Translation Recognition in Learners of Arabic

The current study explored the role of phonology in the processing of Arabic words in native English speakers learning Arabic. Previous research demonstrates that three factors play a role in the mental processing of multiple languages: orthography, phonology, and semantics. Cognate studies have revealed that orthography is not the most important factor, but the roles of phonology and semantics are still indistinguishable from one another. The current study utilized phonologically-embedded English words within Arabic words at three different points in the word, beginning, middle, and end, to determine the role of phonology separate from that of semantics (e.g., [written Arabic] pronounced tareekh, and tar is a beginning overlap pair). Participants from the University of Arkansas Arabic language program completed a translation recognition task. They were shown an Arabic word, followed by an English word, and asked to identify whether the English word was the correct translation. It was predicted that participants would take longer to say “no” to false translations with phonological overlap than to false translations without phonological overlap and that less experienced learners would exhibit this effect to a higher degree than more experienced learners. While, as predicted, the reaction times for false translations with phonological overlap were substantially slower than reaction times for false translations without phonological overlap in beginning and middle overlap conditions, no significant differences were found. Arabic proficiency was found to be negatively correlated with amount of phonological interference. The results generally support the importance of phonology in the mental processing of multiple languages, which can be combined with other findings in language research to supplement language learning programs

Complications of Cushing's syndrome: state of the art

Cushing's syndrome is a serious endocrine disease caused by chronic, autonomous, and excessive secretion of cortisol. The syndrome is associated with increased mortality and impaired quality of life because of the occurrence of comorbidities. These clinical complications include metabolic syndrome, consisting of systemic arterial hypertension, visceral obesity, impairment of glucose metabolism, and dyslipidaemia; musculoskeletal disorders, such as myopathy, osteoporosis, and skeletal fractures; neuropsychiatric disorders, such as impairment of cognitive function, depression, or mania; impairment of reproductive and sexual function; and dermatological manifestations, mainly represented by acne, hirsutism, and alopecia. Hypertension in patients with Cushing's syndrome has a multifactorial pathogenesis and contributes to the increased risk for myocardial infarction, cardiac failure, or stroke, which are the most common causes of death; risks of these outcomes are exacerbated by a prothrombotic diathesis and hypokalaemia. Neuropsychiatric disorders can be responsible for suicide. Immune disorders are common; immunosuppression during active disease causes susceptibility to infections, possibly complicated by sepsis, an important cause of death, whereas immune rebound after disease remission can exacerbate underlying autoimmune diseases. Prompt treatment of cortisol excess and specific treatments of comorbidities are crucial to prevent serious clinical complications and reduce the mortality associated with Cushing's syndrome

Quiescent and flaring X-ray emission from the nearby M/T dwarf binary SCR 1845-6357

We investigate an XMM-Newton observation of SCR 1845-6357, a nearby, ultracool M8.5/T5.5 dwarf binary. The binary is unresolved in the XMM detectors, however the X-ray emission is very likely from the M8.5 dwarf. We compare its flaring emission to those of similar very low mass stars and additionally present an XMM observation of the M8 dwarf VB 10. We detect quasi-quiescent X-ray emission from SCR 1845-6357 at soft X-ray energies in the 0.2-2.0 keV band, as well as a strong flare with a count rate increase of a factor of 30 and a duration of only 10 minutes. The quasi-quiescent X-ray luminosity of log L_x = 26.2 erg/s and the corresponding activity level of log L_x/L_bol = -3.8 point to a fairly active star. Coronal temperatures of up to 5 MK and frequent minor variability support this picture. During the flare, that is accompanied by a significant brightening in the near-UV, plasma temperatures of 25-30 MK are observed and an X-ray luminosity of L_x= 8 x 10^27 erg/s is reached. SCR 1845-6357 is a nearby, very low mass star that emits X-rays at detectable levels in quasi-quiescence, implying the existence of a corona. The high activity level, coronal temperatures and the observed large flare point to a rather active star, despite its estimated age of a few Gyr.Comment: Accepted by A&A, 6 pages, 5 figure

Levoketoconazole: a novel treatment for endogenous Cushing's syndrome.

Introduction: Endogenous Cushing's syndrome (CS) is a rare, life-threatening endocrine disorder that is caused by chronic exposure to cortisol overproduction. Levoketoconazole (Recorlev), a 2S, 4R stereoisomer of ketoconazole, is a steroidogenesis inhibitor under investigation for the treatment of CS. Areas covered: This review covers the pharmacology, efficacy, and safety of levoketoconazole for the treatment of patients with endogenous CS. Expert opinion: Based on the preclinical and clinical pharmacology findings, levoketoconazole appears to be the relevant enantiomer of ketoconazole for inhibition of steroidogenesis, with more potent inhibition of both cortisol and androgen synthesis relative to ketoconazole racemate and the 2R, 4S stereoisomer dextroketoconazole. Results from the phase III SONICS study showed that levoketoconazole was effective in normalizing cortisol levels and improving biomarkers of cardiovascular risk in a significant percentage of patients. In addition, treatment with levoketoconazole showed improvements in subjective clinical assessments of clinician-rated CS clinical signs and symptoms, patient-reported quality of life, and depression symptom severity. Testosterone levels decreased significantly in women. Levoketoconazole had an acceptable safety profile with no unexpected safety signals. The favorable pharmacology, efficacy, and safety profile of levoketoconazole supports its use as medical therapy for CS, if approved

