How alliteration enhances conceptual–attentional interactions in reading

In linguistics, the relationship between phonological word form and meaning is mostly considered arbitrary. Why, then, do literary authors traditionally craft sound relationships between words? We set out to characterise how dynamic interactions between word form and meaning may account for this literary practice. Here, we show that alliteration influences both meaning integration and attentional engagement during reading. We presented participants with adjective-noun phrases, having manipulated semantic relatedness (congruent, incongruent) and form repetition (alliterating, non-alliterating) orthogonally, as in "dazzling-diamond"; "sparkling-diamond"; "dangerous-diamond"; and "creepy-diamond". Using simultaneous recording of event-related brain potentials and pupil dilation (PD), we establish that, whilst semantic incongruency increased N400 amplitude as expected, it reduced PD, an index of attentional engagement. Second, alliteration affected semantic evaluation of word pairs, since it reduced N400 amplitude even in the case of unrelated items (e.g., "dangerous-diamond"). Third, alliteration specifically boosted attentional engagement for related words (e.g., "dazzling-diamond"), as shown by a sustained negative correlation between N400 amplitudes and PD change after the window of lexical integration. Thus, alliteration strategically arouses attention during reading and when comprehension is challenged, phonological information helps readers link concepts beyond the level of literal semantics. Overall, our findings provide a tentative mechanism for the empowering effect of sound repetition in literary constructs

The relationships between perfectionism, pathological worry and generalised anxiety disorder

Background: The relationships between perfectionism, pathological worry and generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) were investigated in a clinical sample presenting for treatment of perfectionism. Method: This study explored the utility of perfectionism in predicting pathological worry in a sample of individuals with elevated perfectionism and GAD (n = 36). Following this, the study examined whether perfectionism could predict a principal GAD diagnosis in the full sample (n = 42).Results: Scores on the perfectionism dimensions Concern over Mistakes, Personal Standards, and Clinical Perfectionism significantly predicted pathological worry among participants with GAD after controlling for gender and depression. The perfectionism dimension Doubts about Actions significantly predicted whether individuals from the full sample received a principal diagnosis of GAD. Conclusions: These findings support certain dimensions of perfectionism having significant associations with pathological worry and GAD

Multidimensional sexual perfectionism and female sexual function: A longitudinal investigation

Research on multidimensional sexual perfectionism differentiates four forms of sexual perfectionism: self-oriented, partner-oriented, partner-prescribed, and socially prescribed. Self-oriented sexual perfectionism reflects perfectionistic standards people apply to themselves as sexual partners; partner-oriented sexual perfectionism reflects perfectionistic standards people apply to their sexual partner; partner-prescribed sexual perfectionism reflects people’s beliefs that their sexual partner imposes perfectionistic standards on them; and socially prescribed sexual perfectionism reflects people’s beliefs that society imposes such standards on them. Previous studies found partner-prescribed and socially prescribed sexual perfectionism to be maladaptive forms of sexual perfectionism associated with a negative sexual self-concept and problematic sexual behaviors, but only examined cross-sectional relationships. The present article presents the first longitudinal study examining whether multidimensional sexual perfectionism predicts changes in sexual self-concept and sexual function over time. A total of 366 women aged 17-69 years completed measures of multidimensional sexual perfectionism, sexual esteem, sexual anxiety, sexual problem self-blame, and female sexual function (cross-sectional data). Three to six months later, 164 of the women completed the same measures again (longitudinal data). Across analyses, partner-prescribed sexual perfectionism emerged as the most maladaptive form of sexual perfectionism. In the cross-sectional data, partner-prescribed sexual perfectionism showed positive relationships with sexual anxiety, sexual problem self-blame, and intercourse pain and negative relationships with sexual esteem, desire, arousal, lubrication, and orgasmic function. In the longitudinal data, partner-prescribed sexual perfectionism predicted increases in sexual anxiety and decreases in sexual esteem, arousal, and lubrication over time. The findings suggest that partner-prescribed sexual perfectionism contributes to women’s negative sexual self-concept and female sexual dysfunction

