Search

Music is an interactive technology associated with religious and communal activities and was suggested to have evolved as a participatory activity supporting social bonding. In post-industrial societies, however, music’s communal role was eclipsed by its relatively passive consumption by audiences disconnected from performers. It was suggested that as societies became larger and more differentiated, music became less participatory and more focused on solo singing. Here, we consider the prevalence of group singing and its relationship to social organization through the analysis of two global song corpora: 5,776 coded audio recordings from 1,024 societies, and 4,709 coded ethnographic texts from 60 societies. In both corpora, we find that group singing is more common than solo singing, and that it is more likely in some social contexts (e.g. religious rituals, dance) than in others (e.g. healing, infant care). In contrast, relationships between group singing and community size were not consistent between corpora, with only partial evidence for less group singing in large urban communities. Social differentiation is associated not with group singing prevalence, but with increased differentiation between vocalists and greater emphasis on soloists. Overall, our findings provide further support for the interactive nature of music and its complex relationship with sociality.

What is music, and why did it evolve? How can we understand the unity and diversity found throughout the world’s music? Scientific attempts to answer these questions through cross-cultural comparison stalled during the 20th century and have only recently begun to make a resurgence. In this book, Patrick Savage synthesizes recent advances to outline a new unified theoretical/methodological framework to understand and compare all of the world’s music. This framework takes advantage of new scientific theories and methods – particularly from advances in computer science, psychology, genetic anthropology, and cultural evolution – to apply comparative musicological research to answer longstanding questions about the origins of music and to contemporary issues including music copyright law and UNESCO policy. In doing so, he argues for an inclusive, multidisciplinary field that combines the qualitative methods traditionally employed by musicologists and cultural anthropologists with quantitative methods from the natural sciences.

Summary Mitral valve repair is the gold standard treatment for degenerative mitral valve disease with superior perioperative and long-term morbidity and mortality outcomes vs mitral valve replacement. The 10 year survival freedom from redo valve repair varies from 72 to 90%. Often, failure of valve repair necessitating redo surgery is directly related to disease progression; however, rarely it can be attributed to technical complications such as annuloplasty dehiscence, leaflet suture rupture, incorrect artificial chord length or incorrect annuloplasty position. We report one such case of severe mitral regurgitation secondary to a degenerative annuloplasty ring suture occurring 1 year post valve repair. Learning points: Differentiation of causative pathology involved in recurrent mitral regurgitation following repair has important implications for patient outcomes. In the hands of an experienced practitioner echocardiography – in particular, integrated 2D- and 3D echocardiography – is a powerful tool for differentiating between progressive disease and procedural failure.

Over the course of 2021, numerous key clinical trials with valuable contributions to clinical cardiology were published or presented at major international conferences. This review seeks to summarise these trials and reflect on their clinical context.The authors reviewed clinical trials presented at major cardiology conferences during 2021 including the American College of Cardiology (ACC), European Association for Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EuroPCR), European Society of Cardiology (ESC), Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT), American Heart Association (AHA), European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), TVT-The Heart Summit (TVT) and Cardiovascular Research Technologies (CRT). Trials with a broad relevance to the cardiology community and those with potential to change current practice were included.A total of 150 key cardiology clinical trials were identified for inclusion. Interventional cardiology data included trials evaluating the use of new generation novel stent technology and new intravascular physiology strategies such as quantitative flow ratio (QFR) to guide revascularisation in stable and unstable coronary artery disease. New trials in acute coronary syndromes focused on shock, out of hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA), the impact of COVID-19 on ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) networks and optimal duration/type of antiplatelet treatment. Structural intervention trials included latest data on transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and mitral, tricuspid and pulmonary valve interventions. Heart failure data included trials with sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, sacubitril/valsartan and novel drugs such as mavacamten for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Prevention trials included new data on proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors. In electrophysiology, new data regarding atrial fibrillation (AF) screening and new evidence for rhythm vs. rate control strategies were evaluated.This article presents a summary of key clinical cardiology trials published and presented during the past year and should be of interest to both practising clinicians and researchers.

Current NICE guidance recommends CT coronary angiography (CTCA) as first line for investigation of new onset stable chest pain, however; CTCA is not yet readily available in all UK centres. DSE remains recommended in current ESC guidance and provides a readily available, low cost alternative (1). Indeed, a negative test has been demonstrated to have an excellent negative predictive value in the region of >98% (2). Aim We sought to evaluate the rate of cardiac events within two years of a negative DSE. Methods We performed a retrospective data interrogation of all DSE’s performed in the Mater Hospital Cardiac Investigations Department between 2017 and 2019. MACE was evaluated at two years. Data were extracted using local electronic healthcare records. Statistical analysis performed using SPSS software. Results 302 DSE’s were performed during the study period. The mean age was 64.1±10.4years with 41.7% male. Of the population, 16.2% had a prior history of IHD with 19.2% being diabetic. All tests were requested by the Cardiology team on an outpatient. 15 patients had a positive test. At two years the negative predictive value of a negative DSE was 98.3%. A positive test had a sensitivity for predicting coronary artery disease of 86.7% with a false positive rate of approximately of 13.3%. The overall complication rate was low at 0.7%. Using a combined endpoint of time to ACS or revascularisation; there was a significant difference (p Conclusion DSE is a safe test with a high sensitivity for detecting coronary artery disease. Furthermore, compared to a positive test, a negative test has a strong negative predictive value for cardiac events at two years. Conflict of Interest none

