The Oxford Handbook of the History of Linguistics

La reseña presenta el libro que K. Allan ha editado, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Linguistics (2013), en la colección de la Oxford University Press sobre Lingüística. En la obra participan más de treinta especialistas, que tratan de la historia en Occidente y, en menor medida, en Oriente. Los ámbitos de estudio respetan un orden tradicional: el sonido, la sintaxis y el significado y, como relativa novedad, la lingüística aplicada. Un interés complementario de la obra es su articulacíón en la amplia colección de manuales de lingüística.

Genotypic classification of patients with Wolfram syndrome: insights into the natural history of the disease and correlation with phenotype

Purpose: Wolfram syndrome is a degenerative, recessive rare disease with an onset in childhood. It is caused by mutations in WFS1 or CISD2 genes. More than 200 different variations in WFS1 have been described in patients with Wolfram syndrome, which complicates the establishment of clear genotype-phenotype correlation. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the role of WFS1 mutations and update the natural history of the disease. Methods: This study analyzed clinical and genetic data of 412 patients with Wolfram syndrome published in the last 15 years. Results: (i) 15% of published patients do not fulfill the current ­inclusion criterion; (ii) genotypic prevalence differences may exist among countries; (iii) diabetes mellitus and optic atrophy might not be the first two clinical features in some patients; (iv) mutations are nonuniformly distributed in WFS1; (v) age at onset of diabetes mellitus, hearing defects, and diabetes insipidus may depend on the patient"s genotypic class; and (vi) disease progression rate might depend on genotypic class. Conclusion: New genotype-phenotype correlations were established, disease progression rate for the general population and for the genotypic classes has been calculated, and new diagnostic criteria have been proposed. The conclusions raised could be important for patient management and counseling as well as for the development of treatments for Wolfram syndrome.

Versatility of field theory motivated nuclear effective Lagrangian approach

We analyze the results for infinite nuclear and neutron matter using the standard relativistic mean field model and its recent effective field theory motivated generalization. For the first time, we show quantitatively that the inclusion in the effective theory of vector meson self-interactions and scalar-vector cross-interactions explains naturally the recent experimental observations of the softness of the nuclear equation of state, without losing the advantages of the standard relativistic model for finite nuclei.

The history of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation according to lacustrine and marine sediments

El gran impacte que El Niño - Oscil·lació del Sud (ENSO) té en la nostra societat industrialitzada ha esperonat la comunitat científica d'arreu a entendre quins són els mecanismes físics que el controlen, així com clarificar quina ha estat la seva història. El registre sedimentari de sensors naturals, com els llacs o la mar, ha permès reconstruir la història de l'ENSO. En aquest article, els autors donen una visió sintètica de la història d'aquest fenomen climàtic al llarg dels darrers quatre milions d'anys.

The history of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation according to lacustrine and marine sediments

El gran impacte que El Niño - Oscil·lació del Sud (ENSO) té en la nostra societat industrialitzada ha esperonat la comunitat científica d'arreu a entendre quins són els mecanismes físics que el controlen, així com clarificar quina ha estat la seva història. El registre sedimentari de sensors naturals, com els llacs o la mar, ha permès reconstruir la història de l'ENSO. En aquest article, els autors donen una visió sintètica de la història d'aquest fenomen climàtic al llarg dels darrers quatre milions d'anys.

Risk factors for colorectal cancer in subjects with family history of the disease.

The relationship between lifestyle factors, past medical conditions, daily meal frequency, diet and the risk of 'familial' colorectal cancer has been analysed using data from a case-control study conducted in northern Italy. A total of 1584 colorectal cancer patients and 2879 control subjects were admitted to a network of hospitals in the Greater Milan area and the Pordenone province. The subjects included for analysis were the 112 cases and the 108 control subjects who reported a family history of colorectal cancer in first-degree relatives. Colorectal cancer cases and control subjects with family history were similarly distributed according to sex, age, marital status, years of schooling and social class. Familial colorectal cancer was associated with meal frequency, medical history of diabetes (relative risk, RR = 4.6) and cholelithiasis (RR = 5.2). Significant positive trends of increasing risk with more frequent consumption were observed for pasta (RR = 2.5, for the highest vs the lowest intake tertile), pastries (RR = 2.4), red meat (RR = 2.9), canned meat (RR = 1.9), cheese (RR = 3.5) and butter (RR = 1.9). Significant inverse associations and trends in risk were observed for consumption of poultry (RR = 0.4), tomatoes (RR = 0.2), peppers (RR = 0.3) and lettuce (RR = 0.3). Significant inverse trends in risk with increasing consumption for beta-carotene and ascorbic acid were observed (RR = 0.5 and 0.4 respectively, highest vs lowest intake tertile). These results suggest that risk factors for subjects with a family history of colorectal cancer in first-degree relatives are not appreciably different from recognized risk factors of the disease in the general population.