Getting the measure of derivational morphology in adult speech a corpus analysis using MorphoQuantics

This paper describes the methodology used to compile a corpus called MorphoQuantics that contains a comprehensive set of 17,943 complex word types extracted from the spoken component of the British National Corpus (BNC). The categorisation of these complex words was derived primarily from the classification of Prefixes, Suffixes and Combining Forms proposed by Stein (2007). The MorphoQuantics corpus has been made available on a website of the same name; it lists 554 word-initial and 281 word-final morphemes in English, their etymology and meaning, and records the type and token frequencies of all the associated complex words containing these morphemes from the spoken element of the BNC, together with their Part of Speech. The results show that, although the number of word-initial affixes is nearly double that of word-final affixes, the relative number of each observed in the BNC is very similar; however, word-final affixes are more productive in that, on average, the frequency with which they attach to different bases is three times that of word-initial affixes. Finally, this paper considers how linguists, psycholinguists and psychologists may use MorphoQuantics to support their empirical work in first and second language acquisition, and clinical and educational research

Register variation in spoken British English: the case of verb-forming suffixation

The aim of this paper is to identify the effect of register variation on the occurrence of the four principal verb-forming suffixes in spoken English: -ate, -en, -ify and –ize, by building on the work of Biber et al. (1999), Plag et al. (1999) and Schmid (2011). Register variation effects were compared between the less formal Demographically-Sampled and the more formal Context-Governed components of the 1994 version of the British National Corpus. The pattern of -ize derivatives revealed the most marked register-based differences with respect to frequency counts and the creation of neologisms, whereas -en derivatives varied the least compared with the other three suffixes. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of these suffix profiles in the context of spoken language reveal markers of register formality that have not hitherto been explored; derivative usage patterns provide an additional dimension to previous research on register variation which has mainly focused on grammatical and lexical features of language

A diachronic corpus-based study into the effects of age and gender on the usage patterns of verb-forming suffixation in spoken British English

The aim of this paper is to ascertain the degree to which lexical diversity, density and creativity in everyday spoken British English have changed over a 20-year period, as a function of age and gender. Usage patterns of the four verb-forming suffixes, -ate, -en, -ify and -ize, were compared in contemporary speech from the BNC2014 with its 20-year old counterpart, the Demographically-Sampled (DS) component of the British National Corpus. Frequency comparisons revealed that verb suffixation is denser in the BNC2014 than in its earlier equivalent (DS), with the exception of the -en suffix, the use of which has decreased, particularly among females and younger speakers in general. Males and speakers in the 35-59 age range showed the greatest type diversity; there is evidence that this peak is occurring earlier in the more recent corpus. Contrary to expectations, females rather than males produced the largest number of neologisms and rare forms

Automated bolus advisor control and usability study (ABACUS): does use of an insulin bolus advisor improve glycaemic control in patients failing multiple daily insulin injection (MDI) therapy? [NCT01460446]

BACKGROUND: People with T1DM and insulin-treated T2DM often do not follow and/or adjust their insulin regimens as needed. Key contributors to treatment non-adherence are fear of hypoglycaemia, difficulty and lack of self-efficacy associated with insulin dose determination. Because manual calculation of insulin boluses is both complex and time consuming, people may rely on empirical estimates, which can result in persistent hypoglycaemia and/or hyperglycaemia. Use of automated bolus advisors (BA) has been shown to help insulin pump users to more accurately meet prandial insulin dosage requirements, improve postprandial glycaemic excursions, and achieve optimal glycaemic control with an increased time within optimal range. Use of a BA containing an early algorithm based on sliding scales for insulin dosing has also been shown to improve HbA1c levels in people treated with multiple daily insulin injections (MDI). We designed a study to determine if use of an automated BA can improve clinical and psychosocial outcomes in people treated with MDI. METHODS/DESIGN: The Automated Bolus Advisor Control and Usability Study (ABACUS) is a 6-month, prospective, randomised, multi-centre, multi-national trial to determine if automated BA use improves glycaemic control as measured by a change in HbA1c in people using MDI with elevated HbA1c levels (#62;7.5%). A total of 226 T1DM and T2DM participants will be recruited. Anticipated attrition of 20% will yield a sample size of 90 participants, which will provide #62;80% power to detect a mean difference of 0.5%, with SD of 0.9%, using a one-sided 5% t-test, with 5% significance level. Other measures of glycaemic control, self-care behaviours and psychosocial issues will also be assessed. DISCUSSION: It is critical that healthcare providers utilise available technologies that both facilitate effective glucose management and address concerns about safety and lifestyle. Automated BAs may help people using MDI to manage their diabetes more effectively and minimise the risk of long-term diabetes related complications. Findings from a recent study suggest that BA use positively addresses both safety and lifestyle concerns; however, randomised trials are needed to confirm these perceptions and determine whether bolus advisor use improves clinical outcomes. Our study is designed to make these assessments. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT0146044

Deficiency of the zinc finger protein ZFP106 causes motor and sensory neurodegeneration

Acknowledgements We are indebted to Jim Humphries, JennyCorrigan, LizDarley, Elizabeth Joynson, Natalie Walters, Sara Wells and the whole necropsy, histology, genotyping and MLC ward 6 teams at MRC Harwell for excellent technical assistance. We thank the staff of the WTSI Illumina Bespoke Team for the RNA-seq data, the Sanger Mouse Genetics Project for the initial mouse characterization and Dr David Adams for critical reading of the manuscript. We also thank KOMP for the mouse embryonic stem cells carrying the knockout first promoter-less allele (tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi) within Zfp016. Conflict of Interest statement. None declared. Funding This work was funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) to A.A.-A. and a Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) project grant to A.A.-A. and EMCF. D.L.H.B. is a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Scientist Fellow and P.F. is a MRC/MNDA Lady Edith Wolfson Clinician Scientist Fellow. Funding to pay the Open Access publication charges for this article was provided by the MRC grant number: MC_UP_A390_1106.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Carnegie Supernova Project-II: Extending the Near-Infrared Hubble Diagram for Type Ia Supernovae to z∼0.1z\sim0.1

