You will be presented with a collection of medical randomized controlled trial (RCT) reports addressing a shared clinical question -- for instance, the efficacy of a medical intervention on a disease or condition. Given the titles and abstracts of these reports, your task is to generate the conclusion of the systematic review article synthesizing the key findings. Your conclusion should be a few sentences long. In your response, include only the conclusion and no other text. The RCT reports are below.



Title 1:
Mapping perception to action in piano practice: a longitudinal DC-EEG study
Abstract 1:
Background Performing music requires fast auditory and motor processing . Regarding professional musicians , recent brain imaging studies have demonstrated that auditory stimulation produces a co-activation of motor areas , whereas silent tapping of musical phrases evokes a co-activation in auditory regions . Whether this is obtained via a specific cerebral relay station is unclear . Furthermore , the time course of plasticity has not yet been addressed . Results Changes in cortical activation patterns ( DC-EEG potentials ) induced by short ( 20 minute ) and long term ( 5 week ) piano learning were investigated during auditory and motoric tasks .  Two beginner groups were trained . The ' map ' group was allowed to learn the st and ard piano key-to-pitch map . For the ' no-map ' group , r and om assignment of keys to tones prevented such a map . Auditory-sensorimotor EEG co-activity occurred within only 20 minutes . The effect was enhanced after 5-week training , contributing elements of both perception and action to the mental representation of the instrument . The ' map ' group demonstrated significant additional activity of right anterior regions . Conclusion We conclude that musical training triggers instant plasticity in the cortex , and that right-hemispheric anterior areas provide an audio-motor interface for the mental representation of the keyboard


Title 2:
Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation
Abstract 2:
Objective : The underlying changes in biological processes that are associated with reported changes in mental and physical health in response to meditation have not been systematic ally explored . We performed a r and omized , controlled study on the effects on brain and immune function of a well‐known and widely used 8‐week clinical training program in mindfulness meditation applied in a work environment with healthy employees . Methods : We measured brain electrical activity before and immediately after , and then 4 months after an 8‐week training program in mindfulness meditation .  Twenty‐five subjects were tested in the meditation group . A wait‐list control group ( N = 16 ) was tested at the same points in time as the meditators . At the end of the 8‐week period , subjects in both groups were vaccinated with influenza vaccine . Results : We report for the first time significant increases in left‐sided anterior activation , a pattern previously associated with positive affect , in the meditators compared with the nonmeditators . We also found significant increases in antibody titers to influenza vaccine among subjects in the meditation compared with those in the wait‐list control group . Finally , the magnitude of increase in left‐sided activation predicted the magnitude of antibody titer rise to the vaccine . Conclusions : These findings demonstrate that a short program in mindfulness meditation produces demonstrable effects on brain and immune function . These findings suggest that meditation may change brain and immune function in positive ways and underscore the need for additional research


Title 3:
A randomized controlled trial of mindfulness meditation versus relaxation training: Effects on distress, positive states of mind, rumination, and distraction
Abstract 3:
Background : Although mindfulness meditation interventions have recently shown benefits for reducing stress in various population s , little is known about their relative efficacy compared with relaxation interventions . Purpose : This r and omized controlled trial examines the effects of a 1-month mindfulness meditation versus somatic relaxation training as compared to a control group in 83 students ( M age=25 ; 16 men and 67 women ) reporting distress . Method : Psychological distress , positive states of mind , distractive and ruminative thoughts and behaviors , and spiritual experience were measured , while controlling for social desirability . Results : Hierarchical linear modeling reveals that both meditation and relaxation groups experienced significant decreases in distress as well as increases in positive mood states over time , compared with the control group ( p<.05 in all cases ) . There were no significant differences between meditation and relaxation on distress and positive mood states over time . Effect sizes for distress were large for both meditation and relaxation ( Cohen ’s d=1.36 and .91 , respectively ) , whereas the meditation group showed a larger effect size for positive states of mind than relaxation ( Cohen ’s d=.71 and .25 , respectively ) . The meditation group also demonstrated significant pre-post decreases in both distractive and ruminative thoughts/behaviors compared with the control group ( p<.04 in all cases ; Cohen ’s d=.57 for rumination and .25 for distraction for the meditation group ) , with mediation models suggesting that mindfulness meditation ’s effects on reducing distress were partially mediated by reducing rumination . No significant effects were found for spiritual experience . Conclusions : The data suggest that compared with a no-treatment control , brief training in mindfulness meditation or somatic relaxation reduces distress and improves positive mood states . However , mindfulness meditation may be specific in its ability to reduce distractive and ruminative thoughts and behaviors , and this ability may provide a unique mechanism by which mindfulness meditation reduces distress


