Epilogues between Language and Necessity

Author(s):  
Andrea Moro

Questions raised by the brief history of the verb can be grouped into three distinct research areas: questions about the formal mechanisms that interact in structuring sentences; questions about how these mechanisms are implemented physically in the brain; questions about what these sentences tell us in general about natural language as a biologically determined phenomenon, and ultimately about the position of humankind itself in nature. This chapter attempts to identify possible questions for each of the abovementioned lines of research, taking into account what has been learned in the journey through the history of the verb to be. The discussions cover the formal properties of grammar, the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying the formal principles of grammar, and evolutionary aspects of language.

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (20) ◽  
pp. 4687
Author(s):  
Melissa J. Alldred ◽  
Alessandra C. Martini ◽  
David Patterson ◽  
James Hendrix ◽  
Ann-Charlotte Granholm

Down syndrome (DS) is a form of accelerated aging, and people with DS are highly prone to aging-related conditions that include vascular and neurological disorders. Due to the overexpression of several genes on Chromosome 21, for example genes encoding amyloid precursor protein (APP), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and some of the interferon receptors, those with DS exhibit significant accumulation of amyloid, phospho-tau, oxidative stress, neuronal loss, and neuroinflammation in the brain as they age. In this review, we will summarize the major strides in this research field that have been made in the last few decades, as well as discuss where we are now, and which research areas are considered essential for the field in the future. We examine the scientific history of DS bridging these milestones in research to current efforts in the field. We extrapolate on comorbidities associated with this phenotype and highlight clinical networks in the USA and Europe pursuing clinical research, concluding with funding efforts and recent recommendations to the NIH regarding DS research.


2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graeme W. Dean ◽  
Peter W. Wolnizer ◽  
Frank L. Clarke

A major, unique accounting archival source, the R.J. Chambers Collection comprises both hard copy and, utilizing cutting-edge search technology, internet accessible materials. From his academic beginnings, Chambers was an orderly person, an archivist of the extensive and varied evidence that underpinned his proposals for accounting reform. Opening research areas for accounting biography, the development of accounting thought, the history of accounting institutions, prosopography, public sector accounting history, and comparative international accounting history are foremost amongst the myriad justifications for seeking to unravel the accounting history “lodes” in archives such as the Goldberg, Chambers, and Briloff Collections [Potter, 2003]. The archiving of the meticulously kept Chambers papers from 1947–1999 provides an opportunity for unfolding the background to events previously withheld from accounting history scholars. Professional episodes in relation to inflation accounting, standard setting, proposals to reform accounting education, and the like that appeared prima facie to be worth investigating are now open to scrutiny from a different angle, with a different type of evidence available in this Collection. This Collection provides a high degree of archival provenance. In particular, it represents an orderly retention of past documentation of what Chambers wrote, and perhaps uniquely for accounting historians, received; thus, providing an extensive window from which to examine the disorderly present environment of acounting.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 682
Author(s):  
Matthias Christen ◽  
Nils Janzen ◽  
Anne Fraser ◽  
Adrian C. Sewell ◽  
Vidhya Jagannathan ◽  
...  

A 7-month-old, spayed female, domestic longhair cat with L-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria (L-2-HGA) was investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical signs, metabolic changes and underlying genetic defect. The owner of the cat reported a 4-month history of multiple paroxysmal seizure-like episodes, characterized by running around the house, often in circles, with abnormal behavior, bumping into obstacles, salivating and often urinating. The episodes were followed by a period of disorientation and inappetence. Neurological examination revealed an absent bilateral menace response. Routine blood work revealed mild microcytic anemia but biochemistry, ammonia, lactate and pre- and post-prandial bile acids were unremarkable. MRI of the brain identified multifocal, bilaterally symmetrical and T2-weighted hyperintensities within the prosencephalon, mesencephalon and metencephalon, primarily affecting the grey matter. Urinary organic acids identified highly increased levels of L-2-hydroxyglutaric acid. The cat was treated with the anticonvulsants levetiracetam and phenobarbitone and has been seizure-free for 16 months. We sequenced the genome of the affected cat and compared the data to 48 control genomes. L2HGDH, coding for L-2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase, was investigated as the top functional candidate gene. This search revealed a single private protein-changing variant in the affected cat. The identified homozygous variant, XM_023255678.1:c.1301A>G, is predicted to result in an amino acid change in the L2HGDH protein, XP_023111446.1:p.His434Arg. The available clinical and biochemical data together with current knowledge about L2HGDH variants and their functional impact in humans and dogs allow us to classify the p.His434Arg variant as a causative variant for the observed neurological signs in this cat.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nashaiman Pervaiz ◽  
Hongen Kang ◽  
Yiming Bao ◽  
Amir Ali Abbasi

