Linguistic analysis of plain language summaries and corresponding scientific summaries of Cochrane systematic reviews about oncology interventions.

BACKGROUND: Cochrane plain language summaries (PLSs) are an important format to present high-quality healthcare evidence to patients with cancer and their families. They should be written in a way everyone can understand, since they serve as a tool in decision-making and present a bridge to overcome the gap between the healthcare users and professionals. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to assess the language characteristics of PLSs of Cochrane systematic reviews of oncology interventions in comparison with corresponding Cochrane scientific abstracts (SAs). METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we included all Cochrane PLSs and SAs of systematic reviews of oncology interventions available in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. We assessed text readability, measured using the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) index, and the prevalence of words related to different language tones (clout, authenticity, emotions and analytical tones). Two independent assessors categorized the conclusiveness of the efficacy of interventions into nine categories. RESULTS: The overall median SMOG index for 275 PLSs was 13.0 (95% confidence interval [CI] 12.8-13.3). Readability scores did not differ across Cochrane Review Groups. SAs had a higher readability index than the corresponding PLSs (median = 16.6, 95% CI = 16.4-16.8). Regarding linguistic characteristics, PLSs were shorter than SAs, with less use of analytical tone, but more use of a positive emotional tone and authenticity. Overall, the 'Unclear' category of conclusiveness was the most common among all PLSs. Also, PLSs with 'No evidence' conclusions were the shortest and had the lowest SMOG index. CONCLUSION: PLSs of Cochrane systematic reviews of oncological interventions have low readability and most give unclear conclusions about the efficacy of interventions. PLSs should be simplified so that patients and their families can benefit from appropriate health information on evidence synthesis. Further research is needed into reasons for unclear language to describe evidence from oncology trials.

Persuasive linguistic tricks in social media marketing communication-The memetic approach.

The paper reports the results of a study into the use of linguistic cues defined as Persuasive Linguistic Tricks (PLT) in social media (SM) marketing communication. It was assumed that the content shared on Social Networking Sites (SNS) could be perceived as specific sets of meanings (memeplexes), where a single component, also PLT, may function as their part. Following an original typology of PLT, created based on an emotional factor, the research focused on whether and how the number of positive, neutral and negative PLT used in Facebook posts impacted the behaviour of content recipients. These activities, including liking, commenting and sharing, are strictly connected with post spreading and range. The data analysis focused on 167 Facebook posts shared by five leading Polish travel agencies and 1911 responding comments. The quantitative content analysis method and Spearman's correlation tests were used. A relationship was observed between the number of emotionally positive and neutral PLT and the increase in the range of content with these PLT. The use of PLT by post recipients was also observed in their comments. This phenomenon is possibly related to the memetic nature of PLT. From the perspective of marketing messages, the obtained results contribute to and guide the textual content-building with a high spreading potential owing to the memetic capability of PLT. Further elaborations were made on the assumption for the evolutionary approach in social media content transfer and its processing.

Linguistic and cultural adaptation to the Portuguese language of antimicrobial dose adjustment software.

OBJECTIVE: To adapt an antibiotic dose adjustment software initially developed in English, to Portuguese and to the Brazilian context. METHODS: This was an observational, descriptive study in which the Delphi method was used to establish consensus among specialists from different health areas, with questions addressing the visual and operational aspects of the software. In a second stage, a pilot experimental study was performed with the random comparison of patients for evaluation and adaptation of the software in the real environment of an intensive care unit, where it was compared between patients who used the standardized dose of piperacillin/tazobactam, and those who used an individualized dose adjusted through the software Individually Designed and Optimized Dosing Strategies. RESULTS: Twelve professionals participated in the first round, whose suggestions were forwarded to the software developer for adjustments, and subsequently submitted to the second round. Eight specialists participated in the second round. Indexes of 80% and 90% of concordance were obtained between the judges, characterizing uniformity in the suggestions. Thus, there was modification in the layout of the software for linguistic and cultural adequacy, minimizing errors of understanding and contradictions. In the second stage, 21 patients were included, and there were no differences between doses of piperacillin in the standard dose and adjusted dose Groups. CONCLUSION: The adapted version of the software is safe and reliable for its use in Brazil.

Universals of word order reflect optimization of grammars for efficient communication.

The universal properties of human languages have been the subject of intense study across the language sciences. We report computational and corpus evidence for the hypothesis that a prominent subset of these universal properties-those related to word order-result from a process of optimization for efficient communication among humans, trading off the need to reduce complexity with the need to reduce ambiguity. We formalize these two pressures with information-theoretic and neural-network models of complexity and ambiguity and simulate grammars with optimized word-order parameters on large-scale data from 51 languages. Evolution of grammars toward efficiency results in word-order patterns that predict a large subset of the major word-order correlations across languages.

Concurrent Validity and Reliability of the Core Lexicon Measure as a Measure of Word Retrieval Ability in Aphasia Narratives.

Purpose General agreement exists in the literature that clinicians struggle with quantifying discourse-level performance in clinical settings. Core lexicon analysis has gained recent attention as an alternative tool that may address difficulties that clinicians face. Although previous studies have demonstrated that core lexicon measures are an efficient means of assessing discourse in persons with aphasia (PWAs), the psychometric properties of core lexicon measures have yet to be investigated. The purpose of this study was (a) to examine the concurrent validity by using microlinguistic and macrolinguistic measures and (b) to demonstrate interrater reliability without transcription by raters with minimal training. Method Eleven language samples collected from PWAs were used in this study. Concurrent validity was assessed by correlating performance on the core lexicon measure with microlinguistic and macrolinguistic measures. For interrater reliability, 4 raters used the core lexicon checklists to score audio-recorded discourse samples from 10 PWAs. Results The core lexicon measures significantly correlated with microlinguistic and macrolinguistic measures. Acceptable interrater reliability was obtained among the 4 raters. Conclusions Core lexicon analysis is potentially useful for measuring word retrieval impairments at the discourse level. It may also be a feasible solution because it reduces the amount of preparatory work for discourse assessment.

Linguistic and cultural adaptation to the Portuguese language of antimicrobial dose adjustment software / Adaptação linguística e cultural para a língua portuguesa de um software para ajuste de dose de antimicrobianos

ABSTRACT Objective To adapt an antibiotic dose adjustment software initially developed in English, to Portuguese and to the Brazilian context. Methods This was an observational, descriptive study in which the Delphi method was used to establish consensus among specialists from different health areas, with questions addressing the visual and operational aspects of the software. In a second stage, a pilot experimental study was performed with the random comparison of patients for evaluation and adaptation of the software in the real environment of an intensive care unit, where it was compared between patients who used the standardized dose of piperacillin/tazobactam, and those who used an individualized dose adjusted through the software Individually Designed and Optimized Dosing Strategies. Results Twelve professionals participated in the first round, whose suggestions were forwarded to the software developer for adjustments, and subsequently submitted to the second round. Eight specialists participated in the second round. Indexes of 80% and 90% of concordance were obtained between the judges, characterizing uniformity in the suggestions. Thus, there was modification in the layout of the software for linguistic and cultural adequacy, minimizing errors of understanding and contradictions. In the second stage, 21 patients were included, and there were no differences between doses of piperacillin in the standard dose and adjusted dose Groups. Conclusion The adapted version of the software is safe and reliable for its use in Brazil.

RESUMO Objetivo Adaptar um software de ajuste de dose de antibióticos inicialmente elaborado em língua inglesa para o português e a conjuntura brasileira. Métodos Trata-se de estudo observacional, descritivo, em que foi utilizado o método Delphi para estabelecer consenso entre especialistas de diferentes áreas da saúde, com perguntas que abordaram os aspectos visuais e operacionais do software. Em uma segunda etapa, foi realizado um estudo piloto, experimental, com alocação aleatória dos pacientes, para avaliação e adaptação do software em ambiente real de uma unidade de tratamento intensivo, onde foram comparadas diferenças entre pacientes que utilizaram dose padronizada usual de piperacilina/tazobactam, e os que utilizaram a dose individualizada ajustada por meio do software Individually Designed Optimum Dosing Strategies. Resultados Participaram da primeira rodada 12 profissionais cujas sugestões foram encaminhadas ao desenvolvedor do software para adequação e ajustes, e posteriormente submetidas à segunda rodada. Oito especialistas participaram da segunda rodada. Foram obtidos índices de 80% e 90% de concordância entre os juízes, caracterizando uniformidade nas sugestões. Dessa forma, houve modificação no layout do software para adequação linguística e cultural, minimizando erros de entendimento e contradições. Na segunda etapa, foram incluídos 21 pacientes, e não houve diferenças entre doses de piperacilina nos grupos dose padronizada e dose ajustada. Conclusão A versão adaptada do software é segura e confiável para seu uso no Brasil.