Title 4:
Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Medical and Premedical Students
Abstract 4:
The inability to cope successfully with the enormous stress of medical education may lead to a cascade of consequences at both a personal and professional level . The present study examined the short-term effects of an 8-week meditation-based stress reduction intervention on premedical and medical students using a well-controlled statistical design . Findings indicate that participation in the intervention can effectively ( 1 ) reduce self-reported state and trait anxiety , ( 2 ) reduce reports of overall psychological distress including depression , ( 3 ) increase scores on overall empathy levels , and ( 4 ) increase scores on a measure of spiritual experiences assessed at termination of intervention . These results ( 5 ) replicated in the wait-list control group , ( 6 ) held across different experiments , and ( 7 ) were observed during the exam period . Future research should address potential long-term effects of mindfulness training for medical and premedical students


Title 5:
PTSD symptoms, substance use, and vipassana meditation among incarcerated individuals.
Abstract 5:
The present study evaluated whether Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ( PTSD ) symptom severity was associated with participation and treatment outcomes comparing a Vipassana meditation course to treatment as usual in an incarcerated sample . This study utilizes secondary data . The original study demonstrated that Vipassana meditation is associated with reductions in substance use . The present study found that PTSD symptom severity did not differ significantly between those who did and did not volunteer to take the course . Participation in the Vipassana course was associated with significantly greater reductions in substance use than treatment as usual , regardless of PTSD symptom severity levels . These results suggest that Vipassana meditation is worthy of further study for those with comorbid PTSD and substance use problems


Title 6:
Social determinants of alcohol consumption: the effects of social interaction and model status on the self-administration of alcohol.
Abstract 6:
R. Lorraine Collins State University of New York at Stony Brook George A. Parks and G. Alan Marlatt University of Washington Two studies were conducted to assess variables related to the social determinants of alcohol consumption . In Study 1 , moderate- and heavy-drinking male under- graduates  were paired with confederates who behaved in a sociable or unsociable manner while modeling either light or heavy consumption . Modeling occurred in the sociable conditions but not in the unsociable conditions , where subjects tended to drink heavily . In Study 2 , a similar group of subjects was exposed to one of three social status conditions crossed with light versus heavy consumption . The results indicated a modeling effect in all social status conditions . These studies provide further support for the existence of a modeling effect that can be disrupted by a lack of rapport between drinking partners . This latter finding has implication s for the etiology of problem drinking because it suggests that increased alcohol consumption may serve as a strategy for coping with aversive social interactions . Initial research on the effect of modeled consumption rates on social drinking ( Caudill & Marlatt , 1975 ) suggested that heavy-drink- ing men tended to match the consumption of their drinking partner whether his con- sumption was heavy or light . Subsequent examinations of this phenomenon replicated these findings in laboratory analogue drinking tasks such as the taste-rating task ( Cooper , Waterhouse , & Sobell , 1979 ; Hendricks , So- bell , & Cooper , 1978 ; Lied & Marlatt , 1979 ; Watson & Sobell , 1982 ) , natural bar setting s ( Reid , 1978 ) , and seminaturalistic bar setting s ( Caudill & Lipscomb , 1980 ) . Much of the research concerning the mod- eling of alcohol consumption has focused on manipulating characteristics of the model , including the nature of the social interaction between the model and the subject . The effects of manipulating social interaction are unclear . In the Caudill and Marlatt study , model 's drinking rate ( light vs. heavy ) and


Title 7:
Cultivating mindfulness: effects on well-being.
Abstract 7:
There has been great interest in determining if mindfulness can be cultivated and if this cultivation leads to well-being . The current study offers preliminary evidence that at least one aspect of mindfulness , measured by the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale ( MAAS ; K. W. Brown & R. M. Ryan , 2003 ) , can be cultivated and does mediate positive outcomes . Further , adherence to the practice s taught during the meditation-based interventions predicted positive outcomes . College undergraduates were r and omly allocated between training in two distinct meditation-based interventions , Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction ( MBSR ; J. Kabat-Zinn , 1990 ; n=15 ) and E. Easwaran 's ( 1978/1991 ) Eight Point Program ( EPP ; n=14 ) , or a waitlist control ( n=15 ) . Pretest , posttest , and 8-week follow-up data were gathered on self-report outcome measures . Compared to controls , participants in both treatment groups ( n=29 ) demonstrated increases in mindfulness at 8-week follow-up . Further , increases in mindfulness mediated reductions in perceived stress and rumination . These results suggest that distinct meditation-based practice s can increase mindfulness as measured by the MAAS , which may partly mediate benefits . Implication s and future directions are discussed
DISCUSSION Current studies provided preliminary results about neurobiological and clinical changes related to VM practice .