Learning to suspend implicated contrast:The acquisition of <em>ook</em> in Dutch

Children acquire the meaning of ook ‘also’ in Dutch relatively late ( Bergsma 2006 ), although this focus particle is highly frequent. We argue that this late acquisition is caused by a pragmatic rule: contrastive implicature. We follow Sæbø (2004) , who argues that additives are used because without them, the sentences they appear in would be interpreted as contrastive in relation to the context. Data from a sentence completion task administered to Dutch L1 learners (N = 62, ages 4;0–5;11) show that, on average, four-year-olds do not distinguish sentences with ook from sentences without ook. Five-year-olds do better on sentences with ook but worse on sentences without it. We argue that they have generally acquired contrastive implicature: they apply the correct contrastive interpretation to sentences without ook, but overgeneralize this implicature to sentences with ook, before completely acquiring the meaning of ook

Observability of Forming Planets and their Circumplanetary Disks I. -- Parameter Study for ALMA

We present mock observations of forming planets with ALMA. The possible detections of circumplanetary disks (CPDs) were investigated around planets of Saturn, 1, 3, 5, and 10 Jupiter-masses that are placed at 5.2 AU from their star. The radiative, three dimensional hydrodynamic simulations were then post-processed with RADMC3D and the ALMA Observation Simulator. We found that even though the CPDs are too small to be resolved, they are hot due to the accreting planet in the optically thick limit, therefore the best chance to detect them with continuum observations in this case is at the shortest ALMA wavelengths, such as Band 9 (440 microns). Similar fluxes were found in the case of Saturn and Jupiter-mass planets, as for the 10 $\mathrm{M_{Jup}}$ gas-giant, due to temperature weighted optical depth effects: when no deep gap is carved, the planet region is blanketed by the optically thick circumstellar disk leading to a less efficient cooling there. A test was made for a 52 AU orbital separation, showed that optically thin CPDs are also detectable in band 7 but they need longer integration times ($>$5hrs). Comparing the gap profiles of the same simulation at various ALMA bands and the hydro simulation confirmed that they change significantly, first because the gap is wider at longer wavelengths due to decreasing optical depth; second, the beam convolution makes the gap shallower and at least 25% narrower. Therefore, caution has to be made when estimating planet masses based on ALMA continuum observations of gaps.Comment: Accepted for publication at MNRAS. Typos are corrected since previous version. 11 pages, 5 tables, 4 figure

Fatalities due to intestinal obstruction following the ingestion of foreign bodies

Two fatalities due to an occlusive ileus following the ingestion of foreign bodies in patients with psychiatric disorders are described. A severely mentally handicapped young man developed a temperature and died 1 h after admission to a surgical ward. At autopsy, not, vert, similar 2000 cm3 of foreign material, including broken glass and porcelain, branches, buttons, parts of clothing and other material were found in the gastrointestinal tract, leading to a complete obstruction of the distal intestine and colon with resulting faecal vomiting. The other case was even more unusual as a hair fetishist had swallowed a thick strand of his own hair, 50 cm long, also resulting in mechanical obstruction of the distal intestine

Prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries among adolescent squash players in the Western Cape

Objective. To determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries among adolescent squash players in the Western Cape. Design. A retrospective descriptive survey was conducted during the first week of May 2006. Three schools were randomly selected from a list of the top 10 schools in the Western Cape high school squash league of 2005, with 106 squash players aged 13 - 18 years participating in the study. Setting. Injury data were collected for 106 players at three schools randomly selected from a list of the top 10 schools in the Western Cape high school squash league of 2005. Interventions. An adapted structured self-administered questionnaire based on a previously validated musculoskeletal injury questionnaire was used to collect the data. Main outcome measures. The main variables investigated were prevalence, mechanism and injury site of musculoskeletal squash injuries. Results. Twenty-nine per cent of the players (N = 31) reported that they had sustained a squash injury in the 4 weeks prior to data collection. A total of 48 injuries were reported by the injured players. The most common injuries included those of the thigh (19%), shoulder (13%) and lower back (13%). Forty-two per cent of players reported no specific mechanism of injury, but experienced pain not associated with a traumatic injury only while playing squash. Conclusion. A relatively high prevalence of squash injuries was found. This preliminary study serves as a baseline for future research. Areas for further investigation were identified and this could lead to the implementation of preventive programmes and education to prevent injuries among adolescent squash players. South African Journal of Sports Medicine Vol. 19 (1) 2007: pp. 3-