A new white dwarf companion to the Δμ\Delta\mu star GJ 3346

We present the discovery of a white dwarf companion at 3.6" from GJ3346, a nearby ($\pi\sim$42 mas) K star observed with SPHERE@VLT as part of an open time survey for faint companions to objects with significant proper motion discrepancies ($\Delta\mu$) between Gaia DR1 and Tycho-2. Syrius-like systems like GJ3346AB, which include a main sequence star and a white dwarf, can be difficult to detect because of the intrinsic faintness of the latter. They have, however, been found to be common contaminants for direct imaging searches. White dwarfs have in fact similar brightness to sub-stellar companions in the infrared, while being much brighter in the visible bands like those used by Gaia. Combining our observations with Gaia DR2 and with several additional archival data sets, we were able to fully constrain the physical properties of GJ3346B, such as its effective temperature (11$\times$10$^3\pm$500 K) as well as the cooling age of the system (648$\pm$58 Myrs). This allowed us to better understand the system history and to partially explains the discrepancies previously noted in the age indicators for this objects. Although further investigation is still needed, it seems that GJ3346, which was previously classified as young, is in fact most likely to be older than 4 Gyrs. Finally, given that the mass (0.58$\pm$0.01$M_{\odot}$)} and separation (85 au) of GJ3346B are compatible with the observed $\Delta\mu$, this discovery represents a further confirmation of the potential of this kind of dynamical signatures as selection methods for direct imaging surveys targeting faint, sub-stellar companions.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

A high binary fraction for the most massive close-in giant planets and brown dwarf desert members

Stellar multiplicity is believed to influence planetary formation and evolution, although the precise nature and extent of this role remain ambiguous. We present a study aimed at testing the role of stellar multiplicity in the formation and/or evolution of the most massive, close-in planetary and substellar companions. Using direct imaging observations, as well as the Gaia DR2 catalogue, we searched for wide binary companions to 38 stars hosting massive giant planets or brown dwarfs (M > 7 MJup) on orbits shorter than ~1 AU. We report the discovery of a new component in the WASP-14 system, and present an independent confirmation of a comoving companion to WASP-18. From a robust Bayesian statistical analysis, we derived a binary fraction of 79.0+13.2-14.7% between 20-10,000 AU for our sample, twice as high as for field stars with a 3-{\sigma} significance. This binary frequency was found to be larger than for lower-mass planets on similar orbits, and we observed a marginally higher binary rate for inner companions with periods shorter than 10 days. These results demonstrate that stellar companions greatly influence the formation and/or evolution of these systems, suggesting that the role played by binary companions becomes more important for higher-mass planets, and that this trend may be enhanced for systems with tighter orbits. Our analysis also revealed a peak in binary separation at 250 AU, highlighting a shortfall of close binaries among our sample. This indicates that the mechanisms affecting planet and brown dwarf formation or evolution in binaries must operate from wide separations, although we found that the Kozai-Lidov mechanism is unlikely to be the dominant underlying process. We conclude that binarity plays a crucial role in the existence of very massive short-period giant planets and brown dwarf desert inhabitants, which are almost exclusively observed in multiple systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 30 pages, 20 figures. Updated to include proof correction

Properties of the T8.5 Dwarf Wolf 940 B

We present 7.5-14.2um low-resolution spectroscopy, obtained with the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph, of the T8.5 dwarf Wolf 940 B, which is a companion to an M4 dwarf with a projected separation of 400 AU. We combine these data with previously published near-infrared spectroscopy and mid-infrared photometry, to produce the spectral energy distribution for the very low-temperature T dwarf. We use atmospheric models to derive the bolometric correction and obtain a luminosity of log L/Lsun = -6.01 +/- 0.05. Evolutionary models are used with the luminosity to constrain the values of effective temperature (T_eff) and surface gravity, and hence mass and age for the T dwarf. We further restrict the allowed range of T_eff and gravity using age constraints implied by the M dwarf primary, and refine the physical properties of the T dwarf by comparison of the observed and modelled spectroscopy and photometry. This comparison indicates that Wolf 940 B has a metallicity within 0.2 dex of solar, as more extreme values give poor fits to the data - lower metallicity produces a poor fit at lambda > 2um while higher metallicity produces a poor fit at lambda < 2um. This is consistent with the independently derived value of [m/H] = +0.24 +/- 0.09 for the primary star, using the Johnson & Apps (2008) M_K:V-K relationship. We find that the T dwarf atmosphere is undergoing vigorous mixing, with an eddy diffusion coefficient K_zz of 10^4 to 10^6 cm^2 s^-1. We derive an effective temperature of 585 K to 625 K, and surface gravity log g = 4.83 to 5.22 (cm s^-2), for an age range of 3 Gyr to 10 Gyr, as implied by the kinematic and H alpha properties of the M dwarf primary. The lower gravity corresponds to the lower temperature and younger age for the system, and the higher value to the higher temperature and older age. The mass of the T dwarf is 24 M_Jupiter to 45 M_Jupiter for the younger to older age limit.Comment: 24 pages which include 5 Figures and 3 Tables. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal July 2 201