Is Bigger Better? Corpus and Dictionary Use in the Search for Compounds, Collocations, Derived Forms and Fixed Expressions

In the course of the development of a bilingual dictionary, a number of monolingual source language and target language dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, and text corpora are typically used as tools to create entries. When dealing with words that occur at a high frequency in the corpus, determining which collocations, compounds, derived forms and fixed expressions are to be included in the dictionary is an additional complication. This paper presents the relative merits of using dictionary and corpus sources for searching for this type of information. We present frequency searching as an efficient and useful tool for corpus analysis, especially in the case of high-frequency words.La création d’entrées dans le cadre de l’élaboration d’un dictionnaire bilingue mobilise habituellement des dictionnaires unilingues dans les langues source et cible, des dictionnaires bilingues ainsi que des corpus textuels. En outre, la fréquence élevée de certains mots dans le corpus impose une sélection des collocations, des mots composés, des formes dérivées et des expressions figées à inclure dans le dictionnaire. Le présent article offre un aperçu des avantages découlant de la combinaison de l’usage des sources dictionnairiques et des corpus de données. Nous proposons que la recherche par fréquence est un paramètre particulièrement utile pour résoudre les difficultés posées par l’étude de mots présents dans le corpus à une fréquence élevée

Changes of renin-angiotensin system-related aminopeptidases in early stage Alzheimer's disease

Activities of aminopeptidases A, B, and N (ApA, ApB & ApN) and insulin-regulated aminopeptidase (IRAP) have been seen to be decreased amongst patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). All of these enzymes are involved with the brain renin-angiotensin system which is believed to be involved with learning and memory. This study aimed to explore the time course and the mechanisms underlying these changes. Serum samples were collected from 45 AD patients at the start of the study, and again 13 months later (n = 37). The control group was 22 healthy, older, adults. Enzyme activity was determined at two substrate concentrations to allow Michaelis-Menten analysis of the enzyme activity. The results indicated that there was decreased activity of ApA, ApB and ApN amongst AD patients but no difference in serum IRAP activity. There were no associations between enzyme activity and age, gender nor scores on psychomotor tests. Consideration of the data for the two time points for AD patients showed that the changes in ApB occurred at an early stage of the disease and persisted, whilst those of ApA and ApN only became apparent at later stages of the disease. Although differences in Michaelis-Menten parameters were not statistically significant, consideration of the values suggested that the decrease in ApB activity may be a result of changes in enzyme protein conformation, whilst that of ApN may be a consequence of decreased enzyme expression. Importantly, the different time courses of the effects and the differential changes in enzyme affinity and expression indicated that the observed changes with progression of AD were not a ‘class effect’ for serum aminopeptidases but were idiosyncratic for the individual enzymes

Are forested buffers an effective conservation strategy for riparian fauna? An assessment using meta-analysis

Historically, forested riparian buffers have been created to provide protection for aquatic organisms and aquatic ecosystem functions. Increasingly, new and existing riparian buffers are being used also to meet terrestrial conservation requirements. To test the effectiveness of riparian buffers for conserving terrestrial fauna, we conducted a meta-analysis using published data from 397 comparisons of species abundance in riparian buffers and unharvested (reference) riparian sites. The response of terrestrial species to riparian buffers was not consistent between taxonomic groups; bird and arthropod abundances were significantly greater in buffers relative to unharvested areas, whereas amphibian abundance decreased. Edge-preferring species were more abundant in buffer sites than reference sites, whereas species associated with interior habitat were not significantly different in abundance. The degree of buffer effect on animal abundance was unrelated to buffer width; wider buffers did not result in greater similarity between reference and buffer sites. However, responses to buffer treatment were more variable in buffers ,50 m wide, a commonly prescribed width in many management plans. Our results indicate that current buffer prescriptions do not maintain most terrestrial organisms in buffer strips at levels comparable to undisturbed sites

Porcine small and large intestinal microbiota rapidly hydrolyze the masked mycotoxin deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside and release deoxynivalenol in spiked batch cultures in vitro

