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Music can prove to be a saviour for dementia patients, who have lost the ability to interact with their partner due to memory loss, according to Australian researchers.

Dr Felicity Baker, a senior lecturer from the University of Queensland (UQ) School of Music, said that dementia patients usually experience short-term memory loss, which proves to be a blow to their interaction with their partner, thus harming their relationship.

However, the research team has claimed that a song from their youth could stir memories they thought were lost forever, and get them talking again.

“Thousands of people care for partners with dementia and take on a lot of burden, which means they are more prone to anxiety and depression,” the NZPA quoted Baker, as saying.

She added: “But there’s been some recent evidence that says it’s actually the breakdown in the intimacy in the relationship that is the biggest cause of stress for them. That’s because the person with dementia often has a demeanour where they don’t communicate much and they just sit there and they are quite passive.

“The idea of my project is. . . to tap into the memories of people with dementia as a way of sharing positive experiences and trying to maintain some level of satisfaction with the relationship.”

Now, Baker is hunting for 100 volunteer couples who will allow music therapists visit their homes over the next year to 18 months, so that she can show them how the use of old songs and dancing can help them strike up a conversation.

According to her, the therapy was not just about putting on a CD or an old vinyl record, but also teaching the spouse about what music to choose, how to interpret the responses of the dementia sufferer, what kind of questions to ask them and the conversations to initiate.The new project will be conducted in the Brisbane area with Associate Professor Nancy Pachana from UQ’s School of Psychology and Associate Professor Denise Grocke from The University of Melbourne.

Including kids in the evaluation of tuberculosis treatment is crucial, according to a new study.

William Burman from the Denver Public Health and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, USA, and colleagues said that kids are an often ignored but important part of tuberculosis control efforts.

In high-burden settings, children make up as much as 20 percent of new cases of active tuberculosis.

Young children are also at high risk of having severe, rapidly progressive forms of tuberculosis.

However, nearly 40 years after the development of short-course treatments in adults, there are still major uncertainties about dosing for children of common TB drugs.

“Only in recent years has there been a substantial effort to manufacture child-friendly formulations of first-line tuberculosis drugs (such as crushable mini-pills, granules, oral suspensions),” the researchers said.

“And in the past 15 years, children have been included in only one study of new agents for tuberculosis: a large Phase 3 trial evaluating once-weekly rifapentine + isoniazid for treatment of latent tuberculosis,” they added.

The researchers said that including children in drug development is especially critical, as the two main threats to tuberculosis control, HIV-related immunodeficiency and drug-resistant tuberculosis, challenge our ability to develop effective drug regimens.

Burman and colleagues outline several traditional barriers to the involvement of children in tuberculosis drug development such as difficulty confirming TB diagnosis, concern about side effects, and regulatory requirements.

However, they also describe how these barriers can be overcome, arguing that researchers, regulatory agencies, advocates, and government agencies and private foundations that fund drug development must insist that the development pathways for all new treatments include specific plans for when and how children will be involved.

“Children have the same right to benefit from research as do adults. While this lack of involvement may be understandable in the short-term, it is not acceptable in the long-term,” the researchers said.

U.S. automaker Chrysler LLC is seeking manufacturing alliances with other automakers in the face of a steep downturn in U.S. auto sales.

Chrysler has “the flexibility” to perform contract manufacturing and will continue to pursue such opportunities to “generate capital as a smaller company,” Frank Ewasyshyn, Chrysler’s executive vice president in charge of manufacturing, said at an industry forum in Traverse City, Michigan.

“We have looked at partners for a lot of things and we are going to continue to do that for the best business model,” Ewasyshyn said.

Sources said last month that Chrysler was in talks with Fiat SpA (FIA.MI) with the aim of leasing manufacturing capacity to the Italian automaker.

Chrysler has declined to comment on the talks with Fiat, which could open the way for the Italian automaker to re-enter the U.S. market.

Chrysler also has an agreement to build a truck for Japan’s Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T), which will build a small car for Chrysler.

Ewasyshyn said although the automaker’s current plan is to build the Nissan-designed truck at Chrysler’s plant in Saltillo, Mexico, Chrysler has the capacity to build it at other plants as well.

Chrysler also has the flexibility to add more car-based platforms to its facilities including the Sterling Heights, Michigan plant which builds the Dodge Avenger and the Chrysler Sebring sedans, Ewasyshyn told Reuters on the sidelines of the forum.

“The Sterling Heights plant is set up to be very flexible and can accommodate three to four platforms. In fact we can do a car-based platform at several locations,” he said.

Chrysler, the No. 3 U.S.-based automaker, which is controlled by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP (CBS.UL), is looking to raise cash as it faces scrutiny over its liquidity because of the sharp decline in truck sales.

Chrysler total vehicle sales are down 23 percent through the first seven months of the year.

Chrysler has been hit harder than rivals by a consumer defection from trucks and SUVs because light trucks represent 70 percent of its sales.

Moody’s Ratings downgraded Chrysler last week, citing competitive and financial pressures, while Fitch Ratings downgraded Chrysler last month, warning that the automaker could run below the “minimum required levels” of cash to finance operations by the second half of 2009 if industrywide sales remain flat or worsen.

Meanwhile, Automotive News quoted Ewasyshyn as saying that Chrysler is negotiations with the United Auto Workers to put factory workers on four 10-hour work days instead of five, eight-hour work days in a bid to cut costs.