From a large Dutch epidemiological study: overall, when all other factors were controlled, punk/hardcore, techno/hardhouse, and reggae were associated with more substance use, while pop and classical music marked less substance use. In contrast to previous research heavy metal and rap/hip-hop, were not of marked importance here. Music in the life of an adolescent is very important as it plays an important role with fashion statements and even political attitudes. Adolescents tend to listen to music as a form of consolation, to fight boredom, as a mood enhancer, energizer. It's important for friend selection, it's a base for peer group formation. But .....read more »

Recommended reading is a weekly summary of interesting posts and selected links I posted on Twitter [recreading]Related posts: Recommended Reading from This Week Recommended Reading This Week: Empathy and Neurostimulation Recommended Reading This Week ..read more »

Tomorrow it's 20 years ago that the Berlin Wall started to crumble. This nice video is a short history of an important "mistake". Walls are not a solution, never. An important moment in history and the end of the Berlin Wall, one of the most impressive moments in my live. Related posts: The Iconic Photo of the Berlin Wall Wall Street Stop Grand Rounds 5:1 – In Your Own Words ..read more »

Enterprise 2.0 Booth Video from PBworks on Vimeo. I have a wiki up at PBWorks. I mostly use it as an eportfolio, a 'living document', it is a kind of curriculum vitae getting updated when necessary. I would be really pleased to get feedback about the construction of this ePortfolio. I also use it to exchange large files or a place for those attending lectures, courses etc to download the slides and papers. Developments are going fast. It's now a serious rival for Google Wave, don't believe me have a look at the video above. We made this video for Enterprise 2.0 .....read more »

This entry for NewScientist proves that squirrels don't smell nuts. A squirrel's memory is phenomenal. If you try this experiment at home it is important to distinguish between different squirrels. In this experiment there were three of them. All three squirrels exhibited the same memory traits: They always returned to the same position. Collectively they made over 300 separate trips and seemed to work as a team to systematically clear the hoard of nuts How to set up a scientific experiment.Related posts: Memory psychology for a general audience Sackeims letter to the editor about memory loss due to electroshock Top Memory Hacks ..read more »

Had an idea to use writing of a blog for a minor in medical education. The idea was sacrificed for other options for minors. Seems that blogs in medical education can promote reflection and professionalism. Professionalism being one of the CanMed competences used in medical education and one of the most important ones not easily educated. An important part of professionalism is self reflection. It's necessary for the integration of theory with experience. For acquiring a professional attitude one needs to reflect on his or her own values, shortcomings, improvable aspects of their role as physician. A blog during medical .....read more »

If your like me, having 5 e-mail accounts, a couple of websites, wikis, several calendars and address books it's hard to keep everything in sync. Cloud computing or living in the Cloud has it’s benefits. Cloud Computing refers to Internet-centric software and services that are outsourced to someone else and in this case to Google. Everything is on the servers of google and you can access it from anywhere with a browser when connected to the Internet. Advatages of cloud computing with Google: it’s free or cheap, for 50 dollars a year you get support back up up time of 99% platform and browser agnostic constant .....read more »

patients with depression often complain of difficulty getting to sleep, frequent awakenings during the night, early morning awakening, or nonrestorative sleep patients with mood disorders exhibit higher rates of sleep disturbance than the general population, and sleep disturbance can continue even during periods of remission patients with insomnia are up to 10 times more likely to have depression than normal sleepers individuals with persistent insomnia have a significantly higher risk of developing new-onset depression than those who have no sleep complaints 14% of patients with persistent insomnia had concurrent depression whereas depression occurred in less than 1% of patients who had no sleep complaints patients .....read more »

Aging is associated with well described changing in sleep patterns. Total sleep time decreases, elderly sleep less It takes longer before falling a sleep Elderly go to bed earlier and they awake earlier There sleep architecture has changed, the slow wave sleep on EEG is reduced, REM sleep is reduced They're easier aroused from sleep They sleep fragmented with many arousals Daytime napping In case of primary insomnia, that is sleeplessness that is not attributable to a medical, psychiatric or environmental cause. In that case the general principles of sleep hygiene are applicable. Fundamentals of good sleep hygiene What to do Use your bed only for sleep and sexual activities. If .....read more »

Manifesting The Mind is a forthcoming documentary about psychedelic drugs. The trailer features such heads as Dennis McKenna, Alex Grey, and Dr. Rick Strassman. When it comes to laying out a comsic rap about the magic of hallucinogens, these guys are pros. Manifesting The Mind Reality as a construct of our neurotransmitters. Interesting views on consciousness and reality Thanks BoingBoing Related posts: Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí’s Destino film Shock Documentary The eye opening story about one of the most controversial medical treatments in history Augmented Reality Machine Turns You into Third Person Game ..read more »