scholarly journals Lexical and Cognitive Underpinnings of Verbal Fluency: Evidence from Bengali-English Bilingual Aphasia

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
Abhijeet Patra ◽  
Arpita Bose ◽  
Theodoros Marinis
Keyword(s):  
South Asian ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Bilingual Aphasia ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Asian Languages ◽  
Initial Retrieval

Research in bilingual healthy controls (BHC) has illustrated that detailed characterization of verbal fluency along with separate measures of executive control stand to inform our understanding of the lexical and cognitive underpinnings of the task. Such data are currently lacking in bilinguals with aphasia (BWA). We aimed to compare the characteristics of verbal fluency performance (semantic, letter) in Bengali–English BWA and BHC, in terms of cross-linguistic differences, variation on the parameters of bilingualism, and cognitive underpinnings. BWA showed significant differences on verbal fluency variables where executive control demands were higher (fluency difference score, number of switches, between-cluster pauses); whilst performed similarly on variables where executive control demands were lower (cluster size, within-cluster pauses). Despite clear cross-linguistic advantage in Bengali for BHC, no cross-linguistic differences were noted in BWA. BWA who were most affected in the independent executive control measures also showed greater impairment in letter fluency condition. Correlation analyses revealed a significant relationship for BWA between inhibitory control and number of correct responses, initial retrieval time, and number of switches. This research contributes to the debate of underlying mechanisms of word retrieval deficits in aphasia, and adds to the nascent literature of BWA in South Asian languages.

scholarly journals Performance difference in verbal fluency in bilingual and monolingual speakers

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 204-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhijeet Patra ◽  
Arpita Bose ◽  
Theodoros Marinis
Keyword(s):  
Executive Control ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Difference Score ◽  
Verbal Fluency Task ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Fluency Task

AbstractResearch has shown that bilinguals can perform similarly, better or poorly on verbal fluency task compared to monolinguals. Verbal fluency data for semantic (animals, fruits and vegetables, and clothing) and letter fluency (F, A, S) were collected from 25 Bengali–English bilinguals and 25 English monolinguals in English. The groups were matched for receptive vocabulary, age, education and non-verbal intelligence. We used a wide range of measures to characterize fluency performance: number of correct, fluency difference score, time-course analysis (1st RT, Sub-RT, initiation, slope), clustering, and switching. Participants completed three executive control measures tapping into inhibitory control, mental-set shifting and working memory. Differences between the groups were significant when executive control demands were higher such as number of correct responses in letter fluency, fluency difference score, Sub-RT, slope and cluster size for letter fluency, such that bilinguals outperform the monolinguals. Stroop performance correlated positively with the slope only for the bilinguals.

Verb Concatenation in Asian Linguistics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Slade
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Language Family ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Historical Relation ◽  
Asian Languages

Across a large part of Asia are found a variety of verb-verb collocations, a prominent subset of which involves collocations typically displaying completive or resultative semantics. Such collocations are found in Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages of South Asia, Turkic and Iranian languages of Central Asia, and in Chinese languages. In South and Central Asian languages, verb-verb collocations usually involve some added aspectual/Aktionsart element of meaning, frequently (though not exclusively) indicating completion of an event and sometimes involving speaker evaluation of the event (e.g., surprise, regret). Thus Hindi Rām-ne kitāb paṛh diyā, literally “John read-gave the book,” with the sense “John read the book out.” In Chinese languages, many verb-verb collocations involve a resultative sense, similar to English “Kim ran herself/her shoes ragged.” However, earlier Chinese verb-verb collocations were agent-oriented, for example, She-sha Ling Gong“(Someone) shot and killed Duke Ling,” where she is “shoot” and sha is “kill.” In Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, and Central Asian languages, we find verb-verb collocations that evolve from idiomaticization and grammaticalization of constructions involving converbs, for example, a collocation meaning “he, having eaten food, left” acquires the meaning “he ate food (completely).” Similarly, the Chinese verb-verb resultatives derive from earlier verb-verb “co-ordinate” constructions (originally with an overt morpheme er: ji er sha zhi “struck and killed him”), which functionally is similar to the role of converbs in South and Central Asian languages. While these Asian verb-verb collocations are strikingly similar in broad strokes, there are significant differences in the lexical, semantic, and morphosyntactic properties of these constructions in different languages. This is true even in closely related languages in the same language family, such as in Hindi and Nepali. The historical relation between verb-verb collocations in different Asian languages is unclear. Even in geographically proximate language families such as Indo-Aryan and Dravidian, there is evidence of independent development of verb-verb collocations, with possible later convergence. Central Asian verb-verb collocations being very similar in morphosyntactic structure to South Asian verb-verb collocations, it is tempting to suppose that for these there is some contact-based cause, particularly since such collocations are much less prominent in Turkic and Iranian languages outside of Central Asia. The relation between South and Central Asian verb-verb collocations and Chinese verb-verb collocations is even more opaque, and there are greater linguistic differences here. In this connection, further study of verb-verb collocations in Asian languages geographically intermediate to Central and South Asia, including Thai, Vietnamese, and Burmese, is required.