Introduction Despite the challenge of a global pandemic, 2020 has been an invaluable year in cardiology research with numerous important clinical trials published or presented virtually at major international meetings. This article aims to summarise these trials and place them in clinical context. Methods The authors reviewed clinical trials presented at major cardiology conferences during 2020 including the American College of Cardiology, European Association for Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions, European Society of Cardiology, Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics and the American Heart Association. Trials with a broad relevance to the cardiology community and those with potential to change current practice were included. Results A total of 87 key cardiology clinical trials were identified for inclusion. New interventional and structural cardiology data included trials evaluating bifurcation percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) techniques, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided PCI, instantaneous wave-free (iFR) physiological assessment, new generation stents (DynamX bioadaptor), transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in low-risk patients, and percutaneous mitral or tricuspid valve interventions. Preventative cardiology data included new data with proprotein convertase subtilisin–kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors (evolocumab and alirocumab), omega-3 supplements, evinacumab and colchicine in the setting of chronic coronary artery disease. Antiplatelet data included trials evaluating both the optimal length of course following PCI and combination of antiplatelet agents and regimes including combination antithrombotic therapies for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Heart failure data included the use of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors (sotagliflozin, empagliflozin and dapagliflozin) and mavacamten in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Electrophysiology trials included early rhythm control in AF and screening for AF. Conclusion This article presents a summary of key clinical cardiology trials during the past year and should be of relevance to both clinicians and cardiology researchers.

Background: Underreporting of infectious diseases is a pervasive challenge in public health that has emerged as a central issue in characterizing the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic. Estimating reporting accuracy via analytical methods is not always feasible due to time and resource constraints. We developed a model that predicts reporting completeness at the country/pathogen level from input variables accessible from the literature. Methods: We performed a literature search that collected estimates of reporting completeness for 32 pathogens, representing reporting estimates from 52 countries. We combined epidemiological and social science theory to identify factors that may influence empirical reporting rates, developed a model that can be used to estimate reporting completeness. We then applied this model to estimate reporting rates for SARS-CoV-2. Findings: Pathogen- and country-specific factors were predictive of reporting rates. Country epidemic preparedness was positively associated with reporting completeness, while countries with high levels of media bias in favor of incumbent governments were less likely to report infectious disease cases. Deadlier pathogens and sexually transmitted pathogens were more likely to be reported. Our model predicts that COVID-19 cases are widely underreported, with the true number of infections ranging from approximately 2·5 to 43 times the reported cases. Interpretation: Underreporting is a complex phenomenon that is driven by pathogen-level, health system, and political factors. This model can characterize and correct for the uncertainty in reported infectious disease statistics, particularly when outbreak-specific empirical estimates of underreporting are unavailable. More precise estimates can inform control policies and improve the accuracy of infectious disease models. Funding: None reported. Declaration of Interests: No competing interests to declare.

The concept of cultural evolution was fundamental to the foundation of academic musicology and the subfield of comparative musicology, but largely disappeared from discussion after World War II, despite a recent resurgence of interest in cultural evolution in other fields. In this article, I draw on recent advances in the scientific understanding of cultural evolution to clarify persistent misconceptions about the roles of genes and progress in musical evolution and review literature relevant to musical evolution ranging from macroevolution of global song-style to microevolution of tune families. I also address criticisms regarding issues of musical agency, meaning, and reductionism, and highlight potential applications including music copyright, education, and sustainability. While cultural evolution will never explain all aspects of music in culture, it offers a useful theoretical framework for understanding diversity and change in the world’s music.

The past few decades have seen a rapid increase in the availability and use of large music corpora. However, most music corpus studies remain limited to Western music, limiting our ability to understand the diversity and unity of human music throughout the world. I argue for the potential of cross-cultural corpus studies to contribute to comparative musicological studies in domains including music classification, evolution, universals, and human history. I highlight and discuss a number of important cross-cultural corpora, including the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv, CompMusic Project, Essen Folksong Collection, Cantometrics Project, Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Natural History of Song, and Deep History of Music projects. In the process, I discuss the pros and cons of music notation vs. recordings, automatic vs. manual analysis, regional vs. global analysis, and associated challenges regarding choosing appropriate analysis methods that can allow meaningful comparison across cultures. I argue for the need for bigger and better global music corpora and more emphasis on integration within and beyond academia, including to domains such as the music industry and cultural heritage organizations.

Musical universals generally refer to aspects of music that are common across humankind, as opposed to aspects that are culture-specific. The existence of musical universals has implications for diverse areas, such as evolution, aesthetics, and cross-cultural understanding, and has thus been a major focus of debate in ethnomusicology and related disciplines. For reasons of space and expertise, this article focuses on debates about musical universals in the mainstream ethnomusicological canon and their broader connections with concepts of human universals in the Western academic tradition, without intending to diminish the value of alternative approaches developed outside of these traditions. Scale tunings and other aspects of pitch structure were long assumed to be universal. During the 20th century, ethnomusicology embraced relativism, emphasizing cross-cultural differences in musical meaning and behavior. However, a 21st century renewal of interest by music psychologists has seen a return to an empirical middle-ground that seeks to move beyond universal/relative dichotomies. Instead, recent research attempts to characterize the degrees to which different aspects of music are more or less common cross-culturally, and to understand the biological and cultural factors underlying this spectrum. Existing evidence suggests a statistically universal set of basic building blocks that may reflect pan-human biological constraints, but each culture may combine and develop these building blocks in unique ways to construct music that can mean different things to different listeners.

Many cardiac conditions confer a restriction on driving as laid out by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).[1][1] As doctors, it is our duty to ensure that patients are correctly informed of these restrictions.[2][2] We noted a paucity of information documented and given to patients on