‘All the corridors are the same’: a qualitative study of the orientation experiences and design preferences of UK older adults living in a communal retirement development

Environments need to be designed such that they support successful orientation for older adults and those with dementia who often experience marked difficulties in their orientation abilities. To better understand how environments can compensate for decreasing orientation skills, voice should be given directly to those experiencing dementia to describe how they find their way and to understand their design preferences. This study explored the navigational experiences and design preferences of older adults with memory difficulties living in a retirement development. In-depth semi-structured interviews with 13 older adults experiencing memory difficulties were conducted. All participants were residents of one retirement development in the United Kingdom. Questions began broadly, for example, to describe their experiences of navigating in their living environment, before discussing any specific navigation difficulties in detail. Thematic analysis identified three main themes: highlighting environmental design that causes disorientation, strategies to overcome disorientation, and residents’ suggestions to improve the design. The design suggestions were particularly informative, heavily focusing on the importance of having memorable and meaningful spaces which were favoured more than signage as an orientation aid. The findings demonstrate the need to consider environmental design to support orientation for those with memory difficulties. Of particular importance is the use of meaningful and relevant landmarks as orientation aids which can additionally stimulate conversation and increase wellbeing. Given the range of suggestions in dementia-friendly design guidelines aimed to support orientation, it is crucial to speak directly to those living in different environments to learn how they find their way around and what design works in their environment

Intrinsic vowel F0, the size of vowel inventories and second language acquisition

The phenomenon of intrinsic vowel F0 (IF0), in which high vowels exhibit higher F0 than low vowels, has been widely attested in languages of the world. Most often, IF0 is regarded as an automatic, physiologically determined phenomenon, whereas some claim that IF0 is a controlled feature, introduced to enhance vowel contrasts. This paper presents new evidence on this issue by means of a cross-linguistic investigation of the influence of vowel inventory size on IF0 and a study of IF0 in second language (L2) acquisition. IF0 was measured in three language varieties: Arabic (a language with 3 vowels), Dutch (a 12-vowel system), and Dutch spoken by native Arabic-speaking learners. IF0 was significantly larger in Dutch than Arabic, but did not differ significantly between Arabic and Dutch produced by L2 learners. No spectral differences between the corresponding vowels of the three language varieties were found. While confirming the universality of IF0, these results also suggest that the size of IF0 may be language-specific, depending on the need to enhance vowel contrasts. Thus, these results agree well with a mixed physiological-enhancement account, which assumes that IF0 is physiologically determined, but also at least in part the effect of an interacting, controlled mechanism

A budding yeast model for human disease mutations in the EXOSC2 cap subunit of the RNA exosome complex

RNA exosomopathies, a growing family of diseases, are linked to missense mutations in genes encoding structural subunits of the evolutionarily conserved, 10-subunit exoribonuclease complex, the RNA exosome. This complex consists of a three-subunit cap, a six-subunit, barrel-shaped core, and a catalytic base subunit. While a number of mutations in RNA exosome genes cause pontocerebellar hypoplasia, mutations in the cap subunit gene EXOSC2 cause an apparently distinct clinical presentation that has been defined as a novel syndrome SHRF (short stature, hearing loss, retinitis pigmentosa, and distinctive facies). We generated the first in vivo model of the SHRF pathogenic amino acid substitutions using budding yeast by modeling pathogenic EXOSC2 missense mutations (p.Gly30Val and p.Gly198Asp) in the orthologous S. cerevisiae gene RRP4 The resulting rrp4 mutant cells show defects in cell growth and RNA exosome function. Consistent with altered RNA exosome function, we detect significant transcriptomic changes in both coding and noncoding RNAs in rrp4-G226D cells that model EXOSC2 p.Gly198Asp, suggesting defects in nuclear surveillance. Biochemical and genetic analyses suggest that the Rrp4 G226D variant subunit shows impaired interactions with key RNA exosome cofactors that modulate the function of the complex. These results provide the first in vivo evidence that pathogenic missense mutations present in EXOSC2 impair the function of the RNA exosome. This study also sets the stage to compare exosomopathy models to understand how defects in RNA exosome function underlie distinct pathologies

Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) : 64th Plenary Report (PLEN-20-02)

The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) held its 64th plenary as a virtual meeting from 6-10 July 2020.-- 128 pagesCommission Decision of 25 February 2016 setting up a Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries, C(2016) 1084, OJ C 74, 26.2.2016, p. 4–10. The Commission may consult the group on any matter relating to marine and fisheries biology, fishing gear technology, fisheries economics, fisheries governance, ecosystem effects of fisheries, aquaculture or similar discipline

Scientific, technical and economic committee for fisheries – 64th plenary report (PLEN-20-02)

Commission Decision of 25 February 2016 setting up a Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries, C(2016) 1084, OJ C 74, 26.2.2016, p. 4–10. The Commission may consult the group on any matter relating to marine and fisheries biology, fishing gear technology, fisheries economics, fisheries governance, ecosystem effects of fisheries, aquaculture or similar disciplines. The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries held its 64th plenary as a virtual meeting from 6 to 10 July 2020

Transcriptome-Wide Binding Sites for Components of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Non-Poly(A) Termination Pathway: Nrd1, Nab3, and Sen1

RNA polymerase II synthesizes a diverse set of transcripts including both protein-coding and non-coding RNAs. One major difference between these two classes of transcripts is the mechanism of termination. Messenger RNA transcripts terminate downstream of the coding region in a process that is coupled to cleavage and polyadenylation reactions. Non-coding transcripts like Saccharomyces cerevisiae snoRNAs terminate in a process that requires the RNA–binding proteins Nrd1, Nab3, and Sen1. We report here the transcriptome-wide distribution of these termination factors. These data sets derived from in vivo protein–RNA cross-linking provide high-resolution definition of non-poly(A) terminators, identify novel genes regulated by attenuation of nascent transcripts close to the promoter, and demonstrate the widespread occurrence of Nrd1-bound 3′ antisense transcripts on genes that are poorly expressed. In addition, we show that Sen1 does not cross-link efficiently to many expected non-coding RNAs but does cross-link to the 3′ end of most pre–mRNA transcripts, suggesting an extensive role in mRNA 3′ end formation and/or termination

Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) : 65th Plenary Report (PLEN-20-03)

The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) held its 65th plenary as virtual meeting from 9-13 November 2020.-- 152 pagesCommission Decision of 25 February 2016 setting up a Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries, C(2016) 1084, OJ C 74, 26.2.2016, p. 4–10. The Commission may consult the group on any matter relating to marine and fisheries biology, fishing gear technology, fisheries economics, fisheries governance, ecosystem effects of fisheries, aquaculture or similar disciplinesPeer reviewe