Phonetic Variation and Interactional Contingencies in Simultaneous Responses

An auspicious but unexplored environment for studying phonetic variation in naturalistic interaction is where two or more participants say the same thing at the same time. Working with a core dataset built from the multimodal Augmented Multi-party Interaction corpus, the principles of conversation analysis were followed to analyze the sequential organization of the talk and to explain the phonetic variation observed. Acoustic divergence and equivalence between simultaneous responses are described. Phonetic features discussed include duration and timing, pitch, loudness, and phonation type. The interactional factors that explain the acoustic divergences are established through turn-by-turn analysis and consideration of gaze direction and other visible features. It is argued that any research on phonetic variation in naturalistic talk that disregards the local organization of interaction will always be incomplete

Gadolinium Doped Layered Double Hydroxides for Simultaneous Drug Delivery and Magnetic Resonance Imaging

In this study, gadolinium (Gd) doped MgAl layered double hydroxides (LDHs) were synthesized via a ‘bottom-up’ method and fully characterized by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy and relaxivity measurements. Two cytotoxic agents were then intercalated via ion-exchange. X-ray diffraction patterns exhibit expanded interlayer spacings as a result of successful drug intercalation. Infrared spectra also showed characteristic peaks of the incorporated methotrexate (MTX) or 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). The LDHs were found to be highly stable under physiological conditions, while in acidic conditions a small proportion of Gd was freed into the immersion medium. Dissolution tests revealed that both 5FU and MTX were rapidly released from the LDH carrier. The longitudinal relaxivity of Gd-LDHs remains largely stable during drug release over 24 h, and was higher in acidic environments. Overall, the drug-loaded Gd-LDH systems prepared in this study could serve as pH-sensitive theranostic platforms for MRI-guided anti-cancer therapy

Gadolinium Doped Layered Double Hydroxides for Simultaneous Drug Delivery and Magnetic Resonance Imaging

In this study, gadolinium (Gd) doped MgAl layered double hydroxides (LDHs) were synthesized via a ‘bottom-up’ method and fully characterized by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy and relaxivity measurements. Two cytotoxic agents were then intercalated via ion-exchange. X-ray diffraction patterns exhibit expanded interlayer spacings as a result of successful drug intercalation. Infrared spectra also showed characteristic peaks of the incorporated methotrexate (MTX) or 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). The LDHs were found to be highly stable under physiological conditions, while in acidic conditions a small proportion of Gd was freed into the immersion medium. Dissolution tests revealed that both 5FU and MTX were rapidly released from the LDH carrier. The longitudinal relaxivity of Gd-LDHs remains largely stable during drug release over 24 h, and was higher in acidic environments. Overall, the drug-loaded Gd-LDH systems prepared in this study could serve as pH-sensitive theranostic platforms for MRI-guided anti-cancer therapy.</p

Layered rare-earth hydroxides as multi-modal medical imaging probes: particle size optimisation and compositional exploration

Recently, layered rare-earth hydroxides (LRHs) have received growing attention in the field of theranostics. We have previously reported the hydrothermal synthesis of layered terbium hydroxide (LTbH), which exhibited high biocompatibility, reversible uptake of a range of model drugs, and release-sensitive phosphorescence. Despite these favourable properties, LTbH particles produced by the reported method suffered from poor size-uniformity (670 ± 564 nm), and are thus not suitable for therapeutic applications. To ameliorate this issue, we first derive an optimised hydrothermal synthesis method to generate LTbH particles with a high degree of homogeneity and reproducibility, within a size range appropriate for in vivo applications (152 ± 59 nm, n = 6). Subsequently, we apply this optimised method to synthesise a selected range of LRH materials (R = Pr, Nd, Gd, Dy, Er, Yb), four of which produced particles with an average size under 200 nm (Pr, Nd, Gd, and Dy) without the need for further optimisation. Finally, we incorporate Gd and Tb into LRHs in varying molar ratios (1 : 3, 1 : 1, and 3 : 1) and assess the combined magnetic relaxivity and phosphorescence properties of the resultant LRH materials. The lead formulation, LGd1.41Tb0.59H, was demonstrated to significantly shorten the T2 relaxation time of water (r2 = 52.06 mM−1 s−1), in addition to exhibiting a strong phosphorescence signal (over twice that of the other LRH formulations, including previously reported LTbH), therefore holding great promise as a potential multi-modal medical imaging probe

Eighteenth Year of the Gulf of Maine Environmental Monitoring Program

This report summarizes the metals and organic contaminant data associated with the collection and analyses of blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) tissue from selected sites along the Gulf of Maine coast during the 2008 sampling season. Contaminant monitoring is conducted by the Gulfwatch Program for the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment (GOMC). A subset of these data is compared with analytical results from earlier Gulfwatch monitoring (2001-2007). Statistical analyses are limited to descriptive measures of replicates from selected sampling sites and include: arithmetic means, and appropriate measures of variance. The primary purpose of this report is to present the current annual results, present graphical representation of spatial and temporal trends and identify potential outliers in order to provide investigators and other interested persons with contemporary information concerning water quality in the Gulf of Maine, as reflected by uptake into resident shellfish (mussels and clams)

Adaptive Evolution of the Myo6 Gene in Old World Fruit Bats (Family: Pteropodidae)

PMCID: PMC3631194This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited