Vogais mediais pretônicas no noroeste paulista: o papel das variáveis sociais no alçamento vocálico

In this paper, we investigate to which extent social variables act on the medial vowel raising phenomenon in the Portuguese variety spoken in São José do Rio Preto, a city in the countryside of São Paulo State. Based on the theoretical-methodological model of Sociolinguistics Variacionist, we analyse speech samples from this city, the Iboruna database. The results show that the vowel raising applies: (i) for both men and women; (ii) in all age groups and, (iii) in all levels of formal education. Taking into consideration the results of analysis of social and linguistic variables selected by the program GoldVarb, we find evidences that vowel raising phenomenon is not sensitive to social pressures in the speech community studied, which allows us to affirm that it is not a phenomenon socially stigmatized and the variation in its implementation is more strongly subject to linguistic variables.

Self-perception, complaints and vocal quality among undergraduate students enrolled in a Pedagogy course

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Raising of horn fly haematobia irritans (L.) (diptera: muscidae) in laboratory by means of egg and larva inoculation

Several studies have required Haematobia irritans (L.) raising in laboratory. The present study assessed two methods of inoculating immature forms of H. irritans to obtain adults. In 2007, 15 Nellore steers (Bos indicus) (L.) were used for the collection of feces free of anthelmintic treatment and flies to produce for eggs and larva. For method I, 30 eggs were incubated in square filter paper (5 × 5 cm) and deposited on bovine feces (500 g) where they were kept until hatching and spontaneous penetration of larvae (L1) into the fecal mass. After 24 h, eggs were analyzed under a stereoscope microscope (40×) for the number of larvae that instinctively penetrated the feces. In method II, larvae were obtained only by natural egg hatching. At birth, 30 larvae were collected and individually inoculated, directly onto the fecal plate by employing a moistened brush. The tests were carried out at controlled temperature (28˚C ± 2˚C) and saturated humidity (80%) until the emergence of flies with both methods. The number of emerged flies was considered in the result. Using method I, 276 (76.7%) flies emerged from 360 inoculated eggs, while using method II, 283 (78.6%) flies emerged from 360 inoculated larvae. There was no significant difference (P = 0.7821) between methods for the number of flies; however, the proportion between males and females by means of larva inoculation was different from 1:1 (P = 0.0146). Results indicated that both methods led to a satisfactory production of flies and egg inoculation provided an easier establishment.

Book Review of Raising Less Corn, More Hell: The Case for the Independent Farm and Against Industrial Food by George Pyle

Raising Less Corn, More Hell may sound like a rallying cry for the nation's heartland farmers, but this well-written series of essays by George Pyle is meant for those who eat corn. Or rather, for those of us who eat the livestock fed on corn in confined animal feeding operations, then wash down those meals with drinks high in high-fructose corn syrups. Pyle, an editorial writer from Kansas now living in Utah, brings his journalist's skills to bear on what our industrial food system has brought us. It's not appetizing as he makes his case against a corporate-controlled system that doesn't have to be this way.

Maximum Phonation Time and s/z Ratio in a Large Child Cohort

Aim. The purpose of this study was to provide normal values for maximum phonation time (MPT) and the s/z ratio by examining 1660 children aged 4-12 years and without vocal signs or symptoms. Methods. The technique was based on the sustained emission of the /a/ vowel and fricatives /s/ and /z/. Results. The average of the MPT in children of the different age groups was as follows: 6.09 seconds for the age group 4-6 years (males, 5.97; female, 6.21 seconds), 7.94 seconds for the age group 7-9 years (males, 8.07; females, 7.79 seconds), and 8.98 for the age group 10-12 years (males, 9.05; females, 8.92 seconds). The overall average for males was 7.78 and females 7.64 seconds. The s/z ratio was near 1.0 in most children but above 1.2 in 133 children and below 0.8 in 133 children. Conclusion. These values of MPT and s/z ratio can be used as normative in further pediatric studies.

AN ELDERLY COUPLE AND THEIR LONG LIFE RAISING FOUR SCHIZOPHRENIC CHILDREN

The objective was to identify, among parents of schizophrenics, elements of their daily life in coping with the disorder and the care offered and received through the health system. This is a field research, using thematic oral history. The parents of four patients with schizophrenia took part in this study. Interviews were conducted, recorded and transcribed, based on three instruments (two specific questionnaires and a field diary). Three categories were identified that reflect difficulties experienced in daily life: limitations in knowledge about schizophrenia; fatigue and burden with impairment of quality of life; and uncertainly about the future and resilience strengthened by faith in God. The concept of care was associated with technical procedures, revealing general satisfaction with the care received. The suffering related to living with schizophrenic relatives is intense, and professionals must be prepared to deal with these experiences of pain and suffering from patients with mental disorder and their relatives.

