The Computational Study of Old English

This entry presents a comprehensive overview of the computational study of Old English that surveys the evolution from early digital corpora to recent artificial intelligence applications. Six interconnected domains are examined: textual resources (including the Helsinki Corpus, the Dictionary of Old English Corpus, and the York-Toronto-Helsinki Parsed Corpus), lexicographical resources (analysing approaches from Bosworth–Toller to the Dictionary of Old English), corpus lemmatisation (covering both prose and poetic texts), treebanks (particularly Universal Dependencies frameworks), and artificial intelligence applications. The paper shows that computational methodologies have transformed Old English studies because they facilitate large-scale analyses of morphology, syntax, and semantics previously impossible through traditional philological methods. Recent innovations are highlighted, including the development of lexical databases like Nerthusv5, dependency parsing methods, and the application of transformer models and NLP libraries to historical language processing. In spite of these remarkable advances, problems persist, including limited corpus size, orthographic inconsistency, and methodological difficulties in applying modern computational techniques to historical languages. The conclusion is reached that the future of computational Old English studies lies in the integration of AI capabilities with traditional philological expertise, an approach that enhances traditional scholarship and opens new avenues for understanding Anglo-Saxon language and culture

Realistic Neutrino Masses from Multi-brane Extensions of the Randall-Sundrum Model?

Scenarios based on the existence of large or warped (Randall-Sundrum model) extra dimensions have been proposed for addressing the long standing puzzle of gauge hierarchy problem. Within the contexts of both those scenarios, a novel and original type of mechanism generating small (Dirac) neutrino masses, which relies on the presence of additional right-handed neutrinos that propagate in the bulk, has arisen. The main objective of the present study is to determine whether this geometrical mechanism can produce reasonable neutrino masses also in the interesting multi-brane extensions of the Randall-Sundrum model. We demonstrate that, in some multi-brane extensions, neutrino masses in agreement with all relevant experimental bounds can indeed be generated but at the price of a constraint (stronger than the existing ones) on the bulk geometry, and that the other multi-brane models even conflict with those experimental bounds.Comment: 29 pages, 3 figures, Latex file. References added, study extende

Clinical Evidence of Type 2 Inflammation in Non-allergic Rhinitis with Eosinophilia Syndrome: a Systematic Review

Purpose of Review: Non-allergic rhinitis (NAR) includes different subtypes, among which NAR with eosinophilia syndrome (NARES) is the most important because of severity of symptoms and the high risk of comorbidities. Its pathophysiology is still object of debate, but a crucial role of chronic eosinophilic inflammation has been recognized. The aim of this review is to critically analyze the current evidence regarding the hypothesis that NARES may be considered a type 2 inflammatory disorder. Recent Findings: The definition and diagnostic criteria for NARES are not universally shared and adopted, thus generating difficulties in reproducing the results. At present, there is extreme heterogeneity in sampling methods and disagreement in the cut-off of local eosinophilic count to determine a diagnosis of NARES. The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) standard was applied to identify English-language experimental and clinical articles regarding NARES. The search was performed in April 2021. Twenty-six articles were included. Summary: Our data suggest a particular heterogeneity regarding sampling and specific cut-offs adopted for diagnosis of NARES and consensus should be reached. We suggest that eosinophil count should be reported as an absolute value for at least 10 observed rich fields in order to increase the level of standardization. Consensus among authors on this topic should be reached with particular attention to the cut-off for diagnosis. In the future, this limitation may be overcome by the identification of repeatable biomarkers to refine diagnosis and prognosis of NARES. Furthermore, our data strongly suggest that NARES have numerous similarities with clinical features of the most common type 2 diseases such as eosinophilic asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP): late onset, association with type 2 comorbidities, selective eosinophilic tissue infiltration, remarkable response to oral and intranasal corticosteroids, and progression in a type 2 CRSwNP

Efficacy and long-term follow-up of positional therapy by vibrotactile neck-based device in the management of positional OSA

