Non-native talkers and listeners and the perceptual benefits of clear speech.

This study examined the intelligibility benefit of native and non-native clear speech for native and non-native listeners when the first language background of non-native talkers and listeners is matched. All four combinations of talkers and listeners were tested: native talker-native listener, non-native talker-native listener, native talker-non-native listener, and non-native talker-non-native listener. Listeners were presented with structurally simple but semantically anomalous English sentences produced clearly or casually and mixed with speech-shaped noise at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio and asked to write down what they heard. Results showed that native English speech was more intelligible than non-native speech and that native English listeners recovered speech better than non-native listeners did. Clear speech was significantly more intelligible than casual speech. There were no interactions between speaking style and native language background indicating that clear speech intelligibility benefit was not significantly different across distinct combinations of talkers and listeners. In particular, shared first language background among non-native speakers and listeners did not provide an extra benefit in either the overall speech intelligibility or the intelligibility gains of clear speech.

The effect of allophonic variability on L2 contrast perception: Evidence from perception of English vowels.

Current frameworks of L2 phonetic acquisition remain largely underspecified with respect to the role of L1 allophonic variability in acquisition. Examining the role of L1 allophonic variability, the current study compared the perceptual discrimination of English /i-ɪ/ and /ɛ-æ/ by L1 Korean and L1 Mandarin speakers. Korean and Mandarin vowel inventories differ in that Mandarin employs significantly greater allophonic variation of the mid-region /E/ vowel. Results demonstrated worse perceptual accuracy by L1 Mandarin speakers for the /ɛ-æ/ contrast than L1 Korean speakers. These results suggest that both L1 phonemic inventories and allophonic variation play a role in L2 phonetic acquisition.

More Is Not Always Better: Local Models Provide Accurate Predictions of Spectral Properties of Porphyrins.

The development of new functional materials based on porphyrins requires fast and accurate prediction of their spectral properties. The available models in the literature for absorption wavelength and extinction coefficient of the Soret band have low accuracy for this class of compounds. We collected spectral data for porphyrins to extend the literature set and compared the performance of global and local models for their modelling using different machine learning methods. Interestingly, extension of the public database contributed models with lower accuracies compared to the models, which we built using porphyrins only. The later model calculated acceptable RMSE = 2.61 for prediction of the absorption band of 335 porphyrins synthesized in our laboratory, but had a low accuracy (RMSE = 0.52) for extinction coefficient. A development of models using only compounds from our laboratory significantly decreased errors for these compounds (RMSE = 0.5 and 0.042 for absorption band and extinction coefficient, respectively), but limited their applicability only to these homologous series. When developing models, one should clearly keep in mind their potential use and select a strategy that could contribute the most accurate predictions for the target application. The models and data are publicly available.

Molecular Recognition of Imidazole Derivatives by Co(III)-Porphyrinsin Phosphate Buffer (pH = 7.4) and Cetylpyridinium Chloride Containing Solutions.

Bymeans of spectrophotometric titration and NMR spectroscopy, the selective binding ability ofthe Co(III)-5,15-bis-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-10,20-bis-(4-sulfophenyl)porphyrin (Со(III)Р1) andCo(III)-5,15-bis-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-10,20-bis-(4-sulfophenyl)porphyrin (Со(III)Р2) towards imidazole derivatives of various nature (imidazole (L1), metronidazole (L2), and histamine (L3)) in phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) has been studied. It was found that in the case of L2, L3 the binding of the "first" ligand molecule by porphyrinatesCo(III)P1 and Co(III)P2 occurs with the formation of complexes with two binding sites (donor-acceptor bond at the center and hydrogen bond at the periphery of the macrocycle), while the "second" ligand molecule is added to the metalloporphyrin only due to the formation of the donor-acceptor bond at the macrocycle coordination center. The formation of stable complexes with two binding sites has been confirmed by density functional theory method (DFT) quantum chemical calculations and two-dimensional NMR experiments. It was shown that among the studied porphyrinates, Co(III)P2 is more selective towards to L1-L3 ligands, and localization of cobalt porphyrinates in cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) micelles does not prevent the studied imidazole derivatives reversible binding. The obtained materials can be used to develop effective receptors for recognition, delivery, and prolonged release of drug compounds to the sites of their functioning. Considering that cetylpyridinium chloride is a widely used cationic biocide as a disinfectant, the designed materials may also prove to be effective antimicrobial agents.

Correction to: Spectral-Fluorescence Properties of Zn(II)-Octaphenyltetraazaporphyrins.

