ORCID Profile
0000-0002-1889-1193
Current Organisations
Turku University Hospital
,
University of Helsinki
,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
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Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 15-07-2022
Abstract: Consumption of unsafe drinking water is associated with a substantial burden of disease globally. In the US, ~1.8 million people in rural areas lack reliable access to safe drinking water. Our objective was to characterize and assess household-level water sources, water quality, and associated health outcomes in Central Appalachia. We collected survey data and water s les (tap, source, and bottled water) from consenting households in a small rural community without utility-supplied water in southwest Virginia. Water s les were analyzed for physicochemical parameters, total coliforms, E. coli, nitrate, sulfate, metals (e.g., arsenic, cadmium, lead), and 30+ enteric pathogens. Among the 69% (n = 9) of households that participated, all had piped well water, though 67% (n = 6) used bottled water as their primary drinking water source. Total coliforms were detected in water s les from 44.4% (n = 4) of homes, E. coli in one home, and enteric pathogens (Aeromonas, C ylobacter, Enterobacter) in 33% (n = 3) of homes. Tap water s les from 11% (n = 1) of homes exceeded the EPA MCL for nitrate, and 33% (n = 3) exceeded the EPA SMCL for iron. Among the 19 in iduals residing in study households, reported diarrhea was 25% more likely in homes with measured E. coli and/or specific pathogens (risk ratio = 1.25, cluster-robust standard error = 1.64, p = 0.865). Although our s le size was small, our findings suggest that a considerable number of lower-income residents without utility-supplied water in rural areas of southwest Virginia may be exposed to microbiological and/or chemical contaminants in their water, and many, if not most, rely on bottled water as their primary source of drinking water.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2019
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-09-2017
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-017-11841-6
Abstract: Brain damage causing acquired amusia disrupts the functional music processing system, creating a unique opportunity to investigate the critical neural architectures of musical processing in the brain. In this longitudinal fMRI study of stroke patients (N = 41) with a 6-month follow-up, we used natural vocal music (sung with lyrics) and instrumental music stimuli to uncover brain activation and functional network connectivity changes associated with acquired amusia and its recovery. In the acute stage, amusic patients exhibited decreased activation in right superior temporal areas compared to non-amusic patients during instrumental music listening. During the follow-up, the activation deficits expanded to comprise a wide-spread bilateral frontal, temporal, and parietal network. The amusics showed less activation deficits to vocal music, suggesting preserved processing of singing in the amusic brain. Compared to non-recovered amusics, recovered amusics showed increased activation to instrumental music in bilateral frontoparietal areas at 3 months and in right middle and inferior frontal areas at 6 months. Amusia recovery was also associated with increased functional connectivity in right and left frontoparietal attention networks to instrumental music. Overall, our findings reveal the dynamic nature of deficient activation and connectivity patterns in acquired amusia and highlight the role of dorsal networks in amusia recovery.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-03-2018
DOI: 10.1111/NYAS.13624
Abstract: Coupling novel verbal material with a musical melody can potentially aid in its learning and recall in healthy subjects, but this has never been systematically studied in stroke patients with cognitive deficits. In a counterbalanced design, we presented novel verbal material (short narrative stories) in both spoken and sung formats to stroke patients at the acute poststroke stage and 6 months poststroke. The task comprised three learning trials and a delayed recall trial. Memory performance on the spoken and sung tasks did not differ at the acute stage, whereas sung stories were learned and recalled significantly better compared with spoken stories at the 6 months poststroke stage. Interestingly, this pattern of results was evident especially in patients with mild aphasia, in whom the learning of sung versus spoken stories improved more from the acute to the 6-month stages compared with nonaphasic patients. Overall, these findings suggest that singing could be used as a mnemonic aid in the learning of novel verbal material in later stages of recovery after stroke.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-11-2021
DOI: 10.1111/EJN.15524
Abstract: Recent evidence suggests that post‐stroke vocal music listening can aid language recovery, but the network‐level functional neuroplasticity mechanisms of this effect are unknown. Here, we sought to determine if improved language recovery observed after post‐stroke listening to vocal music is driven by changes in longitudinal resting‐state functional connectivity within the language network. Using data from a single‐blind randomized controlled trial on stroke patients ( N = 38), we compared the effects of daily listening to self‐selected vocal music, instrumental music and audio books on changes of the resting‐state functional connectivity within the language network and their correlation to improved language skills and verbal memory during the first 3 months post‐stroke. From acute to 3‐month stage, the vocal music and instrumental music groups increased functional connectivity between a cluster comprising the left inferior parietal areas and the language network more than the audio book group. However, the functional connectivity increase correlated with improved verbal memory only in the vocal music group cluster. This study shows that listening to vocal music post‐stroke promotes recovery of verbal memory by inducing changes in longitudinal functional connectivity in the language network. Our results conform to the variable neurodisplacement theory underpinning aphasia recovery.
Publisher: Society for Neuroscience
Date: 17-06-2021
DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0158-21.2021
Abstract: Listening to vocal music has been recently shown to improve language recovery in stroke survivors. The neuroplasticity mechanisms supporting this effect are, however, still unknown. Using data from a three-arm, single-blind, randomized controlled trial including acute stroke patients ( N = 38) and a 3 month follow-up, we set out to compare the neuroplasticity effects of daily listening to self-selected vocal music, instrumental music, and audiobooks on both brain activity and structural connectivity of the language network. Using deterministic tractography, we show that the 3 month intervention induced an enhancement of the microstructural properties of the left frontal aslant tract (FAT) for the vocal music group compared with the audiobook group. Importantly, this increase in the strength of the structural connectivity of the left FAT correlated with improved language skills. Analyses of stimulus-specific activation changes showed that the vocal music group exhibited increased activations in the frontal termination points of the left FAT during vocal music listening compared with the audiobook group from acute to 3 month poststroke stage. The increased activity correlated with the structural neuroplasticity changes in the left FAT. These results suggest that the beneficial effects of vocal music listening on poststroke language recovery are underpinned by structural neuroplasticity changes within the language network and extend our understanding of music-based interventions in stroke rehabilitation.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.CORTEX.2017.09.028
Abstract: Acquired amusia provides a unique opportunity to investigate the fundamental neural architectures of musical processing due to the transition from a functioning to defective music processing system. Yet, the white matter (WM) deficits in amusia remain systematically unexplored. To evaluate which WM structures form the neural basis for acquired amusia and its recovery, we studied 42 stroke patients longitudinally at acute, 3-month, and 6-month post-stroke stages using DTI [tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) and deterministic tractography (DT)] and the Scale and Rhythm subtests of the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA). Non-recovered amusia was associated with structural damage and subsequent degeneration in multiple WM tracts including the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF), arcuate fasciculus (AF), inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), uncinate fasciculus (UF), and frontal aslant tract (FAT), as well as in the corpus callosum (CC) and its posterior part (tapetum). In a linear regression analysis, the volume of the right IFOF was the main predictor of MBEA performance across time. Overall, our results provide a comprehensive picture of the large-scale deficits in intra- and interhemispheric structural connectivity underlying amusia, and conversely highlight which pathways are crucial for normal music perception.
Publisher: Society for Neuroscience
Date: 24-08-2016
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-01-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-10-2020
DOI: 10.1002/ACN3.51217
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2017
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 29-06-2010
DOI: 10.1021/ES903749D
Abstract: Sustainable living will require megacity-level infrastructural support designs and paradigms.
Location: United States of America
No related grants have been discovered for Marc Edwards.