RAB25 expression is epigenetically downregulated in oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma with lymph node metastasis

Oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OOSCC) have a low survival rate, mainly due to metastasis to the regional lymph nodes. For optimal treatment of these metastases, a neck dissection is required; however, inaccurate detection methods results in under- and over-treatment. New DNA prognostic methylation biomarkers might improve lymph node metastases detection. To identify epigenetically regulated genes associated with lymph node metastases, genome-wide methylation analysis was performed on 6 OOSCC with (pN+) and 6 OOSCC without (pN0) lymph node metastases and combined with a gene expression signature predictive for pN+ status in OOSCC. Selected genes were validated using an independent OOSCC cohort by immunohistochemistry and pyrosequencing, and on data retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas. A two-step statistical selection of differentially methylated sequences revealed 14 genes with increased methylation status and mRNA downregulation in pN+ OOSCC. RAB25, a known tumor suppressor gene, was the highest-ranking gene in the discovery set. In the validation sets, both RAB25 mRNA (P = 0.015) and protein levels (P = 0.012) were lower in pN+ OOSCC. RAB25 mRNA levels were negatively correlated with RAB25 methylation levels (P < 0.001) but RAB25 protein expression was not. Our data revealed that promoter methylation is a mechanism resulting in downregulation of RAB25 expression in pN+ OOSCC and decreased expression is associated with lymph node metastasis. Detection of RAB25 methylation might contribute to lymph node metastasis diagnosis and serve as a potential new therapeutic target in OOSCC

A deep optical/near-infrared catalog of Serpens

We present a deep optical/near-infrared imaging survey of the Serpens molecular cloud. This survey constitutes the complementary optical data to the Spitzer "Core To Disk" (c2d) Legacy survey in this cloud. The survey was conducted using the Wide Field Camera at the Isaac Newton Telescope. About 0.96 square degrees were imaged in the R and Z filters, covering the entire region where most of the young stellar objects identified by the c2d survey are located. 26524 point-like sources were detected in both R and Z bands down to R=24.5 mag and Z=23 mag with a signal-to-noise ratio better than 3. The 95% completeness limit of our catalog corresponds to 0.04 solar masses for members of the Serpens star forming region (age 2 Myr and distance 260 pc) in the absence of extinction. Adopting the typical extinction of the observed area (Av=7 mag), we estimate a 95% completeness level down to 0.1 solar masses. The astrometric accuracy of our catalog is 0.4 arcsec with respect to the 2MASS catalog. Our final catalog contains J2000 celestial coordinates, magnitudes in the R and Z bands calibrated to the SDSS photometric system and, where possible, JHK magnitudes from 2MASS for sources in 0.96 square degrees in the direction of Serpens. This data product has been already used within the frame of the c2d Spitzer Legacy Project analysis in Serpens to study the star/disk formation and evolution in this cloud; here we use it to obtain new indications of the disk-less population in Serpens.Comment: 7 page, 5 figure

Beta-2 microglobulin as a predictor of peripheral arterial disease in diabetes: The effect of estimated glomerular filtration

Background: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is common in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Its definitive diagnosis requires ultrasound or angiography. Beta-2 microglobulin (&#226;2 microglobulin) has been proposed as a diagnostic marker for PAD. The objective of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of &#226;2 microglobulin for PAD in patients with diabetes and varying renal function.Design: This was a cross-sectional study.Setting: An academic centre (University of Pretoria and Steve Biko&#160; Academic Hospital Diabetes Clinic).Subjects: One hundred and eight convenience-sampled patients.Outcome measures: Patients completed a questionnaire and had toe and arm blood pressure (toe-arm index), as well as serum &#226;2 microglobulin and creatinine, measured.Results: Beta-2 microglobulin did not differ (p-value = 0.34) between those subjects with PAD (n = 43) and those without PAD (n = 65). In a linear regression model, the interaction term between estimated&#160; glomerular filtration rate categories and the inverse of &#226;2 microglobulin was highly significant (p-value = 0.001).Conclusion: Although the sample size was small, &#226;2 microglobulin did not distinguish between subjects with and without PAD. Renal function and its effects on the association between &#226;2 microglobulin and PAD need furtherstudy