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. In the section of 'Acknowledgements' the grant number is incorrectly indicated. The corrected grant number is given below.

Spectral-Fluorescence Properties of Zn(II)-Octaphenyltetraazaporphyrins.

Zn(II)-octa-(4-chlorophenyl)- and Zn(II)-octa-(4-bromophenyl)tetraazaporphyrins were synthesized by the reaction of cyclotetramerization of di-(4-chlorophenyl)- and di-(4-bromophenyl)maleonitriles with zinc(II) chloride. The obtained compounds were identified by UV-vis, IR, NMR 1H spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Geometry optimization of the series of halogenated Zn(II)-octaaryltetraazaporphyrins was performed using the density functional method with the BP86 functional and the def2-TZVP basis set. An analysis of the distribution of molecular orbital energies in the neighborhood of highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO and HOMO-1) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMO and LUMO+1) and the width of the HOMO - LUMO energy gaps (EH-L) was performed for the studied compounds. Fluorimetric measurements of the Zn(II)-octaphenyltetraazaporphyrins in toluene were carried out and fluorescence quantum yields of studied compounds were determined and analyzed. It has been shown that the halogen on the para-position of the phenyl groups significantly affects the value of the obtained quantum yields of fluorescence emission but does not significantly affect the Stokes shifts.

Acoustic Correlates of the Four-Way Laryngeal Contrast in Marathi.

The study examines acoustic correlates of the four-way laryngeal contrast in Marathi, focusing on temporal parameters, voice quality, and onset f0. Acoustic correlates of the laryngeal contrast were investigated in the speech of 33 native speakers of Marathi, recorded in Mumbai, India, producing a word list containing six sets of words minimally contrastive in terms of laryngeal specification of word-initial velar stops. Measurements were made for the duration of prevoicing, release, and voicing during release. Fundamental frequency was measured at the onset of voicing following the stop and at 10 additional time points. As measures of voice quality, amplitude differences between the first and second harmonic (H1-H2) and between the first harmonic and the third formant (H1-A3) were calculated. The results demonstrated that laryngeal categories in Marathi are differentiated based on temporal measures, voice quality, and onset f0, although differences in each dimension were unequal in magnitude across different pairs of stop categories. We conclude that a single acoustic correlate, such as voice onset time, is insufficient to differentiate among all the laryngeal categories in languages such as Marathi, characterized by complex four-way laryngeal contrasts. Instead, a joint contribution of several acoustic correlates creates a robust multidimensional contrast.

Vowel-to-Vowel Coarticulation in Spanish Nonwords.

The present study examined vowel-to-vowel (VV) coarticulation in backness affecting mid vowels /e/ and /o/ in 36 Spanish nonwords produced by 20 native speakers of Spanish, aged 19-50 years (mean = 30.7; SD = 8.2). Examination of second formant frequency showed substantial carryover coarticulation throughout the data set, while anticipatory coarticulation was minimal and of shorter duration. Furthermore, the effect of stress on vowel-to-vowel coarticulation was investigated and found to vary by direction. In the anticipatory direction, small coarticulatory changes were relatively stable regardless of stress, particularly for target /e/, while in the carryover direction, a hierarchy of stress emerged wherein the greatest coarticulation occurred between stressed triggers and unstressed targets, less coarticulation was observed between unstressed triggers and unstressed targets, and the least coarticulation occurred between unstressed triggers with stressed targets. The results of the study augment and refine previously available knowledge about vowel-to-vowel coarticulation in Spanish and expand cross-linguistic understanding of the effect of stress on the magnitude and direction of vowel-to-vowel coarticulation.

The Role of Perception in the Typology of Geminate Consonants: Effects of Manner of Articulation, Segmental Environment, Position, and Stress.

The present study seeks to answer the question of whether consonant duration is perceived differently across consonants of different manners of articulation and in different contextual environments and whether such differences may be related to the typology of geminates. The results of the cross-linguistic identification experiment suggest higher perceptual acuity in labeling short and long consonants in sonorants than in obstruents. Duration categories were also more consistently and clearly labeled in the intervocalic than in the preconsonantal environment, in the word-initial than in the word-final position, and after stressed vowels than between unstressed vowels. These perceptual asymmetries are in line with some typological tendencies, such as the cross-linguistic preference for intervocalic and post-stress geminates, but contradict other proposed cross-linguistic patterns, such as the preference for obstruent geminates and the abundance of word-final geminates.

Evidence for cooperative Na+ and Cl- binding by strongly hydrated l-proline.

