The Mozart effect myth: Listening to music does not help against epilepsy

A new study by psychologists at the University of Vienna shows that there is no scientific evidence supporting the alleged positive effect of Mozart's Sonata KV448 on epilepsy

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA

Over the past fifty years, there have been remarkable claims about the effects of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music. Reports about alleged symptom-alleviating effects of listening to Mozart’s Sonata KV448 in epilepsy attracted a lot of public attention. However, the empirical validity of the underlying scientific evidence has remained unclear. Now, University of Vienna psychologists Sandra Oberleiter and Jakob Pietschnig show in a new study published in the prestigious journal Nature Scientific Reports that there is no evidence for a positive effect of Mozart's melody on epilepsy. 

In the past, Mozart’s music has been associated with numerous ostensibly positive effects on humans, animals, and even microorganisms. For instance, listening to his sonata has been said to increase the intelligence of adults, children, or fetuses in the womb. Even cows were said to produce more milk, and bacteria in sewage treatment plants were said to work better when they heard Mozart's composition. 

However, most of these alleged effects have no scientific basis. The origin of these ideas can be traced back to the long-disproven observation of a temporary increase in spatial reasoning test performance among students after listening to the first movement allegro con spirito of Mozart’s sonata KV448 in D major. 

More recently, the Mozart effect experienced a further variation: Some studies reported symptom relief in epilepsy patients after they had listened to KV448. However, a new comprehensive research synthesis by Sandra Oberleiter and Jakob Pietschnig from the University of Vienna, based on all available scientific literature on this topic, showed that there is no reliable evidence for such a beneficial effect of Mozart’s music on epilepsy. They found that this alleged Mozart effect can be mainly attributed to selective reporting, small sample sizes, and inadequate research practices in this corpus of literature. "Mozart’s music is beautiful, but unfortunately, we cannot expect relief from epilepsy symptoms from it" conclude the researchers. 

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JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41598-023-30206-w 

ARTICLE TITLE

Unfounded authority, underpowered studies, and non-transparent reporting perpetuate the Mozart effect myth: A multiverse meta-analysis.

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Mar-2023

Cheap charcoal air filters offer improvements to in-vehicle air quality

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

A cheap charcoal air filter can reduce nitrogen dioxide (NO2) inside vehicles by as much as 90%, compared to levels outside the vehicle.

Research presented in a report by WM Air, the West Midlands Air Quality Improvement Programme at the University of Birmingham, shows that charcoal filters, which costs around £10-£20, can effectively remove NO2 from the air within vehicle cabins.

NO2 is a common air pollutant that can aggravate diseases such as asthma and increase the risks of respiratory infections. Traffic emissions are a dominant source of NO2, and so road users inside vehicles are exposed as air circulates into vehicle cabins from outside through open windows and ventilation systems.

While ventilation systems do currently filter air, this is typically via a pollen filter. These prevent tiny particles and pollen getting inside the vehicle, but they have little effect on gases such as NO2. The activated carbon filters, in contrast, remove NO2 through a process called adsorption, in which the NO2 reacts with the carbon to stick to the surface area of the filter.

As with the pollen filter, the effectiveness of the carbon filter decreases over time, meaning it should be replaced regularly when the vehicle is serviced.

Lead researcher Dr Vasileios Matthaios said: “Our findings show clearly that there are benefits to switching to activated carbon air filters, reducing exposure to NO2 and the risk of related adverse health effects. These filters are simple, effective and inexpensive and should be considered, particularly for people who spend long periods of time in vehicles such as professional drivers.”

A research paper outlining the findings is published in Science of the Total Environment. In this study, the researchers tested NO2 in 10 different vehicles, ranging in size and type (petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric were all included). Air quality measurements inside the vehicles were taken with a range of ventilation conditions (AC turned on or off and windows either closed or partially open).

Each vehicle was tested three times, firstly with its original air filter in place, then with a pollen filter, and lastly with the activated charcoal filter.

The researchers found that overall, in-vehicle NO2 concentrations were on average 1.6 times lower when the windows were closed and the ventilation system recirculated air, compared to levels when the windows were open. When new standard pollen filters were fitted, NO2 concentrations were almost unchanged between closed windows and fresh air coming through the ventilation system and with windows open.

However, with activated carbon filters fitted, in-vehicle NO2 levels were on average 14.3 times lower with closed windows and recirculated air. Even with fresh air coming through the ventilation system, NO2 levels were 6.6 times lower than levels with windows open.  Maintaining appropriate ventilation is also important to prevent drowsiness.