Learning the price of poverty across the UK

© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017. In 2016, the British Educational Research Association (BERA) Commission on Poverty and Policy Advocacy brought together several academics from across the four jurisdictions of the UK already engaged in work on poverty, education and schooling. The aim of this BERA Commission was to build a network of research-active practitioners across the UK and, internationally, to engage in knowledge building about poverty and multiple factors of deprivation as these find expression in education and schooling. The Commission also aimed to facilitate counter discourses to be voiced and articulated in contrast to the dominant pathologising discourses of poor people and their education. The Commission therefore addressed the question: what can research tell us about the ways that different devolved policy contexts impact on the learning and well-being of young people living in poverty? This article describes the methodology used by the Commission to bring together researchers, policymakers, practitioners and children and young people to learn about the price of poverty in education and to reflect on the implications for policy. In so doing, the article addresses some challenges, opportunities and outcomes in terms of knowledge production, as well as implications for critical scholarship, with a focus on poverty and education

Infrared composition of the Large Magellanic Cloud

The evolution of galaxies and the history of star formation in the Universe are among the most important topics in today's astrophysics. Especially, the role of small, irregular galaxies in the star-formation history of the Universe is not yet clear. Using the data from the AKARI IRC survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud at 3.2, 7, 11, 15, and 24 {\mu}m wavelengths, i.e., at the mid- and near-infrared, we have constructed a multiwavelength catalog containing data from a cross-correlation with a number of other databases at different wavelengths. We present the separation of different classes of stars in the LMC in color-color, and color-magnitude, diagrams, and analyze their contribution to the total LMC flux, related to point sources at different infrared wavelengths

Quantitative cross-species extrapolation between humans and fish: The case of the anti-depressant fluoxetine

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Fish are an important model for the pharmacological and toxicological characterization of human pharmaceuticals in drug discovery, drug safety assessment and environmental toxicology. However, do fish respond to pharmaceuticals as humans do? To address this question, we provide a novel quantitative cross-species extrapolation approach (qCSE) based on the hypothesis that similar plasma concentrations of pharmaceuticals cause comparable target-mediated effects in both humans and fish at similar level of biological organization (Read-Across Hypothesis). To validate this hypothesis, the behavioural effects of the anti-depressant drug fluoxetine on the fish model fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) were used as test case. Fish were exposed for 28 days to a range of measured water concentrations of fluoxetine (0.1, 1.0, 8.0, 16, 32, 64 μg/L) to produce plasma concentrations below, equal and above the range of Human Therapeutic Plasma Concentrations (HTPCs). Fluoxetine and its metabolite, norfluoxetine, were quantified in the plasma of individual fish and linked to behavioural anxiety-related endpoints. The minimum drug plasma concentrations that elicited anxiolytic responses in fish were above the upper value of the HTPC range, whereas no effects were observed at plasma concentrations below the HTPCs. In vivo metabolism of fluoxetine in humans and fish was similar, and displayed bi-phasic concentration-dependent kinetics driven by the auto-inhibitory dynamics and saturation of the enzymes that convert fluoxetine into norfluoxetine. The sensitivity of fish to fluoxetine was not so dissimilar from that of patients affected by general anxiety disorders. These results represent the first direct evidence of measured internal dose response effect of a pharmaceutical in fish, hence validating the Read-Across hypothesis applied to fluoxetine. Overall, this study demonstrates that the qCSE approach, anchored to internal drug concentrations, is a powerful tool to guide the assessment of the sensitivity of fish to pharmaceuticals, and strengthens the translational power of the cross-species extrapolation

Impact of gestational weight gain on obstetric and neonatal outcomes in obese diabetic women

Both obesity and gestational diabetes mellitus are increasing in prevalence, being a major health problem in pregnancy with independent and additive impact on obstetrics outcomes. It is recognized that inadequate gestational weight gain is an independent risk factor for pregnancy-related morbidity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of gestational weight gain on obstetric and neonatal outcomes in obese women with gestational diabetes