GRBAS and Cape-V Scales: High Reliability and Consensus When Applied at Different Times

Objectives. To evaluate whether the overall dysphonia grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, and strain (GRBAS) scale, and the Consensus Auditory Perceptual Evaluation-Voice (CAPE-V) scale show the same reliability and consensus when applied to the same vocal sample at different times. Study Design. Observational cross-sectional study. Methods. Sixty subjects had their voices recorded according to the tasks proposed in the CAPE-V scale. Vowels /a/ and /i/ were sustained between 3 and 5 seconds. Reproduction of six sentences and spontaneous speech from the request "Tell me about your voice" were analyzed. For the analysis of the GRBAS scale, the sustained vowel and reading tasks of the sentences was used. Auditory-perceptual voice analyses were conducted by three expert speech therapists with more than 5 years of experience and familiar with both the scales. Results. A strong correlation was observed in the intrajudge consensus analysis, both for the GRBAS scale as well as for CAPE-V, with intraclass coefficient values ranging from 0.923 to 0.985. A high degree of correlation between the general GRBAS and CAPE-V grades (coefficient = 0.842) was observed, with similarities in the grades of dysphonia distribution in both scales. The evaluators indicated a mild difficulty in applying the GRBAS scale and low to mild difficulty in applying the CAPE-V scale. The three evaluators agreed when indicating the GRBAS scale as the fastest and the CAPE-V scale as the most sensitive, especially for detecting small changes in voice. Conclusions. The two scales are reliable and are indicated for use in analyzing voice quality.

Neurolinguistic analysis: aspects of language and speech deviations in Palestinian Arabic aphasics

The characteristics of aphasics’ speech in various languages have been the core of numerous studies, but Arabic in general, and Palestinian Arabic in particular, is still a virgin field in this respect. However, it is of vital importance to have a clear picture of the specific aspects of Palestinian Arabic that might be affected in the speech of aphasics in order to establish screening, diagnosis and therapy programs based on a clinical linguistic database. Hence the central questions of this study are what are the main neurolinguistic features of the Palestinian aphasics’ speech at the phonetic-acoustic level and to what extent are the results similar or not to those obtained from other languages. In general, this study is a survey of the most prominent features of Palestinian Broca’s aphasics’ speech. The main acoustic parameters of vowels and consonants are analysed such as vowel duration, formant frequency, Voice Onset Time (VOT), intensity and frication duration. The deviant patterns among the Broca’s aphasics are displayed and compared with those of normal speakers. The nature of deficit, whether phonetic or phonological, is also discussed. Moreover, the coarticulatory characteristics and some prosodic patterns of Broca’s aphasics are addressed. Samples were collected from six Broca’s aphasics from the same local region. The acoustic analysis conducted on a range of consonant and vowel parameters displayed differences between the speech patterns of Broca’s aphasics and normal speakers. For example, impairments in voicing contrast between the voiced and voiceless stops were found in Broca’s aphasics. This feature does not exist for the fricatives produced by the Palestinian Broca’s aphasics and hence deviates from data obtained for aphasics’ speech from other languages. The Palestinian Broca’s aphasics displayed particular problems with the emphatic sounds. They exhibited deviant coarticulation patterns, another feature that is inconsistent with data obtained from studies from other languages. However, several other findings are in accordance with those reported from various other languages such as impairments in the VOT. The results are in accordance with the suggestions that speech production deficits in Broca’s aphasics are not related to phoneme selection but rather to articulatory implementation and some speech output impairments are related to timing and planning deficits.

Abnormal cardiovascular responses to carotid sinus massage also occur in vasovagal syncope - implications for diagnosis and treatment

Carotid sinus massage (CSM) is commonly used to identify carotid sinus hypersensitivity (CSH) as a possible cause for syncope, especially in older patients. However, CSM itself could provoke classical vasovagal syncope (VVS) in pre disposed subjects.

Patient with syncope and LQTS carrying a mutation in the PAS domain of the hERG1 channel

We report the case of a woman with syncope and persistently prolonged QTc interval. Screening of congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS) genes revealed that she was a heterozygous carrier of a novel KCNH2 mutation, c.G238C. Electrophysiological and biochemical characterizations unveiled the pathogenicity of this new mutation, displaying a 2-fold reduction in protein expression and current density due to a maturation/trafficking-deficient mechanism. The patient's phenotype can be fully explained by this observation. This study illustrates the importance of performing genetic analyses and mutation characterization when there is a suspicion of congenital LQTS. Identifying mutations in the PAS domain or other domains of the hERG1 channel and understanding their effect may provide more focused and mutation-specific risk assessment in this population.