In nature the amino acid l-proline (Pro) is a ubiquitous and highly effective osmolyte protecting cells against osmotic stress. To understand this effect knowledge of the hydration of Pro and its interactions with dissolved salts is essential. We studied these properties by combining statistical mechanics and broadband dielectric spectroscopy and found that Pro remains strongly hydrated up to high amino-acid concentrations. This is also the case upon NaCl addition to a 0.6 M Pro solution. Here, additionally a Pro·NaCl aggregate is formed with a stability constant of K° ≈ 0.95…1.25 M-1, where Na+ and Cl- cooperatively bind to adjacent carboxylate-oxygen and ammonium-hydrogen atoms, respectively.

Proline hydration at low temperatures: its role in the protection of cell from freeze-induced stress.

The natural amino acid L-α-proline (Pro) is a compatible osmolyte which accumulates in the cell cytoplasm to protect structure and function of various proteins and enzymes under abiotic stress, like for instance, freezing. It is assumed that the interactions of Pro with intracellular water play an important role in the protection mechanism. However, until now the details of these interactions are far from being fully understood. We present results of a theoretical study of the hydration of Pro zwitterion (Pro-ZW) in water in the temperature range of 298-248 K. The data were obtained by the integral equation method in the framework of the 1D- and 3D-RISM approaches. The structural data were analyzed in terms of radial and spatial distribution functions. The observed features of Pro-ZW hydration are discussed from the position of the biological role of Pro as a cryoprotectant. In particular, it was found that under cooling conditions this protectant is able to bind a significant amount of water molecules and, thus, is helping to keep water inside the cell.

Ion-selective interactions of biologically relevant inorganic ions with alanine zwitterion: a 3D-RISM study.

The ion-molecular association between inorganic ions and the charged groups of alanine zwitterion in biologically relevant aqueous salt solutions, namely NaCl(aq), KCl(aq), MgCl2(aq), and CaCl2(aq), has been investigated over a wide range of electrolyte concentration. The influence of salt concentration on the stability of the formed ion-molecular associates is analyzed. The structure of the formed aggregates and its dependence on salt concentration and chemical nature of the inorganic ion are discussed.

Development of a questionnaire to evaluate practitioners' confidence and knowledge in primary care in managing chronic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND: In the UK, chronic disease, including chronic kidney disease (CKD) is largely managed in primary care. We developed a tool to assess practitioner confidence and knowledge in managing CKD compared to other chronic diseases. This questionnaire was part of a cluster randomised quality improvement interventions in chronic kidney disease (QICKD; ISRCTN56023731). METHODS: The questionnaire was developed by family physicians, primary care nurses, academics and renal specialists. We conducted three focus groups (n=7, 6, and 8) to refine the questionnaire using groups of general practitioners, practice nurses and trainees in general practice. We used paper based versions to develop the questionnaire and online surveys to test it. Practitioners in a group of volunteer, trial practices received the questionnaire twice. We measured its reliability using Cohen's Kappa (K). RESULTS: The practitioners in the focus groups reached a consensus as to the key elements to include in the instrument. We achieved a 73.1% (n=57/78) initial response rate for our questionnaire; of these 57, 54 completed the questionnaire a second time. Family physicians made up the largest single group of respondents (47.4%, n=27). Initial response showed more female (64.9%, n=37) than male (35.1%, n=20) respondents. The reliability results from retesting showed that there was moderate agreement (k>0.4) on all questions; with many showing substantial agreement (k>0.6). There was substantial agreement in the questions about loop diuretics (k=0.608, CI 0.432-0.784, p<0.001), confidence in managing hypertension (k=0.628, 95%CI 0.452-0.804, p<0.001), diastolic blood pressure treatment thresholds in CKD (k=0.608, 95%CI 0.436-0.780, p<0.001) and the rate of decline of eGFR that would prompt referral (k=0.764, 95%CI 0.603-0.925, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The QICKD-CCQ is a reliable instrument for measuring confidence and knowledge among primary care practitioners on CKD management in the context of UK primary care.

Auditory enhancement and second language experience in Spanish and English weighting of secondary voicing cues.

The role of secondary cues in voicing categorization was investigated in three listener groups: Monolingual English (n = 20) and Spanish speakers (n = 20), and Spanish speakers with significant English experience (n = 16). Results showed that, in all three groups, participants used onset f0 in making voicing decisions only in the positive voice onset time (VOT) range (short lag and long lag tokens), while there was no effect of onset f0 on voicing categorization within the negative VOT range (voicing lead tokens) for any of the participant groups. These results support an auditory enhancement view of perceptual cue weighting: Onset f0 serves as a secondary cue to voicing only in the positive VOT range where it is not overshadowed by the presence of pre-voicing. Moreover, results showed that Spanish learners of English gave a significantly greater weight to onset f0 in their voicing decisions than did listeners in either of the other two groups. This result supports the view that learners may overweight secondary cues to distinguish between non-native categories that are assimilated to the same native category on the basis of a primary cue.

