Consonants, vowels and levels of specification in the phonological representations of the first lexicon: a review.

A review of the main studies on the format of lexical representation in the initial stages of language development is presented. Current investigations reveal a significant level of phonological specificity in the representation of words in the first lexicon, even before age two years. These results can be explained from a theoretical framework that posits the existence of multiple levels of encoding and suggests differences in accessing the represented information as a function of task demands or vocabulary size. The existence of possible differences in the degree of specification of vowels and consonants represented in the lexicon is an area of current debate. This article discusses the present state of this debate in the light of recent findings from research with different languages, in populations with different linguistic environments (monolingual and bilingual) and from experimental approaches that involve varying degrees of cognitive demands

Connecting perception and production in early Catalan-Spanish bilingual children: language dominance and quality of input effects

This study investigates perception and production of the Catalan mid-vowel /e/-/ɛ/ contrast by two groups of 4.5-year-old Catalan-Spanish bilingual children, differing in language dominance. Perception was assessed with an XAB discrimination task involving familiar words and non-words. Production accuracy was measured using a familiar-word elicitation task. Overall, Catalan-dominant bilingual children outperformed Spanish-dominant bilinguals, the latter showing high variability in production accuracy, while being slightly above chance level in perception. No correlation between perception and production performance could be established in this group. The effect of language dominance alone could not explain the Spanish-dominant participants' performance, but quality of Catalan input (native vs. accented speech) was identified as an important factor behind familiar-word production and the inaccurate representation of the target contrast in the lexicon of the bilinguals' less-dominant language. More fine-grained measurements of experience-related factors are needed for a full understanding of the acquisition of challenging contrasts in bilingual contexts

Catégories phonologiques et représentation des mots dans le développement lexical de l’enfant bilingue

Cet article analyse l’émergence des catégories contrastives dans le développement phonologique initial bilingue. On présente différents travaux qui, au cours de la première année de vie, ont évalué les capacités précoces de différentiation entre les langues de l’entourage, la discrimination des sons de la parole à l’étape pré-lexicale, la familiarité avec les patrons phonotactiques qui caractérisent la langue et la continuité entre toutes ces habilités précoces et leur utilisation dans la reconnaissance des premiers mots. La comparaison entre deux situations d’acquisition différentes, monolingue et bilingue, permet de constater le rôle de l’expérience perceptive dans l’organisation phonologique initiale. Les travaux analysés montrent que la capacité pour distinguer entre les deux langues de l’entourage, même quand elles ont des propriétés rythmiques très semblables, est possible dès l’age de 4 mois. Le processus de réorganisation perceptive, qui a lieu vers la fin de la première année de vie et qui montre le début de l’organisation contrastive de sons, suit un développement différent chez le bilingue en montrant un petit « retard » quand on le compare avec le monolingue. La connaissance des patrons phonotactiques suggère une prédominance linguistique chez le bilingue qui favorise la langue qui est plus présente dans l’entourage. Finalement, les travaux qui ont analysé la reconnaissance des mots familiers et leur format de représentation dans la deuxième année de vie montrent aussi un décalage temporel en ce qui concerne la représentation d’un contraste vocalique qui appartient à une des deux langues familières. On constate la spécificité du développement phonologique initial chez le bilingue qui doit faire des adaptations précises pour faire face à la nature plus riche et complexe de son input linguistique.This paper analyses the building of contrastive sound categories in bilingual’s early phonological development. Research focused on early capacity to differentiate between the languages in the environment, sound discrimination in the prelexical infant, the development of phonotactic sensitivities and the continuity between these early abilities and their use in familiar word recognition in the second year of life, are successively revised. The comparison between two different language acquisition situations, monolingual and bilingual, offers the possibility to analyse the role of linguistic exposure in early phonological organisation. Research results indicate that the ability to distinguish between the languages is at place by 4 months of age, even for languages with similar rhythmic properties. Perceptual reorganization processes that take place by the end of the first year of life and that show the initial building of contrastive sound categories follow a different time-course in bilingual acquisition, when compared with monolingual data. Growing knowledge of phonotactic patterns even suggests the existence of language dominance, favouring the most frequent language in their environment. Finally, work dealing with familiar word recognition and format of representation by age two suggests a possible delay concerning the representation of a vowel contrast that belongs to one of the languages in the environment. Converging evidence from all the work revised supports the specificity of early phonological development in bilingual acquisition as a consequence of particular adaptations that take place in order to cope with the richer and more complex nature of their linguistic input