The antibody response to Plasmodium falciparum Merozoite Surface Protein 4: comparative assessment of specificity and growth inhibitory antibody activity to infection-acquired and immunization-induced epitopes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Malaria remains a global public health challenge. It is widely believed that an effective vaccine against malaria will need to incorporate multiple antigens from the various stages of the parasite's complex life cycle. <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>Merozoite Surface Protein 4 (MSP4) is a vaccine candidate that has been selected for development for inclusion in an asexual stage subunit vaccine against malaria.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Nine monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) were produced against <it>Escherichia coli</it>-expressed recombinant MSP4 protein and characterized. These Mabs were used to develop an MSP4-specific competition ELISA to test the binding specificity of antibodies present in sera from naturally <it>P. falciparum</it>-infected individuals from a malaria endemic region of Vietnam. The Mabs were also tested for their capacity to induce <it>P. falciparum </it>growth inhibition <it>in vitro </it>and compared against polyclonal rabbit serum raised against recombinant MSP4</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All Mabs reacted with native parasite protein and collectively recognized at least six epitopes. Four of these Mabs recognize reduction-sensitive epitopes within the epidermal growth factor-like domain found near the C-terminus of MSP4. These sera were shown to contain antibodies capable of inhibiting the binding of the six Mabs indicating infection-acquired responses to the six different epitopes of MSP4. All of the six epitopes were readily recognized by human immune sera. Competition ELISA titres varied from 20 to 640, reflecting heterogeneity in the intensity of the humoral response against the protein among different individuals. The IgG responses during acute and convalescent phases of infection were higher to epitopes in the central region than to other parts of MSP4. Immunization with full length MSP4 in Freund's adjuvant induced rabbit polyclonal antisera able to inhibit parasite growth <it>in vitro </it>in a manner proportionate to the antibody titre. By contrast, polyclonal antisera raised to individual recombinant fragments rMSP4A, rMSP4B, rMSP4C and rMSP4D gave negligible inhibition. Similarly, murine Mabs alone or in combination did not inhibit parasite growth.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The panel of MSP4-specific Mabs produced were found to recognize six distinct epitopes that are also targeted by human antibodies during natural malaria infection. Antibodies directed to more than three epitope regions spread across MSP4 are likely to be required for <it>P. falciparum </it>growth inhibition <it>in vitro</it>.</p

Targeting the EGFR in ovarian cancer with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor ZD1839 (“Iressa”).

The modulating effects of the orally active epidermal growth factor receptor-specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor ZD 1839 (‘Iressa’) on cell growth and signalling were evaluated in four ovarian cancer cell lines (PE01, PE04, SKOV-3, OVCAR-5) that express the epidermal growth factor receptor, and in A2780, which is epidermal growth factor receptor-negative. Transforming growth factor-α stimulated growth was completely inhibited by concentrations of ZD 1839 ⩾0.3 μM in the epidermal growth factor receptor-expressing cell lines, as were transforming growth factor-α stimulated phosphorylation of the epidermal growth factor receptor and downstream components of the MAP kinase and PI-3 kinase signalling cascades. Growth inhibition in the absence of added transforming growth factor-α was also observed which could be consistent with suppression of action of autocrine epidermal growth factor receptor-activating ligands by ZD 1839. In support of this, transforming growth factor-α, EGF and amphiregulin mRNAs were detected by RT–PCR in the epidermal growth factor receptor-expressing cell lines. ZD 1839 inhibited growth of the PE04 ovarian cancer xenograft at 200 mg kg(−1) day(−1). These data lend further support to the view that targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor in ovarian cancer could have therapeutic benefit. British Journal of Cancer (2002) 86, 456–462. DOI: 10.1038/sj/bjc/6600058 www.bjcancer.com © 2002 The Cancer Research Campaig

Rationale, design and population baseline characteristics of the PERFORM Vascular Project: an ancillary study of the Prevention of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular Events of ischemic origin with teRutroban in patients with a history oF ischemic strOke or tRansient ischeMic attack (PERFORM) trial

&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Purpose&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;PERFORM is exploring the efficacy of terutroban versus aspirin for secondary prevention in patients with a history of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs). The PERFORM Vascular Project will evaluate the effect of terutroban on progression of atherosclerosis, as assessed by change in carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in a subgroup of patients.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Methods and results&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The Vascular Project includes structural (CIMT, carotid plaques) and functional (carotid stiffness) vascular studies in all patients showing at least one carotid plaque at entry. Expected mean follow-up is 36 months. Primary endpoint is rate of change of CIMT. Secondary endpoints include emergent plaques and assessment of carotid stiffness. 1,100 patients are required for 90% statistical power to detect treatment-related CIMT difference of 0.025 mm. The first patient was randomized in April 2006.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Conclusions&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The PERFORM Vascular Project will investigate terutroban’s effect on vascular structure and function in patients with a history of ischemic stroke or TIAs.&lt;/p&gt