacturing industries.Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks during his inspection tour in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday.During the tour, Jia visited factories, construction sites and communities to exchange views with officials and civilians. He also listened to a report from the Beijing municipal government.Beijing has taken the lead in optimizing its industrial structure as the output of its service industry accounts for 75 percent of the revenue from all sectors, according to official sources of the city.Jia encouraged Beijing to continue to promote its service sector by focusing on producer services and expanding the city's service businesses overseas.While visiting Beijing Benz Automotive Co., Ltd., Jia called for the strengthening of technological innovation in order to boost high-end equipment manufacturing.Beijing should turn itself into a center for national technological innovation to contribute to the country's economic development, Jia said.He also stressed the better protection of forest resources and the more efficient use of water to develop modern agriculture.

来源：资阳报