The interaction of syllabification and voicing perception in american english

The current paper explores these two sorts of phonetic explanations of the relationship between syllabic position and the voicing contrast in American English. It has long been observed that the contrast between, for example, /p/ and /b/ is expressed differently, depending on the position of the stop with respect to the vowel. Preceding a vowel within a syllable, the contrast is largely one of aspiration. /p/ is aspirated, while /b/ is voiceless, or in some dialects voiced or even an implosive. Following a vowel within a syllable, both /p/ and /b/ both tend to lack voicing in the closure and the contrast is expressed largely by dynamic differences in the transition between the previous vowel and the stop. Here, vowel and closure duration are negatively correlated such that the /p/ has a shorter vowel and longer closure duration. This difference is often enhanced by the addition of glottalization to /p/. In addition to these differences, there are additional differences connected to higher-level organization involving stress and feet edges. To make the current discussion more tractable, we will restrict ourselves to the two conditions (CV and VC) laid out above

Hearing loss in mucopolysaccharidoses: Current knowledge and future directions

Mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) are a group of lysosomal storage disorders caused by a deficiency of one of the enzymes involved in the degradation of glycosaminoglycans. Hearing loss is a common clinical presentation in MPS. This paper reviews the literature on hearing loss for each of the seven recognized subtypes of MPS. Hearing loss was found to be common in MPS I, II, III, IVA, VI, and VII, and absent from MPS IVB and MPS IX. MPS VI presents primarily with conductive hearing loss, while the other subtypes (MPS I, MPS II, MPS III, MPS IVA, and MPS VII) can present with any type of hearing loss (conductive, sensorineural, or mixed hearing loss). The sensorineural component develops as the disease progresses, but there is no consensus on the etiology of the sensorineural component. Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) is the most common therapy utilized for MPS, but the effects of ERT on hearing function have been inconclusive. This review highlights a need for more comprehensive and multidisciplinary research on hearing function that includes behavioral testing, objective testing, and temporal bone imaging. This information would allow for better understanding of the progression and etiology of hearing loss. Owing to the prevalence of hearing loss in MPS, early diagnosis of hearing loss and annual comprehensive audiological evaluations are recommended

老年看護学の立場から見るわが国の終末期医療の変遷 : 終末期医療に関するガイドラインから考察する看護師の役割

治療不可能であった疾患や状態が、医学の進歩により治療可能となった。しかし、救命はできても元の状態に回復せず、医療継続によって家族や医療従事者が苦悩する状況を生み出している。人間としての尊厳を守り、自然に死を迎えるべきであると、国民の死生観は変化していっている。急速な高齢化や家族形態の変化と相まり、これらの状況は医療従事者に倫理的課題を提示するようになった。終末期医療のとらえ方は時代と共に変遷し、それに伴って医療のあり方も変遷する。終末期医療のあり方は、人生の統合期にある高齢者のQOLに直結する問題でもある。わが国の終末期医療の変遷を通して、看護職が高齢者・家族に果たす役割を考察する

在宅で高齢者を看取る家族の介護負担を軽減するための訪問看護師の看護援助の特徴

国民の6割は「最期は家で死にたい」と希望しているものの、その8割は医療機関で亡くなる1)-2)。特に、高齢者は在宅死を希望しながらも「家族に負担をかけたくない」との思いが強く、在宅療養すら断念することが多い。多死時代を迎え、また医療財政危機にある今日、高齢者の終末期における在宅医療の推進は必至である。そこで、「家族に負担をかけたくない」という高齢療養者の思いに即して、訪問看護師が家族にどのような看護援助を行っているのかを、質的帰納的方法により明らかにした。その結果、【在宅で看ることができるように家族の負担軽減を図る】【情報提供を行う】【家族との信頼関係を構築する】【死を受けいれ、死を迎える準備をする】という4つのカテゴリーを析出した。ここでは【在宅で看ることができるように家族の負担軽減を図る】について詳細に論じながら、在宅医療推進のために、どのような看護援助が必要なのかを報告する

Extreme Nature of Four Blue-excess Dust-obscured Galaxies Revealed by Optical Spectroscopy

We report optical spectroscopic observations of four blue-excess dust-obscured galaxies (BluDOGs) identified by the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam. BluDOGs are a subclass of dust-obscured galaxies (DOGs; defined with the extremely red color (i − [22])AB ≥ 7.0; Toba et al., showing a significant flux excess in the optical g and r bands over the power-law fits to the fluxes at the longer wavelengths. Noboriguchi et al. have suggested that BluDOGs may correspond to the blowing-out phase involved in a gas-rich major-merger scenario. However, the detailed properties of BluDOGs are not understood because of the lack of spectroscopic information. In this work, we carry out deep optical spectroscopic observations of four BluDOGs using Subaru/FOCAS and VLT/FORS2. The obtained spectra show broad emission lines with extremely large equivalent widths, and a blue wing in the C iv line profile. The redshifts are between 2.2 and 3.3. The averaged rest-frame equivalent widths of the C iv lines are 160 \ub1 33 \uc5, ∼7 times higher than the average of a typical type 1 quasar. The FWHMs of their velocity profiles are between 1990 and 4470 km s−1, and their asymmetric parameters are 0.05 and 0.25. Such strong C iv lines significantly affect the broadband magnitudes, which are partly the origin of the blue excess seen in the spectral energy distribution of BluDOGs. Their estimated supermassive black hole masses are 1.1 7 108 < M BH/M ⊙ <5.5 7 108. The inferred Eddington ratios of the BluDOGs are higher than 1 (1.1 < λ Edd < 3.8), suggesting that the BluDOGs are in a rapidly evolving phase of supermassive black holes

心拍変数を用いたタクティールタッチ®の有効性の検証 : 成人女性を対象にして

本研究の目的は、健康な成人女性６名（平均年齢50.2歳±8.7歳）を対象にストレス値からみたタクティールタッチ（スウェーデン発祥の触れるケアの一種である）の有効性を明らかにすることである。対象者の施術前条件の統一を図る目的で数計算100問の解答を課した。タクティールタッチ施術グループ３名とタクティールタッチ施術を受けない安静臥位グループ３名に分け、各対象者の左胸部にヘルスパッチを貼付し、数計算時およびタクティールタッチ施術時（または安静臥位時）その後の安静10分後、20分後、30分後、飲水時のストレス値、心拍数、体温を測定しFFT（高速フーリエ変換）で算出しHRV解析した。HRV解析図およびストレス値と心拍数・体温のHRV解析結果の平均値比較から、タクティールタッチ施術を受けたグループの方がストレス値は大きく低下し心拍数も低下したのみならず持続も認められた

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead