Listening to Mozart’s piano concertos for eight minutes a day can reduce the frequency of seizures in young epilepsy patients by 30 percent, a study carried out by Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU) showed.
The study, conducted in collaboration with researchers at National Sun Yat-sen University’s department of music, examined the effects of Mozart’s music on children 17 years old and under who suffer from epilepsy.
Lin Lung-chang (林龍昌), a child neurologist at KMU Hospital and a member of the research team, said brain wave tests on 58 epilepsy patients in the designated age group showed that the frequency of abnormally excited electrical signals in the brain dropped an average of 30 percent in 47 cases after listening to eight minutes of Mozart’s piano concerto K448.
In a second-phase test over a longer period, it was found that the longer the program of music therapy lasted, the better its healing effects on the patients.
“Six months would be the best time span for music therapy,” Lin said.
In a third-phase test, 18 patients with a high frequency of seizures or convulsions were found to have experienced a whopping 53 percent reduction in frequency after a long period of music therapy, Lin said.
Yang Jui-cheng (楊瑞成), another team member and child neurology expert at KMU Hospital, said the study found that in addition to “markedly improving” epilepsy in children, music can also help to reduce the dosage of medication patients require and its side effects.
He said that foreign studies have demonstrated that music can help cure Parkinson’s disease, dementia, strokes, sleeping disorders and attention deficient disorder, and has a good record of improving patients’ quality of life.
In 1993, a medical journal reported that college students who took an IQ test after listening to Mozart’s piano concerto K448 scored eight or nine points higher than usual, Lin said.
The research conducted by Lin’s team will be published in Epilepsy Research, a well-known medical journal.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
RSS