Article

Overture for growth hormone: requiem for interleukin-6?

Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Critical Care Medicine (impact factor: 6.33). 01/2008; 35(12):2709-13. pp.2709-13
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Music has been used for therapeutic purposes since the beginning of cultural history. However, despite numerous descriptions of beneficial effects, the precise mechanisms by which music may improve human well-being remain unclear.
We conducted a randomized study in ten critically ill patients to identify mechanisms of music-induced relaxation using a special selection of slow movements of Mozart's piano sonatas. These sonatas were analyzed for compositional elements of relaxation. We measured circulatory variables, brain electrical activity, serum levels of stress hormones and cytokines, requirements for sedative drugs, and level of sedation before and at the end of a 1-hr therapeutic session.
Compared with controls, we found that music application significantly reduced the amount of sedative drugs needed to achieve a comparable degree of sedation. Simultaneously, among those receiving the music intervention, plasma concentrations of growth hormone increased, whereas those of interleukin-6 and epinephrine decreased. The reduction in systemic stress hormone levels was associated with a significantly lower blood pressure and heart rate.
Based on the effects of slow movements of Mozart's piano sonatas, we propose a neurohumoral pathway by which music might exert its sedative action. This model includes an interaction of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis with the adrenal medulla via mediators of the unspecific immune system

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    Article: The effect of defined auditory conditions versus mental loading on the laparoscopic motor skill performance of experts.
    Claudius Conrad, Yusuf Konuk, Paul Werner, Caroline G Cao, Andrew Warshaw, David Rattner, Daniel B Jones, Denise Gee
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    ABSTRACT: Music and noise are frequent occurrences in the operating room. To date, the effects of these auditory conditions on the performance of laparoscopic surgery experts have not been evaluated. Eight internationally recognized experts were recruited for a crossover study. The experts were randomized to perform three simple tasks on a laparoscopic simulator, SurgicalSIM VR. The tasks were equal in difficulty and performed under the following conditions: silence, dichaotic music (auditory stress), classical music (auditory relaxation), and mental loading (mental arithmetic tasks). Permutations of the conditions were created to account for a learning effect. The tasks were performed twice to test for memory consolidation and to accommodate baseline variability. Time until task completion and task accuracy via instrument tip trajectory (path of the tip through space) were recorded. Performance was correlated with responses on the Brief Musical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ). The study demonstrated that dichaotic music has a negative impact on time until task completion but not on task accuracy. In addition, memory consolidation of accuracy is negatively influenced. Classical music has a variable effect on experts' time until task completion, yet all the experts performed the tasks more accurately. Classical music had no effect on recall of a procedure. Mental loading increased time until completion, but did not affect accuracy or recall. The experience of music varied among experts and influenced how each of the conditions affected their performance. The study demonstrated that, contrary to common belief, proficiency in surgery does not protect against stressful auditory influences or the influence of mental preoccupation. Interestingly, relaxing auditory influences such as classical music can even have a positive impact on the accuracy of experts. Previous musical experience could help to identify surgeons whose performance may be specifically affected by music or noise.
    Surgical Endoscopy 06/2010; 24(6):1347-52. · 4.01 Impact Factor
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Keywords

1-hr therapeutic session
 
adrenal medulla
 
brain electrical activity
 
circulatory variables
 
comparable degree
 
heart rate
 
human well-being
 
hypothalamic-pituitary axis
 
Mozart's piano sonatas
 
music application
 
music-induced relaxation
 
neurohumoral pathway
 
numerous descriptions
 
plasma concentrations
 
precise mechanisms
 
slow movements
 
stress hormones
 
systemic stress hormone levels
 
therapeutic purposes
 
unspecific immune system