Short course

There was not enough data to determine whether music medicine or music therapy was more effective,but the researchers did find that either technique can reduce anxiety and pain,and improve mood and quality of life,in people with cancer.

Listening to music also was linked to some beneficial physiological changes,including small reductions in heart rate,respiratory rate and blood pressure. The number of trials that tested musics effect on distress,body image and immunological function was too small to draw any conclusions,the researchers concluded.

Music is something we use every day, said Joke Bradt,the lead author and an associate professor of creative arts therapies at Drexel,and its powers can be used in a very targeted way with cancer patients.

Asthma more likely among children of overweight mothers

Women who are overweight or obese when they become pregnant may be more likely to have children who develop asthma as teenagers,a new research shows.

In the study,a team of researchers from England and Finland sought to explore whether the obesity trend may have played a role,focusing on a group of about 7,000 teenagers who were born in northern Finland.

As part of the study,published in The Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health,the researchers questioned the mothers of the children about their lifestyles and backgrounds. They also collected detailed health histories of both parents,including medical records dating back to the time before the mothers became pregnant. After controlling for a number of potentially complicating factors like a history of parental smoking or asthma the researchers found that the teenagers whose mothers had been overweight or obese just before they became pregnant were 20 to 30 per cent more likely to have asthma or a history of wheezing. And the teenagers whose mothers were heaviest at the time of pregnancy were nearly 50 percent more likely to have had a history of severe wheezing.

Drinking more water may help prevent migraines

Migraine sufferers may be more sensitive to the effects of dehydration.

In a study,published in Neurology,scientists recruited migraine sufferers and divided them into two groups. Those in the first group were given a placebo medication to take regularly. The others were told to drink 1.5 litres of water,or about six cups,in addition to their usual daily intake. At the end of two weeks,the researchers found that those in the water group had increased their fluid intake by just four cups a day. But on average they experienced 21 fewer hours of pain during the study period than those in the placebo group,and a decrease in the intensity of their headaches.