Language contributions to health related quality of life in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Concurrent with the well-documented motor speech production impairments in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), individuals with ALS exhibit language problems including confrontation and generative naming difficulties, single word auditory and reading comprehension problems, and decreased self-regulation based on fewer self-corrected utterances, among other language disruptions. Health related quality of life (HRQoL) measures specific to ALS often contain items related to its characteristic speech production problems that are thought to influence overall quality of life. However, the language problems in ALS are rarely if ever considered within the context of HRQoL. The current study aimed to identify the relationship between language problems (i.e., quality of communication) and HRQoL among individuals with ALS. Twenty-eight participants with ALS completed a general HRQoL (i.e., SF-36) and a quality of communication measure (i.e., ASHA QCL). Scores on these measures were compared with standardized language test scores and discourse measures including verbal fluency, the Boston Naming Test (BNT), and discourse measures obtained from a picture description task. Participants also completed a cognitive status and depression screening using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), respectively. The severity of ALS was measured using the ALS Functional Rating Scale. Results indicated that verbal fluency (animals), discourse output, and speech intelligibility are associated with quality of communication. Regression analyses revealed important predictors of quality of communication including the BNT, MoCA, GDS, and speech intelligibility. The only significant predictor for general HRQol (i.e., SF-36) was the GDS. Results suggest that poor performance on standardized language tests may not be indicative of poor quality of communication, however, findings show that poor efficiency on discourse tasks does affect quality of communication. Results also show that depression in individuals with ALS is associated with poor HRQoL. Overall physical functioning does not significantly contribute to quality of communication or overall HRQoL. An important implication of the findings is that clinicians should focus on optimizing communication in those individuals with ALS who have poor speech intelligibility in order to optimize discourse output, which, in turn, will enhance the quality of communication in individuals with ALS

Eyelid development, fusion and subsequent reopening in the mouse

The process of eyelid development was studied in the mouse. The critical events occur between about 15.5 d postcoitum (p.c.) and 12 d after birth, and were studied by conventional histology and by scanning electron microscopy. At about 15.5 d p.c. the cornea of the eye is clearly visible with the primitive eyelids being represented by protruding ridges of epithelium at its periphery. Over the next 24 h, eyelid development proceeds to the stage when the cornea is completely covered by the fused eyelids. Periderm cells stream in to fill the gap between the developing eyelids. Their proliferative activity is such that they produce a cellular excrescence on the outer surface of the line of fusion of the eyelids. This excrescence had almost disappeared by about 17.5 d p.c. Keratinisation is first evident at this stage on the surface of the eyelids and passes continuously from one eyelid to the other. Evidence of epidermal differentiation is more clearly seen in the newborn, where a distinctive stratum granulosum now occupies about one third of its entire thickness. Within the subjacent dermis, hair follicles are differentiating. By about 5 d after birth, a thick layer of keratin extends without interruption across the junctional region. While a noticeable surface indentation overlies the latter, a similar depression is only seen on the conjunctival surface by about 10 d after birth. Keratinisation is also observed to extend in from the epidermal surface to involve the entire region between the 2 eyelids at about this time.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS

Morphometric study of the optic nerve of adult normal mice and mice heterozygous for the Small eye mutation (Sey/+)

The Small eye (Sey) gene, which has been mapped to chromosome 2 in the mouse, is known to cause variable malformations of the eye and nose. The effect of the gene in the heterozygous state is mainly on the eye. A combined electron microscopy and morphometric analysis of the optic nerve in adult littermates with a normal (+/+) and heterozygous mutant (Sey/+) genotype was carried out. The optic nerve could be dissected from the posterior pole of the eyeball to the optic chiasma in all the mice examined. The results of morphometric analyses carried out in this study show that the Sey gene indirectly affects the normal morphogenesis of the optic nerve in the heterozygous mutant Sey male mouse to a significant degree compared with its male normal littermate. The heterozygous mutant Sey female mouse is also affected, but not significantly so when compared with its normal female littermate. The mean nerve cross-sectional area and mean nerve fibre counts for the Sey strain are lower than those observed in other strains of mice that have been studied. The nerve fibre densities and the spectrum of nerve fibre sizes encountered are, however, similar to those seen in other strains of mice. We believe that the findings indicate that the smaller mean nerve fibre counts observed in the heterozygous mutant (Sey/+) mice compared to their normal (+/+) siblings is unlikely to have resulted from primary retinal dysgenesis, but is a consequence of the reduced size of their neural retina, and total retinal ganglion cell population

The role of potential vorticity anomalies in the Somali Jet on Indian summer monsoon intraseasonal variability