Dispositional negativity, cognition, and anxiety disorders: An integrative translational neuroscience framework

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juyoen Hur ◽  
Melissa D. Stockbridge ◽  
Andrew S. Fox ◽  
Alexander J. Shackman
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Intervention Strategies ◽  
Attentional Biases ◽  
Translational Neuroscience ◽  
Adult Personality ◽  
Fundamental Dimension ◽  
To Come ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

When extreme, anxiety can become debilitating. Anxiety disorders, which often first emerge early in development, are common and challenging to treat, yet the underlying mechanisms have only recently begun to come into focus. Here, we review new insights into the nature and biological bases of dispositional negativity, a fundamental dimension of childhood temperament and adult personality and a prominent risk factor for the development of pediatric and adult anxiety disorders. Converging lines of epidemiological, neurobiological, and mechanistic evidence suggest that dispositional negativity increases the likelihood of psychopathology via specific neurocognitive mechanisms, including attentional biases to threat and deficits in executive control. Collectively, these observations provide an integrative translational framework for understanding the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders in adults and youth and set the stage for developing improved intervention strategies.

Patients with amnestic MCI Fail to Adapt Executive Control When Repeatedly Tested with Semantic Verbal Fluency Tasks

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Johannes Tröger ◽  
Hali Lindsay ◽  
Mario Mina ◽  
Nicklas Linz ◽  
Stefan Klöppel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Control ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Fixed Time ◽  
Semantic Space ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Semantic Verbal Fluency ◽  
Amnestic Mci ◽  
Retrieval Processes ◽  
Theoretical View ◽  
First Time

Abstract Objective: Semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tasks require individuals to name items from a specified category within a fixed time. An impaired SVF performance is well documented in patients with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI). The two leading theoretical views suggest either loss of semantic knowledge or impaired executive control to be responsible. Method: We assessed SVF 3 times on 2 consecutive days in 29 healthy controls (HC) and 29 patients with aMCI with the aim to answer the question which of the two views holds true. Results: When doing the task for the first time, patients with aMCI produced fewer and more common words with a shorter mean response latency. When tested repeatedly, only healthy volunteers increased performance. Likewise, only the performance of HC indicated two distinct retrieval processes: a prompt retrieval of readily available items at the beginning of the task and an active search through semantic space towards the end. With repeated assessment, the pool of readily available items became larger in HC, but not patients with aMCI. Conclusion: The production of fewer and more common words in aMCI points to a smaller search set and supports the loss of semantic knowledge view. The failure to improve performance as well as the lack of distinct retrieval processes point to an additional impairment in executive control. Our data did not clearly favour one theoretical view over the other, but rather indicates that the impairment of patients with aMCI in SVF is due to a combination of both.

scholarly journals Characterization of the Survival Influential Genes in Carcinogenesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4384
Author(s):  
Divya Sahu ◽  
Yu-Lin Chang ◽  
Yin-Chen Lin ◽  
Chen-Ching Lin
Keyword(s):  
Cell Cycle ◽  
Cox Regression ◽  
Monte Carlo Algorithm ◽  
Functional Modules ◽  
Protective Genes ◽  
Cancer Types ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Patient Prognosis ◽  
Pan Cancer

The genes influencing cancer patient mortality have been studied by survival analysis for many years. However, most studies utilized them only to support their findings associated with patient prognosis: their roles in carcinogenesis have not yet been revealed. Herein, we applied an in silico approach, integrating the Cox regression model with effect size estimated by the Monte Carlo algorithm, to screen survival-influential genes in more than 6000 tumor samples across 16 cancer types. We observed that the survival-influential genes had cancer-dependent properties. Moreover, the functional modules formed by the harmful genes were consistently associated with cell cycle in 12 out of the 16 cancer types and pan-cancer, showing that dysregulation of the cell cycle could harm patient prognosis in cancer. The functional modules formed by the protective genes are more diverse in cancers; the most prevalent functions are relevant for immune response, implying that patients with different cancer types might develop different mechanisms against carcinogenesis. We also identified a harmful set of 10 genes, with potential as prognostic biomarkers in pan-cancer. Briefly, our results demonstrated that the survival-influential genes could reveal underlying mechanisms in carcinogenesis and might provide clues for developing therapeutic targets for cancers.