Professor William Bloss, co-author on the paper, said: “These results show a fairly simple way to improve air quality inside vehicles, although as the main source of NO2 is our cities is diesel vehicles, reducing traffic emissions overall will bring the greatest air quality benefit across the general population.”

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JOURNAL

Science of The Total Environment

DOI

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160395 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

NO2 levels inside vehicle cabins with pollen and activated carbon filters: A real world targeted intervention to estimate NO2 exposure reduction potential

The next pandemic: Researchers develop tool to identify existing drugs to use in a future outbreak

Algorithm calculates how to effectively “repurpose” present-day therapies for future use

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

A global team of researchers has created an algorithmic tool that can identify existing drugs in order to combat future pandemics. The work, reported in the Cell Press journal Heliyon, offers the possibility of responding more quickly to public-health crises.

“There is no silver bullet to defeat the Covid pandemic as it takes us over a public-health roller-coaster of deaths and devastation,” explains Naomi Maria, an immunologist, a visiting scientist at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and the paper’s lead author. “However, using this AI tool, coupled with in vitro data and other resources, we’ve been able to model the SARS-CoV-2 infection and identify several COVID-19 drugs currently available as potentially effective in battling the next outbreak.”

“Drug repurposing strategies provide an attractive and effective approach for quickly targeting potential new interventions,” adds Bud Mishra, a professor at NYU’s Courant and one of the paper’s senior authors. “Identifying and selecting ahead of time the best candidates, prior to costly and laborious in vitro and in vivo experiments and ensuing clinical trials, could significantly improve disease-specific drug development.”

COVID-19 has shown to be a daunting challenge over the past three years, even though vaccines and hygienic practices have, over time, lessened its severity. However, despite these tools to combat it, SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19—continues to spread and take lives. This is due, in part, to its ability to rapidly diversify in its target cell-types, immune-response pathways, and modes of transmission. These traits make traditional approaches to vaccine and drug design less effective than in the past—and especially when the virus co-infects with other pathogens, such as RSV and influenza.  

Recognizing that current methods leave us chasing the virus, the team—which also included researchers from the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health in New York, the Red Cross Blood Bank Foundation Curaçao, the Curaçao Biomedical Health and Research Institute, the Netherlands’ University Medical Center Groningen, and Catania University’s Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Sicily—conceived an approach aimed at closing the gap in future pandemics: repurposing existing drugs to fight back.

To do so, they developed a systems biology tool, the PHENotype SIMulator (PHENSIM). PHENSIM simulates tissue-specific infection of host cells of SARS-CoV-2 and then performs, through a series of computer—or in silico—experiments to identify drugs that would be candidates for repurposing. The algorithm computes, taking into account selected cells, cell lines, and tissues and under an array of contexts, by propagating the effects and alterations of biomolecules—such as differentially expressed genes, proteins, and microRNAs—and then calculates antiviral effects. The team confirmed the validity of the tool by comparing its results with recently published in vitro studies, demonstrating PHENSIM’s potential power in aiding effective drug repurposing.    

The researchers are part of RxCovea—a multi-disciplinary group of immunologists, biologists, chemists, data scientists, game theorists, geneticists, mathematicians, and physicians, among others, that seeks to develop innovative strategies to address COVID-19.

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JOURNAL

Heliyon

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Application of the PHENotype SIMulator for Rapid Identification of Potential Candidates in Effective COVID-19 Drug Repurposing

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Mar-2023

 

Novel method developed to stabilize zinc-ion batteries

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HEFEI INSTITUTES OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

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IMAGE: THE SCHEMATIC DIAGRAMS FOR ZN DEPOSITION CYCLED IN DIFFERENT ELECTROLYTES. (A) BARE ZNSO4 ELECTROLYTE; (B) DX/ZNSO4 ELECTROLYTE. view more 

CREDIT: LI ZHAOQIAN

According to research published in international journal of ACS Nano recently, a team led by Dr. LI Zhaoqian. from Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS), Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) found that the addition of 1,4-dioxane (DX) molecules in the electrolyte of aqueous zinc ion battery would lead to the preferred Zn (002) texture growth, which effectively suppressed the Zn dendrite growth and improved the reversibility and cycling stability of batteries.

Aqueous rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are an emerging sustainable system for the next generation of grid-scale energy storage technology. However, the implementation of this technology has been plagued by the serious dendrite issue and poor reversibility of Zn anode. In hexagonal close-packed Zn crystal, (002) facet possesses the lowest surface energy and the slowest growth rate rendering a surface-reaction-controlled deposition process, and thus mitigating the rampant Zn2+ flux and side-reactions. Therefore, inducing preferred Zn (002) texture can effectively alleviate the dendrite growth and the formation of side-reactions.

