Increased Breathiness in Adolescent Kiezdeutsch Speakers: A Marker of Multiethnolectal Group Affiliation?

Kiezdeutsch is a multiethnolectal variety of German spoken by young people from multicultural communities that exhibits lexical, syntactic, and phonetic differences from standard German. A rather salient and pervasive feature of this variety is the fronting of the standard palatal fricative /ç/ (as in "I") to [ɕ] or [ʃ]. Previous perception work shows that this difference is salient and carries social meaning but dependent on the listener group.

Kinetics of sulfur-transfer from titanocene (poly)sulfides to sulfenyl chlorides: rapid metal-assisted concerted substitution.

The kinetics of sulfur transfer from titanocene (poly)sulfides (CpTiS, CpTiSCMe, CpTi(SAr), CpTiCl(SAr)) to sulfenyl chlorides (SCl, RSCl) have been investigated by a combination of stopped-flow UV-Vis/NMR reaction monitoring, titration assays, numerical kinetic modelling and KS-DFT calculations. The reactions are rapid, proceeding to completion over timescales of milliseconds to minutes, a sequence of two S-S bond-forming steps ( , ). The archetypical polysulfides CpTiS (1a) and CpTiSC(Me) (2a) react with disulfur dichloride (SCl) through rate-limiting intermolecular S-S bond formation ( ) followed by a rapid intramolecular cyclization ( , with ≫ [RSCl]).

Making sense of scattering: Seeing microstructure through shear waves.

The physics of shear waves traveling through matter carries fundamental insights into its structure, for instance, quantifying stiffness for disease characterization. However, the origin of shear wave attenuation in tissue is currently not properly understood. Attenuation is caused by two phenomena: absorption due to energy dissipation and scattering on structures such as vessels fundamentally tied to the material's microstructure.

Hiatus resolution and linguistic diversity in Australian English.

Vowel hiatus is typically resolved in Australian English through complementary strategies of liaison (j-gliding/w-gliding/linking-r) and glottalisation. Previous work suggests a change in progress towards increased use of glottalisation as an optimal hiatus-breaker, which creates syntagmatic contrast between adjacent vowels, particularly when the right-edge vowel is strong (i.e.

Tracking Cryptococcal Meningitis to Monitor HIV Program Success During the Treat All Era: An Analysis of National Data in Botswana.

Background: Cryptococcal meningitis (CM) causes substantial mortality in African countries with a high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), despite advances in disease management and increasing antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage. Reliable diagnosis of CM is cheap and more accessible than other indicators of advanced HIV disease burden such as CD4 testing or investigation for disseminated tuberculosis; therefore, monitoring CM incidence has the potential to serve as a valuable metric of HIV programmatic success.

Methods: Botswana national meningitis surveillance data from 2015 to 2022 were obtained from electronic health records.

Nanoparticle-Mediated Delivery of Anti-PU.1 siRNA via Localized Intracisternal Administration Reduces Neuroinflammation.

Neuroinflammation is a hallmark of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Microglia, the brain's immune cells, express many of the AD-risk loci identified in genome wide association studies and present a promising target for anti-inflammatory RNA therapeutics but are difficult to transfect with current methods. Here, several lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulations are examined, and a lead candidate that supports efficient RNA delivery in cultures of human stem cell-derived microglia-like cells (iMGLs) and animal models of neuroinflammation is identified.

iPSC-derived microglia carrying the TREM2 R47H/+ mutation are proinflammatory and promote synapse loss.

Genetic findings have highlighted key roles for microglia in the pathology of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). A number of mutations in the microglial protein triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) have been associated with increased risk for developing AD, most notably the R47H/+ substitution. We employed gene editing and stem cell models to gain insight into the effects of the TREM2 R47H/+ mutation on human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived microglia.

A novel molecular class that recruits HDAC/MECP2 complexes to PU.1 motifs reduces neuroinflammation.

Pervasive neuroinflammation occurs in many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). SPI1/PU.1 is a transcription factor located at a genome-wide significant AD-risk locus and its reduced expression is associated with delayed onset of AD.

A Cdk5-derived peptide inhibits Cdk5/p25 activity and improves neurodegenerative phenotypes.

Aberrant activity of cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk5) has been implicated in various neurodegenerative diseases. This deleterious effect is mediated by pathological cleavage of the Cdk5 activator p35 into the truncated product p25, leading to prolonged Cdk5 activation and altered substrate specificity. Elevated p25 levels have been reported in humans and rodents with neurodegeneration, and the benefit of genetically blocking p25 production has been demonstrated previously in rodent and human neurodegenerative models.

