Planting the seed for sound change: Evidence from real-time MRI of velum kinematics in German

Velum movement signals generated from real-time magnetic resonance imaging videos of thirty-five German speakers were used to investigate the physiological conditions that might promote sound change involving the development of contrastive vowel nasality. The results suggest that, in comparison to when a nasal consonant precedes a voiced obstruent, the velum gesture associated with a nasal consonant preceding a voiceless obstruent undergoes gestural rescaling and temporal rephasing. This further suggests that the diachronic development of contrastive vowel nasality comprises two stages: the first stage involves gestural shortening and realignment, while the second stage involves a trading relationship between source and effect

Planting the seed of sound change: Evidence from real-time MRI of velum kinematics in German

Velum movement signals generated from real-time magnetic resonance imaging videos of thirty-five German speakers were used to investigate the physiological conditions that might pro-mote sound change involving the development of contrastive vowel nasality. The results suggest that, in comparison to when a nasal consonant precedes a voiced obstruent, the velum gesture as-sociated with a nasal consonant preceding a voiceless obstruent undergoes gestural rescaling and temporal rephasing. This further suggests that the diachronic development of contrastive vowel nasality comprises two stages: the first stage involves gestural shortening and realignment, while the second stage involves a trading relationship between source and effect

The Black Feminist Mixtape: A Collective Black Feminist Autoethnography of Black Women\u27s Existence in the Academy

Seven Black women graduate students from across different functional areas of higher education work in solidarity to write a collective Black Feminist Autoethnography (BFA) (Griffin, 2012) about our experiences at our respective colleges and universities. BFA is a theoretical and methodological means for Black female academics to critically narrate the pride and pain of Black womanhood (Griffin, 2012, p. 1). This article centers Black feminist scholarship as a framework to reflexively interpret how we as seven Black women navigate within, against, and beyond the academy to address dominant narratives that affect our professional and personal experiences. We use contemporary music lyrics and poems by Black women to actively illustrate and interrogate our individual and collective positionalities to promote critical literacy. Together, we are seven Black sista scholars who reclaim our voice as legitimized epistemologies in academic spaces. Hear Our Voices

Host pathogen interactions in relation to management of light leaf spot disease (caused by Pyrenopeziza brassicae) on Brassica species

Light leaf spot, caused by Pyrenopeziza brassicae, is currently the most damaging disease problem in oilseed rape in the UK. According to recent survey data, the severity of epidemics has increased progressively across the UK, with current yield losses of up to £160M per annum in England and more severe epidemics in Scotland. Light leaf spot is a polycyclic disease with primary inoculum consisting of air-borne ascospores produced on diseased debris from the previous cropping season. Splash-dispersed conidia produced on diseased leaves are the main component of the secondary inoculum. P. brassicae is also able to infect and cause considerable yield losses on vegetable brassicas, especially Brussels sprouts. There may be spread of light leaf spot among different brassica species. Since they have a wide host range, Pyrenopeziza brassicae populations are likely to have considerable genetic diversity and there is evidence suggesting population variations between different regions, which need further study. Available disease-management tools are not sufficient to provide adequate control of the disease. There is a need to identify new sources of resistance, which can be integrated with fungicide applications to achieve sustainable management of light leaf spot. Several major resistance genes and quantitative trait loci have been identified in previous studies, but rapid improvements in the understanding of molecular mechanisms underpinning B. napus – P. brassicae interactions can be expected through exploitation of novel genetic and genomic information for brassicas and extracellular fungal pathogens.Peer reviewe

The effect of COVID-19 on transplant function and development of CLAD in lung transplant patients:A multicenter experience

Background : Concerns have been raised on the impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on lung transplant (LTx) patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the transplant function pre- and post-COVID-19 in LTx patients. Methods : Data were retrospectively collected from LTx patients with confirmed COVID-19 from all 3 Dutch transplant centers, between February 2020 and September 2021. Spirometry results were collected pre-COVID-19, 3- and 6-months post infection. Results : Seventy-four LTx patients were included. Forty-two (57%) patients were admitted, 19 (26%) to the intensive care unit (ICU). The in-hospital mortality was 20%. Twelve out of 19 ICU patients died (63%), a further 3 died on general wards. Patients with available spirometry (78% at 3 months, 65% at 6 months) showed a significant decline in mean forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) (ΔFEV1 138 ± 39 ml, p = 0.001), and forced vital capacity (FVC) (ΔFVC 233 ±74 ml, p = 0.000) 3 months post infection. Lung function improved slightly from 3 to 6 months after COVID-19 (ΔFEV1 24 ± 38 ml; ΔFVC 100 ± 46 ml), but remained significantly lower than pre-COVID-19 values (ΔFEV1 86 ml ± 36 ml, p = 0.021; ΔFVC 117 ± 35 ml, p = 0.012). FEV1/FVC was > 0.70. Conclusions: In LTx patients COVID-19 results in high mortality in hospitalized patients. Lung function declined 3 months after infection and gradually improved at 6 months, but remained significantly lower compared to pre-COVID-19 values. The more significant decline in FVC than in FEV1 and FEV1/FVC > 70%, suggested a more restrictive pattern

Smoking, Alcohol Intake and Torque Teno Virus in Stable Kidney Transplant Recipients

Torque Teno Virus (TTV) is a non-pathogenic virus that is highly prevalent among kidney transplant recipients (KTRs). Its circulating load is associated with an immunological status in KTR and is considered a promising tool for guiding immunosuppression. To allow for optimal guidance, it is important to identify other determinants of TTV load. We aimed to investigate the potential association of smoking and alcohol intake with TTV load. For this cross-sectional study, serum TTV load was measured using PCR in stable kidney transplant recipients at ≥1 year after transplantation, and smoking status and alcohol intake were assessed through questionnaires and measurements of urinary cotinine and ethyl glucuronide. A total of 666 KTRs were included (57% male). A total of 549 KTR (82%) had a detectable TTV load (3.1 ± 1.5 log 10 copies/mL). In KTR with a detectable TTV load, cyclosporin and tacrolimus use were positively associated with TTV load (St. β = 0.46, p &lt; 0.001 and St. β = 0.66, p &lt; 0.001, respectively), independently of adjustment for potential confounders. Current smoking and alcohol intake of &gt;20 g/day were negatively associated with TTV load (St. β = -0.40, p = 0.004 and St. β = -0.33, p = 0.009, respectively), independently of each other and of adjustment for age, sex, kidney function, time since transplantation and calcineurin inhibitor use. This strong association of smoking and alcohol intake with TTV suggests a need to account for the smoking status and alcohol intake when applying TTV guided immunosuppression in KTR. </p

Dear British criminology: Where has all the race and racism gone?

In this article we use Emirbayer and Desmond’s institutional reflexivity framework to critically examine the production of racial knowledge in British criminology. Identifying weakness, neglect and marginalization in theorizing race and racism, we focus principally on the disciplinary unconscious element of their three-tier framework, identifying and interrogating aspects of criminology’s ‘obligatory problematics’, ‘habits of thought’ and ‘position-taking’ as well as its institutional structure and social relations that combine to render the discipline ‘institutionally white’. We also consider, briefly, aspects of criminology’s relationship to race, racism and whiteness in the USA. The final part of the article makes the case for British criminology to engage in telling and narrating racisms, urging it to understand the complexities of race in our subject matter, avoid its reduction to class and inequality, and to pay particular attention to reflexivity, history, sociology and language, turning to face race with postcolonial tools and resolve