The art of making noise

 According to an article published in the online version of Faculty of 1000 biology reports, playing a musical instrument has the potential to change the shape and the power of the brain.

There is growing evidence that musicians have structurally and functionally different brains compared with non-musicians, in particular the areas of the brain used in processing and playing music. These include: motor skills, hearing, storing audio information and help the memory to become larger and more active when a person learns how to play an instrument and can apparently improve day to day actions such as being alert, planning and emotional perception.

Psychologists at the University of Zurich claim that benefits are widespread and affect both children as well as adults, including those over 65 years of age, who with just one hour a week of musical practice over a four month period showed signs of change in the brain structure.

An interesting side affect is that people who play musical instruments seem to be more adept at learning foreign language and more in tune to recognising the emotions in other people. It seems musicians are better able to store audio information.

Music has a strong influence on the plasticity of the brain and can increase memory and language skills. 

The education paradigm

Two different approaches to Drugs Policies with two very different results

 Coffee shops and compromise: Separated illicit drug markets in the Netherlands

Though famous for its coffee shops, where cannabis can be purchased and consumed, the Netherlands has accomplished many enviable public health outcomes through its drug policy. These include low prevalence of HIV among people who use drugs, negligible incidence of heroin use, lower cannabis use among young people than in many stricter countries, and a citizenry that has generally been spared the burden of criminal records for low level, nonviolent drug offenses.

Coffee Shops and Compromise: Separated Illicit Drug Markets in the Netherlands tells the history of the Dutch approach and describes the ongoing success of the country’s drug policy. This includes the impact of the Dutch “separation of markets,” which potentially limits people’s exposure and access to harder drugs.

Though coffee shops have traditionally commanded the most media attention, the Netherlands also pioneered needle exchange and safer consumption rooms, decriminalized possession of small quantities of drugs, and introduced easy-to-access treatment services.

These policies, coupled with groundbreaking harm reduction interventions, have resulted in the near-disappearance of HIV among people who inject drugs and the lowest rate of problem drug use in Europe.

To read the full document

http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64663568/library/coffee-shops-and-compromise-the-netherlands.pdf

Puerto Rico's ignored public health crisis: Drug use and HIV

The converging issues of heroin drug dependence and HIV have emerged as a public health emergency in Puerto Rico. With the government overwhelmed, non-profits groups try to fill the void.

For the last three decades, Puerto Rico's public health officials have unsuccessfully fought a full-scale public health crisis. Today, the island has one of the highest HIV/Aids infection rates in the US, and more than 50% of all newly reported cases come from intravenous drug use.

Overwhelmed and chronically underfunded, the existing framework of health programs struggles to serve the island's estimated 60,000 intravenous drug users, so a patchwork of groups tries to fill the void.  

Original article in the Guardian newspaper

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/15/puerto-rick-health-crisis-heroin-drugs?CMP=twt_gu