Keepin' it real: Linguistic models of authenticity judgments for artificially generated rap lyrics.

Through advances in neural language modeling, it has become possible to generate artificial texts in a variety of genres and styles. While the semantic coherence of such texts should not be over-estimated, the grammatical correctness and stylistic qualities of these artificial texts are at times remarkably convincing. In this paper, we report a study into crowd-sourced authenticity judgments for such artificially generated texts. As a case study, we have turned to rap lyrics, an established sub-genre of present-day popular music, known for its explicit content and unique rhythmical delivery of lyrics. The empirical basis of our study is an experiment carried out in the context of a large, mainstream contemporary music festival in the Netherlands. Apart from more generic factors, we model a diverse set of linguistic characteristics of the input that might have functioned as authenticity cues. It is shown that participants are only marginally capable of distinguishing between authentic and generated materials. By scrutinizing the linguistic features that influence the participants' authenticity judgments, it is shown that linguistic properties such as 'syntactic complexity', 'lexical diversity' and 'rhyme density' add to the user's perception of texts being authentic. This research contributes to the improvement of the quality and credibility of generated text. Additionally, it enhances our understanding of the perception of authentic and artificial art.

Linguistic analysis of pediatric residency personal statements: gender differences.

BACKGROUND: All US residency programs require applicants to submit personal statements. Prior studies showed gender differences in personal statement writing, which has implications for gender bias in the application process, but previous studies have not considered the dual influence of specialty-specific values on personal statement writing by applicants of each gender. OBJECTIVE: To understand gender differences in pediatric residency personal statements. METHODS: From 2017 to 2018, we performed linguistic analysis of personal statements written by interviewees at a mid-size US pediatrics residency during two prior academic years. We assessed writing tone, communal language, and agentic language. We performed t-tests to evaluate for gender differences, p < 0.05. RESULTS: We analyzed personal statements from 85 male and 85 female interviewees. Average word count was 676 words. Personal statements demonstrated analytic writing style with authentic and positive emotional tone. We found no gender differences in communal language for social affiliation (p = 0.31), adjectives (p = 0.49), or orientation (p = 0.48), which deviates from typical gender norms for male language use. Males used agentic language of reward more frequently (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that social language is valued in pediatrics, a predominantly female specialty, regardless of applicant gender. Use of reward language by males is consistent with previous findings. Future studies should evaluate gender differences in residency applications across specialties to advance understanding of the role gender plays in the application process.

Hypothesis, analysis and synthesis, it's all Greek to me.

The linguistic foundations of science and technology include many terms that have been borrowed from ancient languages. In the case of terms with origins in the Greek language, the modern meaning can often differ significantly from the original one. Here we use the PubMed database to demonstrate the prevalence of words of Greek origin in the language of modern science, and call for scientists to exercise care when coining new terms.

Explicit linguistic knowledge is necessary, but not sufficient, for the provision of explicit early literacy instruction.

Teacher's knowledge can influence the act of teaching and affect children's learning outcomes. Linguistic and language knowledge of teachers plays an important role in supporting learners at the beginning to read stage. This study examines the language and linguistic knowledge of teachers of beginning readers in New Zealand, how these teachers perceive their own practices in teaching reading, and the relationship with the nature of observed instructional practices. The teachers in the study used predominantly implicit approaches to early reading instruction, with word-level instruction and prompting used only after context, even when teachers with high linguistic knowledge used implicit approaches, suggesting that teacher's knowledge is not sufficient, on its own, to ensure effective, explicit, word-level instruction to beginning readers.

Access to Linguistically Appropriate Information for Blood and Marrow Transplant Patients: Results from Transplant Center Staff Survey.

Blood or marrow transplant (BMT) is a potentially curative treatment for numerous cancers and non-malignant disorders. BMT is a resource-intense treatment process, requiring patients to comprehend difficult health information and navigate a complex healthcare system. Linguistic and cultural barriers create additional challenges for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) who may need translated information and interpretive services to make an informed decision about treatment. To identify information needs and gaps in language services for BMT patients with LEP, the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP)/Be The Match® administered a cross-sectional, web-based survey to 139 transplant centers (TCs) across the United States (U.S.). The survey yielded a 59% response rate. Findings show a significant need for translated patient education materials, especially in Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic, and practice gaps in the use of appropriate interpreters. Nearly one third of respondents indicated using family and friends to interpret for patients. The inability to locate educational resources in a specific language, lack of available bilingual staff, lack of a formal, centralized tracking system, and outdated tracking systems also pose significant barriers to meeting the language needs of BMT patients with LEP.