Impact of provider-selected indication requirement on urine test utilization and positivity.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the addition of an indication specification requirement to isolated urine-culture ordering on testing utilization.

Design: Retrospective study utilizing interrupted time series analysis with negative binomial regression. The preintervention period was October 1, 2018-November 11, 2019, and the postintervention period was November 12, 2019-October 31, 2020.

Evaluating automatic creaky voice detection methods.

There is growing interest in research on the non-modal voice quality, creaky voice; however, its identification often relies on time-consuming manual annotation, leading to a recent focus on automatic creak detection methods. Various automatic methods have been proposed, which rely on varying types and combinations of acoustic cues for creak detection. In this paper, we compare the performance of three automatic tools, the AntiMode method, the Creak Detector algorithm, and the Roughness algorithm, against manual annotation of creak using data from 80 Australian English speakers.

Effecting the culture: Impact of changing urinalysis with reflex to culture criteria on culture rates and outcomes.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of changes to urinalysis with reflex to culture (UARC) reflex criteria on culture performance and clinical decision outcomes.

Design: Retrospective study utilizing interrupted time series analysis from December 2018 to November 2020. Primary outcomes were measures of culture performance.

Cycle threshold values and SARS-CoV-2: Relationship to demographic characteristics and disease severity.

Cycle threshold (Ct), or the number of cycles required to amplify viral RNA to a detectable level, provides an estimate of viral load. Previous studies have demonstrated mixed results in regard to the association between SARS-CoV-2 Ct from real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (rRT-PCR) testing to patient outcomes, and there is less data on the relationship between Ct and patient characteristics. This was a retrospective study of 256 patients tested at a tertiary care emergency department from March to July 2020 via nasopharyngeal rRT-PCR testing utilizing the Abbott M2000 SARS-CoV-2 assay.

Technical note: Toward implementation of MR-guided radiation therapy for laryngeal cancer with healthy volunteer imaging and a custom MR-CT larynx phantom.

Purpose: Internal motion of the larynx can cause normal tissue toxicity and/or tumor underdosage during radiotherapy. MR-guided radiation therapy (MRgRT) provides improved soft-tissue contrast for patient setup and real-time gating of radiation based on cine imaging of tumor motion, potentially making it an advantageous modality for laryngeal treatments. However, there are potential concerns regarding the small target size, proximity to heterogeneous tissue interfaces in the airway that may cause dosimetric errors in the presence of the magnetic field, and uncertainty about the ability of MR-linear accelerator (MR-Linac) systems to visualize and track laryngeal motion.

Impact of a Novel, Low-Cost and Sustainable Health Education Program on the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Related to Intestinal Schistosomiasis in School Children in a Hard-to-Reach District of Madagascar.

Schistosomiasis control requires multisectoral approaches including praziquantel treatment, access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene, and health education. Community input can help ensure health education programs are culturally appropriate to effectively direct protective behavior change. This study reports on the three-stage development of an education program for Malagasy children, with an impact evaluation on their knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to intestinal schistosomiasis.

First Do No Harm: Moving Beyond Universal Preprocedural Testing for COVID-19.

Preprocedural testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was introduced early in the pandemic in an effort to protect health care workers, direct appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and improve patient outcomes. In light of our appreciation for the efficacy of PPE and the nuances associated with interpretation of polymerase chain reaction testing for SARS-CoV-2, particularly as community transmission decreases, we call for a re-evaluation of universal preprocedural testing. We propose a transition to a patient-centered approach, focusing on testing patients whose outcomes would be improved by a delayed procedure in the event of a positive test and a greater reliance on appropriate PPE rather than preprocedural test results.

Prevalence of intestinal schistosomiasis in pre-school aged children: a pilot survey in Marolambo District, Madagascar.

School-aged children (SAC) have a considerable burden of intestinal schistosomiasis in Madagascar yet its burden in pre-school aged children (PSAC) is currently overlooked. To assess the at-risk status of PSAC, we undertook a pilot epidemiological survey in June 2019 examining children (n = 89), aged 2-4-years of balanced gender, in six remote villages in Marolambo District, Madagascar. Diagnosis included use of urine-circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) dipsticks and coproscopy of stool with duplicate Kato-Katz (K-K) thick smears.