Audit-based education lowers systolic blood pressure in chronic kidney disease: the Quality Improvement in CKD (QICKD) trial results.

Strict control of systolic blood pressure is known to slow progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Here we compared audit-based education (ABE) to guidelines and prompts or usual practice in lowering systolic blood pressure in people with CKD. This 2-year cluster randomized trial included 93 volunteer general practices randomized into three arms with 30 ABE practices, 32 with guidelines and prompts, and 31 usual practices. An intervention effect on the primary outcome, systolic blood pressure, was calculated using a multilevel model to predict changes after the intervention. The prevalence of CKD was 7.29% (41,183 of 565,016 patients) with all cardiovascular comorbidities more common in those with CKD. Our models showed that the systolic blood pressure was significantly lowered by 2.41 mm Hg (CI 0.59-4.29 mm Hg), in the ABE practices with an odds ratio of achieving at least a 5 mm Hg reduction in systolic blood pressure of 1.24 (CI 1.05-1.45). Practices exposed to guidelines and prompts produced no significant change compared to usual practice. Male gender, ABE, ischemic heart disease, and congestive heart failure were independently associated with a greater lowering of systolic blood pressure but the converse applied to hypertension and age over 75 years. There were no reports of harm. Thus, individuals receiving ABE are more likely to achieve a lower blood pressure than those receiving only usual practice. The findings should be interpreted with caution due to the wide confidence intervals.

Association of anaemia in primary care patients with chronic kidney disease: cross sectional study of quality improvement in chronic kidney disease (QICKD) trial data.

BACKGROUND: Anaemia is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease and treating anaemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD) may improve outcomes. However, little is known about the scope to improve primary care management of anaemia in CKD. METHODS: An observational study (N = 1,099,292) with a nationally representative sample using anonymised routine primary care data from 127 Quality Improvement in CKD trial practices (ISRCTN5631023731). We explored variables associated with anaemia in CKD: eGFR, haemoglobin (Hb), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), iron status, cardiovascular comorbidities, and use of therapy which associated with gastrointestinal bleeding, oral iron and deprivation score. We developed a linear regression model to identify variables amenable to improved primary care management. RESULTS: The prevalence of Stage 3-5 CKD was 6.76%. Hb was lower in CKD (13.2 g/dl) than without (13.7 g/dl). 22.2% of people with CKD had World Health Organization defined anaemia; 8.6% had Hb ≤ 11 g/dl; 3% Hb ≤ 10 g/dl; and 1% Hb ≤ 9 g/dl. Normocytic anaemia was present in 80.5% with Hb ≤ 11; 72.7% with Hb ≤ 10 g/dl; and 67.6% with Hb ≤ 9 g/dl; microcytic anaemia in 13.4% with Hb ≤ 11 g/dl; 20.8% with Hb ≤ 10 g/dl; and 24.9% where Hb ≤ 9 g/dl. 82.7% of people with microcytic and 58.8% with normocytic anaemia (Hb ≤ 11 g/dl) had a low ferritin (<100 ug/mL). Hypertension (67.2% vs. 54%) and diabetes (30.7% vs. 15.4%) were more prevalent in CKD and anaemia; 61% had been prescribed aspirin; 73% non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs); 14.1% warfarin 12.4% clopidogrel; and 53.1% aspirin and NSAID. 56.3% of people with CKD and anaemia had been prescribed oral iron. The main limitations of the study are that routine data are inevitably incomplete and definitions of anaemia have not been standardised. CONCLUSIONS: Medication review is needed in people with CKD and anaemia prior to considering erythropoietin or parenteral iron. Iron stores may be depleted in over >60% of people with normocytic anaemia. Prescribing oral iron has not corrected anaemia.

Consistent data recording across a health system and web-enablement allow service quality comparisons: online data for commissioning dermatology services.