This study was supported by the Scottish Government Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services division (RESAS) and by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (project ANR-13-CESA-0003-03). We thank Anne-Marie Cossalter for her excellent technical assistance with pigs.Peer reviewedPostprin

Perception of family support among low-income elderly and associated factors

This study aims to identify the perception of family support among low-income elderly and associated factors. It is cross- sectional study with a sample of 235 elderly residents of Jequié, Bahia, Brazil. The instrument consisted of: demographics and health; Mini-Mental State Examination, Barthel Index, and Perceived Family Support Inventory. Statistical analysis was performed with a p<0.05 level of significance, upon completion of the Chi-Square. There was a statistically significant difference between the averages for Consistency-affection domain and presence of consequences variables (p=0.042) and impairment of basic daily living activities (p=0.033); and between Family-adaptation domain averages and illiterate education levels (p=0.012); and between the Autonomy domain and married state variables (p=0.013), completion of treatment (p=0.032), and impairment of basic daily living activities (p=0.011). Thus, it is evident that most seniors tested showed impaired perception of family support

Frozen section analysis and sentinel lymph node biopsy in well differentiated thyroid cancer

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to prospectively review the role of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy in the management of well differentiated thyroid carcinoma (WDTC), and to determine the efficacy of intraoperative frozen section analysis at detecting SLN metastasis and central compartment involvement. METHODS: The SLN biopsy protocol using 1% methylene blue was performed in 300 patients undergoing thyroidectomy for WDTC. A limited pretracheal central compartment neck dissection (CCND) was performed on all patients. Lymph nodes staining blue were considered as SLN’s. Both frozen and permanent section analyses were performed. RESULTS: SLN’s with metastasis were found in 14.3% (43/300) of cases. Of this, 11% (33/300) were positive on intraoperative frozen section analysis. Frozen section results failed in predicting central compartment involvement in 15 cases (5%) whereas central neck compartment involvement was missed in 5 cases (1.7%) when based on permanent section results. On frozen section analysis, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value (95% CI) of our SLN biopsy technique aiming to remove all disease from the central compartment was 68.8% (53.6-80.9), 100% (98.1-100), 100% (87.0-100) and 94.4% (90.7-96.7) respectively with P < 0.0001. On permanent section analysis, the values were 89.6% (76.6-96.1), 100% (98.1-100), 100% (89.8-100), and 98.1% (95.3-99.3) with P < 0.0001. CONCLUSION: This data series demonstrates that patients with WDTC have positive SLN’s in 14.3% of cases. Moreover, when the SLN’s are negative for metastasis on frozen section, the central compartment was disease-free in 94.4% of cases. Finally, this study shows that 23.3% of positive SLN’s were false negatives on intraoperative frozen section. According to this data, SLN involvement is an accurate predictor of central compartment metastasis, however surgeons should use caution when relying on intraoperative frozen section to determine whether to perform a CCND

Avaliação de saúde e da dor no pós-operatório de idosos submetidos à cirurgia cardíaca

O presente estudo teve por objetivo avaliar a saúde e a dor em idosos com insuficiência coronariana submetidos à cirurgia cardíaca. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de caráter analítico, prospectivo, com delineamento transversal e abordagem quantitativa. Os dados foram coletados a partir de uma ficha de avaliação fisioterapêutica e da escala numérica de dor, junto a 70 idosos submetidos à cirurgia cardíaca, em dois hospitais do município de Natal-RN. A faixa etária mais frequente foi de 60 a 69 anos (61,43%), seguida do sexo masculino (62,86%). Em relação às condições de saúde, 61,43% dos idosos apresentavam patologias pré-existentes, sendo a de maior distribuição, a Hipertensão Arterial Sistêmica (31,40%). O comportamento doloroso foi moderado no 1° e 3° e leve no 2° e 4° dias de pós- operatório. Desta forma, constatou-se que a maioria dos idosos submetidos à cirurgia cardíaca era do sexo masculino, que apresentava patologias pré-existentes, sendo a hipertensão, a patologia mais frequente, e com intensidade dolorosa predominantemente moderada