In this study, researchers constructed an advanced electrolyte modulating strategy to adjust the anode/electrolyte interface. In this new system, the adsorption of 1,4-Dioxane (DX) on the Zn surface can induce Zn (002) texture growth and suppress the detrimental side-reactions.

The performance of the new system was validated in later experiments. Battery with the addition of DX demonstrated a long-term cycling stability of 1000 h, even at harsh condition of 10 mA cm-2 with an ultrahigh cumulative plated capacity of 5 Ah cm-2. The battery also showed a high reversibility with average coulombic efficiency of 99.7%.

"The Zn//NH4V4O10 full cell with DX realized high specific capacity and capacity retention," said Dr. LI Zhaoqian, "It's much better than ZIBs with pristine ZnSO4 electrolyte."

This study selectively adjusted the deposition rate of Zn2+ on the crystal plane by adsorbing molecules, which provided a promising strategy for modulating high performance zinc anodes at the molecular level, and was expected to be applied to other metal anodes with poor stability and reversibility.

(a) The in-situ optical microscopic comparison of the deposited Zn anode surface in the ZnSO4 electrolyte and DX/ZnSO4 electrolyte. (b, c) The XRD patterns and SEM images show the (002) texture in the DX/ZnSO4 electrolyte. (d, e) The adsorption energy comparison.

CREDIT

LI Zhaoqian

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JOURNAL

ACS Nano

ARTICLE TITLE

Addition of Dioxane in Electrolyte Promotes (002)-Textured Zinc Growth and Suppressed Side Reactions in Zinc-Ion Batteries

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Feb-2023

Astronomers detect radio recombination lines of carbon/oxygen ions for first time

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HEADQUARTE

 

IMAGE: THE WHITE LINE SHOWS THE RRLS OF IONS OF C AND/OR O DETECTED BY TMRT. THE GREEN AREAS ARE THE MODELED EMISSION OF ION RRLS. THE GREEN DOTTED LINES ARE THE MODELED EMISSION, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT ALL RLLS AND MOLECULAR LINES. THE BACKGROUND IS THE IMAGE OF THE HEART-SHAPED ORION NEBULA (M42), WITH ORION KL LOCATED WITHIN THE LOWER-LEFT BRIGHT REGION OF M42, CREDIT TO SHAWN NIELSEN. view more 

CREDIT: SHAO

A research team from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has detected radio recombination lines (RRLs) of ions heavier than helium for the first time, using the TianMa 65-m Radio Telescope (TMRT). These lines were assigned to carbon and/or oxygen ions.

The findings were published in Astronomy & Astrophysics on Feb. 28.

Ionized gas is the most widely distributed interstellar gas component and an important laboratory for measuring the abundance of elements. Radio recombination lines (RRLs) can avoid the difficulties of optical line observations, since RRLs are usually optically thin and have well understood emission mechanisms.

However, detected RRL emitters have nearly all been neutral atoms so far. Only two RRL transitions (121α and 115α) of helium ions in planetary nebulae have been previously reported. Line blending makes the RRLs of atoms heavier than helium difficult to spectrally resolve. In contrast, the RRLs of ions are not generally blended with RRLs of neutral atoms, making the former a much more powerful tool for measuring abundance.

The researchers made this new discovery while searching for interstellar emission lines as part of an ongoing TMRT spectral line survey toward Orion KL. While identifying the Ka-band (26-35 GHz) spectral lines of Orion KL, they found several broad line features that could not be assigned to any molecular species nor to the RRLs of atoms.

"These line features have weak intensities, but are already significant enough to be distinguished due to the high sensitivity of the spectrum. Because their line widths are similar to those of H/He RRLs, we realized that those line features could be RRLs of ions," said Dr. LIU Xunchuan from SHAO, corresponding and first author of the study.

To confirm this, the astronomers conducted follow-up Ku-band (12-18 GHz) observations using TMRT to search for signals of ion RRLs at the expected frequencies, and eight more alpha lines (RRLs with Δn=1) of ions were detected.

In addition, they found marginal signals of alpha lines in the Q band and beta lines (Δn=2) in the Ka band. They compared the spectra obtained on different days and found that the frequencies of the line features remained unchanged when corrected for the motion of the Earth, confirming that the ion RRLs originated from space.

In total, tens of RRLs of interstellar ions were detected by TMRT, and many of them are not blended with any transitions of molecules nor with RRLs of atoms. The lines detected by TMRT are more than 20 kilometers per second bluer than the expected frequencies of helium ion RRLs and were thus assigned to ions heavier than helium. The abundance of the doubly ionized elements associated with those ion RRLs was accurately determined to be 8.8 parts per 10,000, which is consistent with the value of carbon/oxygen estimated from optical/infrared observations.