Coda: Ten Questions on Globality

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
The Editors ◽  
Dipesh Chakrabarty
Keyword(s):  
South Asian ◽  
The State ◽  
University Of Chicago ◽  
Subaltern Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
The University ◽  
Asian Languages

Abstract Dipesh Chakrabarty is Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor in History and South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. He is the author of several books, including The Crises of Civilization (2018) and Provincializing Europe (2000); and was one of the principal founders of the editorial collective of Subaltern Studies. In this discussion he ruminates upon the state of globality; its relationship to the planet Earth; the scope and possible duration of the Anthropocene; and some of globalization's consequences for humanity and human understanding. The interview was conducted by managing editor, Kenneth Weisbrode.

scholarly journals Transcriptome-based identification and characterization of genes responding to imidacloprid in Myzus persicae

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianyu Meng ◽  
Xingjiang Chen ◽  
Changyu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Expression Profiles ◽  
Control Measure ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Agricultural Pest ◽  
Functional Classification ◽  
Quantitative Real Time Pcr ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Identification And Characterization

Abstract Myzus persicae is a serious and widespread agricultural pest, against which, imidacloprid remains an effective control measure. However, recent reports indicate that this aphid has evolved and developed resistance to imidacloprid. This study aimed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and genetic basis of this resistance by conducting comparative transcriptomics studies on both imidacloprid-resistant (IR) and imidacloprid-susceptible (IS) M. persicae. The comparative analysis identified 252 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) among the IR and IS M. persicae transcriptomes. These candidate genes included 160 and 92 genes that were down- and up-regulated, respectively, in the imidacloprid-resistant strain. Using functional classification in the GO and KEGG databases, 187 DEGs were assigned to 303 functional subcategories and 100 DEGs were classified into 45 pathway groups. Moreover, several genes were associated with known insecticide targets, cuticle, metabolic processes, and oxidative phosphorylation. Quantitative real-time PCR of 10 DEGs confirmed the trends observed in the RNA sequencing expression profiles. These findings provide a valuable basis for further investigation into the complicated mechanisms of imidacloprid resistance in M. persicae.

scholarly journals Characterization of Gnomoniopsis idaeicola, the Causal Agent of Canker and Wilting of Blackberry in Serbia

Plant Disease ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 103 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miloš Stevanović ◽  
Danijela Ristić ◽  
Svetlana Živković ◽  
Goran Aleksić ◽  
Ivana Stanković ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Incidence ◽  
Initial Step ◽  
First Record ◽  
Wide Distribution ◽  
Causal Agent ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Molecular Features ◽  
Intraspecies Diversity ◽  
Specific Symptoms

Blackberry cane diseases with the symptoms of necrosis, canker, and wilting are caused by several fungi worldwide. Surveys conducted from 2013 to 2016 in Serbia revealed the occurrence of Gnomoniopsis idaeicola, the causal agent of cane canker and wilting, which was found to be distributed in almost half of the surveyed orchards, in three blackberry cultivars, and with disease incidence of up to 80%. Wide distribution and high disease incidence suggest that G. idaeicola has been present in Serbia for some time. Out of 427 samples, a total of 65 G. idaeicola isolates were obtained (isolation rate of 34.19%). Reference isolates, originating from different localities, were conventionally and molecularly identified and characterized. G. idaeicola was detected in single and mixed infections with fungi from genera Paraconiothyrium, Colletotrichum, Diaporthe, Botryosphaeria, Botrytis, Septoria, Neofusicoccum, and Discostroma, and no diagnostically specific symptoms could be related directly to the G. idaeicola infection. In orchards solely infected with G. idaeicola, blackberry plant mortality was up to 40%, and yield loses were estimated at 50%. G. idaeicola isolates included in this study demonstrated intraspecies diversity in morphological, biological, pathogenic, and molecular features, which indicates that population in Serbia may be of different origin. This is the first record of a massive outbreak of G. idaeicola infection, illustrating its capability of harmful influence on blackberry production. This study represents the initial step in studying G. idaeicola as a new blackberry pathogen in Serbia, aiming at developing efficient control measures.

