Language processing and acquisition in languages of Semitic, root-based, morphology / Joseph Shimron

This book addresses a fundamental question in the morphological analysis and representation of Semitic languages—namely, whether Semitic word morphology is root based or word based. As Shimron suggests, “there are reasons to view the templates, not the roots, as the more influential factor in determining Semitic morphology” (p. 5). Yet, as others would argue, there are reasons not to disregard the root-based hypothesis altogether. In the case of Arabic morphology, for example, verbal forms inherently contain three nonlinear levels: the consonantal root, the vowel pattern, and the templatic prosody. This nonlinear feature provided a perfect illustration of what has become termed in the literature as root-and-patterns morphology (McCarthy & Prince, 1986, 1990).

Measurement for improvement: a survey of current practice in Australian public hospitals

Objective:
To identify patient safety measurement tools in use in Australian public hospitals and to determine barriers to their use.

Design:
Structured survey, conducted between 4 March and 19 May 2005, designed to identify tools, and to assess current use of, levels of satisfaction with, and barriers to use of tools for measuring the domains and subdomains of: organisational capacity to provide safe health care; patient safety incidents; and clinical performance.

Participants and setting:
Hospital executives, managers and clinicians from a nationwide random sample of Australian public hospitals stratified by state and hospital peer grouping.

Main outcome measures:
Tools used by hospitals within the three domains and their subdomains; patient safety tools and processes identified by individuals at these hospitals; satisfaction with the tools; and barriers to their use.

Results:
Eighty-two of 167 invited hospitals (49%) responded. The survey ascertained a comprehensive list of patient safety measurement tools that are in current use for measuring all patient safety domains. Overall, there was a focus on use of processes rather than quantitative measurement tools. Approximately half the 182 individual respondents from participating hospitals reported satisfaction with existing tools. The main reported barriers were lack of integrated supportive systems, resource constraints and inadequate access to robust measurement tools validated in the Australian context. Measurement of organisational capacity was reported by 50 (61%), of patient safety incidents by 81 (99%) and of clinical performance by 81 (99%).

Conclusion:
Australian public hospitals are measuring the safety of their health care, with some variation in measurement of patient safety domains and their subdomains. Improved access to robust tools may support future standardisation of measurement for improvement.

Cognitive Deficits in Machado-Joseph Disease Correlate with Hypoperfusion of Visual System Areas

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

Fine needle aspiration biopsy of gastrointestinal stromal tumor presenting as an umbilical mass (Sister Mary Joseph's nodule)

The Sister Mary Joseph (SMJ) nodule is a clinical sign of metastatic cancer involving the umbilicus. The vast majority of these instances represent adenocarcinomas arising from ovarian or colorectal primaries. We present a patient who presented with ascites and the SMJ lesion that turned out to be a metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor after fine needle aspiration biopsy was performed. The lesion was subsequently histologically confirmed. Gastrointestinal stroma tumor involving the umbilicus is exceedingly uncommon and only rarely presents in this fashion. The cytomorphological features, differential diagnosis, and comparison with the tissue specimen are made. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Observation of the rare B-s(0)->mu(+)mu(-) decay from the combined analysis of CMS and LHCb data

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Taxonomic validity of Mesoclemmys heliostemma (McCord, Joseph-Ouni & Lamar, 2001) (Testudines, Chelidae) inferred from morphological analysis

Mesoclemmys heliostemma (Testudines: Chelidae) was described based on five vouchered specimens and nine live specimens from the western Amazon basin. Some authors questioned its status as a valid species, suggesting that it represents a junior synonym of M. raniceps. Here, we report on eight additional specimens from eastern Peru and northern Brazil, and provide descriptive statistics of morphological characters for hatchlings, juveniles, and adults of M. heliostemma, M. raniceps, and M. gibba. We also test for group differences through univariate and multivariate statistical analyses, and discuss some advantages of this methodology. Our data suggest that all three taxa are morphologically divergent, and that M. heliostemma is a valid species.

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process vs. those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process); thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from stimuli that result in increased autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.