LexiRumah: An online lexical database of the Lesser Sunda Islands.

The Lesser Sunda Islands in eastern Indonesia cover a longitudinal distance of some 600 kilometres. They are the westernmost place where languages of the Austronesian family come into contact with a family of Papuan languages and constitute an area of high linguistic diversity. Despite its diversity, the Lesser Sundas are little studied and for most of the region, written historical records, as well as archaeological and ethnographic data are lacking. In such circumstances the study of relationships between languages through their lexicon is a unique tool for making inferences about human (pre-)history and tracing population movements. However, the lack of a collective body of lexical data has severely limited our understanding of the history of the languages and peoples in the Lesser Sundas. The LexiRumah database fills this gap by assembling lexicons of Lesser Sunda languages from published and unpublished sources, and making those lexicons available online in a consistent format. This database makes it possible for researchers to explore the linguistic data collated from different primary sources, to formulate hypotheses on how the languages of the two families might be internally related and to compare competing hypotheses about subgroupings and language contact in the region. In this article, we present observations from aggregating lexical data from sources of different type and quality, including fieldwork, and generalize our lessons learned towards practical guidelines for creating a consistent database of comparable lexical items, derived from the design and development of LexiRumah. Databases like this are instrumental in developing theories of language evolution and change in understudied regions where small-scale, pre-industrial, pre-literate societies are the majority. It is therefore vital to follow reliable design choices when creating such databases, as described in this paper.

Letter--Use of Objectives in Research Articles.

DISCLOSURES: No funding supported this project. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Evaluating association between linguistic characteristics of abstracts and risk of bias: Case of Japanese randomized controlled trials.

Despite the ongoing growth in the number of published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and increased quality assessment of RCTs, the association between the quality and characteristics in the text has not been sufficiently studied. We are interested in a specific question: what kind of sentences is a good indicator of high quality RCTs? To help researchers to efficiently screen articles worth reading, this study aims 1) to quantify the linguistic features of articles and 2) to build a document assessment model to evaluate quality of RCTs using only the abstract. All RCTs that were conducted in Japan in 2010 as original articles were included in the analysis. Data were independently assessed by two reviewers using a risk-of-bias tool. Three aspects of linguistic style were quantitatively measured, and a document model was constructed to evaluate the RCTs. A total of 302 RCTs were selected for quality assessment. Of these, 255 articles were assessed as high quality and 47 as low quality. High-quality articles tended to use longer words than low-quality articles (p = 0.048), however sentences were generally shorter (p = 0.004). Further, high-quality articles included a larger proportion of noun phrases (p = 0.026) but a smaller proportion of verb phrases (p = 0.041). The optimal number of topics to assess the quality of articles was four, while two topics had a significant association with quality. Despite a number of articles published about RCTs in Japan, significant differences exist in several textual features between high- and low-quality RCTs. Instead of the risk-of-bias tool, these results can be used as the new criteria to rapidly screen valuable articles and it also revealed quality control of RCT articles is urgently needed in Japan.

Korean Version of the painDETECT Questionnaire: A Study for Cultural Adaptation and Validation.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to adapt the painDETECT Questionnaire (PD-Q) into a Korean version (KPD-Q) and validate it. METHODS: A single-center prospective observational study was performed. During the first phase of the study, linguistic adaptation was carried out to develop the KPD-Q. During the second phase of the study, feasibility, internal consistency, discriminant validity, and concurrent validity were assessed for psychometric validation of the KPD-Q. RESULTS: A total of 232 patients participated. Among them, 82 patients (35%) were classified in the neuropathic pain (NeP) group, 80 (34%) in the nociceptive pain group, and 70 (30%) in the mixed pain group. Regarding the reliability of the KPD-Q, internal consistency for the whole scale was 0.804, as evaluated by Cronbach's alpha. Pearson's correlation between the Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs scale and the KPD-Q scores was positive and statistically significant (r = 0.74, P < 0.001). Similar to the result obtained by the original developers, a value of ≥ 19 points suggested a clear diagnosis of the presence of an NeP component with 95.4% sensitivity, 73.8% specificity, and 0.737 Youden index. We used ≤ 13 (as opposed to ≤ 12, as suggested previously) as an alternative cutoff value, which showed a sensitivity of 95.4%, specificity of 73.8%, and the Youden index of 0.691. CONCLUSION: The KPD-Q showed good psychometric and discriminant features for assessing the neuropathic component in chronic pain patients. We hope that this newly validated KPD-Q will be recognized in Korea as a credible tool for detection of NeP and thus may be used in further international clinical research.