Apatani phonology and lexicon, with a special focus on tone

Despite being one of the most extensively researched of Eastern Himalayan languages, the basic morphological and phonological-prosodic properties of Apatani (Tibeto-Burman > Tani > Western) have not yet been adequately described. This article attempts such a description, focusing especially on interactions between segmental-syllabic phonology and tone in Apatani. We highlight three features in particular – vowel length, nasality and a glottal stop – which contribute to contrastively-weighted syllables in Apatani, which are consistently under-represented in previous descriptions of Apatani, and in absence of which tone in Apatani cannot be effectively analysed. We conclude that Apatani has two “underlying”, lexically-specified tone categories H and L, whose interaction with word structure and syllable weight produce a maximum of three “surface” pitch contours – level, falling and rising – on disyllabic phonological words. Two appendices provide a set of diagnostic procedures for the discovery and description of Apatani tone categories, as well as an Apatani lexicon of approximately one thousand entries.

Transient loss of consciousness and syncope

Syncope describes a sudden and brief transient loss of consciousness (TLOC) with postural failure due to cerebral global hypoperfusion. The term TLOC is used when the cause is either unrelated to cerebral hypoperfusion or is unknown. The most common causes of syncopal TLOC include: (1) cardiogenic syncope (cardiac arrhythmias, structural cardiac diseases, others); (2) orthostatic hypotension (due to drugs, hypovolemia, primary or secondary autonomic failure, others); (3) neurally mediated syncope (cardioinhibitory, vasodepressor, and mixed forms). Rarely neurologic disorders (such as epilepsy, transient ischemic attacks, and the subclavian steal syndrome) can lead to cerebal hypoperfusion and syncope. Nonsyncopal TLOC may be due to neurologic (epilepsy, sleep attacks, and other states with fluctuating vigilance), medical (hypoglycemia, drugs), psychiatric, or post-traumatic disorders. Basic diagnostic workup of TLOC includes a thorough history and physical examination, and a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). Blood testing, electroencephalogram (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain, echocardiography, head-up tilt test, carotid sinus massage, Holter monitoring, and loop recorders should be obtained only in specific contexts. Management strategies involve pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions, and cardiac pacing.

A variationist approach to the examination of insertion and deletion of /h/ in Kosraean English

I report on language variation in the unresearched variety of English emerging on Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia. English is spoken as the inter-island lingua franca throughout Micronesia and has been the official language of FSM since gaining its independence in 1986, though still retaining close ties with the US through and economic “compact” agreement. I present here an analysis of a corpus of over 90 Kosraean English speakers, compiled during a three month fieldwork trip to the island in the Western Pacific. The 45 minute sociolinguistically sensitive recordings are drawn from a corpus of old and young, with varying levels of education and occupations, and off-island experiences. In the paper I analyse two variables. The first variable is the realisation of /h/, often subject to deletion in both L1 and L2 varieties of English. Such occurrences are commonly associated with Cockney English, but also found in Caribbean English and the postcolonial English of Australia. For example:  Male, 31: yeah I build their house their local huts and they pay me /h/ deletion is frequent in Kosraean English, but, perhaps expectedly, occurs slightly less among people with higher contact with American English, through having spent longer periods off island. The second feature under scrutiny is the variable epenthesis of [h] to provide a consonantal onset to vowel-initial syllables.  Male, 31: that guy is really hold now This practice is also found beyond Kosraean English. Previous studies find h-epenthesis arising in L1 varieties including Newfoundland and Tristan de Cunha English, while similar manifestations are identified in Francophone L2 learners of English. My variationist statistical analysis has shown [h] insertion:  to disproportionately occur intervocalically;  to be constrained by both speaker gender and age: older males are much more likely to epenthesis [h] in their speech;  to be more likely in the onset of stressed as opposed to unstressed syllables. In light of the findings of my analysis, I consider the relationship between h-deletion and h-epenthesis, the plausibility of hypercorrection as a motivation for the variation, and the potential influence of the substrate language, alongside sociolinguistic factors such as attitudes towards the US based on mobility. The analysis sheds light on the extent to which different varieties share this characteristic and the comparability of them in terms of linguistic constraints and attributes. Clarke, S. (2010). Newfoundland and Labrador English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Hackert, S. (2004). Urban Bahamian Creole: System and Variation. Varieties of English Around the World G32. Amsterdam: Benjamins Milroy, J. (1983). On the Sociolinguistic History of H-dropping in English in Current topics in English historical linguistics: Odense UP