A new distributed model of health care management is being introduced in England. Family practitioners have new responsibilities for the management of health care budgets and commissioning of services. There are national datasets available about health care providers and the geographical areas they serve. These data could be better used to assist the family practitioner turned health service commissioners. Unfortunately these data are not in a form that is readily usable by these fledgling family commissioning groups. We therefore Web enabled all the national hospital dermatology treatment data in England combining it with locality data to provide a smart commissioning tool for local communities. We used open-source software including the Ruby on Rails Web framework and MySQL. The system has a Web front-end, which uses hypertext markup language cascading style sheets (HTML/CSS) and JavaScript to deliver and present data provided by the database. A combination of advanced caching and schema structures allows for faster data retrieval on every execution. The system provides an intuitive environment for data analysis and processing across a large health system dataset. Web-enablement has enabled data about in patients, day cases and outpatients to be readily grouped, viewed, and linked to other data. The combination of web-enablement, consistent data collection from all providers; readily available locality data; and a registration based primary system enables the creation of data, which can be used to commission dermatology services in small areas. Standardized datasets collected across large health enterprises when web enabled can readily benchmark local services and inform commissioning decisions.

Quality achievement and disease prevalence in primary care predicts regional variation in renal replacement therapy (RRT) incidence: an ecological study.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes Meillitus (DM) and hypertension (HT) are important causes of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and renal replacement therapy (RRT) is the standard active treatment. Financially, incentivized quality initiatives for primary care include pay-for-performance (P4P) in DM and HT. Our aim was to examine any effect of disease prevalence and P4P on RRT incidence and regional variation. METHODS: The incidence of RRT, sex and ethnicity data and P4P disease register and achievement data were obtained for each NHS locality. We calculated correlation coefficients for P4P indicators since 2004/05 and socio-demographic data for these 152 localities. We then developed a regression model and regression coefficient (R(2)) to assess to what extent these variables might predict RRT incidence. RESULTS: Many of the P4P indicators were weakly but highly significantly correlated with RRT incidence. The strongest correlation was 2004/05 for DM prevalence and 2006/07 for HT quality. DM prevalence and the percentage with blood pressure control in HT target (HT quality) were the most predictive in our regression model R(2) = 0.096 and R(2) = 0.085, respectively (P < 0.001). Combined they predicted a fifth of RRT incidence (R(2) = 0.2, P < 0.001) while ethnicity and deprivation a quarter (R(2) = 0.25, P < 0.001). Our final model contained proportion of population >75 years, DM prevalence, HT quality, ethnicity and deprivation index and predicted 40% of variation (R(2) = 0.4, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our findings add prevalence of DM and quality of HT management to the known predictors of variation in RRT, ethnicity and deprivation. They raise the possibility that interventions in primary care might influence later events in specialist care.

Confidence and quality in managing CKD compared with other cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus: a linked study of questionnaire and routine primary care data.

BACKGROUND: Much of chronic disease is managed in primary care and chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a recent addition. We are conducting a cluster randomised study of quality improvement interventions in CKD (QICKD) - Clinical Trials Registration: ISRCTN56023731. CKD registers have a lower than expected prevalence and an initial focus group study suggested variable levels of confidence in managing CKD. Our objective is to compare practitioner confidence and achievement of quality indicators for CKD with hypertension and diabetes. METHOD: We validated a new questionnaire to test confidence. We compared confidence with achievement of pay-for-performance indicators (P4P) and implementation of evidence-based guidance. We achieved a 74% (148/201) response rate. RESULTS: 87% (n = 128) of respondents are confident in managing hypertension (HT) compared with 59% (n = 87) in managing HT in CKD (HT+CKD); and with 61% (n = 90) in HT, CKD and diabetes (CKD+HT+DM). 85.2% (P4P) and 62.5% (National targets) of patients with hypertension are at target; in patients with HT and CKD 65.1% and 53.3%; in patients with HT, CKD and DM 67.8% and 29.6%. Confidence in managing proteinuria in CKD is low (42%, n = 62). 87% of respondents knew BP treatment thresholds in CKD, but only 53% when proteinuria is factored in. Male GPs, younger (< 35 yrs), and older (> 54 yrs) clinicians are more confident than females and 35 to 54 year olds in managing CKD. 84% of patients with hypertension treated with angiotensin modulating drugs achieve achieved P4P targets compared to 67% of patients with CKD. CONCLUSIONS: Practitioners are less likely to achieve management targets where their confidence is low.

Correlation between cytogenetic abnormalities in cells and metabolic shifts in children with spinal deformities.

We studied the relationship between cytogenetic abnormalities in buccal epithelial cells and metabolic shifts in children with scoliosis and kyphosis. The incidence of nucleus abnormalities and the corresponding metabolic shifts were found to depend on the presence of spinal deformities and ecological factors. The problem of formation of risk groups for spinal deformities in ecologically unfavorable regions is discussed.