Creating competency based behaviorally anchored rating scales using an online sample

The current project takes action on Kell et al.’s (2017) call for research on non-traditional methods for developing behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS). Typically, BARS are used when conducting structured interviews to ensure high predictive validity and reliability while minimizing biases. The traditional method of constructing BARS requires time and resources which may deter organizations from adopting such scales. Our proposed methodology will assuage these deterrents. We have designed a survey to collect critical incidents from subject matter experts (SMEs) online using ProLific, a crowdsourcing software. For the purpose of this study, participants will be filtered based on their age, position and industry. This will ensure participants are over 18 and have spent at least one year in the role of middle manager. Additionally, participants in the healthcare and education industries will be excluded per expert recommendation due to the unique nature of these fields. Through an automatic randomization process, participants will be presented with 15 questions from a bank of 25 behaviorally based interview questions. Upon completion, participants will be asked to read a debriefing form within the survey. Then, they will be prompted to submit the survey. Participants will be compensated for their time. SMEs will then be tasked with extracting and filtering behavioral statements from the critical incidents while blind to the competency they were generated for. Next, SMEs will be split into two groups. The first group of SMEs will individually sort each statement into the competency they interpret to be most representative. Agreement will be calculated and statements not reaching this predetermined threshold will be removed. The second group of SMEs will rate each behavioral statement for its relevance to all five competencies. Statements will be assigned to the highest rated competency. SMEs will then trade behavioral statements and rate each one on effectiveness. The average effectiveness rating for each critical incident will be calculated and used to determine where to place the behavioral anchors on the rating scale. Given the relevance of the current project and the rich qualitative data that will be collected, the dissemination of the data and project findings offers an exciting opportunity. The key audience for this project is other Industrial-Organizational researchers and professionals. We aim to present these findings in a way that will be more attractive to organizations and encourage the adoption of this resource-friendly and streamlined process

A semi-parametric approach to estimate risk functions associated with multi-dimensional exposure profiles: application to smoking and lung cancer

A common characteristic of environmental epidemiology is the multi-dimensional aspect of exposure patterns, frequently reduced to a cumulative exposure for simplicity of analysis. By adopting a flexible Bayesian clustering approach, we explore the risk function linking exposure history to disease. This approach is applied here to study the relationship between different smoking characteristics and lung cancer in the framework of a population based case control study

Exploring brain glutathione and peripheral blood markers in posttraumatic stress disorder: a combined [1H]MRS and peripheral blood study

IntroductionOxidative stress has been implicated in psychiatric disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Currently, the status of glutathione (GSH), the brain's most abundant antioxidant, in PTSD remains uncertain. Therefore, the current study investigated brain concentrations of GSH and peripheral concentrations of blood markers in individuals with PTSD vs. Healthy Controls (HC).MethodsGSH spectra was acquired in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) using MEGA-PRESS, a J-difference-editing acquisition method. Peripheral blood samples were analyzed for concentrations of metalloproteinase (MMP)-9, tissue inhibitors of MMP (TIMP)-1,2, and myeloperoxidase (MPO).ResultsThere was no difference in GSH between PTSD and HC in the ACC (n = 30 PTSD, n = 20 HC) or DLPFC (n = 14 PTSD, n = 18 HC). There were no group differences between peripheral blood markers (P &gt; 0.3) except for (non-significantly) lower TIMP-2 in PTSD. Additionally, TIMP-2 and GSH in the ACC were positively related in those with PTSD. Finally, MPO and MMP-9 were negatively associated with duration of PTSD.ConclusionsWe do not report altered GSH concentrations in the ACC or DLPFC in PTSD, however, systemic MMPs and MPO might be implicated in central processes and progression of PTSD. Future research should investigate these relationships in larger sample sizes