The Carnegie Supernova Project-II (CSP-II) was an NSF-funded, four-year program to obtain optical and near-infrared observations of a "Cosmology" sample of $\sim100$ Type Ia supernovae located in the smooth Hubble flow ($0.03 \lesssim z \lesssim 0.10$). Light curves were also obtained of a "Physics" sample composed of 90 nearby Type Ia supernovae at $z \leq 0.04$ selected for near-infrared spectroscopic time-series observations. The primary emphasis of the CSP-II is to use the combination of optical and near-infrared photometry to achieve a distance precision of better than 5%. In this paper, details of the supernova sample, the observational strategy, and the characteristics of the photometric data are provided. In a companion paper, the near-infrared spectroscopy component of the project is presented.Comment: 43 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Experiences and impacts of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure on remote Aboriginal families

Introduction: Aboriginal Australians face significant health disparities, with hospitalisation rates 2.3 times greater, and longer hospital length of stay, than non-Indigenous Australians. This additional burden impacts families further through out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure (OOPHE), which includes additional healthcare expenses not covered by universal taxpayer insurance. Aboriginal patients traveling from remote locations are likely to be impacted further by OOPHE. The objective of this study was to examine the impacts and burden of OOPHE for rurally based Aboriginal individuals. Methods: Participants were recruited through South Australian community networks to participate in this study. Decolonising methods of yarning and deep listening were used to centralise local narratives and language of OOPHE. Qualitative analysis software was used to thematically code transcripts and organise data. Results: A total of seven yarning sessions were conducted with 10 participants. Seven themes were identified: travel, barriers to health care, personal and social loss, restricted autonomy, financial strain, support initiatives and protective factors. Sleeping rough, selling assets and not attending appointments were used to mitigate or avoid OOPHE. Government initiatives, such as the patient assistance transport scheme, did little to decrease OOPHE burden on participants. Family connections, Indigenous knowledges and engagement with cultural practices were protective against OOPHE burden. Conclusion: Aboriginal families are significantly burdened by OOPHE when needing to travel for health care. Radical change of government initiative and policies through to health professional awareness is needed to ensure equitable healthcare access that does not create additional financial hardship in communities already experiencing economic disadvantage

FBXO7 sensitivity of phenotypic traits elucidated by a hypomorphic allele.

FBXO7 encodes an F box containing protein that interacts with multiple partners to facilitate numerous cellular processes and has a canonical role as part of an SCF E3 ubiquitin ligase complex. Mutation of FBXO7 is responsible for an early onset Parkinsonian pyramidal syndrome and genome-wide association studies have linked variants in FBXO7 to erythroid traits. A putative orthologue in Drosophila, nutcracker, has been shown to regulate the proteasome, and deficiency of nutcracker results in male infertility. Therefore, we reasoned that modulating Fbxo7 levels in a murine model could provide insights into the role of this protein in mammals. We used a targeted gene trap model which retained 4-16% residual gene expression and assessed the sensitivity of phenotypic traits to gene dosage. Fbxo7 hypomorphs showed regenerative anaemia associated with a shorter erythrocyte half-life, and male mice were infertile. Alterations to T cell phenotypes were also observed, which intriguingly were both T cell intrinsic and extrinsic. Hypomorphic mice were also sensitive to infection with Salmonella, succumbing to a normally sublethal challenge. Despite these phenotypes, Fbxo7 hypomorphs were produced at a normal Mendelian ratio with a normal lifespan and no evidence of neurological symptoms. These data suggest that erythrocyte survival, T cell development and spermatogenesis are particularly sensitive to Fbxo7 gene dosage

Targeting of Slc25a21 is associated with orofacial defects and otitis media due to disrupted expression of a neighbouring gene.

Homozygosity for Slc25a21(tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi) results in mice exhibiting orofacial abnormalities, alterations in carpal and rugae structures, hearing impairment and inflammation in the middle ear. In humans it has been hypothesised that the 2-oxoadipate mitochondrial carrier coded by SLC25A21 may be involved in the disease 2-oxoadipate acidaemia. Unexpectedly, no 2-oxoadipate acidaemia-like symptoms were observed in animals homozygous for Slc25a21(tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi) despite confirmation that this allele reduces Slc25a21 expression by 71.3%. To study the complete knockout, an allelic series was generated using the loxP and FRT sites typical of a Knockout Mouse Project allele. After removal of the critical exon and neomycin selection cassette, Slc25a21 knockout mice homozygous for the Slc25a21(tm1b(KOMP)Wtsi) and Slc25a21(tm1d(KOMP)Wtsi) alleles were phenotypically indistinguishable from wild-type. This led us to explore the genomic environment of Slc25a21 and to discover that expression of Pax9, located 3' of the target gene, was reduced in homozygous Slc25a21(tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi) mice. We hypothesize that the presence of the selection cassette is the cause of the down regulation of Pax9 observed. The phenotypes we observed in homozygous Slc25a21(tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi) mice were broadly consistent with a hypomorphic Pax9 allele with the exception of otitis media and hearing impairment which may be a novel consequence of Pax9 down regulation. We explore the ramifications associated with this particular targeted mutation and emphasise the need to interpret phenotypes taking into consideration all potential underlying genetic mechanisms

Le FORUM, Vol. 35 No. 3

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