Research investigating methods of facilitating classical music performance has tended to focus on treating the debilitating effects of Music Performance Anxiety (MPA). It has been suggested that flow and MPA may be antithetical experiences and that fostering techniques for facilitating flow may provide a powerful tool for helping to alleviate MPA. However, there is a scarcity of data exploring professional classical musicians’ experiences of flow, and little empirical evidence supporting a relationship between flow and MPA. The current study examined the flow experiences and the relationship between flow and MPA amongst 202 professional classical orchestral musicians in Israel. Results showed that the majority of participants regularly experience flow. Hierarchical regression analysis provided evidence of a strong, negative relationship between flow and MPA, supporting the suggestion that facilitating flow may provide a helpful approach for alleviating MPA. An additional exploratory investigation was made into performers’ experiences of Musical Emotional Contagion (MEC), the influence of the emotional contents of the music on the performer. Results showed that the majority of participants reported experiences of MEC and there was evidence of significant associations between MEC, flow and MPA. The clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

The introduction of social distancing, as part of efforts to try and curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, has brought about drastic disruption to the world of the performing arts. In the UK the majority of professional orchestral musicians are freelance and therefore self-employed. These players, previously engaged in enjoyable, busy, successful, portfolio careers, are currently unable to earn a living carrying out their everyday work of performing music, and their future working lives are surrounded by great uncertainty. The aim of the present study was to examine how established professional musicians are experiencing this period, and to look for similarities and differences between the experiences of musicians in the middle of their performing careers (aged 35–45), with those of older players (aged 53 and over). Single semi-structured interviews were carried out over Zoom with 24 freelance, self-employed orchestral musicians; 12 mid-career musicians aged 35–45, and 12 seasoned musicians aged 53 and over. Thematic analysis identified themes common to both groups: the loss of a much-loved performing career, missing music making and colleagues, and anxiety about the future of the music profession. It also identified differences between the two groups: challenges to their identity as a musician, the extent of their anxiety about finances, the extent of their emotional distress, attitudes toward practicing and engaging in collaborative music making, and confusion over future career plans. Findings are discussed with reference to lifespan models of musicians' career development, the PERMA model of wellbeing, and the concept of resilience.

Dental implant surfaces are important in determining the tissue/surface interaction. One of the first cells to adhere to the implant surface is the monocyte. This study examines the effect of surface roughness on monocyte adhesion and cytokine secretion. Monocyte adherence to titanium discs of 4 different degrees of surface roughness and plastic surfaces was assayed. Blood mononuclear cells were incubated for 1.5 h in 16 mm culture wells into which titanium discs had been placed. Non-adherent cells were washed off and the numbers of remaining adherent monocyte determined by DNA quantification. TNF-alpha and PGE2 secretion in media from overnight cultures of attached monocytes stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was quantified using ELISA and RIA, respectively. Monocyte adherence to rough titanium surfaces was greater than to turned titanium surfaces, while the lowest adherence was to the plastic surface. No significant differences in adherence to 250, 75 or 25 microm blasted surfaces could be detected. The number of adherent monocytes increased with time, with maximum adhesion after 2 h of incubation. Incubation of monocytes adherent to titanium surfaces resulted in a decrease of less than 30% in their numbers over 7 days, whereas cells attached to plastic surfaces decreased to non-detectable numbers after 48 h. Porphyromonas gingivalis LPS stimulation upregulated TNF-alpha and PGE2 secretion into the media. The LPS-induced TNF-alpha and PGE2 secretion was independent of the titanium surface roughness, however the lowest amounts of TNF-alpha and PGE2 were secreted from cells attached to plastic surfaces. The results of this study indicate that the number of monocytes attached to blasted titanium surfaces is significantly greater than to machined titanium surfaces. PGE2 and TNF-alpha secretion is less influenced by titanium surface roughness.

Classical performing musicians have command of a wide range of cognitive, physiological and musical skills. However, the literature on facilitating optimal music performance has tended to focus on treating the pathological aspects of performance: on reducing debilitating music performance anxiety (MPA). This study explores the suggestion from positive psychology that optimal functioning cannot be attained solely by the absence of pathology, but that methods for facilitating positive functioning need to be actively cultivated. Twenty-four music students participated in a semester Music Performance Skills course or wait-list control condition. The course comprised mental skills training, physiological awareness, enhancing musical communication and simulated performances. Significant pre-/post-test reductions in self-reported MPA, and significant improvements in performance quality, judge-rated MPA, positive and negative affect and state anxiety were reported in the intervention group. No significant changes in measures of flow were observed. The implications of the findings for musical educational establishments are discussed.

UV-absorbing nanoparticles (NPs) and microparticles (MPs) were prepared by emulsion and dispersion copolymerization of the vinylic monomer 2-(2'-hydroxy-5'-methacryloxyethylphenyl)-2H-benzotriazole (Norbloc (NB)) with the crosslinking monomer divinylbenzene. The effect of the initiator concentration on the size and size distribution of the polyNB (PNB) particles was elucidated. Thin coatings of the formed PNB NPs or MPs of 19 ± 2 and 200 ± 25 nm dry diameter, respectively, onto polypropylene (PP) films were then prepared and characterized. Increasing the concentration or thickness of the PNB NP or MP thin coatings on the PP films decreased their UV transmittance, up to complete UV blocking with just 2 μm of a 4% NP coating. Migration of the UV-absorbing agents from the coated PP films was not observed during three years of storage at room temperature, offering a unique solution to current problems of migration of UV-absorbing additives. The thin coatings obtained by the PNB NPs were superior to those of the PNB MPs, in that no UV transmittance or loss of optical properties of the PP films were observed for the NP coatings, while the coatings produced by the PNB MPs resulted in damaged optical properties, particularly increasing the haze, and achieved incomplete UV blocking.