Accent attribution in speakers with Foreign Accent Syndrome

Purpose: The main aim of this experiment was to establish the extent to which the impression of foreignness in speakers with Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) is in any way comparable to the impression of foreignness in speakers with a real foreign accent. Method: Three groups of listeners attributed accents to conversational speech samples of 5 FAS speakers which were embedded amongst those of 5 speakers with a real foreign accent and 5 native speaker controls. The listener groups differed in their familiarity with foreign accented speech and speech pathology. Results: The findings indicate that listeners’ perceptual reactions to the three groups of speakers are essentially different at all levels of analysis. The native speaker controls are unequivocally considered as native speakers of Dutch while the speakers with a real foreign accent are very reliably assessed as non-native speakers. The speakers with Foreign Accent Syndrome, however, are in some sense perceived as foreign and in some sense as native by listeners, but not as foreign as speakers with a real foreign accent nor as native as real native speakers. This result may be accounted for in terms of the trigger support model of foreign accent perception. Conclusions: The findings of the experiment is consistent with the idea that the very nature of the foreign accent in different in both groups of speakers, although it cannot be fully excluded that the perceived foreignness in the two groups is one of degree

Early upregulation of miR-29a mediates differentiation of cardiac stem cells into cardiomyocytes through inhibition of endogenous Wnt/beta-catenin

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Titration procedures for nasal CPAP: Automatic CPAP or prediction formula?

Background: The best method for titration Of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome has not yet been established. The 90th or 95th percentiles of the pressure titrated over time by automatic CPAP (A-CPAP) have been recommended as reference for prescribing therapeutic fixed CPAP (F-CPAP). We compared A-CPAP to F-CPAP. which was determined by a common prediction formula. Methods: Forty-five patients who were habituated to F-CPAP underwent titration polysomnography. In a double-blind randomized order, each patient used an A-CPAP device in the autotitration and in the fixed pressure mode during one half of the night. Apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and pressure profiles were primary outcomes. Bias and precision were additionally assessed for both CPAP modes. Results: No significant differences in various sleep parameters or in subjective sleep quality evaluation were found. The AHI was effectively lowered in both CPAP modes (A-CPAP 7.7 [10.8] events/h versus F-CPAP 5.4 (9.0] events/h, p = 0.061). Comparison of group means showed that F-CPAP closely paralleled mean (Pmean) and median (P50). but not the 95th percentile (P95) pressure. of A-CPAP. While bias was lowest for Pmean and P50. there was a lack of precision in all A-CPAP pressure categories. Conclusions: We confirm that F-CPAP set by prediction formula is not worse in terms of AHI control than A-CPAP. On average. F-CPAP parallels Pmean and P50 but not P95. However. due to imprecise matching. individual F-CPAP values cannot be derived front Pmean or P50

Preinfarction angina protects against out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation in patients with acute occlusion of the left coronary artery

AbstractOBJECTIVESThe goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of preconditioning on out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation (VF) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).BACKGROUNDMore than half of the deaths associated with AMI occur out of the hospital and within 1 h of symptom onset. In humans, preinfarction angina (PA), which can serve as a surrogate marker for preconditioning, reduces infarct size, but the protective effect against out-of-hospital VF has not been investigated.METHODSPreinfarction angina status and acute coronary angiographic findings of 72 consecutive patients with AMI complicated by out-of-hospital VF were compared with 144 matched controls without this complication.RESULTSPreinfarction angina is associated with a lower risk for VF (odds ratio [OR]: 0.40, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.18 to 0.88). In patients with acute occlusion of the left coronary artery (LCA) (n = 136), the risk reduction is pronounced (OR: 0.25, 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.66), whereas, in patients with acute occlusion of the right coronary artery (RCA) (n = 67), the protective effect of PA on VF was not observed (OR: 2.25, 95% CI: 0.45 to 11.22). Subgroup and multivariate analyses show that the protective effect is independent of cardiovascular risk factors, preinfarction treatment with beta-adrenergic blocking agents or aspirin, the presence of collaterals or residual antegrade flow or the extent of coronary artery disease.CONCLUSIONSPreinfarction angina protects against out-of-hospital VF in patients with acute occlusion of the LCA. This protection is independent of risk factors or coronary anatomy. A larger study is needed to examine the apparently different effect in patients with acute occlusion of the RCA

Levels and trends of PCDD/Fs and cPCBs in the Belgian food-stuffs one year after the "Dioxin Crisis

peer reviewe

Enhancement of tumorigenicity of human breast adenocarcinoma cells in nude mice by matrigel and fibroblasts.

The failure of MCF7 cells to induce the formation of tumours after sub-cutaneous inoculation into athymic nude mice can be obviated by the simultaneous injection of an extract of basement membrane proteins (matrigel). Tumour growth is promoted and the latency period is low (2 to 4 weeks). In the absence of matrigel, the simultaneous inoculation of fibroblasts and MCF7 cells also resulted in the development of tumours, but with a longer latency period (about 2 months). The tumorigenic synergy between matrigel and fibroblasts was evidenced by co-inoculating MCF7 cells MDA-MB 231 cells with fibroblasts and matrigel. This co-inoculation decreased the delay of appearance of the tumours and/or accelerated the tumour growth, depending upon the number of fibroblasts injected. Repeated injections of fibroblasts conditioned medium, at the site of inoculum of tumour cells also enhanced tumour growth, suggesting the involvement of soluble factors secreted by fibroblasts. Histologically, tumours induced by co-inoculation of tumour cells and fibroblasts contained more stromal structures including vimentin-positive cells, fibronectin and interstitial collagens. These data suggest that human tumours may be reconstituted and grown in athymic nude mice using basement membrane components and fibroblasts as inductors