Linguistic knowledge-based vocabularies for Neural Machine Translation

This article has been published in a revised form in Natural Language Engineering https://doi.org/10.1017/S1351324920000364. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Cambridge University PressNeural Networks applied to Machine Translation need a finite vocabulary to express textual information as a sequence of discrete tokens. The currently dominant subword vocabularies exploit statistically-discovered common parts of words to achieve the flexibility of character-based vocabularies without delegating the whole learning of word formation to the neural network. However, they trade this for the inability to apply word-level token associations, which limits their use in semantically-rich areas and prevents some transfer learning approaches e.g. cross-lingual pretrained embeddings, and reduces their interpretability. In this work, we propose new hybrid linguistically-grounded vocabulary definition strategies that keep both the advantages of subword vocabularies and the word-level associations, enabling neural networks to profit from the derived benefits. We test the proposed approaches in both morphologically rich and poor languages, showing that, for the former, the quality in the translation of out-of-domain texts is improved with respect to a strong subword baseline.This work is partially supported by Lucy Software / United Language Group (ULG) and the Catalan Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) through an Industrial PhD Grant. This work is also supported in part by the Spanish Ministerio de Economa y Competitividad, the European Regional Development Fund and the Agencia Estatal de Investigacin, through the postdoctoral senior grant Ramn y Cajal, contract TEC2015-69266-P (MINECO/FEDER,EU) and contract PCIN-2017-079 (AEI/MINECO).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Rapid gains in segmenting fluent speech when words match the rhythmic unit: evidence from infants acquiring syllable-timed languages

The ability to extract word-forms from sentential contexts represents an initial step in infants' process toward lexical acquisition. By age 6 months the ability is just emerging and evidence of it is restricted to certain testing conditions. Most research has been developed with infants acquiring stress-timed languages (English, but also German and Dutch) whose rhythmic unit is not the syllable. Data from infants acquiring syllable-timed languages are still scarce and limited to French (European and Canadian), partially revealing some discrepancies with English regarding the age at which word segmentation ability emerges. Research reported here aims at broadening this cross-linguistic perspective by presenting first data on the early ability to segment monosyllabic word-forms by infants acquiring Spanish and Catalan. Three different language groups (two monolingual and one bilingual) and two different age groups (8- and 6-month-old infants) were tested using natural language and a modified version of the HPP with familiarization to passages and testing on words. Results revealed positive evidence of word segmentation in all groups at both ages, but critically, the pattern of preference differed by age. A novelty preference was obtained in the older groups, while the expected familiarity preference was only found at the younger age tested, suggesting more advanced segmentation ability with an increase in age. These results offer first evidence of an early ability for monosyllabic word segmentation in infants acquiring syllable-timed languages such as Spanish or Catalan, not previously described in the literature. Data show no impact of bilingual exposure in the emergence of this ability and results suggest rapid gains in early segmentation for words that match the rhythm unit of the native language

Changes in Spanish lifestyle and dietary habits during the COVID-19 lockdown

Purpose: The COVID-2019 pandemic forced many governments to declare the 'to stay at home' which encouraged social distancing and isolation among citizens. The aim of this study was to assess the dietary and lifestyle habit changes that occurred during home confinement in Spain. Methods: An European online survey was launched in April 2020. This included 70 questions on sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, dietary habits, including key Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) foods. A total of 945 Spanish adults from 1268 European that completed the online survey were included in the analysis. Results: Most of the Spanish participants adopted healthier dietary habits during home lockdown, which was translated to a higher MedDiet adherence. However, a negative impact on physical activity levels, sleep quality or smoking rates was observed. Low MedDiet adherence was associated with a higher risk of weight gain (OR = 1.53, CI 1.1-2.1; p = 0.016), while no snacking between meals reduced the risk by 80% (OR = 0.20, CI 0.09-0.45, p < 0.001) and eating more quantity, considering portion size, increased body weight gain risk almost sixfold more. Conclusion: To conclude, although dietary habits were improved during home lockdown, certain unhealthy behaviours (e.g. increased snacking between meals, increased food intake, and an increase in sedentary behaviour) were increased

A Comparative Study of the Efficacy of an Intervention with a Nutritional Supplement for Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease: A Randomized Trial.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) involves heterogeneous diseases that affect the renal structure and function. Malnutrition plays a crucial role during patients with CKD on hemodialysis (HD) treatment and is associated with an increased rate and duration of hospitalizations. The aim of this randomized, parallel, intervention-controlled trial was to assess whether the use of daily supplementation with a new nutritional product developed by the Grand Fontaine Laboratories improves the nutritional status and anthropometric parameters of stage 5 CKD patients, compared with standard renal dietary advice, after three months of follow-up. Dietary intake, anthropometric measurements, physical activity, and blood samples were collected at baseline and after three months of intervention. Significant improvements were observed within the intervention group in body weight (1.5 kg [95% CI: 0.9 to 2.12 kg]) and BMI (0.54 kg/m2 [95% CI: 0.31 to 0.77]; p-value between groups, 0.002 and 0.006, respectively). In the control group, significant decreases were observed in transferrin saturation (−5.04% [95% CI: −8.88 to −1.21]) and alpha-tocopherol levels (−3.31 umol/L [95% CI: −6.30 to −0.32]). We concluded that daily dietary intake of a specific renal nutritional complement in CKD patients with or at risk of malnutrition may prevent deterioration in nutritional parameters

