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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.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Boeing's 747-8 Intercontinental took to the sky for the first time on Sunday, a milestone for the U.S. aviation giant's latest and biggest passenger plane.Live webcast by Boeing showed that a 747-8 Intercontinental touched down at around 2:25 p.m. PST (2125 GMT) Sunday at the Boeing Field airport in Seattle in the U.S. states of Washington, after wrapping up the airplane's inaugural flight that lasted about four and half hours.During the test flight, the pilots did some system and function checks and everything went fine, according to the webcast.The new 747-8 Intercontinental can carry 467 passengers in a three-class configuration, said Boeing, which touted the new wide- body jet airliner as the only airplane in the 400-500 seat market.The Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental takes off on its maiden flight from Paine Field, in Everett, Washington, March 20, 2011. The 747-8 Intercontinental willseat 467 passengers, 51 more than the latest model of the classic 747, and burn less fuel while offering passengers more comfort, the U.S. planemaker says.Using 787-technology GEnx engines, the airplane will be quieter, produce lower emissions and achieve better fuel economy for airlines, Boeing said.The airplane also features a new wing design and an upgraded flight deck. Its interior incorporates features from the Boeing 787 Dreamliner including a new curved, upswept architecture that will give passengers a greater sense of space and comfort, while adding more room for personal belongings.Boeing has noted that compared with its predecessor, the 747- 400, the 747-8 Intercontinental provides 16 percent better fuel economy, 16 percent less carbon emissions per passenger and generates 30 percent smaller noise footprint, while carries 51 more passengers.Boeing in February said that Korean Air, VIP customers and launch customer Lufthansa have ordered a total of 33 747-8 passenger planes, with the first delivery scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year.It is reported that the 747-8 Intercontinental has a list price of about 317 million U.S. dollars.Earlier in March, Boeing announced that it has signed an agreement with Air China for the purchase of five 747-8 Intercontinental jetliners.

BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhuanet) -- NASA has readied the space shuttle Endeavour for its liftoff set for Monday, media reported Monday.Good weather looks 70 percent likely for Monday's scheduled launch of Endeavour, the next-to-last U.S. space shuttle mission as NASA develops a new generation of craft for longer voyages."The updated forecast Sunday for Monday's launch of the shuttle Endeavour remains unchanged with a 70 percent chance of good weather," said NASA spokesman Allard Beutel.The space shuttle Endeavour STS-134 sits on launch pad 39A after the rollback of the Rotating Service Structure at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida May 15, 2011.Liftoff is set for 8:56 a.m. EDT (1256 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center for the trip to the International Space Station after the U.S. space agency repaired a technical glitch that canceled last month's launch attempt.The initial April 29 launch attempt was scrubbed hours before liftoff when technicians discovered a power failure in a heating line that served to prevent fuel from freezing in orbit.The six-member crew of astronauts including five Americans and one Italian, Roberto Vittori, will deliver a potent physics experiment to probe the origins of the universe during the mission, which will include four spacewalks.The 16-day mission is intended to help get the space station ready for operations after the shuttle fleet is retired. The 135th and final shuttle launch is scheduled for early- to mid-July aboard Atlantis.

ACCRA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- China would in the coming years inject more capital to support the infrastructure needs of Ghana, Chinese Ambassador to Ghana Gong Jianzhong has said.Briefing the media here on Friday night to announce the visit to Ghana by Chen Deming, the Chinese Minister of Commerce, Ambassador Gong said that China is willing to join in the infrastructure development of Ghana."We are willing to join Ghana in improving its infrastructure base. We will be happy to give our contribution towards the infrastructure development of Ghana," he said.The forthcoming two-day visit by the Chinese minister would afford the two countries to further cement, promote and syncretize the bilateral trade and economic corporation existing between them for more than five decades.The ambassador said the Chinese Embassy in Ghana is committed to offering quality service to Ghanaians engaging in bilateral exchanges and cooperation in different fields.Currently, China has supported the West African country in the construction of various roads, rails, school blocks, hospitals, among others.He called on the Chinese firms in Ghana to raise investments and take corporate social responsibilities in local communities where they are operating.

KAMPALA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The deadly Ebola hemorrhagic fever has broken out in Uganda, killing one person and leaving over 30 others being monitored by health officials, ministry of health announced here on Saturday.The epicenter of the outbreak is in the central Ugandan district of Luwero located about 50 km north of the capital Kampala.According to Anthony Mbonye, head of the community health department at the ministry of health, a 12 year old girl in Zirombwe Sub-county developed symptoms of Ebola and when she was admitted at a military hospital in the district, laboratory test confirmed that it was Ebola.The Ebola virus is highly contagious and causes a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise and in many cases internal and external bleeding.The girl died on May 6 and about 30 people who she got contact with are being asked to not get into contact with the public as health officials monitor them for about 21 days.The 30 people have not yet developed the symptoms but if they do, they will be isolated from the public.Mbonye said that preliminary investigations have showed that this Ebola virus is similar to the one that broke out in Sudan, thus named Sudan Ebola.The epicenter of the outbreak is also located along the high way to southern Sudan.This viral subtype has a human case fatality rate of 60 percent meaning that it will kill 60 percent of the infected people.The other subtype is the Congo Ebola which also attacked Uganda in 2007. This one has a human case fatality rate of over 80 percent.The 2007 outbreak which occurred in the western district of Bundibugyo bordering eastern Democratic Republic of Congo claimed 37 lives out of the 148 infected.Mbonye said that there also ongoing investigations to find out whether the index case got into contact with moneys or bats, the known reservoirs of the Ebola virus.Following the outbreak, government has reactivated the National Ebola Task Force (NETF) to coordinate the fight against the disease at the national level.District task forces are also in the process of being formed according to Mbonye, who is the chairperson of the NETF.