Previously, RRLs were commonly defined as radio spectral lines, caused by transitions of high-n levels of atoms, that appeared after the recombination of singly ionized ions and electrons. But now, the researchers have detected tens of unblended ion RRLs simultaneously.

"Such a new technique would be very valuable to study the abundances of carbon and oxygen, the most important constituents of carbon monoxide and interstellar complex organic molecules, in the inner Galaxy, where optical observations are very difficult," said Prof. Neal J. Evans II from the University of Texas at Austin.

SHAO researchers see this new discovery by TMRT as the first of many. "The ongoing TMRT spectral line survey towards Orion KL and other Galactic objects will reach an unprecedented line sensitivity, which will lead to more new discoveries such as RRLs of heavy ions, new transitions of molecular lines and even new molecule species," said LIU Tie, a researcher in SHAO and co-corresponding author of the study.

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JOURNAL

Astronomy and Astrophysics

DOI

10.1051/0004-6361/202345904 

ARTICLE TITLE

First detection of radio recombination lines of ions heavier than helium

A warmer world will make heatwaves more frequent: Study

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INSTITUTE OF ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

From late June to early July 2021, an unprecedented heatwave swept across Western North America (WNA), causing considerable hazards to the regional society and economy. What is the likelihood of a similar heatwave under global warming?

Researchers led by Prof. Lin Wang from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with scientists from Yunnan University, have revealed that heatwaves similar to the unprecedented WNA one in summer 2021 are projected to become more frequent in a warmer world based on the multi-model simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. The project began in 1995 under the auspices of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and is now in its sixth phase (CMIP6).

The study was published in Earth's Future .

"Such a heatwave is projected to occur more frequently with increased extreme temperature and shortened return period, making a rare event in the current climate be a common event in a warmer climate," said Prof. Wang, corresponding author of the study, "especially under a high-emission scenario like the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways 585 (SSP5-8.5)."

Moreover, the researchers found a large expansion of areas over WNA that will break the 2021 record in the future with an increasing level of emission scenario. However, some heat records west of the Rocky Mountains are still difficult to break even at the end of the 21st century, highlighting the specific extremity of the observed 2021 WNA heatwave.

"We use multiple climate models that are involved in CMIP6 and consider different emission scenarios and warming levels for the future heatwave projections over WNA," said Dr. Zizhen Dong, first author of the study.

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JOURNAL

Earth s Future

DOI

10.1029/2022EF003437 

ARTICLE TITLE

Heatwaves Similar to the Unprecedented One in Summer 2021 Over Western North America Are Projected to Become More Frequent in a Warmer World

Drones detect moss beds and changes to Antarctica climate

Queensland University of Technology

Peer-Reviewed Publication

QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: QUT DRONE VISION OF AUSTRALIAN SPECIALLY PROTECTED AREAS IN ANTARCTICA CURRENTLY BEING STUDIED TO CLASSIFY CHANGES IN THE EXTREME ENVIRONMENT. view more 

CREDIT: CREDIT: QUT

Researchers have been using drones to map large areas of Antarctica this summer in efforts to monitor the effects on vegetation due to climate change with the support of the Federal Government’s Australian Antarctic Division.

The drone-derived imagery is being used by researchers from QUT and Auckland University of Technology – with assistance from University of Wollongong - to evaluate the fragile ecosystem, particularly moss beds, and changes in the extreme environment.

For almost two months, the field team was based in Antarctica, with indications the drones they piloted captured unprecedented high-resolution imagery of vegetation and biodiversity in protected areas.

The vision taken from Australian Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs 135 and 136), not far from the scientists’ base settlement of Casey Station, identified areas with moss and lichen not previously picked up by satellite.

QUT Centre for Robotics researcher Dr Juan Sandino, who specialises in mechatronics and automated remote sensing systems, helped develop and deploy the drones, classifying Antarctic vegetation at low altitude.

“Piloting these flights was at times challenging; however all the systems performed well under extreme cold conditions,” he said.

He said working in Antarctica demanded rigorous physical preparation and had additional logistical pressure of ensuring the heavy equipment was operational.

The seven-year $3.57 million project is co-led by QUT Professor Felipe Gonzalez and Auckland University of Technology Professor Barbara Bollard.

The project’s key aims included monitoring the vegetation through smart sensors and artificial intelligence, modelling microclimates, and producing accurate maps of protected areas and other ice-free regions.

“Few plants can survive in Antarctica and mosses are the largest and oldest plants to grow there with beds up to 50 metres wide and plants as old as 500 years,” Professor Bollard said.

