“Local, but intelligent”: Language Ideologies in the Informant Biographies of the Linguistic Atlas Project

This thesis argues for the relevance of the Linguistic Atlas Project (LAP) for studies of language ideologies, indexicality, and enregisterment. The LAP represents the largest dialect survey of North American English to date, offering an abundance of historical linguistic data for research in dialectology, linguistic geography, and variation over space and time. Additionally, the LAP also contains additional sources of sociolinguistic data, including informant biographies — documents written by fieldworkers at the conclusion of the LAP interview that summarize an informant’s demographic profile, as well as their personality, speech, and caliber as an interviewee. Rife with subjective judgments from the fieldworker, informant biographies present the opportunity for the study of language ideologies in the LAP. This thesis performs a qualitative discourse analysis of 583 informant biographies collected as part of the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and South Atlantic States (LAMSAS). Focusing on analysis of pragmatic features, this study reveals the ways that language ideologies, indexicality, and enregisterment are encoded into informant biographies and the LAP more broadly. This analysis suggests that linguistic data in the LAP can be understood as products of an indexical, ideological, and enregistered negotiation of language and identity, co-constructed between informants and fieldworkers

Fractional differentiability for solutions of nonlinear elliptic equations

We study nonlinear elliptic equations in divergence form $${\operatorname{div}}{\mathcal A}(x,Du)={\operatorname{div}}G.$$ When ${\mathcal A}$ has linear growth in $Du$, and assuming that $x\mapsto{\mathcal A}(x,\xi)$ enjoys $B^\alpha_{\frac{n}\alpha, q}$ smoothness, local well-posedness is found in $B^\alpha_{p,q}$ for certain values of $p\in[2,\frac{n}{\alpha})$ and $q\in[1,\infty]$. In the particular case ${\mathcal A}(x,\xi)=A(x)\xi$, $G=0$ and $A\in B^\alpha_{\frac{n}\alpha,q}$, $1\leq q\leq\infty$, we obtain $Du\in B^\alpha_{p,q}$ for each $p<\frac{n}\alpha$. Our main tool in the proof is a more general result, that holds also if ${\mathcal A}$ has growth $s-1$ in $Du$, $2\leq s\leq n$, and asserts local well-posedness in $L^q$ for each $q>s$, provided that $x\mapsto{\mathcal A}(x,\xi)$ satisfies a locally uniform $VMO$ condition

The use of a non-absorbable membrane as an occlusive barrier for alveolar ridge preservation: A one year follow-up prospective cohort study

The aims of this study were to obtain preliminary data and test the clinical efficacy of a novel nonporous dense-polytetrafluoroethylene (d-PTFE) membrane (permamem®, botiss) in alveolar ridge preservation (ARP) procedures with a flapless approach. A traumatic extraction was performed in the premolar maxillary area, and a d-PTFE membrane was used to seal the alveolar cavity: no biomaterial was used to graft the socket and the membrane was left intentionally exposed and stabilized with sutures. The membrane was removed after four weeks and dental implants were placed four months after the procedure. The primary outcome variables were defined as the dimensional changes in the ridge width and height after four months. A total of 15 patients were enrolled in this study. The mean width of the alveolar cavity was 8.9 ± 1.1 mm immediately after tooth extraction, while four months later a mean reduction of 1.75 mm was experienced. A mean vertical reduction of 0.9 ± 0.42 mm on the buccal aspect and 0.6 ± 0.23 mm on the palatal aspect were recorded at implant placement. Within the limitations of this study, the d-PTFE membrane proved to be effective in alveolar ridge preservation, with the outcomes of the regeneration not affected by the complete exposure of this biomaterial

Dike intrusions during rifting episodes obey scaling relationships similar to earthquakes

As continental rifts evolve towards mid-ocean ridges, strain is accommodated by repeated episodes of faulting and magmatism. Discrete rifting episodes have been observed along two subaerial divergent plate boundaries, the Krafla segment of the Northern Volcanic Rift Zone in Iceland and the Manda-Hararo segment of the Red Sea Rift in Ethiopia. In both cases, the initial and largest dike intrusion was followed by a series of smaller intrusions. By performing a statistical analysis of these rifting episodes, we demonstrate that dike intrusions obey scaling relationships similar to earthquakes. We find that the dimensions of dike intrusions obey a power law analogous to the Gutenberg-Richter relation and the long-term release of geodetic moment is governed by a relationship consistent with the Omori law. Due to the effects of magma supply, the timing of secondary dike intrusions differs from that of the aftershocks. This work provides evidence of self-similarity in the rifting process

Virion-associated viral fibroblast growth factor stimulates cell motility

AbstractThe Autographa californica M nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) viral fibroblast growth factor (vFGF) has functional parallels to cellular FGFs. Deletion of the AcMNPV vfgf has no obvious phenotype in cell culture but delays the time of insect death. Here, we determined vFGF production during virus infection. vFGF was detected at 24 hours post infection and through the remainder of the infection cycle. Since vFGF is thought to be a secreted membrane-binding protein and virions acquire an envelope derived from the cell membrane, we examined virions for the presence of vFGF using microscopy, flow cytometry, and affinity chromatography. We found that vFGF associated with virions. Furthermore, budded virus carrying vFGF had more affinity to heparin than vFGF-deficient budded virus, consistent with the affinity of FGFs for heparan sulfate proteoglycans. Although the function of virion-associated vFGF is not clear, we found that virion-associated vFGF stimulated cell motility and affected virus attachment