Molecular characterization of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) and ESBLs-producing Klebsiella pneumonia isolated from an Iranian teaching hospital

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid Talebzadeh ◽  
Hamid Mellali ◽  
hamid solgi
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Hospital ◽  
Strong Association ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Klebsiella Pneumonia ◽  
The Public ◽  
Isfahan Province ◽  
Clonal Distribution ◽  
Cross Transmission

Abstract Background The spread of plasmid-mediated multidrug resistance in Klebsiella pneumonia is a serious threat to the public health. We investigated the clinical characteristics and molecular epidemiology of K. pneumoniae isolated at a teaching hospital in Iran. Methods A total of 50 third-generation cephalosporins resistant K. pneumoniae strains were collected from patients’ clinical cultures. Antibiotic susceptibility testing and determination of MIC values for ceftazidime, cefotaxime and ciprofloxacin were performed. PCR and DNA sequencing were used to assess the presence of ESBL genes (blaCTX−M, blaTEM, blaSHV) and PMQR genes (qnrA, qnrB, qnrS, qepA, oqxA, oqxB and aac(6)-Ib-cr). Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) was performed on the strains to assess homology. Results Our results showed that the rates of resistance to all of antibiotics is high. All 50 K. pneumoniae strains harboured at least one of the ESBL resistance determinants. The blaCTX−M−15 gene was the major ESBLs determinant found in K. pneumoniae (88%; 44/50). PMQR was detected in 96% of the isolates and aac(6′)-Ib-cr was the most common (78% 39/50) followed by oqxA 36 (72%), oqxB 34 (68%), qnrS 20 (40%), qnrB 14 (28%) and qepA 1 (2%). MLST identified seven sequence types (STs), with the most common being ST11 (19/39). There was a strong association between PMQR genes (especially aac(6′)-Ib-cr) and ESBL genes. Conclusion The widespread detection of ESBLs-producing K. pneumoniae that co-carried PMQR determinants has become a threat to the treatment of infections in Isfahan Province of center Iran. Our findings suggest that K. pneumoniae ST11 and ST893 has a clonal distribution in our hospital. Therefore, this study highlighted the crucial need for implementing strict control measures to prevent cross transmission of these endemic clones.

Abstract 344: Finding the Achilles’ heel of Muscle Giant---TALEN-mediated Gene-editing in Zebrafish Titin

2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Huan Shih ◽  
Xiaolei Xu
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Splicing ◽  
Gene Editing ◽  
Muscle Development ◽  
Exon Skipping ◽  
Transcription Activator ◽  
Detailed Characterization ◽  
A Domains ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Sarcomere Assembly

Background: TITIN (TTN) has more than 300 exons and encodes a gigantic protein that is crucial for heart and muscle development. Mutations in TTN caused a variety of human diseases including cardiomyopathy and muscular dystrophy. Recently, dilated cardiomyopathy-associated mutations on TTN have been found more frequently in exons encoding A-band domains but less in exons encoding the N-terminal Z-disc domains, suggesting that mutations in different exons of TTN cause distinct consequences. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, we leveraged the Transcription Activator-Like Effects Nuclease (TALEN) technology in zebrafish to introduce truncating mutations in different exons of ttn, and then study their effects on heart and somites. Results: We generated truncational mutations in different exons of zebrafish titins encoding Z-disc, N2B, Novex-3, and A domains, respectively. Because zebrafish contains two titin homologues, ttna and ttnb, we introduced mutations in both genes at the corresponding loci. While both Z-disc and A band mutations on ttna disrupted sarcomere assembly in heart and somites, Z-disc or A band mutations on ttnb only affect somites without affecting the heart. Interestingly, a Z-disc mutation on ttna resulted in milder phenotypes than an A-band mutation, while a Z-disc mutation on ttnb generated severer phenotypes than an A-band mutation. No phenotype was observed in the homozygous fish in either ttna-novex-3 or ttnb-N2B mutant fish. Conclusions: A spectrum of truncational mutations in ttna and ttnb has been generated in zebrafish using the TALEN technology. Mutations in different exons result in different phenotypes. Detailed characterization of these mutants and double mutants will be presented, which shall elicit distinct contribution of alternative splicing and exon skipping as two candidate mechanisms during pathogenesis of Titinopathies.

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