Integrating Discourse and Local Constraints in Resolving Lexical Thematic Ambiguities

We conducted sentence completion and eye-tracking reading experiments to examine the interaction of multiple constraints in the resolution of a lexical thematic ambiguity. The ambiguity was introduced with prepositional "by"-phrases in passive constructions, which can be ambiguous between agentive and locative interpretations (e.g., "built by the contractor" versus "built by the corner"). The temporarily ambiguous sentences were embedded in contexts that created expectations for one or the other interpretation. The constraints involved, including discourse-based expectations, verb biases, and contingent lexical frequencies, were independently quantified with a corpus analysis and a rating experiment. Our results indicate that there was an interaction of contextual and more local factors such that the effectiveness of the contexts was mediated by the local biases. Application of an explicit integration-competition model to the off-hne (sentence completion) and on-line (eye-tracking) results suggests that, during the processing of these ambiguous prepositional phrases, there was an immediate and simultaneous integration of the relevant constraints resulting in competition between partially active alternative interpretations

Nutrient criteria to achieve New Zealand’s riverine macroinvertebrate targets

Waterways worldwide are experiencing nutrient enrichment from population growth and intensive agriculture, and New Zealand is part of this global trend. Increasing fertilizer in New Zealand and intensive agriculture have driven substantial water quality declines over recent decades. A recent national directive has set environmental managers a range of riverine ecological targets, including three macroinvertebrate indicators, and requires nutrient criteria be set to support their achievement. To support these national aspirations, we use the minimization-of-mismatch analysis to derive potential nutrient criteria. Given that nutrient and macroinvertebrate monitoring often does not occur at the same sites, we compared nutrient criteria derived at sites where macroinvertebrates and nutrients are monitored concurrently with nutrient criteria derived at all macroinvertebrate monitoring sites and using modelled nutrients. To support all three macroinvertebrate targets, we suggest that suitable nutrient criteria would set median dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations at ~0.6 mg/L and median dissolved reactive phosphorus concentrations at ~0.02 mg/L. We recognize that deriving site-specific nutrient criteria requires the balancing of multiple values and consideration of multiple targets, and anticipate that criteria derived here will help and support these environmental goals

A Pilot Study of Short-Duration Sputum Pretreatment Procedures for Optimizing Smear Microscopy for Tuberculosis

Direct sputum smear microscopy for tuberculosis (TB) lacks sensitivity for the detection of acid fast bacilli. Sputum pretreatment procedures may enhance sensitivity. We did a pilot study to compare the diagnostic accuracy and incremental yield of two short-duration (<1 hour) sputum pretreatment procedures to optimize direct smears among patients with suspected TB at a referral hospital in India.Blinded laboratory comparison of bleach and universal sediment processing (USP) pretreated centrifuged auramine smears to direct Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) and direct auramine smears and to solid (Loweinstein-Jensen (LJ)) and liquid (BACTEC 460) culture. 178 pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB suspects were prospectively recruited during a one year period. Thirty six (20.2%) were positive by either solid or liquid culture. Direct ZN smear detected 22 of 36 cases and direct auramine smears detected 26 of 36 cases. Bleach and USP centrifugation detected 24 cases each, providing no incremental yield beyond direct smears. When compared to combined culture, pretreated smears were not more sensitive than direct smears (66.6% vs 61.1 (ZN) or 72.2 (auramine)), and were not more specific (92.3% vs 93.0 (ZN) or 97.2 (auramine).Short duration sputum pretreatment with bleach and USP centrifugation did not increase yield as compared to direct sputum smears. Further work is needed to confirm this in a larger study and also determine if longer duration pre-treatment might be effective in optimizing smear microscopy for TB

Ratios of plasma and salivary testosterone throughout puberty: Production versus bioavailability

Because diffusion of testosterone (T) into the salivary gland is thought to be largely limited to the free, biolog

Risk Factors for MDR and XDR-TB in a Tertiary Referral Hospital in India

BACKGROUND: India has a high burden of drug resistant TB, although there are few data on XDR-TB. Although XDR-TB has existed previously in India, the definition has not been widely applied, and surveillance using second line drug susceptibility testing has not been performed. Our objective was to analyze clinical and demographic risk factors associated with isolation of MDR and XDR TB as compared to susceptible controls, at a tertiary center. METHODOLOGY/FINDINGS: Retrospective chart review based on positive cultures isolated in a high volume mycobacteriology laboratory between 2002 and 2007. 47 XDR, 30 MDR and 117 susceptible controls were examined. Drug resistant cases were less likely to be extrapulmonary, and had received more previous treatment regimens. Significant risk factors for XDR-TB included residence outside the local state (OR 7.43, 3.07-18.0) and care costs subsidized (OR 0.23, 0.097-0.54) in bivariate analysis and previous use of a fluoroquinolone and injectable agent (other than streptomycin) (OR 7.00, 95% C.I. 1.14-43.03) and an initial treatment regimen which did not follow national guidelines (OR 5.68, 1.24-25.96) in multivariate analysis. Cavitation and HIV did not influence drug resistance. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: There is significant selection bias in the sample available. Selection pressure from previous treatment and an inadequate initial regimen increases risk of drug resistance. Local patients and those requiring financial subsidies may be at lower risk of XDR-TB