Abstract Background There has been a rapid increase in the brain size relative to body size during mammalian evolutionary history. In particular, the enlarged and globular brain is the most distinctive anatomical feature of modern humans that set us apart from other extinct and extant primate species. Genetic basis of large brain size in modern humans has largely remained enigmatic. Genes associated with the pathological reduction of brain size (primary microcephaly-MCPH) have the characteristics and functions to be considered ideal candidates to unravel the genetic basis of evolutionary enlargement of human brain size. For instance, the brain size of microcephaly patients is similar to the brain size of Pan troglodyte and the very early hominids like the Sahelanthropus tchadensis and Australopithecus afarensis. Results The present study investigates the molecular evolutionary history of subset of autosomal recessive primary microcephaly (MCPH) genes; CEP135, ZNF335, PHC1, SASS6, CDK6, MFSD2A, CIT, and KIF14 across 48 mammalian species. Codon based substitutions site analysis indicated that ZNF335, SASS6, CIT, and KIF14 have experienced positive selection in eutherian evolutionary history. Estimation of divergent selection pressure revealed that almost all of the MCPH genes analyzed in the present study have maintained their functions throughout the history of placental mammals. Contrary to our expectations, human-specific adoptive evolution was not detected for any of the MCPH genes analyzed in the present study. Conclusion Based on these data it can be inferred that protein-coding sequence of MCPH genes might not be the sole determinant of increase in relative brain size during primate evolutionary history.


2021 ◽  
pp. 104063872110234
Author(s):  
Dah-Jiun Fu ◽  
Akhilesh Ramachandran ◽  
Craig Miller

A 3-y-old, female Quarter Horse with a history of acute neurologic signs was found dead and was submitted for postmortem examination. Areas of petechial and ecchymotic hemorrhage were present on cross-sections of the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brainstem. Histologic examination of the brain revealed severe, purulent meningoencephalitis and vasculitis with a myriad of intralesional gram-positive cocci. Streptococcus pluranimalium was identified from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue obtained from sites with active lesions by PCR and nucleotide sequencing of bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA. S. pluranimalium should be considered as a cause of meningoencephalitis in a horse.


Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Anne Bryden ◽  
Natalie Majors ◽  
Vinay Puri ◽  
Thomas Moriarty

This study examines an 11-year-old boy with a known history of a large previously asymptomatic arachnoid cyst (AC) presenting with acute onset of right facial droop, hemiplegia, and expressive aphasia. Shortly after arrival to the emergency department, the patient exhibited complete resolution of right-sided hemiplegia but developed headache and had persistent word-finding difficulties. Prior to symptom onset while in class at school, there was an absence of reported jerking movements, headache, photophobia, fever, or trauma. At the time of neurology consultation, the physical exam showed mildly delayed cognitive processing but was otherwise unremarkable. The patient underwent MRI scanning of the brain, which revealed left convexity subdural hematohygroma and perirolandic cortex edema resulting from ruptured left frontoparietal AC. He was evaluated by neurosurgery and managed expectantly. He recovered uneventfully and was discharged two days after presentation remaining asymptomatic on subsequent outpatient visits. The family express concerns regarding increased anxiety and mild memory loss since hospitalization.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 82 (6) ◽  
pp. 931-934
Author(s):  
HENRY M. FEDER ◽  
EDWIN L. ZALNERAITIS ◽  
LOUIS REIK

Nervous system involvement in Lyme disease was originally described as meningitis, cranial neuritis, and radiculoneuritis,1-3 but Lyme disease can also involve the brain parenchyma. We describe a child whose first manifestation of Lyme disease was an acute, focal meningoencephalitis with signs and symptoms such as fever, headache, slurred speech, hemiparesis, seizure, and CSF pleocytosis. CASE REPORT A 7-year-old boy was hospitalized Aug 27, 1985, because of hemiparesis. Six weeks prior to admission he had vacationed at Old Lyme, CT. There was no history of rash or tick bite. He had been well until eight hours prior to admission when fever and headache developed.


2021 ◽  
pp. practneurol-2021-002942
Author(s):  
Yue Hui Lau ◽  
Ahmad Shahir Mawardi ◽  
Norzaini Rose Zain ◽  
Shanthi Viswanathan

A 33-year-old man with a history of chronic toluene abuse through glue sniffing, developed tremors, cerebellar signs and cognitive decline. MR scan of the brain showed global cerebral and cerebellar atrophy with symmetrical T2-weighted hypointensities in the basal ganglia, thalami and midbrain. After stopping glue sniffing, his tremors, ataxia of gait, speech and cognition partially improved. Early recognition and intervention of toluene-induced leukodystrophy could prevent ongoing morbidity and premature mortality.


2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelly Trower

The study of the senses has become a rich topic in recent years. Senses of Vibration explores a wide range of sensory experience and makes a decisive new contribution to this growing field by focussing not simply on the senses as such, but on the material experience - vibration - that underpins them. This is the first book to take the theme of vibration as central, offering an interdisciplinary history of the phenomenon and its reverberations in the cultural imaginary. It tracks vibration through the work of a wide range of writers, including physiologists (who thought vibrations in the nerves delivered sensations to the brain), physicists (who claimed that light, heat, electricity and other forms of energy were vibratory), spiritualists (who figured that spiritual energies also existed in vibratory form), and poets and novelists from Coleridge to Dickens and Wells. Senses of Vibration is a work of scholarship that cuts through a range of disciplines and will reverberate for many years to come.


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