Probing the adult initial state of non-native Greek: a case study*

This is a case study on the initial state of Greek as a second language within the Universal Grammar framework. We administered three oral and four written tasks to an adult Italian-English bilingual with little exposure to Greek. The results showed above chance-level performance on subject-verb agreement and on articles across tasks, indicating the presence of the functional categories Inflection and Determiner. These results support Schwartz and Sprouse’s (1994) ‘Full Transfer/Full Access’ hypothesis and disprove theories which suggest that that the mental grammar of the L2 initial state contains lexical categories only (Vainikka Young‑Scholten 1994). However, the findings revealed low scores in nominal agreement, suggesting that this a problematic area in L2 Greek

Neuropharmacogenetics of Major Depression: Has the Time Come to Take both Sexes into Account?

Pollution & threats to the environmen

What do corpus data reveal about anaphora resolution? Spanish vs. Greek and the Type of Topic Hypothesis

This research was funded by the following agencies/institutions: CEDEL2 corpus (ANACOREX R&D project no. PID2020-113818GB-I00 and ANACOR R&D project no. FFI2016-75106-P granted to the first author) funded by MINECO (Ministerio de Economía y competitividad), AEI (Agencia Estatal de Investigación), 10.13039/501100011033, Spain and ERDF (European Regional Development Fund, A way of making Europe). GLC corpus (LAL2A project no. 3161) funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research & Innovation, Greece, granted to Alexandros Tantos, the fourth author being a member of the research project.Anaphora Resolution (AR) is a pervasive phenomenon in natural languages. AR relates to how referring expressions (REs) (e.g., null/overt subject pronouns, and NPs) corefer with their antecedents in discourse. We use corpus methods to simultaneously compare AR in two null-subject languages (Spanish vs. Greek). We analyse a Spanish-native sample (CEDEL2 corpus, N=341 REs analysed) and an equally-designed Greek-native sample (GLC corpus, N=400 REs analysed), while keeping constant the text type (Chaplin narrative task), the annotation scheme (tagset), the tagging procedure, and the profile of the natives. Our corpus results reveal similarities in the way Spanish and Greek natives construct their narratives regarding the distribution of the information status of the REs (topic continuity/shift) and the distribution of characters (main/secondary) in discourse. Crucially, our two languages differ in relation to topicality (Greek capitalises on discourse topic whereas Spanish relies more on sentential topic), which leads to a different distribution in the realization of REs in discourse. These similarities and differences are accounted for by a new theoretical proposal, the Type of Topic Hypothesis (TTH), which postulates that there is a tension between discourse-topic vs. sentential-topic oriented languages. The TTH captures the idea that, while narratives are constructed in the same way in both languages, RE realization varies as a result of the discourse-topic orientation of Greek vs. the sentential-topic orientation of Spanish.Agencia Estatal de Investigación 10.13039/501100011033European Regional Development FundHellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation LAL2A project no. 3161Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad ANACOREX R&D PID2020-113818GB-I00, ANACOR R&D FFI2016-75106-

The Crocus sativus Compounds trans-Crocin 4 and trans-Crocetin Modulate the Amyloidogenic Pathway and Tau Misprocessing in Alzheimer Disease Neuronal Cell Culture Models

Crocus sativus L. natural compounds have been extensively used in traditional medicine for thousands of years. Recent research evidence is now emerging in support of its therapeutic potential for different pathologies including neurodegenerative diseases. Herein, the C. sativus L. natural compounds trans-crocin 4 and trans-crocetin were selected for in depth molecular characterization of their potentially protective effects against Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), utilizing two AD neuronal cell culture models (SH-SY5Y overexpressing APP and PC12 expressing hyperphosphorylated tau). Biologically relevant concentrations, ranging from 0.1 μM to 1 mM, applied for 24 h or 72 h, were well tolerated by differentiated wild type SH-SY5Y and PC12 cells. When tested on neuronally differentiated SH-SY5Y-APP both trans-crocin 4 and trans-crocetin had significant effects against amyloidogenic pathways. Trans-crocin 4 significantly decreased of β-secretase, a key enzyme of the amyloidogenic pathway, and APP-C99, while it decreased γ-secretases that generate toxic beta-amyloid peptides. Similarly, trans-crocetin treatment led to a reduction in β- and γ-secretases, as well as to accumulation of cellular AβPP. When tested on the neuronally differentiated PC12-htau cells, both compounds proved effective in suppressing the active forms of GSK3β and ERK1/2 kinases, as well as significantly reducing total tau and tau phosphorylation. Collectively, our data demonstrate a potent effect of trans-crocin 4 and trans-crocetin in suppressing key molecular pathways of AD pathogenesis, rendering them a promising tool in the prevention and potentially the treatment of AD