The climate of the Indian subcontinent is dominated by rainfall arising from the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) during the summer season (June to September). Intraseasonal variability during the monsoon is characterized by periods of heavy rainfall interspersed by drier periods, known as active and break events respectively. Understanding and predicting such events is of vital importance for forecasting human impacts such as water resources. The Somali Jet is a key regional feature of this circulation. In the present study, we find that the spatial structure of Somali Jet potential vorticity (PV) anomalies varies considerably during active and break periods. Analysis of these anomalies shows a mechanism whereby sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies propagate north/northwestwards through the Arabian Sea, caused by a positive feedback loop joining anomalies in SST, convection, modification of PV by diabatic heating and mixing in the atmospheric boundary layer, wind stress curl, and upwelling processes. The feedback mechanism is consistent with observed coupled ocean-atmosphere system variability timescales of approximately 20 days. This research suggests that better understanding and prediction of monsoon subseasonal variability in the South Asian monsoon may be gained by analysis of the day-to-day dynamical evolution of PV in the Somali Jet

Chemical characterization of ambient aerosol collected during the northeast monsoon season over the Arabian Sea: Anions and cations

Ambient aerosol samples were collected over the Arabian Sea during the month of March 1997, aboard the German R/V Sonne, as part of the German JGOFS project (Joint Global Ocean Flux Study). This is the third study in a series of analogous measurements taken over the Arabian Sea during different seasons of the monsoon. Dichotomous high volume collector samples were analyzed for anions and cations upon return to the laboratory. Anthropogenic pollutant concentrations were larger during the first part of the cruise, when air masses originated over the Indian subcontinent. Total NSS‐SO42− concentrations amounted to 2.94 ± 1.06 μg m−3 of which 92.1 ± 4.5% was present in the fine fraction. NSS‐SO42− source apportionment analysis with multivariate linear regression models revealed that in the coarse fraction half is biogenically and half anthropogenically derived, while in the fine fraction only 6% seemed of biogenic origin and 84% anthropogenic and 10% crustal in nature. Chloride deficits up to 99.1% in the fine fraction were observed. The average Cl− deficit in the fine fraction was 89.0 ± 9.4%, potentially related to NSS‐SO42− acid displacement and Cl reactive species formation, while in the coarse fraction it was 25.6 ± 21.3%, with NO3− being the preferred species for acid displacement

Adaptive model-driven user interface development systems

Adaptive user interfaces (UIs) were introduced to address some of the usability problems that plague many software applications. Model-driven engineering formed the basis for most of the systems targeting the development of such UIs. An overview of these systems is presented and a set of criteria is established to evaluate the strengths and shortcomings of the state-of-the-art, which is categorized under architectures, techniques, and tools. A summary of the evaluation is presented in tables that visually illustrate the fulfillment of each criterion by each system. The evaluation identified several gaps in the existing art and highlighted the areas of promising improvement

Wind direction and proximity to larval sites determines malaria risk in Kilifi District in Kenya

Studies of the fine-scale spatial epidemiology of malaria consistently identify malaria hotspots, comprising clusters of homesteads at high transmission intensity. These hotspots sustain transmission, and may be targeted by malaria-control programmes. Here we describe the spatial relationship between the location of Anopheles larval sites and human malaria infection in a cohort study of 642 children, aged 1–10-years-old. Our data suggest that proximity to larval sites predict human malaria infection, when homesteads are upwind of larval sites, but not when homesteads are downwind of larval sites. We conclude that following oviposition, female Anophelines fly upwind in search for human hosts and, thus, malaria transmission may be disrupted by targeting vector larval sites in close proximity, and downwind to malaria hotspots

Mouse SPNS2 Functions as a Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Transporter in Vascular Endothelial Cells

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a sphingolipid metabolite that is produced inside the cells, regulates a variety of physiological and pathological responses via S1P receptors (S1P1–5). Signal transduction between cells consists of three steps; the synthesis of signaling molecules, their export to the extracellular space and their recognition by receptors. An S1P concentration gradient is essential for the migration of various cell types that express S1P receptors, such as lymphocytes, pre-osteoclasts, cancer cells and endothelial cells. To maintain this concentration gradient, plasma S1P concentration must be at a higher level. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism by which S1P is supplied to extracellular environments such as blood plasma. Here, we show that SPNS2 functions as an S1P transporter in vascular endothelial cells but not in erythrocytes and platelets. Moreover, the plasma S1P concentration of SPNS2-deficient mice was reduced to approximately 60% of wild-type, and SPNS2-deficient mice were lymphopenic. Our results demonstrate that SPNS2 is the first physiological S1P transporter in mammals and is a key determinant of lymphocyte egress from the thymus