Study Objectives: Different therapeutic strategies have been investigated for the treatment of positional obstructive sleep apnea, but more evidence is needed about efficacy and compliance. The objective of this study was to describe the efficacy of vibrotactile neck-based treatment in patients with positional obstructive sleep apnea with different degrees of obstructive sleep apnea severity who were followed for 6 months.Methods: This is a retrospective study including 162 patients with positional obstructive sleep apnea undergoing vibrotactile neck-based positional therapy. We compared polysomnographic data obtained at baseline and during positional therapy after 1 month. We performed a subgroup analysis based on obstructive sleep apnea severity. Furthermore, we analyzed follow-up data in 84/162 (51.8%) patients with particular focus on discontinuation and complications related to the device.Results: We observed a significant difference between mean baseline obstructive apnea-hypopnea index (OAHI; 21.9 +/- 9.9 events/h) and during positional therapy (12 +/- 9.2 events/h; P< .01). Moreover, 87/162 (54.9%) patients showed a reduced baseline OAHI of at least 50% and 38/162 (23.4%) achieved complete disease control (OAHI < 5 events/h). At subgroup analysis, at least 50% reduction from baseline OAHI was observed in 56.8% of patients with mild, 55% with moderate, and 47.4% with severe OAHI, whereas complete control of disease was achieved in 50% of patients with mild, 22.5% with moderate, and 7.9% with severe OAHI. At a 6-month follow-up, only 35/84 patients (41.6%) were regularly using the device, with a mean of 5.9 +/- 1.2 days per week. Conclusions: Our results on the efficacy and long-term adherence to vibrotactile neck-based positional therapy showed that positional therapy can be an efficient first-line treatment option for mild positional obstructive sleep apnea and in selected cases of moderate disease. Long-term compliance is limited because of complications and low satisfaction in some patients.Conclusions: Our results on the efficacy and long-term adherence to vibrotactile neck-based positional therapy showed that positional therapy can be an efficient first-line treatment option for mild positional obstructive sleep apnea and in selected cases of moderate disease. Long-term compliance is limited because of complications and low satisfaction in some patients

Immunohistochemical detection of “ex novo” HLA-DR in tumor cells determines clinical outcome in laryngeal cancer patients

There are controversial results about the role of “ex novo” HLA-DR expression by tumor cells and its correlation with the oncological outcomes. Unfortunately, little is known about HLA-DR expression in laryngeal cancer tumor cells. The main purpose of this retrospective study is to strengthen the usefulness of studying “ex novo” HLA-DR expression on tumor cells from primary laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) patients and investigate its correlation with clinical outcome. We analyzed HLA-DR expression by immunohistochemical analysis in 56 patients with LSCC. The “ex novo” HLA-DR expression on laryngeal cancer tumor cells, assessing non-neoplastic LSCC – adjacent tissue, and the association of HLA-DR expression (HLA-DR+) with clinical outcomes were investigated. HLA-DR+ tumor cells were detected in 18/56 LSCC patients (32.1%). All specimens of non-neoplastic laryngeal carcinoma-adjacent tissue resulted HLA-DR negative (HLA-DR-). A statistically significant association was observed between HLA-DR + and well differentiated tumors (G1) (p<0.001). The Kaplan-Meier method showed how HLA-DR+ is significantly associated with both a better disease specific survival (HLA-DR+=100% vs. HLA-DR-=77.4%; p=0.047) and a better relapse free survival (HLA-DR+=100% vs. HLA-DR-=72.3%; p=0.021). Cox regression univariate analysis for death of disease confirmed a higher HR for HLA-DR absence on the surface of epithelial tumor cell [HR:37.489; 95% CI:0.750-18730.776; p=0.253] and for high-grade (G3) tumors [HR:18.601; 95% CI:3.613-95.764; p<0.0001]. Our results confirm that MHC class II HLA-DR expression is activated in a sub-set of LSCC patients. Evaluation of HLA-DR expression in LSCC could be useful for prognosis and future approaches towards personalized therapy