Cerebral venous hemodynamic abnormalities in episodic and chronic migraine

Alterations of cerebral venous drainage have been demonstrated in chronic migraine (CM), suggesting that cerebral venous hemodynamic abnormalities (CVHAs) play a role in this condition. The aim of the present study was to look for a correlation between CM and CVHAs. We recruited 33 subjects suffering from CM with or without analgesic overuse, 29 episodic migraine (EM) patients with or without aura, and 21 healthy subjects as controls (HCs). CVHAs were evaluated by transcranial and extracranial echo-color Doppler evaluation of five venous hemodynamic parameters. CVHAs were significantly more frequent in the CM and EM patients than in the HCs. In the migraine patients, CVHAs were not correlated with clinical features. Cerebral venous hemodynamic abnormalities in episodic and chronic migraine The significantly greater frequency of CVHAs observed in the migraineurs may reflect a possible relationship between migraine and these abnormalities. Prospective longitudinal studies are needed to investigate whether CVHAs have a role in the processes of migraine chronification

Intramolecular C-H oxidative addition to iridium(I) triggered by trimethyl phosphite in N,N′-diphosphanesilanediamine complexes

The reaction of [Ir(SiNP)(cod)][PF] ([1][PF]) and of IrCl(SiNP)(cod) (5) (SiNP = SiMe{N(4-CHCH)PPh}) with trimethyl phosphite affords the iridium(iii) derivatives of the formula [IrHCl(SiNP-H){P(OMe)}] (x = 0, 3; x = 1, 6) containing the κC,P,P′-coordinated SiNP-H ligand (SiNP-H = Si(CH)(CH){N(4-CHCH)PPh}). The thermally unstable pentacoordinated cation [Ir(SiNP){P(OMe)}(cod)] (2) has been detected as an intermediate of the reaction and has been fully characterised in solution. Also, the mechanism of the C-H oxidative addition has been elucidated by DFT calculations showing that the square planar iridium(i) complexes of the formula [IrCl(SiNP){P(OMe)}] (x = 0, 4; x = 1, 7) should be firstly obtained from 2 and finally should undergo the C-H oxidative addition to iridium(i) via a concerted intramolecular mechanism. The influence of the counterion of 2 on the outcome of the C-H oxidative addition reaction has also been investigated.Financial support from Spanish “Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad” (CTQ2013–42532–P), “Diputación General de Aragón” (Group E07) and University of Zaragoza (UZCUD2014–CIE–13) is gratefully acknowledged.Peer Reviewe

Duchenne muscular dystrophy: From diagnosis to therapy

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked inherited neuromuscular disorder due to mutations in the dystrophin gene. It is characterized by progressive muscle weakness and wasting due to the absence of dystrophin protein that causes degeneration of skeletal and cardiac muscle. The molecular diagnostic of DMD involves a deletions/duplications analysis performed by quantitative technique such as microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH), Multiple Ligation Probe Assay MLPA. Since traditional methods for detection of point mutations and other sequence variants require high cost and are time consuming, especially for a large gene like dystrophin, the use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has become a useful tool available for clinical diagnosis. The dystrophin gene is large and finely regulated in terms of tissue expression, and RNA processing and editing includes a variety of fine tuned processes. At present, there are no effective treatments and the steroids are the only fully approved drugs used in DMD therapy able to slow disease progression. In the last years, an increasing variety of strategies have been studied as a possible therapeutic approach aimed to restore dystrophin production and to preserve muscle mass, ameliorating the DMD phenotype. RNA is the most studied target for the development of clinical strategies and Antisense Oligonucleotides (AONs) are the most used molecules for RNA modulation. The identification of delivery system to enhance the efficacy and to reduce the toxicity of AON is the main purpose in this area and nanomaterials are a very promising model as DNA/RNA molecules vectors. Dystrophinopathies therefore represent a pivotal field of investigation, which has opened novel avenues in molecular biology, medical genetics and novel therapeutic options

Cadmium exposure and cancer mortality in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey cohort.

Objective This study examined prospective data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) cohort to investigate the relationship between cadmium exposure and cancer mortality, and the specific cancers associated with cadmium exposure, in the general population. Methods Vital status and cause of death through 31 December 2006 were obtained by the National Center for Health Statistics for NHANES III participants. The cadmium concentration of spot urine samples was measured and corrected for urine creatinine (uCd). Weighted Cox proportional hazards regression with age as the time metric was applied to estimate sex-specific adjusted HRs (aHRs) of mortality associated with uCd for all cancers and the cancers responsible for the most deaths in the USA. Estimates were stratified by smoking history and adjusted for education, body mass index and race. Results uCd was associated with cancer mortality (aHR per twofold higher uCd (95% CI), men: 1.26 (1.07 to 1.48); women: 1.21 (1.04 to 1.42)). In men, mortality from lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma was associated with uCd; an association with leukaemia mortality was suggested. In women, associations were suggested with mortality due to lung cancer, leukaemia, ovarian and uterine cancer, but evidence was weaker than in men. Conclusions Cadmium appears to be associated with overall cancer mortality in men and women, but the specific cancers associated differ between men and women, suggesting avenues for future research. Limitations of the study include the possibility of uncontrolled confounding by cigarette smoking or other factors, and the limited number of deaths due to some cancers