Genetic testing of Behçet’s disease using next-generation sequencing to identify monogenic mimics and HLA-B*51

Objective: Several monogenic autoinflammatory disorders and primary immunodeficiencies can present early in life with features that may be mistaken for Behçet's disease (BD). We aimed to develop a genetic analysis workflow to identify rare monogenic BD-like diseases and establish the contribution of HLA haplotype in a cohort of patients from the UK. // Methods: Patients with clinically suspected BD were recruited from four BD specialist care centres in the UK. All participants underwent whole exome sequencing (WES), and genetic analysis thereafter by 1. examining genes known to cause monogenic immunodeficiency, autoinflammation or vasculitis by virtual panel application; 2. scrutiny of variants prioritised by Exomiser using Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO); 3. identification of copy number variants using ExomeDepth; and 4. HLA-typing using OptiType. // Results: Thirty-one patients were recruited: median age 15 (4-52), and median disease onset age 5 (0-20). Nine/31 (29%) patients had monogenic disease mimicking BD: 5 cases of Haploinsufficiency of A20 with novel TNFAIP3 variants (p.T76I, p.M112Tfs*8, p.S548Dfs*128, p.C657Vfs*14, p.E661Nfs*36); 1 case of ISG15 deficiency with a novel nonsense variant (ISG15:p.Q16X) and 1p36.33 microdeletion; 1 case of Common variable immune deficiency (TNFRSF13B:p.A181E); and 2 cases of TNF receptor associated periodic syndrome (TNFRSF1A:p.R92Q). Of the remaining 22 patients, 8 (36%) were HLA-B*51 positive. // Conclusion: We describe a novel genetic workflow for BD, which can efficiently detect known and potentially novel monogenic forms of BD, whilst additionally providing HLA-typing. Our results highlight the importance of genetic testing before BD diagnosis, since this has impact on choice of therapy, prognosis, and genetic counselling

Mycophenolate Mofetil Versus Cyclophosphamide for Remission Induction in Childhood Polyarteritis Nodosa: An Open‐Label, Randomized, Bayesian Noninferiority Trial

Funder: Lauren Currie Twilight FoundationFunder: Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001279Funder: Vasculitis UK; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010876Objective: Cyclophosphamide (CYC) is used in clinical practice off‐label for the induction of remission in childhood polyarteritis nodosa (PAN). Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) might offer a less toxic alternative. This study was undertaken to explore the relative effectiveness of CYC and MMF treatment in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Methods: This was an international, open‐label, Bayesian RCT to investigate the relative effectiveness of CYC and MMF for remission induction in childhood PAN. Eleven patients with newly diagnosed childhood PAN were randomized (1:1) to receive MMF or intravenous CYC; all patients received the same glucocorticoid regimen. The primary end point was remission within 6 months while compliant with glucocorticoid taper. Bayesian distributions for remission rates were established a priori for MMF and CYC by experienced clinicians and updated to posterior distributions on trial completion. Results: Baseline disease activity and features were similar between the 2 treatment groups. The primary end point was met in 4 of 6 patients (67%) in the MMF group and 4 of 5 patients (80%) in the CYC group. Time to remission was shorter in the MMF group compared to the CYC group (median 7.1 weeks versus 17.6 weeks). No relapses occurred in either group within 18 months. Two serious infections were found to be likely linked to MMF treatment. Physical and psychosocial quality‐of‐life scores were superior in the MMF group compared to the CYC group at 6 months and 18 months. Combining the prior expert opinion with results from the present study provided posterior estimates of remission of 71% for MMF (90% credibility interval [90% CrI] 51, 83) and 75% for CYC (90% CrI 57, 86). Conclusion: The present results, taken together with prior opinion, indicate that rates of remission induction in childhood PAN are similar with MMF treatment and CYC treatment, and MMF treatment might be associated with better health‐related quality of life than CYC treatment

La recherche sur les migrations en Grèce

Papadopoulou Despina. La recherche sur les migrations en Grèce. In: Revue européenne des migrations internationales, vol. 7, n°1,1991. pp. 171-180