No abstract

Music can reduce stress and anxiety, enhance positive mood, and facilitate social bonding. However, little is known about the role of music and related personal or cultural (individualistic vs. collectivistic) variables in maintaining wellbeing during times of stress and social isolation as imposed by the COVID-19 crisis. In an online questionnaire, administered in 11 countries (Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the UK, and USA, N = 5,619), participants rated the relevance of wellbeing goals during the pandemic, and the effectiveness of different activities in obtaining these goals. Music was found to be the most effective activity for three out of five wellbeing goals: enjoyment, venting negative emotions, and self-connection. For diversion, music was equally good as entertainment, while it was second best to create a sense of togetherness, after socialization. This result was evident across different countries and gender, with minor effects of age on specific goals, and a clear effect of the importance of music in people's lives. Cultural effects were generally small and surfaced mainly in the use of music to obtain a sense of togetherness. Interestingly, culture moderated the use of negatively valenced and nostalgic music for those higher in distress.

Music can reduce stress and anxiety, enhance positive mood, and facilitate social bonding. However, little is known about the role of music and related personal or cultural (individualistic versus collectivistic) variables in maintaining wellbeing during times of stress and social isolation as imposed by the COVID-19 crisis. In an online questionnaire, administered in 11 countries (Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the UK and USA, N = 5619), participants rated the relevance of wellbeing goals during the pandemic, and the effectiveness of different activities in obtaining these goals. Music was found to be the most effective activity for three out of five wellbeing goals: enjoyment, venting negative emotions, and self-connection. For diversion, music was equally good as entertainment, while it was second best to create a sense of togetherness, after socialization. This result was evident across different countries and gender, with minor effects of age on specific goals, and a clear effect of the importance of music in people’s lives. Cultural effects were generally small and surfaced mainly in the use of music to obtain a sense of togetherness. Interestingly, culture moderated the use of negatively valenced and nostalgic music for those higher in distress.

No abstract

Background: A global aging population requires focusing on the risk factors for unhealthy aging, preventive medicine, and chronic disease management. The identification of adverse health outcomes in older adults has been addressed by the characterization of frailty as a biological syndrome. In this field, oxidative stress and telomere length have been suggested as biomarkers of aging. Objective: The objective of the study was to study the association of oxidative stress, telomere length, and frailty in an old age population. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study based on 2015 data from 202 members of a cohort of older adults (n = 202; F/M gender ratio: 133/69; mean age: 69.89 ± 7.39 years). Reactive oxygen species were measured by dichlorofluorescein diacetate and lipid peroxidation by malondialdehyde. Telomere length was determined using quantitative polymerase chain reaction with SYBR Green Master Mix. Results: Statistical analysis showed an association between telomere length and frailty but no association between oxidative stress and telomere length or frailty. Conclusions: Telomere length could eventually be used as a marker to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy aging as expressed by frailty phenotype; oxidative stress seemed merely a biological process of aging.

This is the first study showing the significant association between the BDNF rs6265 AA (Met/Met) genotype and overweight/obesity in Mexican pediatric population.

Bayesian statistics is based on subjective probability. It works with evidence updating considering the knowledge acquired prior to an investigation, plus the evidence obtained thereof. Results' interpretation requires for the hypotheses to be tested to be specified and their a priori probability to be estimated before the study. Study evidence is measured with the Bayes factor (compatibility ratio of the data under the proposed hypotheses). The conjunction of hypotheses a priori probabilities with the Bayes factor allows calculating the a posteriori probability of each one of them. The hypothesis with the highest degree of certainty at its update is the one that is accepted for decision making. In this review, three examples of hypothesis to be tested are shown: difference of means, correlation and association.

Este artículo debe citarse como: Martínez-Ezquerro JD, Riojas-Garza A, Rendón-Macías MA. Significancia clínica sobre significancia estadística, como interpretar los intervalos de confianza a 95 %. Rev Med Alerg Mex. AbstractThe validity of a study depends on its proper planning, execution and analysis. If these are sufficiently correct, the decision to apply the recommendations issued depends on the expected clinical effect. This effect may have random variations, hence the need to use statistical inference. For years the p-value has been used to determine this statistical significance and the confidence intervals to measure the magnitude of the effect. In this review we present a proposal of how to interpret the 95 % confidence intervals (CI 95 %) as estimators of the expected effect variability based on considering the threshold or value of clinical significance and the null value of the difference or rejection of statistical significance. Thus, an association or effect where the CI 95 % includes the null value (no effect or difference) is interpreted as inconclusive; one between the null value and the clinical threshold (without including them) as possibly inconsequential; one that does not include the null value but the clinical threshold as yet not conclusive and one beyond the clinical threshold as conclusive.