How Does Music Benefit the Brain? – Medical News Today

I work from a home office located in Edmond, OK.  At the AHOU meeting several years ago in San Antonio, I met up with an underwriting professional whom I hadn’t seen in years.  He asked what I was doing.  I told him I worked from home.

I’m not surprised.  You always talked about working from home.

I listen to music all day long while working.  The music is mostly classical, occasionally acoustic guitar, sometimes jazz.  I didn’t realize I was feeding my brain.

How does music benefit the brain? – Medical News Today.

But music can do so much more, notes Michael Huckabee, professor and director of the University of Nebraska Medical Center Division of Physician Assistant Education.

In an article about the benefits of music on human health, he writes:


”Music does something beyond our understanding. We can call it an endorphin release or a distraction, but it goes much deeper than that. Somehow music just does us good. And the good it does was just proven to be better.”

He speaks of a finding from researchers in Taiwan, who recently reviewed over 360 published studies on music therapy and concluded the data from these studies suggest cancer patients who routinely listen to music exhibit significantly fewer symptoms of depression, pain, fatigue and anxiety.

Safety Alerts – Pradaxa dabigatran – Lower Risk for Stroke and Death, but Higher Risk for GI Bleeding Compared to Warfarin

Safety Alerts for Human Medical Products > Pradaxa dabigatran: Drug Safety Communication – Lower Risk for Stroke and Death, but Higher Risk for GI Bleeding Compared to Warfarin.

ISSUE: The FDA recently completed a new study in Medicare patients comparing Pradaxa to warfarin, for risk of ischemic or clot-related stroke,  bleeding in the brain, major gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, myocardial infarction (MI), and death. The new study included information from more than 134,000 Medicare patients, 65 years or older, and found that among new users of blood-thinning drugs, Pradaxa was associated with a lower risk of clot-related strokes, bleeding in the brain, and death, than warfarin. The study also found an increased risk of major gastrointestinal bleeding with use of Pradaxa as compared to warfarin. The MI risk was similar for the two drugs.

Importantly, the new study is based on a much larger and older patient population than those used in FDA’s earlier review of post-market data, and employed a more sophisticated analytical method to capture and analyze the events of concern. This study’s findings, except with regard to MI, are consistent with the clinical trial results that provided the basis for Pradaxa’s approval. As a result of these latest findings, the FDA still considers Pradaxa to have a favorable benefit to risk profile and have made no changes to the current label or recommendations for use.

Safety Alerts – Eszopiclone Containing Sleep Aids Can Cause Next-Day Impairment

Safety Alerts for Human Medical Products > Eszopiclone Containing Sleep Aids: Drug Safety Communication – Can Cause Next-Day Impairment.

A study of Lunesta found that the previously recommended dose of 3 mg can cause impairment to driving skills, memory, and coordination that can last more than 11 hours after receiving an evening dose (see Data Summary). Despite these driving and other problems, patients were often unaware they were impaired.  The new lower recommended starting dose of 1 mg at bedtime will result in less drug in the blood the next day. 

Diabetes and the Heart: Risk Greater in Women

Diabetes and the Heart: Risk Greater in Women.

Data from 64 studies with both male and female participants yielded a 44% greater multiple-adjusted relative risk ratio (RRR) for incident coronary heart disease (CHD) in women compared with men (RRR 1.44, 95% CI 1.27-1.63), Rachel Huxley, DPhil, of the University of Queensland in Sydney, Australia, and colleagues found.

Pooled data from 52 studies indicated that women also had a 44% greater chance than men of dying from fatal CHD associated with diabetes, Huxley and colleagues reported online in the journal Diabetologia.