“The moss is sensitive to variations of temperature and moisture in Antarctica and is an important indicator of climate change.”

Professor Gonzalez said mapping and monitoring the moss beds over time will help to understand the health of mosses and other vegetation.

The research is conducted as part of Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), a $36 million research program funded by the Australian Research Council as a special research initiative.

Further drone-derived imagery as well as AI for other Antarctic regions may be used to evaluate the effectiveness of area-based conservation interventions in more parts of the icy continent.

QUT research, published recently in Conservation Biology, presented a case and a research agenda evaluating the conservation impact of Antarctica’s protected areas.

PhD researcher Joanna Burrows and supervisor Professor Kerrie Wilson, who are also part of SAEF, identified a gap in the research regarding the effectiveness of Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs).

Ms Burrows said that drones can provide new and more detailed information to evaluate the performance of ASPAs.

“Drones could increase the likelihood of successful data collection by allowing remote and fragile ecosystems to be surveyed with low impact and can mitigate some accessibility issues,” Ms Burrows said.

QUT's Dr Juan Sandino helped develop and deploy the drones to classify Antarctic vegetation at low altitude.

CREDIT

Credit: QUT Media

QUT piloted drones detect moss [VIDEO] |

B roll Antarctica of QUT drone [VIDEO] | 

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JOURNAL

Conservation Biology

DOI

10.1111/cobi.14059 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Systematic review

Ethnic minority parents want customized advice, research shows

Researchers interviewed parents from minority regions of Inner Mongolia and examined their preferences and needs concerning guidance on child-rearing. Their findings suggest parents want more specific knowledge on family education in Inner Mongolia.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

XI'AN JIAOTONG-LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: INNER MONGOLIAN CHILDREN TAKING PART IN AN EAGLE DANCE - SEEN AT THE 17TH NAADAM FAIR ON GEGENTALA STEPPE IN INNER MONGOLIA NEAR BAOTOU view more 

CREDIT: CHEMOPHILIC

Over the last decade, parents have become increasingly aware of the importance of a child's physical and mental development in the early years. As a result, there has been a significant rise in parents' demand for evidence-based knowledge of child-rearing.

However, few studies have focused on the needs and preferences of ethnic minority groups when it comes to family education programmes.

In a recent study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, researchers from China and the Czech Republic interviewed 24 parents from minority regions of Inner Mongolia and examined their preferences and needs concerning guidance on child-rearing. 

Dr Jinjin Lu from Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China, and corresponding author of the study, says: "During the interviews, many parents mentioned that Inner Mongolia's unique location and rich natural resources had drawn their attention to how the environmental factors could influence children's growth.

"The parents were curious to know, for example, whether the geomagnetic field could influence a child's physical and mental well-being. 

"It seemed that the parents were eager for more specific knowledge on family education in Inner Mongolia."

Evidence-based family education

Apart from the influence of geographical features, the parents from Inner Mongolia were also concerned with issues including children's health, their acquisition of soft skills, and how they could make a smooth transition from kindergarten to primary school. 

After the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Family Education was implemented in 2021, parents, community workers, and early childhood teachers have worked harder to create evidence-based early childhood programmes, as much of the existing advice and information on child-rearing in China is based on Chinese cultural norms and family traditions.

To ensure evidence-based programmes are as effective as possible, it has become necessary to understand parents' preferences and needs concerning parental knowledge and family education.

Dr Lu says: "Despite their access to a wide range of information sources, the parents we spoke to from minority regions of Inner Mongolia wanted more guidance on evidence-based parenting programmes. 

"Theoretical parenting advice can often be boring and obscure, so parents say they would prefer easy-to-understand guidance supported by data."

Recognising specific needs

When asked why parents from Inner Mongolia were chosen for the study, Dr Lu explains: "China is a multi-ethnic country, but most existing studies focus solely on Han Chinese families. It is, therefore, a relatively new practice to study the parenting styles and family education programmes of other ethnic groups."

According to Dr Lu, most participants were eager to acquire knowledge and skills that could help them facilitate their children's growth with evidence-based information.

"The results of the study suggest that policymakers and teachers should be fully aware of the local situations when designing or intervening in family education programmes. 

"They should also have a thorough knowledge of the local culture and the parents' needs before offering specific advice on child-rearing." 

Dr Lu also called for more scholars to pay attention to family education in disadvantaged or underdeveloped areas in the future.

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JOURNAL

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

DOI

10.3390/ijerph20010434 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Parental Knowledge, Preference and Needs of Child-Rearing Family Programmes: A Case in Chinese Inner Mongolia Minority Region