The human mitochondrial transcription factor A is a versatile G-quadruplex binding protein

The ability of the guanine-rich strand of the human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to form G-quadruplex structures (G4s) has been recently highlighted, suggesting potential functions in mtDNA replication initiation and mtDNA stability. G4 structures in mtDNA raise the question of their recognition by factors associated with the mitochondrial nucleoid. The mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM), a highmobility group (HMG)-box protein, is the major binding protein of human mtDNA and plays a critical role in its expression and maintenance. HMG-box proteins are pleiotropic sensors of DNA structural alterations. Thus, we investigated and uncovered a surprising ability of TFAM to bind to DNA or RNA G4 with great versatility, showing an affinity similar than to double-stranded DNA. The recognition of G4s by endogenous TFAM was detected in mitochondrial extracts by pull-down experiments using a G4-DNA from the mtDNA conserved sequence block II (CSBII). Biochemical characterization shows that TFAM binding to G4 depends on both the G-quartets core and flanking single-stranded overhangs. Additionally, it shows a structure-specific binding mode that differs from B-DNA, including G4- dependent TFAM multimerization. These TFAM-G4 interactions suggest functional recognition of G4s in the mitochondria

Validation of a pregnancy-adapted Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (preg-MEDAS): a validation study nested in the Improving Mothers for a better PrenAtal Care Trial BarCeloNa (IMPACT BCN) trial

Background: Non-time-consuming and easy-to-administer dietary assessment tools specific for pregnancy are needed. Objectives: The aim of this validation study nested in the IMPACT BCN (Improving Mothers for a better PrenAtal Care Trial BarCeloNa) trial is to determine the concurrent validity of the 17-item pregnancy-adapted Mediterranean diet score (preg-MEDAS) and to analyze whether changes in the preg-MEDAS score were associated with maternal favorable dietary and cardiometabolic changes after 3 mo of intervention in pregnant women. Methods: Dietary data was collected in 812 participants using the preg-MEDAS and a 151-item validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) at baseline (19-23 wk gestation) and final visit (31-34 wk gestation). Concurrent preg-MEDAS validity was evaluated by Pearson and intraclass correlation coefficients, κ statistic, and Bland-Altman methods. Results: The preg-MEDAS had a good correlation with the FFQ (r = 0.76 and intraclass correlation coefficient 0.75). The agreement of each of the preg-MEDAS items ranged from 40.9% to 93.8% with a substantial agreement mean concordance (κ = 0.61). A 2-point increase in preg-MEDAS was associated with a decrease in maternal mean and systolic blood pressure (β: -0.51 mmHg; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.97, -0.04 mmHg and -0.87 mmHg; 95% CI: -1.48, -0.26 mmHg, respectively). Conclusions: The preg-MEDAS displays good validity for assessing adherence to the Mediterranean diet, allowing detection of dietary changes over time. In addition, changes observed in preg-MEDAS are significantly associated with a decrease in maternal blood pressure. Therefore, we propose preg-MEDAS as a rapid and simple dietary assessment tool during pregnancy. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03166332

Maternal Dietary Inflammatory Index during Pregnancy Is Associated with Perinatal Outcomes: Results from the IMPACT BCN Trial

The information available on the effects of maternal dietary habits on systemic inflammation and adverse maternal outcomes is limited. We aimed to evaluate whether Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) score during pregnancy is associated with maternal body mass index (BMI), Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence, and perinatal outcomes. At 19-23 weeks' gestation, 1028 pregnant women were recruited. Dietary information was assessed using a 17-item dietary score to evaluate MD adherence and a validated 151-item food frequency questionnaire. DII score was established according to 33 food and nutritional proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory items. Participants were distributed into tertiles according to the DII score, where a lower DII score (first tertile) represented an anti-inflammatory diet and the third tertile represented the more proinflammatory diet. Maternal characteristics and perinatal outcomes were collected, and newborns' birthweight percentiles were calculated. Adjusted logistic regression models were used to assess the association of the DII score with maternal and perinatal characteristics, setting the third tertile as the reference group. Women in the third tertile showed lower adherence to MD score compared to the first tertile: median (25th to 75th percentile) 9 (7 to 11) vs. 6 (4.25 to 8), p < 0.001. The proinflammatory diet was significantly associated with a higher maternal pre-pregnancy BMI (adjusted β = 0.88; 95% CI: 0.31 to 1.45) and lower newborn's birthweight percentile (adjusted β = −9.84th; 95% CI: −19.6 to −0.12). These data show that a proinflammatory diet profile may be associated with maternal overweight and fetal undergrowth