Computational Lexical Analysis of the Language Commonly Used to Describe Gout.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the current language that is used in describing and defining gout, its symptoms, and its treatment by reviewing recent publications in rheumatology and determining how word choice may, or may not, be reflective of recent scientific developments in gout specifically. METHODS: This was a computational linguistics study, using collocations analyses and concordance analyses on a database of scientific literature related to gout. The final data set for analysis included 2,590 articles, all relating to gout and published between May 2003 and May 2013 and amounting to 12,101,036 tokens (sentence segments). Analysis was conducted by a team of linguists and social scientists. RESULTS: Our primary finding is that current disease language in gout is marked by ambiguity and imprecision, as evidenced by numerous terms that have similar but distinct meanings, but are nevertheless used interchangeably, therefore blending the slight but significant distinctions between these words. Whereas treatment language is characterized by a multitude of terms to describe a therapeutic mechanism of action, there is a relative void of terms and phrases used to describe success (treating to target) in gout. CONCLUSION: The data suggest that the language used to describe gout could be improved and updated. A transformation from an antiquated and insufficiently descript terminological set to one that reflects the recent scientific and clinical advancements made in the category would maximize opportunities for patient and physician understanding.

Relative meaning frequencies for 578 homonyms in two Spanish dialects: A cross-linguistic extension of the English eDom norms.

Relative meaning frequency is a critical factor to consider in studies of semantic ambiguity. In this work, we examined how this measure may change across the European and Rioplatense dialects of Spanish, as well as how the overall distributional properties differ between Spanish and English, using a computer-assisted norming approach based on dictionary definitions (Armstrong, Tokowicz, & Plaut, 2012). The results showed that the two dialects differ considerably in terms of the relative meaning frequencies of their constituent homonyms, and that the overall distributions of relative frequencies vary considerably across languages, as well. These results highlight the need for localized norms to design powerful studies of semantic ambiguity and suggest that dialectal differences may be responsible for some discrepant effects related to homonymy. In quantifying the reliability of the norms, we also established that as few as seven ratings are needed to converge on a highly stable set of ratings. This approach is therefore a very practical means of acquiring essential data in studies of semantic ambiguity, relative to past approaches, such as those based on the classification of free associates. The norms also present new possibilities for studying semantic ambiguity effects within and between populations who speak one or more languages. The norms and associated software are available for download at http://edom.cnbc.cmu.edu/ or http://www.bcbl.eu/databases/edom/ .

Barriers to Effective Deliberation in Clinical Research Oversight.

Ethical oversight of clinical research is one of the primary means of ensuring that human subjects are protected from the natural bias of researchers and research institutions in favor of experimentation. At a minimum, effective oversight should ensure that risks are minimized and reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits, protect vulnerable subjects from potential coercion or undue influence, ensure full and informed consent, and promote the equitable distribution of the risks and benefits of research. Because these assessments often involve value judgments for which there are no agreed-upon objective standards, we rely on deliberative procedures thought to have the greatest likelihood of producing the right or best outcomes. Concerns about the potential for improperly functioning IRBs to waste scarce human and institutional resources and impede biomedical progress have motivated a surge in empirical research assessing their procedures and outcomes. Yet within this literature, there has been minimal attention paid to the social scientific evidence regarding how individuals and deliberating groups make decisions, nor how those data might inform IRB practice. This essay seeks to fill that gap, locating recent empirical data on IRB composition and process within the context of data regarding what I call "deliberative pathologies," or instances when deliberation fails to live up to one or more aspect of the deliberative ideal because of systematic biases in the ways participants interact. The paper goes on to make evidence-based recommendations to reduce the vulnerability of IRB deliberations to the kinds of pathologies discussed and indicate directions for future research.